- Jurisdiction
- Mexico
Hello Everyone,
my girlfriend is Mexican, but currently works as an au pair in Texas.
In September, she signed a contract with a Mexican travel agency for a 9-week language school program in Berlin (Germany). The contract stated a total sum of more or less 2400 €, including a registration fee of 220 € for the school. By that time, my girlfriend started transferring the agreed sum to the agency in weekly rates.
About one week after the signing of the contract, she decided to do the course in Cologne (Germany) rather than in Berlin. Her contact person from the agency confirmed her at this point, after my girlfriend explicitely asked, that this is possible without any additional payments; in fact, the school in cologne was even a bit cheaper. She then decided to change the school and agreed to a new payment plan (for the new sum) with the agency. However, unfortunately no new contract has been signed; yet the agreement remained only spoken (as far as I know).
By the time of now, a big amount of the agreed sum has already been paid by my girlfriend to the agency.
2 Days ago, the agency informed my girlfriend, that the 220 € registration fee for the school in Berlin were already paid from the money, that my girlfriend transferred to the agency. This money is regarded now as sunk cost and can neither be given back to my girlfriend, nor used for paying the school in cologne. However, my girlfriend was not informed about this before she changed the school, and with this knowledge, she wouldn't have made the change at all.
On top of that, the agency now demands additional 350 € for the registration fee at the school in cologne. This was also never mentioned before by the agency.
Thus, we are talking about a sum of 570 € of additional costs, about which the agency, though explicitly asked, never mentioned.
The whole thing sounds to me like fraud, or at least like willing delivery of misinformation.
As mentioned, there is unfortunately no written contract about the change to Cologne, only the original contract for Berlin.
I would tell my girlfriend just not to pay, but the problem is, that she has already paid a huge amount of the agreed sum.
So the question is now:
Is there a possibility of cancelling the whole contract and getting all the transferred money back? If not: Is it at least possible to demand the fulfillment of the contract in Cologne without the additional charges, so that my girlfriend only has to pay the previously agreed sum for the school in cologne?
Thank you very much for your help and have a nice day
my girlfriend is Mexican, but currently works as an au pair in Texas.
In September, she signed a contract with a Mexican travel agency for a 9-week language school program in Berlin (Germany). The contract stated a total sum of more or less 2400 €, including a registration fee of 220 € for the school. By that time, my girlfriend started transferring the agreed sum to the agency in weekly rates.
About one week after the signing of the contract, she decided to do the course in Cologne (Germany) rather than in Berlin. Her contact person from the agency confirmed her at this point, after my girlfriend explicitely asked, that this is possible without any additional payments; in fact, the school in cologne was even a bit cheaper. She then decided to change the school and agreed to a new payment plan (for the new sum) with the agency. However, unfortunately no new contract has been signed; yet the agreement remained only spoken (as far as I know).
By the time of now, a big amount of the agreed sum has already been paid by my girlfriend to the agency.
2 Days ago, the agency informed my girlfriend, that the 220 € registration fee for the school in Berlin were already paid from the money, that my girlfriend transferred to the agency. This money is regarded now as sunk cost and can neither be given back to my girlfriend, nor used for paying the school in cologne. However, my girlfriend was not informed about this before she changed the school, and with this knowledge, she wouldn't have made the change at all.
On top of that, the agency now demands additional 350 € for the registration fee at the school in cologne. This was also never mentioned before by the agency.
Thus, we are talking about a sum of 570 € of additional costs, about which the agency, though explicitly asked, never mentioned.
The whole thing sounds to me like fraud, or at least like willing delivery of misinformation.
As mentioned, there is unfortunately no written contract about the change to Cologne, only the original contract for Berlin.
I would tell my girlfriend just not to pay, but the problem is, that she has already paid a huge amount of the agreed sum.
So the question is now:
Is there a possibility of cancelling the whole contract and getting all the transferred money back? If not: Is it at least possible to demand the fulfillment of the contract in Cologne without the additional charges, so that my girlfriend only has to pay the previously agreed sum for the school in cologne?
Thank you very much for your help and have a nice day
