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Am I in a contract or not? (Frankfurt)

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216

Hello everyone,

A language school is threatening to take me to court over €500 and I was hoping to get some advice.

When chosing a language school, I logged into their website and innocently clicked on “register here”. I was only hoping to ask when the evening classes were, what time they start, class sizes and the teaching material. I filled in the electronic form (including my address) and clicked ‘yes’ to the ‘have you read our terms and conditions?’.

I then got an automatic email asking to transfer €500 to their bank account. I chose to ignore it and thought it was ridiculous that they were asking me for money. Since then 2 months have past and they are now sending me invoices (by email) asking for the €500.

I replied to one of their emails saying I was only initially enquiring for information however they stated that we have a binding contract and made reference their ‘terms and conditions’ (which I agreed to online) which states:

„Submitting the booking form or signing the contract represents acceptance of
the following terms and conditions.

Signing the contract
1. With submitting the registration, the participant accepts the Terms and Conditions
of EVO Language
2. The actual price list is part of the contract, when signed.
3. The Course fees include: classification test, course and care service“

Three months have past and now they are threatening to take me to court over the matter.

I am not sure whether they are bluffing and hope that most people pay at this stage or whether I am really in a contract.

Does anyone know if this is a legally binding contract? Or what are the court fees for going to a small claims court in Germany?

Any advice would be really helpful.

James

Frankfurt Forum

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