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Mis-sold a course or coaching in Canada? How to get your money back

By CourseKiln Editorial·Published ·3 min read

In Canada your strongest lever is often a provincial one, and there is a powerful one for coaching: in most provinces, if a seller made false or misleading claims to get the sale, you can withdraw from the contract within one year of giving notice. Ontario goes further still, treating coaching as a "personal development service," which you can cancel within ten days of getting the written contract, and within a full year if the seller broke the contract rules. Check your own province, because the standards vary.

Card chargeback, with a BC bonus. A chargeback runs on card-network rules, usually disputed within 30 to 45 days of your statement. British Columbia adds a statutory layer: under its Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act, if you cancel a distance contract and the seller fails to refund within fifteen days, you have a legal right to a card reversal, which the card company must acknowledge within thirty days and complete within two billing cycles or ninety days.

Cooling-off is provincial. There is no single federal cooling-off right. Ontario gives ten days on direct sales and the personal-development route above. British Columbia lets you cancel a distance purchase not received within thirty days, or within seven days if required contract information was missing. Quebec and Alberta give ten-day rights on contracts signed away from the seller's premises. As in the UK, provinces generally hold that a seller cannot use "the work started" to defeat a valid cancellation where you did not clearly agree to an early start.

No Section 75 equivalent. No federal statute makes your card issuer jointly liable. The nearest protections are the network chargeback, the BC reversal right, and the federal complaint-handling rules banks must follow.

Where to complain. Start with your provincial consumer-protection office, such as Consumer Protection Ontario on 1-800-889-9768 or ConsumerProtectionBC.ca. For a bank refusing a chargeback, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada and the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments at obsi.ca. Report deceptive marketing to the Competition Bureau. Small claims limits vary, up to thirty-five thousand dollars in Ontario.

A letter to start the claim. Send this written notice to the seller, and check your province for the exact window.

Dear [seller],

On [date] I paid [amount] for [the course or coaching]. It was sold to me on claims that proved [false / misleading], specifically [state what was promised and what was delivered]. In my province a consumer may cancel a contract entered into on a misleading representation, and this is my written notice that I am cancelling and requesting a full refund of [amount]. If you do not refund me, I will ask my card issuer to reverse the charge and complain to my provincial consumer authority.

[Your name]

A version to ask a seller for proof before you ever pay is on letters you can send.

Then check the next seller before you pay: proof you did not make yourself.

Common questions

Is there a way to undo a mis-sold coaching contract in Canada?

In most provinces, if a seller made false or misleading claims to get the sale, you can withdraw from the contract within one year of giving notice. Ontario treats coaching as a "personal development service" you can cancel within ten days of the written contract, and within a full year if the seller broke the contract rules. Check your own province, because the standards vary.

Does any Canadian province force a card refund if the seller will not pay up?

Yes, British Columbia. Under its Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act, if you cancel a distance contract and the seller fails to refund within fifteen days, you have a legal right to a card reversal, which the card company must acknowledge within thirty days and complete within two billing cycles or ninety days.

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