day camp and refunds

[love2hike]

I'm interested in hearing the refund policies of other day camps. I know that with overnight camps you have the campers for a full week, and even those that have trepidation about the whole camp experience can often be won over in the course of a week (I was one of those campers as a child). In a day camp however, campers can go home at the end of the day, and if it wasn't everything they dreamed it would be, they may not come back. However, you have staffed, budgeted, closed registration, etc. based on their enrollment. Do you refund money for campers who decide they don't like it? Do they get the whole week refunded or do you prorate the refund based on they days they did/didn't attend? Do you have your policy written into your enrollment materials? Already planning for next year and want to make sure have an understanding of what is common before I set policy for camp. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[Aloha]

I'm interested in hearing the refund policies of other day camps. I know that with overnight camps you have the campers for a full week, and even those that have trepidation about the whole camp experience can often be won over in the course of a week (I was one of those campers as a child). In a day camp however, campers can go home at the end of the day, and if it wasn't everything they dreamed it would be, they may not come back. However, you have staffed, budgeted, closed registration, etc. based on their enrollment. Do you refund money for campers who decide they don't like it? Do they get the whole week refunded or do you prorate the refund based on they days they did/didn't attend? Do you have your policy written into your enrollment materials? Already planning for next year and want to make sure have an understanding of what is common before I set policy for camp. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

I operate a Los Angeles day camp (http://www.alohabeachcamp.com/los-angeles-day-camp.html). Our refund policy is a 100% money-back guarantee. Everyone gets 2 days to try it out. If they don't love it, we refund all their money. You won't find this at any other camp, I don't believe, as most seem to have a "no refunds" policy. But we think the financial risk should be on us to deliver what we promise, not on the family to hope their kids love camp. Our camp is called Aloha Beach Camp (http://www.alohabeachcamp.com), and if you want to learn more, there's a section about our money-back guarantee (http://www.alohabeachcamp.com/money-back-guarantee.html)on our website.

[CSW_Jack]

Our only stated refund policy is for cancelling/rescheduling before camp starts. However, if a kid is unhappy, we usually take it on a case by case scenario and will sometimes refund a portion of the fees based on days he/she did not come to camp.