Terms & Conditions:
Language used:
The “student” refers to the buyer.
CE or Caribbean Elective refers to the seller.
Work Experience, placement, trip, internship, Elective, volunteering project or project refers to the service being bought and sold within
the terms of this contract.
- Insurance
Undertaking one of our placements and joining our programme carries a degree of risk. Therefore you must take out comprehensive
and appropriate travel insurance to protect you.
We are very happy to provide assistance in helping you find insurance but we will not be held accountable for any final decisions that
you take in choosing your insurance.
We will also not be held accountable for any situations that may occur in which you are not covered by your insurance. It is your sole
responsibility to protect yourself and take out appropriate and comprehensive travel insurance.
Travellers must be covered by travel insurance which includes cover for COVID-related issues arising for the duration and prior to their
trip.
We strongly recommend you take out your travel insurance policy immediately after submitting your deposit with us. Not doing so may
leave you unnecessarily at risk.
You must submit proof of your travel insurance policy to the Caribbean Elective office at least one month before your departure date.
Contact details can be found below.
- Visas
It is your sole responsibility to ensure that you have all the relevant documentation to gain entry to the island on which your placement
or project is taking place in. You must do the appropriate research before you travel to determine if you require a visa for your stay and
if there are any fees which may be involved.
It is your sole responsibility to ensure that all your travel documents are in good order and valid for at least 6 months after the end of
your placement.
Granting of visas is at the discretion of local authorities and border enforcement staff. We have no control over this process and cannot
be held liable for any situation which leads to you not gaining a visa or relevant work permit.
Should you have any queries regarding entry to the Caribbean we recommend you contact the relevant High Commission. Saint Lucia:
https://www.govt.lc/ministries/external-affairs-international-trade-and-civil-aviation/high-commission-for-saint-lucia
- Amendments and cancellations by you to the placement
Amendments and cancellations must be confirmed in writing/email to the Caribbean Elective office. Here are the contact details for the
Caribbean Elective office:
info@caribbeanelective.com/Caribbean Elective, 42 Twynham Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 5AS.
Changes to your placement after you have received the placement confirmation document can result in additional charges being made
to you. This will be calculated and quoted to you before the requested changes are carried out.
You may cancel your placement, however, if cancellation is undertaken past the due date of the policy, you will be charged a fee and
loss of your deposit. These cancellation due dates and details of the associated charges are shown below:
a) Notice of 90 days or more before your departure date: Your £200 deposit will be retained by Caribbean Elective.
b) Notice of between 60 and 90 days before your departure date: Your £200 deposit + a third of your placement/project fee will be
retained by Caribbean Elective.
c) Notice of between 31 and 59 days before your departure date: Your £200 deposit + two-thirds of your placement/project fee will be
retained by Caribbean Elective.
d) Notice of fewer than 30 days before your departure date: No refund will be given, and your £200 deposit and placement fee will be
retained by Caribbean Elective.
e) Not showing up for your placement (This includes you not being able to participate in your placement due to you missing your
flight): No refund will be given, and your £200 deposit and placement fee in full will be retained by Caribbean Elective.
If prior to your cancellation notice being received, you have not made payments equivalent to the subsequent charge for your
cancellation then you will be invoiced for the total outstanding amount.
In some cases, we are able to agree to requests to postpone your placement. However, this is assessed on a case-by-case basis and
should we incur any costs to change the dates of your placement we will additionally charge you for this. Upon request for
postponement, we will assess the situation and if necessary provide a quote to move the dates before the postponement is made.
Requests for postponement and date changes must be received in writing. Decisions made in relation to such requests are made
entirely at the discretion of Caribbean Elective.
Should you decide to curtail your placement for any reason once it has started you will be subject to the full costs of the placement,
repatriation and an administrative fee. If we incur any costs as a direct result of the curtailment of your placement we reserve the right
to charge you an administration fee to recover these incurred costs.
- Providing Services
Subject to the terms set out in this document we will provide you with a placement package on the dates agreed between us and you.
We agree to provide the services made out to you on your placement confirmation document.
Please find below details of which each service stated on your confirmation includes. Please note your package may include only some
of these items and will not necessarily include all of the below.
Return Airport Transfers: We will collect you from the airport on your arrival and drop you off again on your departure date. Please note
the exact timings of your transfers may be affected by other students also requiring transfers on the same dates as you or your group.
Placement: We will arrange for your to participate in a work experience placement, elective placement or volunteering project.
Whichever you have requested.
Placement-related fees: Some placements we arrange, mainly healthcare-related ones are subject to fees charged by your host
organisation. We will cover these fees if we state placement-related fees in your confirmation. Please note changes to these fees are
out of our control and if they are increased or decreased by your host organisation we have the right to adapt the overall cost of your
package to reflect this.
Accommodation: We will provide you with accommodation which is suitable for your to live in and serves the main purpose of your trip,
to carry out your placement or project. In most cases, this will be shared accommodation, for example, a house with several bedrooms
and communal bathroom and kitchen facilities. In most cases, you will be expected to share a bedroom with one other student of the
same sex. If you are travelling in a group we will whenever possible try to pair you in a room with another member of your group.
Work-related transport: if this item is included in your package we will provide you with transport to and from your workplace on
working days. This will usually be in private Caribbean Elective transport but in rare occurrences such as broken down vehicles or
limited access to vehicles could be a public bus where your fare will be covered by us. We will also endeavour wherever to provide you
with a weekly trip to the supermarket to assist you in your living. Please note that the transport provided to you in your package does
not include any transport for leisure-related trips, for example, beach trips, excursions or shopping outings. The transport we provide is
strictly for work commuting and airport transfers only. Our staff in the Caribbean will be more than happy to connect you with local
drivers that we know and trust to provide you with transport options to help you in getting around in your free time.
Support and guidance from Caribbean Elective Reps on the island and pre-departure: Your rep(s) have three key job roles. Firstly to
care for you and ensure your safety by advising you on how to live safely in the Caribbean, and secondly to help you make the most of
your experience by providing support and advice. Lastly logistics. They are provided by us to facilitate the successful ongoings and
logistics of your placement. They are not under any circumstances providing a butler, waiter, or cook-type service. It is not in their job
role to have any role in your leisure time on your trip, of course, they will use their experience to advise and help you but they are not
expected to actively get involved, drive you anywhere or travel with you. The package you receive from us is designed to help you carry
out your placement or project involvement, what you do in your spare time is up to you and it is not under the remit of your rep to
have any involvement in this.
Pre-departure support involves contact with one of our team to help answer any questions that you may have, arrange your trip and in
general assist you.
We will make every effort to make sure that your placement goes ahead as agreed however it is possible that events outside our
control may cause delays, cancellations or curtailment. If your placement agreed with us gets cancelled after you have submitted your
deposit we will wherever possible endeavour to look for an alternative. However, this is not always possible and unfortunately, this is
out of our control. Our host placement and project providers are independent of us and do have the right to change their minds and
cancel. If no replacement activity can be found you are still entitled to use the remaining items in your package for example
accommodation and transfers however we can offer no partial or full refunds.
Should you fail to make payments to us for your placement in line with your agreed payment schedule then we may at our discretion
either cancel the placement in its entirety or suspend it until further payments are received by us. We will inform you in writing should
any situation regarding missed payments arise. If you fail to make your payments in full before the date of your travel we reserve the
right to cancel your trip immediately.
It is possible that your placement provider may make changes to your placement or cancel your placement at any time, this is out of
our control and we cannot be held liable for such an event.
Amendments, cancellations and curtailments by us
All of our placements are made for each student on an individual basis. Such is the nature of running an overseas programme that in
some rare situations it may be necessary for us to make changes to your placement, such as dates, location of work placement, island,
or the type of accommodation. We shall inform you should any such situation arise which has affected your agreed placement with us.
In the rarest of situations, we may have to cancel or curtail your placement. We will avoid this wherever possible and will only be done
as a last resort. In this situation, we will refund all fees paid. This will be the full extent of our liability and we cannot accept
responsibility for any other fees which you may incur, such as flight ticket penalties.
We do not sell tours or activities under any circumstances. If you arrange activities then this will be a contract and agreement between
yourselves and the operating company and not Caribbean Elective, therefore they carry all liability.
We are not liable for any activities you have partaken in outside your work placement and in your free time.
- Events outside of our control
We cannot be held liable for any failure to perform or delay in the performance of, any of our obligations under the terms stated in this
document that is caused by an event outside of our control.
An event outside of our control can be defined as any act or event beyond our reasonable control, including and without limitation
strikes, lock-outs, or other industrial action taken by third parties, civil commotion, riot, invasion, security threats, terrorist attacks, war,
or threat or preparation for war, fire, explosion, storm, flood, earthquake, subsidence, epidemic, or other natural disasters, or failure of
public or private telecommunications/infrastructure networks.
Should an event outside our our control occur that may affect the performance of our obligations under these terms we will contact you
as soon as possible.
- If there is a problem with the services
We do everything we can to ensure that you have a fantastic experience with us on your placement, however, should a situation arise
in which you are not happy with the services you are receiving then you should follow the standard complaints procedure which is
outlined below.
In the first instance, you should approach the Caribbean Elective Destination Manager in your location who is best placed to react to
your complaint and take any immediate action where possible to rectify the situation. Upon receiving your complaint they will log it as
received and act accordingly.
Should you be unhappy with this response you should then write to/email our UK office. We will be able to take further action to rectify
your complaint.
Should neither of these steps satisfy your complaint and you wish to write to us further then you should write/email to the UK office
within 30 days of your return home. At this point, we will hold a detailed investigation into the complaint in which we gather
information from all persons involved. We will submit our findings to you. After this investigation, we will conclude what action is
required.
We are unable to take any action on complaints if they are not made following this procedure.
- Accommodation
We will provide you with accommodation for the length of your placement unless otherwise agreed in writing with us.
It is your responsibility to keep your accommodation clean. You should take care to avoid damage to your accommodation, including
public areas. Should damage occur then you will be liable to cover the costs of repair or replacement, or loss of our deposit.
You may not invite anyone who is not a Caribbean Elective staff member or client into your accommodation without first gaining
permission from the Managing Caribbean Elective staff member.
Whilst every effort is made by us to arrange accommodation for you which is safe and secure we cannot be held responsible for any
losses or damages to valuables or other items, this includes theft and emergency situations such as evacuations or fire.
You are responsible for ensuring that your passport and any other important travelling documents are kept safe for the duration of your
trip.
You are expected to behave appropriately within your accommodation and with regard to other guests. You are expected to behave
appropriately regarding the rules of the accommodation. Any damage that you make to the apartment will be charged to you for the
costs of replacement or repair.
Should you invite a guest into the apartment you are responsible for their behaviours and actions and will be liable for any fines or
charges they may cause.
Should you use any items or equipment within your accommodation, for example, such as kitchen utensils, they must be left after the
end of your use in an acceptable state for the next person to use.
You are expected to keep your accommodation in a respectable condition. Our staff will oversee this and have the right to hold you to
account if they feel standards are below what we expect.
- Pricing and Payments
When the details of your placement have been discussed between you and Caribbean Elective then you will be sent a document called
“Placement Confirmation”. This document will outline to you the arrangements which you have finalised with us and will show what is
included in your packages as well as the final price. Our prices may change at any time but once you have received your placement
confirmation document and you have put down your deposit then any changes will not affect you.
Should you wish to make any changes to the package which has been confirmed to you in your placement confirmation then we may
have to alter the price of your placement. Should this be the case you will receive a new and updated version of your placement
confirmation.
To confirm your placement, dates, prices and any other terms stated in your placement confirmation document a non-refundable
deposit of £200 must be received by Caribbean Elective by the allotted date. Until the deposit is received Caribbean Elective have the
right to make amendments to your placement including to the overall price.
The total amount due for your placement which is shown in your payment plan and also in your placement confirmation must be
received no later than 30 days before the start of your placement.
Should you miss any scheduled payments or fail to make payments Caribbean Elective may cancel your placement. Should we need to
cover any losses made as a result of your cancellation then we may not issue any refund.
The £200 deposit required to confirm your placement is non-refundable under all circumstances.
Should you not understand or have any queries about payments and pricing you should contact our UK office at the very soonest
opportunity. It is your responsibility to understand the obligation which you have to make payments for your placement. Once you have
submitted your deposit to us you have entered a contractual agreement with Caribbean Elective which is defined by the terms in this
document.
- Our Liability to you
If we fail to comply with these terms, we are responsible for loss or damage that is a foreseeable result of our breach of the terms or
our negligence, but we are not responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable. Loss or damage is foreseeable if they
occurred as an obvious consequence of our breach of terms or if they were contemplated by you and us at the time at which we
entered this agreement.
We have no liability to you for any opportunities or events missed. We have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business,
business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.
You should be aware that any booking made with us is made with the understanding that you come on our programme at your own
risk. It is not possible for us to have any control over much of what will go on during your placement, such as the locals, local transport,
and employees of the institution which you work with. Equally, we cannot be held accountable for any events which occur which are out
of our control. This is why we require you to take out appropriate and comprehensive insurance for the entire length of your placement.
- Your responsibility
When you are at your placement you agree to act appropriately and agree to be bound by their rules and by the regulations and
policies with which your placement provider works and any other reasonable directions provided to you.
Should a situation arise in which you are dismissed from your placement then we cannot be held liable for this. We will not be under
any obligation to issue any refund to you or make any changes to your itinerary which was planned with you placement in mind.
Should you be unhappy with anything to do with your placement including if you have any complaints about the way you are being
treated then you should follow the complaints procedure laid out in these terms to inform us of this.
You agree to keep all information confidential when on your placement and you will not publicly share any details regarding, practices,
clients/patients into the public domain.
You are expected to behave and conduct yourselves in a positive and respectful manner whilst on our programme. Should any
behaviour which we reasonably believe is below the standard that we expect of our clients or brings Caribbean Elective into disrepute
then we have the right to take action. Examples of these negative behaviours include but are not limited to illegal activity, damage to
property, poor behaviour, offensive behaviour, abusive behaviour, taking of drugs, possession of drugs or illegal items for any reason,
disregard for local customs and cultural differences and poor behaviour during your work hours.
Should you be found in our reasonable view to be acting below the standard that we expect of our clients then we will follow the
following procedure. Should the behaviour be considered inappropriate by one of our Reps then the Destination Manager in your
location will be informed and you will be verbally warned and our staff will make a note of this warning. Should this happen again then
the UK office will be informed when a decision to remove you from our programme may be taken. Should your behaviour be considered
by one of our staff as highly inappropriate and serious then this will be escalated immediately to the UK office via the Destination
Manager of your location without prior warning to you. A decision will then be made by us as to whether it would be appropriate to
remove you from our programme with immediate effect.
We have the right to suspend your placement whilst an investigation is carried out by us into your conduct.
Should a situation arise in which you are removed from our programme by us for any reason then we will outline the reasons why we
have come to the decision and we will ask you to depart from our programme with immediate effect. We will not be made liable for any
costs you may incur as a result of leaving our programme, and you will receive no compensation for any parts of your placement that
you have not completed.
Should you wish not to return home in the event that you have been removed from our programme then any duty of care which we
have to you will end and we will not be responsible for anything related to you or your activities including your transportation or
accommodation.
The taking, possession of or dispersion of any drugs/illegal items/substances is strictly prohibited. If you are found to have done so
then you will be removed from the programme with immediate effect.
- Privacy/GDPR: Your personal information and how we use and it
We will use the personal information you provide us with to process your application, reply to enquiries, provide a sales service, and to
provide the placement you request. We will also use it to process your payments. Personal information which we may store with your
permission includes phone numbers, email address, details of next of kin for emergency purposes, addresses for receipt of packages
and post, IP addresses, your name, details of your university course and passport information.
For payments we use the payment processing software provided by Stripe, this is GDPR compliant. Therefore your information is secure
when you create an online logon with us.
It may be required for us to share some of your relevant personal information with your placement provider and our overseas staff so
that they may properly organise and host your placement.
Should you wish to request from us what personal information we hold of you then you may do so by contacting our office. It is also
possible for you to request that your personal information is no longer held by us. It is only with your permission that we will store data
and we will only hold data which is relevant and still needs to be stored.
For the purpose of checking the performance of our website we use Googles Analytics software to analyse the usage and behaviours of
users. Google Analytics will automatically store the IP addresses and cookies of the devices which users use to access our website. We
will only use this data for the purpose of analytics.
- Other important terms
We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another organisation and we will always notify you in writing should
this occur.
This contract is between you and us and does not affect any other person.
Each of the paragraphs in these terms operates separately and should any relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful
then the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.
If we fail to insist that you perform any of your obligations under the terms or if we do not enforce our rights against you or if we delay
in doing so, that will not mean that we have waived our rights against you and will not mean that you do not have to still comply with
those obligations. If we do waive by default to you we will only do so in writing and that will not mean that we will automatically waive
any later default by you.
The terms stated are applied and come under the jurisdiction of English Law.
- How you should contact us
You may write to us at our UK office address: Caribbean Elective, 42 Twynham Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 5AS. You may also
email us using info@caribbeanelective.com.
- Booking your flights
Please be aware that often flight bookings cannot be cancelled or adapted after booking without great expense. We cannot be held
liable once you have booked your flights for any changes in your placement or trip itinerary that are out of our control such as your
host organisation pulling out or severe weather that could affect your flight booking.
Please always double-check your flight booking before proceeding with our team and you must book on dates agreed with us as we
carefully plan arrival and departure dates to suit our programme. Should you choose not to book on the agreed dates then we may
have to request you arrange your own transport to or from the airport and we will not be liable for the cost of this.
We cannot be liable for any financial losses if your flight is cancelled or delayed due to reasons beyond our control. This includes any
epidemics or pandemics.
- Governing Law
This Agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England.
- COVID refund policy
16.1 To qualify for our COVID refund policy a deposit of £200 must be received by Caribbean Elective within the time frame stated on
the Payment Plan provided.
16.2 Caribbean Elective will issue a refund of the full amount paid if the traveller is unable to start their placement or project as a result
of one or more of the following reasons: International travel restrictions, FCO advice against all non-essential travel (which includes the
inclusion of the destination country being red-listed), border closures, or the inability for the placement to go ahead for COVID related
reasons, for example, but not limited to the unwillingness or inability of the placement or project host organisation to host students due
to COVID related reasons.
16.3 Caribbean Elective will also provide a refund to travellers if their school, college, or university categorically bans or cancels
overseas travel in line with government advice.
16.4 Caribbean Elective will not provide a refund under the COVID refund policy if the traveller decides not to travel when travel is
possible under FCO and WHO guidelines and the placement or project can still go ahead. In this case the normal cancellation policy
applies. If the destination country is on either the Green or Amber travel lists then we shall consider that travel is possible.
16.5 Caribbean Elective will not offer a refund to the traveller if they are able to arrive for their placement or project but are unable to
complete the duration due to COVID-related reasons. In this instance, the traveller must use their travel insurance to assist them.
16.6 The COVID refund policy only applies to Coronavirus 2019, and does not apply to any other illness, type of coronavirus, pandemic,
natural disaster, disease, or other health condition. Caribbean Elective will not offer the same or similar refund policy for any other
condition.
16.7 If a local lockdown is introduced during your trip which stops you from being able to participate in your placement then we will
advise you to return home as soon as possible. We cannot be held responsible for covering or contributing towards any flight charges or
costs which may occur as the result of you changing your flight date. You are responsible for paying any charges for changing flights.
In the event that you return home, we will be happy to offer you a credit voucher for the remaining and unused full weeks of your
placement. You can redeem this voucher to return and complete your placement within 2 years. The two-year period will begin from
the day you leave the Caribbean.
16.8 If you test positive prior to your departure date and this means you cannot travel under the guidelines at the time then you will be
able to request the dates of your trip are postponed until you are once again able to travel. Please note Caribbean Elective is not
responsible for any charges you may incur as a result of changing your flights to these new dates.
16.9 If you are planning to travel in a group and you or more members of your group test positive prior to your departure date and this
means you cannot travel under the guidelines at the time then you will be able to request the dates for your group. Please note that we
are under no obligation to move the travel dates of any members of the group who do not test positive. We will try to keep your
group’s travel dates together wherever possible but if the costs we incur are too high then we may be unable to do this.
- Force Majeure
Neither Party will be liable for any failure or delay in performing an obligation under this Agreement that is due to any of the following
causes, to the extent beyond its reasonable control: acts of God, accident, riots, war, terrorist act, epidemic, pandemic, quarantine, civil
commotion, breakdown of communication facilities, breakdown of web host, breakdown of internet service provider, natural
catastrophes, governmental acts or omissions, changes in laws or regulations, national strikes, fire, explosion, generalised lack of
availability of raw materials or energy.
For the avoidance of doubt, Force Majeure shall not include (a) financial distress nor the inability of either party to make a profit or
avoid a financial loss, (b) changes in market prices or conditions, or (c) a party’s financial inability to perform its obligations hereunder.
Force Majeure shall not include the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic which is ongoing as of the date of the execution of this
agreement.
- Agreeing to these terms
When completing your deposit payment you are acknowledging your understanding and willingness to comply with the terms as stated
in this document.
- Caribbean Elective Office Contact Details
If you need to contact the Caribbean Elective office you should use one of the following methods:
Email:
info@caribbeanelective.com
Mail:
Caribbean Elective
42 Twynham Road
Maidenhead
Berkshire
SL6 5AS