General terms and conditions, Touch courses outside the Netherlands
Application
1. You can apply to join a course by
sending this on-line form or the form in the Touch Natuur Natumass folder.
Applications by e-mail, letter or telephone are not accepted. The deadline
is 1 June 2011.
2. Touch Amsterdam courses are
intensive. If you have doubts about your health or your capacity to absorb
new information, it is essential to seek advice (for example from your
family physician) before applying.
3. If you know that you have a (medical)
condition that might influence the giving or receiving of massage safely,
you must mention this in advance. Touch will investigate together with you
whether it is advisable to join the course. General contra-indications
include: heart problems, exhaustion, fever; various forms of cancer;
diabetes (depending on type and extent). HIV/AIDS is not in itself a
contra-indication. Local contra-indications (the part of the body affected
may not be massaged) include varicose veins and skin conditions including
open or healing wounds. These local conditions do not in principle prevent
you from attending the week and following the course.These lists are in no
way comprehensive. Consult your family physician!
4. You are welcome to attend with a
friend or acquaintance, but you are equally welcome alone. You do not need
to provide a partner. (See Modus operandi, below.)
Confirmation and payment
1. You will receive a initial letter by
post and/or e-mail that just confirms receipt of your registration. Around
January 2011,but sooner if we have enough participants, or immediately should
you register later, we will send a definitive letter of confirmation and
various folders will be sent by post giving details of, amongst other
things, the course location, a route description and the possibilities for
travelling to El Zorro, the local situation, information about the
surrounding area and possibilities further afield. Around mid-June 2011 you will
be asked to provide details of your travel arrangements and information
about dietary requirements, also a telephone number for next of kin to be
contacted in extreme emergency. This we regard as essential and you agree to
this by agreeing to these terms and conditions. Obviously we are extremely
discreet and wish to stress that the number would be used only in a
life-or-death situation. We do, however, prefer to be realistic about this
as opposed to having to trace people if something does go wrong.
2. Upon receipt of the confirmation
letter, you are asked to pay a deposit of € 200. Details of the Touch bank
account (with IBAN and BIC) are given in the confirmation letter. This
deposit is in principle non-returnable: see the item regarding cancellation,
below, and seriously consider cancellation insurance along with your general
travel insurance. Your place on Natumass 11 is definite only when the
deposit has been paid, that is, when the amount has appeared on the Touch
bank account. The organization and finances of the week are being dealt with
via the massage practice Touch Amsterdam. The day-to-day running of the week
is looked after by the Touch Natuur Foundation.
3. Although Touch expects sufficient
interest in this week, if your registration is quite early, you will be
asked not to make any further arrangements until we have confirmed that
there are enough registrations for the week to happen. Once we do have
enough participants (a minimum of 10), we will inform you of this, as
described in (1), above. It is therefore important that you do not make any
travel arrangements involving payment until we have sent you this
confirmation that the week will definitely happen. (See further under
Cancellation and suspension regarding return of the deposit.)
4. At a certain moment, depending on how
registrations progress, we may have to wait with confirmation until we can
be sure of one more person. It is vital that we have an even number of
participants (see Cancellation and suspension, below). If, for example,
yours is the ninth registration, we will certainly wait until we have a
tenth before confirming your participation. It can also happen that we must
wait for a man or woman to register in order to keep the balance of sexes.
5. The balance of payment is due by 10
July 2011 at the latest: 8 weeks before the course begins. You will not be
admitted to the course or the accommodation unless full payment has been
received. Any travel expenses already incurred by you in this situation are
your responsibility: Touch Amsterdam will not accept responsibility for any
expenses incurred should you not attend, or be allowed to attend, this week.
Again, travel and cancellation insurances are highly recommended. Touch will
provide an invoice for you to present to the insurance company in such an
event or at any time upon request.
6. Should you register after the
deadline of 1 June 2011, assuming, of course, there is still a place for
you, you will be required to pay the full course fee immediately upon
receiving confirmation of your participation.
7. Touch respects your privacy. A folder
bearing your name and country and a photograph (head and shoulders) will be
circulated to other participants about one month before the week commences.
By agreeing to these conditions, you also agree to the distribution of this
folder. No other information held by Touch will be conveyed to others
without your express permission. Touch
never reveals to third parties the
identities of persons attending its courses without their express
permission. Participants are required also to respect the privacy of their
colleagues and to regard as confidential any information of a personal
nature that is exchanged before, during or after the week.
Cancellation and suspension
1. If you have to cancel, the following
conditions apply:
o Should you have to cancel before the course starts, the
deposit will not be returned unless Touch Amsterdam can find someone to take
your place: in other words, unless there is a waiting list and someone on
that list has the time to make the necessary arrangements to attend, or
there is no waiting list but we receive by chance a further registration
(despite the official deadline) that allows us to fill the week. The week is
full with 12 participants.
o Should a replacement be found for you, € 170 will be
returned. € 30 is therefore non-returnable, whatever the circumstances. Any bank costs involved in this restitution are charged to the participant.
o In the case of cancellation less than two monthws before 10
September (after 10 July 2011, therefore), 50% of the course fee will be
retained. Less than one month before 10 September (after 10 August 2011) this will
be 90%. In the case of non-appearance (‘no show’) the complete course fee is
forfeited. Late cancellations carry with them the risk of an odd number of
participants, meaning that one of the teachers has to work as a 'student',
therefore halving the teaching capacity. In all cases, should Touch find a
replacement for you (or should you provide one), then only € 30 will be
retained. At such short notice, finding a replacement may well be extremely
difficult, however. By course fee in the above is meant the total cost of
the week, including accommodation.
o The euro price is definitive. Any bank expenses incurred
are for your reckoning and will be charged by Touch.
o You will be asked for a deposit and further payments
only when we are sure that the week will go ahead (that there are enough
participants).
2. If you stop during the course, or
fail to attend one or more of the course sessions, no money will be
returned.
3. Should the teachers come to the
conclusion that participation in a course is not, or no longer, desirable,
they retain the right to suspend a student from further participation. The
most usual reasons for this could be: (a) that the student is obviously not
able to absorb the material taught; (b) the student's health (mental or
physical) is not strong enough; (c) behaviour of a student that is
considered by the teachers to be undesirable. (This list is not exhaustive.)
In such a situation, Touch is not obliged to return any monies paid,
including travel expenses and so forth, or to compensate the price of other
accommodation occupied by the student until his/her return home, should the
student be expelled from the course centre.
4. The week does not depend on just two
or three people. Should, for example, one of the teachers fall ill, then
Touch will ensure a replacement. Once we have confirmed that the week will
happen, then it will happen.
Modus operandi
1. A technique is demonstrated by one of
the teachers, with the other teacher acting as model, after which the
students try out the technique on each other under the teachers' guidance.
2. You work with a different colleague
each course session. No exception to this will be allowed.
3. By registering for Natumass 11 you
undertake to attend all seven sessions (including the introductory session
during the first evening). See, however, the next point.
4. There are two teachers for the group,
which numbers at the most 12 participants. This means three tables per
teacher for practical assistance. Should one participant be unable to attend
a session, for example due to ill health, a teacher will have to take his
place. The ratio of one teacher per three tables is therefore not
guaranteed.
5. Everyone is naked all the time during
a Natumass week. The only exception to this is when the temperature does not
permit it. Naturism – communal nudity to the benefit of mutual respect – is
a basis of the massage of Touch Natuur and no other exceptions will be made,
except that a staff member may be partially clothed while preparing food or
undertaking any other activity for which hygiene or safety demands some
clothing.
6. Each participant agrees to practise
at least twice outside the course sessions, giving massage for at least half
an hour each time to another participant and being willing to receive
massage for at least half an hour.
Disclaimer
Although every care will be taken to promote the safety and health of
students, Touch Amsterdam or Touch Natuur takes absolutely no responsibility
for this. The course and the rest of the week are attended entirely at the
student's own risk. This applies also to any loss of or damage to the
student's personal property. One of the Touch Natuur teachers or the campsite staff will be on site at all times. This does not, however, influence the
situation regarding the personal responsibility of each student. Neither of
the teachers nor the campsite owners can be held in any way whatsoever for any
injury to a student at any time, however caused, or for damage of his or her
property, however caused.
Deposition of these conditions
These conditions are deposited with the court of the Almere district in the
Netherlands.
