CANCELLATION POLICY

MSCS Conferences and Events Cancellation Policy

1. General

All the Medical and Social Care Services (MSCS) cancellations and refunds requests must be made in writing as indicated below. Requests must be sent to the MSCS Events Office. Requests may be mailed or emailed (contact information below). Telephone requests will not be honoured.

2. Full Refunds–More than 30 days’ notice

To receive a full refund, MSCS must receive written requests no later than 30 days prior to the first day of the conference or event.  Please see the rules below for those who registered as students, as evidence of student status at the time of registration for the conference/event from the respective colleges or universities or schools must be submitted by the delegates.  If the evidence of student status is not submitted with 20 days of registration, then the student registration will be cancelled and no refunds will be due.  If further costs are incurred I the preparing and sending of visa documents to the delegates and Embassies, then the delegate will be required to pay these additional costs.

50% Refunds–Less than 30 days’ notice Requests for refunds received by MSCS within 30 days, but not within the final 14 days, prior to the conference or event will be eligible for a 50% refund, less administration and other fees concerned in the process.  Again, please see the rules below for those who registered as students, as evidence of student status at the time of registration for the conference/event from the respective colleges or universities or schools must be submitted by the delegates.  If the evidence of student status is not submitted with 20 days of registration, then the student registration will be cancelled and no refunds will be due.  If further costs are incurred I the preparing and sending of visa documents to the delegates and Embassies, then the delegate will be required to pay these additional costs.

3. None Eligibility for Refunds 

• No refunds–Within 14 days

Requests for refunds within 14 days prior to the start of the conference will not be eligible for a refund.

• No refunds–After Publication of your abstract in the conference book of proceedings.

• No refunds – After we had sent letters of invitations and supporting documents for visas and delegates subsequent withdrawal from the event.

Requests for refunds after the publication of a registered delegates abstract in the Official Conference Book of Proceedings will not be eligible for a refund, as it constitutes a breach of contract.

4. Instances When Refunds Cannot be Paid 

The following rules apply:

• If a person provides false information about their status, for example, if a person wrongly claimed that he/she is a student when he/she has finished their courses, their registration will be cancelled and he/she will not be entitled to any refund in any way. 
• All the people registering for the conference as students must provide evidence from their College or University or School; stating that they are students, and providing information about when their sources star and when it will finish.  This information must be provided before the end of the conference due to the fact that we need to provide correct ad accurate information on certificates issues and to officials like Embassies and accrediting bodies for our events.
• Refunds will not be paid after the Association has processed and sent off visa documents on behalves of a person to Embassies.  Any requests for refunds after contacts have be made to Embassies with various agents, and documents delivered to Embassies on behalf of the delegate will not be paid.
• Refunds will not be paid when a person suddenly withdraws from attending the conference after visa documents have been delivered to the Embassy. 
• If there is an emergency, in case the delegate is unwell, valid evidence must be submitted to the Events Committee for their consideration.  Merely saying any excuse/reason without any documentary evidence that will be verified will not be accepted
•   If a person claims that they cannot locate the events venue/location, or they cannot contact the event’s Organisers at the specified venue, no refunds will be made due to the fact that the Organisers had already incurred costs in preparing materials and delegates’ packs and in organising the event.
• If the event/meeting needs to be cancelled or postponed due to cancellation of flights or travel arrangements, which means that the Organisers have no means of getting to the event on the specified dates.  In this case, another date or alternative event will be offered to all delegates affected by the unforeseen circumstances.
   

5. Special Note on Refunds Requests

Please note that no refunds will be processed or paid until after the date of the event in order to allow time for reports of the events to be received by the Committee and verified.  This is important to check attendances and make sure that the correct evidence like student status, any evidence of circumstance and accounting process are verified and complete.

6. Author/Speaker refunds

• Authors who have their papers included in the Official Conference Book of Proceedings are not eligible for a refund. Authors may receive a refund if they withdraw their papers before the paper is included in electronic or hard-copy of the Book of Proceedings. This is usually 25 days to the start of the event.

• If an Author withdrew or successfully claimed back his or her conference fee from nay finance company after his or her abstract has been published in the official Conference Book of Proceedings, the Conference Organisers/Collaborators reserve the right to treat the Delegate’s abstract(s) publication as an open access publication and send an invoice to the delegate for payment.  This request for payment will be pursued until payment is received because the publication cannot be revised as the abstract has been printed and published by the Publishers to available in the public domain. The bands that we charge for Open Access Publications are guided by the Publishers. It is treated as a journal article publication, which can be stated below:

PROCESSING CHARGES FOR BOOK OF PROCEEDINGS AND JOURNAL ARTICLES AND ABSTRACTS ARE STATED IN THE TABLE BELOW:

All prices are excluding VAT.

• ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGE (APC) BY PUBLISHING OPTION

• The prices do not include Value-Added Tax (VAT). Residents of European Union countries need to add VAT based on their specific country rate. Institutions and companies, outside of Croatia, registered as VAT taxable entities in their own EU member state, will not pay VAT by providing MSCS with their VAT registration number. This is made possible by the EU reverse charge method.

7. Emergency illness or Death of Registrant or Immediate Family Member

Refunds may be granted if an attendee is unable to attend the Conference due to a family death, illness or other extraordinary circumstance (at the discretion of the Organising Committee). In such circumstance, the Events Office must be contacted by letter or email.  Approved refunds would be made less administration and other fees concerned in the process.

8. Substitution Policy

• Registrants may send a substitute in their place in lieu of requesting a refund. The Events Office must be notified of this at least 10 days prior to the start of the event or conference.

• If a delegate who is supposed to be presenting the paper cannot attend, he/she may send another co-author to present the work in their place.  Again, the Events Office must be notified of this at least 10 days prior to the start of the event or conference.

9.  Visa Letters and refunds

Visa letters and invites cannot be produced until payment for registration has been made. In the event that a visa cannot be obtained, a refund may be given subject to various factors. Notification of this must be given to the Events Office at least 10 days prior to the start of the Conference or Event. Visa refusal letters must also be sent to the Events Office before any refund will be processed.  Again refund would be made less administration and other fees concerned in the process.

10. Transfer of Registration to another MSCS Conference, Course or Event

If a registered delegate(s) cannot attend an event due to visa refusal or illness, bereavement and other circumstances, the candidate can apply to have his/registration transferred to another conference.  This would allow time for the delegate to resolve the issues and obtain the visas required to attend the vent in case of visa refusal with genuine queries or other factors.

11.  Transfer of Registration to another MSCS Conference, Course or Event and Moving of Events' Dates and/or venue by the Organisers

If a registered delegate(s) cannot attend an event due to visa refusal, visa delays or illness, bereavement and other circumstances, the candidate(s) can request to have his/her (their) registration transferred to another conference.  The Organisers reserves the right to move the event to the next available one due to the unforeseen circumstance(s).  This would allow time for the delegate to resolve the issues and obtain the visas required to attend the event in case of visa refusal with genuine queries or other factors, or the Organisers to move the event to another date ad or venue, as the case may be. 

12. Cancellations and Rescheduling of Events due to Unforeseen Circumstances

If an event is rescheduled or moved to other dates or venue due to unforeseen circumstances by Organisers or in the event of the case where an event needs to be moved for whatever reasons, registered delegates that cannot make it in the next event date can be entitled to refunds following our policies and procedures.  Please note that the MSCS does not refund or pay for people's flights/travel costs, hotel/accommodation or any other personal demand for payments due to the fact that the Association is a not for profit healthcare membership organisation with charitable intent, with the main objective of promoting excellence in patient care and education.  Hence the Association gives equal opportunities to all healthcare professionals internationally in order to attend the Association's events.

13. Refund time scale

The Events Team will refund fees 60 to 90 days after the event in order to allow time for all reports and returns regarding the event to be made.   Please note that sometimes it may take longer to process refunds if there are complicated issues to resolve before refunds are made.  It is also very important to note that refunds can only be made via the same payment method that it was originally received from for correct accounting purposes.

14. Accommodation

For accommodation cancellation policies, please refer to the individual hotel policies noted on their Websites. Any amendments to original hotel bookings must be forwarded via email to the Conference office. Verbal changes or cancellations cannot be accepted nor will the hotels accept any changes direct.

15. Special Notices

• Please note that all refunds are also subject to administration charge/fee of £25, plus the deducted percentages due for refund.  Refunds will only be processed and made about 60 to 90 days after the event in question in order to take care of the annual returns and reports required as stated above.  Once again refunds may take longer to complete if there are issues and matters arising to be resolved. 

• It is also extremely important to note that we are a not for profit Organisation that is required by the law to produce current accounting.  Our main aim is to promote excellence in patient care and education through medical practice education and research.  We therefore do not deal with buying and selling of goods for profit and we do not deliver goods, as it is outside the scope of our membership organisation.  Therefore any attempt to abuse our objective will not be tolerated in any way.   

 Approved by the Events Committee Members on 15 August 2015 and Signed on their behalves by:

Dr Robert Jackson

Senior Committee Member/Chair of the Events Committee

To request a refund contact:

The Events Manager
MSCS Conferences and Events Services
Community Development, Medical and Education Services

27 Old Gloucester Street

London WC1N 3AX, England, United Kingdom

Email: conferences@medicalscs.co.uk