I’m writing this review on behalf of my mother who is very ill. She’s been teaching Pilates for almost 20 years and after attending a few reformer classes she fell in love with it and wanted to pursue her interest, so she booked herself onto a course paying the full amount upfront in August for the course starting in November. Unfortunately, in September she had to undergo a minor routine operation (with short recovery time) but encountered some complications leading to a second more invasive surgery. Needless to say, the stress on the family was enormous, dealing with the possibility that she may not  survive. With a view to remaining positive and looking to the future we contacted HFE to request that her course be deferred to next year in order to allow her enough time to fully recover. After several conversations between the company with my father and myself . It was clear that this company does not have a compassionate bone in its entire organisation. When requesting a deferment we were met with “our company policy says … if you agree to defer by date X we will charge you £100 if you defer after this date we will charge you an additional £250.” What an utter disgrace. Through no fault of my mother’s, she was hospitalised and as a result nearly died, yet these people hide behind their company policies and are trying to squeeze even more money out of her. After 2 months in hospital and a further month receiving treatment in a neurological rehabilitation centre my mum has finally been discharged just in time for Christmas. She has missed so much in the last 3 months: her livelihood, time with her grandson, milestone birthdays, her daughters wedding and the opportunity to get back to work and further her career. HFE your lack of compassion is astounding and you should be ashamed of yourselves.