Terms and Conditions & PRIVACY POLICY

Confirmation

Outward Bound requires full disclosure of all medical and criminal history. Confirmation of your enrolment is subject to approval from the Outward Bound NZ medical screening team. Read our Participation Guidelines here.

Safety

Your safety and welfare is our primary concern, however, you do participate at your own risk and there are times without direct staff supervision. Our courses are designed to be mentally, emotionally and physically challenging, with long days and a good night’s sleep not guaranteed. Activities occur in all weather conditions and can include off-track tramping, camping (sometimes alone), kayaking, running, sailing, swimming, rock climbing, and high-ropes.

Although we have procedures in place to minimise risk, none of these risks can be completely eliminated. When undertaking any activity, you will be briefed on the risks and how to manage them. There is a chance you could get a cold, stomach illness, blisters, sunburn, exhaustion, wasp stings, infected cuts or insect bites, sprains, or some other injury, and may be asked to sit out certain activities.

There have been no major life-changing injuries at Outward Bound in over 20 years, however, serious risks can never be completely eliminated. These include death or injury from falling, burns, hypothermia, heat stress, drowning or road accidents. To reduce the likelihood of a serious accident we have a robust externally audited safety management system, which includes trained staff, up-to-date weather forecasts, robust communication protocols, modern equipment, and emergency procedures.

Privacy

Personal information

Your personal information will be held confidential to Outward Bound, in accordance with the Privacy Act (2020), for the purposes of Outward Bound courses and associated administration, including promotional activities. You have the right to see all information held by Outward Bound and may ask at any time for that information to be corrected. You authorise Outward Bound the right to send a copy of your course report to your course fee sponsors, including employers if requested.

Promotional material

You authorise Outward Bound the right to use your name, comments and images (video footage or photographs) that are obtained in relation to your Outward Bound participation and to disclose this information to third parties for marketing and public relations purposes; these materials will remain the property of Outward Bound. You grant Outward Bound permission to contact you by email, including a regular e-newsletter and other updates.

Surveys – for research purposes

The Outward Bound Outcomes Survey (OBOS) has been developed by Outward Bound International (OBI), the international organization that provides oversight of the global Outward Bound network of Schools. This, along with the Outward Bound NZ Personal Effective Questionnaire (PEQ) are designed to evaluate impact and effectiveness.

Responses collected from these surveys will be used only for research purposes by Outward Bound NZ and Outward Bound International (OBI) and will only be presented as collective information in reports, articles or publications. All responses will remain anonymous and participant particulars will be held with strict confidence.

Thank you for supporting us by participating in these surveys and, by doing so, assisting OBI and OBNZ to ensure that our programs continue to impact and change the lives of more people around the world.

Drugs and Alcohol

Outward Bound has a strict no-smoking and no-vaping policy. No alcohol or non-prescription drugs are permitted.

Fitness

If are not able to meet the fitness criteria for your course you may be asked to leave – for the safety and benefit of you and your watchmates. It is therefore important that you are prepared for your course before you arrive.

Medical Form

Your Outward Bound medical form must be completed by a medical doctor or nurse practitioner no more than 90 days* before your course, and returned 8 weeks before your course start date. You will be sent a medical form later in the enrolment process.

*Mind Body Soul, Classic, and Leaps & Bounds course participants’ medical forms are valid for 180 days, unless told otherwise.

Confirmation of your enrolment is subject to approval from both your doctor and Outward Bound; this is to ensure your and others’ safety, and quality course outcomes for all.

If you are attending one of our 5 Day Professional courses, you don't need to complete our Medical Form with a doctor. Instead, you will need to simply complete our Medical Declaration form yourself.

Information Accuracy

Your booking may be cancelled or you may be sent home from your course at your own expense if you give false information, withhold relevant information, or don’t update us with any new relevant information, unless permitted by law.

Willing to Participate

Outward Bound is an adventure. For the benefit of yourself and other course participants, you must be willing to fully participate in your course, comply with all instructions, and respect others, their beliefs and belongings. Otherwise, you may be sent home at your own expense.

Liability

To the maximum extent allowable by New Zealand law, Outward Bound is not liable to you for injury, damage, delays, or other additional costs you incur. Also, for our international participants, these terms and conditions and your participation in our courses are governed by New Zealand law. You are therefore subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of New Zealand courts. 

Payment & Refunds

Paying your course fee

Full payment is required 8 weeks before your course start date. Course fees are in NZ dollars and are GST inclusive. For support with fundraising head to our funding page.

Transfers

Your full course fee may be transferred only once to another course date up to 30 days before your original course start date. Transfers are not applicable to scholarship funding provided by Outward Bound. Any additional transfers will incur a fee of $749 per transfer. Transfer requests within 30 days of a course start date will be handled on a case by case basis.

Refunds, cancellations & departures policy

Your course fee, less your $749 deposit, is refundable up to 30 days before your course start date. Deposits are non-refundable except for medical reasons, at which point a verified medical certificate is required within 7 days of cancellation to be eligible for a refund. If you cancel within 30 days of your course starting, your full course fee is not transferable or refundable. Cancellations must be received in writing i.e. email.

If you depart due to an injury or illness* incurred on course, and you have completed less than 70% of your course, you will receive a pro-rata refund, e.g. you will be refunded for each day of your course you did not complete, less your deposit. If you have completed 70% or more of your course, you will not receive a pro-rata refund.

If you have received Outward Bound scholarship funding towards your course fee or you are participating in any custom design course, refunds are handled on a case by case basis.

If you depart early or are sent home from your course due to behaviour or motivation barriers, your course fee is not transferable or refundable

If you depart your course due to an undisclosed existing medical or mental health condition, your course fee is not transferable or refundable.

*Due to the critical setup phase of the first three days of your course, if you fall ill and need to be isolated during the first three days of your course you will not be able to continue your course. In this instance, you will be eligible for a pro-rata refund as detailed above. 

Professional Courses

Full payment of a Professional course fee is due by the 20th of the month following the date on your invoice. Course fees are in NZ dollars and are GST inclusive.

Fees are refundable up to 45 days prior to the commencement of the course, less an administration fee of 10%. Fees are non-refundable except for medical reasons, at which point a medical certificate is required for cancellation.

Sickness on Course

As with many other New Zealand educational institutions, international participants are charged an additional fee for courses. As a non-profit organisation, we source funding to reduce our course fees for New Zealand citizens and residents. Unfortunately international participants are not eligible for this funding.

An additional charge of $1000NZD for 21-day courses and $500NZD for 8-day courses applies to all non-New Zealand Citizens/Residents. 

Please note that to safely participate in our courses you need to have a good understanding of English. Our instructors are all English speakers, and are not able to translate information into different languages.

Your privacy is important to us, so here’s some information about how we gather and use your details. By using our website and entering information about yourself, you agree to be legally bound by our privacy policy (which we may edit from time to time). We only use information we’ve collected from you for the reason for which it was collected, and for the purposes outlined below.

Types of Information Collected

Outward Bound collects non-personally identifiable information via Google Analytics and personally identifiable information from our online forms.

Non-personally identifiable information might include your IP address, your browser type or operating system, the domain name from which you linked to our site, your city, and other general demographic information. We use this information to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer our website. We may share it with our affiliates or business partners at an aggregated level.

Personally identifiable information from our merchandise transactions, and donation, registration, contact, booking, competition and survey forms could include your name, telephone number, home address and e-mail address. We may use this information to contact you, but you can opt-out of receiving future information from us. We will keep your personal information confidential, in accordance with the Privacy Act (2020), for the purposes of Outward Bound courses, administration, and promotional activities.

We will not sell or disclose your personally identifiable information to any third party unless: (i) we change website hosts or our host transfers business assets (as described below); (ii) we first obtain permission from you; (iii) we need to share it with agents or contractors who perform services for us; (iv) you have received a sponsorship for your course fee and your donor would like a copy of your course report; or (v) we are required by law to disclose it.

Promotional material

Once you have booked on an Outward Bound Course, you authorise Outward Bound the right to use your name, comments and images obtained in relation to your Outward Bound participation, and to disclose this information to third parties for promotional purposes; these materials will remain the property of Outward Bound.

You grant Outward Bound permission to contact you by email, including a regular e-newsletter and other updates.

Credit card details

If you pay for items on our site using a Credit Card, your card details are not stored by us and cannot be used by our staff. Our shop uses a secure transaction system hosted by Westpac.

Cookies

A cookie is a small piece of information stored on your computer. Cookies help us improve your user-experience.

We generally use "session" cookies, which expire after 30 minutes of no activity on our website. However some cookies are used for internet statistics and remarketing, so last longer. Cookies cannot damage files, contain no personally identifiable information, and can not read information from the hard drive of a computer. It is possible to disable the acceptance of cookies through your web browser. However, doing so may restrict your ability to access some web pages.

We use online remarketing to help target our advertising to the right people. You can opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting the Google advertising opt-out page. Alternatively you can opt out of cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt out page.

Links

Our website contains links to other sites. The Outward Bound site is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these external sites. We encourage you to review the online policies of any sites you link to.

Security

We will take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of your personally identifiable information. This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. However, we do not assume any liability for third-party usage of your personal information, whether obtained legally or illegally from our system.

Children

The Outward Bound site does not seek to collect any information from children under the age of 13. If any child provides us with personally identifiable information, a parent or guardian can ask us to remove this information from our records.

Contact us

You can see all information held by Outward Bound about you and can ask for that information to be corrected. Please contact us is you would like to change or modify your information, or if you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this website.

USE OF THIS WEBSITE INDICATES YOUR AGREEMENT TO THE TERMS OF USE AND PRIVACY POLICY.

Return of Goods

If you wish to return goods to us, email our shop and include the following information:

• Date of purchase
• Order or Invoice Number
• Reason for Return
• Your name and daytime contact number

Goods must be returned to us in new and unused condition, packed in the original manufacturers packaging, and posted back in protective packaging.

Shipping

We use New Zealand Post Couriers. Delivery time estimates apply to in-stock items, exclude a two business day order processing time and are subject to carrier delays outside our control.

Order confirmation will be emailed to you when we have received your order, and when your order has been shipped.