Vivere l'italiano – Terms & Conditions (T&C) for the provision of private tuition

Scheduling of private/in-house training lessons
The initial timetable for tuition will be arranged between the Course Coordinator for Vivere l’italiano Ltd (“the school”) and the client student/company. Subsequent variations to this timetable may be made between the tutor and student.

An agreed number of lessons/hours is to be agreed to in advance of any lessons commencing, and this number constitutes what is termed a ‘block’ of lessons in this document.

The safety of teachers is a high priority for the school, so if tuition is at the student's home address, they may request a prior meeting or that a first lesson be conducted in a public place (somewhere conducive to having a lesson). This is at the discretion of the tutor.


Fees & Payment
The agreed block of lessons must be paid for in full (cleared funds at least 48 hours in advance) prior to any lessons commencing.

Subsequent blocks of tuition can be arranged once the initial block has (or nearly) been completed on the same basis. Unless otherwise agreed, each lesson will be of 1.5 hours minimum duration (face-to-face) or 1 hour (online).

1. For face-to-face (in person) tuition within London Zones 1 & 2, there is a flat-rate charge of £6 per lesson to cover the tutor's travel expenses. If you require tuition outside Zones 1 & 2, or outside the London travel zones, please notify us of this and we will be happy to quote the appropriate rate for travel.
   
   
2. Most tutors travel to and from the lessons by public transport, so if the lesson location is some distance from the nearest underground or train station, please also notify us of this so we can discuss travel arrangements and/or costs.  This is not usually an issue in the London area.
   
   Online lessons do not involve any travel element and consequently the above notes do not apply.
   
   
3. Teachers need to arrange their schedules in advance during any given term, so a block of at least 6 hours should be booked in order to ensure that the agreed teacher is available on an ongoing basis. Because of this, in the event the student/company needs to arrange and pay for tuition on a lesson-by-lesson basis, we cannot guarantee that the same teacher will be available for every lesson, and reserve the right to provide a replacement teacher.

Validity of tuition fees
Tuition fees paid must be used within 6 months from the date of payment, after which their validity expires. No refund will be available after 6 months.

Refunds
Refunds for private tuition for part or all of the scheduled lessons are at the sole discretion of the school.  In the event a refund is given, it will be subject to the following conditions:

1. A charge equivalent to 50% of any remaining unused balance will be applied.  This charge is to cover the time spent by the school in arranging the course of private tuition, liaising with the student during the course, processing refunds and any unspecified sundry expenses.
   
   
2. If payment for the course has been by debit or credit card or any method which incurs an unrecoverable processing charge to the school (e.g. card processing fees), these fees or charges will be deducted from any refund. Normally, if payment is made by bank transfer in Pounds Sterling within the UK, there are no processing charges.
   
   
3. If a discounted rate has been applied to the current block of lessons, related to the number of hours being taught, and a refund affects the rate charged for the number of hours completed, then the refund amount will be adjusted to reflect this.  Please refer to the following example to clarify this point:
   
   
   1. For example, if the normal rate for private tuition is £42 p.h., and a discount to £40 p.h.. is offered for blocks of over 15 hours.
   2. The student/company decide to book a block of 20 hours and therefore pays £40 x 20 = £800
   3. A refund of 10 hours (half the number booked) is subsequently requested, and the school agrees to this.
   4. The student will therefore only have completed 10 hours which would normally have been charged at £42 p.h.. (totalling £420) and therefore the refunded amount will be £380 (£800 - £420), plus a deduction of the administration charge.

 NOTE: The rates above are for illustrative purposes only. Any actual rates & discounts for tuition will be agreed upon prior to lessons commencing.


Cancellations by the student
A lesson that is cancelled with 24 hours or less notice will be deemed a "Late Cancellation" and will be chargeable as if the lesson had taken place. Cancellations made with more than 24 hours’ notice will not be chargeable.

Late cancellation charges will be limited to a maximum of 2 hours for a single lesson. For example, if a cancelled lesson was to have been longer than 2 hours, only 2 hours are chargeable.


Rescheduling
In the event that a lesson has been cancelled, every effort will be made to re-schedule the lesson at a convenient time for the student and the tutor.


Cancellations by the tutor
If the tutor has to cancel a lesson for any reason they will endeavour to notify the student in a timely manner to minimise any inconvenience to the student. Lessons cancelled by a tutor are not chargeable under any circumstances.


Tutor absence
If a tutor has to be absent for any period of time, the student/company may request a replacement teacher during that period.


Tutors' contracts
Important:
To protect our investment in time and funds in acquiring students for the school, the tutors provided by Vivere l'italiano have a contractual agreement with the school whereby they agree not to work independently for any of the individuals or companies introduced to them by either by the school or by an individual or company for whom they have been providing tuition on behalf of the school. This agreement also provides for Vivere l'italiano to recover any funds paid directly to the tutor by the student/company, without deduction, should there be a breach of this agreement.

We ask, therefore, that students do not approach tutors to provide them with tuition independently of Vivere l'italiano, so as not to compromise their relationship or breach their agreement with us.

Variations to these Terms and Conditions
Variations to the above T&C may be made in certain situations.  In this event, the variations must be agreed to in writing (email is sufficient) by both the school and the student/company and will be binding.