Terms of Service
- Purpose
The purpose of this website is to create a useful service for students and their parents to access tutoring services, connect with private tutors, and utilise educational resources.
- Agreement to the Terms
This sets out the Terms and Conditions (“T’s & C’s”) of your enrolment with Excel Academics (“Excel Academics” or “We”). Please read through this thoroughly before using the services of Excel Academics. By submitting the Registration Form and/or by conducting lessons with Excel Academics will indicate that you have read through these terms and are in agreement with them. In doing so, you are also agreeing to comply with all applicable laws and regulations. Fundamentally, by using, browsing and/or reading Excel Academics contents and services, this signifies that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the Terms. If you do not agree with the Terms, you must cease usage of Excel Academics’ Services, immediately.
If a student has undertaken a lesson with a tutor of Excel Academics before filling out the Registration Form; and the student or their guardian has received a link to the Registration Form via email, these terms of service will apply regardless of whether they have submitted the form (as they have engaged in the services of Excel Academics).
- Parties
- Excel Academics (‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’) (ABN 45612733513): the educational service provider
- Tutor: A person who is contracted to provide tutoring services to The Student(s) of Excel Academics, with Excel Academics acting as their Agent
- The Services: All tutoring services that The Tutor performs for The Students of Excel Academics.
- Student(s) (collectively ‘you’, ‘your’): Any person who has contacted Excel Academics and/or requested services from Excel Academics.
- Website
In using the Excel Academics website, you agree not to do any of the following:
- reuse or copy any of the material on this website;
- submit false or misleading information;
- contact tutors who are displayed on this website with the intention of re-advertising their services on a competing website;
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Membership
Excel Academics reserves the right to refuse tutor or student registration, in the case of (but not limited to) inappropriate conduct and illegal use of material.
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Disclaimer
Although the Excel Academics team tries their very best to deliver student results, Excel Academics makes no guarantee on likely results and the reliability of materials on the site, or used externally by tutors. Thus, we shall not be held legally responsible if the student fails to attain a certain result, especially considering that this is influenced by several factors such as work habits and individual effort.
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Refunds
The resources and notes available for purchase on the Excel Academics site are non-refundable. Refunds for any lessons are at the discretion of Excel Academics, and will be accordingly issued if the Student has notified any member of the team regarding what they believe may be errors. Notifications can be through text (sms), emails, or phone calls.
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Payment Structures
OPTION 1: $80/hr PAYG for individual tutoring
We will charge your card on file AFTER each lesson and send you the receipt for every single transaction. If there are any failed/overdue payments for completed lessons, you will be sent an email to complete the payment within 2 days – for as long as the payment remains overdue, new lessons cannot be booked with the tutor.
If your invoice is more than 30 days overdue, a $20 late payment fee is added to your invoice. This payment is due in 7 days. If you don’t complete the payment for your invoice with the late fee within 7 days, Excel Academics will pass the invoice information on to Marshall Freeman Debt Recovery or another debt collection agency to collect the payment.
OPTION 2: $750 for 10 hour tutoring package
We will charge your card on file for $750 BEFORE the first lesson, which will set your balance to 10 tutoring hours. This 10 hour tutoring package is non-refundable, but you save $50 and can schedule these 10 hours of tutoring as you choose (e.g. 1 hr per week of tutoring over the next 10 weeks). When you have only 1 hour worth of tutoring left in your package, we will send you a notice that your account will be charged for another 10 hours to continue your lessons – here you can choose to continue or if you’d like to cancel, please inform us via email ([email protected]) BEFORE the last hour of tutoring is completed. If your balance is insufficient, new lessons cannot be booked with the tutor.
Payment Method: We currently only accept direct debit (i.e. credit card – but we will soon integrate BECS Direct Debit as well). We use an extremely secure software called Stripe (it’s very similar to PayPal) to create/send invoices, which several Fortune 500 companies use as it is certified PCI Service Provider Level 1: the most stringent level of certification available in the payments industry. As required by Australian law, your details stay encrypted, meaning we can’t see any of your payment information. Further security information can be found here if you would like to know more regarding the safety of the payment method: Security at Stripe.
- Lesson Attendance Policies
Cancellation and rescheduling: please let your tutor know at least 6 hours before the lesson is meant to begin if you would like to cancel or reschedule. Failure to let your tutor know within this timeframe will result in a fee of $30. Also, repeated cancellation at significant inconvenience to the tutor will cause a cancellation fee to be issued. Note: if you let our Learning Advisor, Sreeya, know about the cancellation beforehand, we can let your tutor know as well; however, we may not be able to guarantee that the cancellation message will reach your tutor before the 6 hour notice (especially if we receive a message outside of typical business hours). Thus, it is always best to directly communicate cancellations with your tutor at least 6 hours prior to your lesson time to ensure you are not charged any cancellation fees.
Continuity policy: at Excel Academics, flexibility is maximised in that the Student and Tutor are able to communicate frequently and flexibly on lesson timings. However, to accommodate as many of Excel Academics’ student requests as possible, if a student does not have any lessons for more than 14 days without notice, their spot will be opened up to other students. This remains also at the discretion of the Tutor and Excel Academics. Although you’re welcome to continue tutoring over the holidays, we also encourage you to take healthy breaks – in this case, please inform your tutor before you choose to go on break and when you would like to resume lessons.
Late arrival: if the student is more than 15 minutes late without prior notice, the tutor may cancel the lesson and the same cancellation fee of $30/hr will be applied in this case. If the student shows up late and the lesson continues, the student shall be charged for the amount of time the lesson was initially planned for.
Once a lesson has been arranged, Excel Academics, acting as the Agent of the Tutor, considers this booking to be final, subject to this cancellation policy. That is, the Student agrees to pay for the arranged lesson unless specified otherwise in this document.
A lesson being arranged means that there is a mutual agreement between both the Student and the Tutor in regards to a commencement time for which the lesson should begin – this agreement can be verbal or written. The Student must notify the Tutor immediately if there is to be a change to the regular schedule that was previously agreed upon.
The student must not be charged for the lesson if the lesson is cancelled more than 1 hour before commencement due to:
- the tutor cancelling the lesson for any reason or not showing up at the agreed time
- the student being sick (as certified by a medical practitioner);
- the student and the tutor agreeing to cancel the lesson without charge;
- the student cancelling the lesson with sufficient notice, more than 1 hour prior to the commencement time of the lesson;
- any other unforeseeable event which should reasonably take precedence over the student’s attendance at the lesson.
The student will be charged for the lesson if the lesson is cancelled/rescheduled less than 1 hour prior to the commencement of the lesson due to:
- the student being late due to traffic or other commitments;
- other work or study commitments;
- failure to inform the tutor of a reason in the given timeframe
- Free Trial
Excel Academics offers new students a “Free 15 minute consultation” to maximise the compatibility of the Student and assigned Tutor, and optimise student satisfaction. This is not a lesson, but rather a strategy session over Zoom for the student to decide if the pairing is a good fit and the tutor to gauge a better understanding of the student’s requirements, and to plan for the first couple of lessons.
- Lesson Continuation
Excel Academics does not enforce strict lesson times or weekly sessions with parents or students, allowing clients to organise lessons on a flexible basis. However, in order to ensure consistent work for our tutors, maximise tutor availability and minimise waiting list times, Excel Academics enforces a “Lesson Continuity Policy.” Excel Academics expects students to have at least 1hr of tutoring per week throughout the school term to optimise their progress, but if lessons are to be skipped, it is expected that the student informs the tutor.
- Disclaimer
The term ‘qualified’ on the Excel Academics website and advertisements indicates a past Year 12 graduate who has acquired the score for their respective subject or has subject expertise deemed suitable by Excel Academics during the hiring process. ‘Qualified’ does not necessarily mean that they acquire a teaching degree.
- Academic Honesty
Excel Academics values academic honesty and will thus, not directly help Students with formative assignments nor will participate in violating any of the academic policies outlined by the Student’s school/institution; this includes but is not limited to writing assignments for the Student and taking their exams for them.
- Revisions of Documents and Materials
Excel Academics holds the right to revise these Terms of Service as well as any other documents and materials relevant to the business at our sole discretion – where the Student is bound by the then current version of the document. Thus, Excel Academics encourages that the Student checks in regularly on what the rules and regulations are at Excel Academics.
- Privacy
We take your privacy seriously and any information provided through your use of Excel Academics’ Services are subject to our Privacy Policy, which is available on the website.
- Copyright and Intellectual Property
Copyright Ownership: All content provided by Excel Academics, including but not limited to, text, graphics, logos, images, and software, is owned by Excel Academics and is protected by copyright laws. You agree not to reproduce, modify, or distribute any such content without the express written consent of Excel Academics.
Intellectual Property Ownership: All intellectual property rights in and to the tutoring services provided by Excel Academics, including but not limited to, patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets, are owned by Excel Academics. You agree not to use or disclose any such intellectual property without the express written consent of Excel Academics.
Confidentiality: You agree to keep confidential all information provided by Excel Academics, including but not limited to, any trade secrets, or business plans. You agrees not to disclose any such information to any third party without the express written consent of Excel Academics.
Infringement Indemnification: You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Excel Academics from any and all claims, damages, and expenses arising from any infringement of intellectual property rights by you, including but not limited to, claims arising from the use of any content provided by Excel Academics.
Non-Competition: You agree not to compete with Excel Academics in any way during the term of the tutoring services and for a period of one year thereafter.
Termination: Excel Academics may terminate the tutoring services at any time if you breach any of the terms and conditions of this agreement. Upon termination, you agree to immediately cease all use of the tutoring services and any content provided by Excel Academics.
In the event that you breach any of the clauses outlined in this document or any other agreement between you and Excel Academics, Excel Academics shall be entitled to seek appropriate compensation and any other relief available under applicable law.
- Competitors
Competitors of Excel Academics are strictly prohibited from using or accessing any information or content on our website and resources library for the purpose of providing similar services to users for commercial gain, whether business or domestic users. Any breach of this provision will result in full responsibility held by the competitor for any loss sustained by us, as well as accountability for all profits made from such a breach.
Tutors are strictly prohibited from engaging with any student outside of Excel Academics for the purpose of providing tutoring services while these Terms are in effect and for a period of 24 months after the termination of their contract. Tutors acknowledge and agree that a breach of this clause may result in irreparable harm to Excel Academics’ business, that it imposes reasonable obligations for the protection of Excel Academics’ legitimate business interests, and that a breach of this clause will entitle Excel Academics to seek injunctive relief, account of profits, and direct and indirect damages (among any other remedies available at law).
- Indemnity
Limitation of Liability: Excel Academics shall not be held liable for any damages or losses arising from the use of its tutoring services, including but not limited to, any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the tutoring company, its affiliates, and its employees from any and all claims, damages, and expenses, including reasonable attorney’s fees, arising from the use of the Services.
Assumption of Risk: You acknowledge that there are inherent risks associated with the use of tutoring services. By using the tutoring services, the client assumes all risks associated with such use and agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Excel Academics, its affiliates, and its employees from any and all claims, damages, and expenses arising from such risks.
Release of Liability: You agree to release and discharge Excel Academics, its affiliates, and its employees from any and all claims, damages, and expenses arising from the use of the tutoring services, including but not limited to, any claims arising from negligence, breach of contract, or any other legal theory.
- Links
Disclaimer of Endorsement: Excel Academics does not endorse, approve, or control any links to third-party websites or information contained on such websites. Excel Academics has not reviewed all of the sites linked to its website and is not responsible for the contents of any such linked site. The inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by Excel Academics of the site. Use of any such linked website is at the user’s own risk.