Service Agreement
Talk About English (“TAE”) ABN 75 225 301 688; and the Student have agreed on the enrolment of the Student to take an English Language Course at TAE upon the terms and conditions set out below.
1. Interpretation
a) Definitions:
Unless the context otherwise indicates:
i. “TAE” refers to Talk About English. Is also referred to as “the School”.
ii. “Course Outline” means a written description of an assigned Course of lessons, provided by TAE on enrolment
iii. “Course” means a set number of English language lessons purchased by the Student.
iv. “TAE website” is located at talkaboutenglish.com, and includes all sub-domains therein
v. “Minimum Age” refers to the age of the student at the time of enrolment
vi. “Grievance Policy” means the process whereby disputes and complaints may be resolved
vii. “Technical Requirements” are the minimum hardware and software required by the student in order to use the service
viii. “Student Deferral Policy” means the conditions under which the Student may delay completion of his course of lessons.
ix. “Commencement Date” means the date on which the Student schedules their first paid lesson in any given Course of lessons. May also be referred to as the “Enrolment Date”.
x. “Completion Date” means the date beyond which purchased lessons are no longer redeemable. May also be referred to as the “Expiry Date”
xi. Fees mean any charges payable to the School
xii. “In writing “ also includes fax, email and equivalent forms of electronic transmission
b) Translation: In the event of any conflict or inconsistency between any term of this Agreement (including the Schedules) in the English language and any translation thereof in any other language, the English language version of this Agreement shall prevail.
2. Pre-Enrolment Information
a) The Student acknowledges having viewed, read and understood prior to enrolment:
i. The Course Outline;
ii. The TAE website.
b) The Student acknowledges in entering into this agreement having relied upon the Student’s own enquiries and the information contained in this document and has relied on no other representations whatsoever.
3. Enrolment
TAE enrols, and the Student accepts the enrolment at TAE, to take the Course listed at Item 5 of the Schedule (the “English Language Course”).
4. Course information
a) Entry Requirements
i. The Minimum Age for enrolment is sixteen (16) years;
ii. Prior to the Commencement Date, the student is obliged to purchase and set up all hardware and software required for the course.
iii. All students must meet the Technical Requirements set out in item 4 of the Schedule.
b) Duration
i. The course shall commence on the Commencement Date, which shall be the first scheduled lesson by mutual arrangement.
ii. The course shall end on the Completion Date, which shall be calculated from the Commencement date as set out in item 2 of the schedule.
iii. TAE may at its discretion postpone the commencement date, cancel or vary the Course. In the event of postponement or cancellation TAE will make a refund of Fees and the Student agrees that there shall be no entitlement to damages whatsoever.
c) Completion
i. At the completion of the course, TAE shall issue a Certificate of Completion which may be electronic in format unless otherwise requested.
ii. Completion shall occur when:
1) all purchased lessons have been completed; OR:
2) upon the Completion Date, as detailed in Item 2 of the Schedule, if this should fall before 4(c) (ii) (2).
iii. There shall be no requirement for TAE to issue any qualification prior to the Completion of the Course
5. Fees
a) Fees:
i.The Student shall pay TAE the Total Fees referred to in Item 3 of the schedule (“Fees”)
ii.The Student will pay in addition to the Fees any Government duty, charge or levy which may be imposed upon this contract.
iii.TAE requires the Student to pay all fees prior to commencement of the Course;
Any accounts which remain unpaid 14 days after the due date of payment will incur a 10% penalty on the amount owed to TAE.
iv.TAE may restrict or withhold services or materials from the Student if Fees are overdue.
b) Refund:
i. Any request for a refund of any part the Student’s fees must be made in writing at least one week prior to the Commencement Date.
ii. TAE may, at its discretion, decide whether or not to grant any refund requested at clause 5(b)(i).
6. TAE’s Obligations
a) Confidentiality:
i. TAE is committed to maintaining the confidentiality of the Student’s personal information and undertakes not to divulge any of the Student’s personal information to any third party without the prior written consent of the Student.
ii. With the student's permission, TAE may acquire a single photographic image of the student by screen capture and retain it in the student's confidential personal records solely for purposes of identification. Any such images will not be disseminated, made public or used for any other purpose whatsoever.
b) Technical Requirements:
i. TAE is obliged to meet the Technical Requirements outlined in Item 4 of the Schedule;
ii. TAE is not responsible for technical problems of any nature experienced by the Student. The TAE agrees to maintain a minimum technical system as outlined in Schedule Item 4 but is not responsible for interruption to service beyond its control.
iii. Due to the nature of the Internet, TAE cannot and does not guarantee that the service will be uninterrupted or error-free
iv. TAE accepts no responsibility for damages of any kind arising from use of third-party software or hardware. Use of any third-party software or hardware is governed solely by the terms and conditions imposed by said third party.
c) Curriculum:
i. The School reserves the right without prior notice to make changes as deemed appropriate in course offerings, curricula, academic policies, and other rules and regulations affecting students and to substitute any tutor at any time.
ii. The School shall not be liable for any error, omission or misstatement in the School website, literature or course materials.
d) TAE offers no warranty regarding the results that may be obtained by using the service
e) Opinions, roles and hypothetical situations introduced by TAE staff in the course of instruction are for educational and illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute a true representation of, the individuals, companies or events referenced in these discussions, nor does it constitute any endorsement of TAE by said companies or individuals. Any information that is clearly represented as factual is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of communication and is based on materials within the public domain.
f) Images shown within the website are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any endorsement by the persons depicted.
7. The Student’s obligations
a) Student attendance:
ii. The student will attend all lessons, tests and examinations during the course. Non-attended sessions will incur the full lesson fee unless proper notice is given as set out in clause 9(a).
iii. TAE may refuse to issue a Certificate of Completion if the Student fails to attend any lessons, tests and examinations during the course.
b) Confidentiality
iv. All course materials provided by TAE are subject to copyright and all other intellectual property rights and cannot be reproduced by the student for any purpose.
c) Code of Conduct
i. TAE reserves the right to require the student to leave a course at any stage if the student fails, without good reason, to meet the requirements of the course or if the conduct of the student is such that the continued presence would, in the opinion of TAE, be detrimental to the satisfactory conducting of the course.
ii. In such circumstances the TAE is not obliged to refund any fees or charges paid by the student.
8. Transferral
a) The Student may make a written request to transfer to other courses within TAE. Such requests will be granted only in exceptional cases with the approval of TAE.
b) The Student’s course is not transferable to any other institution and will expire upon the Student ceasing to be a student of TAE
9. Cancellation and Deferral
a) Students may cancel a scheduled lesson more than 24 hours beforehand without penalty. Lessons cancelled less than 24 hours beforehand will forfeit the full lesson fee.
b) Students may defer their Course once for a period equal to or less than the original course duration.
c) Upon deferral of the Course the Fees scheduled in Item 3 of this Service Agreement remain due on the scheduled dates.
d) An administration charge of $110 per deferral shall be made for any subsequent deferrals.
e) Lessons cancelled due to technical problems within the school’s control (hardware and software problems on School premises) shall be rescheduled at the Student’s convenience, subject to current availability.
10. Early Termination of Enrolment
a) Early termination by the Student:
i. The Student may make a written request to withdraw from the Course prior to the expiry date as set out;
ii. TAE shall not require the Student to make any payment whatsoever for withdrawing from the Course for whatever reason(s).
iii. TAE shall not return any course fees for early withdrawal from the course for whatever reason(s).
iv. In the event the Student abandons the Course any outstanding Fees payable for the Course are due to TAE on demand.
b) Early Termination by TAE:
i. The Student Enrolment Contract may be terminated by TAE on the provision of fifteen (15) days written notice to the Student in any of the following events:
i. The termination or non-renewal of TAE’s License.
ii. The breach of any terms or conditions of the License by TAE.
iii. The breach of any terms and conditions (being these terms and conditions) of the Service Agreement by either TAE or the Student.
iv. TAE becomes bankrupt, enters into liquidation, whether compulsorily or voluntarily, has a receiver appointed or takes any steps to wind its self up.
v. If otherwise required by TAE, subject to compliance with this agreement.
11. Disciplinary Procedures
a) Code of Conduct:
i. All parties agree to refrain from the use of language or actions deemed inappropriate or offensive by the other party. TAE has the right to cease lessons immediately should the Student’s behaviour be deemed offensive in any way. Offensive behaviour may include, but not be limited to: language or actions which may be deemed threatening, unlawful, abusive, derogatory, obscene, vulgar or otherwise improper.
ii. All Students enrolled in programs or using the services of TAE are required to maintain appropriate standards of conduct at all times. Where behaviour is deemed to be improper or inappropriate as outlined in TAE’s Code of Conduct Policy - Students, TAE will take action in accordance with the Student Disciplinary Policy
iii. Repeated or serious violations of the Code of Conduct on the part of the Student may result in termination of the course prior to the Completion Date and without regard to remaining lesson credits, in accordance with clause 7(c).
iv. Violations of the Code of Conduct on the part of TAE staff should be immediately lodged as a grievance in accordance with clause 12(a).
12. Dispute Resolution
a. Grievance Procedure:
i. In the event of a dispute arising throughout the duration of this contract, the grievance must be provided to the other party in writing. The party must respond to the grievance in a timely fashion and make their best efforts to resolve the grievance quickly and fairly. Correspondence may be addressed to PO Box XXXX Brighton, QLD Australia 4017
b. Third Party Mediation:
i. In the event that the Student and the TAE are unable to resolve a dispute in accordance with the grievance procedure referred to in Clause 12(a) the Student and the TAE shall refer the dispute to the Australian [INSERT MEDIATOR] for mediation prior to instituting any legal action or proceedings. The Student and the TAE hereby agree to such procedures and to pay such fees as the AUSTRALIAN [INSERT MEDIATOR] may prescribe from time to time for the purpose of resolving their dispute.
13. Enforcement of this Agreement
a. This agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties.
b. All parties to this agreement shall endeavour to fulfil their obligations under this agreement.
c. No failure on the part of any party to this Agreement to exercise and no delay on the part of any party in exercising any right hereunder will operate as a release or waiver thereof, nor will any single or partial exercise of any right under this Agreement preclude any other or further exercise of it.
i. this clause shall not apply to cases where:
1. (i) the TAE is declared to be insolvent and/or a winding-up order made or bankruptcy issued by the Australian court against the TAE (or, any partner of the TAE if the TAE is a partnership); and
2. (ii) the relevant authority(ies) issue(s) an order to cease and/or terminate the operations of the TAE, or the happening of anything of a similar nature under the laws of Australia.
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Any variation of the terms and conditions of this agreement must be in writing and be signed on behalf of TAE.
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In the event of there being any inconsistency between the terms of this Agreement and the terms of any other agreement (oral or written) entered into between the TAE and the Student either before or after the making of this Agreement, the terms of this Agreement shall prevail and the terms of such other agreement shall be deemed to be amended to the extent necessary for it to be read as being consistent with this Agreement.
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If any provision of this Agreement or part thereof is rendered void, illegal or unenforceable by any Australian legislation to which it is subject, it shall be rendered void, illegal or unenforceable to that extent and it shall in no way affect or prejudice the enforceability of the remainder of such provision or the other provisions of this Agreement.
14. Jurisdiction
a. This Agreement shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with the laws of Australia.
b. This agreement does not remove the right to take further action under Australia's Consumer Protection Laws.
c. The parties hereby irrevocably agree that the courts of Australia are to have jurisdiction to settle any disputes which may arise out of or in connection with this Agreement which cannot be settled successfully through the [Case Mediation Centre] and that, accordingly, any legal action or proceedings arising out of or in connection with this Agreement (“Proceedings”) may be brought in those courts and the parties irrevocably submit to the jurisdiction of those courts.
15. Proofreading Services
a) Students’ documents remain their exclusive property and no dissemination of the data therein will occur in any form without the express written permission of the Student. The Student is wholly responsible for retaining original copies and backups of all data; TAE accepts no liability for any loss, damage to, reformatting or corruption of data.
b) Documents may include, but are not restricted to; electronic files; faxes; letters and other paper documents. Audio recordings may require additional transcription fees. Computer files must be in a commonly accepted format, and TAE accepts no responsibility for incompatibility of non-standard formats.
c) Proofread final drafts are the exclusive property of the Student upon payment and may be used by them for any legal purpose. TAE encourages Students to use the Proofreading Service in an ethical manner, and to acknowledge its use where appropriate.
d) TAE offers no endorsement of the content or opinions contained within clients’ documents. We reserve the right to refuse documents of an offensive or illegal nature, as outlined in the Code of Conduct (11a).
c) Fees are payable in advance. Proofread final drafts will be withheld until full payment is received.
d) Fees are payable at the rate communicated in writing by TAE at the time we agree to undertake the work. Quoted rates shall be agreed in writing by the client before work commences.
e) TAE proofreads solely for English grammar, syntax, spelling and appropriateness of style, and does not provide translations. We shall accept no responsibility for errors of translation, or for any misunderstandings arising from these. We shall not accept texts which have been insufficiently translated into English for general comprehension, or which are otherwise illegible or incomprehensible. These include- but are not restricted to- texts produced by translation software.
f) Editing is undertaken according to our best understanding of the purpose/s of the document/s, as indicated by the client, and TAE accepts no liability whatsoever arising from the final use of the document/s in question.
f) While TAE will take all reasonable measures to insure grammatical and syntactic accuracy, we accept no responsibility for errors or omissions and no warranty is offered as to the results of using the service.
g) Major changes to layout and formatting are beyond the scope of the Service and may incur additional charges, at the discretion of TAE.
h) Final drafts of electronic documents will be returned in the same file format as received, where at all possible.
SCHEDULE
Schedule
1. Commencement date:
2. Completion date:
3. Course fees:
4. Technical requirements
5. Services
COMMENCEMENT DATE
1a Shall be deemed to occur on the date of the student’s first scheduled full lesson.
1b Scheduled lessons will be arranged by mutual agreement between TAE and the student. While this will be at the convenience of the student, scheduling will be entirely subject to availability.
COMPLETION DATE
2a In the case of a “10 lesson pack” is 3 calendar months from the Commencement Date
2b In the case of a “25 lesson pack” is 6 calendar months from the Commencement Date
2c In the case of a “50 lesson pack” is 12 calendar months from the Commencement Date
2d Any other products and services as per information contained on the TAE website
COURSE FEES
3a. All fees will be held to be those displayed on the TAE website at the time of purchase.
3b Lessons requiring additional pre- or post-lesson labour, including but not limited to proofreading, preparation of requested teaching materials and consultation with 3rd party specialists, may incur additional charges a the discretion of the School. TAE will clearly communicate any such surcharges to the Student at least 24 hours prior to the lesson.
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS - STUDENT
4a A functioning computer with 1Ghz CPU, 512MB RAM, a video card with at least 16MB of memory (also the latest version of DirectX installed)
4b Purchase and correct installation of a webcam with a minimum capacity of 10 frames per second (fps) and ability to adjust frame rates if higher than 10 fps.
4c Stable Internet access with a minimum DSL connection of 512/256kbit (down/up)
4d Correct installation of compatible VOIP software (Skype or a functional equivalent).
4e Purchase and installation of English character recognition software where applicable
4f Purchase and correct installation of headset with built-in microphone. Noise cancellation microphones are strongly recommended.
4g Setup of firewalls and port forwarding where applicable.
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS – TAE
4h Functioning network connection
4i Functioning webcam, microphone and headset
4j Sound and picture files
4k Screen capture software
4l Applications to support file formats .doc, .txt, .html, .rtf, .pdf, .exe, .ai, .ppt, .jpg, .bmp, .mp3, .wma, .pub, .mdp, .adp, .mda
SERVICES
5a Either:
i. Course Demonstration Lesson
or:
ii. English Language Course (10 lessons)
or:
iii. English Language Course (25 lessons)
or:
iv. English Language Course (50 lessons)
or:
v. Proofreading/Editing Service
or:
vi. Other short courses or consultative services by special arrangement
5b Items in 5a shall be nominated in writing by the student, and similarly confirmed by the School at the time of payment.