Terms of service

Who you are dealing with

French, Actually is a trading name of WORKSJO LTD, registered in England & Wales (company no. 15824979) at 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ. “We” and “the studio” mean that company; “you” means the person booking or learning with us. Our programmes are for adults. By booking a conversation or buying a programme you agree to these terms.

The free conversation

A first conversation is twenty minutes, online, free, and carries no obligation. Book, move or cancel it from the link in your confirmation email. If you cannot make it, please tell us so the time can go to someone else; we may not be able to offer a second free conversation after a missed one.

Programmes

A programme is a fixed number of private sessions, 8, 16 or 24, each fifty minutes, held online on Google Meet, usually once a week at a time we agree together. Prices are shown in pounds sterling and include any applicable taxes. The price at the moment you buy is the price you pay; a later change does not affect a programme already bought.

Paying

Programmes are paid in full, through Stripe, before the first session. Outside the UK, the checkout may also offer to charge you in your own currency: Stripe sets that amount from the day’s exchange rate and includes its conversion fee, and shows it to you before you pay. You can always choose to pay in pounds instead. Where we have agreed a monthly plan with you, the payments are equal and carry no interest or fees. They pay for the programme as a whole, spread over the months, not for individual sessions: they continue on their dates even if a session is moved, and they end when the programme is paid for. On a monthly plan, sessions become bookable in step with the payments made. If a monthly payment fails, we let you know and Stripe tries again: sessions already paid for go ahead as booked, and the sessions that payment covers become bookable once it is settled.

Scheduling, moving and missing sessions

• After payment is confirmed, use My lessons to book individual sessions at available times, or choose several dates in advance. A weekly rhythm is recommended, but you do not have to schedule the whole programme at once. A session is reserved only when you confirm it.
• You can move or cancel a session at no cost in My lessons at least 24 hours before it starts; cancelling returns the lesson credit. You can also email us for help. With less notice, or if you do not attend, the session counts as taken. Once per programme we forgive a late change: life happens.
• If we have to move or cancel a session, it is rescheduled, never lost.
• Sessions stay valid for twice the programme’s planned length, counted from the first session: about four months for 8 sessions, eight for 16, twelve for 24. Talk to us if you need longer; a pause of up to eight weeks is always possible once per programme.

Changing your mind and refunds

You have fourteen days from the day you buy a programme to cancel it for a full refund, for any reason. If you asked us to start within those fourteen days and sessions have taken place, we refund the balance after deducting those sessions at the programme’s per-session price.

After fourteen days a programme is not refundable, but you can pause it, move sessions as described above, or pass the remaining sessions to someone else. If something serious changes in your life, write to us; we will find a fair answer. If we cannot deliver a programme, for instance because your coach becomes unavailable and no suitable replacement is possible, we refund every unused session in full.

Refunds go back to the payment method you used, within ten working days of our agreeing them.

What we ask of you

• Be on time, with a quiet place and a connection that works; the session ends at its scheduled time either way.
• Treat your coach with the courtesy you would expect in return.
• Notes and materials we share are for your own learning; please do not publish or resell them.
• Sessions are not recorded unless you and your coach both agree beforehand.

What you can expect from us

A qualified coach, sessions built around your life and the situations you want French for, notes between sessions, and honest feedback. What we cannot promise is a level or an exam result by a certain date: progress depends on the work between sessions as much as within them.

Liability

We are responsible for losses you suffer that are a foreseeable result of our breaking these terms or failing to use reasonable care and skill, up to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the event. We are not responsible for losses that were not foreseeable, or for business losses. Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not allow us to limit, and nothing takes away the rights you have as a consumer.

Your information

How we handle your personal information is set out in our privacy policy, and the cookies the site uses in our cookie policy.

Problems

If something goes wrong, email hello@frenchactually.com and a person will reply within three working days. We would much rather fix a problem than argue about it.

The legal bits

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction. If you live in the European Union, you keep the protections of your own country’s consumer law and may bring a claim there. We may update these terms; the version in force when you buy a programme is the one that applies to it, and the date at the top tells you when the wording last changed.

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