Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the iSpeak platform, websites and services (the "Service") operated by [Company Legal Name] ("iSpeak", "we", "us" or "our"). By accessing or using the Service you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

Definitions

"Student" or "Member" means a user who joins a school on the Service. "Teacher" means an instructor offering classes through the Service. "School" means a teaching business with a profile on the Service. "School Owner" means the person who created a school or was granted ownership of it. "Community" means a school's members' area, where members post, take courses and RSVP to events. "Class" means a live language lesson booked on the Service. "Membership" means the recurring or one-off subscription a member buys to join a school. "Platform Fee" means the fee iSpeak retains from each member payment, set by the school's platform plan. "Payout Ledger" means the append-only record of what iSpeak owes a school.

Eligibility and Accounts

You must be at least 16 years old, or the age of digital consent in your country, to create an account. If you are under 18 you must have permission from a parent or legal guardian. You agree to provide accurate, current and complete information at registration and to keep it up to date. You are responsible for safeguarding your login credentials and for all activity under your account. Notify us immediately of any unauthorised use.

The Service

iSpeak is a platform that lets people discover schools, join a school's membership, attend live language classes, take part in the school's community, and manage their payments. iSpeak does not itself teach: the teaching relationship is between the school and its members. Schools set their own prices, schedules, levels and rules.

We do not guarantee that any particular school, class, teacher or time slot will be available, and we may add, change or withdraw features of the Service.

Schools, Communities and Memberships

Joining a school requires that school's membership. The price, billing cycle, trial length and whether joins need approval are set by the school and are shown before you pay. Where a school offers a free membership, joining costs nothing.

If a school offers a free trial, the paid membership begins when the trial ends unless you cancel before then. The price you joined at is the price recorded on your membership; if the school later raises its price, the new price applies to new joins and is shown to you before any change applies to you.

A school may remove or ban a member for breaking its rules or these Terms. If you are removed for breaking these Terms you are not entitled to a refund.

Each school is billed separately. Cancelling one membership does not affect any other.

Payments and Billing

Payments are processed by third-party payment providers. By buying a membership you authorise the applicable charge, and you agree to that provider's terms. We do not store full card numbers.

Memberships renew automatically each billing period (monthly or yearly) at the price recorded on your membership until you cancel. You may cancel at any time; access continues until the end of the period you have paid for, after which the membership lapses and does not renew. You can resume before it lapses.

Prices are shown in the currency displayed at purchase. Where taxes apply they are shown or included as stated at purchase. [State whether prices are VAT-inclusive and who is the merchant of record.]

Cancellation and Refunds

You can cancel a membership at any time from your Memberships page. Cancellation stops the next renewal; it does not end the current period early and does not by itself create a refund.

Except where the law requires it or where we or the school state otherwise, payments are non-refundable. [State your refund policy here, including any cooling-off period and how a refund is requested.]

If a school is suspended or removed from the Service while you hold a paid membership, we will refund the unused part of your current period unless the suspension was caused by your own breach of these Terms.

Classes, Booking and Cancellations

Booking a class is subject to the booking rules shown in the Service, including the minimum notice before a class and how far ahead you may book. Places in a group class are limited.

Cancellation and rescheduling of booked classes are subject to the policies shown in the Service (for example, a full refund of any class charge up to a stated notice period, a partial refund within it, and no refund for a late cancellation or a no-show).

A school or teacher may cancel or reschedule a class. Where that happens the class is not charged, or the charge is returned.

Payouts by Bank Transfer (School Owners)

If your school is paid by bank transfer, iSpeak collects the member payments on its own payment account and owes your school the net amount after the platform fee of your plan. The amount owed is recorded in your school's payout ledger, which is append-only: a correction is always a new entry, never an edit or a deletion, so you can audit every movement.

Bank transfers are sent on the platform's payout schedule (monthly on the 5th, or every fortnight, as shown in your Payouts settings) once your balance reaches the minimum payout amount shown there. Balances below that amount carry over to the next payout date. Payouts are made in USD. iSpeak pays the sending fee; your bank may charge its own receiving fee, which is deducted by your bank and not by iSpeak.

A payout is complete once iSpeak marks it paid with a bank transfer reference. Time to reach your account depends on your bank and the correspondent route, typically 1 to 5 business days. If a payout was sent in error, iSpeak voids it and records a reversing entry in the ledger; the ledger is never edited to hide a correction.

Refunds of member payments are taken back off your balance as they are processed. By default the platform fee is returned to you when a payment is refunded; if iSpeak changes that policy it will be shown in your Payouts settings before it applies. Chargebacks are reversed off your balance while the dispute is decided, and credited back if the dispute is won.

You are responsible for the accuracy of the bank details you provide and for keeping them current. iSpeak is not liable for a payment sent to the details you supplied. Bank details are stored securely and shown to you masked; only authorised iSpeak staff can see them in full. If your school later moves to Stripe Connect payouts, any balance still owed is settled by one final bank transfer and the manual ledger is closed.

Acceptable Use

You agree not to: use the Service for any unlawful purpose; harass, abuse or harm teachers, students, school staff or other members; share your account or resell access; upload unlawful, infringing or harmful content; attempt to disrupt, reverse engineer or gain unauthorised access to the Service; or scrape or collect data from the Service without permission. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.

Classes, Teachers and Content

Classes and learning materials ("Resources") are provided for your personal, non-commercial learning use only. You may not record, copy, redistribute or publicly share classes or Resources without permission. Teachers and schools are responsible for the content of their classes; iSpeak does not warrant the accuracy or outcomes of any class.

Community, Chat and User Content

You may submit content such as a profile, photo, posts, comments, messages, ratings or reviews ("User Content"). You retain ownership of your User Content and grant iSpeak a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display and use it to operate and promote the Service. You are responsible for your User Content and represent that you have the rights to share it and that it does not violate any law or third-party right.

Messages you send through the Service are stored so that they can be delivered and, where the Service provides it, so that a school's moderators can review reported conversations. Do not use chat to send anything you would not want stored.

iSpeak may remove User Content and may suspend or remove a school's community for content that breaks these Terms.

Intellectual Property

The Service, including its software, design, logos and content (excluding User Content and third-party materials), is owned by iSpeak or its licensors and protected by intellectual-property laws. We grant you a limited, revocable, non-transferable licence to use the Service for its intended purpose. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.

Privacy

Your use of the Service is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which explains how we collect, use and protect your personal information. By using the Service you consent to those practices.

Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free or secure, or that any learning outcome will be achieved.

Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, iSpeak and its affiliates will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or loss of data, profits or goodwill, arising from your use of the Service. Our total liability for any claim relating to the Service will not exceed the amount you paid to iSpeak in the [12] months before the event giving rise to the claim.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless iSpeak and its affiliates from any claims, damages, losses and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your use of the Service, your User Content, or your violation of these Terms or any law or third-party right.

Suspension and Termination

You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access if you violate these Terms or if necessary to protect the Service or other users. Upon termination your right to use the Service ceases; sections that by their nature should survive (for example ownership, disclaimers and limitation of liability) will survive.

Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will post the updated Terms with a new "Last updated" date and, where appropriate, notify you. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of [Jurisdiction], without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in [Jurisdiction], unless otherwise required by applicable law.

Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at [contact email] or [company address].