Note: this is an English translation provided for your convenience. The legally binding text is the Italian version. In the event of any discrepancy, the Italian version prevails.
General Terms & Conditions
These apply to the recorded courses, the digital books and the rest of the teacherstefano.com catalogue. If you are enrolling in the Online School with live lessons, read the Online School Terms & Conditions as well: for the School they prevail over these.
1. THE SITE'S OFFER
This website offers online Italian courses, digital books and access to a blog to learn Italian. The online courses consist of pre-recorded lessons, teaching materials and practical activities, and can be purchased and completed by students according to their needs and at their own pace. The digital books contain short written stories with practical activities and audio files with the reading of the stories. The blog provides articles and resources to help students learn Italian and improve their language skills. The content is accessible via the internet using a smartphone, computer, tablet or other internet-connected devices, remotely by means of a telematic network, through the website www.teacherstefano.com and/or www.school.teacherstefano.com or other domains belonging or related to Teacher Stefano S.R.L., with registered office at Via Palmiro Togliatti 36/B, San Severo (FG) (VAT no. and Tax Code 04437760715), E-mail: hello@teacherstefano.com.
2. DEFINITIONS
2.1. Online sales contract
An "online" sales contract means the distance contract entered into between Teacher Stefano S.R.L. and a final consumer or other professional users, concerning digital products and/or services, within the framework of a distance selling system organised online by Teacher Stefano S.R.L.
2.2. Definition of consumer
A consumer means the natural person who purchases goods and/or services for purposes that are not related, either directly or indirectly, to any professional activity carried out.
2.3. Definition of professional user
A professional user means the natural or legal person who purchases goods and services for purposes directly or indirectly related to any professional activity carried out.
3. ACCEPTANCE OF THE CONDITIONS OF SALE
3.1. These general conditions are valid as of 13 March 2023 and may be updated, supplemented or modified at any time by Teacher Stefano S.R.L. Such changes will have effect for the future and will be communicated through the pages of the website.
3.2. All contracts will be concluded directly through the consumer's or professional user's access to the website or the corresponding landing page, where they may conclude the contract to purchase the desired good or product, carefully following the instructions and guided procedures provided in the various screens.
3.3. These general conditions of sale must be reviewed online before completing the purchase procedure. Submitting the order confirmation implies full knowledge of these conditions and their complete acceptance.
3.4. The customer or professional user, by electronically submitting the confirmation of their purchase order, unconditionally accepts and undertakes to observe, in their dealings with Teacher Stefano S.R.L., the general and payment conditions set out below. The customer or user declares that they have reviewed and accept all the information provided pursuant to the rules referred to above, and also acknowledges that Teacher Stefano S.R.L. does not consider itself bound by different conditions unless agreed in writing in advance.
4. PRICES AND PURCHASE
4.1. The products, prices and conditions of sale shown on the website www.teacherstefano.com and on related domains, within the limits of their availability, constitute an offer to the public both for consumers and for customers other than consumers. To conclude the contract, the consumer must accept the offer by correctly completing all sections and agreeing online, following the instructions shown on Teachable.com.
4.2. All customers may pay for the products ordered using the payment methods available online at the time of purchase.
4.3. The prices and terms of the offer, including any bonuses or discounts included, are those indicated on the corresponding description page.
5. DELIVERY
5.1. Delivery of the courses will take place through the download of the purchased material or by redirecting to the registration page of the portal that grants access to the digital courses, or to the platform that grants access to the reserved area. Delivery occurs immediately after completion of the order procedure and completion of the payment procedure, unless otherwise specified. For the "Italiano Vero" courses, the purchase does not grant immediate access to all the course units, which will be unlocked week by week, with a 1-week pause every 4 units, as indicated on the course description page. For the "Be Italiano" course, only the first unit is available at the time of purchase and the others will be unlocked week by week until the course is completed. For this course only, it is possible to request the immediate unlocking of all units by sending an email to hello@teacherstefano.com. The download and access to the pages or platforms presuppose that the customer has a continuous internet connection and adequate familiarity with the use of digital platforms, which are essential requirements to use the services. Purchased digital books will be delivered immediately in PDF and audio format and will be downloadable on the consumer's device.
5.2. Teacher Stefano S.R.L. is not responsible for delays or failed deliveries caused by force majeure or unforeseeable circumstances, such as temporary malfunctions of the network, platforms, portals or pages not attributable to the company. In the event of problems, please contact hello@teacherstefano.com for support.
5.3. The customer must test, at the time of purchase confirmation, the correct functioning of the products and portals. If the customer does not report any malfunction or access difficulty within 14 days of purchase, access to the materials and platforms is deemed to have been successful.
5.4. If the description page provides for different delivery terms, delivery will take place within the indicated timeframe.
6. AVAILABILITY OF PRODUCTS
6.1. Customers may purchase the products under the conditions indicated on the information pages of the products themselves.
6.2. For online lessons or live courses, the scheduling of meetings will be agreed after completion of the purchase procedure and depending on the availability of the customer and of Teacher Stefano S.R.L.
6.3. In the case of the purchase of online courses, the availability of the courses (without, however, guaranteeing subsequent updates) will be guaranteed for life for all courses purchased after June 2023, on condition that the customer agrees to maintain their subscription to the relevant platform (or to another platform to which Teacher Stefano S.R.L. intends to migrate the course) and gives the necessary consent to the processing of their personal data by the platform operator. If indicated differently on the purchase page, different conditions will apply. Teacher Stefano S.R.L. has the right to remove its online courses at any time. Should this occur, consumers will be informed with at least two years' notice and will be given the opportunity to download all the material relevant to the purchased course, for products available for life.
6.4. In the event that the customer can no longer access the course due to the withdrawal of their consent to the processing of their personal data by the hosting platform, they will not be entitled to any refund, partial or total, of the price paid for the course. In any case, Teacher Stefano S.R.L. guarantees that the platforms and services used comply with the standards of reliability, confidentiality and conformity required by European legislation. This point does not apply within the first 14 days.
6.5. Where provided for by the purchased product, access to the community will be guaranteed for at least 10 (ten) months if one course is purchased, and at least 12 (twelve) months if two courses are purchased.
7. LIABILITY
7.1. Teacher Stefano S.R.L. assumes no responsibility for service disruptions caused by force majeure events, such as accidents, explosions, fires, strikes, earthquakes, floods and other similar events that prevent the execution of the contract within the agreed time.
7.2. Furthermore, Teacher Stefano S.R.L. shall not be liable to third parties for any damages, losses and costs caused by the failure to perform the contract due to the aforementioned causes.
7.3. Teacher Stefano S.R.L. is not responsible for the fraudulent use of credit cards, cheques or other means of payment by malicious third parties during the purchase procedure.
8. REFUND POLICIES
8.1. The customer may decide to request a refund within and no later than 14 days from the moment of purchase confirmation for the purchased course, as established by the refund policies. The refund will be made exclusively to the payment method used at the time of purchase, within 14 working days.
8.2. A refund may be granted on the Be Italiano and Italiano Vero courses on condition that the customer has not completed more than 25% of the course. If the customer has completed more than 25% of the course, they will not be eligible to receive a refund. In special cases, at the full discretion of Teacher Stefano S.R.L., a refund may also be granted on subscriptions to the podcast transcriptions on Buy Me a Coffee. The issuance of the refund entails immediate exclusion from the course and/or from access to the members' reserved area on Buy Me a Coffee. A refund on digital books may be requested within 14 days of purchase only if the digital book and the other files it contains have not been downloaded by the consumer. If the download has been completed successfully, a refund will no longer be possible.
8.3. To obtain a refund or request information regarding these policies, the customer may send an email to hello@teacherstefano.com within the prescribed terms. If the description page of the course or product indicates different terms for the refund policies, or excludes refunds entirely, the information on the description page prevails, without prejudice to the validity of the provisions of these conditions of sale. In the event of a lack of conformity, the provisions of the Consumer Code shall apply.
9. NEWSLETTER AND FORMS
9.1. By accepting the terms and conditions, the user expressly accepts and gives their consent to periodically receive promotional materials and marketing communications from TEACHER STEFANO S.R.L. This consent applies automatically to the newsletter subscription or to the submission of any form present on the site.
9.2. The user may withdraw their consent and unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link present in the footer of every email received.
10. OBLIGATIONS OF THE BUYER
10.1. The buyer, once the online purchase procedure has been completed, undertakes to print and retain these general conditions and the specifications of the product being purchased. This is necessary to satisfy the conditions required by the Consumer Code. Furthermore, if there are changes to these general conditions, Teacher Stefano S.R.L. will communicate them through its website and, in some cases, also by email, and the buyer must print and retain them.
10.2. It is strictly forbidden to enter false or invented data in the registration procedure, and the personal information provided must be genuine and not belonging to third parties or made up. In addition, it is forbidden to make double registrations corresponding to a single person or to enter the data of third parties. Teacher Stefano S.R.L. will legally pursue any violation and abuse in the interest and for the protection of consumers.
10.3. If the customer pays the price of a course in instalments, they acknowledge and accept that they undertake to pay the entire amount of the course and may not legitimately interrupt the instalment payment or request a refund of what has been paid, except for the exercise of the refund policies where applicable. The interruption of the payment of the remaining instalments due to a lack of funds on the indicated card or to payment errors will result in exclusion from the course.
10.4 Finally, the Customer is solely responsible for the correct entry of the data, and Teacher Stefano S.R.L. is in no way responsible for the issuance of incorrect tax documents due to errors relating to the data provided by the Customer.
11. AUTHORISATIONS
11.1. By filling in the relevant space on the website, the Customer authorises the hosting platforms (currently Teachable and Buy Me a Coffee) to use their credit card, or another card issued to replace it, and to charge their current account in favour of Teacher Stefano S.R.L. for the total amount shown as the cost of the purchase made "online", as well as to charge the subsequent amounts for the renewal of the subscription and/or instalments.
11.2. The entire procedure is carried out through a protected connection directly linked to the banking institution that holds or manages the "online" payment service, which Teacher Stefano S.R.L. cannot access.
12. PROHIBITED USES
12.1 The use of the products must be carried out in compliance with these General Conditions of Sale. Access to the platforms hosting the courses is permitted exclusively for individual and personal use. It is not permitted in any way to share one's access credentials or to distribute the materials provided to others without prior authorisation from Teacher Stefano S.R.L.
12.2 All materials provided are covered by the Copyright of Teacher Stefano S.R.L. and all rights are reserved.
12.3 Customers may not, in any way:
- copy, store, modify, alter or show to third parties the content of Teacher Stefano S.R.L. Some content can be downloaded onto one's own devices and may be retained. This does not, however, permit in any way the sharing of downloadable content with third parties.
- circumvent computer systems to access content without authorisation.
- use the materials, ideas, images, format or scripts of Teacher Stefano S.R.L. to create similar or derivative products.
12.4 Teacher Stefano S.R.L. reserves the right to pursue any violation committed against its paid content.
13. PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA
13.1 The personal data provided by the customer will be used exclusively for the registration and activation of the procedures for the performance of this contract and for the necessary communications. The processing of personal data will be carried out in compliance with current laws and may be disclosed only at the request of the judicial authorities or of other authorities authorised by law.
13.2 For further details regarding the processing of personal data, please refer to the specific privacy policy present on this site.
14. APPLICABLE LAW
14.1 Any dispute concerning the application, performance, interpretation and breach of the purchase contracts entered into online through the website or websites of Teacher Stefano S.R.L. is governed by Italian law. For anything not provided for, reference is made to Legislative Decree no. 206/2005.
Terms and conditions last updated on 13/09/2023.
Online School Terms & Conditions
These govern enrolment in the Teacher Stefano Online School, the one with the live conversation lessons. For anything not covered here, the General Terms & Conditions apply. ↑ Back to the general terms
1. Who we are and what these terms cover
1.1. The Teacher Stefano Online School (the "School") is run by Teacher Stefano S.R.L., Via Palmiro Togliatti 36/B, San Severo (FG), Italy — VAT and tax code 04437760715, share capital € 10,000, email hello@teacherstefano.com (referred to below as "we", "us", "the School").
1.2. These terms govern your enrolment in the School and every service that is part of it, regardless of the academic year. They become a contract between you and us the moment you complete your purchase.
1.3. They are specific to the School and prevail over the general Terms & Conditions of teacherstefano.com in everything on which the two documents differ. For anything not covered here — payment authorisations, prohibited uses of our content, the processing of personal data, the sale of individual recorded courses and digital books — the general Terms & Conditions continue to apply.
1.4. By completing your purchase you declare that you have read and accepted these terms. They are shown to you before payment and remain published at a stable address: we recommend that you save or print them.
2. Definitions
Academic year. Contains 48 teaching weeks and four full closure weeks.
Level. Essenziale, Base, Intermedio or Avanzato: the band you are placed in. It determines the study material you receive and the classes you can be assigned to.
Class. Your group: a maximum of five students, one teacher, a fixed day and time every week. The class is the unit in which lessons are delivered.
Lesson. A 55-minute online group conversation lesson.
Time slot. A weekly day and time shown on the published calendar, expressed in Rome time and converted into your own time zone when we ask you for your availability.
Teaching week. A week in which lessons take place. Closure weeks are not teaching weeks and are not counted.
Closure week. A full week in which the School is closed and no lesson and no event takes place.
Public holiday. A single non-working day that falls inside an open week. That week the School stays open: only that day is affected.
3. What the School is
Included in your enrolment
- One group conversation lesson per week, 55 minutes long and online, on a fixed day and at a fixed time, in a class of no more than five students.
- Placement in the right level, through a written test and a short oral interview.
- Access to the recorded Italiano Vero courses for the whole duration of your enrolment, on the conditions of art. 8. They are the School's textbook. If you bought one or more Italiano Vero courses before enrolling in the School, those courses remain yours even after your enrolment ends.
- The lesson material: the slides used in your lesson, annotated during the lesson and sent to your class straight afterwards, plus any shared class document.
- The optional extra events — cultural evenings, book club, movie night, game night — on the conditions of art. 21.
Not included in your enrolment
- One-to-one lessons (1:1). They are a separate purchase (art. 22) and are not part of your enrolment.
- A recognised qualification or official certification. The School does not issue qualifications with official standing (art. 30).
4. Who can enrol
4.1. You must be at least 18 years old and have full capacity to enter into a contract.
4.2. One enrolment is for one person only. Your place in class is yours alone. Two people — including two members of the same family, or a couple sharing a screen — cannot attend on a single enrolment.
4.3. No person who is not enrolled may attend a lesson, listen to it or be present.
4.4. The details you give us at purchase and during onboarding must be true, current and your own. We may refuse or cancel an enrolment based on false or third-party details.
5. Prices, currency, taxes, payment
5.1. All prices are in US dollars (USD). The price you pay is the one shown on the sales page at the moment of purchase.
5.2. Taxes are included in the price shown.
5.3. Payment is collected through our sales platform, Teachable, using the methods it makes available at the moment of purchase. We do not see or store your card details. The receipt is issued automatically.
5.4. Your bank or card issuer may apply currency conversion or foreign transaction fees to a payment in dollars. They are decided by your bank, they do not reach us and we cannot refund them.
5.5. You are responsible for the accuracy of the billing details you enter. We are not liable for a tax document issued incorrectly because of the details you gave us.
6. Payment in instalments
6.1. An instalment plan or a deferred payment option from a third-party provider may be available at checkout. Where it is not available, payment is made in full at purchase.
6.2. Choosing instalments does not change what you are buying or how much it costs. You commit to the full amount. You cannot stop paying the instalments in order to end your enrolment, and stopping them does not entitle you to a refund of the instalments already paid.
6.3. If an instalment fails — insufficient funds, expired card, authorisation withdrawn — we will contact you. If it is still unpaid 10 days after the due date we may suspend your access; if it is still unpaid after 30 days we may close your enrolment under art. 28, without refunding what you have already paid.
6.4. If deferred payment is provided by a third party, the credit agreement is with that provider and is governed by its conditions. Your contract with us is not affected by any dispute with them.
7. Duration of your enrolment
7.1. Enrolment is a one-off purchase for a fixed period. It is not a subscription and it does not renew by itself.
7.2. Your enrolment entitles you to one scheduled lesson for each teaching week: 48 for an annual enrolment or 24 for a six-month enrolment. A lesson you do not attend is still a lesson we scheduled and delivered (art. 15).
7.3. When it expires, your enrolment ends. Your class ends and so does the access to the Italiano Vero courses included in the enrolment (art. 8), unless those courses were bought earlier. There is no automatic charge and no automatic renewal.
8. Access to the Italiano Vero courses
8.1. Your enrolment includes access to the recorded Italiano Vero courses for your level, as study material. Access begins once your purchase is confirmed.
8.2. This access is temporary and lasts as long as your enrolment.
8.3. When your enrolment ends, is refunded or is closed, this access ceases. Courses you bought separately remain yours on the conditions on which you bought them, together with all your progress. Progress is recorded per course and is never reset.
8.4. In the event of a refund, access ceases immediately. On natural expiry it ceases on the last day of your enrolment.
9. Levels offered by the School
9.1. The School offers four levels: Essenziale, Base, Intermedio and Avanzato.
9.2. Each level's programme is based on the Italiano Vero courses, and the same unit produces a completely different conversation in a stronger group. What the School guarantees is a class of students at your own level, not a list of grammar topics you have never met before.
9.3. A level only opens if enough students are placed in it. If a level does not reach the minimum number we do not open it, and art. 27 applies.
10. Placement: form, test, interview
10.1. After payment we email you the link to an onboarding form. You must complete it. It collects your contact details, your native language, your own assessment of your level and — the part that matters most — every weekly time slot that would work for you.
10.2. We then ask you to sit a written placement test and to book a short oral interview, around five minutes, with Stefano or with the head of teaching. Both are part of placement, not an exam you can fail, and both have strict deadlines, which we give you in the email.
10.3. You book the interview yourself, among the slots we publish. We ask you to be punctual: the slots are five minutes long and run back to back. If you do not show up for a booked interview we will try to offer you another one, but we cannot guarantee it within the placement window.
10.4. If you do not complete the form, the test or the interview by the stated deadlines, we place you with the information we have: your self-assessment or your progress on the recorded courses.
10.5. The final decision on your level is ours. Your self-assessment is one element, not an instruction. Where the test and the interview do not agree, we may place you one level lower: it is a teaching judgement, made in your interest and in your class's.
10.6. Being placed in a level other than the one you expected is not a ground for a refund, outside art. 25.
11. Class and time slot assignment
11.1. We publish the calendar of available time slots before enrolment opens, together with the academic year calendar.
11.2. The calendar published while enrolment is on sale is a provisional calendar.
11.3. The time slots you indicate are preferences, not a booking.
11.4. We assign you to a class after enrolment closes, taking into account your level, the availability you indicated and the composition of the groups.
11.5. If we cannot place you in any of the time slots you indicated, we will contact you and offer you the closest alternative. If no alternative works for you, art. 27 applies and we refund you.
11.6. Once assigned, your day and time are fixed for the whole duration of your enrolment, subject to art. 11.7. That weekly appointment is fixed, and it is the reason we cannot let you pick a different lesson every week.
11.7. During the year we may change your class: the teacher, your classmates and, where necessary, the day and time. We will not do so more than once every six teaching weeks and we will tell you at least seven days before the change takes effect. The possible reasons are teacher rotation (art. 13), merging classes that have become too small (art. 12) and the arrival of new students.
11.8. Your name is visible to your teacher and to the other four students in your class.
12. Class size and mergers
12.1. A class has a maximum of five students.
12.2. When a class becomes too small to work as a conversation group, we may merge it with another class at the same level. A merger may change the day, the time and the teacher, within the limits and with the notice of art. 11.7.
13. Teachers
13.1. Lessons are taught by native Italian teachers, selected and trained by us, all working with the School's method and materials. Stefano does not teach the group lessons.
13.2. You will not know in advance which teacher you will have.
13.3. If a teacher becomes unavailable at short notice, we arrange cover, briefing the stand-in on where your class has got to. Where no stand-in can be found for a time slot, the lesson is moved, to another day or time in the same week or the following one, and we tell you the new appointment with as much notice as possible. If you cannot attend the new appointment, art. 14.5 applies.
13.4. Teachers are self-employed professionals engaged by us. Your contract is with us alone: anything concerning a lesson or a teacher should be reported to us.
14. Academic calendar, closures, public holidays
The full year calendar — teaching weeks, closure weeks and public holidays — is published before enrolment opens. Please read this article carefully.
14.1. The academic year contains 48 teaching weeks.
14.2. The School is always closed on Sundays. No lessons are scheduled on a Sunday.
14.3. Closure weeks. In every academic year the School is closed for four full weeks. The dates are set out in the academic calendar, published before enrolment opens. In a closure week there are no lessons, no events and no make-up lessons. Closure weeks are already excluded from the 48 teaching weeks: they do not reduce the number of lessons you receive and they do not extend your enrolment.
14.4. A public holiday in an open week. That week the School stays open. If your lesson falls on that day, it is moved to another day in the same week, and we tell you the new day and time with as much notice as possible.
14.5. If you cannot attend on the alternative day, the lesson is lost. There is no credit, no refund, no deferred make-up lesson and no extension of your enrolment.
14.6. We may change the calendar during the year where necessary. We will not reduce the total number of teaching weeks below 48 (or below 24 for a six-month enrolment) without art. 24.3 applying.
15. Attendance
15.1. Attendance is recorded at every lesson.
15.2. A lesson you do not attend is lost. It does not generate a credit, a refund, an additional lesson or an extension of your enrolment. The only exception is the right to a make-up lesson, within the limits of art. 16.
15.3. Unused lessons do not accumulate and cannot be transferred to another week, to another person or to a later period.
15.4. Please be punctual. The lesson lasts its scheduled 55 minutes and is not extended for anyone who arrives late.
15.5. If you know you will be absent, let your teacher know.
16. Make-up lessons
16.1. If you cannot attend your lesson in a given week, you may ask to join another class at your level in that same week. The request must be sent by email at least one week in advance.
16.2. A make-up lesson is not guaranteed. If there is no other class at your level that week, or if all suitable classes are full, or if the request arrives too late, there is no make-up lesson and the lesson is lost.
16.3. An unused make-up lesson does not accumulate and has no monetary value.
16.4. A make-up lesson is not a change of class. Your day, your time, your teacher and your classmates stay as they are.
17. Rules of conduct and consequences
In class everyone pays the same price and is entitled to the same space. These rules exist to protect it, and you accept them by enrolling.
17.1. Camera on. Group lessons are held with the camera on. If a technical problem prevents this, tell your teacher.
17.2. Be somewhere quiet. One participant's background noise makes the lesson worse for five people. Use headphones where you can.
17.3. Let everyone speak. The teacher actively manages speaking time and may ask you to stop so that a classmate can speak.
17.4. Treat classmates and teachers with respect. No offensive, discriminatory, harassing, sexually explicit or threatening behaviour, neither during the lesson nor in any communication channel you share.
17.5. Do not record, photograph, screenshot or broadcast any part of a lesson, and do not share the material outside your class. See arts. 18.3 and 20.
17.6. Do not use the lessons to promote a business, sell something, recruit or advertise a competing service.
17.7. Your teacher may ask you to leave a single lesson if your behaviour prevents it from going ahead. That lesson is then treated as an absence under art. 15.2.
17.8. In the event of a serious or repeated breach we may, proportionately and in this order where the circumstances allow: give you a written warning; move you to another class; suspend your access; close your enrolment under art. 28. For a single very serious breach — insulting or harassing a classmate or a teacher, or circulating a recording — we may close your enrolment immediately.
17.9. Closing an enrolment on conduct grounds does not entitle you to any refund of the price paid, and we may retain whatever is reasonably necessary to cover the damage caused.
18. Lesson recording
18.1. Group lessons are recorded.
18.2. Access is limited to members of our team and to your classmates. Recordings are never published, are not used in marketing, are not shown to another class and are not shared with anyone outside the School.
18.3. You may not record, photograph, screenshot or otherwise capture any part of a lesson, by any means. Your classmates have not consented to being recorded by you. A breach is dealt with under art. 17.8 and may also breach criminal law and data protection law.
18.4. One-to-one lessons are not recorded (art. 22.4).
18.5. The processing of personal data connected with recordings, and with all the other data we collect for the School, is governed by our Privacy Policy and by art. 13 of the general Terms & Conditions.
19. Class communication channels
19.1. Email is the official channel. Everything that matters — your placement, your class, your day and time, calendar changes, the end of your enrolment — is sent to the email address you gave us. Please keep it working and check that our messages do not end up in spam.
19.2. For day-to-day convenience, each class has a WhatsApp group.
19.3. Joining the WhatsApp group means your phone number becomes visible to your teacher and to your classmates. The group is optional.
19.4. We do not provide support through the WhatsApp group. For support, write to scuola@teacherstefano.com.
20. Materials and intellectual property
20.1. All the material we provide — recorded courses, slides, annotated lesson PDFs, class documents, exercise books, placement tests, recordings, the teaching programme itself and the method behind it — is owned by Teacher Stefano S.R.L. or its licensors, and is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
20.2. We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use it for your own study, for the whole duration of your enrolment.
20.3. You may download and keep the materials delivered to your class, and you may go on using them for your own study after your enrolment ends. This is not a right to do any of the things listed in art. 20.4.
20.4. Without our written permission, you may not:
- share, publish, upload, forward or sell any material to anyone outside your class, including study groups, forums, cloud folders and messaging channels;
- share your login credentials or let others use your access;
- reproduce, adapt, translate or create derivative works from the material;
- use the material, the method, the format, the slides or the scripts to build a competing or similar product, or to teach others commercially;
- use any of it to train, fine-tune or feed an artificial intelligence or machine learning system;
- circumvent the technical measures that protect access.
21. Optional extra events
21.1. Alongside the weekly lesson we run optional extra events, at no additional cost: cultural events, book club, movie night, game night. They are open to students of all levels, in a single group.
21.2. They are optional and additional. They are not part of the 48 or 24 scheduled lessons, they do not replace a lesson, and not attending costs you nothing.
21.3. Places are limited. Registration closes once they are full. A full session does not entitle you to another session, to a recording, to a credit or to a refund.
21.4. The events calendar is indicative. Days, times, content, formats and frequency may change, and an event may be cancelled. Events are never scheduled so as to overlap with lessons. We do not commit in advance to a recurring appointment on a fixed day of the week.
21.5. Some events suit higher levels better than beginners. A beginner is welcome at any event and gets value from listening, but we do not promise that every event is equally useful at every level.
21.6. Reducing or discontinuing the extra events is not a substantial change under art. 24.3.
22. One-to-one lessons (1:1)
22.1. One-to-one lessons are a separate product with a separate price. They are not included in your enrolment and buying them is entirely optional.
22.2. Expiry. The package must be used within 6 months of purchase. Lessons not used by that deadline lapse, with no refund, no extension and no monetary value.
22.3. Cancelling or moving a one-to-one lesson requires at least 24 hours' notice to the teacher. Beyond that deadline, or in the event of a no-show, the lesson counts as used. If the teacher cancels, the lesson does not count as used and is rescheduled.
22.4. One-to-one lessons are not recorded.
22.5. The rules of conduct in art. 17 and the intellectual property conditions in art. 20 apply to one-to-one lessons.
23. Technical requirements
23.1. To take part you need: a computer, tablet or smartphone with a working camera and microphone; a stable connection able to sustain a video call for an hour; a working email address; and the ability to open a video call link. Lessons are held on Google Meet and require no paid account.
23.2. You are responsible for your equipment, your software, your connection and your electricity supply, and for knowing how to use them. We help where we reasonably can, but we do not provide technical support for your device or your network.
23.3. A lesson you miss, or cannot follow, because of a problem with your equipment or your connection is treated as an absence under art. 15.2. No refund, credit or make-up lesson is due beyond art. 16.
23.4. If a lesson cannot go ahead because of a problem on our side — the platform, the teacher's connection, our systems — we reschedule it in the same week or the following one and tell you the new appointment. If you cannot attend the new appointment, art. 14.5 applies.
24. Changes to the service
24.1. During your enrolment we may make changes to how the School runs. In particular we may change: your teacher; the composition of your class; your day and time, within the limits of art. 11.7; the content and order of the programme; the video platform; the internal systems we use; the extra events calendar. The notice period for a change of class is the one in art. 11.7.
24.2. These are normal operational changes and do not entitle you to any refund.
24.3. If we make a change that substantially reduces what you bought — fewer teaching weeks in total, a shorter lesson, or the discontinuation of your level — we will tell you, and you may end your enrolment and receive a pro-rata refund for the part of the term not yet delivered. You must tell us within 30 days of our notice.
24.4. A change of teacher, of classmates, of the maximum number of students per class, of the day and time within the availability you indicated, or of the extra events programme, is not a substantial reduction.
25. Satisfaction guarantee (30 days)
25.1. You may end your enrolment and receive a full refund of the price paid if both of these conditions are true:
- the request is made within 30 days of the start of the School;
- you have attended at least two group lessons.
25.2. It follows that someone who never attends cannot request a refund.
25.3. To request a refund, write to scuola@teacherstefano.com before the deadline.
25.4. We refund the full amount you actually paid — to the original payment method, within 14 working days. Any bank conversion fees (art. 5.4) are not ours and we cannot refund them.
25.5. With the refund your enrolment ends immediately: your place in class is freed up and access to the included courses and materials ceases that day. Any one-to-one lesson package already bought is not included in the refund: it remains yours and usable on the conditions of art. 22.
26. No other refunds
26.1. Once the guarantee window in art. 25 has passed, the price paid is non-refundable, in whole or in part, and the enrolment runs to its end.
26.2. In particular, and without limiting arts. 25 and 27 or your rights where the service is not as described, no refund, credit, discount, extension or transfer is due if:
- you stop attending or lose interest;
- you miss lessons or whole weeks, for any reason, including illness, work, travel, family or bereavement;
- you are placed in a level other than the one you expected (art. 10.6);
- your teacher changes (arts. 13 and 11.7);
- you cannot attend an extra event, or the event is full or cancelled (art. 21);
- you cannot attend a lesson moved because of a public holiday (art. 14.5);
- your equipment or your connection does not work (art. 23.3);
- your enrolment is closed because of your conduct or a breach (arts. 17.9 and 28).
26.3. Enrolments cannot be paused, frozen, suspended or deferred to a later year. Your place is committed and your teacher is paid for the whole term.
26.4. Chargebacks. If you dispute a payment with your bank or card issuer without talking to us first, we may suspend your access for the duration of the dispute and, if the dispute is not upheld, recover the resulting costs.
27. If we cannot open or continue the School
27.1. A level that does not reach the minimum number of students. In that case the class is not opened and we refund you in full. The refund is the only remedy: we do not place you in another level and we do not give you a credit or a deferral.
27.2. No time slot in which to place you. If we cannot place you in any of the time slots you indicated and no alternative works for you (art. 11.5), we refund you in full.
27.3. We cancel the School before it starts. Full refund of everything you paid.
27.4. We discontinue the School during the year. Pro-rata refund for the part of the term not delivered, with reasonable notice.
27.5. Refunds under this article are made to the original payment method within 14 working days. Any one-to-one lesson package is not included in the refund and remains usable on the conditions of art. 22.
27.6. This article concerns classes that are not opened or cannot continue, not individual lessons: for those, arts. 13.3, 14.4 and 23.4 apply.
28. Suspension and closure of your enrolment by us
28.1. We may suspend your access to lessons and materials, or close your enrolment, if you:
- breach the rules of conduct in art. 17 seriously or repeatedly;
- breach the intellectual property conditions in art. 20, including by sharing credentials or circulating materials or a recording;
- record a lesson (art. 18.3);
- fail to pay an instalment (art. 6.3);
- give us false or third-party details, or turn out to hold more than one enrolment for the same person;
- start a chargeback that is not upheld (art. 26.4);
- use the School for anything unlawful, or in a way that harms the other students, our teachers or our reputation.
28.2. Closure under this article does not entitle you to any refund. Access ceases immediately, including access to the courses included in the enrolment; courses bought separately are not affected.
28.3. Closure does not affect our right to recover the damage caused.
28.4. You may end your enrolment at any time by writing to us. Outside art. 25, ending it early does not generate any refund (art. 26.1).
29. Enrolment is personal
29.1. Your enrolment, your place in class, your course access and any one-to-one lesson package are personal. They cannot be sold, given away, lent, shared, transferred to another person or held in two people's names — see art. 4.2.
29.2. An enrolment may be bought as a gift for a person identified by name, who becomes the student and accepts these terms. It cannot be transferred to someone else at a later point.
29.3. We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another company, for example on a reorganisation or a sale of the business, provided your rights are not reduced. If we do, we will tell you.
30. No guarantee of results
30.1. We undertake to deliver the service described in these terms with professional care. We do not, and cannot, guarantee a language outcome: a level reached, an exam passed, a rate of progress or fluency by a given date. Progress depends on your study, your practice, your attendance and factors nobody controls.
30.2. The School does not issue a recognised qualification (art. 3, Not included in your enrolment). Any internal certificate or internal test is a study tool with no official standing.
31. Liability and force majeure
31.1. We are liable for failing to deliver the service with professional care. Our total liability in connection with your enrolment is limited to the amount you paid, except where the law does not allow this: death or personal injury caused by our negligence, wilful misconduct, and any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.
31.2. We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit, loss of opportunity, or any loss arising from a decision you take on the basis of your progress at the School.
31.3. We are not liable for a failure or delay caused by an event outside our reasonable control — internet, platform or power outages, cyber attacks, strikes, epidemics, natural disasters, war, measures taken by a public authority. Where such an event prevents lessons, we make them up where possible; where it prevents them for a prolonged period, art. 27.4 applies.
31.4. We are not liable for what other students do or say.
31.5. We are not liable for the third-party platforms the service relies on, beyond having chosen them with reasonable care, nor for loss you suffer from the fraudulent use of your payment method by third parties.
32. Complaints
32.1. Write to scuola@teacherstefano.com. We undertake to acknowledge within 2 working days and to answer on the substance within 10 working days.
32.2. Please report straight away anything concerning a lesson, a teacher or a classmate, while it can still be put right for the rest of your enrolment.
32.3. If we cannot resolve it between us, as a consumer you may use an out-of-court dispute resolution procedure under Part IV, Title II-bis of Legislative Decree 206/2005. Using it does not affect your right to go to court.
33. Changes to these terms
33.1. We may update these terms for future enrolments at any time, by publishing the new version on this page with its date.
33.2. The version you accepted at the moment of payment governs your enrolment for its whole duration. We will not change the commercial substance of your contract — price, duration, number of lessons, class size, refund rights — while it is running.
33.3. We may make changes during your enrolment where they are required by law, or where they are clarifications and operational updates that do not reduce your rights. We will tell you by email.
33.4. If a clause turns out to be invalid or ineffective, the rest remains in force.
34. Governing law, jurisdiction, language
34.1. These terms and your enrolment are governed by Italian law. For anything not covered here, Legislative Decree 206/2005 (the Italian Consumer Code) applies.
34.2. If you are a consumer resident in the European Union, you keep the protection of the mandatory rules of your country of residence and you may bring proceedings before the court of your place of residence. In every other case the Court of Foggia, Italy has exclusive jurisdiction.
34.3. These terms are drafted in Italian. Translations are provided for convenience; in the event of any discrepancy the Italian text prevails.
34.4. The language of teaching, of the materials and of communication with the School is Italian. We may reply in English to a practical or administrative question.
Online School Terms & Conditions last updated on 07/09/2026.