Contracting good practices
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Cancelation Policy
Contracting good practices
Interested in our services ?
Here is how it works:
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You are the one paying for your training
- Book an initial chat with us : we will assess your French and discuss of a plan of action with you.
- After the initial chat, you can expect to hear back from us within the same week (usually 2 business days, but not guaranteed): this is the time for us to find the right teacher for you, at your preferred time.
- We will issue a quote for you that you can accept by clicking directly on "accept" online. This validates your training in our system.
This is the moment for us to pre-book your classes on our calendar.
- Send a payment as detailed in the contract and your classes will be fully booked!
Please note that your classes are not fully booked with us until we receive a first payment.
- Once a payment is received, we will send you access to your student's file (share Google Doc with your teachers) and invites for your classes (GoogleCal).
Your students file is the true back bone of your training : this is a place you will find all the logistics information for your training and your class calendar, where your teacher will add the lessons you will cover together and all necessary content, and where you will do exercices and homeworks.
- We're ready to start !
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Your training is paid by your employer
- Book an initial chat with us and we will be happy to discuss a plan of action with you.
- After the initial chat, you can expect to hear back from us within the same week: this is the time for us to verify and plan our availability for your training.
- You will then receive a quote from us.
option 1: your training requires a contract from your Department or Procurement.
We will need to wait for them to issue a contract. It usually takes 3 weeks, but can take more.
We will wait until we receive a confirmation of approbation with an expected start date for your training to pre-book your classes in our calendar.
We need to receive a signed contract to fully book classes for your training.
Please note that any long delays (a deviation from the expected start date longer than a week) might lead to some changes in the plan of action we discussed during the initial chat as we cannot hold our teachers' time for too long without classes.
Be sure that are always trying to prioritize your needs and requests, as we know the importance of having a training fit nicely into your life and we do always have an open communication about potential logistics issues.
For example, if you requested your training to be on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 to 10:30am but the contracting process got delayed for a month, we will try our very best to accommodate this plan if teachers are still available, but we might need to offer you other solutions. We will always suggest multiple options for you to choose from.
Option 2: your training needs the approbation of your supervisor / the person in charge. Your training is paid by credit card.
Once you have a formal written approbation, you can click directly on the quote we sent, on "accept". This validates your training in our system.
This is the moment for us to pre-book your classes on our calendar.
We will send you access to your student's file (share Google Doc with your teachers) and invites for your classes (GoogleCal). Your students file is the tru back bone of your training : this is a place you will find all the logistics information for your training, your class calendar, where your teacher will add the lessons you will cover together and all necessary content, and where you will do exercices and homeworks.
Please note that our invoices can be paid by direct deposit (vendor list) or by credit card (with an extra 3% of the total amount of the training).
Please see our cancelation policy below.
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You need to renew / extend your contract
Excellent ! We are happy you are happy !
- If you wish to keep your training the way it is set up (same days, same hours, same teachers), contact the course coordinator as early as possible: two weeks before your last class would be ideal, there will be no fee attached to renewing your contract afterwards. Please be aware there might be a slight gap between the last week of your previous contract and the first week of your new contract if you contact us only at the last minute to renew your contract: time for us to establish a new contract and update our calendars and students files.
- If you wish to extend / renew your contract but would like us to accommodate new hours, new days or new teachers, we would need a minimum of two weeks notice.
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You need your contract to start ASAP ?
While we understand you are probably rushed into your training because you have been scheduled earlier than expected for a test, there will be an emergency fee for treating your request.
If you need your training to start within two weeks of our initial chat, we reserve the right to charge $150 as an emergency fee to manage your request, as it requires us to work extra hours on the evenings and during the weekends to be able to fit your training in our calendars.
Cancellation policy
When organizing a training with a student, we take a lot of time and put a lot of efforts into making sure their training is on their preferred days and hours. We care also about the sustainability of their training and want to ensure their classes will fit well into their busy lives.
Once we have agreed upon days and hours for their training, the list of classes is accessible in the Calendrier des Classes (in each student file) and should be respected.
Our regular cancellation policy is a 2 working days (Monday to Friday) policy for any cancellation.
Less than 2 working days notice ? We call this class canceled last minute.
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For one-on-one classes - regular training ( up to 6 hours a week)
Students can cancel and reschedule up to two classes per period of 3 months of a contract.
- Students need to send an email to the teacher in charge of the class they are canceling. The class coordinator (lauriane@doitinfrenchotawa.com) should be CC-ed in this email exchange.
- If a student cancels more than 2 classes per period of 3 months contract, it is to their lost: there will be no refund / the class will be billed.
- If a student needs to cancel a class last minute, it is their loss: there will be no refund / the class will be billed.
Under exceptional circumstances and based on the teacher's good will and availability, a missed class could be rescheduled once.
Please be aware that if teachers agree to reschedule a class, it is on their own terms and own time, as we will only bill the class once (teachers will only be paid once as well).
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For one-on-one classes - intensive or semi-intensive options
For semi-intensive and full-time training, we acknowledge that adaptation to the student's needs is key for sustainable success and we want to keep open the option to modify the Calendrier des classes after the first month of training, in agreement with students, to better fit their needs.
It can then be modified to better fit the needs of the student every two months.
- For contracts over a 3 months period of time, we understand that vacations can be added during the training: we ask students to inform us four weeks in advance of the time they wish to take off training.
In the best interest of students' progress, this vacation time shall not exceed two weeks in a row.
If students fail to give us enough notice, a full week of training will be charged, as a fair compensation for our teacher's time.
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Emergency / catastrophe ?
Life is hitting you a bit too strong and you need to focus on something else than your French for a more than three weeks? We can pause your training.
As we want to offer a fair compensation to our teachers for the time that was booked, we will charge a week (7 days) of training, but will pause all of your other classes.
The amount of classes left in student's contract will be added on your Student file and we will be happy to resume when you will be ready for it. Please note that we will need a minimum of two weeks notice for your classes to resume.
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For Duo Classes
For cancellation on a Duo Class: there is no refund / the class will be billed.
If only one participant is available, we will adapt the 1.5h Duo class into a 1h of one-on-one training for the present participant.
Please note that Duo Classes should be booked with the intention of participating in it, as it does not only engage the time of the teacher, but also the time of the other participant who is counting on having a potential partner for their Duo Class.
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For Conversation Workshops
When students register for a workshop, they register for the entire month (4 weeks) of the workshop. In the case a student can’t come for one of the sessions, there will be no refund / they will be billed for this session.
We understand that sometimes life can happen, vacations are needed, or work gets busy, which is why we allow a substitute system for one session per month of workshops: students can find someone to replace them for the one session they need to miss. This substitute needs to be around the same level to allow for the group cohesiveness (we recommend the substitute to take an initial chat with us.
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Canceling the contract
In the case of a student or a client wish to cancel their contract before its planned end date they must notify the class coordinator by email (lauriane@doitinfrenchottawa.com).
We will bill the student/the client for canceling their contract before its end date, for the total of classes that would have happened in one weeks of training, as a fair compensation for their teacher's time.
For example: A student who has 3 hours a week of one-on-one training from August 1st to November 1st 2022 and wishes to cancel their contract on September 15th. They will be charged for an extra week (7 days) as a cancellation fee: 6 h x $50 = $150.
For corporate students, the cancellation fee will be added to the last bill.
For non-corporate students, the cancellation fee is expected to be paid within the next 30 days of the termination of the contract (the email sent for cancellation counting as Day 1).
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In all cases, please note
Fais-le en français – Do it in French aims to provide a safe-space to each participant. Consequently, the instructor reserves the right to terminate a contract with any student who would demonstrate disrespectful and/or aggressive behaviours towards another student or the instructor. Discourse and actions stemming from racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia and toxic masculine rhetoric are not welcome in our classes.
In a case where the instructor had to terminate a contract, Fais-le en français – Do it in French will charge clients for the hours completed and the remaining hours of the current month of the contract termination.
We like to have a transparent and open door policy.
Students should never hesitate to contact directly the class coordinator.