Refund and cancellation policy

This policy covers the platform fees that families and students pay PrepBanz for access to their courses on PrepBanz.

Tuition is separate. Tutors charge and collect their own tuition, directly from families. PrepBanz doesn't collect tuition, so we can't refund it. Questions and refunds about tuition are normally between you and your tutor, subject to the law where you live.

This policy is part of our Terms of service. Nothing in it affects the rights the law gives you, including any right to cancel or to get a refund.

Section 14 covers AI credit top-ups, which only tutors buy.

Each student gets one 15-day free trial, for their first course only. Courses added later don't get another trial.

You don't need a card to start the trial, and we'll remind you before it ends.

Trial days are never charged.

Keeping the course after the trial. Add a card in Billing & Subscriptions. You pay for the rest of that month, then the monthly price from the 1st.

If the trial ends without a card. Nothing is charged, and the course is locked: opening it shows a payment screen, and the student can't use that course until it's paid for. Locking a course isn't the same as cancelling or deleting it. You can add a card at any time, and once the payment goes through, access comes back. The course doesn't get another trial.

Platform fees are charged monthly, in US dollars, by card through our payment provider. Every course renews on the 1st of each month.

If a course starts partway through a month, including when a free trial ends, you pay only for the days left in that month.

A course that hasn't started yet isn't charged until it starts.

PrepBanz covers the card processing fees, so there's no surcharge. If your card is in another currency, your bank converts the amount, and any charges your bank makes for that are between you and your bank.

You can see every invoice in Billing & Subscriptions.

A course you add partway through a month is charged at the student's new price straight away, for the days left in that month.

Courses already paid for that month keep the price you paid. We don't reprice them, and there's no automatic refund or credit for them.

From the next 1st, all the student's active courses are charged at the new price.

You can cancel a course at any time in Billing & Subscriptions.

Cancelling stops the next renewal. The course stays open until the end of the period you've already paid for, unless access has to be restricted for another valid reason under our Terms of service.

The unused part of the paid period isn't refunded automatically. Section 9 explains when we do refund.

Changed your mind? Until the paid period ends, you can turn the renewal back on in Billing & Subscriptions.

Cancelling a course on PrepBanz doesn't cancel any tuition arrangement you have with your tutor.

If the law where you live gives you a right to cancel or to a refund, that right still applies.

Tutors run their own courses, and a tutor can ban a student from one of their courses. While a student is banned, they can't use that course and it doesn't renew.

A ban is the tutor's decision, so PrepBanz doesn't automatically refund the platform fee already paid for that month. Questions about a ban are normally for the family and the tutor to sort out. Your legal rights still apply.

The tutor can unban the student later. If that happens in the same paid period, there's no extra charge. If it happens in a later month, the course is charged for the days left in that month, as usual.

If a ban involves something that worries you, such as a safety concern, write to hello@prepbanz.com.

A tutor banning a student is different from PrepBanz closing a tutor's account, which section 7 covers.

We may suspend or close a tutor's account for serious misconduct, fraud, a safeguarding concern, a serious breach of our Terms of service, or another valid legal reason.

If we close a tutor's account and students lose access to a course they've paid for, we stop the renewals for that course and review each affected student's platform fees.

Where the tutor's misconduct or the closure has stopped a student getting what they paid for, we refund the platform fees for the unused part of the paid period.

A temporary suspension while we look into a concern doesn't automatically lead to a refund. If it stops a student using a course they've paid for, we look at the circumstances and refund where it's fair.

These refunds cover PrepBanz platform fees only, not tuition. If the law gives you a right to more, we'll honour it.

If a renewal payment fails, you have a three-day grace period. During those three days, the course stays open, you'll see a notice in Billing & Subscriptions, and we try to take the payment again. You can also update your card and pay.

If the payment still hasn't gone through by the end of the third day, access to that course pauses from day four: the course is locked until the payment goes through. Once it does, the course opens again.

Only the course with the failed payment is affected. The student's other courses stay open while their payments are up to date.

A locked course isn't cancelled. If you don't want it any more, cancel it in Billing & Subscriptions so it doesn't renew.

Once a paid period has started, unused days aren't refunded automatically when you cancel.

If we've charged you twice, charged the wrong amount, charged you after you cancelled, or got a calculation wrong, email hello@prepbanz.com.

Once we've checked the error, we'll correct the charge and refund what we shouldn't have taken.

To help us find the payment, tell us the student's name, the course, the date and amount on the invoice, and the email address on the account. If it helps, add the last four digits of the card. Never send us your full card number or security code.

To ask for a refund, email hello@prepbanz.com with the details in section 10.3 and tell us what happened.

Our support team reviews every request and may ask for more details so we can check the payment.

If we approve a refund, we start it straight away. Refunds normally go back to the card you paid with. If that isn't possible, we'll use another appropriate method.

We aim to complete approved refunds within 30 days, or sooner if the law requires it. Once we've sent a refund, how long it takes to reach your account depends on your bank or card provider.

We'll tell you what we've decided, and if we can't give a refund, we'll explain why.

If you're unhappy with a charge, we'd like to hear from you at hello@prepbanz.com. Most billing problems are quicker to fix that way.

You can still dispute a charge with your bank or card provider. You don't have to contact us first.

If you dispute a payment, we may respond to the dispute through our payment provider.

If a payment is reversed, the tutor's earning from it may be adjusted, as our earnings policy explains.

We may change platform fees. If we do, we'll email you at least 15 days before the new price takes effect.

A new price applies only from a future 1st, never to a month you've already paid for.

If you don't want to continue at the new price, you can cancel before it applies. Any further rights the law gives you still apply.

This section is for tutors. AI credit top-ups are separate from the platform fees families pay.

AI credit top-ups are optional. Once bought, they aren't normally refundable, unless the law requires a refund.

Top-up credits last until the end of the billing month you buy them in, and any you haven't used by then don't carry over. We'll show you when they expire before you buy. They have no cash value and can't be exchanged for money or transferred. Clause 7 of our Terms of service explains how credits work.

If we charge you for a top-up by mistake, section 10 applies.