Terms & Conditions

One booking is for one student only. One session can't be split between two learners. 

For example: if you wish to book two children for a 30-minute lesson, you must book two 30-minute lessons. You cannot book a 60-minute lesson and split it between two or more people.

Basic music grammar is taught as part of piano and vocal lessons. However, if a student requires Music Theory lessons, these should be booked separately in addition to piano or vocal lessons.

All bookings are final, non-refundable, non-transferable and cannot be postponed or moved to another date/time.  Lessons cancelled by the Tutor due to sickness or personal circumstances will be rescheduled or refunded at your choice.

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You are responsible for checking that:

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• you can attend on the booked dates and times and at the specified geographic location (in-person, mobile and online tuitions).

• your address is within the area covered by the teacher (mobile tuition).

• your property is safe for the teacher to enter, and the teacher is under no obligation to enter the property deemed unsafe for any reason (mobile tuition).

• you have the equipment to study online (for online lessons).

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Discounted blocks are available only for weekly lessons, with exceptions for occasional planned holidays or other infrequent activities. Block bookings are not offered to students seeking bi-weekly or other lesson frequencies, including those who travel frequently. If you need lessons at a frequency other than weekly, you must book single lessons. While we are happy to accommodate a single request to include a holiday into your schedule, please note that if the teacher notices a pattern of frequent holiday or absence requests for any reason, resulting in lessons not occurring weekly, the student will be moved to single lesson bookings, which are not discounted (£40/60-min lesson or £30/30-min lesson or £25/20-min lesson). The teacher has full authority to decide whether to offer a student the option to book lessons in discounted blocks and can revoke this option at any time.

All offers must be redeemed according to the timeframes given. All offers are valid for face-to-face and online classes only and does not cover mobile tuition at the student's home. No refunds/postponing/transfers/credit notes will be issued in situations where the certificate cannot be redeemed for any reason. All sales are final. Lessons purchased through offers are subject to standard terms and conditions expressed here. 

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Payment policy

Accepted payment method: cash only (with the exception of the induction payment upon enrolment into the class).

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New students: the induction payment must be paid in full in advance via a payment link sent at the time of booking. This payment is due immediately upon receipt of the payment link and secures the timeslot. Payments on the day are not accepted.

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Invoices: payments are due on the date specified on your invoice.

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Timeslot availability: timeslots are not guaranteed until payment is received. Until payment is received, all timeslots remain available for other students to book.

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Ongoing payment schedule: after the induction payment, all subsequent payments are due on the 3rd lesson of the current block in order to secure the next block. This policy applies without exception. There is no grace period or leniency.

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Administration fee: in the unlikely event that a student or parent arrives at the 3rd lesson without payment, or with an incorrect amount, a £5 administration fee will be added to the invoice. The administration fee and the outstanding balance must be paid in full before tuition can resume.

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Lesson fees (including online bookings) are reviewed annually and are subject to increase in line with inflation. When the prices are set to rise, you will receive four weeks advance notice. 

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While your teacher will make an effort to send reminders when possible, they are under no obligation to remind students about late payments after the invoice has been issued. It is assumed that the student/parent/guardian has the adequate organisational skills to remember to pay on time. Non-payments or late payments may result in your timeslot being given to another student without additional reminders.

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• If you fail to pay on time and your timeslot was allocated to another student on the waiting list, the teacher may offer to reschedule you to the next available date, though this is not guaranteed.

• If your payment is received too late after your timeslot was given to another student, and you do not wish to resume lessons at the offered date, you will receive a full refund for that transaction, minus any transaction processing fees and £5 late payment fee.

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The teacher is not obligated to chase late payments via text, email, or phone. No exceptions are made for long-term students, their good relationship with the teacher, or the number of new students they have referred to the school or any other factors. The rules are applied consistently to all students, without exception.

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A fee of £10 will be charged if you require me to produce a letter of recommendation or any other correspondence to enrol into a competition, music establishment, or other purposes, such as (but not limited to) correspondence with other teachers. 

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A fee of £50 will be charged if you require me to attend an in-person, online or telephone meeting with (but not limited to) other music professionals, school teachers, etc.

My attendance to support you during graded examinations/other music assessments and competitions is free.

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A £3 travel charge will be added to the total price of your lessons if you require tuition at your home and live within 5 miles outside Lytham or St. Annes area. A £10 travel charge will be added for the locations further than 5 miles.

Kindly note that once a timeslot is booked, it becomes exclusively reserved for you. For this reason, all lessons are non-refundable and cannot be postponed or cancelled, including in cases of ad-hoc activities, illness, or changes in personal circumstances. The payment you make is not for attendance at a lesson, but for the teacher’s time and availability to provide that tuition to you at the agreed time. Our teachers are self-employed and plan their schedules specifically around their booked students. All lessons run back-to-back with no gaps, and once a timeslot is reserved it cannot be easily filled by another student, meaning the teacher would otherwise incur a financial loss. Teachers also have other professional commitments, as well as personal and family time. We stand firmly against requiring teachers to give up their personal or family time in order to reschedule missed lessons, as this places unreasonable financial and mental pressure on them. This is not permitted under any circumstances. Unless an absence was explicitly agreed at the time of booking and payment, no absences will be authorised under any circumstances. If you do not attend your booked lesson(s), you will forfeit that lesson and the associated fee, with no refund, credit, or carry-over issued.​ By booking a lesson, you acknowledge and accept these terms in full.

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Booked lessons are strictly non-refundable, non-reschedulable and will not be postponed. A refund will not be issued (or lessons rescheduled/paused/postponed) should you not be able to keep up with booked lessons or practice (including instances where the lessons are missed due to sickness) or wish to terminate the tuition temporary or permanently.

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Lessons cancelled by the tutor will be rescheduled for another date at mutual convenience at no extra cost to you. Once the date for the rescheduled date is agreed upon, it cannot be rescheduled again. Non-attendance will be billed as active lessons.

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All lessons start and end on time agreed during booking, regardless of whether a student is late or arrives on time. In instances where the student comes earlier, and the teacher can start the lesson at the time of arrival, the lesson will finish accordingly earlier.

ALL students under 18 years of age must be accompanied by a parent/guardian throughout the entire duration of every lesson. Should this not be possible for any reason on any given lesson, the lesson will be cancelled without a refund or the possibility to reschedule.

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If a child refuses to cooperate or wishes for the lesson (s) to stop, no refund or postponement will be issued. All bookings are final.

Printable Materials, Interactive Journals, Video and Audio Tutorials and Recordings: Your Tutor may send you some notes, printable materials, videos and audio tutorials to enhance your learning. These and any other sources remain the Tutor's property. You may not publish, share or otherwise re-distribute such material unless explicitly allowed to do so in writing by the Tutor. The Tutor has the right to withdraw your access to any interactive material at any time or upon the termination of service. 

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The teacher will never publicly distribute the content featuring the student without seeking written or verbal permission from an adult student or a parent/guardian of the minor student.

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Music scores, graded exam books, and admissions for ABRSM, RCM, or Trinity graded practical exams are offered FREE OF CHARGE ONLY with DISCOUNTED BLOCK BOOKINGS. These services are NOT included with Single Lesson bookings. All printed books provided to students remain the property of Ottantotto Piano School and must be returned after use. If students wish to keep a book, they may purchase it for 10% of the retail price.

You are also responsible for checking that the teacher's studio is within your travel distance and that you can travel to your teacher on the booked dates and times. By submitting the payment, you agree that you have checked that you can travel to the teacher's studio.

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You are also responsible for checking that your address is within Tutor's travel locations, which are the following locations in Lancashire, UK: St. Annes, Lytham, Ansdell Wrea Green, Higher Ballam, Lower Ballam, Westby, Ribby, Kirkham, Warton, Blackpool, Bispham, Moss Side, Poulton-Le-Fylde, Singleton, Thornton- Cleveleys. By submitting the payment, you agree that you have checked that you are located within this area.

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You are responsible for ensuring that the area where the lessons are to take place is prepared in advance. Your electric keyboard must be set and plugged into the mains outlet and your scores tidy and arranged before the teacher's arrival. All lessons start and end on time agreed during booking, regardless of whether you are ready in advance or still setting up when your teacher arrives.

Any pets and children who are not students must be removed from the room where your lessons occur to avoid disruptions. No refund or postponement will be issued when disruptions occur during the lesson, regardless of the cause.

Animals must be locked away before your teacher can enter your property. If this is not possible for any reason, your lesson will be cancelled without a refund and with no option to reschedule. The teacher is under no obligation to enter the property deemed unsafe for any reason but is entitled to the full pay as they have spent time preparing for the lesson and travelling to the student.

It is your responsibility to ensure an adequate internet connection. Lessons affected by poor internet connection on the student's part will not be made up or refunded. 

To minimise the chances of a bad connection, please ensure that your WIFI is not overloaded during the lesson. You may wish to ask your family members not to use WIFI during your piano lesson. You may also want to position your instrument next to the router or vice versa. 

Ottantotto Piano School practices ZERO TOLERANCE to antisocial behaviour, verbal/physical abuse, bullying and disrespectful attitude from students and parents/guardians of the students. Violence, abuse and disrespectful communication (email/pnone/text messages and in-person) will not be tolerated and will entail immediate cancellation of lessons without refund and in the most severe cases may include a report to the police.

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While no student at Ottantotto Piano School has ever failed an exam, the school does not guarantee that you or your child will pass. In the event of exam failure, no refunds or additional free lessons will be provided. However, the school guarantees that all the necessary knowledge to pass the exam with good marks will be taught. The outcome ultimately depends on the student's commitment, practice, and mental and emotional resilience.

It is not uncommon for students/parents of minor students to hire multiple piano teachers at once. Please note that our tutors do not work in partnership with other piano teachers (with exception for situations where our tutors are hired in parallel with the primary or secondary school-based music tuition). Any student seeking tuition from an additional teacher will have their lessons terminated immediately without a refund.