1. Scope of Application, Definitions
(1) For the business relationship between EcoleFamily (“EcoleFamily” or “we”) and you (hereinafter “you”), the following General Terms and Conditions (“GTC”) shall apply in the version valid at the time of the conclusion of the contract. Deviating general terms and conditions of a customer shall not be valid unless EcoleFamily explicitly agrees to their validity in writing.
(2) On the website ecolefamily-com.preview-domain.com (“Website”), EcoleFamily offers you various free language learning information, materials and services, as well as paid online language courses and materials (collectively, the “Service” or the “Services”). The term “Materials” refers to all of EcoleFamily’s learning materials, whether EcoleFamily provides them to you within or outside of an online language course and regardless of the materials being offered for free or against charge.
2. User Account, Conclusion of Contract, Contract Languages
(1) In order to use the Services of EcoleFamily, you must create a user account. For this purpose, you enter your first and last name as well as your email address in a registration form provided online, set a password of your choice and agree to the GTC. Alternatively you can register via single-sign-on (SSO) methods displayed at the registration page. After you have submitted the registration form, you will receive a confirmation email from EcoleFamily, which will allow you to activate your user account.
(2) By creating the user account, you confirm that you are at least 18 years old and can enter into legally binding contracts. In addition, you declare that you will not create a user account for anyone other than yourself without EcoleFamily’s permission, that all information provided by you when creating the user account is true, accurate and complete, and that you will continue to update your information in the future in case it changes in the course of using the user account.
(3) In order to use a paid online language course from EcoleFamily, you must place an order with EcoleFamily via the user account.
EcoleFamily’s offers of the online language courses are not a binding contract offer in the sense of §145 BGB (German Civil Code) but are to be understood as an invitation to you to submit an offer. By sending an order by clicking the order button, you submit a binding contract offer. Before sending the order, you can choose between different language courses, change and view the data at any time and select the payment method. However, the contract offer can only be submitted and transmitted if you accept these GTC by checking a box and thereby include them in your offer.
(4) The contract for the online language course between EcoleFamily and you is only concluded by EcoleFamily’s submission of the declaration of acceptance, which is sent with a separate email (order confirmation). In this email, EcoleFamily will send you the text of the contract (consisting of GTC, order confirmation) on a durable medium. EcoleFamily will store the contract text in compliance with data protection laws.
(5) The contract will be concluded in German, English, French or Spanish.
3. Rights of Use and Restrictions of Use
(1) EcoleFamily owns all copyright exploitation rights to the Materials, including, but not limited to content, text, images, software, audio and video files and documentation.
(2) EcoleFamily grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, worldwide right to use the Materials solely for private and non-commercial purposes.
(3) You may not, withoutEcoleFamily’s prior explicit written consent, communicate to the public, in particular make available to the public on the internet , broadcast, distribute, sell, rent, sublicense, transmit, publish as adapted works, including but not limited to translation, reproduce for non-private use, or otherwise exploit the Materials or any other copyrighted work of EcoleFamily in any manner not permitted by law.
(4) You are prohibited from making video and/or audio recordings of online language courses and publicly reproducing or distributing them.
4. Use of the Service, Duties of Care for User Data, Failure of the Service
(1) Your right to access and use the Website and the Service is personal to you. You may not transfer this right to any other person or company. You are only allowed to access the Website and the Service for lawful purposes.
(2) You are responsible for keeping your EcoleFamily user account, username and password confidential. In particular you must not disclose the access data to third parties. You are responsible for all activities related to your user account.
You agree to notify EcoleFamily of any unauthorised use of your account immediately upon becoming aware of such use.
(3) EcoleFamily is not obligated to keep a log of your user account or any data or information you may have stored through the user account and/or the Services.
(4) Your access to and use of the Website might exceptionally be interrupted from time to time. This may have several compelling reasons, such as a regular update or maintenance or repair work of the Website, or other measures that EcoleFamily must perform to maintain the functionality of the Service.
5. Online Language Courses
(1) If you have booked an online language course, EcoleFamily will provide you with live online lessons with language teachers, either as private or group classes, according to your booking. Details of your online language courses are available at any time in your user account under “My Profile”.
(2) EcoleFamily offers online language courses on a “course credit basis” against the redemption of certain “credits”, namely as private class credits or group class credits. These are either already included in the order or can be purchased separately.
Purchased credits are not refundable in money. Purchased credits remain valid for one year from the date of purchase unless a different expiration date is mentioned on the checkout page. However, they can only be redeemed during an ongoing subscription to an online language course or during an upfront payment online language course.
(3) To use online language courses, it is necessary for you to use third-party video conferencing software. This is specified in the technical equipment requirements, as amended from time to time, on our Website. You are solely responsible for procuring the respective video conferencing software, including any required rights of use, at your own expense.
(4) EcoleFamily and the language teachers reserve the right to exclude you from a lesson at any time for a good cause. In this case, the credits for the lesson in question will be used up and will not be refunded.
(5) You can cancel an online language course at any time without giving reasons.
If you cancel at least 72 hours before the scheduled start of the online language course, you will retain your credits. If you cancel later than 30 minutes after booking a language course and later than 72 hours before the scheduled start of the online language course or if you do not participate in the online language course in part or in full, the respective credits will be used up and cannot be refunded. The cancellation must be made in the user account.
(6) EcoleFamily can cancel an online language course at any time before the scheduled start time without giving reasons, especially in case of illness of the language teacher. In this case, you will retain the respective credits.
(7) If you arrive more than 10 minutes late for a class, the language teacher is entitled to close the course and not conduct it anymore or deny access. In this case, the respective credits will be used up and will not be refunded.
6. Fees and Payments for Online Language Courses
(1) When you book an online language course, you are obligated to pay the fees agreed upon in the order.
(2) You can find the current prices of the offered language courses on the registration pages and sometimes on other pages on our Website. The fees charged by EcoleFamily are final prices. In accordance with § 4 No. 21 UStG (Value Added Tax Act) we do not charge or display value added tax or sales tax.
(3) EcoleFamily reserves the right to change the fees/prices in effect no more than once per calendar year in order to reflect increases in certain cost elements and any resulting increase in the total costs associated with EcoleFamily’s Services. Possible cost elements that affect EcoleFamily’s fees/prices are the costs of language teachers, costs of technical provision and distribution of service, costs of marketing, personnel, service providers and IT systems.
EcoleFamily will inform the current customers of the fee/price increase by means of a clear notification by email. All fee/price changes will apply to you no earlier than 6 weeks after the notification of the price increase.
(4) EcoleFamily generally offers in particular the payment methods credit card, PayPal and Sofort payment. EcoleFamily reserves the right not to accept certain payment methods for a given order and to refer to other payment methods as specified on the checkout page for the relevant order.
(5) EcoleFamily accepts various credit cards, e.g. Visa, Mastercard and American Express. EcoleFamily will debit the invoice amount from your credit card directly after receipt of the order.
(6) Your subscription may be cancelled after enrolment in the event that your credit card expires, is cancelled, lost or invalidated. EcoleFamily will then contact you and you will be given the opportunity to change your registration details. Your subscription will be terminated in the event that your credit card is not successfully recharged or your subscription is not successfully renewed.
7. Term, Termination
(1) The term of an online language course begins at the time designated in the order confirmation.
(2) If you order a monthly subscription to an online language course, the contract is concluded for four weeks and is automatically extended each time for another four weeks, unless you or EcoleFamily terminate the contract before the end of the ongoing subscription period.
(3) If you order an upfront payment online language course, the contract is concluded for the selected contract period and cannot be terminated without notice unless a termination right is expressly provided for on the checkout page. Such upfront payment online language course will not renew automatically unless expressly provided for on the checkout page.
(4) If you wish to cancel your subscription to an online language course, you can cancel the subscription text form or in your user account on the “My Profile” section using the button provided for this purpose. You can also terminate a subscription by using the termination buttons on our website.
(5) Certain subscriptions to online language courses are offered with a free trial period. In this case, you have the right to cancel the free trial week within the trial period beginning with the conclusion of the contract. If you do not cancel the free trial period within this period, the free trial period will be converted into a paid monthly subscription in accordance with para. 2 of this section 7.
If you wish to cancel your free trial week, you can cancel in accordance with section 7 para. 4 above.
(6) You may book online language courses with a free trial week only if you have not been a customer of EcoleFamily before.
(7) The right of the parties to terminate the contract for good cause remains unaffected by the above paragraphs. Good cause exists for EcoleFamily in particular if (a) you violate the restrictions of use according to section 3 para. 3 or 4 or your obligations according to section 11, (b) you transfer the user account to a third party or (c) you otherwise culpably violate your contractual obligations. Section 7 para. 4 also applies to your extraordinary termination. We can declare our extraordinary termination in writing or by email.
(8) Under the same conditions as the previous paragraph, EcoleFamily may also delete your user account.
8. Right of withdrawal
If you are a consumer in the sense of § 13 BGB (German Civil Code), you are entitled to a right of withdrawal for the contracts with EcoleFamily in accordance with the statutory provisions, about which we inform you in this section 8. Consumer in this sense (and in the sense of these GTC) is any natural person who uses the services of EcoleFamily for a purpose that cannot be predominantly attributed to his commercial or independent professional activity.
Instructions on the right of withdrawal
Right of withdrawal
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.
The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day of the conclusion of the contract.
To exercise the right of withdrawal, you must inform us by e-mail: contact@ecolefamily-com.preview-domain.com of your decision to withdraw from this contract by an unequivocal statement (e.g. a letter sent by post or e-mail). You may use the attached model withdrawal form, but it is not obligatory.
You can also electronically fill in and submit the model withdrawal form or any other unequivocal statement on our website. If you use this option, we will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.
Effects of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we shall reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (with the exception of the supplementary costs resulting from your choice of a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us), without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract. We will carry out such reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.
If you requested to begin the performance of services during the withdrawal period, you shall pay us an amount which is in proportion to what has been provided until you have communicated to us your withdrawal from this contract, in comparison with the full coverage of the contract.
9. Liability
(1) Subject to the following paragraph of this section 9, EcoleFamily’s legal liability for damages is limited as follows: EcoleFamily’s liability is limited to the amount of damages typically foreseeable at the time of the conclusion of this contract for the slightly negligent breach of material obligations arising from the contractual relationship (i.e. such contractual obligations, the fulfilment of which is essential for the proper performance of the contract, the breach of which jeopardises the achievement of the purpose of the contract and the fulfilment of which you regularly rely on, so-called “cardinal obligations”). EcoleFamily is not liable for the slightly negligent breach of non-essential obligations arising from the contractual relationship.
(2) The aforementioned limitation of liability shall not apply in cases of mandatory statutory liability (in particular under the Product Liability Act) and in the event of the assumption of a guarantee, intent or gross negligence or in the event of damage resulting from injury to life, body or health. You are obligated to take reasonable measures to avert and mitigate damages.
10. Privacy Policy
Your use of our Website and the processing of your personal data is carried out in accordance with our privacy policy.
11. Your Special Duties
(1) You are responsible for the content you post on the Website (e.g. in forums, and chat rooms). The opinions and messages you post on the Website do not represent or endorse the views of EcoleFamily or its employees. EcoleFamily is not responsible for the content of any messages you send to other customers you have located through EcoleFamily.
You agree not to post any of the following content:
- content that violates the rights of third parties, in particular the copyrights or data protection rights of third parties,
- obscene, pornographic, violence glorifying or trivialising, child and youth endangering contents,
- defamation, insults, abusive criticism, threats against other customers or third parties,
- racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic and transphobic, discriminatory, offensive to human dignity and immoral content.
(2) You further agree to refrain from the following actions:
- distribute electronic content (including viruses, worms, Trojan horses) capable of causing damage or any form of harm to EcoleFamily’s computer systems, as well as publish URLs or links to websites or servers containing such content,
- generate substantial electronic traffic, e.g. by sending unsolicited commercial emails, junk emails, other unsolicited communications, so-called mail bombs, etc. to one person, to distribution lists or to several newsgroups (spamming),
- use any mechanism, software or other script in connection with the use of the Website that interferes with the functionality or accessibility of the Website or modify, delete or overwrite any content on the Website created and maintained by EcoleFamily.
(3) You further agree:
- not to photograph other participating clients or the language teacher during an online language course or to make audio and/or video recordings of them and/or to make them available to the public or distribute them publicly.
- not to insult, defame, discriminate against or threaten other participating clients or the language teacher during the online language course in a racist, anti-Semitic or homophobic or transphobic manner, or for any other reason.
12. Compensation
You agree to indemnify EcoleFamily with respect to any and all damages resulting from your negligent or intentional breach of the GTC.
13. Changes to the GTC
EcoleFamily has the right to change these GTC with effect for the future, for example due to a change in the law or to ensure better functionality of the Website or Services. Excluded from this are unreasonable changes, especially to essential parts of the contract, such as the main services owed. EcoleFamily will notify you of any changes to these GTC in text form (email will suffice) at least six (6) weeks prior to their intended effective date to the last known email address. If you do not agree with the changes to the GTC, you have the right to object or terminate your contract at the next possible date until the day the change to the GTC comes into effect. If you do not exercise your right to object or terminate, it will be assumed that you agree with the new GTC. EcoleFamily will inform you about this circumstance and its consequences in the notification of the changes to the GTC.
If you object to the application of the changed GTC, EcoleFamily may cancel the contract and your user account by giving you two (2) weeks’ notice.
14. Dispute Settlement Procedure
The European Commission provides you with an online dispute resolution platform. The platform is available at http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr. EcoleFamily does not participate in any dispute resolution mechanism, but prefers to resolve your requests directly with you. If you would like to contact customer service and submit a request, please contact us by email contact@ecolefamily-com.preview-domain.com.
15. Miscellaneous
(1) Contracts between you and EcoleFamily shall be governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The statutory provisions on the limitation of the choice of law and on the applicability of mandatory provisions, in particular of the state in which you have your habitual residence as a consumer, remain unaffected.
(2) Should individual provisions of this contract be invalid, this shall not affect the remainder of the contract.
If you have questions about these GTC or any of EcoleFamily’s other policies and operations, please feel free to contact us at the contact details on ecolefamily-com.preview-domain.com.