Terms and Conditions of Phonem Language School, Owner Sabrina Alibasic
I. Registration and Payment
1) Attendance in a course is only possible with prior and complete registration.
2) Registration can be done in person at the school or online via our website.
3) Trial lessons are possible with prior arrangement at the office.
4) Trial lessons are free of charge and can only be taken on one day (duration: 45 minutes).
5) Payment is made by bank transfer or in cash at the school. No card payments are possible.
6) The fee for a course level, such as A1.1, is fixed at 350 €. In the final week before the course starts, an additional processing fee of 40 € will be charged along with the course price.
7) If a participant does not attend the class (e.g., due to illness, an upcoming appointment, varying working hours, etc.), there is no entitlement to a price reduction or refund.
8) Payment in installments is only possible with prior arrangement with the school management.
9) A confirmation of registration will be sent via email after payment.
10) If needed, a certificate of participation can be obtained at the end of the course. The certificate can only be issued if the participant has attended at least 60% of the lessons.
11) Should any personal information of a participant change, such as address, email, phone number, or name, please notify Phonem immediately. This ensures that invoices, registration confirmations, and certificates can be issued correctly. If personal data changes are not reported, a processing fee of 10 € will be charged for reissuing any confirmations, invoices, or certificates.
12) Please note that courses can only be booked for a duration of 4 weeks (for morning and afternoon courses) or 6 weeks (for evening courses). Weekly bookings are not possible. An exception exists if a course is not fully booked. In this case, a booking for a minimum of 2 weeks is possible.
13) Course place reservation for existing Phonem Language School participants:
Reservation period: The place in a follow-up course is reserved for Phonem Language School participants for 7 days. After this period, without timely registration and payment or deposit, the place can be assigned to another person.
Reservation fee: Phonem Language School participants can reserve a place in the follow-up course for 50 €. By doing so, the processing fee for the last week before the course begins is waived.
Cancellation and refund: If a participant who has made a deposit of 50 € decides not to participate in the follow-up course 10 days before the course begins, the deposit will not be refunded.
14) Only one registration per month is possible for each course. Re-registering for the same course within the same month is not allowed. After the first registration, the place is reserved for 3 days. If the course is not paid within this period, the data will be deleted, and the place will be made available to other participants. We cannot guarantee the availability of a course place in this case. Multiple registrations to reserve a place are not possible and are expressly prohibited.
II. Rebooking and Cancellations
1) Rebooking…
a.) …to a later date, if notified in time (at least 2 weeks before the course starts), costs 30 €. Any further rebooking costs 50 €.
b.) Rebooking after this period or even on the course start date is not possible.
c.) If participants received certificates for submission to authorities (residence permit extension, visa issuance, etc.) at the time of registration, rebooking or cancellation is only possible with the presentation of a rejection notice, see section V.
2) In case of cancellation…
a.) We retain a processing fee of:
60 € for cancellations more than 30 days before the course starts.
100 € for cancellations between 14-30 days before the course starts.
No refund for cancellations less than 14 days before the course starts.
Withdrawal must be made in writing.
b.) Late cancellations or cancellations on the course start date are not possible.
c.) No cancellation is possible if a participant does not attend the course without prior notice.
d.) The original registration confirmation must be returned in case of a cancellation.
III. Course Schedule, Event Times, Holidays, Course Cancellations
1) Course dates are always set in advance for mornings, afternoons, or evenings and cannot be changed.
2) Course books are not included and must be purchased by the participant before the course starts.
3) Morning and afternoon courses:
a.) Are held daily from Monday to Friday and last for 3 hours + 15 minutes break.
b.) A teaching unit lasts 45 minutes.
c.) A course day includes 4 teaching units (4x45min = 3h), making 20 teaching hours per week.
d.) A course level, such as A1.1, lasts 4 weeks for morning and afternoon courses, totaling 80 teaching hours per month.
4) Evening courses:
a.) Are held three times a week on pre-scheduled days.
b.) A course day includes 4 teaching units (4x45min = 3h), making 12 teaching hours per week.
c.) A course level, such as B2.1, lasts 6 weeks for evening courses, totaling 72 teaching hours per level.
5) Conversation courses:
a.) Are held either in the afternoons or evenings, depending on the course schedule, two or three times a week. A lesson lasts 2 hours + 15 minutes break if needed.
b.) The prerequisite for the conversation course is the completion of B1/B2 level.
c.) The course lasts 4 weeks in total and can be booked monthly.
6) Course cancellation:
a.) If a class falls on a public holiday, it will not take place. To compensate for the missed lesson(s), additional materials in the form of worksheets, reading texts, exercises, etc., will be distributed by the teacher and worked on together on the next working day if needed.
b.) If a class is canceled for reasons Phonem is responsible for (e.g., teacher illness), the lessons will be made up.
c.) If not enough participants register for a course, Phonem reserves the right to cancel the course and postpone it to a later date. In this case, the paid amount will, of course, be fully refunded.
d.) In case of a low number of participants (fewer than 5 students), the lesson or course duration will be shortened (by 60 minutes), as the lesson is considered “individual/private instruction” in this case.
IV. Exam and Certificate
1) The exam…
a.) Consists of written and oral parts and follows CEFR guidelines.
b.) The exam is included in the course price for Phonem participants and takes place at the end of the complete level, e.g., at the end of the A1.2 course.
c.) The exam days (a total of 2) are included in the teaching hours and are agreed upon with the teacher at the beginning of the course.
d.) All detailed information about the exam procedure will be provided to participants by the teacher at the start of the course.
e.) The exam for non-course participants costs 150 € and is held on Phonem premises.
f.) Exam dates are scheduled in advance with the office.
g.) We do not offer naturalization tests or DTZ (Deutsch-Test für Zuwanderer) exams.
2) Certificate:
a.) After taking the exam, participants will receive a certificate/language diploma within 14 working days.
b.) The certificate is included in the course price for participants.
c.) The certificate is an internal language diploma from Phonem according to CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).
d.) The certificate can only be collected from the school or sent via email.
e.) Our exam and certificate comply with the guidelines of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) but are not Telc exams. Please carefully check which exam and certificate suit your goals and requirements before registering and paying. Please note that Phonem Language School is not responsible for, and does not refund costs, if the certificate is not accepted in your specific case.
V. Language Visa
1) Before registering and booking a course, please check with the German embassy in your home country about the visa requirements.
2) Please apply for your visa in good time before the course begins and be aware of the long waiting times.
3) To receive an invitation letter for a German course from us, you must book and pay for at least 4 courses in advance.
4) The invitation letter will be sent via email.
5) Rebooking: In case of visa refusal (with proof of rejection) or longer waiting times, the booked course can be rebooked to a later date. The timing depends on the course schedule and cannot be determined by the participant. It may take a few months until the desired course starts again.
a.) If the rejection notice is submitted immediately, the rebooking is free of charge.
b.) No refund is possible if a participant does not attend the course without prior notice.
6) Cancellation: Booked courses for visa purposes can only be canceled with a rejection notice (from the embassy).
a.) In case of cancellation, we will retain a processing fee of 100 €.
b.) Cancellation must be made in writing with the rejection notice. Only then will Phonem refund the course fee. Phonem does not cover additional costs such as transfer fees, handling charges, sender’s, recipient’s, or correspondence bank fees, and exchange rates.
c.) No cancellation/refund is possible if a participant does not attend the course without prior notice.
VI. General
1) In the event of damages caused by the participant, the participant is responsible for compensation.
2) Phonem is not liable for the loss of personal belongings, clothing, valuables, etc., or for injuries.
3)
Parents/guardians are fully responsible for minors.
4) Phonem uses your personal data only for course administration purposes and does not share it.
5) To provide the best possible support for course participants, data such as email addresses or WhatsApp/Telegram contacts are used. This enables participants to have all materials, course information, announcements, etc., in digital form.
6) Right of withdrawal:
a.) You have the right to withdraw from the contract with Phonem within fourteen days without giving reasons. The withdrawal period is fourteen days from the day you or a third party named by you received the service.
b.) To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us in writing (by letter or email) about the cancellation of the contract.
c.) In case of contract withdrawal, we will refund all payments received from you no later than fourteen days from the day we received the withdrawal notice.