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Private Work Policy & T&C - Teaching or otherwise... A word of caution - Please Read. Business card above.
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I have recently had a number of requests to "go private". This is a good idea in principle. Preply's subscription scheme is unethical and predatory; see
Details of alternatives (LiveXP if you cannot pay directly, e.g Ukraine during war) or private tuition (cheaper!) are lower down the page - BUT please ***READ THE FOLLOWING FIRST***
<<<<IMPORTANT SECURITY NOTICE>>>>
You may also make a private arrangement with me - which is cheaper.
If you wish to make an arrangement with me privately for teaching (or other) work, I do have this facility; however this must be subject to the following rules...
1: Please ***NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES REQUEST OR TRY TO DISCUSS THIS MATTER*** whilst on Preply's platform. Anyone doing so and therefore jeopardising my
primary livelihood will be dismissed immediately. The reasons are simple. Preply can monitor all/any communications on their platform whether audible, visual or in text
or picture form. Preply will ***BAN FROM THE PLATFORM ANY TEACHER SO DOING***, so please make these requests OFF PLATFORM. You can do this in a lesson conducted on
Skype, Zoom, Google meet (note: this is blocked in China) or any other such platform. You may also request via email, or text messaging on WhatsApp, Telegram or WeChat. Those
who have access to the DFDN suite of Zello channels may request there also. A handful of my students fall into this category.
2: Please contact me with your request using one of the above methods, and make a request.
3: Be aware that teaching material provided by Preply will be unavailable off platform.
4: For the best experience, please use a device with a decent display (not phones or tablets); you might as well get value for money (you would not pay to watch a film in a
cinema on a tiny screen giving yourself eye strain, so why come to lessons like this)? Remember, Preply do not care about the teaching experience, only your money! This is why
they tell students they can use these devices for marketing purposes. They are not concerned about the issues it causes for teachers - or students, for that matter.
5: I can be paid directly (no fees!) in the Following currencies:
AED, UAE Dirham
AUD, Australian Dollar
BGN, Bulgarian Lev
BTC, Bitcoin
CAD, Canadian Dollar
CHF, Swiss Franc
CZK, Czech Koruna
DKK, Danish Krone
EUR, Euro
GBP, Pound Sterling
HKD, Hong Kong Dollar
HUF, Hungarian Forint
ILS, New Israeli Sheqel
JPY, Japanese Yen
MXN, Mexican Peso
NOK, Norwegian Krone
NZD, New Zealand Dollar
PLN, Polish Zloty
QAR, Qatari Rial
RON, Romanian Leu
RSD, Serbian Dinar
SAR, Saudi Riyal
SEK, Swedish Krona
SGD, Singapore Dollar
THB, Thai Baht
TRY, Turkish Lira
USD, United States Dollar
ZAR, South African Rand
If you have a Revolut or Skrill account it is very easy; Bitcoin can be used upon request! (PayPal is supported but not prefered as their fees - expecially on a per-lessons payment
basis - are high). If your currency is not on this list, it means I do not currently have the banking facilities to take direct payment. If your currency is on this list, please request
the account details -I must use the correct details for each currency. If your currency is not on this list, don't despair! I have a MUCH CHEAPER solution than Preply's commision(!),
I recommend:
Wise, which gives the best conversion rates around.
I don’t have support for payments from the following countries/regions: Belarus, Cuba, Iran, Korea (North), Libya, Myanmar, Russia, Syria, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic), Zimbabwe, Donetsk People's Republic, Luhansk People's Republic, Zaporizhia, and Kherson (Ukraine).
Additionally, the following transfer routes are unsupported:
USD transfers from Barbados (BRB), Curaçao (CW), Gibraltar (GIB), Malta (MLT), St Maarten (SXM), Mauritius (MU).
EUR transfers from Mauritius (MU), St Maarten (SXM). CHF and NOK transfers from Malta (MLT).
Unless you are from one of the above countries or territories, you can use a payment service to convert to one of the above currencies of your local currency is not listed.
Pricing: my contingency plan is to migrate you to your existing Preply per hour rate for private tuition (same cost to you, no commision so 100% goes to me); unfortunately LiveXP have a fixed but higher rate which I cannot change, so use only if you cannot pay directly. (For example, those in Ukraine are not permitted to pay me directly for the duration of the war).
Naturally, here is my business card (Who said Gemini and Gopher cannot display images!):
***BREAKING NEWS*** {Now available live on LIVEXP) - follow the link to book...
My current schedule. Read only to prevent abuse!
Any questions or issues, and you know where I am!
David Norris, 15/11/2023
For reference, this is the commission rate on Preply (apparently, iTalki takes 15% flat rate which is fair enough given infrastructure and saved marketing costs):
Each and every single 'trial' (first lesson: 100%! - teacher cannot make free for student)!
0-20% For first paid lessons
21-50 paid lessons, 28%
51-200 paid lessons, 25%
201-400 paid lessons, 18%
These are total nomber of lessons delivered by the teacher, not taken by the student.
Missed lesson policy: by discression - I am flexible and will offer a replacement for genuine cases. Genuine includes, but is not limited to:
Overrunning work, illness (own or family); occasional genuine mistakes (we are all human); change of work or other schedule outside control of student;
loss of electricity supply or network service; being unable to attend for reasons related to travel; family related issues; war related issues, e.g Ukraine.
And another reason why trial lessons are unethical....
After each missed trial lesson, a tutor’s profile will be hidden for an increasing amount of time, and they will need to take action to make it visible again. After a
tutor misses 5 lessons, they will be permanently blocked from the platform.
Here’s what happens after each missed trial lesson:
1st missed trial: tutor’s profile is hidden until they watch a tutorial on managing their Preply calendar.
2nd missed trial: tutor’s profile is hidden for 7 days and until tutor completes a course on attendance. If the tutor reviews a video within 7 days, after 7 days tutor's profile will be unhidden. If the tutor didn't complete the course within 7 days after TWA, the profile remains hidden until the action is completed.
3rd missed trial: tutor’s profile is hidden for 14 days, then they can make it visible again using the control on the Preply website.
4th missed trial: tutor’s profile is hidden for 30 days, then they can make it visible again using the control on the Preply website.
5th missed trial: the tutor’s profile is permanently blocked and hidden from new students. If they don’t raise an objection to Preply’s support team, their students will be reassigned to other tutors.
So no recognition that teachers are real people who make mistakes and may have their own circumstances outside of their control, nor any mention of mistakes made per decade (is a track record of 5 missed trial lessons in 20 years really such a terrible record)?. Enough said.
