Terms of Service

1. What the Platform does

The Platform lets you choose an Italian tutor, buy lessons, book them in the tutor's published availability and attend them by video in your browser. Lessons are one-to-one and last 50 minutes unless the tutor's profile states otherwise.

Tutors are independent professionals who teach under their own responsibility. The Platform selects them, provides the tools, collects payments and remains your point of contact for any problem; it does not employ the tutors. Where the tutor is the operator of the Platform himself, the lesson contract is with him directly.

2. Your account

You must be at least 18 years old, or use the service with the consent of a parent or guardian who accepts these terms for you. Provide accurate information, keep your password confidential and tell us at once if you suspect unauthorised use. You are responsible for what happens under your account.

One person, one account. We may suspend or close accounts used for fraud, abuse or in breach of these terms.

3. Trial lesson

Your first lesson is a paid trial at the price shown before payment: EUR 39 for 50 minutes, a real, full lesson with the tutor you chose. When you book it you may instead choose a shorter first lesson of 25 minutes (currently EUR 21), meant to meet the tutor and find your level; it is not a shorter version of the lesson plan, and your regular lessons are 50 minutes.

The trial credit must be booked at checkout and is valid for the booked slot; it can be moved under the rules of section 6, which apply to both lengths (including the 12-hour notice for the first lesson). Each account may buy one first lesson, of either length.

If you have an active Studio subscription when you book, the 50-minute first lesson costs 5% less (currently EUR 37.05). The discount applies once per account, only to the 50-minute first lesson, not to the 25-minute option, to lesson packs or to later lessons, and cannot be combined with other offers.

Invited by a friend or a partner: if you are new to Adesso Italian, the 50-minute first lesson costs EUR 19 (see section 9).

First-lesson guarantee: if your first lesson took place and was not the right fit, tell us within 48 hours of its end, from the lesson's page in your account or by writing to hello@adessoitalian.com. You choose one: a full refund of the first lesson, or, when another tutor is available, a free first lesson with another tutor. The guarantee applies once per student, to the first lesson of either length, and not when you did not attend the lesson. Refunds go back to the original payment method.

First-lesson offer: if you have not booked or bought anything yet, the 50-minute first lesson costs EUR 29 instead of EUR 39 for 72 hours, counted from the end of the level test, from your first visit through one of our adverts that shows this offer, from when you claim it in the offer window on our home page, or, for accounts opened before the offer started, from your next visit to the booking page or to Studio. An offer already running is never extended. The time left is shown on the booking page. The offer applies once per account, only to the 50-minute first lesson, not to the 25-minute option or to private invitations, and is never added to another discount: you get the better one. The price you pay is the one shown before payment.

4. Lesson packs and credits

After the trial you buy lessons in monthly packs of 4, 8 or 12 (the price depends on the tutor and is shown before you pay). Each pack grants the corresponding number of lesson credits; one credit equals one 50-minute lesson. Every monthly pack also includes Studio, the self-study course (section 8), at no extra cost while the pack is active.

Credits are valid for 30 days from the day they are granted and expire afterwards. Credits refunded to you after a cancellation under section 6 keep their original expiry date or, if that is sooner, remain valid for 7 more days. The Platform shows the expiry date of every credit in your dashboard and reminds you by e-mail before it expires.

Packs renew automatically every month on the renewal date shown in the app, at the price then in force, until you cancel. You can change the pack size or cancel at any time from Billing: the change applies from the next renewal and the current period remains available until its end.

Credits are personal, have no cash value and cannot be transferred or exchanged for money, except where the law requires a refund. If you switch to a tutor with a different price, the remaining credits are converted by value.

5. Prices and payment

Prices are shown in euro and include VAT where applicable. Payments are processed by Stripe; by paying you also accept Stripe's terms. A receipt is issued for every payment and an invoice is available when you enter billing details before the payment.

In many countries (for example the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland) the payment page also offers the price in your local currency. If you choose it, Stripe converts the euro price at the exchange rate shown, which includes a conversion fee of about 2 to 4 percent charged by Stripe; monthly renewals are converted at the rate of the renewal day, so the amount in your currency may vary slightly from month to month. You can always choose to pay in euro instead. Refunds are made in the currency you paid in, at the original rate.

If a renewal payment fails, Stripe retries for a few days and we notify you. Booking is suspended until the payment succeeds; credits already granted stay valid until their expiry.

6. Booking, moving and cancelling lessons

Lessons are booked in the tutor's published availability, at least 2 hours before the start (12 hours for the trial) and up to 60 days ahead.

You may move or cancel a lesson free of charge up to 12 hours before the start: the credit returns to your balance. Later cancellations, and lessons you do not attend, use the credit. A lesson counts as missed if you have not joined within 15 minutes of the start.

If the tutor cancels or does not show up, the credit is always returned and, where the cancellation happens with less than 12 hours' notice, we help you rebook as a priority.

If the video connection fails for reasons attributable to the Platform for more than 15 minutes, the credit is returned.

7. Right of withdrawal (consumers)

If you are a consumer in the European Union you may withdraw from a purchase within 14 days without giving a reason, by writing to hello@adessoitalian.com. Because lessons are a service that starts at your request, the price of lessons already taken within those 14 days is deducted, in proportion, from the refund. Once all credits of a pack have been used, the right of withdrawal for that pack is exhausted.

Lessons can start within the 14 days only at your express request, which you give when you book or buy a pack.

Studio is digital content supplied immediately: before paying you expressly ask for access to start at once and acknowledge that you lose the right of withdrawal once access has started (art. 59 of the Italian Consumer Code). Unit 1 is free to try before you buy.

Booklets and the series pass are digital content. When you buy them you ask for the download to start straight away and confirm that, from that moment, you lose the 14-day right of withdrawal (Article 59(1)(o) of the Italian Consumer Code). The same applies to each booklet of a series pass as it is delivered. If a file does not work, write to us and we will fix it or refund you.

8. Studio

Studio is the Platform's self-study course. It is sold as a subscription at the price shown before payment (founding members: EUR 14 per month or EUR 140 per year), which stays the same for as long as the membership is not interrupted. Founding places are limited to the first 100 members.

The subscription renews automatically at the end of each period until you cancel. You can cancel at any time from Studio, Manage membership: access continues until the end of the period already paid, then stops. No partial refunds are due for the period in progress, except where the law requires them. Your progress is kept and is available again if you rejoin.

Studio is included at no extra cost while you have an active monthly lesson pack. If you start a lesson pack while you have a separate Studio subscription, that subscription stops at the end of its current period, so you are never charged twice.

Full access after the level test: when you finish the level test without an active monthly lesson pack or Studio membership, you get every Studio unit and path for 72 hours from the end of the test, with 1 automatic correction included. It is free, needs no payment details, does not turn into a subscription and is given once per account, even if you take the test again. When it ends, your progress stays saved and the free units stay open.

Studio contents (texts, audio, exercises) are for your personal use and may not be copied or redistributed.

Corrections: you may send the recording of a speaking task for an automatic correction. The recording is transcribed by speech-recognition software and the written correction is generated by an artificial-intelligence model, usually within a minute; no teacher listens to it or writes it. Automatic corrections can contain mistakes: they are a study aid, not an assessment of your level. Each calendar month this includes 2 corrections with an active monthly lesson pack and 1 with a Studio membership (1 in total during the 72 hours of full access after the level test); unused corrections do not carry over, and a recording that cannot be corrected is not counted. Recordings are kept for 180 days and then deleted; the transcript and the written correction stay in your account.

9. Referral programme

Every student has a personal referral link in the dashboard, and our partners have their own codes. A friend who joins through a link or a code and is new to Adesso Italian pays EUR 19 for the 50-minute first lesson instead of EUR 39. New means that, before opening the link, they had no account with us, had not subscribed to our newsletter, bought a booklet or left their e-mail address with us, and had not first come to the site from one of our adverts. The price applies once per account, only to the 50-minute first lesson, not to the 25-minute option or to private invitations, and does not add up with other discounts: the better one applies.

When a friend you invited starts a monthly lesson pack, you receive one free 50-minute lesson credit 14 days after their first pack payment, if that payment has not been refunded, once per friend. The credit is valid for 30 days like any credit. Rewards are never paid in cash. If your friend's pack is refunded in full or reversed by their bank, a free lesson you received for it and have not yet used or booked is removed.

Referring yourself, including through another account or with the same payment card, creating accounts for this purpose or other misuse cancels the reward, and we may refuse the friend's price. Affiliates and partners have their own codes under the affiliate terms or a separate agreement, and must clearly disclose paid partnerships. We may change or end the programme for the future; rewards already earned are kept.

10. Conduct

Lessons and chat must be used respectfully and only for language learning. Harassment, discrimination, unsolicited commercial messages or any unlawful use lead to suspension. Recording a lesson requires the explicit consent of both participants.

Students and tutors agree not to take the relationship off the Platform to avoid its fees while both remain registered and for 12 months afterwards.

11. Reviews

After a completed lesson you may leave one review per tutor, which you can edit later. A tutor may also invite, with a personal link, students they taught before joining Adesso Italian; those reviews are marked as such on the profile. Reviews must be honest and based on your own experience; we remove reviews that are offensive, misleading or unrelated to the lessons.

12. Intellectual property

Lesson materials, notes and exercises are for your personal study and may not be redistributed. The Platform's name, logo, design and software belong to the operator.

Booklets, their audio and the online audio pages are for your personal use: you may print and keep them, but not share, resell or publish them.

13. Liability

We provide the Platform with reasonable care and skill, but we cannot guarantee uninterrupted availability or specific learning results. To the extent permitted by law, our liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid in the three months preceding the event. Nothing in these terms excludes liability for wilful misconduct or gross negligence, or limits the rights that consumers enjoy under mandatory law.

14. Changes, law and disputes

We may update these terms; material changes are announced by e-mail at least 14 days in advance and apply from the next renewal. If you do not agree, you may cancel before they take effect.

Italian law applies. Consumers keep the protection of the mandatory rules of their country of residence. For disputes with consumers, the competent court is the one of the consumer's residence; the European Online Dispute Resolution platform is available at ec.europa.eu/odr.

15. Contact

Questions about these terms: hello@adessoitalian.com.