Terms and Conditions

of the online services offered by MA Method Academy

These Terms and Conditions (the "Terms") are the Regulamin świadczenia usług drogą elektroniczną required by Article 8 of the Polish Act of 18 July 2002 on the Provision of Services by Electronic Means and the contractual framework required by Directive 2011/83/EU on Consumer Rights and the Polish Act on Consumer Rights of 30 May 2014.

By creating an account, purchasing a plan or otherwise using the Website, you confirm that you have read, understood and accepted these Terms.

1. Definitions

2. Subject-matter and scope

2.1. The Provider offers, through the Website, online language tuition consisting of:

• live one-to-one lessons delivered via Zoom or Google Meet;
• personalised learning materials accessible in the Student Area;
• written and recorded feedback from teachers;
• e-mail support during business hours (Mon–Fri 09:00–18:00 CET, PL public holidays excluded).

2.2. Special provisions apply to Consumers and Entrepreneurs with consumer rights (see §§ 9, 10, 11).

3. Technical requirements

To use the Services the User needs:

• up-to-date Windows 10/11, macOS 12+, iOS 16+ or Android 12+;
• broadband Internet access (at least 5 Mbit/s);
• working microphone, speaker and webcam;
• the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Safari;
• a personal e-mail address;
• the Zoom or Google Meet client installed.

4. Account creation

4.1. To purchase a Plan the User must create an Account, provide mandatory data, and accept these Terms and the Privacy Policy.

4.2. The User declares that the data are true and undertakes to keep them updated. The User is responsible for password confidentiality.

4.3. The Account is personal and may not be transferred. Sharing credentials is a material breach.

4.4. Minors. Services are addressed to persons aged 16+. Users 16–18 may register only with the documented consent of the holder of parental responsibility.

5. Conclusion of the contract

5.1. A Subscription is purchased by: (i) selecting a Plan; (ii) logging in or creating an Account; (iii) providing billing information; (iv) paying through Stripe; (v) receiving the order-confirmation e-mail.

5.2. Language of the contract. The contract is concluded in English. An Italian-language courtesy version of these Terms may be provided on request; in case of discrepancy, the English version of the Terms prevails, save for mandatory consumer-protection rules of the country of the Consumer's habitual residence that grant a right to a translation.

5.3. The contract is concluded when the order-confirmation e-mail is sent. The e-mail confirms, on a durable medium (Art. 2 (4) Dir. 2011/83/EU), the essential elements of the contract together with a copy of these Terms, of the Privacy Policy and of the Refund and Withdrawal Policy including the model withdrawal form, in accordance with Art. 21 of the Polish Consumer Rights Act.

5.4. Before placing the order the User must expressly acknowledge that the order entails an obligation to pay. The order button is labelled "Order with obligation to pay" or with an equivalent unambiguous wording, in accordance with Art. 8 (2) of Directive 2011/83/EU and Art. 17 (3) of the Polish Consumer Rights Act.

5.5. Pre-contractual information. The information required by Art. 12 of the Polish Consumer Rights Act (transposing Art. 6 Dir. 2011/83/EU as amended by Dir. (EU) 2019/2161), including the main characteristics of the Services, the total price, the duration of the contract, the conditions for termination of a contract of indefinite duration and the conditions and procedures for exercising the right of withdrawal, is provided to the User on the Plans page, in these Terms and in the order-confirmation e-mail before any obligation is assumed.

6. Prices and payment

6.1. Prices are displayed in euro (EUR) and include VAT at the rate applicable in the country of consumption (Art. 58 Council Dir. 2006/112/EC for B2C electronically supplied services and tuition is generally taxed where the consumer is established). For B2B sales within the EU the reverse-charge mechanism applies upon provision of a valid EU VAT number.

6.2. Accepted means of payment include: card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express), Apple Pay, Google Pay, SEPA Direct Debit and any other method enabled by Stripe at checkout. The available methods may vary depending on the User's country and the type of transaction (one-off or recurring).

6.3. Payment processing is performed by Stripe Payments Europe Ltd (Ireland). The Provider does not store full card data; payment details are tokenised and handled exclusively by Stripe.

6.4. Recurring billing and automatic renewal. A Subscription is concluded for an indefinite duration and renews automatically at the end of each monthly billing cycle for a further month, unless cancelled in accordance with §10. The User is reminded of the upcoming renewal by e-mail at least 7 days before each renewal. The User may cancel the Subscription at any time from the Student Area or by e-mail; cancellation is effective at the end of the billing cycle in progress, without further charge.

6.5. Failed payments. If a recurring charge fails, Stripe will automatically retry the charge in accordance with its smart-retry schedule over a period of up to 7 days. After three unsuccessful attempts the Subscription is suspended and the User is notified by e-mail; the suspension is lifted as soon as a successful payment is made within 30 days, after which the Provider may terminate the Subscription for non-payment. No lessons are lost during a suspension period of less than 7 days.

6.6. Invoices are issued electronically in PDF and made available in the Student Area within 7 days of payment. On request, the Provider issues an invoice with a VAT number (B2B).

7. Lessons: booking, attendance, rescheduling

7.1. Lessons are booked through the Student Area at least 24 hours in advance, subject to teacher availability.

7.2. Cancellation or rescheduling by the Student is free of charge if made at least 24 hours before the lesson. If the Student cancels with less notice or fails to attend, the lesson is counted as performed, except where the Student demonstrates that the absence was due to force majeure, sudden illness or another serious cause beyond their control, in which case the Provider will offer one free rescheduling per billing cycle.

7.3. Cancellation by the Provider or teacher entitles the Student to free rescheduling. If no acceptable slot can be offered within 30 days, the corresponding lesson is refunded.

7.4. If the Student does not connect at the scheduled time, the teacher will remain available on the meeting link for 15 minutes and will attempt to contact the Student. If the Student does not attend within those 15 minutes without prior notice, the lesson is treated as performed in accordance with §7.2.

7.5. No-show by the teacher entitles the Student, at the Student's option, to a free replacement lesson or to a refund of the lesson; in serious or repeated cases the Provider will also grant an apology credit.

7.6. Unused lessons of a given month cannot be carried over to the following month, except where this is due to the Provider's or the teacher's fault, or by written agreement of the parties.

8. Code of conduct

The Student undertakes:

• to behave respectfully towards teachers and staff;
• not to record lessons without the prior written consent of the teacher and the Provider;
• not to redistribute learning materials (see § 13);
• to use the Services in compliance with applicable law.

A breach may result in immediate suspension of the Account without refund.

9. Right of withdrawal

9.1. A Consumer (and Entrepreneur with consumer rights) has the right to withdraw within 14 days from the conclusion of the contract, without giving any reason.

9.2. Notify by unequivocal declaration sent to legal@mamethod.com. The model form is attached to the Refund Policy.

9.3. Services exception (Art. 38 (1)(1) Polish Consumer Rights Act / Art. 16 (a) Dir. 2011/83/EU, as amended by Dir. (EU) 2019/2161). The lessons supplied by the Provider are a service (live, human-delivered tuition). For service contracts, the right of withdrawal is lost once the service has been fully performed by the Provider, provided that performance began with the Consumer's express prior consent and acknowledgement that they will lose the right of withdrawal once the contract has been fully performed by the trader. Where performance has begun at the Consumer's express request but the contract is not yet fully performed at the time of withdrawal, the Consumer owes an amount proportional to what has been performed (Art. 35 PL Consumer Rights Act).

9.4. The express request and acknowledgement required by Art. 38 (1)(1) are collected before the first lesson is delivered, by means of a check-box at booking time displaying the wording set out in §3.1 of the Refund and Withdrawal Policy. Once a lesson has been fully delivered, the right of withdrawal is lost only in respect of that individual lesson; the right of withdrawal remains in force for lessons not yet delivered during the 14-day period.

9.5. For the Trial lesson (EUR 9) the same rule applies.

9.6. Full details in the Refund and Withdrawal Policy.

10. Cancellation of a Subscription

10.1. A Consumer may cancel a Subscription at any time, without giving any reason, by an unequivocal declaration sent by e-mail to legal@mamethod.com or by using the cancellation function in the Student Area. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the monthly billing cycle in progress at the time the cancellation is received; the Consumer remains entitled to use any unused lessons of that cycle and no further charge is made. This provision does not affect the 14-day right of withdrawal under §9, which applies separately to the initial conclusion of the contract.

10.2. The Provider may terminate a Subscription with 30 days' notice for any reason. The Provider may terminate with immediate effect only in case of material breach by the User (in particular fraud, abuse of the service, repeated insulting behaviour towards staff or unauthorised distribution of teaching materials), after notification of the breach and a reasonable opportunity to remedy it where remedy is possible. Where termination by the Provider is not due to material breach by the User, any prepaid but unused lessons are refunded pro rata within 14 days.

11. Statutory warranty for conformity and complaint procedure

11.1. The Provider is liable to the Consumer for the conformity of the Services with the contract under Chapter 5b of the Polish Consumer Rights Act (Umowy o dostarczanie treści cyfrowej lub usługi cyfrowej), which transposes Directive (EU) 2019/770 on certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services.

11.2. If the Services are not in conformity with the contract, the Consumer may first request that the Provider bring them into conformity. If conformity cannot be ensured, or the Provider refuses or fails to bring the Services into conformity within a reasonable time, the Consumer is entitled to a proportional price reduction or to terminate the contract and obtain a refund, in accordance with the conditions laid down in Chapter 5b.

11.3. Complaint procedure (Art. 8 of the Polish Act of 18 July 2002 on the Provision of Services by Electronic Means). Any complaint, including a conformity claim, shall be addressed to legal@mamethod.com with the subject "Complaint" / "Reklamacja" and shall describe the issue and the remedy sought. The Provider acknowledges receipt within 3 business days and provides a substantive reply within 14 days of receipt; if a substantive reply cannot be given within that period, the Provider informs the Consumer of the reasons and of the new deadline, which shall not exceed 30 days from receipt. Lack of reply within the applicable period is deemed acceptance of the complaint to the extent claimed.

12. Out-of-court dispute resolution

12.1. The European Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform established by Regulation (EU) 524/2013 was discontinued on 20 March 2025 and the underlying Regulation was repealed by Regulation (EU) 2024/3228 with effect from 20 July 2025. The platform is therefore no longer available.

12.2. Consumers domiciled in Poland may turn to the Trade Inspectorate (Wojewódzki Inspektorat Inspekcji Handlowej) competent for the Provider's registered office, the local consumer ombudsman (powiatowy/miejski rzecznik konsumentów) or the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) at uokik.gov.pl. Information on ADR bodies entered in the UOKiK register is available at polubowne.uokik.gov.pl.

12.3. Consumers domiciled in Italy may turn to ADR bodies entered in the register kept by the competent authorities under Articles 141 to 141-decies of Legislative Decree no. 206/2005 (Italian Consumer Code), as introduced by Legislative Decree no. 130/2015 transposing Directive 2013/11/EU, including the Conciliation Chambers of the Chambers of Commerce and any other accredited ADR body of their choice. Consumers may also use the mediation procedure under Legislative Decree no. 28/2010.

12.4. The Provider does not commit ex ante to any specific ADR body but undertakes to examine every request for out-of-court resolution in good faith and to respond in writing.

13. Intellectual property

13.1. All content made available through the Website and the Student Area (texts, videos, images, exercises, software, the proprietary teaching methodology referred to as the MA Method) is owned by, or licensed to, the Provider and is protected by the Polish Act of 4 February 1994 on Copyright and Related Rights (Ustawa o prawie autorskim i prawach pokrewnych), Directive 2001/29/EC and applicable international treaties.

13.2. The User receives a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to access and use the materials solely for the User's own learning purposes for as long as the contract is in force.

13.3. Copying, distribution, public communication, sale, sub-licensing, reverse engineering and any commercial use of the materials are prohibited, save for uses permitted by mandatory provisions of copyright law (in particular private-copy and quotation exceptions).

13.4. The signs "MA METHOD" and "SpeedItalian" and the related logos are used in commerce by the Provider as distinctive signs of its services. Any third-party trademark mentioned on the Website is the property of its respective owner.

14. Liability

14.1. Towards Consumers and Entrepreneurs with consumer rights the Provider's liability is governed exclusively by the mandatory rules of Polish law (in particular the Civil Code and the Consumer Rights Act) and by the mandatory consumer-protection provisions of the country of the Consumer's habitual residence pursuant to Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 593/2008 (Rome I). Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits the Provider's liability where such exclusion or limitation would be invalid under Article 385¹ and Article 385³ of the Polish Civil Code or under any other applicable mandatory provision.

14.2. In any event, no provision of these Terms limits the Provider's liability for: (i) intentional fault (wina umyślna); (ii) damage to life, body or health; (iii) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or (iv) any other case where mandatory law prohibits a limitation.

14.3. Towards Users who are not Consumers nor Entrepreneurs with consumer rights, and to the maximum extent permitted by law, the Provider's contractual liability for damage caused by ordinary negligence is limited to the total fees paid by the User to the Provider in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to liability, and indirect or consequential damage (including lost profits) is excluded. This limitation does not apply to the cases listed in §14.2.

14.4. The Provider is not liable for failures, outages or interruptions of third-party platforms used to deliver the Services (Zoom, Google Meet, Stripe, the website-hosting platform) that are beyond its reasonable control, save for the Provider's own fault in selecting or supervising such third parties. Where a lesson cannot be held for such a reason, §§7.3 and 7.5 apply.

15. Personal data

The processing of personal data is governed by the Privacy Policy, which is an integral part of these Terms.

16. Notices

16.1. Notices to the Provider: legal@mamethod.com or registered post to the registered office.

16.2. Notices from the Provider to the User: e-mail address registered in the Account.

17. Changes to the Terms

17.1. The Provider may amend the Terms for valid reasons, including: changes in applicable law, decisions of competent authorities, changes in the technical infrastructure, modifications to the scope or operation of the Services, prevention of abuse, or correction of obvious mistakes. The amendment must not retroactively affect contracts already concluded.

17.2. Notice and right of objection (Art. 384¹ Polish Civil Code). Users with an active Subscription will be notified of the proposed amendment by e-mail and via the Student Area at least 30 days before the new Terms enter into force. During that 30-day notice period the User may terminate the Subscription with immediate effect, free of charge, by e-mail to legal@mamethod.com. Failure to object within the notice period is deemed acceptance of the new Terms; this consequence is expressly notified to the User in the announcement, together with a copy of the new Terms and a comparison highlighting the changes.

17.3. Amendments cannot in any case reduce the rights granted to the Consumer by mandatory law nor apply to lessons already paid for in the current billing cycle.

18. Governing law and jurisdiction

18.1. The Terms are governed by Polish law. Mandatory consumer protections of the country of habitual residence of the Consumer remain unaffected (Rome I Art. 6).

18.2. Jurisdiction: for Consumers, court of habitual residence or court of the Provider's registered office, at the Consumer's option. For non-Consumers, exclusive jurisdiction of the court for the registered office.

18.3. Severability: if a provision is invalid, the rest remains in force.

19. Final provisions

The Terms are made available free of charge before the conclusion of the contract on the Website, in a form that allows downloading, storing and printing. A copy of the accepted Terms is attached to the order-confirmation e-mail.