Standard Terms & Conditions

CT 1 – Format of services

1. By default, all coaching services are rendered by email or Google Meet online meetings (which allows digital and telephonic access). We record all Google Meet-based sessions and provide these to you, free of charge, for reference purposes.
2. Should you not be able to use Google Meet for any reason, we can use Skype as an alternative, but no recordings will be provided.
3. We do not offer in-person (physical) coaching services. All coaching is provided on an online-only basis.

CT2 – Purchase of hours/hour bundles

1. All coaching packages/bundles are time-based (not project-based) are prepaid. We do not offer credit terms or any form of finance.
2. Coaching packages/bundles are valid for a period of 12 months from purchase. Thereafter, they will automatically expire and cannot be used or refunded.
3. Should you wish, you can extend the validity period of any package by an additional 12 months by making a request, in writing, prior to the expiration date of the package. A fee of 20% of the original package price will apply for such extensions.
4. All coaching package/bundle purchases are strictly non-refundable. You may not claim a refund for unused hours. You may, however, use your existing balance as a credit towards other Grad Coach services (for example, editing and proofreading).

CT3 – Nature of services

1. We provide student guidance and support services, which take the form of advisory and coaching. We do not provide assignment or dissertation writing services, or any other services that may be considered academic misconduct.
2. We cannot guarantee the achievement of a specific mark or set of results. Naturally, this is dependent on the quality of work that you produce.
3. Naturally, we cannot guarantee the availability of your coach at any given time. Therefore, it is important that you plan ahead and book coaching or content review sessions in advance using the booking system.

CT4 – Billable time

1. 1. We bill for all time spent in our engagement with you. This includes, but is not limited to video/audio calls, content reviews, advisory documents and email correspondence.
   2. Should you wish to transfer from your allocated coach at any point, you will be billed an amount for the time spent on project handover.
   3. The only time not billed for is time spent on purely administrative tasks. For example, coordinating meetings/calls, updating your account details, and so forth.
   4. For content reviews (whether for dissertations or assignments), we will spend the amount of time required to review the work accurately, as opposed to the specific amount of time booked using the booking system. For example, if you book a 1-hour session to review a full proposal (which requires multiple hours), we will spend (and bill for) the required time, provided we have the capacity on the day. Please ensure that you are familiar with the typical time requirements for various activities.
   5. No-shows are billed at 50% of the appointment value. For example, a no-show for a 1-hour live session is billed for 30 minutes.
   6. Cancellations or changes made less than 1 business day before the appointment are billed at 50% of appointment value. Note that this means a Monday booking cancelled on Saturday or Sunday will be charged at 50% (as it is less than 1 business day).

CT5 – Coach allocation

1. We will assign a specific coach to your project and you will work exclusively with them. The assignment will be based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to: methodological expertise, availability and time zone.
2. You cannot transfer between coaches without prior approval. Should you wish to request a transfer to another coach, you will need to make a formal request by emailing hello@gradcoach.com, clearly outlining the reason for the request.
3. Transfers will only be approved under very specific circumstances and are not guaranteed. For example, if your methodology has changed and you require a coach with specific expertise in said methodology.
4. Should your transfer request be approved, we will undertake a formal handover process. This process can take 2-3 days, depending on coach availability. You will also be billed for the time spent on the project handover.

DT1 – Transcription services

1. The quality of your audio recordings will directly impact the quality of the transcriptions we provide to you. Poor recording quality, background noise, reverberation, echo, etc can result in inaudible audio.
2. In instances where we cannot confidently determine what the speaker said, we will indicate this as “[Inaudible]” in the transcript.
3. In instances where speakers are speaking at an above-average pace, or where an audio file has been sped up to reduce the total recording time, we reserve the right to re-quote you based on the proportional rate.
4. To secure a guaranteed timeline, you will need to pre-book your project and pay a non-refundable deposit equal to 50% of the total project value.
5. Should you wish to change the date of the booking, you may do so, but this may impact the turnaround time of your project. Additionally, any changes made less than 5 business days prior to the booked date will incur a change fee equal to 10% of the total value of the project.

DT2 – Coding Services

For the best quality coding, you will need to provide both the interview audio recordings and the transcriptions. If you can only provide the transcriptions (for the sake of confidentiality), we can provide the coding, but overall quality will be lower due to a lack of context.

1. If you do not have transcripts of your audio recordings, we can provide this at an additional fee.
2. Your transcriptions must be 100% accurate. If there are any differences between the transcriptions and the audio files (other than light editing of filler words), the quality of the coding will be negatively impacted.
3. Once we have done our initial review of the data, we will propose a coding structure to you, which you need to approve. You are encouraged to engage in the review of this structure and provide as much feedback as possible, so that we can incorporate your insights, as the interviewer, into the coding. Notwithstanding, we will have the say on the coding structure. Should you wish to edit the coding structure once we have coded (and then do additional coding on your own), you may.
4. Upon completion, we will provide a single-level coding structure, fully coded transcripts and an Excel summary document that contains all the coded data. We will not undertake qualitative analysis on your behalf – this must be your own work. However, we can provide coaching assistance (billed separately) with this task.
5. To secure a guaranteed timeline, you will need to pre-book your project and pay a non-refundable deposit equal to 50% of the total project value.
6. Should you wish to change the date of the booking, you may do so, but this may impact the turnaround time of your project. Additionally, any changes made less than 5 business days prior to the booked date will incur a change fee equal to 10% of the total value of the project.

DT3 – Survey design and hosting

1. Once your data collection is complete, we will provide you with a full copy of the raw data. We will not edit, clean up or process the data in any way. Should you require assistance with this, you can consult with your coach.
2. Once delivered to you, we will permanently delete all data from our account.
3. It is your responsibility to ensure that your survey meets the ethical requirements of your university. We do not (and cannot) have sight of every university’s unique requirements, so it is essential that you review those requirements carefully and advise us accordingly.
4. Be default, all surveys will be hosted online for 2 months from go-live. Should you require additional time to collect your data, please notify us in advance and we will provide you with a quote for additional hosting time.

DT4 – Statistical analysis

1. We will undertake the relevant statistical analyses as mutually agreed and quoted upon and provide you with all relevant report.
2. The price quoted is for one round of analysis. Should your data change for any reason (for example, you notice a collection error), we would need to undertake another analysis, which would be billed separately.
3. We will not provide an interpretation of the statistical data as part of this service. However, we can provide coaching assistance (billed separately) with this task.

DT5 – General

1. All data services are provided on a strictly non-refundable basis.
2. Our data services may only be used in accordance with your university’s academic code of conduct, rules and regulations. Always ensure that you are allowed to make use of any service before ordering.

1. Our editing and proofreading service is focused on improving English language quality (e.g. spelling, grammar and flow) and technical formatting (e.g. reference and citation format) only. It does not involve an academic review of the content. Academic reviews are available as part of our coaching service and are billed separately.
2. While our editing will improve the overall English quality of any document, it cannot resolve issues of very poor English, including issues where the text does not make sense.
3. While our service does involve correcting incorrectly formatted citations and references, we cannot source missing reference information or insert missing references.
4. Although we generate automated lists of tables and figures, we do not format tables and figures on your behalf.
5. While we can assist in reducing word count, we cannot guarantee the reduction by a specific percentage or to a specific word count.
6. To secure a guaranteed timeline, you will need to pre-book your project and pay a non-refundable deposit equal to 50% of the total project value.
7. Should you wish to change the date of the booking, you may do so, but this may impact the turnaround time of your project. Additionally, any changes made less than 5 business days prior to the booked date will incur a change fee equal to 10% of the total value of the project.

Our courses are hosted in partnership with Udemy. As such Udemy’s standard terms and conditions apply.