A parent buys twenty hours in September because the rate per hour is better. By March, after illness, a holiday and two missed weeks of revision, six hours remain and the block expires at the end of the month.
Whether that ends in a sensible conversation or a complaint depends entirely on what was written down in September.
The checklist
These are the terms a parent needs before buying a block.
1. The hourly rate at each block size
What ten, twenty and thirty hours cost, and the effective hourly rate for each. Parents are doing this arithmetic anyway, and showing it looks confident rather than cheap.
2. The validity period
How long a block lasts, from purchase or from first session, and what happens at the end. This is the single most important term and the one most often buried.
3. Cancellation notice
How much notice cancels a session without losing the hour, and what happens with illness or a school event. A twenty-four hour rule is common and must be stated rather than assumed.
4. Whether hours roll over
If a block expires with hours left, whether they carry into a new block. A provider who rolls unused hours into a repurchase keeps the customer and loses nothing.
5. Refund terms
Whether unused hours can be refunded, at what rate and in what circumstances. Refunding at the standard hourly rate rather than the discounted one is reasonable and must be published.
6. Whether hours are tutor-specific
If a block is tied to one tutor, what happens if that tutor becomes unavailable or the family wants to change. This matters more than providers expect, which is why tutor matching questions and getting the fit right is worth reading alongside.
7. Whether hours can be shared between siblings
Families with two children often want to split a block. Allowing it, or not, should be stated rather than negotiated case by case.
8. Session length flexibility
Whether an hour can be taken as two half hours, or whether ninety minute sessions are possible before an exam. Flexibility here is genuinely useful during revision periods.
9. Online and in-person rates
Whether they differ, and whether hours can be used for either. Families want to switch to online in bad weather or during illness.
10. What happens in holidays
Whether the tutor works through them, whether intensive blocks are available and whether the validity period accounts for a long break.
11. Payment timing
Whether the block is paid up front, in instalments, or monthly. Spreading payment widens the number of families who can commit.
12. A worked example helps
Say a provider charges 40 an hour, or 700 for a twenty hour block. That is 35 an hour, a saving of 100 across the block. If four hours go unused and expire, the parent has paid 700 for sixteen hours, which is 43.75 an hour, more than the standard rate. Publishing that arithmetic honestly, and offering rollover, is why sensible providers keep customers.
13. Commitment questions come first
Parents weigh this before price, as covered in online tutoring questions parents ask before committing and lesson price and package questions from learners.
Getting started
Publish rates, validity, cancellation and rollover, then answer at any hour, which is described in an AI receptionist for tutoring centres. SpideyChat for education providers answers from your published pages, our own plans are on the pricing page, and the chatbot ROI calculator works through the numbers.