Rescheduling classes

Hi - I may need to reschedule a class currently booked for next week (more than 72 hours away). However, it’s hard to know… Will I get a credit back after cancelling or not?

Did the credit used to book the class come from my first batch of credits purchased Jan. 31 and thus beyond its period of validity, so it can’t be used to re-book? Or did the credit used to book the class come from my second batch of credits, purchased Feb. 28, and thus still within its period of validity, meaning I could get it back and could use it to re-book for later?

Any tips on figuring this out? I guess I could personally track the source of all credits used for booking on my own, but that seems like it’d be a pain. Certainly there must be an easier way.

(edited for clarity)

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Thanks a lot for the great question. When you have different credits and book a class the system always automatically uses the credits with the shortest validity left to book the class. The aim of the design is to give users the maximum amount of time to book classes,by first using the credits that are going to expire the fastest.

Thanks, @Andreas_Admin_Flexi! That’s a good design for the system. But I still don’t have any way to know if the credit I used to book the class has already expired (i.e. has no validity because it was purchased more that 30 days ago). That’s the problem I’m struggling with.

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I also have this problem. I’d love for my credits to have at least 12 months’ validity, because I struggle with a couple of chronic conditions and sometimes have to cancel my class at short notice. It’s pretty demoralising, firstly to lose my credits because of my illness, and secondly because I have to rebook but may have booked the class more than 30 days ago, so that I forfeit the exchange.

I know some students can power through lessons quickly, but not me. Please consider changing the time validity of credits to a period of 12 months, @Andreas_Admin_Flexi ?

Another option which could be considered is something I found on Audible. I subscribe to Audible because they have some good audiobooks in Mandarin as well as the Pimsleur courses. Their policy is, you can “return” an audiobook that you don’t like, and the return is offered as a book credit, lasting 12 months. It is an honour system, so if someone returns too many read book, or tries to return a book that they’ve read a number of times, then there is a block on their account.

Thanks for writing your OP @Michael-Mandarin-HSK_2ish

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I think the key problem for me is that whilst your credits logically are used up while booking, they are not while cancelling.

Made up example:
I get my credits on 01 March, hooray. I book all 5 classes, including one for 08 April as I am missing one class in a “chapter” and that’s the next slot in my timezone that the class is on (often happens). I buy 5 more credits on 15 March and use them on some classes around that time. It comes to 04 April - I realise I have a work commitment and need to cancel my class on 08 April. I cancel the class, but I can’t remember - is this credit one I used from my last subscription pack, or is it some of the extra credits I bought during the month?

Generally though, totally fine with 30 days expiry, I just think the credit return system should be more clear. I also think support for some with special circumstances is fair like Kelly has suggested, although, totally accept this is at LTL decision. I don’t think 12 months validity is a reasonable time for all students - it would be hard for LTL to manage teacher availability/demand with that wide a timeslot.

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Thanks for all the feedback and those are some very good thoughts.
If one wants to book ahead more than a month quite frequently, the best way of doing it is buying a package on Learn Chinese Online // A Revolutionary Way To Get Fluent Fast
The more credits you buy the longer validity your vget for them (up to 12 months).
Would that be a good solution?

Maybe it would be possible to date tag a credit with the date it was bought? So if we want to cancel a class which was bought with that credit, then before we confirm that we do want to cancel a class, it shows the date upon which the credit was bought and asks us to confirm whether we want to cancel or not?

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There are some interesting points here. Thanks, everyone.

@Andreas_Admin_Flexi: I think that for when you talk about people who book ahead more than a month quite frequently, you’re suggesting that they should buy a One-Off Flexi Package. Is that right?

Say that I buy a 50 Hours One-Off Flexi Package. Do the 50 credits in that package have a validity period of 3 months from the date of purchase instead of just 30 days? (The FAQ seems to indicate the latter, but maybe I’m misunderstanding.)

Also, it occurs to me that the scheduling system must already track whether or not a credit is refundable upon class cancellation because it needs to know (on the back end at least) how to handle it. Maybe, as @Vicki-Mandarin-HSK_2 suggests, a message could be crafted to share that information with us? Something along the lines of, “Are you sure you want to cancel this class? If you do, you will not receive a credit back because (reason here). [ Yes, cancel anyway ] / [ Nevermind ]”

Finally, I have one more question… maybe the one I should have started with: On Jan. 31, I booked a class for March 13. If I cancel that class today, more than 72 hours before the class time, do I get the credit back? If yes, can I use that credit to schedule a new class?

Thanks!

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Yes, if you buy a package of 50 hours Mandarin (=50 credits) they will be valid for a full three months on Learn Chinese Online // A Revolutionary Way To Get Fluent Fast

If you booked the class on January 31st the validity and you did not buy credits via a package (I dont think you did), but via a subscription then all credits are valid for one month. I am not sure when you bought the credit, but it must have been before Jan 31st so by March 13th it is definitely expired. So when you cancel you will not receive the credit back as its expired already.

As a side note, if you cant make it, please still cancel (as early as possible) even if you are not getting any credits back, to avoid having a teacher waiting in an empty class room for you. It is quite a frustrating experience for teachers which we try to avoid.

Thanks for the feedback regarding the cancelation flow. We will look into that!

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