Collingswood Sound Music Policies & Expectations
Updated 8/21/2023
Welcome to Collingswood Sound Music!
This document is to help Students and Parents understand what they can expect from Collingswood Sound Music, and what we expect from our Students and Parents. By purchasing any music lesson gift cards or music lessons or classes (single or packages), you are expected to adhere to our policies.
Payments
Payments need to be completed prior to any lesson taking place. We do this for our security and to ensure all teachers are able to be compensated for their time. We do offer credits, rescheduling, and occasionally refunds - find more on this topic under Cancellations. Invoices are sent online, via email. If you are on a recurring lesson cycle you will be subject to a 5% late fee if an invoice is 2 or more days overdue. Overdue invoices are an inconvenience to our teachers as they are unsure of whether or not they need to prepare for a lesson. You can wholly avoid late fees by enrolling in "Auto-Pay" (see more under Auto-Pay). For regularly occurring lessons, payments will be made at a consistent time interval of your choosing, 4 weeks (the “Monthly” package) or 10 weeks (the “Semester” package) and will be due the day of the last lesson in your expiring package. Invoices will automatically be sent out 7 days prior to the due date.
If a student is planning to take a break from lessons for 2 or more weeks, we may ask them to pay in advance to hold the time slot, especially if it's during our prime lesson times (3:30pm - 7:30pm, M-Th). If a time slot hold is requested for over 2 weeks, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to accommodate and in certain circumstances, may request a holding fee.
If a lesson day and time is agreed upon but no payment is received 24 hrs prior to the lesson occurring, we will attempt to contact you via the preferred method you selected during the sign-up process. If we hear no response and receive no payment, the lesson slot may be given away.
In circumstances where cash or check is used, payments need to be mailed to 417 Champion Ave. Collingswood, NJ 08107 and must arrive in the mailbox no later than 7 days prior to the first lesson of the new invoice. If the payment is received later than 5 days prior to the first lesson of the new invoice, a late fee will be added to the account, to be paid with the subsequent invoice. If no payment is received 24 hours prior to the start of the first lesson of the new invoice, the lesson will be cancelled. *If, for any reason, money that is mailed gets lost, tampered with, stolen, or is otherwise made unusable (at the discretion of Collingswood Sound Music), prior to being received by our staff, Collingswood Sound Music is not at fault and such payment will not count towards your account - appointments may be cancelled in such circumstance (in accordance with the above timeline) until valid payment is received.
Scheduling
Scheduling a lesson can take place over the phone or via email. Scheduling is handled by our office as we communicate and match teachers and students based on student goals and interests that align with a specific teacher's teaching style. If you are not satisfied with a student/teacher pairing, please reach out to us so we can rectify the situation! All lessons will be scheduled via My Music Staff (which can be synced to any personal device/electronic calendar), and will be confirmed once the full payment for the lesson or package is received. Once you have decided to do regular lessons, we will send you a unique login code, My Music Staff can be accessed by navigating to the Login page of our site. We will send email (and/or text) reminders the day prior to your lesson.
Trial Lessons
Trial lessons are intended for students looking to try-it-out, with the expectation that if lessons continue, a lesson package would be selected (either 4 or 10 lessons). When the Trial Lesson time is confirmed/payed for, we will put a “HOLD” in the calendar for the same day/time the following week. We will hold the time slot for 4 days without a response - we do this so the teacher has ample time to prep for the next lesson. In the event of a cancelled trial lesson (at least 24 hours notice), we will issue a gift card in lieu of a refund if a make-up is not possible.
Auto-Pay
For those with recurring lessons, we suggest enrolling in "Auto-Pay". This feature within My Music Staff allows for payments to be automatically withdrawn from any connected bank account or credit/debit card. Payments will happen at a consistent time interval (4 or 10 weeks, depending on your lesson package) and will be charged the day of the last lesson in your expiring package. Any missed lessons will be reflected in your invoice (more info under Cancellations). We will send an email reminder prior to every charge as well as an invoice and receipt for any payments processed. You can stop payments by contacting us 1 week (or more) prior to the end of any package. Enrolling in "Auto-Pay" eliminates any possibility of a late fee being charged as long as payment can be processed.
Food/Drinks
Students should not bring food or drink (except water) into the building unless special circumstances exist, in which case you should make your teacher aware. We do this to keep the building clean and avoid allergic reactions and infestation.
Timeliness
Please arrive on time (or a few minutes early) to each lesson. If you arrive late and as a result, the lesson starts late, teachers are not required (and may not be able) to add the missed time at the end of the lesson.
Cancellations/Discontinuing Lessons
Students can reschedule (availability permitting) or be credited for a lesson as long as they give at least 24 hours notice to Collingswood Sound (via phone, text, or email).
We understand that in cases of emergencies, 24 hours notice can not always be given. We will do our best to reschedule the lesson in emergency situations. If there's a chance you'll need to miss a lesson, let us know right away to be safe.
If a cancellation is made with less than 24 hours notice and it is not an emergency situation, you have the following options:
- Your teacher can record and send a short video reviewing what to practice and possibly explaining new things to practice for the week.
- You can choose to meet online for your lesson.
- You forfeit the lesson.
In the event that you would like to proceed with either of the first 2 options, you need to communicate that decision to the office prior to the start of the lesson time otherwise the lesson will automatically be forfeited.
If a credit is in order, the amount of the lesson credit will be deducted from your next invoice. This will appear as the top line item on your invoice and it will be labelled “Balance Forward” with the amount listed under the “Payments” category. To view this in more detail, log into your My Music Staff account, go to Account & Invoices, and select the Account tab. Be sure to set the “Balance Date” to the date up to which you would like to see a detailed list of all charges and payments to your account.
If there are excessive last minute cancellations, we reserve the right to change a recurring lesson time if it is during our peak lesson hours (3:30pm-7:30pm). If you have paid for a lesson package and cannot finish it, we will issue a gift card for the remaining balance. In certain cases where a lesson package cannot be completed, we will issue a refund of the remaining balance. In these cases, there will be 2 fees taken when processing the refund: 1. The payment processing fee from the most recent payment that exceeds or is equal to the amount of the refund, and 2. A 20% refund processing fee to cover the inconvenience to the studio and teacher. These fees do not apply to a gift card. If we try to reach out for details of where to send a gift card/refund payment and do not hear back via email, phone, or text message within 1 year of the original payment, your refund/gift card will be forfeited 1 year after the date the last payment was made. If you are signed up for lessons and discontinue lessons with a remaining balance left in your account, this balance will be forfeited if we do not receive any communication (via email, phone, or text message) regarding continuing lessons for 1 year, beginning from the time of either the last lesson that took place or the most recent communication received, whichever event is most recent. In the event that there is a discrepancy between yourself and Collingswood Sound Music where you believe you have sent us any such notice as previously mentioned but we have no record of it, we ask that you provide a screenshot or forward the original message to us to prove your message was sent.
Entrance/Exit
For the safety of our students and teachers, the main doors to our building may be locked. Students can call or text Collingswood Sound (856-202-3949) or use the Ring doorbell to be let in. Parents/Guardians of students are welcome to wait at Collingswood Sound for their student(s), but generally, we ask that they do not observe the lessons (except during the Trial Lesson, if they wish), unless there are special circumstances. Students tend to focus better without the presence of a parent or guardian, although we understand there may be exceptions.
Parking
Communication
We encourage an open line of communication between students, parents, and teachers. At the end of lessons, teachers may wish to speak with parents regarding progress, future lessons, or assignments. If your child is shy about telling you what they’re working on, don’t hesitate to ask their teacher, but please do so within the lesson time as to not offset the teacher's schedule. We are always happy to discuss what we are teaching, and it’s important for parents to feel they are making a sound investment in their child’s development - especially if it helps their child practice at home. In the event that there is a schedule change or make-up lesson being discussed, if we do not receive confirmation after 2 days, we will no longer hold any hypothetical times. Our teaching hours are based on the availability of our teachers, however our office hours are consistently M-F, 2pm-6pm. If you need to reach the office, this is the best window to do so. If you need to reach your teacher outside of these times and the matter is urgent, it is best to do so by directly contacting your teacher. You can find their contact information by logging into your My Music Staff account.
Website Purchases
Although you can only sign-up for lessons by filling out our sign-up form, calling, or emailing, you can still purchase lessons as a gift certificate through our online shop. Gift certificates are valid for 1 year after purchase, if we have no contact from the gift certificate holder within 1 year of the purchase it is no longer valid.
For any apparel items, shipping times selected DO NOT include the time it takes to produce the apparel item, shipping times begin after the product has been created.
Any affiliate links on this website may redirect to a different website, we are not responsible for any purchases made through other websites and have no ability to fulfill any orders through other websites.
Returns/Refunds
To initiate the return process for any item in our online store please contact us at office@collingswoodsound.com.
Gift Certificates are non-refundable, however we can credit your account for the lessons if the requirements above are met (contact within 1 year of purchase).
Since our apparel items are made-to-order, we encourage viewing any size charts on the product page prior to purchasing. For refunds, we accept only unwashed, unworn, and stain-free apparel as long as the tags are still intact. Any refund amount will only include the price of apparel, not shipping.
For any refund or return processed we may deduct the cost of shipping or payment processing from the refund/return total.
Materials
Teachers may give handouts to students, but students are responsible for purchasing music, books, etc. for their lessons. Students are also responsible for bringing materials handed out in prior lessons to each lesson. We have a copier and hole puncher at our studio, so bringing a binder, notebook, and pencil tends to be the best combination for students. We may scan and print music from our collection for students to bring home and work on.
Pricing
Our current pricing can be seen online at: https://www.collingswoodsound.com/rates
Our prices are subject to change, although we will always alert all students and families several months in advance. As time goes on, we invest more into our equipment as well as our professional development. We work with teachers who also share an interest in consistently bettering their abilities, adding value to the time you or your child may spend with us.
Social Media
We love sharing student success stories on our social media. However, we will always ask for permission from students and parents prior to posting any pictures or videos unless the photo or video was captured during an event organized by Collingswood Sound, exclusively for Collingswood Sound students.
https://www.facebook.com/collingswoodsound
https://instagram.com/collingswoodsound/
https://twitter.com/csoundmusic