Jump to: For Parents ↓ · For Teachers ↓
PodsCool, Inc. ("PodsCool," "we," "us") runs a marketplace that connects independent educators ("Teachers") with families ("Parents" / guardians). These terms apply to everyone who uses PodsCool, on the website and in the PodsCool mobile app - one service, one account, one agreement. Section 7 covers the few things that apply only to the app.
1. What PodsCool is - and isn't
In plain English: We're the marketplace that connects you - like an app store for learning pods. We're not the school, and we're not anyone's boss.
- PodsCool is a technology marketplace connecting independent Teachers with Parents. We are not a school, school district, childcare provider, or employer.
- We do not employ, supervise, or direct Teachers, and we do not monitor or control the pods (physical or digital learning environments).
- Parents are solely responsible for evaluating and choosing their child's Teacher. Teachers are solely responsible for the safety, quality, and delivery of their instruction.
2. How money works (the part both sides rely on)
In plain English: All tuition runs through PodsCool. Parents pay their first month at enrollment - that payment is the confirmation - and each following month is charged automatically on the 1st. Teachers are paid on the 10th. You're only billed for sessions the pod is scheduled to hold, and the exact numbers are shown before you pay.
- Platform fee: PodsCool charges a 15% take-rate on all tuition processed through the platform; the Teacher keeps the remaining 85%. A paid membership lowers that take-rate - see Membership for specific take rates. A change of package takes effect on the first day of the following month.
- Minimum tuition: a pod must be priced at $5 or more for each session (or each month, where a pod is priced monthly). Pods below that cannot be listed or enrolled in.
- On-platform only: all payments run through PodsCool (Stripe). Taking direct, off-platform payments from families introduced through PodsCool is a material breach.
- Pay up front: enrollment is confirmed by payment. At checkout the Parent pays the first month's tuition (prorated to the pod's remaining session days that month); each later month is charged automatically on the 1st. During checkout the seat is held for 10 minutes; if payment isn't completed, the hold is released.
- Session-based proration: a monthly price covers the sessions the pod is scheduled to hold that calendar month. Partial first and last months, and months with scheduled days off (for example federal holidays, which pods never meet on), are reduced proportionally. PodsCool does not track student attendance, and a missed session is not refunded.
- Service fee: a service fee is added to each charge to cover the cost of running payments and support. It is the same on every payment method - it is not a credit-card surcharge - and works out to about 3% of tuition plus $0.30. It is included in the price shown on the pod listing, itemized before you pay, and shown on your receipt. The service fee is not refundable: refunds return the tuition you paid, not the fee.
- Payouts: PodsCool pays Teachers automatically on the 10th of each month for tuition collected. Money refunded to a family is deducted from any not-yet-paid teacher balance for that enrollment.
- Refunds when a Parent unenrolls: before the pod's first session, 100% of tuition paid; within 3 days after the start, 75%; within 7 days, 50%; after that, the current month is not refunded. Future months are simply never charged - unenrolling stops billing immediately. The exact refund is shown before you confirm.
- Refunds when a Teacher acts: if a Teacher removes a student or cancels an entire pod, the family receives a prorated refund of the remaining, undelivered sessions in the current paid period.
- Teacher-canceled sessions: if a Teacher cancels an individual session (for example, illness), tuition for that month does not change and no per-session refund or credit is issued. Cancellations are recorded on the pod and disclosed to families (see Sections 3 and 4); a family that is unhappy with repeated cancellations may unenroll at any time under the refund terms above.
- No pay, no pay: if a monthly autopay fails and isn't resolved, the Teacher is not paid for it, the Parent is notified, and the student may be unenrolled.
- Chargebacks: a Parent is allowed one (1) chargeback before the account is suspended and placed under review. If you're unhappy, unenroll - the refund schedule above is shown to you first - don't charge back.
- ESA funds: if a Parent uses state Education Savings Account (ESA) funds, the Parent is solely responsible for confirming the services qualify under their state's rules. PodsCool is not responsible for funds rejected or audited by state regulatory bodies.
3. For Parents
In plain English: You pick the teacher and you pay on time. A dispute with a teacher is between you and them - not PodsCool.
- Choosing a Teacher: you evaluate, interview, and select your child's Teacher. Beyond the Verified badge, PodsCool does not guarantee teaching quality.
- Only Parents enroll: enrollment, payment, and unenrollment are Parent actions. Students cannot join a pod, make payments, or see tuition amounts.
- Your student's accounts: you create and manage your child's profile. Young children use a parent-managed profile with no login of its own; you may link an older student's Google account so they can sign in to see their classwork and grades.
- Teacher reliability: if a Teacher cancels a session, you're notified with their note, the cancellation is recorded on the pod, and a pattern of cancellations is disclosed to you plainly. Canceled sessions don't change tuition (see Section 2) - your remedy is to unenroll, with the refund schedule shown first.
- Reviews: after a pod ends you may review the Teacher. Reviews are written by adults only (never students), are public on the Teacher's profile, and stay with the Teacher. Teachers may likewise rate their experience with your family.
- Dispute release ("not our fight"): for any dispute with a Teacher regarding tuition, classroom behavior, safety, or academic performance, you release PodsCool, Inc. (and its officers, directors, and employees) from any and all claims, demands, and damages of every kind connected to such disputes.
- Payments: first month at enrollment, then autopay on the 1st; one chargeback maximum; ESA eligibility is your responsibility (see Section 2).
4. For Teachers
In plain English: You're your own boss (an independent contractor) - you set your sessions, prices, and schedule, and handle your own taxes. Keep payments on PodsCool and you're paid on the 10th.
- Independent contractor: you access PodsCool strictly as an Independent Contractor. Nothing here creates a partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship. You retain complete control over your teaching methods, curricula, schedules, and pricing.
- Your responsibilities: all local, state, and federal taxes, background-check fees, and your own business insurance. You are not eligible for any PodsCool employee benefits, workers' compensation, or unemployment insurance.
- Pod size & schedule: pods are capped at 10 students. Pods never meet on federal holidays, and those days are excluded from families' bills automatically.
- Canceling a session: you may cancel an individual session with a required note to families. Tuition and your payout for the month don't change, but every cancellation is recorded on your pod, counts toward your reliability record, and repeated cancellations are disclosed to families - who may unenroll. Canceling an entire pod refunds families the undelivered remainder (see Section 2).
- Your content stays yours: files you upload for a pod - syllabus, session materials, your profile photo - are stored by PodsCool on your behalf, and you keep ownership of them. Work students turn in is stored the same way, visible only to you and the student who submitted it. If you create a Google Doc through PodsCool it lives in your own Google Drive, connected with per-file permission. You can download or delete your files at any time.
- Reviews: when a pod ends, Parents may review you. Reviews are public on your profile and follow you across pods. You may rate families in return; a family sees only its aggregate rating, never which teacher rated them.
- Educational shield: you are solely responsible for the safety, quality, and delivery of your educational services and your learning environments.
- Payouts: must be processed natively through the PodsCool Stripe integration; bypassing the platform to take direct payments is a material breach and results in immediate account termination. Payout timeline is in Section 2.
- Indemnification: you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless PodsCool, Inc. from any claims, lawsuits, liabilities, or expenses (including legal fees) arising from a dispute with a Parent, any physical injury during your instructional sessions, or your failure to comply with state education or ESA funding regulations.
5. Blocking and closing your account
In plain English: Either side can block the other, which ends messaging and stops new enrollments but does not cancel a session you already paid for. You can delete your account whenever you like - except while a session is still running or money is still owed.
- Blocking: a Parent may block a Teacher and a Teacher may block a Parent, from Settings → Security. A block ends messaging in both directions and prevents any new enrollment between those two accounts. A block placed by a Teacher on a Parent is flagged for review by our team - ending a conversation may never be used to suppress a complaint, and Reports remain available to both sides regardless of any block.
- A block is not a refund. Blocking does not remove a student from a pod that has already been paid for and does not alter tuition, billing, or the payout owed to the Teacher. To leave a pod, unenroll - the refund ladder in Section 2 applies.
- Closing your account: you may delete your account at any time from Settings → Security. Doing so erases your name, email, photo, phone number, and biography, and permanently disables your sign-in. It cannot be undone.
- Records survive deletion. Enrollments, receipts, grades, payout history, safety reports, and past messages are retained and tied to an internal account identifier rather than to you, because those records also belong to the family or Teacher on the other side of them and because we are required to keep financial records. After deletion they no longer display your name. The Privacy Policy sets this out in full.
- You cannot close an account mid-session. Deletion is refused while a Teacher has students currently enrolled, while a Parent has an active enrollment, or while PodsCool still owes a Teacher a payout. Finish or cancel the pod, unenroll, or wait for the payout - then the option becomes available. This protects families from an abandoned course and Teachers from stranded funds.
6. Liability - applies to everyone
In plain English: If something goes wrong, PodsCool's total responsibility is capped at the fees you paid us in the last 3 months.
- To the maximum extent permitted by law, in no event shall PodsCool, Inc., its officers, or directors be liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages.
- PodsCool's total cumulative liability to you (Parent or Teacher) for any claim shall not exceed the total platform fees you paid to - or that were collected by - PodsCool in the three (3) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.
7. The mobile app
In plain English: The app is just PodsCool on your phone. Your agreement is with us, not with Apple - Apple only distributes it.
- Your license. We grant you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable license to use the PodsCool app on devices you own or control. You may not copy it, sell it, rent it, reverse-engineer it, or use it to build a competing service.
- Two payment paths, and they are not interchangeable. Enrollment and tuition are handled by Stripe inside the app, exactly as on the website, because PodsCool sells real-world teaching rather than digital content. Those are not Apple in-app purchases, and refunds for them follow PodsCool's own policy in Sections 2 and 3 and are requested from us. Teacher packages and add-ons bought inside the iOS app are Apple in-app purchases. They are billed by Apple to your Apple Account, renew each month until you cancel, and are managed or cancelled in your Apple Account settings - refunds for those are Apple's to give and are requested from Apple, not from us. The same packages bought on podscool.com are billed by Stripe and follow our own policy.
- Notifications. If you allow them, we use them to tell you about things that affect you: a message, a canceled session, a payment. You can turn them off in your device Settings without losing anything - the same notices remain in the app.
- Keeping the app current. We may update the app, and some updates are required for it to keep working - particularly where they carry a security or payment fix. Older versions may stop functioning.
- Deleting your account in the app is the same permanent deletion described in Section 5, available from Settings. It is not "log out", and a closed account cannot be reopened.
7a. Apple
In plain English: Apple isn't part of this deal and isn't responsible for the app - but if these terms are ever enforced against you, Apple is allowed to do it.
- This agreement is between you and PodsCool only. Apple Inc. is not a party to it, and is not responsible for the app or its contents.
- Support and maintenance are entirely PodsCool's responsibility. Apple has no obligation to provide either. Reach us at support@podscool.com.
- If the app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple and Apple will refund the purchase price of the app (currently zero - the app is free). To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to the app.
- PodsCool, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claim relating to the app, including product liability, any failure to conform to a legal requirement, and claims under consumer protection or privacy law.
- PodsCool, not Apple, is responsible for investigating and resolving any third-party claim that the app infringes that party's intellectual property rights.
- You confirm you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated as "terrorist supporting", and that you are not on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
- Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms and, on your acceptance, have the right to enforce them against you as such.