How subscriptions work

Learn about subscribing to a tutor on Rihisi

Intro

What is a subscription?

Subscriptions allow students to choose how many lessons they’ll take every week, and set up an automatic recurring payment to refill their lessons every 28 days. Students can schedule lessons for any date in the future, not just within the current payment period.

Why are subscriptions good for students and tutors?

Learning a new language requires both regularity and commitment, and our subscription model is designed to ensure both of these.

Before making subscriptions available for all new students, we tested them with 56,000 students and 13,000 tutors over 6 months and found benefits for both groups.

How a tutor benefits from subscriptions:

They have a bigger impact on students
They get higher and more sustainable earnings
They retain each student for longer

How a student benefits from subscriptions:

They stay motivated to learn for longer
They attend their lessons more regularly
They commit to more lessons learning with their tutor
They achieve better learning outcomes

How subscriptions work

Starting a subscription plan

After a student takes a trial lesson, they can choose a subscription with their tutor based on how often they want to study:

When they start a subscription, they’ll pay for the first 28 days. Their subscriptions will automatically renew every 28 days until they cancel. When their subscription renews, we will charge their saved card and add lessons for their next 28 days of lessons.

Scheduling and rescheduling lessons

After a student subscribes, they’ll be able to learn on a weekly lesson schedule or schedule lessons one by one. They can schedule lessons for any date their tutor has available in the future, not just within the current payment period.

If a student has unscheduled lessons on their balance when their subscription renews, they can carry 1 week of their monthly lessons into the next payment period. For example, if a student has a 2 lessons per week plan and has 5 unscheduled lessons at the end of the payment period, they’ll carry over 2 and lose the remaining 3 lessons.

Lessons can be rescheduled for any available time in the future, including in upcoming payment periods.

Once students have their lessons scheduled, all the information about their schedule will be available on the ‘My lessons’ page:

Change renewal date

You can postpone your renewal date by up to 20 days when you need more time to use your lessons. On the new renewal date, we’ll refill your lesson balance and charge your saved payment method. If you need to refill your balance earlier than your new renewal date, you can renew your subscription immediately anytime. Your following renewals will happen every 28 days from the new selected date. You can change your renewal to a later date once per billing cycle.

Upgrading and downgrading

A student can change their plan at any time. Downgrades take effect at the end of the payment period. Upgrades happen immediately (students pay for the next month according to the new plan and have any unused lessons from their previous plan carried over).

Canceling subscriptions

A student can cancel their subscription at any time. Many students find it reassuring to know that they’re not locked in.

Payment for lessons and missed lessons

After a lesson is manually or automatically confirmed, the tutor will immediately receive payment for the lesson.

Carrying over unused lessons

Students can carry over 1 week of their monthly lessons into the next payment period. For example, if your student has a 2 lessons per week plan and has 5 unscheduled lessons at the end of the payment period, they’ll carry over 2 and lose the remaining 3 lessons.

Refunds for subscriptions

Rihisi may provide a refund if no credits were used during the subscription period, provided the payment was made less than 28 days ago.

Non-language subjects

Subscriptions cover languages and other subjects like music or acting.

Example: if you’re a math tutor and a student wants to subscribe to 1 lesson per week, they would pick the smallest subscription of 4 lessons per month. The student would be able to choose the frequency of lessons: they might want to take 2 of their lessons during their first week and schedule the remaining 2 lessons in the last week of their subscription.

If a student wants to adjust their subscription, they should make changes before their next renewal, which happens every 28 days.

If a student is only interested in studying for a short time (for example, 2 months) they can cancel their subscription at the end of that time.

Frequently asked questions

How does the subscription model work?

The subscription model allows students to choose how many lessons they want to take with a tutor each week and pay for their classes with a recurring payment every 28 days.

Students are offered a choice of subscription plans after their trial lessons.

Do students still take trial lessons?

Yes, students will continue to take trial lessons. They will be offered a choice of subscription plans after the trial lesson.

What are the subscription options?

Students can choose ‌subscriptions from 1h/week to 5h/week.

When do students pay for their subscription renewal?

Subscriptions renew every 28 days. When a student’s subscription renews, Rihisi charges their saved card and adds lessons for the next 28 days of lessons.

Do students have to take all their lessons each week?

Students have the flexibility to schedule their lessons how they like throughout the month. However, we encourage them to keep a weekly cadence because we’ve observed that sticking to a regular schedule helps support effective learning.

Can students change their subscription plan?

Students have the flexibility to change their monthly subscription plan from month to month, so their classes always fit with their schedule / goals.

How does the cost for students compare to packages?

The smallest subscription plan of 4 lessons is smaller than the smallest package of 6 lessons, therefore cheaper for students.

Examples

How subscriptions work, from a student’s perspective

As a student, I subscribe on April 1st and I have 8 lessons (2 lessons per week) to use in the next 28 days. I only use 5 lessons. Here’s what happens in the following scenarios:

I don’t book these remaining 3 lessons, and I get charged for a new subscription on April 29th. On April 29th, I will have 8 new lessons in my balance. My total balance on April 29th will be 10 lessons (8 new lessons + 2 old lessons) because I have a 2 lessons per week plan, I can roll over up to 2 of unused + unscheduled lessons. I will keep 2 lessons from last month. I will lose 1 lesson that falls outside the roll-on policy and I didn't schedule it in advance.
I book the remaining 3 lessons for May in advance, and I get charged for the new cycle on April 29th. As of April 29th I will have 8 new lessons in my balance. My total balance on the April 29th will be 11 lessons (8 new lessons + 3 old lessons) since I scheduled in advance, I do not lose any lessons.
I don’t book the remaining 3 lessons and I cancel my subscription before the 29th. On April 29th I will NOT be charged, and I won't have any new lessons. My total balance on the April 29th will be 2 'old' lessons because I had a 2 lessons per week plan, I can roll on up to 2 of unused + unscheduled lessons. I will keep 2 from last month. I will lose 1 lesson because I didn't schedule in advance. I have 28 days to use these lessons.
I book the 3 lessons for May and cancel my subscription before April 29th. On April 29th, I will NOT be charged, and I won’t have any new lessons. My total balance on April 29th will be 3 old lessons since I scheduled in advance, I do not lose any lessons. I have 28 days to use them.
I have 3 lessons left, and my billing date is on the April 10th. I will postpone my subscription to the April 25th (15 days). This way I will NOT be charged before April 25 and will be able to use my remaining balance (it will not expire).
My card doesn’t have enough balance to charge. The subscription will be stopped until the card details are corrected. This is treated under the conditions as cancellation or expiry.