How Subscription model works

Learn about subscribing to a tutor on Rihisi

Intro

What is a subscription?

Subscriptions allow students to choose how many hours of lessons they’ll take every week, and set up an automatic recurring payment to refill their hours 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 Rihisi’s 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.

Here’s why subscriptions are good for students:

They stay motivated to learn for longer
They attend their lessons more regularly
They commit to more hours 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 hours 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 hours on their balance when their subscription renews, they can carry 1 week of their monthly hours into the next payment period. For example, if a student has a 2h/week plan and has 5 unscheduled hours at the end of the payment period, they’ll carry over 2h and lose the remaining 3h.

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

Once a student has their lessons scheduled, all the information about their schedule will be available on the ‘My lessons’ page:

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 hours from their previous plan carried over).

Canceling subscriptions

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

How tutors get paid

Rihisi confirms that each lesson takes place before paying the tutor. We confirm lessons in the Rihisi classroom automatically based on the time a student and tutor spend together. We ask students to confirm lessons that happen on other platforms manually or automatically if there are no issues. After confirmation, the tutor will immediately receive payment for the lesson.

Carrying over unused hours

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

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 a student studying math wants to subscribe to 1 hour of lessons per week, they would pick the smallest subscription of 4h 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 hours 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 hours for the next 28 days of lessons.

Do students have to take all their hours each week?

Students have the flexibility to schedule their hours 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.

What if my tutor goes on holiday? Can I pause my subscriptions?

Students can pause their subscription if they or their tutor are unable to continue lessons. They can pause the subscription for as long as they want or need to.

Can students change their subscription plans?

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

Examples

How subscriptions work, from a student’s perspective

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

I don’t book these remaining 3 hours and I get charged for a new subscription on April 29th. On April 29th, I will have 8 new hours in my balance. My total balance on April 29th will be 10 hours (8 new hours + 2h old hours) because I have a 2h/week plan, I can roll over up to 2h of unused + unscheduled hours. I will keep 2h from last month. I will lose 1h that falls outside the roll-on policy and I didn't schedule it in advance.
I book the remaining 3 hours for May in advance and I get charged for the new cycle on April 29th. As of April 29th I will have 8 new hours in my balance. My total balance on the April 29th will be 11 hours (8 new hours + 3h old hours) since I scheduled in advance, I do not lose any hours.
I don’t book the remaining 3 hours and I cancel my subscription before the 29th. On April 29th I will NOT be charged, and I won't have any new hours. My total balance on the April 29th will be 2h 'old' hours because I had a 2h/week plan, I can roll on up to 2h of unused + unscheduled hours. I will keep 2h from last month. I will lose 1h because I didn't schedule in advance. I have 28 days to use these hours.
I book the 3 hours for May and cancel my subscription before April 29th. On April 29th, I will NOT be charged and I won’t have any new hours. My total balance on April 29th will be 3hours (old hours) since I scheduled in advance, I do not lose any hours. I have 28 days to use these hours.
I have 3 hours left and I will pause my subscription on the April 25th (4 days before my next billing date). On April 29th I will NOT be charged. I cannot schedule or take any lessons while the subscription is paused. I can pause the subscription for as long as I want. When I unpause, I will have 4 days until the next billing date; In those 4 days I can take my remaining lessons or schedule them into the later.
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, rather than pause.

You can find more information in subscription model Terms and Conditions.