Refund & Cancellation Policy

• More than 24 hours before the lesson: full refund to your original payment method, OR full credit toward another lesson — your choice.
• Within 24 hours of the lesson: 50% credit toward a future lesson with the same faculty member. The faculty receives the other 50% as payout for holding the timeslot.
• After the lesson has started or ended: no refund unless the faculty failed to attend (see Section 3).

If you fail to attend a booked lesson without cancelling at least 1 hour in advance, no refund or credit will be issued. The faculty receives a 50% payout for the held timeslot, recognising that they prepared for the lesson and held the time exclusively for you.

If a lesson cannot proceed because of a verifiable technical failure on the Platform's side (Shopify outage, Zoom outage at scale, our portal unreachable, our payment processor down), the Student receives a full refund or credit, and the Faculty receives a goodwill 50% payout for time already blocked off in good faith.

Failures on the user's own side (your home internet, your device, your Zoom account being banned) are not the Platform's responsibility and follow standard cancellation rules.

• More than 7 days before: standard 24-hour cancellation rule applies.
• Inside 7 days: non-refundable. Masterclasses involve significant preparation by the faculty member — repertoire study, score annotation, scheduling — so late cancellations cannot be refunded.
• If the faculty or TGC cancels the masterclass: every registered Student receives a full refund.

Studio Classes are full-term commitments — you and other students enroll together for a defined term (e.g. September–December). The faculty plans curriculum, builds the cohort dynamic, and shapes progression around the registered roster.

• Before the term starts: full refund up to 14 days before the first class.
• Within 14 days of the term start: 50% refund. The other 50% covers reserved capacity that we likely cannot resell.
• After the term begins: non-refundable. We may grant partial refunds at our reasonable discretion in cases of medical emergency, family emergency, or other genuine personal circumstances. Email info@theglobalconservatory.com to discuss.

Group Lessons are pay-per-session and follow the same cancellation rules as Private Lessons (see Section 1). Cancel 24+ hours ahead for a full refund or credit; less than 24 hours, 50% credit.

Email info@theglobalconservatory.com with:

• Your order number (visible in your order confirmation email, e.g. #1234)
• The faculty member's name and the date/time of the lesson
• A brief description of why you are requesting a refund

We respond within 2 business days. We do not require explanations beyond what is needed to apply the right rule — we are not here to interrogate you.

• Credit/debit card refunds: 3–5 business days to appear on your statement.
• Bank transfer / Shop Pay refunds: 5–10 business days, depending on your bank.
• Platform credits: appear in your account immediately and never expire.
• We refund to your original payment method — we cannot refund to a different card or account.
• If your original payment method is closed, we may issue a platform credit instead.

Filing a chargeback (asking your bank to reverse a payment) without first contacting us at info@theglobalconservatory.com may result in immediate suspension of your account pending resolution.

We will work with you in good faith to resolve any disputed transaction — refunds, credits, lesson swaps, faculty changes are all on the table. Most chargebacks are honest misunderstandings that a 5-minute email exchange resolves.

If a chargeback is upheld in your favour, the corresponding faculty payout is reversed. If a chargeback is reversed in our favour, your account access may be restored at our discretion subject to your written agreement to use the proper channel for any future disputes.

We aim to resolve every refund question by email within 2 business days. For disputes that cannot be resolved that way, the dispute-resolution provisions in our Terms of Service §15 apply: binding arbitration administered by the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre.