Website Content License Agreement is available here. The Website Content License Agreement is a separate agreement that applies exclusively to the licensing of Shemmassian Academic Consulting’s content guides. Nothing in the Website Content License Agreement shall be incorporated into the Terms and Conditions of Service Agreement appearing below.
SHEMMASSIAN ACADEMIC CONSULTING
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE AGREEMENT
This Terms and Conditions of Service Agreement (hereafter “Agreement”) is made between SAC Educational Services, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, (f/k/a, SAC Educational Services, Inc., a California Corporation d/b/a Shemmassian Academic Consulting) (hereafter "Company") and the individual submitting payment for the plans or services subject to this Agreement (hereafter “Customer”). Company and Customer shall be referred to collectively as the “Parties.”
1. BENEFICIARY INFORMATION
If Customer is entering this Agreement with the intention that Company shall provide the plans or services to be purchased under this Agreement to someone other than the Customer, the person to receive the purchased services (hereafter “Beneficiary”) shall be deemed the beneficiary of the purchased plans or services.
If Customer is purchasing plans or services to be used by themselves, Customer shall be also referred to as the Beneficiary of any plans or services purchased for the benefit of Customer.
2. SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED TO BENEFICIARY
A. Services to be provided if Customer received a payment link in an email from Company
Company agrees to provide Beneficiary with all plans and/or services listed in the email (hereafter “Email”) in which Company provided the relevant payment link. For each purchased plan and/or service listed in the Email, Company agrees to provide all anticipated services in accordance with the way in which those plans and/or services are detailed on the Company’s website as of the Effective Date of this Agreement.
If purchasing services in accordance with Section 2A, no other services shall be provided to Beneficiary other than services listed in the Email and as may be detailed by this Agreement. No services shall commence under this Section until Company receives the first payment as outlined in Section 3 below.
B. Services to be provided if Customer is purchasing services directly from Company website or a Company Student Portal
For each plan or service selected for purchase by Customer from either Company’s website or a Company Student Portal, Company agrees to provide all anticipated services to Beneficiary in accordance with the way in which those plans and/or services are detailed on the Company’s website as of the Effective Date of this Agreement.
If purchasing services in accordance with Section 2B, no other services shall be provided to Beneficiary other than the plans or services which have been selected and purchased by Customer under Section 2B of this Agreement and as may be detailed by this Agreement. No services shall commence under this Section until Company receives the first payment as outlined in Section 3 below.
3. FEES
A. Total Fee for Services
In consideration of the services to be provided to Beneficiary pursuant to Section 2, Customer agrees to pay a fee for those plans and/or services (hereafter “Total Fee”) as follows:
i. If purchasing plans or services pursuant to Section 2A of this Agreement, then the Total Fee shall be the fee listed in the Email;
ii. If purchasing plans or services pursuant to Section 2B of this Agreement, then the Total Fee shall be the price of the relevant plans or services as published on Company’s website or Company Student Portal as of the Effective Date of this Agreement.
Customer also understands and agrees that no payment of funds using a payment link labeled as a “custom” plan or services shall be valid unless the price of the custom plan or service is confirmed by Company and purchased pursuant to Section 2A of this Agreement. Company shall not be required to provide any services for a purchase made through a payment link labeled as a “custom” plan or service unless those plans or services were purchased in accordance with Section 2A of this Agreement.
B. Installment Payments
Customer understands and agrees that the Total Fee shall be deemed due in full as of the Effective Date of this Agreement. However, at Company’s sole discretion, Company may permit Customer to pay the Total Fee subject to an installment plan. To be eligible to pay the Total Fee pursuant to an installment arrangement, Customer must (1) purchase plans or services pursuant to Section 2A of this Agreement, and (2) the details of any applicable installment arrangement must appear in the Email provided by Company to Customer. Customers purchasing plans or services pursuant to Section 2B of this Agreement are not entitled to enter into an installment payment arrangement for those services.
Customer understands and agrees that by submitting payment through the link provided by Company in the Email, Customer expressly authorizes Company to charge each and all installment payments contemplated by this Agreement to the credit card entered by Customer at the time Customer submits an initial payment under this Agreement. Customer agrees to provide an updated, valid credit card in the event that Customer receives a new card number or if Company is unable to process a payment of any scheduled installment payment.
C. General Terms Applicable to all Payments
Customer shall not—nor shall Customer attempt to—cancel, stop, pause, reverse, change, alter, or otherwise revoke authorization for any payments contemplated by this Agreement, whether a payment was previously made or is scheduled to be made in the future according to the terms of this Agreement. Customer agrees that if Customer does—or attempts to—cancel, stop, pause, reverse, change, alter, or otherwise revoke authorization for any payments identified by this Agreement, whether a payment was previously made or is scheduled to be made in the future, such action shall constitute a Material Breach of this Agreement and may also give rise to a separate tort cause of action (e.g., conversion). A Material Breach triggered by Customer’s action governed by this paragraph shall entitle Company to all reasonable contract damages and all costs incurred by Company in enforcing this Agreement. Customer understands and agrees that any intentional or reckless cancellation or termination of any past, present, or future full or partial Total Fee payments shall entitle Company to separate tort damages (e.g., treble and punitive damage) under a separate and unique tort cause of action.
If Customer’s credit card fails to process or should Customer cancel, stop, pause, reverse, change, alter, or otherwise attempt to interfere with any past, current, or future payment contemplated by this Agreement, Company shall provide Customer with reasonable notice of Customer’s payment failure or default. Customer shall have 48 hours from Company providing reasonable notice of a failed or defaulted payment for Customer to provide an updated valid payment method and to bring Customer’s account current. There shall be a $200.00 non-refundable late fee for any payment not received by Company within 48 hours of Company providing reasonable notice that Customer’s payment failed to process or that Customer is otherwise in default because Customer cancelled, stopped, paused, reversed, changed, altered, or otherwise attempted to interfere with any past, current, or future full or partial payment contemplated by this Agreement. There shall be an additional $25.00 non-refundable late fee for each additional 24 hour period (beyond the first 48 hour period listed above) for which Customer fails to bring their account current in accordance with this Agreement. These non-refundable late fees shall be in addition to any termination rights listed in Section 7 below. Company shall have the sole discretion to waive any late fee assessed to Customer under this Agreement. The waiver of any provision of this Agreement by Company—including, but not limited to any assessed late fees—shall not be deemed as a waiver of such provision in the future.
Nothing in this Section shall be interpreted to change or weaken any recourse the Company may have under any other Section of this Agreement.
4. MONEY BACK GUARANTEE
TOTAL FEE FROM SECTION 3 SHALL BE NON-REFUNDABLE AFTER 14 DAYS FROM THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS AGREEMENT. However, Customer may purchase an Extended Refund Policy (hereafter “ERP”) for a fee equal to 10% of the Total Fee in Section 3 (hereafter “ERP Fee”). If purchased by Customer, the ERP shall permit Customer to cancel the services under this Agreement, for any and all reasons, within 180 days of the Effective Date of this Agreement and still seek a refund of all unused services. To purchase an ERP, Customer must send an email within 48 hours of the Effective Date of this Agreement to support@shemmassianconsulting.com requesting that an additional ERP Fee payment link be supplied by Company. If requested within 48 hours of the Effective Date of this Agreement, Company will provide Customer with the ERP Fee payment link in a separate written communication. That separate written communication shall be incorporated into this Agreement once the Total Fee and the ERP Fee are paid pursuant to the terms this Agreement. The ERP Fee must be paid in full within 24 hours of Company sending Customer the ERP Fee link to be valid. The ERP Fee shall be considered a separate fee from the Total Fee from Section 3 and shall not be refunded for any reason once submitted to Company.
Customer shall be entitled to a 100% refund of all unused services if the services under this Agreement are terminated within 14 days of the Effective Date or if terminated pursuant to a valid ERP. NO OTHER REFUNDS SHALL BE PROVIDED FOR ANY REASON.
Should Customer qualify for a refund under this Agreement, the value of all services used by Customer and Beneficiary shall be deducted from the Total Fee in Section 3 and retained by Company before returning the balance of the Total Fee for unused services to Customer as a refund. Customer understands and agrees that should Customer qualify for a refund under this Agreement, all used services shall be calculated at a rate of $600.00 per hour for all work completed by anyone other than Dr. Shirag Shemmassian (hereafter “Dr. Shemmassian”) and at a rate of $1,250.00 per hour for any work completed by Dr. Shemmassian. “Used services” shall include, but shall not be limited to: (1) any written or verbal communication between and among Customer, Beneficiary, Company, and/or any agents of Customer, Beneficiary, and Company; (2) any and all preparation or evaluative time undertaken by Company and/or any of its agents in fulfillment of this Agreement; (3) any other ordinary and necessary services which Company may have undertaken to carry out the plans or services contemplated by this Agreement. All used services shall be calculated in quarter-hour increments (with a minimum of one quarter-hour per task). Company agrees to process all qualifying refunds within 10 days of determining qualification for such a refund. Company retains the sole discretion whether to waive any or all of the used services when calculating any final amount to be refunded. No past waiver of any used services shall constitute an amendment of this Agreement nor shall it constitute an agreement for Company to waive any future used service charges.
5. “WHOLE TEAM” SERVICE MODEL
Customer understands that they are retaining the whole Company (rather than any specific individual within the Company) to provide services listed in Section 2 of this Agreement. Customer understands and agrees that while Company may provide Beneficiary with a primary consultant or tutor, Company shall retain the right to call upon the expertise of any other Company team member(s) (including, but not limited to, Dr. Shemmassian) as necessary, and when Company, at its sole discretion, deems it to be in the best interest of Beneficiary, to assist in the provision of any and all direct or ancillary services under this Agreement.
6. CONFIDENTIALITY
A. Beneficiary’s Privacy Rights
Like the schools, educational institutions, and training programs to which Beneficiary will be applying, Company will not disclose or share any details about Beneficiary’s progress, practice or actual test results, or other work product contemplated by this Agreement with anyone outside of the Company other than Beneficiary unless Beneficiary consents to such disclosure in writing signed by Beneficiary (e.g., a signed email from Beneficiary granting such consent) or in the event that Beneficiary or Customer materially breach this Agreement.
B. Service and Relationship Disclosure Notice Policy
Company holds the confidentiality of its relationship with Customer and Beneficiary in the highest possible regard. Parties understand and agree that all communication with, between, among, and about the Parties, the Customer, or Beneficiary (or any agents of any party to this Agreement or the Beneficiary) should remain strictly confidential at all times—whether that communication occurred before, during, or after the completion or termination of the services contemplated by this Agreement. Specifically, no Party to this Agreement shall share, disseminate, disclose, or otherwise publish any details of the Customer, a Beneficiary, or any of the services to be provided to a Beneficiary under this Agreement without providing all Parties (including Beneficiary) a 14-day written notice declaring their intent to share, disseminate, disclose, or otherwise publish any details of the Customer, Beneficiary, or the services contemplated by this Agreement. The written notice shall contain the final content of any proposed disclosure.
Because information shared and discussed with Customer and Beneficiary during the educational consulting process can, and does, include highly personal and extremely sensitive material about Customer and a Beneficiary, the notice provision of this Section should be construed as a condition precedent prior to any disclosure to allow Parties sufficient time to properly navigate the disclosure of possible sensitive information. Nothing in this agreement shall prevent Parties from waiving this 14 day notice period to allow for an earlier disclosure so long as such waiver is agreed to in writing by all Parties (including Beneficiary). Nothing in this Agreement is intended to, nor shall any provision under this Agreement, constitute a waiver of Customer or any Beneficiary’s right to make a statement regarding the Company or concerning Company’s services. An intentional or reckless material breach of the 14-day notice provision shall entitle non-breaching party to seek treble damages as measured by the value of Customer’s original plan with Company.
Customer further understands and agrees that Customer may not conscript or advise anyone else to take any action which would violate Section 6B had Customer made the same or similar disclosure. Likewise, Customer understands and agrees that Customer shall be liable for any actions or disclosures which are undertaken by Beneficiary which would violate Section 6B had Customer made the same or similar disclosures which were undertaken by Beneficiary.
7. TERMINATING SERVICES
A. Termination of Services by Customer.
Customer may terminate services under this Agreement for any and all reasons and at any time. However, no termination shall result in a refund of any previously-paid or scheduled future fees unless Customer qualifies for a refund under Section 4 of this Agreement.
B. Termination of Services by Company.
Company may terminate the services under this Agreement if Customer commits a Material Breach of this Agreement. For purposes of this Agreement, “Material Breach” means, with respect to a given breach, that a reasonable person in the position of the Company would wish to terminate this Agreement because of that breach. A Material Breach may include, but is not limited to (1) Customer failing to pay the Total Fee in Section 3 in full, (2) Customer cancelling, reversing, or otherwise rescheduling a payment contemplated by this Agreement, (3) Customer filing a fee chargeback request with any bank or credit company, (4) Customer or Beneficiary being dishonest with Company, (5) Customer or Beneficiary repeatedly failing to meet reasonable deadlines set by Company related to the services in Section 2, (6) Customer or Beneficiary mistreat any employees and staff of the Company, (7) etc.
In the event of a Material Breach, Company shall provide Customer notice of the Material Breach and allow 48 hours from the notice being sent to Customer to allow Customer to cure the Material Breach. If the Material Breach is not fully resolved within the 48 hour notice period, Company may terminate this Agreement without any further notice to Customer.
No refunds shall be paid to Customer in the event Company reasonably terminates this Agreement for a Material Breach. Specifically, this provision applies regardless of whether Customer would otherwise qualify for a refund pursuant to the terms of Section 4 of this Agreement. In the event of a Material Breach, Company reserves the right to pursue any and all other legal or equitable remedies which may be available to Company under the law. Any intentional or reckless Material Breach of this Agreement shall also give rise to treble and punitive damages as available under the law.
C. Terms common to all terminations.
All Parties agree to act in good faith and to make a fair effort to resolve any disputes or disagreements which may arise out of this Agreement before terminating this Agreement.
8. APPLICABLE LAW
This Agreement is entered into in accordance with the law of the State of California, and California law will apply to any questions relating to the meaning or application of any provision, or portion thereof, of this Agreement.
Parties agree this Agreement should be interpreted to the greatest degree possible so as to ensure that all terms of this Agreement comply with all applicable local, state, and federal laws and regulations.
9. SEVERABILITY
Any and all provisions of this Agreement, or portions thereof, are severable. This means that if one or more provisions, or portions thereof, are found to be void or unenforceable for any reason, the remaining provisions, or portions thereof, of this Agreement shall still apply.
10. EXCLUSIVE AGREEMENT
All applicable Section 2A Emails, all applicable descriptions of plans or services from Company website and/or Company Student Portal, all applicable ERP written communication between Company and Customer, and this Agreement shall be the entire agreement between the Parties. No other written communication or terms expressed between Company and Customer shall be incorporated into this Agreement unless those terms have been incorporated by an express reference to specific terms in this Agreement or in the Email for any Section 2A purchases.
Should Customer be entering into this Agreement to upgrade and/or to add-on to any previously-purchased, non-expired plans or services, the terms of this Agreement shall be incorporated into any existing Agreements for any previously-purchased, non-expired plans or services. The terms of this Agreement and the terms of the existing Agreements for any previously-purchased, non-expired plans or services shall be interpreted so as to ensure all terms conform to all applicable state, local, and federal law. Where possible, the terms of this Agreement shall control. However, if a Customer is entering into this Agreement to upgrade and/or to add-on to any previously-purchased, non-expired plans or services, then nothing in this Agreement shall alter the payment terms or refund deadlines of any Agreements for any previously-purchased, non-expired plans or services.
Should Customer be encountering these terms and conditions while re-submitting a failed payment or re-establishing an existing installment payment plan for a previously-purchased plan or service, Customer’s clicking of the acknowledgement box and signing the checkout form shall only serve as a reaffirmation of the existing terms applicable to the original agreement. Specifically, no additional agreement shall be formed, nor shall any refund terms be amended or extended by the re-submission of a failed payment or the re-establishing of an existing installment plan under Customer’s original agreement.
11. WARRANTIES
By entering into this Agreement, Customer warrants that they are over the age of 18 and are legally permitted to enter into this Agreement for the benefit of the Beneficiary. Should any individual under the age of 18 enter into this Agreement, Company has the discretion to cancel this Agreement and retain any funds associated with any used services. Should Customer turn 18 before termination of this Agreement, Customer shall be deemed to have ratified this Agreement.
12. EFFECTIVE DATE OF AGREEMENT
This Agreement shall be effective (the “Effective Date”) at the time Customer submits their first payment subject to this Agreement and shall continue until the sooner of either (1) Beneficiary exhausting all purchased plans or services subject to this Agreement; or (2) an expiration date specified by Company before the Effective Date of this Agreement. If Company does not provide a specific expiration date to Customer prior to Customer submitting their first payment, the expiration date of this Agreement shall be deemed to be May 31 of the current application cycle in which the first payment under this Agreement was made. Neither Customer nor Beneficiary are entitled to any refunds, transfers, or extensions of any plans or services which have expired according to the terms of this Agreement.
13. AMENDING THE AGREEMENT
This Agreement may be amended only by written Agreement signed by all Parties.
Terms Updated on February 4, 2025.