Terms & Conditions

1. Who you’re dealing with

These terms are between you and Malcolm Callus, trading as Cool Gool Music, 3 Tillett Square, London SE16 6HR — referred to below as “we”, “us” or “I”.

They apply to all lessons, courses, gift vouchers and session work booked through malcolmcallus.com or arranged with us directly. By booking a lesson or a course you accept them.

Where a specific page on this site sets out extra terms for a particular service — most notably the group lessons page, which carries the full group course terms and consent terms — those extra terms apply as well. If a page ever appears to contradict this one on the detail of a group course, the group lessons page is the one that governs.

How to reach us about anything on this page: guitar@malcolmcallus.com or Call +44 7983 868507 (please don’t Whatsapp). Full details on the contact page.

2. Booking a lesson

Registering through the form on /register/ or /group-lessons/ is a request, not a confirmed booking. We will come back to you to agree a day, a time and a format.

For group and online lessons, your booking is only confirmed once payment is received. Bank details are sent within 24 hours of your registration, or you can pay by PayPal from the registration page.

We may decline or discontinue a booking — for instance if we have no suitable slot, if the student’s needs are outside what we teach, or if the terms below are not respected. If we decline a booking you have already paid for, you get the money back in full.

Ages

Lessons are generally suitable from 8 years old upward, as explained on the FAQ page. A parent or guardian must make the booking for any student under 18 and is responsible for paying for it.

Language

Lessons are taught in English (Italian, German and Maltese are also spoken). Students are expected to understand and communicate clearly in the language of instruction agreed at booking.

3. Fees and payment

Current prices are on the fees page and are quoted in pounds sterling. In summary: £30 for a 30-minute one-to-one, £40 for a 50-minute one-to-one, or four 50-minute lessons for £150. Group course rates and the lessons-at-yours travel surcharges are set out on the fees page too.

How to pay

By bank transfer (details supplied when you book) or by PayPal.

We do not store card details at any point. PayPal payments are handled entirely on PayPal’s own site under PayPal’s terms.

When to pay

• Group courses and online lessons — in advance. The place is not held until payment arrives.
• Blocks of lessons — upfront, which is what earns the block rate.
• Individual lessons paid one at a time — on or before the day of the lesson, unless we’ve agreed otherwise.

Price changes

Prices can change, but never for lessons or a course you have already paid for. If rates change part-way through an arrangement you are paying for lesson by lesson, we will tell you before the new rate applies.

4. One-to-one lessons: rescheduling and cancellation

Life happens. Tell us as early as you can and we’ll do our best to move things around.

If you need to move or cancel a lesson

• At least 24 hours’ notice — we’ll reschedule to another mutually convenient slot at no charge, or credit the lesson against your next one.
• Less than 24 hours’ notice, or not turning up — the lesson is treated as taught and is chargeable, because the slot has been held for you and can’t be filled at that notice. If there’s a genuine emergency or illness, tell us — we’re human, and this is applied with common sense rather than as a penalty.

If you are running late, the lesson still ends at its scheduled time; we can’t overrun into the next student’s slot.

If we need to move or cancel a lesson

We will give you as much notice as we can and offer you an alternative slot. If no alternative works for you, that lesson is refunded or credited in full, at your choice.

Stopping lessons

You can stop having lessons whenever you like — there is no notice period, no minimum term and no contract to see out for one-to-one tuition. Any lessons you’ve paid for and not yet had will be refunded or, if you prefer, left on account for whenever you come back.

5. Group courses: attendance and refunds

Group courses work differently from one-to-one lessons, because a venue is hired in advance and the course only runs if enough people are on it. The full terms live on the group lessons page — this is the same policy, restated.

• Missed sessions. It’s in your interest to attend. Missing a session is your choice, so no refund is due for it.
• Dropping out. Because the venue is hired in advance, if you drop out after registering or during the course, a refund for the sessions still due — less a £15 admin fee — is issued only if there are still 6 students on the course.
• If we cancel a session. In the rare and unlikely event that we have to cancel, you get a week’s notice by email and we look for an alternative date that works for everyone. If you can’t make the alternative, £14 is refunded and the material covered is sent to you in video or printed form.
• If the course lands on a day you never listed. Once the course day is announced, if it runs on a day you didn’t list when you applied, you can put the fees towards individual lessons at a day that suits you, wait until next term in the hope the course runs on a day you prefer, or ask for a refund.
• Language. Lessons are taught in English, so participants are expected to understand and communicate clearly in English. If that turns out not to be the case, no refund or back-up lessons are issued.

Class size

Group classes are deliberately small — 3 to 8 students. A course runs subject to enough people enrolling; if it doesn’t fill, we’ll offer you the next term, a switch to individual lessons, or a full refund.

Consent terms

The group lessons page also carries the consent terms that come with a group booking — covering teaching applicants aged 16 and under in a guardian’s care, filming lessons to improve the teaching, and using short video excerpts and lesson photos for promotion. Ticking the confirmation box on that page confirms you’ve read and accepted them. How that material is handled, and how to withdraw consent at any time, is set out in the privacy policy.

6. Lessons at your place

We teach in your own home anywhere within TfL Zone 3 — SE16, SE1, SE8, SE13, SE14, SE15, SE17 and E14. Full details on the lessons at yours page. A travel surcharge applies on top of the lesson fee: £15 for a weekday start between 11am and 2pm, £25 for weekday starts from 3pm and all weekend.

Where we’re teaching at your address, you agree to provide a reasonably quiet, safe space to work in, and — where the student is under 18 — to have a parent or guardian present in the property throughout the lesson.

If we arrive as arranged and can’t teach because nobody is home or the space isn’t usable, the lesson is chargeable in full including the travel surcharge.

7. Online lessons

Online lessons run over Zoom or similar, at the same rate as studio lessons, with no travel surcharge. See online lessons.

A workable internet connection, a device with a camera and a way to hear clearly are your responsibility. If the connection fails at your end and the lesson can’t usefully continue, we’ll try to rearrange, but repeated technical failures at your end are not refundable. If the fault is at our end, the lesson is rescheduled or refunded in full.

8. Gift vouchers

Gift vouchers are ordered by email and paid for by PayPal or bank transfer, as described on the gift vouchers page. Once paid, a personalised printable PDF is sent out.

• Vouchers can be redeemed against any lesson type at the rates current when they’re redeemed.
• We don’t put an expiry date on vouchers — the recipient redeems whenever they’re ready to start.
• Vouchers aren’t exchangeable for cash and can’t be part-refunded once issued.
• A voucher can be passed on to somebody else if the original recipient would rather it went to a friend or family member — just let us know who’s using it.

9. Session and live work

Session guitar, bass and live work booked through the services page is quoted individually. Terms — fee, dates, deposit, usage and credit — are agreed in writing for each engagement and take precedence over this page where they differ.

10. What you can expect from us, and what we expect from you

From us

• Lessons taught with reasonable care and skill, by a tutor who is RGT-registered, a Berklee Honours graduate and holds an Enhanced DBS check.
• Lessons planned around your level, your taste and your goals.
• Your information handled as set out in the privacy policy.

From you

• Turn up on time, and let us know in good time when you can’t.
• Practise between lessons — progress is a function of practice, and no tutor can supply that part.
• Treat the studio, the equipment and everyone in a group class with respect. We reserve the right to end a lesson or remove a student from a course for abusive or disruptive behaviour, without refund.
• Bring a working instrument where one is needed, unless we’ve agreed otherwise. We’re happy to advise on buying one.

Learning materials

Handouts, tabs, exercises, backing tracks and recordings we provide are for your own personal study. Please don’t copy, resell, republish or share them. Where a piece of published music is used, the copyright stays with its owner.

11. Liability

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded.

Subject to that:

• We are not liable for loss or damage that was not foreseeable, or that arises from something outside our reasonable control.
• Our total liability in connection with any lesson or course is limited to the amount you paid for it.
• Personal belongings and instruments brought to the studio, or left with us, remain your responsibility.
• Playing an instrument carries the ordinary physical risks of playing an instrument. Tell us about any injury, hearing issue or medical condition that could affect lessons, and take breaks when you need them.
• We don’t guarantee any particular exam result, grade or standard by any particular date. Musical progress depends on practice and on you.

12. Complaints

If something isn’t right, tell us at guitar@malcolmcallus.com. We’ll acknowledge it quickly and work with you to sort it out. Most things are fixed with a conversation.

13. Your legal rights as a consumer

If you are booking as a consumer rather than a business, you have statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 that these terms do not affect. That includes, for services bought at a distance, a 14-day right to change your mind — although if you ask us to start lessons within that period, you may be asked to pay for what has already been delivered.

14. Changes, and the law that applies

We can update these terms. The version on this page at the time you book is the version that applies to that booking, and the date it was last changed is shown at the top of the page.

These terms and any dispute arising from them are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction.

If any part of these terms turns out to be unenforceable, the rest of them carry on applying.

This version is dated 5 August 2026.