Refund and withdrawal policy
One table covering every situation: each tuition payment is refunded in full if you ask within fourteen days of making it, and the enrolment fee is not refundable. This policy forms part of the enrolment terms.
Legal basis for this page. Law No. 2010/021 of 21 December 2010 on electronic commerce, Article 15 (disclosure of the withdrawal right and its deadline), Article 20 (the fifteen-day right, running from conclusion for services), Article 22 (exclusions, which we do not invoke) and Article 26 (burden of proof on the seller; contrary agreements void); and Framework Law No. 2011/012 of 6 May 2011 on consumer protection, Articles 2 and 5 on abusive clauses.
The fourteen-day refund, plainly
Each tuition payment is refunded in full if you ask within fourteen days of making it. A level is paid in three monthly payments (at the start of the level, in week 5 and in week 9), and each one has its own fourteen days, counted from the day you make it. You do not need a reason, and nothing is deducted for teaching already delivered. After those fourteen days, that payment is not refundable. The 10 000 FCFA enrolment fee is charged once, with your application (where it is called the application fee), and is not refundable. Cameroonian electronic commerce law also gives you a right of withdrawal, and any agreement to the contrary is void; the burden of proving that we gave you the required pre-contractual information rests on us, not on you.
How to ask for it. Tell us in writing, within the fourteen days: an email to academy@smartsana.com, a letter, or a note handed in at the campus. Say your name and which tuition payment you want refunded. We will acknowledge in writing the same working day, confirm what we are refunding and when, and pay it to the account or wallet you paid from.
One point we are not going to pretend is settled. Cameroonian law lists some exclusions from the withdrawal right, and whether any of them reaches a part-consumed online training course has not, as far as we can establish, been tested. We have chosen not to rely on any exclusion. Under the table below, each tuition payment is refunded in full if you ask within fourteen days of making it, with no deduction for hours delivered; the table also sets out what happens in every other situation.
Every situation, and what you get back
| Situation | Application / enrolment fee | Monthly tuition payments | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| The application / enrolment fee (10 000 FCFA) | Not refundable | n/a | One fee under two names: you pay it once, with your application, and it is your enrolment fee. It is not charged again for Level 2 or Level 3. It is not refundable, including if we do not admit you or you change your mind. |
| You ask for a tuition payment back within fourteen days of making it | Not refunded | That payment is refunded in full | Each of the three payments of a level (at the start of the level, in week 5 and in week 9) has its own fourteen days, counted from the day you make it. No deduction, whether or not teaching has started. |
| You ask for a refund more than fourteen days after making a tuition payment | Not refunded | That payment is not refunded | No part of it is refunded, even for teaching not yet delivered. If you leave, payments that are not yet due are cancelled. |
| We postpone the cohort | Not refunded | Refunded in full | Your choice: move to the next cohort (never more than two months away), transfer to another programme at the same price, or take your tuition payments back. |
| We cancel the level, or cannot deliver it | Not refunded | Refunded for every hour not delivered | Our failure, our cost. We also write to you explaining why. |
| We exclude you under the code of conduct | Not refunded | Future payments cancelled; the fourteen-day rule above applies to payments already made | Only after the stages in the code of conduct, including your right of reply. Harassment, violence or academic fraud can shorten those stages; nothing can remove the right of reply. |
| You pause (once per level, free) | Not refunded (paid once) | Held, not refunded | Your payments carry over to the next intake of the same level. Nothing is lost. |
| The certification voucher, once bought | n/a | Not refundable, and billed separately from tuition | The vendor does not refund a voucher or a failed sitting, so neither can we. We buy it only in week 9 and only once your coach agrees you are ready. A retake is a new voucher at the vendor’s current price. |
How a refund is paid
- To the wallet, card or account you paid from, in FCFA. If a family member paid by card from abroad we refund to that card.
- Within 10 working days of us confirming the amount.
- We absorb the transfer charge. You receive the figure we confirmed, not that figure minus a fee.
- In writing. We tell you which payments we are refunding and how we reached the amount, so you can check it.
What this policy deliberately does not say
Cameroonian consumer law lets a court void a clause that gives a supplier an unfair, unreasonable or excessive advantage over a consumer. The clauses most often struck down are the ones we have left out on purpose, and we list them so you can check that they are absent.
- There is no “no refunds under any circumstances”.
- There is no administrative or processing charge deducted from a refund.
- There is no clause letting us vary the fee once your level has started.
- There is no arbitration clause imposed on you.
- There is no clause making the refund conditional on you not complaining, or on you signing anything.
If you disagree with what we refund
Use the complaints procedure. It has named stages and timescales, escalates to the centre head, and tells you how to take it outside the company, under consumer protection law, or to the competent Cameroonian courts. Using it costs you nothing and does not affect your place or your grades.