The Holistic Grooming Academy

Upon enrolling on our course or subscribing to our membership you have agreed to these Terms & Conditions.

Please read the below information carefully before paying for the course and/or membership.

GENERAL TERMS

The Holistic Dog Groomer and The Holistic Grooming Academy LTD are not responsible for your and your business's productivity and/or success - this is a self-guided course and The Holistic Grooming Academy only acts as the facilitator to your learning experience.

As a student of The Holistic Grooming Academy and a Mentee of The Holistic Dog Groomer, it is crucial you are honest at all times to receive the best service.

While we may offer you advice and guidance based on our own experience, we are not accountants or lawyers, and therefore all students must do their due diligence before making decisions for themselves and their businesses.

Neither the course nor mentorship is transferable - they cannot be gifted to another person unless at the discretion of Stephanie Zikmann.

COMPLAINTS

For complaints and/or to express any concerns, you may contact The Holistic Grooming Academy via: [email protected]. Please allow up to 7 working days for a response but rest assured your enquiry will be answered.

All students enrolling on the course are doing so at their own risk - it is imperative that students are self-motivated and willing to dedicate hours each week to learning the course content. Furthermore, students must be confident in writing, reading and researching as well as, know how to work a computer and use the internet to source information. 

This course is in English, and students should feel confident in the English language. 

To complete this course students will need: 

• Access to the internet

• Access to a laptop, computer, smart phone and/or tablet 

• A YouTube account (free version is fine)

• A Canva account (free version is fine) 

• Facebook Account (optional) 

• A word processing software (Word, Pages and/or Google Documents) 

• A photo/recording device (phone, camera or tablet) 

• Access to dogs (family or work) 

It is the responsibility of the student to ensure they are ready to take this course - The Holistic Grooming Academy cannot be held responsible should a student decide that the course is too advanced. This is an advanced theory and practical based course and students will be challenged. 

PRICE CHANGE NOTICE (MEMBERSHIP AND DIPLOMA)

The prices of our courses and membership will increase each year with inflation.

The price of our membership is subject to change at any time.

To lock in the current price for our Accreditation, students must secure their space and make their first payment as soon as possible.

Please note, those who are on a payment plan will remain on the agreed monthly payment at the time of their initial enrolment.

PAYMENT PLANS

We offer students a payment plan option.

Students may opt to pay for their accreditation through six monthly payments of £279.00 (total £1674.00) - the price of our monthly payments is subject to change anytime.

Upon registering for this payment plan, students are opting into an agreement with The Holistic Grooming Academy to pay six payments of two-hundred-and-seventy-nine pounds over six months. 

Failure to pay will result in a late-payment fee being added onto your account as interest.

Where a student breaches this agreement and fails to pay for the course over the course of six months, The Holistic Grooming Academy will proceed with taking legal action and a debt collector will be hired to retrieve the outstanding payments.

With this in mind, it is imperative that the student makes sure that they are ready and financially-equipped to pay for the course as per the above terms to prevent any issues from emerging.

YOUR CANCELLATION RIGHTS (DIPLOMA)

Under the UK Consumer Contracts Regulations, you (as a consumer) have the right to cancel a course within 14 days whether you have paid in full or opted for our payment plan. However, this assumes that you have not accessed the course material on the course website (www.holisticgroomingacademy.com) other than the 'free preview' module - Self Care. 

In other words, you can cancel a course (and get a full refund) within 14 days, provided that you have not accessed any of the other course material and/or resources yet.

If you have accessed the course material (including resource hub and community) on the website or accessed our private student support community within the 14-day period, then the following rules apply.

You will still have the right to cancel, but you must pay for the value of the service that was provided to you up to the point you cancel.

By purchasing the course in full or via our payment plan, you are saving money but separately, each module of the diploma is currently worth £249.00 and access to the membership hub is worth £99 per month, tutor support and our private community access is worth £99 per week and onboarding admin to the Academy is £99.

In other words, if you buy our online course and then change your mind within the 14-day time period, you will be refunded a proportionate sum but will be charged for any admin or materials costs and teaching time, along with every additional resource that you have accessed (that outwith the diploma would be chargeable).

We will base our refund on the amount of online time spent on the course website (which is logged) and what you have had access to within that time.

To cancel, you must officially write to The Holistic Grooming Academy to request your refund, and the date in which you write must be officially time-stamped to show proof that you have issued your request within the cancellation window. It is your responsibility to ensure The Holistic Grooming Academy receives your request within the 14-days, failure to meet this deadline voids your right to receive a refund. 

To cancel, please write and send your request first class, tracked to: 

FAO The Holistic Grooming Academy 

29 Portland Road,
Kilmarnock,
Ayrshire,
United Kingdom,
KA1 2BY

If you are an international student, you may write to us via e-mail to: [email protected] using the subject header: CANCELLATION REQUEST.

YOUR CANCELLATION RIGHTS (MEMBERSHIP)

When you subscribe to our monthly membership, you will automatically be granted a 14-day trial period to some of the membership resources before the first payment is taken from your account. If you choose to cancel your membership during this time, you will not be charged.

If you decide you wish to cancel your membership after your trial period has lapsed, we cannot offer a refund.

The membership is a rolling contract which means you can cancel anytime without incurring a cancellation fee however, you will not be able to request a refund of any payments you have made up until that point after the 14-day trial period has lapsed.

You will have access to cancel your membership anytime via your account within The Holistic Grooming Academy website.

If you are struggling to cancel this yourself, please contact our support team: [email protected]as soon as possible.

COURSE MATERIAL AND COPYRIGHT

Our Holistic Grooming & Behaviour Diploma is accredited through iPET (PDR Scheme), The Complementary Medical Association and UK Rural Skills.

Currently, there are thirteen specially devised modules and an additional 'bonus' module. Each module includes a range of multiple choice questions and Practical Tasks to help reinforce learning outcomes - these tests are not part of your official assessment but instead help to keep students accountable throughout their studies. 

All content has been specially devised to enhance the professional groomer and/or dog carer's existing knowledge and skills through education in Canine Behaviour & Emotions, Safe-Handling, Observation, Communication, Self-Care, Customer Relationships & Retention, and Basic Business Skills.

All content within the Academy and/or as part of our Business Mentorship Course is strictly for student use and is copyrighted by Stephanie Zikmann. All course material that you have been sent is exclusively for your use and may not be shared and/or sold onto any other third party, including any colleagues you may have.

Students and affiliates may not share, screen-shot and/or similar any of the resources and/or information received as a student/member of the Academy or Mentee of The Holistic Dog Groomer.

The Holistic Grooming Academy Ltd will continue to update course content to ensure it complies with up-to-date methods. However, it is the responsibility of the student to do their due diligence when carrying out their professional roles and to keep updated upon completion of the course, and for the rest of their lives.

Students/Members are encouraged to attend all live webinars and events hosted by The Holistic Grooming Academy Ltd for their time with us and make full use of our extensive membership hub.

STUDENT ACCESS (DIPLOMA)

You will receive access to our Private Student Members Group along with our Membership Hub for a total of 24 months from the date of your enrolment.

Should you decide to leave the course early or you fail to graduate, your membership will be terminated unless you subscribe via the monthly payment option. 

As part of your investment into the diploma, you will get access to an array of live educational events (online and physical) hosted by some of the industry's most pioneering experts as well as a range of different business templates and resources to help you integrate our Holistic Grooming Protocol effectively into your salon.

We also work closely with other like-minded organisations who may, at their discretion, offer HGA students and Graduates exclusive discounts to further their learning in fields that interest them - for a list of existing affiliate discounts, please visit our student support group via Facebook. 

STUDENT PACKS

The student packs are a complimentary gift from The Holistic Grooming Academy Ltd (unless you have paid for the course via a promotional deal) and are not required to complete your course.

Unfortunately, our international students are only able to receive digital copies of our course content and workbooks due to the increasing costs of postage.

ASSESSMENT TERMS (DIPLOMA)

All students enrolled on our accreditation have two attempts to pass their Final Grading Assessment. 

Additional re-submissions are currently £200.00 - this helps to cover admin fees as well as the cost of tutor support for an additional three months. All students have a total of three attempts (including the two included attempts) to pass their final grading assessment. 

If a student fails all three attempts, they must re-enrol on the entire course. In this instance, if a student enrols on the course within 14-days of failing their assessment, they can get access for 50% off the current course fee (for example, if the course costs £1499 at the time of re-enrolling, the student will only have to pay £749.50).

Students may submit an appeal should they believe that they have had an unfair grade. In this instance, the students work will be forwarded to an external verifier for marking. Please note that the external verifier's mark will be the final mark irrespective of the results. 

Students may choose not to re-enrol onto the course which is fine. In this instance, the student must ensure that all HGA logos are removed from their advertising and marketing, and that they avoid using "HGA Approved Groomer" or "HGA Certified Holistic Grooming Behaviourist" when promoting themselves or their business. Furthermore, their business listing will be removed from our Global Directory and all access to both our course content and membership hub will be removed. 

Students who choose not to re-enrol may instead subscribe onto our monthly membership should they wish to remain a part of the HGA community. 

To reduce the chances of failing your assessment, please let your tutor know in advance if you are struggling to complete your modules and/or final grading assessment.

GRADUATION STATUS

All of our accredited certifications last for a duration of one year (1 year).

Graduates must take part in a refresher exam to renew their certification status with The Holistic Grooming Academy. This also includes providing an up-to-date CPD log to show at least 100 hours of additional CPD since graduating with the HGA.

Graduates will receive access to the academy's most recent course content and will be able to refer to the membership hub for further resources to aid in their preparation. Upon successful completion, graduates will receive a new certificate (digital or physical depending on location) to show their renewal status. 

It is the graduate's responsibility to remember when their certification is due for renewal and The Holistic Grooming Academy recommend that they put a reminder on their phone or computer to prevent lapsing and having to re-enroll on the entire course. 

Graduates have a 14-day window from the date that their certification expires, to book and pay for their refresher exam, after which they will be required to enrol on the entire course at the current course fee. 

Upon registering for the refresher, graduates have a maximum of three months to study and prepare for their grading assessment, with one free resubmission.

Graduates have two attempts to obtain their renewal otherwise, they will need to re-enrol in the complete course.

Renewal is optional - should the graduate decide not to renew their certification status they must remove any and all logos immediately from all advertising and promotional material, and they will no longer be able to call themselves 'HGA Approved Holistic Groomers' or 'HGA Certified Holistic Grooming Behaviourists'. 

Furthermore, business listings will be removed from our online directory and access to both our course content and membership hub will be restricted. 

BULLYING AND DISCRIMINATION

Any bullying, discrimination, shaming, name-bashing, or slander towards others, including students, tutors, friends and associates of the Holistic Grooming Academy, will result in the immediate termination of your enrolment to the Academy, and no refund will be given.

ETHICAL PLEDGE, CODE OF CONDUCT & MYSTERY SHOPPING

Being a part of The Holistic Grooming Academy demonstrates your commitment to the ethical treatment of animals. In order to safeguard the integrity of our establishment we require all of our members and students to agree to our Code of Conduct, Ethical Pledge and also Mystery Shopping. 

We occasionally and at random, partake in mystery shopping as a way to instil confidence in our members and affiliates - this process keeps all of our members, students and graduates motivated to uphold their pledge. 

MISCONDUCT 

Should one of the HGA's Certified Holistic Groomers be proven to 

• demonstrate outdated practices 

• use speech to elicit an outdated ideology that proves to be harmful to an animal, show a disregard for the sentiency of animals

• displays any form of bullying and/or discrimination against others

• We ask that in the first instance, the witness seeks to address the issue, respectfully and politely to the individual in question, privately and directly.

Should this not lead to suitable resolution, we request that the witness contact the HGA immediately to advise where we will proceed with investigating the report. 

Should we come to the conclusion that an individual is in breach of the HGA Ethical Pledge and/or Code of Conduct, we will revoke membership and/or certification of the Academy effective immediately - please note, that no refunds will be given for this inconvenience. 

If you have been reported as violating the HGA ethics and disagree, you can submit your appeal to our support team via e-mail: [email protected] along with any and all evidence to support. Evidence should be time-stamped where appropriate.

If you report an individual for suspected ill practice, you must do so via our support team: [email protected] along with evidence to support your complaint and allow time for The Holistic Grooming Academy to carry out some investigation into the complaint. 

All students are entitled to a 'one-strike' policy where they must agree to amend their current practice to comply with the HGA ethics - in this instance, they will be placed on a probation period of 6 months which will include regular and random spot-checks and mystery shopping scenarios. After the probation ends, The Holistic Grooming Academy will decide the outcome of the student/member's status with the academy based on the evidence collected.

We hope that you understand the reason for this policy is to ensure your investment and achievement remains one to be proud of.

ENDNOTES

Please remember that this is an ever-evolving community and it is our mission to provide the most accurate and up-to-date methods of positive-based grooming. 

If you are not happy, we want to know therefore we ask that should you come across any course content that you feel is inaccurate and/or outdated to contact us immediately with your concerns via [email protected]