Training Guarantees & Terms

This document describes the guarantees, terms and license rights that apply to AlterSpark’s publicly advertised classes, workshops, and training.

100% satisfaction guarantee for classroom training

We’re so confident that participants will love our in-person classroom courses, that we provide a 100% refund to anyone who wishes to withdraw by lunch on the first day of class.

To qualify, the person must physically attend the training, arrive at the class on time (by 9:00), and remain in the class most of the time. They must notify the instructor at the start of lunch on the first day, which takes place at approximately 12:30.

To ensure this policy is applied in good faith, people who have not physically attended the training, who arrive late (after 9:00), who spend significant time outside the room, or who show up and immediately request a refund without participating, cannot qualify. Additionally, they must return all training materials including slides, manuals, books, and exercises. They also give up their right to use the materials and the behavioral design process, licenced under these terms.

Refunds will be processed by AlterSpark within a week and returned via the same payment method used to purchase the course. This guarantee applies to AlterSpark’s in-person public classes. This policy does not apply to in-house training.

100% satisfaction guarantee for online training

We’re so confident that participants will love our online training, that we provide a 100% refund to anyone who wishes to withdraw within 48-hours after receiving access to online educational lessons. In the case of classes that are only delivered online as LIVE virtual training, this policy is extended to requesting a refund on the same day of the first LIVE online class.  

Classes that are scheduled for release on a future date are under our flexible cancellation policy before the release date. Once they are released, our satisfaction guarantee policy kicks in for the first 48-hours after release. This ensures that participants have flexibility up to the start, and will have a fair chance to ensure the content meets their expectations.

Anyone who feels the content is not for them in the first 48-hours must notify the AlterSpark team electronically at [email protected], and send a copy of their purchase order confirmation number, using the same email they used to register. We will process their refund using the exact method that was used to pay for the tuition. Those who request a refund under this policy agree to not use the training materials, downloads, or resources and give up the license to use the course’s materials and behavioral design processes.

Satisfaction guarantee limits for groups and organizations

Whether in class or online, our 100% satisfaction guarantee can only be used once per small business, or institutional department. The maximum number of people who can obtain a refund on a group training rate is 2, so participants in groups are advised to ensure the curriculum is relevant to every member who attends.

Cancellations and refunds for classroom training

Registrants who cancel their classroom reservation 14 calendar days before the start date, will receive a 100% refund. Registrants who cancel their reservation 13 to 7 days before the start date, can elect to receive a 50% refund or 100% credit towards future training. Registrants who cancel their reservation 6 days before the start date, will not receive a refund but will receive a 100% credit towards any future training.

When someone requests to attend a future class, we will hold their name and email on record. The must contact us before any training they wish to attend so that we can enroll them in this alternative course.

In the case of unforeseen circumstances or emergencies, AlterSpark reserves the right to cancel this class up to 7 days prior to the start. If AlterSpark needs to cancel the class, all registrants will receive a 100% refund. AlterSpark will not be held liable for any expenses incurred by registrants.  This clause applies to publicly advertised classes only.

Cancellations and refunds for online training

Registrants who purchase tickets for an online course that we have scheduled for release on a specific date can cancel their participation up to the day of the release. Once a course has been accessed, it is under the satisfaction guarantee for online training.

Transferring tickets

You may elect to transfer your ticket to another party. If you intend to transfer your ticket to another person, please notify AlterSpark by email at [email protected]. Please include the current ticket holder’s name, plus the replacement person’s name and email address.  This clause applies to publicly advertised classes only.

Qualifying for promotional codes

To qualify for our promotional codes, you will need to provide proof you’re a student, academic, from a non-profit organization, government, or with a group of 3 or more registrants. The easiest way to provide proof of qualification is to send an email to team (at) alterspark.com from an organizational or university email address.

The exact time for early bird rates

The deadline varies from city to city, so check our course registration page for each early bird deadline. Our early bird deals end at 11:59 PM on the deadline day. Don’t miss it!

License to use training materials and design processes

All participants will receive exclusive educational and behavioral design resources. Each paying participant is licensed to use these resources to support commercial or non-commercial projects. All of these tools and resources are copy written and licensed for sharing with up to 4 persons within each participant’s organization, subject to the conditions in this document. If you wish to make numerous copies of training resources for your institution, contact AlterSpark.

Copyright of materials and crediting

All educational materials and processes are copy written by Brian Cugelman, PhD and AlterSpark Corp. Participants agree not to copy or publicly distribute educational materials. Participants further agree not to rework, repackage, rebrand or use the lectures or content to build derivative educational products or publicly distributed design guidelines. However, AlterSpark encourages the development of in-house design guidelines and practice materials and asks participants to credit AlterSpark according to standard academic conventions, or as described within the training materials. AlterSpark also makes materials for students to share with their organizations.

Recording materials

Participants agree not to use audio or video equipment to record the class. They also agree not to download or distribute educational videos. Participants may download tutorial videos, but may not distribute them. Photos taken in class welcome, and the course may be photographed, with images shared. Any participant who does not want to be included in any photos taken by AlterSpark staff or contractors should notify AlterSpark by emailing team(at)alterspark.com; however, AlterSpark is not responsible for the use of images taken by other course participants.

Sharing your training experience

Our school depends on referrals from past participants and showing new students what our training looks like, which types of professionals attend, what companies have participated, and what the training materials and exercises look like. For these reasons, we showcase our training through course photos, customer testimonials, corporate references when participants sign-up explicitly on behalf of their company, and other ways of demonstrating what our training is like. If you do not wish to have your photograph or company name or logo appear on our website or other marketing materials, please let us know.

Policy for alternative payments

If for whatever reason you are unable to purchase your ticket through our online registration system, we will provide alternative payment methods. In the case of Fortune 1000 companies or Government Agencies, where we receive the request via a verifiable institutional email address, we will reserve your seat, send you a course access code, and coordinate the payment with your procurement office on the understanding that the transaction may take time to process, given institutional protocol. In all other requests, we will guarantee your seat for alternative payments that can be completed in under 1-2 days. However, when the payment process takes 3 or more days to complete, we will guarantee your seat and send you an access code upon confirmation that your payment has been processed.

Tax collection

In some regions, we’re obligated to collect local taxes. In these cases, taxes are displayed during the registration process and added on the ticket price. In practice, we are only obliged to collect local tax in Canada.

AlterSpark

“AlterSpark” is our trade name, but we are two companies. When you conduct training that physically takes place in the USA, this agreement will be honored by AlterSpark LLC a US company. Training in all other locations is carried out by AlterSpark Crop. a Canadian corporation.

Ethical behavioral science

We hope that you have a wonderful experience applying our behavioral design process to a project of your choosing. To ensure that our instructors and all participants feel positive about the experience, this policy defines the legal and ethical lines that we ask all participants to respect.

Many fields routinely employ spin, when convenient facts are accented, and inconvenient facts are ignored. We teach framing techniques, however, at some point, framing can become deception. We cannot fully determine when an act transitions from framing to deception, as this is an ethical and legal question that is up for debate by philosophers, lawyers, and judges.

However, if our staff feel that any behavioral design project has crossed the line into deception, misrepresentation, or dark patterns, we will help the participant develop their product or campaigns along ethical lines. If any project advocates for inequality or hate, exploits vulnerable populations or causes blatant harm to the planet, we will recommend an approach that is in the interest of humanity.

If participants refuse to make these changes, we reserve the right to withhold feedback on projects that our staff feel has crosses any of these ethical lines. One exception is when a project or design challenge is being undertaken in a fun spirit, where bad taste is part of the joke. Another exception is when we teach dark patterns, so participants understand the emotional and ethical implications of their work.

We will not provide feedback to projects that are illegal, except those that may be technically illegal, but tolerated by officials, such as harm reduction programs like safe injection projects where public health officials provide addicts with safer drug and support alternatives, often with the support of lawmakers, judges and law enforcement. This is a fuzzy line, and a controversial one, that shifts over time.

Source credibility is at the heart of what we teach, and we advocate building credible brands that act in the interests of the audience.

Have any questions?

If you have any questions about our policies and practices, contact [email protected]

Updated 9 Sep 2021