You can find a child-friendly version of these terms here.
Welcome to StepsWeb, the specialist literacy programme which can be used by a non-specialist. These Terms of Use apply to the Learning Staircase range of software which includes StepsWeb. When you use StepsWeb, you are agreeing to these Terms of Use. Please read them carefully.
The StepsWeb programme will evolve and develop over time and, as a consequence, so will our Terms of Use. The current version of our Terms of Use will be the one available on our websites.
By using StepsWeb, you acknowledge that you have read and understood these Terms of Use. You also acknowledge that you have the authority to act on behalf of any organisation or individual for whom you are using StepsWeb or setting up a user account.
An Educator is responsible for managing a StepsWeb account and the students within it. They accept responsibility for the actions of all students within the accounts that they are connected to, as well as being tasked with ensuring the students use the programme in accordance with these Terms of Use.
The Student is the user of StepsWeb in a School, Institution or Home, which is setup and maintained by Educators.
The Learning Staircase grants you the right to use the StepsWeb software in accordance with these Terms of Use subject to the satisfactory payment of your licence fee. The Learning Staircase reserves the right to terminate or not renew a right to use StepsWeb in the event of misuse of the site or services.
You must not transmit or input to the site any data or files which may damage any other person’s computing devices or software, content which may be offensive or material which is violation of any applicable law.
You must not attempt to modify, copy, adapt, reproduce, disassemble, decompile or reverse engineer any part of StepsWeb or its associated web sites.
Whilst every effort is made to ensure continuity of use of StepsWeb, no guarantee is given to the availability of the software. StepsWeb is a web based programme which is totally dependent on access to the internet. The Learning Staircase can take no responsibility for the availability of the internet and the impact this may have on your use of StepsWeb. The Learning Staircase can also take no responsibility for any other reason for access to the StepsWeb website being denied such as your government restricting access to the web.
Anyone setting up a user in StepsWeb acknowledges that they have the appropriate authority to set up that user and manage their student records.
Any audio recordings, spelling lists or images which you record for StepsWeb become the property of The Learning Staircase as soon as you save them to StepsWeb.
The Learning Staircase Privacy Policy applies to all Learning Staircase software. Please refer to that document for details of our privacy policy. You can access that document here.
The Learning Staircase owns the copyright and all the intellectual property contained in StepsWeb as well as the associated websites. This includes all the text, graphics, logos, images, icons, sound recordings and the software itself. You must not copy, reproduce, print, display, publish or create derivative works from any part of StepsWeb or its associated websites.
To the extent permitted by law, The Learning Staircase excludes all liability and responsibility to you, or any other person, in contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise, for any loss (including loss of information or data) or damage resulting, directly or indirectly, from any use of or reliance on StepsWeb or its associated websites.
We do not guarantee that StepsWeb will be provided without interruption or errors and we provide StepsWeb on an ‘as is’ and ‘as available’ basis.
If you suffer any loss or damage as a result of The Learning Staircase’s negligence or failure to comply with these terms of use, any claim by you against The Learning Staircase will be limited in respect of any one incident, or series of connected incidents, to your annual licence fee for StepsWeb.
StepsWeb is a literacy teaching tool and, like all teaching tools, its success depends entirely on how it is used. There are training videos and teacher manuals which are available to help you get the best from StepsWeb. We have numerous examples of people who have achieved significant results using StepsWeb and we are happy to share these and we will often use them as case studies. However, we make no guarantee of the outcome from using StepsWeb and, in particular, we make no claim to cure any learning difficulty such as dyslexia.
These Terms of Use will continue to apply in perpetuity. In particular, the conditions which apply to Intellectual Property, Copyright and Use of StepsWeb Software will continue to apply after you terminate your account.
The Learning Staircase will not provide any refund for any unused part of a licence fee period.
The Learning Staircase may take any of the following actions at its sole discretion;
Terminate your use of StepsWeb.
Suspend for any definite or indefinite period of time, your use of StepsWeb.
Suspend or terminate your access to any data.
Take the above actions in respect of any or all persons whom you have authorised to have access to your data.
This is the Refund Policy for The Learning Staircase which covers StepsWeb and its associated products. We want to make sure that any transaction with us is fair and if we ever make a mistake, we will correct it as soon as possible. However, we are not able to offer a ‘change of mind’ policy.
If you believe that there has been an error in a transaction with us, please notify us as soon as possible using the contact details on the stepsweb.com home page.
This policy is valid for 30 days from your purchase.
We will always use our best endeavours to ensure that you are only billed the correct amount for any purchase you make. In the very unlikely event that we make a mistake with your billing, we will refund the appropriate amount by the same method in which we were paid. For example, we will only make a credit card refund back to the credit card account from which the original payment was made. Please contact us immediately if you think you may have been billed an incorrect amount.
Please be aware that refunds take several days to be processed by the banks which is something we have no control over. We do not accept any responsibility for any additional charges which you may incur from you bank for a refund.
We do not offer any refunds for software purchases. Please make sure that you are certain of your purchase before making it. You are strongly advised to use the trial version to confirm that you have suitable hardware and internet connections to run StepsWeb and that StepsWeb meets your needs before making a purchase. The free trial period allows you access to the full program. We do not make refunds for any unused part of a licence period. You can reallocate a licence to another student for the remaining period of the licence, if you wish to.
In general, we do not allow refunds for workbooks purchased. There is a ‘Placement Test’ in StepsWeb which will determine the appropriate level of workbook and, on the Support site, there is guidance on the spelling age each workbook is intended for as well as sample chapters from the workbooks. If you are unsure about the appropriate level of workbook, please contact us for advice before making a purchase.
However, if you find that you have purchased the wrong level of workbook and you wish to exchange it, then please contact us to discuss whether this would be possible. We will only ever exchange workbooks which are the current version and returned to us in an ‘as new condition’ so that we can resell them. If you return any workbooks for exchange, you will need to pay the shipping costs of the return and we may need to charge you the additional costs of shipping the replacement workbooks. For returned workbooks, we will need to check their condition before shipping the replacement workbooks. We reserve the right to reject returned workbooks if they are not in an ‘as new’ condition.
If you made your original purchase using a credit card, and a refund is due, we will only make the refund back to the credit card which you used to make the original purchase. If this is physically impossible, such as when the original credit card has expired or been cancelled, we will need you to provide us verifiable evidence of the reason and of the account you would like us to use instead.
If you purchase StepsWeb licences ‘on account’, e.g. if you are a school, then the service will be provided immediately. If you fail to pay your invoice in accordance with the agreed payment terms, we may terminate the service.
All other purchases, including all ‘home accounts’, need to be paid for before the service is provided. The service will be available immediately after the transaction is completed.
Workbooks, and other physical resources, ordered through The Learning Staircase will be despatched as soon as practicable, provided that you either have an account with us, or your payment is successful, and provided that we have current stock. In the unlikely event of us not holding the stock you have ordered, we will contact you immediately and advise you of the reason and time for the delay. If the delay is unacceptable to you, we will offer you a refund of the cost of the delayed items. We will use what we consider to be the most appropriate method of delivery for your order. Whilst we accept responsibility for a non-delivery, we do not accept any responsibility for a delay in the delivery due to events which are outside our control.
Workbooks, and other physical resources, ordered through a third party, such as Amazon, are subject to their payment and delivery systems for which we can accept no responsibility. However, should you experience any problems with the supply of our products or services through a third party, we would like you to contact us because we want to ensure that you receive the products and services you have purchased in a timely and accurate fashion.
The name that will appear on your statement will be THE LEARNING STAIRCASE.
For users who purchased a StepsWeb licence in Australia, the governing law will be that of New South Wales, Australia.
For all other purchases, any dispute will be governed by the laws of New Zealand.
The best way to contact us is by email at one of the following email addresses:
info@stepsweb.com
technical@stepsweb.com
The Learning Staircase Ltd.
PO Box 582,
Rangiora 7440
New Zealand
Email: info@stepsweb.com
