Dear Piano Students,

We hope this letter finds you well.

We are writing to inform you of some changes in our billing structure and fees that we
are going to implement due to changes in the market affecting overall living costs. Our
last increase in fees was on 1 February 2021.

Even with the new increase, we are still well below the going rate that the schools and
other teachers are charging! Music schools charge up to R575.00 per hour and then
you must buy your own music books and theory books and they teach you only from
such books. Teachers in the vicinity are charging anything from R250,00 to R400,00
per lesson, and some of the lessons are only 30 mins in length with one once again,
having to buy your own theory and music books and not having the freedom to choose
your pieces as you have been doing, at DiaMand Creations.

Starting 1 March 2023, all students will be moved onto a contract basis that covers them
for their lessons for the month at the rate of R250,00 per hour. A 4-week month will
therefore total R1000.00 and a 5-week month R1250.00.

The aforementioned fees are for contract holders only. If you are going to be a student
who travels a lot, then you will require ad hoc lessons and the fee for that is R300.00
per hour.

Kindly ensure that fees are paid by the 28th of the month and that same is set to clear
immediately if paid from a bank other than Capitec. If your fees have not been paid by
the 28th of the month – and cleared - then your spot is deemed available and cannot be
guaranteed with a 2% interest running from 29th to date of payment being levied.

If you are unable to attend a lesson for whatever reason, kindly note that – due to the
fact that lessons are prepared days in advance for each student, you will still be liable
for payment of such missed lesson, and the material prepared will be
whatsapped/emailed to you. So there will no longer be credits carried over because this
scenario has once again become the “norm” and not “once in a blue moon” as originally
intended when we agreed to allow this. If we had to allow credits to be carried over
monthly for everybody going away weekends, being ill, travelling overseas etc etc, it
would result in not only a lot of time unallocated (because not everybody is able to at
short notice, shift to an open timeslot of a student not attending), but it would also not
allow for the business as a whole, to grow.
Students have also been modifying invoices when they cannot attend a lesson/s.
Please note that this is not allowed. The contract is one of a monthly nature, the same
as a gym contract eg.

Additionally, we will be introducing a notice period of one month to allow us to plan for
the coming months. We understand that this change may cause some inconvenience,
but as a business, we need to plan ahead in order to provide the best possible service
to all our students.

We appreciate your understanding and support in this matter. If you have any questions
or concerns, please feel free to send a private message to discuss the matter.

Lastly, we would like to thank the loyal students who really enjoy their lessons and go
out of their way to attend, pay on time and generally, bring so much to the studio. Some
of you go the extra length of providing eats and treats for other students and that is
appreciated more than you will ever know. Others again, always pay more than is
indicated on their invoices. This also doesn’t go unnoticed and is much appreciated.
Let’s all work together in order to ensure that DiaMand Creations continues to share its
talent with people. Recommend us where you can to family, friends and colleagues.

Best regards,

Di