How billing works

Plans at a glance

Both plans are a flat annual fee. There's no per-pupil, per-teacher or per-child maths, and no VAT. See the pricing page for the full breakdown.

The free trial (families)

Family accounts get a one-week free trial. The trial starts the moment you add your first child — not when you sign up — and no card is needed to begin it. During the week the account behaves exactly like a paid one.

If you decide to keep going, open Billing in your parent dashboard and start a subscription (that's when we collect your card, via Stripe — we never see the number). If you don't do anything, the trial simply expires at the end of the week and your children can't start new sessions until a subscription is active. There's nothing to cancel.

Each family account gets one trial, not one per child. If you've already trialled Spello and come back later, you'll go straight to the subscribe screen rather than getting a second week free.

How schools sign up

Schools don't self-serve a trial through the website — instead, we'd rather show you round first. Use the Talk to us button on the Schools plan card on the pricing page to book a 20-minute walk-through.

If the school decides to go ahead, we'll set you up and you can pay using your school's card or with a bank transfer.

Cancelling

From your billing page (under Account on manage.spello.uk), press Cancel subscription. That's it — no phone call, no retention dance. The account stays active until the end of the period you've already paid for, after which it moves into a lapsed state.

Coming back later is one click — sign in, restart the subscription, and every child's progress picks up exactly where it left off.

What happens if a card payment fails

Stripe retries the card a few times over the week or so after a failed charge. During that retry window your account stays fully active — children can still play, dashboards still work — so a temporary card issue (hit your limit, new card not yet updated) never interrupts a child mid-homework.

If all retries fail, the account moves to the lapsed state — the same as if you'd cancelled. You'll have had several emails from us along the way prompting you to update the card.

What "lapsed" means for a child

A lapsed account keeps working in a limited way:

• Everything the child has already earned — coins, collectables, streak history — is preserved.
• Parents can still sign in, see the dashboard, and restart the subscription.
• Children can't start new practice sessions until the account is paid again. We want to make it obvious, not sneaky.

Nothing is deleted. Reactivating the subscription brings everything back immediately.

Changing your card

From the billing page, press Update payment method. Stripe's secure form opens, you put a new card in, done. The next renewal uses the new card; anything outstanding from a retry period charges to it too.

Refunds

Spello's annual fees are low enough that we don't usually pro-rate refunds for cancellations — you keep access for the period you've paid for. If you think your situation warrants a refund (you were charged twice, for instance), email [email protected] and we'll sort it out — we're reasonable.

Invoices & receipts

Spello emails a receipt every time Stripe takes a payment. The email carries a link to the PDF invoice and a hosted view on Stripe's own site — useful for schools reconciling against purchase orders, and for families who want a paper trail. If you need an older receipt resending, email [email protected] and we'll forward it.