Coaching Terms

These terms cover the coaching sessions you book on Dataford as a candidate. They add to our Terms of Service. Where the two differ on coaching, these terms apply.

You accept them when you book. Each booking keeps the version you accepted, which is shown at the top of this page.

"Dataford", "we" and "us" mean Dataford. A "coach" is a person Dataford has approved to coach on the platform. A "session" is one booking with one coach.

A session is a live, one-to-one video call with a coach in the Dataford session room. You can book:

• Mock interview (60 minutes). A realistic interview round, then where you stand.
• Strategy session (45 minutes). Your prep plan, the process and offers. No interview practice.

The booking page shows the format, the length and the time before you pay.

The room has audio and video, screen sharing on a computer, shared notes and a code editor where you can run SQL and Python. Cameras start off. Turn yours on only if you want to.

The room opens 15 minutes before the start and stays open until 45 minutes after the scheduled end. A session that runs over is not cut off at the end time.

Some coaches also offer a resume review, which is a written review with no call. The rules on payment, refunds, problems and conduct apply to it too. The rules on joining a call do not.

Coaches are independent professionals, not Dataford employees. Dataford runs the platform: the directory, booking, payment, the session room and support.

We check each coach's employer before they appear in the directory, either by reviewing their LinkedIn profile or with a code sent to their work email. We repeat the check every year. The "Verified employer" label shows only while the check is current.

Coaches share their own experience and views. They do not speak for their employer, and they take no part in any hiring decision about you.

Each coach's price is shown before you pay. It includes the coach's payout and Dataford's fee. Prices are in US dollars.

You pay by card through Stripe. We never see or store your full card number. You get a receipt by email.

• Instant booking. When you pick one of a coach's open times, your card is charged and the session is confirmed.
• Requests. If no open time suits you, you can send the coach up to 3 times of your own. We place a hold on your card. You are charged only if the coach accepts within 48 hours. If the coach declines or does not answer in time, the hold is released and you pay nothing. You can withdraw a request until the coach accepts it.

The time you picked is held while you pay. You can have up to 2 unpaid checkouts open at once.

If your payment completes after the session's start time, we refund it in full and cancel the booking.

Once a session is confirmed, we email you a calendar invite. Times are shown in your time zone.

• First session: $20 off your first paid coaching session.
• Premium members: 15% off every session.

You get the larger of the two, never both. On a low-priced session the discount can be smaller than this. The checkout always shows the final price before you pay.

The first-session discount applies while you have no paid booking. Only one unpaid checkout at a time can carry it.

24 hours or more before the start, you can move or cancel for free. Cancelling refunds what you paid in full. You can move one session up to 2 times, to an open time with the same coach.

Less than 24 hours before the start, you can no longer move the session. You can still cancel, and you get 50% of what you paid back. Part of the rest pays the coach for the time they kept for you.

If your coach cancels, at any time, you get a full refund.

If your coach cannot make a session more than 24 hours away, they may propose up to 3 new times instead. Your session keeps its time until you answer. Pick a new time and the session moves; this does not count toward your 2 moves. Or decline, and you get a full refund.

Refunds go back to the card you paid with. Your bank can take 5 to 10 business days to show them.

You join from your sessions page. You count as joined once you have been in the call for at least 1 minute, between 15 minutes before the start and 45 minutes after the end. We use the video provider's record of who joined and for how long. If that record is not available, we use the signals the room sends while you are in the call.

• Your coach does not join. If your coach is not in the call 15 minutes after the start, you get a full refund and the coach gets a no-show on their record. You can also report a missing coach from your sessions page until 24 hours after the end.
• You do not join. If you are not in the call 15 minutes after the start and your coach is, the session counts as held. There is no refund.
• Neither of you joins. Our team looks at what happened and decides.

Your coach can end the session once you have joined, or after the 15-minute wait. Ending a session never marks anyone as present.

If the video fails to start, our team is alerted and the room lets you try again. We may send both of you a backup meeting link.

Your coach writes feedback within 24 hours of the end. After a mock interview: where you stand, a score for each area you worked on, and what to fix first. After a strategy session: the prep plan you agreed and your next steps. It stays on your sessions page.

• If it has not arrived 72 hours after the end, we tell you and chase the coach.
• If it has not arrived 7 days after the end, we refund you in full. You do not need to ask.

If something went wrong, report it from your sessions page within 14 days of the end of the session. Tell us what happened.

A person at Dataford reviews every report. We hear from both sides and aim to decide within 2 business days. We may keep the charge, refund part of it, or refund all of it. We email you the outcome and any refund amount.

Nothing in these terms takes away rights you have under consumer law.

Please contact us before you dispute a charge with your bank. We can usually fix a problem faster.

If you do file a chargeback, the session goes to review and the coach's payout is held. We send your bank the booking record, including when each side joined. If the bank decides for you, the session is treated as fully refunded. If it decides for us, the original outcome stands.

You and your coach both agree to these rules.

• No recording. Do not record, stream or capture the session, its audio, video or screen, by any means. Neither Dataford nor the video provider records sessions.
• Respect. No harassment, threats, discrimination or sexual content. Either of you can leave a session that turns abusive. Please report it.
• No confidential employer information. Do not ask a coach for their employer's live interview questions, internal documents or anything else they are not free to share, and do not share your own employer's. Coaches teach patterns and skills, not leaked questions.
• Keep it on Dataford. Do not pay, book or meet a coach you found here outside Dataford, and do not ask them to. Anything arranged off the platform has no refunds, support or protection from us.
• Let coaches stay anonymous. Do not ask for a coach's name or contact details, or try to find out who they are.
• One to one. The session is for you alone. Do not share the room link or bring anyone else into the call.

If you break these rules, we can end a session, cancel your upcoming sessions or stop you booking coaching. A session ended because you broke them is not refunded.

Coaches are anonymous. You see a handle made of random characters, such as Coach 7KQ4, with their verified employer, level, the roles and companies they coach for, their bio, rating and reviews. You do not see their name.

Your coach sees:

• your first name, or "Candidate" if we do not have one;
• your target company and role, and the format you booked;
• what you write in your booking brief;
• your time zone;
• a summary of an AI mock interview report, only if you choose to share one (see sharing a mock report).

Your coach does not see your last name, your email address or anything else in your Dataford account. Keep anything you want private out of your brief and the shared notes. Our Privacy Policy has the details.

The shared notes, the code (with a replay of how it changed and the results of each run) and the whiteboard from the room are saved with the session. You and your coach can both read them afterwards from your session pages, and download the notes. Your coach may also keep private notes on the session, which only they read.

We keep them for 12 months after the session, then delete them. Download anything you want to keep. Your coach's written feedback stays on your sessions page.

When you book, you can choose to share one of your AI mock interview reports with your coach. Nothing is shared unless you pick a report.

If you share one, we copy its scores, strengths and gaps into your brief. Your coach sees only that copy. They never get a link to your mock interview or to any other page of yours.

After a session you can rate it and write a review. Your coach can read it. Reviews appear on the coach's profile with the rating, the text, your target role and the month. Never your name or your target company.

Do not include anything that identifies you, your coach or anyone else. Reviews with email addresses, links, phone numbers or handles are rejected. We may hide a review that breaks these terms.

Coaching helps you prepare. It does not guarantee an interview, an offer, a level or any other result. Feedback is your coach's opinion, based on one session.

To the extent the law allows, Dataford's liability for a session is limited to what you paid for it.

You can stop using coaching at any time. Cancel your upcoming sessions first; the rules in moving or cancelling apply.

If you delete your Dataford account, we clear your brief and the room notes from your sessions and unlink them from you. We keep payment records, as the law requires.

We may update these terms. The version and date are at the top of this page. Sessions you have already booked keep the terms you accepted. New bookings use the current version.

Email support@dataford.io. Include the session date and your coach's handle so we can find it quickly.