Terms of Service

1. About these terms

These terms are an agreement between you and LayerNines Inc. ("we" or "us"), a company registered in the Republic of Korea at 경기도 김포시 김포한강9로 79, 4층 401-303에이호(구래동). They cover Pick Up Korean (the "service"), an AI phone partner you talk Korean with. You sign up, pay and manage the service on the web, and the calls happen on the phone.

By creating an account or using the service, you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, please don't use the service.

Our order process is conducted by our online reseller Paddle.com. Paddle.com is the Merchant of Record for all our orders. Paddle handles payment questions, billing and refunds for your orders, and you can always contact us as well.

2. Words we use

"Service" means the phone calls in which our AI talks with a learner in Korean, and what comes with them: report texts, transcripts and recordings, text chat and your web account.
"You" or "account holder" means the person who agrees to these terms and creates an account by verifying a phone number. The account holder pays for the service and manages it.
"Learner" means the person who takes the calls. The learner can be you, or someone you add, such as a family member or an employee.
"Subscription" means what you pay for: one plan for one learner. One account can hold subscriptions for several learners.
"Trial call" means the free call anyone can make once per phone number to the Pick Up Korean number before signing up.
"Report" means the summary of the phrases and lessons from calls that we send by text and show on the web.
"Call data" means the call audio, the transcript, and the summaries and memories made from them.

3. Who can use the service

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account and pay.
A learner must be at least 13 years old. If a learner is under 18, the account holder must be their parent or legal guardian.
Give us accurate information and keep your phone number up to date. Don't use another person's name or phone number, and don't let anyone else use your sign-in.

4. Adding someone else as the learner

Before you add someone else as a learner, tell them what the service is (an AI that calls them, and calls that are recorded and transcribed) and get their permission, including their agreement to the calls and texts described in section 6.
Pick Up Korean tells the learner that it is an AI at the start of the first call.
When you add someone else, we share with you whether they took their calls and their reports (the phrases learned and a summary of the lesson). The learner can turn off sharing of conversation topics in their web account at any time. Transcripts and recordings are shown only to the learner, always.
If the learner is an employee or someone else you work with, we don't share their reports with you, only whether they took calls and for how long.
If a learner tells us they don't want the calls, we'll let you know, and you must pause the calls or cancel. Adding someone to harass them or against their wishes is not allowed.
You're responsible for disputes and losses that come from not getting the learner's permission, unless we caused them on purpose or through our negligence.

5. What the service includes

We call the learner on the days and at the times in their schedule. At busy times a call can start a few minutes late.
If the learner doesn't pick up, we call again every 10 minutes by default (they can set up to 60 minutes in their account), and if we still can't reach them, we let you know by text.
Every plan includes calls the learner places to us and text chat.
After each call, we text a report of the phrases learned, and the learner can see the transcript and the recording on the web. Only the learner can see them.
Anyone can make one trial call to the Pick Up Korean number without signing up. A trial call is recorded and transcribed like any other call, and a report is made when it ends. The report can be seen on the web after verifying the phone number, and we check whether a trial call was used by phone number.
We describe what the service includes on our website and may change it for technical reasons, with notice as described in section 14.

6. Calls and texts

When you add a phone number and set a call schedule, you agree that Pick Up Korean may call that number at the scheduled times, and again after a missed call, using an AI-generated (artificial) voice, and may text that number about the service: sign-in codes, call reminders, missed-call notices and reports. Message frequency varies with the schedule and how the service is used. Msg & data rates may apply.
Reply STOP to any text to stop texts, or HELP for help. To stop scheduled calls, pause or clear the schedule in Settings, tell your partner during a call, or contact us.
You don't have to agree to scheduled calls to buy a plan: you can call Pick Up Korean yourself instead.
We text you only about your service and your account. We don't send marketing on anyone else's behalf.

7. AI conversations

The conversations on calls and by text are generated by AI, not by a person. Your partner is an AI character, not a real person, and won't claim to be one. AI can say things that are wrong or unexpected, and we don't guarantee that what it says is true or accurate.
The service helps you practice Korean. We don't promise any particular learning result or test score. Nothing your partner says is medical, legal, financial or other professional advice.
The service is not an emergency service. It can't call or connect you to 911 or any other emergency number, and it doesn't replace them.
These limits don't excuse harm we cause on purpose or through gross negligence.

8. Acceptable use

Your partner keeps conversations to language learning. We can decline requests, end a call or a text conversation, and remove content that breaks the rules below, and repeated or serious violations can lead to suspension under section 15.

When you use the service, including what you say on calls, the texts you send and the pictures you share, don't:

break the law, or use the service for fraud or spam;
infringe anyone's intellectual property or other rights;
create or share illegal content, sexual content, or anything that sexualizes minors;
create sexual or intimate content about a real person, or a deepfake of anyone without their consent;
harass, threaten or abuse anyone, or promote hatred against people for who they are;
share someone else's private information (doxxing);
deceive people, or pass off what the AI says as words from a real person;
try to make the AI ignore its safety rules (jailbreaking), or interfere with the service: no malware, probing, scraping or getting around access limits.

9. Your content and our service

You're responsible for what you say, write and share on the service, and you must have the right to share it, pictures included.
You keep the rights you have in your own words and pictures, and you let us use them only to run the service for you, as our Privacy Policy describes.
You can use your transcripts, reports and the phrases the service gives you for your own learning. AI output can resemble material found elsewhere, so how you use it beyond that is up to you.
We own the service: the software, the characters and voices, and everything else we made for it. While you're a member, you get a personal right to use the service that you can't transfer.
If you believe something on the service infringes your rights, tell us at [email protected]. We'll look into it and take it down if it does.

10. Recording and your data

We record and transcribe calls, and we create summaries and memories so the next call can pick up where the last one ended. Pick Up Korean tells the learner about this when calls begin.
Only the learner can see transcripts and recordings, on the web, and we delete them automatically within 30 days after the call (the learner can delete them sooner). Phrases learned, summaries and reports are kept while the service is in use and deleted after 3 months without calls.
We don't use call data to train AI models, and we don't sell personal information.
Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information.

11. Prices and payment

Plans, prices, weekly credit, scheduled-call days and yearly prices are listed on our pricing page. Prices are in US dollars. The amount shown at checkout is the amount you pay, and Paddle adds sales tax or VAT where it applies.
When you subscribe, the first payment for your plan is taken right away, and your subscription period starts that day.
Your subscription renews automatically at the end of each period, monthly or yearly as you chose, and the payment method you gave Paddle is charged each time until you cancel. You can cancel at any time in your account.
Your purchase is also covered by Paddle's buyer terms, which Paddle shows you at checkout.
There are no overage charges. Weekly credit pays for calls and text chat and is used at the rates on our pricing page, which depend on the partner and on who places the call. When it runs out, calls and text replies stop for the rest of that week unless extra credit is left; weekly credit refills every Saturday at 12 AM. If credit runs out during a call, the call isn't cut off.
Moving to a different plan isn't open on Pick Up Korean subscriptions for now. To switch, cancel, and subscribe to the new plan when the period you paid for ends.
You can buy extra credit by the minute, apart from weekly credit. The price per minute, the smallest and the largest purchase, and the most you can buy for one learner in a week (the week weekly credit refills on) are on our pricing page. Only the account holder paying for a learner's subscription can buy extra credit for it, and only while that subscription is paid and running: not once it's set to end.
Extra credit belongs to the learner it was bought for and is used after weekly credit runs out, at the same rates. It's good for 30 days from purchase, carries over from week to week within that time, and expires after it. If the subscription ends, extra credit still stands until it expires, but it can only be used while a subscription is running, and the 30 days keep counting.

12. Price changes

If we change our prices, we'll tell you at least 30 days before the change applies to you. If you don't agree, you can cancel, and any period you already paid for keeps the old price.

13. Cancellation and refunds

You can cancel at any time with the Cancel subscription button in your account. The plan keeps running until the end of the period you paid for, then stops, and you won't be charged again. There's no cancellation fee.
Within 14 days of any payment, you can ask for a refund for any reason. If the learner hasn't used any credit since that payment, we refund it in full. If they have, we refund the payment minus the value of what was already provided.
The value already provided is the larger of the value of the time used and the value of the credit used. Time used is counted at the plan's monthly price: each full month at the monthly price, and each day of the month in progress at one thirtieth of it. Credit used is the weekly credit used since the payment, counted to the second, at the value of one minute, which is the monthly price divided by four times the weekly credit minutes. This isn't a fee: it pays only for what was already provided, and if nothing is left to refund, we never charge you more.
If you pay yearly and cancel partway through, you can also ask for the payment minus the value already provided after the first 14 days.
If the service isn't what we described or isn't provided as agreed, you can ask for a refund within 3 months of receiving it or within 30 days of finding out.
To ask for a refund, write to us at [email protected] or contact Paddle at paddle.net. We reply within 3 business days. Refunds go back to the payment method you used, and your bank may take a few more business days to show them.
If you have a question or a complaint about a charge, an automatic payment or a refund, contact us at [email protected] or 070-5276-8282. We'll answer at the contact details on your account within 3 business days.
Within 14 days of buying extra credit, you can ask for a refund of it: in full if none was used, and otherwise minus the credit used (counted to the second) at the price per minute you paid. Expired extra credit can't be refunded. Canceling or refunding a subscription doesn't change extra credit, and subscription refunds don't include what was paid for extra credit.
If we fail to place a scheduled call through our own fault, we make it up by giving back that call's credit or extending your period, or, if you prefer, by refunding that call's share of the price. This doesn't limit your rights under the law.

14. Changes to the service, and interruptions

We may change the service for operational or technical reasons. If a change significantly harms you, we'll tell you at least 30 days ahead.
We don't promise that the service will always be available or free of errors. It can pause for maintenance, repairs, outages or network problems. If an interruption we cause harms you, we'll make it right as the law requires.
If we stop offering the service, we'll tell you at least 30 days ahead and refund the unused part of any period you paid for.

15. Suspension and closing an account

You can close your account at any time by asking for deletion in your account. A subscription still running is settled under section 13.
We may suspend or end your access, after telling you where we can, if you seriously break these terms, don't pay, put the service's security at risk, commit fraud, use the service against a learner's wishes, or keep breaking these terms. You can tell us your side.

16. Limits on our liability

We provide the service as it is and as it's available. To the extent the law allows, we make no promises beyond those in these terms.
We aren't responsible when we can't provide the service for reasons beyond our control, such as natural disasters, phone carrier outages or the learner's own phone connection, unless we acted on purpose or with gross negligence.
To the extent the law allows, and unless we acted on purpose or with gross negligence, our total liability to you is limited to what you paid us in the 3 months before the claim, and we aren't liable for indirect or special losses we couldn't have foreseen.
Nothing in these terms limits rights you have under consumer protection laws that can't be waived. The limits on AI conversations are in section 7.

17. Governing law and disputes

If something goes wrong, please contact us first at [email protected]. We'll try to resolve it quickly, and if it takes time, we'll tell you why and when to expect an answer.
These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Korea. This doesn't take away the protection of the consumer laws of the place where you live, and you can bring a dispute in the courts of the place where you live.

18. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. We'll post the change and the reason for it at least 7 days before it applies, and at least 30 days before for changes that are worse for you, which we'll also send you by text.
If you don't agree with a change, you can cancel before it applies. If you keep using the service after that, you accept the updated terms.

19. Contact us

LayerNines Inc. · 경기도 김포시 김포한강9로 79, 4층 401-303에이호(구래동) · [email protected] · 070-5276-8282