A. Process : If the student has a complaint, the student should contact our customer service department and contact Miss Xu via email at contact@hedonia.cn or by phone call at 15862360428. Complaints remain confidential and will not prejudice the student.

B. Content : When issuing a complaint, the student should include personal information such as the student’s name, address and contact information. The complaint should be fully detailed with any supporting documents and, if relevant, should include details of any previous attempts made to resolve the problem.

C. People & timelines : The complaint will be handled by the head of customer service Miss Xu and will be acknowledged in a maximum of 3 working days and answered in a maximum of 20 working days.

D. Appeals : If the complainant receives a response and is still not satisified, the complaint will be referred to the director M. Ventelon for further review. The complaint will then be acknowledged in a maximum of 3 working days and answered in a maximum of 20 working days.

E. If the above steps have all been completed and the student is still dissatisfied, they may wish to file a complaint with WSET about Hedonia, by contacting WSET’s Quality Assurance Team (qa@wsetglobal.com)

A Conflict of Interest exists where an individual has interests or loyalties that could adversely influence their judgement, objectivity or loyalty to WSET Awards when conducting activities associated with WSET qualifications.

Examples of Conflicts of Interest in the context of an awarding organisation may include, for example :

• The undertaking of any assessment of candidates by an individual who has a personal interest in the result of the assessment for any or all individuals concerned;
• The undertaking of any moderation of assessment of candidates by an individual who has a personal interest in the result of the assessment for any or all individuals concerned;
• The tutoring of candidates by an individual involved in the assessment process.

Some examples are acceptable and can be managed. Cases of conflict of interest will first be discussed between Hedonia and the candidate presenting such case. If the issue can’t be solved between Hedonia and the candidate, the issue will be declared to WSET Awards and will follow required actions to manage or avoid them.

When registering to WSET courses, the student’s personal information will be passed to WSET Awards. This may include name(s), date of birth, gender and email address, as well as health or additional information to support reasonable adjustments or special consideration.

Why we collect your personal data

• To register you as a candidate with WSET Awards and enable you to sit examinations for WSET qualifications.
• To administer and conduct your examination, including making arrangements for reasonable adjustments and/or special considerations.
• To communicate with your course provider and issue your examination results and qualification certificate as appropriate.
• To provide you with post-results services such as enquiries against results and appeals and solicit feedback from you on WSET qualifications.
• To process your registration for any WSET-hosted courses or events so that we can deliver these services to you.
• To send you information regarding the course or event for which you are registered (or which have registered interest in).
• To process sales of products or services you have purchased from us.
• To manage any account(s) for providing our online services including but not restricted to our Online Classroom and Global Campus where you have registered with us so that:
  • We can provide you with the relevant products and services;
  • You can access relevant course materials;
  • We can fulfil our services and communicate with you about them;
  • To verify your identity;
  • To carry out research to better understand your requirements on the relevant products and services.
• To personalise, report on and improve the services and products we provide to you, and to provide you with a best-in-class customer service experience.

To send you marketing communications including information about our qualifications, upcoming events and links to our blogs.

How do we keep your shared personal data secure?

• We will only ever share data specific to its intended use;
• Specific details of what data we have shared is available to you on request.

Data passed to WSET will be handled in accordance with WSET Awards’ Data Protection Policy.

In the event of data loss, our team will contact the students in order to recover the data.

In case the students have any questions about Data protection, they may contact our data protection officer Miss Zhu at helene@hedonia.cn.

Hedonia’s Data Protection policy are in accordance with the laws of the People’s Republic of China.

Hedonia assures equality of opportunity for candidates by:

• Promoting open access to WSET qualifications (having regard to the legal minimum age for the retail purchase of alcohol and assessment competence standards);
• Allowing candidates with special educational needs, disabilities or temporary injuries to access WSET assessments without changing the demands of the assessment in line with our Reasonable Adjustment and Special Consideration policies;
• Reviewing this policy regularly to ensure it continues to meet legislative and organisational requirements and is fit for purpose.

In case the students have any questions about Diversity and equality, they may contact Miss Xu at contact@hedonia.cn.

Hedonia’s Diversity and equality policy are in accordance with the laws of the People’s Republic of China.

A reasonable adjustment is any action that helps to reduce the effect of a disability or difficulty that places the candidate at a substantial disadvantage in the assessment situation. Reasonable adjustments are approved by WSET Awards and put in place before the assessment activity takes place; they constitute an arrangement to give the candidate access to the qualification. The use of a reasonable adjustment is not taken into consideration during the assessment of a candidate’s work.

Reasonable adjustments may involve:

• Changing standard assessment arrangements, for example allowing candidates extra time to complete the assessment activity;
• Adapting assessment materials, such as providing materials in large text format;
• Providing access facilitators during assessment, such as a sign language interpreter or reader;
• Re-organising the assessment room, such as removal of visual stimuli for an autistic candidate.

Candidates must inform Hedonia at the time of candidate enrolment of any special needs which may require a reasonable adjustment at the time of the examination, at least six weeks before the examination date in the case of WSET qualifications at Levels 1-2. This is done through filling the enrolment form when candidates enrol to a course. Refer to our data protection policy for how any personal data will be handled.

Special consideration is an action taken after an assessment to allow candidates who have been disadvantaged by temporary illness, injury, indisposition or adverse circumstances at the time of the assessment to demonstrate attainment.

Special consideration will not give unfair advantage over candidates for whom special consideration is not being applied, or alter the assessment demands of the qualification as detailed in the applicable Specification.

A candidate may be eligible for special consideration if:

• Performance in an assessment is affected by circumstances beyond the control of the candidate. This may include recent personal illness, death of a relative, accident, bereavement or examination room conditions;
• Alternative assessment arrangements which were agreed in advance of the assessment proved inappropriate or inadequate;
• The application of special consideration would not mislead the user of the certificate as to the candidate’s attainment.

Candidates who want to pledge a special consideration must contact Hedonia within 15 working days of the assessment date for which special consideration is being sought. Contact should be made to Miss Xu at contact@hedonia.cn or by phone call at 15862360428. Refer to data protection policy for how any personal data will be handled.

The aim of this policy is to protect the interests of WSET students and safeguard the integrity of WSET qualifications by ensuring compliance with WSET Policies and Procedures. It provides a framework for the identification, reporting and management of any potential malpractice or maladministration and for the application of sanctions.

Non-compliance with WSET Policies and Procedures generally falls into one of two categories:

• Maladministration, where non-compliance is accidental rather than intentional; and
• Malpractice where non-compliance is intentional or the result of negligence.

The boundaries between maladministration and malpractice are not clear-cut. Some incidents may fall into either category depending on the wider context. Some maladministration incidents may become malpractice e.g. through failure to implement corrective measures, repetition of the incident, or subsequent attempt at non- disclosure or misrepresentation. A malpractice incident may be deemed to be maladministration if there are extenuating circumstances. Whether a situation is maladministration or malpractice will be determined by WSET Awards following an investigation.

Malpractice or maladministration may include:

• Failure to adhere to the terms of Centre Agreement or WSET Policies and Procedures;
• Failure to comply with the Hedonia Code of Conduct;
• Failure to carry out course or assessment delivery in accordance with WSET Awards requirements;
• Failure to adhere to WSET Awards’ candidate registration and certification procedures;
• Late student registrations;
• Fraudulent claim for certificates/fraudulent use of certificates/reproduction or forgery of certificates;
• Withholding of information from WSET Awards which is critical to maintaining the rigour of quality assurance;
• Insecure storage of assessment materials;
• Submission of false or inaccurate information to gain a qualification;
• Cheating, including the use of unauthorised devices or materials;
• Disruptive behaviour in an examination;
• Plagiarism of any nature by students;
• Impersonation (including forgery of signatures);
• Any action likely to lead to an adverse effect;
• Breach of confidentiality;
• Failure to a disclose Conflict of Interest;
• Issue of incorrect exam results/failure to issue results to students in a timely manner;
• Unauthorised reading/amendment/copying/distribution of exam papers;
• Failure to report changes in ownership/personnel/location/facilities;
• Denial of access to information, documentation, workforce, facilities;
• Failure to respond to WSET Awards in a timely manner;
• Failure to return examination papers within the specified timeframe or to follow delivery and tracking regulations;
• Infringement of WSET copyright, trademarks, intellectual property rights and brand identity;
• Use of unqualified and/or unregistered educators or internal assessors;
• Misleading advertising/publicity.

If Hedonia actions/maladministration leads to candidates being disadvantaged, candidates should refer to Hedonia complaints policy.