Mentor Commitment & Reliability Policy

• A mentor cannot move your session on their own. They propose times; you choose.
• If a mentor does not attend, you are made whole — a new time, a similar mentor, or your money back.
• No mentor is ever paid for a session they failed to deliver.
• Reliability is measured from what actually happened, not from opinion, and it affects where a mentor appears.
• Every consequence has a stated trigger and a way back.

1.1 SarthiLink sells the session and is responsible to the student for it being delivered. This policy sets out what we require of mentors so that we can keep that promise, and what happens when they fall short.

1.2 The rules are the same for every mentor and are applied by the platform, not case by case.

1.3 Where this policy affects a mentor's engagement, it is enforced through the Mentor Terms, which incorporate it.

2.1 A mentor can never move a booking on their own. They propose between two and five alternative times, and the booking moves only when the student approves one.

2.2 If none suits the student and they decline, the original booking stands, and the student may instead cancel it for a full refund at any time before it starts; the mentor is not paid for a booking cancelled this way. If the mentor then does not attend, the student has the options in clause 3.

2.3 Limits. A mentor may move one booking once, and no more than five bookings in any calendar month. The count is by the calendar month (India time) in which the mentor asks, and resets on the first of each month.

2.4 Staying inside those limits is not misconduct. Rescheduling occasionally is a normal part of the service and carries no consequence of any kind.

2.5 Mentor-initiated changes are recorded and form part of the reliability record.

3.1 The student chooses: a new time with the same mentor, one of the similar mentors we show them, or a full refund. The first and third always cost the student nothing.

3.2 If the student makes no choice within 72 hours of our message, we refund them automatically.

3.3 The mentor is not paid for a session they failed to attend or deliver. A session lost to a failure on our side or the video provider's is paid (3.4, 3.7), and a session the student missed is paid under the Mentor Terms (MSPA 10.1).

3.4 Where the student takes a refund, the mentor owes SarthiLink No-show Compensation equal to 25% of the mentor's Approved Earning for that session, as set out in the Mentor Terms. On the current ladder that is ₹60 at the lowest rung (₹240) and rises with the rung; the Distinguished band has no ceiling, so there is no fixed upper figure. GST at 18% is charged on top of that sum (for example ₹100 + ₹18 = ₹118). Where the student rebooks the same mentor instead, no such sum arises. A refund in order to book another mentor, and the automatic refund we make when the student does not choose, are refunds and carry the sum. If our system fails to create the video room, it is our failure: you are not treated as absent, no sum arises, and the student is offered a free reschedule with you — you are paid for that session in the ordinary way — or a full refund

3.5 That sum can be reduced or waived on stated grounds — a medical emergency, a bereavement, a natural disaster or area-wide outage, a failure of our own systems, or a first occurrence in twelve months notified as soon as reasonably possible. Every decision is recorded with the ground relied on and the reason.

3.6 A non-attendance is only recorded after a grace period and a review of the attendance evidence. Where either party disputes what happened, a person reviews it before anything is recorded, and no sum under 3.4 is charged while it is disputed. If a finding is later reversed, the sum is cancelled and anything already recovered is returned. A failure of our own systems — including a join we refused or could not complete — is never recorded as the mentor's non-attendance. No-show Compensation under 3.4 is charged only after a person at SarthiLink has looked at that session and confirmed the mentor no-show; nothing is charged where attendance is uncertain, the evidence does not establish a no-show, or a failure on our side or another cause outside the mentor's responsibility caused it (Mentor Terms 10.4).

3.7 Technical failure during a session. Where a session is cut short by a technical failure and half or less of it was delivered: if the failure was on the mentor's side, the mentor is not paid for that session; if it was on SarthiLink's side or the video provider's, the mentor keeps their earning for it; if it was the student's own connection or device, the session counts as delivered. Where more than half of the session was delivered, it counts as delivered and the mentor is paid for it. Which side the failure was on is decided from the session records; where they do not show it, a person decides, and nothing is decided against the mentor on a gap in the records alone.

4.1 Where a mentor fails to attend three sessions within one calendar week (Monday 00:00 to Sunday 23:59, India time; a trial counts like any other session), — each non-attendance shown by the platform's records, and counting only sessions after SarthiLink's official launch — we open a review and tell the mentor. After that review we may stop offering new bookings for them. This is never automatic.

4.2 While new bookings are stopped:

4.3 We review on request and may lift it at any time, including within the same week. A non-attendance corrected on review stops counting, and any step taken because of it is reconsidered.

4.4 We tell the mentor why, and they may respond. We aim to decide a review within 14 days and tell the mentor the outcome and the reason.

5.1 Where the problem is the quality of what was delivered rather than attendance, we act in steps. A step is reached only on a substantiated complaint — one decided under the Dispute Resolution Policy after the mentor has been told what was said and given the chance to answer.

5.1A A step is never applied automatically. Each one is a decision, recorded with the complaints relied on and the reason. The mentor is told at every step and may ask us to look again, and a step that a review does not support is removed from the record.

5.1B Steps fall away. A complaint counts towards a step for 12 months and then stops counting. A mentor who improves returns to full visibility without applying for it.

5.2 None of these quality steps reduces a mentor's rate. Quality issues are addressed by offering fewer bookings, never by reducing a mentor's rate. A reliability limit is different: under Grade & Tier 6.2 and the Grading Matrix v2.0, it caps the rung a mentor is paid at to the top of the capped tier while it lasts. The mentor's chosen rung is preserved and returns when the limit lifts, and bookings already made keep their price.

5.3 Substantiated complaints and dispute outcomes form part of the reliability record.

6.1 From what happened, not from opinion. Attendance, punctuality, cancellations, how reschedules were handled, delivered duration against booked duration, and the outcomes of disputes.

6.2 Reliability affects where a mentor appears — Reliability can hold a mentor back; it never moves one up (Grade & Tier 6.1). Repeated failures can limit how far a mentor rises and, in the end, which requests they are offered. A good record is the expected minimum, not a boost in the order.

6.3 Reliability can lower a mentor's standing. It never raises it. Turning up is the minimum expected, not an achievement.

6.4 Reliability is not a number. We record the events (non-attendance, late joining, cancellations, upheld disputes) and the steps they lead to. None of it is shown publicly or to students; the most a student sees is a "Reliable scheduling" mark, or nothing.

6.5 A mentor can see their own record at any time.

7.1 Not being booked is not a reliability problem. SarthiLink sets prices. A mentor nobody books may simply be one we have priced wrongly, and that is our mistake, not theirs.

7.2 Not offering slots is not misconduct. A mentor who publishes no availability for an extended period stops appearing until they publish some again. It raises no reliability flag, going quiet does not by itself move them down a tier, there is nothing to appeal, and listing resumes the moment they offer a slot. How much bookable time a mentor offers is, however, one of the things measured in the delivery half of their grade (Mentor Grade & Tier Policy §2.2, §6.4).

7.3 Raising a dispute, asking for a review, or declining a booking is never held against a mentor.

8.1 Nothing in this policy takes effect without a stated trigger, a record, and a reason given to the mentor.

8.2 A mentor may ask us to look again at any decision under this policy. We never simply adjust an outcome — where a decision rests on evidence, we re-examine the evidence.

8.3 Serious safety or conduct concerns are dealt with under the Platform Safety & Prohibited Conduct Policy, where we may act immediately. The mentor is then told why and can ask for a review, as the Account Suspension Policy sets out, unless telling them would put someone at risk or prejudice an investigation.

9.1 support@sarthilink.com. Formal complaints: grievance@sarthilink.com — Grievance Officer Karan Kumar Garg, Director.

9.2 A student-facing summary of these protections is in the Student Protection Policy.

Version 2.0 · Effective 22 October 2026 · Supersedes version 1.1 dated 16 August 2026