Last updated 25 October 2026
Band Booster IELTS is a one-person IELTS coaching service run by Mike, based in Hanoi, Vietnam. This page explains exactly what personal information the booking site collects, why, who else sees it, and how to get it removed. It describes what the site actually does, not what a template says it might.
The short version. To book a lesson we need your name, email and phone number, and we keep a record of what you paid. Your email is shared with Google Calendar so you receive the meeting invitation, and with PayPal if you pay that way. We never see or store your card or bank login details. Nothing is sold. If you use the Speaking test in My lessons, or ask for AI feedback on one answer on the Speaking Part 2 timer page, the text of your answers is sent to an AI service to be marked. The same is true of the Writing feedback in My lessons: the text you type is sent to an AI service to be marked. The site does use a small number of analytics and advertising measurement tools, described in the section on advertising below.
The data controller is Mike, trading as Band Booster IELTS, Hanoi, Vietnam. Contact: mkcenter007@gmail.com or +84 383 390 963 (also on Zalo, WhatsApp and Telegram).
| Information | Why we need it |
|---|---|
| Name | To know who is attending, and to put your name on the calendar invitation. |
| Email address | To send your receipt and Google Meet link, the calendar invitation, and reminders before a lesson. |
| Phone number (with country code) | To reach you if a session needs rescheduling, or if something goes wrong with a payment. |
| Age band — 18 or over, or under 18 | To know whether a parent or legal guardian must agree to the consent letter before a lesson is booked. The booking form asks for the student's date of birth only to work this out. The date itself is not kept; only the result is. |
| Parent or legal guardian details — name and email address (students under 18 only) | To record who agreed to the consent letter, and to send the receipt, Google Meet link, calendar invitation and reminders to them. For a student under 18 the guardian's email is the booking email. |
| Consent record — the version of the consent letter that was agreed to, and the date and time (students under 18 only) | To show which text the parent or guardian agreed to, and when. |
| Booking details — date, time, session type, price | To hold your slot and keep a record of sessions bought and taken. |
| Payment reference — a PayPal transaction ID, a bank transfer reference, or a blockchain transaction hash | To match your payment to your booking. We never receive or store card numbers, bank login details, or crypto wallet keys. |
| Account login — your email and a password you choose | Only if you create a student account. Passwords are handled by Google Firebase Authentication and are never visible to us. |
| Progress notes | Teaching feedback written after a lesson, visible only to you and to Mike. |
| Speaking test answers — the text of what you say (made by your browser from your voice), how long each answer took, and the AI's written feedback | Only if you use the Speaking test with AI feedback in My lessons, or ask for AI feedback on one answer on the Speaking Part 2 timer page: to write your report and, for the full test, to show you your earlier reports. We never receive or store audio. See "If you use the Speaking test with AI feedback" below. |
| Speaking test purchases — how many tests you bought and used (each one pays for a full test or for one Part 2 answer on the timer page), and a PayPal transaction ID | To add the tests to your account and to match the payment. |
| Writing answers (the text you type for a Writing task, the task you chose, how long you spent if you used the on-page timer, and the AI's written feedback) | Only if you use the Writing feedback with AI in My lessons: to write your report and to show you your earlier reports. See "If you use the Writing feedback with AI" below. |
| Writing feedback purchases (how many markings you bought and used, and a PayPal transaction ID) | To add the markings to your account and to match the payment. |
We do not keep a date of birth, address, passport or ID details, or any information about health, religion, politics, or background (see "Children" below for how the booking form uses a date of birth). The measurement tools the site does use are listed in the section on advertising below.
Your details are shared only with the services needed to deliver a lesson:
| Service | What it receives |
|---|---|
| Google Firebase hosting, database, login |
All booking data is stored here. Servers are in Singapore (asia-southeast1). |
| Google Calendar & Google Meet | Your name and email, so you are added as a guest and receive the meeting link. |
| Gmail (sending only) | Your email address and the contents of your receipt and reminders. |
| PayPal | Only if you pay by PayPal. They handle the payment; we receive a transaction ID back, not your card details. |
| Telegram | Mike receives a private notification containing your name, email and booking time when you book (for a student under 18, also the guardian's name and email). It goes only to his own account. |
| Anthropic AI service, Speaking test, timer-page and Writing feedback only |
Only if you use the Speaking test with AI feedback, or ask for AI feedback on one answer on the Speaking Part 2 timer page. It receives the questions or the practice card title, the text of your answers and the timing numbers, to write the feedback. It does not receive your name, email address or account ID. Its servers may be outside Vietnam, including in the United States. See "If you use the Speaking test with AI feedback" below. Anthropic's own privacy policy says that content it processes for customers of its business services is governed by its agreements with those customers, so for this test the Commercial Terms quoted below are the ones that matter. If you use the Writing feedback, it receives the task you chose (the question, and its data or bullet points), the text of your answer and the time you spent if you used the timer, and nothing else about you. |
A bank transfer goes directly to our Vietnamese bank account; your bank shows us your name and the reference you enter, nothing more. A USDT payment is recorded on a public blockchain — the amount and wallet addresses are public by design, but your name and email are not written to the blockchain and cannot be read from it.
The Speaking test in My lessons lets you answer Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 questions out loud and get a written practice report from an AI. It is optional. This is exactly what happens to your information when you use it.
AI feedback on one Part 2 answer, on the timer page. The Speaking Part 2 timer also lets a signed-in account get AI feedback on one Part 2 answer. It needs an account: if you are not signed in, the page asks you to create one first and none of your speech or answers is sent. When the page opens it loads nothing from Google Firebase, which provides the sign-in; that code is loaded only when you press the button "Get AI feedback". You then tick a box every time, and your browser turns your voice into text during one timer round, through the speech service described above. Our server receives the text of that answer, the title of the practice card, the number of seconds you spoke and a random request number. The text, the card title and the seconds are passed on to Anthropic, which writes the feedback. We never receive or store audio. The feedback and the text are kept for 90 days, like the full test, and can be deleted in the same way. It is for students aged 18 and over.
The Writing feedback in My lessons lets you choose an IELTS-style Writing Task 1 or Task 2 question, type your answer and get a written practice report from an AI. It is optional and it needs a signed-in account. This is exactly what happens to your information when you use it.
To understand whether the site works and whether advertising for it is worth paying for, the site uses the following third-party tools. Each receives standard technical information about your visit (pages viewed, approximate location, device and browser type, and a cookie or identifier they set) and, where noted, information about a booking.
You can block all of these with a standard browser tracker blocker or by disabling cookies; the site, the calendar and payments work normally without them. Google and Meta each publish their own privacy terms and opt-out controls: Google, Meta.
You can ask us at any time to show you what we hold about you, correct anything wrong, or delete your account and personal details. Email mkcenter007@gmail.com and we will act within 30 days. There is no charge and you do not need a reason.
Some records may be retained where required for tax or accounting, and a completed payment cannot be erased from a bank's or a blockchain's own records.
Data is stored in Google Firebase with access rules that prevent one student from reading another's bookings. Payment credentials and API keys are held in Google Secret Manager, not in the website code. Passwords are hashed by Google and never visible to us. No online service can promise perfect security, but nothing more than is described above is collected, which limits what could ever be exposed.
Students under 18 can have lessons only after a parent or legal guardian has read and agreed to the consent letter before the booking is made. The booking form asks for the student's date of birth, only to work out whether the student is 18 or over, or under 18. The date itself is not kept; we keep the result (adult or under 18). For a student under 18 the form also asks for the guardian's full name and email address, and for a ticked box agreeing to the letter. The guardian's email address becomes the booking contact: the receipt, the Google Meet link, the calendar invitation and the reminders are sent to it.
We keep the result (adult or under 18) and, for a student under 18, the guardian's name and email, the version of the letter that was agreed to, and the date and time. A parent or legal guardian can withdraw their agreement at any time by emailing mkcenter007@gmail.com, and can ask for these details to be shown, corrected or deleted, as described under "Your rights" above.
The Speaking test with AI feedback is for students aged 18 and over, and asks you, before your first recording, to confirm that you are 18 or over. What the test collects is described under "If you use the Speaking test with AI feedback" above. The Writing feedback with AI is also for students aged 18 and over; see "If you use the Writing feedback with AI" above.
The analytics and advertising tools listed below set their own cookies; see that section for what they are and how to opt out. If you create a student account, your browser stores a sign-in token so you are not asked to log in repeatedly. Signing out removes it.
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. Material changes affecting existing students will be sent by email.