Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a legal agreement between you and Chester Pet Inc. (“Chester,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), the operator of the Chester platform available on the web and as a mobile app (the “Service”). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

1. Acceptance of these terms

By accessing or using Chester, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy. If you are using Chester on behalf of a business, you represent that you have authority to bind that business to these Terms.

2. What Chester is

Chester operates an online marketplace — a platform that connects two kinds of users:

• Providers — independent pet-service businesses (dog walkers, sitters, trainers, groomers) who use Chester to manage their schedule, Clients, pets, messaging, agreements, report cards, and payments.
• Clients — pet owners, invited by a Provider, who use Chester to book services, communicate with their Provider, view updates about their pets, and pay for services.

Chester provides the marketplace platform only. Chester does not provide pet-care services, does not vet, screen, or background-check Providers, and is not a party to the service relationship between a Provider and a Client — see Section 6.

3. Accounts and eligibility

To use Chester you must be at least 18 (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction, if higher) and able to enter into a binding contract. You agree to provide accurate information, to keep your login credentials confidential, and to be responsible for all activity under your account. Notify us promptly at privacy@chester.pet if you suspect unauthorized use.

Clients typically join at the invitation of a Provider. Providers are responsible for the accuracy and lawful handling of the Client and pet information they enter into Chester.

4. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Use Chester for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable law or regulation.
• Upload or transmit content that is unlawful, infringing, defamatory, harassing, or harmful.
• Attempt to access accounts, data, or systems you are not authorized to access.
• Interfere with, disrupt, reverse-engineer, scrape, or overload the Service or its infrastructure.
• Misuse another user’s personal information obtained through the Service, or use exported data for any purpose other than your own legitimate business operation.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these rules.

5. Content and information you provide

You retain ownership of the content and information you submit to Chester (for example, your business details, Client and pet records, messages, and uploaded photos and documents). You grant Chester a limited license to host, store, process, and display that content solely to operate and provide the Service to you. You are responsible for having the rights and permissions necessary to submit the content you upload, including any third-party personal information (such as your Clients’ details).

6. The Provider–Client relationship — Chester is not a party to the care service

This section is important. Chester is an online marketplace only. The actual pet-care services — walking, sitting, training, grooming, and any related care — are arranged and performed solely between the Provider and the Client.

• Chester does not employ, endorse, supervise, train, insure, vet, screen, or background-check Providers, and does not guarantee the quality, safety, legality, or outcome of any service.
• Chester is not responsible for the acts, omissions, conduct, or services of any Provider or Client, for any injury to or loss of a pet, for property damage, or for any dispute between a Provider and a Client.
• Any agreement for services, including pricing, cancellation, liability, and care terms, is strictly between the Provider and the Client. Service agreements signed within Chester are between those two parties; Chester merely provides the tool to create and record them.

Providers and Clients are solely responsible for complying with all laws applicable to their relationship and services.

7. Payments, fees, and payouts

• Payment processing. Payments and payouts are handled by Stripe. By using Chester’s payment features, Providers and Clients also agree to Stripe’s applicable terms, including the Stripe Services Agreement and the Stripe Connected Account Agreement for Providers who receive payouts.
• Payouts to Providers. Funds for services flow through Stripe to the Provider’s connected Stripe account. Chester does not hold Provider funds.
• Client charges. Clients are charged by their Provider through Stripe for the services they book. Chester is not responsible for the underlying service, refunds, or billing disputes between a Provider and Client; those are resolved between them, though our tools may help facilitate refunds.
• Card data. Card details are handled by Stripe. Chester stores only a reference and the card brand and last four digits.
• Tipping. Where a Provider enables tipping, Clients may add a tip, which is paid to the Provider through Stripe.
• Taxes. Providers are responsible for determining, collecting, and remitting any taxes applicable to their services.

8. Subscription plans and cancellation

Chester offers a free plan and paid subscription plans. The current plans are Free, Pro, and Team; the Free plan has no charge, and the paid plans (Pro and Team) can be billed monthly or annually. Current pricing is shown on our website. Prices are shown in Canadian dollars (CAD) for Canadian users and US dollars (USD) for users in the United States. Paid plans are billed in advance on a recurring basis through Stripe. By subscribing, you authorize recurring charges until you cancel.

• You can cancel or change your plan at any time — on mobile through your account settings in the Chester app, and on the web through the Stripe billing portal. There are no cancellation fees. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period, and you keep access to paid features until then.
• Unless required by law, fees already paid are non-refundable, and we do not provide prorated refunds for partial periods.
• We may change plan features or pricing on a going-forward basis; we’ll give reasonable notice of material changes, and changes won’t take effect mid-cycle for an already-paid period.
• Certain features may be limited to specific plans. If you downgrade, you may lose access to plan-gated features and data tied to them.

9. Intellectual property

Chester, including its software, design, branding, and content (excluding the content you submit), is owned by Chester Pet Inc. and protected by intellectual-property laws. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable, terminable license to use the Service for its intended purpose, subject to your continued compliance with these Terms. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or create derivative works from the Service except as expressly permitted.

10. Third-party services

Chester relies on third-party services, including Supabase (database and authentication), Vercel (web hosting and product analytics), Stripe (payments), Expo (mobile push notifications), Resend (email delivery), and PostHog (product analytics). Your use of those features may also be subject to those service providers’ own terms. We are not responsible for third-party services we do not control.

11. Disclaimers

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties, representations, or conditions of any kind, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise, including any implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement. Without limiting the foregoing, Chester makes no warranty or representation as to the quality, accuracy, timeliness, completeness, correctness, reliability, or fitness of the Service or of any content, data, or information made available through it. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure, or that it will meet your requirements. Without limiting Section 6, we make no warranties about any Provider, Client, or pet-care service.

12. Limitation of liability

Chester operates an online marketplace connecting Providers with Clients (see Section 6). Nothing in this section limits liability for: (i) death or personal injury caused by negligence; (ii) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; (iii) gross negligence or wilful misconduct; or (iv) any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

Subject to the foregoing, to the extent permitted by law:

• Chester will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, or goodwill, or for injury to or loss of any pet, arising out of or related to your use of the Service.
• Chester’s total liability for any claim relating to the Service — other than claims involving injury to or death of a pet caused by Chester’s negligence — will not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid to Chester for the Service in the twelve months before the claim, or (b) one hundred Canadian dollars (CAD $100).
• For claims involving injury to or death of a pet arising from Chester’s own negligence, Chester’s total liability will not exceed ten thousand Canadian dollars (CAD $10,000).

Chester is not a party to, and assumes no liability for, the services performed by a Provider. Claims relating to a Provider’s conduct are between the Provider and the Client. Chester encourages all Providers to obtain appropriate insurance, and all Clients to verify their Provider’s insurance.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, so some of the above may not apply to you.

13. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Chester and its officers, employees, and agents, from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your use of the Service; (b) your violation of these Terms or any law; (c) your content or information; or (d) for Providers and Clients, the pet-care services and your relationship with the other party.

14. Termination

You may stop using Chester and close your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access if you violate these Terms, if required by law, or to protect the Service or other users. On termination, your right to use the Service ends; sections that by their nature should survive (including ownership, disclaimers, limitation of liability, and indemnification) will survive. Data handling after termination is described in our Privacy Policy.

15. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, and you agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located there for any dispute, except where applicable law gives you the right to bring a claim elsewhere.

16. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make a material change, we will update the effective date and give you at least thirty (30) days’ advance notice through the app or by email before the change takes effect, or we will ask you to accept the new version. Your continued use of Chester after a change takes effect means you accept the revised Terms. If you do not agree to a change, you may stop using Chester and close your account before it takes effect.

17. Other terms

• Entire agreement. These Terms are the entire agreement between you and us with respect to the subject matter hereof. They supersede all past or present agreements or representations between us, whether oral or written.
• Severability. If any part of these Terms is considered invalid by a court or arbitrator, the rest of them will remain enforceable.
• Successors. These Terms will also be binding on your heirs and successors and on our successors.
• No waiver. No waiver of any part of these Terms, or of any breach of them, in any one instance will require us to waive any other instance or breach. In some circumstances, we might decide to provide you with the Services voluntarily even if you would not otherwise qualify; that decision will not be a waiver of any term of these Terms or require us to do so again.
• Assignment. We may assign these Terms, including your obligations to us, in whole or in part to anyone we choose without notice to you. You cannot assign these Terms (or any portion thereof) without our prior written consent and any attempted assignment, without our written consent, is null and void.

18. App store terms

If you downloaded the Chester mobile app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store, the following additional terms apply to that app and, where they conflict with the rest of these Terms, they govern for that app.

Apple App Store

• This agreement is with Chester, not Apple. These Terms are between you and Chester Pet Inc. only. Apple Inc. is not a party to them and is not responsible for the app or its content.
• Licence scope. Chester grants you a limited, non-transferable licence to use the app on any Apple-branded device that you own or control, as permitted by the Usage Rules in the Apple Media Services Terms of Service.
• Maintenance and support. Chester is solely responsible for providing maintenance and support for the app. Apple has no obligation to furnish any maintenance or support services.
• Warranty. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple gives no warranty for the app. If the app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple and Apple will refund the purchase price, if any. Apple has no other warranty obligation, and any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, or expenses attributable to a failure to conform to a warranty are Chester’s responsibility.
• Product claims. Chester, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claim by you or a third party relating to the app or your use of it, including product liability claims, any claim that the app fails to conform to a legal or regulatory requirement, and claims arising under consumer-protection or similar legislation.
• Intellectual-property claims. If a third party claims that the app infringes their intellectual-property rights, Chester — not Apple — is solely responsible for the investigation, defence, settlement, and discharge of that claim.
• Legal compliance. You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated as a “terrorist supporting” country, and that you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
• Third-party terms. You must comply with any applicable third-party terms of agreement when using the app — for example, the terms of your wireless carrier, and the terms of any calendar or payment service you connect to Chester.
• Apple as third-party beneficiary. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms as they apply to the iOS app, and upon your acceptance Apple has the right to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary.
• Developer name and address. The app is provided by Chester Pet Inc., 711–201 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto, ON M4M 2S3, Canada. Questions, complaints, or claims about the app go to privacy@chester.pet.

Google Play Store

• This agreement is with Chester, not Google. These Terms are between you and Chester Pet Inc. only. Google LLC is not a party to them and is not responsible for the app or its content.
• Google Play terms also apply. Your download and use of the app is additionally subject to the Google Play Terms of Service.
• Maintenance, support, and claims. Chester is solely responsible for maintenance and support, for any warranty, and for addressing any claim relating to the app. Google has no such obligation or responsibility.

19. Contact

Questions about these Terms:

Chester Pet Inc.
711–201 Carlaw Avenue
Toronto, ON M4M 2S3
Canada
privacy@chester.pet