Terms and Conditions

Last updated: 23 October 2024

These General Terms and Conditions apply to the entire use of the Petbnb App, Petbnb.de, Petbnb.nl, Petbnb.be and all offered services, as well as to all agreements made by Petbnb for the use of the Platform and the services.

By visiting Petbnb.de or using the Petbnb App, you agree to these Terms and Conditions. Petbnb recommends that every user reads the General Terms and Conditions in advance. In the event of changes to the General Terms and Conditions, Petbnb will notify the owner and the sitter at least two weeks before they come into effect via email and will point out the possibility of objection. If the owner and/or the sitter does not object to the validity of the new General Terms and Conditions within two weeks after receiving the email, the changes to the General Terms and Conditions are considered agreed upon.

General

Petbnb is an independent platform that aims to connect sitters and pet owners as effectively as possible. Petbnb strives to make the search for a pet sitter as easy as possible. Thanks to the services of Petbnb, owners can easily find a friendly sitter in their vicinity. Pet sitters can enjoy looking after delightful dogs and earn some extra money on the side.

Petbnb is a platform where a pet sitter can create a public profile. In this profile, the offered pet-sitting service is described. Owners can contact pet sitters, and they can chat with each other without Petbnb's intervention.

Petbnb is in no way involved in the pet-sitting agreement between the owner and the pet sitter. All disputes between the owner and the pet sitter should be resolved between themselves. Petbnb is not liable for damages arising from a performed, unperformed, or partially performed pet-sitting agreement. Petbnb reserves the right to delete user accounts and profiles at any time if they violate these General Terms and Conditions or if Petbnb sees reason to do so for other reasons.

Definitions

Protection of Your Privacy

The Privacy Policy explains how Petbnb handles your personal data and how Petbnb protects your privacy when you use our Platform.

Minors

Minors may only use the services of Petbnb if they have obtained permission from their legal representative. To enter into a pet-sitting agreement, users must be at least 18 years old.

Prohibited Use of Petbnb

The content of Petbnb may not be copied, reproduced, and/or distributed by users, except for personal use. Personal use means use in personal web blogs or other personal websites, where a maximum of five hyperlinks may be inserted.

It is not permitted to publish personal data of other users who are active on the Platform as pet sitters and/or owners. It is also prohibited to contact these users to offer personal products and/or services or to induce them to conclude pet-sitting agreements outside the Platform.

The database of pet sitters and owners is subject to Petbnb's database right. This means that users are not permitted to reuse a substantial part of this database and/or repeatedly and systematically extract and reuse insubstantial parts of the content of the database within the meaning of the Database Act, unless the aforementioned exception for personal use applies. It is also not permitted to display hyperlinks to pet sitters or owners on another website without prior written consent from Petbnb.

Rights holders can report activities on the Platform that infringe their rights and request the removal of a posting and/or another entry by contacting Petbnb via email. Petbnb will then consult with the user about a solution and, if necessary, remove the relevant entry from the Platform.

Consequences of Misuse of Petbnb

If Petbnb has received indications and/or complaints from other users or otherwise believes that a particular user is acting contrary to the law and/or the General Terms and Conditions and/or the Privacy Policy, Petbnb may take the measures below to protect its users. Petbnb may also take such measures if you use the Platform improperly, for example, if your use harasses other users or disrupts the proper functioning of Petbnb:

No Warranties

Petbnb cannot guarantee that its services will always meet your expectations. We also cannot guarantee that the Platform will always function flawlessly.

All information and figures on the Platform are subject to typographical or clerical errors.

Users, pet sitters, and owners should exercise their own due diligence and adequately inform themselves before creating an account, setting up a profile, or entering into a pet-sitting agreement. Petbnb does not verify the truthfulness and quality of the advertised services, the competence of pet sitters to offer services, and/or the competence of users to purchase services. Petbnb provides no guarantees in this regard.

Petbnb also cannot guarantee that the services offered by pet sitters on the Platform will meet your expectations.

Limitation of Liability of Petbnb

Petbnb, Pet Matters B.V., or any affiliated company is only liable for direct damages resulting from intent or gross negligence on the part of Petbnb. Direct damage is exclusively understood to mean: the costs reasonably incurred by the sitter or owner to rectify or eliminate Petbnb's failure, as well as reasonable costs incurred to prevent or limit such damage and reasonable costs incurred to determine the cause and extent of the damage.

Any liability of Petbnb, Pet Matters B.V., or any affiliated company for indirect damages, including but not limited to consequential damages, loss of profit, and loss of revenue, is excluded. In particular, Petbnb, Pet Matters B.V., or any affiliated company is not liable for damages on the part of users caused by third parties who use or do not use the Platform and/or the services of Petbnb.

Should Petbnb, Pet Matters B.V., or any affiliated company nevertheless be liable for any reason, this liability is limited to a maximum of (a) the total fee that the user has paid to Petbnb in the last six months prior to the act giving rise to the liability, or (b) €100, whichever amount is higher.

Changes to the Service

Petbnb may change its Platform at any time or cease offering its services or offer them differently. Petbnb.de and the Petbnb App strive to announce any change or cessation of their services within a reasonable period.

Use of Profile Information and Intellectual Property Rights

Petbnb may use the sitter's and the owner's profile and its content for its own advertising purposes. This includes that an advertisement or part of it may be shown on third-party websites, in print media, or on television.

By placing an advertisement, you grant Petbnb a free, worldwide, irrevocable, sublicensable, and transferable licence to use, reproduce, distribute, and disclose the advertisement and/or parts of its content for marketing, advertising, and/or promotional purposes. By placing a profile, you guarantee that you are authorised to grant this licence.

The content of the Platform enjoys copyright protection. Petbnb is the owner of these rights. All intellectual property rights relating to the Platform belong exclusively to Petbnb and/or its licensors, with the exception of the material provided by users in connection with postings, the account, and/or the user profile. Without prior written permission from Petbnb, users are not permitted to reproduce and/or publish the Platform (or parts thereof), except for the use described in these General Terms and Conditions.

Petbnb holds various trademark registrations. Without prior written permission from Petbnb, it is not permitted to use the trademarks of Petbnb.de or the Petbnb App.

Other Provisions

If we do not enforce a provision in the General Terms and Conditions, this does not mean that we waive the right to enforce it at a later date or against another user. Agreements deviating from the General Terms and Conditions are only valid if they have been confirmed in writing by Petbnb. If one or more provisions of the General Terms and Conditions are declared invalid by a competent court, the other provisions of the Terms and Conditions remain valid.

Petbnb is entitled to transfer its services, including the execution of its agreements, to one of its group companies.

The General Terms and Conditions constitute the entire agreement between Petbnb and its users and replace all previous agreements. The agreements arising from all services of Petbnb, as well as the General Terms and Conditions, are subject to Dutch law.

In the event of a legal dispute arising from these agreements or the General Terms and Conditions, the court in Amsterdam has exclusive jurisdiction. If the user acts as a consumer (a natural person who does not act in the exercise of a profession or business), they also have the option, within one month after Petbnb has invoked the jurisdiction of the District Court of Amsterdam, to opt for the settlement of the dispute by the court competent under the law.

Conditions for the Use of Petbnb by Pet Sitters

Conditions for the Use of Petbnb.de and the Petbnb App by Owners

Creating a Profile and a User Account

A sitter or owner creates their profile on the Platform. Before a sitter or owner can create a profile, edit it, ask questions, or make a booking, they must first register. To register, a user account is required.

When creating a user account, it is not permitted to choose a username that contains a URL or part of a URL.

It is not permitted to share your login details with third parties. It is not allowed to use third-party login details to perform actions on Petbnb. Agents or owners may only create one user account and only one profile to avoid confusion on Petbnb.

Payment of the Stay

Payment is made via the third-party provider Online Payment Platform or another payment service provider selected by Petbnb, for which Petbnb may charge the sitter a small fee.

A registration fee of €10 may be charged to dog owners. This amount is due when paying for the first booking on Petbnb.

The stay is always paid in advance by the owner via Petbnb. Petbnb holds these amounts in the aforementioned third-party account and transfers the amount to the sitter's account after the stay is completed. This reduces uncertainty about the payment to the pet sitter and ensures proper service for the owner.

Petbnb may charge pet sitters a fee of up to 30%, including VAT. This fee decreases the more often a pet sitter sits and receives good reviews. Please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions for the current fees. This covers the costs for the Platform, the payment system, customer service, and marketing.

A maximum of €9.99 per transaction may be charged to the owner. Please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions for the current transaction fees.

The commission payable by the pet sitter to Petbnb is offset against the stay fee retained by Petbnb. The sitter therefore receives the pet-sitting fee minus the fee after the dog's stay.

The transaction fee and the fee, insofar as it is charged, include 21% Dutch VAT.

Petbnb may waive commissions and booking fees or grant a temporary discount to promote its Platform.

Changing and Cancelling a Booked and Paid Stay

A cancellation policy may apply to some services. This depends on the type of service and/or the pet sitter's cancellation conditions. The cancellation policy conditions are indicated when booking the service and/or in the pet sitter's profile. The pet sitter can choose a cancellation policy for some services, such as "Dog Boarding" and "House-Sitting". The service contract ends when the entire booking is completed. You can cancel a pet-sitting service only by cancelling the booking via the Platform/App. The pet sitter is then immediately informed of the cancellation/termination of the pet-sitting services.

Cancellation/termination via chat, SMS, WhatsApp, telephone, email, or in any other way other than via the Platform is not a valid cancellation/termination of the pet-sitting service.

It is the responsibility of the pet sitter to specify a payment deadline when accepting the request or submitting a booking so that the cancellation agreement can be made.

Changes to existing bookings are only possible by mutual agreement between owner and pet sitter. In case of no-show or cancellation during the stay, the full cost of the stay is due unless the dog is brought later or picked up earlier in consultation with the sitter.

Owner's Obligations Regarding the Sitting

Duties of the Sitter in respect of the sitting

The sitter undertakes to follow the owner's instructions to the best of their knowledge and belief to make the pet's stay as pleasant as possible.

Publishing a Review and a Response

A review is a written experience report by an owner about a Petbnb sitter. A review is displayed on the sitter's profile.

When an owner has written a review for a sitter, the sitter can respond to it once. The response is then displayed below the owner's review.

Rules for a Review and a Response:

Reviews and responses are generally not removed unless the review is, in Petbnb's eyes, incorrect, unreliable, or clearly unlawful and/or violates one of the above rules and/or the General Terms and Conditions. In such a case, Petbnb is entitled to remove the review or response. Furthermore, Petbnb can, upon request or on its own initiative, remove reviews that it does not consider "fair." A notification about Petbnb's decisions in this regard is not possible.

The user agrees to fully indemnify Petbnb against all claims of third parties in connection with a comment and/or a review.

The Petbnb Veterinary Guarantee

The Petbnb Veterinary Guarantee serves as compensation for medical expenses incurred during pet sitting as a result of an accident. However, pet sitting remains a service carried out by humans, and pets remain animals. Accidents can happen in a small moment. Therefore, Petbnb wants to contribute if something goes wrong during pet sitting. To prevent unauthorized claims under the guarantee, extensive rules have been set up specifying how and under what conditions a claim can be made under the Petbnb Veterinary Guarantee.

The Petbnb Veterinary Guarantee can be claimed if a verifiable accident occurs during a stay booked and paid through Petbnb, such as a traffic accident, bone fracture, ingestion of a foreign object, exposure to toxic gases, poisoned food, bite wounds, fire, or flooding. Compensation of up to 50% of medical expenses for an accident up to a maximum of €250 per case can be requested. To minimize the risk of accidents, pet owners must complete a full profile of their pet on Petbnb. If not, the guarantee fund cannot be accessed.

For the purposes of the fund, an accident is defined as a sudden, unexpected external force acting on the dog’s body, resulting directly in physical injury as determined by a veterinarian. The costs for medically necessary treatments resulting from an accident are eligible in the following cases:

Excluded Claims:

Submitting a Claim

A claim for compensation from the Petbnb Veterinary Guarantee must be submitted to Petbnb at hilfe@petbnb.de within 48 hours of the accident:

Claim Evaluation

We may ask for additional information, such as a more detailed explanation of the bill. If you submit a claim for costs partly covered by the fund and partly not, we will prorate the bill to evaluate reimbursement. We may consult with you or the veterinarian about your submitted claim. This way, we can determine if you are eligible for reimbursement. We may ask you or the treating veterinarian for additional information:

Once we know all medical details, we will inform you by email whether the costs can be reimbursed from the fund. We cannot inform you of this by phone. Sometimes, we may not reimburse your costs in full or at all. If you do not meet your obligations when submitting a claim, you may harm Petbnb's interests. In such a case, we may decide not to process the claim.

Misuse

The fund can only exist based on the trust of participating pet owners. Sometimes, this trust is abused, which can harm Petbnb and other users. Petbnb therefore makes every effort to detect and investigate fraud. If fraud occurs, we may take measures such as:

Other Provisions

If you can hold a third party liable for the medical costs of your insured pet, Petbnb may reclaim the paid costs from this third party. You are then obliged to provide the necessary cooperation. If you are already insured for the costs of an accident involving your pet, no claim for payment from the fund can be made. In the unlikely event that the insurer does not provide coverage, the fund may still be used. This also applies to any insurance excess.

Which costs are excluded from payment by the guarantee fund? :