Terms of Use

1. Who we are

The owner of this website is Tailmate Inc., a company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. All references to “we,” “us,” “our,” “Tailmate,” or “the Service” mean Tailmate Inc. and the tailmate.org platform.

2. Agreeing to these Terms

By creating a Tailmate account — on any device — you agree to these Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy, and our Community Guidelines. If you don't agree, please don't use the Service.

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make a change that materially affects your rights, we'll notify you at least 30 days in advance by email. The current version is always at tailmate.org/terms.

3. Who can use Tailmate

You may create an account only if:

• You are at least 18 years old.
• You are legally permitted to enter into a contract in Canada.
• You are not prohibited from using the Service under any applicable law.
• You agree to comply with these Terms and all applicable Canadian laws and regulations.

4. Your account

You're responsible for keeping your login credentials private and for all activity that occurs under your account. You may only hold one account at a time. If you believe someone else has accessed your account, email us immediately at hello@tailmate.org.

5. Membership and pricing

Tailmate operates on a membership model. Current pricing:

• Member tier — $10 / month or $80 / year: full access to bookings, messaging, and the Tail Credits exchange system.
• Pet Lover tier — Free, forever: walk, sit, and host pets. Confirmed hours of care are recorded as Impact Hours, under the Pet Lover pledge below.

Pet Lover pledge.For every hour of confirmed care a Pet Lover gives, Tailmate donates 10 cents of its own funds to a partner shelter, up to 50 hours per person per month and up to a monthly fund Tailmate publishes ($250 for this year). Impact Hours are a record of time, not money or points: they cannot be spent, transferred, redeemed or exchanged, and confer no right to any payment. Donations are made by Tailmate, not by the member; no receipt is issued to members. Tailmate may change the rate, caps or fund for future months with 30 days' notice, never retroactively.

Pricing is always displayed clearly at checkout before you're charged. Memberships renew automatically at the end of each billing period. We'll email you before each renewal, telling you the renewal date and the amount you'll be charged. If your membership starts with a free or discounted period, that email also tells you the date the period ends and the price that applies afterwards.

6. Your right to cancel — cooling-off period

Cancel at any time

You may cancel your membership at any time from your Membership page → Manage billing, which opens your billing portal. You can also cancel by emailing hello@tailmate.org. When you cancel, your access continues until the end of the current billing period and no further charges are applied.

10-day right of cancellation (Ontario Consumer Protection Act)

Because Tailmate sells memberships online, you have a statutory right under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 (Ontario) to cancel within 10 days of the transaction date and receive a full refund, no questions asked. To exercise this right, email us at hello@tailmate.org with your account email within those 10 days. Refunds are processed within 5–10 business days. This statutory right applies regardless of any other provision in these Terms.

After the 10-day period, refunds are not provided for the current billing period except in exceptional circumstances (see Section 7).

7. Refunds

After the 10-day cooling-off period, Tailmate subscriptions are generally non-refundable for the current billing period. We will consider refund requests on a case-by-case basis where there was a billing error on our part, or a documented technical failure that prevented you from using the Service.

To request a refund, email hello@tailmate.org with your account details and a brief explanation.

8. Tail Credits

Tail Credits are the in-platform exchange unit that powers the community swap:

• No cash value. Tail Credits cannot be redeemed for money under any circumstances.
• Non-transferable. You cannot sell, give, or transfer your Tail Credits to another account.
• Earn by hosting. Hosting a pet earns 120 Tail Credits per 24-hour period. Your calendar must show at least 14 days of availability within any 4-month window.
• On cancellation. All unused Tail Credits are permanently forfeited when your account is closed. Credits cannot be cashed out or transferred on closure.

9. Acceptable use

You may use Tailmate for personal, non-commercial purposes. You agree not to:

• Use automated tools, bots, or scrapers to access the Service.
• Reproduce or redistribute Tailmate's content without written permission.
• Harass, defraud, impersonate, or harm any member.
• Maintain more than one account.
• Post content that is hateful, threatening, sexually explicit, defamatory, or promotes illegal activity.
• Solicit money from, or conduct financial transactions with, other members outside the platform.

Tailmate may investigate suspected violations and, where confirmed, terminate accounts without refund.

Hosting at your property (S3)

By creating a hosting listing on Tailmate, you confirm that you are permitted to keep and host animals at the property under your lease, condominium declaration, or ownership title. If you are a tenant or condominium unit owner, it is your responsibility to verify that your landlord's or corporation's rules do not prohibit pets or temporary animal care. Tailmate is not responsible for any claim, notice, or penalty arising from a breach of your housing or tenancy agreement.

10. Content you post

You're responsible for anything you post on Tailmate — pet profiles, reviews, messages. By posting, you grant Tailmate a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display and use that content within the Service. You retain ownership of your content.

Tailmate is an intermediary service under applicable Canadian law. We are not responsible for content posted by other members, but we will remove content that violates these Terms when reported.

11. Safety and member interactions

Tailmate does not conduct criminal background checks on members and makes no guarantees about member conduct off-platform. You are responsible for your own safety and judgement when meeting other members.

Tailmate is not liable for the conduct of any member on or off the Service.

We encourage all members to read the Trust & Safety page at tailmate.org/trust before their first exchange.

Animal liability — Dog Owners' Liability Act

Under Ontario's Dog Owners' Liability Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. D.16, the owner of a dog — and in some circumstances a temporary keeper — is strictly liable for bites and attacks, regardless of the dog's prior history or the owner's knowledge. Tailmate facilitates the connection between members but does not assume liability for animal behaviour. We strongly recommend that all members confirm their home or tenant insurance policy includes third-party pet liability coverage before participating in a sit or hosting arrangement.

Tail Zen Protection

Tailmate operates a discretionary goodwill programme called Tail Zen Protectionthat may reimburse certain out-of-pocket costs when an incident occurs during a confirmed sitting — including eligible veterinary expenses up to $10,000 CAD, member property damage up to $1,000 CAD, and verified third-party medical costs up to $5,000 CAD. Tail Zen Protection is not insurance and is not a substitute for home, tenant, or pet insurance. Claims are reviewed on a discretionary basis and are subject to thresholds, exclusions, and conditions.

Full terms: tailmate.org/tail-zen

12. Intellectual property

All content on tailmate.org — the logo, design, software, and original text — is owned by Tailmate Inc. or its licensors and is protected under the Copyright Act (Canada). You may not copy, reproduce, or distribute this content without our written permission.

13. Disclaimer of warranties

Tailmate provides the Service on an “as is” and “as available” basis. We work hard to keep it running, but we do not guarantee that it will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free from security vulnerabilities.

14. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted under Ontario law, Tailmate's liability to you for any claim arising from your use of the Service is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim. We are not liable for indirect, consequential, or incidental damages.

Nothing in these Terms limits Tailmate's liability for fraud, gross negligence, or any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded under Ontario law.

15. Disputes and governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the applicable federal laws of Canada.

If you have a dispute with Tailmate:

1. Contact us first. Email hello@tailmate.org — we resolve most issues informally and quickly.
2. Mediation. If we can't resolve it directly, we're open to voluntary mediation through a neutral Canadian mediator.
3. Small Claims Court. For claims under $35,000, you may bring a claim in Ontario Small Claims Court.
4. Superior Court. For larger disputes, the courts of Ontario have exclusive jurisdiction.

16. Changes to the Service

We may add, change, or remove features at any time. If we shut down Tailmate entirely, we'll give you reasonable advance notice and a pro-rated refund for any unused paid subscription period.

17. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account if you violate these Terms. We'll try to notify you in advance unless your conduct poses an immediate safety risk.

You may terminate your account at any time by emailing hello@tailmate.org with “Delete My Account” in the subject line. Self-serve deletion from your settings is on the way.

18. Entire agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and Community Guidelines, make up the full agreement between you and Tailmate. They replace any prior agreements.