Terms & Conditions

These terms explain how to use CareCircle, the website at care-circle.life and the Android app that wraps it. By creating an account, listing a service, or booking through CareCircle you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, please do not use the site.

CareCircle is operated from South Africa. Our privacy commitments are explained separately in our Privacy policy.

• You must be 18 years or older to create an account.
• You must give accurate information, and update it if it changes — including your contact details and, for providers, your availability.
• One person or business should use one account. Do not create accounts for other people without their permission.

CareCircle is a marketplace that introduces families to local service providers and venue owners, and helps them arrange a booking. The care, the service and the venue are provided by the provider, not by CareCircle.

We are not the provider's employer, agent or insurer, and we are not a party to the service you agree with each other. We check the identity and business details a provider gives us so listings are traceable, but we do not inspect, vet, guarantee or insure any provider, venue or service, and we cannot be responsible for the quality or safety of the work done.

• Browsing, signing up and booking are free for private people. You are never charged by CareCircle to book a service.
• Bookings are instant: when you choose an available date and time, the booking goes straight to the provider and your name, phone number and notes are shared with them so they can confirm the job.
• You may cancel a booking you no longer need. The provider is told as soon as you cancel. Please cancel as soon as you know — someone else may have wanted that time.
• Treat providers with respect. Abusive or threatening behaviour is not acceptable.

• To have a public listing you must subscribe at R99 per month, charged by Paystack. Families use CareCircle free of charge.
• When you join you must give your name and surname, company name, address, and ID number or business registration number. These are shown only to our admin team for verification, never to the public.
• Your listing is visible while your subscription is active. When a paid month ends without renewal, your listing is hidden from families automatically and nobody can book you until you subscribe again.
• Keep your availability current and honour the bookings you accept. If you cannot keep a booking, contact the family directly and as early as you can.
• You are responsible for the taxes, licences and insurance your work requires.

Provider subscriptions are collected by Paystack on our behalf. Your card details go directly to Paystack and are never stored on CareCircle. A subscription renews monthly automatically until you cancel it.

Payment for hourly services (babysitting, care, pet sitting, handyman work, catering and similar) is arranged directly between you and the provider, outside the app. CareCircle never holds, collects or transfers that money.

• Subscription fees are non-refundable. The R99 is charged monthly in advance for the month of listing that follows. If you cancel, the next month's charge simply stops — a month you have already been billed for is not refunded, even if you did not use it.
• You may cancel at any time and you do not need to give a reason. Your listing stays visible until the paid month runs out, then hides automatically.
• A free or discounted first month is a one-off benefit, not a paid period. There is nothing to refund on it, and no charge is due unless you subscribe afterwards.
• If you were clearly charged twice by mistake, or we removed a paying provider's listing through no fault of their own, email our admin team and we will put it right.
• Venue money is between the family and the venue owner. Deposits, quotes and any balance for a venue are agreed and paid directly to the venue owner, outside CareCircle. We never hold that money, so we cannot refund it. What happens to a deposit if an event changes or is called off is decided by the venue's own cancellation terms, which the venue owner writes when they list and which are shown on their venue page. Please read them before you pay, and raise any refund request with the venue owner.
• Money paid directly to a provider for a service follows the same rule: it is between you and that provider, and any refund is agreed with them directly.

• A venue request is not a confirmed booking until the venue owner approves it and the date is held.
• Quotes, deposits, extras and cancellation terms for a venue come from the venue owner. Only accept a quote you have read and understood.
• Please use the messaging and request tools for genuine enquiries. Do not flood venue owners with requests, and do not submit requests you have no intention of honouring.

Reviews must be about a booking or event that actually happened, and must be your own honest experience. We may remove a review that is abusive, defamatory, obviously false, or about a service that was never used.

• Use someone else's identity, or list details that are not yours or not true.
• Contact people through CareCircle to sell them something unrelated, to harass them, or to move them off the platform to avoid these terms.
• Upload photos, content or venue images you have no right to share, or copy another provider's listing.
• Interfere with the site, attempt to access another account's data, or use automated tools to scrape, bulk-book or hold dates you do not intend to use.
• Use the platform for anything unlawful, or to arrange a service that is unlawful.

Providers who no longer want to advertise should email our admin team at info@care-circle.life and the listing will be removed. Cancelling a subscription also hides a listing at the end of the paid month.

Where a listing breaches these terms, or a provider or venue owner puts families at risk, we may hide or remove the listing without a refund of the current month, and may refuse to reinstate it.

CareCircle is provided as it is. Where we cannot lawfully exclude responsibility, our liability for a claim arising from use of CareCircle is limited to the subscription fees you paid us in the three months before the event that gave rise to the claim. We are not liable for losses that are not caused by our breach, including lost income, and we are not liable for the acts, omissions, safety or conduct of any provider, venue owner or user.

We may update these terms as CareCircle grows. The date at the top of this page shows when it last changed, and continued use of CareCircle after a change means you accept it.

These terms are governed by South African law. Nothing here limits your rights under the Consumer Protection Act or the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

Questions about these terms, a subscription or a refund go to our admin team at info@care-circle.life.