Terms of Service

1. Definitions

For the purposes of these Terms:

• "Pontio", "we", "us", "our" means PONTIO S.R.L., the operator of the Service.
• "Service" means the Pontio website at pontio.app, the Pontio mobile application on Android and iOS, and all related features and services operated by us.
• "Consumer" means a natural person who uses the Service primarily for purposes outside their trade, business, craft, or profession, typically to discover and book services from Providers.
• "Provider" means a natural or legal person who offers services to Consumers through the Service, acting in the course of their trade, business, craft, or profession.
• "User" means any person who accesses or uses the Service, whether as a Consumer or a Provider.
• "Booking" means a scheduled engagement between a Consumer and a Provider for a specific service, created through the Service.
• "Content" means any text, image, video, review, rating, message, or other material submitted to, generated on, or displayed through the Service.
• "GDPR" means Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
• "DSA" means Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Single Market for Digital Services (Digital Services Act).

2. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Service. By creating an account, submitting the waitlist form, or otherwise using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

Please also review our Privacy Policy, which describes how we handle your personal data and forms an integral part of these Terms.

Pre-launch scope. Pontio is currently in a pre-launch waitlist phase. Until the Pontio mobile application publicly launches bookings, the only active processing under these Terms is the waitlist sign-up and the marketing-attribution described in our Privacy Policy. Provisions of these Terms relating to Bookings, payments, payouts, reviews, and Provider services describe the rules that will apply once those features become available; they have no practical effect while the Service is in pre-launch.

3. Service Description

Pontio is an online marketplace platform that connects Consumers seeking local services with Providers offering those services. The Service allows Consumers to discover Providers, request and schedule Bookings, communicate with Providers, and, once the app is publicly launched, complete payment for services through a third-party payment processor.

The Service is intended primarily for use in Romania at launch and may be expanded to additional jurisdictions over time.

4. Pontio's Role as an Intermediary

Pontio operates the Service as an online intermediary. Contracts for the delivery of services are concluded directly between Consumers and Providers. Pontio is not a party to those contracts.

Pontio does not employ, endorse, supervise, or guarantee any Provider. Pontio does not set or control the price, scope, quality, timing, or outcome of services delivered by Providers, except through the general rules in these Terms and in any applicable platform rules we may publish from time to time.

Pontio's role is limited to facilitating discovery, communication, scheduling, and payment processing between Consumers and Providers, and to operating the Service in accordance with applicable law, including the DSA and EU consumer protection rules.

5. Eligibility

• You must be at least 16 years old to create an account and use the Service. Where national law in your country of habitual residence sets a higher age for concluding valid contracts, that higher age applies to you for the purpose of concluding Bookings and receiving paid services.
• Your account is personal and non-transferable. You may not create an account on behalf of another person without their explicit authorization and the legal capacity to bind that person.
• By using the Service, you represent and warrant that you meet these eligibility requirements and that you are not prohibited from using the Service under applicable law (including sanctions or export control rules).
• Providers must be lawfully entitled to carry out the services they offer, including holding any registrations, authorizations, or licenses required by applicable law. Providers acting as traders warrant that they are registered with the competent commercial or tax authorities and that they will comply with all fiscal, labor, and sector-specific rules applicable to the services they offer.

6. Your Account

• You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account.
• You must not share your login credentials with anyone, and you must notify us promptly at pontio.app@gmail.com if you suspect unauthorized access.
• You must provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration, and you must keep your profile information up to date during your use of the Service.
• We may verify the information you provide, including by third-party identity-verification or background-screening services, to the extent permitted by law and described in our Privacy Policy.
• Each person may hold only one active account, unless we expressly agree otherwise in writing.

7. User Conduct and Community Standards

When using the Service, you agree not to:

• Harass, threaten, abuse, stalk, defame, or discriminate against other Users or any third party;
• Engage in hate speech or incitement to violence, or promote terrorism, extremism, or child sexual abuse material;
• Engage in illegal activity or use the Service for unlawful purposes;
• Commit fraud, misrepresent your identity, your qualifications, or the services you offer, or impersonate another person or legal entity;
• Send spam, unsolicited commercial messages, phishing, or malware through any part of the Service;
• Collect, scrape, harvest, or otherwise obtain information about other Users other than as strictly necessary to deliver or receive a service you have booked;
• Reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise attempt to extract the source code or underlying components of the Service, except to the extent that applicable law permits such activity notwithstanding this restriction;
• Interfere with, disrupt, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service or its infrastructure;
• Use the Service in any way that infringes intellectual-property rights, violates privacy, or otherwise breaches the rights of any third party.

Providers additionally agree to conduct services professionally, to respect Consumers' dignity and safety, to comply with all applicable health, safety, and consumer-protection rules, and to perform services competently and in line with the description presented on the Service.

8. Content and User-Generated Content

You retain ownership of the Content you submit to the Service. By submitting Content (including profile information, service descriptions, photos, messages, and reviews), you grant Pontio a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable (solely to our sub-processors to the extent necessary to operate the Service) license to host, reproduce, display, distribute, translate, and adapt that Content for the purpose of operating, promoting, and improving the Service.

This license terminates when you delete the Content, except that:

• Content that has been distributed to other Users (for example, reviews associated with a completed Booking) may continue to be displayed in anonymized or pseudonymized form for marketplace transparency, in accordance with our Privacy Policy;
• Backups and logs retained for security, legal, or regulatory reasons may continue to exist for the retention periods described in our Privacy Policy;
• Content we have a legal obligation to preserve (for example, for dispute, tax, or accounting purposes) may be retained for the period required by law.

You represent and warrant that you own or have all necessary rights to the Content you submit and that the Content does not infringe third-party rights or violate applicable law. You remain responsible for your Content and for the consequences of submitting it.

We may, in accordance with our moderation practices described below, remove, restrict, or refuse to publish Content that we consider to violate these Terms or applicable law.

9. Reviews

Reviews help Consumers make informed choices and are an essential part of a trust-based marketplace. Reviews must be honest, based on genuine experience, and consistent with these Terms and applicable law (including Directive (EU) 2019/2161, the so-called "Omnibus Directive", and Romanian transpositions).

• Authenticity: Reviews may be submitted only by Consumers who have actually engaged a Provider through the Service. Fake, paid, or incentivized reviews are prohibited.
• Substance: Reviews must not contain unlawful, defamatory, threatening, discriminatory, obscene, or off-topic content. Reviews must not reveal the identity of minors or disclose personal data of third parties.
• Moderation: We may remove reviews that violate these Terms or applicable law, or restrict their visibility while a complaint is being investigated. Where a review is removed for violating these Terms, the review author will receive a statement of reasons and the opportunity to appeal, as described in the "Notice and Action for Illegal Content" and "Complaints and Dispute Resolution" sections below.
• Provider response: Providers may publicly respond to reviews in a professional and respectful manner, without disclosing personal data of the reviewer beyond what the reviewer has chosen to publish.
• Rating aggregation: We may display aggregate ratings, summaries, and ranking signals derived from reviews and other trust metrics. We will describe the main parameters used to rank Providers, and their relative importance, where required by applicable law.

10. Messaging and Communications

• The Service provides an in-app messaging channel for Consumers and Providers to communicate about Bookings. Use of this channel must comply with these Terms, our community standards, and applicable law.
• Messages are transmitted through the Service and are subject to the Privacy Policy. We do not routinely read messages, but we may access, review, or moderate messages where we reasonably believe this is necessary to prevent fraud, abuse, or unlawful activity; to comply with legal obligations; to respond to user reports; or to enforce these Terms.
• You must not use the messaging channel to share personal contact information for the purpose of circumventing the Service, solicit off-platform payments, transmit unsolicited commercial messages, or share content that violates these Terms.
• We will send you transactional communications related to your account and Bookings (for example, booking confirmations, changes, and important notices) by email or in-app notification. Such communications are necessary for the performance of these Terms.

11. Platform Integrity and Prohibited Activities

To maintain a safe, trusted, and fair marketplace, Users agree not to engage in conduct that undermines the integrity of the Service, including:

• Off-platform payments: Consumers and Providers must use the Service's payment infrastructure for all Bookings once paid Bookings are available. Circumventing the platform to avoid fees is prohibited.
• Anti-circumvention: Users must not deliberately steer communication off-platform before a Booking is completed in order to avoid Service rules or fees.
• Fraud prevention: You must not use false identities, stolen payment methods, synthetic documents, or any other deceptive technique to create an account, complete a Booking, or obtain a payout.
• No scraping or automation abuse: You must not crawl, scrape, index, or use automated means (including bots) to access or extract data from the Service, except for recognized, well-behaved search-engine crawlers and as explicitly permitted by our robots.txt.
• Rate limiting and abuse: You must not overload, probe, or stress-test the Service without our prior written consent.
• Account stuffing: You must not create fake accounts, operate sock-puppet accounts, or manipulate reviews, rankings, or Booking counts.

Violations may result in measures described in the "Termination, Suspension, and Measures" section and, where appropriate, in claims for damages or referral to the competent authorities.

12. Booking Lifecycle

When Bookings become available through the Pontio mobile application, the following lifecycle applies to every Booking:

1. Request: A Consumer submits a Booking request to a Provider, specifying the service requested, the proposed date and time, and any additional details required.
2. Confirmation: The Provider may accept, decline, or propose changes to the request. A Booking is formed when both the Consumer and the Provider have agreed on the service, the date and time, and the price, and the Consumer has confirmed the Booking in the app.
3. Delivery: The Provider delivers the service to the Consumer in accordance with the agreed terms, applicable law, and professional standards.
4. Completion: After delivery, both parties may mark the Booking as completed and exchange reviews. Payments and payouts are settled in accordance with the "Payments" section below.

Specific aspects of this lifecycle (including precise cancellation windows, response times, and payout timing) will be published within the app and may be updated from time to time as the Service evolves, subject to the "Modifications to Terms" section below.

13. Fees and Pricing

• Provider pricing: Providers set the price of their services. Prices are shown to Consumers before they confirm a Booking and include any applicable platform fees or taxes to the extent required by law.
• Platform fees: Pontio may charge platform fees to Consumers, Providers, or both. Any applicable platform fee will be disclosed clearly and in advance of a Booking being confirmed.
• Transparency of ranking: Where we display Providers in a ranked order (for example, in search results), we will describe the main parameters used to rank them, and their relative importance, in accordance with applicable law.
• Changes to fees: Changes to the platform-fee structure will be communicated in advance. If you do not agree with the changes, you may stop using the Service before the new fees take effect.

14. Payments

• Payments for Bookings are processed by Stripe, a third-party payment service provider. Pontio does not directly handle, store, or have access to raw payment-card data.
• Providers receive payouts through Stripe Connect. Provider payout eligibility and timing are governed by Stripe's Connected Account Agreement in addition to these Terms.
• Your use of Stripe services is subject to Stripe's terms. Where Stripe acts as an independent controller for your data, please refer to Stripe's own privacy policy, as described in our Privacy Policy.
• You are responsible for providing accurate billing or payout information and for any charges, taxes, fees, or penalties resulting from inaccurate information.
• Chargebacks or payment disputes must be raised in good faith and, where possible, through our internal complaint-handling procedure described below before initiating a chargeback with your payment provider.

15. Cancellations, Refunds, and Booking Modifications

The detailed cancellation and refund rules applicable to a Booking are displayed in the app before the Booking is confirmed and may vary by service category and Provider. The following baseline rules apply to every Booking:

• Modifications: Either party may propose modifications to a confirmed Booking. A modification takes effect only after both parties have agreed.
• Consumer cancellation: A Consumer may cancel a Booking in accordance with the cancellation window displayed for that Booking. Fees or refunds follow the rules shown at the time of Booking confirmation.
• Provider cancellation: If a Provider cancels a confirmed Booking, the Consumer is entitled to a full refund of any amounts paid for that Booking. Repeated Provider cancellations may lead to measures under the "Termination, Suspension, and Measures" section.
• No-shows: Failure by either party to attend a confirmed Booking without reasonable justification may result in fees or penalties as displayed in the app, and in repeated cases may lead to account measures.
• Mandatory consumer rights: Where you are a Consumer, the rules above apply only to the extent that they do not limit any mandatory rights you may have under applicable consumer protection law, including any statutory right of withdrawal from distance service contracts under Directive 2011/83/EU and Romanian OUG 34/2014, any right to a refund or remedy for non-conforming services, and any other mandatory remedy available to you. Where such a right exists, the procedure for exercising it will be made available to you through the app.

16. Taxes

You are responsible for determining and paying any taxes applicable to your use of the Service, including VAT and income tax arising from payments you make or receive through the Service. Where Pontio is required by law to collect, withhold, or remit tax on your behalf, we will do so and inform you of the relevant amount. Providers acting as traders are responsible for issuing any invoices, receipts, or fiscal documents required by applicable law.

17. Termination, Suspension, and Measures

We may apply measures to an account, to specific Content, or to a specific Booking where we reasonably believe a User has violated these Terms, our community standards, or applicable law, or where we are required to do so by competent authorities. Measures may include:

• Issuing a warning;
• Restricting specific features or functionality;
• Removing or restricting the visibility of Content;
• Suspending the account for a defined period;
• Terminating the account and deleting its associated data in accordance with our Privacy Policy;
• Refusing or reversing payouts where fraud or breach of these Terms is reasonably suspected.

You may terminate your account at any time by using the in-app account-deletion feature. Account deletion is immediate and irreversible, as described in our Privacy Policy; certain data may be retained as required by law or described in the Privacy Policy.

Sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination (including Intellectual Property, Disclaimers, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification, Governing Law and Dispute Resolution, and Miscellaneous) will survive the termination of your account or of these Terms.

18. Complaints and Dispute Resolution

If you believe that Content on the Service, a Booking, a Provider, a Consumer, or any action by Pontio violates these Terms or your rights, you can raise a complaint through the following internal procedure:

1. Submit a complaint to pontio.app@gmail.com, or, once available, via the complaint form in the app. Please include sufficient information for us to identify the subject of your complaint, the nature of your concern, and any supporting evidence.
2. Acknowledgement: We aim to acknowledge complaints within a reasonable period and to provide a substantive response within the time limits set by applicable law.
3. Investigation: We will review the complaint in good faith, gather additional information where necessary, and apply any measures we consider appropriate under these Terms.
4. Statement of reasons: Where we apply a measure to a User's Content, account, or Booking as a result of a complaint, we will provide the affected User with a statement of reasons and the opportunity to appeal, consistent with the DSA where applicable.
5. Out-of-court dispute resolution (consumers): Where you are a Consumer and we cannot resolve a complaint through the internal procedure, you may turn to out-of-court dispute-resolution entities available under Romanian law, including the National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC) and any entity listed under Romanian Law no. 37/2015 on alternative dispute resolution for consumer disputes. Information about consumer alternative dispute resolution entities and cross-border consumer redress in the European Union is available on the European Commission's Consumer Redress website: https://consumer-redress.ec.europa.eu/.

Using this internal procedure does not affect your right to seek judicial redress, as described in the "Governing Law and Dispute Resolution" section.

19. Notice and Action for Illegal Content

Consistent with DSA Article 16, any person may notify us of Content on the Service that they consider illegal. Notices can be sent to pontio.app@gmail.com and should include:

• A sufficiently substantiated explanation of the reasons why the person considers the Content to be illegal;
• A clear indication of the exact electronic location of the Content (for example, a URL, a Booking identifier, or a profile identifier), or, where this is not possible, other information that enables us to identify the Content;
• The name and email address of the person submitting the notice, except where the notice concerns information alleged to be related to specific offences against minors, in which case submissions may be anonymous;
• A statement confirming the good-faith belief of the person submitting the notice that the information and allegations in the notice are accurate and complete.

We will process valid notices in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary, and objective manner. Where we decide to remove or restrict Content or to suspend an account on the basis of a notice, we will communicate a statement of reasons to the affected User as described in the preceding section.

20. Intellectual Property

The Pontio name, logo, app design, website design, proprietary code, and all associated intellectual property are owned by PONTIO S.R.L. or its licensors. You may not copy, modify, distribute, publicly display, perform, or create derivative works of any part of the Service, except as expressly permitted by these Terms or by applicable law (including any mandatory exceptions under Romanian Law no. 8/1996 on copyright and related rights).

The Service may include third-party software, fonts, icons, and libraries. Their use is governed by their respective licenses, which are incorporated by reference where applicable.

21. Copyright Complaints and Notice-and-Takedown

If you believe that Content on the Service infringes your copyright or another intellectual-property right, please send a notice to pontio.app@gmail.com including:

• Your contact details and, where applicable, the details of the rightsholder you represent;
• A description of the allegedly infringed right and of the allegedly infringing Content;
• The location of the allegedly infringing Content on the Service;
• A statement, made in good faith, that you are the rightsholder or authorized to act on behalf of the rightsholder, and that the use of the Content is not authorized by the rightsholder, its agent, or the law.

We may remove or restrict Content we reasonably believe to infringe third-party rights, may suspend repeat infringers, and may provide affected Users with a statement of reasons and the opportunity to submit a counter-notice.

22. Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

• We do not guarantee the quality, safety, legality, or availability of any service offered by a Provider.
• We do not guarantee that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, error-free, or free of harmful components.
• Users engage Providers at their own risk. Pontio is not responsible for disputes, damages, or injuries arising directly from a service delivered by a Provider.
• Verification, screening, or rating information presented on the Service is provided for general information only and does not constitute a guarantee or endorsement.

Nothing in this section excludes or limits rights that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law, including mandatory consumer-protection rights.

23. Limitation of Liability

If you are acting as a Consumer, this section applies only to the extent permitted by mandatory law and does not limit any statutory remedies, compensation rights, or other protections available to you.

If you are not acting as a Consumer, PONTIO S.R.L.'s total aggregate liability to you for any claims arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service shall not exceed the total amount you paid to Pontio in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or €100, whichever is greater.

If you are not acting as a Consumer, PONTIO S.R.L. shall not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, including loss of profits, data, goodwill, or business opportunity, regardless of the theory of liability.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law, including liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other matter for which liability may not be limited under Romanian law or under mandatory EU consumer-protection rules.

24. Indemnification

To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless PONTIO S.R.L. and its directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your breach of these Terms; (b) your violation of applicable law; (c) your infringement of third-party rights; or (d) your Content or your use of the Service, except to the extent that such claims, damages, or losses arise from our own gross negligence or wilful misconduct or from matters for which liability cannot be excluded under applicable law.

Where you are acting as a Consumer, this indemnification applies only to the extent permitted by applicable consumer-protection law and does not restrict your mandatory rights.

25. Force Majeure

Neither party is liable for any failure or delay in performing its obligations under these Terms to the extent that the failure or delay is caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, war, terrorism, civil unrest, labour disputes, pandemics, changes in law, governmental action, third-party infrastructure failures, denial-of-service attacks, or similar events. The affected party will take reasonable steps to mitigate the impact and to resume performance as soon as reasonably possible.

26. App Store Sourced Applications

If you obtain the Pontio mobile application through the Apple App Store or Google Play, the following additional terms apply, and they prevail over any inconsistent terms elsewhere in these Terms:

• These Terms are between you and Pontio. Apple or Google are not parties to these Terms and are not responsible for the Service or its content.
• Apple or Google have no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the app. Any support is provided by Pontio.
• If the app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify the relevant app store, and the app store may, where permitted, refund the purchase price. Except to that extent, Apple or Google have no other warranty obligation with respect to the app.
• Apple and Google are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms to the extent needed to enforce the provisions of this section against you.
• You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a relevant embargo and are not listed on any government sanctions or prohibited parties list.

27. Links to Third-Party Websites

The Service may contain links to websites, apps, or resources operated by third parties. Such links are provided for convenience only. We do not control, endorse, or assume responsibility for any third-party websites or resources, including their content, privacy practices, or terms. Your use of any third-party site or resource is at your own risk and is governed by that site's or resource's own terms.

28. Notices and Electronic Communications

By using the Service, you consent to receive notices from us by electronic means, including by email to the address associated with your account, by in-app notification, and by posting notices on the Service. Electronic notices have the same legal effect as written notices to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

Notices to Pontio must be sent to pontio.app@gmail.com, unless a specific method is required by law.

29. Modifications to Terms

We may update these Terms only for legitimate reasons, including changes in applicable law or regulatory requirements, security or fraud-prevention needs, changes to the Service or payment infrastructure, or clarifications of existing terms. Where a change materially affects your rights or obligations, we will provide reasonable prior notice before it takes effect.

If you do not agree with the updated Terms, you should stop using the Service and, where applicable, delete your account before the updated Terms take effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date of the updated Terms constitutes acceptance of those updated Terms.

30. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms and any non-contractual obligations arising out of or in connection with them are governed by the laws of Romania. If you are a Consumer, you also benefit from any mandatory protections of the law of the country where you are habitually resident.

If you are a Consumer resident in the European Union, you may bring proceedings arising out of or in connection with these Terms or the Service in the courts of the Member State in which you are domiciled or in the courts of Romania. We may bring proceedings against you only in the courts of the Member State in which you are domiciled.

If you are not acting as a Consumer, the courts of Bucharest, Romania shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms or the Service.

Information about consumer alternative dispute resolution entities and cross-border consumer redress in the European Union is available on the European Commission's Consumer Redress website: https://consumer-redress.ec.europa.eu/.

31. Miscellaneous

• Assignment: You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any of your rights or obligations under them without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets.
• Waiver: A failure or delay by us to enforce any provision of these Terms does not constitute a waiver of that or any other provision.
• Severability: If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect. Where possible, the invalid provision will be replaced with a valid provision that most closely reflects its original intent, except where such replacement would reduce the protection afforded to Consumers by mandatory law.
• Entire agreement: These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and any additional terms incorporated by reference, constitute the entire agreement between you and PONTIO S.R.L. regarding the Service and supersede any prior understandings.
• No agency: Nothing in these Terms creates any agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment relationship between you and Pontio.
• Language: These Terms are offered in English and Romanian. In case of inconsistency between the two language versions for Users resident in Romania, the Romanian version prevails.

32. Contact

If you have questions about these Terms of Service, please contact us: