Terms of service

The rules of the arrangement, in plain English. The most important section is number 3 — the things we will never do, however nicely you ask.

1. The agreement

These terms are between you and AREF VENTURES LLC, doing business as Trusted Care Partners, a New Jersey limited liability company. They apply from the moment you start using the service. If we have also signed a separate written client agreement with you, that document wins wherever the two disagree.

2. What we do

We act on your instructions to handle administrative and everyday tasks: ordering groceries and household goods, coordinating prescription refills with your pharmacy, reading and responding to Medicare, Social Security and insurance correspondence, helping with phones, tablets and Wi-Fi, giving a second opinion on suspicious messages, and booking appointments and transport.

Everything is done remotely, by phone, text and email. We do not visit homes.

3. What we do not do — read this one

• No medical care or advice. We are not nurses, doctors, or a home health agency. We do not handle, sort, or administer medication, and we do not advise on treatment.
• No legal advice. We can explain what a letter appears to say in plain English. We cannot tell you what it means for your legal position.
• No financial, tax, or insurance advice. We will not recommend an investment, a Medicare plan, or a tax position. We can help you complete a form you have already decided to submit.
• No power of attorney. We will not act as your attorney-in-fact, executor, trustee, guardian, or representative payee, and we will decline if offered.
• No gifts. Nobody who works here may accept cash, loans, gifts of value, or anything left in a will, from you or from your family, ever.
• No account ownership. We will never add ourselves as a holder, joint owner, or beneficiary on any account of yours.
• Not an emergency service. If you are unwell, call 911. If money has already left your account, call your bank first.

4. Who can use the service

You need to be 18 or over and able to make your own decisions about your affairs. If someone else is arranging the service for you, we will still speak with you directly and take our instructions from you.

If we come to believe a client can no longer direct their own affairs, we will stop taking instructions and raise it with the client and their named contact. We are not qualified to assess capacity and will not pretend to be — but continuing to act on instructions from someone who cannot give them would be wrong, so we will stop and say why.

5. Your part of the bargain

• Give us accurate information. We act on what you tell us.
• Only give us access to accounts that are yours, or that you are authorised to control.
• Tell us promptly if something changes — a new pharmacy, a new card, a new phone number.
• Do not ask us to do anything unlawful, or anything in section 3.

6. Approvals, money, and authority

We do not spend your money on our own initiative. Anything involving a payment, a signature, a submitted application, or a binding commitment goes back to you for approval first, in your own words, and we keep a record of that approval.

Where we act as your authorised representative — submitting a state benefit application on your behalf, for instance — we do so only with your specific written authorisation for that specific matter, and only for as long as it takes.

7. Price, billing, and renewal

• Plans are $39 a month (Basic, up to 10 requests), $79 a month (Plus, up to 30 requests), or $149 a month (Family, up to 80 requests, covering two people in one household). There is no plan above $149.
• Help from a person, for things the assistant cannot do, is an optional add-on: $35 per task up to 30 minutes. We quote it first, and no work starts until you approve it.
• Your first task is free. We do not take payment details before that.
• Billing starts on the date you agree a plan, and recurs monthly on that same date until you stop it. This is an automatically renewing subscription.
• Founding clients keep their opening rate for two years. After that we will give you at least 30 days' written notice of any price change, and you can cancel instead.
• Fair use: each plan includes a stated number of requests per month. We will not cut you off mid-request for going over, and if it happens two months running we will suggest a different plan. Plans are for the personal needs of the household they cover. They may not be used for any business, shared beyond that household, or resold.
• Payments are handled by our payment processor. We do not store your card details.

8. Stopping

• No minimum term and no cancellation fee.
• Billing stops at the end of the month you have already paid for, and you keep the service until then.
• We do not pro-rate part months, and we do not refund a month already begun — unless we have failed to deliver, in which case ask and we will sort it out fairly.
• On request we will return or delete your documents and credentials. See the Privacy Policy for what we must keep and for how long.

9. What we can and cannot promise

We promise to do the work carefully, to keep you informed, and to tell you honestly when something is not going our way.

We cannot promise outcomes that are not ours to decide. Whether a benefit is granted, whether a refund is issued, whether a delivery arrives on time — these belong to other organisations. We will do the work and tell you plainly where things stand.

We are also not responsible for the acts of third parties we deal with on your behalf, such as pharmacies, delivery companies, or transport providers.

10. If something goes wrong

Tell us first. Most problems are a misunderstanding and we would rather fix it than argue about it.

To the extent the law allows, our total liability for any claim relating to the service is limited to the fees you paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose. Nothing in these terms limits liability for fraud, or for anything that cannot lawfully be limited.

11. Ending it from our side

We may end the arrangement, with reasonable notice, if we cannot deliver a good service, if you ask us for something in section 3 and will not accept no, if payment fails repeatedly, or if anyone here is treated abusively. Where we end it without you being at fault, we will refund the unused part of that month.

12. The legal bits

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New Jersey, and any dispute belongs in the courts of New Jersey.

If we change these terms, we will give existing clients at least 30 days' notice by email before the change takes effect. If you do not accept the change, you can cancel.

If any part of these terms turns out to be unenforceable, the rest still stands.

Questions: ring (973) 310-2432 or email [email protected].

13. Booking on your behalf (coming soon, not yet in effect)

13.1 Nothing is booked without your YES

When you ask for a ride, a meal, groceries, a prescription delivery or help at home, we first send you a quote: what we will book, when, and the estimated total, which is the provider's price plus our published fee. We book only after you, or a family member you have allowed to approve orders, say YES by text, by phone or in the portal. A quote that has not had a YES within 30 minutes expires, and we will send a fresh one if you still want it. We keep a record of every YES.

13.2 We book as your agent

When you say YES, we place the order in our own name, on our own business account with the ride, delivery or home-help company, acting as your agent for that one order. You do not need an account with that company, and we will never ask for your passwords.

The company that carries out the order is responsible for the ride, the delivery or the work itself, and its own terms and safety rules apply to it. We are not the driver, the store, the pharmacy or the provider. We are responsible for placing the order accurately, as you approved it, and for telling you promptly if anything about it changes.

13.3 How you pay for an order

• Card on file. Your card is held by our payment processor, not by us. You, or a family member who pays for you, can add it in the portal or by phone.
• A hold, then the actual price. When you say YES, we place a temporary hold on the card for the estimate plus up to 20%, to allow for things like traffic or a substituted item. When the order is complete we charge only the actual price plus our fee, release the rest of the hold, and send a receipt by text or email.
• If the order cannot be placed, or you cancel before we place it, we release the hold and charge nothing.
• Account balance. You may choose to pay in advance into a balance instead. Orders are taken from the balance, and we refund any unused balance when you leave.
• Limits you set. You can set a daily spending limit, and an amount above which a family member must approve. We will not book an order that goes over them, and we will not book new orders while a payment has failed.

13.4 Cancelling an order, and refunds

• You can cancel any order before we place it, at no charge.
• Once an order is placed, the company carrying it out may charge for a late cancellation under its own rules. If so, we will tell you the amount before you confirm the cancellation.
• We charge no per-minute fees, and no no-show or cancellation fees of our own.
• If something went wrong, ask within 30 days of the order. We will refund our fee on request, and we will pursue a refund from the company for its part and pass on whatever it returns. We cannot promise the company will agree.

13.5 Prescriptions

We contact your pharmacy only after you have given us written consent to do so, which you can withdraw at any time. We arrange delivery or pickup only when the pharmacy has the prescription ready and allows it, and never for controlled substances. Our boundaries in section 3 still apply: we do not handle, sort or advise on medication.

13.6 Everything else still applies

Sections 3, 9 and 10 apply to booking in the same way as to everything else we do. Booking is not an emergency service. If you are unwell, call 911.