Terms of use

These are the terms you agree to by using Saheli. We've tried to write them so that you can actually read them, because terms nobody reads protect nobody.

What Saheli is

Saheli is a place where families find companions for non-medical care, and where companions find families. We check who joins, we make introductions possible, and we give both sides the tools to arrange things between themselves.

What Saheli is not

• We are not a home-care agency. We do not provide care, supervise visits, or direct how a companion does their work.
• We are not a medical service. Companions provide no medical care of any kind. In an emergency, call 911.
• We are not a party to the arrangement you make. The agreement about days, hours, duties and rate is between the family and the companion.

Who can use Saheli

You must be 18 or over. If you're arranging care for someone else, you must have their agreement, or the legal authority to act for them.

Your account

One account per person, with an email address you control. Because that email address is how you sign in, whoever can read it can sign in as you. Keep the details you give us accurate, and tell us at hello@saheli.ca if you think someone else has got into your account.

What we check, and what that means

Every companion applies and is interviewed by a member of our team before they can appear on Saheli. When a companion provides a criminal record check, we review it ourselves, and their profile carries a record-checked badge.

This is a set of checks, not a guarantee. It is not a promise that any companion is safe, suitable or honest, and it cannot be. A record check describes the past, not the future. Meet anyone you're considering, ask them your own questions, take up your own references if you want to, and use your own judgement. That judgement is yours and it stays yours.

If you're a family

• Give companions accurate information about what the work involves.
• Don't ask a companion to do anything medical, or anything they've told you they can't do.
• Don't ask a companion to handle money, sign documents, or make decisions for anyone.
• Treat companions with respect. They are working in your family's home, which asks something of both sides.

If you're a companion

• Be truthful in your application and keep your profile accurate.
• If you've given us a record check, keep it current, and tell us if your circumstances change.
• Never provide medical care, handle a family's money, or sign anything on their behalf, no matter who asks you to. Say no, and tell us.
• Turn up when you said you would, or let the family know as early as you can.
• Treat what you learn about a family as private. You'll see how people live, and that isn't yours to share.

Messages

Messages between families and companions stay on Saheli. Don't put a phone number, an email address, or another way to reach you outside Saheli into a message, and don't ask the other person for theirs. Keeping the conversation here keeps a record of what was agreed, keeps the checks we've done meaningful, and keeps families covered by paying through Saheli. Don't swear at or insult the other person, either.

We check every message automatically for phone numbers, email addresses, swearing and slurs. A message that has one of these isn't sent, and you're shown why. If one gets through, we remove that part of the message and both sides can see that we did. Nobody at Saheli reads your messages to do this. Someone who keeps trying to move a conversation off Saheli, or who is abusive, may have their account suspended.

How companions work

Companions on Saheli are independent contractors, not employees of Saheli. They decide their own hours, set their own rates, choose which families to work with, and decide how they do the work. Saheli does not assign shifts, supervise visits, or direct the way care is given.

That means companions are responsible for their own taxes, for any registrations their work requires, and for their own insurance. Saheli does not withhold tax from what companions earn, does not provide employment benefits, and does not provide workers' compensation coverage.

Money

Each companion sets their own rate, and you see it before you book. Families pay through Saheli: your card is saved when you book and charged after the visit happens — never before. Saheli adds a service fee and collects GST/HST on that fee only, each shown as its own line before you confirm. The companion's rate is the companion's own charge, not Saheli's, and Saheli does not add tax to it. The companion keeps their full listed rate; Saheli's fee and the tax never come out of it.

Pay only with a card in your own name. Payments run on Stripe, our payment provider. Your card number goes to Stripe directly and never touches Saheli's systems. Companions are paid out weekly, by Stripe, to their own bank account.

Companions: your agreement with Stripe

To be paid, a companion needs an account with Stripe as well as one with Saheli. Stripe sets its own terms for that, and the paragraphs below are the ones Stripe requires us to put in front of you. Read them, because they are an agreement between you and Stripe, not between you and us.

We use Stripe to make payouts to companions. The Stripe Recipient Agreement applies to your receipt of such payouts. To receive payouts from us, you must provide us accurate and complete information about you and your business, and you authorize us to share it and transaction information related to your payout with Stripe.

Our payment processor can obtain information from credit agencies to verify your identity. That information will be used for the purposes described in their Privacy Policy.

In plain words: Stripe has to be sure you are who you say you are before it will send you money, and it is allowed to check that. This is why setting up direct deposit asks for your date of birth, your address, and sometimes a photo of your ID. Saheli never sees any of it.

Cancelling before the visit is free. If the companion cancels, or the visit does not happen, the family is not charged; tell us and we will refund the visit.

Tips are optional and go to the companion in full. Saheli never charges a companion to be listed, to be interviewed, or to appear higher in a list.

If any of this changes, we'll tell you before it applies to you.

Things you must not do

• Lie about who you are, or hold an account on someone else's behalf without telling us.
• Harass, threaten, abuse or exploit anyone: a companion, a family, or a person receiving care.
• Use Saheli to advertise something else, or to collect people's details.
• Try to get at information you're not meant to see, or interfere with how the site works.
• Use Saheli for anything unlawful.

People receiving care are often vulnerable, and financial abuse of someone in that position is one of the things we watch for most closely. If we believe someone is being exploited we will act on it, including by contacting the authorities.

What you write on Saheli

What you write stays yours. By posting it you allow us to show it to the people it's meant for and to store it so the service works. We can remove anything that breaks these terms.

Suspending or closing an account

You can close your account at any time. We can suspend or close an account if these terms are broken, if a check comes back in a way that means someone can't be listed, or if we believe somebody is at risk. Where we can, we'll tell you why.

Where our responsibility ends

Saheli introduces people. What happens in the arrangement between a family and a companion is between them, and we are not responsible for it: for the quality of the care, for whether someone turns up, for anything that goes missing, or for any injury or loss.

We work hard to keep Saheli running and accurate, but we can't promise the site is always available or that everything on it is correct. To the extent the law allows, our liability to you is limited to any fees you have paid us.

Nothing here takes away rights you have under Ontario consumer protection law, and nothing here limits our liability for anything the law says we can't limit.

Changes to these terms

If we change something meaningful, we'll update the date at the top and tell account holders by email before it takes effect.

Which law applies

These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the laws of Canada that apply there.

Talking to us

If something here doesn't seem right, or you disagree with a decision we've made, write to hello@saheli.ca before doing anything else. Most things are a misunderstanding and most misunderstandings can be sorted out by a conversation.

See also our privacy policy, which explains what we do with your information.