Terms of Service

1. Parties

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern the relationship between Charter Companion (operated by MB "Skipper Companion", registration no. 307631010, J. Savickio g. 4-7, LT-01108 Vilnius, Lithuania — "we", "us", or "Charter Companion") and the charter company or individual ("you" or "Customer") that registers for or uses the Charter Companion service ("Service"). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms.

2. Service Description

Charter Companion provides an AI-powered WhatsApp assistant for charter companies. The Service answers guest enquiries 24/7 using your company's knowledge base. It is delivered as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) product accessible via the portal at chartercompanion.com.

3. Free Trial

New accounts receive a 21-day free trial. No payment is required to start the trial. At the end of the trial period, you must subscribe to a paid plan to continue using the Service. We may require a payment method on file before or during the trial at our discretion. If you cancel during the trial, access to the Service ends immediately and your data will be deleted.

4. Subscription and Billing

Paid subscriptions are billed monthly or annually in advance via Stripe. Prices are as published on the Pricing page at the time of subscription. All amounts are in EUR and exclusive of any applicable VAT.

VAT treatment. For consumers (B2C) located in the European Union, we charge VAT at the rate of your country of residence and remit it via the Union One-Stop-Shop (OSS) scheme administered by the Lithuanian State Tax Inspectorate. For business customers (B2B) located in another EU member state who provide a valid VAT identification number (verified via VIES), supplies are zero-rated under the reverse-charge mechanism (Article 196 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC) — you self-account for VAT in your member state. Customers outside the European Union are outside the scope of EU VAT.

Monthly plans renew automatically each month. Annual plans are billed monthly at a discounted rate and commit you to a 12-month term. Annual terms auto-renew for successive 12-month periods; we will notify you by email at least 30 days before each renewal date. You may cancel at any time from the billing section of your dashboard. For monthly plans, cancellation takes effect at the end of the current month. For annual plans, cancellation takes effect at the end of the current 12-month term — you will continue to be billed monthly until the term ends.

5. Refunds

Charter Companion is a business-to-business service. Subscriptions are non-refundable except as described below.

• Free trial: The 21-day free trial is provided at no cost. No refund applies because no payment is taken.
• Monthly plans: If you cancel a monthly plan, your subscription remains active until the end of the current billing month. No refund is issued for the remaining days of that month.
• Annual plans: Annual plans commit you to a 12-month term billed monthly. If you cancel before the term ends, monthly billing continues until the end of the term. No partial refund or early termination credit is available.
• Billing errors: If you are charged in error (e.g., duplicate charge, incorrect amount), contact us within 30 days and we will issue a full refund of the erroneous amount.
• Termination by us: If we terminate your account without cause or discontinue the Service, we will refund a pro-rata portion of the current month's fee for the remaining unused days.

To request a refund for a billing error, email [email protected] with your account details and a description of the issue.

6. Fair Use and Message Caps

Each plan includes a monthly or annual message allowance as described in our Fair Use Policy. If the cap is reached, guest messages receive a fallback response directing them to contact the base directly. You will be notified at 80% usage and may purchase additional message packs from your dashboard.

7. Acceptable Use

You must not use the Service to:

• Send unsolicited commercial messages or spam via WhatsApp.
• Violate Meta's WhatsApp Business Policy or any applicable law or regulation.
• Attempt to reverse-engineer, scrape, or extract our AI models, prompts, or proprietary data.
• Use the Service in connection with illegal charter operations.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these rules, with or without prior notice.

As the account holder, you are responsible for ensuring that your employees, contractors, and guests who interact with the Service comply with these rules. You will indemnify Charter Companion against any claims arising from misuse of the Service by persons acting on your behalf or through your account.

8. Service Level and Availability

The Service is architected for continuous 24/7 operation. While we do not offer a formal SLA at this stage, we monitor availability around the clock and address incidents promptly. We will communicate planned maintenance via the dashboard or email. We are not liable for unavailability caused by third parties (WhatsApp/Meta, Anthropic, Supabase, Twilio, or internet infrastructure).

9. Data Handling and Data Processing Agreement

We process personal data as described in our Privacy Policy. WhatsApp conversation content is retained for 90 days for service quality purposes and then automatically deleted.

By subscribing to the Service, you enter into the Data Processing Agreement (DPA) published at chartercompanion.com/legal/dpa, which forms part of these Terms and governs Charter Companion's processing of personal data on your behalf as a data processor under Art. 28 GDPR. The current list of authorised sub-processors is available at chartercompanion.com/legal/sub-processors.

10. Intellectual Property

Charter Companion retains all rights to the Service, including AI models, software, and documentation. You retain ownership of your content (company knowledge base, guest conversation data). You grant us a limited licence to process your content solely to provide the Service.

11. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability to you for any claims arising out of or related to these Terms or the Service — whether in contract, tort, or otherwise — is limited to the total fees you actually paid us in the three (3) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including but not limited to: lost revenue, lost bookings, business interruption, loss of data, reputational harm, or the cost of procuring substitute services — even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

The Service uses AI to generate responses. While we strive for accuracy, AI-generated answers may occasionally be incorrect, incomplete, or inappropriate. You acknowledge that the Service supplements but does not replace professional maritime advice, and we bear no liability for actions taken based on AI-generated responses.

12. Cancellation and Termination

You may cancel your subscription at any time from your dashboard. If you cancel during a free trial, access to the Service ends immediately. For paid subscriptions, access continues until the end of the current billing period: monthly plans until the end of the current billing month; annual plans until the end of your current 12-month term (you will continue to be billed monthly until the term ends). You will receive a renewal reminder at least 30 days before each annual term renewal. We may terminate your account for material breach of these Terms, non-payment (after a 7-day grace period), or if we discontinue the Service, with at least 30 days' notice in the last case.

13. Changes to Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify you by email at least 14 days before material changes take effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

14. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the law of the Republic of Lithuania. Any disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Lithuania. If you are a consumer in another EU Member State, you retain the protection of mandatory consumer law provisions of your country.

15. Contact

Questions about these Terms: [email protected]