Policies

Terms of Service

Welcome to Helping U Help. These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your use of the Helping U Help platform (“Platform”), operated by Helping U Help Technologies Inc., a corporation federally incorporated in Canada and based in Ontario (“we,” “us,” or “our”). By accessing or using the Platform, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

1. Who can use Helping U Help

You must be at least 18 years of age to create an account or use the Platform. By using Helping U Help, you represent and warrant that you meet this age requirement. If you are signing up on behalf of a business, you represent that you are authorized to bind that business to these Terms.

2. What Helping U Help does

Helping U Help is an online marketplace that helps ceramicists (“Potters”) connect with studios and kiln owners (“Studios”) for kiln firing, wheel rental, and workshops. We facilitate introductions, communication, scheduling, and booking management, but we do not provide firing, wheel, or workshop services ourselves.

The service agreement for any firing, wheel time, or workshop is between the Potter and the Studio. While payments are processed through the Platform (see Section 6), Helping U Help does not provide these services and is not responsible for their quality, safety, legality, or outcome.

3. Your account

You are responsible for keeping your account credentials secure and for all activity that happens under your account. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration and to keep this information up to date.

You may not share your account with others, create multiple accounts to evade restrictions, or impersonate another person or business.

4. Community standards and your conduct

Helping U Help is built on trust between Potters and Studios. We ask every user to be honest, respectful, and reliable: describe your work, skill level, studio, pricing, and turnaround accurately; treat other users with courtesy, with no harassment, discrimination, or hateful language; respond to messages in a reasonable time; and show up when you say you will, letting the other party know promptly if something changes.

You also agree not to:

• Use Helping U Help for any unlawful purpose or in violation of these Terms
• Harass, threaten, or abuse other users
• Post false, misleading, or fraudulent content
• Attempt to bypass the Platform's payment system or to avoid applicable fees or responsibilities
• Scrape, copy, or redistribute data from the Platform
• Interfere with the Platform's operation or security
• Upload viruses, malware, or other harmful code
• Use the Platform for commercial spam or solicitation unrelated to ceramics services

For early bookings, we encourage you to use Helping U Help's in-app messaging for your initial conversations. It keeps a record if a question or dispute arises. Once you know and trust each other, you're welcome to coordinate directly.

If someone violates these standards or these Terms, report it to support@helpinguhelp.ai. We review all reports and act when warranted, and we reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, at our sole discretion, with or without notice.

5. Studio applications and listings

Studios must submit an application to list on Helping U Help. We review applications at our discretion. We may approve, reject, or remove listings at any time and for any reason, including incomplete information, suspected fraud, or safety concerns.

Studios are responsible for the accuracy of their listings, including pricing, services, availability, membership terms, and policies. Studios must comply with all applicable laws and regulations governing their operations, including kiln safety, insurance, and business licensing.

6. Bookings, payments, and refunds

Payments on the Platform are processed by our third-party payment provider, Stripe. When you book and pay, your payment is routed to the Studio's connected Stripe account. Helping U Help does not take a commission on bookings; Studios receive the full amount they charge. Helping U Help is not the seller of any firing, wheel, or workshop service and does not hold funds on the Studio's behalf beyond the payment processing handled by Stripe.

Wheel sessions and workshops are paid at the time of booking, and the booking is confirmed once payment succeeds. Kiln firings are billed after the Studio inspects the work and sets a final price; the Potter then approves and pays that amount before the firing proceeds.

Cancellations and refunds (wheel and workshop): A Potter who cancels at least 24 hours before the session start time receives a full refund. Cancellations made within 24 hours of the start time are not refundable. If a Studio cancels a confirmed session, the Potter receives a full refund. Refunds are returned to the original payment method through Stripe and may take several business days to appear.

Kiln firings: Because kiln firings are priced and paid only after the Studio has inspected and accepted the work, kiln payments are not refundable once made. If a problem arises with a firing, the Potter and Studio should resolve it directly; see Section 7 on the risks of firing.

Memberships: Studios may offer optional memberships, billed through the Platform as one-time or recurring charges. Potters may cancel a membership at any time; cancellation stops future charges and does not retroactively refund charges already made, unless the Studio agrees otherwise. Helping U Help does not take a commission on membership fees.

Helping U Help is not responsible for the quality, safety, or outcome of any service, and is not a party to the underlying service agreement between Potter and Studio. Disputes over service quality should be resolved directly between the parties; we may, at our discretion, assist but are not obligated to.

7. Your pottery and the risks of firing

Firing and working with clay involve inherent risk. Pieces can crack, warp, explode, or otherwise be damaged or lost, and this is a normal part of the craft. Before dropping off work or booking a session, talk to the Studio about their policies, the risks involved, and what happens if something goes wrong. Helping U Help is not responsible for damage to or loss of your work.

8. Content you post

You retain ownership of content you post on Helping U Help (such as messages, studio descriptions, and booking notes). By posting content, you grant Helping U Help a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, display, and distribute this content on the Platform as necessary to operate the service.

You are responsible for your content and must have the right to post it. You must not post content that is illegal, defamatory, infringing, or otherwise violates these Terms.

9. Disclaimers

The Platform is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. We do not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure.

We make no warranties about the quality, safety, legality, or reliability of Studios, Potters, or the services listed on or arranged through the Platform. Users interact with each other at their own risk.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Helping U Help Technologies Inc. and its operators shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including loss of profits, data, or pottery, arising out of or related to your use of the Platform.

Our total liability for any claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Platform shall not exceed one hundred Canadian dollars (CAD $100).

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Helping U Help Technologies Inc. and its operators from any claims, damages, losses, or expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of your use of the Platform, your content, your violation of these Terms, or your interactions with other users.

12. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify users of material changes by email or through the Platform. If you continue using the Platform after the changes take effect, you accept the revised Terms.

13. Termination

You may stop using the Platform at any time by contacting us to delete your account. We may suspend or terminate your access at any time, with or without cause or notice. Upon termination, provisions that by their nature should survive (such as liability limits, indemnification, and governing law) will continue to apply.

14. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario, Canada, and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to conflict of laws principles. Any disputes shall be resolved in the courts of Ontario.

15. Contact us

Questions about these Terms? Email us at support@helpinguhelp.ai.

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Helping U Help Technologies Inc. (operating as Helping U Help) collects, uses, and protects your personal information. We comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable Ontario privacy laws.

1. What we collect

We collect the following information:

• Account data: email address, full name, phone number, age confirmation, and acceptance timestamp
• Location data: address and general location (for Potters, to find nearby studios; for Studios, to display location to potters)
• Studio information: business name, address, pricing, services offered, hours, membership terms
• Booking data: firing requests, wheel reservations, workshop registrations, clay and glaze details, and messages between users
• Usage data: pages visited, actions taken, timestamps, browser and device information

2. How we use your information

We use your information to:

• Operate the Platform and provide you with our services
• Help Potters find nearby Studios (distance calculations)
• Facilitate communication between Potters and Studios
• Send you transactional emails (booking confirmations, approvals, password-less sign-in codes)
• Respond to your questions and feedback
• Monitor and improve the Platform
• Detect and prevent fraud or abuse
• Comply with legal obligations

3. Legal basis

We process your information based on: your consent (which you provide when signing up), the necessity of the processing to provide you our services, our legitimate interests (such as improving the Platform and preventing fraud), and our legal obligations.

4. Who we share your information with

We share limited information with the following third-party service providers, only as needed to operate the Platform:

• Supabase (database and authentication provider)
• Vercel (hosting and infrastructure)
• Resend and Amazon SES (transactional email delivery)
• Google (geocoding and address autocomplete for location features)
• Anthropic (powers in-app help features; we do not send your personal information for this purpose)
• Stripe (payment processing and Studio payouts; Stripe handles your card or bank details directly, and we do not store full card numbers)

We do not sell your personal information to third parties. We do not share your information for advertising or marketing purposes by other companies.

When you use the Platform, certain information is visible to other users as necessary for the service to work. Your full name and phone number may be visible to Studios you've booked with, and Studio details are visible to Potters searching the Platform. Messages you send in bookings are visible to the other party in that booking.

5. Connected email and social accounts (Gmail, Facebook & Instagram)

Studios may optionally connect a Gmail, Facebook Page, or Instagram account so their booking-related messages appear in one hUh inbox. Connecting is always initiated by you and approved on Google's or Meta's own consent screen — we only receive what that screen describes. This section applies only if you choose to connect an account.

What we access, and why:

• Gmail (Google): read-only access to your email messages and metadata (the gmail.readonly scope), used only to identify booking-related emails and show them in your hUh inbox. We do not send, delete, or modify your email.
• Facebook Page (Meta): the ability to read and reply to messages sent to your Page, used to bring booking-related Page messages into your hUh inbox and let you reply from there.
• Instagram (Meta): basic professional-account info and the ability to read and reply to Instagram direct messages, used to bring booking-related DMs into your hUh inbox and let you reply from there.

We store a secure access token for each connection so the inbox keeps working; we never receive or store your Google or Meta password. We use this data solely to operate the hUh inbox for you. We do not sell it, use it for advertising, or use it to train generalized AI or machine-learning models.

Google user data & Limited Use.hUh's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Data accessed via the Gmail gmail.readonly scope is used only to provide the user-facing inbox features that are prominent in hUh; is not transferred or used for advertising; is not used to train generalized AI or ML models; and is not read by humans except with your affirmative consent for a specific message, for security or to comply with law, or when aggregated and anonymized.

Meta (Facebook & Instagram) data.We handle Meta Platform Data in line with Meta's Platform Terms and Developer Policies, and use it only for the inbox features described above. To connect Instagram, your account must be a Professional (Business or Creator) account linked to a Facebook Page — a free switch in Instagram's settings.

Disconnecting and deleting this data.You can disconnect any account from hUh's connection settings at any time, which revokes the stored token and stops further access. You can also revoke access directly at Google Account → Third-party access or in Facebook Settings → Business Integrations. To have the data associated with a connection deleted, email us at support@helpinguhelp.ai; we delete stored tokens and message data within 30 days, except limited records we must keep by law.

6. How long we keep your information

We keep your information as long as your account is active and for a reasonable period afterwards to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Booking records are retained for at least two years for business and tax purposes.

7. Your rights

Under PIPEDA and Ontario law, you have the right to:

• Access your personal information
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete information
• Request deletion of your account and associated data
• Withdraw consent for processing (note: this may prevent you from using the Platform)
• File a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

To exercise any of these rights, email us at support@helpinguhelp.ai. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Security

We use industry-standard security measures to protect your information, including encryption in transit (HTTPS) and at rest, secure authentication, and restricted access to personal data. However, no system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Cookies and analytics

We use essential cookies for authentication and Platform functionality. We may add analytics tools in the future to understand how the Platform is used; if so, we will update this policy and provide opt-out options.

10. International data transfers

Some of our service providers (such as Supabase, Vercel, and Stripe) may process data outside Canada, including in the United States. By using the Platform, you consent to this transfer. We use providers that offer adequate data protection standards.

11. Children's privacy

The Platform is not intended for users under 18. We do not knowingly collect information from minors. If we learn that a minor has created an account, we will delete it.

12. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email or through the Platform. The “Last updated” date at the top reflects the most recent version.

13. Contact us

Privacy questions? Email us at support@helpinguhelp.ai.