Terms of use

About these terms

Cooky (“Cooky”, “we”, “us”) is made by Ivies and run by [Company legal name], registered at [Registered office address]. By creating an account or using Cooky, you agree to these terms and to our privacy policy. If you don’t agree, please don’t use Cooky.

What Cooky is, and isn’t

Cooky is an app and website that helps pet parents find people (“hosts”) who look after pets in their own homes, and helps them get in touch. Cooky hosts what people post, such as listings, photos, reviews and messages; it doesn’t write or check them before they appear, beyond the photo checks and reports described below.

• Cooky isn’t part of any stay. Each stay is an arrangement between the pet parent and the host. Cooky doesn’t provide pet boarding, doesn’t employ or supervise hosts, and doesn’t look after pets.
• Cooky doesn’t check people or homes. We confirm only which Google or Apple account someone signs in with. We don’t check identities, homes, backgrounds or qualifications, and we never describe anyone as having been checked. Pet parents and hosts should check each other, using our safety checklist.
• Cooky never handles stay money. We don’t take, hold or process payments for stays, and we take no commission on them.

Who can use Cooky

You must be 18 or over and able to enter into a binding contract where you live. You may have only one account, and only for yourself.

Your account

• You sign in with Google, or on iPhone with Google or Apple. Keep that account secure: anything done through your Cooky account is your responsibility.
• Give accurate information and keep it up to date.
• Tell us straight away if you think someone else is using your account.
• One account can be used as a pet parent and as a host.

If you’re a pet parent

• Describe your pet honestly, including their health, behaviour, any history of biting or aggression, fears, medicines and food.
• Keep your pet’s core vaccinations up to date and enter them in their profile. Show the certificates to the host when you meet.
• Visit the home and meet the host before the stay, and go through the safety checklist.
• Pay the host what you agreed, in the way you agreed.
• Stay reachable during the stay, and tell the host who can make decisions about your pet if you can’t be reached.

If you’re a host

• Your listing must describe your home truthfully. Photos must be your own, of your own home, as it is now, and not edited or generated to mislead. A listing needs at least five approved photos to appear in search.
• Look after every pet as you agreed and as a caring owner would: food, fresh water, shelter, exercise, cleanliness and their medicines on time. Take a pet to a vet when they need one.
• Tell the pet parent at once about any illness, injury, escape or fight, however small it seems. Never hide what happened.
• Take only as many pets as you can care for safely, and keep guest pets safe from your own pets and family.
• Follow the law where you live, your building’s or housing society’s rules and your rental agreement. You’re responsible for any permission or licence you need to host pets, and for any tax on what you earn.
• Don’t use Cooky to breed, sell, give away or rehome animals.
• Your nightly rate is yours to set, in your own currency. It’s shown as a guide; the final price is what you agree with the pet parent.

Stays are between you

The pet parent and the host decide everything about a stay: the dates, the price, how and when payment is made, care instructions, what happens if plans change, and who pays for any vet visits or damage. We recommend agreeing these in writing in the Cooky chat before the stay.

Because Cooky isn’t part of the stay, any disagreement about a stay is between the pet parent and the host. We may act on reports about the people involved, but we aren’t obliged to settle disputes or pay compensation for a stay.

Paying for stays

Pet parents pay hosts directly, in whatever way they agree. Cooky doesn’t collect, hold or refund payments for stays, and nobody from Cooky will ask you to pay for one. Don’t send money to anyone you haven’t met at their home, and report anyone who asks for an advance or deposit before you’ve visited.

Cooky Plus and purchases

• Cooky Plus and any other extras are sold in the app through Google Play or the App Store, under their terms. The price, including any taxes, and the billing period are shown before you buy.
• Subscriptions renew automatically until you cancel them in the store you bought from. Cancelling stops the next renewal; you keep Plus until the end of the period you’ve paid for. One-time passes don’t renew.
• Refunds are handled by Google Play or Apple under their refund policies, and as the consumer law where you live requires.
• Deleting your Cooky account doesn’t cancel a store subscription. Cancel it in the store first.
• A “Featured” home is one whose host pays for Plus. It’s paid placement, not a recommendation or a check of the host.
• We may change or stop offering a Plus feature. We’ll tell you in advance, and won’t take away something you’ve already paid for without a fair alternative or a refund where the law requires.
• The safety checklist, reporting and blocking are free for everyone.

Your content

You own what you post on Cooky: photos, listings, pet profiles, messages and reviews. You give Cooky a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to store, display, copy and adapt it (for example, resizing photos and removing location data) so we can run Cooky, for as long as it’s on Cooky and for any time the law requires us to keep it afterwards.

You must have the right to post everything you upload, including permission from anyone who appears in your photos. Reviews must be honest and based on a stay that happened.

Rules everyone follows

You must not use Cooky to post, send or share anything that:

• belongs to someone else and that you have no right to share;
• is sexual or obscene, exploits or endangers children, invades someone’s privacy, or harasses, threatens or abuses anyone, including because of their gender, race, religion, caste, disability or who they are;
• encourages violence, hatred, self-harm, fraud, money laundering or illegal gambling;
• infringes a patent, trademark, copyright or other rights;
• is knowingly false or misleading, including AI-generated or altered images presented as real, or impersonates another person;
• contains viruses or other harmful code;
• breaks the law where you are.

You also must not:

• harass, threaten, abuse or discriminate against anyone, or mistreat any animal;
• ask for or take advance payments, deposits or fees by deception, or run any other scam;
• post fake or misleading listings, profiles or reviews;
• use Cooky to advertise other services or send spam;
• copy or scrape Cooky, interfere with how it works, or try to reach accounts or data you’re not allowed to.

Reports and enforcement

Anyone can report a profile, listing or chat in the app. We review reports and may remove content, hide listings, restrict features, or suspend or close accounts that break these terms or the law, or that put people or animals at risk. Where it’s safe and lawful, we’ll tell you what we did and why, and you can ask us to look at the decision again.

We remove or disable access to content when a court or authority lawfully orders us to, within the time the law sets, and we keep records of removed content for as long as the law requires.

Safety and emergencies

Cooky isn’t an emergency service and doesn’t give veterinary advice. If a person or animal is in danger, call your local emergency number. For a sick or injured pet, contact a vet straight away.

Cooky’s name and app

The Cooky name, the cat mark, the app, this website and their design belong to us or our licensors. You may use the app for your own personal use under these terms. Don’t copy, change or reuse them without our written permission.

Disclaimers

We work hard to keep Cooky running well, but we provide it “as is” and “as available”. To the extent the law allows, we make no promises about any host, pet parent, home, pet or stay, about what people say or post on Cooky, or that Cooky will always be available or free of errors.

Limits on liability

To the extent the law allows, Cooky is not liable for:

• what hosts, pet parents or anyone else using Cooky does or doesn’t do, during a stay or otherwise;
• illness, injury, loss or death of any pet, or damage to any home or property, connected with a stay;
• payments or disagreements between pet parents and hosts;
• indirect or consequential losses, or loss of profit, income or data.

Otherwise, our total liability to you is limited to the amount you paid Cooky for Plus in the 12 months before the claim. Nothing in these terms limits any liability that can’t be limited by law, or takes away your rights as a consumer where you live.

Indemnity

You agree to compensate Cooky for reasonable losses and costs that arise because you broke these terms or the law, or from a stay you arranged, to the extent you’re responsible for them and the law allows.

Ending your use

You can stop using Cooky and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or close your account if you break these terms, if the law requires it, or if we reasonably believe it’s needed to protect people or animals. Sections that by their nature should continue, such as those on liability and disputes, continue after your account closes.

Changes

We may update Cooky and these terms. If a change matters, we’ll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect. If you keep using Cooky after that, the new terms apply; if you don’t agree, you can delete your account.

Law and disputes

These terms are governed by [Governing law and courts]. If you use Cooky as a consumer, you also keep the protection of the mandatory laws of the country where you live, and you can bring a claim in your local courts. If you have a complaint, please contact us first so we can try to fix it.

Complaints

To complain about something on Cooky, or about a decision we made, write to [Name of the person who handles complaints] at [Their email address]. Where a law asks us to have a grievance officer, such as India’s IT Rules, 2021, this is that person. How complaints are handled is on the contact page.

General

These terms and the privacy policy are the whole agreement between you and Cooky about using Cooky. If a court finds part of them unenforceable, the rest still applies. If we don’t enforce something straight away, we can still do so later. We may transfer these terms to a company that takes over Cooky; you may not transfer them. Questions? Email support@theivies.in.