Terms of service

1. What Yoohoo is

Yoohoo is a platform that connects families and au pairs in Australia. We are not an employer, an agency, a host, or a party to any placement. When a family and an au pair agree to a placement, that arrangement is between them. You make your own decisions about who you host or live with, and we build tools to help you make them well.

2. Your account

You must be at least 18 to use Yoohoo. Everything in your account and profile must be truthful: your name, your age, your photos, your experience. Your account is yours alone, keep your login to yourself and don’t let anyone else use it.

3. Verification

We verify what we can: identity documents, Working with Children Checks, visa eligibility. Verification reduces risk, but it is not a guarantee of any person’s conduct. Meet on video calls, ask questions, trust your judgement. The decision to live with or host someone is always yours.

4. What it costs

Au pairs never pay Yoohoo anything. Families pay the service fee, 10% on top of pocket money, and only while a placement is active. There is nothing to join, nothing to subscribe to, and no other charges.

5. Keeping placements on Yoohoo

If you meet through Yoohoo, the placement runs through Yoohoo. Moving a placement arranged through the platform off the platform to avoid the service fee is a breach of these terms. If that happens we may suspend the accounts involved and may recover the fees that would have applied.

6. Card disputes

If you think a charge is wrong, tell us and we will sort it out, that is what our refund process is for. Disputing a legitimate charge with your bank instead of using that process may lead to suspension.

7. How to behave

Keep it lawful and respectful. No harassment, no discrimination, no using Yoohoo for anything other than finding and running a genuine placement. Treat the people you meet here the way you would want your own family treated.

8. Content and brand

The Yoohoo name, design and content belong to us. The content you upload (your photos, your profile, your messages) stays yours, and you give us permission to display it on the platform so the product can work, which is the only reason we want it.

9. Suspension and ending

We may suspend or terminate an account that breaks these terms. You can close your account at any time from your profile settings, no questions asked.

10. The service, as it is

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Yoohoo is provided as is and as available. We work hard to keep it accurate, safe and running, and we do not promise it will always be perfect, uninterrupted, or that any particular match, person or placement will work out.

11. Our responsibility to you

To the maximum extent permitted by law: our total liability to you for any claim connected with Yoohoo is capped at the greater of the fees you paid Yoohoo in the 12 months before the claim arose or AUD $100, and we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss. Yoohoo connects families and au pairs; we are not a party to any placement arrangement, and we are not responsible for the conduct of the people you choose to host or live with.

12. Your responsibility to us

If your own breach of these terms or your own unlawful conduct causes a claim against Yoohoo, you indemnify us for that claim.

13. If something goes wrong

Talk to us first: email hello@yoohooaustralia.com and we will work with you in good faith for 30 days to resolve it. Most things get sorted here.

14. Arbitration

Any dispute between you and Yoohoo that is not resolved informally is resolved by final and binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, administered under the Rules of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (ACICA). The seat of arbitration is Sydney, New South Wales, the language is English, and hearings are held by video conference where practical. These terms are governed by the law of New South Wales.

15. What we both give up

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law: both you and Yoohoo waive the right to a court trial and to trial by jury, and waive the right to participate as a plaintiff or member in any class action, collective action, representative action, or private attorney general action or proceeding. Disputes are resolved on an individual basis only.

16. Your 30-day opt-out

You may decline this agreement to arbitrate. Email hello@yoohooaustralia.com within thirty (30) days of first accepting these terms, state that you decline the arbitration agreement, and include the email address associated with your account. Opting out does not affect your ability to use Yoohoo in any way; it means neither of us can require arbitration, and disputes go to the courts of New South Wales, Australia instead.

17. What stays in court

Two things sit outside arbitration: (a) either of us may bring a qualifying claim in a small claims court or local tribunal instead, and (b) either of us may seek injunctive or other equitable relief in court for infringement or misuse of intellectual property or confidential information.

18. If part of the arbitration section can't stand

If the class and representative action waiver is found unenforceable for a particular claim, that claim proceeds in court and everything else remains arbitrable. If the entire arbitration agreement is found unenforceable, or you opted out, disputes go to the courts of New South Wales, Australia.

19. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. If a change is material we will email you before it takes effect, and continuing to use Yoohoo after that means you accept the change. The current version always lives at this page.

20. Your consumer rights

Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any consumer guarantee or right under the Australian Consumer Law or any other law that cannot lawfully be excluded. Those rights prevail over anything else in these terms, including the sections about arbitration and our responsibility to you.

21. If part of these terms can't stand

If any part of these terms turns out to be invalid or unenforceable, that part is severed and the rest keeps working.

Questions

If anything here is unclear, write to hello@yoohooaustralia.com or use the contact page. We read everything.

Yoohoo, Australia