The deal, in plain words.

About these terms

These terms are the agreement between you and HomeKwetu when you use homekwetu.com, create an account or send us an errand. "We" and "us" mean HomeKwetu; "you" means the person whose account the errand comes from.

Errands are carried out by independent errand agents we have vetted and work with. You agree with us, not with them, and we are responsible to you for the errand.

How we handle your details, and your family's, is set out in our privacy notice, which forms part of these terms.

Your account

You need to be 18 or over and give us details that are true: your name, a working email address, and a phone number if you want updates by phone.

You sign in with Google or with a one-time code we email you. Keep access to that email to yourself: anyone who can read it can sign in as you. Errands sent from your account are treated as sent by you.

We may pause or close an account that is used for fraud, abuse of our team, or anything unlawful. We will tell you why, unless the law stops us.

Sending an errand

Tell us what needs doing, where, for whom and by when. Before you pay, we confirm the price and the expected timing in writing. That confirmation, with your errand details, is what we agree to deliver.

If you change the errand after it is confirmed, the price or timing may change too. We tell you before we go ahead, and nothing extra is charged without your OK.

We can decline an errand, before or after it is posted. If we decline after you have paid, you get all of your money back.

What we will not do

Some things we never take on, whoever asks and whatever the fee:

• Anything unlawful in Kenya, or anything that would need one of us to break the law.
• Sending or carrying cash for you. We are not a remittance service; we buy what is needed and deliver it, with a receipt.
• Following or tracking a person without their consent, or getting into private records without the right to.
• Carrying weapons, drugs or other goods it is unlawful to hold or move.
• Anything that would put an errand agent, your family or anyone else at risk of harm.

If an errand turns out to need any of these part-way through, we stop, tell you why, and refund what has not been spent.

Paying, and the money we hold

You pay up front, by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal or M-Pesa, in your own currency where we support it. Any conversion rate or fee is shown before you pay.

HomeKwetu holds the money. The errand agent is paid only after you approve the finished errand.

Anything bought on your behalf is paid from HomeKwetu accounts, never in cash, so every purchase leaves a receipt. We stay within the budget you set; if something costs more than expected, we ask before spending it.

Any part of your budget that is not spent comes back to you.

Approving an errand

When an errand is done you get a short report: what was done, what was spent, and the proof (time-stamped photos, receipts and signed handovers, as the errand allows).

If you are happy, approve it and the errand agent is paid. If something is not right, tell us within 7 days of the report and we will put it right under the HomeKwetu Promise.

If we have not heard from you within 7 days, we will contact you. We do not release payment without your approval.

The HomeKwetu Promise

If an errand was not done as agreed, we redo it at no cost or refund you in full. You choose which.

The promise covers what we agreed to do and how we did it. It does not cover things no errand agent controls, such as:

• A government office refusing, changing or delaying a decision. We do the queuing, the follow-up and the paperwork; the outcome is theirs.
• Goods being out of stock, or a recipient not being there after the attempts we agreed. We tell you and offer an alternative or refund what has not been spent.
• The findings of an investigation being unwelcome. We promise a careful, lawful investigation, not a particular result.

Cancelling

Cancel before an errand agent has started and you get everything back.

Cancel once the errand is under way and you pay only for the work already done and anything already bought for you, with receipts. The rest is refunded.

Refunds go back the way you paid, usually within 5 to 10 working days depending on your bank or provider.

Government services

We act for you under a signed letter of authority, or a power of attorney where an office requires one. You confirm that what you ask us to do is something you are entitled to do yourself.

Some services need you there in person or need your biometrics, and some can only be done by certain people. We tell you before you pay, never after.

Official fees are passed on at cost, with the receipt. Timings depend on the office, so the times we give are honest estimates, not guarantees.

Private investigations

Investigations are carried out by licensed investigators, lawfully and under signed confidentiality. The person or business being checked is never told who asked.

A report reflects what could be found by lawful means at the time. It is for your own use in making your decisions, and you are responsible for how you use it.

We may decline an investigation, or stop one, if we believe it is being asked for an unlawful or harmful purpose. Work not yet done is refunded.

Errand agents

Every errand agent has had their identity checked, holds a current police Certificate of Good Conduct, has been interviewed in person and has completed supervised trial errands.

Please arrange and pay for errands through HomeKwetu only. Money paid to an errand agent directly, or errands arranged outside HomeKwetu, are not held, not covered by the HomeKwetu Promise, and not something we can help with if they go wrong.

Treat our team with respect. We will remove an account that harasses or threatens an errand agent.

Photos, reports and what you send us

Photos, receipts and reports from your errands are yours to keep and share. We keep a copy in your errand history for as long as our privacy notice says.

You let us use what you send us (lists, photos, voice notes, documents) to carry out your errands, and nothing else. We do not publish photos from your errands or use them in our marketing unless you say yes in writing.

If you leave a review, we may show it on our site with your first name, an initial and the cities involved.

Our responsibility to you

We take reasonable care with every errand and everything we handle for you. If something we bought or carried for you is lost or damaged while in our care, we replace it or refund its cost.

Beyond that, our responsibility for an errand is limited to what you paid for it. We are not responsible for losses we could not reasonably have foreseen, or for indirect losses such as lost profit or opportunity.

Nothing in these terms limits our responsibility where the law does not allow it to be limited, including for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for fraud.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as the service grows. The date at the top always shows the latest version. If a change matters to how your errands work, we email account holders before it takes effect.

Errands already confirmed run under the terms in place when you confirmed them.

If we disagree

Tell us first, at hello@homekwetu.com. Most problems are put right quickly, and we reply within 2 working days.

These terms are governed by the laws of Kenya, and the courts of Kenya can hear any dispute. If you live outside Kenya, you keep any consumer rights the law where you live gives you.

Contact

HomeKwetu, Westlands Business Park, Chiromo Lane, Nairobi, Kenya. Email hello@homekwetu.com.