Terms of Use MySidekick

1.1. In these terms of use, the following terms have the meaning defined below:

• V&J / we: V&J Consult, with registered office at Mechelbaan 1, 1860 Meise, company number 0779.924.639, VAT BE 0779.924.639, e-mail hello@mysidekick.world, telephone 0492/58 60 88, operator of the Platform.
• Platform: the online platform MySidekick, accessible via www.mysidekick.world and the other domain names managed by V&J, including all associated pages, applications and channels.
• Coach: the self-employed service provider or company that offers, via the Platform, to provide coaching services.
• Coachee: the user, whether a consumer or a business, who searches for and books a session with a Coach via the Platform.
• Consumer: any natural person who is acting for purposes which fall outside his trade, business, craft or professional activity, within the meaning of Book I of the Code of Economic Law.
• User: every Coach and every Coachee, as well as any visitor to the Platform.
• Coaching Agreement: the agreement concluded directly between a Coach and a Coachee for the provision of a coaching session.
• Session: an individual coaching session booked via the Platform, taking place online or in person, but never on the Platform itself.
• Platform Fee: the commission charged by V&J per booked Session in consideration for the use of the Platform.

2.1. These terms of use apply to any use of the Platform and to any legal relationship between V&J and the User. By visiting the Platform, creating an account and/or booking a Session, the User accepts these terms of use in full and without reservation.

2.2. These terms of use apply to the exclusion of any of the User's own terms and conditions.

2.3. The User may take note of these terms of use before the conclusion of the agreement. They are made available on the Platform in a manner that allows them to be stored and reproduced.

2.4. V&J reserves the right to amend these terms of use. The amended terms apply to any new use and to any new booking after their entry into force. In respect of business Users (Coaches), any amendment is made subject to a reasonable notice period in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 (the P2B Regulation).

3.1. Through the Platform, V&J offers solely a digital intermediation service that brings Coaches and Coachees into contact. V&J acts as a mere intermediary and only makes available the Platform on which a Session can be searched for and booked.

3.2. The Coaching Agreement is concluded exclusively and directly between the Coach and the Coachee. V&J is at no time a party to the Coaching Agreement, nor an employer, principal, agent or representative of the Coach.

3.3. V&J does not itself provide any coaching and does not offer any coaching content. The content, quality, performance and outcome of the coaching are the sole responsibility of the Coach. Complaints about the coaching itself must be addressed directly to the Coach concerned.

3.4. Sessions take place online or in person, but never on the Platform itself. The Platform serves only for searching for and booking the Session. The practical organisation and conduct of the Session are for the Coach and the Coachee.

3.5. V&J gives no warranty, express or implied, as to the availability, suitability or outcome of a Session, and cannot be held liable for double bookings, booking errors or errors in the information or calendar provided by the Coach.

3.6. The Coachee chooses a Coach on the basis of his own wishes and criteria and himself makes the necessary substantive and financial arrangements with the Coach. The decision whether or not to engage a particular Coach rests solely with the Coachee.

4.1. To use the core functions of the Platform, the User must create an account. The registration form must be completed fully and truthfully. It is not permitted to use another person's identity, or to use pseudonyms or temporary e-mail addresses.

4.2. When registering a Coach, the following data are requested, among others: name, address, website, VAT number, invoicing details and telephone number. When registering a Coachee, the surname, first name and e-mail address are requested, among others.

4.3. The Coach completes a digital intake during which he is asked which training he has followed and/or which diplomas he has obtained. Diplomas may be requested as supporting evidence; these are deleted immediately after receipt and verification. V&J may require the Coach to have followed a coaching training, whereby the number of training hours is primarily taken into account. An international certification (for example ICF) may be a condition, but is not a general requirement.

4.4. The screening carried out by V&J is intended solely to promote the quality of the Platform. It does not constitute any warranty as to the qualifications, competence or performance of a Coach, and is without prejudice to Article 3.

4.5. V&J reserves the right to refuse a registration or to suspend or terminate an account, in particular where the requested data are incomplete or incorrect, where there are multiple registrations under different names, where another person's identity is used, where an entry conflicts with generally accepted professional ethics rules and practices, or where these terms of use are not complied with.

4.6. The User is responsible for keeping his login details confidential and for any use made of his account. The User notifies V&J without delay in the event of any suspected unlawful use of his account.

5.1. The coaching offered via the Platform concerns, among other things, life, business, sport, health and wellbeing coaching. Coaching does not constitute medical, psychological or therapeutic care and is not a form of crisis support. The coaching may touch on health or wellbeing (such as stress or burn-out), but never replaces the intervention of a doctor or other healthcare provider.

5.2. In the event of a crisis situation or acute distress, the Platform refers the User to the appropriate assistance, such as the general practitioner, the emergency services (112) and a suicide-prevention helpline. The Coach and the Coachee remain responsible for calling in the appropriate professional help where necessary.

5.3. The Platform is intended exclusively for persons of legal age.

5.4. If the booking or intake form contains free-text fields, the Coachee may enter data relating to his health or wellbeing. The Coachee is advised to share only the data that are strictly necessary. The processing of such data is governed by Article 11 and by the privacy statement.

6.1. The Coachee books a Session via the Platform. The booking is final as soon as the Platform confirms it. The Session is paid at the time of booking.

Commercial cancellation

6.2. In addition to and without prejudice to the statutory right of withdrawal (Article 6.6), V&J grants the Coachee a broader commercial cancellation option. The Coachee may cancel or reschedule a Session free of charge up to 48 hours before the start time of the Session. In that case, the amount paid for the Session is refunded or, in the event of rescheduling, deducted from the new Session.

6.3. In the event of cancellation by the Coachee within 48 hours preceding the Session (late cancellation), no refund will be issued. In the event that the Coach cancels within 48 hours preceding the Session, a new session will be offered to the Coachee. A full refund will always be granted in the event of force majeure or illness. For any Coachee who is a Consumer, this arrangement applies only insofar as the statutory right of withdrawal (Articles 6.6 to 6.9) does not apply or has expired.

6.4. In the event of a no-show, the Session already paid at the time of booking is not refunded, without prejudice to the statutory right of withdrawal of the Coachee who is a Consumer in accordance with Articles 6.6 to 6.9.

6.5. If a Coach cancels a Session himself or is unavailable for a prolonged period so that a booked Session cannot take place, the Session concerned is refunded to the Coachee. The cancellation and compensation arrangements set out in this Article apply in a balanced manner in respect of both the Coachee and the Coach.

Statutory right of withdrawal of the Consumer

6.6. If the Coachee is a Consumer, he has, in accordance with Book VI of the Code of Economic Law, a period of fourteen calendar days to withdraw from the booking without giving any reason and without cost. The commercial cancellation option under Articles 6.2 et seq. is in addition to this and does not affect this statutory right.

6.7. Where the Session is performed during the withdrawal period with the Consumer's express prior consent, the Consumer acknowledges that he loses his right of withdrawal once the Session has been fully performed. If the Session is booked for a time falling after the withdrawal period, the Consumer may exercise his right of withdrawal during the entire fourteen-day period.

6.8. To exercise his right of withdrawal, the Consumer may use the statutory model withdrawal form or the cancellation function provided on the Platform. This function is clearly visible and easily accessible throughout the withdrawal period, allows the agreement to be withdrawn by an unambiguous confirmation, and V&J shall promptly provide the Consumer with an acknowledgement of receipt thereof on a durable medium.

6.9. Where the booked Session takes place within the withdrawal period, the Platform requests the Coachee who is a Consumer, at the time of booking, to give his express prior consent to the commencement of the service during that period and to acknowledge that he loses his right of withdrawal once the Session has been fully performed. As long as the Session has not been fully performed, the Coachee who is a Consumer retains his right of withdrawal; in the event of withdrawal after performance has begun, an amount proportionate to the service already provided is due.

7.1. Payment for the Session is made at the time of booking via an external payment provider (Stripe) and is received in V&J's Stripe account. V&J pays out to the Coach, twice a month, the amounts relating to the Sessions booked during the period concerned, after deduction of the Platform Fee.

7.2. V&J charges, per booked Session, a Platform Fee in the form of a commission of 12% per Session. The Platform Fee is set off against the amounts payable to the Coach.

7.3. The prices stated on the Platform are inclusive of VAT. An invoice can be provided on request.

7.4. V&J collects the Coachee's payment via the payment provider and is responsible for the payout to the Coach in accordance with Article 7.1. As the Coach is paid out in this way, no late-payment interest or penalty clause applies to the Coach for late payment of the Platform Fee.

7.5. V&J may amend the Platform Fee and the rates for the use of the Platform. Any amendment is communicated in advance and applies only to Sessions booked after its entry into force. In respect of Coaches, this is done subject to a reasonable notice period in accordance with the P2B Regulation (EU) 2019/1150.

8.1. The User uses the Platform as a careful and responsible user and solely for lawful purposes. In particular, the User refrains from:

• infringing the intellectual property rights or other rights of V&J or of third parties;
• disseminating information with racist, discriminatory, hateful or otherwise unlawful content;
• sexually harassing, threatening or otherwise harassing other persons;
• posting or disseminating erotic, obscene or content unsuitable for minors;
• spreading viruses or other malicious code, or disrupting the proper functioning, security or integrity of the Platform;
• using the Platform in a manner contrary to the law, public order or morality.

8.2. The Coach is and remains solely responsible for the content he posts on the Platform, for his own actions and for compliance with the legal and ethical obligations applicable to him. In the event of a breach of this Article, V&J may take the measures provided for in Article 15.

9.1. Coachees may leave reviews about a Coach. A review must relate to a Session actually booked via the Platform. Each review is displayed immediately on the Platform. V&J continues to monitor the reviews and may moderate them in accordance with Articles 9.2 and 9.6.

9.2. V&J may remove reviews that are not constructive, are unlawful or are inappropriate. As a rule, V&J first enters into dialogue about this with the Coach and/or Coachee concerned. V&J reserves the right to decide itself whether, when and why a review is removed.

9.3. Coaches are ranked and recommended on the Platform by means of an automated recommendation and ranking system. The main parameters determining the ranking are, in order of importance: (i) the relevance of the Coach to the Coachee's search query or profile, and (ii) the number of Sessions booked via the Platform with the Coach concerned.

9.4. The relative importance of these parameters is explained as follows. Relevance carries the most weight because it best matches the Coachee's specific request and thus leads to a suitable match. The number of booked Sessions is taken into account secondarily as an indication of a Coach's experience and appreciation on the Platform: the more Sessions have been booked with a Coach, the higher he may appear in the ranking. The ranking cannot be influenced by any direct or indirect payment from a Coach to V&J.

9.5. Users may post content themselves, such as profile texts, photos and reviews (user content). The User is responsible for the accuracy and lawfulness of the content he posts and warrants that it does not infringe any third-party rights. The User indemnifies V&J against all third-party claims relating thereto.

9.6. It is not permitted to post content that is unlawful, offensive, threatening, defamatory, obscene, misleading or otherwise inappropriate. V&J may remove inappropriate content or reviews at any time and at its own discretion. V&J cannot be held liable for content posted by Users, and bears responsibility only from the moment it becomes aware of unlawful content.

9.7. Any person may report allegedly illegal content on the Platform via hello@mysidekick.world. V&J handles such reports in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner in accordance with Article 16 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (the Digital Services Act), and communicates its decision, together with the reasons for it, to the person who submitted the report and, where applicable, to the User whose content is concerned.

9.8. The User retains the rights to his own content, but by posting it grants V&J a free, non-exclusive and transferable licence to use, reproduce, adapt and communicate that content to the public in the context of the operation and promotion of the Platform, for the term of protection of the rights concerned.

10.1. All texts, designs, photographs, images, databases, software, trade names, trademarks (including MySidekick), logos and other components of the Platform are protected by intellectual property rights and belong to V&J or its licensors. V&J reserves the broadest possible intellectual property rights.

10.2. The User is not permitted to modify, reproduce, make public, distribute, sell, scrape or otherwise use the content of the Platform, in whole or in part, without V&J's prior written consent. The User obtains only a limited, non-exclusive and non-transferable right of use for the normal use of the Platform.

10.3. Nothing in these terms of use may be construed as a transfer of any intellectual property right from V&J to the User.

11.1. V&J processes personal data in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and the applicable national legislation. The manner in which personal data are processed is further explained in the Platform's privacy and cookie statement.

11.2. In respect of the personal data it processes for the operation of the Platform (in particular registration, screening, booking, payment, reviews and ranking), V&J acts as controller within the meaning of Article 4(7) GDPR. The Coach acts as an independent controller for the personal data he processes in the context of the Coaching Agreement and the Session, including the content of the Session. Insofar as V&J and a Coach jointly determine the purposes and means of a particular processing operation, they shall set out their respective obligations in an arrangement in accordance with Article 26 GDPR.

11.3. For the operation of the Platform, V&J uses processors (such as the hosting and payment providers), which process the personal data solely on the instructions and under the supervision of V&J on the basis of a data-processing agreement in accordance with Article 28 GDPR. V&J does not sell or rent personal data to third parties.

11.4. Insofar as the Coachee shares, via free-text fields, data relating to his health or wellbeing (special categories within the meaning of Article 9 GDPR), he does so on his own initiative and limits himself to what is strictly necessary. Such data are made available, via the Platform, only to the Coach concerned, who is responsible for them as controller. V&J does not process such data for its own purposes.

11.5. The User has the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability and objection, as well as the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Authority. These rights are exercised in the manner described in the privacy statement.

12.1. As a mere intermediary, V&J is not liable for the quality, content or outcome of the coaching, which is established exclusively between the Coach and the Coachee. The Platform merely facilitates the bookings.

12.2. V&J is liable only for its own performance as operator of the Platform, and only in the event of intent, gross negligence or the non-performance of an essential obligation. V&J is not liable for indirect damage, consequential damage, immaterial damage, loss of profit or loss of data.

12.3. Insofar as V&J were to be held liable, the compensable damage is in any event limited to the amount the Coachee paid to V&J for one Session, less V&J's Platform Fee. The allocation of risk agreed in these terms of use has been reflected in the price.

12.4. The limitations and exclusions of liability in this Article apply to the extent permitted by applicable law. They are without prejudice to the mandatory rights of the Consumer and do not apply in the event of intent or fraud, nor in the event of death or personal injury caused by a fault of V&J, nor in the other cases where the law prohibits a limitation or exclusion of liability.

12.5. V&J has taken out liability insurance with KBC, with cover up to EUR 500,000. Coaches are required to hold their own (professional) liability insurance for the coaching they provide.

12.6. Any claim by the User must, on pain of forfeiture, be brought within a period of twelve months after the facts on which the claim is based were known or could reasonably have been known to the User, unless a longer mandatory period applies. In respect of the Consumer, this period applies only insofar as mandatory law permits.

12.7. The User indemnifies V&J against all third-party claims arising from or relating to the User's use of the Platform, the content he has posted or the non-compliance with these terms of use or any applicable regulations.

13.1. V&J endeavours to make the Platform available with care and with reasonable availability, but does not warrant uninterrupted, error-free or continuously available operation. The Platform is provided as is.

13.2. V&J is entitled to temporarily take out of service or restrict, in whole or in part, the Platform or components thereof, in particular for maintenance, updates or security, without this giving rise to any compensation. V&J endeavours to inform the User of this in advance where possible.

14.1. In the event of temporary force majeure, V&J's obligations are suspended or limited, without any liability on the part of V&J. Force majeure means any unforeseeable and unavoidable event beyond V&J's control that wholly or partly prevents the performance of its obligation, such as (without limitation) a pandemic, long-term illness, strike, technical failure, hacking, a failure or interruption of the hosting services or the payment provider, general transport or telecommunications problems, government measures, terrorism or war.

14.2. If the force majeure situation continues for more than three months and can therefore no longer be regarded as temporary, both V&J and the User are entitled to terminate the agreement by written notice, without any compensation being due.

15.1. V&J may suspend or terminate an account in the event of abuse, inappropriate content, repeated justified complaints, fraud, conflict with generally accepted professional ethics rules or any other serious breach of these terms of use. Non-payment by a Coach cannot serve as a ground, since V&J itself pays out the Coaches.

15.2. In respect of Coaches, a suspension or termination is carried out in compliance with the safeguards and the statement-of-reasons and notice requirements of the P2B Regulation (EU) 2019/1150.

15.3. The User may terminate his account at any time in accordance with the procedure provided on the Platform. A termination does not affect Sessions already booked and the cancellation rules applicable thereto under Article 6.

16.1. The Platform is intended to bring Coaches and Coachees into contact and to have the booking and payment of Sessions take place via the Platform. V&J may encourage Coaches and Coachees to book their Sessions via the Platform, including by means of loyalty and incentive programmes.

17.1. Unless the User expressly objects, V&J may use the Coach's name and logo as a reference in the context of the operation and promotion of the Platform. The User may not use the name, trademark or logo of V&J or MySidekick without V&J's prior written consent.

18.1. The parties treat all confidential information of which they become aware in the context of the use of the Platform as strictly confidential and do not use it for purposes other than those for which it was provided. Confidential information includes the data of Coachees and Coaches and the information exchanged in the context of a Session.

18.2. This obligation does not apply to information that is public, that was lawfully obtained without an obligation of confidentiality, or whose disclosure is required by law or by a court. The obligation survives the termination of the account.

19.1. All communication in the context of the Platform validly takes place by e-mail or via the account's messaging function. A message is deemed to have been received at the time of its successful electronic transmission.

19.2. The User is responsible for keeping his contact details up to date and accurate. V&J cannot be held liable for the consequences of the User's incorrect, incomplete or outdated contact details.

20.1. V&J is entitled to assign all or part of its rights and obligations under these terms of use to a third party, in particular in the context of a reorganisation or a transfer of its business. The User may not assign his rights and obligations without V&J's prior written consent.

21.1. The parties expressly confirm that the rights and obligations in these terms of use reflect the parties' actual intention and consensus and do not create any manifest imbalance. The allocation of risk agreed in these terms of use has been reflected in the price and the Platform Fee.

22.1. Each provision of these terms of use must, as far as possible, be interpreted in a manner compatible with the applicable law. The possible invalidity of a provision does not entail the invalidity of the entire agreement. In that case, the invalid provision is replaced by a valid provision that most closely reflects the original intention of the parties.

22.2. V&J's failure to enforce, or to enforce immediately, any right under these terms of use does not constitute a waiver of that right. These terms of use, together with the special conditions provided on the Platform, constitute the entire agreement between the parties.

23.1. Complaints may be addressed to V&J via hello@mysidekick.world. A complaint is handled within five working days after both the Coach and the Coachee have been heard by V&J.

23.2. In the event of a dispute, the parties undertake first to attempt, for a period of thirty days, to reach an amicable solution before taking further steps.

23.3. Failing an amicable solution, disputes may, in a B2B relationship, be resolved primarily through mediation or arbitration. In respect of the Consumer, this clause does not apply: the Consumer always retains the right to bring the matter before the competent court and may in addition turn to the Consumer Mediation Service (Koning Albert II-laan 8, 1000 Brussels).

23.4. These terms of use and all legal relationships between V&J and the User are governed exclusively by Belgian law. For disputes that are not resolved by the aforementioned route, the courts of the judicial district of V&J's registered office have jurisdiction, without prejudice to the mandatory rules of jurisdiction protecting the Consumer.