Terms & Conditions for Lonely Pets Club (LPC)

Please note that the Terms and Conditions below are current and supersede the corresponding Terms and Conditions appearing on our Registration Forms.

Booking Conditions and Payment Terms

All bookings, cancellations, date changes and refund queries are to be made through head office on 1300 283 353 (1300 CUDDLE) during business hours.

No bookings, booking changes or monies will be accepted by Lonely Pets Club Carers.

Full payment for all bookings is required at the time of making the booking. Only once full payment has been received by Lonely Pets Club and a confirmation email has been received by the client, is the booking confirmed.

Unless otherwise requested by the Member, credit card details will be kept securely on file.

For our regular dog walking service, the first 7 visits are payable in advance. After this, we will invoice you monthly in arrears. The credit card supplied at the time of your booking will be debited no earlier than 7 days after invoice date, for your previous month's dog walking.

Before your first booking starts, a Lonely Pets Club carer will visit your home to introduce him/herself, meet your pets, obtain all relevant job details and collect any keys required. This "Initial Visit" is included in your Membership Fee. If any subsequent visits are required (to collect/drop off keys or to meet a new LPC Carer), then an Extra Visit must be purchased.

As part of the booking process, Lonely Pets Club will email you a confirmation of your booking details. It is your responsibility to check that the booking details are correct and to let us know if they are not. If you are unable to provide Lonely Pets Club with an email address, or if you do not let us know if the details are incorrect, Lonely Pets Club will not be responsible for any errors which may occur.

Lonely Pets Club recommends at least one pet care visit each day while you are away. If you have not booked at least one visit per day (eg you have selected alternate day visits), you acknowledge that there is an increased likelihood of:

Your pets' water supplies running out or becoming dirty.
Food supplies running out in between visits.
Kitty litter trays becoming more soiled than usual.
Your pets showing signs of stress.
External factors affecting your property/premises/pets which are out of Lonely Pets Club's control.

Our minimum callout is 30 minutes (excluding Drop Ins, which are 'up to 30 minutes'). This time begins when we arrive at your property/house. For Walkies visits, it is a 30 minute service, not a 30 minute walk. Any time spent gaining access to your property/house or putting a lead/harness on your dog/s, is included in this 30 minute timeframe.

Surcharges will apply if Lonely Pets Club is required to purchase pet supplies on your behalf. In such instances, a Shopping Surcharge will be added to your booking (refer Pricelist). This covers up to 30 minutes of your Carer's time and petrol in shopping on your behalf. In addition, you will be charged 33% on top of the value of the pet supplies purchase price. This additional 33% is in place to ensure Carers aren't negatively affected tax wise, nor income wise as a result of paying for your pet supplies. To avoid having to pay this additional 33%, please leave cash out for your Carer, should you think your pet supplies may run out during your booking.

Lonely Pets Club reserves the right to turn down any booking (with full refund) when we feel our service is unsuitable. Possible reasons are to protect the safety of our carers if an animal appears to be aggressive, or if we are concerned for the animal's welfare due to its living conditions.

For guidelines on suitable living conditions for your pet, please visit the RSPCA's website www.rspca.org.au and see their Animals Charter.

Payment Options

Master Card, Visa: Phone 1300 CUDDLE / 1300 283 353.
Cash (in person at head office).
Cheque or money order mailed to Lonely Pets Club, PO Box 1042, Brunswick, VIC, 3056.
Direct Credit- Commonweath Bank: BSB# 063 111 ACC# 1049 1654. Please include your booking number in the transaction and keep a copy of your receipt.

Booking Cancellations

Outside peak periods, all bookings under $500 have a booking cancellation fee of $25. Bookings over $500 have a cancellation fee of 5%. (See below for Peak Periods.)
Regular dog walking bookings incur a booking cancellation fee of $25, if cancelled before 7 walks have occurred. There is no cancellation fee for regular dog walking after the first 7 walks have occurred.
Upon your notification to cease your dog walking, we will debit your supplied credit card to finalise any unpaid dog walks.

Booking Date Changes

Any money that has been paid for dates rescheduled with less than 2 days notice, will be forfeited. Any new dates added to the booking will be charged accordingly.
Date changes with more than 2 days notice can be made readily, as required, subject to availability.
Please note: the above scenarios are based on 2 days notice being Today and Tomorrow.
Date change example - Say you arrive home 3 days earlier than planned and cancel our services for the last 3 days of the booking. Once you notify us, you will forfeit the money paid for the next 2 days of pet care, and the money you have paid for the third day of pet care will remain as credit for future bookings, or refunded.

Pet Walking Policy

The Alternative Restraint/Off Lead Agreement option appearing on our Registration Forms now reads: "I understand that LPC prefers all pet walking to be on lead using a Lonely Pets Club approved and supplied restraint." Lonely Pets Club does not promote the use of correction chains.

Peak Period Bookings

Christmas - 15th December to 15th January

There is a minimum booking charge of $100 (excluding Membership Fee if applicable) for all bookings with two or more dates falling within the Christmas period.
Full payment is required at the time of booking.
Cancellations and date changes - All monies will be forfeited on any cancellations or date changes made during the peak period to visits falling within the Christmas peak period. A $50 cancellation fee, or 10% of total booking price for bookings over $500, applies to all Christmas peak season bookings cancelled on or before 14 December.
Peak period surcharge applies to every visit falling within the Christmas peak periods, except for regular clients holding an ongoing booking.
No discounted rates apply, except for regular clients holding an ongoing booking.
All peak period bookings must be for at least one visit per day - for example, no alternate day bookings will be accepted. Regular clients holding an ongoing booking are an exception to this rule.
Christmas Day itself is a 5 minute feeding and watering service only.

Easter - dates differ each year, please refer to LPC office

Full payment is required at time of booking.
Cancellations and date changes - A $50 cancellation fee (or full booking value if booking value is less than $50) applies to any cancelled Easter booking.
All money will be forfeited on any date changes made to visits falling within the Easter peak period.
No discounted rates apply, except for regular clients holding an ongoing booking.
Peak period surcharge applies to every visit falling within the Easter peak period, except for regular clients holding an ongoing booking.
Good Friday is a 5 minute feeding and watering service only.

Other Peak Periods (surrounding public holidays - see 'Our Services' page for details)

Standard cancellation fee and terms apply.

Travel Surcharges

May apply to bookings accepted outside a carer’s area, when agreed to by the client.

Unforeseen Circumstances

While every effort is made to ensure that the same LPC Carer is responsible for your entire booking, occasions may arise whereby another LPC Carer is called upon to care for your pets. This may be due to, but not limited to, sickness, injury, transportation or logistical reasons. A change in Carer is made at Lonely Pets Club's discretion and may occur without notice.

Pet Tag System

Lonely Pets Club provides a free, unique pet tag ID system, with each and every client booking confirmation email. This can enable LPC to quickly and easily identify any pet found to be at large and assists us in being able to return your pet/s safely to you. This will not only give you greater peace of mind, but could also save you money from having to retrieve your pet/s from the pound. Please understand that if our office is unattended (eg weekends, public holidays and after normal working hours), there will be a delay in us being able to identify any lost pets.

'Free Visit' Vouchers or Promotions

Any 'Free Visit' voucher or promotion is for a 30 minute, non public holiday, non peak period visit. When different priced visits are booked for a single booking, the free visit will be for the lowest price visit.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, AUTHORIZATIONS AND REPRESENTATIONS

1.  You are the owner of the pet/s appearing on your booking 
    confirmation and you are the owner or legal occupant of 
    the property at which the pet/s is/are housed.
2.  You have fully disclosed to LPC all relevant details as 
    to emergency contacts, veterinary contacts, the pet/s’ 
    vices, likes and dislikes, behavioural issues, health 
    and medical information sufficient to enable LPC to 
    provide a high standard of care being that of a caring 
    and prudent pet owner.  (Verbal discussions with Carer 
    at any stage, do not form part of the contract unless 
    content appears on your Booking Confirmation).  You 
    authorize LPC to deal with any unforeseen or emergency 
    circumstances using its own discretion at your expense 
    (and without reference to you where you have failed to 
    provide LPC with effective emergency and/or veterinary 
    contact details), including temporary relocation of your 
    pet/s if considered prudent.
3.  The pet/s does/do not have any disease or health 
    condition which may be transmittable.
4.  You acknowledge that certain pets, in some situations, 
    can become stressed, due to your absence.  LPC will not 
    be responsible for any property damage that may occur 
    whatsoever, due to the way your pet/s may react to this 
    stress. You also accept that pet excrement may go 
    undetected if it is located in an area of your house/
    property, which is not immediately obvious. 
5.  You acknowledge that unforeseen circumstances may arise 
    which may, in the interest of your pet/s’ well being, 
    cause additional time to be spent and expenses incurred 
    by LPC attending to such issues. 
6.  You hereby authorize LPC to obtain veterinary advice or 
    treatment from your nominated vet or if not readily 
    available, an alternative vet for your pet/s, at your 
    expense, if considered necessary or prudent by LPC.
7.  You hereby authorize LPC to gain access to your property
    for the purposes specified in this contract and if 
    considered necessary by LPC for the well being of your 
    pet/s to employ a locksmith at your expense, to gain 
    access.
8.  You acknowledge that LPC is not responsible for the 
    security of the premises or for any loss or damage 
    resulting from inadequate, breached or failed security.
9.  You acknowledge that LPC reserves the right to decline 
    your booking, or withdraw its service (at any stage), 
    if in the opinion of LPC, inadequate provisions are 
    made by you for the health, safety and maintenance of 
    your pet/s, or circumstances exist which may cause any
    safety risk to LPC Carers. In the case of service being
    withdrawn after commencement, you acknowledge that 
    following notification to either you or your nominated 
    emergency contact and the refund of any unexpended 
    monies paid, responsibility for the care of your pet/s 
    reverts to you or your nominated (non veterinary) 
    emergency contact.
10. You acknowledge that these conditions are subject to 
    change and that you have read and accepted the current 
    and updated terms and conditions which appear on our 
    website www.lonelypetsclub.com.au. 
11. You acknowledge that every time you use the services of
    LPC in the future, the terms and conditions appearing 
    on the website at that time must be read and acknowledged 
    together with the terms contained in the registration 
    form and booking confirmation as forming the contract 
    between you and LPC, provided that in the event of any 
    inconsistency in the contents of such documents, these 
    terms and conditions shall prevail.
12. You acknowledge that due to LPC operational reasons or 
    for any unforeseen circumstances, occasions may arise 
    whereby LPC cannot strictly adhere to ‘time specific’ 
    requests.  It is Lonely Pets Club usual policy to not 
    offer time specific visits that are more defined 
    than simply AM or PM.  Should Lonely Pets Club agree to and 
    accept a time specific visit request, additional charges 
    will apply and these additional charges will be included 
    in any supplied quote.  Acceptance of a time specific 
    request and subsequent payment do not guarantee a time
    specific visit.  However Lonely Pets Club will fully refund 
    all time specific surcharges paid, should that visit not 
    occur within a 30 minute window of the agreed time specific
    request.
13. You acknowledge that a change in LPC Carer may occur 
    without notice and is done so at the discretion of LPC 
    management.
14. You hereby authorize LPC to pay an amount up to $500.00 
    (in addition to the agreed pet care rates) from your
    credit card facility towards any necessary Veterinary, 
    Locksmith, Pound retrieval or animal supplies expenses, 
    as they are incurred, in accordance with this contract. 
15. You acknowledge that you are liable for all locksmith expenses
    incurred at your property unless caused by LPC having lost
    your keys.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND INDEMNITIES

You accept responsibility for and fully indemnify LPC, its 
employees, carers, agents and contractors against any claim 
whatsoever arising from or in relation to:

16. Providing a secure, safe and healthy environment for your
    pet/s to live in with adequate provision of shelter from 
    the elements, food appropriately stored, water supply, 
    stable and ample feeding dishes and medication for the 
    time you are away.
17. Providing a safe working environment for LPC Carers.
18. Providing LPC with appropriate keys, access information, 
    vet contact details and emergency contact details for 
    every LPC booking.
19. The accuracy and sufficiency of information provided by 
    you on the registration form and/or booking confirmation.
20. LPC’s management and control of your pet/s.  
21. Any injury to any animal (including your pet/s) or person
    or damage to property during the time or arising out of 
    the time that LPC has the care of your pet/s, whether or 
    not LPC is gaining access to or departing from the 
    premises, during the actual visiting times or otherwise 
    on the days specified in the contract. 
22. Any liability incurred by LPC or its Carers under the 
    provisions of the Domestic (feral and nuisance) Animals 
    Act or any other State, Federal, or Local Government 
    legislation in relation to the ownership or control of 
    your pet/s.
23. Additional expenses incurred on your behalf and payable 
    on request to Veterinary Surgeons, Locksmiths and Animal
    Pounds in accordance with this contract including but not
    limited to the amount of $500.00 authorized for credit 
    card payment on the registration form.  
24. Payment of charges specified by LPC at the time of 
    confirmation of your booking, together with additional 
    charges, payable on request, for time spent by LPC and 
    expenses incurred attending to unforeseen or emergency 
    circumstances or otherwise in accordance with this 
    contract.
25. Force Majeure. If Lonely Pets Club (LPC) is unable at 
    any time to perform any of its obligations whether wholly
    or partly by reason of any cause beyond its control 
    (including without limitation, acts of God, inclement 
    weather, strikes, lockouts, fires, riots, civil commotion 
    or unrest, interference by civil or military authorities 
    or act of war) LPC may give written notice to that effect 
    to you, giving full particulars of such force 
    majeure. In such instances LPC will liaise with you
    and/or your supplied Emergency Contact directly 
    to determine if a workable solution can be found.  If no 
    workable solution can be found, the responsibility for 
    the care of the pets reverts back to you or your 
    nominated Emergency contact.  LPC services will then
    be suspended during the Term of the force majeure and 
    all monies received for the services which could not be 
    provided will be refunded.