Cancellation policy: draft structure
Updated By PetymFacts checked against official sources on
Quick answer
This is a draft for owner and lawyer review, not in force. It sets out the headings Petym's cancellation and refund policy will have, and the questions each clause must answer. It states no notice period, refund amount or charge, because none has been decided. The final policy will be published before bookings open.
Petym is not taking bookings yet, so no booking can be cancelled under this page.
Which laws frame this policy?
Petym will be an e-commerce marketplace for a service, so India's consumer protection law and its e-commerce rules apply, and its data protection law wherever personal data is involved.
The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 defines e-commerce as buying or selling goods or services, including digital products, over a digital or electronic network, and defines an electronic service provider to include an online marketplace. Its definition of service covers service of any description made available to potential users, including boarding or lodging. A shortfall in the quality or manner of a service promised under a contract is a deficiency under the Act.
The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, notified on 23 July 2020, apply to all goods and services bought or sold over a digital or electronic network and to marketplace models of e-commerce. Several of their duties shape a cancellation policy directly, and are listed in the table below.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 applies to the personal data a cancellation involves, such as a pet's health records or a reason for cancelling that reveals a family matter.
| What | The rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Rule 4(8) | No cancellation charges on consumers who cancel after confirming, unless similar charges are borne by the e-commerce entity if it cancels unilaterally | Department of Consumer Affairs (Gazette of India copy hosted by PRS Legislative Research) |
| Rule 4(9) | Consent to a purchase only through an explicit, affirmative action; no pre-ticked boxes | Department of Consumer Affairs (Gazette of India copy hosted by PRS Legislative Research) |
| Rule 4(10) | Accepted refunds paid within a reasonable period, as the Reserve Bank of India or other competent authority prescribes | Department of Consumer Affairs (Gazette of India copy hosted by PRS Legislative Research) |
| Rule 4(4) and 4(5) | A grievance officer, named on the platform, who acknowledges a complaint within forty-eight hours and redresses it within one month | Department of Consumer Affairs (Gazette of India copy hosted by PRS Legislative Research) |
| Rule 5(3)(c) | Information on refunds, payment and grievance redressal displayed clearly and prominently | Department of Consumer Affairs (Gazette of India copy hosted by PRS Legislative Research) |
What headings will the policy have, and what must each answer?
Each heading below is a clause to be written. The questions are what the owner and the lawyer must decide. No answer is given here.
- 1. Who the policy covers
- Does it bind the owner, the sitter and Petym alike? Does it apply the same way to every service, or differently to overnight sitting, visits, walks, boarding, day care and special-needs care?
- 2. When a booking counts as confirmed
- At payment, or when the sitter accepts? How is the owner's explicit consent recorded, with no pre-ticked boxes?
- 3. Cancellation by the owner
- What notice periods apply, and what refund at each? Do festival dates such as Diwali, or long bookings, differ? Is the meet and greet always free of any charge?
- 4. Cancellation or no-show by the sitter
- How much notice must a sitter give? Does Petym try to find a replacement, and how? What is refunded to the owner, and what happens to the sitter? How does Rule 4(8) apply if the owner pays a charge for cancelling?
- 5. Cancellation by Petym
- When may Petym cancel, for example if a sitter's check lapses or there is a safety concern? What does the owner get back, and how fast?
- 6. Pet illness before the booking
- Does a vet's advice not to board or leave the pet count as an owner cancellation? What evidence, if any, is asked for, and how is that health data handled?
- 7. Ending a booking early
- If the owner returns early, or the pet must leave a sitter's home, is any part refunded?
- 8. Extending a booking or a late return
- How is a delayed return handled if the sitter cannot stay on? Who arranges alternative care?
- 9. Events nobody controls
- Floods, curfews, travel bans or illness of the sitter: how is each treated, and who bears the cost?
- 10. How and when refunds are paid
- To the original payment method? Within what period, consistent with Rule 4(10)?
- 11. Complaints and disputes
- Who is the grievance officer, how is a complaint lodged and tracked, and how does the policy meet the forty-eight hour acknowledgement and one month redressal in Rule 4(5)?
- 12. Changes to the policy
- Which version applies to a booking already made? How are owners and sitters told of a change?
What must be decided before this draft can become a policy?
The owner's decisions, in the order the lawyer will need them.
- The notice periods and refund levels for owner cancellations, by service.
- Whether any cancellation charge applies to owners and, if so, the matching charge Petym bears when it or a sitter cancels. Department of Consumer Affairs (Gazette of India copy hosted by PRS Legislative Research)
- The sitter no-show process and what it costs the sitter.
- The refund method and timing.
- The grievance officer's name, designation and contact details for the platform. Department of Consumer Affairs (Gazette of India copy hosted by PRS Legislative Research)
- How health evidence for a pet illness is collected, used and deleted. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
- How this policy is shown before payment, and how consent to it is recorded.
Questions owners ask
Is Petym's cancellation policy in force?
- No. This page is a draft structure for owner and lawyer review, not in force. It lists the headings and questions the policy must answer and states no notice period, refund or charge. The final policy will be published before bookings open.
Can I cancel a Petym booking today?
- There is nothing to cancel yet: Petym is not taking bookings in any city. When bookings open, the final cancellation and refund policy will be shown before you pay, and your booking will follow the version in force when you made it.
Which law covers cancellations on Petym?
- As an online marketplace for services, Petym falls under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, which cover cancellation charges, refunds, consent and grievance handling. Personal data in a cancellation falls under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
Keep reading
Sources
Each source was opened and read on the date shown. How Petym checks its sources
- Department of Consumer Affairs (Gazette of India, Ministry of Law and Justice): The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (No. 35 of 2019), published 9 August 2019 (opens in a new tab)
- Department of Consumer Affairs (Gazette of India copy hosted by PRS Legislative Research): Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, G.S.R. 462(E), 23 July 2020 (opens in a new tab)
- Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology: The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (No. 22 of 2023) (opens in a new tab)