Terms of Use & Conditions
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PARCELA HABITUAL – LDA., NIPC 516433342, with registered office at Rua do Ferragial, nº 33, 5º C, 1200-019 Lisboa, Portugal (“PACO”), is an on demand personal assistant service provider, providing services through its online platform www.pacoservices.pt and using tools such as E-mail, Trello, Whatsapp, Notion and Google Drive (we may use some of your monthly hours to integrate into other systems that you would like to use, or as part of understanding your needs and adopting your processes).
For the purposes of these Terms and Conditions (“T&C”), people registered with PACO that provide personal assistant services through PACOs platform and tools are referred to as Personal Assistants (PA) and persons who enter a contract with PACO to benefit from its personal assistant services are referred to as Clients.
Use of our service is an acceptance of our T&C.
All PAs registered with PACO have been met, interviewed, vetted and reference checked, all hold the necessary qualifications and all go through a process of training and acting under supervision (learning by doing).
Service Conditions
The particular conditions of PACO services, namely the applicable prices, payment conditions and the respective inclusions / exclusions, are described on our platform.
Services will be confirmed by PACO within 48H of your request/selection, through a confirmation sent to the Client by email and text message.
Tasks that demand research require at least 48H to complete and will depend on the scope of work.
Tasks that require immediate attention must be highlighted appropriately and communicated to your PA via Whatsapp, subject to the availability of the team.
If the task must be done within a day, then it will be charged at 1.5H per hour.
We endeavour to complete tasks efficiently and in a timely manner, but there are variables that we are constantly looking to improve and could happen some tasks cannot be done immediately due to peaks in demand. Hence the importance to communicate directly and regularly with your PA well in advance of the deadline of the task.
In order to keep all communication clear, concise and up to date we advise that all communication is done via Trello (or your preferred system) and via PA WhatsApp. You will receive access to your private Trello board and our WhatsApp number after signing up. Please do not contact your PA via its personal WhatsApp or contact number.
We have an in-house handyman available exclusively for our Clients. This service is charged at 25€ + VAT per hour excluding materials.
We also offer a runner service as part of your membership, though note that travel costs such as hiring an Uber is billed separately.
We use Clockify (www.clockify.com) to record the hours worked on tasks. We will send you a Clockify report every Thursday afternoon so you can monitor your hours. It is your responsibility to notify us if you do not wish for us to work over the hours on your package. Any additional hours used to complete tasks not included in your package will be billed at our standard PA rate of 30€ + VAT per hour.
Our office hours are 9AM – 5PM, Monday - Friday.
We can usually accommodate activities out of hours, but note that we require at least 24Hs’ notice, subject to availability and will incur a 50% surcharge of time rate during the weekday and 100% surcharge of time rate at the weekend. For example, if you need a task completed on Thursday evening and it takes 1H to complete, this will be recorded as 1.5H or if the same task needs to be completed on Saturday it will be recorded as 2H. We will do our best to accommodate whatever you require so if there is something urgent please let us know and we will do our best to help.
Whenever the allocated PA is momentarily unavailable, the service will be provided by the remaining members of the PACO team, who will have access to the necessary information and communications in the strictest measure of need and safeguarding confidentiality issues and personal data as much as possible.
Please note the privacy of your information is important to PACO and we treat it with confidentiality. As the information we receive on your behalf may be shared between the PACO team to process the services efficiently, remind that if there is information that is particularly sensitive, it is up to you to inform us of this / decide to pass on this sensitive information to us (PA / PACO team).
The contracting of personal assistance services, including service providers such as handyman, must be carried out exclusively through the PACO platform. The Client can not directly request or hire PAs present on PACO’s platform, even during the period of 12 months after the last use of the PACO service. The same obligation is assumed by PAs registered on the PACO platform. Failure by the Client to comply with this restriction obliges it to indemnify PACO in the amount of €12.000,00 or 20% of the PA's gross annual new salary (whichever is the greatest), an amount that is fixed as a penalty clause and that both PARTIES consider fair.
If the service can not be provided, for a period longer than 24H, a proportional refund of the price paid can be claimed within 5 days of the date in question.
If the Client decides not to continue with the PACO service for reasons other than those above, no refund is available.
Payment for the services must be made exclusively to PACO, through its platform. Payments collected by PACO are safely processed from Client’s credit/debit card or bank account to the bank account of PACO.
The Client will not hold PACO liable or responsible for any (authorized, (allegedly) unauthorized or wrong) charge and not (re)claim any amount for any valid or authorized charge (including for booking pre-paid rates, no-show and chargeable cancellation) of Client’s credit card.
Disrespectful behaviour to any Client and or member of our team will not be tolerated.
Intellectual property rights
PACO is the exclusive owner of all intellectual property rights related to the Service.
The contents present on PACO’s platform, namely, texts, images, brands, logos, source codes are protected by intellectual property legislation, namely, by copyright and industrial property rights, and its ownership or license, held by PACO and its suppliers or licensors, may not be copied, imitated or used, total or partially, without PACO’s or the holder, of the applicable intellectual property right, prior written authorization, and the PA and or the Client recognizes and accepts this.
The Client will not copy, translate, disassemble or decompile, nor create or attempt to create, by reverse engineering or otherwise, the source code and the object code of PACO’s platform, as well as third party tools and applications and the software associated with its operationality, nor remove any confidentiality or intellectual property notices.
The Client undertakes to fully compensate PACO for any restitutions, costs or expenses that PACO must face as a result of claims of any kind or nature that are directed against PACO by third parties, based on the violation of third-party rights, namely intellectual property rights related to the use of content provided or made available through the platform and the services associated with the platform, including for restitutions agreed and paid to third parties.
The use of the service by the Client will not constitute or cause the transfer of any intellectual property rights owned by PACO.
The Client cannot, during or after the termination of the Service provision, under any circumstance, dispute PACO’s intellectual property rights, undertaking not to acquire and/or use, even if in an attempted way, by any means, including, but not limited to, by paying or free of charge, exchange, license, rent, register or deposit PACO’s intellectual property rights.
Personal data processing and protection during the use of the Platform
PACO, as the controller, is committed to protect the privacy and personal data of its Clients and the PAs as users of the platform, so it has prepared and adopted a privacy policy (which can be consulted https://www.pacoservices.pt/privacy-policy), where in an exhaustive manner it is explained to the Client and the PA how their personal data are collected and processed, so we advise you to read it.
The personal data collected will be used, for example, for the purposes of (a) your registration on the platform, (b) management of the contract that you have with PACO, (c) management of PACO’s platform and, after you give to PACO your prior consent, (d) marketing purposes. The processing of your personal data is better described in the Privacy Policy (available https://www.pacoservices.pt/privacy-policy). The personal data collected will not be used for any other purpose without your prior consent and will be kept by PACO for the time required to pursue each of the purposes, notwithstanding the applicable lawful periods. The Client and the PA can exercise their rights under the law (access, rectification, erasure, limitation, limitation, opposition, portability, withdraw your consent) by writing to the following email [chris@pacoservices.pt], notwithstanding the right to lodge a complaint with the competent control authority (www.cnpd.pt).
Final Dispositions
Subject to the limitations set out in these T&Cs and to the extent permitted by Law, PACO shall only be liable for direct damages actually suffered, paid or incurred by Clients, due to an attributable shortcoming of our obligations in respect to our services through PACO’s platform, up to an aggregate amount of i) a total remuneration received in 1-year by PACO for services provided to the Client, or ii) the value of 1.000,00 €, whichever is lower in the specific case.
However and to the extent permitted by Law, neither PACO nor any of its officers, directors, employees, representatives, subsidiaries, affiliated companies, distributors, affiliate (distribution) partners, licensees, agents or others involved in creating, sponsoring, promoting, or otherwise making available the platform and its contents shall be liable for (i) any punitive, special, indirect or consequential loss or damages, any loss of production, loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of contract, loss of or damage to goodwill or reputation, loss of claim, (ii) any inaccuracy relating to the (descriptive) information (including rates, availability and ratings) of the PA as made available on our platform, (iii) the services rendered by the PA, (iv) any (direct, indirect, consequential or punitive) damages, losses or costs suffered, incurred or paid by the Client/PA, pursuant to, arising out of or in connection with the use, inability to use or delay of our platform, or (v) any (personal) injury, death, property damage, or other (direct, indirect, special, consequential or punitive) damages, losses or costs suffered, incurred or paid by the Client/PA, whether due to (legal) acts, errors, breaches, (gross) negligence, willful misconduct, omissions, non-performance, misrepresentations, tort or strict liability by or (wholly or partly) attributable to a PA whose service is made available, offered or promoted on or through the platform, including any (partial) cancellation, force majeure or any other event beyond control.
The Client accepts that PACO may communicate with it by email, text message or phone in relation to any matter concerning the provision of PACO services.
All information related to PACO, PACO services, the PAs and the Clients is strictly confidential and must not be passed on to any other person without the express permission of the owner of that information. All this information must be kept confidential at all times.
The platform may contain links to third party websites. These links are provided solely as a convenience to the user and not as an endorsement by PACO of the contents on such third-party websites. PACO is not responsible for the content of linked third party sites and does not make any representations regarding the content or accuracy of materials on such third-party websites.
The user agrees not to resell or assign its rights or obligations under this T&Cs. The user also agrees not to make any unauthorised commercial use of PACO’s services and platform.
The Client has the right to freely terminate this contract and or any service, within 14 calendar days without the need to indicate any reason (right of withdrawal). The period for exercising the right of withdrawal expires within 14 days from the date when this contract and or the booked service was concluded – meaning the day when services were selected and payment was completed. In order to exercise this right, the Client must send a clear and unambiguous communication of its decision to end the contract/booking, by one of the following ways: 1) using the form provided in Decree-Law No. 24/2014, of February 14th, and sending it to PACO’s address; or 2) sending a registered letter to PACO’s address; or 3) sending an email to PACO’s email address for customer support. PACO will confirm reception of that communication within 24 hours after receiving such request.
For the resolution period to be considered as having been respected, it is enough that the communication of resolution is sent before the end of the resolution period.
The right of withdrawal established in the previous paragraphs shall no longer apply / shall cease its effects in the event that the service is provided to the Client before the resolution period ends. In that case, and considering the fact that the Client already benefited from the services, the Client will no longer be granted the possibility of withdrawing from the contract under these provisions.
Please address any complaints to our Customer Service.
Please note that both PACO and the Client are all entitled to terminate their relationship and the use of the platform for whatever reason with due observance of the relevant notice period of 30 days.
In case of any dispute regarding the service provided by PACO, Portuguese Law shall apply and the Parties shall submit any litigation to the competent Court of the Client’s domicile.
Without prejudice, PACO informs that, under the terms foreseen in the Consumer Protection Law, consumer disputes of low economic value (less than €5,000.00) are subject to necessary arbitration or mediation, whenever, by express choice of the consumers, they are submitted to the appreciation of an arbitral tribunal attached to the legally authorized centres of arbitration of consumer disputes. Thus, in the event of a dispute, the end consumer may resort to any of these means, and must be represented by a lawyer or solicitor (or request legal aid, as provided by law).
Also, you can access the Consumer Portal (www.consumidor.pt) for more information regarding the Alternative Consumer Dispute Resolution Entities. These entities are available to promote the extrajudicial resolution of national and cross-border disputes under Law No. 144/2015, of September 8, when they are initiated by a consumer against a supplier of goods or services provider, in Portugal and the European Union.
PACO reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to pursue all of its legal remedies, including but not limited to termination of your registration with or ability to access the platform and/or any other service provided to you by PACO, upon any breach by you of these T&Cs.
PACO reserves the right to review and to revise these T&C without prior notice. In such cases, PACO will send the new T&Cs by email to the users. If users continue to use the platform after receiving the new T&Cs, their full acceptance is presumed.