Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Lancelot website, the Lancelot app, and the related services we provide (together, the "Platform"). The Platform is operated by Lancelot ("Lancelot", "we", "us", or "our"), based in Manchester, United Kingdom. Lancelot is in the process of being registered as a company; we will publish our registered company name, number, and office address here as soon as registration is complete.

Please read these Terms carefully. By creating an account, joining our waitlist, or otherwise using the Platform, you agree to be bound by them. If you do not agree, please do not use the Platform.

These Terms sit alongside our Privacy Policy and the other documents listed on our Legal page, which form part of your agreement with us. If you offer services as a Hero, the Hero Terms also apply to you.

1. Definitions

• "Client" means a person who uses the Platform to find, book, or pay for a service.
• "Hero" means an independent local business or sole trader who offers services to Clients through the Platform.
• "Lance" means the AI agent (and its alternative personas) that you interact with on the Platform.
• "Booking" means an arrangement for a Hero to provide a service to a Client, made or recorded through the Platform.
• "Quote" and "Invoice" mean the documents a Hero sends a Client through the Platform to price a job and to ask for payment.
• "The Order" means the group of Heroes whom Lance may put forward to Clients looking for help.
• "Content" means anything you submit to the Platform, including messages, voice notes, photos, videos, reviews, profile details, quotes, and invoices.

2. Who can use Lancelot

You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a legally binding contract, whether you use the Platform as a Client or as a Hero. We do not check ages; by using the Platform you confirm that you are 18 or over. The Platform is currently intended for people and businesses in the United Kingdom, and we verify UK mobile numbers only.

If you use the Platform on behalf of a business, you confirm that you have authority to bind that business, and "you" includes that business.

3. The waitlist and early access

Parts of Lancelot are still being built and released in stages. You may be able to join a waitlist or refer other people; the rules for both are in the Waitlist and Referral Terms. A place on a waitlist is not a guarantee of access, of any particular feature, or of any launch date.

Features described on our website as coming soon are not part of the service until we switch them on. Where a feature is not yet available, these Terms say so.

4. Your account

You sign in through a third-party sign-in method (Google, or a sign-in link sent to your email address) and may be asked to verify a UK mobile number. You agree to:

• provide accurate, current, and complete information, and keep it up to date;
• keep your sign-in method and devices secure;
• not share your account or let anyone else use it; and
• be responsible for activity that takes place under your account, unless it results from our failure to take reasonable care.

One account can act as both a Client and a Hero. Tell us immediately at support@trylancelot.com if you suspect unauthorised use of your account.

Using Lancelot with an account also accepts the browser storage described in our Cookie Policy, so we do not ask you about cookies again once you are signed in. You can change that choice, and switch usage analytics off altogether, at any time in Account, then Privacy settings.

5. What Lancelot is, and what it is not

Lancelot provides software. For Heroes, it is a tool for running their work: services and prices, quotes, bookings, a diary, invoices, and a public page. For Clients, it is a way to describe what they need, be introduced to Heroes, and keep the conversation, quote, booking, and invoice in one place.

Lancelot is not a party to the contract for the service itself. When a Client books a Hero, the contract for that service is between the Client and the Hero. In particular:

• Heroes are independent businesses. They are not our employees, workers, agents, or partners, and we do not supervise, direct, or control their work.
• We do not provide the services Heroes offer, and we do not guarantee the quality, safety, legality, or timing of any service, or that a Hero holds any particular licence, qualification, or insurance unless we expressly say we have checked it (see Verification and Trust).
• We do not guarantee that a Client will pay, turn up, or behave as agreed.
• Putting a Hero forward is an introduction, not a recommendation or an endorsement of their work.

You are responsible for your own decisions about whom to book or work for. We encourage you to use the information on the Platform, ask questions, and use your own judgement.

6. Using Lance

Lance is an automated AI system. It is not a human, and it can be wrong. It may misunderstand a request, produce an inaccurate summary, quote, or invoice draft, or suggest a Hero who is not right for the job. Full details are in How Lance Works.

• Review anything Lance prepares before you confirm or send it. You are responsible for what is sent in your name. Lance asks you to confirm before it takes an action that matters, such as sending a quote, confirming a booking, or sending an invoice.
• Do not rely on Lance for emergencies or for legal, medical, financial, gas, electrical, or other safety-critical advice. In an emergency, call 999.
• Do not try to misuse, manipulate, or extract the instructions or systems behind Lance, or use it to produce unlawful or harmful content.

7. Bookings

A Booking is formed when the Client and Hero confirm the arrangement through the Platform, including by a Client accepting a Hero's Quote. You agree to give accurate information, to be available as arranged, and to treat the other person honestly and with respect.

Changes to a Booking should be agreed through the Platform so there is a clear record. The Hero's own terms (for example on a Quote) apply between the Client and the Hero, so far as they are consistent with the law and with these Terms.

Where a Booking is marked as finished and the Client neither confirms nor raises a problem within the period shown in the app, the Platform may mark it as complete automatically. This affects the record only; it does not remove anyone's legal rights.

8. Payments

Today, Clients pay Heroes directly, outside Lancelot. A Hero sends an Invoice through the Platform; the Client receives the Hero's chosen payment details (such as bank account details) and pays the Hero directly, for example by bank transfer or in cash. The Hero then records the payment on the Platform.

• Lancelot does not receive, hold, or move that money, is not a party to the payment, and cannot reverse or refund it. We never see or store your card details.
• Always check that payment details came from the Hero through Lancelot before you pay. We will never ask you to pay Lancelot for a Hero's work by bank transfer.
• Records of Quotes, Invoices, and payments on the Platform are kept by the people who entered them. We do not verify that a payment was made.

Card payments, deposits, and protected payments are not yet available. If we introduce them, they will be provided through a regulated payment provider under additional terms that we will show you before you use them.

Fees that Lancelot charges are described in the Subscription Terms and the Hero Terms. Clients are not charged for using Lancelot. Full details are in Payments, Cancellations and Refunds.

9. Cancellations, refunds, and disputes

Because the service contract is between the Client and the Hero, cancellations, refunds, and remedies for the service are a matter between them, subject to the Client's legal rights. Payments, Cancellations and Refunds explains how this works, including a Client's right to cancel some contracts within 14 days.

If something goes wrong, tell the other person promptly and tell us. Complaints and Disputes explains what we can and cannot do. We may review the record and help the two of you reach a resolution, but we do not decide legal claims and we cannot force either side to pay.

10. Your responsibilities as a Client

You agree to:

• describe what you need honestly and accurately;
• provide a safe, lawful place for the Hero to work, and tell them about any hazards;
• pay the Hero as agreed for services properly provided;
• treat Heroes with respect and not harass, discriminate against, or endanger them; and
• not use the Platform to find a Hero and then deliberately avoid paying them.

11. Your responsibilities as a Hero

If you offer services as a Hero, the Hero Terms apply in full. In summary, you run your own business: you are responsible for your work, your prices, your licences and insurance, your taxes, and your compliance with consumer law towards your Clients.

12. Trust, safety, and verification

We may carry out checks on Heroes, and we describe exactly what each check means in Verification and Trust. No check is a guarantee. A badge tells you what we looked at and when; it does not tell you that a person is safe, skilled, or honest. Please take the same care you would with anyone you invite into your home or go to work for.

13. Content, reviews, and feedback

You keep ownership of your Content. You grant Lancelot a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt (for example by resizing images or generating a PDF), and display your Content for the purposes of operating, improving, and promoting the Platform. For Content on a Hero's public page, this includes showing it to anyone on the internet. The licence ends when the Content is deleted from the Platform, except where it has been shared with others (for example a Quote already sent to a Client) or where we must keep it by law.

You are responsible for your Content and confirm that you have the rights to share it, including the consent of anyone identifiable in photos or videos.

Reviews must be honest, first-hand, and about a real job. Fake, paid-for, or incentivised reviews are banned. The rules are in the Community Guidelines and Reviews.

If you give us feedback or suggestions, you agree we may use them freely without any obligation to you.

14. Acceptable use

You must follow the Community Guidelines. In particular, you agree not to:

• use the Platform for anything unlawful, fraudulent, or harmful;
• post illegal content, or content that harasses, threatens, or discriminates;
• impersonate any person or business, or misrepresent your identity, qualifications, or affiliation;
• send spam, or collect other users' data;
• interfere with or disrupt the Platform, or attempt to gain unauthorised access to it;
• reverse-engineer, scrape, or copy the Platform except as permitted by law; or
• use the Platform to compete with us or to build a similar product.

You can report content or behaviour at any time; see Reporting Content and Safety. We may remove Content and restrict accounts as described there.

15. Intellectual property

The Platform, including the Lancelot name, logos, the "Lance" persona, software, design, and content we provide, is owned by or licensed to Lancelot and is protected by intellectual-property laws. We grant you a limited, personal, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the Platform in accordance with these Terms. If you believe something on the Platform infringes your rights, see Copyright and Takedowns.

16. Your statutory rights as a consumer

Nothing in these Terms affects your legal rights as a consumer that cannot be excluded or limited, including under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. Where you deal with a Hero, the Hero is responsible for providing services with reasonable care and skill as required by law. If you are unsure of your rights, you can get free advice from Citizens Advice.

The digital service we provide to you must be as described, fit for purpose, and of satisfactory quality. If it is not, you may be entitled to a repair, a replacement, or a price reduction for anything you paid us.

17. Third-party services and app stores

The Platform relies on third-party services (such as sign-in, hosting, messaging, and AI providers; see Who Processes Your Data). Your use of those services may be subject to their own terms. We are not responsible for third-party services or websites we do not control.

Where you download an app from an app store, you acknowledge that these Terms are between you and Lancelot, not the store provider; that the store provider has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the app and is not responsible for addressing any claims relating to it; and that the store provider and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms with the right to enforce them against you.

18. Disclaimers

We provide the Platform with reasonable care and skill, but we do not promise that it will always be available, uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that any particular result will follow from using it. Parts of the Platform are new and may change or be withdrawn. Except as set out in these Terms and as required by law, the Platform is provided "as is".

19. Limitation of liability

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law.

Subject to that:

• we are not liable for the acts or omissions of Clients or Heroes, or for the quality, safety, or legality of any service, or for any payment made between them;
• if you are a consumer, we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking these Terms or failing to use reasonable care and skill, but not for loss that is not foreseeable, and not for business losses;
• if you use the Platform for business purposes (including as a Hero), we are not liable for loss of profit, revenue, business, contracts, goodwill, or data, or for any indirect or consequential loss, and our total liability to you in any 12-month period is limited to the greater of (a) the fees you paid to Lancelot in that period and (b) £100.

20. Indemnity

If you use the Platform for business purposes, you agree to compensate us for losses, claims, and reasonable costs that arise from your breach of these Terms, your Content, or the services you provide. This section does not apply to consumers.

21. Suspension and termination

You can stop using the Platform and delete your account at any time; see Deleting Your Account and Data.

We may suspend or end your access, remove Content, or remove a Hero from The Order if we reasonably believe you have broken these Terms, if we must do so by law, or to protect other users or the Platform. Where it is reasonable to do so, we will tell you why and give you the chance to put things right or to challenge the decision (see Complaints and Disputes). Ending your account does not affect Bookings already carried out or sums already owed between a Client and a Hero.

22. Changes to the Platform and these Terms

We may change the Platform, and we may update these Terms, for example to reflect new features, changes in the law, or when Lancelot is registered as a company. We will tell you about significant changes in the app or by email before they take effect, and we may ask you to accept the new version. If you do not agree, you can stop using the Platform and delete your account. We keep a record of which version you accepted and when.

When Lancelot is registered as a company, we may transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms to that company. We will tell you when that happens, and it will not reduce your rights.

23. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you are a consumer, you may bring proceedings in the courts of the part of the United Kingdom where you live; otherwise the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.

24. General

• Whole agreement. These Terms and the documents they refer to are the whole agreement between you and us about the Platform.
• Severance. If any part of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest remains in force.
• No waiver. If we do not enforce a right straight away, we can still enforce it later.
• Third parties. Except for app store providers (section 17), no one else has rights under these Terms.
• Transfer. You may not transfer your rights under these Terms without our consent.
• Events outside our control. We are not responsible for delays or failures caused by events outside our reasonable control.

25. How to contact us

• Email: support@trylancelot.com
• In the app: Account, then Support, then Report a problem.
• Where we are: Lancelot, Manchester, United Kingdom.