Terms of use

1. Purpose

BOOST Sarl (hereinafter “AutostopMobility”) publishes a carpooling platform accessible through a website, notably at www.autostopmobility.com, or as a mobile app, intended to (i) connect drivers travelling to a given destination on their own behalf with passengers going in the same direction, enabling them to share the journey and its associated costs,

These Terms of Use govern access to and use of the Platform. Please read them carefully. You understand and acknowledge that AutoStop is not a party to any agreement, contract or contractual relationship of any kind between Members of its Platform.

By clicking “Sign up” or “Pay”, you acknowledge that you have read and accept these Terms of Use in their entirety.

2. Definitions

In these Terms,

“Listing” means a Carpool Listing, Bus Listing or Train Listing;

“Carpool Listing” means a listing concerning a Trip posted on the Platform by a Driver;

“AutoStop” has the meaning given in Article 1 above;

“Terms” means these Terms of Use;

“Order” means the transaction by which the Customer books any Services with AutoStop, regardless of the booking method used,

“Account” means the account that must be created to become a Member and access certain Services offered by the Platform;

“Facebook Account” has the meaning given in Article 3.2 below;

“Driver” means a Member offering on the Platform to transport another individual in exchange for a Contribution to Costs, on a route and at a time determined solely by the Driver;

“Booking Confirmation” has the meaning given in Article 4.2.1 below;

“Member Content” has the meaning given in Article 11.2 below;

“Service Fees” has the meaning given in Article 5.2 below;

“Member” means any individual who has created an Account on the Platform;

“Passenger” means (i) the Member who has accepted the Driver's offer of transport or, where applicable, the person on whose behalf a Member has booked a Seat

“Contribution to Costs” means, for a given Carpool Trip, the amount requested by the Driver and accepted by the Passenger as their contribution to travel expenses;

“Seat” means the seat booked by a Customer in a Driver's vehicle

“Platform” has the meaning given in Article 1 above;

“Booking” has the meaning given in Article 4.2.1 below;

“Services” means all services provided by AutoStop through the Platform;

“Website” means the website accessible at www.autostopmobility.com;

“Sub-Trip” has the meaning given in Article 4.1 below;

“Trip” means a Carpool Trip.

“Carpool Trip” means the journey covered by a Carpool Listing published by a Driver on the Platform, for which the Driver agrees to transport Passengers in exchange for a Contribution to Costs;

“Mobile Money Payment Solution” has the meaning given in Article 5.4.2.a below:

“Mobile Money Payment Solution Provider” means Orange Money and MTM Money.

3. Platform registration and Account creation

3.1. Conditions for registration on the Platform

Use of the Platform is restricted to individuals aged 18 or over. Registration by a minor is strictly prohibited. By accessing, using or registering on the Platform, you declare and warrant that you are aged 18 or over.

3.2. Account creation

The Platform allows Members to publish Carpool Listings, browse Listings and interact to book Seats. You may browse Listings without being registered. However, you cannot publish a Carpool Listing or book a carpool Seat without first creating an Account and becoming a Member.

To create your Account, you can:

(i) complete all mandatory fields on the registration form;

To register on the Platform, you must have read and accepted these Terms.

When creating your Account, regardless of the method chosen, you undertake to provide accurate and truthful personal information and to update it through your profile or by notifying AutoStop, ensuring its relevance and accuracy throughout your contractual relationship with AutoStop.

When registering by email, you undertake to keep the password chosen when creating your Account secret and not to share it. If your password is lost or disclosed, you undertake to inform AutoStop without delay. You remain solely responsible for a third party's use of your Account until you expressly notify AutoStop of the loss, fraudulent use by a third party or disclosure of your password to a third party.

You undertake not to create or use, under your own identity or a third party's identity, Accounts other than the one initially created.

You are informed of your right to register on the telephone marketing opt-out list. This service is governed by a third party's terms of use and privacy policy. Please refer to AutoStop's Privacy Policy for information on the processing of your personal data.

3.3. Verification

For transparency, to improve trust or to prevent or detect fraud, AutoStop may introduce verification of certain information provided on your profile, particularly when you provide your phone number or an identity document.

You acknowledge and accept that references on the Platform or Services to “verified” information or similar terms mean only that a Member has successfully completed the verification procedure available on the Platform or Services, to provide more information about the Member with whom you intend to travel. AutoStop does not guarantee the truthfulness, reliability or validity of information that has undergone verification.

4. Use of the Services

4.1. Publishing Carpool Listings

As a Member, provided that you meet the conditions below, you may create and publish Carpool Listings on the Platform, specifying information about your intended Carpool Trip: departure and arrival dates, times and locations, number of seats offered, available options, Contribution to Costs, etc.

When publishing your Carpool Listing, you may specify intermediate cities where you agree to stop to pick up or drop off Passengers. Sections of the Carpool Trip between these intermediate cities, or between an intermediate city and the departure or arrival point, constitute “Sub-Trips”.

You may publish a Carpool Listing only if all the following conditions are met:

(i) you hold a valid driving licence;

(ii) you offer Carpool Listings only for vehicles you own or use with the owner's express authorisation and, in all cases, are authorised to use for carpooling;

(iii) you are and remain the principal driver of the vehicle covered by the Carpool Listing;

(iv) the vehicle has valid third-party insurance;

(v) you have no medical contraindication or incapacity preventing you from driving;

(vi) the vehicle intended for the Trip is a four-wheeled passenger car with a maximum of seven seats, excluding vehicles that do not require a driving licence;

(vii) you do not intend to publish another listing for the same Carpool Trip on the Platform;

(viii) you do not offer more Seats than are available in your vehicle;

(ix) all Seats offered have a seat belt, even if the vehicle is approved with seats without seat belts;

(x) you use a vehicle in perfect working order and compliant with applicable practices and laws, including an up-to-date vehicle inspection;

(xi) you are a consumer and are not acting in a professional capacity.

You acknowledge that you are solely responsible for the content of the Carpool Listing you publish on the Platform. You therefore declare and warrant that all information in your Carpool Listing is accurate and truthful, and undertake to carry out the Carpool Trip in accordance with the terms described in that Listing.

Your Carpool Listing will be published on the Platform and visible to Members and all visitors, including non-Members, searching the Platform or AutoStop partners' websites. AutoStop reserves the right, at its sole discretion, not to publish or to remove at any time a Carpool Listing that does not comply with the Terms or that it considers harmful to its image, the Platform or the Services, and/or to suspend the publishing Member's Account in accordance with Article 9 of these Terms.

You are also informed that if you present yourself as a consumer when using the Platform while actually acting in a professional capacity, you may be subject to the prescribed penalties

4.2. Booking a Seat

AutoStop has introduced an online Seat booking system (“Booking”) for Trips offered on the Platform.

The terms for booking a Seat depend on the nature of the intended Trip.

AutoStop provides a search engine on the Platform based on various criteria: origin, destination, dates, number of travellers, etc. Additional features are available when users log in to their Account. Regardless of the booking method used, AutoStop encourages users to consult and use this search engine carefully to identify the offer best suited to their needs.

4.2.1. Carpool Trip

When a Passenger is interested in a Carpool Listing, they may submit an online Booking request. The request is either (i) accepted automatically, if the Driver chose this option when publishing the Listing, or (ii) accepted manually by the Driver. When booking, the Passenger pays the Contribution to Costs and any applicable Service Fees online. After AutoStop verifies payment and the Driver validates the request where applicable, the Passenger receives a booking confirmation (“Booking Confirmation”).

If you are a Driver and chose to manage Booking requests yourself when publishing your Listing, you must respond to each request within a specified period. Otherwise, the request expires automatically and the Passenger is refunded all amounts paid when submitting the request, where applicable.

From the Booking Confirmation, AutoStop connects you with the Driver if you are a Passenger, or the Passenger if you are a Driver. You are then solely responsible for performing the contract with the other Member.

5. Financial terms

Access to and registration on the Platform, as well as searching, browsing and publishing Listings, are free. Booking, however, is paid under the conditions described below.

5.1. Contribution to Costs and Price

5.1.1. For a Carpool Trip, you as the Driver determine the Contribution to Costs under your sole responsibility. Making any profit from using our Platform is strictly prohibited. You therefore undertake to limit the amount requested from Passengers to the expenses you actually incur for the Carpool Trip. Otherwise, you alone bear the risk of reclassification of the transaction carried out through the Platform.

When you publish a Carpool Listing, AutoStop suggests a Contribution to Costs taking account, in particular, of the nature of the Trip and distance travelled. This amount is indicative only; you are responsible for adjusting it up or down to reflect your actual expenses. To prevent abuse, AutoStop limits the available adjustments to the Contribution to Costs.

5.2. Service Fees

In exchange for use of the Platform, AutoStop may charge users service fees (“Service Fees”). Where applicable, users will be informed before any Service Fees are applied.

The current Service Fee calculation terms accessible here are provided for information only and have no contractual force. AutoStop reserves the right to change the calculation terms at any time. Changes will not affect Service Fees accepted by users before the effective date of those changes.

5.3. Rounding

You acknowledge and accept that AutoStop may, at its sole discretion, round Service Fees and the Contribution to Costs up or down to a whole number or decimal.

5.4. Payment and transfer of the Contribution to Costs to the Driver

5.4.1. Driver's instruction mandate

By using the Platform as a Driver for Trips, you confirm that you have read and approved the general terms of the Mobile Money Payment Solution Provider, our payment service provider that transfers Contributions to Costs to Drivers through the Mobile Money Payment Solution defined in Article 5.4.2.a. These terms are referred to below as the “Mobile Money General Terms”.

As a Driver, you instruct:

AutoStop to instruct the Mobile Money Payment Solution Provider to transfer the Contribution to Costs, and the Provider to transfer it to your account in your name and on your behalf, in accordance with the Mobile Money General Terms.

For a Carpool Trip, after manual or automatic acceptance of the Booking, the full amount paid by the Passenger (Service Fees and Contribution to Costs) is held in a blocked account managed by the Mobile Money Payment Solution Provider.

5.4.2. Payment of the Contribution to Costs to the Driver

Following the Carpool Trip, Passengers have 24 hours to submit a complaint to AutoStop. If they raise no objection within this period, AutoStop considers the Trip confirmed.

From this express or tacit confirmation, you as the Driver have a payable credit in your Account. It corresponds to the total paid by the Passenger when the Booking was confirmed, minus Service Fees: that is, the Passenger's Contribution to Costs.

a. Mobile Money Payment Solution

The Mobile Money Payment Solution is a payment service offered by MTN Mobile Money and Orange Money. For the avoidance of doubt, AutoStop provides no payment processing service to Members and never holds Members' funds.

When the Passenger confirms the Carpool Trip, your Driver account is credited.

For this purpose, you may use the Mobile Money Payment Solution by contracting directly with its Provider and accepting its General Terms. After one year from the date it appeared in your Account, any Contribution to Costs that you as the Driver have not claimed through the Mobile Money Payment Solution will be deemed the property of AutoStop.

For Know Your Customer checks, you may be required to provide additional information requested by the Mobile Money Payment Solution Provider. If you do not provide the requested documents, you cannot receive the Contribution to Costs until your identity has been confirmed.

In some circumstances, applicable law may require the Mobile Money Payment Solution Provider to suspend transfers of Contributions to Costs or access to the Payment Solution. Autostop has no control over the Provider's actions.

The Provider's Know Your Customer checks are separate from and independent of any checks AutoStop may carry out when you use the Platform under these Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy.

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6. Non-commercial and non-professional purpose of Drivers' use of the Services and Platform

You undertake to use the Services and Platform only to connect, on a non-professional and non-commercial basis, with people wishing to share a Carpool Trip with you

As a Driver, you undertake not to request a Contribution to Costs exceeding your actual expenses and capable of generating a profit. Since costs are shared, you must also bear your own share of the Carpool Trip's costs. You are solely responsible for calculating your expenses and ensuring that the amount requested from Passengers does not exceed your actual expenses excluding your own contribution, including by reference to the applicable flat-rate tax mileage schedule.

AutoStop reserves the right to suspend your Account if you use a professional vehicle such as a private-hire vehicle or taxi, or a company or service car, and thereby make a profit on the Platform. Upon request, you undertake to provide AutoStop with a copy of your vehicle registration document and/or any other document proving that you are authorised to use the vehicle on the Platform and derive no profit from doing so.

Under Article 9 of these Terms, AutoStop also reserves the right to suspend your Account, limit access to the Services or terminate these Terms if your Platform activity, because of the nature or frequency of trips, the number of Passengers carried or the Contribution to Costs requested, generates a profit, or for any other reason that causes AutoStop to suspect you are making a profit on the Platform.

7. Cancellation policy

7.1. Refund terms in the event of cancellation

This cancellation policy applies only to Carpool Trips. AutoStop offers no guarantee of any kind in the event of cancellation for any reason. The Customer is therefore invited to refer to the Terms of Sale

Cancellation of a Carpool Trip Seat by the Driver or Passenger after Booking Confirmation is subject to the following provisions:

• If cancellation is attributable to the Driver, the Passenger is refunded the entire amount paid, namely the Contribution to Costs and associated Service Fees. This includes where the Driver cancels the Trip or fails to arrive at the meeting point within 15 minutes after the agreed time;

• If cancellation is attributable to the Passenger:

If the Passenger cancels more than 24 hours before the scheduled departure shown in the Carpool Listing, the Contribution to Costs is refunded. AutoStop retains the Service Fees and the Driver receives no payment. If the Passenger cancels 24 hours or less before the scheduled departure and more than thirty minutes after Booking Confirmation, half of the Contribution to Costs paid at Booking is refunded, AutoStop retains the Service Fees and the Driver receives 50% of the Contribution to Costs through the Mobile Money Payment Solution. If the Passenger cancels 24 hours or less before the scheduled departure and thirty minutes or less after Booking Confirmation, the full Contribution to Costs is refunded through the Mobile Money Payment Solution. AutoStop retains the Service Fees and the Driver receives no payment. If the Passenger cancels after the scheduled departure shown in the Listing, or fails to arrive at the meeting point within 15 minutes of the agreed time, no refund is made. The Driver receives the full Contribution to Costs through the Mobile Money Payment Solution and AutoStop retains the Service Fees

If a Passenger cancels before departure, the cancelled Seat or Seats automatically become available to other Passengers for online booking, subject to these Terms.

AutoStop assesses the legitimacy of refund requests at its sole discretion, based on the information available to it.

7.2. Right of withdrawal

By accepting these Terms, you expressly agree that the contract between you and AutoStop to connect you with another Member will be performed from Booking Confirmation, before the withdrawal period expires, and you expressly waive your right of withdrawal.

8. Conduct of Platform users and Members

8.1. Commitments of all Platform users

You acknowledge that you are solely responsible for complying with all laws, regulations and obligations applicable to your use of the Platform.

Furthermore, when using the Platform and during Trips, you undertake to:

(ii) not provide AutoStop, particularly when creating or updating your Account, or other Members with false, misleading, deceptive or fraudulent information;

(iii) not make statements, engage in behaviour or publish content on the Platform, including Messages, that is defamatory, insulting, obscene, pornographic, vulgar, offensive, aggressive, inappropriate, violent, threatening, harassing, racist, xenophobic, sexual in nature, incites violence, discrimination or hatred, encourages illegal activities or substances, or is otherwise unlawful, contrary to applicable laws, these Terms or the Platform's purposes, infringes Autostop's or a third party's rights, or offends public morals;

(iv) not infringe AutoStop's rights or image, particularly its intellectual property rights;

(v) not open more than one Account on the Platform or open an Account in a third party's name;

(vi) not attempt to bypass the Platform's online booking system, in particular by sharing contact details with another Member or a Coach Operator to book outside the Platform and avoid Service Fees;

(viii) not accept or make payments outside the Platform or the Mobile Money Payment Solution;

(ix) comply with these Terms.

8.2. Drivers' commitments

In addition, when using the Platform as a Driver, you undertake to:

(i) comply with all laws, rules and codes applicable to driving and the vehicle, including holding valid third-party liability insurance at the time of the Carpool Trip and a valid driving licence;

(ii) ensure your insurance covers carpooling and that Passengers are considered third parties in your vehicle and therefore covered by your insurance;

(iii) take no risks while driving, consume no product that could impair your attention or abilities, and drive carefully and safely;

(iv) publish Carpool Listings only for trips you genuinely intend to make;

(v) carry out the Carpool Trip as described in the Listing, including whether motorways are used, and respect the times and locations agreed with other Members, particularly meeting and drop-off points;

(vi) not carry more Passengers than the number of Seats stated in the Listing;

(vii) use a vehicle in perfect working order and compliant with applicable practices and laws, including an up-to-date vehicle inspection;

(viii) provide AutoStop or any requesting Passenger with your driving licence, vehicle registration document, insurance certificate, vehicle inspection certificate and any document proving your ability to use the vehicle as a Driver on the Platform;

(ix) promptly inform Passengers if you cannot travel or if the time or Carpool Trip changes;

(x) for a cross-border Carpool Trip, hold and make available to Passengers and requesting authorities documents proving your identity and right to cross the border;

(xi) wait for Passengers at the agreed meeting point for at least 15 minutes after the agreed time;

(xii) not publish a Carpool Listing for a vehicle you do not own or are not authorised to use for carpooling;

(xiii) ensure Passengers can reach you by phone at the number registered on your profile;

(xiv) make no profit through the Platform;

(xv) warrant that you have no medical contraindication or incapacity preventing you from driving;

(xvi) behave appropriately and responsibly during the Carpool Trip, in keeping with the spirit of carpooling.

8.3. Passengers' commitments

8.3.1. During a Carpool Trip

When using the Platform as a Passenger on a Carpool Trip, you undertake to:

(i) behave appropriately during the Trip without disturbing the Driver's concentration or driving, or other Passengers' peace;

(ii) respect the Driver's vehicle and its cleanliness;

(iii) promptly inform the Driver if you cannot travel;

(iv) wait for the Driver at the agreed meeting point for at least 15 minutes after the agreed time;

(v) provide AutoStop or any requesting Driver with your identity card or another document proving your identity;

(vi) carry no object, goods, substance or animal that could interfere with the Driver's concentration or driving, or whose nature, possession or transport is contrary to applicable law;

(vii) for a cross-border Carpool Trip, hold and make available to the Driver and requesting authorities documents proving your identity and right to cross the border;

(viii) ensure the Driver can reach you by phone at the number registered on your profile, particularly at the meeting point.

If you booked one or more Seats for third parties under Article 4.2.3 above, you guarantee their compliance with this Article and these Terms generally. If a third party for whom you booked a Seat breaches the Terms, AutoStop reserves the right to suspend your Account, limit access to the Services or terminate these Terms in accordance with Article 9.

8.4. Reporting inappropriate or illegal content (notice and action mechanism)

You may report suspicious, inappropriate or illegal Member Content or a Message as described here.

Once duly notified under this Article or by competent authorities, AutoStop will remove illegal Member Content as soon as possible if:

the Member Content is manifestly illegal or contrary to applicable regulations; or AutoStop considers that it breaches these Terms.

In that case, AutoStop reserves the right to remove Member Content that has been duly reported in sufficiently clear and detailed terms, and/or immediately suspend the reported Account.

The Member concerned may challenge AutoStop's decisions as described in Article 15.1 below.

9. Restrictions on Platform use, account suspension, access limitations and termination

You may end your contractual relationship with AutoStop at any time, without charge or reason, by going to the “Close account” tab on your Profile page.

If (i) you breach these Terms, particularly your Member obligations in Articles 6 and 8, (ii) you exceed the threshold in Article 4.3.3, or (iii) AutoStop has serious grounds to believe it necessary to protect its security and integrity or those of Members or third parties, or for investigations or fraud prevention, AutoStop reserves the right to:

(i) terminate these Terms immediately and without notice; and/or

(ii) prevent publication of or remove any Member Content; and/or

(iii) limit your access to and use of the Platform; and/or

(iv) temporarily or permanently suspend your Account.

Account suspension may also mean, where applicable, that you will not receive pending payments.

Where appropriate, AutoStop may also send a warning reminding you to comply with applicable laws and/or these Terms.

Where necessary, you will be notified of the measure so that you may confirm your commitment to comply with these Terms and applicable law, provide explanations to AutoStop or challenge its decision. AutoStop will decide at its sole discretion whether to lift the measures, considering all circumstances of the case and the seriousness of the breach.

10. Personal data

When you use the Platform, AutoStop collects and processes some of your personal data as described in its

11. Intellectual property

11.1. Content published by Autostop

Except for content provided by Members, AutoStop solely owns all intellectual property rights relating to the Service, Platform and its content, including texts, images, drawings, logos, videos, sounds, data and graphics, and the software and databases that operate them.

AutoStop grants you a non-exclusive, personal and non-transferable licence to use the Platform and Services for personal, private and non-commercial purposes, in accordance with the purposes of the Platform and Services.

You must not otherwise use or exploit the Platform, Services or their content without AutoStop's prior written authorisation. In particular, you must not:

(i) reproduce, modify, adapt, distribute, publicly display or broadcast the Platform, Services or their content except as expressly authorised by AutoStop;

(ii) decompile or reverse-engineer the Platform or Services, subject to exceptions provided by applicable law;

(iii) extract or attempt to extract a substantial part of the Platform's data, including through scraping robots or similar data collection tools.

11.2. Content you publish on the Platform

To enable provision of the Services in accordance with the Platform's purpose, you grant AutoStop a non-exclusive licence to use the content and data you provide when using the Services. This may include Booking requests, Carpool Listings and their comments, biographies, photos, reviews and replies to reviews (“Member Content”), and Messages. To enable Autostop to distribute Platform content over digital networks using any communication protocol, including the internet and mobile networks, and make it publicly available, you authorise AutoStop worldwide and throughout your contractual relationship with Autostop to reproduce, display, adapt and translate your Member Content as follows:

(i) you authorise AutoStop to reproduce all or part of your Member Content on any digital storage medium, whether currently known or unknown, including servers, hard drives, memory cards or equivalent media, in any format and by any current or future process, to the extent necessary for storage, backup, transmission or downloading associated with operating the Platform and providing the Service;

(ii) you authorise AutoStop to adapt and translate your Member Content and reproduce those adaptations on any current or future digital medium referred to in (i), to provide the Services, particularly in different languages. This right includes formatting changes that respect your moral rights, to comply with the Platform's visual guidelines and/or make the content technically compatible with publication on the Platform.

You remain responsible for, and retain all rights to, the Member Content and Messages you upload to our Platform.

12. AutoStop's role

The Platform is an online matching platform where Members can create and publish Carpool Listings for Carpool Trips. Other Members can browse these Listings to learn the Trip terms and, where applicable, book a Seat directly with the Member who posted the Listing. The Platform also enables Seat bookings for Bus or Train Trips.

By using the Platform and accepting these Terms, you acknowledge that AutoStop is not a party to any agreement between you and other Members to share Trip costs, nor to any agreement between you and a Coach Operator or Railway Company.

AutoStop has no control over the conduct of Members, Coach Operators or Platform users. It does not own, operate, provide or manage the vehicles covered by Listings, nor does it offer any Trip on the Platform.

You acknowledge and accept that AutoStop does not check the validity, truthfulness or legality of Listings, Seats or Trips offered. As a carpooling intermediary, AutoStop provides no transport service and does not act as a carrier; its role is limited to facilitating access to the Platform.

As an intermediary, AutoStop cannot be held liable for the actual conduct of a Trip, particularly for:

(i) incorrect information about a Trip or its terms provided by a Driver or Coach Operator in a Listing or by any other means;

(ii) cancellation or modification of a Trip by a Member or Coach Operator.

(iii) Members' behaviour before, during or after the Trip.

13. Platform operation, availability and features

AutoStop will endeavour, as far as possible, to keep the Platform accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Access may nevertheless be temporarily suspended without notice for technical maintenance, migration, updates, breakdowns or network operating constraints.

AutoStop also reserves the right to modify the Platform or parts of it for certain users to test new features and improve the user experience, and to modify or discontinue, at its sole discretion, temporarily or permanently, all or part of access to the Platform or its features.

14. Changes to the Terms

These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and AutoStop concerning your use of the Services. Any other document, including information on the Platform such as FAQs or blog posts, is provided for information only.

AutoStop may amend these Terms to adapt to its technological and commercial environment and comply with applicable regulations. Amendments will be published on the Platform with an update date, and AutoStop will notify you before they take effect.

15.1. Internal complaint handling system

You may challenge decisions we make concerning:

Member Content, for example if we removed, restricted visibility of or refused to remove content you provide when using the Platform; or your Account, if we suspended your access to the Platform,

where those decisions were taken because the Member Content was illegal or incompatible with these Terms. The appeal procedure is described.

15.2. Out-of-court dispute resolution

Where applicable, you may also submit complaints about our Platform or Services through the dispute resolution platform