Terms of Service
Short version: meet in public, keep to the ask, keep the conversation in the app, do your check-ins, and call 911 yourself if you need to. The long version is below, and it is the one that counts.
1. The agreement
These Terms are a contract between you and BLACK LAYERS CORP. ("Black Layers", "we"), a Canadian company, for the use of the 7-Minute Neighbor app and service ("the Service"). You accept them by tapping the acceptance box at sign-up; we record which version you accepted, when, and from where. The Safety Rules and the Privacy Policy, linked at the bottom of this page, are part of these Terms. Nothing in these Terms takes away rights you have under the consumer protection law of the province where you live.
2. What the Service is
The Service lets a person ("Requester") ask for a short, defined favour, seven, ten or fifteen minutes long, at a public meeting point, and lets a nearby person ("Helper") accept it. The four kinds of ask are: wait with me, walk with me, carry a box, and translate at a counter. Each carries boundaries that both people agree to when the ask is made and accepted. Black Layers is the platform: we verify identity, make the match, hold the rules, run the safety mechanisms and, once payments are enabled, process the payment. We are not a party to the favour itself and we do not supervise it.
3. Who may use it
You must be 18 or older, able to enter a contract, and physically in one of our launch zones. You must verify your identity with a government photo ID and a live selfie before your first ask, whether you ask or help. One person, one account: an ID that is already attached to an account cannot open another, and an account we have closed cannot be reopened with a new phone number. You are responsible for everything done with your account. Keep your phone locked.
4. Asking
When you post an ask you set the offer, within the floor and ceiling shown in the app. The floor rises with duration so that a Helper is never paid below a fair rate. You choose the meeting point from the approved list for your zone; you never enter an address, and your home is never a meeting point. Asks can be posted only during the operating hours shown in the app. These are the hours during which a person on our team is on call, and the app refuses new asks outside them. You may cancel an open ask at no cost. Once payments are enabled, cancelling after a Helper has started walking to you may carry a fee, and the free-cancellation window will be shown in the app before you confirm.
5. Helping
Helpers are independent. You choose when you are on call, which kinds of ask you accept, and whether to accept any particular offer; declining has no penalty. You are not our employee, agent or contractor, and nothing here creates an employment relationship. You are responsible for your own taxes on what you earn; Canadian law requires us to report Helper earnings to the Canada Revenue Agency annually, and we will collect what that reporting requires before your first payout. Check-ins during an ask are a safety mechanism for your benefit as much as the Requester's. They are never used to rank or prioritise you.
6. Price, fee and payment
The price of an ask is the offer the Requester sets, and it is the whole price, excluding only applicable tax. Black Layers keeps a platform fee of 20% of the offer, shown to both people before the ask is made and accepted. The Helper receives the offer minus the fee. All amounts are in Canadian dollars. Testing period: until payments are switched on, every ask is marked "test, no charge" in the app. No money changes hands and no Helper is paid. Nothing in these Terms creates a payment obligation for a test ask. Once payments are enabled: the Requester's card is authorised when the ask is accepted and charged when both people confirm the ask is done. Payments are processed by Stripe, Inc. under Stripe's own terms; we do not see or store card numbers. Helpers are paid out through Stripe to a bank account they connect. Refunds and disputes are handled under section 10.
7. Your obligations
Both people agree to: • Meet only at the chosen public meeting point and stay in public places. • Keep to the boundaries of the ask: no entry to a home, no driving, no cash, no medical, legal or financial matters, nothing heavier than 10 kg and nothing past a lobby or common area. • Keep the conversation in the app until you meet, and never ask for or give a phone number, email, social handle or payment outside the app. • Do the check-ins the app asks for, and use the safety word. • Treat the other person with respect. No harassment, discrimination, threats or intimidation. • Not use the Service for anything unlawful, for dating or sexual purposes, for surveillance, or to move goods you do not have the right to move. • Not create more than one account, lend your account, or verify with someone else's ID. • Not interfere with the Service, scrape it, or try to get around its rules or filters. Breaking these is grounds for immediate suspension.
8. Safety, and what we do not do
The Safety Rules describe the mechanisms in the app: identity verification on both sides, public meeting points, check-ins, a safety word and a duress word, in-app chat with a content filter, enforced operating hours, and incident records. We do not, and cannot, contact emergency services on your behalf. The app has a button that opens your phone's dialer to 911; you place the call. If you are in danger, call 911 first and use the app second. We do not conduct criminal record checks at this time and identity verification is not a background check. You meet another person at your own judgment. Read the Safety Rules before your first ask.
9. Suspension and appeals
We may suspend an account immediately on a credible safety report, and close it after review. A permanent closure is decided by two people on our team. You will be told in writing that a decision was made and how to appeal, with a deadline; we will not disclose who reported you or the details of what we found. An account under suspension keeps its data and loses the ability to act. We do not tolerate retaliation against a person who made a report.
10. Refunds, disputes and records
Once payments are enabled, a Requester who believes an ask was not done as agreed may raise it in the app within 48 hours. We review the ask record, the chat and the check-ins and may refund all or part of the price. A card chargeback made instead of raising it with us may lead to suspension while it is investigated. Every ask, payment and incident is written to a tamper-evident record that we keep for seven years in Canada. You can see your own history in the app.
11. Content and conduct in chat
You own what you write. You give us the right to store it, show it to the other person in the ask, run it through our filter, and use it in reviewing a report or incident. We may remove a message or close an account for content that breaks these Terms. We do not monitor chat routinely; we read it when a report or incident requires it.
12. Intellectual property
The app, its design, its name and its marks belong to Black Layers. You may use the app on your own iPhone for its intended purpose and nothing else.
13. Warranty and liability
The Service is provided as it is. We do not promise that a Helper will be available, that an ask will be accepted, or that the Service will be uninterrupted. To the fullest extent the law allows, Black Layers is not liable for anything that happens between two people during an ask, for a Helper's or Requester's conduct, or for indirect, consequential or punitive loss. Where liability cannot be excluded, it is limited to the greater of the fees you paid us in the twelve months before the claim and one hundred Canadian dollars. Nothing in this section limits liability for death, personal injury caused by our negligence, fraud, or anything else the law does not allow to be limited, and nothing in it limits your rights under provincial consumer protection law.
14. Ending the agreement
You can delete your account in the app at any time; the Privacy Policy explains what is removed and what the law requires us to keep. We may end the agreement by closing your account under section 9, or if we stop offering the Service in your zone, with notice in the app.
15. Governing law and language
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Alberta and the federal laws of Canada that apply there, and disputes go to the courts of Alberta, except that if you live in another province you keep the protections and forum that your province's consumer law gives you. These Terms are currently in English. A French version is being prepared for users in Québec. If you are in Québec and require the French version before accepting, write to info@blacklayers.ca.
16. Changes
We may change these Terms. When we do, the version and effective date at the top change, and the app will ask you to accept the new version before you continue. Changes never apply to an ask already in progress.
17. Contact
Email: info@blacklayers.ca Website: blacklayers.ca BLACK LAYERS CORP. · Alberta, Canada
© 2026 BLACK LAYERS CORP.