Terms of Service

What this covers

These terms are the agreement between CharterPilot LLC and the charter business using the service. Using the service means agreeing to them.

Anglers booking a trip are not party to this agreement. Their agreement is with the captain, on that captain's own booking rules and cancellation policy.

What we provide

• —A website for the charter business, on a subdomain we provide or on the captain's own domain.
• —An online booking calendar that takes deposits.
• —An AI phone receptionist that answers calls, quotes trips, and can take a booking.
• —A dashboard for the calendar, customers, gift certificates, expenses and reporting.
• —Setup, migration from an existing site where practical, and training.

We work to keep the service running and available, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted service, and we are not responsible for outages at hosting, payment, telephone or messaging providers we depend on.

What it costs

A one time set up fee, quoted before any work begins, then a flat monthly subscription starting at $299 per month for a single boat operation. Fleets are priced per boat with a volume discount, quoted before any work begins. No commission on bookings. No contract.

The set up fee is non refundable.

The monthly fee is billed in advance. Cancel at any time and the service runs through the end of the period already paid for. We do not prorate a partial month.

If a monthly payment fails we will tell the captain and try again. If an account stays unpaid we may pause the public website and the receptionist until it is settled. Their bookings and records are not deleted and remain available in the dashboard.

We may change the monthly price with 30 days' notice by email. A captain who does not want the new price can cancel before it takes effect.

Money from bookings

Deposits, balances and gift certificates are paid into the captain's own Stripe account. That money is theirs and never passes through ours. We take no commission and no cut.

Stripe's own fees and terms apply to those payments and are between the captain and Stripe.

Refunds, disputes and chargebacks on a charter booking are between the captain and their customer. We will help with the records; we cannot decide the outcome.

The captain's responsibilities

• —Running the charter itself, including all licensing, registration, insurance and safety obligations. We provide software, not a maritime operation.
• —The accuracy of what goes on their site: rates, policies, availability, and what they tell customers.
• —Owning or having the right to use the photos and text they upload.
• —Honouring bookings taken through the site or the receptionist.
• —Keeping their dashboard passcode to themselves.

Text messages

Where messaging is enabled, we send transactional messages tied to a booking on the captain's behalf: booking confirmations, reminders before a trip, balance payment links, review requests, and replies to missed calls.

Customers opt in when they book, and can reply STOP at any time to stop messages or HELP for help. Message frequency varies with the booking. Message and data rates may apply. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

How message data is handled is set out in our Privacy Policy. Mobile opt-in information is never sold or shared with third parties for marketing.

Captains must not use the service to send unsolicited marketing, and must not upload phone numbers that have not consented to be contacted.

Who owns what

The captain owns their content. Their photos, their words, their customer list, their bookings. They grant us permission to host and display it for the purpose of running their site, and that permission ends when they leave.

We own the platform. The software, the design system, and the way it works. Using the service does not transfer any of that.

Domains. A domain we buy for a captain is theirs. If they leave, we transfer it to them at no charge; the ongoing registration cost of the domain is theirs from then on. The one exception is a subdomain of a CharterPilot domain such as charterpilot.boats, which stays with us.

Data export. A captain can export their customers, bookings and financial records at any time while subscribed, and for 90 days after they cancel. After that window their data is deleted, per the privacy policy.

Acceptable use

The service may not be used to break the law, to mislead customers, to send unsolicited messages, to attack or probe the platform, or to resell access to it without our agreement. We may suspend an account that does, and will say why.

Ending it

A captain can cancel at any time by telling us. Service continues to the end of the paid period, they can export everything for 90 days, and the current period is not refunded.

We may end the agreement with 30 days' notice, or immediately for non-payment or a breach of these terms. If we end it for our own convenience, we refund the unused part of the period already paid. Ending it for non-payment or a breach carries no refund.

Liability

The service is provided as it is. To the extent the law allows, we exclude implied warranties.

We are not liable for lost profits, lost bookings, or indirect or consequential loss. Our total liability is limited to the fees the captain paid us in the six months before the event giving rise to the claim.

Nothing here excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Changes and governing law

We may update these terms as the platform evolves. Material changes are emailed to captains before they take effect, and anything that changes what a captain pays or how booking money flows, such as any commission, which we do not charge and do not plan to, gets at least 30 days' notice and the chance to cancel first. The effective date at the top changes with each revision, and continuing to use the service after that means the new terms apply.

This agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Florida, and disputes belong in the courts of that state.