Openbay Trust and Safety Policies

Our policies are designed to create a trustworthy and safe environment for all Openbay constituents. If any member is found violating these policies they may be asked to leave Openbay effective immediately.

Automotive Service Providers

All Automotive Service Providers in the Openbay network are required to adhere to the following policies:

Basics

All service providers affirm they meet the following qualifications:

• Must be insured
• Must be ASE, Manufacturer or Mechanical certified or otherwise qualified to perform the services
• Must have been in business for six months and carry insurance
• Must offer parts and/or service warranty

All service providers are held to certain industry standards when it comes to the repairing, upgrading, or adjustment of the operating motor parts of a vehicle. Service providers found violating of any of the following will be liable for additional charges and repairs that may occur:

• Failure to fully repair broken or worn parts
• Installing the wrong replacement part
• Performing the wrong procedure
• Failing to notice major repairs that need to be done (i.e improper inspection and diagnosis)
• Causing damage to the engine or other parts during the work
• Modifying the operating parts in a way that makes the car illegal to operate on public roads
• Failing to remove scraps, debris, dirty fluids, or other foreign objects during the repair procedure, to the extent relevant to and reasonable in connection with such procedure

Communication

Service providers in the Openbay network are required to respond to the following communications within the timeframe given during working hours. Any service provider who has not participated in any of the below activities or logged in within a 90-day period will be removed from the Openbay Network.

• Messages - Service providers are required to respond to Messages within 12 Hrs
• Appointments - Service providers are required to respond to Appointments within 12 Hrs

Hateful, offensive, profane, vulgar language, or other non-professional behavior directed at Openbay vehicle owner and staff will not be tolerated. Any service provider found violating this policy may suffer a range of actions including but not limited to removal of messaging capabilities, limiting quoting abilities and or account suspension.

Service providers are prohibited from communicating with vehicle owners concerning Openbay transactions outside the Openbay platform or encouraging vehicle owners to do so. For the avoidance of doubt, the foregoing prohibition on communications concerning Openbay transactions (1) does not limit service provider from making any communications that are required by applicable law; and (2) does not limit service providers in their other communications, including but not limited to marketing communications, with vehicle owners, including but not limited to existing customers of service provider.

Quote Accuracy

Quote misrepresentation will not be tolerated. Quotes for service provided to the vehicle owner must be accurate based on details provided by vehicle owner regarding vehicle make/repair requested. The service provider must honor the price and services displayed upon the scheduling of a vehicle owner appointment. Any necessary changes to price or service must be edited, communicated and agreed upon prior to scheduling.

The service provider must review any and all pricing changes from the initial quote with the vehicle owner prior to initiating incremental work. If this does not occur, the service provider is liable for incremental charges. All communication regarding quote accuracy and service is required to take place via the Openbay Messaging system. Openbay will not be held liable for any communication, contracts or services rendered without written agreement or approval via the Openbay Messaging system.

Should the service provider's standard labor rates and/or parts pricing change, this must be updated in the Openbay Automated quotes entries within 21 days of the change. If not, the service provider will be held to their quoted price.

Taxation

All Service Providers are responsible for collecting and remitting sales tax based on the requirements of their jurisdiction. Mobile mechanics are responsible for complying with the taxation requirements where they provide service.

Openbay Fees

To help operate the Openbay platform, including hosting fees, data services, and customer support team to confirm service appointments, Openbay charges a fee to service providers when an automotive service is completed for a customer that Openbay delivers. This fee is commonly referred to as a flat booking fee. The booking fee is not based on the total customer invoice. Booking fees are processed monthly using an online and secure third party service, stripe.com.

Account Suspensions and Cancellations

In the event that an individual service provider location is found to be violating any of the above policies, Openbay will consult a service provider representative to address violations. Openbay will not unilaterally suspend or cancel individual locations.

Automotive Vehicle Owners

All Vehicle Owners requesting service through the Openbay network are required to adhere to the following:

Basics

• The vehicle owner must provide valid and complete contact information including email address, phone number and vehicle make, model and trim. Incorrect vehicle information may result in inaccurate quotes
• All communication between service providers and vehicle owners must take place through the Openbay messaging system. Any communication including quotes, scheduling or repairs taking place outside of Openbay Quotes or Messaging will exempt the Service from the Openbay Guarantee and Policies.

Communication

• Hateful, offensive, profane, vulgar language or other non-professional behavior directed at service providers in the Openbay Network and Openbay staff will not be tolerated. Any vehicle owner found violating this policy may suffer a range of actions including but not limited to removal of messaging capabilities, limiting the ability to request service and/or account suspension.
• Vehicle owners are prohibited from sending direct contact information in the form of phone numbers, emails or addresses via the Openbay Messaging, Quote or Appointment systems to service providers.
• All messaging between the vehicle owner and service provider must occur through Openbay’s messaging system to allow the vehicle owner support team to quickly handle and resolve issues that may arise with the request.

Quote

• The vehicle owner will be provided a quote based on information provided in the request for service. Openbay and its network of service providers are only responsible to provide quotes based on the information the vehicle owners have submitted in the service request.
• The vehicle owner is obligated to pay for all service performed on their vehicle, including additional services quoted by the repair shop and accepted by the vehicle owner or added by the vehicle owner after the initial quote. The vehicle owner may decline services, prior to the initiation of the work.

Payment

• Payment for services is processed by the service provider performing the services.

Account Suspensions and Cancellations

• Any vehicle owners found to be violating any of the above policies will be susceptible to Openbay’s Account Suspensions and/or Cancellation process. All Suspensions and/or Cancellations will be evaluated on a case by case basis

Openbay’s Commitment to You, the Vehicle Owner:

• All personal information is stored safely and securely in the Openbay platform and will never be shared with outside 3rd parties.
• Openbay’s highest priority is our ability to have successful interactions. There are many events, from natural disasters to power outages that can disrupt quoting and messaging features on Openbay. If a lengthy outage occurs, an email will be sent to our members notifying them of the issue.
• Openbay appreciates any and all ideas for making the platform a better experience. Please submit your feedback and ideas to ceo@openbay.com
• Please note: Openbay diligently tracks all communications and transactions between parties. This is for both your protection and ours should any issues arise. Any communication including quotes, scheduling or repairs taking place outside of Openbay Quotes or Messaging will exempt the Service from the Openbay Guarantee and Policies.

Automotive Repair Shops

• During business hours, Openbay will respond to any and all questions and concerns from repair shops within four hours.
• Repair shops are the backbone of Openbay and they need to be able to use the platform with confidence. Because of this, Openbay has policies in place for how customers can and should use the platform, and consequences for when they don’t.
• If you believe a customer has violated one of the policies please email support@openbay.com or call 888-601-0399 as soon as possible.

Customers (Vehicle Owners)

• During business hours, Openbay will respond to any and all questions and concerns from customers, with active service requests, within four hours.
• Openbay is committed to finding vehicle owners the best repair shop for their auto repair and maintenance needs. All repair shops within the Openbay network go through a vetting process. Should your experience be anything less than positive with Openbay or one of our repair shops, please email memberservices@openbay.com
• If you believe a repair shop has violated one of Openbay’s policies, please email memberservices@openbay.com or call 888-601-0399 as soon as possible.
• As a Repair Shop or Customer you are responsible for reviewing and understanding Openbay’s policies, as well as all applicable laws and regulations outlined in the Openbay Terms and Conditions.

Last update: Jan 2024