TERMS AND CONDITIONS — CUP OF EMPATHY
DEFINITIONS
Cup of Empathy: Cup of Empathy, registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under number 51097532 and with VAT number NL001942257B33, including any persons who perform work on behalf of Cup of Empathy. For readability, Cup of Empathy is referred to as “we”, “our” and “us”.
Client: the natural person or legal person, such as an employer or organisation, who enters into an agreement with Cup of Empathy. The Client is referred to as “you” and “your”.
Participant: the natural person who participates in a session, workshop, course or other service. The Client and Participant may be the same person, but do not have to be.
Session: a service scheduled by individual appointment, such as coaching, 1-to-1 counselling, an empathy session or mediation.
Workshop: a group activity lasting one day or less.
Course: a training programme consisting of one or more live and/or online components.
1. APPLICATION
These Terms and Conditions apply to agreements between Cup of Empathy and the Client and/or Participant unless we have explicitly agreed otherwise in writing.
Specific information provided in an offer, quotation, booking confirmation or course description forms part of the agreement. Where such specific information differs from these Terms and Conditions, the specifically agreed terms take precedence.
2. NATURE AND SCOPE OF THE SERVICE
Our services are effort-based commitments. We support Participants in increasing insight, connection, compassion and their ability to make choices. We cannot guarantee a specific result or outcome.
Our services do not constitute medical or psychiatric diagnosis, emergency care or medical treatment.
If you are experiencing serious or acute psychological difficulties, or if you need medical or psychiatric care, we may advise you to contact an appropriate qualified healthcare professional.
We may decline or discontinue an assignment if we reasonably believe that the support requested falls outside our professional competence or the scope of the service we offer.
3. INFORMATION AND RESPONSIBILITY
You agree to provide information that is reasonably necessary for us to perform the agreed service properly and safely.
You do not have to disclose personal or health information that is not relevant to the service.
You remain responsible for your own choices and behaviour during and after participation in our services.
4. SERVICES PAID FOR BY AN EMPLOYER OR OTHER THIRD PARTY
Sometimes the Client and Participant are different people, for example when an employer pays for an individual session for an employee.
The content of an individual session with the Participant is confidential. We do not report the content of the session to the Client merely because the Client is paying for the service.
Administrative information necessary for the assignment, such as whether an agreed session has taken place, may be shared with the Client where appropriate.
Any additional reporting or feedback to the Client must be agreed separately in advance and must comply with applicable privacy law.
Unless otherwise agreed, when the Client and Participant are different people, the Client remains responsible for payment and any applicable cancellation charges.
5. CONFIDENTIALITY, PRIVACY AND RECORDINGS
Information discussed during an individual session is treated confidentially.
Participants in a group activity must respect the confidentiality of other Participants. Information shared by another Participant may not be shared outside the group without that person’s permission.
We will only disclose confidential information to third parties where the person concerned has given appropriate permission or where disclosure is required by law.
If examples from our work are used for teaching, supervision, professional development or explanation, identifying details will be omitted or altered so that the person concerned cannot reasonably be identified.
Individual 1-to-1 sessions are not recorded unless this has been explicitly agreed beforehand.
When live group calls are recorded, Participants will be informed. Where recordings from a course are made available to Participants, the applicable course information will state how long they remain available. Unless otherwise stated, recordings of premium course live calls will be deleted 2 months after the final live call.
Personal data is processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
6. COURSES AND INCLUDED SERVICES
The course description, sales page or order confirmation specifies what is included in a particular course, including where applicable:
- course materials;
- access to online material;
- live meetings;
- individual or group guidance;
- community access;
- the period during which materials or recordings remain available.
Any minimum number of Participants required for a particular live component will be stated in the relevant course information.
7. PAYMENT
Unless agreed otherwise, payment is due before a Session, Workshop or Course takes place or access is provided.
For assignments for organisations or other Clients that are invoiced separately, the payment term stated on the invoice or quotation applies.
Available payment methods are shown during checkout or stated on the invoice.
If payment remains outstanding after the applicable payment period and any legally required reminder, we may charge applicable statutory interest and collection costs.
8. WAITING LIST
If there is no availability for a Workshop or Course, you may ask to be added to the waiting list.
When a place becomes available, we may contact people on the waiting list in order of registration. If the person contacted does not respond within the period stated in the email, we may offer the place to the next person.
9. CANCELLATION OF INDIVIDUAL SESSIONS
An individual Session can be cancelled or rescheduled by email.
Unless otherwise agreed:
- more than 72 hours before the scheduled start: no cancellation charge;
- between 24 and 72 hours before the scheduled start: 50% of the Session fee;
- less than 24 hours before the scheduled start, or in case of a no-show: 100% of the Session fee.
If Cup of Empathy cancels a Session, no cancellation fee will be charged. Any amount already paid for a Session that cannot be rescheduled will be refunded.
10. COURSES, WITHDRAWAL AND REFUNDS
Where a Participant enters into an online agreement as a consumer, the statutory cooling-off period applies where required by law.
In general, consumers purchasing at a distance have fourteen days after entering into the agreement in which to withdraw from the agreement.
If a Participant personally enters into the agreement as a consumer, this cooling-off period also applies where an employer or other organisation pays the fee on the Participant’s behalf. If an organisation itself enters into the agreement as the Client, consumer withdrawal rights do not apply to that organisation.
Where immediate access to digital content is provided during the statutory withdrawal period, applicable legal requirements concerning prior consent and acknowledgement of the loss of the right of withdrawal will apply.
Any voluntary money-back guarantee advertised for a Course is additional to statutory consumer rights. The conditions of such a guarantee will be stated with the relevant offer.
Refunds due from Cup of Empathy will normally be made within seven days after it has been established that the refund is due.
If Cup of Empathy cancels a Course or Workshop, amounts paid for the cancelled service will be refunded within seven days.
11. CHANGES TO GROUP ACTIVITIES
We may occasionally need to change the date, time or format of a group activity.
If we make a significant change and the alternative offered is not reasonably suitable for you, you may cancel your participation and receive a refund for the affected service.
If an activity has to be interrupted after it has started, we will make reasonable efforts to continue or reschedule it. If that is not reasonably possible, we will determine an appropriate full or partial refund taking into account the part of the service already provided.
12. SERVICES AT THE CLIENT’S LOCATION
When a Session, Workshop or other service takes place at a location provided by the Client, the Client is responsible for providing reasonable access to a suitable and safe space.
Where the nature of the service requires confidentiality, the Client should provide a space in which the Session can take place with reasonable privacy.
Any travel time, travel expenses, parking expenses or other location-related costs will be agreed in advance where applicable.
Cup of Empathy will comply with reasonable safety and access requirements of the location provided these have been communicated in advance.
13. LIABILITY
Cup of Empathy will perform its services with reasonable care.
To the extent permitted by applicable law, Cup of Empathy is only liable for direct damage resulting from an attributable failure in the performance of the agreement.
Where a liability insurance policy provides cover for the relevant claim, liability is limited to the amount paid under that insurance policy, including any applicable excess.
Where no insurance payment is made, liability is limited, to the extent permitted by law, to the amount paid for the service to which the claim relates.
Nothing in these Terms and Conditions excludes or limits liability where such exclusion or limitation is not permitted by law.
A Client or Participant who causes damage to property belonging to Cup of Empathy, a location provider or another Participant may be held responsible for that damage in accordance with applicable law.
14. COPYRIGHT AND COURSE MATERIALS
Copyright in materials created by Cup of Empathy remains with Cup of Empathy and/or Marianne van Dijk unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Course materials are provided for the Participant’s personal use and may not be copied, published, sold, distributed or used commercially without prior written permission.
Purchasing or participating in a Course does not transfer ownership of the intellectual property in the course materials.
15. COMPLAINTS
If you are dissatisfied with one of our services, please contact us at info@cupofempathy.com and explain your complaint.
Cup of Empathy will treat complaints confidentially.
You will receive a response within four weeks. Where more time is reasonably required to investigate a complaint, you will be informed within that period of the reason for the delay and when a further response can be expected.
We will first try to resolve the complaint together.
If we cannot resolve the complaint, it may be submitted to our designated independent third party, Astara Lieuw-On, for an independent decision. Her decision will be binding on Cup of Empathy.
Complaints and their resolution are recorded and retained for an appropriate fixed period in accordance with our applicable quality and administrative requirements.
This complaints procedure does not remove any statutory rights you may have.
16. APPLICABLE LAW
Agreements with Cup of Empathy are governed by Dutch law.
Where mandatory consumer law gives a consumer additional rights or protections, those rights remain unaffected by these Terms and Conditions.
17. THIRD PARTIES
A person who is neither the Client nor the Participant cannot derive rights from an agreement with Cup of Empathy unless explicitly agreed otherwise.
