Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By creating an account or using any part of the Dine With Me platform, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to these Terms of Service. If you do not agree, you may not use our services.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account and use Dine With Me. By registering, you represent that you meet this age requirement and that the information you provide is accurate and complete.

3. Account Responsibilities

When you create an account, you are responsible for:

• Maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials.
• All activities that occur under your account.
• Providing accurate and up-to-date profile information.
• Notifying us immediately if you suspect unauthorized access to your account.

4. Competitions & Participation

Dine With Me enables users to create and participate in dinner competitions. Competitions can be Singles (individual competitors), Couples (pairs competing together), or Mixed (both singles and couples). When participating, you agree to:

• Fair Play: compete honestly and in the spirit of friendly culinary competition.
• Respectful Conduct: treat all participants, hosts, and guests with respect.
• Accurate Ratings: provide honest and fair ratings based on your genuine experience of each dinner. Dinners are rated across categories including Taste, Presentation, and Creativity, plus any custom categories set by the organizer.
• Host Responsibilities: if you host a competition, ensure a safe dining environment and accurately describe competition details.
• Voting Period: participants may rate dinners from the submission deadline until the competition end date. You cannot rate your own dinner.
• Phantom Votes: if a participant does not vote on all dinners, the system applies phantom votes using the average score from existing ratings to ensure no dinner is unfairly penalized.
• Tiebreaker Rules: every competition always has a winner. When participants have the same total score, the winner is determined by: (1) category-by-category comparison in order — the first category where scores differ decides the winner; (2) average rating; (3) number of ratings received; (4) who scheduled their dinner first; (5) who joined the competition first.
• Not Gambling: Dine With Me is not a gambling, betting, or lottery platform. Competitions are skill-based culinary events designed to bring people together through cooking. Winners are determined by peer ratings of actual dinners prepared and served. Entry fees fund the prize pool awarded to the winner based on culinary merit.

5. Ratings & Reviews

Our rating system is fundamental to the platform experience. You agree that:

• Ratings should reflect your honest assessment of the dining experience.
• You will not engage in rating manipulation, including exchanging favorable ratings or coordinating with others to inflate or deflate scores.
• You will not use ratings to harass, bully, or target other users.
• We reserve the right to remove ratings that violate these guidelines.

6. Fees, Payments & Refunds

Dine With Me charges a 25% platform fee on all paid transactions (competition entry fees and chef lesson bookings). This fee is added on top of the base cost, is non-refundable in all circumstances, and is used to maintain, operate, and continuously improve the Dine With Me platform. Free competitions (with no entry fee) do not incur any platform fee.

• Competition Entry Fees: entry fees are set by the competition organizer. Payment can be made via your Dine With Me wallet or Stripe. For Couples competitions, one partner (the couple leader) pays for both — the cost is the entry fee multiplied by two, plus the 25% platform fee.
• Prize Distribution: the winner receives 100% of the prize pool (total entry fees collected, excluding platform fees). When a competition is configured for charity, prize funds are directed to the designated charitable organization.
• Competition Refunds: if a competition is cancelled before the submission deadline, participants receive a full refund of their entry fee (base amount only, excluding the 25% platform fee). After the submission deadline, competitions cannot be cancelled. If a competition ends with zero votes, it is automatically cancelled and refunds are issued.
• Currency: all transactions are processed in the currency specified by the competition organizer or chef. Cross-currency payments are converted at the current exchange rate.

7. Chef Lessons & Bookings

Dine With Me connects students with chefs for cooking lessons. The following rules apply:

• Lesson Pricing: chefs set the cost per person. Students pay the lesson cost plus a 25% platform fee. The chef receives the full lesson cost (no fee is deducted from the chef's earnings).
• Chef Cancellation: if the chef cancels a booking, the student receives a full refund of the total amount paid. The 25% platform fee is charged to the chef's wallet.
• Student Cancellation (more than 48 hours before): the student receives a full refund of the total amount paid. The platform absorbs the fee.
• Student Cancellation (less than 48 hours before): the student receives 50% of the lesson cost (without the platform fee). The chef receives 50% of the lesson cost. The platform keeps the fee.
• After Lesson Time: no refund is available. The chef keeps the full lesson payout and the platform retains the fee.
• Chef No-Show: if the chef does not show up, the student may report it within 48 hours of the scheduled lesson time. The student receives a full refund, and the platform fee is charged to the chef's wallet.

8. Wallet & Withdrawals

Your Dine With Me wallet holds earnings from competition wins, refunds, and chef lesson payouts. The following rules apply:

• Wallet Balance: your wallet balance can be used to pay for competition entries and chef lesson bookings on the platform.
• Withdrawals: you may withdraw funds from your wallet to your bank account via Stripe. The minimum withdrawal is €10 and the maximum is €500 per transaction.
• Stripe Connect: withdrawals require a verified Stripe Connect account. You must complete the Stripe onboarding process before requesting a withdrawal.
• Failed Transfers: if a withdrawal transfer fails, your wallet balance is automatically restored.
• Security: your wallet is protected by authentication. No other user can access or use your wallet balance.

9. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to:

• Use the platform for any unlawful purpose.
• Impersonate another person or entity.
• Post harmful, offensive, or misleading content.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to other users' accounts or platform systems.
• Use automated tools, bots, or scrapers to access the platform.
• Manipulate competition outcomes or rating results.
• Engage in harassment, discrimination, or abusive behavior toward other users.
• Upload photos, post content, or send messages that infringe on third-party intellectual property rights, contain illegal material, or violate the privacy of others. You are solely responsible for all content you share on the platform.
• Upload or share nudity, pornographic material, sexually explicit content, violent imagery, content promoting criminal activity, hate speech, or any content that is illegal under applicable law. Such content will be removed and may result in immediate account suspension.

10. Intellectual Property

The Dine With Me platform, including its design, logos, features, and content, is owned by Dine With Me and protected by intellectual property laws. Content you upload (such as profile photos and competition descriptions) remains yours, but you grant us a license to display it on the platform as necessary for its operation.

11. Limitation of Liability

Dine With Me provides the platform on an "as is" basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law:

• We are not responsible for the quality, safety, or outcome of any dinner or competition.
• We do not guarantee the accuracy of user-provided information, ratings, or reviews.
• We are not liable for any disputes between users, including those related to competitions, ratings, or prizes.
• Our total liability shall not exceed the amount you paid to use the platform in the preceding 12 months.
• Dine With Me is a platform that connects people for social dining experiences. We do not organize, supervise, or attend any dinners, competitions, or chef lessons. We are not responsible for the physical safety of participants, food safety, hygiene, allergic reactions, or any criminal acts that may occur during in-person meetings arranged through the platform.
• Participants host and attend dinners at their own risk. We strongly recommend verifying the identity of other participants, informing someone of your whereabouts, and following local food safety regulations. If you experience a criminal act or safety concern, contact local authorities immediately.
• All content shared on the platform (photos, posts, messages, reviews) is created by users. We do not review, verify, or endorse user-generated content and are not liable for any harm resulting from it.

12. Account Deletion

You may delete your account at any time through your profile settings. When you delete your account, your personal data is anonymized (name, email, avatar removed), but your competition history, ratings, and results are preserved for platform integrity. Your authentication credentials are permanently deleted, preventing future logins. To request full data deletion, contact support@dinewithme.org.

13. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms of Service from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by posting the updated terms on our platform. Continued use of the platform after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.

14. Governing Law & Jurisdiction

These Terms of Service are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Ireland. Any disputes arising from these terms or your use of the platform shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Ireland. Dine With Me is operated by OF.MediaTech, registered in Ireland.

15. Contact Us

If you have any questions about these Terms of Service, please contact us at:

Email: legal@dinewithme.org