Terms of Service

Effective date: October 18, 2026 · Version 1

These terms are the agreement between you and Calvin Hersey, doing business as Bay Area Shine Cleaners ("Bay Area Shine", "we", "us"). They cover booking cleans on our website and in the Bay Area Shine app, and using the Bay Area Shine Crew app. Please read them; they're written to be clear. By making an account or booking, you agree to them, and to our Privacy Policy.

1. Who can use Bay Area Shine

• You must be 18 or older.
• Give true details, and keep your account to yourself. You're responsible for what's booked from it.
• We clean in the areas the app shows when you enter your ZIP code.

2. Booking a clean

• The price is shown before you pay. It's set by Bay Area Shine from the home size, the service and any extras, less any repeat discount. Cleaners don't set or change it.
• The time: you pick the day and the start time. "Around then" means your cleaner arrives within an hour either way; "Exactly then" means at that time. Once a cleaner is chosen, their arrival time is the one we confirm to you.
• Your cleaner: cleaners apply for your clean. You choose one, or let us pick for you, and you always see who's coming before the day. If we chose for you, you can ask for someone else once, up to 48 hours before.
• Helpers: your cleaner may bring a helper so the clean is done sooner, at the same price. You'll see the helper's profile before the day and can say no up to 24 hours before. If you'd rather be asked each time, or keep it to one cleaner, choose that in your home's Extra cleaners setting.
• If no cleaner can take your clean, we'll offer you another time or refund your $40 deposit in full.

3. Deposit, balance and payments

• A $40 deposit is paid when you book, to hold your time. It comes off your total.
• The deposit isn't refundable, except if no cleaner can take your clean (section 2).
• The balance is charged to your saved card after your clean, and you can also pay it in the app. All payments go through the app, handled by Stripe; we don't take cash or other payment apps.
• If a charge doesn't go through, we try again 24 and 72 hours later and ask you in the app to update your card.
• When you book (or, if you were our client before the app, when you confirm your setup), you agree that your card is saved by Stripe and charged for the balance and any tip after each clean, and for any fee these terms describe.
• Receipts come by email and are in the app.

4. Tips

• You can add a tip when you book: $10, $20, $30, another amount, or no tip. Nothing is chosen for you.
• Once you've booked, your tip can't be lowered. Cleaners see it when they apply. You can raise it before the clean, and add more up to 14 days after.
• The tip is charged after the clean, with your balance (or on its own if you have a plan).
• If the clean is cancelled, no cleaner comes, or we can't get in, the tip isn't charged.
• 100% of every tip goes to your cleaner (split evenly for a team), on top of their pay. We pay the card fee.

5. Moving or cancelling

• Move a clean for free up to 48 hours before its start (24 hours with Shine Plus), in the app.
• Closer than that, message us and we'll help if we can.
• If you cancel, the $40 deposit is kept and the time opens up for others. Nothing else is charged.

If you were our client before the app

• Your price is the one shown in your invite (our public prices, or a price we agreed with you for your home), and there's no $40 deposit, unless you choose to switch to one of our plans (section 9); then the plan's price and terms apply.
• Moving or cancelling 48 hours or more before a clean is free.
• A late cancel (less than 48 hours before) or a visit where we can't get in (section 6): the first one is free. After that, each one is $40, charged to your saved card. Nothing else is charged.

6. Getting in

• Please make sure your cleaner can get in: be home, or leave a door or gate code in the app's locked code field (never in a chat or text).
• If we can't get in: your cleaner waits 15 minutes while we try to reach you. If we still can't get in, the visit counts and the $40 deposit is the only fee (for clients from before the app, see section 5).
• Pets: tell us about them, and keep any that might get out or be stressed safely away from the work.
• Cleaners may leave a home if they feel unsafe. If that happens, we'll talk to you first before anything is charged.

7. The Shine Report and re-cleans

• After your clean you get a Shine Report with before-and-after photos of each room (except rooms you've marked "no photos").
• Something missed? Flag it in the app within 24 hours of the clean (48 hours with Shine Plus) and we'll come back to fix it, free.

8. If something is damaged

• Tell us within 24 hours of the clean, with photos if you can. We'll look into it with you and the cleaner and make it right with you.
• We're not responsible for damage from something we couldn't reasonably know about (an already-loose fixture, an unmarked delicate surface), or for normal wear.

9. Regular cleans and plans

Pay per clean (weekly, every 2 weeks or monthly) keeps a repeat discount. Each clean is booked and paid like a single clean. You can pause or cancel any time in the app.

The monthly flat rate

• 2 cleans a month at the every-2-weeks price, charged on the same day each month until you cancel.
• Cancel any time in the app, in one tap (Account › My plan › Cancel plan). Nothing more is charged.
• If you cancel, this month's unused cleans are refunded.
• A clean you don't use in its month doesn't carry over, unless you paused ahead or use your rollover skip. We remind you 7 days before the month ends if one isn't booked.
• Your price is locked for 12 months from the start. After that, we'll tell you at least 30 days before any price change.
• Once a year, we remind you what the plan costs and how to cancel.

The Shine Year

• 24 cleans, 2 a month for 12 months, paid up front, with 5% more off.
• When it ends, you choose:
  • "Ask me first" (the default): nothing is charged unless you renew.
  • "Renew automatically" (only if you tick to agree): the new year is charged on the end date at the price in our reminders. If it renews and you haven't used a clean of the new year, you can cancel for a full refund within 14 days.
• We remind you 30 and 7 days before it ends.
• You can switch automatic renewal off in one tap at any time.
• If you cancel, every unused clean is refunded at the plan's price per clean.
• A clean you don't use in its month doesn't carry over, unless you paused ahead or use your rollover skip.

3-month and 6-month packages

• 6 or 12 cleans, 2 a month, paid up front, with 2% or 3% more off. The same rules as the Shine Year: you choose "Ask me first" (the default) or "Renew automatically", we remind you before it ends, and every unused clean is refunded if you cancel.

Shine Plus, refunds and sign-up

Shine Plus comes free with the monthly flat rate, the packages and the Shine Year, and isn't sold on its own. Its perks are listed in the app. We won't take away a perk during a paid Shine Year or a paid month.

Refunds for plans go back to your card through Stripe and usually arrive in 5 to 10 business days. Perks you've already used are never charged back.

When you sign up for a plan, the app shows these terms next to the pay button, asks you to tick that you agree, and emails you a copy with how to cancel.

10. Cleaners on Bay Area Shine

• Cleaners are independent cleaners who bring their own equipment and choose which jobs to apply for.
• Cleaners who use the crew app also accept our separate Cleaner Agreement, which covers pay, payouts, drops, standards and the own-client bonus.
• Customers see a cleaner's first name and last initial; cleaners see a customer's first name. Messages go through the app, and mobile numbers stay hidden.

Phone calls in the app

• Calls go through our business number, connected by our provider Twilio, so neither side sees the other's real number.
• To make or get calls, you add a phone number in the app and confirm it by answering our one check call. You can remove it at any time.
• A customer and their cleaner can call each other only around a clean: from the day before until 24 hours after it ends, between 7 AM and 9 PM (and at any hour from 1 hour before the clean starts until it's done). Anyone can call Bay Area Shine.
• We never record calls. We keep a short record of each call (who, when, how long) for 90 days, as our Privacy Policy explains.
• Use calls only for the clean, and never to arrange cleans outside the app.

11. Being kind, and keeping everyone safe

• Treat everyone with respect. No harassment, threats, hateful words, sexual content or unsafe requests, in person or in the app.
• Keep messages about the clean. The app hides numbers, emails and links.
• Block and report: you can block or report anyone you deal with in the app. Reports go to the owners, who look at every one within 24 hours. The person isn't told who reported them.
• Our response: we may remove content, warn someone, separate a customer and a cleaner, or pause or close an account that breaks these rules. We'll tell you why unless it's unsafe to.
• In an emergency, call 911.

12. Notifications and email

• We send booking emails and app notifications: confirmations, reminders, changes to your clean and receipts.
• You can turn notifications off in the app (Account › Notifications). We'll still send what a booking needs, such as receipts and changes.
• We don't send marketing.

13. Photos and your home

• Before-and-after photos are taken inside your home for your Shine Report and are private. They're kept for 12 months, then deleted.
• We never use them in ads or on our website without your written yes.

14. The app itself

• We work hard to keep the apps running, but they may sometimes be unavailable or have mistakes.
• Please don't misuse them: don't copy them, scrape them, interfere with them, or use them to reach people outside a booking.
• Bay Area Shine's name, sparkle logo and apps belong to us.

15. Responsibility

• We're responsible for providing the cleans you book with care and skill.
• As far as the law allows, we're not responsible for losses we couldn't reasonably foresee, and our total responsibility for a clean is limited to what you paid for it, except where the law doesn't allow a limit (for example, for our own gross negligence).
• Nothing in these terms takes away rights you have under California law.

16. Disputes

• If something goes wrong, please email us first. Most things are fixed quickly.
• If not, these terms are governed by California law. You can bring a claim in small claims court, or in the state or federal courts in California.

17. Changes

• If we change these terms in a way that matters, we'll tell you in the app or by email before the change takes effect.
• Plan prices and plan terms you've already agreed to don't change until your current period ends, and never inside the 12-month price lock.

18. Contact

Help and support · hello@bayareashinecleaners.com

Bay Area Shine