Independent Contractor Service Terms

This agreement (the “Agreement”) is entered into by:

• Named Individual (the “Contractor”); and
• Valet Concierge Services Pte. Ltd., UEN: 202038697M (the “Company”) located at 54 Maude Road, Townshend Building #02-04, Singapore 208346

(Collectively, “Parties” and each a “Party”)

1. General Terms

• This Independent Contractor Service Terms constitutes a legal agreement between the Contractor and the Company. In order to provide or fulfil services for the Company, the Contractor must agree to be bound by the clauses below, and any future amendments to the Agreement as published from time to time.

• The Contractor’s relationship with the Company will be that of an independent contractor, and nothing in this Agreement is intended to, or should be construed to, create a partnership, agency, joint venture, or employment relationship. Contractor has the choice to work for other corporations including competitors of the Company. Contractor will not be entitled under this Agreement to any of the benefits that the Company have for its employees, including but not limited to group health insurance, life insurance, profit-sharing, retirement benefits, paid vacation, holidays or sick leave, or workers’ compensation insurance.

• The Contractor is a self-employed freelancer engaged under a contract for service in line with the gig economy, and the Company does not owe the Contractor any obligations typically associated with an employer-employee relationship. He/she will provide and fulfil services for the Company as described below in clause 2, and will be taking on the name of being an Express Buddy. Upon any physical or digital acknowledgement, the Contractor deems to have read, understood, agreed and accepted this Agreement. If at any point in the future, the Contractor chooses to rescind this Agreement, and wish to discontinue participation, he/she will be allowed to disrupt his/her services at any point after written notice is given.

• The Company provides a spectrum of quality on demand services, and is an intermediary/medium with the sole purpose of linking up its customers to Contractors. The Company aims to provide value added convenience to its customers, by uniquely matching the skills & expertise of a third-party freelance Contractor to the required specialised service.

• The Company reserves the right to modify, vary and change this Agreement, its policies, or incentives at any time. The Company is not obligated to inform the Contractor of any amendments, instead it is the responsibility of the Contractor to periodically check for updates posted in the Express Buddy application or at https://www.expressgroup.sg/buddies/. The effective date on such amendments will be stated in those updates, and continued use of the Express Buddy Application thereafter shall constitute the Contractor’s acceptance. All amendments shall be effective between the Parties with effect from the date notified by the Company, without the need for additional signatures or documentation.

2. Scope Of Services & Obligations

During registration, he/she can choose a role to provide either or all of the following services (“Services”):

• Express Valet Buddy

1. The Contractor will be providing valet services for the Company as a jockey or recovery driver.
2. For jockeys, the customer car will be driven.
3. For recovery drivers picking jockeys, a personal or Company owned/rented vehicle may be used.
4. Jockeys are required to give a 30 minutes grace from the booking timing.
5. All Contractors shall not speed during any of the trips.
6. Prioritise the customer’s requested route even if the Contractor thinks that there is a better route.
7. Inform the Company immediately when experiencing any serious problems with the customer.
8. Check and account for valuable items and cash collected.
9. Document and keep record of any information of the trip if problems are encountered.

• Express Concierge Buddy

1. The Contractor will be providing personal mobile concierge services for the Company.
2. A personal or Company owned/rented vehicle may be used.
3. Personal concierge services include but is not limited to land or airport transfers.
4. Contractors are required to reach the pick-up point 15 minutes before booking time
5. For land transfers, Contractors are required to wait 30 minutes from the booking timing.
6. For airport transfers, Contractors are required to wait 1 hour from the flight arrival timing.
7. A meet and greet service is require for airport transfers.
8. During hourly bookings, Contractors are not allowed to leave and do personal jobs in between.
9. Inform the Company immediately when experiencing prolonged delays with any passenger.
10. Document and keep record of any information of the trip if problems are encountered.

• Express Delivery Buddy

1. The Contractor will be providing delivery services for the Company.
2. A personal or Company owned/rented vehicle may be used.
3. Collection and drop off includes but is not limited to food/flowers/parcels/furniture.
4. Contractors are encouraged to accept all bookings when on duty for better ratings.
5. Punctually during collection of items and timely delivery of those items to customers.
6. Check and account for the items received.
7. Prioritise the best route if there are more than one delivery location in the booking.
8. Inform the Company immediately when experiencing any urgent issues causing a delay.
9. Check and account for cash collected.
10. Document and keep record of any information on deliveries if problems are encountered.

As the Company only acts as an intermediary/medium, its responsibilities and liabilities are limited to exercising reasonable care in the screening & selection of suitable Contractors. The Company solely performs its duties as a middleman to link up a Contractor to offer personalised services to its customers. These Services do not comprise of, nor is it intended to be construed as a representation of being the Company being an employer/principal to the Contractor.

3. Exemption Of Liability

Based on clause 1.2 & 2.2, the Company is not responsible nor liable for any loss or damage, by or related to, Services carried out by the Contractor on behalf of the Company. In particular, the Company will not be liable for any claims against the Contractor. The Contractor shall indemnify the Company against all actions, claims, demands, losses, damages, statutory penalties, expenses and costs (including legal costs on an indemnity basis) in respect of any claims made against the Company arising from any breach of this Agreement by the Contractor, or arising from any acts and/or omissions of any Contractor that are matched to its customers. The Contractor is to be held liable and will fully indemnify the Company for all damages caused by the Contractor’s misconduct or negligence. He/she will be considered as an independent provider matched by the Company to its customers for the sole purpose of fulfilling the abovementioned Services. Henceforth, this indemnifies the Company to any and all liabilities not limited to the following:

• For any accident, injury or death to any person in the course of Service.
• Any damages done to the customer’s vehicle.
• Any loss or theft of any property that belongs to the customer.
• Any parking fines, speeding tickets or any traffic offences caused by the assigned Contractor.
• Any other unforeseen losses or damages, once the Contractor has parked and exited the vehicle.
• Any fee waiver to the customer that resulted from the negligence of the Contractor.
• Any illegal possession in accordance to Singapore laws that might result in a civil or criminal offence.
• Any direct or indirect consequential loss such as any loss of profit, loss of enjoyment, loss of revenue, loss of data, or loss of earnings, and, to the extent permitted by law, the Contractor shall not have any recourse against the Company, its directors, officers, employees and agents.
• Any replacement or sub-contractor engaged by the Contractor to fulfil the Services is subjected to this clause, whom may enjoy the benefit of, but must enforce the terms of this paragraph in accordance with the provisions of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act, Chapter 53B of Singapore.

4. Service Fees & Payment 

• The compensation payouts associated with the Contractor’s service for each particular role are available and may be accessed via the Company’s Express Buddy application or website (https://www.expressgroup.sg/buddies/).

• The Company reserves the right and has sole discretion to change Service Fees at any time and shall notify the Contractor in advance in the event of such change. If the Contractor still uses the Company’s application or continues to do any of the aforementioned Services on behalf of the Company, the Contractor shall be deemed to accept such change to the Service Fees.

• The Company may make deductions from the Contractor’s Service Fees in the event that the Contractor does not return the cash collected from customers to the Company. Trip or fee waivers granted from the Contractor’s negligence due to a gross lack of punctuality or spillage etc, will also be deducted from the Contractor’s application wallet or future earnings if the amount is insufficient.

5. Insurance Coverage

• For Contractors that need to drive a customer’s vehicle to provide Services under this Agreement, they will have to be covered under the motor insurance coverage of the Customer as an authorised driver.

• For Contractors using their own vehicle to provide Services under this Agreement, they will be solely responsible for the purchase and maintenance of adequate insurance coverage which minimally must include a third-party liability insurance.

6. Intellectual Property Ownership 

The Company where applicable, shall own all right, title and interest, including all related intellectual property rights, and by extension, the Service and any suggestions, ideas, enhancement requests, feedback, recommendations or other information provided by the Contractor or any other party relating to the Service. This Agreement does not constitute as a sales agreement and do not convey any rights of ownership in or related to the Service. This includes but is not limited to the Company’s name, the Company’s logo, the Company’s customers, any proprietary knowledge etc, and there is no right or license to be granted to use them.

7. Confidentiality

Even as a freelance private independent Contractor, he/she shall observe complete confidentiality in relation to all information and data relating to the Company, its services, customers, products, business affairs, marketing and promotion plans or other operations and its associated companies which are disclosed by or on behalf of the Company (whether orally or in writing and whether before, on, or after the date of this Agreement) or which are otherwise directly or indirectly acquired from the Company, or any of its affiliated companies, or created in the course of this Agreement. The Contractor shall further ensure that such confidential information should only be used in order to perform the Service, and shall not without the Company’s prior consent, disclose such information to any third-party nor use it for any other purpose.

8. Non-Competition 

During the course of the Contractor’s engagement with the Company, or upon the discontinuance of the Contractor relationship, he/she will not solicit any customer of the Company. Whether or not still a customer of the Company and whether or not knowledge of the customer is still considered confidential information.

He/she is also not allowed to incorporate, or seemingly provide services that are currently being provided by the Company, personally solicit customers in any way, or even aid/assist any other person to solicit any such customer for a period of 5 years from cessation of the Contractor relationship with the Company. As there is no employment contract involved with the Contractors, date of cessation will be considered to be the day that the Contractor completed his/her last task or booking for the Company.

However, the Contractor is allowed to work for other on-demand platforms or companies providing similar services to the Company if he/she does not solicit any of the Company’s customers. In the event that the Contractor derives any economic value, and causes the Company to suffer tangible or intangible loss for the above breach, damages of up to SGD$200,000 will be claimable via legal means from the Contractor.

9. Severability

If any provision of this Agreement is held by a court of law to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable, (a) that provision shall be deemed amended to achieve as nearly as possible the same economic effect as the original provision, and (b) the legality, validity, and enforceability of the remaining provisions of this Agreement shall not be affected or impaired thereby.

10. Injunctive Relief For Breach

Contractor agrees that his/her services under this Agreement are of a unique character that gives them particular value; Contractor’s breach of any of such obligations will result in irreparable and continuing damage to the Company, for which there will be no adequate remedy at law; and, in the event of such breach, the Company will be entitled to injunctive relief and/or a decree for specific performance, and such other and further relief as may be proper (including monetary damages if appropriate).

11. Security And Data Protection

Contractor shall comply with all his/her obligations under the Personal Data Protection Act (“PDPA”) at his/her own cost. Contractor shall only process, use or disclose Customer Personal Data (which refers to data about a customer who can be identified from that data alone, or from that data and other information which Contractor has or is likely to have access to) strictly for the purposes of fulfilling his/her obligations and providing the Services under this Agreement.

Contractor shall protect Customer Personal Data in Contractor’s control or possession by making reasonable security arrangements to prevent unauthorized or accidental access, collection, use, disclosure, or copying of Customer Personal Data.

Contractor shall not retain Customer Personal Data (or any documents or records containing Customer Personal Data, electronic or otherwise) for any period of time longer than is necessary to serve the purposes of this Agreement.

Contractor shall indemnify the Company against all actions, claims, demands, losses, damages, statutory penalties, expenses and cost (including legal costs on an indemnity basis) in respect of Contractor’s breach of this clause or any act, omission or negligence of Contract that causes or results in the Company being in breach of the PDPA.

12. Privacy Policy

Contractor acknowledges that the Company collects and processes his/her personal data in accordance with its privacy policy accessible at https://www.expressgroup.sg/privacy-policy as updated from time to time. The Contractor agrees and consents to the Company, its subsidiaries and any of its affiliate companies collecting, using, processing and disclosing his/her personal data as set out in the Privacy Policy.

13. Disputes

The Parties shall seek to resolve any dispute regarding the interpretation of clauses of the Agreement primarily through good faith negotiations. In the event that Parties are unable to resolve their dispute, they shall submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of Singapore. This Agreement and any dispute arising out of or in connection with its subject matter or formation shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Singapore.

14. Declaration Of Contractor

The Contractor hereby declare that all details furnished and the documents submitted to the Company are true and correct to the best of his/her knowledge and belief. He/she undertakes to inform the Company of any changes therein immediately. In case any of any information and/or documents submitted, are found to be false or misleading or misrepresenting, the Contractor is aware that he/she may be held liable for it.