Terms of use

Eleva.care is operated by BÚZIOS E TARTARUGAS - LDA ("Eleva", "we", "us"). These Terms apply to anyone who visits the platform or creates an account. Experts also accept the Expert agreement.

1. Definitions

• Platform: the Eleva.care websites and apps and the infrastructure that supports them.
• Member: a person who uses Eleva to find and book sessions with experts.
• Expert: an independent health professional in a regulated profession, whose active registration with their professional body (Ordem) Eleva has verified.
• Clinic: a healthcare organisation that offers sessions with its professionals through Eleva.
• Session: the health service that an expert provides to a member, by video, by phone or in person.

2. Eleva's role

• Eleva is an intermediary. It helps you find experts, book and pay for sessions, receive reminders and join the video call.
• Eleva does not provide healthcare. It does not employ the experts and does not direct or supervise their clinical decisions.
• The contract for the session is made directly between you and the expert (or the clinic). The expert is the provider of the care and is responsible for it.
• The expert, or the clinic when you book through a clinic, issues you the invoice for the session. Eleva does not invoice the session and does not charge VAT on it.

3. Verified experts

• Only health professionals in regulated professions may offer paid sessions. Before a profile is published, Eleva checks the expert's professional licence number (cédula profissional) and the status of their registration with the competent professional body.
• Experts must keep their registration valid and tell us of any change. If Eleva can no longer confirm the registration, the profile stops accepting bookings.
• Each expert is responsible for the content of their profile and for their own registration with the Entidade Reguladora da Saúde (ERS), including showing the registration number on their profile where applicable.
• Verification confirms professional registration. It is not an assessment of the clinical quality of the care.

4. Your account

• To create an account or book a session, you must be 18 or older and have legal capacity to enter into contracts.
• If you book without an account, we create a member account in your name after the booking is confirmed, so you can manage it. You can use it, or ask us to delete it. See the Privacy notice.
• Give accurate information, keep your access secure and tell us about any unauthorised use at support@eleva.care.

5. Bookings

• Bookings are for adults. You book sessions for yourself. Before you confirm a booking, you tick the box "I am 18 or older and I am booking this session for myself, as set out in the booking terms". We keep that confirmation with the booking.
• To arrange care for someone under 18, or for another person, contact the expert directly.
• If an expert or Eleva finds that a session is for someone under 18 or for someone other than the person who booked, the expert may decline to start it. We then cancel the booking and refund what you paid.
• Before you confirm, you see the service, duration, final price, mode and the cancellation policy that applies.
• During payment, the time slot is held for 5 minutes (10 minutes while an MB WAY payment is being processed).
• Request to book. For some services, shown before you pay, the expert must accept your booking. You pay when you send the request; the booking is confirmed only when the expert accepts, within 24 hours or before the session if sooner. If the expert declines or does not answer in time, we refund 100% and release the time.
• After confirmation, you receive an email with the details and, for online sessions, the link to join. You can join from 15 minutes before the start until 30 minutes after the end.

6. Prices, payments and invoices

• Prices are shown in euros and are final. There are no extra charges after confirmation.
• Payment is made through Stripe Checkout. We accept card (including Apple Pay and Google Pay), Link and MB WAY.
• Eleva collects the payment on the expert's behalf and transfers the expert's share to them. Paying Eleva counts as paying the expert: once your payment is confirmed, you owe the expert nothing more for that session.
• You may choose to give your NIF. Eleva collects it and sends it to the expert, or to the clinic, so that they can issue the invoice in your name.
• Promo codes. Eleva may offer promo codes, on the conditions stated for each campaign. Eleva covers the discount, and it does not change what the expert receives.
• The details are in the Payment policies.

7. Cancellations, no-shows and refunds

• Cancellation by you: the refund follows the service's policy (Flexible, Moderate or Strict) shown at the time of booking, including the 24-hour grace period. The full rules are in the Payment policies.
• Your no-show: if you do not attend and have not cancelled, the no-show is treated as a cancellation at the session start time. Under all three policies, this means there is no refund.
• Expert cancellation or no-show: if the expert cancels or does not attend, you receive a full refund of what you paid, and we offer you a new booking.
• If the expert does not attend, tell us at support@eleva.care. For online sessions, we confirm attendance with the video call join logs.

8. How we rank experts

Experts appear in listings in this order:

• the filters you choose (area of care, language, country and how you meet) decide who appears, and a word search puts the closest name and profile matches first;
• by default, experts are listed in alphabetical order of their name;
• when the directory lists enough experts, you can also sort by lowest price, from the cheapest service to the most expensive, or by Top Expert first: experts with the paid Top Expert subscription appear first, then the others in alphabetical order.

The default order is never influenced by payment. Top Expert is marked as a paid plan wherever it appears. It is the only form of payment that influences the order. Only experts whose professional registration Eleva has verified appear.

9. Acceptable use

You must not:

• break the law or infringe the rights of others;
• deceive other people or impersonate someone else;
• publish illegal, defamatory or harmful content;
• interfere with the operation or security of the platform;
• present yourself as a health professional when you are not one.

To notify us of illegal content under Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act), write to legal@eleva.care, our point of contact for users and authorities, in Portuguese, English or Spanish. Include the link, an explanation of why the content is illegal, your name and email, and a statement that you believe the notice is accurate and complete. We confirm receipt, decide carefully and tell you the outcome, with the reasons and how to contest it. Details are on the Complaints and dispute resolution page.

10. Health and emergencies

• Eleva is not intended for emergencies. In an emergency, call 112.
• The expert decides whether a remote session is appropriate or whether you should seek in-person care.

11. Privacy

We process your data in line with the Privacy notice and the Health data notice.

12. Intellectual property

The platform, the brand, the texts, the graphics and the software belong to Eleva or its licensors. Profile content belongs to the expert, who gives Eleva a free, non-exclusive licence, while the profile is live, to host, display, translate and format it on Eleva and in its listings. Do not copy or distribute any of it without permission.

13. Liability

• Eleva is liable for the intermediation service it provides, as provided by law.
• Eleva is not liable for the clinical acts, decisions or outcomes of the care provided by experts, who are responsible for them.
• Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that the law does not allow to be excluded or limited, or your rights as a consumer.

14. Suspension and closure

• You can close your account at any time in your settings or through support@eleva.care.
• We may suspend or close an account that breaches these Terms or the law, or that puts other people at risk. We explain the reason to you, unless the law prevents us from doing so.

15. Right of withdrawal

• The session with the expert is a health service. Articles 4 to 21 of Decree-Law 24/2014 on distance contracts, which include the right of withdrawal, do not apply to it (Article 2(2)(f)). The service's cancellation policy applies.
• If you buy a paid service provided by Eleva itself, you have 14 days to withdraw, unless the service has been fully provided with your prior express consent (Article 17(1)(a) of the same Decree-Law).

16. Complaints and dispute resolution

• Complaints about Eleva: legal@eleva.care or the Livro de Reclamações Eletrónico.
• Complaints about the care provided: contact the expert first. You can also complain to their professional body or to the ERS (www.ers.pt).
• Consumer arbitration: for a dispute with Eleva worth up to €5,000, you can choose to go to a consumer arbitration centre, and Eleva takes part (Law 24/96, Article 14(2)). The competent centres are CACCL and CNIACC. See the Complaints and dispute resolution page.

17. Changes

We change these Terms only for a valid reason, such as a change in the law or in our services. We tell you by email at least 30 days before a material change and, where needed, ask you to accept it again. Changes never affect bookings already confirmed. If you do not agree, you can close your account before the change takes effect.

18. Governing law

These Terms are governed by Portuguese law. If you are a consumer, you keep the protection of the mandatory rules of the country where you live and you can go to the courts where you are domiciled.

Legal information

• Company name: BÚZIOS E TARTARUGAS - LDA
• Brand: Eleva.care
• Legal form: private limited company (sociedade por quotas)
• NIPC: 515001708, registered with the Conservatória do Registo Comercial de Cascais
• Share capital: €200.00
• Registered office: Rua Gil Vicente 2, 2775-198 Parede, Portugal
• Contacts: support@eleva.care (support), legal@eleva.care (legal notices and complaints), privacy@eleva.care (data protection)

If the language versions differ, the Portuguese version prevails.