Terms of service

1. Who we are and what these terms cover

Book Lab ("Book Lab", "we", "us") is a New Zealand online booking service. These terms apply to the supply of the Book Lab service to the practice named in the order form ("you", "your practice").

You accept these terms by doing any of the following, whichever happens first: signing an order form or agreement for the service, paying our setup invoice or any other invoice for the service, instructing us in writing to begin work, or using the service. These terms are incorporated by reference into every quote, order form and invoice we issue for the service. If an order form and these terms conflict, the order form applies.

2. What the service is, and what it is not

Book Lab provides a branded online booking page for your practice and delivers booking requests made on it into your practice management software. Your practice management software remains the authoritative record of your appointments at all times. Book Lab is a facilitation layer: it validates a patient's booking request and passes it on. It does not hold your appointment book, store bookings, or send patient communications itself.

The service is not a substitute for your phone line, reception processes or clinical judgement, and it does not provide medical advice of any kind.

3. Fees and payment

• The setup fee is quoted for your practice and covers the scope set out in your order form. Work outside that scope is quoted and agreed before it is done.
• The monthly fee is stated in your order form, is payable monthly in advance, and is exclusive of GST unless stated otherwise.
• The minimum term is 12 months from go-live, then month-to-month with 30 days' written notice.
• Invoices are payable in full by the due date, without set-off. Disputes must be raised in writing within 7 days of the invoice date.
• If an invoice is overdue, we may suspend the service after giving you notice, and may charge interest at a reasonable commercial rate.
• We may adjust the monthly fee with 60 days' written notice, but not during your minimum term.

4. Your responsibilities

• You confirm you have authority to grant us API access to your practice management software, and to authorise the domain and DNS changes needed to run your booking page.
• You are responsible for the security of your own systems: your practice management software and its user accounts, your domain registrar, your email, and your website. Incidents that originate in systems you control are your responsibility.
• You will give us accurate information about your services, durations, practitioners and hours, and tell us when they change.
• You will review the test (UAT) site and give sign-off before go-live. Go-live happens only on your approval.
• You remain responsible for compliance with the laws that apply to your practice, including the Privacy Act 2020 and the Health Information Privacy Code 2020 in respect of information held in your systems.

5. Bookings, availability and interruptions

We take reasonable care to keep the service available and working, but no online service can be guaranteed uninterrupted or error-free, and we do not guarantee that.

The service is designed to fail honestly: if a booking request cannot reach your practice management software, the patient is shown a message asking them to phone your practice, and no false confirmation is issued. You acknowledge that some patients may not phone, and that bookings can be missed for reasons inside or outside our control, including outages of your practice management software, your domain or DNS configuration, or third-party infrastructure.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for bookings that are not made, not completed or not received, for patient no-shows or cancellations, for double-bookings or scheduling conflicts arising from the state of your practice management software, or for any revenue associated with any of these.

We may carry out maintenance from time to time and will schedule it outside typical booking hours where practicable.

6. Patient information and privacy

Book Lab is deliberately designed as a pass-through. Booking details entered by a patient are validated and forwarded to your practice management software, and are not retained by Book Lab. Your practice is and remains the agency responsible for patient information held in your systems. We handle booking information in transit on your behalf and on your instructions, and we do not use it for any other purpose.

Because nothing is retained, there is no patient data for us to return or destroy when the service ends.

7. Security

We maintain technical and organisational safeguards appropriate to a system that handles health information in transit, and we test the platform's security on an ongoing basis. We do not publish operational security details on this website, because doing so would assist attackers. A confidential security summary is available on request to practices, insurers, auditors or privacy officers with a legitimate need to assess the system.

We use automated and AI-assisted tools in building, operating and securing the service. Patient booking information is not provided to third-party AI tools.

No system connected to the internet can be guaranteed secure, and we do not warrant that the service will be immune from attack or unauthorised access. If we become aware of a security incident materially affecting your practice's use of the service, we will notify you without undue delay, take reasonable steps to contain and remedy it, and cooperate with your own obligations under the Privacy Act 2020. Notification is not an admission of liability. To the maximum extent permitted by law, our liability for any security incident is subject to section 11, and we are not liable for incidents that originate in systems we do not control, including your practice management software, your email, your domain, or third-party providers.

You must not, and must not authorise anyone else to, probe, scan, penetration test or attempt to bypass the security of the service without our prior written consent. We may suspend the service immediately if we reasonably believe continued operation poses a security risk to you, to us or to other practices.

8. Third-party dependencies

The service depends on systems we do not control, including your practice management software vendor and its API, cloud hosting providers, DNS and content delivery infrastructure, and your practice management software's own SMS and email delivery. We are not responsible for the acts, omissions or outages of those providers.

If your practice management software vendor changes or withdraws its API in a way that makes the service impracticable to provide, we will tell you promptly and work with you on options. Where a vendor change requires substantial re-engineering rather than routine maintenance, we may quote for that work, and if the service cannot reasonably continue, either party may terminate on notice without penalty beyond fees due to date.

9. Changes to the service

We may improve or modify the service, provided the change does not materially reduce what you receive. If a change does materially reduce the service, you may terminate on 30 days' written notice without penalty.

10. Intellectual property

We own the Book Lab platform, its software, design system and documentation. You own your branding and content and licence us to use them to provide the service. Neither of us gains ownership of the other's property under these terms. If you give us feedback or suggestions, we may use them without obligation.

11. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable, in contract, tort (including negligence), equity, statute or otherwise, for any indirect, consequential, special, incidental or economic loss, including loss of revenue or profit, loss of bookings or appointments, patient no-shows, loss of goodwill or opportunity, business interruption, or loss or corruption of data held in systems you control.

Our total aggregate liability for all claims arising out of or in connection with the service is limited to the total fees you paid us for the service in the 3 months immediately before the event giving rise to the claim.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

12. Indemnity

You indemnify us against claims by third parties arising out of your breach of these terms, the branding and content you supply, instructions you give us, or your use of the service in breach of law.

13. Term and termination

The service starts on go-live and continues for the minimum term, then month-to-month. Either party may terminate after the minimum term with 30 days' written notice. We may suspend or terminate immediately if invoices remain unpaid after notice, if you materially breach these terms, if continued operation poses an unreasonable security risk, or if you become insolvent.

On termination: your booking page is decommissioned, DNS records pointing to the service should be removed by whoever controls your zone, and fees for service supplied up to the termination date remain payable. Because Book Lab retains no patient data, there is no data to hand back. Clauses that by their nature should survive termination (including sections 6, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 15) survive it.

14. Force majeure

Neither party is liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including natural disasters, power or telecommunications failures, cloud provider outages, or actions of government. The affected party must take reasonable steps to minimise the impact.

15. Business use and consumer law

You confirm you are acquiring the service in trade for business purposes. The parties agree that the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 does not apply, as permitted by section 43 of that Act, and that they contract out of sections 9, 12A and 13 of the Fair Trading Act 1986 to the extent permitted by section 5D, and that this is fair and reasonable.

16. Disputes

If a dispute arises, the parties will first try to resolve it in good faith between senior representatives within 20 working days. If that fails, the parties will attempt mediation before starting court proceedings, except where urgent relief or recovery of undisputed debt is sought.

17. General

These terms and your order form are the entire agreement between us about the service. You may not assign them without our written consent; we may assign to a related entity on notice. Notices may be given by email. If any provision is unenforceable, the rest remain in effect. A failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it. These terms are governed by New Zealand law and the parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the New Zealand courts.

18. Updates to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. Material changes will be notified to you by email at least 30 days before they take effect, and will not take effect during your minimum term without your agreement. The current version always lives at this page.