1. What Tuck is, and isn't#
Tuck is a coordination tool. Parents use it to ask babysitters they already know whether they can sit on a specific date. Tuck writes the message, keeps the order, and carries the answer back. Sitters answer from a private page, and a sitter who wants one can make an account to see their own sits from every family in one place (section 9). After a sit, Tuck can keep a parent's own note of what it came to, and a parent can log an evening Tuck never arranged so their own record is complete (section 5). A parent can also tell another family about Tuck, in a short message Tuck writes and the parent sends (section 4). That's the whole service.
Tuck is not a marketplace, a referral service, an employment agency, a staffing agency, a childcare provider, or a background-check provider. We don't find, recommend, screen, vet, endorse, supervise, train, or employ sitters. We aren't a party to any arrangement between a parent and a sitter, we don't handle payment, and we aren't there when a sit happens. Any sitting arrangement — the rate, the hours, who turns up, what they do, and everything that happens while they're there — is between the parent and the sitter.
Tuck doesn't verify what you or a sitter tells us, or tell each other: not an identity, not an age, not a qualification, and not that a number belongs to the person whose name is on it. What Tuck holds is what someone typed. The one thing Tuck does check is that a sitter's yes to its texts came from that sitter's own number.
2. Who can use Tuck#
Tuck is for adults.
- Parents must be 18 or older, and responsible for the children in their household.
- Sitters must be 18 or older. When you add a sitter you confirm they are, and Tuck won't ask a sitter nobody has confirmed. Tuck can't check anyone's age and doesn't try to: it goes on what you tell us. Confirming that sentence when it isn't true breaks these terms, and we may remove the sitter and end the account.
- Don't add anyone under 18. If someone on your list is under 18, take them off — you can still ask them yourself, the way you did before Tuck. If a number on any family's list belongs to someone under 18, tell us at jarryd@asktuck.com and we'll remove it from every list and stop texting it.
- Sitters hear about Tuck from a parent who added them, and answer on private pages that need no account, app or password. A sitter may make an account, only to see their own sits in one place (section 9). Tuck texts a sitter from its own number only after that sitter says yes to it, for that family, and a sign-in link only when the sitter asks for one by texting SITS. Anyone can reply STOP to any text from Tuck to stop them all, or ask us to remove a number from every family's list.
3. Adding sitters, and text message consent#
When you add a sitter, you confirm this sentence: [sitter’s first name] is 18 or older, and knows our family. In doing so you tell us that the person is 18 or older, that you already have their number, that you have an existing relationship with them as a babysitter, and that they're okay with you contacting them about sitting. You may not add a number you found somewhere, a number you don't have permission to contact, or the number of anyone under 18.
Adding a sitter doesn't by itself let Tuck text them. You send the sitter a heads-up from your own phone, with a private link made for that sitter and your family, and Tuck texts a sitter from its own number, (833) 349-4533, about your sitting requests, only after the sitter says yes from their own phone. The link's button, Yes, Tuck can text me, shown beside the words our SMS policy quotes, opens a text of YES and a short code to Tuck's number, and the yes counts only when that text arrives from the sitter's own number, so you can't give it for them. A sitter's yes for one family says nothing for any other. Until a sitter says yes, for every family on Tuck's free plan, and whenever Tuck can't send a text itself, your asks to them go from your own phone, with the words Tuck wrote — those are your texts, not ours.
Tuck texts a parent from its own number only a sign-in link the parent asks for on the sign-in page; news about your requests shows in the app instead. The first sign-in link for a parent you add to your household is sent by you, from your own phone. Anyone can reply STOP to any text from Tuck to stop every text from Tuck to that number, for every family, or HELP for help; texting START to Tuck's number lifts a STOP, and each family then needs a new yes from the sitter. If a sitter replies STOP to an ask you sent from your own phone, record it on Your sitters: your family's asks to that sitter then stop, from Tuck's number and by hand, until the sitter texts YES from your link again. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Consent to texts isn't a condition of any purchase. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent will not be shared with any third parties. See our SMS policy.
4. Telling a friend about Tuck#
You can tell another family about Tuck from the app. It gives you a short message with a link to this site, or the link alone to copy; you choose who it goes to and you send it yourself, from your own phone or computer, so it's your message, not ours, and it's yours to send only to people you know who'd want to hear from you. Tuck doesn't send it, doesn't learn who you sent it to, and adds nothing to the link that could tell us. It gives them nothing of yours: your list of sitters, your notes about them, the rates you've agreed, and your sit sheet stay in your household.
5. Rates, payment, and who employs whom#
The hourly rate on a request is set by the parent, or is the rate a sitter has set for new families, or is a change a sitter proposes. Tuck records the rate so both people can see it. That record is a note of what was agreed through Tuck, not a contract with us and not a promise by us that anyone will pay or be paid.
After a sit, a parent can record the hours that actually ran and mark that they've paid, and Tuck works out what the sit came to from those hours and that rate. That record is the parent's own, is shown only to their household, is not shown to the sitter, and is not a bill, a receipt, or a statement by Tuck of what anyone owes.
A parent can also log a sit Tuck never arranged — an evening they set up themselves — so their own record is complete. If whoever sat isn't on their list, the parent types a first name for that one sit; Tuck keeps it on that record, never contacts them, and never adds them to a list. A logged sit is the same kind of record as the one above: the parent's own, shown only to their household, never shown or sent to whoever sat, and not a bill, a receipt, or a statement by Tuck of what anyone owes. A parent can take a sit they logged back off their record, which deletes it and any name they typed; a sit Tuck arranged stays, because it holds who was asked and what was texted.
Tuck does not process, hold, guarantee, or insure payment, and is not responsible for whether, when, or how a sitter is paid.
Tuck is not your employer and is not your sitter's employer. Nobody becomes Tuck's employee, agent, partner, or contractor by using it, and Tuck takes no position on whether a sitter is a household's employee or an independent contractor. Tax, insurance, workers' compensation, minimum wage and overtime, and every other legal obligation arising from a sitting arrangement are the parent's and the sitter's, not ours. Household employment rules differ by state and can apply at fewer hours than people expect — if you're unsure, ask an accountant or a lawyer, not us.
6. Choosing a sitter is your decision#
You decide who cares for your children, and you accept the risk of that decision. Tuck doesn't vet anyone: no background checks, no interviews, no references, and no representation about any sitter's identity, age, background, skills, insurance, or suitability. We don't promise a sitter will arrive, will stay, will be who they say they are, or will do the job well. Tuck contacts only the sitters you added.
If you're a sitter: you decide whose children you care for, and you accept the risk of that decision. Tuck makes no representation about any family, any home, or anything you're told about a sit.
In an emergency, call 911. Tuck is not an emergency service, is not monitored in real time, and shouldn't be relied on to reach anyone quickly.
7. Your sit sheet and address#
You choose what goes in your sit sheet. Tuck shows it, along with your address, only to the sitter you confirm for a request, and only after confirmation. You're responsible for keeping it accurate, for what you choose to share in it, and for having the right to share anything in it about another person. To show it to that sitter, Tuck stores it, sends it, and displays it — that's all we do with it, and it ends when you delete it or your account.
8. Acceptable use#
Don't use Tuck to contact people who haven't agreed to be contacted, to harass anyone, to send anything unrelated to a sitting request, to impersonate anyone, to add the number of anyone under 18, to add the number of anyone you don't already know as a sitter, to copy anyone's information out of it, or to interfere with the service. We may suspend or remove accounts that do.
The one exception is the message in section 4, telling a friend about Tuck, or its link on its own. You may send it yourself, from your own phone or computer, to someone you know who'd want to hear from you, though it isn't about a sitting request and they haven't asked to hear about Tuck. The exception is that message, sent that way, and nothing more: sent to someone you don't know, or to harass anyone, it breaks these terms like anything else.
9. Your account, and your household#
You sign in one of three ways: with Apple, with Google, or with a single-use link texted to your phone, by Tuck when you ask for one or by another parent in your household. Keep your phone, and the Apple or Google account you sign in with, secure; you're responsible for everything done on your account. A household can have more than one parent, and every parent in it can add sitters, send asks, and see the address and the sit sheet — so you're responsible for who you add to your household and for what they do in it. Tell us right away if you think someone else has access to your account.
If you're a sitter, an account is optional: it shows you your own sits from every family that has your number, in one place, and nothing you need to answer an ask is behind it. You make one by texting SITS to Tuck's number from your own phone and opening the link Tuck texts back, and you can add Apple or Google to sign in with. Tuck texts your number when you do, and a week later a texted link alone no longer signs you in, so keep that Apple or Google account, and your phone, secure; if you lose it, email us. Your account shows only what each family has already sent you, and no family sees whether you have one. Tuck is for sitters 18 and over (section 2). Tell us right away if you think someone else has access to your account.
10. Ending things#
You can stop using Tuck at any time. You can delete your family any time, on Family in the app, or ask us to by emailing jarryd@asktuck.com; the privacy policy says what is deleted, what is kept and why, and when. A sitter can stop texts (reply STOP to any text from Tuck), delete their account on their own page, or ask to be removed from every list. We can suspend or end an account that breaks these terms, and we can change, limit, or stop the service; if we stop it for good we'll tell you first, with time to write down what you need. Sections 1, 2, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, and 14 survive.
11. No warranty#
Tuck is provided as is and as available. We don't promise it will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free, that a text will be delivered, that a sitter will see it, that anyone will answer, or that a request will be filled. Carriers and phones delay, block, and drop messages, and we can't control that. A scheduled check can be late. Data can be lost.
To the extent the law allows, we disclaim the warranties the law would otherwise imply, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. Nothing anyone says or writes, here or anywhere, creates a warranty we haven't given.
12. Limitation of liability#
To the fullest extent the law allows, Tuck isn't liable for anything that happens before, during, or after a sit, for any decision to hire anyone or to work for anyone, for anything a parent or a sitter says or does, or for any text that arrives late, arrives wrong, or doesn't arrive. We're not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost time, lost money, or lost data.
Our total liability for everything to do with Tuck is limited to the greater of what you've paid us in the twelve months before the claim and fifty dollars. Tuck is free for families today, so in practice that is fifty dollars.
Some of these limits aren't allowed in some places, and nothing here limits liability we're not permitted to limit. Where a limit can't apply, it applies as far as it can.
13. If someone makes a claim because of how you used Tuck#
If someone brings a claim against Tuck because of how you used it — who you added, who you asked, who you hired, what you sent, what you agreed, what you put in your sit sheet, or what happened at a sit — you'll cover what it costs us to deal with it, including reasonable legal fees. This doesn't apply to a claim about something Tuck itself did wrong. We'll tell you about any such claim promptly, and you can take it over, as long as any settlement doesn't cost us money or admit something on our behalf without our agreement.
14. Disputes and governing law#
These terms are governed by California law, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Before filing anything, email us at jarryd@asktuck.com and give us thirty days to sort it out. Disputes will be handled in the state or federal courts in Santa Barbara County, California, and you agree to that venue. A disagreement between a parent and a sitter is between them: Tuck isn't a party to it and won't referee it. If any part of these terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies. These terms, with the privacy policy and the SMS policy, are the whole agreement between us. If we don't enforce something straight away, we haven't given it up. You can't transfer these terms; we can transfer them to a company that takes over Tuck.
15. Changes#
If we change these terms in a way that matters, we'll say so on this page before the change takes effect, and the date at the top is the current version. Continuing to use Tuck after that means you accept the change.
16. Contact#
jarryd@asktuck.com. Bygga LLC, Santa Barbara, California.