Terms of service

1. About these terms

These terms form the agreement between you and DirectFile (“we”, “us”) when you use directfile.ca, create an account or place an order. If you order on behalf of a law firm or other organization, you confirm you are authorized to bind it. If you don’t agree to these terms, please don’t use our services.

2. Our service

We serve court and legal documents on the people and organizations you name, at the addresses you give us, within our coverage area. We attempt personal service, or an alternative to personal service where the applicable rules allow it, record each attempt, and for each person served prepare a sworn affidavit of service.

We are not a law firm and don’t give legal advice. You are responsible for deciding which documents must be served, on whom, by what method and by when. If you’re unsure, speak with a lawyer or licensed paralegal.

3. Your responsibilities

When you place an order, you agree that:

• the names, addresses and descriptions you give us are accurate and as complete as you can make them;
• the documents you upload are complete, legible and, where required, issued by the court;
• you have a lawful purpose for serving them and the right to give us the information in your order;
• you won’t use our services to harass, intimidate or locate anyone for an unlawful purpose, or to serve documents you know to be false or fraudulent;
• you remain responsible for your court deadlines and should order with enough time for service to be completed.

We may refuse or stop an order that we reasonably believe breaches these terms or the law, or that would put our process servers at risk.

4. Turnaround and attempts

The turnaround you choose sets the deadline for our first attempt, counted in business days (excluding weekends and Ontario statutory holidays) from when your payment is confirmed. Orders paid after 5 p.m. Toronto time, or on a non-business day, start counting from the next business day. Same-day service is available for orders paid before noon, Monday to Saturday, excluding statutory holidays.

Each order includes up to 3 attempts per person at the address given, at different times of day. Whether service succeeds depends on the recipient, so we can’t guarantee that service will be completed, or completed by a particular date. If we miss the first-attempt deadline for a paid faster turnaround, we refund that turnaround fee.

5. Pricing and taxes

Prices are in Canadian dollars and are shown before you pay. The price of an order is calculated per person served, from the zone of the recipient’s address and the required affidavit of service, plus the turnaround you choose for each address we visit. Each further person served at an address already in the order is charged the lower same-address price. Sales tax (HST in Ontario) is calculated from your billing postal code and shown separately. We may change our prices at any time, but changes never affect an order you have already paid for. Current prices are on our Services & pricing page.

6. Payment

Payment is due in full when you place an order and is processed securely by Stripe. We start work once payment is confirmed. Orders that remain unpaid for 72 hours are cancelled automatically. We email a confirmation when payment is received, and invoices are available in your account.

7. Cancellations and refunds

• Before any attempt is made: you can cancel by contacting us and we will refund the order in full.
• If we can’t take on the job, for example because the address is outside our coverage area or we decline the order, we refund it in full.
• If a person can’t be served after the included attempts, or because they have moved or the address is wrong, the service and turnaround fees for that person cover the attempts made and are not refunded. We refund the affidavit of service fee for each person we did not serve, and you keep the full attempt record.
• Missed turnaround: see Turnaround and attempts.

Refunds are returned to the original payment method through Stripe and usually appear within 5 to 10 business days. Serving a person at a new address, or making more attempts, requires a new order.

8. Affidavits and evidence

Affidavits are prepared from the records our process servers make at the time of each attempt and are sworn before a commissioner for taking affidavits. Attempt records are kept as made and cannot be altered afterwards. If a court requires a process server to attend to give evidence about service, contact us: attendance is not included in the order price and will be quoted separately.

9. Accounts

Keep your sign-in details secure and tell us promptly about any unauthorized use. You’re responsible for activity under your account. If you create an organization for your firm, its administrators control who can see the organization’s orders, documents and invoices. We may suspend accounts used in breach of these terms.

10. Your documents

You keep all rights in the documents and information you give us. You allow us to store, copy and handle them as needed to provide the service, keep records and meet our legal obligations, as described in our Privacy policy.

11. Limitation of liability

We provide our services with reasonable care and skill. To the extent permitted by law:

• our total liability for any claim relating to an order is limited to the amount you paid for that order;
• we are not liable for indirect or consequential losses, such as lost profits, costs awards, or the outcome of a legal proceeding;
• we are not responsible for delays or failures caused by inaccurate or incomplete information, the recipient’s conduct, or events beyond our reasonable control.

Nothing in these terms limits rights you have that cannot be limited by law.

12. Indemnity

You agree to compensate us for claims and losses arising from information you provide that is false or that you had no right to provide, or from use of our services for an unlawful purpose.

13. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. The version in effect when you place an order applies to that order. We’ll post changes here with a new “last updated” date.

14. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada that apply there. You and we agree to the jurisdiction of the courts of Ontario, sitting in Toronto.

15. Contact

Questions about these terms? Email info@directfile.ca.