How Alfred works, in writing.

What Alfred is

Alfred is an intermediary. It helps you find a vetted professional, agree a price, hold the money safely, and keep the paperwork in one place. Alfred does not itself provide legal, tax, accounting or other professional services.

The professional you choose contracts with you directly for their work. Alfred is not a party to that contract and does not supervise or guarantee the work.

Vetting

Every listed professional has had their identity checked, and where their profession has a public register, their credential checked against it, plus professional indemnity insurance where applicable. These are checks, not guarantees: they tell you who someone is and that they are entitled to practise, not that any particular piece of work will be right.

Prices and Alfred’s fee

The professional sets their price. Alfred adds a service fee of 10% of that price to what you pay. It is shown as a separate line before you commit and on your invoice, and nothing else is added on your side. Alfred also charges the professional a commission on their side; that is between Alfred and the professional and does not change what you pay. Alfred invoices you for its fee only; the professional invoices you for their own price and any VAT on it.

Escrow

When you accept a quote you pay the full amount, which Alfred holds. Nothing is released to the professional until the work is delivered and you approve it. If the work is not delivered, the full amount — Alfred’s fee included — is returned to you.

Monthly plans

A monthly plan is a monthly arrangement. When you start one you are agreeing to a specific published version of the professional’s package, and that version stays yours even if they later publish new terms. Each month is charged in advance and held; it is paid to the professional once the month has been worked.

Where a package includes quarterly or annual work, part of each month’s payment is held back until that work is done. If you leave before it is done, the held amount is returned to you. When it is done, the professional asks for it and you approve the release — nothing leaves without you.

You can end a monthly plan at any time. The notice you owe is whatever the version you agreed to says, and you see the exact end date and any further charges before you confirm. If a monthly payment fails, the monthly plan pauses; it does not end, and no held money is lost.

Your account

There are no passwords. You sign in with a link sent to your email address, and you are responsible for keeping that mailbox secure. You may create a key that lets an AI assistant of your choosing read your matters; such keys are read-only, can be revoked at any time, and can never send, pay, approve or delete anything.

Correspondence

Each matter has its own email address you may give to third parties. Letters arriving there are stored on the matter. A letter from a sender who has not written before is held for your review before any AI assistant can read it.

Acceptable use

You must give accurate information, use Alfred only for your own lawful affairs or those you are authorised to handle, and not attempt to interfere with the service or other users’ data.

Liability

Alfred is responsible for running the service with reasonable care and for handling your money and documents as described here. Alfred is not responsible for the professional’s advice or work, nor for losses arising from it. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

Ending your account

You may close your account at any time. Open matters must first be settled or refunded. You may ask for a matter’s contents to be purged; once purged they cannot be recovered.

Governing law

These terms are governed by Portuguese law, and the courts of Lisbon have jurisdiction, without prejudice to any mandatory consumer protection you enjoy where you live.

Changes

We may update these terms. Material changes will be notified to you by email before they take effect. Monthly plans already running continue on the package version you agreed to.