Terms of Service
1. What we do
We phone the restaurant you choose and try to book a table for you. Your dining contract is between you and the restaurant; we are not a party to it.
2. Fee and card hold
Our fee is ¥1,500, tax included. It is charged only after a Successful Booking (see section 3). Just before we call, a temporary hold of ¥1,500 is placed on your card. If we can't book a table, the hold is released and nothing is charged.
3. Booking Fee, Cancellations and Refunds
A “Successful Booking” means that the restaurant has accepted a reservation matching the restaurant, date, time, party size and other material conditions approved by you, and we have provided you with the booking confirmation through the agreed contact channel. Any restaurant cancellation charges or other material booking conditions must be disclosed to and approved by you before we commit to them on your behalf.
Our ¥1,500 service fee is charged only after a Successful Booking. It is payment for the completed telephone reservation service, not a dining deposit or a cancellation penalty. If no Successful Booking is made, including where you notify us that you are withdrawing your request before that point, no service fee is charged.
If you voluntarily cancel or do not attend after a Successful Booking, the service fee is not refundable, except where applicable law requires otherwise or the cancellation results from our breach of duty. We do not charge an additional cancellation penalty. Any legally enforceable cancellation charge payable to the restaurant is separate from our service fee.
If the restaurant cancels a Successful Booking for reasons not attributable to you, you may choose either a full refund of our service fee or assistance with one replacement reservation without an additional service fee. The replacement must meet conditions approved by you and be sought within a reasonable search period expressly agreed with you. You may switch to a full refund at any time before a replacement booking is confirmed. If we cannot agree a search deadline, cannot obtain a replacement by that deadline, or the restaurant subsequently cancels the replacement for reasons not attributable to you, we will refund the full service fee. We will not require you to accept indefinite rebooking or store credit instead of a refund.
A booking error or failure to communicate material booking information attributable to us is not treated as a voluntary customer cancellation. If our breach of duty causes the booking service to fail, we will refund the full service fee. Refunds and replacement assistance do not replace or restrict any right to cancel the service contract or claim damages under applicable law.
We will initiate any refund due under this policy within 7 business days after your refund election or the event giving rise to the refund, as applicable. We will refund the full service fee in JPY through the original payment method where available, without deducting our payment-processing fees. The time when the refund appears in your account may depend on your payment provider.
4. What we can't promise
We can't promise you a table; popular restaurants are often full. Some restaurants do not accept bookings made through an agent, and we do not book those. We pass on your dietary and allergy information, but we can't guarantee that the restaurant will be able to accommodate it.
5. Your responsibilities
Please give us correct contact details, and arrive at the time that was booked.
6. Liability
6.1 We will perform the telephone reservation service with reasonable care and skill. We do not provide the restaurant’s dining service or guarantee its performance. This does not exclude our responsibility for our own breach of contract or negligence, including booking errors and failures to communicate material booking information.
6.2 Only where damage is caused by ordinary negligence, and subject to Sections 6.3 and 6.4, our liability for breach of contract or a tort committed in performing the service is limited to actual, direct loss of a kind that ordinarily arises from that breach or tort. No monetary cap applies to our liability.
6.3 The limitation in Section 6.2 does not apply to wilful misconduct or gross negligence by Sapporing, its proprietor, representatives or any person used to perform the service; to death or personal injury caused by negligence; or to any liability that applicable mandatory law does not permit us to exclude or limit. An act of a restaurant or a failure of a third-party platform does not, by itself, exclude our liability for our own breach of duty.
6.4 Nothing in these Terms excludes or restricts your non-waivable rights under the Japanese Consumer Contract Act or other applicable mandatory law, including rights to cancel the service contract, obtain a refund or claim damages. A refund or replacement booking is not your exclusive remedy. If the limitation in Section 6.2 is invalid under applicable law, the legally applicable scope of liability applies instead. These Terms do not give us the right to determine conclusively whether we are liable or the extent of our liability.
7. Governing law and jurisdiction
These Terms and the contract for our restaurant telephone reservation assistance service are governed by the laws of Japan. This choice of law does not exclude any mandatory consumer protection provisions that apply under applicable conflict-of-laws rules, including Article 11 of Japan’s Act on General Rules for Application of Laws.
Subject to applicable mandatory rules on consumer jurisdiction and the validity of jurisdiction agreements, the Sapporo District Court or the Sapporo Summary Court, as appropriate, shall have exclusive jurisdiction at first instance over disputes arising out of or relating to these Terms or the service. Nothing in this clause restricts a consumer’s right to bring proceedings in another court, or to object to proceedings brought against them, where that right cannot lawfully be excluded.
8. Contact
片柳 祐希 (Katayanagi Yuki)
Email: Sapporing <support@sapporing.com>
See also our Privacy Policy and Legal notice.