Vege Tours Terms

These Vege Tours Terms (“Tours Terms”) apply when you request, book or pay for a tour package through Vege Tours in the VegeBuddy app. They add to our Terms of Service. Our Refund Policy, Payment Policy and Booking Policy do not apply to Vege Tours bookings: payments, cancellations and refunds for Vege Tours are governed only by these Tours Terms and the agency’s cancellation policy for your package. If these Tours Terms differ from the Terms of Service or any other VegeBuddy terms or policy on a Vege Tours booking, these Tours Terms apply.

• The travel agency (“the agency”) must hold a tourism licence issued by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia (MOTAC) under the Tourism Industry Act 1992, in a category that covers the tour it sells. It organises and sells the trip, it is your contracting party for the trip, and it is the payee: every payment for the trip goes to the agency. The agency’s legal name, licence number and address are shown on each tour page, on the Review and Pay screens and on your payment records.
• VegeBuddy (VEGEBUDDY TECHNOLOGIES, SSM 202603121374 (NS0322648-A); “we”, “us”) runs the platform. We show the agency’s tours, pass your request to the agency, show you the agency’s checked payment details, keep a record of every payment and refund, and help if something goes wrong. We are not the organiser of the trip and not a party to your travel contract with the agency.
• VegeBuddy holds no traveller money. You pay the agency directly. We never refund from our own funds.
• Commission: the agency pays VegeBuddy a commission under a separate agreement between VegeBuddy and the agency. It is never charged to you and is never added to the price you pay.

What the trip includes (itinerary, hotels, meals, transport, flights where stated) is set out by the agency on the tour page and in the package you book. The cancellation policy shown when you book is the agency’s policy for that package.

• The person making the booking (the “lead booker”) must be 18 or older and must have a VegeBuddy account.
• When you add other travellers, you confirm that they have authorised you to book for them and to give their details, and that you will pass on to them these Tours Terms, the cancellation policy and anything the agency tells you about the trip.
• A parent or legal guardian, or an adult authorised by them, may add a traveller under 18. By doing so you confirm that you are that child’s parent or guardian, or are authorised by them. Children may not book tours themselves.

1. You send a request. On the Review screen you see the price, the deposit and balance amounts, when the deposit will be due, the balance due date (unless you pay in full) and the agency’s cancellation policy. You tick that you accept the cancellation policy and these Tours Terms, and you give the consent for travellers’ diet, religious and allergy information. Sending a request costs nothing and does not yet create a confirmed booking. For group tours, the seats you ask for are held for you while the request is open.
2. The agency replies by the time shown. The agency has up to 24 hours to confirm or decline, and may extend this once by up to another 48 hours. You see the exact reply-by time in the app. For trips starting soon the reply-by time is earlier: always no later than 4 days before departure. If the agency does not reply in time, the request expires and any held seats are released.
3. The agency confirms. For a private tour the agency may change the price per person when it confirms (with a note explaining why), and on a room-share request it may add one single-room supplement. If the price changes, the deposit is worked out again at the package’s current deposit rate. You see the old and new amounts and you may withdraw, free of charge, before you pay.
4. You pay the deposit, then the balance (Section 5). Your booking is secured once the agency confirms that it received your deposit.

You can withdraw a request, or a confirmed booking whose deposit (or full payment) has not yet been fully confirmed, in the app. If the agency has already received part of your money, the whole amount received is owed back to you (Section 8). If a payment proof you submitted is waiting for the agency to check it, you can withdraw once the check is done.

Price and terms snapshot. The price, deposit, balance, cancellation policy and Tours Terms version saved when you send your request decide the amounts for that booking. If the price, the total or the cancellation policy, or these Tours Terms, change between the moment you open the Review screen and the moment you send, the app shows you the new details and asks you to confirm again. An early-bird price you booked is honoured even after the offer ends.

Fair use. To keep seats available for everyone, you may have a limited number of open requests at a time, and repeatedly letting confirmed bookings lapse without paying, or submitting payment proofs the agency did not receive, may stop you from sending new requests for a short period.

• Enter each traveller’s name as it appears in their passport. Every traveller must be named from 14 days before departure. You can edit traveller names, diets and notes until 7 days before departure, or until 48 hours after the agency confirms if that is later.
• Passports and travel documents are handled by the agency, outside VegeBuddy. The agency collects passport details from you directly after your deposit. Do not upload passport or identity card photos in VegeBuddy. You are responsible for having a valid passport, any visa and any health documents the trip needs.
• Diet, religious and allergy information is optional for each traveller. It is used to arrange meals and keep travellers safe on that trip and may be shared by the agency with hotels and restaurants on the route, including overseas. How we handle it, and your consent, are explained in Section 2b of our Privacy Policy. The agency and its suppliers will try to meet the diets you give, but please carry what you need for a serious allergy.

• How to pay. Pay the agency directly by online banking transfer or DuitNow QR into the account shown on the Pay screen. VegeBuddy has checked that this account belongs to the agency. You may also pay in person at the agency’s office: keep the agency’s official receipt, which is your proof that you paid. The agency must record every in-person payment in the app within 48 hours, and the app counts it towards your deadlines once it is recorded, so pay in person well before your deadline. If an in-person payment has not been recorded, raise a complaint (Section 9) before your deadline.
• A payment into the Pay-screen account, or a payment the agency records, is a payment to the agency. Once you have paid into the account the Pay screen showed for your booking, or the agency has recorded your payment, you have paid the agency that amount, and the agency cannot ask you to pay it again.
• Amounts and deadlines. The deposit per person and how many days before departure the balance falls due are set for each package and shown on the tour page (usually RM1,000 per person and 45 days before departure). The deposit is due by the exact time shown in the app, normally 48 hours after the agency confirms (and no later than 3 days before departure). The balance is due by the end of the balance due date shown on the Review screen and in your booking. If your deposit deadline falls on or after the balance due date (for example when you book close to departure), you pay the full price in one payment instead. All dates and times are Malaysia time.
• Submitting proof meets the deadline. After you pay, tap “I’ve paid” and upload your transfer receipt. A deadline is met when you submit proof of the full amount due before it, even if the agency checks it later. A proof submitted late, or for less than the amount due, is still checked but does not stop the deadline from passing.
• The agency checks your proof. Only the agency can see its bank account, so the agency confirms each payment after checking that the money arrived. The agency should check within 48 hours; if it has not, VegeBuddy is alerted and you can ask us for help in the app. If the agency rejects your proof, or confirms less than you paid, you are told why. If you had submitted proof of the full amount due before the deadline, the first time this happens for the deposit, and the first time for the balance, you get extra time to pay the rest or resubmit: 24 hours from then (or until your original deadline, if that is later). For a deposit this extra time never runs past the start of the day 2 days before departure, so close to departure it can be shorter. The app shows the new deadline.
• Payments the agency records. When the agency records a payment you made outside the app (for example in person), you will be asked “Did you pay this?”. If you answer No, VegeBuddy is alerted and looks into it.
• When VegeBuddy may confirm a payment. If the agency has not checked your proof within its 48 hours, VegeBuddy may confirm the payment on your evidence. If the agency rejected your proof, VegeBuddy will confirm it only together with the agency’s own evidence, such as its admission or its bank statement, because only the agency can see its bank. If a payment was confirmed by mistake, VegeBuddy may correct the record, and you will be told.
• Bank charges for your transfer, if any, are between you, your bank and the agency. VegeBuddy charges you no fee.
• If you pay more than the total price, the extra is owed back to you as a refund (Section 8).
• Payment pauses. If we suspect a problem with an agency’s payment details, or the agency becomes unavailable, we may pause payments: the Pay screen shows that payments are paused and hides the account, and new proofs cannot be submitted. While payments are paused, your booking is not marked overdue, does not expire for a missed deposit and cannot be cancelled for non-payment. When payments resume, an unpaid deposit deadline moves back by the time payments were paused, but never later than 3 days before departure, and we tell you the deadline that applies. The balance due date does not move: if it passed during the pause, the balance can be marked overdue as soon as payments resume (Section 7 still gives you at least 7 more days before any cancellation for non-payment). One limit applies even during a pause: a booking whose deposit is still unpaid at the start of the day 2 days before departure ends, and anything the agency received for it is owed back to you in full (Section 8).

For every confirmed payment and every recorded refund you get a payment record in the app and by email. It is a VegeBuddy record, not a tax receipt: the agency issues its own receipts and invoices.

Before your deposit is confirmed, you can simply withdraw (Section 3). After your deposit, and before the departure date, you can ask to cancel in the app:

1. You send a cancellation request with a reason. The agency is asked to respond within 72 hours; if it does not, VegeBuddy is alerted. Until the agency makes an offer you can withdraw your request and keep your booking.
2. The agency responds. It either declines the request (your booking stays as it was) or makes a cancellation offer: a refund amount and the reason under the cancellation policy you accepted. If the agency declines and you still want to cancel, raise a complaint (Section 9). VegeBuddy will review it against the cancellation policy you accepted and may cancel your booking with the refund that policy provides, owed by the agency.
3. You choose. You can accept the offer, keep your booking, or ask VegeBuddy to review the offer if you think it does not follow the policy. Asking for a review alerts VegeBuddy, which aims to acknowledge your request within 2 business days (Section 9).

The refund you are owed after you cancel is decided by the cancellation policy saved with your booking. While your cancellation request or offer is open you cannot submit new payments and balance reminders stop.

• Agency cancels your booking or the departure. If the agency cancels your booking, or cancels the whole departure (for example because too few people booked), you are owed a full refund of everything the agency received from you for that booking. An open request on a cancelled departure is declined.
• Cancellation for non-payment. If your balance is unpaid after its due date, the booking is marked overdue; we then send you a final notice by app notification, and your booking shows that the balance is overdue. The agency may cancel your booking for non-payment only when both of these are true: the balance has been overdue for at least 7 days, and the final notice was sent at least 72 hours earlier. The agency cannot do so while a payment proof for the full amount due is waiting to be checked (unless an earlier proof for that payment was rejected because the agency did not receive the money) or while payments are paused, and it cannot do so on or after the departure date. The agency then owes you the refund the cancellation policy you accepted provides, and you can raise a complaint if you disagree.
• Missed deposit. If, by the deposit deadline, the agency has not confirmed or recorded your deposit and you have not submitted proof of the full amount due, the booking expires and any held seats are released. On a group tour, a deposit proof submitted within 24 hours after the deadline may still be accepted if seats are still free. Otherwise anything the agency received for that booking is owed back to you.

• The agency pays every refund. Refunds are paid by the agency directly to you, usually by bank transfer to an account you give it. VegeBuddy does not pay refunds from its own funds.
• How much. The amount is decided by the cancellation policy saved with your booking and the steps above: the offer you accept, a full refund when the agency cancels, the policy amount on a cancellation for non-payment, money you paid on a booking that expired or was cancelled, or any amount VegeBuddy decides when it resolves a complaint.
• When. The agency must pay a refund within 7 days of it becoming owed, whatever the package or cancellation policy says about refund timing. If more becomes owed while an earlier refund is still unpaid, the earlier deadline still applies. You can see what is owed and the due date in the app.
• Did you receive it? When the agency records a refund, the app asks “Did you receive RM X?” and shows the agency’s reference and proof. Please confirm it, or dispute it in the app if you did not receive it. A dispute alerts VegeBuddy, which aims to acknowledge it within 2 business days (Section 9).

• If the agency paid you but has not recorded it, you can tell us in the app that you received the refund.
• Late refunds. If a refund is not paid on time, the agency is reminded, VegeBuddy is alerted and you can raise a complaint (Section 9).

If something goes wrong, open a complaint from your booking in the app, or email us at support@vegebuddy.com with your booking reference (VB-TR-…). If it is urgent (for example your trip starts soon or a payment deadline is close), also email us.

• When you can complain. At any time while your booking is in progress or your trip is under way, and for at least 30 days after the trip is completed (it is marked completed the day after it ends) or after the booking is cancelled, expires or is declined. A complaint that a payment was not confirmed or a refund was not received stays open to you for longer: while a payment is waiting to be checked or a refund is unpaid or disputed, for 7 days after the agency rejects or under-confirms one of your payments, and for 30 days after a refund was treated as received.
• What VegeBuddy does. A complaint, a request to review a cancellation offer and a refund dispute all alert VegeBuddy. We aim to acknowledge each within 2 business days of receiving it, and to resolve a complaint within 7 business days. We look at both sides, mediate between you and the agency, and use the booking, payment and refund records we keep. Where the records support it we may decide a refund the agency owes you, confirm or correct a payment record, or cancel the booking. We may warn, suspend or remove an agency that breaks our rules.
• What VegeBuddy cannot do. We cannot pay you money the agency owes, and we cannot force the agency to pay. If the agency does not pay what it owes, we chase it under our agreement with it and give you the records you need to pursue it.
• If your account is restricted. If we suspend or restrict your VegeBuddy account while you have a booking, refunds the agency owes you stay owed, and you can still email us about that booking at support@vegebuddy.com.
• Outside VegeBuddy. You can also complain to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia (MOTAC), which licenses travel agencies, or file a claim with the Tribunal for Consumer Claims Malaysia (Tribunal Tuntutan Pengguna Malaysia). Using our complaint route does not stop you from doing so.

If VegeBuddy suspends an agency (for example for a breach of our rules, a lapsed licence or a risk to travellers), the agency cannot take new bookings and payments for its bookings are paused (Section 5). VegeBuddy then reviews each affected booking. For a trip that has not started, we may cancel the booking with a full refund owed by the agency if the agency is not reinstated. Trips already under way are resolved by VegeBuddy case by case. If an agency becomes unavailable for another reason (for example its licence expires), payments are paused in the same way, and you can raise a complaint at any time.

While an agency is suspended or unavailable, it cannot send new cancellation offers, and a cancellation offer it has already sent is not accepted automatically. You can still ask VegeBuddy to review any offer (Section 6). VegeBuddy does not pay a suspended agency’s refunds; we chase the agency, keep your records, and can point you to MOTAC and the Tribunal for Consumer Claims.

When tour chat becomes available, you will be able to message the agency in the app. To protect you, phone numbers, email addresses, links, messaging-app IDs and account numbers are blocked in messages, booking notes, cancellation reasons and complaints, unless you have a confirmed paid booking with the agency that is in progress, ended in the last 30 days, or still has a refund being settled. Notes you send with a new request are always checked. Never send passport or identity card photos in chat, and never pay an account sent in chat — only pay into the account on the Pay screen, or in person at the agency’s office against its official receipt. How messages are kept and deleted is described in Section 2b of our Privacy Policy.

• VegeBuddy does not sell travel insurance, and no insurance is included in a booking unless the agency says so for that package. We strongly recommend that every traveller buys their own travel insurance covering cancellation, medical costs and personal belongings.
• You are responsible for checking that each traveller is fit for the activities described and for meeting passport, visa, health and entry requirements. The agency’s “Before you go” information is a guide, not a guarantee.

• The agency is responsible for the trip: its description, price, arrangements, suppliers, safety, and for paying every refund it owes. VegeBuddy is not responsible for the agency’s performance of the trip, or for acts of hotels, transport companies, guides or other suppliers.
• VegeBuddy is responsible for running the platform with reasonable care and skill: showing the agency’s checked payment details, keeping accurate records of what is submitted and confirmed, and handling complaints as described in these Tours Terms.
• Subject to the commitments in the point above and the point below, the disclaimers and limitation of liability in our Terms of Service apply to Vege Tours. For Vege Tours, the “as is” wording in those terms does not limit our commitments in these Tours Terms, and the indemnity in those terms applies only to loss caused by your own breach of these Tours Terms or the Terms of Service.
• Nothing in these Tours Terms or the Terms of Service excludes or limits any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act 1999 or any other law that cannot be excluded or limited by agreement, or VegeBuddy’s liability for its own fraud or for death or personal injury caused by its own negligence.

We may update these Tours Terms. The version you accepted is saved with each booking, and a booking you have already sent stays under the version you accepted. A new version applies only to requests you send after it is published; if the version changes while you are booking, the app asks you to review and accept it again (and may ask you to update the app). Material changes are announced in the app or by email.

These Tours Terms are governed by the laws of Malaysia. Your travel contract with the agency is also subject to Malaysian law, including the Tourism Industry Act 1992 and the Consumer Protection Act 1999.

VegeBuddy: VEGEBUDDY TECHNOLOGIES, 712, Jalan Damai 9/1, Taman Damai, 09400 Padang Serai, Kedah, Malaysia. Email: support@vegebuddy.com

The agency’s legal name, licence number and address are shown on the tour page and in your booking.