Terms and Conditions

These terms and conditions apply to all evaluation assignments (mystery shopping, audits … hereinafter referred to as “assignments”) on behalf of Helion Market Research CVBA or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries or parent companies (hereinafter together referred to as "Helion"). A copy of these terms and conditions are available on our website. These terms and conditions may be revised by Helion from time to time at its sole discretion.

1. All information related to an assignment by Helion or obtained following participation to one of Helion's surveys is strictly confidential. Therefore, the evaluators agree that, under no circumstances and unless specifically instructed by Helion, he will reveal himself as an evaluator or disclose any information relating to assignments to a third party. In this respect, the mystery shopper is not allowed to announce himself as a mystery shopper to the business, company or organization visited within the framework of a survey.

2. The evaluator is obliged to refuse the assignment if he or any of his close family members (household members) and direct friends currently work for, have worked for or are well known to the business, company or organization subject of the assignment.

3. If the evaluator accepts the assignment, he will carry out each assignment strictly in accordance with these terms and conditions, the terms of the briefing that Helion supplies previous to the evaluation and within the dates and times specified in the briefing. The evaluator will perform his obligations with reasonable care and skill and to the best of his ability and will not do anything to damage Helion's business reputation and interests.

4. The evaluator agrees to complete the registration form and all evaluator profile questionnaires fully, accurately and honestly.

5. The evaluator agrees to communicate Helion the results of the assignments within the agreed timescales (8, 12 or 24 hours, depending on the assignment) following the assignment taking place. Helion reserves the right to withhold payments for results returned outside the agreed timescales.

6. If Helion has reasonable cause to believe that an evaluator has not fully abided by all of these terms and conditions, including failure to return results of assignments within the specified timescales, failure to conduct the assignment as briefed, or any questionnaire completed by the evaluator contains misleading or false information, Helion reserves the right to withhold payment for the assignment and any outstanding payments and remove you from our evaluator panel immediately. In case of deliberate false information Helion will claim a minimum of 1500 EURO as damage claim. If the damages are larger Helion will reserve the right to claim additional costs. 

7. Following a successfully completed assignment, Helion will pay the evaluator an agreed fixed fee. In this respect, Helion will only pay a fee for each assignment completed in accordance with the briefing instructions. The evaluator will be notified of the amount of the fee prior to commencing the assignment and at the same time Helion and the evaluator will agree the amount of any additional expenses that the evaluator may incur in carrying out the assignment (for example the purchasing of goods, travel expenses, etc.). The fixed fee together with any agreed additional expenses, which represent(s) the total reimbursement for the assignment, will be paid by wire transfer to the bank account, Pay-Pal or Moneybookers which ever option is available in the evaluator's profile of that country .If an assignment can not be completed due to location closure, relocation or no longer trading is such manner that the evaluation can not be completed fees are adjusted to maximum payout of 50% of the original agreed fees. Photo proof is always needed. Failure to comply with these terms and conditions may result in withholding of payment for work completed.

8. These terms and conditions do not form a contract of employment between the evaluator and Helion or between the evaluator and the company or organization which you evaluate. Consequently, Helion is not obliged to conclude and has not concluded any insurance policy to cover any damage suffered by you while performing the services. The evaluator will be acting as an independent consultant in respect of the assignments that he undertakes for Helion and therefore Helion shall not withhold any tax with regard to the services which the evaluator performed. The evaluator is entirely responsible for declaring his earnings to the Income Tax Authority. If so requested by the Income Tax Authority, Helion will supply them details of all sums paid to you during the relevant tax year.

9. Helion cannot guarantee the number of assignments which may be offered to the evaluator whilst he is registered as a evaluator panelist for Helion. Helion is entirely free to (it is at the sole discretion of Helion to) decide who is selected as an evaluator for participating to a survey.

10. If the evaluator applies to become an evaluator panelist Helion will require him to complete a registration form as well as several evaluator profile questionnaires. Helion needs this information in order to select appropriate panelists to carry out assignments. Any personal data that Helion collects will be stored and safeguarded in accordance with its Privacy Statement and the applicable privacy regulations. By agreeing with these general terms and conditions, the evaluator also agrees with the content of the Privacy Statement, which is to be considered as an integral part of these terms and conditions.

11. If the evaluator no longer wishes to be a panelist, he has to contact Helion and request that no further assignments are offered to him (through an online deactivation form). In case Helion has reasonable cause to believe that the evaluator is failing to abide by these terms and conditions, Helion reserves the right to remove the details from its evaluator panel and no further assignments will be offered to the evaluator.

12. These terms and conditions as well as the relationship between the evaluator and Helion for all matters regarding the assignments, evaluations and surveys shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Belgium without regard to the conflict of law provisions thereof.

13. The courts of Antwerp shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any disputes between the evaluator and Helion relating to or arising in connection with these terms and conditions or the participation as an evaluator to services provided by Helion.

This document was last updated 01/12/2009

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