01What you are agreeing to
When you tick the box above the signature area, two things happen. You agree to receive this treatment plan, its deposit terms and your signed copy electronically instead of on paper. And you sign the plan you just approved, electronically, with the same effect as a signature in ink.
Your consent covers this plan and the documents that come with it: the estimate, the deposit and refund terms shown above the signature, the signed PDF, the reminders and the receipt. It does not cover anything else, and it is not a consent to marketing. A new plan asks you again.
You are never obliged to sign electronically. If you would rather sign on paper, close this page and call the clinic. Nothing is charged and nothing is recorded as agreed until you sign.
02Getting a paper copy
Ask the clinic. Its name and phone number are at the top of the plan and at the bottom of every email we send you. The clinic prints the signed document and gives it to you. VetApprove does not charge for that; if the clinic charges for printing, that is between you and the clinic and it must tell you before.
You can also keep your own copy without asking anyone: the confirmation screen has a download button, and the confirmation email carries the same signed copy, either attached as a PDF or as a link that opens it again. Save it or print it whenever you like.
03Changing your mind
Before you sign, there is nothing to withdraw: close the page, or tap "I'd rather not go ahead". The clinic sees that you passed and can talk it through with you or hand you paper instead.
After you sign, withdrawing your consent to electronic documents stops future documents from being sent to you electronically; it does not cancel the plan you approved and it does not undo a deposit you already paid. Whether that deposit comes back is decided by the clinic's own refund terms, shown to you before you signed. To withdraw, tell the clinic: by phone, by email, or by replying to any of our emails. There is no fee and no form.
04Keeping your details up to date
We send everything to the email address the clinic entered for you. If that address changes, tell the clinic and it updates it in VetApprove. We do not hold a separate address book for pet owners, so writing to us alone would not reach the clinic's record.
05What your device needs
Nothing unusual. If you can read this page, you can sign. To be precise:
- A current web browser: Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Edge, one of the last two versions, with JavaScript on.
- A phone, tablet or computer with a touch screen, a mouse or a trackpad, so you can draw your signature. If you cannot draw one, the page lets you use your typed name instead.
- A working email address that can receive messages from hello@vetapprove.com and from your clinic.
- A way to open a PDF, which every phone and computer has, if you want to read your signed copy.
- Enough space to save the PDF, or a printer, if you want to keep it. We recommend you do.
If we ever change what is needed in a way that could stop you reading a document you have already signed, we tell you and you can withdraw your consent then, at no cost.
06How we know it was you, and that you meant it
Three deliberate acts, in this order: you type your full name, you draw your signature (or ask for your typed name to be used as the signature), and you tick the consent box. Only then does the sign button work. Signing is a decision you take three times, not a button you hit by accident.
The link to your plan is private and was sent to your email address by your clinic. We do not check identity documents and we do not issue a certificate to you. This is a simple electronic signature: what stands behind it is the audit trail below, not a notary.
07What is recorded, and how it stays attached
At the moment you sign, the accepted content is sealed and the following is recorded with it:
- Your typed name and your drawn signature image.
- The date and time, in UTC and in local time.
- The IP address you signed from, and the browser and operating system you used.
- Every opening of the link before the signature.
- A SHA-256 fingerprint of the exact content you accepted, with that content attached to the PDF so the fingerprint can be recomputed by anyone.
That fingerprint is what ties your signature to this document and no other. If a single character of the estimate were changed afterwards, the fingerprint would no longer match. The signed estimate cannot be edited: a change means a new estimate, sent and signed again.
08Keeping and getting your copy back
The confirmation email reaches you as soon as you sign, with the signed copy attached or linked, and you can download it from the confirmation screen. The clinic keeps its own copy in its VetApprove account and can send it to you again at any time, for as long as its account is open. Keep your own copy too: it is yours, and it does not depend on anyone else's subscription.
09The law behind this
In the United States, the federal ESIGN Act (15 U.S.C. § 7001) and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, adopted in nearly every state, give an electronic signature and an electronic record the same legal effect as paper when the parties agreed to do business electronically. That agreement is what the consent box records.
What this is not: it is not a notarised signature, it is not an advanced or qualified electronic signature in the European sense, and it does not prove your identity by itself. Some states also require a veterinary practice to give you a written estimate and to keep it; that duty is the clinic's, and this document is what it keeps.
This page is written by the operator in plain language and has not been reviewed by a lawyer. It describes what the product does. It is not legal advice to you or to your clinic.
10Contact
Your first contact is always the clinic that sent you the plan: it decided what is in it and it holds your file. For questions about the signature itself, the audit trail or this page: hello@vetapprove.com. VetApprove is operated by Martin Noale, entrepreneur individuel (EI), SIREN 895 250 033, Marly-le-Roi 78160, France, +33 6 07 82 03 88.