Frequently asked questions

No. You can start a request from the website. Your business email address is used when secure case access is required. If you are already signed in, you do not need to sign in again.

Yes. You can select one or more transport modes, for example ADN + ADR. For a combined engagement, the selected specialist must be demonstrably qualified for every discipline within the agreed scope.

When the size, combination of disciplines or uncertainty does not safely fit a fixed service or fixed price, the request is offered to matching verified specialists as a custom engagement.

Provide only what is needed to understand the question, scope and desired outcome. Vessel name, ENI, UN number, product or other identifiers are only needed when relevant. Confidential documents belong in the secure case.

Yes. Every request receives its own case number. Active and archived cases remain separate in My cases.

Matching verified specialists can independently submit a price, scope, deliverables, lead time and availability during the displayed response window. A response window does not guarantee that several quotes will be received.

No. Quotes are independent. Specialists cannot see the names, prices, terms or proposals of competing specialists.

No. You choose. You can compare price, scope, deliverables, lead time, availability, experience, verified certificates and professional-liability status.

After you select one quote, confirm the engagement and complete the required card reservation or SEPA mandate. The selected base price and scope are then fixed for the engagement.

The selected specialist is independently responsible for the substance, assessment and final release of the advice. HELMERYS facilitates selection, the case environment, process records, payment and the technical document chain.

A custom case is organised into Overview, Engagement, Documents & messages, Payment & additional work, and Feedback & advice. This keeps engagement data, financial information and substantive communication separate.

New information has arrived since your last visit, such as a file, response, additional-work proposal or feedback version. Overview shows where the new information is. The badge clears only after you open the relevant section.

The engagement has been confirmed and payment security has been recorded. The specialist can work on the assignment. You only need to act when the case clearly asks you to.

The original request, selected quote and confirmed scope form the fixed reference for the engagement. Later additions do not silently rewrite that original record.

The finally released advice remains linked to the case as the official document. Closed cases can move to the archive while relevant case and document history remains available under the applicable retention rules.

PDF, JPG and PNG files up to 10 MB per file. Only share material needed for the assessment or specifically requested by the specialist.

An image without context can be misinterpreted. JPG and PNG uploads therefore require a short description of what is shown and why it matters to the engagement.

Yes. Customer and specialist files are kept in the same secure case and show who supplied them. Relevant images retain their associated description.

Relevant images that formed part of the case before final release can be included in the official PDF with description, source and date. Images added after release never silently change an already released PDF.

Use case messages only for necessary engagement communication. General how-to questions should be answered by this FAQ first so the case remains a controlled record rather than an open chat thread.

HELMERYS supports card and SEPA direct debit for specialist engagements. Card amounts are first reserved. With SEPA, a mandate is first recorded; that is not yet a debit.

At confirmation, the agreed amount including applicable VAT is only reserved. Capture takes place only when the specialist finally releases the advice, provided the reservation is still valid.

A SEPA mandate is recorded at confirmation. The actual debit is initiated only after final release and may then remain in bank processing for some time.

No. The selected base price and scope are fixed. Work outside that scope must be proposed separately as additional work and requires your explicit acceptance first.

Invoice country, customer data and, where relevant, a valid VAT number determine the tax treatment. Foreign billing addresses are supported; a Dutch billing address is not required for a foreign customer.

Correct invoice and tax details before final release through the available case step. If the correction increases the amount to be collected, a new payment authorisation may be required.

Work demonstrably outside the originally selected scope. The specialist independently states what is additional, why it is required and the fixed additional price excluding VAT.

No. You must first accept the additional-work proposal. Only then is the additional payment security recorded and the work treated as an accepted expansion of the engagement.

Payment & additional work shows the original engagement, accepted additional work, the total including VAT and the status of each reservation or mandate.

Accepted additional work is combined with the original engagement on the specialist's final customer invoice so the financial record remains coherent.

An immutable snapshot of the work-in-progress shared by the specialist. Later edits do not overwrite an earlier feedback version, preserving an auditable history.

You can submit a substantive question, correction or comment. If you have no comments, choose ‘No comments on this version’.

No. The specialist remains independently responsible for the content and final release. Your choice only records your response to that concept version.

Only when the specialist performs final release and the case shows it as finally released. The official PDF is then archived as a fixed release snapshot.

The released advice, relevant sources and frameworks, frozen specialist and certificate details and, where applicable, relevant image appendices with context and provenance.

Open the final advice from your case. The secure document view shows the released content and Download PDF provides the official archived PDF.

The specialist invoices the specialist service under their own business details and invoice number. HELMERYS facilitates payment and the technical invoice chain and withholds the agreed platform fee from the specialist.

At final release, the frozen invoice details are used and the customer invoice is sent to the supplied billing email address. Payment processing is triggered at the same release point according to the selected payment method.

No. HELMERYS is the platform and process facilitator. The selected specialist performs the engagement independently and remains responsible for their advice, professional practice and applicable insurance.