Online approvals service terms
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Terms of Service - www.approvaldonkey.com
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Welcome to Approval Donkey, an online approval and decision making service designed for small to medium sized businesses and consumers. These Terms of Use are intended to explain our obligations as a service provider and your obligations as a customer. Please read them carefully.
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These Terms are binding on any use of the Service and apply to you from the time that Approval Donkey provides you with access to the Service.
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The Approval Donkey Service will evolve over time based on user feedback. These Terms are not intended to answer every question or address every issue raised by the use of the Approval Donkey Service. Approval Donkey reserves the right to change these terms at any time, effective upon the posting of modified terms and Approval Donkey will make every effort to communicate these changes to via the Website. It is likely the terms of use will change over time. It is your obligation to ensure that you have read, understood and agree to the most recent terms available on the Website.
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By registering to use the Service you acknowledge that you have read and understood these Terms and have the authority to act on behalf of any person for whom you are using the Service. You are deemed to have agreed to these Terms on behalf of any entity for whom you use the Service.
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These Terms were last updated on 25 January 2017.
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1. Definitions
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"Agreement" - means these Terms of Use.
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"Access Fee" - means the monthly fee (excluding any taxes and duties) payable by You in accordance with the fee schedule set out on the Website (which Approval Donkey may change from time to time on notice to You).
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"Confidential Information" - includes all information exchanged between the parties to this Agreement, whether in writing, electronically or orally, including the Service but does not include information which is, or becomes, publicly available other than through unauthorised disclosure by the other party.
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"Data" - means any data inputted by You or with Your authority into the Website.
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"Intellectual Property Right" - means any patent, trade mark, service mark, copyright, moral right, right in a design, know-how and any other intellectual or industrial property rights, anywhere in the world whether or not registered.
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"Service" - means the online approval and decision making services made available (as may be changed or updated from time to time by Approval Donkey) via the Website.
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"Website" - means the Internet site at the domain www.ApprovalDonkey.com or any other site operated by Approval Donkey.
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"Approval Donkey" - means the registered merchant name (this name will appear on your cardholder statements)
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"Smacktech Software Ltd" - means business trading name.​
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"Invited User" - means any person or entity, other than the User, that may be invited to use the Service from time to time.
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"User" - means the person who registers to use the Service, and, where the context permits, includes any entity on whose behalf that person registers to use the Service.
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"You" - means the Subscriber, and where the context permits, an Invited User. "Your" has a corresponding meaning.
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2. Use of Software
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Approval Donkey grants You the right to access and use the Service via the Website with the particular user roles available to You according to Your subscription type. This right is non-exclusive, non-transferable, and limited by and subject to this Agreement.
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3. Your Obligations
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1. Payment obligations:
An Access Fee will be charged each month starting after any trial period. All Access fees will be process by a Payment Gateway provider. You are responsible for payment of all taxes and duties in addition to the Access Fee.
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2. General obligations:
You must only use the Service and Website for Your own lawful internal business purposes, in accordance with these Terms and any notice sent by Approval Donkey or condition posted on the Website. You may use the Service and Website on behalf of others or in order to provide services to others but if You do so you must ensure that You are authorised to do so and that all persons for whom or to whom services are provided comply with and accept all terms of this Agreement that apply to You.
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3. Access conditions:
1. You must ensure that all usernames and passwords required to access the Service are kept secure and confidential. You must immediately notify Approval Donkey of any unauthorised use of Your passwords or any other breach of security and Approval Donkey will reset Your password and You must take all other actions that Approval Donkey reasonably deems necessary to maintain or enhance the security of Approval Donkey's computing systems and networks and Your access to the Services.
2. As a condition of these Terms, when accessing and using the Services, You must:
i. not attempt to undermine the security or integrity of Approval Donkey's computing systems or networks or, where the Services are hosted by a third party, that third party's computing systems and networks;
ii. not use, or misuse, the Services in any way which may impair the functionality of the Services or Website, or other systems used to deliver the Services or impair the ability of any other user to use the Services or Website;
iii. not attempt to gain unauthorised access to any materials other than those to which You have been given express permission to access or to the computer system on which the Services are hosted;
iv. not transmit, or input into the Website, any: files that may damage any other person's computing devices or software, content that may be offensive, or material or Data in violation of any law (including Data or other material protected by copyright or trade secrets which You do not have the right to use); and
v. not attempt to modify, copy, adapt, reproduce, disassemble, decompile or reverse engineer any computer programs used to deliver the Services or to operate the Website except as is strictly necessary to use either of them for normal operation.
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4. Usage Limitations:
Use of the Service may be subject to limitations, including but not limited to monthly transaction volumes and the number of calls You are permitted to make against Approval Donkey’s application programming interface. Any such limitations will be advised.
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5. Communication Conditions:
As a condition of these Terms, if You use any communication tools available through the Website (such as any forum, chat room or message centre), You agree only to use such communication tools for lawful and legitimate purposes. You must not use any such communication tool for posting or disseminating any material unrelated to the use of the Services, including (but not limited to): offers of goods or services for sale, unsolicited commercial e-mail, files that may damage any other person's computing devices or software, content that may be offensive to any other users of the Services or the Website, or material in violation of any law (including material that is protected by copyright or trade secrets which You do not have the right to use).
When You make any communication on the Website, You represent that You are permitted to make such communication. Approval Donkey is under no obligation to ensure that the communications on the Website are legitimate or that they are related only to the use of the Services. As with any other web-based forum, You must exercise caution when using the communication tools available on the Website. However, Approval Donkey does reserve the right to remove any communication at any time in its sole discretion.
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6. Indemnity:
You indemnify Approval Donkey against: all claims, costs, damage and loss arising from Your breach of any of these Terms or any obligation You may have to Approval Donkey, including (but not limited to) any costs relating to the recovery of any Access Fees that are due but have not been paid by You.
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4. Confidentiality and Privacy
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1. Confidentiality:
Unless the relevant party has the prior written consent of the other or unless required to do so by law:
1. Each party will preserve the confidentiality of all Confidential Information of the other obtained in connection with these Terms. Neither party will, without the prior written consent of the other, disclose or make any Confidential Information available to any person, or use the same for its own benefit, other than as contemplated by these Terms.
2. Each party's obligations under this clause will survive termination of these Terms.
3. The provisions of clauses 4.1.1 and 4.1.2 shall not apply to any information which:
i. is or becomes public knowledge other than by a breach of this clause;
ii. is received from a third party who lawfully acquired it and who is under no obligation restricting its disclosure;
iii. is in the possession of the receiving party without restriction in relation to disclosure before the date of receipt from the disclosing party; or
iv. is independently developed without access to the Confidential Information.
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2. Privacy:
Approval Donkey maintains a privacy policy that sets out the parties’ obligations in respect of personal information . You should read that policy at www.ApprovalDonkey.com/privacy-policy/ and You will be taken to have accepted that policy when You accept these Terms.
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5. Intellectual Property
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1. General:
Title to, and all Intellectual Property Rights in the Services, the Website and any documentation relating to the Services remain the property of Approval Donkey (or its licensors).
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2. Ownership of Data:
Title to, and all Intellectual Property Rights in, the Data remain Your property. However, Your access to the Data is contingent on full payment of the Approval Donkey Access Fee when due. You grant Approval Donkey a licence to use, copy, transmit, store, and back-up Your information and Data for the purposes of enabling You to access and use the Services and for any other purpose related to provision of services to You.
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3. Backup of Data:
You must maintain copies of all Data inputted into the Service. Approval Donkey adheres to its best practice policies and procedures to prevent data loss, including a daily system data back-up regime, but does not make any guarantees that there will be no loss of Data. Approval Donkey expressly excludes liability for any loss of Data no matter how caused.
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4. Third-party applications and your Data.
If You enable third-party applications for use in conjunction with the Services, You acknowledge that Approval Donkey may allow the providers of those third-party applications to access Your Data as required for the interoperation of such third-party applications with the Services. Approval Donkey shall not be responsible for any disclosure, modification or deletion of Your Data resulting from any such access by third-party application providers.
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6. Warranties and Acknowledgements
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1. Authority:
You warrant that where You have registered to use the Service on behalf of another person, You have the authority to agree to these Terms on behalf of that person and agree that by registering to use the Service You bind the person on whose behalf You act to the performance of any and all obligations that You become subject to by virtue of these Terms, without limiting Your own personal obligations under these Terms.
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2. Acknowledgement:
You acknowledge that:
1. You are authorised to use the Services and the Website and to access the information and Data that You input into the Website, including any information or Data input into the Website by any person you have authorised to use the Service. You are also authorised to access the processed information and Data that is made available to You through Your use of the Website and the Services (whether that information and Data is Your own or that of anyone else).
2. Approval Donkey has no responsibility to any person other than You and nothing in this Agreement confers, or purports to confer, a benefit on any person other than You. If You use the Services or access the Website on behalf of or for the benefit of anyone other than yourself (whether a body corporate or otherwise) you agree that:
i. You are responsible for ensuring that You have the right to do so;
ii. You are responsible for authorising any person who is given access to information or Data, and you agree that Approval Donkey has no obligation to provide any person access to such information or Data without Your authorisation and may refer any requests for information to You to address; and
iii. You will indemnify Approval Donkey against any claims or loss relating to:
i. Approval Donkey's refusal to provide any person access to Your information or Data in accordance with these Terms,
ii. Approval Donkey’s making available information or Data to any person with Your authorisation.
3. The provision of, access to, and use of, the Services is on an "as is " basis and at Your own risk.
4. Approval Donkey does not warrant that the use of the Service will be uninterrupted or error free. Among other things, the operation and availability of the systems used for accessing the Service, including public telephone services, computer networks and the Internet, can be unpredictable and may from time to time interfere with or prevent access to the Services. Approval Donkey is not in any way responsible for any such interference or prevention of Your access or use of the Services.
5. Approval Donkey is not a Legal binding service and use of the Services does not constitute the receipt of legal advice. If You have any legal questions, please contact a Lawyer.
6. It is Your sole responsibility to determine that the Services meet the needs of Your business and are suitable for the purposes for which they are used.
7. You remain solely responsible for complying with all applicable laws. It is Your responsibility to check that storage of and access to your Data via the Software and the Website will comply with laws applicable to you (including any laws requiring you to retain records).
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3. No warranties:
Approval Donkey gives no warranty about the Services. Without limiting the foregoing, Approval Donkey does not warrant that the Services will meet Your requirements or that it will be suitable for any particular purpose. To avoid doubt, all implied conditions or warranties are excluded in so far as is permitted by law, including (without limitation) warranties of merchantability, fitness for purpose, title and non-infringement.
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4. Consumer guarantees:
You warrant and represent that You are acquiring the right to access and use the Services for the purposes of a business and that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, any statutory consumer guarantees or legislation intended to protect non-business consumers in any jurisdiction does not apply to the supply of the Services, the Website or these Terms.
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7. Limitation of Liability
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1. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Approval Donkey excludes all liability and responsibility to You (or any other person) in contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise, for any loss (including loss of information, Data, profits and savings) or damage resulting, directly or indirectly, from any use of, or reliance on, the Service or Website.
2. If You suffer loss or damage as a result of Approval Donkey's negligence or failure to comply with these Terms, any claim by You against Approval Donkey arising from Approval Donkey's negligence or failure will be limited in respect of any one incident, or series of connected incidents, to the Access Fees paid by You in the previous 12 months.
3. If You are not satisfied with the Service, Your sole and exclusive remedy is to terminate these Terms in accordance with Clause 8.
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8. Termination
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1. Trial policy
When You first sign up for access to the Services You can evaluate the Services under the defined trial usage conditions, with no obligation to continue to use the Services. If You choose to continue using the Services thereafter, You will be billed from the day You first added Your billing details into the Services.
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2. Prepaid Subscriptions (Refunds)
Approval Donkey will not provide any refund for any remaining prepaid period for a prepaid Access Fee subscription.
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3. No-fault termination:
These Terms will continue for the period covered by the Access Fee paid or payable under clause 3.1. At the end of each billing period these Terms will automatically continue for another period of the same duration as that period, provided You continue to pay the prescribed Access Fee when due, unless either party terminates these Terms by giving notice to the other party at least 30 days before the end of the relevant payment period. If You terminate these Terms You shall be liable to pay all relevant Access Fees on a pro-rata basis for each day of the then current period up to and including the day of termination of these Terms.
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4. Breach:
If You:
1. breach any of these Terms (including, without limitation, by non-payment of any Access Fees) and do not remedy the breach within 14 days after receiving notice of the breach if the breach is capable of being remedied;
2. breach any of these Terms and the breach is not capable of being remedied (which includes (without limitation) any breach of clause 3.4 or any payment of Access Fees that are more than 30 days overdue); or
3. You or Your business become insolvent or Your business goes into liquidation or has a receiver or manager appointed of any of its assets or if You become insolvent, or make any arrangement with Your creditors, or become subject to any similar insolvency event in any jurisdiction,
Approval Donkey may take any or all of the following actions, at its sole discretion:
4. Terminate this Agreement and Your use of the Services and the Website;
5. Suspend for any definite or indefinite period of time, Your use of the Services and the Website;
6. Suspend or terminate access to all or any Data.
7. Take either of the actions in sub-clauses (d), (e) and (f) of this clause 8(4) in respect of any or all other persons whom You have authorised to have access to Your information or Data.
For the avoidance of doubt, if payment of any invoice for Access Fees due in relation to any of Your Billing Contacts, Billing Plans or any of Your Organisations (as defined at clause 3) is not made in full by the relevant due date, Approval Donkey may: suspend or terminate Your use of the Service, the authority for all or any of Your Organisations to use the Service, or Your rights of access to all or any Data.
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5. Accrued Rights:
Termination of these Terms is without prejudice to any rights and obligations of the parties accrued up to and including the date of termination. On termination of this Agreement You will:
1. remain liable for any accrued charges and amounts which become due for payment before or after termination; and
2. immediately cease to use the Services and the Website.
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6. Expiry or termination:
Clauses 3.1, 3.7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10 survive the expiry or termination of these Terms.
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9. Help Desk
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1. Technical Problems:
In the case of technical problems You must make all reasonable efforts to investigate and diagnose problems before contacting Approval Donkey. If You still need technical help, please check the support provided online by Approval Donkey on the Website or failing that email us at info@approvaldonkey.com
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2. Service availability:
Whilst Approval Donkey intends that the Services should be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it is possible that on occasions the Services or Website may be unavailable to permit maintenance or other development activity to take place.
If for any reason Approval Donkey has to interrupt the Services for longer periods than Approval Donkey would normally expect, Approval Donkey will use reasonable endeavours to publish in advance details of such activity on the Website.
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10. General
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1. Entire agreement:
These Terms, together with the Approval Donkey Privacy Policy and the terms of any other notices or instructions given to You under these Terms of Use, supersede and extinguish all prior agreements, representations (whether oral or written), and understandings and constitute the entire agreement between You and Approval Donkey relating to the Services and the other matters dealt with in these Terms.
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2. Waiver:
If either party waives any breach of these Terms, this will not constitute a waiver of any other breach. No waiver will be effective unless made in writing.
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3. Delays:
Neither party will be liable for any delay or failure in performance of its obligations under these Terms if the delay or failure is due to any cause outside its reasonable control. This clause does not apply to any obligation to pay money.
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4. No Assignment:
You may not assign or transfer any rights to any other person without Approval Donkey's prior written consent.
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5. Governing law and jurisdiction:
If the information or Data You are accessing using the Services and the Website is solely that of a person who is a tax resident in the United States of America at the time that You accept these terms then the State of California law govern this Agreement and You submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state courts of San Francisco County, California or federal court for the Northern District of California for all disputes arising out of or in connection with this Agreement. If the information or Data You are accessing using the Services and the Website is solely that of a person who is a tax resident in New Zealand at the time that You accept these terms then New Zealand law governs this Agreement and You submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New Zealand for all disputes arising out of or in connection with this Agreement. If the information or Data You are accessing using the Services and the Website is solely that of a person who is a tax resident in Australia at the time that You accept these terms then Australian law governs this Agreement and You submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Australia for all disputes arising out of or in connection with this Agreement. In all other situations this Agreement is governed by the laws of England and Wales and You hereby submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales for all disputes arising out of or in connection with this Agreement.
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6. Severability:
If any part or provision of these Terms is invalid, unenforceable or in conflict with the law, that part or provision is replaced with a provision which, as far as possible, accomplishes the original purpose of that part or provision. The remainder of this Agreement will be binding on the parties.
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7. Notices:
Any notice given under these Terms by either party to the other must be in writing by email and will be deemed to have been given on transmission. Notices to Approval Donkey must be sent to info@approvaldonkey.net or to any other email address notified by email to You by Approval Donkey. Notices to You will be sent to the email address which You provided when setting up Your access to the Service.
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8. Rights of Third Parties:
A person who is not a party to these Terms has no right to benefit under or to enforce any term of these Terms.