TERMS OF SERVICE FOR THE USE OF THE CUSTOMERGAUGE REVIEWS WEBSITE

These user terms and conditions apply to any use of CustomerGauge Review’s website (hereinafter referred to as the "Website"), including - but not limited to - reviews.customergauge.com and are an extension of the Terms of Service published on http://customergauge.com/terms-of-service/ (referred to as “Part I”) describing CustomerGauge’s additional user terms and conditions in relation to the use of the Website (referred to as “Part II”). Part I and II are hereinafter referred to as the “Terms of Service”.

The Website is supplied by CustomerGauge (or the “Company”), known as CustomerGauge/Directness BV and CustomerGauge USA LLC company (“CustomerGauge"). In these Terms of Service, the words "we", "us" and "ours" refer to CustomerGauge.

These Terms of Service are deemed to include all other operating rules, policies, and guidelines that are referred to herein or that we may otherwise publish on the Website (as such, rules, policies and guidelines may be amended from time to time), including without limitation:

Our Privacy Policy, which is located at https://reviews.customergauge.com/privacy-policy Our User Guidelines, which are located at https://reviews.customergauge.com/user-guidelines

In the event of any conflict between the terms contained herein and those of the User Guidelines, the Terms of Service will govern and control.

By using the Website and / or by submitting a review to the Website, you accept to be subject to the Terms of Service, including the User Guidelines. If you do not accept these Terms of Service, you are not permitted to use the Website and / or submit reviews to the Website and are kindly requested not to use the Website and / or submit reviews to the Website any further.

THE SERVICES ON THE WEBSITE

1 Review Writers and Registered Users

1.1 CustomerGauge grants you the non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable, limited right to access and use the Website. Users who submit a review to the Website (hereinafter referred to as “Review Writers”) are registered to the Website and are therefore registered users (hereinafter referred to as “Registered Users”). The review must relate to a Buying Experience completed within the last 12 months. The term "Buying Experience" is a collective term for the situation described above.

1.2 Registered Users are only permitted to register one profile per person on the Website. The profile is personal and may not be transferred to others.

1.3 We are entitled at any time, without notice and without prejudice, to delete, suspend or change a Registered User’s profile in the event of your violation or suspected violation of these Terms of Service or applicable law. When deleting a Registered User’s profile, this Registered User will no longer have access to services on the Website which requires you to be a Registered User. When deleting a Registered User’s profile, we reserve the right to delete the user-generated content (see 2.1) this Registered User made on the Website.

1.4 Furthermore, we reserve the right, at any time and without notice or explanation, to delete a Registered User’s profile and user-generated content (see 2.1). In this case, our disclaimer applies without limitations.

2 User-Generated Content from Registered Users

2.1 Users grant us the worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free right and license to publish, display, reproduce, modify, create derivative works of and commercially exploit any material, information, notifications, reviews, articles or other types of communication (hereinafter referred to as the "User-Generated Content" or "UGC") which you create on the Website as a Registered User. We may freely use and transfer the UGC and disclose the UGC to third parties.

2.2 Registered Users are liable for the UGC they publish on the Website.

2.3 Registered Users warrant that all UGC posted on the Website is correct and true (where they state facts) or genuinely held (where they state opinions).

2.4 UGC must relate to a company or organization from which the Registered User has purchased or can otherwise document using the company's or organization's products or services.

2.5 Registered Users may not publish UGC regarding companies to which they have personal or professional relations.

2.5.5 Limitations: Registered Users can only publish UGC about their own experience. Registered Users are not allowed to publish UGC about their family members' or friends' Buying Experiences.

2.5.5.1. Registered Users may not publish UGC about a Company if you are or were an employee of that Company or if they are / have been the Company owner, an executive or a family member thereof.

2.5.5.2. Registered Users may only publish one piece of UGC per Transaction per Company.

2.6 Registered Users must not, and must not allow any third party to, publish UGC on the website which

  • is of a marketing nature or has marketing purposes,
  • is unlawful, deceptive, misleading, fraudulent, threatening, abusive, harassing, libelous, defamatory, tortious, obscene, pornographic or profane,
  • has sexist, political or racial character,
  • violates other people's rights, including any intellectual property rights, rights of privacy and/or rights of publicity,
  • is offensive or in any way breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation,
  • violates these Terms of Service, including the User Guidelines,
  • reveals any personal information about another individual, including another person's name, address, phone number, email address, credit card information or any other information that could be used to track, contact or impersonate that person,
  • has a disloyal or unlawful purpose and/or content (or promotes unlawful purposes), or
  • is technically harmful (including without limitation computer viruses, logic bombs, Trojan horses, worms, harmful components, corrupted data or other malicious software, harmful data or conduct).

2.7 Contributors of UGC warrant in every context that the UGC is lawful and in compliance with the Terms of Service. If CustomerGauge receives notice or otherwise becomes aware that UGC violates current legislation and/or the Terms of Service, we may delete or change the UGC without any notice, and we - dependent on the character of the violation - may inform the violated party and/or the authorities of the violation. Our right to delete will not be conditioned on an explanation, although we will strive to inform the Registered User about the deletion and the reason hereof.

2.8 The Registered User hereby grants us the right to initiate and take any legal actions which we deem necessary in case of infringement of the Registered User's UGC. The Registered User must guarantee to indemnify us for any claims which may be made against us as a consequence of the Registered User's violation of the Terms of Service or current legislation. The Registered User must indemnify and hold us harmless from and against any claim or loss due to third party claims against us resulting from the UGC of the Registered User.

2.9 We may at any time request information about the UGC from the Registered User, including documentation supporting the information included in the UGC, e.g. documentation evidencing that the UGC is based on an actual buying experience in an actual customer relation to the company to which the UGC relates.  

3 Reporting UGC for abuse

3.1 Registered Users may report UGC for abuse if it violates our Terms of Service and / or our User Guidelines.

3.2 Registered Users are not allowed to misuse this reporting functionality. Examples of such misuse are:

  • carrying out unfounded or incorrect reporting of many or all of the positive reviews of a Company which you e.g. have had a bad Buying Experience with,
  • reporting the same review multiple times when it has already been assessed in accordance to our internal quality process, except in certain exceptional circumstances.

Misuse of our reporting functionality is considered a material breach of the Terms of Service.

4 Threats against CustomerGauge employees

Making threats against our employees is regarded as a material breach of the Terms of Service between the person posing the threat and us which can lead to the immediate blocking of that person’s account and filing of a report with the relevant authorities.

GENERAL TERMS

5 Rights

5.1 The Website and the services we offer via the Website, including all underlying technology and intellectual property rights embodied therein, are and remain our sole and exclusive property, and no license or any other right is granted to any such underlying technology. If you provide feedback, ideas or suggestions regarding the Website or the services offered on the Website ("Feedback"), we are free to fully exploit such Feedback.

5.2 The content on the Website, including but not limited to the intellectual property rights, text, characteristics, graphics, icons, photos, calculations, references and software is or will be our property or the property of a third party (other than the Registered User) and is protected by applicable law (see Part I, section 13) and applicable international legislation, including without limitation applicable copyright and trademark laws.

5.3 Unauthorized copying, distribution, presentation, data mining or other use of the Website or part hereof is a violation of the applicable law (see Part I, section 13) and may thus result in civil and/or criminal penalties.

5.4 To the fullest extent permitted by law, the rights to free use of the UGC are transferred to us irrevocably, without any time limitation and without territorial limitations, by submitting the UGC to us.

5.5 Downloading and other digital copying of the content on the Website or parts hereof are only permitted for personal non-commercial use unless otherwise agreed with us in writing or allowed under applicable mandatory law.

5.6 All company names, trademarks and other business characteristics on the Website is or will be our property or the property of a third party (other than the Registered User) and must only be used for business purposes upon prior approval from us or the third party owner, respectively.

6 Personal data

6.1 We perform different types of processing of personal data in connection with the use of the Website. Our processing of personal data takes place under observance of our Privacy Policy, which can be obtained here: http://review.customergauge.com/privacy-policy. By accepting these Terms of Service, you confirm to have read and accepted our Privacy Policy.

7 Disclaimers

7.1 THE WEBSITE, CONTENT AND SERVICES OFFERED ON THE WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND AS AVAILABLE WITHOUT REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. CUSTOMERGAUGE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE WEBSITE AND SERVICES MAY BE MODIFIED, UPDATED, INTERRUPTED, SUSPENDED OR DISCONTINUED AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE OR LIABILITY.

7.2 We make no representations or warranties with respect to any UGC published on the Website. Notwithstanding the foregoing, CustomerGauge may at all times investigate and edit (including anonymizing) UGC, e.g. if such actions are (i) prompted by third party requests or (ii) required under applicable law or (iii) necessary for the UGC's compliance with our User Guidelines.

7.3 We disclaim all liability for the content of UGC. Our non-liability applies, without limitation, to any UGC, including UGC which has been edited by us (see 2.7). We are not liable for any links to third party websites in the UGC, including for the content of the page to which the UGC links.

7.4 Recommendations, reviews, comments, etc. of specific companies, services, e-businesses, etc. on the Website are provided by Registered Users and are not endorsements made by us. We disclaim all liability for the content of the Website. The use of our services is in any respect the sole responsibility of the Registered Users. We cannot be held liable for the availability of the Website.

8 Other Terms

8.1 We may at any time, in our sole discretion, revise or change these Terms of Service. We will make an effort to provide reasonable advance notice of any such changes. We may at any time, in our own discretion and without notice, close, change or reorganize the Website. As a Registered User you accept to be covered by the at all times current Terms of Service. For any revision or change of Part I of the Terms of Service, see Part I. Any revision or change of Part II of the Terms of Service will be stated on the Website. We will furthermore strive to inform the Registered Users about the change of the Terms of Service. The Registered Users agree that the continued use of the Website after any posted modified version of Part II of the Terms of Service is an acceptance of the modified Terms of Service.

8.2 Should any of these Terms of Service be regarded as unlawful or without effect and therefore not to be enforced, this will not have any effect on the applicability and enforcement of the remaining part of the Terms of Service.

9 Term and termination

9.1 We may terminate your right to access and use the services offered on the Website at any time for any reason without liability. If we do so, or if you elect to delete your profile, any rights granted to you herein will immediately cease. Sections 2-10 will survive any termination of the Terms of Service.

10 Applicable law and venue

10.1 The Terms of Service and the relationship between you and CustomerGauge are governed by the applicable law (see Part I, section 13), without regard to the conflicts of law provisions thereof. Any disputes must be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts, and the parties hereby consent to the jurisdiction of such courts.

11 Copyright dispute policy

11.1 It is CustomerGauge’s policy to (i) block access to or remove material that it believes in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally copied and distributed by any of our advertisers, affiliates, content providers or members or users; and (ii) remove and discontinue service to repeat offenders. CustomerGauge has adopted a policy toward copyright infringement in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act or DMCA (posted at http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf).

12 Miscellaneous

12.1 You acknowledge and agree that these Terms of Service constitute the complete and exclusive agreement between you and CustomerGauge concerning your use of the Website and supersede and govern all prior proposals, agreements or other communications.

12.2 Nothing contained in these Terms of Service can be construed as creating any agency, partnership or other form of joint enterprise between us. Our failure to require your performance of any provision hereof will not affect our full right to require such performance at any time thereafter, nor may our waiver of a breach of any provision hereof be taken or held to be a waiver of the provision itself. You may not assign any rights granted to you hereunder, and any such attempts are void.

Latest update: August 2014. Version: 1. By: CustomerGauge.