TERMS OF USE



IMPORTANT INTRODUCTION TO OUR TERMS OF USE

These Terms of Use (together with the documents referred to in it, including our Privacy Policy) set forth a binding agreement ("Agreement") between you and us, under which you may use this site and associated services offered through this site or application (together the "Services").

Please read these Terms of Use carefully before you start to use the Services.

By using the Site, you indicate that you accept these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy and that you agree to abide by them. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy, or you are under 18 years of age, please do not use the Site. Checking the designated box and clicking on the "I Agree" button on the join page forms your acceptance of and agreement to these terms even if you do not read them. If you do not agree to these terms, you cannot access this Website.

There are some important provisions, which we would draw your attention to:

A. This is a dating website and social networking site for people over 18 years of age, it is not directed at minors, and if you are under 18 years of age you must not use our site.

B. We are not responsible for anything that you do or say on the site. However, if you post something and we receive a complaint from a user or third party, we have the right to remove it if we believe it is in violation of any law or breaches these Terms of Use, or our Privacy Policy.

C. WE DO NOT CONDUCT ANY BACKGROUND CHECKS, CRIMINAL CHECKS OR IDENTITY CHECKS ON ANY OF THE SITE’S USERS. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF YOUR INTERACTION WITH OTHER USERS AND YOU SHOULD READ MORE ABOUT ONLINE DATING SAFETY HERE.

D. We do not get involved in disputes between you and any other user. We do get involved however if content requires to be removed. You take full responsibility and liability for all of your content, even if it breaches a third party’s rights – you remain liable.

E. All paid subscriptions automatically renew for the period and price that you signed up to. You may cancel the auto-renew feature to avoid recurring charges, but you must act at least 3 days (that is, 72 hours) prior to the renewal date. If you purchased subscription via iTunes Account, please check the cancellation period with your iTunes Account Terms of Use and cancel auto-renew via your iTunes Account before the next renewal date to avoid renewal.

F. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO AMEND THESE TERMS AND ANY DOCUMENT REFERRED TO AT ANY TIME. YOU ARE EXPECTED TO CHECK THIS PAGE AND ITS LINKED PAGES FROM TIME TO TIME TO TAKE NOTICE OF ANY CHANGES WE MAKE AS THEY ARE BINDING ON YOU. SOME OF THE PROVISIONS CONTAINED IN THESE TERMS OF USE MAY ALSO BE SUPERSEDED BY PROVISIONS OR NOTICES PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE ON OUR SITE.



1. THE PARTIES TO THIS AGREEMENT

This website is operated as an online dating and social networking service for people aged 18 or over, and it is operated by buddygays.com registered at buddygays.com.

You are entering into this agreement with buddygays.com.

As a large organization we are part of a group of subsidiaries with parent companies ("Group Companies") that operate some of our sites on our behalf or provide services to us to enable us to provide the Services to you. Our Group Companies are all wholly/majorly operated by us, or our parent company. Any reference herein to a Group Company means a parent or subsidiary of ours, if applicable.

We want to offer you a full range of products and services and in order to do that we will share your details across our Partner Sites (see our Privacy Policy – Creation of Duplicate Profiles Across Our Partner Sites) and we will market our different products and services to you (see our Privacy Policy – Marketing).

You authorize us to reproduce and broadcast the information contained in your profile including your name, photograph, "chat up line", description etc. throughout all or part of our Partner Sites and our Group Companies for the purposes of delivering the Services to you and for marketing and other purposes as explained in more detail below under section 6(B) Our rights to use your content for our own purposes.

To boost interaction between our members and in order to notify them of newly registered matches and their activity (i.e. registration, photo upload etc.), we may, from time to time, use an automatic pop-up notification system and other communication channels e.g. inbox or instant messages to send Activity Notifications to you. Activity Notifications will be marked in your inbox with a specific icon, and some auto generated Activity Notifications may require an upgraded Paid Membership in order to see the content of message and reply to it. You may unsubscribe from receiving Activity Notifications, or you may refine the types of Activity Notifications you receive through your account settings under the menu for "Notifications". All users accept and understand that in order to boost their profile amongst users, such notifications about their registration and account update activity (such as new photos) may be broadcast by us, on that user’s behalf, and users consent to such distribution amongst members automatically by our system, from time to time.



CUSTOM AND PROMOTED MESSAGES

A user may choose to send certain forms of automated messages to other users, which may vary from time to time and include but are not limited to Flirtcasts or Promote my account messages ("Custom Messages"). These Custom Messages may be in the form of template messages with pre-composed text, or may be a custom message edited by the sending user. To minimize the risk of receiving a Custom Message with contact details or any other content that may be used to threaten, harass, mislead or pose risk to another user’s security on our sites, we reserve the right to monitor all Custom Messages, to modify or change the content of them to our template pre-composed Custom Messages. These security checks will be made at our discretion and any changes made to the content of the Custom Message will be automatically completed without informing the sending user of the changes.



2A. OUR PROVISION OF THE SERVICES

We provide online social services through our websites and mobile applications enabling you to contact and engage in interaction with other users of our various sites and apps, including those of our Group Companies and Partner Sites (collectively our websites and apps are referred to here as the "Services"). This is a social networking website for people aged 18 and over designed as a forum for meeting new people, to share photos, media content, stories, and other information. It is intended to be a fun place to visit and it is important to us (and for you) that it remains a safe and friendly environment so you agree that you will only use our site in a manner consistent with its purpose and according to these terms.

We do not guarantee that all the profiles found in search will belong to other users, as we reserve the right to create profiles which are maintained and managed by our employees (“Staff Profiles”). The purpose of these Staff Profiles is to ensure our Services are operating properly by allowing us to test the Services, features and functionalities, and to research our products and Services.

We are continually developing our offerings to users and we may offer additional services or revise the scope of the Services at our discretion and with or without notice to you, and these Terms of Use will apply to all additional or revised Services.

We also reserve the right to stop offering the Services.

2B. WARRANTIES BY YOU IN USING THE SERVICES

By accessing the Website or purchasing premium services, you certify to us that:

  • You have reached the age of majority where you live and that you have the legal capacity to agree to these terms;
  • You own (or have permission to use) any credit card you used to purchase premium services, and have authorized us (or our/our contracted third-party entity authorized payment processing agent) to charge the credit card according to the membership you chose (which may include automatically recurring charges on a month-to-month basis until canceled);
  • You access the Website voluntarily and for your own personal enjoyment, you will not seek to obtain commercial gain, or obtain money or other benefits from other users, fraudulently or otherwise;
  • You have never been convicted of a felony and that you are not required to register as a sex offender with any government entity;
  • Your use of the Website is not prohibited or restricted by your jurisdiction;
  • You have complied and will continue to comply with the laws and regulations of the jurisdiction from which you access the Website;
  • All information that you submit when you register is accurate and truthful and that you will promptly update any information that you provide that later becomes inaccurate, misleading, or false; and
  • You will not share this Website or its contents with a minor or otherwise make them available to a minor;
  • You state that you have the right, authority, and capacity to enter into and be bound by these terms and that by using our site you will not be violating any law or regulation of the country in which you reside. You are solely responsible for your compliance with all applicable local laws and regulations;
  • You further state that you have not been convicted of and are not subject to any court order relating to assault, violence, sexual misconduct, or harassment.




3. HOW YOU CAN ACCESS OUR SERVICES

Our site is a meeting place for people over 18 years of age, which features a rich collection of online resources, including various communication tools, chat services, third-party content, online forums, personalized content, and branded programming. You may only use and become a registered member of our site if you are 18-years old or older (or the age of majority in the country in which you reside if that happens to be greater than 18-years old).

You can access the Services in the following ways, and by website visits or mobile applications:

(1) By visiting as a guest without registering ("Guest");

(2) By registering for the Services as a non-paying member ("Free Member"); or

(3) By registering for the Services as a member and purchasing a subscription package ("Full Member").

Throughout these terms we will make reference to Guest, Free Member and Full Member. When the clause is relevant to all members, we shall simply use the term "member" or "users" to mean all users, whether Guests, Free, or Paid.

Absent special offers, you understand that if you are not a subscriber (i.e., Full Member): (1) you will not be able to use all the features and services available on the Website; and (2) subscribers and non-subscribing members will not be able to use the Website to communicate with you. A member profile (both subscribers and non-subscribers) may remain posted on the Website even though that member is not actively using our site. You understand that although a member’s profile may be viewed, you may not (even as a subscriber) be able to use the Website to communicate with that member if he or she is not then actively using our site.



4. ABOUT SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BILLING

A. GUEST/FREE MEMBER FEES / CHARGES / "JOIN FOR FREE"

There is no fee payable to access the Services as a Guest or as a Free Member.

However, please note that accessing the Services as a Guest or a Free Member will only give you limited access to features and areas of the Services. Full access will require you to upgrade to become a Full Member, by paying for a subscription package.

When you see "JOIN FOR FREE" this means that you can sign up to the Services free of charge, however you will have limited access to features and areas of the Service. Full access will require a Full Membership.

B(1). ABOUT THE PAID FOR SERVICES

We offer you the opportunity to pay for certain services offered on the Website. Our premium services include various opportunities to find and meet additional people, to customize your profile, and to boost your profile so more people find you. You can purchase all of these premium services when you register or after you register and you may subscribe to the premium services for various lengths of time (e.g., 1 day, 3 day or 1 week trials, and 1, 3, or 6 month subscriptions). Immediatelly after you subscribe to our services, you will receive an email/communication containing essential information explaining your terms of subscription. This may include:
  • Website name
  • Price of the subscription
  • Period of the subscription
  • Connection identifiers
  • Date and time of renewal
  • Price of the renewal
  • Frequency of the subscription
  • Customer's email address
  • Unsubscribe link


For your convenience, we supply to you the costs and duration of your membership on our registration page on signup. You are responsible for all costs associated with your use of your selected payment method including, for example, exchange rates, transaction fees, interest, and other fees charged by your credit/debit card companies and banks. During the signup process, we will ask you to indicate your preference for membership duration and costs among other things, and we will record your selections and click-through agreement to the duration, costs, and these terms. We reserve the right to offer free membership to any person of our choice at any given time, for any duration, while charging other members, at the same time. We also reserve the right to cancel the free trial period or membership at any time, for all or any of our members.

B(2). FULL MEMBER FEES / CHARGES

If you would like full access to all features and areas within the Services, you should purchase one of our Subscription Packages. As a Full Member you expressly agree to us providing the Services to you immediately upon payment by you.

In general, we offer:

  • 1 day, 3 day or 1 week trials; and/or
  • 1, 3 or 6 month packages.


The fees payable for each of our Subscription Packages are set out on the payment page at the point of making payment. Please review the payment page very carefully when you come to make payment.

You understand and agree that your initial subscription payment and all the recurring payments may be processed by us or by a third-party company that provides payment services to us under contract. In the event that we use such third-party for processing of your payments, this company will be clearly stated on the appropriate payment page when you are submitting your payment details.

Please be aware that when you subscribe to any package, including the trial period, you will become liable for automatic renewal billing. THIS MEANS THAT THE MINIMUM DURATION OF YOUR CONTRACT WILL BE FOR THE INITIAL PERIOD YOU SELECT (E.G. 1 MONTH), AND THIS WILL AUTOMATICALLY RENEW UNTIL YOU CANCEL YOUR SERVICE.

We reserve the right to alter these subscriptions packages at any time. If we alter the price of a package that you are already paying for, we will provide notice of the change to you (in accordance with our process noted below at section 4(D)) and you will have the option to cancel your membership if you do not agree with the new price being offered to you.

B(3). PAYMENT PROCESSING VIA MAIL ORDER TELEPHONE ORDER (MOTO)

We understand that in certain situations users may encounter difficulties while attempting to make payments through our online platform. In such cases, we offer an alternative payment method known as Mail Order Telephone Order (MOTO). Our MOTO service allows users to make payments by phone through our dedicated team.

How it Works:
1. Contacting Support: If you are unable to complete a payment through our online system for any reason, we encourage you to reach out to our dedicated team via phone.
2. Assistance: Our specially trained team is available to assist you in completing your payment over the phone. This process may involve providing your credit card information and other necessary details to our representative.
3. Security Measures: We take the security of your information seriously. Rest assured that our dedicated team follows strict security protocols and complies with industry standards to ensure the confidentiality and safety of your payment information. Please be informed that we do not request your CVV number, you have to enter this number yourself.
4. Verification Process: For your protection, our dedicated team may conduct identity verification procedures to ensure the legitimacy of the payment request. During such verification we may ask your name, email or other information necessary to identify you.

Important Note: By engaging in MOTO transactions on our platform, you acknowledge and agree that you have authorized such transactions willingly. By engaging in the MOTO payment process, you acknowledge and agree to provide the necessary information to our dedicated team for the purpose of completing your payment over the phone.

Users engaging in MOTO transactions on our website are responsible for compliance with all applicable laws and regulations governing such transactions in their jurisdiction.

If you have any concerns or questions regarding our MOTO service, please contact our customer support team for further assistance.

C. AUTOMATIC RENEWAL BILLING

We operate an automatic renewal billing policy.

This means that once your initial membership period has expired, for your convenience, your membership will automatically be renewed at the same rate that you signed up for using the original payment method. For example if you pay by card, we will continue to debit this same credit card as each subscription period expires. We will only debit these repeat payments when your current payment period expires and not before.

You must provide current, complete, and accurate information for your billing account. You will promptly update all information to keep your billing account current, complete, and accurate (such as a change in billing address, card number, or expiration date), and you will promptly notify us if your payment method is canceled (including if you lose your card or it is stolen), or if you become aware of a potential breach of security (such as an unauthorized disclosure or use of your name or password). If you fail to provide us any of this information, we will hold you responsible for the fees accrued under your billing account. In addition, you authorize us to obtain updated or replacement expiration dates and card numbers for your credit or debit card as provided by your credit or debit card issuer.

To reduce the risk of fraudulent transactions, we may require some users to verify their billing account by debiting their credit or debit card a small, random amount of $0.5 to $5 (or its equivalent in local currency). Please check your bank statement for the actual debit amount of billing account verification and confirm it if needed. This amount will be refunded within 3 to 5 days after the credit card or debit card verification process is complete.

D. PRICE CHANGES

We reserve the right to alter our packages at any time and any change in your subscription price will be notified to you by email to the address you have provided when you signed up to the Services, at least 7 days prior to the new subscription price being implemented. You will then have the option to cancel your membership if you do not agree to this price change.

E. DISPUTES ABOUT BILLING AND REFUNDS

In the event that you disagree with any charge made to your account, you agree to contact us with a view to resolving the dispute prior to making a formal notification to your credit card company. You must contact us either by email or telephone, stating your reasons for dispute of the charge. This will enable us to accurately and promptly assess your complaint and, where justified, credit your card with the disputed amount in a timely manner to avoid any further inconvenience to you. All disputes must be raised within three (3) months of the disputed transaction occurring.

Please note if you have made payment for our application through Apple's iTunes service, in accordance with Apple's developer policies, we shall not issue any refunds if you have purchased our app in this way.

We do not issue refunds unless there are extenuating circumstances that we feel warrant a refund. These may be things like the Website not working properly for some reason. In cases like these, we will issue refunds after investigating on a case-by-case basis. We will take into consideration things such as other complaints received or other customer comments. We do not guarantee satisfaction and we will not consider dissatisfaction with the Website or simply buyer's remorse as grounds for a refund.

We do not provide cash refunds; our authorized billing agent refunds the requested transaction back to you.

If an issued refund is for a recurring billing, we will only refund the most recent payment. A refund for a recurring billing will result in an immediate cancellation of the recurring service. A refund of fees for any nonrecurring service will also result in immediate termination of access to the service.

To request a refund, you must contact our customer service department through our "Contact Us" page. On issuing a refund, the Website reserves the right to add you to the negative databases of our associated authorized billing agents, and to any third party fraud prevention agents associated with our products.

F. PROMOTED MESSAGES

We may from time to time offer users the ability to "Promote My Account" through Account Settings. Activating this service will mean that we will automatically broadcast custom messages created by any user, or selected from a default list of template messages, to other users. We reserve the right to select members to use the Promote My Account service. Sending of messages through this service will be free, however, recipients who view and choose to reply to a Promote My Account message, will require to have an upgraded Paid Membership in order to reply to the sender. All messages sent through the Promote My Account service will be marked in recipient’s inbox with a specific icon. We reserve the right to modify any fees payable to senders or recipients at any time.

5. YOUR USE OF OUR SERVICES

To ensure compatibility with your device and our Services, please note that our sites are optimized for all modern browsers including IE9+ and above, Firefox 2+, Safari 3+, Chrome and Opera with standard default browser settings. You will also need JavaScript enabled to use our sites, and Flash must be installed to use our Live Chat feature. For the best experience your screen resolution should be set to no less than 1280 x 768.

A. PERSONAL USE

Your account is for your personal use only. You may not authorize others to use your account or attempt to use another member's account without first obtaining their consent. You must not assign or otherwise transfer your account to any other person or entity.

You are solely responsible for your own actions and those of anyone using your account, and assume all liability regarding, (i) the information and content you or anyone using your account, posts on your behalf; (ii) the information and content you or anyone using your account post, transmit, publish, or otherwise make available through the Services; and (iii) your or anyone using your account's interactions with other members through the Services.

If you have an inactive account and you attempt to create another account(s) using the same email address that already exists on our Site your old account will be automatically replaced with the new content that you upload when creating the new account.

B. YOUR USE OF OUR SERVICES: INFORMATION YOU SUBMIT

If you register with us to use our Services, you warrant that you will:

  • Provide all the information required to complete the registration forms for our Services;
  • Ensure the information you provide is complete, accurate and up to date and you will promptly update all information to keep your account and billing information complete and accurate upon any change (such as change of billing address, credit card number or expiration date);
  • You have not and will not access or use the Services from any place or jurisdiction where such use is prohibited or contrary to applicable laws, rules, regulations, ordinances, edicts or customs of your jurisdiction, of the United Kingdom, of Australia or of the United States of America;
  • Your use of the Services is and will be in compliance with all applicable laws, rules, regulations, ordinances, edicts or customs;
  • If you create an account (as a Free or Full Member), you (i) have never been convicted of a felony; and (ii) are not required to register as a sex offender with any government entity or agency; and
  • You are either single or separated from your spouse or domestic partner;
  • Only post information and content that is relevant to our members (please see below under "Restrictions on your use of the Site" for further details of the restrictions on the type of information and content you can post);
  • Be fully responsible for all use of your account and for any actions that take place using your account whether by yourself or any other person using your account; and
  • Only post genuine ratings of and comments on other members' profiles and other content based on your personal experience. Please note that any comments you make, if false, could be defamatory and could lead to legal proceedings being taken against you.
  • We want to make sure that you do not try to confuse or mislead other members and we have the right, although we are not obliged to, to monitor profile activity for any inconsistencies, and we further have the right to make amendments to your profile in cases where we believe the information posted is inaccurate or contradictory (for example, you select your ethnicity however this is not the same as the ethnicity of the person shown in your profile photograph(s).


C. RESTRICTIONS ON YOUR USE

You agree that you will not post any content on through the Services, transmit any content to others, communicate any content, provide links to any content, or otherwise engage in any activity through the Services that, in our sole judgment:

  • impersonates or otherwise misrepresents affiliation, connection or association with, any person or entity;
  • discloses any personal or confidential information of any person or organization without first obtaining their consent or solicits another person's personal information for commercial or unlawful purposes;
  • discloses, solicits or requests personal information from anyone under the age of 18 or discloses or solicit passwords for unlawful purposes;
  • contains any material which is technically harmful (including, without limitation, computer viruses, logic bombs, Trojan horses, worms, harmful components, corrupted data or other malicious software or harmful data);
  • promotes racism, bigotry, hatred or physical harm against any group or individual;
  • promotes or enables illegal or unlawful activities;
  • is intended to harass, annoy, threaten or intimidate any other members or other people or organizations;
  • is defamatory, inaccurate, obscene, indecent, seditious, offensive, pornographic, abusive, liable to incite racial hatred, discriminatory, inflammatory, blasphemous, in breach of confidence, in breach of privacy, harms minors in any way (a minor being a person aged under 18) or which may cause annoyance or inconvenience;
  • is deliberately misleading or fraudulent;
  • contains others' copyrighted content (such as music, media files, photographs, images etc.) trademarks, patents, trade secret or other proprietary information, without first obtaining their consent;
  • uses the Services for chain letters, junk mail or spam e-mails;
  • advertises or solicits any member to buy or sell any products or services including but not limited to uploading, posting, emailing, transmitting or otherwise making available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, affiliate marketing codes, link referral code or any other form of commercial solicitation;
  • interferes or disrupts networks connected to the Services or attempts to interfere with the proper functioning of the Services (including imposing an unreasonable load on the technical infrastructure used to operate the Site);
  • contains any material which may infringe or violate any third party's rights;
  • violates any applicable local, state, national or international law, including, but not limited to, regulations promulgated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, any rules of any national or other securities exchange, including, but not limited to, the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ, and any regulations having the force of law;
  • provides material support or resources (or conceal or disguise the nature, location, source, or ownership of material support or resources) to any organization(s) designated by the various governments as a foreign terrorist organization;
  • stalks or otherwise harasses another person or user or member;
  • collects or stores personal data about other users or members without their consent (including, but not limited to, through the use of scripts, bots or web crawlers).
  • You mustn't:
  • upload, post, email, transmit, chat or otherwise disclose other users' or members' private information;
  • post a profile or send a message to a user for any purpose other than to interact with other individuals online;
  • delete or revise any content or material posted by any other person or entity;
  • access data not intended for such user or logging into a server or account which the user is not authorized to access;
  • attempt to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of the system or network or to breach the security or authentication measures of the site without proper authorization;
  • attempt to interfere with service to any user, host or network, including, without limitation, via means of submitting a virus to the Services, overloading, flooding, spamming, mail bombing or crashing or otherwise attempting to deny service to the Site or the server of any user;
  • forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any content transmitted through the Services;
  • send unsolicited messages, including promotions and/or advertising of products or services;
  • forge any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any e-mail or newsgroup posting for any reason;
  • use any information obtained from the Services in order to contact, advertise to, solicit, or sell to any user or member without their prior express consent.


You are solely responsible for any content which you upload, publish or display on this website. You warrant that you will not upload, publish or display any content that you did not create or that you do not have permission to upload, publish or display including but not limited to an underage, nudity and adult content, offensive, violent, illegal content, or content intended to promote illegal products or activity.

If you breach the terms of this subsection regarding the sending or posting of unsolicited bulk email, spam or other unsolicited communications of any kind through the Services, we reserve all rights, claims and causes of action we may have, statutory or otherwise, including but not limited to, the right to seek statutory penalties for each such unsolicited communication you send through the Services.

We actively encourage all users to report any breaches of these terms to us.

D. PHOTO CONTENT RULES

You are permitted to upload photo content provided such photos comply with the following rules, and that you understand that every photo is subject to approval by our moderator team, who exercise discretion to ensure compliance with all laws, these rules, and the safety of you and other users. After uploading, each photo is subject to approval by our moderators and is sorted according to the content.

Your photos must not contain:
  • any contact information, account details or any other personal information;
  • website logos (other than the current site), water marks;
  • drugs or drug activity (e.g. smoking marijuana);
  • money being offered for sexual activity;
  • children under the age of 18;
  • child pornography (in this case, your profile is also subject to immediate removal and reporting to competent authorities);
  • sexually explicit content, which contains references to violence, physical or mental abuse;
  • details or any other information which is defamatory, threatening, violent, or intends to harass or cause distress to any person;
  • filters or content that appear too artificial;
  • no visible people;
  • several people at once without appropriate consent;
  • celebrities (in this case you will be solely responsible for copyright infringement);
  • any content infringing copyright and other intellectual property rights of any third party;
  • offensive gestures, violence, cruelty, blood;
  • animals;
  • real or imitation weapons and/or promoting violence;
  • gender mismatch of the person in the photo and in the profile (gender can be changed)
  • advocacy of drugs;
  • photos showing alcohol, cigarettes and hookahs being consumed/used and/or featuring money and gambling.


E. OUR RIGHTS TO REMOVE OR EDIT CONTENT

We reserve the right, but have no obligation, to monitor the information or content you or anyone using your account submits to the Services or post in the public areas of the Services. We have the right to remove or edit any such information or content: (i) that in our sole opinion violates, or may violate, any applicable law, or these Terms of Use; (ii) or upon the request of any third party e.g. in the event that a third party alleges you have infringed their intellectual property rights.

F. SECURITY OF YOUR LOGIN DETAILS

You agree that you are responsible for keeping your screen name and password for your account secret. You acknowledge that we are not responsible for third party access to your account that results from sharing your login or other account details or personal information by you or the theft or misappropriation of your screen name and password. We reserve the right to suspend your access to the Services or terminate your account if we suspect an unauthorized person is attempting to access it.

G. REPORTING A BREACH OF THESE USER TERMS

You agree to tell us immediately about: (i) any violation of these Terms of Use by others (including but not limited to other members) of which you become aware; and (ii) any known or suspected unauthorized access to your account.

H. RISKS OF USING OUR SERVICES

You assume all risk when using the Services, including but not limited to, all of the risks associated with any online or offline interactions with others, including dating. You understand that we are unable to guarantee the accuracy or completeness of information provided to you by or about other members, and that we are unable to confirm that any member is who he or she claims to be.

You acknowledge that we have no liability in respect of other members of the Services, or any party who contacts you through the Services. We do not conduct criminal or any other background checks on any member in any territory and you should exercise caution. Please review our Dating Help and Safety Tips.

We do not warrant and are not responsible for ensuring that other members are in compliance with these Terms of Use. You agree to take all necessary precautions when communicating with or meeting individuals through the Services.

You understand that we make no guarantees or warranties, either express or implied, regarding your ultimate compatibility with individuals you meet through the Services or as to the conduct of such individuals. You further understand that we make no guarantees or warranties as to the number or frequency of matches made available to you through the Services.

I. SAFE MODE AND VERIFIED MEMBER STATUS

In order to provide our members with a safer user experience, we offer both the Safe Mode feature as well as the ability for any member to become a Verified Member.

Safe Mode enables members to limit certain types of actions and information that the Website can provide, including search results and incoming communications. We reserve the right to modify or discontinue Safe Mode at any time and we reserve the right to limit Safe Mode or parts of it to paying members. Additional information regarding Safe Mode is available on the Website or by contacting us through our "Contact Us" page.

A Verified Member is any user who has validated the phone number connected with their account as being held by a human person, by either: (1) obtaining a unique verification code by text message or voice call; (2) calling the Website's toll-free number. The Website uniquely identifies Verified Members. Verified Members have access to special features such as being able to search for other Verified Members. We reserve the right to remove or modify the Verified Member feature at any time and without any prior notice. You understand that we assume no liability related to any user abusing the Verified Member feature or providing inaccurate, false or fraudulent information in the verification process. You further understand that the Verified Member feature is not a guarantee of the genuineness or genuine intentions of a person. Additional information regarding the Verified Member feature is available on the Website.

J. INFORMATION ABOUT YOU AND YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES

We process information about you in accordance with our Privacy Policy. By using the Services, you consent to such processing and you warrant that all data provided by you is accurate. You are responsible for reviewing the terms of the Privacy Policy. By continuing to use the Services you are confirming that you accept the terms of the Privacy Policy, as may be amended from time to time, and you are responsible for regularly reviewing the Privacy Policy for any changes that we reserve the right to make.

K. MEMBERS OUTSIDE THE EEA

By registering and creating a member profile you consent to the wider dissemination of the information you provide in that profile to the other users of the Services, our Group Companies and third party service providers, some of whom may be outside the European Economic Area ('EEA'), to allow you to date in an online environment. We will keep your personal information confidential except: (i) where you or anyone using your account have posted it for publication or display; or (ii) to the extent that we are compelled to disclose it by law or to comply with an instruction of a regulatory body of competent jurisdiction.

For full details on how, where and for what purposes your data is stored and transferred please review our Privacy Policy.

L. BACKGROUND AND CRIMINAL CHECKS OF USERS

You are solely responsible for your interactions with other members of the Website. You understand that we do not in any way: (1) monitor the activity of our members either offline or online; (2) screen or interview our members; (3) inquire into the background of our members (including conducting criminal background checks); or (4) attempt to verify the accuracy or statements made by members. We make no representations or warranties about the conduct of members or those acting on their behalf. You will take reasonable precautions in all communications, meetings, or interactions with other members of the Website, particularly if you decide to meet offline or in person. You should not divulge personal or financial information to strangers. To learn more about online dating safety, click here.



6. OUR RIGHTS

A. OUR PROPRIETARY RIGHTS

You acknowledge and agree that the copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property rights including registered and unregistered trademarks, across the Services and the content provided as part of the Services belongs to us or is used under exclusive license by us. No rights in respect of the Services or the content provided as part of the Services are granted to you other than those expressly set out in these Terms of Use.

B. TO USE YOUR CONTENT FOR OUR OWN PURPOSES

By posting information or content including but not limited to copyrighted content, name and likeness and photographs to your profile pages or any public area of the Services, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant to us, our Partner Sites and Group Companies, a non-exclusive, royalty free, worldwide license to use, copy, publish, display, reformat, translate and distribute, and broadcast, such information or content and to grant and authorize sub-licenses of the same. You further waive any moral or potential infringements rights you may have in any such information or content. We may further We may assign or sublicense the above license to our affiliates and successors without any further approval by you.

Specifically please note that we may use any of your content, including your photographs, for the purposes of advertising or publicity. If you do not wish us to do this, please contact us.

Full details on how we use your information is contained within Privacy Policy.

C. TRANSFER OF PROFILE DATA FOR RE-BRANDING AND OTHER CORPORATE ACTIVITIES

In accordance with our Privacy Policy, in order to ensure a smooth transition of the service to another company within our corporate group, or to a third party, in the event of a re-branding within our group or in the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, sale of any or all of our assets, as explained in our Privacy Policy your data may be transferred as it is considered to be an asset of ours. In such cases you will be informed about how your data is being handled, used, transferred and/or processed via electronic messaging or by a general posting on the service. Unless you are advised in such communications that a service is ending, for all services that are transferred, the assumption is that your subscription and automatic renewal billing will continue unchanged until you cancel it on the new site or by contacting the new site operator(s) or owner(s).



7. THIRD PARTY RIGHTS

By submitting content to our site, you are certifying that you are the exclusive author and owner of that content (and that our use will not infringe or violate the rights of any third party, including privacy rights, publicity rights, intellectual property rights, contract rights, or any other rights) and you agree that you waive any moral rights relating to that content (including the right to be identified as the author). We have the right to disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any content posted or uploaded by you to our Website constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights or of their right to privacy or any other law.

We have in place procedures for handling claims that content displayed on any of our Group Companies sites infringes a third party's copyright. Pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, as amended ("DMCA"), notifications of claimed copyright infringement under United States copyright law should be sent to our Designated Agent specified in the Notice and Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement. ALL INQUIRIES NOT RELEVANT TO THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURE WILL RECEIVE NO RESPONSE.



8. CANCELING YOUR MEMBERSHIP AND CUSTOMER COMPLAINT HANDLING

(A) TERM AND TERMINATION

These Terms of Use will become effective from the point at which you use the Services as a Guest or registered as a Free or Full Member, and will remain in full force and effect unless and until they are terminated.

Your subscription will be automatically extended for successive renewal period of the same duration as the subscription term originally selected, at the then current non-promotional subscription rate in accordance with the Automatic Renewal Billing process explained in these terms.

Please note that you must terminate your subscription prior to the end of the subscription period for which you have paid to avoid being charged for the next subscription period. To change or terminate your subscription at any time, please follow the subscription cancellation procedure described in the Help section. Either you, or us, may terminate your user account at any time and for any reason by sending notice to the other.

We reserve the right to immediately suspend or terminate your access to any of the Services, without notice, for any reason. We also reserve the right to remove your account information or data from our Services and any other records at any time at our sole discretion.

If your access to any of the Services is suspended due to any suspected (in our opinion acting reasonably) or actual breach of these Terms of Use, you agree that all fees paid to us are final and all outstanding or pending payments will immediately be due. Following any termination of your use of the Services, we reserve the right to send a notice explaining such termination to other members you have contacted through the Services.

(B) YOUR RIGHTS TO CANCEL AT ANY TIME

You may cancel your subscription and membership (free and paid) by visiting the “My Settings” section of the site that you are a member of, and following the relevant link to Remove Account.

Alternatively, you may cancel your registration or subscription at any time by giving us notice of your wish to cancel by telephone or email:

tel:
email: support@buddygays.com
When emailing us you must include your profile information (screenname and email address) in order that we can verify that you are in fact the account holder authorized to amend the account.

Our postal address is:
buddygays.com

Please be aware that any notice of intention to cancel shall take effect upon receipt by us. It is a breach of these terms and conditions to provide your account details to any other person or third party company. Therefore, only cancellations requested by you as a genuine user of the Services will be effective. A cancellation initiated by any other party or entity, will not be considered a valid cancellation and you will continue to be charged.

(C) 14 DAY CANCELLATION RIGHT (FOR RESIDENTS OF UK AND EU ONLY)

Under the relevant consumer laws of the UK and European Union, if you are resident within the UK or EU you can cancel the agreement created through your acceptance of these Terms of Use within 14 days after the confirmation of your subscription to any Services. You will receive a pro-rated refund based on your usage of the Service.

By creating a Full Membership or upgrading a Guest or Free Membership, you expressly agree to us providing the Services to you immediately upon payment by you. Any use of the service thereafter by you would limit the amount you will be entitled to later receive should you cancel within 14 days.

For avoidance of doubt, Use of the Services in respect of this cancellation right means sending any communication to another user, actively conducting searches of user profiles, viewing photos of other members, or making changes to your profile including your photographs and other publicly visible profile information, or updating or amending any account settings or preferences (unless such settings e.g. email address were inputted incorrectly at sign up and you are seeking to simply amend these entries to be more accurate records).

You can contact us through your Account, by email or by telephone to cancel on the basis of this statutory right.

(D) OUR CUSTOMER COMPLAINT POLICY

If you have any queries about these Terms of Use, the Services or if you wish to make a complaint then please contact us as follows:

tel:
email: support@buddygays.com
When emailing us you must include your profile information (screenname and email address) in order that we can verify that you are in fact the account holder authorized to amend the account.

Our postal address is:
buddygays.com

If you want to express your concerns or complain about the behavior of other users or administrative issues, please write to us at complain@buddygays.com.



9. LEGAL DISCLAIMERS, WARRANTIES & INDEMNITIES

A. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

This section will apply to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

We do not make or grant (and hereby exclude) any warranties, representations, conditions or terms of any kind, whether express, implied, statutory or otherwise with respect to the Services (including all information contained therein), including but not limited to any implied warranties of merchantability, satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement.

We do not warrant that your use of the Services will be secure, uninterrupted, always available, error-free or will meet your requirements, or that any defects in the Services will be corrected. We disclaim liability for, and no warranty, representation, condition or other term is made with respect to, the connectivity and availability of the Services. The site and our services are provide on an "as is" and "as available" basis. You are responsible for making all the necessary arrangements to ensure you can access the site (including Internet provider and mobile Internet provider fees and, any other charges associated with that access). We will not be held responsible for any reduced functionality you may encounter because of or in connection with accessing the site through mobile services or any similar service currently known or developed in the future.

You assume the entire risk for satisfactory quality, performance, accuracy, and effort. We make no warranty that the Website or any content will meet your needs or requirements. We disclaim all warranties – express, statutory, or implied – including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, workmanlike effort, accuracy, completeness, reliability, security, title, exclusivity, quiet enjoyment, non-infringement, and warranties that your access to the Website will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that content loss will not occur. There are no warranties of any kind that extend beyond the face of these terms or that arise because of course of performance, course of dealing, or usage of trade. The Website may contain errors, omissions, inaccuracies, or outdated information. We cannot guarantee and do not promise any specific results from use of the Website or its services. We do not warrant the reliability of any statement or other information displayed or distributed through the Website. We reserve the right to correct any errors or omissions in any portion of the Website.

Opinions, advice, statements, offers, or other information or content made available through the Services, but not directly by us, are those of their respective authors, and should not necessarily be relied upon. Such authors are solely responsible for such content. We do not: (i) warrant or guarantee the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information provided on the Services, or (ii) adopt, endorse or accept responsibility for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice, or statement made by any party other than us. Under no circumstances will we be responsible for any loss or damage resulting from anyone's reliance on information or other content posted on the Services, provided through the Services, or transmitted to or by any Guests, Free Members or Full Members.

B. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

To the maximum extent permitted by law, in no event will we be liable for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage arising out of or relating, directly or indirectly, to the use or inability to use the Services, including, without limitation, loss of income or revenue, loss of corruption of data or programs, loss of goodwill and loss of anticipated savings, even if we know or have been advised of the possibility of such loss arising.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event will we be liable for any claims, losses or damages whatsoever, whether direct, indirect, general, special, compensatory, consequential, and/or incidental, arising out of or relating to the conduct of you or anyone else in connection with the use of the Services, including without limitation, bodily injury, emotional distress, and/or any other claims, losses or damages resulting from communications or meetings with other users of the Services. This includes and is not limited to any claims, losses or damages arising from the conduct of members who have registered under false pretenses or who attempt to defraud or harm you.

Our total liability to you in connection with these Terms of Use or the use of the Services shall be limited as to either: (i) the fees paid by you to us for use of the Services if you are a Full Member; or (ii) £100 if you are a Guest or Free Member.

Nothing in these Terms of Use will limit or exclude our liability for: (i) death or personal injury arising from our proven negligence; or (ii) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentations made by us.

C. INDEMNITY

You agree to indemnify us, our officers, directors, employees, agents, Group Companies for any claims, causes of action, debts, losses, costs, liabilities and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) relating to or arising, directly or indirectly, out of: (i) your, on anyone using your account's use of or inability to use the Services, (ii) any content or information posted by you or anyone using your account, (iii) your or anyone using your account's violation of these Terms of Use or your or anyone using your account's violation of any rights of a third party, or (iv) your or anyone using your account's violation of any applicable laws, rules or regulations.

We reserve the right, at our own cost, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you. You agree to provide us with full co-operation if we choose to exercise this right.

10. ENTIRE AGREEMENT, GOVERNING LAW AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER

A. ENTIRE AGREEMENT

These Terms of Use, and the pages throughout the sites and Services to which these terms refer, constitute a contract that governs the relationship between us and you. They cancel and replace any conditions that may have been agreed to in the past, even if not directly withdrawn or amended, and constitute the entirety of the rights and obligations in place between us.

B. JURISDICTION AND APPLICABLE LAW

These Terms of Use and the documents referred to in them shall be governed and construed in accordance with English law. Any disputes relating to these Terms of Use, the documents referred to in them or the site or the Services will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

C. CLASS ACTION WAIVER

IN ANY DISPUTE, NEITHER YOU NOR ANY OTHER PERSON SHALL BE ENTITLED TO JOIN OR CONSOLIDATE CLAIMS BY OR AGAINST OTHER AFFILIATES OR PERSONS, OR ARBITRATE ANY CLAIM AS A REPRESENTATIVE OR CLASS ACTION OR IN A PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL CAPACITY. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU ARE GIVING UP YOUR RIGHTS TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION WITH RESPECT TO ANY SUCH CLAIM.

D. CONSUMER RIGHTS INFORMATION – CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS ONLY

This provision applies only to California residents. In compliance with Section 1789 of the California Civil Code, please note the following: buddygays.com
support@buddygays.com


Users who wish to gain access to the members-only section of the Website must be a member in good standing. We post the current membership fees for the Website before the registration page for the Website. We reserve the right to change the membership fees. You may contact us using our "Contact Us" page to resolve any billing disputes or to receive further information about the Website.

E. COMPLAINTS – CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS

You may contact in writing the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the Department of Consumer Affairs at 1020 N. Street, #501, Sacramento, CA 95814, or by telephone at 1-916-445-1254.