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| Online Dispute Resolution User Agreement |
THIS ONLINE DISPUTE RESOLUTION AGREEMENT ("AGREEMENT") IS BETWEEN EACH USER ("YOU"), AND SQUARETRADE, INC. ("SQUARETRADE") REGARDING YOUR USE OF SQUARETRADE'S ONLINE DISPUTE RESOLUTION SERVICES.
PLEASE READ THIS AGREEMENT AND SQUARETRADE'S PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY. BY CHECKING THE "I AGREE" BOX IN THE CASE FILING FORM, YOU:
REPRESENT THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD, AND AGREE TO BE LEGALLY BOUND AND TO ABIDE BY THIS AGREEMENT AND SQUARETRADE'S PRIVACY POLICY AS IF YOU HAD SIGNED THEM. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT AND SQUARETRADE'S PRIVACY POLICY, CLICK THE "I DO NOT ACCEPT" BUTTON IN THE CASE FILING FORM, IN WHICH CASE YOU MAY NOT USE THIS SITE, AND YOU MAY NOT USE THE PROCESS OR ANY OTHER SQUARETRADE SERVICES |
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1. SquareTrade Online Dispute (ODR) Resolution Services ("Services")
The Services consist of one or more of the following options, none of which are binding unless you choose to make them binding:
- Direct Negotiation. Direct Negotiation allows You and the other party to address each other directly, using SquareTrade's patent pending system and process ("Process"). If a resolution cannot be reached during this phase, the assistance of a SquareTrade mediator or arbitrator (collectively "SquareTrade Neutrals") can be requested.
- Mediation. Either party to a dispute has access to SquareTrade's pool of neutral mediators using the Process to assist in reaching a mutually acceptable solution. Mediators do not make judgments or issue decisions. All communication that occurs between you and the mediator will be confidential.
- Arbitration. Either party to a dispute has access to a pool of neutral arbitrators using the Process to assist in obtaining a decision. Arbitrators will make a decision about the dispute. The parties agree in advance if this decision will be binding.
2. SquareTrade's Right to Refuse Services
You acknowledge and agree that SquareTrade reserves the right, in its discretion:
- not to provide Services for certain classes of problems for which SquareTrade's Neutrals do not possess a reasonable level of expertise;
- to refuse to provide our Services for specific types of problems; and
- to limit the provisions of our Services at any time.
SquareTrade will provide reasonable notice to You via email. Your right to use SquareTrade's Services is personal to You and You may not resell or make any commercial use of these Services.
3. Your Role and the Quality of the Process
You agree that Your use of the ODR Services will only be used in conjunction with, or response to a bona fide dispute. Any unauthorized use of the ODR Services to reproduce, modify, reverse engineer, copy or display is illegal will result in the termination of this Agreement and SquareTrade may take any and all actions necessary to protect its Materials and Process from unauthorized use.
You further acknowledge and agree that:
- You must cooperate and participate in good faith and respond to all emails sent to you by the Other Party;
- You must provide only true and accurate information during the Process and update that information as necessary to maintain its truth and accuracy;
- You are solely responsible for the content of all material and information You transmit or communicate using SquareTrade's Process or using the SquareTrade Neutrals;
- Your use of information gained through the Process will be governed by the SquareTrade Privacy Policy;
- You can only negotiate a settlement over which you have the decision making authority;
- SquareTrade does not provide legal advice and will not engage in any attorney-client relationship under this Agreement;
- You and the Other Party are solely responsible for the creation and/or enforcement of any settlement, agreement, decision or award; and
- SquareTrade will not be liable for Services provided by mediators or arbitrators not provided by SquareTrade ("Third Party Neutral"), and You understand that all SquareTrade Services provided in conjunction with a Third Party Neutral are provided without warranty and SquareTrade will not be liable for the provisions of those services using the Process.
You agree not to:
- use the Process to file claims that are intended to defraud or to harass any person, business or entity;
- impersonate any person or entity or use a name or alias that You are not authorized to use;
- forge communications transmitted to or through SquareTrade during the Process;
- permit any other person to transmit information that falsely identifies Your SquareTrade account as the origin of such communication;
- transmit any material that encourages conduct that could constitute a criminal offense, or give rise to civil liability or to transmit any unlawful, harassing libelous, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene or otherwise objectionable material of any kind or nature, as determined by SquareTrade;
- reproduce, modify, distribute or publicly display SquareTrade's online materials; or
- allow any unauthorized use of Your SquareTrade password.
4. Role of SquareTrade
SQUARETRADE WILL -
- provide you with materials and a Process that allow you to communicate with the Other Party to Your transaction;
- collect certain information about You in connection with your use of the Services and You agree that SquareTrade's use of such information will be consistent with the terms of this Agreement and the terms of SquareTrade's Privacy Policy;
- reserve the right, in its discretion, not to provide Services for certain classes of disputes; or
- respond to Your concerns or questions in timely manner.
- (for disputes filed in relation to the econsumer.gov project) provide or may provide personally identifying and dispute specific information to domestic or
foreign government agencies participating in this econsumer.gov project. The United States Federal Trade Commission may release information obtained from
SquareTrade: (1) in compliance with requests under the United States Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. ? 552; (2) in response to an official request
from a committee or subcommittee of Congress (with a request for confidentiality as appropriate); (3) in response to process from a court of competent
jurisdiction (after seeking confidentiality protections as appropriate); (4) to law enforcement agencies (after obtaining appropriate assurances of
confidentiality).
SQUARETRADE WILL NOT -
- provide legal advice to You or the Other Party, either in this Agreement or through a SquareTrade Neutral;
- provide any guarantee that the Other Party will participate;
- share Your information or case details with any outside source except as set forth in the SquareTrade Privacy Policy;
- be a necessary or indispensable party to, or a compellable witness in, any related legal proceedings between the parties to a Dispute submitted to it hereunder (this provision also applies to SquareTrade Neutrals);
- guarantee a successful resolution to Your dispute(s).
5. No Wrongful Use of Materials
You acknowledge that the materials, content, methodology and concepts set forth in the Process and in SquareTrade's patent pending online materials (collectively, the "Materials") are owned by SquareTrade.
The Process and Materials are protected by intellectual property law and other proprietary rights, and that the use of such materials is governed by the laws which create those rights and provide for their enforcement.
You may not reproduce, modify, distribute, reverse engineer or publicly display SquareTrade's online Materials, e.g. Your SquareTrade Case Page cannot be copied and posted anywhere but on the SquareTrade Web site.
You agree that You will not (i) copy or resell SquareTrade's patent Process or Service (ii) the Service or Materials to respond to claims that are intended to defraud or harass any person, business or entity, or (iii) reproduce, modify, distribute, reverse engineer or publicly display such Materials in any form, or (iv) do anything with the Process or Materials that violates this Agreement or SquareTrade's legal rights thereto. SquareTrade may take any and all actions necessary to protect its Materials and Process from unauthorized use.
6. Location or Place of Process
You acknowledge and agree that irrespective of where You, the other Party to the case or the SquareTrade Neutral reside, SquareTrade's Services provided under this Agreement, will be deemed to have occurred in the State of California, in the United States of America.
7. Fees Due SquareTrade.
Fees for the Services are applicable in situations set forth in the pricing area. SquareTrade reserves the right to change these Fees at any time. SquareTrade's Fees do not include any applicable sales taxes (value-added taxes, use consumption taxes etc.) Any such taxes are Your responsibility.
8. Limited Warranty, Limits on Liability, Disclaimer and Indemnity.
8.1 Limited Warranty and Remedy. In the event SquareTrade provides a SquareTrade Neutral, we warrant to You that the SquareTrade
Neutral assigned to Your Dispute will have successfully passed SquareTrade's applicable training and credentialing procedure and
that the Services will be rendered with due care and skill.
In the event of a breach of this warranty, or any warranty implied by statute which cannot be excluded, You agree that Your
sole and exclusive remedy is to (a) have SquareTrade appoint an alternative SquareTrade Neutral to resolve Your Dispute at no
additional cost to You or the Other Party; or (b) obtain a refund from SquareTrade for any Fees paid or payable in relation to the
dispute. Any sums recovered shall be subject to the limits of liability set out herein. This limited warranty gives You specific
legal rights and You may also have other rights that vary depending on jurisdiction.
8.2 Disclaimer. Except for this limited warranty, neither SquareTrade nor a SquareTrade Neutral makes any warranty, representation or guaranty to
You, and to the extent permitted by law, SquareTrade expressly disclaims:
- any and all other warranties, express and implied and statutory;
- any and all implied warranties, including, without limitation the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement; and
- any liability for negligence.
8.3 Limits on Liability. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL SQUARETRADE OR ANY SQUARETRADE NEUTRAL BE LIABLE TO YOU, FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT, THE ODR SERVICES, OR THE RESOLUTION OF YOUR DISPUTES (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION LOST PROFITS) EVEN IF SQUARETRADE OR THE SQUARETRADE NEUTRAL HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT WILL SQUARETRADE'S TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE) OR OTHERWISE, EXCEED THE FEES PAID BY YOU TO SQUARETRADE UNDER THIS AGREEMENT DURING THE TWELVE (12) MONTH PERIOD IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE EVENT WHICH GAVE RISE TO THE CLAIM FOR DAMAGES. THE LIMITATIONS SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION SHALL APPLY NOTWITHSTANDING ANY FAILURE OF ANY ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY LIMITED REMEDY SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT. Because some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitation may not apply to You.
8.4 Indemnity. You agree to indemnify and hold SquareTrade, and as applicable its officers, directors, agents, employees, affiliates, suppliers and partners, harmless from and against any claims, demands, causes of action, damages, costs, liabilities and expenses (including but not limited to, reasonable attorneys fees), arising from or relating to of Your use of the Service (including, without limitation, any claims arising from any representations You make about the Service); or Your breach of this Agreement or the documents it incorporates by reference, or Your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.
9. Parties to a Lawsuit.
Since any proceedings hereunder will be conducted with a view to compromising and/or resolving disputes/claims, SquareTrade and its representatives, including SquareTrade Neutrals, shall not be compellable as witnesses and further will be disqualified as attorneys, experts or consultants in any legal proceedings, including any arbitrations, relating to a dispute for which SquareTrade was retained to provide Services. You agree and understand that a request for information from SquareTrade regarding your dispute cannot be honored unless it meets the provisions of the SquareTrade Privacy Policy.
10. Term and Termination.
This Agreement will commence on the date You check the "I Acknowledge" box in the Case Filing Form. This Agreement will terminate on the earlier of:
- the date on which You are notified by SquareTrade that a new agreement supercedes the terms of this Agreement;
- the date on which SquareTrade receives written notice from You that You are terminating this Agreement; or
- the date on which SquareTrade dispatches an email notice to You that it is terminating this Agreement.
The following sections shall survive the termination of this Agreement, Section 4 ("Role of SquareTrade"), 5 ("No Wrongful Use of Materials"), 8 ("Limited Warranty, Limits of Liability and Disclaimer and Indemnity"), 9 ("Parties to a Lawsuit"), 10 ("Term and Termination"), 11 ("Dispute Resolution"), 12 ("General") and 13 ("Force Majeure").
11. Dispute Resolution.
11.1 Resolution of Disputes. In the event a dispute arises between You and SquareTrade, our goal is to provide you with a neutral and cost effective means of resolving the dispute quickly. Accordingly, You and SquareTrade agree that any claim or controversy at law or equity that arises out of this Agreement or our services ("Claims") shall be resolved in accordance with one of the subsections below or as otherwise mutually agreed upon in writing by the parties. Before resorting to these alternatives, SquareTrade strongly encourages You to first contact us directly to seek a resolution and SquareTrade will consider reasonable requests to resolve the dispute through alternative dispute resolution procedures, such as mediation, as an alternative to litigation.
11.2 Binding Arbitration. For any Claim (excluding Claims for injunctive or other equitable relief) where the total amount of the award sought is less than $10,000, You or SquareTrade may elect to resolve the dispute through binding arbitration conducted by telephone, on-line and/or based solely upon written submissions where no in-person appearance is required. In such cases, the arbitration shall be administered by the American Arbitration Association or JAMS in accordance with their applicable rules, or any other established ADR provider mutually agreed upon by the parties. Any judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof.
11.3 Court. Alternatively, any Claim may be adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction located in the City and County of San Francisco, California. You and SquareTrade agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the courts located within the City and County of San Francisco, California.
11.4 Alternative Dispute Resolution. Alternatively, SquareTrade will consider use of other alternative forms of dispute resolution, such as binding arbitration to be held in the City and County of San Francisco, California or another location mutually agreed upon by the parties.
All Claims (excluding requests for injunctive or equitable relief) between the parties must be resolved using the dispute resolution mechanism that is selected in accordance with this Section by the party filing a Claim. Should either party file a Claim contrary to this Section 11, the other party may recover attorneys' fees and costs up to $1000, provided that the party seeking the award has notified the other party in writing of the improperly filed Claim, and the other party has failed to withdraw the Claim.
12. General.
The parties irrevocably agree that the laws of the State of California will govern this Agreement and their relationship, without reference to any choice of law rules. You agree to submit any dispute arising under this Agreement to mediation prior to filing an action against SquareTrade. All actions concerning this agreement or the Services arising from this Agreement must be brought in the state or federal courts in San Francisco, California. You may not assign this Agreement, by operation of law or otherwise, without proper written consent. No amendment or modification shall be binding upon the parties unless reduced to writing and signed by each party, or the authorized officers of each party. The failure of either party to enforce any of the provisions of this Agreement shall not be construed as a waiver of that provision or the right of the party to enforce that provision or any other provision.
SquareTrade may change the terms of this Agreement and the documents referenced herein with reasonable email notice to You. Your continued use of the Services after such notice will constitute Your acceptance of the change. You may terminate this Agreement if You do not agree with the change.
13. Force Majeure.
SquareTrade shall not be liable to You for its failure to perform under this Agreement to the extent that any such failure results from any cause beyond SquareTrade's reasonable control, including without limitation, acts of God, strike, electrical or power outage, the acts or omissions of a third party, earthquake, or weather.
14. Electronic Signatures and Writings.
You acknowledge and agree that the standards of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, as adopted in 1999 and applied in the State of California Code, shall apply with regard to Your execution of this Agreement as well as to Your execution and submission of any and all documents and agreements pertaining to the Services offered by SquareTrade and any and all writings, affirmations, affidavits, declarations or sworn testimony that You submit.
Translation:
SquareTrade and You have requested that this Agreement and all documents related thereto be drawn up in English. SquareTrade and You have also requested and that the Process and all communications in connection therewith take place in English.
SquareTrade et vous avez demandé que cette entente ainsi que tous les documents qui s'y rattachent soient rédigés en anglais. SquareTrade et vous avez également demandé que le processus et les communications échangées dans le cadre de ce dernier se fassent en anglais.
PLEASE READ THIS AGREEMENT AND SQUARETRADE'S PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY. BY CHECKING THE "I AGREE" BOX IN THE CASE FILING FORM, YOU:
REPRESENT THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THIS AGREEMENT AND SQUARETRADE'S PRIVACY POLICY, AND AGREE TO BE LEGALLY BOUND AND TO ABIDE BY THIS AGREEMENT AND SQUARETRADE'S PRIVACY POLICY AS IF YOU HAD SIGNED THEM. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT AND SQUARETRADE'S PRIVACY POLICY, CLICK THE "I DO NOT ACCEPT" BUTTON IN THE CASE FILING FORM, IN WHICH CASE YOU MAY NOT USE THIS SITE, AND YOU MAY NOT USE THE PROCESS OR ANY OTHER SQUARETRADE SERVICES.
Last updated 9-07-04
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