Terms Of Service

Welcome to LinguSocial

These terms of service comprise the terms and conditions set forth below and any additional terms on the Site (together 'Terms of Service') and govern your use of the services provided by LinguSocial GmbH ("LinguSocial" or "we") to you under the brand of LinguSocial.

Acceptance of Terms

You agree to be bound by the Terms of Service if you: (i) access the website www.lingu.social and such other sites that are operated by LinguSocial from time to time (the "Site"); (ii) download a LinguSocial application to your mobile device (an "App"); or (iii) use LinguSocial’s services, as further described below (the "Services").

LinguSocial may without notice renew, modify or amend the Terms of Service from time to time. If you continue to use the Services you accept such revisions.

Jurisdictional Restrictions

If you are residing in a jurisdiction where it is prohibited by law to offer or use Internet telephony or the Services, you may not use the Services in such jurisdiction.

Third Party

Your access to and use of a service provided by a third party service or content provider, including but not limited to your local mobile operator ("Provider"), may also be subject to the Provider"s terms and conditions. As soon as your call is connected to a phone number provided by LinguSocial, the call may be charged by your Provider, regardless of whether you are connected to the receiver of the call (e.g. even if the line is busy).

THE SERVICES

The Services consist of the VoIP Services and the Mobile Top Up Services (as defined below).

Use of the Services

You may only use the Services subject to your compliance with these Terms of Service.

Usernames and Password

In order to use the Services, you are required to register as a user with LinguSocial. You agree to provide true, accurate, current and complete information in all fields indicated as mandatory when registering for the Services, as well as any additional information provided or any amendments made by you. Subject to such registration you will receive access to your LinguSocial account (the "Account").

Unauthorized Use/Stolen Device

As part of signing up on the Site you will choose a Password required for access to and use of the Services. You are responsible for all actions that take place as a result of access to or use of the Services via your Password and/or via your mobile phone ("Device") independently of whether the access was made by yourself or by a third party using your Password and/or Device.

If your Device is stolen or if you become aware of unauthorized use of the Services you must notify us immediately to suspend the Services and block your Account. You are responsible for all charges to your Account until the Services are suspended. We have the right to change your Password and account name at any time in our sole discretion and without notice.

No Unlawful or Prohibited Use

You expressly acknowledge and agree to use the Services solely for lawful purposes. In this respect you may not, without limitation (a) intercept or monitor, damage or modify any communication which is not intended for you, (b) send any unsolicited commercial communication, (c) use the Services in any fraudulent way, (d) submit or post to the Site or expose any third party to material which infringe any third party’s intellectual property rights or violate the rights of any third party, is offensive, defamatory, racist, pornographic, illegal, harmful to minors, indecent or otherwise, in LinguSocial’s sole discretion, is objectionable. Furthermore, you may not submit or publish any material that solicit funds or services, contain advertising or include programs that contain viruses or any other programs designed to impair the functionality of any computer and you may not use the Services in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair any LinguSocial server, or the network(s) connected to any LinguSocial server, or interfere with any other party"s use and enjoyment of the Services.

Submission of information to LinguSocial

In the course of using the Service, users may provide information about themselves which may be visible to certain other users (see our Privacy Policy to learn more about information collected on the Site). You grant LinguSocial a royalty-free, world-wide, transferable, sub-licensable, perpetual and irrevocable license to use any information you post or transmit in the course of using the Services.

Disclosure of information

LinguSocial reserves the right at all times to disclose any information as LinguSocial deems necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, or to edit, refuse to post or to remove or restrict any information or materials, in whole or in part, in LinguSocial"s sole discretion.

No warranties

LinguSocial shall endeavor to provide the Services with minimum disruptions. However, LinguSocial does not make any express warranty regarding the Services and disclaims any implied warranty, including any warranty of merchantability, satisfactory quality, or fitness for a particular purpose. LinguSocial cannot guarantee that the Services will always function without disruptions, delay or other imperfections and LinguSocial may choose not to provide service to countries or calling areas at its sole discretion.

Since the Services will be transmitted e.g. through public Internet lines and the public switched telephone network, you acknowledge that there may be power outages or Internet service disruption and you may experience some disruptions in the Services, e.g. packet loss and delay.

Additionally, you also understand that LinguSocial cannot guarantee that information or communications sent using the Services are not encrypted and could be potentially subject to interception by law enforcement officials or other third parties over the public Internet. LinguSocial will not be liable for any disruption, delays, interception or other omissions in the Services.

Suspension and Interruption of your LinguSocial Account and the Services

Any fraudulent use of the Services, or any use for any illegal, improper or unethical purpose is strictly prohibited. Should LinguSocial find or have reasons to believe that you are liable for any such use, LinguSocial has the right to cancel your LinguSocial Account immediately, without prior notice to you, and without any obligation to compensate you for any loss you may suffer due to such cancellation. In addition, LinguSocial may prevent, at any time, in its sole discretion and without prior notice to you, any and all use of the Services for any reason whatsoever, including but not limited to, fraudulent patterns in the use of the Service, excessive usage, unlawful use, or any other misuse. Within such prevention, LinguSocial has the right to suspend your LinguSocial Account should LinguSocial have any reason to suspect that you misuse the Services. You are fully responsible towards LinguSocial for all (including any fraudulent) use of the Services which is or can be connected to your LinguSocial Account.

Furthermore, LinguSocial has the right, without any liability, to refuse, restrict, limit, suspend and/or interfere or interrupt the Services or any part thereof, without any prior notice to you, for the repair, improvement, and/or upgrade of such service or for any of the reasons for termination set forth in these terms, or any other business reason.

Communication

The content of the communications made using the Services are entirely determined by the person from whom such content originates. You therefore may be exposed to content that is offensive, harmful, indecent or otherwise objectionable. LinguSocial will not be liable for any type of communication spread by means of the Services.

Intellectual property rights

All copyright, trademarks, patents and other intellectual property rights in any material or content (including without limitation software, data, applications, information, text, photographs, music, sound, videos, graphics, logos, symbols, artwork and other material or moving images) used in the provision of the Services or is either owned by LinguSocial or has been licensed to LinguSocial by the rights owner(s) for use as part of the Services. Nothing in these Terms of Service shall grant you any intellectual property rights in the Services or in respect of any content or communication delivered using the Services.

Furthermore, LinguSocial has the right to remove any materials posted to the Site in its sole discretion.

VOIP SERVICES

LinguSocial provides you with the possibility to use international calling services, SMS services and other electronic communication services as provided by LinguSocial from time to time (the "VoIP Services"), on the terms and conditions set forth in the Terms of Service. The calling services are available from smartphone, landline or feature phone. By use of the VoIP Services you may make international calls by using virtual local landline numbers in the country of origin and the destination and routing the international part of the call over the internet.

No emergency calls

The VoIP Services do not and are not intended to support or carry emergency calls to any type of hospitals, law enforcement agencies, medical care unit or any type of emergency services of any kind and LinguSocial is not liable in any manner for such calls. In the event that, with your permission, another user uses your Account, you are responsible to inform that user that it is not possible to support or carry emergency calls with the VoIP Services.

No MMS or FAX messages

The phone numbers provided by LinguSocial do not and are not intended to support messaging via MMS nor FAX except as expressly stated on the Site.

Phone numbers provided by LinguSocial

LinguSocial may, as part of the technical setup of the Services, pair you with one or more phone numbers. These phone numbers are shared by multiple LinguSocial users. You expressly acknowledge and agree that this pairing of phone numbers with you shall not constitute a transfer of property or sale of numbering rights by LinguSocial to you. As a result, you will not be entitled to claim any such rights to these phone numbers. This means, without limitation, that you may not port-out any such phone number to any third party.

PAYMENT, RATES AND ACCOUNTS

Payment

In order to purchase credits for the VoIP Services or to charge your Account you shall pay LinguSocial the rates as stated on the Site, or the App as applicable depending on the type of Services that you use, by use of such payment methods as set forth on the Site or in the App, e.g. by connecting a credit card to your Account. Payments are either made manually by you or through the automatic recharge function activated by you. The automatic recharge function means that when your Account balance is below a certain level, your Account will be automatically recharged with a certain pre-selected amount.

Rates and VAT

The rates for the VoIP Services are published on the Site. LinguSocial reserves the right to change the rates at any time without notice. If you do not wish to accept such adjustment of rates, you are entitled to terminate the Account with effect from the date on which the adjustment of rates would become effective. You agree that by continuing to use the VoIP Services, following the adjustments of the rates, you accept such adjustments.

Unless stated otherwise, all rates and charges for the VoIP Services shall be stated in Euro (EUR), US Dollars (USD) or British Pound (GBP) and shall be exclusive of value added taxes (VAT) or any other applicable taxes or fees.

Minute rounding

LinguSocial calls are charged per minute and rounded up to the next minute. For e.g., if you call for 7 minutes and 10 seconds we will round up your call to 8 minutes.

Roaming charges

You will also pay any additional charges you incur if you connect to the Services through a phone number provided by LinguSocial while you are in a country that is not the country associated with your fixed net or mobile phone Provider ("Roaming Charges"). Roaming Charges are charged in addition to any charges you may incur when connecting to the Services from another country.

Refund

You may request for a refund by submitting a written request in Englisch to LinguSocial’s customer services at [email protected]. Refund requests carried out through other means shall not be eligible for the refund. For the avoidance of doubt, no refunds shall be given for services paid or credit acquired through vouchers, gift tokens or similar. LinguSocial reserves the right to deny repetitive refund requests. Any abuse by you of the terms relating to refunds hereunder shall lead to the termination of this Agreement. All payments older than 90 days are non-refundable.

Account and receipt

LinguSocial may provide an account history on the Site that includes information about your Account activity, payments, calling history during a limited period, and your current Account balance ("Account History"), which may change from time to time, and an e-mail receipt upon pre-payment for the Services. The Account History is the only statement of your Account that LinguSocial will provide to you. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO PRINT OR SAVE A COPY OF YOUR CALL SHEET AND YOUR RECEIPT AND TO RETAIN COPIES FOR YOUR RECORDS. LinguSocial will use commercially reasonable efforts to correct any technical failures relating to the Account History within a reasonable time. However, your inability to view the Account History does not extend, or relieve you of, your obligation to pay any amounts owing to LinguSocial.

Accounting errors

If you believe that LinguSocial has charged your Account in error, you must submit a written request in Englisch for refund by contacting LinguSocial’s customer services via [email protected] within 90 days after the date the error first appears on your Account History or within 120 days after the error occurred, whichever is earlier.

Expiration of credits

A credit balance for the Services on the Account expires 12 months after the last activity of the Services. Credit balances that are not used within the said 12 months day period will be lost.

TERMINATION AND CANCELLATION

Service termination/default

If you breach any of the Terms of Service, or if you are subject to any proceeding under bankruptcy, insolvency, liquidation or similar laws, you will be in default and we may, without notice to you, suspend the Services and/or terminate the Terms of Service.

Cancellation of your Services

You may terminate the Terms of Service and cancel the Services at any time. Unless otherwise stated herein, all Services will be cancelled from the Site or within 5 days of receipt of written notice from you to [email protected].

Limitation of Liability

LinguSocial is not liable for acts or omissions of any Provider, for information provided through your Device, equipment failure or modification, or causes beyond our reasonable control. We are not liable for service outages or for service limitations or interruptions. We are not liable for any accidents or incidents which result from the use of the Services by you or any other person. Our liability and the liability of any underlying Provider for any failure or mistake shall in no event exceed the VoIP Services charges or the aggregate value for Mobile Top Up purchased by you (based on which Service has caused the loss or damage) during the affected period. We and any underlying Provider are not liable for any loss of data, loss of profit, loss of goodwill or loss or damage which is indirect, incidental, punitive or consequential. We, and any underlying Provider, are not liable for economic loss or injuries to persons or property arising from the use of the Services. This paragraph shall survive termination of the Terms of Service.

MISCELLANEOUS

Assignment

We may assign all or part of our agreement pursuant to these Terms of Service without your consent or notice. You may not assign our agreement without our prior written approval.

Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold LinguSocial and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents or other partners, and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including without limitation attorneys fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your (a) use of the Site or the Services including without limitation posting and submitting of any material, (b) connection to the Site or the Services (c) violation of the Terms of Service, or (d) violation of any rights of another person or entity.

Applicable law and competent court

The Terms of Service shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Germany without giving effect to the conflict of laws or provisions of Germany or your actual state or country of residence. Any dispute, controversy or claim arising out of or in relation to the Terms of Service, your relationship with LinguSocial including any non-contractual obligations, will be exclusively subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of the district of Germany.

Entire Agreement

These Terms of Service represent the entire agreement between you and us and supersedes all prior offers, contracts, agreements and representations. The Terms of Service supersede all promises made to you by our client services agents, representatives or employees. If any part of the Terms of Service is found invalid, the balance remains enforceable.

IMPORTANT — PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

Our communication with you and your privacy is important to us and we take great care to safeguard the ways in which any information you provide us with is collected and used.

If you would like to view, correct, complete or remove your personal information, please contact LinguSocial at [email protected].

Registration

You need to join LinguSocial to use the Services. By joining you acknowledge you are of legal age, provided true information and are fully authorized to sign on behalf of any group requesting the Services.

Information collection and use in general

LinguSocial uses your personal information to improve the Services, inter alia to offer more effective customer service. Your details may be stored and processed in Germany, Germany, the United States or any other country in which LinguSocial or its affiliates, subsidiaries or agents maintain facilities. By using the Services, you consent to any such transfer of information outside your country. LinguSocial abides by applicable safe harbour frameworks regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information.

Sharing of your Personal Information

We will not disclose your personal information outside LinguSocial and its controlled subsidiaries and affiliates without your consent, except as described in herein. Some services may be offered in conjunction with another company. In such cases, both LinguSocial and the other company may receive information collected in conjunction with these co-branded services.

We may access and/or disclose your personal information if we believe such action is necessary to: (a) comply with the law or legal process served on LinguSocial; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of LinguSocial (including the enforcement of our agreements); or (c) act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of the Services or members of the public.

Offers and Promotions by third parties

We may use external advertising companies to serve ads when you have visited the Site. These companies may use information (NOT including your name, address email address or telephone number) about your visits to the Site and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.

Accessing your personal information

You may be able to view or edit your personal information online. To help prevent your personal information from being viewed by others, you will be required to sign in with your credentials (mobile number and Password).

Communications, notifications etc.

LinguSocial may send you messages about updates, faults, alerts and other types of issues relating to technical aspects and/or the usability of the Services. Furthermore, when you use the Services through your mobile phone, LinguSocial may use notification services to let you know of incoming calls, chats and other messages (also when your are not actively running an App). These services may be provided by a third party.

LinguSocial may occasionally ask you to provide information on your experiences of using the Services which will be used to improve the quality of the Services. You are under no obligations to provide any such information. Any and all information which is voluntarily submitted by you in relation to any survey that you take part in is used for the purposes of reviewing this feedback and improving the Services.

LinguSocial may from time to time contact you by email, phone, SMS or through any other appropriate information channel to keep you up to date with news about LinguSocial and the Services, including new products, campaigns and promotions.

You can stop the delivery of future promotional e-mails or SMS from LinguSocial by following the specific instructions in the e-mail or SMS you receive or other promotional contacts from LinguSocial by contacting our customer support at [email protected].

You may also have the option of proactively making choices about the communications you receive from LinguSocial by visiting and signing into the Site.

These communication choices do not apply to mandatory service communications that are considered part of the Services, which you may receive periodically unless you cancel the Services.

Security of your personal information

LinguSocial uses advanced security technologies and procedures to protect your personal information from unauthorised access. Your details are stored on computer systems with limited access in controlled facilities, and credit card numbers and Passwords are protected with Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption when transferred over the internet.

Your Password helps protect your accounts and personal information, and therefore it is your responsibility to keep your Password confidential. Do not share it with anyone, and make sure you log out before leaving the Site.

Log files and IP addresses

LinguSocial uses your IP address to diagnose our server problems and to administer the Site.