Terms of Service

Hoot Ratings is currently in its BETA version and undergoing BETA testing.  You understand and agree that the Service may still contain software bugs, suffer disruptions and not operate as intended or designated. Your use of the Service at this stage signifies your understanding of and agreement to participate in the Service's BETA testing.  You agree to these Terms of Service, the privacy policy posted (the "Privacy Policy"), and any other guidelines and additional terms referenced herein (collectively the "Terms of Service"). Please read the Terms of Service carefully. Your use of the Site constitutes your acceptance of the Terms of Service. Do not use the Site if you are unwilling or unable to be bound by the BETA Terms of Service. 

Last Revised: December 1, 2009

  1. Definitions.

    As part of the Beta Test, a "Business Partner" is anyone who has registered with Hoot Ratings website and provided information as a registered user.  A Business Partner will have secure access to be able to download material including information regarding direct feedback from their customers called “Hoots”. A “Hoot” is the feedback received from the customer feedback based on a call made from a service experience.  A “Hoot Caller” is anyone that would be considered a consumer of the service and has provided feedback to Hoot Ratings.

  2. Changes to the Terms of Service or the Site.

    The Terms of Service may be modified by Hoot Ratings at any time. When these changes are made, Hoot Ratings will notify you by making a new copy of the Terms of Service available on this page and will indicate at the top of this page the date these terms were last revised. Any such modification will be effective upon Hoot Ratings posting of new Terms of Service.

  3. User Accounts.

    To access or use Hoot Ratings, you may be required to register on the Site by creating an account and providing information about yourself to Hoot Ratings. You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any passwords that you create in connection with the Site, and are solely responsible for all activities that occur in connection with your account. You agree to notify Hoot Ratings immediately of any unauthorized use of your account. Hoot Ratings reserves the right to close your account at any time for any or no reason.

  4. Use of the Site.

    Subject to the restrictions set forth herein, Hoot Ratings grants you permission as a “Business Partner” to access and use of Partner Program, including but not limited to the ability to: (a) register as a business user, (b) order products for the Partner Program, (c) Receive Hoots (d) Respond to Hoots. Hoot Ratings grants you permission as a “Hoot Caller” to access and use leaveahoot.com, including but not limited to the ability to (a) register as a Hoot Caller, (b) Receive Hoots  (c) provide anonymous feedback to Business Partner or Hoot Caller.

  5. Restrictions on Use.

    You agree that you will not (and will not permit others to):

      1. use the Site in connection with the solicitation of personal information from minors;
      2. use the Site to threaten, stalk, defraud, incite, harass, or advocate the harassment of another person, or otherwise interfere with a Business Partner’s or Hoot Caller’s enjoyment of the Site;
      3. use the Site to transmit or post spam, chain letters, contests, junk email, pyramid schemes, surveys, or other mass messaging, whether commercial in nature or not;
      4. use the Site in a manner that creates the appearance of a conflict of interest, including trading reviews with other Business Partners and writing or soliciting shill reviews;
      5. use the Site to promote bigotry or discrimination against protected classes;
      6. use the Site in violation of the Terms of Service or any applicable local, state, national or international law;
      7. reverse engineer any portion of the Site;
      8. collect or record information about Users;
      9. use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other automated device, process or means to access, retrieve or index any Site Content or information from the Site;
      10. take any action that imposes, or may impose in our sole discretion, an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on Hoot Ratings’ technology infrastructure; or
      11. attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Site, User accounts, computer systems or networks connected to the Site through hacking, password mining or any other means; use the Site or any Site Content to transmit any viruses, worms, defects, Trojan horses or other items of a destructive nature; use any device, software or routine that interferes with the proper working of the Site, or otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site; use the Site to violate the security of any computer network, crack passwords or security encryption codes; disrupt or interfere with the security of, or otherwise cause harm to, the Site or any Services or Site Content; remove, circumvent, disable, damage or otherwise interfere with any security-related features of the Site, features that prevent or restrict the use or copying of Site Content, or features that enforce limitations on the use of the Site.
      12. You agree to irrevocably waive (and cause to be waived) any claims and assertions of moral rights or attribution with respect to Your Content.

  6. Availability of Service.

    Hoot Ratings reserves the right (but is under no obligation) to modify, update, or discontinue the Site or any of the Services at its sole discretion, at any time, for any or no reason, and without notice or liability.

  7. Unauthorized Access.

    Hoot Ratings reserves the right to exercise whatever lawful means it deems necessary to prevent unauthorized access to or use of the Site, including, but not limited to, technological barriers, IP mapping, and contacting your Internet Service Provider (ISP) regarding such unauthorized use.

  8. Investigations.

    Hoot Ratings, in its sole discretion, may (but has no obligation to) monitor or review the Services and Site Content at any time. If Hoot Ratings becomes aware of any possible violations by you of the Terms of Service or any law or third party right, Hoot Ratings reserves the right to investigate such violations. If, as a result of such investigation, Hoot Ratings believes that criminal activity has occurred, Hoot Ratings reserves the right to refer the matter to, and to cooperate with, any and all applicable law enforcement authorities. Except to the extent prohibited by applicable law, Hoot Ratings is entitled to disclose any information or Site Content, including Your Content, in Hoot Ratings' possession in connection with your use of the Services to (i) comply with applicable law, legal process or governmental request, (ii) enforce the Terms of Service, (iii) respond to any claims that Your Content violates the Terms of Service or any law or third party right, (iv) respond to your requests for customer services, or (v) protect the rights, property or personal safety of Hoot Ratings, its Users or the public, and law enforcement or other government officials, as Hoot Ratings in its sole discretion believes to be necessary or appropriate.

  9. Feedback.

    1. Dissatisfaction. If you are dissatisfied with the Site, please let us know by providing feedback to the customer support team through our blog. Your input is valuable to us. Your only other remedy with respect to any dissatisfaction with (i) the Site, (ii) the Terms of Service, (iii) any policy or practice of Hoot Ratings in operating the Site, or (iv) any content or information transmitted through the Site, is to terminate the Terms of Service and your account.
    2. Suggestions and Improvements. By submitting ideas, suggestions, documents and/or proposals ("Feedback") to Hoot Ratings through its suggestion, feedback, forum or similar web pages, you acknowledge and agree that (i) your Feedback does not contain the confidential or proprietary information of third parties, (ii) Hoot Ratings is not under any obligation of confidentiality, express or implied, with respect to the Feedback, (iii) Hoot Ratings, in its discretion, shall be entitled to use and disclose such Feedback for any purpose, in any way, in any media worldwide, (iv) Hoot Ratings may have something similar to the Feedback already under consideration or in development, (v) the Feedback automatically becomes Hoot Ratings' property without any obligation to you, and (vi) you are not entitled to any compensation or reimbursement of any kind from Hoot Ratings under any circumstances.

  10.  Termination

    1. Hoot Ratings reserves the right (but is under no obligation) to terminate or suspend your account or your ability to use the Site, in whole or in part, at Hoot Ratings' sole discretion, for any or no reason, and without notice or liability of any kind. Termination of your account may include: (i) removal of access to all offerings within the Services; (ii) deletion of your password and all related information, files and materials associated with or inside your account (or any part thereof), including Your Content; and (iii) barring of further use of the Services. You agree that Hoot Ratings shall not be liable to you or any third party for any termination of your account, or access to the Site, Services and Materials, including Your Content.
    2. You may terminate the Terms of Service at any time by closing your account, discontinuing your use of any and all parts of the Site, and providing Hoot Ratings with a notice of termination.

  11. Ownership.

    Hoot Ratings owns the Hoot Ratings Content, including but not limited to visual interfaces, interactive features, graphics, design, compilation, computer code, products, software, aggregate user review ratings and comments, and all other elements and components of the Site excluding User Content and Third Party Content. Hoot Ratings also owns the copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade names, and other intellectual and proprietary rights (the "IP Rights") associated with Partner Program, Platinum Program, the Hoot Ratings Content and the Site, which are protected by copyright, trade dress, patent, trademark laws and all other applicable intellectual and proprietary rights and laws. As such, you may not modify, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works of, publicly display or in any way exploit, any of the Hoot Ratings Content in whole or in part except as expressly authorized by Hoot Ratings. Except as expressly and unambiguously provided herein, Hoot Ratings does not grant you any express or implied rights, and all rights in and to the Site and the Hoot Ratings Content are retained by Hoot Ratings.

  12. Disclaimers.

    1. THE SITE AND ALL SITE CONTENT IS MADE AVAILABLE TO YOU ON AN "AS IS" BASIS. HOOT RATINGS MAKES NO WARRANTIES, REPRESENTATIONS, OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, STATUTORY OR IMPLIED AS TO (1) THE OPERATION AND FUNCTIONALITY OF THE SITE, (2) THE ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, COMPLETENESS, QUALITY, LEGALITY, USEFULNESS, SAFETY, AND IP RIGHTS OF ANY OF THE SITE CONTENT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE ACCURACY OF BUSINESS REVIEWS AND BUSINESS INFORMATION LISTED ON THE SITE, AND (3) THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ASSOCIATED WITH THE SITE OR SITE CONTENT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES SOLD BY BUSINESSES LISTED ON THE SITE. HOOT RATINGS FURTHER DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, STATUTORY, OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, MERCHANTABLE QUALITY, DURABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, THAT YOU OBTAIN FROM HOOT RATINGS OR THE SITE SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY, REPRESENTATION, OR CONDITION NOT EXPRESSLY STATED HEREIN.
    2. HOOT RATINGS SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY RELATING TO YOUR USE OF THE SITE, SERVICES, AND SITE CONTENT. ACCESS TO, AND USE OF, THE SITE, SERVICES, AND SITE CONTENT ARE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK, AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA RESULTING THEREFROM. HOOT RATINGS ASSUMES NO LIABILITY FOR ANY COMPUTER VIRUS OR SIMILAR CODE THAT IS DOWNLOADED TO YOUR COMPUTER FROM THE SITE OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICES.
    3. YOUR COMMUNICATIONS OR DEALINGS WITH ANY OF THE BUSINESS PARTNERS, OR USERS ON THE SITE, ARE SOLELY BETWEEN YOU AND SUCH BUSINESS PARTNERSAND USERS. HOOT RATINGS IS NOT RESPONSIBLE, AND DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY, FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE ARISING OUT OF ANY SUCH COMMUNICATIONS OR DEALINGS. HOOT RATINGS RESERVES THE RIGHT (BUT HAS NO OBLIGATION) TO MONITOR DISPUTES BETWEEN YOU AND SUCH BUSINESS PARTNERS AND USERS.
    4. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES, REPRESENTATIONS, OR CONDITIONS, THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, OR LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY MAY LAST, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IF YOU RESIDE IN SUCH A JURISDICTION, THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS SHALL APPLY TO YOU TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

  13. Limitation on Liability.

    WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, HOOT RATINGS WILL NOT BE LIABLE UNDER ANY THEORY OF LAW, FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, EXEMPLARY, RELIANCE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, AND/OR LOSS OF INFORMATION OR DATA. NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY CONTAINED HEREIN, HOOT RATINGS' MAXIMUM AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CAUSES WHATSOEVER, AND REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION, WILL AT ALL TIMES BE LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF (i) THE AMOUNT PAID, IF ANY, BY YOU TO HOOT RATINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE SITE IN THE 12 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE ACTION GIVING RISE TO LIABILITY OR (ii) US$100.00. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IF YOU RESIDE IN SUCH A JURISDICTION, THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS SHALL APPLY TO YOU TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

  14. Indemnity.

    You agree to indemnify and hold Hoot Ratings, its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, any related companies, suppliers, licensors and partners, and the officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives of each of them harmless, including costs and attorneys' fees, from any claim or demand made by any third party due to or arising out of (i) your access to or use of the Site or Services, (ii) your violation of the Terms of Service, or (iii) the infringement by you, or any third party using your account, of any intellectual property or other right of any person or entity. Hoot Ratings reserves the right, at your expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter for which you are required to indemnify us and you agree to cooperate with our defense of these claims. You agree not to settle any matter without the prior written consent of Hoot Ratings. Hoot Ratings will use reasonable efforts to notify you of any such claim, action or proceeding upon becoming aware of it.

  15. Contact and Violations.

    Please contact us with any questions regarding the Terms of Service. Please report any violations of the Terms of Service to our legal department at legal(at)hootratings.com.