Terms of Use

Last Updated on December 12, 2013. These terms and conditions are effective immediately for those registering accounts after that date and will become effective December 12, 2013 for those with pre-existing accounts.

These terms and conditions (the ”Terms”) govern your access to and use of RateMyPoolman.com website and mobile applications that link to or reference these Terms (“Site”). By accessing or using the Site, you are agreeing to these Terms and concluding a legally binding contract with RateMyPoolman.com. Do not access or use the Site if you are unwilling or unable to be bound by the Terms.

    1. DEFINITIONS: “You” and ”your” refer to you, as a user of the Site. A ”user” is someone who accesses, browses, crawls, scrapes, or in any way uses the Site. ”We,” ”us,” and ”our”refer to RateMyPoolman.com. “Content” means text, images, photos, audio, video, location data, and all other forms of data or communication. ”Your Content” means Content that you submit or transmit to, through, or in connection with the Site, such as ratings, reviews, compliments, invitations, check-ins, messages, and information that you publicly display or displayed in your account profile. ”User Content” means Content that users submit or transmit to, through, or in connection with the Site. ”RateMyPoolman.com Content” means Content that we create and make available in connection with the Site. ”Third Party Content” means Content that originates from parties other than RateMyPoolman.com or its users, which is made available in connection with the Site. ”Site Content” means all of the Content that is made available in connection with the Site, including Your Content, User Content, Third Party Content, and RateMyPoolman.com Content.

 

  • CHANGES TO THE TERMS OF USE: We may modify the Terms from time to time. You understand and agree that your access to or use of the Site is governed by the Terms effective at the time of your access to or use of the Site. If we make material changes to these Terms, we will notify you by email or by posting a notice on the Site prior to the effective date of the changes. We will also indicate at the top of this page the date that revisions were last made. You should revisit these Terms on a regular basis as revised versions will be binding on you. Any such modification will be effective upon our posting of new Terms. You understand and agree that your continued access to or use of the Site after the effective date of modifications to the Terms indicates your acceptance of the modifications.
  • USING THE SITE
    1. To access or use the Site, you must be 18 years or older and have the requisite power and authority to enter into these Terms. If you are not yet 18 years or older age for certain features, do not reside in the U.S. and/or do not meet any other eligibility requirements, please discontinue using the Site immediately or, if for any reason, you do not agree with all of the terms and conditions contained in this Agreement, please discontinue using the Site immediately. You may not access or use the Site if we have previously banned you from the Site or closed your account.
    2. We grant you permission to use the Site subject to the restrictions in these Terms. Your use of the Site is at your own risk, including the risk that you might be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent, inaccurate, objectionable, or otherwise inappropriate.
    3. The Site may be modified, updated, interrupted, suspended or discontinued at any time without notice or liability.
    4. You must create an account and provide certain information about yourself in order to use some of the features that are offered through the Site. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account password. You are also responsible for all activities that occur in connection with your account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account. We reserve the right to close your account at any time for any or no reason.Your account is for your personal, non-commercial use only. In creating it, we ask that you provide complete and accurate information about yourself to bolster your credibility as a contributor to the Site. You may not impersonate someone else (e.g., adopt the identity of a celebrity or your next-door neighbor), create or use an account for anyone other than yourself, provide an email address other than your own, or create multiple accounts. If you use a pseudonym, take care to note that others may still be able to identify you if, for example, you include identifying information in your reviews, use the same account information on other sites, or allow other sites to share information about you with RateMyPoolman.com. Please read our Privacy Policy for more information.
    5. By creating an account, you agree to receive certain communications in connection with the Site. For example, you might receive our e-mail newsletter about happenings in your neighborhood.
  • CONTENT: You alone are responsible for Your Content, and once published, it cannot always be withdrawn. You assume all risks associated with Your Content, including anyone’s reliance on its quality, accuracy, or reliability, or any disclosure by you of information in Your Content that makes you personally identifiable. You represent that you own, or have the necessary permissions to use and authorize the use of Your Content as described herein. You may not imply that Your Content is in any way sponsored or endorsed by RateMyPoolman.com.You may expose yourself to liability if, for example, Your Content contains material that is false, intentionally misleading, or defamatory; violates any third-party right, including any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, moral right, privacy right, right of publicity, or any other intellectual property or proprietary right; contains material that is unlawful, including illegal hate speech or pornography; exploits or otherwise harms minors; or violates or advocates the violation of any law or regulation.

 

We may use Your Content in a number of different ways, including publicly displaying it, reformatting it, incorporating it into advertisements and other works, creating derivative works from it, promoting it, distributing it, and allowing others to do the same in connection with their own websites and media platforms (“Other Media”). As such, you hereby irrevocably grant us world-wide, perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free, assignable, sublicensable, transferable rights to use Your Content for any purpose. Please note that you also irrevocably grant the users of the Site and any Other Media the right to access Your Content in connection with their use of the Site and any Other Media. Finally, you irrevocably waive, and cause to be waived, against RateMyPoolman.com and its users any claims and assertions of moral rights or attribution with respect to Your Content. By “use” we mean use, copy, publicly perform and display, reproduce, distribute, modify, translate, remove, analyze, commercialize, and prepare derivative works of Your Content.

As between you and RateMyPoolman.com, you own Your Content. We own the RateMyPoolman.com Content, including but not limited to visual interfaces, interactive features, graphics, design, compilation, including, but not limited to, our compilation of User Content and other Site Content, computer code, products, software, aggregate user review ratings, and all other elements and components of the Site excluding Your Content, User Content and Third Party Content. We also own the copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade names, and other intellectual and proprietary rights throughout the world (“IP Rights”) associated with the RateMyPoolman.com 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 or adaptations of, publicly display or in any way exploit any of the RateMyPoolman.com Content in whole or in part except as expressly authorized by us. Except as expressly and unambiguously provided herein, we do not grant you any express or implied rights, and all rights in and to the Site and the RateMyPoolman.com Content are retained by us.

RateMyPoolman.com and its licensees may publicly display advertisements and other information adjacent to or included with Your Content. You are not entitled to any compensation for such advertisements. The manner, mode and extent of such advertising are subject to change without specific notice to you.

User Content (including any that may have been created by users employed or contracted by RateMyPoolman.com) does not necessarily reflect the opinion of RateMyPoolman.com. We reserve the right to remove, screen, edit, or reinstate User Content from time to time at our sole discretion for any reason or no reason, and without notice to you. For example, we may remove a review if we believe it violates our Guidelines. We have no obligation to retain or provide you with copies of Your Content, nor do we guarantee any confidentiality with respect to Your Content.

    1. RESTRICTIONS: We are under no obligation to enforce the Terms on your behalf against another user. While we encourage you to let us know if you believe another user has violated the Terms, we reserve the right to investigate and take appropriate action at our sole discretion. The restrictions below only apply to the extent permissible under applicable law. Nevertheless, you agree not to act contrary to them (even if permissible under applicable law) without providing 30 days’ prior written notice to us here, together with any information that we may reasonably require to give us an opportunity to provide alternative remedies or otherwise accommodate you at our sole discretion.
      1. You agree not to, and will not assist, encourage, or enable others to use the Site to:Violate our Guidelines, for example, by writing a fake or defamatory review, trading reviews with other businesses, or compensating someone or being compensated to write or remove a review;Violate any third party’s rights, including any breach of confidence, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, moral right, privacy right, right of publicity, or any other intellectual property or proprietary right;Threaten, stalk, harm, or harass others, or promote bigotry or discrimination;Promote a business or other commercial venture or event, or otherwise use the Site for commercial purposes, except in connection with a Business Account and as expressly permitted by RateMyPoolman.com;Send bulk emails, surveys, or other mass messaging, whether commercial in nature or not; engage in keyword spamming, or otherwise attempt to manipulate the Site’s search results or any third party website;Solicit personal information from minors, or submit or transmit pornography; orViolate any applicable law.
      2. You also agree not to, and will not assist, encourage, or enable others to:Violate the Terms;Modify, adapt, appropriate, reproduce, distribute, translate, create derivative works or adaptations of, publicly display, sell, trade, or in any way exploit the Site or Site Content (other than Your Content), except as expressly authorized by RateMyPoolman.com;Use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other automated device, process or means to access, retrieve, scrape, or index any portion of the Site or any Site Content;Reverse engineer any portion of the Site;Remove or modify any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notice that appears on any portion of the Site or on any materials printed or copied from the Site;Record, process, or mine information about other users;Access, retrieve or index any portion of the Site for purposes of constructing or populating a searchable database of business reviews;Reformat or frame any portion of the Site;Take any action that imposes, or may impose, in our sole discretion, an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on RateMyPoolman.com’s technology infrastructure or otherwise make excessive traffic demands of the Site;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 computer viruses, worms, defects, Trojan horses or other items of a destructive nature (collectively, ”Viruses”);

        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 Site Content; or

        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.

    2. GUIDELINES AND POLICIES: You represent that you have read and understood our Guidelines.You represent that you have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Note that we may disclose information about you to third parties if we have a good faith belief that such a disclosure is reasonably necessary to take action regarding suspected illegal activities; enforce or apply our Terms and Privacy Policy; comply with legal process or other government inquiry, such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, judicial proceeding, or other legal process served on us; or protect our rights, reputation, and property, or that of our users, affiliates, or the public. If you use the Site outside of the United States, you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States.If you believe that your copyright or trademark is being infringed on the Site, please contact us with the following information:Identification of the copyrighted or trademarked work that you claim has been infringed;Identification of the allegedly infringing content, and information reasonably sufficient to permit Yelp to locate it on the Site (e.g., the URL for the web page on which the content appears);A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the use of the content identified in your notice in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright/trademark owner, its agent, or the law;A statement by you that you attest, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright/trademark owner or authorized to act on the owner’s behalf; andYour physical or electronic signature, together with your contact information (address, telephone number and, if available, email address).At the same time, we do not take kindly to those who abuse the scope of their own intellectual property rights. If you believe that your content should not have been removed for alleged copyright or trademark infringement, you may send us a written counter-notice with the following information:Identification of the copyrighted or trademarked work that was removed, and the location on the Site where it would have been found prior to its removal;A statement, under penalty of perjury, that you have a good faith belief that the content was removed as a result of a mistake or misidentification. For trademark disputes only: information reasonably sufficient to explain why you believe you are not infringing the trademarked work;

      A statement that you consent either to the jurisdiction of (a) the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located if you live in the United States, or (b) any judicial district in which Yelp is located if you live outside the United States. Please also include a statement that you will accept service of process from the person who sent the original infringement notice to Yelp, or an agent of such person;

      Your physical or electronic signature, together with your contact information (address, telephone number and, if available, email address).

      We will respond to all such notices and comply with applicable law. We reserve the right to remove content alleged to be infringing without prior notice and at our sole discretion. We also reserve the right to terminate a user’s account if the user is determined to be a repeat infringer.

    3. UPLOADED MEDIA: All uploads: images, photos, audios, videos, must be family friendly, original non-copyrighted, non-commercial and virus-free.
    4. THIRD PARTIES AND ADVERTISING: The Site may include links to other websites or applications (each, a ”Third Party Site”). We do not control or endorse any Third Party Site. You agree that we are not responsible for the availability or contents of such Third Party Sites. Your use of Third Party Sites is at your own risk.From time to time, you may communicate with, receive communications from, be re-directed to, interact with, or participate in or use the services or obtain goods and services of or from, third parties (collectively, the “Advertisers”) such as our advertisers, sponsors, or promotional partners as a result of your use of the Site. All such communication, interaction and participation is strictly and solely between you and such Advertisers and we shall not be responsible or liable to you in any way in connection with these activities or transactions (including, without limitation, any representations, warranties, covenants, contracts or other terms or conditions that may exist between you and the Advertiser or any goods or services you may purchase or obtain from any Advertiser).
    5. INDEMNITY You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold RateMyPoolman.com, its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, any related companies, suppliers, licensors and partners, and the officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives of each of them (collectively, the “RateMyPoolman.com Entities”) harmless, including costs, liabilities and legal fees, from any claim or demand made by any third party arising out of or relating to (i) your access to or use of the Site, (ii) your violation of the Terms, (iii) any products or services purchased or obtained by you in connection with the Site, or (iv) the infringement by you, or any third party using your account, of any intellectual property or other right of any person or entity. RateMyPoolman.com 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 such matter without the prior written consent of RateMyPoolman.com. RateMyPoolman.com will use reasonable efforts to notify you of any such claim, action or proceeding upon becoming aware of it.

 

  • DISCLAIMERS AND LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY

 

PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY SINCE IT LIMITS THE LIABILITY OF THE RATEMYPOOLMAN.COM ENTITIES TO YOU. EACH OF THE SUBSECTIONS BELOW ONLY APPLIES UP TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. NOTHING HEREIN IS INTENDED TO LIMIT ANY RIGHTS YOU MAY HAVE WHICH MAY NOT BE LAWFULLY LIMITED. IF YOU ARE UNSURE ABOUT THIS OR ANY OTHER SECTION OF THESE TERMS, PLEASE CONSULT WITH A LEGAL PROFESSIONAL PRIOR TO ACCESSING OR USING THE SITE. BY ACCESSING OR USING THE SITE, YOU REPRESENT THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD, AND AGREE TO THESE TERMS, INCLUDING THIS SECTION. YOU ARE GIVING UP SUBSTANTIAL LEGAL RIGHTS BY AGREEING TO THESE TERMS.

    1. THE SITE IS MADE AVAILABLE TO YOU ON AN “AS IS”, “WITH ALL FAULTS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITH THE EXPRESS UNDERSTANDING THAT THE RateMyPoolman.com ENTITIES MAY NOT MONITOR, CONTROL, OR VET USER CONTENT. AS SUCH, YOUR USE OF THE SITE IS AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK. THE RATEMYPOOLMAN.COM ENTITIES MAKE NO CLAIMS OR PROMISES ABOUT THE QUALITY, ACCURACY, OR RELIABILITY OF THE SITE, ITS SAFETY OR SECURITY, OR THE SITE CONTENT. ACCORDINGLY, THE RATEMYPOOLMAN.COM ENTITIES ARE NOT LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE THAT MIGHT ARISE, FOR EXAMPLE, FROM THE SITE’S INOPERABILITY, UNAVAILABILITY OR SECURITY VULNERABILITIES OR FROM YOUR RELIANCE ON THE QUALITY, ACCURACY, OR RELIABILITY OF THE BUSINESS LISTINGS, RATINGS, REVIEWS (INCLUDING THEIR CONTENT, ORDER, AND DISPLAY), OR METRICS FOUND ON, USED ON, OR MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE.
    2. THE RATEMYPOOLMAN.COM ENTITIES MAKE NO CLAIMS OR PROMISES WITH RESPECT TO ANY THIRD PARTY, SUCH AS THE BUSINESSES OR ADVERTISERS LISTED ON THE SITE OR THE SITE’S USERS. ACCORDINGLY, THE RATEMYPOOLMAN.COM ENTITIES ARE NOT LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE THAT MIGHT ARISE FROM THEIR ACTIONS OR OMISSIONS, INCLUDING, FOR EXAMPLE, IF ANOTHER USER OR BUSINESS MISUSES YOUR CONTENT, IDENTITY OR PERSONAL INFORMATION, OR IF YOU HAVE A NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE WITH ONE OF THE BUSINESSES OR ADVERTISERS LISTED OR FEATURED ON THE SITE. YOUR PURCHASE AND USE OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES OFFERED BY THIRD PARTIES THROUGH THE SITE IS AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK.
    3. THE RATEMYPOOLMAN.COM ENTITIES EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES AS TO THE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES OFFERED BY BUSINESSES LISTED ON THE SITE, AND IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. NO ORAL OR WRITTEN INFORMATION OR ADVICE PROVIDED TO YOU BY A REPRESENTATIVE OF ONE OF THE RATEMYPOOLMAN.COM ENTITIES SHALL CREATE A REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY.
    4. YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE RIGHT AND REMEDY IN CASE OF DISSATISFACTION WITH THE SITE, RELATED SERVICES, OR ANY OTHER GRIEVANCE SHALL BE YOUR TERMINATION AND DISCONTINUATION OF ACCESS TO, OR USE OF THE SITE.
    5. THE RATEMYPOOLMAN.COM ENTITIES’ MAXIMUM AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO YOU FOR LOSSES OR DAMAGES THAT YOU SUFFER IN CONNECTION WITH THE SITE OR THESE TERMS IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF (i) THE AMOUNT PAID, IF ANY, BY YOU TO THE RATEMYPOOLMAN.COM ENTITIES IN CONNECTION WITH THE SITE IN THE 12 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE ACTION GIVING RISE TO LIABILITY, OR (ii) $100 (whichever is less).
    6. THE RATEMYPOOLMAN.COM ENTITIES DISCLAIM LIABILITY FOR ANY (i) INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, EXEMPLARY, RELIANCE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, (ii) LOSS OF PROFITS, (iii) BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, (iv) REPUTATIONAL HARM, OR (v) LOSS OF INFORMATION OR DATA.
  1. CHOICE OF LAW AND VENUE: California law will govern these Terms, as well as any claim, cause of action or dispute that might arise between you and RateMyPoolman.com (a ”Claim”), without regard to conflict of law provisions. FOR ANY CLAIM BROUGHT BY EITHER PARTY, YOU AGREE TO SUBMIT AND CONSENT TO THE PERSONAL AND EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION IN, AND THE EXCLUSIVE VENUE OF, THE STATE AND FEDERAL COURTS LOCATED WITHIN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
  2. TERMINATION:You may terminate the Terms at any time by closing your account, discontinuing your use of the Site, and providing RateMyPoolman.com with a notice of termination here. Please review our Privacy Policy for information about what we do with your account when terminated.
    We may close your account, suspend your ability to use certain portions of the Site, and/or ban you altogether from the Site for any or no reason, and without notice or liability of any kind. Any such action could prevent you from accessing your account, the Site, Your Content, Site Content, or any other related information. In the event of any termination of these Terms, whether by you or us, Site will keep the right to use Your Content.
  3. GENERAL TERMS: We reserve the right to modify, update, or discontinue the Site at our sole discretion, at any time, for any or no reason, and without notice or liability.We may provide you with notices, including those regarding changes to the Terms by email, regular mail or communications through the Site.Except as otherwise stated in Section 9 above, nothing herein is intended, nor will be deemed, to confer rights or remedies upon any third party.The Terms contain the entire agreement between you and us regarding the use of the Site, and supersede any prior agreement between you and us on such subject matter. The parties acknowledge that no reliance is placed on any representation made but not expressly contained in these Terms.Any failure on RateMyPoolman.com’s part to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Terms does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. The failure of either party to exercise in any respect any right provided for herein shall not be deemed a waiver of any further rights here under.If any provision of the Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, then only that provision shall be modified to reflect the parties’ intention or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that the Terms shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable.The Terms, and any rights or obligations here under, are not assignable, transferable or sublicensable by you except with RateMyPoolman.com’s prior written consent, but may be assigned or transferred by us without restriction. Any attempted assignment by you shall violate these Terms and be void.The section titles in the Terms are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.
  • MEMBERSHIP: A membership on RateMyPoolman.com is required to add a company listing. One listing per membership is allowed. There are four membership levels on RateMyPoolman.com: Pool Owner, Pool Pro Free, Pool Pro 10 , and Pool Pro 15. The Pool Owner and Pool Pro Free memberships are free. The Pool Pro 10 membership is $10 at signup and monthly thereafter, and the Pool Pro 15 membership is $15 at signup and monthly thereafter. Upon cancellation of the Pool Owner or Pool Pro Free memberships, the listing will remain on RateMyPoolman.com. Upon cancellation of the Pool Pro 10 or Pool Pro 15 memberships, listing details will become equivalent to that of a Pool Pro Free level listing. The Pool Pro 15 membership can be downgraded to the Pool Pro 10 if desired, upon which the listing details will become equivalent to that of a Pool Pro 10 level listing. The Pool Pro 10 membership can be downgraded to the Pool Pro Free membership if desired, upon which the listing details will become equivalent to that of a Pool Pro Free level listing. The Pool Pro 15 membership can be downgraded to the Pool Pro Free membership if desired, upon which the listing details will become equivalent to that of a Pool Pro Free level listing. To completely delete a listing from RateMyPoolman.com, please contact us. Adding a listing under any type of membership on RateMyPoolman.com does not guarantee better business or sales for the company posting the listing. RateMyPoolman.com reviews the information posted on the website thoroughly, but is not responsible for misconduct or poor reviews/ratings posted by website visitors.