Last Revised: January 7, 2025 

TERMS OF PARTICIPATION

Please READ carefully. By purchasing this product, the following Terms and Conditions (this “Agreement”) are entered into by Civility, LLC (“the Company”, “we”, “our”, or “us”) and you (“Client” or “you”), and you agree to the following terms stated herein. The Company and you may be referred to individually as a “Party” or collectively as “Parties” in this Agreement.

 

The term “you” refers to the individual, company, or other legal entity purchasing the Program identified in the order form or following purchase. If you are entering into this Agreement on behalf of a company or other legal entity, you represent that you have the authority to bind such entity and its affiliates, as applicable, to these terms and conditions in this Agreement. If you do not have such authority, or if you do not agree with this Agreement, you must not accept this Agreement, not pay the associated fees, and may not use or access the Program.

 

PROGRAM/SERVICE

Company agrees to provide the “Business Meeting Basics” program (the “Program”) as outlined on the web page where you register, which may include digital or downloadable resources, an online course, one-on-one or group coaching, workshops, trainings, online private forums operated by Company (for any purpose), whether on a website hosted or provided by Company or a third-party website such as an online course platform, facebook.com, or virtual meeting software. As a condition of participating in the Program, you agree to be bound by and to abide by all policies and procedures set out in this Agreement, including those incorporated by reference.

 

The Company reserves the right to offer additional program elements from time to time, for any subgroup of participants. These additional program elements are a bonus, not a part of the services included in the base version of the Program. The selection of the participants who may participate in any additional program elements is at the sole discretion of the Company.

 

PARTICIPANTS

This Program is intended and suitable only for individuals aged 18 and above. Some or all of the content in this Program may not be appropriate for children. By purchasing the Program, you represent and warrant that you are of legal age to form a binding contract with the Company and meet all of the foregoing eligibility requirements. Company hereby disclaims all liability for use by individuals under the age of 18.

 

INCORPORATION OF COMPANY TERMS AND PRIVACY POLICY

The Company’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy are hereby incorporated by reference into this Agreement. Except as modified by this Agreement, each of those agreements and policies shall apply fully to your participation in the Program and all such restrictions, limitations, obligation, rights, and remedies within the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy shall apply to the Parties in this Agreement associated with the provision, available, purchase, access, and use of the Program. In the event of any conflicts between this Agreement and the Terms of Use or Privacy Policy, this Agreement shall control to the extent of the conflict. Any undefined capitalized terms used in this Agreement shall have the meanings ascribed to them in the Terms of Use.

 

FEES AND AUTO RENEWAL

Subject to the Company’s rights herein, in consideration of your access to the Program, you agree to pay the fee identified in the order form (due immediately) for every 12 months of your subscription to the Program. The fees for the subscription to the Program is on a per individual basis. If you are purchasing a subscription to the Program for more than one individual, the applicable fee for the Program will apply to each individual for whom you are purchasing the Program. You are responsible for paying all fees for the Program for all individuals subscribing to the Program on your behalf.

 

The Program will automatically renew for an additional 12 months of access, unless you cancel your subscription to the Program. You may cancel your subscription to the Program at any time, provided that, subject to our refund policy (see below): (1) we will not reimburse for any fees paid or due following a cancellation for any remaining days or months of the Program, and (2) you will owe a renewed amount of the applicable fees unless you cancel the subscription within seven (7) days after the applicable 12-month period of the Program begins. The Company may increase your Program fees after the first 12 months of your subscription to the Program by providing written notice to you within 15 calendar days prior to the automatic renewal of your current subscription to the Program.

 

METHODS OF PAYMENT

If paying by debit card or credit card, you give us permission to automatically charge your credit or debit card for all fees and charges due and payable to the Company, without any additional authorization, for which you will receive an electronic receipt. You also agree that the Company is authorized to share any payment information and instructions required to complete the payment transactions with its third-party payment service providers (e.g., credit card transaction processing, merchant settlement, and related services).

 

For recurring payments and outstanding invoices, if all payment methods we have on file for you are declined for payment of your monthly fee, you must provide a new payment method promptly or your Program access will be terminated.

 

REFUND POLICY

The Company provides a 14-day money-back guarantee for the Program. That money-back guarantee is governed by the following terms.

 

In the event that you decide your purchase was not the right decision, contact our support team at [email protected] and let us know you’d like a refund within 14 days after the date of your purchase (“Refund Period”). We will NOT provide refunds for any request that comes more than 14 days after the date of purchase. After the Refund Period, all payments are non-refundable and you are responsible for full payment of the fees for the program regardless of whether you complete the Program.

 

Please note:  Upon determining that you are entitled to a refund, the Company will promptly issue an instruction to its payment processor to issue the refund. The Company does not control the method by which payments are processed by its payment processor(s) and will not be able to expedite any refunds.

 

If you receive a refund of any purchase through this money-back guarantee, that shall immediately terminate any and all licenses granted you to use the material provided to you under this Agreement. You shall immediately cease using the material and shall destroy all copies of the information provided to you, including without limitation: video recordings, audio recordings, forms, template documents, slide shows, membership areas, social media groups limited to paying members, and other resources.

 

In all other cases, because of the extensive time, effort, preparation and care that goes into creating and providing the Program, the Company has a no refund policy. Unless otherwise provided by law, you acknowledge that we do not offer refunds for any portion of your payment for any of our Program and no refunds will be provided to you. By using and/or purchasing our Program, you understand and agree that, except for the limited refund policy described herein, all sales are final and no refunds will be provided.

Since we have a clear and explicit Refund Policy in in this Agreement that you have agreed to prior to completing the purchase of the Program, we do not tolerate or accept any type of chargeback threat or actual chargeback from your credit card company or payment processor. If a chargeback is placed on a purchase or we receive a chargeback threat during or after your purchase, we reserve the right to report the incident to all three credit reporting agencies or to any other entity for inclusion in any chargeback database or for listing as a delinquent account, which could have a negative impact on your credit report score. The information reported will include your name, email address, order date, order amount, and billing address. Chargeback abusers wishing to be removed from the database shall make the payment for the amount of the chargeback.

 

The Company reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to decide how to address any participant who violates this Agreement, and will not issue refunds to participants who may disagree with our decision.

Furthermore, if a participant violates this Agreement, the Company reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to offer the participant another opportunity to abide by this Agreement. If a participant disagrees with the Company offering another participant a second opportunity to follow these terms, no grounds for a participant to receive a refund would be created, and any request for a refund on this basis shall be denied.

If, in the Company’s sole right and absolute discretion, your behaviors or actions violate this Agreement, the Company may terminate your access and participation in the Program without notice and without refund.

If you have any questions or problems, please let us know by contacting our support team directly at [email protected].

 

YOUR CONDUCT IN THE PROGRAM; CONFIDENTIALITY; USE OF YOUR MATERIALS

Your conduct in the Program and any corresponding use or disclosures of any materials related thereto shall be subject to the prohibited uses and actions specified in the Terms of Use. You shall not share any information provided by other Program participants outside of the bounds of the Program unless you receive express written permission from the other participant to use or share their information. You hereby agree not to share any information provided to you in the Program with anyone other than the Company, its owners and employees, and other Program participants, subject to the conditions specified or incorporated herein. To maintain confidentiality, you may not use any technology, including, but not limited to, any artificial intelligence or machine learning technology, to record or transcribe any Program session attended by other participants.

You are responsible for your own material and for any liability that may result from the material you post during the course of the Program. You participate in and comment and post material at your own risk. Any communication by you on the Company’s website and any third-party forums operated by the Company, whether by leaving a comment, participating in a chat, public or private forum, or other interactive service, must be respectful and consistent with all applicable law.

The Program is a “pitch free zone.” You agree you will not pitch, promote, market, or sell any other products, groups, programs, or events to Program participants on any Company website or third-party forums operated by the Company, whether or not officially sanctioned, owned, or operated by the Company. This means you agree not to form, or ask Program participants to join, “shadow” groups on social media or any other platform. 

We may also post separate rules, terms, conditions, or guidelines regarding your behavior in any online community or forum, whether hosted on the Company’s website or a third-party website, which may be updated from time to time. You agree that you are bound by such notices and they are expressly incorporated into this Agreement.

You also consent to photographs, videos, and/or audio recordings, including teleconference calls, webinars, or other communications, that may be made by the Company during the Program that may contain you, your voice and/or your likeness. In the Company’s sole discretion, we reserve the right to use these photographs, videos, and or/audio recordings and/or any other materials submitted by you to the Company or created by the Company in connection with your participation in any Program, without compensation to you at any time, now or at any time in the future. 

You also grant us, and anyone authorized by us, the right to use your likeness and identify you by name, email address, or screen name as the author and individual depicted in any comments, posts, photos, images, videos or other contributions created by you or the Company that reference the Company or the program, and to identify you as a member of the program by name, email address, or screen name, for any purposes, including commercial purposes and advertising.

 

NO TRANSFER OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY; LIMITED LICENSE

All content included as part of the Program, such as text, graphics, logos, images, as well as the compilation thereof, and any software used in the Program, is the property of the Company or its suppliers and protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws that protect intellectual property and proprietary rights.

The Company name, the Company logo, the Company slogan, and all related names, logos, product and service names, designs, and slogans are trademarks of the Company or its affiliates or licensors. You must not use such marks without the prior written permission of the Company. All other names, logos, product and service names, designs and slogans in the Program are the trademarks of their respective owners.

As a purchaser or participant in the Program, you are our licensee. For the avoidance of doubt, you are granted a revocable, non-transferable license for personal, non-commercial use only, limited to you only.  

This means you may view, download, print, email and use one copy of individual pages of the Program and Content for your own personal purposes or your own business only.

Your participation in the Program does not result in a transfer of any intellectual property to you, and, as a condition of participation in the Program, you agree to observe and abide by all copyright and other intellectual property protection.

You may not republish, reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, display, disclose, distribute to friends, family, or any other third party, or otherwise use any material from the Program or Content for commercial purposes or in any way that earns you or any third party money (other than by applying them generally in your own business). By downloading, printing, or otherwise using the Program or any Company content for personal use you in no way assume any ownership rights of the Content – it is still Company property. Any unauthorized use of any materials found in the Program or Content shall constitute infringement.  

 

You are strictly prohibited from uploading or distributing Content to any website, platform, software, or database where it could be accessed or replicated by ChatGPT or other artificial intelligence technologies.

The Company content is not for resale. Your participation in the Program does not entitle you to make any unauthorized use of any protected content, and in particular you will not delete or alter any proprietary rights or attribution notices in any content. You will use protected content solely for your individual use, and will make no other use of the content without the express written permission of the Company and the copyright owner. You agree that you do not acquire any ownership rights in any protected content. We do not grant you any licenses, express or implied, to the intellectual property of the Company or our licensors except as expressly authorized herein.

You hereby agree that any infringement of the Company’s intellectual property shall result in an immediate termination of the license granted hereunder. To be clear, if you violate the Company’s intellectual property rights, your access to the Program will be terminated immediately, and you shall not be entitled to a refund of any portion of the fees.

Your use of any materials found in the Program or Content other than that expressly authorized in this agreement or by a separate written assignment, is not permitted (“Unauthorized Use”). You agree to pay liquidated damages of five (5) times the total fees paid for the Program in the event of your Unauthorized Use, or a minimum of $5,000 if you did not pay fees for the Program, in addition to any legal or equitable remedies the Company may be entitled to pursue. This is not a penalty but an agreed liquidated damages charge for the Unauthorized Use.   

You agree that any violation or threatened violation of the Intellectual Property Rights terms in this Agreement would cause irreparable injury to us that may not be adequately compensated by damages, entitling the Company to obtain injunctive relief, without bond, in addition to all legal remedies.

 

FORCE MAJEURE

The Company shall not be liable or responsible to You, nor be deemed to have defaulted or breached this Agreement, for any failure or delay in fulfilling or performing any term of this Agreement when and to the extent such failure or delay is caused by or results from acts or circumstances beyond the reasonable control of the Company including, without limitation, acts of God, flood, fire, earthquake, pandemic, death, illness or incapacity of Sarah E. Merkle, explosion, any local, state, federal, national or international law, governmental order or regulation, governmental actions, war, invasion, or hostilities (whether war is declared or not), terrorist threats or acts, riot, or other civil unrest, national emergency, revolution, insurrection, epidemic, lock-outs, strikes or other labor disputes (whether or not relating to either party’s workforce), or restraints or delays affecting carriers or inability or delay in obtaining supplies of adequate or suitable materials, materials or telecommunication breakdown or power outage (collectively, “Force Majeure Event”). Upon occurrence of any Force Majeure Event, the Company shall give notice to you of its inability to perform or of delay in completing the Program and shall propose revisions to the schedule for completion of the Program or other accommodations, or may terminate this Agreement. No Force Majeure Event shall exempt you from paying any associated fees, nor shall it entitle you to any refund or reimbursement.

 

SEVERABILITY

If any term or provision of this Agreement is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable in any jurisdiction, such invalidity, illegality or unenforceability shall not affect any other term or provision of this Agreement or invalidate or render unenforceable such term or provision in any other jurisdiction. The remainder of this Agreement will remain in full force and the invalid or unenforceable provision will be replaced by a valid or enforceable provision. 

 

INDEMNIFICATION AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY; DISCLAIMERS; MISCELLANEOUS

The limitations of liability and disclaimer of warranties set forth in the Terms of Use shall apply, to the extent not already applicable by virtue of the Terms’ incorporation into this Agreement, to the Company with respect to the Program and this Agreement.

 

Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to create a partnership, joint venture, employment, or agency relationship. The Company is agreeing only to provide Client with access to the Program, which provides education and information. The information contained in the Program, including any interactions with the instructors, is not intended as, and shall not be understood or construed as, professional advice.

You agree to absolve and do hereby absolve and release the Releasees from any and all liability or loss that you or any person or entity associated with you may suffer or incur as a result of use of the Program and/or any information and resources contained in the Program. You agree that Releasees shall not be liable to you for any type of damages, including direct, indirect, special, incidental, equitable, or consequential loss or damages for use of the Program, including its content, materials, products or services, or third-party content, materials, products or services made available through the Program.

The information, software, products, and service included or available through the Program may include inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically added to the information in the Program. The Company and/or its suppliers may make improvements and/or changes in the Program at any time.

The Company and/or its suppliers make no representations about the suitability, reliability, availability, timeliness, and accuracy of the information, software, products, services, and related graphics contained in the Program for any purpose. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, all such information, software, products, services, and related graphics are provided “as is” without warranty or condition of any kind. The Company and/or its suppliers hereby disclaim all warranties and conditions with regard to this information, software, products, services, and related graphics, including all implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement.

Any links to third-party products, services, or sites are subject to separate terms and conditions. The Company is not responsible for or liable for any content on or actions taken by such third-party company or website. Although the Company may recommend third-party sites, products or services, it is your responsibility to fully research such third parties before entering into any transaction or relationship with them.

Client understands Sarah E. Merkle (herein referred to as “Consultant”) and the Company are not an agent, doctor, manager, therapist, public relations or business manager, registered dietician, or financial analyst or advisor, psychotherapist, medical professional or accountant. Client understands that Consultant and the Company have not promised, shall not be obligated to and will not; (1) procure or attempt to procure employment or business or sales for Client; (2) perform any business management functions including but not limited to, accounting, tax or investment consulting, or advice with regard thereto; (3) act as a therapist providing psychoanalysis, psychological counseling or behavioral therapy; (4) act as a public relations manager; (5) act as a publicist to procure any publicity, interviews, write-ups, features, television, print or digital media exposure for Client; (6) introduce Client to Consultant’s or the Company’s network of contacts, media partners or business partners. Client understands that a relationship does not exist between the parties after the conclusion of this program. If the Parties wish to continue their relationship, they shall execute a separate agreement.

 

USERS OUTSIDE UNITED STATES

The Company controls and operates the Program from offices in the United States. The Company does not represent that materials on the Program are appropriate or available for use in other locations. People who choose to access the Program from other locations do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable.

 

MODIFICATION OF AGREEMENT

The Company reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to modify all or any portion of this Agreement at any time without incurring any liability or obligation whatsoever to you or any other person or entity. If we modify the Agreement, we will post the changes to the Agreement and will indicate the date this Agreement was last revised. Your continued access or use of the Program after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of, and agreement to be legally bound by, this Agreement, as revised. It is your sole responsibility to regularly check the Agreement to determine if there have been any changes to the Agreement and to review such changes.

 

TERMINATION

The Company reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate this Agreement or your access to the Program and the related services or any portion thereof at any time, without notice, if you become disruptive to the Company or other Program participants, if you fail to follow the Program guidelines, or if we believe you have otherwise violated this Agreement. You shall not be entitled to a refund of any portion of the fees and shall not be excused from any remaining payments under a payment plan in the event of termination.

In the event of cancellation or termination, you are no longer authorized to access the part of the Program or its content. The restrictions imposed on you in this Agreement with respect to the Program and its content will still apply now and in the future, even after termination by you or the Company.

 

CONTACT INFORMATION

 

If you do not understand or agree with any of these conditions, please do not purchase the Program. If you require further clarification, please contact [email protected].

 

Sarah E. Merkle

Civility, LLC

2901 2nd Avenue South, Suite 220

Birmingham, AL 35233

 

Last Updated: January 1, 2025