Terms of Service

1. Who we are and these terms

ButtonUp Research is a service operated by Belt and Braces Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company no. [Company No.], registered office [Registered office address]) ("ButtonUp", "we", "us"). "ButtonUp Research" is a trading name.

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the ButtonUp Research websites, applications and services (the "Service"). By creating an account, ticking the acceptance box, or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

If you use the Service on behalf of an organisation, you confirm you are authorised to bind that organisation, and "you" means that organisation.

2. Eligibility and accounts

You must be at least 18 and able to form a binding contract.

You are responsible for your account, for keeping your credentials secure, and for all activity under your account. Tell us promptly of any unauthorised use.

You must give accurate account information and keep it up to date.

3. The Service and plans

ButtonUp helps you plan research, recruit and schedule participants, collect and analyse responses, and produce reports. Features depend on your plan.

We offer free and paid plans. We may change, add or remove features, and may set or change usage limits (active studies, AI credits, storage). We will give reasonable notice of materially adverse changes to paid plans.

The Service is provided on a software-as-a-service basis; we may update it from time to time.

4. Your content and your research — your responsibility

"Your Content" means everything you (and your users) upload, enter, generate or process using the Service, including research plans, transcripts, notes, participant records and personal data about your participants ("Participant Data").

You own Your Content. You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive licence to host, copy, process, transmit and display Your Content solely to provide, secure, and support the Service (and, where applicable, to generate AI outputs you request).

You are solely responsible for Your Content and for all research you conduct using the Service, including: its accuracy, quality and legality; obtaining all necessary consents, permissions and ethical approvals; providing required privacy notices to participants; having a valid lawful basis (and, for special-category data, a valid condition) to collect and process it; honouring participants' rights; and any decisions or actions you take based on it.

You warrant that Your Content, and your use of the Service, do not and will not infringe any third party's rights or breach any law, regulation or duty (including data-protection, consumer, marketing, confidentiality and intellectual-property law).

We do not monitor, verify, endorse or take responsibility for Your Content or for the research, recruitment, communications or decisions you carry out using the Service.

5. Data protection (controller / processor)

To the extent the Service processes personal data within Your Content (including Participant Data) on your behalf, you are the data controller and we are your data processor. That processing is governed by our Data Processing Agreement ("DPA"), which forms part of these Terms, and by our Privacy Policy.

You are responsible, as controller, for the lawfulness of that personal data and its processing, for participant notices and consents, and for responding to participants' data-protection rights (we provide tools to help, e.g. export and erasure).

We process such personal data only on your documented instructions (these Terms, the DPA and your use of the Service), apply the security measures described in the DPA / Privacy Policy, and use only the sub-processors listed on our sub-processors page.

For personal data we determine the purposes of (e.g. your account and the website), we are the controller — see the Privacy Policy.

6. AI features

Parts of the Service use artificial intelligence to draft plans and guides and to analyse responses ("Outputs"). Outputs are generated automatically, may be inaccurate, incomplete or unsuitable, and are not professional, legal, medical or other advice.

You must review Outputs before relying on them. You are responsible for any decision you make using Outputs. We do not warrant any particular result.

To protect privacy, we pseudonymise and minimise identifiers before sending content to our AI sub-processor, as described in the Privacy Policy; you remain responsible for what you choose to upload.

7. Acceptable use

You must not, and must not allow anyone to: use the Service unlawfully or without the consents and rights described in clause 4; upload unlawful, harmful or infringing content; contact, harass or mislead participants; send spam or unlawful marketing; attempt to access data that isn't yours; probe, scan, overload or disrupt the Service; reverse engineer, copy or create a competing product from the Service; remove proprietary notices; or use the Service to build a competing service.

We may investigate and may suspend or limit access to protect the Service, other customers, participants or us, or to comply with law.

8. Third-party services

The Service relies on third-party providers (hosting, database, email, AI, payments) listed on our sub-processors page. Their availability is outside our control; we are not responsible for third-party services except as set out in the DPA.

9. Fees, billing and renewals

Paid plans are billed in advance on a recurring basis (monthly or annually) through our payment provider. Fees exclude taxes (e.g. VAT) unless stated.

Subscriptions renew automatically for the same period unless cancelled before renewal. You can cancel anytime; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current period. Except as required by law or clause 14, fees are non-refundable.

If a payment fails or is overdue we may suspend or downgrade the Service.

We may change prices on reasonable notice; changes apply from your next renewal.

10. Intellectual property

We and our licensors own the Service and all rights in it (excluding Your Content). We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Service per these Terms.

If you give us feedback, we may use it without obligation to you.

11. Confidentiality

Each party must protect the other's non-public information disclosed in connection with the Service and use it only for the purposes of these Terms.

12. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent permitted by law, we exclude all implied warranties (including satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose and non-infringement).

We do not warrant the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free or secure, or that Outputs or results will be accurate or meet your requirements.

13. Limitation of liability

Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

Subject to the above, we are not liable for: (a) Your Content, your research, your recruitment, your communications with participants, or any decision or action you take using the Service or Outputs; (b) loss or corruption of Your Content where caused by you or your failure to keep your own backups; (c) acts or omissions of your participants or your other users; or (d) any indirect, special or consequential loss, or loss of profits, revenue, goodwill, data, or anticipated savings.

Subject to the above, our total aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with the Service and these Terms in any 12-month period is limited to the greater of (i) the fees you paid us for the Service in that period and (ii) £100.

These limits reflect the allocation of risk between us and the price of the Service.

14. Consumers

If you are a consumer (an individual acting outside your trade, business, craft or profession), nothing in these Terms affects your non-excludable statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and other UK consumer law.

14-day cancellation: you may cancel a paid plan within 14 days of subscribing for a refund, unless you ask us to start the Service during that period and you acknowledge you lose the right to cancel once the Service is fully performed; where you have used part of it, we may deduct a proportionate amount.

Clause 15 (Indemnity) does not apply to consumers.

Consumers may bring proceedings in the courts of their place of residence and rely on the mandatory consumer-protection law of that place.

15. Indemnity (business customers)

If you are not a consumer, you will indemnify and hold us harmless against all claims, losses, liabilities, damages and reasonable costs arising from: Your Content; the research, recruitment or communications you conduct using the Service; your breach of these Terms; or your breach of any law or third-party or participant right.

16. Suspension and termination

You may stop using the Service and close your account at any time.

We may suspend or terminate your access if you materially breach these Terms (and do not cure it within a reasonable time where curable), if required by law, or to protect the Service, other customers or participants.

On termination your right to use the Service ends. We will, for a limited period, make Your Content available for export, after which we may delete it per the Privacy Policy / DPA and our retention schedule.

Clauses that by their nature should survive (e.g. 4, 5, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17) survive termination.

17. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. For material changes we will give reasonable notice (e.g. by email or in-product). Continued use after changes take effect means you accept them; if you do not agree, stop using the Service.

18. General

Governing law: these Terms and any dispute are governed by the law of England and Wales, and (subject to clause 14 for consumers) the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.

These Terms (with the Privacy Policy and DPA) are the entire agreement between us about the Service.

We may assign or transfer these Terms (e.g. on a reorganisation or sale); you may not assign them without our consent.

If any term is unenforceable, the rest continue. Failure to enforce a term is not a waiver.

Neither party is liable for failure caused by events beyond its reasonable control.

Contact: hello@buttonupresearch.com, Belt and Braces Ltd, [Registered office address].