Terms and Conditions

1) Acceptance of Terms

1.1 By using our matchmaking service and member-only platform (known as the ‘platform’) you indicate that you accept and will abide by these terms of use and our Privacy Policy (together the agreement) including any terms that we may amend from time to time. If you do not agree to this agreement please refrain from using our platform.

2) Status of Relationship

2.1 Nothing on our platform or in this agreement constitutes an offer or shall establish any partnership or joint venture between any of the parties or authorise a party to make or enter into any commitments for the other party except as expressly authorised by you or us (as the case may be).

3) Accessing our platform

3.1 We aim to update our platform regularly and may change the content from time to time. If the need arises we may suspend access to our platform or close it indefinitely. We will not be liable if for any reason our platform is unavailable at any time or for any period. Any of the material on our platform may be out of date at any given time and we are under no obligation to update such material.

3.2 If you are provided with a user identification code, password, or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures you must treat such information as confidential and you must not disclose it to any third party. We have the right to disable any user identification code or password at any time if in our opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of this agreement.

4) Intellectual Property Rights

4.1 We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in relation to our platform and the material published on it unless otherwise stated. Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All rights are reserved.

4.2 Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of material on our platform must always be acknowledged.

5) Liability and Reliance on Information

5.1 Material posted to this platform is intended to provide general information on GrandFriends. It is for informational purposes only and is not intended to amount to representations or advice on which reliance can be placed.

5.2 Although efforts are made to ensure material on our platform is current, complete, and accurate to the extent permitted by law:

  • (a) content is provided without any guarantees, conditions, or warranties express or implied; and
  • (b) we will not be liable for any loss or damage of any kind arising out of or in connection with the use of our platform by you including reliance on any information on our platform by any visitor to our platform or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents.

6) Security

6.1 We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by any technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data, or other proprietary material due to your use of our platform or to your downloading of any material posted on it or on any platform it links to.

7) Linking

7.1 Where our platform contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties these links are provided for your information only and are not necessarily checked, approved, or endorsed by us. We have no control over and we are not responsible for the availability of the links, the contents of those platforms or resources, or their compliance with law and we accept no responsibility or liability for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.

7.2 You may link to our sign-in page on a platform owned by you provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation but you must not suggest any form of association, approval, or endorsement on our part where none exists. Our platform must not be framed on any other platform.

7.3 We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

8) Acceptable Use

8.1 You may in accordance with this agreement:

  • (a) view pages from our platform in a web browser
  • (b) download pages from our platform for caching in a web browser
  • (c) print pages from our platform
  • (d) stream video files from our platform

You must not use our platform for any other purposes.

8.2 Except as expressly permitted by Section 8.1 or the other provisions of this agreement you must not download any material from our platform or save any such material to your computer and you acquire no rights in or to GrandFriends or our intellectual property rights.

8.3 Unless you own or control the relevant rights in the material you must not:

  • (a) except as expressly permitted by this agreement edit or otherwise modify any material (including GrandFriends material) on our platform
  • (b) republish material from our platform (including republication on another platform)
  • (c) sell, rent, or sub-license material from our platform
  • (d) show any material from our platform in public
  • (e) reproduce, duplicate, copy, or otherwise exploit material from our platform for a commercial purpose
  • (f) redistribute material from our platform.

8.4 We reserve the right to restrict access to areas of our platform or indeed our whole platform at our discretion. You must not circumvent or bypass or attempt to circumvent or bypass any access restriction measures on our platform.

8.5 You must not:

  • (a) use our platform in any way or take any action that causes or may cause damage to the platform or impairment of the performance, availability, or accessibility of the platform
  • (b) use our platform in any way that is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent, or harmful or in connection with any unlawful, illegal, fraudulent, or harmful purpose or activity
  • (c) use our platform to copy, store, host, transmit, send, use, publish, or distribute any material which consists of (or is linked to) any spyware, computer virus, Trojan horse, worm, keystroke logger, rootkit, or other malicious computer software
  • (d) conduct any systematic or automated data collection activities (including without limitation scraping, data mining, data extraction, and data harvesting) on or in relation to our platform without our express written consent
  • (e) access or otherwise interact with our platform using any robot, spider, or other automated means.

9) Privacy

9.1 We are committed to respecting your privacy. We will always collect, store, use, and disclose personal information in accordance with applicable privacy laws. However, we have also put in place a Privacy Policy to protect the personal information you submit or we collect.

9.2 Due to the nature of what we do, interacting and connecting with families, children, and older people, we require certain personal details from you. If you do not provide the required information we may not be able to grant you full access to the members-only site and some functions/features may be unavailable.

9.3 The personal information we collect may include information about people who are employees, directors, or principals of yours. We ask you to help us to make sure that these people are aware that our arrangements with you may involve the collection of personal information about them.

9.4 If you choose to provide us with personal information when using our platform or in some other manner, we will only store, use, or disclose that information in accordance with our Privacy Policy, following a request from any required government agencies (Ministry of Justice), and applicable privacy laws.

9.5 We may collect aggregated information by using cookies. Cookies are unique identification numbers like tags that are placed on the browser of internet users. The cookies do not in themselves identify users personally but may link back to a database record about them. We may use cookies to track any aspect of our platform or services.

9.6 We may use services such as Google Analytics, which will issue cookies from their own servers and which will be able to track platform visitors throughout relevant platforms. We do not control how those cookies are issued or the data that they store.

9.7 We may use “web beacons” (electronic images also known as pixel tags or clear gifs) to recognise a cookie on your computer when you view or act upon a web page, an advertisement that we have placed on a third-party web page, or an email or other electronic communication that we have sent.

9.8 We may also use Local Shared Objects sometimes referred to as “Flash” cookies. Use of Local Shared Objects can help deter, detect, and prevent fraud and can support our Online Security Services.

9.9 We will also ensure that we comply with applicable laws regarding unsolicited electronic messages by including accurate sender information and a functional unsubscribe facility. If you provide us with your personal information you consent to receiving information from us to promote and market services or the products and services of others.

10) Electronic Mail

10.1 E-mail and electronic transmission of confidential or privileged documents or advice is a convenient method of delivery. However, internet mail is not secure and any communications or documents transmitted may be interfered with, contain computer viruses or other defects, and may not be successfully replicated on other systems. We will not be liable for any copying, recording, reading, or interference by others during or after a transmission for any delay or non-delivery or for any damage caused in connection with a transmission.

10.2 If you have any doubts about the authenticity of any communications or documents purportedly sent by us please contact us immediately - info@grandfriends.nz

11) Jurisdiction

11.1 This agreement is governed by the laws of New Zealand and the parties submit to the nonexclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New Zealand. We reserve the right to bring proceedings against you for breach of this agreement in your country of residence or any other relevant country.

12) Variations

12.1 We may revise this agreement at any time (with immediate effect) by amending this page and will not be required to notify you of any such change. Please do not make any assumption that these same terms of use will apply to your future use of our platform. We recommend you regularly visit our platform and check whether this agreement has changed. If you do not agree with any part of this agreement (including as altered, modified, or updated) you must not continue to use our platform. Some of the provisions contained in this agreement may also be superseded by provisions or notices published elsewhere on our platform.

13) Contact Details

13.1 This platform is owned and operated by GrandFriends NZ (Surrogate Grandparents New Zealand Charitable Trust). You may contact us at any time by email to info@grandfriends.nz

14) Interpretation

14.1 In this agreement unless the context indicates otherwise:

  • (a) Words in the singular include the plural and those in the plural include the singular.
  • (b) References to including or includes shall be deemed to have the words “without limitation” inserted after them.
  • (c) References to applicable law shall be deemed to be references to the laws in the country in which we are domiciled or in the countries in which we consider that we carry on business.
  • (d) Writing or written includes faxes but neither e-mail nor any other form of electronic communication except where expressly provided to the contrary.

15) Membership Types and Fees

15.1 Types of membership and what’s included:

  • Basic - $0 per month (our free plan)
    • Direct message 1 person per month
    • Start or join unlimited online discussions
    • Ability to attend official events organised by the GrandFriends team at a cost
    • Monthly email newsletter
  • Standard - $84 for 12 months access (paid upfront)
    • Direct message up to 3 different people per month
    • Start or join unlimited online discussions
    • Free access to 2 official events organised by the GrandFriends team (extra events at cost)
    • Monthly email newsletter PLUS your profile will feature in the newsletter within 3 months of you becoming a Standard member.
    • Support from the GrandFriends team (response within 48 hours)
  • Premium - $28 per month (paid monthly, cancel anytime)
    • Direct message up to 5 different people per month
    • Attend official events organised by the GrandFriends team for free as long as you hold a Premium membership in that month.
    • Monthly email newsletter - your profile will feature in the next edition of the newsletter after you have become a Premium member
    • Assistance from a GrandFriends team member to find you a suitable match
    • Support from the GrandFriends team (response within 24 hours)

15.2 You will pay a Membership Fee in order to access additional functions and services. All membership fees are as stated above and on the Platform. You may choose ‘Basic’, ‘Standard’, or ‘Premium’ membership.

15.3 Your membership is monthly (unless you have chosen the Standard Annual plan). You will pay the Standard or Premium Membership Fee in the secure payment section of the Platform. Your membership will be manually activated once all verification has taken place. Your verification date will be the start of your plan and known as your “Activation Date”.

15.4 If you have a Basic membership then you may choose to upgrade your membership plan at any time. If you wish to upgrade from an Annual Standard Member to a Premium Monthly Member then your current balance would be transferred over and would cover the Premium membership for that time and duration. There are NO balance refunds from Standard to Premium membership.

15.5 All amounts and fees stated or referred to in these Terms of Service shall be payable in the currency available and selected by the Member on the Platform.

15.6 At the end of your current Standard or Premium membership term we will automatically take the payment of the Standard or Premium Membership Fee unless you notify us that you want to cancel (“Auto-Renewal”) for which see clause 8.

15.7 It is up to you to keep your details registered with us (e.g. billing information, payment card details, and email address) accurate and up to date in order for us to take a payment for Auto-Renewal.

15.8 We may increase the price of any of our Services at any time and where we do so we will email you. We will aim to give you at least 30 days’ notice of any such price increase.

15.9 Please note that all payments made under these Terms of Service are processed by a third party (Stripe Inc.) however we are committed to protecting your personal data and so it will be handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

16) Cancellation of your auto-renewal

16.1 If you do not wish to Auto-Renew at the end of your Standard or Premium membership term you must cancel your membership via the ‘Membership’ section of your settings in your Account. Alternatively, you may cancel your Auto-Renewal by notifying us by email info@grandfriends.nz. You must cancel your Auto-Renewal at least 7 days before the date of your Auto-Renewal payment. You are solely responsible for timely cancellation.

16.2 We will send you an email at least 30 days prior to your Membership Renewal.