Thank you for visiting our Website, HTACertified.org (the “Website“). The Website is owned by the Home Technology Association LLC (“HTA“), which is a private organization dedicated to improving the quality of consumer’s technology experiences. Your use of our Website constitutes acceptance of our terms of use as set forth in this agreement (the “Agreement” or “Terms and Conditions”). This Agreement is solely for your use of our Website. We may amend this Agreement at any time by posting a revised version of the Agreement. If you disagree with any of these terms, please cease using and exit the Website immediately.
PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY. THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS INCLUDE AN AGREEMENT TO MANDATORY ARBITRATION, WHICH MEANS THAT YOU AGREE TO SUBMIT ANY DISPUTE RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SITE AND/OR THE SERVICES TO BINDING INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION RATHER THAN PROCEED IN COURT. THE DISPUTES/ARBITRATION PROVISION ALSO INCLUDES A CLASS ACTION WAIVER, WHICH MEANS THAT YOU AGREE TO PROCEED WITH ANY DISPUTE INDIVIDUALLY AND NOT AS PART OF A CLASS ACTION. THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS ALSO INCLUDE A JURY WAIVER.
1. Description of Services.
1.1 The HTACertified.org Website and our related services (collectively, the “Services“) are based upon data received from third parties and are provided to you and other users (“you,” “your,” “User,” or “Users“) as a public service. HTA does not select home technology firms or products for Users, nor does it endorse or recommend any particular organizations. HTA’s evaluation of technology organizations (“Service Professionals”) for certification constitutes a review of an organization’s vital statistics and reputation to evaluate compliance with HTA standards for performance. HTA does not evaluate the financial stability of organizations and HTA Certification decision does not include or imply any representation as to the current financial condition of a service provider.
2. Terms of Use.
2.1 No Guarantees or Endorsements. Although we take certain steps to examine the credentials of the Service Professionals listed on our website, we make no guarantees, warranties or representations regarding the skills or undertakings of such Service Professional or the quality of the job that he or she may perform for you if you elect to retain their services. HTA does not endorse or recommend the services of any particular Service Professional. It is entirely up to you to enter into a direct contract or otherwise reach agreement with a Service Professional. We do not guarantee or warrant any Service Professional’s performance on the job or the outcome or quality of the services performed. The Service Professionals are not employees or agents of HTA, nor is HTA an agent of the Service Professionals.
2.2 No Contracting via the HTA Website. HTA may inform you of certain offers provided by a Service Professional. Such offers are made solely by the Service Professional, and HTA does not guarantee or warrant the Service Professional’s offer. Any quotes provided by Service Professionals via the Website are not contractually binding offers, are for informational purposes only, and cannot be accepted on or via the Website. No contractual arrangement is created based upon the quotes provided to you from Service Professionals (or your scheduling of an appointment with a Service Professional) via the Website. To contract with a Service Professional, you must work directly with the Service Professional. HTA does not perform, and is not responsible for, any of the Services requested by you in your service request. Your rights under contracts you enter into with Service Professionals are governed by the terms of such contracts and by applicable federal, state, provincial and local laws. HTA is not a party to such agreements. All payments and applicable taxes must be made to the Service Professional in accordance with the agreements.
3. Allowed and Prohibited Uses of HTA Services.
3.1 HTACertifed.org is operated from offices within the United States of America in the state of California. Regardless of the location from which the Website is accessed, you agree to comply with all applicable U.S. and other applicable laws in connection with your use of the Website, Content and Services.
3.2 You acknowledge and agree that your use of the Website is for your personal use only and not for commercial purposes. You acknowledge that the Content, as defined below, on the Website is proprietary in nature and belongs exclusively to HTA. You may not use the Website to recreate or compete with HTA, to solicit or harass Service Professionals, or for any other purpose not contemplated herein. You acknowledge that a violation of the foregoing could result in significant damages, and you agree that you are liable to HTA for any such damages, and will indemnify HTA in the event of any claims against HTA based on or arising from your violation of the foregoing. HTA reserves the right to revoke your access to any HTA Services at any time. All information about Service Professionals is confidential and for your personal use only. If HTA determines or suspects, in its sole discretion, that you are misusing or attempting to misuse or circumvent the HTA services or system, or are using or attempting to use them for any inappropriate or non-personal purposes, including but not limited to activities such as hacking, scraping content, infiltrating, fraud, advertising, jamming or spamming, HTA reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to immediately terminate your access without notice and to initiate without notice appropriate legal actions or proceedings seeking all appropriate remedies, including but not limited to, consequential damages such as lost revenue, repairs, legal fees, costs and expenses, and to seek injunctions or other equitable remedies.
4. Proprietary Rights and License.
4.1 HTA or its licensors own all text, visual, audio, or digital material or other content of any kind on the Website (collectively, the “Content“), and all worldwide rights, title and interest therein, including copyrights, the HTA name and mark and all other trademarks or service marks owned by HTA (the “Marks“), patents, patent registration rights, trade secrets, know-how, and database rights relating to the Content, Website or Services.
4.2 Subject to this Agreement, HTA grants the User a personal, nonexclusive and nontransferable license to use and display the Content on any machine(s) of which you are the primary user. You may download and reprint a single copy of the materials from the Website for your own personal, noncommercial use only, provided you include all applicable notices and disclaimers. You may also share the information with your agents, so long as it is reasonably necessary to do so for non-commercial purposes. Any other use of the materials is strictly prohibited without prior written permission of the applicable rights holder(s). Except as provided above, you may not copy, electronically or otherwise transmit, redistribute, republish, modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, sublicense or otherwise provide the Content to any third party. You may not use or include any Content in any other print or electronic publication, service or product.
4.3 You may not use, adopt or attempt to register anywhere in the world any Mark, either alone or in combination with any other word or symbol, or any mark or name which is similar or confusingly similar thereto. You shall not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from any copies of the Content.
5. Links to Third Party or External Sites.
The links in the Website will let you leave HTA’s Website. The linked sites are not under the control of HTA and HTA is not responsible for the contents or functionality of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site, or any changes or updates to such sites. Your use of such third party linked sites, including the sites of Service Professionals, is governed by the terms and conditions, and privacy policies, of such linked sites. HTA is not responsible for webcasting or any other form of transmission received from any linked site. HTA is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by HTA of the site. Your use of third party sites is done solely at your own risk.
6. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES.
YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT THE WEBSITE, SERVICES AND CONTENT ARE PROVIDED STRICTLY ON AN “AS IS“ AND ON AN “AS AVAILABLE“ BASIS WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED STATUTORY OR OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF TITLE, OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, EXCEPT FOR THOSE WARRANTIES WHICH ARE INCAPABLE OF EXCLUSION, RESTRICTION, OR MODIFICATION UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. NEITHER HTA NOR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES, LICENSORS, OR SERVICE PROVIDERS WARRANTS THAT THE SERVICES, CONTENT OR WEBSITE WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, UNINTERRUPTED, WITHOUT ERROR, OR FREE OF VIRUSES, WORMS OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. AS A NEUTRAL VENUE THAT PROVIDES INFORMATION ABOUT TECHNOLOGY ORGANIZATIONS BASED UPON DATA AND MATERIALS SUPPLIED BY THIRD PARTIES, HTA MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS AS TO THE ACCURACY, QUALITY, RELIABILITY, SUITABILITY, COMPLETENESS, LEGALITY, TRUTHFULNESS, USEFULNESS, EFFECTIVENESS, OR TIMELINESS OF THE SERVICES, WEBSITE OR CONTENT. USE OF THE WEBSITE, SERVICES OR CONTENT IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK AND HTA ASSUMES NO LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY THEREFORE. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED ON OR PROVIDED THROUGH THIS WEBSITE OR LINKS TO THE WEBSITE IS INTENDED FOR GENERAL CONSUMER UNDERSTANDING AND EDUCATION ONLY AND IS NOT INTENDED TO BE A SUBSTITUTE FOR CONSUMER DUE DILIGENCE PRIOR TO HIRING A TECHNOLOGY FIRM.
7. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.
7.1 Release from Damages or Claims Relating to Website. NEITHER HTA (NOR HTA’s OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, SHAREHOLDERS, AFFILIATES, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, ASSIGNS, INDIRECT SUBSIDIARIES AND DIRECT SUBSIDIARIES) NOR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES, LICENSORS OR SERVICE PROVIDERS SHALL BE LIABLE, TO THE MAXIMUM ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW, FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE CONTENT OR WEBSITE INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, RELATING TO YOUR RELIANCE UPON, USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES, CONTENT OR WEBSITE, OR ANY ERRORS OR DEFECTS THEREIN OR ANY LOSSES, DAMAGES OR INJURIES RESULTING THEREFROM. NEITHER HTA NOR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES, LICENSORS, OR SERVICE PROVIDERS SHALL BE LIABLE, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, FOR ANY DAMAGES RESULTING FROM ACCESSING, ALTERING, OR DESTROYING CONTENT; OR DAMAGES FROM LOSS OF BUSINESS, PROFITS OR BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES. IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH ANY ASPECT OF THE WEBSITE, SERVICES OR CONTENT YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IS TO DISCONTINUE USING THE WEBSITE.
7.2 Release from Damages or Claims Relating to Service Professionals. Should you have a dispute with respect to any services provided by a Service Professional or the fees charged by any Service Professional, you must address such dispute with the Service Professional directly (although you may copy HTA on the fee disputes). YOU HEREBY AGREE TO RELEASE HTA (AND OUR OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, SHAREHOLDERS, AFFILIATES, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, ASSIGNS, INDIRECT SUBSIDIARIES AND DIRECT SUBSIDIARIES) FROM ANY DAMAGES OR CLAIMS (INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ) OF EVERY KIND OR NATURE, SUSPECTED AND UNSUSPECTED, KNOWN AND UNKNOWN, AND DISCLOSED OR UNDISCLOSED, ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH SUCH DISPUTES AND YOUR DEALINGS WITH SERVICE PROFESSIONALS.
8. Privacy Policy.
In connection with the use of the Website, you will be providing certain personal information, which will be managed in accordance with the terms of our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into and made part of these Terms and Conditions. HTA may also collect certain information about your use of the Website and may collect and monitor the IP address(es) you use to access the Website. We may also collect and maintain any contact information that you provide to us or the Service Providers, including your name, address, email address and telephone number. Please carefully review our Privacy Policy. By using the Services, and/or the Website , you agree to be bound by the terms of our Privacy Policy. HTA reserves the right, and you authorize HTA, to use information regarding your use of the Services and/or the Website and any other personal information provided by you, including as part of our communications with you, in accordance with the terms of our Privacy Policy.
9. Indemnification.
9.1 You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless HTA against all claims, demands, causes of action, losses, expenses, damages and costs, including any reasonable attorneys’ fees, resulting or arising from or relating to your breach of these Terms and Conditions, or your infringement or violation of any rights of another.
10. Mutual Agreement to Arbitrate.
10.1 YOU AND HTA ARE AGREEING TO GIVE UP ANY RIGHTS TO LITIGATE CLAIMS IN A COURT OR BEFORE A JURY, OR TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION WITH RESPECT TO A CLAIM. OTHER RIGHTS THAT YOU WOULD HAVE IF YOU WENT TO COURT MAY ALSO BE UNAVAILABLE OR MAY BE LIMITED IN ARBITRATION.
10.2 ANY CLAIM, DISPUTE OR CONTROVERSY (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, WHETHER PRE-EXISTING, PRESENT OR FUTURE, AND INCLUDING STATUTORY, CONSUMER PROTECTION, COMMON LAW, INTENTIONAL TORT, INJUNCTIVE AND EQUITABLE CLAIMS) BETWEEN CUSTOMER AND HTA, its officers, directors, shareholders, affiliates, employees, agents, assigns, indirect subsidiaries and direct subsidiaries, and any third party providing any products or services to you in connection with your purchase arising from or relating in any way to this Agreement, its interpretation or the breach, termination or validity thereof, the relationships which result from this Agreement (including relationships with third parties who are not signatories to this Agreement), SHALL BE RESOLVED EXCLUSIVELY AND FINALLY BY BINDING ARBITRATION. The arbitrator shall have exclusive authority to resolve any dispute relating to arbitrability and/or enforceability of this arbitration provision including any unconscionability challenge or any other challenge that the arbitration provision or the Agreement is void, voidable or otherwise invalid. The arbitration shall be administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) or JAMS (or a substitute forum if both are unavailable). Arbitration proceedings shall be governed by this provision and the applicable procedures of the selected arbitration administrator, including any applicable procedures for consumer-related disputes, in effect at the time the claim is filed. Consumer claimants (individuals whose transaction is intended for personal, family or household use) may elect to pursue their claims in small-claims court rather than arbitration. The arbitration or small-claims court proceeding will be limited solely to the customer’s individual dispute or controversy.
10.3 You agree to an arbitration on an individual basis. In any dispute, NEITHER USER NOR HTA, ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, SHAREHOLDERS, AFFILIATES, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, ASSIGNS, INDIRECT SUBSIDIARIES AND DIRECT SUBSIDIARIES SHALL BE ENTITLED TO JOIN OR CONSOLIDATE CLAIMS BY OR AGAINST OTHER CUSTOMERS, OR ARBITRATE OR OTHERWISE PARTICIPATE IN ANY CLAIM AS A CLASS REPRESENTATIVE, CLASS MEMBER OR IN A PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL CAPACITY. If any provision of this arbitration agreement is found unenforceable, the unenforceable provision shall be severed and the remaining arbitration terms shall be enforced (but in no case shall there be a class arbitration).
10.4 The arbitrator shall be empowered to grant whatever relief would be available in court under law or in equity. This transaction shall be governed by the Federal Arbitration Act 9 U.S.C. sec. 1-16 (FAA). Any award of the arbitrator(s) shall be final and binding on each of the parties, and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction. HTA will be responsible for paying any individual consumer’s arbitration/arbitrator fees. If you prevail on any claim that affords the prevailing party attorneys’ fees, the arbitrator may award reasonable fees to you under the standards for fee shifting provided by law. Information on AAA or JAMS and their applicable rules are available at the following numbers and URLs: American Arbitration Association, (800) 778-7879, www.adr.org; JAMS, (800) 352-5267, www.jamsadr.com.
10.5 Any and all controversies or claims arising out of or relating to this Agreement, or the breach thereof, shall be settled by one arbitrator under the auspices of the American Arbitration Association under its Commercial Arbitration Rules. Any such arbitration shall be conducted in Los Angeles, California. The arbitrator‘s award shall be final and binding and judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, since you recognize that breach of this Agreement may cause HTA irreparable injury, HTA, in addition to all other remedies, shall have the right to equitable or injunctive relief anywhere, as it deems fit, in the event of any actual or attempted breach of your obligations hereunder.
11. Choice of Law.
11.1 If the arbitration provisions set forth in sections 10.1 through 10.5, are enforced and a controversy proceeds to arbitration for resolution, this Agreement shall for all purposes be governed, interpreted, construed and enforced solely and exclusively in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without regard to conflicts of law provisions thereof, except with respect to the Arbitration provision (sections 10.1 through 10.5) which is governed, in all respects by the Federal Arbitration Act.
11.2 If the arbitration provisions set forth in sections 10.1 through 10.5, are not enforced and a controversy proceeds to court for adjudication, this Agreement shall for all purposes be governed by the law of the state in which the plaintiff resides, except with respect to the Arbitration provision (sections 10.1 through 10.5) which is governed, in all respects by the Federal Arbitration Act.
12. Modification of Agreement.
In order to remain flexible in its provision of the Services, HTA reserves the right to make changes to any agreement or policy posted on the Website at any time. Notice of discontinuance or changes to any agreement or policy may be posted on the Website. Continued use of the Website after the posting of any changes or modifications to any agreement or policy shall constitute agreement to be bound thereby.
13. Modification of Services.
HTA may modify, suspend, discontinue, delete or restrict the use of any portion of the Website at any time without notice or liability. HTA shall not be liable for any modification or discontinuance of the Website. HTA may deny access to the Website to any person at any time for any reason.
14. Term of Agreement.
This Agreement shall become effective immediately upon your use of the Website.
15. System Integrity.
You may not use any device or software to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper operation of the Website, Services or Content.
16. Severability and Survival.
If any provision of these Terms and Conditions shall be deemed unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions shall not be affected. When used in these Terms and Conditions, the term “including” shall be deemed to be followed by the words “without limitation.”
17. Headings.
The headings contained in this Agreement are not intended to be full and accurate descriptions of the contents of this Agreement and shall not affect the meaning or interpretation of this Agreement.
18. Failure to Enforce.
HTA‘s failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision identified herein or posted on the Website shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision unless agreed to in writing by HTA.
19. Merger.
This Agreement constitutes the entire and only Agreement between HTA and each user of this Site and/or the Services with respect to the subject matter of these Terms and Conditions and supersedes any and all prior or contemporaneous agreements, representations, warranties and understandings, written or oral, with respect to the subject matter of these Terms and Conditions.
Contact/Redress:
You may contact Customer Service at HTA via phone (424-272-8969) or adminhta @ htacertified.org with any questions you have regarding this privacy policy or, alternatively, if you suspect we have acted in a manner that does not comply with this policy.
Home Technology Association
22287 Mulholland Hwy, #282
Calabasas, CA 91302
