Terms and conditions
1. Acceptance of Terms and Conditions
These Terms and Conditions apply to your use of Ability Forum. Please note that Ability Forum is intended for use by individuals not businesses.
Ability Forum is owned and operated by Ability First
Ability Forum is open for membership to individuals of age 15 years or over who are residents of Australia. Membership to Ability Forum is conditional upon acceptance and compliance with the terms, conditions, notices and disclaimers contained in these Terms and Conditions. The completion of the online registration process constitutes your acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
Ability First reserves the right to vary:
a) these Terms and Conditions at any time, without providing notice to you, by posting an updated version of the Terms and Conditions on the Ability Forum website. You should regularly check these Terms and Conditions for any amendments. If these Terms and Conditions are amended, you must comply with the updated Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree to the updated Terms and Conditions, you must cease using Ability Forum; and
b) specifications, rates, rewards, rules and terms and conditions of any element of Ability Forum at any time by advance notice to you, by either emailing you updated details or by providing updates on the Ability Forum website. Capitalised terms used in these Terms and Conditions are defined in clause 16 below ('Interpretation').
2. Conditions of Membership
You agree to the following conditions of membership to Ability Forum:
a) an individual may only apply for one membership;
b) each email address can only belong to one Member;
c) each mobile number can only belong to one Member;
d) you must not join or use Ability Forum on behalf of another individual, unless you that individual has a disability and you are the primary decision maker in relation to services and supports provided to that individual;
e) you must inform Ability First of any change in your personal details, including email address and street address by emailing forum@abilityfirst.org.au; and
f) you must not use (or attempt to use) Ability Forum:
i. for any unlawful or dishonest activity, or any activity prohibited by these Terms and Conditions;
ii. to access, transmit, publish or communicate material which:
1. is false, inaccurate, defamatory, offensive, inflammatory, obscene, unsuitable for minors, abusive, indecent, threatening, or otherwise unlawful;
2. is xenophobic, racist, abusive, harassing or hateful;
3. is invasive of a person’s privacy or constitutes personal abuse directed at other users;
4. contains a virus or other harmful code;
5. infringes a person's copyright or other rights; or
6. contains links to other sites that contain or promote the material identified in sub-sections (1) to (5) above;
iii. to obtain unauthorised access to (or damage, disrupt or interfere with the operation of) any computer, system, application, network or service;
iv. to transmit, publish or communicate bulk and / or unsolicited messages;
v. in any way that may bring negative exposure or harm to Ability First, its suppliers or other users of Ability Forum; or
vi. in any way that may cause Ability First, its suppliers or other users of Ability Forum to incur liability to a third party.
Ability First may ask you to cease any conduct which Ability First believes is contrary to your obligations under these Terms and Conditions. You must promptly comply with any such request.
3. Licence
All copyright and other intellectual property rights in Ability Forum (including all trademarks appearing on Ability Forum) are owned by Ability First and / or its licensors.
If you have your own validly issued (or validly registered) login details and password which may be used to access Ability Forum, Ability First grants you a revocable, non-transferable, non-exclusive licence to use Ability Forum on your Device for your own purposes, and to download and print out a copy of the information available from Ability Forum for your own personal use.
You must not (and must not attempt to):
a) except as permitted by the licence set out above, use or copy any part of Ability Forum without Ability First's written consent;
b) distribute, translate, modify or tamper with, any part of Ability Forum;
c) create derivative works of or from any part of Ability Forum;
d) sell, rent, lease, sub-license, assign, exchange or otherwise transfer your rights under these Terms and Conditions; or
e) permit or assist any person to engage in any act described in sub-sections (a) to (d) above.
4. Use of Ability Forum
You must provide your own internet access and Device in order to use Ability Forum. You are responsible for all internet access, data download and other network charges arising from your use of Ability Forum and you acknowledge and agree that Ability First has no responsibility or liability for those charges.
You are responsible for the operation and maintenance of your Device and for ensuring that Ability Forum is accessible from your Device.
You must use login details and a password to access Ability Forum. You must obtain (or register) those login details and password as required by Ability First and use them in the manner Ability First directs from time to time in order to access Ability Forum.
5. Performance of Ability Forum
Ability First will use reasonable endeavours to generally make Ability Forum available during Ability Forum's normal business hours. However, the availability of Ability Forum depends on various third party suppliers of both you and Ability First, and accordingly, Ability First does not warrant or guarantee that:
a) you will be able to use Ability Forum at any time; and
b) access to Ability Forum (or any other associated website) will be continuous, uninterrupted, secure, error free or free from viruses or other harmful code. However, Ability First will use reasonable endeavours in line with usual market practice to guard against viruses and harmful code.
6. Points and Payments to Members
Ability Forum will award an Active Member Reward Points each time the Active Member successfully complete a survey. The number of Reward Points offered depends on the length of the survey.
Reward Points have no cash value and you have no property rights or other legal interests in points earned, unless otherwise notified by Ability First.
Reward Points are only redeemable as vouchers or gift cards. The minimum redeemable value for Reward Points is AUD $20. This monetary limit is due to Ability First providing Reward Point redemptions through vouchers or gift cards.
You are solely responsible for ensuring the accuracy of information provided for the purposes of delivery of vouchers or gift cards.
Ability First reserves the right to reverse, cancel or adjust Reward Points awarded to you at any time where an incorrect amount has been issued without notice, including where this was due to a computer or system error, or the Reward Points were not issued in accordance with, or in breach of, these Terms and Conditions.
Ability First gives no warranty as to the continuing availability of Reward Points. Ability First may terminate or suspend Reward Points at any time. Ability First will give a minimum of one notification via email with 30 days' notice to you of such termination or suspension, except if Ability Forum ceases to operate as a business and/or has gone into receivership, liquidation or other form of administration, in which case Reward Points will cease immediately.
Reward Points will expire and no longer be available for use if you cease being an Active Member. It is your responsibility to redeem outstanding Reward Points before you cease being an Active Member. If your membership is terminated due to your breach of the Ability Forum Terms and Conditions, any unredeemed Reward Points will be forfeited.
If Ability Forum discontinues its Reward Points program, it is your responsibility to redeem outstanding Reward Points within the period specified in the notification email. Any unredeemed points below the AUD $20 threshold will be forfeited, due to this being the minimum value of gift cards utilised for redemptions.
Reward Points cannot be re-credited once they have expired.
7. Privacy
The Ability Forum Privacy Policy is incorporated into these Terms of Use.
In the event the Ability First and/or Ability Forum business is sold to a third party, you grant Ability First the right to transfer the personal information and other data and rights that Ability First has collected from you to that third party, and Ability First will not be required to obtain your prior consent or approval or to notify you of such a transfer.
8. Security
To use Ability Forum and its features as intended, you must enable Ability Forum and any other associated websites to use cookies and grant it any other permissions and access to your Device that it requires. If you do not grant these permissions and this access, you may be unable to use Ability Forum or some of its features.
Ability Forum uses the internet to provide services and information. By using Ability Forum, you acknowledge and agree to accept all risks associated with your use of the internet, including the potential exposure to viruses and harmful code which may affect your Device.
Ability First does not warrant or guarantee the security of Ability Forum. You are solely responsible for the security of your Device (including any data stored on that Device) and for using appropriate and up-to-date software on your Device to detect and manage the threat posed by viruses and other harmful code.
9. Consumer Guarantees
Under the Australian Consumer Law (and other similar legislation of Australian states and territories), certain statutory guarantees are conferred in relation to the supply of goods or services to a Consumer ("Consumer Guarantees").
Where you as a Consumer acquire goods or services under these Terms and Conditions and:
a) the goods or services are of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption ("PDH Goods or Services"), the operation of the Consumer Guarantees cannot be, and are not in these Terms and Conditions, excluded, restricted or modified; or
b) the goods or services are not PDH Goods or Services, Ability First limits its liability for a failure to comply with any Consumer Guarantee (other than where to do so would otherwise cause all or part of this clause to be void) to, at Ability First's option:
i. in the case of goods, repairing or replacing the goods or paying the cost of having the goods repaired or replaced; and
ii. in the case of services, re-supplying the services or paying the cost of having the services re-supplied,
and Ability First does not exclude or limit the operation of the Consumer Guarantees under any other provision of these Terms and Conditions or in any other manner and you agree it is fair and reasonable in all the circumstances for Ability First's liability to be so limited.
10. Disclaimer of Warranty
You acknowledge that you have not relied upon or been induced by any representation by Ability First and, except for the Consumer Guarantees, Ability First makes no warranty or representation as to:
a) the results that may be obtained through membership to Ability Forum;
b) the accuracy, reliability or otherwise of any information obtained through membership to Ability Forum;
c) the financial or other rewards which may be obtained through membership to Ability Forum;
d) Ability Forum or network being uninterrupted, timely or error free; and
e) the goods and / or services purchased or obtained through Ability Forum or network, including goods and / or services offered by third party advertisers, except where expressly indicated.
11. Limitation of Liability
You acknowledge and agree that Ability Forum is a free service and to continue to provide this service Ability First must limit its liability to you as set out in this clause and these Terms and Conditions.
To the extent permitted by law, Ability First excludes from these Terms and Conditions all representations, guarantees, conditions, warranties, rights, remedies, liabilities and other terms that may be conferred or implied by statute, general law or custom, except any guarantee or right conferred under any legislation (including the Australian Consumer Law), the exclusion of which would contravene legislation or cause part or all of this clause to be void.
Except for any liability under the Consumer Guarantees, Ability First excludes all responsibility and liability arising from or in connection with your use of Ability Forum, including, without limitation:
a) any and all actual or anticipated loss of profits, revenue, goodwill, savings, data, business opportunity, or expectation, and any and all indirect, special, consequential, punitive or exemplary Losses; and
b) any other Losses.
Ability First is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone, network or lines, computer on-line systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software or technical problems, including any injury or damage to your, or any other person's, computer related to or resulting from participation in or downloading any material in this reward scheme.
You agree to indemnify Ability First and its related parties, officers, agents and employees ("Indemnified Parties") in respect of any claim, action, damage, loss, liability, cost, charge, expense, outgoing or payment (including legal expenses (on a full indemnity basis)) arising from or relating to:
a) your use of Ability Forum or any content you submit through Ability Forum;
b) a breach of these Terms and Conditions by you; and
c) your breach of any applicable law.
12. Unauthorised Use
As a Member, you are responsible for the use of your membership account. You must immediately notify Ability First of any unauthorised use of your account if you become aware of such unauthorised use. You must keep your membership login and password secure and confidential at all times and not disclose them to any person, or authorise any other person to use Ability Forum using your login details or password. If you breach your obligations under this clause and another person uses your login details or password for Ability Forum, you are responsible and liable for the use that person makes of Ability Forum with your login details or password, as if that use of Ability Forum was by you. You agree that you will not commit or attempt to commit ANY acts, including to earn or redeem Reward Points, in a manner that conflicts with these Terms and Conditions.
In addition to the terms of the respective surveys and forums offered by or through Ability Forum, you agree that you will not provide or submit false information and will not tamper with such surveys and forums in any way.
13. Indemnification
The member indemnifies and keeps indemnified Ability First and its officers, employees, agents, subsidiaries and affiliates against all claims (including third party claims), demands, damages, costs (including legal costs), penalties or suits arising out of or consequential upon the members use of the service or the Ability Forum service.
14. Termination
Ability First reserves the right to terminate your membership:
a) if you breach these Terms and Conditions; or
b) without cause or reason.
You may terminate your membership to Ability Forum, without cause or reason, using the "unsubscribe" option provided in any of the email messages sent to you.
15. Miscellaneous
Ability First and / or Ability Forum does not waive a right, power or remedy in connection with these Terms and Conditions if Ability First and / or Ability Forum fails to exercise, or there is a delay in exercising, the right, power or remedy.
These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New South Wales. You submit to the jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales and the courts having appeal from them.
16. Interpretation
In these Terms and Conditions:
a) "Ability First" means Ability First Australia Ltd ABN 18 098 656 707;
b) "Ability Forum" means the website operated under that name by Ability First from time to time, and includes any services provided and information obtained through that website, including email invitations to participate in surveys and forums;
c) "Active Member" means an individual who has registered for the Ability Forum and who has not unsubscribed;
d) "Australian Consumer Law" has the meaning given to that term by section 4 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth);
e) "Consumer" has the meaning given to that term by section 3 of the Australian Consumer Law;
f) "Device" means your own internet-enabled device that is compatible with Ability Forum and has a current and working internet connection;
g) "Losses" means any liabilities, losses, damages, costs and expenses (including legal costs and expenses, regardless of whether incurred or awarded) arising in contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise;
h) "Member" means an individual that has subscribed to Ability Forum through the online registration process and has therefore accepted these Terms and Conditions;
i) "Privacy Policy" means Ability Forum's privacy policy, as amended from time to time and published at website accessible using the address http://www.abilityforum.org.au
(or any replacement website);
j) "Reward Points" means the reward points that Ability First allocates to you in return for your time spent completing surveys and / or posting in forums that are offered by Ability Forum; and
k) "Terms and Conditions" means these terms and conditions of use.