Upnetic® Terms of Service

This Terms of Service Agreement (the “Agreement”) is by and between Upnetic®, a DBA of FTSBN, Inc., and the person acknowledging this agreement. By using the content and/or services presented on this website, the user is acknowledging his/her acceptance of the terms stated in this Agreement. This Agreement covers both member and non-member use of the Upnetic® site, including any content or services accessible through such site. Upnetic® may change the Terms of Service from time to time. By continuing to use the Service following such modifications, you agree to be bound by such modifications to the Terms of Service. The use by you of any content or services accessible through this site may be subject to your acceptance of separate agreements with Upnetic® or third parties.

General Terms and Conditions

You acknowledge and agree that use of any content or service provided through this site is entirely at your own risk. Services and content are provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, and Upnetic® and its suppliers disclaim any and all warranties, including, but not limited to: (1) any warranties concerning access to the service, the availability, accuracy, usefulness of content, products or services and (2) any warranties of title, warranty of non-infringement, warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Upnetic® does not warrant that the service will be free of downtime. In fact, it is expected that there will be periods when the web site will be inaccessible due to maintenance or technical problems. Upnetic® does not warrant that the service is free from bugs, viruses, errors, or other program limitations nor does Upnetic® warrant access to the Internet or to any other service or content through the service. THE ENTIRE LIABILITY OF UPNETIC® AND ITS REPRESENTATIVES (AS DEFINED BELOW) FOR ANY REASON SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT PAID BY THE CUSTOMER/MEMBER FOR THE RELATED SERVICES OR CONTENT PURCHASED FROM UPNETIC®, ITS AUTHORIZED RESELLER OR ITS SERVICE PROVIDERS. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, UPNETIC® AND ITS AFFILIATES, LICENSORS, THIRD-PARTY CONTENT OR SERVICE PROVIDERS, DISTRIBUTORS, DEALERS OR SUPPLIERS (“REPRESENTATIVE”) ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO: DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS, LOSS OF PROFITS OR INVESTMENT, OR THE LIKE), WHETHER BASED ON BREACH OF CONTRACT, BREACH OF WARRANTY, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), PRODUCT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF UPNETIC® OR ITS REPRESENTATIVES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, AND EVEN IF A REMEDY SET FORTH HEREIN IS FOUND TO HAVE FAILED ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION AND/OR EXCLUSION OR LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. The limitations of damages set forth above are fundamental elements of the bargain between Upnetic® and you. Upnetic® would not be able to provide its content and services to you without such limitations. If you are dissatisfied with any portion of the service or content, your sole and exclusive remedy is to discontinue using the service and its related web sites.

Upnetic® has no obligation to monitor any of your content posted on the Services. However, Upnetic® does reserve the right to review materials posted on the Service and to remove any materials in its sole discretion. Upnetic® reserves the right to terminate your access to any or all of the Services at any time without notice for any reason whatsoever. Upnetic® also reserves the right at all times to disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, or to edit, refuse to post or to remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, in our sole discretion.

Indemnification

Upon a request by us, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold us and our affiliate parties harmless from all liabilities, claims, and expenses, including attorneys’ fees that arise from your violation of these Terms of Service, Privacy Policy or any of the other governing documents, or other negligent or wrongful conduct. We reserve the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, in which event you will cooperate with us in asserting any available defenses.

Miscellaneous

You agree that the Service shall be deemed a passive interactive service based solely in Georgia and shall not give rise to personal jurisdiction over Upnetic®, either specific or general, in jurisdictions other than Georgia. These Terms of Service, together with the Privacy Policy and the other governing documents, shall all be governed and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of Georgia, without regard to conflicts of law principles.

Any cause of action or claim you may have with respect to any of the foregoing matters must be commenced within one (1) year after the claim or cause of action arises or such claim or cause of action is barred.

You and Upnetic® agree that any dispute or claim arising from or relating to the Terms shall be finally settled by arbitration, using the English language, administered by the American Arbitration Association (the “AAA”) under its Commercial Arbitration Rules then in effect (those rules are deemed to be incorporated by reference into this section). Our arbitration will be handled by a sole arbitrator in accordance with those rules. Judgment on the arbitration award may be entered in any court that has jurisdiction. Any arbitration under the terms will take place on an individual basis: class arbitrations and class actions are not permitted. You understand that by agreeing to the Terms, you and Upnetic® are each waiving the right to trial by jury or to participate in a class action. Notwithstanding the foregoing, each party shall have the right to bring an action in a court of proper jurisdiction for injunctive or other equitable or conservatory relief, pending a final decision by the arbitrator.

These Terms of Service, together with the Privacy Policy and the other governing documents, constitute the entire agreement between you and Upnetic® concerning the Service. If any provision of any such document is deemed invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions thereof, which shall remain in full force and effect. Upnetic®’s failure to insist upon or enforce strict performance of any provision of these Terms of Service or any of the other governing documents shall not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right. Neither the course of conduct between the parties nor trade practice shall act to modify any provision of these Terms of Service. Upnetic® may assign its rights and duties under these Terms of Service or any of the other governing documents to any party at any time without notice to you.

Most communication between Upnetic® and you will be sent and received electronically. You agree that all electronic communication between Upnetic® and you shall satisfy any legal requirements that such communications be in writing.

Any rights Upnetic® not expressly granted herein are reserved.

Membership in Upnetic®

Upnetic® maintains a web site that contains content and offers structured to appeal to the small business owner. Much of the content and many of the offers are available to anyone viewing the site. Some of the content and services are, however, restricted to members. Memberships are sold directly by Upnetic® and can be purchased directly from the site under terms disclosed in the membership portion of the site. The terms and pricing are subject to change at the discretion of Upnetic®, and Upnetic® makes no representation that it will adjust the membership fees of any member for subsequent price adjustments.

Memberships are also sold through various “bundling” arrangements, where the membership is included as a part of a larger offer and paid for by the sponsor of that larger offer. Such membership sales are negotiated with the business partner sponsoring the bundled membership. Upnetic® is responsible only for the portion of the bundle delivered through this site and has no input, control or responsibility for the other products or services included as part of the bundle.

Ask Your Question

Upnetic® provides a mechanism for its members to ask questions related to business matters of the type that would typically be asked of a business consultant. Upnetic®, through its employees, business partners and a network of consultants responds to those questions posed by members. Upnetic® has a stated objective to respond to each question within two business days, however, there is no assurance or warranty that every question can or will be answered within that time frame.

The scope of the “Ask Your Question” service is generally limited to responses that can be provided by a consultant with no more than one hour’s research into the specific subject matter. It is not the intent of this service to provide in-depth research. Instead, the service is intended to provide a sounding board, feedback on ideas and suggestions on finding solutions. Our consultants often do limited amounts of research using a variety of tools, including but not limited to our archive of past questions, artificial intelligence tools, and verified sources across the web in order to respond to specific questions. However, there is no promise that we will research any particular question that we determine, in our sole discretion, to be beyond the scope of this service.

Upnetic® does not provide legal advice or other advice that can only be provided by licensed professionals, in which case you should contact a qualified attorney. Upnetic® partners with Legal Club of America (“Legal Club”). Legal Club is not a law firm, insurance coverage or a provider of legal services. Legal Club has a network of participating attorneys and will place members of Upnetic® in contact with an attorney. Participating attorneys are not employees of Legal Club or Upnetic®. Participating attorneys are solely responsible for their legal services in accordance with special fee guidelines established with Legal Club. Such suggestions or referrals to other web sites are not to be considered as legal advice. Legal matters should be referred to a competent attorney. No attorney / client relationship shall exist at any time between you and Upnetic®.

Upnetic® exists to assist its members with running and growing their small businesses. Upnetic® reserves the right to screen out and reject questions that are, in our sole discretion, not related to running and growing a small business. Questions that are related to personal rather than business activities or that are related purely to large company or government matters may be returned unanswered.

Upnetic® reserves the right to limit the number of times that it will respond to the same question from a member. The limitation shall be based upon a standard of reasonableness that is determined by Upnetic® in its sole discretion.

Members who attempt to jam the system with questions that, in our sole discretion, appear intended to damage our ability to respond to other members rather than providing needed assistance to the member making the request, will be returned unanswered and we further reserve the right to terminate the membership of anyone attempting to damage our system of response.

Members who ask questions do so with the understanding that responses are provided based on the knowledge and experience of the consultant answering the question. Many responses reflect the opinions of the responding consultant. Many questions have no clear and obvious answer and any response will, of necessity, be based on the judgment and opinion of the consultant making the response. Many questions are also subject to misinterpretation. Our consultants have neither the opportunity nor the ability to determine and review all of the relevant facts. Therefore, Upnetic® cannot and does not warrant that its answers are “correct.” In fact, Upnetic® acknowledges that its responses may contain errors or may misinterpret the question that was asked. There is a further risk that reference materials to which we refer a member relative to a particular subject matter may contain inaccurate or even offensive material. This is particularly true when web sites to which we refer members contain other links to other web sites, which we have not researched and cannot research. The member asking the question bears responsibility for assessing the validity and applicability of the response before using the information provided in the response.

Our goal is to acquaint the user with as much information as is available to us at what we determine, in our sole discretion, to be a reasonable cost. We work with the information to present it in a manner that will be usable by the typical small business.

Responses from the Upnetic® resource center carry the following disclaimer:

  • By using this service you agree that in consideration of Upnetic®’s furnishing management or technical assistance that you waive all claims against Upnetic®, its personnel or business partners arising from this assistance.
  • No attorney / client relationship shall exist at any time between you and Upnetic®. The above information is provided as assistance based on information, which you have provided to Upnetic®. Upnetic® has not undertaken to confirm the accuracy of such information nor perform thorough investigation in providing a response. You should not rely on this response as authoritative in making business decisions; this service is not a substitute for counsel with respect to specific matters of law, tax, investment, or other disciplines where review of the facts, circumstances and relevant rules could and should be undertaken.

Upnetic® attempts to provide meaningful assistance, but the information provided in its responses may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Upnetic®’s assistance is provided without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. In no event shall Upnetic® be liable for any special, incidental, indirect or consequential damages of any kind, or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether or not advised of the possibility of damage, under any theory of liability, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of information provided by way of this assistance program.

Please be advised that our editorial staff may use portions of your question for any of our publications. Your name will not appear without your permission. If you object to our publishing your question, please contact us immediately.

Member Standards of Conduct 

Upnetic® is committed to fostering a respectful, welcoming, and harassment-free environment for everyone, including our members and employees. We expect all members to adhere to reasonable standards of professional decorum while interacting with our employees. This includes all forms of communication and interaction. 

The company has a zero-tolerance policy against the following behaviors that it deems, in its sole judgment, to be abusive: 

  • Verbal Abuse: Including, but not limited to, the use of derogatory, demeaning, or offensive language, threats, excessive shouting, and unwarranted personal criticisms. 
  • Physical Abuse: Any form of physical threat or harm. 
  • Sexual Harassment: Including unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. 
  • Discrimination: Including offensive remarks or conduct related to a person's race, religion, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic. 
  • Cyberbullying: Sending or posting harmful or malicious content about a team member through digital platforms. 
  • Stalking: Repeated unwanted contact or surveillance that causes fear or distress. 

If a member engages in one or more of the abusive behaviors outlined above, or abusive behaviors similar in nature to those listed above, the company, in its sole judgment, reserves the right to terminate the membership of the offending member, effective immediately, without any obligation for compensation or refund for any losses incurred due to the membership termination. 

Member Benefits

Upnetic®, based on ongoing negotiations with third party providers, provides member benefits. Those benefits are subject to change at the discretion of the providers, and there can be no assurance that any particular member benefit will be available at a given time in the future. Changes in member benefits will be documented in the “Member Benefits” section of the site as soon as practical after we become aware of the changes. The member benefits will in some cases be limited versions of commercially available products or services. The versions that are offered for sale may include additional functionality and there may be related products or services that are available for a fee. When Upnetic® members choose to purchase an upgraded version or additional services, Upnetic® may be paid a referral fee.

Business Forms and Documents

Use of these forms and documents is not a substitute for legal advice. The information provided is intended for use within the United States and Canada only. Effort is made to keep the information on the Site accurate and up to date. However, there can be no guarantee that all the information on the Site is completely current or suitable for any particular legal situation. The law will vary depending on your jurisdiction and the specifics of your case. Because the law is a personal matter, the general information we provide cannot fit every circumstance. You are directed to consult a licensed lawyer in your area to get specific advice for your problem.

Nothing on the Site should be considered legal advice.

No attorney-client or other professional relationship of any nature is created by participation in any area or offering at the Site. Do not act on or rely on any information from the Site without consulting with a licensed attorney, as this material is not a substitute for obtaining appropriate legal advice from competent, independent legal counsel in the relevant jurisdiction.

Learning Lab

Upnetic® offers video based business learning that consist of short segments on focused topics relevant to small business owners. The sessions are intended to stimulate thought and encourage business owners to ask questions that lead to positive change. The presenters are speaking based on their own unique viewpoint, based on their knowledge and experience. There is no assurance that a particular coaching session will provide information that is useful to every Upnetic® member. The content should not be taken as guidance or advice to a specific business. It is the responsibility of each member to listen to the presentation and determine whether any suggested actions or philosophies make sense within their own business.

Services and content are provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, and Upnetic® and its suppliers disclaim any and all warranties, including, but not limited to: (1) any warranties concerning access to the service, the availability, accuracy, usefulness of content, products or services and (2) any warranties of title, warranty of non-infringement, warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Upnetic® does not warrant that the service is free from bugs, viruses, errors, or other program limitations nor does Upnetic® warrant access to the Internet or to any other service or content through the service.

BizPro | Learning Powered by Upnetic.com

In conjunction with ADP®, Upnetic’s BizPro training platform, BizPro | Learning Powered by Upnetic.com, offers businesses the ability to educate and empower their entire team with a wide selection of video-based training and education courses. The BizPro learning library can help businesses streamline employee training, implement HR best practices, provide ongoing professional development, reduce training costs, improve employee skills, and more. Courses can be added or removed to create a custom training program for the team, and each team member’s progress can be tracked with detailed performance insights. The business member can keep records of every course assigned to its employees, and store certificates for state-mandated trainings. On courses that require periodic renewals, the BizPro system will automatically notify enrolled employees when a deadline is approaching, and help the business stay in compliance.

Employees engaging in the on-line training are advised that their personal information and the results of the training will be shared with their instructors only as necessary, with ADP® (if the enrollment is through ADP®’s HR Pro), and with their employer for purposes of conducting the training and reporting the training results for certification purposes, and that any other use is subject to Upnetic’s Privacy Policy.

Manage My Minutes

Upnetic® offers an online entity management platform aimed at helping small business owners manage important information relating to their legal entities in order ensure their businesses maintain compliance with the numerous reporting requirements, manage and communicate meeting minutes, as well as provide authorized users with secure access to the company’s records. Upnetic’s Manage My Minute platform offers businesses the ability to track and manage meetings in order to ensure corporate governance procedures are maintained, draft documents relating to entity management such as bylaws and corporate changes, as well as maintain officer registrations.

The use of the Manage My Minute platform should not be considered as legal advice. Do not act on or rely on any information from the Site without consulting with a licensed attorney, as this material is not a substitute for obtaining appropriate legal advice from competent, independent legal counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. No attorney-client or other professional relationship of any nature is created by participation in any area or offering at the Site.

Links to Third Party Sites

The links from our site that go to other sites are for convenience only, and do not imply that we endorse or approve of those sites. We have no control over the content found on other sites and make no warranties as to the accuracy or adequacy of any information found at such sites are made. Similarly we are not responsible for information found on or through our site which is generated by third parties. Upnetic® is not responsible for any loss, injury, claim, liability, or damage related to your use of the site, whether from errors or omissions in the content of our site or any other linked sites, from the site being down or from any other use of the site. Your use of these sites is at your own risk.

Google Ads by Upnetic Services

By using Google Ads by Upnetic, you acknowledge and agree that Upnetic may perform the following Google Ads Campaign Optimization services on your behalf:

  • Ad copy writing/editing
  • Keyword inclusion/exclusion
  • Demographic (i.e., age, gender, HHI) targeting optimization
  • Device (i.e., desktop, mobile, tablet) targeting optimization
  • Ad scheduling (i.e., time & day optimization)
  • Geo-location targeting optimization

You will be granted standard administrative access to your Google Ads Manager account, thereby enabling your ability to edit, modify, or manage the Services that Google Ads by Upnetic performs on your behalf. You are responsible for what you do with your Google Account, including taking reasonable steps to keep your Google Account secure. You acknowledge that edits or modifications that you make to the Services that Google Ads by Upnetic performs on your behalf may result in charges by Google or changes in campaign performance, and that Google Ads by Upnetic is not responsible for any such charges or changes in performance.

Additionally, our support team can manage/edit your monthly budget, but only with your consent. For instance, if you decide to spend $300/month, Upnetic cannot increase that budget to $500/month, but it may advise you to do so.

When advertisers elect to pause their campaigns or have their accounts paused by lapsed payment or suspension due to policy disapproval, among other reasons, Upnetic reserves the right to remove these advertisers from its management account after three (3) months of inactivity, effectively canceling their subscription with Google Ads by Upnetic.

Terms

Google advertising cost and performance

Upnetic will provide you a monthly performance report that will include data on costs, clicks, and impressions at the Google advertising account level. We will let you know the exact amount charged by Google.

We want to provide Google advertising cost and performance reports in a way that makes it easy for you to access the reports, and we will do that via our website.

 

Google’s guide to working with third parties like us

We want you to know what you can expect when working with a third-party partner like us rather than directly with Google. Google has prepared a report, called the “Advertiser guide: Working with third parties", and you can see it by clicking on this link. Please read it so that you can know what to expect from us and your rights if you feel something is not going right.

 

Google Ads or AdWords Express customer IDs

We know that it is important for advertisers to have the ability to contact Google directly if you have concerns about us. To allow Google to properly investigate and assist you, we will provide you with the customer IDs for your Google Ads accounts upon request.

 

About Google’s policies

It's important that you familiarize yourself with and keep up to date on Google's policies.

 

About Google’s Advertising Program Monitoring Policies

In General:

In order to evaluate and improve the quality of Google Advertising Programs, Google may monitor and record a sample of telephone calls, text messages, live chat, and other communications initiated through the Programs (e.g., click-to-call and click-to-message ads) (“Communications”).

Google has a set of “Supplemental Terms” that you will see within your Google account settings with regard to this monitoring process. Included in those Terms are requirements that you notify anyone (that is anyone in your company, a potential customer, or anyone in between) who uses click-to-call and click-to-message ads, that this monitoring and recording may take place, that they are specifically consenting to Google doing so, and that if they do not want to participate, they may not be able to make use of the Communications.

Special Note Regarding the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”)

While you and your potential customers will always be given the opportunity to opt out of this monitoring process, you should be aware that if you are (or become) a Covered Entity or Business Associate under HIPAA or are advertising on behalf of a third party that is (or becomes) a Covered Entity or Business Associate under HIPAA, and you wish to proceed with use of Communication Features, you should not accept Google’s standard Supplemental Terms. Instead, you should reach out to your Google account representative or Google support to request exclusion from monitoring and recording of Communications.

Neither Google nor Upnetic make any representations that these Communication Features satisfy HIPAA requirements.

 

Report a violation of third-party policy

Do you think we are violating this policy? Let Google know by going here: Report a violation of third-party policy