Please read all these terms and conditions.
As we can accept your order and make a legally enforceable agreement without further reference to you, you must read these terms and conditions to make sure that they contain all that you want and nothing that you are not happy with.
1. Introduction
1.1 These Terms and Conditions will apply to the purchase of the services and goods by you (the “Customer” or “you”). We are SURGICAL STUDY LIMITED whose trading name is FRCS Companion a company registered in England and Wales under number 13102571 with email address [email protected]; (the “Supplier” or “us” or “we”).
1.2 These are the terms and conditions on which FRCS Companion agrees to provide you with online access to the FRCS Companion products(s) to which you have subscribed (“FRCS Companion Materials”). By subscribing to and accessing FRCS Companion Materials, you agree to these terms and conditions. If you disagree with any of these terms or conditions you should stop using, accessing, subscribing to receive FRCS Companion Materials.
1.3 References in these terms and conditions to “FRCS Companion” (or “we”, “us” or “our”) are to Surgical Study Limited (company no. 13102571).
1.4 When subscribing to our website you must provide us with accurate information (including payment details, contact and other information) and it is your responsibility to update and maintain changes to that information through your user account. We are entitled to rely on any information you provide to us. All information received by us about you as a result of your subscription or your access to and use of FRCS Companion Materials will be used by us in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Information on our Website Cookies can be found in our Cookies section of the Privacy Policy.
2. Your Subscription
2.1 Contract with FRCS Companion. By submitting your payment and online order you are making an offer to FRCS Companion to buy a subscription to the relevant FRCS Companion Materials. Your offer will be accepted by us and a contract formed only when we have verified your payment details at which point we will confirm your subscription (by sending you a confirmation email) and provide you with access to the relevant FRCS Companion Materials for the subscription period set out in your order. If we are unable to accept your order, we will inform you of this and will not charge you for the subscription. By placing your order, you are requesting and agreeing that we may start your subscription and provide you with access to the relevant FRCS Companion Materials as soon as possible following our acceptance of your order. We may, at our discretion, allow access to FRCS Companion Materials prior to confirming your subscription but this does not confirm acceptance of your offer.
2.3 Payment details. You must provide us with complete and accurate payment information and details including your geographical location. By doing this, you are representing to us that: you are entitled to purchase the subscription; that you are not subject to any trade sanction; and that we may use such payment information and details in order to pay for the subscription (and for us to process such payment) for the period of your subscription. If you are entitled to a refund under these terms and conditions we will credit that refund to the card or other payment method you used to submit payment (unless it has expired, in which case we will contact you). If at any time we do not receive payment or your payment authorisation subsequently expires or is cancelled, we may immediately cancel your access to FRCS Companion Materials in accordance with section 2.8B below.
2.4 Price. The price you pay for your subscription (and the currency in which you pay) will be stated on the relevant web page of the Website from which you began the subscription ordering process. Such price will be re-confirmed to you as part of the ordering process. It is your responsibility to pay any charges that might be applied by your bank or payment provider in paying for your subscription, including in relation to any currency conversion required. Subject to these terms and conditions, in return for us making the relevant FRCS Companion Materials available to you, you agree to make the payments notified to you at the time of your purchase.
2.5 Incorrectly stated prices. While we try to ensure that all prices we display and quote are correct and accurate, errors may occur and, if they do, we will notify you of the mistake. If we incorrectly state a price, we are not obliged to provide you with a subscription at that price. If we do notify you of such a mistake, even after having accepted your offer to buy the subscription at the incorrect price, you may either pay the correct price or you can cancel the subscription (see section 2.8A below) in which case we will then refund any money you have paid us that relates to the unexpired portion of your subscription. If you do neither of these, we shall be entitled to cancel or suspend your subscription.
2.6 Taxes and Customs. Unless otherwise indicated, the prices we state for our subscriptions are inclusive of VAT (or another similar sales tax) unless otherwise indicated.
2.7 Renewals. Your subscription will not automatically renew at the end of each subscription period unless we have agreed otherwise in writing with you. If you do not renew your subscription it will expire at the end of your current subscription period and you will be deemed to have cancelled your subscription. We will remove historical Revision and Mock test question progress on cancelled subscriptions.
2.8A Cancellation: by you.
Please note that you have 14 days after the day we email you to confirm we accept your order to change your mind and cancel your subscription. You will be entitled to a full refund provided that you have not accessed more than 10 questions (includes questions in ‘Revision Chapters’ and ‘Mock Tests’) in the FRCS Companion Materials during that 14-day period. If you do access more than 10 questions in the FRCS Companion Materials within the 14-day period, you acknowledge that you are not entitled to a refund if you then change your mind and cancel your subscription.
You can cancel your subscription by contacting us at [email protected].
2.8B Cancellation: by FRCS Companion. FRCS Companion reserves the right to cancel your subscription if you do not make payment to us or if you breach other terms of the Agreement. Separately, we may cancel your subscription on giving you notice in writing where we cease to provide (or to be able to provide) FRCS Companion Materials to which you have subscribed (including where we cease publishing the relevant FRCS Companion Materials or no longer own such FRCS Companion Materials or have the right to make them available), or in the unlikely event that we cease to provide the services. FRCS Companion also retains the right to cancel your subscription should it, or any of its employees or contractors, receive abusive or derogatory comments or correspondence from you (or on your behalf) by any means. If we cancel for any of these reasons then we will refund you any amounts that you have paid us that relate to any remaining and unexpired period of your subscription.
2.8C Suspension: by FRCS Companion.
We may suspend the supply of products to you: (a) to deal with technical problems or make technical changes; (b) to update the FRCS Companion Materials to reflect changes in relevant laws and regulatory requirements; or (c) to make changes to the FRCS Companion Materials as notified by us to you. Where practicable, we will contact you in advance to tell you we will be suspending supply of the FRCS Companion Materials, unless the problem is urgent or an emergency or where we do not have a correct email address for you. If we have to suspend the supply of the FRCS Companion Materials for longer than 1 day we will either, at our discretion, adjust the price so that you do not pay for your subscription during the period when provision of the FRCS Companion Materials is suspended or we will extend the period of your subscription to cover the period when the provision of the FRCS Companion Materials was suspended (at no additional cost). Please also see section 2.8A on your rights to cancel should FRCS Companion have to suspend the services.
2.9 Your subscription is personal. Your subscription is personal to you and you may not share with, give, licence or transfer to, any other person any of your rights or entitlements under this Agreement (including to access and/or use FRCS Companion Materials under your user account using your password and/or user code). You agree to take responsibility for all access to and use of all FRCS Companion Materials that occurs under your user account and to prevent unauthorised use of it. Without further obligation to you, we may cancel or suspend your access to FRCS Companion Materials if you share your user account details. If you believe that your user account is being used by anyone else you should inform us immediately via [email protected]. We reserve the right at any time to verify and/or validate that you are a personal subscriber to our products and that you are accessing and using FRCS Companion Materials for your own personal use.
3. Your use of FRCS Companion Materials and the Website
3.1 FRCS Companion hereby grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and use the FRCS Companion Materials for your own personal, non-commercial purposes during the period of your subscription. You shall not: a) create derivative works of the FRCS Companion Materials (including any translation); b) remove, obscure, or change FRCS Companion’s or its licensor’s copyright notices, policies, disclaimers, terms or other means of identification; c) systematically download, copy, screenshot, electronically share or print any part of the FRCS Companion Materials; d) knowingly permit any third party to access or use the FRCS Companion Materials; e) include, mount or distribute any of the FRCS Companion Materials in other works (other than legally permitted quotations with an appropriate citation); or f) use or distribute the FRCS Companion Materials for commercial use.
If you use or attempt to use the service for purposes other than personal, individual revision, including but not limited to copying questions, answers or notes, or attempt to tamper, hack, modify or otherwise use the website in any way that is likely to compromise or corrupt the security or functionality of the service provided by FRCS Companion, your account will be terminated and you will be subject to damages and other penalties, including criminal prosecution where available.
3.2 Any material you upload to any user forum or via any news voting function will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary (unless otherwise stated on the site) and we have the right to use, copy, distribute and disclose to third parties any such material for any purpose. You agree not to submit material that (in FRCS Companion’s discretion): a) is unlawful, harassing, threatening or offensive; b) advertises or promotes products or services; or c) infringes on anyone’s rights of privacy. Forums are not actively moderated by FRCS Companion; if you wish to alert us of content which you feel is inappropriate you should contact us on [email protected].
3.3 If we need to make significant changes to the FRCS Companion Materials and/or these terms and conditions other than those set out above (for example, because we have decided to make changes to format and/or ‘look and feel’ and/or the functionality and type of our delivery platforms) we will notify you. If you do not agree to the changes we are proposing, you may then contact us to cancel your subscription before the changes take effect and receive a refund for any FRCS Companion Materials paid for but not received.
3.4 While FRCS Companion will (i) use reasonable skill and care in developing FRCS Companion Materials and in providing you with access to FRCS Companion Materials as part of your subscription and (ii) use reasonable efforts to remedy any faults or errors of which we become aware, FRCS Companion Materials are provided and made available to you via your subscription on an “as is” or “as available” basis. We make no promises in respect of the quality, completeness or accuracy of the information published, or that use of FRCS Companion Materials will guarantee success in any exam. The FRCS Companion Materials are intended for use as an exam revision or personal development resource by clinicians or other health professionals; however, it is your responsibility to make your own professional decisions and judgments and to independently verify any information that you may choose to rely upon in FRCS Companion Materials. Any reference to drug dosage should be checked with a formulary before prescribing.
3.5 FRCS Companion relies on contributors, contractors and third-party data providers to confirm the accuracy of information contained in the FRCS Companion Materials and therefore FRCS Companion cannot and does not warrant the accuracy of the FRCS Companion Materials (or any part of them). Readers should be aware that professionals in the field may have different opinions. Because of this fact and also because of regular advances in medical research FRCS Companion strongly recommends that all readers independently verify any information in the FRCS Companion Materials that they chose to rely upon. Ultimately it is the reader’s responsibility to make their own professional judgements.
3.6 All FRCS Companion Materials belong to FRCS Companion or its licensors who own all intellectual property rights (including copyright) in FRCS Companion Materials. No intellectual property rights in any FRCS Companion Materials are transferred to you.
3.7 On cancellation or expiry of your subscription, your access to FRCS Companion Materials shall cease.
3.8 If you or FRCS Companion terminates or cancels your subscription as provided under sections 2.8A and 2.8B above, all rights to access FRCS Companion Materials shall cease.
4. Our liability to you
4.1 FRCS Companion accepts no responsibility if you incur any loss or damage as a result of using FRCS Companion Materials outside the scope of these terms and conditions. Nor does FRCS Companion accept any responsibility in respect of any third-party products or services referred to or linked to in any FRCS Companion Materials or the Website.
4.2 FRCS Companion will be responsible only for loss or damage that is reasonably foreseeable as a result of its breach of these terms and conditions or otherwise as a result of a breach of a legal duty of care owed to you, and FRCS Companion’s total financial liability to you is limited to 115% of the price you have paid for your subscription. FRCS Companion will not be liable for business losses including loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption or loss of opportunity.
4.3 FRCS Companion is not responsible for, and is not liable to you if you suffer or incur, any loss as a result of matters beyond its reasonable control such as, by way of example (and not limited to), the provision or performance of public or private communications networks, internet services and/or connections, acts of god, industrial action, terrorist attack or threat. If, due to an event beyond our reasonable control, we are unable to provide access to FRCS Companion Materials for a consecutive period of more than 3 days, you may cancel your subscription and we will refund any amounts that you have paid us in advance that relate to any remaining period of your subscription.
4.4 FRCS Companion’s liability will not be limited or excluded in the case of death or personal injury directly caused by FRCS Companion’s negligence; nor is FRCS Companion’s liability otherwise excluded or limited for loss or damage that cannot as a matter of law be excluded or limited.
5. General
5.1 Transferring FRCS Companion’s rights and obligations. FRCS Companion may transfer its rights and obligations under this Agreement to another organisation upon notice to you.
5.2 Severability. Each of the provisions set out in this Agreement operates separately. If any court of competent jurisdiction determines that any of them are invalid, the invalidity will not affect the other provisions which shall remain in full force and effect (and construed accordingly to the extent necessary).
5.3 No waiver. If either party fails to exercise any right or remedy under this Agreement then such failure does not amount to a waiver of that right or remedy.
5.4 Entire Agreement. This Agreement constitutes the complete agreement between you and FRCS Companion relating to your use of FRCS Companion Materials.
5.5 Alternative Dispute Resolution. Alternative dispute resolution is a process where an independent body considers the facts of a dispute and seeks to resolve it, without having to go to court. If you are not happy with how we have handled a complaint, disputes may be submitted for online resolution to the European Commission Online Dispute Resolution Procedure.
5.6 Law & Jurisdiction. This Agreement will be subject to English law and both you and FRCS Companion agree that the courts of England will have non-exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute which may arise out of, or under, or in connection with this Agreement.
5.7 Questions & complaints. If you have any questions about your subscription, or any complaints please email [email protected].