Global Volunteer Network - Legal Terms of Service

PLEASE READ THIS WEBSITE LEGAL INFORMATION NOTICE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS SITE.

By using this site, you signify you have read and accepted these terms of use. If you do not agree to these terms of use, do not use the site.

The materials in this site are provided "as is" and without warranties of any kind either expressed or implied. To the fullest extent permissible and subject and pursuant to applicable law, GVN disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.

GVN does not warrant or make any representations regarding the correctness, accuracy, reliability, or otherwise of the materials in this site or the results of their use.

International travel is inherently risky. By becoming a volunteer, you acknowledge and accept these risks and those associated with living and working in developing countries. As a volunteer you must appreciate and understand that some of these activities may be outside of your personal insurance cover. GVN is not liable (to the maximum extent of the law) for any loss or harm you may suffer, including but not limited to loss caused by:

• delay;
• bodily injury or death;
• emotional upset;
• damage to or loss of property;
• war or terrorism.

GVN reserves the right to use feedback from volunteers for website material.

The Global Volunteer Network is not liable for any errors or mistakes made by partner organizations. All disputes are governed by the law of New Zealand.

This site is presented solely for the purpose of promoting GVN services. This site is controlled and operated by GVN from its offices in Wellington, New Zealand. GVN makes no representation that materials in the site are appropriate or available for us in other locations. Those who choose to access this site from other locations do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local law are applicable.

Communication

Email:

Emails from GVN staff contain information intended solely for the addressee, which is confidential or private in nature. If you are not the intended recipient, you may not peruse, use, disseminate, distribute or copy this message or any file attached to this message. Any such unauthorised use, is prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received an email from GVN in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail and thereafter delete the original message from your machine. Furthermore, the information contained in the email, and any attachments thereto, is for information purposes only and may contain the personal views and opinions of the author, which are not necessarily the views and opinions of Global Volunteer Network, or any of its associated entities ("GVN Foundation "). Global Volunteer Network therefore does not accept liability for any claims, loss or damages of whatsoever nature, arising as a result of the reliance on such information by anyone. Whilst all reasonable steps are taken to ensure the accuracy and integrity of information transmitted electronically and to preserve the confidentiality thereof, Global Volunteer Network accepts no liability or responsibility whatsoever if information or data is, for whatsoever reason, incorrect, corrupted or does not reach its intended destination.

Voice Broadcasts, Text Messaging, Phone Calls

In applying to volunteer you agree to our terms of service which include receiving automated voice broadcasts, text messages, and phone calls from GVN.

Required Documentation

GVN requires certain information from volunteers throughout the process leading up to program arrival. This may include details about the volunteer's skills and experience, a police clearance, legal waiver, etc. If this information is not submitted or reveals a volunteer's lack of suitability for the program, GVN reserves the right to halt the placement process until satisfactory changes are made. If the necessary changes cannot be made, this may result in loss of placement.

Application Fee

The US$350 application fee, which secures your placement, is fully transferable. This allows the volunteer the flexibility to switch, transfer, or postpone your placement within a five-year period from date of payment. The application fee is non-refundable.

GVN reserves the right to revise the application fee. All application fee revisions will be announced at least seven days in advance via the website. Please note that the application fee may not be the same as when you applied.

"Early Bird" Pre-paid application fees

A full refund of your US$350 "Early Bird" pre-paid application fee will be issued only under the following circumstance:

When an "Early Bird" pre-paid application fee is paid at the time the application was submitted (ie prior to GVN processing your application form and emailing your letter of acceptance), and GVN is unable to place you into the program you have applied for, at the dates of your choice (as per your application form).

Program Fees

80% of the program fee is refundable until one calendar month before the 1st of the month you are due to begin your program. For example a volunteer with 15 July 2010 as their start date would need to submit their refund request form by the last day of May 2010 to be eligible for a refund.

Program Fees paid directly to our partner organizations (e.g. Be The Change program) are non-refundable.

All requests for program fee refunds must be faxed, posted, or scanned as an e-mail attachment to the Global Volunteer Network with your signature at the bottom. Phone calls and e-mails are not acceptable. You will be notified of Global Volunteer Network receiving your refund request form within two working days. Should you not be emailed in regards to your request, the assumption should be made that the request form was not received. Global Volunteer Network not responsible for email, fax or mail that is not received. is

Refunds are only issued on the Tuesday of each week. Once your refund has been processed you will receive confirmation of the refund being issued.

Here is the form you need to use to request a program fee refund: http://www.globalvolunteernetwork.org/pfeerefund.pdf.

GVN can refund no more than 10% of the total number of program fees received in any given month. For example, out of 80 program fees received the first 8 approved refund requests would be automatically refunded. Subsequent refunds are processed in the following month in order of the date they were requested.

Program fees paid through Global Volunteer Network by means of bank or wire transfer will need to have the transaction costs covered by the payee. We reserve the right to revise the program fee. All program fee revisions will be announced at least seven days in advance via the website. Program fees are due 8 weeks prior to the 1st of the month volunteers are due to start. Failure to make payment by this time may result in loss of placement.

Insurance

The insurance policy is refundable until 1 day before your policy begins.
All refunds will be made less the costs incurred in processing the refund such as bank charges.

All requests for insurance refunds must be faxed or posted to the Global Volunteer Network with your signature at the bottom. Phone calls and e-mails are not acceptable. You will be notified of Global Volunteer Network receiving your application for a refund of the insurance policy within two working days. Should you not be emailed in regards to your request the assumption should be made that the request form was not received. Global Volunteer Network is not responsible for fax or mail that is not received. Refunds are only issued on Wednesdays of each week and you would receive confirmation of the refund being issued also.

GVN can refund no more than 10% of the total number of insurance fees received in any given month. For example, out of 10 insurance fees received the first would be automatically refunded. Subsequent refunds are processed in the following month in order of the date they were requested. All refunds will be made less the costs incurred in processing the refund such as bank charges.

Here is the form you need to use to request a refund: http://www.globalvolunteernetwork.org/insurance/refund.pdf.

GVN will reimburse one lucky volunteer their program/trek fee. All GVN volunteers who have their placement confirmed and pay their program/trek fee between 1 July 2009 and 6 December 2009 will be eligible for the prize draw. The prize will be drawn on Friday 11 December 2009, and the winner notified by phone and email. The prize draw result will be published in our December 2009 Newsletter.

The prize draw winner will be fully reimbursed for the program/trek fee they paid directly to GVN. (Please note reimbursement of the program/trek fee does not include insurance, carbon, or t-shirt payments that may have been made with your program/trek fee payment; nor the 'Children's Fund Fee' payable with the treks.)

During July 2009, GVN is offering a US$100 discount voucher towards your program fee. The voucher is available for all volunteers who confirm their placement (by payment of the application fee) during the promotion month. Vouchers must be claimed at the time you make your program fee payment; we are unable to issue a voucher refund at a later date.

If you wish to subscribe to our newsletter(s), we will use your name and email address to send the newsletter to you. If you do not wish to receive the newsletter, we provide a link on each newsletter that allows you to unsubscribe.

Information on GVN's application forms and extra details forms online is collected solely for internal use within GVN and its partner organizations. Your e-mail and other details will be passed onto other volunteers who are in the same group as you, so that you can make contact before you meet; if you would prefer that this did not happen, please let us know.

We gather certain statistical information about visitors to our website, including IP addresses, browser type, ISP, referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data. We use this information, which does not identify individual users, to analyze trends, to administer the site, to track users' movements around the site and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. This data is collected solely for internal use within GVN

Online payments are processed through a secure third party site, and GVN does not receive sensitive information such as credit card information.

You warrant to us that all information provided, in electronic, written or oral communication to GVN, is true and correct. GVN will not be liable or responsible from any consequences that result if false information is provided.

You acknowledge that GVN and the GVNF may utilise photographs, video and other media that may be taken of you, statements that you may make during your time on the program, or words that you write. You consent to this use and waive all rights to compensation.

By downloading a GVN RSS Feed from the Global Volunteer Network ("GVN") website you agree to be bound by the terms set out below (the "Standard Licence Terms"). These Standard Licence Terms may be updated by GVN from time to time. Please review these Standard Licence Terms each time you download a GVN Feed. Your download and/or use of a GVN Feed indicates your agreement to these Standard Licence Terms.

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Subject to the terms of this Agreement, GVN grants you a non-transferable, non-sublicensable, royalty free non-exclusive licence to display on your website GVN content that you specifically select to receive via the GVN Feed. All title, ownership rights and intellectual property rights in and to the GVN Feed shall remain the property of the GVN. You acknowledge that the GVN has absolute editorial control over all GVN Content and you accept that the GVN is editorially independent and that the editorial integrity of the GVN Content is the sole responsibility of GVN.

Excluded Websites

You may not use the Feed or display any GVN Content on any Site that is a web site that is excluded by GVN. Web sites excluded by GVN are any sites that contain material which is libellous, defamatory, pornographic, misleading, or obscene, any site which brings GVN into disrepute, or any site which promotes discrimination, violence, or illegal activity.

Accreditation

You must ensure that all GVN content on your site has an accreditation to the GVN website. Where possible you must create a functional link back to the GVN News story(ies) summarised by the GVN Content; if this is not possible, you must display on-screen the URL from which the GVN content can be obtained. You may not directly or indirectly change, edit, add to or produce summaries of the GVN Content or any content on the GVN website nor place any full-story GVN content in an HTML frame-set.

Accreditation Guidelines

Any GVN RSS feed or GVN content on your site must incorporate an attribution (credit) to the GVN in one of the following forms:

• "From Global Volunteer Network / www.globalvolunteernetwork.org" (delete as applicable), or
• "This content / article is from Global Volunteer Network Website"

If you are displaying a GVN RSS feed in a context where a functional link back to the article on the GVN's website is not possible then you must use the following attribution (credit)

• "From www.globalvolunteernetwork.org"

You may not use any GVN logo or other GVN trademark without explicit permission from GVN.

Warranties and Liability

The GVN Feed is made available by the GVN on an "as is" and "as available" basis and the GVN gives no warranty of any kind in relation to the GVN Feed, the GVN Content, or any content on the GVN website. The GVN disclaims all implied warranties, including but not limited to the implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility, and accuracy regarding the GVN Content, the GVN Feed and the GVN website and any content thereon. GVN excludes all liability for any loss or damage arising in relation to the GVN feed, GVN content, any virus or other contamination, or any unavailability of GVN content.