TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Hello! These Terms of Use govern the relationship between you as a user of the ALBA app and us.
The ALBA app is operated by ALBA GmbH, registered in the commercial register of the Local Court of Frankfurt am Main under HRB 141157. You can findus at Mainzer Landstr. 33, 60329 Frankfurt am Main, represented by Jessica Fothen and Larissa Mar Wischhusen.
You can contact us by email at hello@alba-app.de. Our VAT identification number is DE459567529.
ALBAis your social dating platform that gives you the opportunity to meet new people, connect with them and arrange dates. You can use ALBA via our mobileapp for iOS and Android. Information about us can also be found on our website www.alba-app.de. Important to note: We are not a marriage brokerage service and we do not offer escort services or comparable services. Our contract with you comprises the provision of the technical platform that helps you establish contacts. However, we cannot promise you success, such as findinga committed partnership.
Inorder to provide you with suitable suggestions and to maintain platform security, we use partially automated procedures (e.g. for matching andranking). Details, including your rights, can be found in our Privacy Policy.
These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Community Guidelines, Safety Tips and all additional conditions applicable to purchases, constitutethe entire agreement between you and us regarding the use of ALBA. They replaceall previous written or oral agreements, assurances and understandings betweenthe parties.
ACCESS TO THE SERVICE AND CONCLUSION OF CONTRACT
Registration and Requirements
In order to use ALBA, you must register. You must be at least 18 years old (or oflegal age in your country to be permitted to conclude contracts). You must also be legally permitted to use ALBA in the country in which you reside. We ensure compliance with the minimum age requirement. If we assume that you are underage, we may terminate or suspend your account or request that you verify your age. By registering, you confirm that you are legally capable of entering into this binding contract and that your use of ALBA is not prohibited by law.
For the use of ALBA, it is mandatory for the protection of all users that you are not registered as a sex offender in any registry and have not been convicted ofa serious criminal offence (in particular a sexual offence, violent offence or threat). Please note: We are neither authorised nor obliged to conduct criminal background checks.
You may not use ALBA if we or one of our affiliated companies have previously suspended your account — unless we expressly grant you written permission to create a new account. Furthermore, you may maintain only one account with us.
You may register with ALBA using your email address or telephone number. Information about which data we collect and how we use it can be found in our Privacy Policy. By using our app, you consent to the collection and use of your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Registration Process and Your Account
To register, you need a valid email address and a password of your choice. Upon completion of registration, a user agreement is concluded between you and us. Registration with ALBA and the creation of your profile with your details,photos and a description is free of charge. We may provide you with aquestionnaire, the results of which we use to automatically create apersonality profile and suitable partner suggestions for you. In order to useall of our services, you must conclude a paid membership. Each paid membershipincludes our “Match Guarantee”, the conditions of which are described in detailin the section “Match Guarantee”.
You undertake to provide truthful information regarding your identity and age. For display within the app, you may use a preferred name, provided that itrecognisably describes you and is not misleading. Please always keep your information, particularly your billing and email address, up to date. It is notpermitted to use another person’s account or to share your own account with another person without permission.
After registration, you will complete a questionnaire based on scientifically founded psychological criteria. Based on your responses and extensive statistical data, we automatically create your individual personality profile. This profile is then compared with the profiles of other users. Your profile will only become visible to others once all required information has been provided. Certain information may later only be modified via our customer service.
Through automated comparison, you receive partner suggestions in your profile and, unless you deactivate this feature, also notifications by email, which do notcontain personal data of other users. Our suggestion and ranking systems,including matching, are based on automated evaluations. Key factors include your profile information (e.g. age, interests), your proximity to others, your activity, as well as your stated preferences and filters. In our Privacy Policyand in the explanation “How Our Matching Works”, we explain clearly how this functions. There you will also find information about your rights (e.g. theright to object to profiling for advertising purposes).
OUR SERVICES AND YOUR MEMBERSHIP
Following your registration, we offer you our membership as a paid service. During the ordering process, you may choose between different subscription terms. Before concluding a paid contract, we inform you in detail about the respective service, prices and payment conditions.By clicking the button “Order with obligation to pay”, you indicate that you wish to conclude a contract for the selected paid services. The contract is concluded once you receive our confirmation email. If the payment method selected by you cannot be verified, no contract is concluded. We reserve theright to refuse to conclude the contract if we have doubts regarding your identity, credit worthiness or authorization.You will always see the prices for paid services before submitting your order. All prices include statutory value-added tax.
Scope of Membership
With a membership, you receive access to all functions that we describe to you indetail at the time of contract conclusion.
We offer different subscription models with varying scopes of services and different terms. A current overview of the available models, their services and prices can be found at any time in the app and on our website. You have the option to switch between models as explained during the ordering process. Wereserve the right to adjust the scope of subscription services. Such changeswill be made in accordance with applicable law, for example to adapt to new technologies, improve the service, or comply with legal requirements.
We will inform you in due time of material changes that are disadvantageous to you.
Virtual Goods
We may, from time to time, offer you the possibility to acquire a limited, personal and non-transferable right of use (a license) for special features. You may purchase such virtual goods only from us or our authorized partners through our services.
Virtual goods constitute a right of use governed by these Terms and Conditions. You do not acquire ownership of them. Your balance of virtual goods in your account does not constitute real money but merely reflects the extent of your right of use. All purchases are generally final. Your statutory right of withdrawal remains unaffected, and statutory refund rules apply.
MATCH GUARANTEE
ALBA guarantees paying members that within a period of one month, at least one match will be suggested which they actively accept (“Match Guarantee”). The guarantee exclusively relates to the occurrence of an accepted match and is considered fulfilled as soon as a member accepts a suggested match.
This applies regardless of whether the connection subsequently proves unsuitable.
The Match Guarantee applies only if, within the guarantee period, no suggested match has been accepted by the member. There is expressly no guarantee regarding further communication, meetings, or the success of a relationship. In the event of non-fulfillment, we reserve the right, after internal review, to offer either a free extension or a renewed prioritized matching phase.
The guarantee period begins upon activation of your membership, but no earlier than the point at which your profile is complete and has been made visible to other users. A profile is considered complete when all mandatory fields have been completed and the required profile photos have been uploaded.
A claim under the Match Guarantee exists only if, during the guarantee period, you do not violate these Terms and Conditions or the Community Guidelines, your account is not suspended, you have not deactivated notifications for matchsuggestions, the suggested matches were accessible in the app, and you use the matching and filter settings provided by us in a customary and non-abusivemanner, in particular without applying any filter combination that would typically result in no matches being displayed.
If the Match Guarantee applies because you have not accepted a single suggested match during the guarantee period, we will, after internal review, offer you the choice between a free extension of your membership by one month or a full refund of the membership fee paid for the guarantee period. If you choose the refund, your paid membership will be terminated.
To claim the Match Guarantee, you must contact our customer service in text form (e.g. by email) within 14 days after the end of the guarantee period. Please provide the email address registered with us or your user ID so that we can promptly review your claim.
If you purchased the membership via a third-party provider (e.g. Apple or Google), any refund will be processed according to the rules applicable there. The free extension of membership will be granted directly by us.
No claim under the Match Guarantee exists in cases of abusive use (e.g.systematically rejecting all suggestions without appropriate review), in theevent of an ongoing chargeback, after withdrawal from the contract, or if the guarantee period could not be meaningfully carried out due to your conduct.
The Match Guarantee constitutes a voluntary contractual commitment by us. It does not establish a right to extraordinary termination of the contract. Your statutory rights, in particular the right of withdrawal and warranty rights, remain unaffected.
Changes to Our Services
We may modify our service for valid reasons, for example to ensure security, adapt to new laws or technical environments, or improve the service. We will inform you of such changes in due time by email, without additional costs to you. If a change results in more than an insignificant negative impact on your ability touse or access the service, you are entitled to terminate the contract free ofcharge; details will be provided in the notification of change. Material changes to the limitation of liability and the provisions on dispute resolutionrequire your express consent.
PAYMENT TERMS AND PAYMENT METHODS
Payment Methods, Due Date and In-App Purchases
All payments for paid services must be made in advance once the contract has been concluded. You may pay in various ways: via a third-party platform such as the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, by credit card, debit card or PayPal (processed by a payment service provider), or by SEPA direct debit if we offer this.
If you choose SEPA direct debit, the initial debit will be announced in the order confirmation email. In the case of Premium Membership, any subsequent debits will also be announced in a payment schedule accessible in the user area. The debited amount may, in individual cases, differ in your favor from the amountstated in the pre-notification if credits have been granted or transactionshave been cancelled.
If a payment cannot be processed successfully due to expiration, insufficient funds or other reasons, you continue to owe us all amounts not collected and authorize us to continue charging the payment method if it is updated. Furthermore, you authorize us to receive updated expiration dates and card numbers for your credit or debit card provided by your cardissuer.
We also enable you to obtain paid services via third parties such as Apple or Google (so-called “in-app purchases”). The contractual relationship arises through our confirmation email to you. The third parties have their own regulations for the conclusion of the contract, payment and termination of the contractual relationship, which you accept via the third party’s terms of use and over which we have no influence.
In the event of any conflicts between the third party’s regulations and these Terms and Conditions, the regulations ofthe third party shall prevail insofar as they apply.
The following additional conditions apply if you download the app via a third-partyprovider.
If the terms of the app provider are stricter than our Terms and Conditions, their stricter or conflicting rules shall apply — but only with regard to the technical procedure and the relationship with the app provideritself. If you wish to change or terminate a membership purchased via a third-partyprovider, you must do so directly in your account with that third-partyprovider. Log in there and follow the instructions. Whether refunds areprocessed via us or the third-party provider depends on their rules. Yourstatutory consumer rights (e.g. in the event of defects) always exist againstus, as we are your contractual partner. The payment method applicable is theone agreed with the third-party provider. Refunds are processed either via thethird-party provider or via us, depending on their rules.
Please note: This is a contract solely between you and us, not with the third-partyprovider. We alone, not the third-party provider, are responsible for the appand its content. The third-party provider has no obligation to providemaintenance or support for the app. We are responsible for all warranties, insofar as we have not effectively excluded them. The third-party provider hasno warranty obligations. It is our responsibility, not that of the third-partyprovider, to address your legal claims or those of third parties relating tothe app. This includes, for example, product liability, consumer protection orinfringement of intellectual property. The third-party provider and itssubsidiaries are beneficiaries of this contract and may enforce these Terms andConditions against you if you have agreed to them.
Pricing and Taxes
As a global company, our prices may vary depending on various factors (e.g. agegroup, region/taxes, subscription term, package size or previous purchases). We frequently offer special prices and regularly test new features and payment options. These offers are personalized through an automated decision based onat least two factors. Before you conclude a contract, we clearly inform you if a price has been personalized for you and which factors are relevant.Iftaxes are due for Premium services and you have not paid them to us, you are responsible for paying them to the competent tax authority, unless we have already done so. We reserve the right to change prices for future subscription periods. We will inform you of price changes in due time so that you may cancel your subscription before the new price applies. If you continue to use the serviceafter the price change, you agree to the new prices.
Late Payment
If you are in default of payment, we may temporarily suspend your access to the platform. If you are more than 28 days in default, all outstanding payments up to the next possible termination date become immediately due. We will then request payment and inform you when the total amount becomes due.
If a payment fails because your card has expired, your account lacks sufficient funds or for other reasons, you continue to owe us all outstanding amounts. You authorize us to charge your payment method again once it has been updated and to obtain new card data from the provider.
If you dispute a debit or reverse a payment, we may terminate your account at ourdiscretion with immediate effect.
Automatic Renewal of Subscriptions
If you conclude a subscription, it will automatically renew after the minimum term for the originally selected term unless you or we terminate it in due time. The price for renewal may increase (e.g. after a discount offer), but we will inform you in due time.
Before ordering a membership, we clearly inform you of any automatic renewal and its conditions. This information is also included in your order confirmation. In the event of a price change, we will notify you in advance by email and within the app.
If you start a free trial and do not cancel it, it converts into a paid subscription and your payment method will be charged at the price valid at that time. This subscription then renews automatically until you cancel it. To avoid charges, you must cancel before the end of the term. Deleting your account or removing the app from your device does not terminate the trial subscription. If you have previously received a free trial, you are not entitled to another one.
CANCELLATION
Cancellation
After an automatic renewal, you may cancel your subscription at the end of therespective renewal period. Your right to terminate for good cause remainsunaffected. If you cancel, you may continue to use the service until the end ofthe current term. After that, your subscription will not be renewed.
You have the right to cancel your membership at the end of the original term. We will inform you of the exact deadline during the ordering process. A cancellation before the end of the initial term becomes effective only at the end of the agreed term. Your payment obligations remain in effect until that time.
Your cancellation is only effective if you send it to us in text form, for exampleby email to hello@alba-app.de or via the settings in your profile. We also provide a cancellation button on our website and in the app that allows you to cancel easily. Please provide your registered email address or your user ID so that we can process your cancellation promptly.
Cancellation in the Case of Purchases via Third Parties
If you have concluded your Premium Membership via a third-party provider such as Apple or Google, you must also cancel it there. To do so, log in to your account with the respective provider and follow the instructions. In the case of a subscription via Apple ID, cancellation is processed through Apple; in the case of a subscription via Google Play, cancellation is processed through Google.
Extraordinary Termination and Account Suspension
Extraordinary termination for good cause is governed by applicable law and mustalso be made in text form. We may terminate or suspend your account at any timewithout prior notice if you violate these Terms and Conditions, behave inappropriately, violate our Community Guidelines, provide false information during registration, or if we otherwise consider termination justified. This also applies to inappropriate behavior in other apps of our affiliated companies.
If your account is terminated or suspended, you will not receive a refund for paid services. You will lose access to your account and all associated content. All provisions of these Terms and Conditions which, by their nature, are intendedto continue after termination (e.g. regarding ownership and liability) shall remain in effect.
RIGHT OF WITHDRAWAL
Withdrawal Information
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason. The withdrawal period is 14 days from the date of conclusion of thecontract. To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us, ALBA GmbH, Mainzer Landstr. 33, 60329 Frankfurt am Main, email: hello@alba-app.de, by means of a clear declaration (e.g. a letter sent by post or an email) of your decision to withdraw from this contract.
You may use the attached model withdrawal form for this purpose, but it is not mandatory. To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient that you send the notification concerning the exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired. For faster allocation, your declaration should include your name, your registered email address or your user ID and ideally also a telephone number at which we can reach you.
Effects of Withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we shall reimburse to you all payments received from you without undue delay and at the latest within 14 days from the day on which we receive notification of your withdrawal from this contract. For this reimbursement, we will use the same means of payment that you used for the original transaction, unless expressly agreed otherwise; in no case will you becharged any fees for this reimbursement.
If you have requested that the service begin during the withdrawal period, you must pay us an appropriate amount. This corresponds to the proportion of services already provided compared to the total scope of services provided forin the contract until the time at which you inform us of your withdrawal.
Exception to the Right of Withdrawal
In the case of digital content that is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g.virtual goods), your right of withdrawal expires if we have begun performance of the contract after you have expressly agreed that we begin performance before the expiry of the withdrawal period and you have confirmed your knowledge that you thereby lose your right of withdrawal. Such purchases are then final and non-refundable.
Your Withdrawal in the Case of Purchases via Third Parties
If you have concluded your membership via a third-party provider (e.g. Apple),the withdrawal is processed according to their rules. Cancellations or withdrawals for subscriptions purchased via Apple, for example, must be addressed directly to Apple.
Model Withdrawal Form
To ALBA GmbH,
Mainzer Landstr. 33,
60329 Frankfurt am Main,
email:hello@alba-app.de:
I/we hereby withdraw from the contract concluded by me/us for the provision ofthe following service: [Description of the service]
Ordered on: [Date]
Name of consumer(s): [Name]
Address of consumer(s): [Address]
Signature of consumer(s) (only if notified on paper): [Signature]
Date: [Date]Inorder for us to process your withdrawal more quickly (optional information):
Your user ID: [ID]
Your email address registered with ALBA: [Email]
REFUNDS
Principle of Non-Refundability
All purchases are generally final and non-refundable. This also applies to partially used periods. Exceptions exist only where the law at your place of residence mandatorily requires a refund or where a refund is expressly provided for in these Terms and Conditions, in particular within the framework of the Match Guarantee.
If you reside in the EU, the EEA, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, you are entitled to a full refund within 14 days after the start of your subscription.The period begins once your subscription becomes active. Virtual Goods Are Non-Refundable
All purchases and redemptions of virtual goods are final and non-refundable. You acknowledge that we do not grant refunds for virtual goods. This also means that in the event of the closure of your account — whether voluntary or not —you will not receive any money or other form of compensation for unused virtualgoods.
DATA PROTECTION AND SECURITY
Processing of Personal Data
All information about how we process your personal data and what rights you have under data protection law can be found in our Privacy Policy. It forms part of these Terms and Conditions and is available at any time at www.alba-app.de/terms-and-conditions.
By using ALBA, you provide us with personal data. This is reciprocal in nature, but of course does not prevent you from exercising your data protection rights. In particular, you may withdraw your consent at any time or object to the processing of your data pursuant to Article 21 GDPR.
If your withdrawal or objection results in us no longer being able to reasonably continue the contract with you, we reserve the right to terminate the contract without notice. This decision will be made after balancing the mutual interestsand considering the remaining scope of data processing. If you use paid services that we can no longer provide due to your withdrawal, this does not affect our payment claims.
Access and Disclosure
You agree that we may access, store and disclose your account information (including your content) if this is required by law or if we believe in goodfaith that it is reasonably necessary to comply with court orders, enforce our Terms and Conditions, respond to claims that your content violates the rights of third parties, respond to your customer service requests, protect the rights, property or safety of our company or others, or investigate illegal activities, suspected fraud or other misconduct.
International Data Transfers
As a global application, we operate servers in various countries. If you reside in a country with data protection laws, your data may not enjoy the same level of protection as in your home country. International data transfers to countries without an adequacy decision by the European Commission take place only with appropriate safeguards (e.g. EU Standard Contractual Clauses) and additional measures to ensure an EU-compliant level of protection. By providingyour data, you consent to the transfer, storage and processing of your data inthese countries in accordance with our safeguards. Further details can be foundin the Privacy Policy.
Your Safety Is Important to Us
Your safety is our highest priority. We use a combination of human moderators and automated systems to monitor accounts, interactions and content. We therefore continuously work to protect you from harassment such as hacking attacks, spam or romance scamming. For this purpose, we have developed numerous technical and organizational standards to detect violations of our Community Guidelines and to block abusive messages.
We use a combination of automated systems, user reports and a team of moderators to monitor accounts and content and to review compliance with these Terms and Conditions. Further information about our security measures and technologies for detecting harmful content can be found in our safety tips and notices. We may also use certain filtering or validation software, but we are not obliged to do so. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with our safety tips before using ALBA and to follow them.
We are not obliged to deliver messages if there is a suspicion that they violate the Community Guidelines. This applies in particular to unsolicited advertising. We may also automatically delete unanswered messages if they originate from profiles that we have identified as spam or romance scamming or that have been deleted for other reasons.
If our security team contacts you in the event of irregularities, we ask you to respond promptly. You should take our recommendations seriously and disregard them only for important reasons. Please also use the reporting function to inform us about unlawful or inappropriate content or behavior. Our communityplays a decisive role in maintaining safety by helping and reporting violations.
Safety in Personal Meetings
ALBA enables you to get in contact with others. However, the decision whether to meet someone in person lies solely with you. Please remember that we cannot verify the identity or intentions of other users. We strongly recommend that you follow our safety tips. End a meeting immediately if you feel uncomfortable. We are not liable for damages arising from personal meetings unless we were aware of a specific danger and failed to act.
Although we strive to create a safe community, our safety tips serve only as guidance.
We are not liable for damages resulting from failure to follow these tips and recommendations.
YOUR CONTENT AND OUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Your Responsibility for Your Content
You are solely responsible for all content that you upload or make available onour platform (“your content”). Do not share content that others should not see, that violates this agreement, or that could expose you or us to legal liability. You warrant that all information you provide to us or to other users is accurate and that you will update it where necessary.
You may not upload or post any content that is illegal or incites illegal acts; harmful to minors; defamatory or libelous; infringes the rights of thirdparties (e.g. copyright, trademark, personality or data protection rights); depicts another person without their consent; obscene, pornographic or violent; abusive, threatening or discriminatory, or promotes racism, sexism, hatred orfanaticism; promotes commercial activities (including sales, competitions oradvertising); or contains spam or malicious software.
Donot publish personal contact details or banking information on your profile page — neither your own nor those of others. If you choose to disclose personal information, you do so at your own risk. As ALBA is a public community, other users can see your content. Therefore, only share what you are comfortable with.
Grant of License to Us
By uploading your content, you represent that you possess all necessary rights and licenses to do so. At the same time, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual and worldwide license. This license allows us to use, edit, reproduce, adapt, translate, reformat, create derivative works from, promote and distribute your content in any form. Content that you exchange privately with others (such as messages) is not subject to this provision.
How We Use Your Content for AI Systems
You allow us to use your content as training and validation data for our artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
This helps us improve our matching algorithms and detect spam or fraud. For third-party AI systems or for purposes outside our services, we use your content only in anonymized form that does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about you. You may object to this use at anytime by contacting us at legal@alba-app.de. If we use AI-supported systems for moderation, security or product improvements, we process content exclusively for these purposes and in compliance with the GDPR. Details and legal bases can be found in our Privacy Policy.
Our Intellectual Property
All services, content, graphics, interfaces, clips, texts and software that do not originate from users are our property and are legally protected (inparticular by copyright). You agree to use this content only for private, non-commercial purposes within the framework of this agreement. No part of our services or content may be reproduced or distributed without our express permission. You may not modify, rent, sell, share or otherwise use our servicesor content in an unauthorized manner. All trademarks, logos and other intellectual property appearing in our services are owned by us, controlled by us or licensed to us. The use of all programs and the content, materials and brand and trade names contained there in is permitted exclusively for thepurposes stated in these Terms and Conditions.
As long as you comply with these Terms and Conditions, we grant you a personal, worldwide, royalty-free, non-transferable, non-exclusive, revocable and non-sublicensable license. This license allows you to access and use the services for the purposes intended by us. This license automatically terminates if you violate these Terms and Conditions.
Your Feedback and Suggestions
If you send us suggestions or feedback regarding our services, you agree thatwe may use and share this feedback for any purpose without compensating you.
What to Do in Case of Copyright Infringement
We take copyright infringements very seriously. If you believe that content infringes your intellectual property rights, please submit a notice including the following information: a signature of the authorized person, identification of the protected work and the infringing material (including information onwhere it can be found), your contact details, a statement that the use is not authorized, and a sworn declaration that all information provided is accurate. Accounts of users who repeatedly infringe copyright will be terminated.
CONDUCT RULES AND MEASURES
Rules of Conduct and Prohibited Actions
You agree to comply with all applicable laws (e.g. data protection, copyrightand anti-spam laws). We expect you to use our services in a safe, inclusive and respectful manner and to always comply with our Community Guidelines.
You represent that you use ALBA solely for private purposes, that you do not pursue commercial intentions, and that you do not use the data of other members for commercial purposes or advertising. In particular, the systematic extraction of content from other users for use outside of ALBA is not permitted.
Crawling, scraping or any other form of automated extraction of information — whether manually or using bots, scrapers or spiders — is also prohibited. This includesthe use of our services or content (in whole or in part) for training machinelearning or AI models.Circumventingor interfering with our security mechanisms (e.g. technical or location-basedrestrictions) is prohibited. The same applies to reverse engineering, decompiling, modifying or creating derivative works of our services, unless such actions are mandatorily permitted by law.
You agree not to provide false information regarding your identity or age. Do not use our services in a manner that impairs them, prevents others from using them, or is intended for harmful or illegal purposes.
It is also prohibited to harass, bully, stalk, threaten or insult others. You may not request passwords or personal data from others for commercial or illegal purposes, upload viruses, or mirror parts of the service without our written permission.
You undertake to treat emails and other messages confidentially and not to forward them to third parties without the sender’s consent. The same applies to names, telephone numbers, addresses or other personal data of other users.
Our platform is based on the principle of reciprocity. If another member does not respond to your contact request within a reasonable time, you have the right to dissolve the match in order to end the interaction.
You are prohibited from publishing or using information obtained through our services for commercial purposes without the consent of the person concerned. Sharing or publishing content on other platforms is prohibited unless expressly permitted.
You may not engage in any conduct that is illegal, misleading, false, dishonest, harmful or discriminatory.
It is also prohibited to misuse the services for fraud, pyramid schemes or similar practices.
Youmay not request passwords or personal data from other users or solicit money or other valuables from them. The use of the services to finance political campaigns or influence elections is also prohibited.
It is likewise prohibited to take screenshots, screen recordings or other recordings of content within the app or of conversations. Our app contains technical measures intended to prevent this.
You may not post content that is abusive, defamatory or untrue, infringes third-party rights, is threatening, intimidating or racist, contains sexually explicit material, or is intended to disseminate spam or advertising. This also applies to content that could damage our reputation.
Content that advocates illegal activities (such as terrorism or human trafficking), incites self-harm or eating disorders, depicts another person without their consent, or violates our Community Guidelines is also prohibited. Uploading such content may result in immediate suspension or termination of your account.
Indemnification Obligation
You undertake to indemnify us against all claims, damages and demands arising from your use of our services, provided that you are at fault. This applies inparticular to damages resulting from defamation, insult, violation of personality rights or breaches of these Terms and Conditions, our Community Guidelines or the rights of others.
Reporting Violations and Notice-and-Takedown Procedure
We do not tolerate inappropriate content or conduct within our services. We are committed to a positive and respectful community and encourage you to report inappropriate content or misconduct by other users. You can report usersdirectly via the “Report User” link in their profile or within the messaging tool. You may also contact our customer service at any time.
You may report allegedly unlawful content via our reporting form or through the reporting functions within the app. You will receive a confirmation. We will review your report promptly, make a decision (e.g. removal or suspension) and inform you of our reasoning and your possible remedies.
If you submit a report, a member of our support team will review it and act in accordance with our Community Guidelines. We will not disclose to the reported person who submitted the report. Please submit only reports based on genuine indications; abusive reports are not permitted.
How We Moderate Content
We use a combination of automated systems and human moderators to review content for violations. Automated systems assist us with preliminary analysis, but decisions regarding measures against an account are always reviewed by a human or may be challenged by you. Further information about our content moderation and reporting systems can be found in our transparency report.
Your Right to Appeal
If you believe that we have made an error in taking action against your accountor content, you may lodge an appeal within six months. A linked form isavailable in the notification you receive within the app. Alternatively, youmay contact our customer service.Wewill carefully review your appeal and inform you of the outcome. The review isnot carried out purely automatically but always under appropriate humansupervision.Measures in the Event of Violations
If you fail to comply with the rules of conduct, this may result in variousconsequences. We may, for example, request a statement from you, temporarilysuspend your use, issue a warning, restrict functions, delete your content orterminate your contract with immediate effect. Your obligation to pay for services already ordered remains unaffected.
If you reside in the European Union, we will notify you if we take measures against your account or your content. An exception applies if we are instructed not to inform you, for example by authorities. In our notification, we will explain our decision and inform you of your legal remedies, including your right to appeal.
FUNCTION, AVAILABILITY AND WARRANTY
Availability and Technical Requirements
Our aim is to make our service available to you around the clock (24/7), with an average annual availability of 99.5%. Excluded are downtimes for maintenance and updates or periods during which the service is unavailable due to circumstances beyond our control (such as force majeure or disruptions caused by third parties). Provision of the service may be subject to short-term delays that do not significantly affect overall availability.
Some functions are available only on the website, others only in the app. Details regarding the functionality and compatibility of our digital products can befound in the technical documentation. ALBA is compatible with iOS from version 15.0, Android from version 11 and with common, up-to-date web browsers. Certain functions require an internet connection.
To use ALBA to its full extent, you should use up-to-date technology on your device (e.g. the latest browser version, current Android/iOS version) and enable JavaScript, cookies and pop-ups. With outdated technology, you may onlybe able to use our products to a limited extent.
If we provide updates, we strongly recommend that you install them as soon aspossible. It is your responsibility to do so within a reasonable time. If youfail to install an update after we have informed you about its availability and the consequences, we are not liable for product defects resulting from this failure. Please inform us immediately if you encounter difficulties installingan update.
Statutory Warranty
During your Premium Membership and within the first two years after the provision of a virtual good, you are entitled to statutory warranty rights. We will provide necessary updates and inform you accordingly. If you do not install an update after we have informed you of its availability and consequences, we are not liable for product defects resulting from this.
If you are unable to install an update using the information provided by us, you must inform us immediately so that we can assist you. Your statutory warranty rights and other rights remain unaffected.
LIABILITY AND ITS LIMITATION
Scope of Our Liability
We owe only the provision of IT services for the automated facilitation of contacts, not the success of such contacts. We merely provide the technical facility that generally enables contact to be established.
We cannot be held responsible for incorrect information in users’ profiles. Consequently, we assume no liability for the accuracy of information provided by users.
Theservices are provided without warranty for defects, and we make no representations or assurances regarding the content or functions of the services. We provide no warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, statutory or otherwise, with respect to the services, including all content contained therein, in particular no implied warranties of satisfactory quality, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement.
We do not represent or warrant that the services will be uninterrupted, secure or error-free, that any defects or errors will be detected or corrected, or that any content or information obtained on or through the services will be accurate, complete, current or suitable for your purposes. We do not guarantee that a specific number of members will be active at any given time, that they will be able or willing to communicate or meet with you, or that members you meet through the services are actually suitable to enter into or maintain a relationship with you. An exception to this principle is our Match Guarantee, which is subject to separate conditions.
We do not guarantee the proper operation, uninterrupted usability or accessibility of the service at all times. In particular, we are not liable for disruptionsto the quality of access to the service due to force majeure or events forwhich we are not responsible. Furthermore, we are not liable for unauthorizedaccess by third parties to users’ personal data, for example throughunauthorized access to the database by hackers.
We are not responsible for damage to computer hardware, computer software or other equipment or technologies, including but not limited to damage caused by security breaches or damage resulting from viruses, bugs, tampering, hacking, fraud, errors, omissions, interruptions, defects, delays in operation or transmission, line or network failures, or any other technical or othermalfunctions.
We also assume no liability for the possible misuse of information. It is possible that users may use the ALBA app in an impermissible or unlawful manner despite prohibitions. Our liability for such impermissible or unlawful use is excludedunless we have knowledge of such impermissible or unlawful use. We are likewise not liable for the misuse of information and details that you yourself havemade accessible to third parties.Weassume no responsibility for content that you, other users or third parties post, send, receive or respond to via the services.
We also assume no responsibility for the identity, intentions, authenticity or honesty of users with whom you communicate via the service. Access to any material downloaded or otherwise obtained through the use of the service is at your own discretion andrisk.
Limitation of Liability
We are liable without limitation for damages resulting from intentional or grossly negligent breaches of duty, for damages resulting from injury to life, body or health caused by negligent breach of duty on our part, as well as for damages covered by a guarantee granted by us or in so far as the scope of application of the Product Liability Act is opened.
In the case of a slightly negligent breach of essential contractual obligations, our liability shall be limited in amount to the damage that is foreseeable and typical for the type of transaction concerned. Essential contractual obligations in this sense are those obligations whose fulfillment makes the proper execution of the contract possible in the first place and on whosecompliance you may regularly rely. These include in particular our obligationto provide the platform in a functional manner, to protect your data fromunauthorized access and to enable the contractually agreed Premium functions.
In all other respects, liability for slight negligence is excluded.
The above limitations of liability do not apply to claims under the Product Liability Act or in the event of injury to life, body or health. They also do not apply in so far as we have fraudulently concealed a defect or have assumed a guarantee for the quality of the service. Liability for loss of data is limited to the typical recovery effort that would have occurred if backup copies had been made regularly and in accordance with the risk.
Indemnification
You indemnify and hold us harmless, including our affiliated companies and their and our respective executives, directors, agents and employees, from and against all complaints, demands, claims, damages, losses, costs, liabilitiesand expenses, including reasonable legal fees, arising out of or in connectionwith your access to or use of our services, your content, your conduct toward other users, or your violation of this agreement, provided that you are responsible for the violation.
Thisapplies in particular to damages resulting from defamation, insult, violation of personality rights, interruption of services for other users, breach ofthese Terms and Conditions and/or Community Guidelines, infringement of intellectual property rights or other rights.
The foregoing indemnification obligation does not apply to claims resulting from unfair commercial practices on our part or from fraud, deception, false promises, misrepresentations or concealment of material facts in connection with the ALBA app.
ADVERTISING AND THIRD-PARTY CONTENT
You may see third-party advertisements and promotions on the services. We do not endorse interactions with these products or services and are not responsiblefor them. The services may contain advertisements and promotions offered by third parties as well as links to other websites or resources.
Furthermore, the services may allow you to view advertisements in exchange for virtual goods; we do not guarantee that you will always be able to view such advertisements or that such advertisements will be available. We may also provide non-commercial links or references to third parties within our content.
We are not responsible for the availability or lack of availability of external websites or resources or for their content. Moreover, we are not responsiblefor and do not endorse products or services offered by third-party websites orresources.
If you interact with third parties via the services, your relationship with them is subject to the terms and conditions of those third parties. We are not responsible or liable for the terms or actions of such third parties.
Advertising content is marked as such. Where legally required, we indicate on whose behalf an advertisement appears and the main parameters determining its display to you (e.g. age group, region, general interests). You can control personalized advertising in your account settings.
COMMUNICATION AND NOTIFICATIONS
Electronic Communication
We provide our services as an online service and generally communicate electronically, either via the logged-in user area or by email, for example to transmit profile suggestions, contract confirmations, invoices or reminders. Contact by telephone or post takes place only in matters relating to contract conclusion, payment processing or encrypted email communication. By using our service, you agree to receive contractually relevant communications in electronic form, whereby all information provided electronically complies with statutory written form requirements.
In addition, we may inform you by email, SMS, push notifications or app alerts about features, offers and information relating to products, promotions orevents; after downloading the app, you may enable or disable push notifications, and if you decline them, no push notifications will be sent. Notification settings can be adjusted at any time via your mobile device, andother forms of communication can be terminated via the respective unsubscribe instructions or by contacting us.
The app may provide location-based content, products and services, for which location data may be used via GPS, Bluetooth or the location functions of your device; if access to these functions is disabled or not permitted, corresponding location-based offers will not be available.
ACCESSIBILITY
We strive to make the service accessible in accordance with national legislation implementing Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council. Further information can be found in our Accessibility Statementat www.alba-app.de/accessibility-statement
DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Informal Dispute Resolution
If you are not satisfied with our services, we ask you to first contact our support team so that we can attempt to resolve the matter together without involving external bodies. A fair and constructive cooperation with our users is important to us, and we believe in the mutual benefit of such informal dispute resolution. You agree not to pursue a dispute formally immediately, but first to provide us with detailed notice and negotiate a solution with us in good faith.
Consumer Arbitration Bodies
We do not participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board for users residing in the EU, the EEA, the United Kingdom or Switzerland. The European Commission’s online dispute resolution platform isavailable at http://ec.europa.eu/odr.
Special Rights for EU Users under the Digital Services Act (Right of Complaint)
Users residing in the EU have additional rights under the Digital Services Act (DSA), including accessto out-of-court dispute settlement procedures through independent third parties, the possibility to seek legal remedies before the courts of their respective EU Member State, and the right to lodge a complaint with the competent national regulatory authority. The central contact point for users pursuant to Article 12 DSA can be reached via our customer service. The contact point forauthorities of the Member States, the European Commission and the Board pursuant to Article 11 DSA can be reached at legal@alba-app.de. Communicationmay take place in German or English.
We also publish an annual transparencyreport pursuant to Article 15 DSA at https://www.alba-app.de/transparency.
APPLICABLE LAW AND JURISDICTION
The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply, excluding the UNConvention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer residing in the European Union, the law of the country in which you reside may also apply in so far as it contains mandatory consumer protection provisions that provide a higher level of protection than German law.
The place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising out of or in connection with this contract shall, to the extent legally permissible, be the court at our registered office. This jurisdiction clause does not apply to consumers residing in the European Union who may be sued in and bring proceedings beforethe courts of their place of residence pursuant to Article 18 of the Brussels IRegulation (Recast).
AMENDMENTS TO THESE TERMS OF USE
We may amend these Terms and Conditions for objective reasons with reasonable prior notice. You will be informed of amendments in text form (for example by email or via a notification within the app) in due time before they enter into force. Amendments shall be deemed approved if you do not object to them in textform within 30 days after receipt of the amendment notice. You will be informed of the significance of silence in the amendment notice.
In the case of material amendments that significantly change your rights orobligations to your detriment, we will obtain your express consent before the amendments take effect. For ongoing paid subscriptions, the previous terms shall continue to apply until the end of the current billing period unless you expressly agree to the amendments.
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
We are entitled to engage third-party service providers and vicarious agents to perform parts or the entirety of our services, provided that this does not result in disadvantages for you.
If you use certain third-party functions within the app, these are subject to the terms of use of the respective third parties. If you do not agree to be bound by these terms of use, you should not use the respective functions.
You are responsible for regularly reviewing and, if necessary, securing chats and profile data. We reserve the right to remove chats stored in your user account without prior notice once their number exceeds a defined maximum limit. Alldata associated with your account will be automatically deleted after an appropriate period following your last login.
Our failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. Assignment of rights and obligations under this contract by you to third parties is permitted only with our prior written consent.
Should any provision of the contract or these Terms and Conditions be or become invalid or should the contract be incomplete, the remainder of the contract shall remain unaffected.
In place of the invalid provision, the statutory provision that most closely reflects the economic purpose of the invalid provision shall apply.
