Version: 1.03
As of 19.09.2022
These General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter referred to as "GTC") apply to the service offered on the website "pingen.com" or under alternative toplevel domains and/or subdomains (hereinafter referred to as "Service"), which is provided by Pingen GmbH with its registered office at Badenerstrasse 47 in 8004 Zurich (Switzerland), registered with the Commercial Register Office of the Canton of Zurich under the number CHE-115. 571.921 (hereinafter referred to as the "Provider") and can in principle be used by any visitor to the website who is capable of action (hereinafter referred to as the "Participant") after complete and truthful registration. By agreeing to the GTC during the registration process and its completion, these GTC become effective and are deemed to be accepted. The scope of application includes intermediary services. These GTC may be amended from time to time; therefore, the GTC valid at the time the order was placed shall apply. If the Participant refuses to accept the GTC as amended later, this will result in exclusion from use of the Service.
The Service enables the Participant to transmit documents as PDFs via web-based application, API, e-mail, SFTP, S3 or via integrations with third-party solutions (e.g. "Google Drive") (hereinafter referred to as "capture" or "captured") in order to have these contents (hereinafter referred to as the "letter") physically delivered to the postal address noted in the address block of the PDF. After successful technical validation of the letter and sufficient credit or a sufficient credit limit in the case of payment against invoice, the letter is handed over to a commissioned third-party company (hereinafter "Print Service Provider") for printing, franking and handover to another third-party company for physical delivery (hereinafter "Postal Service Provider") to the recipient.
During product development, the Provider may decide to expand, restrict, or completely discontinue the scope of the product or individual functions of the Service and to change the technical requirements for their use.
Unless a separate service level agreement has been concluded with the Participant, the Provider offers support exclusively by e-mail and on a "best effort" basis, unless otherwise stated.
The subject matter of the contract is the capture of letters, their validation in accordance with the requirements for postal dispatch and their transmission to the Print Service Provider in accordance with the Service description. Apart from the capture and transmission of the letters to the Print Service Provider, services covered by the contract are provided by commissioned third-party providers. The delivery of letters to recipients by the Postal Service Provider is not part of this contract. The contractual obligation of the Provider is therefore fulfilled with the handover of the letter to the Postal Service Provider.
An order is deemed to have been placed when a letter has been captured in accordance with the Service description and released for further processing. Since processes for the fulfilment of the Service are automated and partly carried out by third party providers, without any authorisation or possibility for the Provider to intervene, there is no right of revocation. However, via the web-based application of the Service and via the API of the Service, there is the possibility of withdrawing orders up to a certain point in time, particularly before the letters have been handed over to a Print Service Provider. The order is deemed revoked once the letter has been successfully withdrawn by the Participant via the web-based application of the Service or via the API of the Service.
The Provider is entitled to collect and process all necessary personal data of the Participant within the scope required for the fulfilment of the Service. This occurs particularly during the registration process. The handling of collected data and its scope is specified in a separate data protection declaration and the provisions of the GDPR, which are part of these GTC. In accordance with the principle of data economy, only the most necessary data is collected.
The Provider or the contracted Print Service Provider delivers the letter to a Postal Service Provider on an authorised basis. Therefore, the contract for delivery is concluded directly between the Participant and the Postal Service Provider and is not part of the Service. The delivery of a letter is therefore subject to the GTC of the respective Postal Service Provider, over which the Provider has no influence.
The Participant is solely liable for the content of a letter and any direct or indirect damage caused by it. The Participant is not permitted to use the Service to send unlawful or abusive content. This includes, but is not limited to derogatory, racist or pornographic content, threats, blackmail, insults, slander, defamation, false or fake news, content against sexual or religious integrity, unjustified or fraudulent claims, the sending of advertising to addresses blocked for advertising (e.g., addresses with a "star entry"), as well as sending under a false identity or as an unauthorised third party (e.g., infringement of trademark or copyright).
The Provider does not check the content of a letter. However, the Provider or commissioned companies may gain knowledge of the content of a letter while processing the order (e.g., due to technical faults or for quality assurance reasons).
The Provider reserves the right, based on circumstantial evidence, information from recipients or law enforcement agencies, to examine letters, to secure them for evidentiary purposes and to pass them on, as well as related information on the Participant, to directly affected third parties (e.g., recipients of such a letter) or law enforcement agencies to avert damage to itself or to the recipient of a letter.
In any case, immediately after becoming aware of letters with such content, further performance of the Service will be stopped, and any fees received for it will be retained. Further claims for material and immaterial damages are expressly reserved. The Provider reserves the right to block the Participant’s account temporarily or permanently.
Credentials to access the Service, in particular passwords or API keys, must be handled carefully by the Participant and protected against misuse. The password must not be easily ascertainable (e.g., no car registration numbers, telephone numbers, simple number sequences).
After successful identification, the Provider assumes that it is a legitimate use of the Service by the Participant. Thus, the Participant bears all consequences resulting from the use of his/her access data.
The Participant is obliged to minimise the risk of unauthorised access to devices used for the use of the Service by using suitable protective measures (e.g., use of an up-to-date anti-virus programme and a firewall). In particular, the Participant shall keep operating systems and application programmes up to date and promptly install the software updates and security updates provided or recommended by the respective providers.
If there is reason to believe that unauthorised third parties have obtained knowledge of credentials, the Participant must immediately change affected credentials. If misuse of the Service is suspected, the Provider must be notified immediately at the following email address to be able to temporarily block the Participant's account: support@pingen.com.
It is the Participant's responsibility to ensure that data processed or created by the Service is stored and retained independently of the Provider, insofar as data backup or data archiving is required (inter alia, due to personal needs or legal requirements). The data backups created by the Provider are expressly not available for requirements or obligations incumbent on the Participant.
It is the responsibility of the Participant to verify that the use of the Service complies with all legal and regulatory requirements to which the Participant is subject.
Registration with the Service is free of charge, there are no automatic costs. Costs are incurred when sending letters, which are payable by "Pingen Credits" or against invoice.
"Pingen Credits" are kept in the currency selected by the Participant in the Service and can be purchased directly in the Service, e.g., by credit card. Although the cost of a "Pingen Credit" is usually 1:1 (i.e., the cost of a 1 Euro "Pingen Credit" is 1 Euro), these costs may vary due to promotions or taxes. In the case of promotions, for example, 10% more "Pingen Credits" can be credited for 1 euro, or the number of "Pingen Credits" can be less than the amount paid due to taxes (e.g. VAT). For this reason, among others, "Pingen Credits" are generally non-refundable and do not represent a monetary credit.
The prices shown on the website of the Service or in the application of the Service at the time of dispatch apply, minus individually agreed discounts.
Letters will only be processed if there are sufficient "Pingen Credits" in the account of the Service or if the Provider has authorised the Participant to use the Service against invoicing. In all other cases, orders can either be executed only partially, not at all or only with a delay.
Payment against invoice can be requested by the Participant via support@pingen.com and will be granted or refused at the discretion of the Provider. Conditions for payment against invoice are determined individually by the Provider. If these are not complied with in full after a previous reminder or if the Participant is in default of payment, the Provider is entitled to suspend the processing of letters or Participation in the Service in whole or in part and, in addition to interest on arrears of 5% on the amount owed, to demand a reminder fee equivalent to CHF 20 for each further reminder.
A limitation or blocking of the Service shall in no case release the Participant from his debt to the Provider. Likewise, the Provider is free to assign outstanding claims to third parties.
By placing an order, the Participant agrees that order confirmations, invoice receipts and status notifications will be sent exclusively to the email address given during registration or at a later stage in the Service. The only way for the Participant to suppress or stop these notifications is to delete his/her account with the Service.
Otherwise, the Participant is responsible for ensuring that his/her email address, particularly for order confirmations and invoice receipts, is deliverable and that messages reach him/her (e.g., by "whitelisting" email addresses of the Provider). There is no entitlement to multiple deliveries or delivery attempts if the reason for non-delivery does not lie with the Provider.
The Provider shall endeavour to ensure that access to the Service is always as trouble-free and uninterrupted as possible, although this is not guaranteed. However, the Provider reserves the right to interrupt access to the Service for all participants or a specific group of participants at any time, particularly if increased security risks or disruptions are identified or for maintenance work.
It is the responsibility of the Participant to determine whether the Service is suitable for his/her intended use. The Provider disclaims any liability for any specific use or direct or indirect damage resulting from the use of the Service; in particular, due to incorrect processing of the letter, time of delivery, incorrect delivery, non-delivery, or delayed delivery.
Statements made by the Provider regarding delivery and delivery times are not to be understood as a guarantee promise or as an SLA, but merely as information which is based on empirical values or information from third-party providers.
To the extent permitted by law, the Provider's liability is limited to the amount paid for the letters concerned.
Data backups of the Service and the data contained therein are carried out on a regular basis. The Provider expressly disclaims any liability for the backup and availability of the entrusted data. A claim for individual production of data of the Participant, e.g., in the case of erroneous deletion, is excluded.
The account can be terminated at any time. This can only be achieved by deleting the account in the Service or by registered mail. If the account is terminated by registered mail, a copy of an official identification document must be enclosed for the purpose of legitimation, as well as a copy of an excerpt from the commercial register in the case of accounts in the name of a company.
After the termination has been completed, no further letters will be processed unless they have already been handed over to a third-party provider. Likewise, as of the time of termination, no more notifications regarding letters sent (status messages) will be sent.
The Provider is free to terminate the Participant's participation in the Service in whole or in part at any time and without giving reasons, subject to a minimum of 10 days' notice, in particular, but not exclusively, if the Provider becomes aware that the Participant is using the Service in whole or in part to create or send abusive letter content as described in point 7 or is using it in such a way that the use by other participants is impaired.
In the event of misuse or impairing use of the Service by the Participant, which also includes the use of means of payment which the Participant is not entitled to use (such as credit card misuse or fraud), as well as unauthorised chargebacks, the Provider is entitled to terminate the contract without prior notice to avert expected material and immaterial damage to itself and third parties.
For each unjustified chargeback, a handling fee equivalent to CHF 100 will be charged in addition to the actual damage.
The “Pingen Credits” available at the time of termination expire and are non-refundable, irrespective of the reason for termination or the terminating party.
Should provisions in whole or in part of these GTC be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions shall remain unaffected.
The law of the Swiss Confederation shall apply exclusively.
The place of jurisdiction is the registered office of the Provider at the time the order is placed.
