Terms of service

Welcome to the RuralHQ site (“the Site”, “RURALHQ”). These are our Terms & Conditions for use of the site which you may access in several ways, including but not limited to the internet, PDAs, mobile phones and RSS feeds. These Terms & Conditions apply whenever you access the site, regardless of how you access the Site.

1. Use of this site

RuralHQ Limited is the owner and operator of the Site.

Users of the Site, including Advertisers and Members (Users or you) agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions and any other notices and guidelines which appear on the Site (Terms & Conditions), which are subject to change at RuralHQ’s sole discretion. Your use of and access to this Site indicates your acceptance of these Terms & Conditions, as they exist at that time.

The Site is made available for personal use only. You may not use the Site or the directory contained on the Site for any commercial purpose (other than for the adding to or correcting of information contained in the directory), in accordance with the Terms & Conditions, including to supply another service, or to obtain information which you either incorporate into your service or product or use to enhance your service or product or your business in any way such as creating potential customer lists. Any commercial use requires prior written approval from RuralHQ.

Content refers to all information, including but not limited to data, text, images and multimedia, that is displayed in a business listing on the Site or directory.

2. User’s Obligation

• Users will not:
  • use the Site for any purpose or in any way which is contrary to the Terms & Conditions or which is unlawful, including but not limited to breaching intellectual property rights, linking to a listing in the Directory any defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive, discriminatory, unlawful, obscene, offensive, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable material of any kind;
  • submit or otherwise link to the directory, whether for automatic upload or otherwise, or otherwise propagate material of any kind which contains computer worms, viruses or other types of malicious or harmful code;
  • damage, modify, interfere with disrupt or destroy the files, data, passwords, devices or resources that belong to RuralHQ or do anything that compromises the security and/or stability of the Site or the directory;
  • use the directory in connection with the transmission of junk mail, spam, chain letters or to engage in other flooding techniques or mass distribution of unsolicited email; or
  • send automated queries of any kind to the Site or the directory without RuralHQ’s express written permission.

3. Member Account Terms of Use

• Users agree:
  • to abide by the Terms & Conditions;
  • to provide accurate, current and complete information at all times;
  • to maintain the security of passwords and/or identification;
  • to be fully responsible for all account use and for any actions that take place with regard to the account, including accepting liability for all information, data, text, or other material whether publicly posted or privately transmitted to and from the account;
  • not to impersonate or misrepresent their affiliation with a particular business listing and products and services they provide;
  • not to post or upload Content which contains hidden code or images which do not relate to or which alter the intended meaning of the original Content; and
  • that RuralHQ has the right to suspend or terminate an Account and refuse any and all current or future use of the site or directory. Where it is possible for RuralHQ to contact Users directly, RuralHQ will notify the User of any suspension or termination and the reasons for it and the User has 5 days to provide a written response as to why the suspension or termination should be reversed. RuralHQ will give due and reasonable consideration to that response and provide a written response to the User within 10 days of receiving those reasons as to its decision.

4. Business Owner Terms of Use

• In signing up as a Business Owner you:
  • agree that you are the registered business owner or authorised representative of the business being registered;
  • agree that your business, like all businesses displayed on the Site are subject to receive ratings and reviews from Users;
  • acknowledge that, to the extent permitted by law, RuralHQ is not liable for any Content that causes you or your business any loss or damage;
  • acknowledge that RuralHQ reserves the right to include or exclude entry to, or remove a business from the Site and the directory; and
  • understand that RuralHQ at its sole discretion will determine the utilisation of all keywords, categories, Content and other material used to describe or categorise a business listing for all purposes relating to the Site and the directory.

5. RuralHQ Mobile Terms and Conditions

• The RuralHQ Mobile website (Msite) is an extension of the Site specifically designed to provide optimal user experience for mobile devices and general location tracking using a mobile phone’s “Unique ID” technology/service. To use the MSite you must have a compatible handset. Users acknowledge that:
  • “Unique ID” does not provide the User’s precise location, and instead provides the location of the mobile phone tower being used by the User’s mobile phone. Location Based Services (LBS) technology is not precise;
  • in some circumstances, if LBS is unable to locate the User, the User will be prompted to enter their postcode or suburb to assist in this process;
  • if a User is not happy with their current location provided by LBS then the User has a choice to replace it by typing in their preferred location (only a suburb name or postcode and state or territory) and perform a search in that location;
  • Users will be charged for data usage as per their data pricing plan which is governed by the relevant carrier; and
  • banner advertising may appear during your use of the RuralHQ.

6. Search Box Terms of Use

• These clauses govern the inclusion of a RuralHQ search box on your own website (Your Site) which will enable you to offer users of Your Site the ability to search the RuralHQ database (Your RuralHQ Guide Search Function).
• By using the RuralHQ search box on Your Site, you agree that:
  • RuralHQ operates a business listing service for New Zealand but that, despite reasonable commercial endeavours, the data within the directory may not be fully exhaustive, accurate or current;
  • Your RuralHQ Search Function will operate in accordance with the following principles:
    • A search box will be supported by functionality which will allow search requests to be received at the RuralHQ network interface thereby providing a business listings search function for Your Site which will permit users to search a RuralHQ directory;
    • The Content of the RuralHQ directory to be searched will be the same as the Content of the directory which is searched by users of www.ruralhq.co.nz;
    • Search results will be displayed on a results page hosted by RuralHQ and will include listed businesses (if any) and mapping information (where possible, subject to licensing and other issues); and
    • You may not make any changes to the appearance of the search box as provided by us without our prior written consent.
  • RuralHQ has no liability to any party or any other person in relation to your RuralHQ Search Function or the appearance or use of or reliance on search results. You indemnify us in relation to any claim made against us or loss suffered by us in relation to the use by any third party of your RuralHQ Search Function or their use of or reliance on any search results; and
  • RuralHQ may terminate this agreement and ability to display a RuralHQ search box at any time and at its own discretion and without prior notice.
• RuralHQ makes no warranties or representations in relation to the availability of Your RuralHQ Search Function and the accuracy or completeness of any search results.

7. Intellectual Property

• Except where stated otherwise, all intellectual property in relation to Content on this Site belongs to RuralHQ Limited (RuralHQ) or its licensors, advertisers or affiliates, including but not limited to logos and trademarks. You obtain no interest in that intellectual property. All Content on the site is protected by New Zealand and international copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may not do anything which interferes with or breaches those laws or the intellectual property rights in the Content.
• You may download and view Content or print a copy of material on this site for personal, non-commercial use provided you do not modify the Content in any way (including any copyright notice). All rights not expressly granted under these terms of use are reserved by RuralHQ. Unless expressly stated otherwise, you are not permitted to copy, or republish anything you find on the Site without the copyright or trademark owners’ permission.
• Other, non-RuralHQ trademarks may be displayed on the Site from time to time. These may belong to third parties. Nothing displayed on the Site should be construed as granting any licence or right of use of any logo, trademark or masthead displayed on the Site, without the express written permission of the relevant owner.

8. Privacy

• RuralHQ will collect, use and disclose any personal information in accordance with its Privacy Policy which can be viewed at www.ruralhq.co.nz/privacy-policy/. Users acknowledge RuralHQ’s Privacy policy and consent to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information in accordance with that Privacy Policy.

9. Liability & Indemnity

• RuralHQ does not exclude any rights and remedies in respect of goods or services under the New Zealand Consumer Law which cannot be excluded, restricted or modified. However, RuralHQ otherwise excludes all rights, remedies, conditions and warranties in respect of goods or services provided through the Site whether based in statute, common law or otherwise to the extent permitted by law.
• RuralHQ does not warrant the accuracy of the Content and the directory on the Site, including but not limited to any maps displayed on the site and any third party sites or resources. All Content is provided to you “as is” and on an “as available” basis and on the condition that you undertake all responsibility for assessing the accuracy of the Content and rely on it at your own risk. Content represents the views of the writer only and not the views of RuralHQ. All Content on the Site may be changed and/or removed at RuralHQ’ sole discretion and without notice.
• RuralHQ will have no responsibility or liability in relation to any loss or damage that you incur, including damage to your software or hardware, arising from your use of or access to this Site, subject to clause 21.
• RuralHQ does not warrant that functions contained in the Site Content, such as hyperlinks, will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected or that RuralHQ or the server that makes it available, are free of viruses or bugs.
• Liability of RuralHQ, for any breach of a term or condition implied by law, or any statutory guarantee, is limited at RuralHQ’s discretion, to the supply of any service again or the payment for the cost of having any service supplied again.
• You indemnify RuralHQ and its affiliated companies, and each of their directors, officers, employees and agents against any action, claim, loss or expense which it incurs which arises from your use of the Site.

10. Third Party Content & Links

• This Site may include third party content which is subject to that third party’s terms and conditions of use. Nothing on this Site should be construed as granting any license or right for you to use that Content.
• This Site may include links to third party sites which are not related to RuralHQ and in relation to which RuralHQ has no control or interest. The appearance of those links on this Site does not indicate any relationship between RuralHQ and that third party or any endorsement by RuralHQ of that third party, its site or the products or services which it is advertising on this Site.

11. Contributing Content

• When you submit Content to RuralHQ in any format, including any text, photographs, graphics, video or audio, you grant RuralHQ and each of its related bodies corporate a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual licence to publish or otherwise use that Content in any way, at any time.
• RuralHQ reserves the right not to use the Content you submit.
• You warrant that you have all of the necessary rights, including copyright, in the Content you contribute, that your Content is not defamatory and that it does not infringe any law.
• You indemnify RuralHQ against any and all legal fees, damages and other expenses that may be incurred by RuralHQ as a result of a breach of the above warranty.
• Unless otherwise stated, you waive any moral rights in your contribution for the purposes of its submission to and publication on the Site.

12. General

• These Terms & Condition shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of New Zealand.
• Any notice to be served to the Company under this agreement must be served personally by post or email to the Company at:

Attention: RuralHQ Customer Service Department
PO Box 8175,
Christchurch 8440
Email: contact@ruralhq.co.nz