Welcome to Countertalk. We are dedicated to building a better hospitality industry by connecting professionals with employers who care. To keep our community safe, fair, and supportive, please read these Terms and Conditions carefully before using the Countertalk Ltd. website, services, events, and training programmes.

By accessing or using our platform, purchasing any recruitment packages, event tickets, or Academy programmes, you agree to be bound by these Terms. Countertalk Ltd. ("we", "us", "our") reserves the right to update these Terms at any time. Continued use of the site following any changes constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

1. About Us

• 1.1 Company Name: Countertalk Ltd.
• 1.2 Registration: Registered in England and Wales.
• 1.3 Registered Office: 505 Pinner Road, Harrow, Middlesex, England, HA2 6EH.
• 1.4 Company Number: 12085098.
• 1.5 Contact: service@countertalk.co.uk.

2. Our Services and the Academy

• 2.1 Core Services: Countertalk Ltd. provides a digital platform connecting hospitality employers and job seekers, organises industry events and panel discussions, and operates the Countertalk Academy (offering mentorship programmes and training modules).
• 2.2 Platform Disclaimer: Countertalk Ltd. is a job advertising platform and community hub. We are not an employment agency or recruitment firm as defined under the Employment Agencies Act 1973.
• 2.3 No Guarantee of Outcomes: We do not guarantee that posting a job will result in a hire, nor do we guarantee that a job seeker will find employment.
• 2.4 Vetting Process: All job posts and profiles are subject to our internal vetting process and must be manually approved before being published.

3. Eligibility

To use the Countertalk platform, buy event tickets, or enrol in the Academy, you must:

• 3.1 Age Limit: Be at least 18 years old.
• 3.2 Authority: Have the legal authority to enter into binding contracts on behalf of yourself or your organisation.
• 3.3 Accuracy: Provide accurate and truthful information at all times.
• 3.4 Lawful Purpose: Use the platform only for lawful hiring, job-seeking, or professional development activities.
• 3.5 Employer Standards: For Employers: Agree to uphold the Countertalk standards of a healthy working environment and the Countertalk Employer Pledge.

4. Account Registration and Security

• 4.1 Accurate Details: Users may be required to create an account. You are responsible for ensuring all information provided is accurate and kept up to date.
• 4.2 Credential Security: You are responsible for keeping your login credentials secure and confidential.
• 4.3 Account Activity: You are responsible for all activity carried out under your account, whether or not authorised by you.
• 4.4 Suspension Rights: We may suspend or terminate accounts that breach these Terms or our Community Guidelines without prior notice.

5. Employer Packages and Pricing

We offer three recruitment advertising packages. By purchasing a package, you purchase the specific services associated with your chosen tier as set out below. Prices are subject to change; the price applicable to your order is that displayed at the time of purchase.

• 5.1 Essential (£95 + VAT): Includes a dedicated employer page on the Countertalk platform, listing on the Countertalk jobs board (live for 4 weeks from publication), and inclusion in the weekly New Jobs e-newsletter sent to candidate inboxes.
• 5.2 Featured (£195 + VAT): Includes Essential deliverables plus: Featured listing status on the jobs board with a hero image, Featured placement in the weekly newsletter, inclusion in the Instagram carousel, and a post on the Countertalk LinkedIn page. Live for 4 weeks.
• 5.3 Premium (£295 + VAT): Includes Featured deliverables plus: 'Jobs of the Week' feature on either the General or Career Spotlight newsletter, and an extended 6-week listing duration.
• 5.4 Promotional Disclaimer: Social media and newsletter promotion is carried out at our discretion and subject to scheduling. The timings set out above are targets, not guarantees. We do not guarantee reach, impressions, or specific candidate response metrics.

6. Payments, Billing, and Refunds for Advertisements

• 6.1 Payment: Payment for all job advertisements is taken in full at the point of submission, before your advert is reviewed or approved, via our third-party payment processor, Stripe. We do not store or have access to full payment card details.
• 6.2 Pricing and VAT: All prices displayed on the website are exclusive of VAT unless otherwise stated. VAT will be calculated at the prevailing rate and added to the total amount payable at checkout.
• 6.3 Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 — Waiver of Cancellation Right: Where you purchase a job advertisement as a consumer (including as a sole trader), you would ordinarily have a 14-day right to cancel under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. By completing your purchase and submitting your advert, you expressly request that we begin processing your submission immediately, and you acknowledge that you waive your right to cancel once we have commenced that process.
• 6.4 Right to Reject and Refund: Because payment is taken prior to review, we reserve the right to reject a submitted job advertisement and issue a full refund in the following circumstances only:
  • The role advertised is not within the hospitality industry and is therefore unsuitable for our platform.
  • The employer is found to be in breach of the Countertalk Employer Pledge at the point of review.
• 6.5 No Refund Policy: Once a job advertisement has been approved and published on the platform, the fee paid is strictly non-refundable. This applies if the role is filled early, if you withdraw the listing early, or if your business circumstances change. If a live job advertisement is removed because you are found to be in breach of these Terms, our Code of Conduct, or the Countertalk Pledge, no refund will be due.
• 6.6 Billing Disputes: If you believe you have been incorrectly charged, please contact us at service@countertalk.co.uk within 14 days of the charge.

7. Job Posting Rules and Healthy Work Standards

We are committed to advertising roles exclusively from establishments that foster healthy, lawful working environments. All employers must ensure that job postings:

• 7.1 Truthfulness: Are accurate, truthful, and up to date at the time of submission and throughout the listing period.
• 7.2 Legal Compliance: Comply with all applicable UK employment legislation, including the Equality Act 2010, the Working Time Regulations 1998, and the Employment Rights Act 1996.
• 7.3 Statutory Pay Thresholds: Meet or exceed National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage requirements set by HM Treasury. We do not list roles paying below these thresholds.
• 7.4 Prohibition of Unpaid Trials: Do not require unpaid trial shifts, except where strictly compliant with guidance issued by HMRC permitting a genuine skills assessment of short duration (not exceeding 2 hours) for which the worker is compensated at least at National Minimum Wage rate.
• 7.5 Working Conditions: Do not mislead applicants regarding contracted hours, rest breaks, tips, service charges, or working conditions.
• 7.6 Removal Right: We reserve the right to refuse, edit, or permanently remove any job advertisement that breaches these requirements, fails our vetting process, or in our reasonable opinion reflects a poor or unsafe working culture.

8. Events and Ticket Sales

• 8.1 Scope: This section applies where Countertalk Ltd. organises or hosts events, panel discussions, or networking events, and sells tickets directly to attendees.
• 8.2 Refund Policy: Because we commit to upfront venue, catering, and guest speaker costs based on attendee numbers, we operate a strict ticket refund window. You may request a refund for your ticket up to seven (7) days before the scheduled start time of the event. To request a refund, you must email service@countertalk.co.uk. No refunds, partial refunds, or ticket transfers to future events will be issued for requests received less than seven (7) days before the event.
• 8.3 Rights Reserved: We reserve the right to refuse entry to, or eject from, any event any ticket holder whose conduct is deemed by us to be inappropriate, disruptive, or unsafe. We reserve the right to make minor, reasonable alterations to the event programme, running order, or speakers without prior notice.
• 8.4 Cancellation by Countertalk: If an event is cancelled entirely by Countertalk Ltd., you will be entitled to a full refund of the ticket face value paid. We will not be liable for any ancillary costs you have incurred in connection with attending the event, including travel or accommodation.
• 8.5 Event Postponement: If an event is postponed, your ticket will remain valid for the rescheduled date. If you are unable to attend on the rescheduled date, you may request a refund of the face value by notifying us within 14 days of the postponement announcement.

9. Countertalk Academy — Mentorship and Training

• 9.1 Scope: This section applies to all purchases of places within the Countertalk Academy, including mentorship programmes and training modules.
• 9.2 Strict No-Refund Policy: Due to the highly limited capacity, small-group nature, and pre-allocated resources of our training and mentorship programmes, all Academy purchases are strictly non-refundable. Once a place is purchased, you are not entitled to a refund if you change your mind, are unable to attend, or cannot complete the module.
• 9.3 Postponement or Cancellation by Countertalk: We reserve the right to cancel or postpone individual sessions, training modules, or mentorship cohorts at our sole discretion (for example, if a module does not meet the minimum required capacity, or due to mentor illness).
• 9.4 Course Changes: If we postpone or cancel an Academy programme, we will offer you a place on an alternative date or cohort. If you are unable to attend the alternative date, we will issue a full refund for the affected module. Countertalk Ltd. is not responsible or liable for any secondary or travel costs incurred due to such cancellations or postponements.

10. Applications and User Interactions

• 10.1 Communication Channels: Countertalk does not provide direct messaging between users. Job applications are submitted via application forms or to employer-provided contact details.
• 10.2 User Conduct: We are not responsible for employer behaviour, hiring decisions, response times, or job outcomes.
• 10.3 Pre-Employment Checks: We do not vet, background check, or verify the identity of job seekers, and employers should conduct their own pre-employment checks as appropriate.

11. User Content and Licence

• 11.1 Submissions: Users may submit content such as job descriptions, company information, profiles, and images ("User Content").
• 11.2 Licence Grant: By submitting User Content, you grant Countertalk Ltd. a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to use, display, reproduce, and distribute that content on our website and to promote job posts through our newsletter, social media, and marketing channels. We may format or modify content where necessary for clarity, compliance, safety, or layout.
• 11.3 Ownership: You retain full ownership of your User Content. You may request its removal at any time by contacting us.
• 11.4 Warranties: You confirm that you hold all necessary rights to upload and grant this licence for all submitted content, and that doing so does not infringe any third-party intellectual property rights.

12. Prohibition on Automated Access and AI Scraping

• 12.1 Prohibited Activities: You are strictly prohibited from using any automated system, software, or tool — including robots, spiders, crawlers, or scrapers — to access, acquire, copy, or monitor any portion of the Countertalk website or its content for the purpose of:
  • (a) Training Artificial Intelligence (AI) models, Large Language Models (LLMs), or other machine learning systems.
  • (b) Commercial data harvesting or aggregation.
  • (c) Any purpose not expressly authorised by these Terms.
• 12.2 Statutory Enforcement: Unauthorised automated access may constitute an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We reserve the right to pursue all available legal remedies against any person or entity found to be in breach of this clause.

13. Intellectual Property

• 13.1 Platform Ownership: All content on the Countertalk platform (except User Content) — including but not limited to text, graphics, logos, and software — is owned by or licensed to Countertalk Ltd. and is protected by the laws of England and Wales and applicable international intellectual property laws.
• 13.2 Restrictions: You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, or commercially exploit any part of the website without our prior written consent.

14. Prohibited Use

You may not use the Countertalk platform to:

• 14.1 Unauthorized Outreach: Contact other users for any purpose other than lawful recruitment or job-seeking.
• 14.2 Unsolicited Offers: Offer third-party services or unsolicited communications to users.
• 14.3 Unlawful Content: Post illegal, harmful, fraudulent, or misleading content.
• 14.4 Data Extraction: Scrape, harvest, or extract data for commercial use or AI training (as detailed in Clause 12).
• 14.5 Technical Interference: Interfere with or disrupt the technical operation of the website.
• 14.6 Criminal Misuse: Commit any act that would constitute an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, the Fraud Act 2006, or any other applicable law.

15. Moderation, Complaints, and Removal

• 15.1 Investigation: We take reports of poor working environments seriously. If we receive credible complaints about an employer (for example, regarding treatment of staff, wage theft, safety concerns, or workplace culture), we reserve the right to place job advertisements on hold pending an investigation. We may request the employer to participate in the Countertalk Culture Survey or to provide further information.
• 15.2 Removal: We reserve the right to edit, decline, or permanently remove any content or account at our discretion if:
  • (a) An employer fails to engage with or adequately address concerns raised during an investigation.
  • (b) An employer is found to be in breach of our Community Guidelines or these Terms.
  • (c) Any applicable law has been or is likely to be violated.

16. Data Protection and Privacy

• 16.1 Statutory Framework: We process personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We act as data controller in respect of personal data submitted through the platform.
• 16.2 Processors: We share data with the following third-party processors: Stripe (payment processing), Craft and Campaigns (email communications), and Google Analytics (website usage analysis).
• 16.3 Full Policy: Please refer to our Privacy Policy for full details of the legal bases for processing, your rights under UK GDPR, data retention periods, and cookie usage.

17. Third-Party Links

• 17.1 External Content: The Countertalk website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the content, accuracy, availability, or privacy practices of external sites.
• 17.2 No Endorsement: The inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement by Countertalk Ltd.

18. Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law:

• 18.1 "As Is" Provision: The Countertalk platform is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranty of any kind.
• 18.2 Operational Guarantees: We make no guarantees regarding job matches, candidate quality, hiring success, uninterrupted service, or error-free operation.
• 18.3 Consequential Losses: We are not liable for any indirect, consequential, incidental, or financial losses arising from your use of the platform.
• 18.4 Liability Cap: Our total aggregate liability for any claim arising from your use of our services shall not exceed the total fees you have paid to Countertalk Ltd. in the 12 months immediately preceding the claim.
• 18.5 Consumer Rights Backstop: Where you are a consumer, nothing in these Terms affects your statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, including the implied terms of satisfactory quality and fitness for purpose where applicable. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other matter that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

19. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Countertalk Ltd., its directors, employees, and agents against any claims, damages, costs, or expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from:

• 19.1 Platform Use: Your use of the platform.
• 19.2 Breach: Your breach of these Terms.
• 19.3 User Content: Your User Content or conduct on the platform.
• 19.4 User Interactions: Your interactions with job seekers or employers.

20. Alternative Dispute Resolution

• 20.1 Informal Resolution: In the event of a dispute between us, we encourage you to contact us in the first instance at service@countertalk.co.uk so that we may seek to resolve the matter informally.
• 20.2 ADR Scheme: In accordance with the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015, we are required to inform you that an approved Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme is available to you. We are not currently obliged to use ADR, but you may refer a dispute to an approved ADR provider. Further information about ADR schemes is available from the Chartered Trading Standards Institute at www.tradingstandards.uk.

21. Termination and Suspension

• 21.1 Account Termination: We may suspend or terminate your account or remove content at any time without prior notice if:
  • (a) You breach any provision of these Terms.
  • (b) You provide false or misleading information.
  • (c) Your behaviour or workplace culture presents a risk of harm to users, staff, or the reputation of the platform.
• 21.2 Voluntary Withdrawal: You may stop using the site at any time. Termination does not affect any accrued rights or liabilities.

22. Changes to These Terms

• 22.1 Updates: We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be notified by posting a notice on our website.
• 22.2 Acceptance: Continued use of the platform after any changes have been posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.

23. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

• 23.1 English Law: These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
• 23.2 Jurisdiction: Any disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales, without prejudice to any mandatory consumer protection rights you may have under applicable law.

24. Contact Us

For questions, complaints, or concerns about these Terms, please contact us:

• 24.1 Email: service@countertalk.co.uk
• 24.2 Registered Address: 505 Pinner Road, Harrow, Middlesex, England, HA2 6EH
• 24.3 Company Number: 12085098

Countertalk Ltd. is registered in England and Wales.