Terms of Service

3.1 Registration

To use certain features, you must create an account. You must provide accurate information and keep your account credentials secure. You are responsible for all activity under your account.

3.2 Age requirement

You must be at least 18 years old to use the Service. By creating an account, you confirm that you meet this requirement.

3.3 Account termination

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or engage in fraudulent, abusive, or illegal activity.

4.1 Right to cancel (14-day cooling-off period)

Under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, you have the right to cancel your subscription within 14 days of purchase without giving any reason.

Digital content exception: If you expressly request immediate access to the Service and begin using it before the 14-day cancellation period ends, you acknowledge and agree that:

• You are requesting immediate performance of the service (supply of digital content)
• You will lose your right to cancel under regulation 37 of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 once we have fully performed the service
• You retain all other statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, including the right to remedies if the Service is not of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, or as described (see section 4.2)

Monthly subscriptions: For monthly subscriptions (which automatically renew each month), you can cancel at any time via your account settings. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current monthly billing period, and no further payments will be taken.

Annual subscriptions (if applicable): If you subscribe to an annual plan, you have a 14-day cooling-off period following any renewal that commits you to a further period of 12 months, in accordance with the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. We will remind you before any such renewal with at least 30 days' notice.

To exercise your right to cancel, email us at support@guardianscan.ai. If you cancel within the cooling-off period before using the Service, we will refund all payments within 14 days.

4.2 Service quality

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, digital content and services must be:

• Of satisfactory quality
• Fit for purpose
• As described

If the Service does not meet these standards, you may be entitled to a repair, replacement, or refund.

4.3 Unfair terms

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, any unfair contract term is not binding on you. A term is unfair if it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations to your detriment.

6.1 Robots.txt compliance

By default, we respect robots.txt directives (RFC 9309). If a site blocks our user agent ("GuardianScan/1.0"), we will not scan it unless you explicitly bypass this check (which should only be done for sites you own or have permission to scan).

6.2 Rate limiting

Professional accounts include high-volume monthly scanning designed for regular business use, with technical rate limits of 10 scans per hour to ensure service stability for all users. This typically supports up to 7,000 scans per month based on continuous usage patterns. Free accounts receive one scan delivered via email with a 30-day token validity period.

Fair usage policy: Professional accounts are designed for regular business use. Automated bulk scanning, reselling of scan services, or usage patterns that significantly exceed typical business needs (generally above 10,000 scans per month) and degrade service performance for other users may result in temporary rate limiting with prior notice.

6.3 Your responsibility

You are responsible for ensuring you have the right to scan any URL you submit. We are not liable for any issues arising from unauthorised scanning.

7.1 Free tier

Free accounts receive one complimentary PDF report delivered via email with results from all 50 checks. No credit card required. The scan access token is valid for 30 days from issuance and can be used only once.

Important: Free tier provides a one-time scan to evaluate the Service. For ongoing monitoring and unlimited scans, upgrade to Professional at £24/month.

7.2 Professional subscription

Professional subscriptions cost £24/month (GBP) and provide unlimited scans, scan history, and priority support. Billing is handled via Stripe. Subscriptions automatically renew monthly unless cancelled.

Auto-renewal transparency: Your Professional subscription automatically renews monthly unless you cancel. Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024:

• Monthly subscriptions: You can cancel at any time via your account settings with no more than a few clicks. Your dashboard clearly displays your next billing date and cancellation options.
• Reminder notifications: We will send you an annual reminder email about your auto-renewing subscription, including how to cancel and manage your subscription preferences.
• Annual subscriptions (if offered): For any subscription committing you to 12+ months, we will send a reminder at least 14 days before each renewal with clear cancellation instructions, in accordance with DMCC Act 2024 requirements.

7.3 Easy cancellation

You may cancel your subscription at any time via your account settings with no more steps than reasonably necessary. You can cancel by making a clear statement that you wish to end your subscription. Cancellations take effect at the end of the current billing period.

Refund policy: You may cancel your subscription at any time, and cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. We do not provide pro-rata refunds for unused days within a billing period.

Your statutory rights: Nothing in this refund policy affects your statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. If the Service is not of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, or as described (CRA 2015 sections 49-52), you may be entitled to remedies including a price reduction or refund regardless of when in the billing period you cancel. This includes but is not limited to:

• Significant service unavailability or downtime
• Systematic scan failures or inaccurate results
• Material features not functioning as described
• Service not being of reasonable quality considering the price paid

To request a refund based on service quality issues, contact support@guardianscan.ai with details of the issue.

7.4 Price changes

We may change subscription prices with 30 days' advance notice. Existing subscribers will be notified via email and may cancel before the new price takes effect without penalty.

8.1 Our rights

The Service, including all software, text, graphics, and logos, is owned by Numen Technology Ltd and protected by UK and international copyright laws.

8.2 Your scan results

You retain ownership of your scan results. We store results to provide scan history and analytics, but you may delete them at any time via your account settings.

8.3 Licence to use

We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the Service for your personal or business use, subject to these Terms.

10.1 Reasonable skill and care

We will provide the Service with reasonable skill and care in accordance with industry standards for automated website scanning tools. However, as an automated service, we do not guarantee that:

• The Service will be uninterrupted or error-free at all times
• Scan results will detect all issues present on your website
• The Service will meet your specific business requirements
• All security vulnerabilities will be detected (see section 10.2)

Consumer Rights Act 2015 protection: Nothing in this section affects your statutory rights under sections 49-52 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (quality, fitness for purpose, description). If the Service fails to meet these standards, you may be entitled to a price reduction or refund.

10.2 Not a substitute for manual testing

GuardianScan performs automated accessibility checks against WCAG 2.2 Level AA guidelines. According to industry research (Deque Systems, 2023), approximately 57% of WCAG 2.2 issues can be automatically detected, while 43% require human evaluation.

Equality Act 2010 compliance: This Service is NOT a substitute for manual accessibility audits, user testing with assistive technologies, or legal compliance assessments under the Equality Act 2010. If you provide services to the UK public, you should commission a full accessibility audit by accredited professionals.

Similarly, our security header checks are NOT a substitute for penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, or compliance with Cyber Essentials or ISO 27001 standards.

10.3 Third-party services

We use third-party services (Browserless.io for scanning, Stripe for payments, Supabase for data storage). We are not responsible for their availability or performance.