A. LEGAL NOTICES
The website https://www.thefork.com and TheFork mobile and tablet apps are published by:
La Fourchette SAS
A simplified joint stock company with capital of 30,231,355.35 Euros
Registered office: 70, rue Saint-Lazare, 75009 Paris, France
RCS PARIS 494 447 949
European VAT No.: FR71494447949
Publication director: Bertrand Jelensperger.
Telephone: +33 01 83 77 77 00
Email: contact@lafourchette.com
The website http://www.thefork.com is hosted by:
Oxalide
25, boulevard de Strasbourg
75010 Paris, France
B. TERMS OF USE
Last update: 14 March 2018
These Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy constitute your agreement with La Fourchette SAS (if you are a restaurant owner accepting reservations through TheFork Site, these provisions also apply to you in addition to the General conditions of sale and use as well as the special conditions at the time of your registration). Read them carefully; these provisions bind you as soon as you use TheFork Site.
Attention: If you do not agree with all or some of these Terms of Use, you should not use TheFork Site.
PART 1. GENERAL CONDITIONS OF USE
Definitions
"La Fourchette" : means the company La Fourchette SAS.
"TheFork Site" : refers to all web and mobile websites accessible at " https://www.thefork.com" and TheFork mobile and tablet apps.
"User" : means any individual over 18 years of age, capable of entering into contracts, who visits TheFork Site and/or has an account on TheFork Site and in the plural “Users”.
"Terms of Use" : refers to these general conditions of use and any special conditions of use.
"Restaurateur Content" : refers to elements of the restaurant page provided to La Fourchette by the restaurateur or which the restaurateur has authorised La Fourchette to load onto TheFork Site, such as food and beverage prices, average price of a meal, the name of the chef, restaurant availability, the menu, calendar, restaurant themes and photos of the restaurant.
"User Content" : refers to all the elements provided by the User on TheFork Site, including text, document, image, photo, review or right of reply.
Acceptance and modification of the Terms of Use
La Fourchette provides the User with an online restaurant search and reservation service in exchange for unconditional acceptance of these Terms of Use.
Users declare and acknowledge having fully read these Terms of Use. Furthermore, by using any of the services offered on TheFork Site, Users unconditionally accept to be bound by these Terms of Use.
La Fourchette reserves the right to amend these Terms of Use at any time, in whole or in part. It is therefore the User's responsibility to regularly consult the latest version of the Terms of Use posted on TheFork Site. Users are deemed to accept this latest version upon each new use of TheFork Site.
By accessing or using TheFork Site in any way, the User agrees to be bound by these Terms of Use.
1. Description of TheFork Site
Use of TheFork Site is subject to limitations of liability on the part of La Fourchette. Please refer to Article 8 "Limitation of Liability" for details.
1.1 Introduction platform
TheFork Site is a platform that allows the User to connect with the restaurants listed on TheFork Site, among other functionnalities. As such, La Fourchette acts exclusively as an intermediary in connection with the reservation of said restaurants by the User.
1.2 Real time search for and reservation of tables in a restaurant
TheFork Site allows the User to search for and reserve a table in a restaurant in real time.
TheFork Site also allows the User to cancel their reservation in the event of unforeseen circumstances.
1.3 Promotional offers from restaurants listed on TheFork Site
TheFork Site allows the User, provided that the reservation is made through TheFork Site, to benefit from promotional offers provided by the restaurants on TheFork Site. Not all restaurants have promotional offers. The conditions of validity of such promotional offers are set out on TheFork Site. Users undertakes to verify the conditions of validity of a promotional offer before reserving on TheFork Site and in no case may claim the benefit of a promotional offer from the restaurant outside the conditions of validity as they are set out on TheFork Site, and/or outside the reservation procedure containing the promotional offer.
One condition of validity is that the User and their entire party must arrive at the restaurant reserved at the time reserved. If a User and all their guests do not show up at the restaurant within 15 minutes of the reserved time, the restaurant may choose to not apply the promotional offer associated with the reservation for the User and their party. For the sake of clarity, this means that if the User or any of their guests is more than 15 minutes late, the User and their entire party will lose the automatic benefit of the promotional offer and the restaurant may decide whether or not to apply the promotional offer to all or some of the guests.
2. Free Use of TheFork Site
The services offered on TheFork Site are generally free.
Tariffs may be applicable, in particular depending on changes to the services offered, the evolution of the network, and of technical and/or legal constraints. Users will be duly informed by an amendment to these Terms of Use and/or by the insertion of special conditions relative to the paid-for services on TheFork Site.
3. Third party sites and services
3.1 Services offered by third parties
Users acknowledge that TheFork Site refers to paid-for services. In particular, any reservation made on TheFork Site refers to a restaurant service performed by a third party restaurateur for which payment is required.
Any price or price range concerning a third party provider displayed on TheFork Site is provided for information purposes only and for convenience. In no event shall La Fourchette guarantee the accuracy of such information.
3.2 Links to third party sites
TheFork Site may contain links to sites managed by third parties. These links are for information only. La Fourchette does not control these sites and is not responsible for their content or for the privacy policy or other practices of such sites. The display of links to such sites does not constitute approval of the elements on these sites nor any association with the publishers of these sites. It is the Users’ responsibility to carry out any checks deemed necessary or appropriate before using these sites or entering into a transaction with any of them.
4. Access and Use of TheFork Site
4.1 Conditions of eligibility
Use of TheFork Site is subject to the following cumulative eligibility requirements: as a User (i) you are at least 18 years of age; (ii) you have the legal capacity to submit to be bound by legal obligations; (iii) and the reservations that you make on TheFork Site, for you or any other person for whom you are legally entitled to act, will be legitimate.
4.2 Access to TheFork Site
La Fourchette reserves the right to suspend, delete or modify all or part of TheFork Site or the services offered on TheFork Site without prior notice. La Fourchette also reserves the right to suspend access to TheFork Site for all or any Users due to maintenance, emergency (cyberattack, etc.) or for any other reasonable reason and at any time.
4.3 Conditions for opening an account
By opening an account, the User expressly and unreservedly accepts these Terms of Use.
Users undertakes to provide accurate, up-to-date and truthful information, in particular regarding their title, last name, first name, email address and telephone number, which are necessary for their proper identification in relation to the opening and maintenance of their account.
4.4 Confidentiality of account credentials
During the creation of their account, Users choose an ID and a password ("Credentials") enabling them to access their account.
The Credentials are personal and confidential. They can only be changed at the request of the User concerned or at the initiative of La Fourchette.
Users are solely and entirely responsible for the use of their account and the Credentials concerning them, and undertake to do everything possible to keep their Credentials secret and to not disclose them to anyone in any form whatsoever.
In the event of loss or theft of one of a User's Credentials, that User is liable for any consequential damage of this loss or theft, and must follow, as soon as possible, the procedure enabling them to be modified, which can be found on the page at https://www.thefork.com/my-account/info .
4.5 Closing the account
Users may close their account at any time. To do so, they must send their account closure request by email to: contact@thefork.com.
La Fourchette will endeavour to process any account closure request within a reasonable period of time.
Users are informed that as of the closure of their account, they will no longer be able to benefit from the services offered by La Fourchette, their current reservations will be cancelled and any accumulated Yums, if any, will be deleted.
4.6 Users’ obligations - Prohibited Actions
Users agree to use TheFork Site in accordance with these Terms of Use and applicable law. In particular, Users agree not to engage in the prohibited actions mentioned below:
Failing to go to the restaurant without cancelling the reservation (no-show).
The content and data of TheFork Site (including but not limited to messages, data, information, text, music, sounds, photos, graphics, videos, maps, icons, software, codes or any other element), as well as the infrastructure used to provide such content and information, belongs to La Fourchette; Users agree not to modify, copy, distribute, transmit, display, make available, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works, transfer, sell or resell any information, software, products or services obtained from or through TheFork Site.
The copying, transmission, reproduction, re-issue, redistribution or transmission of the content of TheFork Site, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of La Fourchette is strictly prohibited. To obtain this authorisation, contact La Fourchette at the following address:
La Fourchette
70 Rue Saint-Lazare
75009 Paris, France.
Furthermore, Users undertake to not:
- use TheFork Site or its contents for illegal, illegitimate or fraudulent purposes;
- submit User Content or Restaurateur Content to TheFork Site that is inaccurate, illegal and in particular which invades privacy, is abusive, indecent, threatening, incites hatred or violence, or of which the intellectual property rights do not belong to them and for which they do not have the express permission of the rights holder;
- use, monitor, extract or copy the architecture, content or data of TheFork Site or the actions of any User on TheFork Site by using a robot, a spider, a scraper, Spyware, keystroke recorder or any other program or automatic device or manual process for any purpose;
- violate restrictions regarding robot exclusion files on TheFork Site or circumvent measures to prevent or limit access to TheFork Site;
- take any action that imposes, or could impose an unreasonable or excessive burden on the infrastructure of TheFork Site;
- establish an invisible link to TheFork Site for any reason;
- "frame", "reflect" or incorporate any portion of TheFork Site into another site; and
- attempt to modify, translate, adapt, revise, decompile, disassemble or reverse engineer any software program used by La Fourchette in connection with TheFork Site or its services.
4.7 Penalty for breach of contract
4.7.1 Suspension or Termination of TheFork Site services
In the event of the total or partial non-compliance or non-respect by aUser of any of the obligations or provisions of these Terms of Use, or in the event that a User performs any of the prohibited actions as set out in these Terms of Use, or for any other reasonable reason, La Fourchette may modify, suspend, limit or remove access to any or all of the services of TheFork Site, including by deactivating the User's account, without notice and without any right whatsoever for the User to claim compensation, and without prejudice to any compensation that La Fourchette may otherwise claim in court.
4.7.2 Damages
Without prejudice to the penalties imposed by La Fourchette under Article 4.7.1, La Fourchette shall also be entitled to claim compensation for any damage incurred.
5. Reviews and User Content
Users must follow the below rules when posting any User Content and in particular when posting a review on TheFork Site concerning a restaurant listed on TheFork Site.
5.1 Conditions for posting reviews
- To post a review, Users must have an account on TheFork Site that identifies them, or they must have been invited to submit a review via an email sent by La Fourchette and have reserved or been invited to a restaurant through TheFork Site and have honoured the reservation in the restaurant.
- To avoid any conflict of interest and for obvious reasons of objectivity, if any User works in the restaurant sector, they are not permitted to post a review on TheFork Site.
- The review must contain more than 200 characters and relate exclusively to the restaurant visited. Any review mentioning another restaurant may be rejected by La Fourchette.
5.2 Reasons for rejecting User Content
User Content may be rejected for the following reasons:
- if the User does not adhere to the "Conditions for posting reviews" as set out above;
- if La Fourchette believes that its civil or criminal liability may be engaged;
- if the User Content or the elements relating to the identity of the author contain insults or vulgarities;
- if the text of the User Content contains random characters or word sequences with no meaning;
- if the User Content is unrelated to the restaurant being reviewed;
- if the User Content is or is suspected of being a breach of third parties’ intellectual property rights;
- if the review raises issues of conflict of interest or fraud, or if La Fourchette believes that it does amount to such conflict or fraud;
- if the text of the User Content is badly written to the point of being unintelligible;
- if a User makes an inappropriate comment about another item of User Content or its author;
- if the User Content contains personal information or elements likely to lead to identity theft, such as the first or last names of individuals who are not public persons, a telephone number, a postal address or an email address;
- if the User Content mentions websites, hypertext links, URLs, email addresses or telephone numbers; or
- if the User Content is clearly spam.
For more information on the conditions of acceptance of photos, click here.
If a User is identified as having posted content which is fraudulent or that La Fourchette believes to be fraudulent, La Fourchette, after applying the procedures for the rejection or deletion of the review, may deactivate the User's account (which will cancel all their current reservations and annul any accumulated Yums), and delete all of their posts.
5.3 Moderation of reviews
La Fourchette has no obligation to moderate or remove reviews. La Fourchette moderates the reviews, on a reasonable endeavours basis to ensure that the reviews conform to these Terms of Use with a view to publishing, rejecting or deleting the review. Each review is subjected to a pre-publication moderation by automatic filters, and when flagged, to human moderation. The moderation period is 2 weeks maximum. Users may request the moderation of a previously published review by sending an email to contact@thefork.com specifying the reasons for their moderation request.
Any User who has published a review may later request its deletion by writing to contact@thefork.com. When La Fourchette becomes aware that a restaurant has closed or changed ownership reviews posted prior to that event will be deleted. Users may be contacted by La Fourchette to check the authenticity of their review by email and/or by telephone. Review may be forwarded to site with which La Fourchette has a partnership and posted on those sites. Users understand and agree that La Fourchette may include the following information with their reviews: date of registration on the site, number of reviews posted, first name and the first letter of last name, status and date of the restaurant visit. In accordance with the French 'Informatique et Libertés' law of 6 January 1978 (as amended), Users have the right to access, modify, rectify and delete their data, as well as the right to object to the processing of their information for legitimate reasons. Users may assert these rights by writing to contact@thefork.com.
5.4 Reviews from several guests
A User who reserves a restaurant for several guests is invited to input the email addresses of the guests so that they receive practical information about the reservation (address of the restaurant, time of reservation...). Users warrant that they have the prior authorisation of their guests to disclose their email addresses to La Fourchette. Each guest is then invited to post a review of their experience in the restaurant reserved by the User.
The personal data of guests collected for this purpose will not be reused by La Fourchette.
5.5 Right of reply
Each Restaurateur has a right of reply, in particular to:
- give their version of the facts;
- thank the consumer for their contribution; and or
- indicate any changes in the restaurant since the review was written.
The right of reply must be exercised within 3 months of the publication of the review concerned by using TheFork Manager tool, or by sending an email to: contact@thefork.com. Any request to exercise the right of reply by email must include the following elements:
- details of the review;
- identification of its author;
- mention of the disputed sections;
content of the requested response (the response may not be longer than the review to which it responds).
The response must comply with the provisions of these Terms of Use and will be moderated under the same conditions as Users’ reviews and if published will be displayed after the review to which it responds.
5.6 Restaurant ratings
Any User who reserved a restaurant through TheFork Site and who has honoured their reservation in this restaurant is invited to rate their dining experience.
The rating displayed on TheFork Site for each restaurant corresponds to a weighted average of the given ratings.
5.7 Use of the User Content
Users agree that by posting User Content on TheFork Site they automatically grant an irrevocable, permanent, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to La Fourchette to use, copy, display, adapt, modify, translate, distribute, have distributed or promoted, incorporate into any advertisements or other materials, create derivative works thereof, enhance, disseminate, or otherwise distribute such User Content throughout the world, and to enable third parties to do the same, this in any media whether online or not. In addition, by posting User Content on TheFork Site, Users automatically grant to La Fourchette all rights necessary to prohibit any display, aggregation, copying or use of such User Content by any third party for any purpose whatsoever. Users agree not to exercise their moral right on the User Content in a manner incompatible with the licences granted above. Users represent and warrant that they are entitled to grant the above licences.
6. Privacy Policy
La Fourchette has a Privacy Policy in place to protect Users’ privacy. Click here to view our current Privacy Policy, which also apply to the use of TheFork Site.
7. Intellectual property
7.1 Adherence to national and international intellectual property law
Users agree not to submit, copy, resell, republish, or, in general, make available in any form whatsoever any content, data, information or item received from La Fourchette or available on TheFork Site, to another individual or legal entity from any country. Users agree to adhere to the intellectual property provisions below.
7.2 Ownership of rights
All moral and patrimonial intellectual property rights relating to the content and information on TheFork Site belong to La Fourchette, with the exception of third party rights, for which La Fourchette has obtained the necessary rights or licences.
The rights conferred on Users by using TheFork Site and the services supplied by La Fourchette do not entail any licence of rights or permission to use or exploit any part of TheFork Site.
7.3 Protection of all elements: trademarks, designs, logos, hyperlinks, information, etc.
All elements (brands, designs, texts, hyperlinks, logos, images, videos, sounds, software, screen lay-out, databases, codes etc.) in/on TheFork Site and on associated sites are protected by national and international intellectual property law. These elements remain the sole property of La Fourchette and/or its licensors.
7.4 Prohibition on unauthorised use
Therefore, without prior written permission from La Fourchette and/or its partners, users may not reproduce, represent, republish, redistribute, adapt, translate and/or amend in part or in full, or transfer to another media, any information from TheFork Site.
7.5 Penalties
Users acknowledge and understand that failure to comply with the provisions of this Article 7 constitutes an infringement punishable by civil and criminal law.
8. Limitations of liability
8.1 Warning
It is up to Users to make any checks that seem necessary or opportune before making a reservation in one of the restaurants listed on TheFork Site.
La Fourchette offers no warranty whatsoever in relation with the Restaurateur Content or the services and/or commercial practices of the third parties listed on TheFork Site. Accordingly, La Fourchette does not warrant that Users will be satisfied with the products, services and/or business practices experienced following a reservation made through TheFork Site.
La Fourchette offers no warranty in relation with the content, objectivity or accuracy of the User Content, including but not limited to the reviews posted by Users on TheFork Site.
8.2 Modification of TheFork Site
Given the interactivity of TheFork Site, all information it contains is subject to change at any time, without this engaging the responsibility of La Fourchette.
8.3 Use of TheFork Site
Due to the specific nature of the Internet, La Fourchette does not warrant uninterrupted access to TheFork Site or service continuity, the only obligation of La Fourchette being one of reasonable endeavours in this respect.
La Fourchette shall not be liable for any failure to access TheFork Site or for any damage or loss arising out of the use or inability to use TheFork Site or its content, except as provided by law.
La Fourchette does not warrant that the information displayed is detailed, complete, verified or accurate. The Restaurateur Content, information, restaurant pages and, in general, any content on TheFork Site are provided "as is" without any express or implied warranties of any kind whatsoever.
Users expressly acknowledges that the photos on TheFork Site are not contractual.
Users generally accept and acknowledge that the reservation with a restaurant is not guaranteed. Accordingly, La Fourchette does not guarantee the effectiveness of the reservation service. Availability is checked in real time via computer. However, as La Fourchette cannot physically verify the accuracy of the information collected and/or provided by the restaurants, Users agree that La Fourchette cannot be held liable if Users fail to benefit from the services of the restaurant. Indeed, the settings of the real-time reservation software depend partly on the information provided and/or recorded by the restaurant and may not correspond to reality. Thus, for example and without limitation, Users acknowledge and accept that La Fourchette is in no way liable if areservation is cancelled, the establishment is closed (for whatever reason), or where any third party refuses to provide any service, for any reason whatsoever.
Similarly, Users accept that La Fourchette is in no way liable if Users fail to benefit from promotions or special offers proposed by a restaurant. Users acknowledge and accept that La Fourchette is in no way liable in the event that ta restaurant does not honour a promotion or a special offer for any reason whatsoever.
8.4 Users warranties and indemnities
Users warrant that they are fully familiar with the features and limitations of the internet. In particular, they acknowledge that it is impossible to guarantee that the data sent by Users over the internet will be fully secure. La Fourchette cannot be held responsible for any incidents which could arise from this transmission of data.
Users agrees to indemnify La Fourchette against any liability, damage, expense, claim or cost, incurred by La Fourchette arising from any claim or dispute, in or out of court, in relation with the use of the services of La Fourchette, including the posting of User Content on TheFork Site by Users.
In any case, Users explicitly acknowledge and agree to use TheFork Site at their own risk and under their sole responsibility.
8.5 Notification and removal of illegal content
Any Users may give notice of a claim or objection relating to illicit elements or content posted on TheFork Site.
If a User believes elements or content posted on TheFork Site is illegal and/or in breach of their copyright, they must notify La Fourchette by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt addressed to the "Legal Department" or by email to contact@thefork.com stating "For the attention of the Legal Department" in the subject line and including all available evidence to support ownership of the rights, if any. Once this procedure has been followed, and after the accuracy of the notice has been checked, La Fourchette shall endeavour to promptly remove the illicit content.
La Fourchette acts as an intermediary in the provision of its services to Users. Consequently and in accordance with Article 6 I.3 of French Law on Confidence in the Digital Economy (LCEN) of 21 June 2004 (as amended), La Fourchette cannot be held criminally liable for the information stored on TheFork Site if it did not have actual knowledge of the illegal activity or information (including User Content, Restaurateur Content, etc.) or if, as soon as it became aware, prompt action was taken to remove such information or block access to it.
9. Other provisions
9.1 Severability - Dissociation - Titles
In the event that any provision of these Terms of Use are declared null and void, illegal, unenforceable or inapplicable, the validity, legality, enforceability or application of the other provisions of these Terms of Use shall in no way be affected or impaired, these other provisions remaining in force and retaining their full effect.
La Fourchette may proceed to draft a new clause with the effect of restoring the common will of the Parties as expressed in the initial clause, this in accordance with applicable law.
The titles of the articles herein are for illustrative purposes only and are not to be considered an integral part of these Terms of Use.
9.2 No waiver
Except as may be otherwise provided in these Terms of Use, the failure or delay by La Fourchette in exercising any of its rights or remedy under the terms these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of the right or remedy or prevent any further exercising of the right or remedy. On the contrary, such right or remedy shall remain in full force and effect.
9.3 Applicable law
To the extent permitted by law, these Terms of Use and relationship between La Fourchette and Users are governed and interpreted in accordance with by French law. To the extent permitted by law, where these Terms of Use have been drafted or translated into other languages, only the French version of these Terms of Use shall prevail.
9.4 Jurisdiction
To the extent permitted by law, any claim, dispute or matter arising under or in connection with these Terms of Use shall be dealt with by the competent courts of Paris.
Pursuant to EU Directive 2013/11/EU of 21 May 2013 on the out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes, the link to the European online dispute resolution platform can be found below: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/odr/main/index.cfm?event=main.home.show&lng=EN
PART 2. LOYALTY PROGRAM - SPECIAL CONDITIONS
These Loyalty Program – Special Conditions complement Part 1: General Conditions of Use. In the event of any inconsistency between the provisions of this Part 2, Loyalty Program – Special Conditions and those of Part 1, General Conditions of Use, the provisions of this Part 2, Loyalty Program – Special Conditions shall prevail.
1. Description of the Loyalty Program
The loyalty program allows Users to accumulate loyalty points ("Yums") after a reservation on TheFork Site that is duly honoured (the "Loyalty Program").
2. Participation in the Loyalty Program
Any User who holds an account on TheFork Site is eligible for the Loyalty Program.
Participation in the Loyalty Program is free and automatic.
3. Earning Yums
3.1 General conditions for earning Yums
The Loyalty Program allows Users to accumulate loyalty points after a reservation on TheFork Site that is duly honoured, regardless of the restaurant reserved on TheFork Site and whether the reservation was made with or without promotional offer.
When a reservation is made on TheFork Site and duly honoured, Users obtain a pre-defined number of Yums (which may vary, depending in particular on the method of reservation: website, mobile or application) seven days after the date of the meal, regardless of the number of guest associated with the reservation and regardless of the country where the reservation was made.
In the event that the reservation is made with a Loyalty Discount (as defined in article 4.1 below) or cancelled by the User or if the User does not go to the restaurant and honour the reservation (no-show), the User does not earn Yums.
The amount of Yums earned by each User is stored and can be accessed in the "My Loyalty" section of the User account.
3.2 Special conditions for earning Yums
3.2.1 Special promotions with promotion code
From time to time La Fourchette puts in place special promotions for a limited period during which Users may gain more Yums than usual (the "Special Promotion").
During each Special Promotion, Users receive an email specifying the conditions for earning extra Yums. One of these conditions is the obligation to enter a promotion when Users make their next reservation on TheFork Site (the "Promo Code").
The amount of Yums obtained through the Special Promotion is stored and can be accessed in the " My Loyalty" section of the User account.
When issued, the Promo Code has a validity period limited to the duration of the Special Promotion. The Promo Code has no monetary value and cannot be loaned, transferred or sold to anyone or used for any purpose other than those defined by La Fourchette in these Loyalty Program – Special Conditions.
4. Using Yums
4.1 Loyalty Discount conversion
Once obtained and after reservation on TheFork Site, Yums can be converted into a price discount deducted from the bill of a restaurant who is enrolled in the Loyalty Program (the "Loyalty Discount").
The chart for Yums conversion into a Loyalty Discount is available here.
The list of Loyalty Program partner restaurants is available in the loyalty space of the User account on TheFork Site. Partner restaurants are also identified anywhere on TheFork Site with the Y symbol in a circle displayed after the name of the restaurant.
To convert Yums into Loyalty Discount, Users must make a reservation at a Loyalty Program partner restaurant and tick the box "I spend my Yums to get a Loyalty Discount on the bill" before validating their reservation.
That Loyalty Program partner restaurant is then responsible for automatically and without further formalities deducting the Loyalty Discount from the bill.
If the amount of the Loyalty Discount is greater than the amount of the bill, the deduction made by the restaurant may not exceed the amount of the bill. In other words, the restaurant cannot pay the User the difference between the amount of the Loyalty Discount and the amount of the bill.
In the event that there is a promotional offer applicable to the reservation, the restaurant will apply the promotional offer before the deduction of the Loyalty Discount.
Yums earned by Users can be converted into Loyalty Discount during their validity period as displayed in the Loyalty Program presentation page of TheFork Website. Yums’ expiration date can be viewed in the “My Loyalty” section of the User’s account.
The Yums are strictly personal, have no monetary value and cannot be loaned, transferred, or sold to anyone or used for any purpose other than those defined by La Fourchette in these Loyalty Program – Special Conditions.
4.2 Cancellation / no-show
If a User has reserved with a Loyalty Discount and cancels the reservation, or if the restaurant cancels the reservation, the Yums converted to Loyalty Discount at the time of reservation will be re-credited to the User's account and may be used for a new reservation.
If a User does not go to the restaurant (no-show), the Loyalty Discount and the Yums thus converted are lost and will not be re-credited to the User's account.
5. Deletion of Yums
La Fourchette reserves the right to withhold or delete Yums obtained through the use of Promo Codes or Sponsorship Codes by any User where La Fourchette reasonably determines or believes that the use or redemption of the Promo Code or Sponsorship Code was fraudulent, illegal, made in error or in violation of the applicable Special promotion conditions or these Loyalty Program –Special Conditions.
Furthermore, failure by Users to comply with these Terms of Use (including failure to honour several reservations (no-shows)), any abuse or fraudulent use of TheFork Site and/or Yums, or any behaviour prejudicial to the interests of La Fourchette may result in the deactivation of the User's account and/or the immediate deletion of all or part of the Yums stored in the loyalty space of the User's account on TheFork Site, without prior notice or compensation.
6. Modification/Suspension/closure of the Loyalty Program
La Fourchette reserves the right to modify, suspend, or terminate the Loyalty Program at any time without incurring any liability whatsoever. In this case, La Fourchette will inform Users by email and/or posting on TheFork Site indicating the new terms and conditions of the Loyalty Program and/or the terms of the closure of the Loyalty Program.
7. Limitation of Responsibility
With respect to the Loyalty Program, La Fourchette is only oblige to use reasonable endeavours and accept liability only in relation to the attribution of Yums to the Users. Consequently, La Fourchette cannot be held liable for any claims relating to Yums after they have been duly attributed to a User by La Fourchette. More specifically, La Fourchette has no liability once Yums have been converted into a Loyalty Discount by a User.
As such, La Fourchette is not responsible for any failure by the restaurant to apply the Loyalty Discount to the User.
In any event, La Fourchette declines any responsibility in connection to the Loyalty Program in the event of contractual breach and/or fault of the User.
PART 3. ONLINE PRE-AUTHORISATION RESERVATION SERVICE – SPECIAL CONDITIONS
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE FOR THE ON-LINE PRE-AUTHORISATION RESERVATION SERVICE
These Online Pre-Authorisation Reservation Service - Special Conditions complement TheFork’s General Conditions of Use and general conditions of sale of the concerned (the “Restaurant”). In the event of a discrepancy between these Online Pre-Authorisation Reservation Service - Special Conditions and those of either TheFork’s General Conditions of Use or the Restaurant’s General Conditions of Sale, the provisions of these Online Pre-Authorisation Reservation Service - Special Conditions shall prevail.
The Restaurant operates a pre-authorisation reservation service (the “Pre-Authorisation Reservation Service”) that allows Users to reserve a table at a given date and that allows the management of no-shows, late cancelation or amendments to the reservation by the User.
ARTICLE 1 – DESCRIPTION OF THE PRE-AUTHORISATION RESERVATION SERVICE
The Pre-Authorisation Reservation Service, which will take Users’ bank card details, is provided by the Restaurant. Taking the card details allows the delivery of a debit pre-authorisation from the User's bank.
The Restaurant has set a fixed charge per reserved cover for the bank card pre-authorisation. The amount is specified at the time of reservation.
The pre-authorisation is not a prepayment for a User's meal. Payment for the User's meal will only be taken at the Restaurant. The Pre-Authorisation Reservation Service is just a guarantee for the Restaurant and no amount is debited at the time of reservation.
Nevertheless, should a User fail to honour the reservation, make a late cancellation, or late amendment to the reservation, the appropriate sum will be debited from such User's bank account using the card details provided. The charge will be debited within seven days of the date of the meal.
ARTICLE 2 – INFORMATION REQUIRED FOR THE PRE-AUTHORISATION RESERVATION SERVICE
For all reservations, the User will be required to provide the following information:
Title;
Surname;
First name;
Date of birth;
Email address;
Phone number;
Name as it appears on payment card (compatible cards are VISA, MASTERCARD);
Card number;
Expiry date;
Security number
The entire pre-authorisation reservation process is secure (the form is hosted on a secure web page and banking security protocol).
Supply of the information needed to use the Pre-Authorisation Reservation Service is mandatory. Users will not be able to reserve a table in the Restaurant without providing the requested data.
ARTICLE 3 – FRAUD PREVENTION – BANK AUTHORISATION CAP THE RIGHT TO DECLINE THE USER'S RESERVATION
All pre-authorisation transactions made via the Pre-Authorisation Reservation Service are checked by a fraud-prevention system. This being considered, the Restaurant may have to block the pre-authorisation. The Restaurant reserves the right to cancel any reservation that is reasonably believed to be fraudulent, improper, or which involves any illicit activity, even if the fraud-prevention system does not block the pre-authorisation.
It is also possible that pre-authorisation is refused by a User's banking institution because of a limit they may have set on such User's bank card, even if such User has sufficient funds in their account for the pre-authorisation reservation.
ARTICLE 4 – CONFIRMATION OF THE USER'S RESERVATION
Once a User's reservation has been approved by the Restaurant such User will receive an email or text message summarising the details of their reservation (place, date, time, how many people in the party and the sum held in the pre-authorisation). The User will be invited to check the information in this message and to notify the Restaurant as soon as possible of any errors or omissions.
In the event that a User does not receive a confirmation by email or SMS, such User is invited to contact the Restaurant as soon as possible to obtain their confirmation.
ARTICLE 5 – TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR AMENDMENTS TO AND CANCELLATION OF THE USER'S RESERVATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRE-AUTHORISATION
If a User does not take up the reservation at the appropriate date and time, or 15 minutes after the User's reserved time at the latest, and has not cancelled in advance within the timeframe specified below, the sum corresponding to the pre-authorised amount, multiplied by the number of reserved covers (1 cover per person), will be debited from such User's account.
Users may cancel/ change their reservations up to 24 hours before their meal time. After that time, the Restaurant will debit the User's account with the sum corresponding to the pre-authorised amount, multiplied by the number of reserved covers (1 cover per person).
The concerned User will be notified of the charge and it will be debited from the User's account within seven days of the date of the no-show.
As the system is provided to the Restaurant by the company La Fourchette SAS, any debits to Users’ account on their bank statement will be listed under that company’s name.
Users should be aware that amendments to reservations are subject to availability in the Restaurant. If the Restaurant cannot accommodate the reservation amendment due to a lack of availability, the Restaurant will propose that the User cancels the reservation.
ARTICLE 6 – RIGHT OF WITHDRAWAL
Pursuant to article L221-28, 12° of the French Consumer Code, Users have no right of withdrawal from catering services to be provided on a specified date or over a specified period.
ARTICLE 7 LITIGATION MANAGEMENT
In the event of a dispute relating to the cancellation/ modification, or operation of the Pre-Authorisation Reservation Service and/or these Online Pre-Authorisation Reservation Service - Special Conditions, Users may contact the Restaurant or TheFork using the following contact address: contact@thefork.com.
C. PRIVACY POLICY
TheFork is a service that allows its users ("you", "your") to choose and reserve a table in a restaurant. Our site, mobile sites and associated applications (collectively, our "site") are managed and processed by La Fourchette SAS ("La Fourchette", "we", "our", "us") as owner and data controller.
By accessing our site and using our services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy, as well as the practices for collecting and managing the information described herein.
This Privacy Policy was last updated on 29 September 2017. We may change this Privacy Policy at any time and we invite you to review it on a regular basis to keep informed of any updates.
Scope
This Privacy Policy describes in detail our policy and practices regarding the collection, use and disclosure of information about you.
We are aware of the trust you place in us when you submit your personal information. We attach the utmost importance to it and are entirely committed to ensuring the security and confidentiality of the personal information that you entrust to us when you visit our site or use our services.
1. What information we collect from you
2. How we use your information
3. With whom we share your information
4. How long we keep your information for
5. Your rights and choices regarding the collection and use of your information
6. How we protect your information
7. Information concerning minors
10. Changes to this Privacy Policy
1. What information we collect from you
1.1 Overview
We collect and store information that you provide us on our site or that you send to us by any other means. This includes information that may be used to identify you or contact you directly ("personal information").
If you contact us by phone, the conversations may be recorded. We use these recordings to improve the quality or compliance of our customer service, to verify the accuracy of the information you provide, to ensure prevention of fraud and to train our teams. We keep these recordings for as long as necessary, and then erase them. Your personal information collected during a call is processed in accordance with the provisions of this Privacy Policy.
Personal information includes the information that you provide us, notably your first and last name, telephone number, postal and electronic addresses, date of birth, password and payment information (credit card number, cardholder name, expiry date and security code).
You can choose not to provide us with such personal information. However, in general you need to provide us with certain information about you to reserve a table in a restaurant, receive relevant offers from La Fourchette or the restaurants, and enjoy other benefits to which you have access as a registered user. In addition, certain information may also be required for you to be able to ask a question and allow us to answer it.
Other information that we may need to collect also includes your IP address, identification and location data of your computer or mobile device, and your browsing history on our site, to the extent that this information concerns you.
1.2 Information about third parties
If you make a reservation on behalf of a third party or invite guests via TheFork, you will need to enter their personal information. You must obtain the consent of such third parties before giving us their personal information.
1.3 Information from other sources
We may also receive information about you from affiliated entities, our business partners and other independent third parties, which will be added to any other information collected about you. So, if you access our site by clicking on a link on a site belonging to one of our trading partners and you have registered with this partner, that partner may share with us information you have provided to it, such as your contact information and profile. Another example, if you use third-party services (such as social network services) from our site or before visiting our site, we may collect information such as your username, password and any other information made available to us through these services. We work with our current and future partners to improve and personalise your use of our site in accordance with the practices outlined in this Privacy Policy.
1.4 Automatic collection of information
We automatically collect certain information from your computer or mobile device when you visit our site. For example, we collect your session data, including your IP address, the navigation software used, and the reference site. We may also collect information about your online activity, such as viewed content, pages visited, searches and / or reservations made. We automatically collect this type of information to try to better understand the interests and preferences of our users and to better personalise their user experience.
1.5 Payment Information
If you reserve a table in a restaurant that requires credit card details to secure the reservation, our payment service provider collects the payment information you provide, including your credit card number, expiration date, cardholder name and the security code. This payment information is encrypted and secure. Note that your payment information is processed by the payment service provider itself, and not by La Fourchette or the restaurant, who do not have access to it. The data relating to your credit card are retained by the payment service provider only for the completion of the transaction, and only for the time necessary for the management of any potential claims by the cardholders.
1.6 Geolocation and other information extracted from your mobile devices
As soon as you use a TheFork application on your mobile device, we may collect and use your information, generally in the same manner and for the same purposes as when using our website. In addition, we may collect information about your location with your consent if your mobile device has been configured to send this type of information to the application (see your mobile device's privacy settings). We may use geolocation information collected by your mobile device to improve your experience when using the application by providing you with more relevant content. We can for example use this information to provide you with reviews about restaurants near you. You can change the privacy settings of your mobile device at any time and disable the functionality that shares your location information with the application. However, if you disable the sharing of geolocation information, this can affect some of the application's functions. For help with your mobile device's privacy settings, please contact the manufacturer of your mobile device.
1.7 Cookies and similar technologies
We collect information via cookies and other similar technologies (invisible pixels). Cookies are small text files placed automatically on your computer or mobile device when you visit a site. Cookies and invisible pixels are stored by your internet browser. Cookies contain basic information about your use of the internet. Your browser resends these cookies to our site each time you visit it so that your computer or mobile device is recognised in order to personalise and enhance your browsing experience.
You will find more details about cookies and similar technologies that we use (such as invisible pixels), in our Cookie policy.
You will also find more information about cookies in general, including how to see what cookies are installed on your mobile device and how to manage and delete them on www.allaboutcookies.org and http://www.youronlinechoices.com/uk/ .
La Fourchette uses cookies on its site for the following general purposes:
To identify your browser when you return to our site, to record and remember any preferences defined during your previous visit. For example, if you have registered on our site, cookies can allow us to keep your login information, so that you do not have to re-enter your connection information each time.
To customise your browsing experience and the content on our site. For example, when you visit an internet page, we, our service providers or our partners automatically install a cookie in order to recognise your browser when you access the internet, and thus display information based on what appears to be of interest to you.
To measure and document the effectiveness of different features, offers and electronic communications (by determining which emails you have opened and whether you clicked on a link in the email).
The Settings option on the toolbar of most browsers should tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to obtain notification when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies that are not useful to you. Please note that if you refuse cookies, you may not be able to access many of the tools offered by our site.
Our site may also use web beacons (also called invisible GIFs or invisible pixels), which are tiny digital images with a unique identifier that work like cookies, and which are placed in the code of a webpage. We use them to understand the browsing patterns of our users who access one page from another page within our site in order to provide or transmit information to the cookies, but also to know if you are accessing our site from an online advertisement displayed on a third party site, and finally, to improve the performance of our site. We may also allow our service providers to use web beacons to help us determine which emails have been opened by their recipients and to track user traffic and actions on our site. We do this so we can better measure the relevance of our content and the effectiveness of our offers.
Data collected by business partners and ad networks to disseminate targeted advertisements
We allow third parties to collect information about your online activities through cookies and other technologies. These third parties include advertising agencies that collect information about your interests when you view or interact with any of their advertisements on various websites. This information collected by these third parties is then used to predict your behaviour or preferences and to display targeted advertisements on third party sites.
Note that we have no control or access to cookies and other technologies that third parties may use to collect information about your interests and their practices are not within the scope of this Privacy Policy. Some of these companies are members of the Network Advertising Initiative, which provides a single point of access to choose not to receive targeted advertisements from member companies. For more information, click here.
Consideration of DNT (Do Not Track) signals
Your Internet browser may transmit a "DNT" ("Do Not Track") signal to inform TheFork and other websites that you do not wish to be tracked. Due to the differences between the default configurations of internet browsers and the way they integrate DNT signals, site operators are not always clear whether users have actually selected the DNT parameter or whether they even know they can configure it. Please note that TheFork is unable to take DNT signals into account at this time.
2. How we use your information
2.1 General purposes
La Fourchette uses the information collected about you for the following general purposes:
- to manage your registration and account, including your access to and use of our site;
- to communicate with you in general, particularly regarding our site;
- to perform and manage the reservation of tables in the restaurants of your choice;
- to publish your reviews, your ratings and your photos;
- to communicate with you by email or phone regarding the origin, validity or authenticity of your reviews, ratings or photos;
- to gauge your interest in our services and our site and improve them;
- to inform you about promotions and special offers, as well as the services we offer that may be of interest to you;
- to customise your browsing experience on our site;
- to collect information from you, notably through surveys;
- to allow you to participate in competitions or prize draws;
- to display TheFork advertisements when browsing third-party sites;
- to answer your questions and comments;
- to manage disputes, complaints and litigation;
to enforce our Terms of Use ;
- to prevent any prohibited, fraudulent and / or illegal activities;
- to disable your account ;
- to manage our recruitment process and your application for a position at TheFork;
- to train our teams; and
- for any other purpose specified at the time of collection of the information.
2.2 Email communications and push notifications
We want to make it easy for you to take advantage of our services and/or special offers from the restaurants presented on our site. To do this, we send you emails and/or push notifications with information about offers and services that may be of interest to you. Note that each time you receive an email of this type, you will be able to tell us if you no longer wish to receive them, or deny push notifications in the application, or change the settings of your mobile device to do so.
For more information, please refer to Article 5 "Your rights and choices regarding the collection and use of your information" below.
2.3 Deactivating your TheFork account
La Fourchette may use the information collected about you in the decision to deactivate your account, in particular in the following cases:
several instances where you do not turn up at the restaurant at the date and time reserved, following a reservation on our site without prior cancellation (No-show);
a confirmed case of fraud on our site, including leaving a fraudulent review.
You will be notified of the deactivation of your account by email.
The deactivation of your account results in the cancellation of all your current reservations and the deletion of any accumulated Yums.
3. With whom we share your information
La Fourchette may share your information with the following entities:
- Restaurants - We share your information with the restaurants to perform and manage your reservation and to deal with complaints and disputes relating to them. When booking, you have the choice of receiving marketing communications from the restaurant concerned. If you choose to receive marketing communication from the restaurant, the restaurant is then responsible for processing the information that we pass on to it.
- Third party service providers who provide services to us or act on our behalf, in particular for business analysis, data processing or payments, customer service, marketing, public relations, dissemination of surveys or prize draws, or for the purpose of preventing fraud. We may also authorise third-party providers to collect information on our behalf, including, for example, when this is necessary for the execution of the functionalities on our site or to improve the diffusion of online advertisements that are targeted according to your interests. Third party service providers have access to the information and may collect it to the extent necessary to enable them to perform their functions. They are not allowed to share it or use it for any other purpose.
- Affiliated sites . If you have been redirected to our site from another website, we may be able to share with this referral site information about your reservation, your first name and the initial of your last name.
- Companies belonging to our group . We may share your personal information within the La Fourchette group, as well as with our parent company (TripAdvisor LLC) and subsidiaries of our parent company (TripAdvisor group). To the extent that the companies in our group or the TripAdvisor group have access to your information, they will follow practices that are at least as strict as those described in this Privacy Policy. They will also comply with applicable laws regarding the transmission of marketing communications and will allow you, at a minimum, to choose whether or not you want to continue receiving such communications whenever you receive a message of this type.
We may also share your information within our group, the TripAdvisor group, or with third parties if we believe, at our sole discretion, that disclosure of such information is necessary:
- to comply with legitimate and enforceable subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process; to establish or exercise our legal rights; to defend against legal claims; or as otherwise required by law. In such cases we reserve the right to raise or waive any legal objection or right available to us;
to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal or suspected illegal activities; to protect and defend the rights, property, or safety of La Fourchette, our users, or others; and in connection with our Terms of Use or other agreements, including with our partners or suppliers; or
following a corporate transaction, such as divestiture, merger, acquisition, consolidation or asset sale, or in the unlikely event of bankruptcy.
If you choose to create a profile on our site, some of the information in your profile will be made public and can be viewed by clicking on your username. You will have the opportunity to view your profile as it is presented publicly.
Outside the scope of the above provisions, you will be informed when your personal information will be shared with third parties, and you will be able to ask us not to share this information.
We may also share anonymous or aggregated information with third parties, including advertisers and investors. For example, we will be able to communicate to our advertisers the number of visitors to our site or the most popular restaurants. This information does not contain any personal data.
4. How long we keep your information for
We may keep some of the information associated with your account in our records, notably for analysis purposes or for maintaining our records. The retention period for this information depends on the purpose for which we collect it and the use we make of it.
We will only retain your personal information for as long as is strictly necessary for the purposes set out in Section 2 "How we use your information" or to meet our legal obligations. We may retain certain information for a period subsequent to the closing of your account, for example if it is necessary to fulfil our legal obligations or to exercise, defend or enforce our rights.
5. Your rights and choices regarding the collection and use of your information
In accordance with applicable law, you have a right of access, rectification and opposition.
You may choose not to provide us with your personal information. Please be aware, however, that this may be required to enable you to benefit from some of the features of our site.
We attach great importance to the relevance of your personal information and to its accuracy. You can check, supplement or update the information you have provided by accessing the "My personal information" section of your account.
You are entitled to ask us the details of the personal information concerning you in our possession, by contacting us at contact@thefork.com, indicating "request for right of access" in the subject line. You may be charged a fee that will not exceed the cost of the reproduction. As soon as you have registered on our site, you can change your marketing preferences at any time, through the " My subscriptions" section of your account.
You will also be able to unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time. To do this, click on the unsubscribe link that you will find at the bottom of each communication you receive from us.
Please note that we may send you service communications, such as administrative messages about your account or transactional messages related to one of your reservations. It is not possible to unsubscribe from these service communications.
The Settings option on the toolbar of most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to obtain notification when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable all cookies. Please note that if you refuse cookies from La Fourchette, you will not be able to access certain content or features of our site.
You may also close your TheFork account using the procedure set out below. If you decide to close your TheFork account, we will deactivate it, and remove your profile information and your reviews from view.
To close your La Fourchette account, contact us at contact@thefork.com. We will send you an email to confirm your request. Remember that once your account is closed, you will no longer be able to login, access your personal information, or use your accumulated Yums. You can however, open a new account at any time.
6. How we protect your information
We want you to use our site with confidence. For this, we are committed to protecting the information we collect. Although no website can guarantee absolute security, we have implemented and maintain appropriate organisational, technical, administrative and physical measures to protect the personal information you provide us against unauthorised or unlawful access, use of disclosure, and against accidental loss, damage, alteration or destruction. For example, we use data encryption when we transfer your billing information between our system and those of other parties with whom we share that information. We also use firewalls and intrusion detection systems to prevent unauthorised access to your information.
7. Information concerning minors
Our site is reserved for adults and does not offer services directed to minors. If a person whom we know is under 18 years of age sends us personal information, we will delete or destroy this information as soon as reasonably possible.
8. External links
Our site may include links to third party sites. If you access other sites from the links provided on our site, the operators of these sites may be able to collect information about you. This information will be used in accordance with their privacy policy, which may be different from our Privacy Policy. We recommend that you review the privacy policies posted on these third-party websites in order to fully understand their procedures for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information.
9. International transfers
Your information may be transferred to other countries for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. When we transfer your personal data abroad, we take the following precautions to ensure that your information is properly protected.
Transfers of information are made:
- to a country recognised by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of protection, or;
- to a country which does not offer adequate protection but whose transfer has been governed by the standard contractual clauses of the European Commission.
By using our services, you understand that your information may be transferred to our group companies, the TripAdvisor group, and to third-party companies as described in this Privacy Policy.
10. Changes to the Privacy Policy
La Fourchette may amend this Privacy Policy in the future. We will note the date on which the last revisions were made at the bottom of this page. Any revision will take effect upon publication on the site. We will notify our users of any material changes to this Privacy Policy by sending a notification to the email address you have given us or by posting a notice on our site. We invite you to check our Privacy Policy from time to time to review the most current version.
11. How to contact us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:
La Fourchette SAS, 70 rue Saint Lazare 75009 Paris, France
Email: contact@thefork.com
Attn: Legal Department
©2018 La Fourchette SAS. All rights reserved.
This Privacy Policy is effective as of 29 September 2017