Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a binding agreement between you and Towpath Digital Ltd (Company No. 16913912), trading as GotAPal.

By creating an account, claiming a listing, or otherwise using GotAPal, you confirm you've read, understood and agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, please don't use the service.

GotAPal is an online directory and recommendation platform for UK tradespeople and the customers who hire them. We help you discover trusted trades through reviews, recommendations from your network, and a transparent reputation system.

You must be at least 18 years old to register. To list a trade business, you must be the owner, employee or otherwise authorised to act on behalf of that business, and the business must be registered or operating in the United Kingdom.

You agree to:

• Provide accurate, current and complete information when registering
• Keep your login credentials secure and not share them
• Update your details when they change
• Be responsible for all activity under your account
• Notify us immediately if you suspect unauthorised access

We may suspend or close accounts that breach these Terms, are dormant for an extended period, or where we have a reasonable suspicion of fraud, abuse, or misrepresentation.

You agree not to:

• Break any applicable law, including UK consumer protection and equality law
• Impersonate another person, business or GotAPal employee
• Post content you know to be false, misleading or fraudulent
• Use AI to generate fake reviews, vouches or recommendations
• Harass, threaten, defame or discriminate against any person
• Send spam or unsolicited marketing through the platform
• Attempt to manipulate trust scores, ratings, or search rankings
• Reverse engineer, scrape, or copy substantial parts of the platform
• Upload viruses, malware, or anything designed to disrupt the service

Reviews and vouches are the heart of GotAPal. To keep them honest:

• You must have personal, first-hand experience with the trade you're reviewing
• Your review must be your honest opinion — exaggeration and fiction are not OK
• Paid, incentivised, or solicited-by-the-trade reviews are prohibited
• Verified job badges (via ServicePay) require a real, completed transaction
• You give us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display your review on GotAPal and partner sites (e.g. ServicePay)

We reserve the right to remove any review that breaches these rules, looks fake, or is the subject of a credible legal complaint. We do not edit the substance of reviews.

Listings exist in three states: unclaimed (created from public data or recommendations), free (claimed by the business), and premium (paid tier with extra features). Claiming an unclaimed listing requires verification — typically email at the business domain or a phone confirmation.

If you're a business and you'd like your unclaimed listing removed (rather than claimed), email hello@gotapal.com from a verifiable address and we'll process it within 7 working days.

GotAPal itself does not process payments between customers and trades. Where a trade chooses to use ServicePay for invoicing or card payments, those payments are governed by ServicePay's own terms and processed by their regulated payment partners. We earn nothing from individual customer-trade transactions.

Your content stays yours. When you post a review, photo, listing or message, you keep ownership. By posting, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display, reproduce and distribute that content for the purpose of operating and promoting GotAPal.

The GotAPal platform, brand, logo, design system, and original content are owned by Towpath Digital Ltd and protected by UK and international intellectual property laws. You may not copy or reuse them without written permission.

GotAPal integrates with services such as ServicePay, the Towpath Hub, Google Search, and others. Your use of those services is governed by their own terms and privacy policies, and we are not responsible for their content, accuracy or availability.

The service is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent permitted by law, we don't make any guarantees about the quality, suitability, qualifications, insurance, or conduct of any trade listed on the platform. Always do your own due diligence before hiring.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability to you for any loss arising out of or in connection with these Terms or your use of GotAPal is limited to the greater of (a) £100, or (b) the total fees you paid to us in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the liability.

You agree to indemnify and hold Towpath Digital Ltd harmless from any claims, losses or expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from content you post, your breach of these Terms, or your violation of someone else's rights — to the extent caused by your acts or omissions.

You can close your account at any time from Settings → Privacy. We may suspend or terminate your access if you materially breach these Terms, on reasonable notice where the issue is fixable, or immediately for serious breaches (such as fraud or harm to other users).

On termination, your published reviews may remain visible (anonymised) so the directory stays useful — see our Privacy Policy for full retention details.

We're constantly improving GotAPal, so the platform will change. For material changes to these Terms we'll give you at least 14 days' notice by email or prominent in-app notice. Continuing to use GotAPal after the new terms take effect means you accept them.

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute, except that consumers resident elsewhere in the UK may bring proceedings in their local courts. Nothing in this clause affects mandatory consumer protection laws of the country you live in.

For anything to do with these Terms, email legal@gotapal.com. For day-to-day support, use hello@gotapal.com.