# Introduction

Last updated: Saturday, 6 March 2021

* [Terms of Service](/terms-of-service)
  * [Limits](/terms-of-service/limits)
* [Privacy policy](/privacy-policy)
  * [Company subprocessors](/privacy-policy/company-subprocessors)
  * [Supportress subprocessors](/privacy-policy/supportress-subprocessors)
* [Security overview](/security-overview)
* [Use restrictions](/use-restrictions)
* [How we handle abusive usage](/how-we-handle-abusive-usage)
* [Cancellation policy](/cancellation-policy)
* [Refund policy](/refund-policy)
* [Taxes](/taxes)
* [Copyright infringement claims](/copyright-infringement-claims)

{% hint style="info" %}
HeavyMelon may update this policy once in a blue moon. You can see a history of the changes to our policies [here](https://github.com/heavymelon/policies/commits). We will notify customers about significant changes by emailing the account owner or by placing a prominent notice on our site or application.
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="info" %}
If you have any questions about our policies don't hesitate to [contact us](mailto:legal@heavymelon.com).
{% endhint %}


# Terms of service

Last updated: Saturday, 6 March 2021

From everyone at HeavyMelon, thank you for using our products! We build them to help you do your best work. There are many people potentially using HeavyMelon products every day. Because we don't know every one of our customers personally, we have to put in place some Terms of Service to help keep the ship afloat.

When we say “Company”, “we”, “our”, or “us” in this document, we are referring to HeavyMelon, PC.

When we say “Services”, we mean any product created and maintained by HeavyMelon, PC. That includes Supportress, whether delivered within a web browser, desktop application, mobile application, or another format.

We may update these Terms of Service in the future. Whenever we make a significant change to our policies, we will also announce them on our [company blog](https://heavymelon.blog).

When you use our Services, now or in the future, you are agreeing to the latest Terms of Service. That's true for any of our existing and future products and all features that we add to our Services over time. There may be times where we do not exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Terms of Service; in doing so, we are not waiving that right or provision. **These terms do contain a limitation of our liability.**

If you violate of any of the terms, we may terminate your account. That's a broad statement and it means you need to place a lot of trust in us. We do our best to deserve that trust by being open about [who we are](https://heavymelon.com/about), [how we work](https://handbook.heavymelon.com), and keeping an open door to your [feedback](mailto:support@heavymelon.com).

## Account terms

1. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and password. The Company cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage from your failure to comply with this security obligation.
2. You may not use the Services for any purpose outlined in our [Use Restrictions policy](/use-restrictions).
3. You are responsible for all content posted and activity that occurs under your account. That includes content posted by others who either: (a) have access to your login credentials; or (b) have their own logins under your account.
4. You must be a human. Accounts registered by “bots” or other automated methods are not permitted.

## Payment, Refunds, and Plan Changes

1. If you are using a free version of one of our Services, it is really free: we do not ask you for your credit card and — just like for customers who pay for our Services — we do not sell your data.
2. For paid Services that offer a free trial, we explain the length of trial when you sign up. After the trial period, you need to pay in advance to keep using the Service. If you do not pay, we will freeze your account and it will be inaccessible until you make payment. If your account has been frozen for a while, we will queue it up for auto-cancellation. See our [Cancellation policy](/cancellation-policy) for more details.
3. If you are upgrading from a free plan to a paid plan, we will charge your card immediately and your billing cycle starts on the day of upgrade. For other upgrades or downgrades in plan level, the new rate starts from the next billing cycle.
4. We are a European Union based company, and charges are in **Euros (EUR — € —** :euro: **)**.
5. All fees are exclusive of all taxes, levies, or duties imposed by taxing authorities. Where required, we will collect those taxes on behalf of the taxing authority and remit those taxes to taxing authorities. See our [Taxes policy](/taxes) for more details. Otherwise, you are responsible for payment of all taxes, levies, or duties.
6. We process refunds according to our [Fair Refund policy](/refund-policy).

## Cancellation and Termination

1. You are solely responsible for properly canceling your account. Within each of our Services, we provide a simple no-questions-asked cancellation link. You can find instructions for how to cancel your account in our [Cancellation policy](/cancellation-policy). An email or phone request to cancel your account is not automatically considered cancellation. If you need help cancelling your account, you can always [contact our Support team](mailto:support@heavymelon.com).
2. All of your content will be inaccessible from the Services immediately upon cancellation. Within 30 days, all content will be permanently deleted from active systems and logs. Within 60 days, all content will be permanently deleted from our backups. We cannot recover this information once it has been permanently deleted. If you want to export any data before your account is cancelled, we‘ve provided instructions for [Supportress](https://docs.supportress.com/account/export-your-data).
3. If you cancel the Service before the end of your current paid up month, your cancellation will take effect immediately, and you will not be charged again. We do not automatically prorate unused time in the last billing cycle. See our [Fair Refund policy](/refund-policy) for more details.
4. We have the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of our Services for any reason at any time. Suspension means you and any other users on your account will not be able to access the account or any content in the account. Termination will furthermore result in the deletion of your account or your access to your account, and the forfeiture and relinquishment of all content in your account. We also reserve the right to refuse the use of the Services to anyone for any reason at any time. We have this clause because statistically speaking, out of the hundreds of thousands of accounts on our Services, there is at least one doing something nefarious. There are some things we staunchly stand against and this clause is how we exercise that stance. For more details, see our [Use Restrictions policy](/use-restrictions).
5. Verbal, physical, written or other abuse (including threats of abuse or retribution) of Company employee or officer will result in immediate account termination.

## Modifications to the Service and Prices

1. We make a promise to our customers to support our Services [until the end of the Internet](/until-the-end-of-the-internet). That means when it comes to security, privacy, and customer support, we will continue to maintain any legacy Services. Sometimes it becomes technically impossible to continue a feature or we redesign a part of our Services because we think it could be better or we decide to close new signups of a product. We reserve the right at any time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, any part of our Services with or without notice.
2. Sometimes we change the pricing structure for our products. When we do that, we tend to exempt existing customers from those changes. However, we may choose to change the prices for existing customers. If we do so, we will give at least 30 days notice and will notify you via the email address on record. We may also post a notice about changes on our websites or the affected Services themselves.

### Uptime, Security, and Privacy

1. Your use of the Services is at your sole risk. We provide these Services on an “as is” and “as available” basis. We do not offer service-level agreements for most of our Services but do take uptime of our applications seriously.
2. We reserve the right to temporarily disable your account if your usage significantly exceeds the average usage and [limits](/terms-of-service/limits) of other customers of the Services. Of course, we'll reach out to the account owner before taking any action except in rare cases where the level of use may negatively impact the performance of the Service for other customers.
3. We take many measures to protect and secure your data through backups, redundancies, and encryption. We enforce encryption for data transmission from the public Internet. There are some edge cases where we may send your data through our network unencrypted. Please refer to our [Security Overview](/security-overview) for full details and our [Security Response page](/security-overview/security-response) for how to report a security incident or threat.
4. When you use our Services, you entrust us with your data. We take that trust to heart. You agree that HeavyMelon may process your data as described in our [Privacy Policy](/privacy-policy) and for no other purpose. We as humans can access your data for the following reasons:
5. **To help you with support requests you make.** We'll ask for express consent before accessing your account.
6. **To safeguard HeavyMelon.** We'll look at logs and metadata as part of our work to ensure the security of your data and the Services as a whole. If necessary, we may also access accounts as part of an [abuse report investigation](/how-we-handle-abusive-usage).
7. **To the extent required by applicable law.** As an EU (Greece) company with all data infrastructure located in the EU and the US, we only preserve or share customer data if compelled by an EU government authority with a legally binding order. If a non-EU authority approaches HeavyMelon for assistance, our default stance is to refuse unless the order has been approved by the Greek or EU government, which compels us to comply through procedures outlined in an established mutual legal assistance treaty or agreement mechanism.
8. We use third party vendors and hosting partners to provide the necessary hardware, software, networking, storage, and related technology required to run the Services. You can see a list of all subprocessors who handle personal data for [Supportress](/privacy-policy/supportress-subprocessors).
9. We process any data you share with us only for the purpose you signed up for and as described in these Terms of Service, [Privacy policy](/privacy-policy), and [other policies](/). We do not retain, use, disclose, or sell any of that information for any other commercial purposes unless we have your explicit permission. And on the flip-side, you agree to comply with your requirements and not use HeavyMelon Services in a way that violates the regulations.

### Copyright and content ownership

1. All content posted on the Services must comply with EU and Greek copyright law. We provide details on [how to file a copyright infringement claim](/copyright-infringement-claims).
2. We claim no intellectual property rights over the material you provide to the Services. All materials uploaded remain yours.
3. We do not pre-screen content, but reserve the right (but not the obligation) in our sole discretion to refuse or remove any content that is available via the Service.
4. The names, look, and feel of the Services are copyright© to the Company. All rights reserved. You may not duplicate, copy, or reuse any portion of the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or visual design elements without express written permission from the Company. You must request permission to use the Company's logo or any Service logos for promotional purposes. Please [email us](mailto:support@heavymelon.com) requests to use logos. We reserve the right to rescind this permission if you violate these Terms of Service.
5. You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit any portion of the Services, use of the Services, or access to the Services without the express written permission by the Company.
6. You must not modify another website so as to falsely imply that it is associated with the Services or the Company.

### Features and Bugs

We design our Services with care, based on our own experience and the experiences of customers who share their time and feedback. However, there is no such thing as a service that pleases everybody. We make no guarantees that our Services will meet your specific requirements or expectations.

We also test all of our features extensively before shipping them. As with any software, our Services inevitably have some bugs. We track the bugs reported to us and work through priority ones, especially any related to security or privacy. Not all reported bugs will get fixed and we don't guarantee completely error-free Services.

### Services Adaptations and API Terms

We offer Application Program Interfaces ("API"s) for some of our Services. Any use of the API, including through a third-party product that accesses the Services, is bound by the terms of this agreement plus the following specific terms:

1. You expressly understand and agree that we are not liable for any damages or losses resulting from your use of the API or third-party products that access data via the API.
2. Third parties may not access and employ the API if the functionality is part of an application that remotely records, monitors, or reports a Service user's activity *other than time tracking*, both inside and outside the applications. The Company, in its sole discretion, will determine if an integration service violates this bylaw. A third party that has built and deployed an integration for the purpose of remote user surveillance will be required to remove that integration.
3. Abuse or excessively frequent requests to the Services via the API may result in the temporary or permanent suspension of your account's access to the API. The Company, in its sole discretion, will determine abuse or excessive usage of the API. If we need to suspend your account's access, we will attempt to warn the account owner first. If your API usage could or has caused downtime, we may cut off access without prior notice.

If third-party providers have created integrations between our Services and theirs, we are not liable or accountable for any of these third-party integrations.

### Liability

We mention liability throughout these Terms but to put it all in one section:

***You expressly understand and agree that the Company shall not be liable, in law or in equity, to you or to any third party for any direct, indirect, incidental, lost profits, special, consequential, punitive or exemplary damages, including, but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses (even if the Company has been advised of the possibility of such damages), resulting from: (i) the use or the inability to use the Services; (ii) the cost of procurement of substitute goods and services resulting from any goods, data, information or services purchased or obtained or messages received or transactions entered into through or from the Services; (iii) unauthorized access to or alteration of your transmissions or data; (iv) statements or conduct of any third party on the service; (v) or any other matter relating to this Terms of Service or the Services, whether as a breach of contract, tort (including negligence whether active or passive), or any other theory of liability.***

In other words: choosing to use our Services does mean you are making a bet on us. If the bet does not work out, that's on you, not us. We do our darnedest to be as safe a bet as possible through careful management of the business; investments in security, infrastructure, and talent; and in general giving a damn. If you choose to use our Services, thank you for betting on us.

If you have a question about any of the Terms of Service, please [contact our Support team](mailto:legal@heavymelon.com).

{% hint style="info" %}
HeavyMelon policies are open source, licensed under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Adapted from the [Basecamp open-source policies](https://github.com/basecamp/policies) / [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

*This page specifically adapted from* [*policy*](https://github.com/basecamp/policies/blob/a88ad6072382ec404652568efc29495cb84202e5/terms/index.md) *\\*— \_July 10, 2020.\_
{% endhint %}


# Limits

Soft limits

This page explains how we handle varous limits in our applications and services. In all cases, we'll give you choices to move forward. We don't want your inconvienience. What we are looking for is to make our business sustainable while keeping fair subscription prices.

## Supportress

Supportress limits the number of emails per month and there's a soft limit in storage (attachments).

### Emails

* Solo: 300 emails per month
* Small: 1000 emails per month
* Business: 10000 emails per month

#### What happens if I cross the email limits?

We don't do anything drastic. However we will let you know and ask you to upgrade. If you are already on the Business plan, we can give you a quote that will increase your monthly subscription. That will increase your limit.

#### What are the emails that count against the limit?

* Inbound - the emails you receive from your customers
* Outbound - the emails you send to your customers (the responses)
* Notifications - the emails your team receives from Supportress

### Storage

We don't have a hard limit. However, if we see excessive usage of storage for one of your organizations on Supportress, we may contact you. We reserve the right to ask you to change your usage patterns. If that's not convenient, we can give you a quote that will increase your monhtly subscription.

### What if we cannot agree?

We'll do our best to accommodate you. But we reserve the right to suspend your account if we can't find a solution and our infrustructure suffers from a usage pattern.


# Privacy policy

Last updated: Saturday, 6 March 2021

The privacy of your data — and it is your data, not ours! — is a big deal to us. In this policy, we lay out: what data we collect and why; how your data is handled; and your rights to your data. We promise we never sell your data: never have, never will.

This policy applies to all products built and maintained by HeavyMelon P.C. including Supportress.

## What we collect and why

Our guiding principle is to collect only what we need. Here’s what that means in practice:

### Identity & access

When you sign up for a HeavyMelon product, we typically ask for identifying information such as your name, email address, and maybe a company name. That’s just so you can personalize your new account, and we can send you invoices, updates, or other essential information. We sometimes also give you the option to add a profile picture that displays in our products, but we do not normally look at or access that picture. We’ll never sell your personal info to third parties, and we won’t use your name or company in marketing statements without your permission either.

### Billing information

When you pay for a HeavyMelon product, we ask for your credit card and billing address. That’s so we can charge you for service, calculate taxes due, and send you invoices. Your credit card is passed directly to our payment processor and doesn't ever go through our servers. We store a record of the payment transaction, including the last 4 digits of the credit card number and as-of billing address, for account history, invoicing, and billing support. We store your billing address to calculate any sales tax due in the United States or VAT in the EU, to detect fraudulent credit card transactions, and to print on your invoices.

### Geolocation data

We log all access to all accounts by full IP address so that we can always verify no unauthorized access has happened. We keep this login data for as long as your product account is active.

We also log full IP addresses used to sign up a product account. We keep this record forever because they are used to mitigate spammy signups.

Web analytics data — described further in the Website Interactions section — are also tied temporarily to IP addresses to assist with troubleshooting cases. We blind all web analytics data after 30 days.

### Website interactions

When you browse our marketing pages or applications, your browser automatically shares certain information such as which operating system and browser version you are using. We track that information, along with the pages you are visiting, page load timing, and which website referred you for statistical purposes like conversion rates and to test new designs. We sometimes track specific link clicks to help inform some design decisions. These web analytics data are tied to your IP address and user account if applicable and you are signed into our Services. We blind all of these individual identifiers after 30 days.

### Anti-bot assessments

We use [CAPTCHA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA) services across our applications to mitigate brute force logins and in Supportress as a means of spam protection. We have a legitimate interest in protecting our apps and the broader Internet community from credential stuffing attacks and spam. When you log into your accounts and fill specific forms in Supportress, the CAPTCHA service evaluates various information (e.g IP address, how long the visitor has been on the app, mouse movements) to check whether the data is possibly filled out by an automated program instead of a human. We retain these data via our subprocessor forever because they are used for anti-spam mitigation.

### Cookies and Do Not Track

We do use persistent first-party cookies to store certain preferences, make it easier for you to use our applications, and support some in-house analytics. A cookie is a piece of text stored by your browser to help it remember your login information, site preferences, and more. You can adjust cookie retention settings in your own browser. To learn more about cookies, including how to view which cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, please visit: [www.allaboutcookies.org](https://www.allaboutcookies.org/).

At this time, our sites and applications do not respond to Do Not Track beacons sent by browser plugins.

### Voluntary correspondence

When you write HeavyMelon with a question or to ask for help, we keep that correspondence, including the email address, so that we have a history of past correspondences to reference if you reach out in the future.

We also store any information you volunteer like surveys. Sometimes when we do customer interviews, we may ask for your permission to record the conversation for future reference or use. We only do so if you give your express consent.

### Information we do not collect

We don’t collect any characteristics of protected classifications including age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or physical and mental abilities or disabilities. You may provide these data voluntarily, such as if you include a pronoun preference in your email signature when writing into our Support team.

We also do not collect any biometric data. You are given the option to add a picture to your user profile, which could be a real picture of you or a picture of something else that represents you best. We do not extract any information from profile pictures: they are for your use alone.

## When we access or share your information

Our default practice is to not access your information. The only times we’ll ever access or share your info are:

**To provide products or services you've requested**. We do use some third-party services to run our applications and only to the extent necessary process some or all of your personal information via these third parties. You can view the list of third-party services we use in each product: [Supportress](/privacy-policy/supportress-subprocessors). Having subprocessors means we are using technology to access your data. No HeavyMelon human looks at your data for these purposes unless an error occurs that stops an automated process from working and requires manual intervention to fix. These are rare cases and when they happen, we look for root cause solutions as much as possible to avoid them from reoccurring. We also use some other processors for other business functions, which you can view: [Company processors](/privacy-policy/company-subprocessors).

**To help you troubleshoot or squash a software bug, with your permission.** If at any point we need to access your account to help you with a Support case, we will ask for your consent before proceeding.

**To investigate, prevent, or take action regarding** [**restricted uses**](/use-restrictions)**.** Accessing a customer’s account when investigating potential abuse is a measure of last resort. We have an obligation to protect the privacy and safety of both our customers and the people reporting issues to us. We do our best to balance those responsibilities throughout the process. If we do discover you are using our products for a restricted purpose, we will report the incident to the appropriate authorities.

**When required under applicable law.**

HeavyMelon, PC is an EU company based in Greece. Some data infrastructure are located in the US and some are located in Europe.

* If Greek or EU law enforcement authorities have the necessary warrant, criminal subpoena, or court order requiring we share data, we have to comply. Otherwise, we flat-out reject requests from local and federal law enforcement when they seek data. And unless we’re legally prevented from it, we’ll always inform you when such requests are made. In the event a government authority outside the EU approaches HeavyMelon with a request, our default stance is to refuse unless the Greek government or the EU authorities compels us to comply through procedures outlined in a mutual legal assistance treaty or agreement.
* Similarly, if HeavyMelon receives a request to preserve data, we refuse unless compelled by the law. In this situation, we have to comply. In these situations, we notify affected customers as soon as possible unless we are legally prohibited from doing so. We do not share preserved data unless absolutely required under the law or compelled by a court order that we choose not to appeal. Furthermore, unless we receive a proper warrant, court order, or subpoena before the required preservation period expires, we destroy any preserved copies we made of customer data once the preservation period lapses.
* If we get an informal request from any person, organization, or entity, we do not assist. If you are an account owner who wants to export data from their accounts, you can do so directly by following these instructions for [Supportress](https://docs.supportress.com/account/export-your-data).
* If we are audited by a tax authority, we may be required to share billing-related information. If that happens, we only share the bare minimum needed such as billing addresses and tax exemption information.

Finally, if HeavyMelon, PC is acquired by or merged with another company — we don’t plan on that, but if it happens — we’ll notify you well before any info about you is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

## Your rights with respect to your information

At HeavyMelon, we apply the same data rights to all customers, regardless of their location. Currently some of the most privacy-forward regulations in place are the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). HeavyMelon recognizes all of the rights granted in these regulations, except as limited by applicable law. These rights include:

* **Right to Know.** You have the right to know what personal information is collected, used, shared or sold. We outline both the categories and specific bits of data we collect, as well as how they are used, in this privacy policy.
* **Right of Access.** This includes your right to access the personal information we gather about you, and your right to obtain information about the sharing, storage, security and processing of that information.
* **Right to Correction.** You have the right to request correction of your personal information.
* **Right to Erasure / “To be Forgotten”.** This is your right to request, subject to certain limitations under applicable law, that your personal information be erased from our possession and, by extension, all of our service providers. Fulfillment of some data deletion requests may prevent you from using HeavyMelon services because our applications may then no longer work. In such cases, a data deletion request may result in closing your account.
* **Right to Complain.** You have the right to make a complaint regarding our handling of your personal information with the appropriate supervisory authority. To identify your specific authority or find out more about this right, EU individuals should go to <https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/board/members_en>.
* **Right to Restrict Processing.** This is your right to request restriction of how and why your personal information is used or processed, including opting out of sale of personal information. (Again: we never have and never will sell your personal data.)
* **Right to Object.** You have the right, in certain situations, to object to how or why your personal information is processed.
* **Right to Portability.** You have the right to receive the personal information we have about you and the right to transmit it to another party.
* **Right to not be subject to Automated Decision-Making.** You have the right to object and prevent any decision that could have a legal, or similarly significant, effect on you from being made solely based on automated processes. This right is limited, however, if the decision is necessary for performance of any contract between you and us, is allowed by applicable law, or is based on your explicit consent.
* **Right to Non-Discrimination.** This right stems from the CCPA. We do not and will not charge you a different amount to use our products, offer you different discounts, or give you a lower level of customer service because you have exercised your data privacy rights. However, the exercise of certain rights (such as the right “to be forgotten”) may, by virtue of your exercising those rights, prevent you from using our Services.

Many of these rights can be exercised by signing in and directly updating your account information.

If you have questions about exercising these rights or need assistance, please contact us at <legal@heavymelon.com>. For requests to delete personal information or know what personal information has been collected, we will first verify your identity using a combination of at least two pieces of information already collected including your user email address. If an authorized agent is corresponding on your behalf, we will first need written consent with a signature from the account holder before proceeding.

If you are in the EU, you can identify your specific authority to file a complaint or find out more about GDPR, at <https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/board/members_en>.

## How we secure your data

All data is encrypted via [SSL/TLS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security) when transmitted from our servers to your browser. The database backups are also encrypted.

For Supportress, most data are not encrypted while they live in our database (since it needs to be ready to send to you when you need it), but we go to great lengths to secure your data at rest. For more information about how we keep your information secure, please review our [security overview](/security-overview).

{% hint style="info" %}
Our certified legal team has overseen all GDPR related policies, and which we review every year.
{% endhint %}

## What happens when you delete data in your product accounts

In many of our applications, we give you the option to trash data. Anything you trash on your product accounts while they are active will be kept in an accessible trash can for up to 30 days (it varies a little by product). After that, the trashed data are no longer accessible via the application and are deleted from our active servers within the next 30 days. We also have some backups of our application databases, which are kept for up to another 30 days. In total, when you trash things in our applications, they are purged within 90 days from all of our systems and logs. Retrieving data for a single account from a backup is cost-prohibitive and unduly burdensome so if you change your mind you’ll need to do so before your data are deleted from our active servers.

We also delete your data after an account is cancelled. In this case, there is no period of data being kept in an accessible trash can so your data are purged within 60 days. This applies both for cases when an account owner directly cancels and for auto-cancelled accounts. Please refer to our [Cancellation policy](/cancellation-policy) for more details.

## Changes & questions

We may update this policy as needed to comply with relevant regulations and reflect any new practices. Whenever we make a significant change to our policies, we will also announce them on our [company blog](https://heavymelon.blog).

Have any questions, comments, or concerns about this privacy policy, your data, or your rights with respect to your information? Please get in touch by emailing us at <legal@heavymelon.com> and we’ll be happy to answer them!

{% hint style="info" %}
HeavyMelon policies are open source, licensed under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Adapted from the [Basecamp open-source policies](https://github.com/basecamp/policies) / [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

*This page specifically adapted from* [*policy*](https://github.com/basecamp/policies/blob/b39cdca979fd3bc02a199da54076e6c72da07b1e/privacy/index.md) *\\*— \_December 9, 2020.\_
{% endhint %}


# Company processors

HeavyMelon PC uses some other third-party processors for company purposes outside of delivering our services.

We as a company use third-party software that may process your information under certain circumstances.

For the following processors, we are in the process of establishing GDPR-compliant data processing agreements, extending GDPR safeguards everywhere personal data is processed. These processors are all located in the United States:

* [Basecamp](https://basecamp.com/about/policies/privacy/regulations). Project management & company communication.


# Supportress subprocessors

All the third-party subprocessors that we use to run Supportress.

We use third party subprocessors, such as cloud computing providers and customer support software, to run Supportress (the service). We are in the process of establishing GDPR-compliant data processing agreements with each subprocessor, extending GDPR safeguards everywhere personal data is processed.

The following is a list of personal data subprocessors we use. These subprocessors are all located in the United States and some of them host our data in Europe:

* [Heroku](https://www.salesforce.com/company/privacy/). Platform as a service. Where Supportress runs.
* [Amazon Web Services](https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/gdpr-center/). Cloud services provider.
* [Chargebee](https://www.chargebee.com/privacy/#eu-us-privacy-shield). Subscription billing management service.
* [Stripe](https://stripe.com/dpa/legal). Payment processing services.
* [Postmark](https://postmarkapp.com/eu-privacy). Transactional email service.
* [Rollbar](https://docs.rollbar.com/docs/data-processing-agreement). Exception logging, notification and management service.


# Security overview

Keeping customer data safe and secure is a huge responsibility and a top priority for us. Here’s how we make it happen.

## We protect your data.

All data are written to multiple disks instantly, backed up daily, and stored in multiple locations. Files that our customers upload are stored on servers that use modern techniques to remove bottlenecks and points of failure.

## Your data are sent using HTTPS.

Whenever your data are in transit between you and us, everything is encrypted, and sent using HTTPS. Within our firewalled private networks, data may be transferred unencrypted.

Our application databases are generally not encrypted at rest — the information you add to the applications is active in our databases and subject to the same protection and monitoring as the rest of our systems.

Supportress production application is deployed on Heroku. Heroku regularly performs audits and maintains [PCI, HIPAA, ISO, and SOC compliance](https://www.heroku.com/compliance) to further strengthen their trust with customers.

## We protect your billing information.

All credit card transactions are processed using secure encryption—the same level of encryption used by leading banks. Card information is transmitted, stored, and processed securely on a [PCI-Compliant network](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payment_Card_Industry_Data_Security_Standard). All billing details, transactions and handling is done via [Chargebee](https://www.chargebee.com/privacy/) and [Stripe](https://stripe.com/en-gr/privacy).

## Have a concern? Need to report an incident?

Have you noticed abuse, misuse, an exploit, or experienced an incident with your account? Please [send us the details](mailto:support@heavymelon.com) and we'll handle it.


# Security response


# Use restrictions

It is not okay to use HeavyMelon products for these restricted purposes.

Hundreds of thousands of teams use HeavyMelon products\*. We are proud to give them a better way to work. We also recognize that technology is an amplifier: it can enable the helpful and the harmful. That’s why we’ve established this policy. If you have an account with any of our products, you can’t use them for any of the restricted purposes listed below. If we find out you are, [we will take action](/how-we-handle-abusive-usage).

## Restricted purposes

* **Child exploitation, sexualization, or abuse**: We don’t tolerate any activities that create, disseminate, or otherwise cause child abuse. Keep away and stop. Just stop.
* **Doxing**: If you are using HeavyMelon products to share other peoples’ private personal information for the purposes of harassment, we don’t want anything to do with you.
* **Infringing on intellectual property**: You can’t use HeavyMelon products to make or disseminate work that uses the intellectual property of others beyond the bounds of [fair use](https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html).
* **Malware or spyware**: Code for good, not evil. If you are using our products to make or distribute anything that qualifies as malware or spyware — including remote user surveillance — begone.
* **Phishing or otherwise attempting fraud**: It is not okay to lie about who you are or who you affiliate with to steal from, extort, or otherwise harm others.
* **Spamming**: No one wants unsolicited commercial emails. We don’t tolerate folks (including their bots) using HeavyMelon products for spamming purposes. If your emails don’t pass muster with [CAN-SPAM](https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business) or any other anti-spam law, it’s not allowed.
* **Cybersquatting**: We don’t like username extortionists. If you purchase a HeavyMelon product account in someone else’s name and then try to sell that account to them, you are [cybersquatting](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/1125). Cybersquatting accounts are subject to immediate cancellation.
* **Violence, or threats thereof**: If an activity qualifies as violent crime in the EU or where you live, you may not use HeavyMelon products to plan, perpetrate, or threaten that activity.

We’ve outlined these restrictions to be clear about what we won’t stand for. That said, this list is by no means exhaustive. We will make changes over time.

## How to report abuse

See someone using a HeavyMelon product for one of the restricted purposes? Let us know by emailing <legal@heavymelon.com> and [we will investigate](/how-we-handle-abusive-usage). If you are not 100% sure, report it anyway.

Please share as much as you are comfortable with about the account, the content or behavior you are reporting, and how you found it. Sending us a URL or screenshots is super helpful. If you need a secure file transfer, let us know and we will send you a link. We will not disclose your identity to anyone associated with the reported account. For copyright cases, we've outlined extra instructions on [how to notify us about infringement claims](/copyright-infringement-claims).

Someone on our team will respond within one business day to let you know we’ve begun investigating. We will also let you know the outcome of our investigation (unless you ask us not to or we are not allowed to under law).

\**This policy and process applies to any product created and owned by HeavyMelon, PC. That includes Supportress.*

{% hint style="info" %}
HeavyMelon policies are open source, licensed under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Adapted from the [Basecamp open-source policies](https://github.com/basecamp/policies) / [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

*This page specifically adapted from* [*policy*](https://github.com/basecamp/policies/blob/a88ad6072382ec404652568efc29495cb84202e5/abuse/index.md) *\\*— \_June 24, 2020.\_
{% endhint %}


# How we handle abusive usage

Guiding principles and process for investigating abuse reports

We build our products\* to give teams a better way to work. We are proud of that purpose and trust that our customers use our products for appropriate endeavors.

Sometimes, though, we discover potential abusive usage as detailed in our [Use restrictions policy](/use-restrictions). When that happens, we investigate using the following guiding principles and process.

## Guiding Principles

### Human oversight

Who’s “we”, you ask? It’s us: folks from the HeavyMelon team. We have an internal committee who review all potential abuse cases. This committee includes our executives, Petros and Ilias, and representatives from multiple departments across the company. On rare occasions for particularly sensitive situations or if legally required, we may also seek counsel from external experts.

### Balanced responsibilities

We have an obligation to protect the privacy and safety of both our customers and the people reporting issues to us. We do our best to balance those responsibilities throughout the process.

### Focus on evidence

We base our decisions on the evidence available to us: what we see and hear account users say and do. We document what we observe and ask whether that observable evidence points to a restricted use.

## Process

Every case goes through the same general process:

1. Discovery
2. Investigation
3. Decision, sometimes with right to an appeal

### How do we discover potential abuse?

From our experience, we learn about potential abuse because:

* Someone alerts us. We give [abuse reports](/use-restrictions) our full care and attention. Our Support team also responds to every question or comment that comes in. If we notice anything in those emails that points to a violation, we will look into it.
* We notice an anomaly in our business operations monitoring. We monitor a range of things about our products, like sign-up volume and error rates of web requests. If we see something weird with those numbers, we get to the bottom of it.
* We stumble upon public web content that links an individual or organization to a HeavyMelon product. We aren’t scouring the Internet looking for those links, but if we do come across any, we check them out.

This list is not exhaustive; there are always edge cases. We will update the list if we find regular new avenues.

### How do we investigate?

We focus on the evidence:

* Language and imagery used by users on the account
* Evidence of account users’ power and/or ability to act on spoken claims
* Publicly available information about account users

We strive to balance privacy and safety for all those involved:

* We make every effort to complete our investigations without accessing a customer account. For instance, if there are screenshots or public documents available, we review those. We also consider whether it is appropriate to involve the account owner in a given investigation and seek additional evidence from them.
* As we review the evidence, we look for indications of existing negative impact. We also assess the severity of any potential negative impact, regardless of intent. When relevant, we look for and follow available guidelines from expert institutions.
* If we cannot come to a fair assessment from the information available, we may decide to access a customer account without notice. We do not make this decision lightly. Customer privacy is a big deal to us and we only pursue this course of action if the evidence we have already is very concerning, but not definitive.

### What happens if someone really broke the rules?

We will terminate an account without advance notice if there is evidence it is being used for a restricted purpose that has, is, or will cause severe harm. If applicable, we will also report the incident to the appropriate authorities.

For other cases, we’ll take a case-by-case approach to clear things up.

### Can you appeal a decision?

If we terminate an account without notice, the decision is final.

For other cases, we will consider good faith appeals sent to <legal@heavymelon.com> by the account owner within 14 calendar days.

\**This process applies to any product created and owned by HeavyMelon, PC. That includes Supportress.*

{% hint style="info" %}
HeavyMelon policies are open source, licensed under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Adapted from the [Basecamp open-source policies](https://github.com/basecamp/policies) / [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

*This page specifically adapted from* [*policy*](https://github.com/basecamp/policies/blob/a88ad6072382ec404652568efc29495cb84202e5/abuse/how-we-handle/index.md) *\\*— April \_13, 2020.\_
{% endhint %}


# Cancellation policy

Everything you need to know about canceling your HeavyMelon product account.

We want satisfied customers, not hostages. That’s why we make it easy for you to cancel your account directly in all of our apps — no phone calls required, no questions asked.

Account owners can follow these instructions to cancel in-app:

* Supportress: navigate to "Billing" from the profile menu (top-right corner of the app) and select "Cancel your account".

Our legal responsibility is to account owners, which means we cannot cancel an account at the request of anyone else. If for whatever reason you no longer know who the account owner is, [contact us](mailto:accounts@heavymelon.supportress.com). We will gladly reach out to any current account owners at the email addresses we have on file.

## What happens when you cancel?

You won’t be able to access your account once you cancel, so make sure you download everything you want to keep beforehand.

We’ll permanently delete your account data within 30 days from our servers and logs, and within 60 days from our backups. Retrieving data for a single account from a backup isn’t possible, so if you change your mind you’ll need to do it within the first 30 days. **Data can’t be recovered once it has been permanently deleted.**

We won’t bill you again once you cancel. We don’t automatically prorate any unused time you may have left but if you haven’t used your account in months or just started a new billing cycle, [contact us](mailto:accounts@heavymelon.supportress.com) for a [fair refund](/refund-policy). We’ll treat you right.

## HeavyMelon-initiated cancellations

We may cancel accounts if they have been inactive for an extended period:

* For trial accounts:
  * For Supportress: 30 days after a trial has expired without being upgraded
* For frozen accounts: 180 days after being frozen due to billing failures

We also retain the right to suspend or terminate accounts for any reason at any time, as outlined in our [Terms of Service](/terms-of-service). In practice, this generally means we will cancel your account without notice if we have evidence that you are using our products to engage in [abusive behavior](/use-restrictions).

{% hint style="info" %}
HeavyMelon policies are open source, licensed under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Adapted from the [Basecamp open-source policies](https://github.com/basecamp/policies) / [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

*This page specifically adapted from* [*policy*](https://github.com/basecamp/policies/blob/7e38d54778c0e6cfb5355e3eb4e0f097aee33572/cancellation/index.md) *\\*— \_August 14, 2020.\_
{% endhint %}


# Refund policy

Bad refund policies are infuriating. We never want our customers to feel that way, so our refund policy is simple: If you're ever unhappy with our products for any reason, we'll take care of you.

## A fair refund policy.

Bad refund policies are infuriating. You feel like the company is just trying to rip you off. We never want our customers to feel that way, so our refund policy is simple: If you are ever unhappy with our products\* for any reason, just contact [our support team](mailto:support@heavymelon.com) and we'll take care of you.

### Examples of full refunds we'd grant.

* If you were just charged for your next month of service but you meant to cancel, we are happy to refund that extra charge.
* If you forgot to cancel your account a couple months ago and you haven't used it since then, we'll give you a full refund for a few back months. No problem.
* If you tried one of our products for a couple months and you just weren't happy with it, you can have your money back.

### Examples of partial refunds or credits we'd grant.

* If you forgot to cancel your account a year ago, and there's been activity on your account since then, we'll review your account usage and figure out a partial refund based on how many months you used it.
* If you upgraded your account a few months ago to a higher plan and kept using it in general but you didn't end up using the extra features, projects, or storage space, we'd consider applying a prorated credit towards future months.
* If we had extended downtime (multiple hours in a day, or multiple days in a month) or you emailed customer service and it took multiple days to get back to you, we'd issue a partial credit to your account.

### Get in touch

At the end of the day, nearly everything on the edges comes down to a case-by-case basis. [Send us a note](mailto:support@heavymelon.com), tell us what's up, and we'll work with you to make sure you're happy.

\**This policy and process applies to any product created and owned by HeavyMelon, PC. That includes Supportress.*

{% hint style="info" %}
HeavyMelon policies are open source, licensed under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Adapted from the [Basecamp open-source policies](https://github.com/basecamp/policies) / [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

*This page specifically adapted from* [*policy*](https://github.com/basecamp/policies/blob/7e38d54778c0e6cfb5355e3eb4e0f097aee33572/refund/index.md) *\\*— \_April 14, 2020.\_
{% endhint %}


# Taxes

We are required to collect and remit sales tax in a number of jurisdictions.

## Taxes!

Taxes are an important part of functional society. Where our products are taxable, we collect and remit consumption tax to governments at the local, state, and/or federal levels. If your billing address is in one of the following jurisdictions, you’ll see an *additional* line item on your invoice for sales tax or VAT. The subscription prices on our product websites are all exclusive of sales tax and VAT.

The tax rate and rules are determined by each jurisdiction and sometimes vary by whether you are using our products for business/commercial or personal purposes. As regulations change, we will update this list.

## Jurisdictions we collect and remit taxes for

### Within the US

As a EU based company, we are not going to collect and remit taxes for US based businesses.

### Within the EU

We collect VAT on any direct-to-consumer sales to EU-based customers. Supportress is a business product, but if you happen to use it without [a valid VAT identification number](https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/) we have to charge VAT.

If your business is registered with VIES, you can enter it in your billing details and we will not collect VAT tax.

## Updating your billing address

If you need to change your billing information because you don’t actually reside in a taxable jurisdiction, you can easily handle that within [your Supportress account](https://docs.supportress.com/billing/manage-subscription).

## We are here to help

Please contact [our Support team](mailto:accounts@heavymelon.supportress.com) if you have trouble or if:

* you believe you’re being charged in error.
* your organization is tax exempt or has a VAT identification number. Alongside your tax exempt certification or VAT identification number, please include your Supportress organization URL when you email us. That URL can be found by:
  * visiting your Queues
  * Copying the URL in your browser's address bar
* you have any additional questions.

{% hint style="info" %}
HeavyMelon policies are open source, licensed under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Adapted from the [Basecamp open-source policies](https://github.com/basecamp/policies) / [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

*This page specifically adapted from* [*policy*](https://github.com/basecamp/policies/blob/7e38d54778c0e6cfb5355e3eb4e0f097aee33572/taxes/index.md) *\\*— \_September 29, 2020.\_
{% endhint %}


# Copyright infringement claims

How HeavyMelon handles copyright infringement claims.

## Notification of Copyright Infringement Claims

Making original work is hard! As described in our [Use restrictions policy](/use-restrictions), you can’t use HeavyMelon products\* to make or disseminate work that uses the intellectual property of others beyond the bounds of [fair use](https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html).

Are you a copyright owner? Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512), you have the right to notify us (HeavyMelon, PC) if you believe that an account user of any product we built and maintain has infringed on your work(s) as copyright owner. To be effective, the notification of claimed infringement must be written. Please include the following information:

* A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
* Identification of the copyrighted work(s) claimed to have been infringed. If there are multiple, please share a representative list of those works.
* A way for us to locate the material you believe is infringing the copyrighted work.
* Your name and contact information so that we can get back to you. Email address is preferred but a telephone number or mailing address works too.
* A statement that you, in good faith, believe that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
* A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

## Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") Counter-Notifications

On the flip-side, if you believe your material has been removed in error, you can file a written counter-notification. Please include the following information:

* A physical or electronic signature, or the signature of the person authorized to act on your behalf.
* A description of the material that was removed.
* A description of where the material appeared in HeavyMelon products prior to their removal.
* Your name and contact information so that we can get back to you. Email address is preferred but a telephone number or mailing address works too.
* A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification.
* A statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located, or if your address is outside of the Greece, in Thessaloniki, Greece (where HeavyMelon is located).
* A statement that you will accept service of process from the person who filed the original DMCA notice or an agent of that person. (In other words, you’ve designated that person to receive documents on your behalf.)

## Where to send notices

You can notify us of either copyright infringement claims or DMCA counter-notifications by email: <legal@heavymelon.com>

\**This policy and process applies to any product created and owned by HeavyMelon, PC. That includes Supportress.*

{% hint style="info" %}
HeavyMelon policies are open source, licensed under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Adapted from the [Basecamp open-source policies](https://github.com/basecamp/policies) / [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

*This page specifically adapted from* [*policy*](https://github.com/basecamp/policies/blob/11c9e03ef1cecd180c899e529083a7309679d712/copyright/index.md) *\\*— \_July 30, 2020.\_
{% endhint %}


# Until the end of the internet

Internet software and services disappear all the time because of whimsy (“changing priorities”), acquisition, financial failure, or worse. It’s become a risky venture to place your trust and data in services that could disappear at any moment, for any reason, and with no guarantee that your data will be safe, preserved, or even portable.

We want more for our customers.

When they launched, each of our products was our finest work. They were the result of countless hours laboring to build software that is simple, clear, easy-to-use, and honest. They remind us where we’ve been, how we got here, and point to where we’re going. We’re proud of these products and honored by all the customers who have supported us over the years, who made our tools partners in their success, and who continue to rely on them every day.

## It’s a promise to our customers

We’re dedicated to supporting our products forever (or until the last customer turns off the lights). We stand against the tide of ephemeral software and services that are frustratingly common on the Internet. HeavyMelon is built to last. Supporting our legacy products and customers who love them isn’t free or easy but it’s the right thing to do. We’ll be here until the end of the Internet.

Here’s what that means:

* The day you become a customer of any of our products, you can trust that HeavyMelon will be around. In the event that the HeavyMelon product you’re using enters a legacy phase you’ll be able to keep using it indefinitely, assuming you continue to abide by our [terms of service](/terms-of-service) and keep your subscription active. We work hard to keep supporting existing features unless it becomes technically impossible to do so for reasons out of our control (e.g. changes to 3rd party integrations that makes a feature incompatible or browser upgrades that leave a feature behind).
* Your data is safe. Regardless of status, all of our products receive the same rigorous care when it comes to [security](/security-overview) and [privacy](/privacy-policy). While we may not add new features to legacy products we’ll continue to apply the latest security updates; maintain the infrastructure that keeps them safe, fast and secure; and continue to offer [customer support](mailto:support@heavymelon.com).
* This is our life’s work — we’re in this for the long haul. In the unforeseen and unanticipated event that the company or one of our products is acquired by another company or spun-off into a separate company, we’ll do everything in our power to make sure the product and this promise live on.

## Changes & questions

HeavyMelon may update this policy once in a blue moon. You can see a history of the changes to our policies [here](https://github.com/heavymelon/policies/commits). We will notify customers about significant changes by emailing the account owner or by placing a prominent notice on our site.

{% hint style="info" %}
HeavyMelon policies are open source, licensed under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Adapted from the [Basecamp open-source policies](https://github.com/basecamp/policies) / [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

*This page specifically adapted from* [*policy*](https://github.com/basecamp/policies/blob/a88ad6072382ec404652568efc29495cb84202e5/until-the-end-of-the-internet/index.md) *\\*— \_April 23, 2020.\_
{% endhint %}