Terms & Conditions
These Terms govern your use of annoyed.com (the “Service”), operated by Annoyed.com (“we”, “us”). By browsing the site, filing a grievance, voting, or creating an account, you agree to these Terms and to our Review Guidelines, which are part of them. If you don’t agree, don’t use the Service.
1. What annoyed.com is
Annoyed.com is a consumer grievance platform. People publish accounts of their own experiences with companies, products, and services, rated on the Fume Scale, and readers use them to decide who to warn their friends about. By design, companies cannot respond to, edit, pay to remove, or pay to reorder grievances on the Service.
2. Eligibility
You must be at least 16 years old to use the Service. By using it you represent that you meet this requirement and that any registration information you provide is accurate.
3. Accounts and anonymous filing
- You can browse, vote, and file grievances without an account. When you file without an account, we require an email address, and the grievance is linked to that email. Creating an account or signing in with that email later claims those grievances into your account.
- You’re responsible for activity under your account and for keeping your password secure. Tell us promptly at support@annoyed.com if you believe your account was compromised.
- Provide an email you actually control: it is how grievances are linked to you and how we contact you about your content.
4. Your content
4.1 You own it; you license it to us
You keep ownership of everything you post — grievances, titles, photos, videos, and proof files (“Your Content”). So that we can run the Service, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, display, distribute, and create derivative works of Your Content (for example, excerpts, thumbnails, or aggregate statistics like the Annoyance Index) in connection with operating, promoting, and improving the Service. This license ends when Your Content is deleted from the Service, except where it has already been shared with others or where retention is required by law.
4.2 You are responsible for it
- You represent that Your Content describes your own genuine experience, that its factual statements are true to the best of your knowledge, and that you have the rights to any media you upload.
- You — not we — are legally responsible for what you post, including for defamation. Truth is your protection; see the Review Guidelines for how to keep your grievance factual.
4.3 Proof of purchase and the Receipts badge
Proof-of-purchase files are stored privately and are not published; readers see only the “Receipts” badge. The badge means a proof document was submitted for the grievance — it is not a guarantee by us that the document is authentic or that the grievance is accurate.
5. Acceptable use
In addition to the Review Guidelines, you agree not to:
- post fake, paid, incentivized, or conflicted reviews, or manipulate votes or rankings (conduct that may also violate the FTC’s Rule on Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, 16 C.F.R. Part 465);
- impersonate any person or company, or misrepresent your affiliation;
- scrape, harvest, or bulk-download content or personal data from the Service, or access it by automated means except public search indexing;
- probe, breach, or test the vulnerability of the Service, or interfere with its operation;
- use the Service to violate any law or anyone’s rights.
6. Our role as a platform
- Grievances are the statements of their authors, not of annoyed.com. We do not endorse them and, consistent with 47 U.S.C. § 230, we are not the publisher or speaker of user content.
- We do not, and cannot, fact-check every grievance. Aggregate figures (the Annoyance Index, warn rates, distributions) are arithmetic derived from user ratings, not our assessment of any company.
- We may moderate, remove, or decline to publish content in good faith where we believe it violates these Terms, the Review Guidelines, or the law — but we have no obligation to monitor content.
7. For companies named on annoyed.com
- The Service offers no right of reply, and removal cannot be purchased. Requests to suppress truthful reviews will be declined; selective suppression of negative reviews is itself prohibited conduct under the FTC’s review rule.
- Contract clauses that ban or penalize customers’ honest reviews are void under the Consumer Review Fairness Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45b. Threatening our users over honest grievances may be reported to regulators.
- If specific content is unlawful (impersonation, court-determined defamation, disclosure of trade secrets), email legal@annoyed.com with the URL and the legal basis. We review such notices in good faith.
8. Intellectual property and DMCA
- The annoyed.com name, wordmark, Fume Scale faces, and site design are ours. Don’t use them without permission, except to truthfully reference the Service.
- If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, send a notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to legal@annoyed.com including: the work infringed, the URL of the infringing material, your contact details, a good-faith statement, a statement of accuracy under penalty of perjury, and your physical or electronic signature. We respond to valid notices, and repeat infringers’ accounts are terminated.
9. Termination
You can stop using the Service, or request account deletion, at any time (see the Privacy Policy for how). We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms — including permanently, for fake reviews, doxxing, or threats. Sections 4 (license, for content already shared), 6, and 10–13 survive termination.
10. Disclaimers
The Service is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including accuracy of user content, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that any grievance is accurate or reliable. You use information on the Service at your own judgment.
11. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, annoyed.com and its operators will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data, or goodwill, arising from your use of the Service or from any user content — even if advised of the possibility. Our total liability for any claim relating to the Service is limited to the greater of US$100 or the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim (the Service is currently free, so US$100). Some jurisdictions don’t allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you.
12. Indemnification
You will defend and hold us harmless from claims and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from Your Content or your breach of these Terms — including third-party claims that Your Content is defamatory or infringing.
13. Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Disputes will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Delaware, and you consent to their jurisdiction. Nothing in these Terms limits rights you hold under mandatory consumer-protection law where you live — including your right to post honest reviews.
14. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms as the Service evolves. Material changes will be announced on the site (and by email to account holders) at least 14 days before they take effect. Continuing to use the Service after that means you accept the updated Terms.
15. Contact
Questions about these Terms: legal@annoyed.com. General support: support@annoyed.com.