Terms of service

General Terms and Conditions (GTC)

These Terms and Conditions have been translated from the original German version, which can be viewed at https://ivario.com/de-de/policies/terms-of-service. In case of doubt, the original German version shall prevail.

Table of Contents

1. Scope of Application

2. Conclusion of Contract

3. Right of Withdrawal

4. Provider's Services

5. Customer's Cooperation; Cut-off Period for Sample Analysis

6. Prices, Payment Conditions and Invoicing

7. Delivery and Shipping Conditions

8. Customer Account

9. Retention of Title

10. Liability for Defects (Warranty)

11. Liability

12. Redemption of Discount Codes

13. Applicable Law

14. Place of Jurisdiction

15. Alternative Dispute Resolution

 

1) Scope of Application

1.1 These General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter "GTC") of IVARIO Dienstleistungen GmbH (hereinafter "Provider") apply to all contracts for the supply of goods and the provision of services concluded by a consumer or a business (hereinafter "Customer") with the Provider concerning the goods presented by the Provider in its online shop on the website www.ivario.com  or www.ivario-lab.co.uk (hereinafter "Online Shop" or "Website") or otherwise. The inclusion of the Customer's own conditions is hereby objected to, unless otherwise agreed.

1.2 These GTC shall apply accordingly to contracts for the supply of vouchers, unless otherwise stipulated.

1.3 A consumer within the meaning of these GTC is any natural person who enters into a legal transaction for purposes that can predominantly be attributed neither to their commercial nor their self-employed professional activity.

1.4 A business within the meaning of these GTC is a natural or legal person or a partnership with legal capacity that, when concluding a legal transaction, acts in the exercise of its commercial or self-employed professional activity.

2) Conclusion of Contract

2.1 The product and service descriptions contained in the Provider's Online Shop do not constitute binding offers on the part of the Provider, but serve for the submission of a binding offer by the Customer.

2.2 The Customer may submit the offer via the online order form integrated into the Provider's Online Shop. After placing the selected goods and/or services in the virtual shopping basket and completing the electronic ordering process, the Customer submits a legally binding contractual offer with respect to the goods contained in the shopping basket by clicking the button that concludes the ordering process. Furthermore, the Customer may also submit the offer to the Provider by email, messenger/chat message, online contact form, post or telephone.

2.3 The Provider may accept the Customer's offer within five (5) days,

• by sending the Customer a written order confirmation or an order confirmation in text form (e.g. email), in which case the receipt of the order confirmation by the Customer is decisive, or

• by delivering the ordered goods to the Customer, in which case the receipt of the goods by the Customer is decisive, or

• by requesting payment from the Customer after the Customer has placed the order. If several of the aforementioned alternatives exist, the contract shall be concluded at the point in time at which one of the aforementioned alternatives first occurs. The period for acceptance of the offer begins on the day after the offer is sent by the Customer and ends at the end of the fifth day following the sending of the offer. If the Provider does not accept the Customer's offer within the aforementioned period, this shall be deemed a rejection of the offer, with the consequence that the Customer is no longer bound by their declaration of intent.

2.4 If a payment method offered by PayPal is selected, the payment will be processed by the payment service provider PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. et Cie, S.C.A., 22-24 Boulevard Royal, L-2449 Luxembourg (hereinafter: "PayPal"), subject to the PayPal User Agreement, available at https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/ua/useragreement-full or – if the Customer does not have a PayPal account – subject to the terms for payments without a PayPal account, available at https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/ua/privacywax-full. If the Customer pays by means of a payment method offered by PayPal that can be selected in the online ordering process, the Provider hereby declares acceptance of the Customer's offer at the moment the Customer clicks the button that concludes the ordering process.

2.5 When an offer is submitted via the Provider's online order form, the contract text is stored by the Provider after the conclusion of the contract and sent to the Customer in text form (e.g. email or letter) after the Customer's order has been dispatched. The Provider shall not make the contract text accessible beyond this. If the Customer has set up a customer account in the Provider's Online Shop before sending their order, the order data will be archived on the Provider's website and can be accessed free of charge by the Customer via their password-protected customer account by providing the corresponding login details.

2.6 Before the binding submission of the order via the Provider's online order form, the Customer can identify possible input errors by carefully reading the information displayed on the screen. An effective technical means for better recognition of input errors can be the zoom function of the browser, which enlarges the display on the screen. The Customer can correct their entries during the electronic ordering process using the usual keyboard and mouse functions until they click the button that concludes the ordering process.

2.7 The German or English language is available for the conclusion of the contract.

2.8 Order processing and contact are usually carried out by email and automated order processing. The Customer must ensure that the email address provided for order processing is correct so that emails sent by the Provider can be received at this address. In particular, the Customer must ensure that all emails sent by the Provider or by third parties commissioned by the Provider to process the order can be technically delivered (e.g. when using SPAM filters and/or blacklisting).

3) Right of Withdrawal

3.1 Consumers are generally entitled to a right of withdrawal.

3.2 More detailed information on the right of withdrawal can be found in the Provider's withdrawal policy.

3.3 The right of withdrawal does not apply to consumers who, at the time of concluding the contract, do not belong to any member state of the European Union and whose sole residence and delivery address are outside the European Union at the time of concluding the contract.

4) Provider's Services

4.1 In the case of an order on account, the Provider shall send the Customer a sampling kit or the ordered goods to the delivery address specified by the Customer in the order within 24 hours of the order confirmation at the latest, or in the case of another payment method, within 24 hours of the order confirmation and successful payment processing by the respective payment service provider at the latest. Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are excluded from the calculation of this period.

4.2 If the Customer sends the sample taken by them in accordance with the respective instructions, using the return materials provided and the shipping label available online, to the specified laboratory already commissioned by the client, the Provider shall make the analysis result available to the Customer within the analysis time specified for the respective product in the Online Shop (from receipt at the laboratory). In exceptional cases (e.g. high sickness rates or equipment failure), the specified analysis time may be exceeded. The Provider is also entitled to refuse to provide the analysis result as long as the Customer has not paid the remuneration due for it or is in default with an agreed advance payment. This does not apply if the Customer is entitled to a statutory right of retention.

4.3 The Provider shall inform the Customer by email about the status of their sample submission and the availability of the analysis result, and shall make it available in their customer account on the Provider's website.

4.4 The Provider points out that the analysis results cannot generally be used for official and judicial purposes due to the self-sampling by the Customer. An exception to this is the water test for dental practices in accordance with RKI guidelines, as this follows the requirements of the Robert Koch Institute and can be submitted to health authorities. If necessary, health authorities may require an accredited re-test, for example in the case of a positive result.

5) Customer's Cooperation; Cut-off Period for Sample Analysis

5.1 The Customer must take and, if necessary, label the sample in accordance with the instructions provided. If the Customer does not follow the instructions, the Provider is entitled to refuse to analyse the submitted sample.

5.2 For water analyses, the Provider can only analyse drinking and well water and not wastewater or otherwise contaminated water. Contaminated water would damage the laboratory equipment used to analyse the water. Customers may therefore not send in samples containing wastewater or intentionally contaminated water (e.g. dissolved medication). The Provider reserves the right to assert claims for damages against the Customer in such cases, provided the legal requirements for this are met.

5.3 The Customer must send the collected sample using the provided return materials to the specified laboratory, which has already been commissioned by the client. If the sampling kit is ordered with a delivery address in Germany, Austria or the United Kingdom, the shipping costs for sending the collected sample to the laboratory within Germany and Austria are already included in the price of the sampling kit. In this case, a shipping label can be generated free of charge on the Provider's website or, in the United Kingdom, on the Royal Mail website. When sending the sample to the specified laboratory from other countries, the shipment must be sufficiently stamped and sent with tracking by the Customer. In this case, the Customer shall bear the shipping costs for the shipment to the laboratory.

5.4 In the event of loss or damage to parts of the sampling kit, the Customer may receive a replacement from the Provider upon request and against payment of a fee for administrative and shipping costs.

5.5 The sample must be taken and sent to the specified laboratory within 24 months of the Customer's receipt of the sampling kit or return materials.

5.6 All sampling kits with a culture medium (Mould Self-Test Room Air, Mould Lab Test Room Air, Mould Lab Test Complete) have a maximum shelf life of one (1) month after receipt by the Customer. After the specified dates, the Provider's obligation to analyse the sample and provide the analysis result shall expire.

5.7 The above-mentioned periods may be shorter depending on the shelf life of the components of the sampling kit if a shorter period is explicitly stated for the respective product in the Online Shop.

6) Prices, Payment Conditions and Invoicing

6.1 Unless otherwise stated in the Provider's product and service description, the prices quoted are total prices which include the statutory value-added tax. In the business customer section, prices may also be displayed without statutory value-added tax. Any additional delivery and shipping costs will be indicated separately in the respective product description.

6.2 For deliveries to countries outside the European Union, further costs may be incurred in individual cases for which the Provider is not responsible and which are to be borne by the Customer. These include, for example, costs for the transfer of money by credit institutions (e.g. transfer fees, exchange rate fees) or import duties or taxes (e.g. customs duties). Such costs may also be incurred in relation to the transfer of money if the delivery is not made to a country outside the European Union, but the Customer makes the payment from a country outside the European Union.

6.3 The payment method(s) will be communicated to the Customer in the Provider's Online Shop.

6.4 If the payment method "purchase on account" is selected, the purchase price is due after the goods have been delivered and invoiced. In this case, the purchase price is to be paid within fourteen (14) days of receipt of the invoice without deduction, unless otherwise agreed. The Provider reserves the right to offer the payment method "purchase on account" only up to a certain order volume and to refuse this payment method if the specified order volume is exceeded. In this case, the Provider will inform the Customer of a corresponding payment restriction in its payment information in the Online Shop.

6.5 If the payment method "Klarna purchase on account" is selected, the purchase price is due after the goods have been delivered and invoiced. In this case, the purchase price must be paid within 30 days of the invoice date without deduction to Klarna AB, Sveavägen 46, 11134 Stockholm, Sweden (www.klarna.de), unless otherwise agreed. The payment method "purchase on account" requires a successful credit check by Klarna AB. If the Customer is permitted to use the "purchase on account" payment method after a credit check, the payment will be processed in cooperation with Klarna AB, to whom the seller assigns its payment claim. In this case, the Customer can only make payment to Klarna AB with discharging effect. In all other respects, the General Terms and Conditions of Klarna AB, which the Customer can access during the ordering process, shall apply. The seller reserves the right to offer the payment method "purchase on account" only up to a certain order volume and to refuse this payment method if the specified order volume is exceeded. In this case, the seller will inform the customer of a corresponding payment restriction in its payment information in the Online Shop. If a payment method offered via the "Klarna" payment service is selected, payment processing is handled by Klarna Bank AB (publ), Sveavägen 46, 111 34 Stockholm, Sweden (hereinafter "Klarna"). Further information and Klarna's terms and conditions can be found here: https://cdn.klarna.com/1.0/shared/content/legal/terms/K502554/en_gb/user

6.6 If a payment method offered via the "PayPal" payment service is selected, the payment is processed via PayPal, whereby PayPal may also use the services of third-party payment service providers for this purpose. If the Provider also offers payment methods via PayPal in which it makes advance payments to the Customer (e.g. purchase on account or payment by instalments), it assigns its payment claim in this respect to PayPal or to the payment service provider commissioned by PayPal and specifically named to the Customer. Before accepting the Provider's declaration of assignment, PayPal or the payment service provider commissioned by PayPal will carry out a credit check using the transmitted customer data. The Provider reserves the right to refuse the Customer the selected payment method in the event of a negative check result. If the selected payment method is approved, the Customer must pay the invoice amount within the agreed payment period or in the agreed payment intervals. In this case, they can only make payment to PayPal or the payment service provider commissioned by PayPal with discharging effect. However, even in the event of assignment of the claim, the Provider remains responsible for general customer enquiries, e.g. regarding the goods, delivery time, dispatch, returns, complaints, declarations of withdrawal and sending of withdrawals or credit notes.

6.7 If a payment method offered via the "Shopify Payments" service is selected, payment processing is handled by the payment service provider Stripe Payments Europe Ltd., 1 Grand Canal Street Lower, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin, Ireland (hereinafter "Stripe"). The individual payment methods offered via Shopify Payments are communicated to the Customer in the Provider's Online Shop. To process payments, Stripe may use other payment services for which special payment conditions may apply, to which the Customer may be separately referred. Further information on "Shopify Payments" is available on the internet at https://www.shopify.com/legal/terms-payments-gb.

6.8 If the Customer is in default of payment, the Provider reserves the right to charge reminder fees to the extent permitted by law.

6.9 The Provider and the Customer agree that invoices shall be issued exclusively electronically and sent to the Customer by email. The Customer must ensure that emails with the invoice and any payment reminders/dunning letters can be delivered to them, in particular that they do not end up in their SPAM filter or are blocked by blacklisting.

6.10 The subsequent amendment of Customer details in an already issued invoice is not possible unless a change to the invoice is required by law.

7) Delivery and Shipping Conditions

7.1 If the Provider offers to ship the goods, delivery shall be made within the delivery area specified by the Provider to the delivery address specified by the Customer, unless otherwise agreed. The delivery address specified in the Provider's order processing is decisive for the transaction.

7.2 If the delivery of the goods fails for reasons for which the Customer is responsible, the Customer shall bear the reasonable costs incurred by the Provider as a result. This shall not apply with regard to the costs for the outward shipment if the Customer effectively exercises their right of withdrawal. For the return costs, the provision made in the Provider's withdrawal policy shall apply if the Customer effectively exercises their right of withdrawal.

7.3 If the Customer is acting as a business, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the sold goods shall pass to the Customer as soon as the Provider has delivered the item to the freight forwarder, the carrier or the person or institution otherwise designated to carry out the shipment. If the Customer is acting as a consumer, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the sold goods shall in principle only pass to the Customer upon handover of the goods to the Customer or a person authorised to receive them. Notwithstanding this, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the sold goods shall pass to the Customer, even in the case of consumers, as soon as the Provider has delivered the item to the freight forwarder, the carrier or the person or institution otherwise designated to carry out the shipment, if the Customer has commissioned the freight forwarder, the carrier or the person or institution otherwise designated to carry out the shipment and the Provider has not previously named this person or institution to the Customer.

7.4 The Provider reserves the right to withdraw from the contract in the event of incorrect or improper self-delivery. This shall only apply in the event that the non-delivery is not attributable to the Provider and the Provider has, with due diligence, concluded a specific covering transaction with the supplier. The Provider will make all reasonable efforts to procure the goods. In the event of non-availability or only partial availability of the goods, the Customer will be informed immediately and the consideration will be refunded without delay.

7.5 Collection by the Customer is not possible for logistical reasons.

8) Customer Account

8.1 The result of the analysis of the submitted sample by the laboratory will be made available to the Customer in digital form in their customer account on the Provider's website. The Customer will be informed about the provision in the customer account by email to the email address provided during the activation of the sample.

8.2 The use of the customer account requires prior registration by the Customer on the Provider's website, which can already take place in connection with the Customer's order in the Online Shop. Access to the customer account is only permitted to authorised customers and is password-protected. The Customer is obliged to treat their access data to the customer account confidentially and not to pass it on to third parties.

8.3 The Provider provides the Customer with functions and information via the customer account. There is no entitlement to specific content or permanent availability of the customer account.

8.4 The Customer is obliged to use their customer account only within the framework of the applicable laws and these terms of use for the customer account. Any misuse – in particular the unauthorised reading, modification or disclosure of data – is prohibited and entitles the Provider to block the customer account.

8.5 The Provider shall endeavour to ensure that the customer account is available as uninterruptedly as possible. Liability for technical faults, data loss or damage due to unauthorised use is excluded – except in cases of intent or gross negligence.

9) Retention of Title

If the Provider makes an advance payment, it retains title to the delivered goods until the owed purchase price has been paid in full.

10) Liability for Defects (Warranty)

Unless otherwise stipulated in the following provisions, the provisions of the statutory liability for defects shall apply. Notwithstanding this, the following shall apply to contracts for the supply of goods:

10.1 If the Customer is acting as a business,

• the Provider has the choice of the type of subsequent performance;

• for new goods, the limitation period for rights arising from defects is one year from delivery of the goods;

• for used goods, rights arising from defects are excluded;

• the limitation period does not start again if a replacement delivery is made within the scope of liability for defects.

10.2 The limitations of liability and reductions in the limitation period regulated above shall not apply

• to claims for damages and reimbursement of expenses by the Customer,

• in the event that the Provider has fraudulently concealed the defect,

• for goods which have been used for a building in accordance with their usual purpose and have caused its defectiveness,

• for any existing obligation of the Provider to provide updates for digital products, in contracts for the supply of goods with digital elements.

10.3 Furthermore, for businesses, the statutory limitation periods for any existing statutory right of recourse shall remain unaffected.

10.4 If the Customer is a merchant within the meaning of Section 1 of the German Commercial Code (HGB), they are subject to the commercial duty to inspect and give notice of defects pursuant to Section 377 of the HGB. If the Customer fails to comply with the notification obligations regulated therein, the goods shall be deemed to have been approved.

10.5 If the Customer is acting as a consumer, they are requested to complain about delivered goods with obvious transport damage to the delivery agent and to inform the Provider of this. If the Customer does not comply, this has no effect on their statutory or contractual claims for defects.

11) Liability

The Provider shall be liable to the Customer from all contractual, quasi-contractual and statutory, including tortious, claims for damages and reimbursement of expenses as follows:

11.1 The Provider shall be liable without limitation for any legal reason

• in the event of intent or gross negligence,

• in the event of intentional or negligent injury to life, body or health,

• on the basis of a guarantee promise, unless otherwise regulated in this respect,

• on the basis of mandatory liability such as under the Product Liability Act.

11.2 If the Provider negligently breaches a material contractual obligation, liability shall be limited to the foreseeable damage typical for the contract, unless liability is unlimited in accordance with the preceding paragraph. Material contractual obligations are obligations which the contract imposes on the Provider according to its content in order to achieve the purpose of the contract, the fulfilment of which makes the proper execution of the contract possible in the first place and on the observance of which the Customer may regularly rely.

11.3 In all other respects, liability of the Provider is excluded.

11.4 The above liability provisions shall also apply with regard to the liability of the Provider for its vicarious agents and legal representatives.

12) Redemption of Discount Codes

12.1 Vouchers that are issued free of charge by the Provider as part of promotional campaigns with a specific period of validity and which cannot be purchased by the Customer (hereinafter "Discount Codes") can only be redeemed in the Provider's Online Shop, only during the specified period and only under the stated conditions.

12.2 Individual products may be excluded from the discount campaign if a corresponding restriction results from the content of the Discount Code.

12.3 Discount Codes can only be redeemed before completing the ordering process. Subsequent offsetting is not possible.

12.4 Only one Discount Code can be redeemed per order.

12.5 The value of the goods must be at least equal to the amount of the Discount Code. Any remaining balance will not be refunded by the Provider.

12.6 If the value of the Discount Code is not sufficient to cover the order, one of the other payment methods offered by the Provider may be chosen to settle the difference.

12.7 The credit balance of a Discount Code will not be paid out in cash, nor will it bear interest.

12.8 The Discount Code will not be refunded if the Customer returns the goods or services paid for in whole or in part with the Discount Code within the scope of their statutory right of withdrawal.

12.9 The Discount Code is transferable. The Provider may make payment with discharging effect to the respective holder who redeems the Discount Code in the Provider's Online Shop. This does not apply if the Provider has knowledge or grossly negligent ignorance of the non-entitlement, legal incapacity or lack of representative authority of the respective holder.

13) Applicable Law

13.1 The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply to all legal relationships between the parties, to the exclusion of the laws on the international sale of movable goods. For consumers, this choice of law shall only apply to the extent that the protection granted is not withdrawn by mandatory provisions of the law of the state in which the consumer has their habitual residence.

13.2 Furthermore, this choice of law with regard to the statutory right of withdrawal does not apply to consumers who, at the time of concluding the contract, do not belong to a member state of the European Union and whose sole residence and delivery address are outside the European Union at the time of concluding the contract.

14) Place of Jurisdiction

If the Customer is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law with its registered office in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from this contract shall be the Provider's place of business. If the Customer has their registered office outside the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Provider's place of business shall be the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from this contract if the contract or claims arising from the contract can be attributed to the Customer's professional or commercial activity. In the aforementioned cases, however, the Provider is in any case entitled to bring an action before the court at the Customer's place of business.

15) Alternative Dispute Resolution

The Provider is neither obliged nor willing to participate in a dispute resolution procedure before a consumer arbitration board.