General terms and conditions of sale
These general terms and conditions are an integral part of any contract made with a user through the penalex platform. The terms of use of the site and the privacy policy, which you can find at the bottom of our site, are also part of the contract. If you have any questions about penalex and our terms and conditions, please send them in writing to support@penalex.ch or to the address at the bottom of the site.
These terms and conditions are effective as of May 1, 2022
When you place an order on penalex.ch, you are entering into an online contract with Penalex Avocats SA, a public limited company with its registered office in Vevey, Switzerland, and with the following commercial register number CH-550-1191124-8.
The terms “we”, “us” or “our” refer to Penalex Avocats SA (the “Service”, “penalex” or the “Site”) entering into this agreement with you. These terms and conditions are deemed accepted by the author of the order once the order is validated.
The presentation of the products and services in the online store only represents an invitation to order and does not constitute a legally binding offer. By clicking on the “order” button, the customer agrees to purchase all products and services listed on the order page. In some cases, it is mandatory to create an account on our site to place orders.
As soon as we receive your order, penalex will send you a confirmation e-mail that will allow you to log in to your account. This account gives you access to use our services, to have an overview of your order history and to your personal data. The sales contract for non-physical goods takes effect immediately upon delivery of the services (online tools, downloadable documents and appointment scheduling).
penalex provides and offers general information and news through its newsletters, as well as several free or paid services through our e-services:
- Online legal services and other advisory services;
- Legal documentation to download;
- An online reservation portal;
- Training for companies in specific areas of criminal law
- Credits for consultations or interventions
By logging into penalex and creating an account, you can choose between free and paid services. Paid services can take the form of downloads (legal documentation) or subscriptions to the platform to access legal services.
Depending on your type of membership or cost, you may be required to create an account on our site, which offers specific services only to registered members of our site.
These services or products (which may change over time) include
- Access to online tools for your business;
- Access and download of documentation packs or templates;
- Access to video content, training, webinars or presentations;
- Access to your customer area (editing content, data about you, history, options and data related to your account);
- Online legal advice services (e.g. live chat);
- etc.
In case of problem, please report it to us at the following address: support@penalex.ch
All questions and requests will be treated according to the degree of urgency and seriousness that we will estimate on the basis of your request. We will do our best to respond as soon as possible.
Free services. Minimum support with no guarantee of problem resolution.
Paid services. We do not offer a maximum time frame for response, nor do we guarantee resolution of
problems, but we will do our best to resolve any issues as soon as possible.
In case of a problem that you report to us on penalex, we will inform you by e-mail of the steps and estimated time to resolve them. Subscription options and types are listed on the online order page. Options can be added during the subscription period and your bill will be adjusted accordingly pro rata temporis.
Contact with a lawyer
Some answers to your questions are generic. Most of the time, the intervention of a lawyer is necessary, who will examine the situation on a case-by-case basis and advise you on a long-term strategy.
penalex provides its clients with qualified, experienced and specialized lawyers to assist you. We also refer you to other lawyers according to the area of expertise and specialization so that you are optimally advised. The lawyers you are put in contact with are only recommended by penalex.
You are free at any time to break off the relationship with a lawyer and to negotiate or renegotiate the terms directly with them. There is no guarantee that the lawyer with whom penalex puts you in touch will be able to assist you, especially when there is a conflict of interest.
As soon as you are put in contact with a lawyer, you benefit from the reinforced protection of the lawyer’s professional secrecy and the lawyer’s monopoly for legal representation.
penalex provides services such as connecting with lawyers, answering questions, preparing presentations, training and offering innovative online legal tools. We do not take proactive steps or follow up after orders are delivered, questions are answered, or the phone discussion with an attorney is over.
The prices mentioned on the page of our products or services as well as on the online booking portal are exclusive of VAT and other price components (possible postage or packaging costs where applicable) and in Swiss francs (CHF). For ease of online purchase, other currencies may be available (Euros and USD) to make transactions via penalex.
No other taxes or costs are added (except for customs fees in case of foreign delivery). The Provider reserves the right to change prices at any time. The prices applicable to the customer are the prices published on the site at the date of order.
The delivery of the products and services takes place immediately after the confirmation of the payment. You can use the Service and download the documentation as soon as your order is confirmed and validated by our customer service.
When you order a future service, such as an appointment, conference call, training or any request for services to be provided via our online agenda, delivery will take place as soon as the service is performed and our customer service confirms that the order has been fulfilled, which will be considered complete.
Payment is made by credit card or Twint. Other means of payment can be available on request (bank transfer, sending an invoice, etc.).
If you make payments from outside of Switzerland, they are made exclusively by credit card and in Swiss francs. Only foreign currencies commonly used for business in Switzerland (EUR or USD) are accepted on a case by case basis. If for practical reasons or for validation by your internal service you are not authorized to pay by credit card, please contact our customer service. In this case, alternative payment methods such as sending an invoice, bank or postal transfer, or Apple Pay can also be offered on a case-by-case basis.
When a payment method other than credit cards is offered, the payment period is 20 days from the time you place the order. In case of non-payment, access to penalex as well as online services and possible reservations may be suspended and blocked until our bank confirms receipt of payment. A reminder will be sent to you and, in case of non-payment within the time limit, the amounts already received will not be refunded and the amounts will remain due until the expiration date of the contract. penalex is entitled to charge the debtor customer the costs resulting from a reminder. It reserves the right to take legal action.
Penalex guarantees that the services are in conformity with the promised qualities, are not vitiated by a defect affecting their value or their conformity to the intended use and that they correspond to the services and specifications provided. penalex reserves the right to eliminate the defect or to deliver a non-defective service for the purpose of repair or replacement delivery. The customer is obliged to check the delivered services as soon as possible and to report any defects immediately.
You can contact our customer service department at support@penalex.ch and report any problems with the online service.
We make sure that for any telephone appointment, we use technologies with high sound or visual quality. We are not responsible for and exclude any refund in case of technical failure not attributable to us, such as low internet speed or poor communication quality on your part. If the remedy of the defect or the replacement delivery fails, the customer is entitled to withdraw from the contract. This only applies to online tools that have a defect. In any case the warranty for defects is excluded in case of negligible defects, nor legal provided online by our partner lawyers. The customer is not entitled to any reduction in price. We exclude any guarantee as well as any responsibility for the resolution of technical problems caused by third parties (Google, Infomaniak, Stripe, Youtube, Vimeo, WordPress, Bookly, WooCommerce, etc.) as well as any problem related to the performance (accessibility and speed) of our site.
When penalex provides subscription services, they are concluded, unless otherwise agreed, for an indefinite period of time. You may terminate your subscription at any time with 30 days’ notice by sending a written request to support@penalex.ch. In some cases, the subscription or other services may be concluded for a minimum period of time, which may be renewed according to the conditions indicated on the online shopping portal.
Each subscription gives the right to exclusive and personal use of the services, unless otherwise agreed, for the duration of the contract. A specific or broader license can be agreed upon. In case of minimum duration, the customer will be notified of the automatic renewal of the contract 30 days before the expiration of the subscription.
Cancellation can be done online with penalex before the expiration of the subscription. The authorization to access the Platform expires on the date of termination.
At the end of the subscription, your account data will still be available to you until the subscription expires. You will have to take the necessary steps to download your data until the subscription expires. If you terminate your subscription or registration with penalex, all services related to your customer account will no longer be available to you or to third parties and we will delete the data that is no longer required by us. For legal and accounting reasons we keep records of transactions made on our site.
However, all your data will be deleted upon request for termination and deletion of your account. Please refer to our privacy statement or contact us directly at privacy@penalex.ch for more information on privacy issues. We reserve the right to terminate your subscription in the event of a breach of contract by you, even if you are not at fault.
You undertake to treat the products available online, the system access data provided and the passwords created with the utmost confidentiality and care. penalex reserves the right to immediately terminate the access authorization in the event that it is found that the use of the Service is illicit or contrary to the scope of the license granted to you to use the Service.
Penalex excludes all liability for fraudulent use of your account, due to an insufficiently sophisticated or easily detectable password or fraudulent use of your computer or e-mail address.
Protection of your data
When you use penalex, the information and documents you transmit to penalex are subject to strict confidentiality obligations. Your data is protected, it will not be passed on to third parties by penalex.
Publication of anonymized questions
You agree that we can anonymously publish your questions on a FAQ page after they have been 100% anonymized by penalex. This allows us to create a database of questions and answers and to serve as many people as possible.
Professional secrecy and penalex
penalex guarantees strict confidentiality, especially if you submit questions containing personal data (e.g. name, first name, address, private information, documents to be reviewed) and confidential information.
As soon as you are linked to penalex in the classic relationship of a client with his lawyer, you benefit from the professional secrecy and the ethical and professional rules of the lawyer.
When you create an account on penalex, whether paid or free, penalex grants you a personal, non-exclusive, worldwide license for the duration of your contract to use our services and download our products and services online. The content and structure of the products and services distributed by penalex are protected by copyright. You are not allowed to reuse these documents for profit (resale, rental, usufruct, etc.) and penalex reserves the right to claim damages from you in the event of violation of your user license as well as our copyrights.
penalex is not liable for breaches of contract due to slight negligence. This also applies to breaches of contract by auxiliaries and substitutes. Penalex is not liable for any errors that are not attributable to it, particularly those of telecommunication operators, the server or any other third party service provider such as social networks and online content distribution platforms.
For reasons of maintenance of the platform, the site may occasionally and temporarily be unavailable. Any maintenance of the site will be carried out, as far as possible, outside office hours and preferably during the weekend. As the site is accessible from all over the world, maintenance will be performed outside of office hours in Switzerland.
You are bound by the Terms of Use of the Site and are responsible for the content you submit to penalex. Under no circumstances can we be held responsible for any breach or infringement of intellectual property rights or for any damage caused to third parties.
You will indemnify us for any amount claimed by a third party as a result of conduct attributable to you, whether direct or indirect. In order for us to take all necessary measures , you also undertake to submit to us without delay any potential violation of your rights, of rights belonging to third parties or of illegal content of which you become aware.
The contractual relationship between the customer and penalex is subject to Swiss substantive law, excluding the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods of April 11, 1980.
The ordinary court of the district of East Vaud (Vevey) is competent for disputes arising from the present contract. In case of a contract concluded with a consumer, the place of jurisdiction is the company’s registered office, alternatively the place of residence.
The contractual relationship between the customer and penalex is subject to Swiss substantive law, excluding the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods of April 11, 1980.
The ordinary court of the district of East Vaud (Vevey) is competent for disputes arising from the present contract. In case of a contract concluded with a consumer, the place of jurisdiction is the company’s registered office, alternatively the place of residence.
We may update these terms and conditions at any time and make them available online. These updates may be necessary as a result of legislative, technical or commercial changes to our platform.
When we update our terms and conditions, we will take appropriate steps to notify you through our site, especially when these changes are significant. Any changes are published with the latest date so that you are aware of them.
Should individual provisions of these terms and conditions be ineffective, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. The ineffective provisions will be replaced by the analogous legal provisions.