Terms of Service

1. Scope and provider

(1) These Terms of Service govern the use of the learning platform merke.me (the "Platform") by consumers.

(2) The provider of the Platform is:

BeConcrete L.L.C-FZ
Meydan Grandstand, 6th floor, Meydan Road
Nad Al Sheba, Dubai
United Arab Emirates
Free Zone: Meydan Free Zone, Dubai
Licence number: 2541091.01
E-mail: support@merke.me

2. Availability / exclusion of the UAE

(1) The Platform is offered worldwide, with the exception of persons resident or habitually located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). No contract is concluded with such persons; corresponding registrations and orders may be refused or reversed.

(2) Access is restricted based on location (geo-IP). By registering, the user confirms that their residence and habitual location are outside the UAE.

(3) Circumventing this geographic restriction - for example by using a VPN, proxy or anonymising service, or by providing false information - is prohibited and constitutes a serious breach of contract entitling us to suspend or terminate the account.

(4) The user is responsible for ensuring that using the Platform is permitted under the law applicable at their location.

3. Description of the service

(1) The Platform is an online service for learning German (levels A1–C2) with vocabulary, grammar and collocation training based on a spaced-repetition system, including example sentences, audio pronunciation, statistics and supplementary content.

(2) The Platform is provided as a web application. There is no entitlement to specific individual features; the provider continuously develops the feature set (Section 9).

(3) There is a free basic tier with limited scope and a paid subscription ("Pro") with full access to all content. The current scope is set out on the pricing page.

4. Registration and user account

(1) Using the learning features requires a user account. The data requested at registration must be provided truthfully.

(2) Login credentials must be kept secret. The account is non-transferable and intended only for personal, non-commercial use.

(3) Registration requires the user to be at least 16 years old or to have the consent of a legal guardian.

5. Free access

(1) The free basic tier includes a limited amount of learning content. Its scope and design may be adjusted; content already started remains repeatable for the user. No payment details are required for the free tier.

(2) No free trial period is offered for subscriptions. The fee for the chosen billing period becomes due when the subscription is taken out.

6. Prices and payment

(1) The prices shown on the pricing page at the time of order apply. These are net prices excluding VAT. Any applicable VAT (e.g. EU/UK VAT) depends on the user's place of residence and is - where legally required - determined by the payment provider (Stripe) during the order process and added to the price; the total amount payable is shown before the order is completed.

(2) Payment is processed via the payment provider Stripe. The available payment methods are shown during the order process.

(3) Depending on the chosen plan, the fee is charged monthly or annually in advance. The subscription renews automatically for the respective billing period unless cancelled in accordance with Section 7.

(4) Price changes are announced to existing customers by e-mail at least four weeks before they take effect and apply only from the next billing period. In the event of a price increase, the user may cancel with effect from the end of the current billing period before the change takes effect.

7. Term and cancellation

(1) The subscription runs for an indefinite period and can be cancelled by the user at any time with effect from the end of the current billing period. Until then, full access remains; there is no pro-rata refund of fees already paid, without prejudice to statutory rights (in particular the right of withdrawal).

(2) Cancellation is possible without giving reasons: via subscription management in the settings (customer portal), via the cancellation function on the website, or by e-mail to support@merke.me.

(3) The provider may suspend or terminate the account in the event of serious breaches of these Terms (in particular Sections 2, 10, 11) after an unsuccessful warning.

8. Right of withdrawal

Consumers may have a statutory right of withdrawal. The information in the Right of Withdrawal applies.

9. Availability and further development

(1) The provider endeavours to keep the Platform highly available but does not owe uninterrupted availability. Maintenance and further development may cause temporary restrictions.

(2) The provider may change and further develop the Platform insofar as this is reasonable for the user and the purpose of the contract (learning German with a spaced-repetition system) is preserved.

10. Rights of use

(1) For the term of the contract, the user receives a simple, non-transferable right to use the Platform and its content for personal learning purposes.

(2) The following are not permitted in particular: the systematic extraction or reproduction of content (scraping), sharing login credentials, the public communication of content, and any commercial re-use without the provider's prior consent.

11. User obligations

The user undertakes not to misuse the Platform, in particular not to circumvent security mechanisms, not to carry out automated access to an unreasonable extent, and not to infringe the rights of third parties.

12. Liability

(1) The provider is liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence and for injury to life, body or health.

(2) In the case of simple negligence, the provider is liable only for breach of material contractual obligations, limited to the foreseeable damage typical for such contracts.

(3) No particular learning success is owed. The learning content is prepared with care; no warranty is given as to its suitability for particular examination purposes.

13. Changes to these Terms

The provider may amend these Terms with effect for the future insofar as this is necessary due to changes in law, case law or the further development of the Platform and does not unreasonably disadvantage the user. Changes are announced by e-mail at least four weeks before they take effect. If the user does not object within the announcement period, the amended Terms are deemed accepted; this is specifically pointed out in the announcement.

14. Governing law and final provisions

(1) The law of the United Arab Emirates as applicable in the Free Zone Meydan Free Zone, Dubai applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. As against consumers, this choice of law applies only insofar as it does not deprive them of the protection of mandatory provisions of the state of their habitual residence - in particular, consumers habitually resident in the EU retain the mandatory consumer rights available to them under the law there.

(2) Should individual provisions of these Terms be invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions is unaffected.