Terms of Service

01 Nature of the Platform

Vortech Technologies™ ("VortechPro™," "Vortech," "we," "us," or "our") operates a software-as-a-service (SaaS) dispatch management platform providing technician routing, real-time GPS tracking, job notifications, revenue split calculations, payment facilitation tools, operational reporting, and team communication tools for independent field service businesses.

02 No Employment, Agency, or Partnership

Nothing in these Terms — and nothing about your use of the platform — creates an employment relationship, contractor relationship, agency, partnership, joint venture, franchise, or fiduciary duty between Vortech and any company, technician, worker, customer, or any other party. Not even close.

Every technician and worker on your team is exclusively your responsibility. You hire them. You supervise them. You pay them. You fire them. Vortech has zero authority over, zero responsibility for, and zero involvement in any of that.

03 Your Business, Your Responsibility — Completely

You are the business owner. You run your operation. That means you are 100% solely and exclusively responsible for everything that happens in your business — without exception, without carve-out, and without any shared liability with Vortech. This includes but is not limited to:

• All hiring, supervision, compensation, discipline, and termination of every person who works for you
• Properly classifying every worker as an employee or independent contractor under all applicable federal, state, and local law — and bearing all legal and financial consequences if you get it wrong
• Obtaining and maintaining every required business license, permit, bond, and insurance policy
• Setting prices, collecting payment from customers, and resolving any payment disputes
• Compliance with every applicable federal, state, local, and international law, regulation, and industry standard
• Customer service, warranties, complaints, refunds, property damage claims, and personal injury claims
• Collecting, reporting, and remitting every applicable tax — including but not limited to income tax, payroll tax, sales tax, and self-employment tax
• Maintaining adequate insurance, including general liability, workers' compensation, commercial auto, and professional liability

If you face a lawsuit, a regulatory investigation, a tax audit, a labor board complaint, a workers' compensation claim, a customer injury claim, or any other legal or financial action arising from your business operations — that is your problem, not Vortech's. Vortech will not be named, will not participate, and will not pay.

04 Payments, Stripe Connect & Platform Fees

Vortech does not process, collect, hold, transmit, escrow, or store your customer payments or your workers' payments. Vortech is not a bank, money transmitter, payment processor, payroll provider, or financial intermediary of any kind under any applicable law.

The platform offers an optional Stripe Connect integration that allows subscribing companies to connect their own Stripe account and enable their technicians to accept customer credit card payments in the field. This is entirely optional. If you choose to use it:

• You are connecting your own Stripe account — an account you own and control directly with Stripe, Inc.
• All payment processing is performed entirely by Stripe under Stripe's own terms of service and privacy policy, which you agree to independently
• Funds collected from your customers go directly into your Stripe account — Vortech never receives, holds, or has access to those funds
• A 1% platform facilitation fee is automatically deducted from each transaction processed through the Stripe Connect integration. This fee is charged by Vortech for providing the payment facilitation infrastructure and is in addition to Stripe's standard processing fees
• You are solely responsible for your Stripe account, its configuration, its compliance with Stripe's terms, and any issues that arise with Stripe directly
• You are solely responsible for all tax reporting, payroll obligations, and financial compliance related to payments collected through Stripe

05 Data Ownership & Retention

Job records, technician information, revenue entries, and other operational data you enter into the platform are entered at your discretion, for your operational convenience.

Platform data may be subject to periodic aggregation, summarization, or rotation for system performance and storage management. Vortech does not guarantee the indefinite availability, completeness, or accuracy of historical data.

06 Data Loss & Deletion

When an account is terminated or suspended — whether by you or by Vortech — all associated data may be permanently and irrecoverably deleted without prior notice or opportunity to export.

Vortech does not maintain user-level backups and has no obligation to recover, restore, or provide access to any lost or deleted data — for any reason, under any circumstances. Vortech shall have zero liability for any data loss. You accept this risk explicitly and unconditionally as a condition of using the platform.

07 Security & Encryption

Vortech implements commercially reasonable security measures including AES-256 encryption for data in transit and at rest. However, no system is impenetrable, and Vortech does not guarantee that the platform will be immune from unauthorized access, data breaches, cyberattacks, or security incidents.

In the event of a security incident, Vortech will use commercially reasonable efforts to notify affected users in a timely manner. Vortech shall not be liable for damages arising from such incidents.

You are responsible for safeguarding your own login credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. If you share your credentials and someone burns your account down — that is on you.

08 Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use the platform for any unlawful, fraudulent, or deceptive purpose
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of the platform or connected systems
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or otherwise attempt to derive the platform's source code
• Introduce malicious code, viruses, or harmful technology
• Use automated scripts, bots, or scrapers without express written authorization
• Resell, sublicense, lease, or commercialize platform access to third parties
• Misrepresent your identity, affiliation, or business
• Use the platform in any way that damages, disables, or impairs its infrastructure

Vortech reserves the right to suspend or terminate access immediately and without notice for any violation of this section.

09 Service Availability & Modifications

Vortech strives to maintain platform availability but does not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free access. The platform may be temporarily unavailable due to maintenance, updates, or unforeseen technical issues.

Vortech reserves the right to modify, update, deprecate, or discontinue any feature at any time, with or without notice. Such changes are not a breach of these Terms. Vortech has no liability for any changes to platform functionality.

10 Disclaimer of Warranties

THE PLATFORM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE". VORTECH EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE — INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, AND UNINTERRUPTED OPERATION.

Vortech makes no representations about business results, profitability, revenue outcomes, or the suitability of the platform for any particular business. No oral or written information from Vortech creates any warranty beyond what is expressly stated here.

11 Third-Party Disputes

Every dispute relating to services performed, worker conduct, worker classification, customer complaints, payment disputes, property damage, personal injury, regulatory investigations, tax matters, insurance claims, chargebacks, or any matter arising from your business operations is strictly and exclusively between you and the relevant third parties.

12 Indemnification

You agree to fully indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Vortech Technologies™ and its owners, officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, successors, and assigns from any and all claims, demands, lawsuits, liabilities, damages, losses, judgments, penalties, fines, costs, and expenses — including attorneys' fees — arising out of or relating to:

• Your use of the platform
• Your business operations, services rendered, or products sold
• Worker classification decisions, labor disputes, or employment claims
• Tax obligations, filings, or regulatory violations
• Customer disputes, property damage, or personal injury claims
• Payment disputes, chargebacks, or fraud related to your Stripe account
• Your breach of these Terms or any applicable law
• Any misrepresentation you make to any third party
• Any allegation — frivolous or otherwise — that Vortech is your employer, joint employer, co-employer, partner, or agent

This indemnification obligation survives termination of your account. You cannot escape it by canceling your subscription.

13 Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW:

VORTECH SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES — INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, LOST REVENUE, LOST DATA, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, REGULATORY PENALTIES, TAX LIABILITIES, OR ANY OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES — EVEN IF VORTECH HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

VORTECH'S TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ANY AND ALL CLAIMS SHALL NOT EXCEED THE LESSER OF: (A) THE TOTAL FEES PAID BY YOU TO VORTECH IN THE THREE (3) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100.00).

THIS APPLIES REGARDLESS OF THE LEGAL THEORY — CONTRACT, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE.

14 Intellectual Property

All software, source code, algorithms, architecture, interface designs, workflows, documentation, trademarks, and all other intellectual property comprising the platform are and shall remain the exclusive property of Vortech Technologies™.

You receive a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the platform solely for its intended purpose during an active, paid subscription. This license ends the moment your account is terminated or suspended — for any reason.

You may not copy, modify, reverse engineer, decompile, resell, sublicense, or create derivative works from any part of the platform. Any attempt to do so is a material breach of these Terms and may result in immediate termination and legal action.

15 Subscription, Billing & Platform Fees

Access to the platform requires an active subscription. Published fees are subject to change with thirty (30) days' written notice. All fees are non-refundable except where expressly stated otherwise.

Stripe Connect Platform Fee: If you use the optional Stripe Connect payment integration, a 1% platform facilitation fee is automatically deducted from every customer transaction processed through the integration. This fee is charged in addition to Stripe's standard processing fees (currently 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, subject to change by Stripe). By enabling Stripe Connect, you explicitly authorize this fee on every transaction.

Failure to pay subscription fees when due may result in immediate suspension or termination of access. Vortech is not obligated to retain your data after a subscription lapses.

Free trials and beta access are provided at Vortech's sole discretion and may be modified, shortened, or terminated at any time without notice or liability.

16 Termination

Vortech may suspend or terminate your access immediately and without prior notice for any reason — including non-payment, Terms violation, suspected fraud, or any conduct Vortech determines may harm the platform or other users.

Upon termination, all licenses cease immediately, your access ends, and your data may be permanently deleted. Vortech has no obligation to maintain, provide, or export any data after termination.

Sections 3, 4, 12, 13, 14, 17 and all other provisions that by their nature should survive, survive termination permanently.

17 Arbitration & Class Action Waiver

Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the platform shall be resolved exclusively through binding individual arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) or JAMS, at Vortech's election. The arbitrator's decision is final and binding.

JURY TRIAL WAIVER: You waive any right to a jury trial for any dispute arising under these Terms.

18 Governing Law & Jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. To the extent litigation is permitted, exclusive jurisdiction and venue shall be in the state or federal courts of Los Angeles County, California.

19 Modifications to Terms

Vortech reserves the right to modify these Terms at any time. Material changes will be posted on the Vortech website with an updated date. Continued use of the platform after any modification constitutes your binding acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not agree to a modification, stop using the platform.

20 Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found invalid or unenforceable, it shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, or severed entirely. The remaining provisions continue in full force and effect.

21 Entire Agreement

These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and Vortech regarding your use of the platform. They supersede all prior agreements, proposals, and understandings — written or oral. No waiver of any provision constitutes a continuing waiver. Vortech's failure to enforce any right is not a waiver of that right.