Terms of Service

The short version: your data belongs to you. Use the service lawfully, get consent before you text people, keep your account secure, pay for the plan you choose, and understand that software is provided as is.

1. Agreement

These terms are a contract between you and Business All In One Marketing Solutions LLC, a Vermont limited liability company doing business as HoundBell (“we”, “us”), covering your use of the HoundBell application at app.houndbell.com, the HoundBell WordPress plugin and embed script, and related services (together, the “Service”). By creating an account or using the Service you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Policy at houndbell.com/privacy.

2. The Service

HoundBell is a customer relationship management service for service businesses. It captures leads from your website and booking page, and provides tools to text and email your clients, quote, sign agreements, schedule and assign work, invoice and get paid, request reviews, and follow up automatically. Features vary by plan as described on houndbell.com/pricing.

3. Plans, trials, and payment

Trial. New accounts get a 14-day free trial with no card required. At the end of the trial, the account stays readable, and sending and automation resume when a plan is chosen.

Plans. Paid plans (Starter, Growth, Scale) are billed monthly or annually in advance through Stripe. Annual plans are billed once for the year. Add-ons (additional office users, additional locations, the texting number, and the AI receptionist, HoundSignal, and Scout add-ons) are billed with the plan. Usage-priced add-ons state their allowance and overage rate on the pricing page.

Founding pricing. The first 100 businesses to subscribe receive founding prices that stay fixed for the life of the subscription as long as it remains active and on the same plan. Changing plans moves you to that plan’s founding price if founding pricing was available when you first subscribed.

Changes and cancellation. You can change or cancel your plan at any time from the Billing page. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; there are no refunds for partial periods except as stated in the guarantee below.

Guarantee. If you are not satisfied, email support@houndbell.com within 30 days of your first payment and we will refund it in full.

Price changes. We may change list prices with at least 30 days’ notice by email. Founding prices are not affected.

Taxes. Prices exclude any taxes we are required to collect, which are added at checkout where applicable.

4. Your account and your team

You must be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority where you live) to create an account. Provide accurate information and keep your credentials secure. You are responsible for activity under your account, including the actions of office users and field crew you add. Team members act on your behalf within the areas you grant them; deletions and cancellations by team members require your approval. Notify us promptly at support@houndbell.com if you suspect unauthorized access.

5. Your data

The clients, leads, forms, pipelines, notes, quotes, agreements, invoices, bookings, messages, and other content you store in the Service belong to you. We claim no ownership of it. You grant us only the limited rights needed to host, process, transmit, and display that data to provide the Service. You can export your clients at any time, and deleting data in the app permanently removes it from our production systems.

You are responsible for the data you collect and import: for having a lawful basis to collect it, for the disclosures you make to your own clients and website visitors, and for how your team uses it. When you import a client list from another product, you confirm you are entitled to use that data.

6. The WordPress plugin and embed script

The HoundBell plugin is free software licensed under the GPL (version 2 or later). You may use, modify, and redistribute it under that license. The plugin and the embed script are connectors: an account with the Service is required for them to function. These terms govern the Service; the GPL governs the plugin code.

7. Acceptable use

You agree not to use the Service to violate any law; send spam or unsolicited communications; send text messages or emails without any consent required by applicable law or industry rules; purchase, rent, scrape, or otherwise use contact lists for unauthorized messaging; collect data deceptively; store or transmit malicious code; infringe the rights of others; attempt to breach, probe, or interfere with the security of the Service or other accounts; misrepresent your identity or the identity of the sender of a communication; or resell the Service without our written agreement.

You must honor opt-out requests and may not attempt to circumvent messaging restrictions, carrier filtering, or compliance requirements. We may suspend, restrict, or terminate accounts that violate these rules, with notice where practical.

8. Messaging and SMS communications

HoundBell enables businesses to communicate with their own customers and prospective customers by email and text message: appointment confirmations and reminders, booking updates, service-request follow-ups, quote notifications and follow-ups, contract notifications, invoice and payment notifications, receipts, review requests, courtesy messages from assigned field crew, and other transactional or service-related messages. Messages are sent at the direction of the business, in the business’s name, from a phone number provisioned for that business. HoundBell is the software platform that facilitates delivery.

SMS consent. You are responsible for obtaining valid consent before sending text messages where consent is required by applicable law, carrier requirements, or messaging-industry rules. When consent is collected through a website form or HoundBell booking page, recipients must affirmatively opt in through a separate consent mechanism, such as an unchecked checkbox. Consent must be voluntary and may not be a condition of purchasing goods or services, submitting a request, booking an appointment, or otherwise doing business with you. The Service will not text a recipient who has not consented or who has opted out.

Recipients who opt in may receive recurring transactional and service-related messages. Frequency varies with the recipient’s appointments, requests, quotes, invoices, and other interactions. Message and data rates may apply. Consent applies only to communications from the business identified at opt-in. Mobile phone numbers and mobile information will not be sold or shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent will not be shared with any third parties.

Opting out and help. Recipients may opt out at any time by replying STOP, after which no further messages are sent to that number unless the recipient opts back in. Recipients may reply HELP for assistance or contact the business directly.

Your responsibilities. Send only to recipients you are legally permitted to contact; represent your identity accurately; honor opt-outs; keep records of consent where required; comply with federal, state, and local law, carrier requirements, and messaging-industry standards; and keep the content and frequency of your messages consistent with the consent obtained. Messages sent by your field crew through the Service use only message templates you approve.

We may suspend or restrict messaging that appears abusive, deceptive, unlawful, non-compliant, or likely to harm the Service, our providers, carriers, recipients, or other users.

9. Electronic signatures and documents

Agreements sent through the Service may be signed electronically. By using the feature you agree that electronic signatures collected through the Service are intended to be legally binding to the extent permitted by applicable law, and that the audit trail we record (signer name, email, IP address, time) is the record of the signature. You are responsible for the content of the agreements, quotes, and invoices you send; templates we provide are starting points, not legal advice.

10. Payments you collect

Card payments from your clients are processed by Stripe under Stripe’s terms through an account connected to yours; funds go to your bank, not ours. We are not a party to transactions between you and your clients and are not responsible for refunds, chargebacks, or disputes between you and them.

11. Third-party services

The Service connects to third-party services at your option (Stripe, Zoom, Google, Zapier, calendar applications, telecommunications carriers). Their terms govern your use of them, and their availability is outside our control.

12. Availability and support

We aim to keep the Service reliable and continuously available, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted operation. We may modify features with reasonable notice of material changes. Support is provided by email at support@houndbell.com.

13. Disclaimers

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will meet your requirements or be error free. We encourage regular use of the built-in export features.

14. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, or business opportunities, arising from your use of the Service. To the extent any liability is not excludable, our total aggregate liability is limited to the greater of one hundred US dollars ($100) or the amounts you paid us for the Service in the twelve months before the claim arose.

15. Termination

You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate access for violation of these terms or for non-payment. Upon termination we will make your data available for export for at least 30 days, unless the account was terminated for serious abuse or we are legally prevented from doing so.

16. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as the Service evolves. For material changes we will notify account holders by email or in-app notice at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

17. General

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Vermont, without regard to its conflict of laws rules, and disputes will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Vermont, unless the law of your place of residence requires otherwise. If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. These terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service.

18. Contact

HoundBell, a product of Business All In One Marketing Solutions LLC Vermont, United States Email: support@houndbell.com