STIEBEL ELTRON – WEBSITE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE

IMPORTANT NOTES:

- By accessing, using and/or interacting with the Website in any way or at any time whatsoever, each User signifies and confirms his/her/its agreement: i) with this Agreement (and its entire content); and ii) to be bound by this Agreement (and its entire content).

- Using, accessing and/or interacting with the Website indicates and records a User’s acceptance of this Agreement (and its entire content). If a User does not accept this Agreement (and its entire content) in full, and/or does not agree to be bound by this Agreement (and its entire content) in full, he/she/it may not and must not continue to access, use and/or interact with the Website (or any part thereof).

1. Interpretation

1.1 In this Agreement:

1.1.1 clause headings are for convenience only and shall not be used in its interpretation; and

1.1.2 unless the context clearly indicates a contrary intention an expression which denotes any gender includes the other genders, a natural person includes an artificial person and vice versa and the singular includes the plural and vice versa; and

1.1.3 the use of the word “including” followed by specific examples shall not be construed as limiting the meaning of the general wording preceding it and general words that follow specific words in a list, shall not be construed as referring only to the types of things identified by the specific words; and

1.1.4 if any provision in a definition is a substantive provision conferring rights or imposing obligations on Stiebel Eltron or any User, effect shall be given to it as if it were a substantive clause in the body of the Agreement, notwithstanding that it is only contained in the definition.

1.2 This Agreement shall be governed by, and construed and interpreted in accordance with, the laws of the Republic of South Africa.

1.3 The terms of this Agreement shall not be interpreted against Stiebel Eltron who procured its preparation and drafting.

 

2. Definitions

2.1 In this Agreement, and unless the context clearly indicates a different intention, the following expressions bear the meanings given to them below and equivalent expressions will have similar meanings:

2.1.1Act” – means the South African Companies Act, Act 71 of 2008;

2.1.2Agreement” – means these Stiebel Eltron – Website Terms and Conditions of Use;

2.1.3Applicable Laws” – means any and all laws and/or regulations applicable to any User’s use of, access of and interaction with the Website;

2.1.4Domain Names” – means the domain name/s and/or internet address/es via which the Website is accessible, and more specifically www.stiebel-eltron.co.za;

2.1.5Group of Companies” – bears the meaning assigned to such term in and via the Act;

2.1.6Materials” – means and includes the design, layout, look, appearance, graphics and documents in/on the Website, as well as all other content in/on the Website including Trademarks, literary works, musical works, artistic works, sound recordings, cinematograph films, sound and television broadcasts, program-carrying signals, published editions, computer programs and text;

2.1.7Privacy Policy” – means Stiebel Eltron’s Website Privacy and Usage Policy (available at www.stiebel-eltron.co.za);

2.1.8Stiebel Eltron” – means Stiebel Eltron Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd (Registration Number: 2017/278216/07);

2.1.9Trademarks” – means any and all of the trademarks, names, logos and service marks displayed in/on the Website from time to time;

2.1.10Users” – means all of the natural and/or juristic persons who access, use and/or interact with the Website from time to time collectively, and “User” means any of them as the context requires;

2.1.11Website” – means and includes the website accessible via the Domain Names, each associated microsite and each sub-page, owned, operated and maintained by Stiebel Eltron.

 

3. Introduction

3.1 This Agreement, and all of the terms and conditions recorded herein, apply to the Website (and each part thereof) and each User’s use of, accessing of and/or interaction with the Website (and each part thereof).

3.2 Stiebel Eltron is not liable for, and accepts no liability for, the content in/on the Website. Each User must pay particular attention to the Limitation of Liability and Content Disclaimer sections of this Agreement.

3.3 Each User must read this Agreement carefully. Together with the Privacy Policy, this Agreement governs Stiebel Eltron’s relationship with each User in relation to the Website (and each part thereof) and each User’s use of, accessing of and/or interaction with the Website.

 

4. Changes/Amendments to Agreement

4.1 Stiebel Eltron reserves the right, in Stiebel Eltron’s sole and absolute discretion, to amend this Agreement at any time, in any way and for any reason whatsoever. Stiebel Eltron will publish the amended Agreement in/on the Website. Any amendments shall come into effect immediately once published in/on the Website.

4.2 Each User's continued use of the Website following the publishing of amendments to the Agreement will be considered notice of the User's acceptance to abide by and to be bound by the amended Agreement. By accessing, using and/or interacting with the Website (or any part thereof), each User is bound to and by the version of the Agreement published in/on the Website at the time of such access, use and/or interaction.

4.3 It is each User’s responsibility to review this Agreement regularly (and preferably each time the Website is accessed, used and/or interacted with) and to ensure that the User agrees with any amendments to this Agreement. If a User does not agree with any amendments to this Agreement, he may not and must not continue to access, use and/or interact with the Website (or any part thereof).

4.4 Stiebel Eltron shall not be liable, accountable and/or responsible to and/or towards any User for any costs, damages, liabilities, expenses, claims and/or demands any User may suffer as a result of Stiebel Eltron exercising any of its rights in terms of this clause 4.

4.5 A certificate signed by the administrator responsible for maintaining the Website from time to time will be prima facie proof of the date of publication and content of the current version and all previous versions of this Agreement.

5. General Use

5.1 Stiebel Eltron has made, and continues to make, the Website available to each User for the User’s personal private non-commercial use. Stiebel Eltron may modify, withdraw and/or deny access to the Website at any time and for any reason whatsoever in its sole and absolute discretion.

5.2 Users who access the Website do so at their own initiative and are therefore absolutely responsible, accountable and liable for compliance with the Applicable Laws and the provisions of this Agreement.

5.3 Each User agrees to comply with all Applicable Laws which govern his/her/its use of the Website, as well as to adhere to the provisions of this Agreement and generally acceptable internet, e-mail, e-commerce and electronic communications etiquette. In this regard each User agrees, without limiting the generality of the aforementioned, not to:

5.3.1 take any action aimed at deceiving or misleading any person (including any User and/or Stiebel Eltron);

5.3.2 attempt to impersonate or misrepresent his/her/its affiliation to any person (including any User and/or Stiebel Eltron);

5.3.3 forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of anything posted or transmitted in, on and/or through the Website;

5.3.4 submit any person’s personal information to Stiebel Eltron without that person’s informed and prior consent;

5.3.5 gather or attempt to collect personal information about third parties (including any User and/or Stiebel Eltron) without their knowledge or consent for commercial, political, religious, charity or any other purposes;

5.3.6 violate or attempt to violate the privacy of any person (including any User and/or Stiebel Eltron);

5.3.7 attempt to (or actually) gain unauthorised access to any person’s (including any User and/or Stiebel Eltron) personal information, including through hacking, password mining or any other means;

5.3.8 attempt to (or actually) gain unauthorised access to the Website or such parts of the Website as is generally restricted to him/her/it;

5.3.9 use the Website to post or transmit anything which is defamatory, discriminatory, obscene, offensive, threatening, abusive, harassing, harmful, hateful, immoral or which carries any pornography, religious or racial slurs or threatens or encourages bodily harm or the like or which may violate any person's (including any User and/or Stiebel Eltron’s) personality rights;

5.3.10 copy, modify, create an adaptation of, reverse engineer, decompile or otherwise attempt to extract the Website’s source code (or any source code of any software in/on the Website or associated with the Website) or any part thereof, unless this is expressly permitted or required by law or unless Stiebel Eltron has provided its prior written consent thereto;

5.3.11 use the Website in any manner which could damage, impair, overburden and/or disable the Website (and/or any software in/on the Website or associated with the Website) or interfere with any other person’s (including any User and/or Stiebel Eltron) Website use;

5.3.12 use the Website to post anything which contains viruses, malware or any other destructive features, regardless of whether or not damage is intended;

5.3.13 use the Website to make fraudulent offers to sell or buy products, items and/or services or to offer or solicit for any type of scam (albeit financial or otherwise) such as “pyramid schemes” and “chain letters”;

5.3.14 use the Website in a manner that may infringe (or actually infringes) the intellectual property rights (including copyrights or trademark rights) or other proprietary rights of others (including any User and/or Stiebel Eltron);

5.3.15 post spam, chain letters, contests, junk email, pyramid schemes, surveys, or other mass messaging in, in or through the Website, whether commercial in nature or not;

5.3.16 keyword spam or otherwise attempt to manipulate search results in, on or through the Website;

5.3.17 promote bigotry or discrimination in, on or through the Website;

5.3.18 use the Website to solicit personal information from minors or to harm or threaten to cause harm to minors;

5.3.19 remove or modify any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notice in/on the Website or in/on any materials printed or copied off of the Website;

5.3.20 access, retrieve or index the Website to construct or populate a searchable database of business listings or reviews;

5.3.21 take any action that imposes, or may impose in Stiebel Eltron’s sole discretion, an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on Stiebel Eltron’s technology infrastructure;

5.3.22 use any device, software or routine that interferes with the proper working of the Website, or otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Website;

5.3.23 disrupt or interfere with the security of, or otherwise cause harm to, the Website or Website content;

5.3.24 remove, circumvent, disable, damage or otherwise interfere with any security-related features of the Website, features that prevent or restrict the use or copying of Website content, or features that enforce limitations on the use of the Website;

5.3.25 use the Website to threaten, stalk, defraud, incite, harass or advocate the harassment of another person (including any User and/or Stiebel Eltron) or otherwise interfere with another person's (including any User and/or Stiebel Eltron’s) use of the Website;

5.3.26 doing anything which may render Stiebel Eltron liable to anyone, or cause Stiebel Eltron to lose (in whole or in part) the services of its internet service providers or other suppliers; and/or

5.3.27 otherwise use the Website to engage in any illegal, unlawful and/or immoral activity.

5.4 Each User acknowledges that if he/she/it uses the Website in a manner that violates the foregoing provisions, Stiebel Eltron may incur liability and/or suffer damages and accordingly, in the event of any such violation, a User’s access to the Website will be subject to limitation, suspension and/or immediate termination. A User will furthermore be subject to damages and other penalties, including criminal prosecution where applicable, and a User will be held liable to Stiebel Eltron for any and all damages suffered by Stiebel Eltron (including any attorney's fees on an attorney and own-client scale) and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, a User shall reimburse Stiebel Eltron for any and all costs, expenses and fines levied on it as a result of the User’s activities.

5.5 Any User that delivers or attempts to deliver any damaging code to the Website or attempts to gain unauthorised access to any page in/on the Website shall be prosecuted and civil damages shall be claimed in the event that Stiebel Eltron or any of its Group Companies, agents, representatives, employees, directors and/or shareholders suffer any damage or loss.

6. Content Use

6.1 The Website and all the Materials contained in/on it are protected by local and international legislation and treaties related to intellectual property rights (including copyrights and trademark rights) and either belongs to Stiebel Eltron or are licensed to Stiebel Eltorn to use. A User may not copy, reproduce, retransmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish, broadcast, circulate and/or exploit the Website and/or Materials, and/or make available the Website and/or Materials to anyone else, without Stiebel Eltron’s prior written consent.

6.2 Any unauthorised copying, reproduction, retransmission, distribution, dissemination, sale, publication, broadcast or other circulation and/or exploitation of the Website and/or Materials will constitute an infringement of the aforementioned intellectual property rights and legislation and treaties related to intellectual property rights.

6.3 It is specifically recorded that:

6.3.1 the Materials are the registered and unregistered intellectual property of Stiebel Eltron or its licensors. Nothing contained in/on the Website should be construed as granting any license or right to use any Material without the prior written permission of Stiebel Eltron. Except as specified in this Agreement, no User is granted a license or any other right, including without limitation under copyright, trademark, patent or other intellectual property rights, in or to the Materials. All rights in and to the Materials are reserved and retained by Stiebel Eltron or its licensors, as the case may be; and

6.3.2 irrespective of the existence of copyright, each User acknowledges that Stiebel Eltron and/or its licensors, as the case may be, are the proprietors of all the Material on the Website, whether it constitutes confidential information or not, and that no User has any right, title or interest in and/or to any such material.

6.4 A User may print and/or download Materials from the Website for the User's own personal private non-commercial use provided that:

6.4.1 no Materials are modified in any way;

6.4.2 no graphics are used separately from accompanying text;

6.4.3 Stiebel Eltron’s copyright and trade mark notices appear in all copies and the User acknowledges the Website as the source of the Material; and

6.4.4 if the User has Stiebel Eltron’s permission (as contemplated above) to provide these Materials to another person, the User must ensure that the other person is/are made aware of, and abides by, the restrictions in this 6.4.

 

7. Content Disclaimer

7.1 The information in/on the Website (and the Materials) are intended to provide general information regarding Stiebel Eltron, the Website and/or other information which may be of interest to Users. It is not intended to provide exhaustive treatment of any subject dealt with.

7.2 The information in/on the Website (and the Materials), including all research, opinions and/or other content, is not intended to and does not constitute financial, accounting, tax, legal, investment, consulting and/or other professional advice or services (albeit professional in nature or otherwise).

7.3 The information in/on the Website (and the Materials), including all research, opinions and/or other content, should not be regarded as the official opinion of Stiebel Eltron.

7.4 Users must not take any course of action, including the making of any commercial decisions, based on the information in/on the Website (and the Materials), without first obtaining independent professional advice with regard thereto.

7.5 The Website (and the Materials) may include technical, typographical and/or other inaccuracies and each User is urged to contact Stiebel Eltron to confirm all information contained in/on the Website (and the Materials) before placing any reliance thereon. Changes are periodically made to the information in/on the Website (and the Materials) and these changes will be incorporated in new editions/versions of the Website (and the Materials). Stiebel Eltron reserves the right to alter and/or amend any criteria and/or information set out in/on the Website (and the Materials) without notice.

7.6 Stiebel Eltron makes reasonable effort to update the information provided via the Website (and the Materials) in a timely manner. Stiebel Eltron cannot however (nor does it) warrant, represent, undertake, purport and/or guarantee that the information provided via the Website (and the Materials) are accurate, complete and/or reliable. Stiebel Eltron shall not be bound by or under, nor shall it be liable, responsible or accountable (in any form or manner) for or under, any information contained in/on the Website (and the Materials).

7.7 Before making any decision to use, access and/or interact with the Website, each User is required to ensure, confirm and familiarise itself with all information contained in/on the Website (and the Materials), including its accuracy and correctness.

7.8 Stiebel Eltron shall not be liable, responsible, at risk and/or accountable to any User (or anyone else), albeit as relates to damages or otherwise, for any delay in the display, or for the non-display, of any information in/on the Website (and the Materials).

7.9 Stiebel Eltron cannot screen, verify or edit all the content available in/on the Website (and the Materials) and does not accept any liability, responsibility or accountability for any illegal, defamatory, erroneous or obscene content. Users are encouraged to inform Stiebel Eltron of any content that may be offensive, erroneous or illegal.

 

8. Availability of services and products

8.1 The Website is designed merely to provide Users with general information about Stibel Eltron’s services and products. However, the information in/on the Website cannot be construed as the basis of a legal right to particular services or products, or their complete, uninterrupted or error-free availability. Please note that individual pieces of information on the Website may relate to products, programmes or services which are not available from time to time.

 

9. Hyperlinks

9.1 Notwithstanding the fact that hyperlinks exist in this Agreement, in order to facilitate access to notices, policies and legislation that are incorporated into this Agreement, each User agrees that in those instances, where some or all of the hyperlinks malfunction or are not operational, such occurrence shall not affect the validity or enforceability of this Agreement. Each User undertakes to review and acquaint themselves with the relevant documents and/or terms.

10. External Links

10.1 External links in/on the Website (and Materials) may be provided for the Users’ convenience. Such external links are however beyond the control of Stiebel Eltron and as such Stiebel Eltron cannot (nor does it) warrant, represent, undertake, purport and/or guarantee that the information provided via the websites associated with any external links are accurate, complete and/or reliable. Stiebel Eltron further cannot (nor does it) warrant, represent, undertake, purport and/or guarantee the integrity of any external links in any way, manner or form whatsoever.

10.2 Stiebel Eltron cannot (nor does it) accept or incur any risk, responsibility, accountability and/or liability, albeit as relates to damages or otherwise, for enabling any User to link to any other website, for the contents of any other website, for the security of any other website or for any consequence of any User acting upon the contents of any other website.

10.3 No endorsement and/or approval of any third parties (including other Users) or their advice, opinions, information, products and/or services is expressed and/or implied by any information in/on the Website (and the Materials).

10.4 No User (or anyone else) may establish a hyperlink, frame, metatag or similar reference, whether electronically or otherwise, to the Website (or any part thereof) without obtaining Stiebel Eltron’s prior written consent thereto, which consent may be withheld by Stiebel Eltron in its sole and absolute discretion. In addition, no User (or anyone else) may use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application or other automated device, process or means to access, retrieve, scrape or index the Website or any Website content and/or reformat or frame the Website or any of the pages on the Website in any way whatsoever.

 

11. Software Downloads

11.1 Software, if any, made available for download on or via the Website may be governed by license conditions that establish a legal relationship with the licensor thereof. Each User indemnifies Stiebel Eltron against any breach of such license conditions. Stiebel Eltron gives no warranty and makes no representation, whether express or implied, as to the quality or fitness for purpose of the use of such software.

11.2 No warranty, representation and/or guarantee, whether express or implied, is given that any files, downloads or applications available via the Website is free of viruses, trojans, bombs, time-locks or any other data or code which has the ability to corrupt or affect the operation of a User’s computer, database, network or other information system.

 

12. Contractual Relationship

12.1 Nothing in/on the Website (and Materials) is intended to be, nor should it be construed as, an offer to enter into a contractual relationship between Stiebel Eltron and a User (or anyone else), except for this Agreement which governs the relationship between Stiebel Eltron and Users in relation to the Users’ use of, accessing of and/or interaction with the Website.

 

13. No Recommendation or Representation

13.1 The fact that Stiebel Eltron has made the Website (and Materials) available to Users is neither a recommendation that the Users enter into a particular transaction nor is it a representation that any services, products and/or other items described in/on the Website (and Materials) is/are suitable or appropriate for any User.

 

14. Transmission of Information

14.1 Each User’s attention is drawn to the fact that information transmitted via electronic communication is susceptible to monitoring, collection and interception. Each User solely bears any and all risk, liability, responsibility and accountability associated (albeit directly or indirectly) with transmitting his/her/its information (or any other information) via electronic communication.

14.2 Stiebel Eltron will not be liable, accountable, responsible and/or at risk for any loss, harm, cost, claim, expense and/or damage suffered by any User as a result of transmitting any information to Stiebel Eltron, to any other User and/or via the Website.

14.3 Stiebel Eltron reserves the right to request independent verification of any information transmitted to it, by anyone, via electronic communication.

14.4 Any and all unsolicited information (albeit confidential or proprietary information) sent to Stiebel Eltron via electronic commutation cannot be guaranteed to remain confidential. If a User needs to send information to Stiebel Eltron and the User is concerned about the security of this information, the User is to contact Stiebel Eltron and Stiebel Eltron will advise the User of the most appropriate method of transmission.

14.5 By using the Website or communicating with Stiebel Eltron by electronic means, each User consents and acknowledges that any and all agreements, notices, disclosures and/or any other communication satisfies any legal requirement, including but not limited to the requirement that such communications should be in writing.

 

15. System Requirements

15.1 Stiebel Eltron cannot (nor does it) warrant, guarantee, represent, purport and/or undertake that the Website will be compatible with all or any hardware and/or software which a User may use and/or implement from time to time.

15.2 Stiebel Eltron will not have any liability, risk, responsibility and/or accountability towards any User (or anyone else), albeit for damages or otherwise, due to any User’s hardware and/or software not being compatible with the Website at any time whatsoever or for any reason whatsoever.

 

16. Website Inaccessible and/or Inoperable

16.1 The Website may be inaccessible and/or inoperable from time to time for any reason, including due to equipment (hardware) malfunctions, software malfunctions, periodic maintenance procedures or repairs and/or causes beyond Stiebel Eltron’s reasonable control.

16.2 Stiebel Eltron will not be liable, at risk, responsible and/or accountable to any User (or anyone else) for any interruption, malfunction, downtime, inaccessibility, inoperability and/or other failure of the Website at any time whatsoever, for any reason whatsoever and/or in any manner or form whatsoever.

17. Changes to the Website, Materials Website Features and/or Criteria

17.1 Stiebel Eltron reserves the right to discontinue, withdraw, amend, vary, alter and/or modify the Website (and Materials) to any extent whatsoever, at any time whatsoever and in its sole and absolute discretion, without notice to any User.

17.2 Stiebel Eltron may add new features to the Website, and/or modify, amend, alter, vary, discontinue and/or withdraw existing features of/to the Website to any extent whatsoever, at any time whatsoever and in Stiebel Eltron’s sole and absolute discretion, without notice to any User.

17.3 Stiebel Eltron may discontinue, withdraw, alter, amend, vary and/or modify any criteria and/or information set out in/on the Website (and Materials) to any extent whatsoever, at any time whatsoever and in Stiebel Eltron’s sole and absolute discretion, without notice to any User.

17.4 Stiebel Eltron shall not be liable, at risk, accountable and/or responsible to and/or towards any User for any costs, damages, liabilities, expenses, claims and/or demands any User may suffer as a result of Stiebel Eltron exercising any of its rights in terms of this 17.

17.5 A certificate signed by the administrator responsible for maintaining the Website from time to time will be prima facie proof of the date of publication and content of the current version and all previous versions of the Website (and Materials).

 

18. Viruses and Back-Ups

18.1 Each User’s attention is drawn to the fact that internet access, e-commerce and/or electronic communication may expose Users to viruses, malware and other malicious items. It is each User’s sole and absolute liability and responsibility to ensure that he/she/it has sufficient anti-virus software and protocols in place, so as to safeguard himself/herself/itself, his/her/its hardware, his/her/its software and his/her/its data against virus, malware and/or other malicious attacks/infections.

18.2 It will at all times be an remain each User’s sole and absolute responsibility and liability to ensure that he/she/it procures and maintains sufficient back-ups of any and all of his data.

18.3 Stiebel Eltron will never be liable, at risk, responsible and/or accountable towards any User (or anyone else), albeit for damages or otherwise, as a result of the User’s hardware, software and/or data being infected with, and/or corrupted by, any viruses, malware and/or other malicious items, and/or as a result of the User failing to procure and maintain sufficient data back-ups.

18.4 Stiebel Eltron has taken reasonable precautions in an attempt to ensure that viruses, malware and other malicious items are removed from the Website, but at the same time, Stiebel Eltron cannot ensure that no viruses, malware and/or other malicious items are contained in/on the Website. Stiebel Eltron assumes no accountability, liability, risk and/or responsibility in this regard and each User is requested and urged to take all necessary precautions to safeguard the User’s computer, software and data before downloading any information from the Website.

 

19. Foreign Jurisdictions

19.1 The Website (and Materials) is intended for Users who access the Website within the borders of the Republic of South Africa. The content of the Website (and Materials) is not directed to any person and/or individual living and/or carrying on business outside of the Republic of South Africa. Due to the aforementioned, Stiebel Eltron cannot (nor does it) warrant, represent, undertake, purport and/or guarantee that the Website (and Materials) or the information in/on the Website (and Materials) complies with or is appropriate for use in other countries.

 

20. Connected Interests

20.1 Any entity forming part of Stiebel Eltron’s Group of Companies, any entity connected to Stiebel Eltron’s Group of Companies and any shareholder/director/employee of any of the aforementioned and/or of Stiebel Eltron, may have a position or interest in the Website and/or in any services and/or products referenced in/on (and/or provided via) the Website (and Materials).

 

21. Privacy

21.1 Stiebel Eltron’s undertakings and policies regarding the Users’ personal information, is outlined in the Privacy Policy.

22. Limitation Of Liability

22.1 Any User’s use of and reliance on the Website (and Materials) is entirely at the User’s own risk, liability, responsibility and accountability. The Website (and Materials) is provided “As Is” and “As Available”.

22.2 The Website is made available for public access, use and/or interaction on the basis that Stiebel Eltron excludes and discounts, to the full extent lawfully permitted, any and all of its liability, responsibility, risk and accountability whatsoever for any losses, damages, costs, claims, expenses and/or demands howsoever arising (and by whomever suffered or incurred) arising out of:

22.2.1 using, accessing and/or interacting with the Website;

22.2.2 out of reliance upon the Website and/or the Materials.

22.3 Stiebel Eltron shall never be liable and/or accountable for any indirect, special and/or consequential damages, losses, costs, expenses, claims and/or demands suffered by any User (or anyone else), including any loss of profits, data and the like, irrespective of the reason therefore and/or the cause thereof.

22.4 Stiebel Eltron shall never be liable, responsible and/or accountable for any damages, losses, costs, expenses, claims and/or demands suffered by any User (or anyone else) (albeit of a direct nature), unless Stiebel Eltron incurs such liability, responsibility and/or accountability under and in terms of the provisions of this Agreement and same was caused by the grossly negligent and/or wilfully malicious acts and/or neglects of Stiebel Eltron.

22.5 If Stiebel Eltron is found, despite the foregoing limitation of liability provisions, to be liable for any reason, its liability, whether in contract, delict, negligence, strict liability, by statute or otherwise, is limited to ZAR 500.00 (five hundred South African Rand).

22.6 This Agreement does not exclude or limit Stiebel Eltron’s liability towards any User, for as far as (and only to the extent that) such exclusion and/or limitation is legally prohibited.

 

23. Dispute Resolution

23.1 If any claim or dispute arises in relation to this Agreement or a User’s accessing of, use of and/or interaction with the Website, such claim or dispute will be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the South African courts.

23.2 Notwithstanding that stated above, any party to the dispute or claim may, at its sole option prior to the commencement of litigation, refer such claim or dispute to arbitration in South Africa before a single arbitrator. The arbitrator shall be appointed, on the application of either party to the dispute, by the Arbitration Foundation of South Africa. The arbitrator’s award shall be final and binding on the parties to the dispute. The venue for the arbitration shall be such a venue nominated by Stiebel Eltron in Johannesburg.

 

24. User Breach

24.1 Should a User breach any one or more of the provisions of this Agreement, which shall be determined in Stiebel Eltron’s sole and absolute discretion (and which decision shall be final), then Stiebel Eltron shall be entitled, without prejudice to any other rights Stiebel Eltron may have, to:

24.1.1 without notice, suspend or terminate the User’s Website access and/or use;

24.1.2 hold the User liable for any costs, expenses, claims, damages, liabilities and/or demands Stiebel Eltron incurs or suffers, or may incur or suffer, as a result of the User’s misconduct; and/or

24.1.3 notwithstanding the Privacy Policy, disclose any information relating to the User, whether public or personal, to all persons affected by the User’s breach.

 

25. Indemnity

25.1 Each User herewith indemnifies Stiebel Eltron, its Group Companies, its agents, its directors, its employees, its representatives and its shareholders, and undertakes to hold all of the aforementioned completely harmless, for and regarding each and every claim, demand, damage, cost, liability and/or expense which any of the aforementioned may suffer or incur, directly or indirectly, as a result of the User breaching any of the terms and/or conditions of this Agreement, the User’s conduct on and/or with regard to the Website and/or the User’s violation of any law or the rights of a third party relating to the User’s use of the Website.

 

26. General

26.1 The provisions of this Agreement are severable, in that if any provision is determined to be illegal or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, then such provision shall be deemed to have been deleted without affecting the remaining provisions of the Agreement.

26.2 Stiebel Eltron’s failure or delay to exercise any particular right or provision of the Agreement shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision, whether this is done expressly or implied, nor will it affect the validity of any part the Agreement or prejudice Stiebel Eltron’s right to take subsequent action against the User, unless acknowledged and agreed to by Stiebel Eltron in writing.

26.3 Stiebel Eltron shall not be bound by any express, tacit or implied representation, warranty, promise or the like not recorded herein. The Agreement supersedes and replaces all prior commitments, undertakings or representations, whether written or oral, between the User and Stiebel Eltron in respect of the subject matter hereof.

26.4 Stiebel Eltron shall be entitled to cede, assign and delegate all or any of its rights and obligations in terms of the Agreement without the consent of any User being obtained at any time whatsoever and/or in any manner whatsoever.

26.5 Should Stiebel Eltron be prevented from fulfilling any of its obligations to a User as a result of any event of force majeure, then those obligations shall be deemed to have been suspended to the extent that and for as long as Stiebel Eltron is so prevented from fulfilling them. In the event that force majeure continues for more than fourteen days after it has fist occurred then Stiebel Eltron shall be entitled (but not obliged) to terminate all of its rights and obligations in terms of or arising out of the Agreement by giving notice to a User. An "event of force majeure" shall mean any event or circumstance whatsoever which is not within the reasonable control of including, without limitation, vis major, casus fortuitous, any act of God, strike, theft, riots, explosion, insurrection or other similar disorder, war (whether declared or not) or military operations, the downtime of any external telecommunications line, power failure, international restrictions, any requirement of any international authority, any requirement of any government or other competent local authority, any court order, export control or shortage of transport facilities.