DEFINITIONS

1.1 In these Terms & Conditions unless the context otherwise requires, the following definitions apply:

“Fees”	Membership and Meeting Fees
“Franchisee”	a person or business entity that owns and operates a WIBN franchise under licence
“Group Leader”	individual who runs a WIBN Group on behalf of a Franchisee
“Member”	individual who is a member of the WIBN membership organisation
“Membership”	the status of being a member of the WIBN organisation
“WIBN Associates Ltd”	the parent company, franchisor and owner of the WIBN brand
“WIBN Group”	a business networking group operated by a franchisee according to WIBN Associate Ltd’s structure, systems and processes
“WIBN National Group”	a WIBN Group comprising of Members from across the UK, which always meets online

 

EFFECT OF THESE CONDITIONS

Any application for, or renewal of, Membership of WIBN will be deemed to be made on the basis of these Terms and Conditions, which will govern the on-going relationship between the Member, WIBN Associates Ltd and the Franchisee/Group Leader operating the WIBN Group to which the Member belongs.

FEES

Your Fees includes the organisation, administration and management of your structured WIBN meetings, and your Franchisee’s/Group Leader’s time in delivering said meetings. From time to time, we may need to change the meeting venue or move our meetings online.

Your Fees also include access to the WIBN Portal, an online software platform, supporting you to promote your business, and network with your fellow WIBN Members around the country. Any communication to WIBN Members via the WIBN Portal deemed inappropriate/offensive may result in immediate termination of your Membership, and no refund of Fees paid

Our skilled Franchisees and Group Leaders work hard to continue to deliver a consistent level of service. Regardless of any venue or platform changes, your meeting structure and organisation remains the same.

Our Fees reflect the expertise and experience of our Franchisees and Group Leaders in hosting a meeting and creating a supportive environment in which business can flow.

Fees at the level applied by Franchisees/Group Leaders, which can be found on our website (subject to VAT at the appropriate rate) are payable annually in the following ways:

• Annual Membership + 12 monthly Meeting Fees payable up front in one annual charge

• Annual Membership + 12 monthly Meeting Fees paid in 12 monthly instalments

Some WIBN Franchisees may be VAT registered. Fees may vary to reflect this when purchasing your Membership or event ticket, which you purchase directly from the Franchisee/Group Leader.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

Your Franchisee/Group Leader will contact you to discuss your renewal 4-6 weeks prior to your renewal date. You will also receive an automatic renewal notification via the WIBN Portal 7 days prior to the renewal date and payment must be received by the renewal date, in order for the Membership to continue. If payment is not received within 7 days of the renewal date the Membership will be automatically terminated.

The Franchisee reserves the right not to renew a Membership, at their sole discretion

 

MEMBERSHIP TERMINATION

 

If, due to exceptional circumstances, you wish to terminate your membership during the 12-month membership period, a £60 + VAT administration charge will be incurred and you will still be liable for the remaining months’ Fees.
If the Membership is terminated at the discretion of the Franchisee/Group Leader within the 12-month period, your Fees will be refunded on a pro-rata basis.

 

MEMBERSHIP TRANSFER

 

You are not eligible to transfer your Membership to another WIBN Group during the term of your Membership, accept under exceptional circumstances, at the discretion of your Franchisee or Group Leader and a fee of £60 + VAT will be charged.

 

PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY

Each Member must represent the profession that is either their main business or forms a substantial part of their main business activity. This is known as your professional category.

Only one core activity can be promoted by each Member at the meeting. If a Member wishes to represent another area of their business, different to the original category listed when they applied for Membership, they must seek permission from their Franchisee, or Group Leader directly, at the time of their Membership renewal.

Members may only transfer their category during a 12-month Membership in exceptional circumstances and this will be considered on a case-by-case basis. A fee of £60 + VAT will be charged for administration purposes.

The option to purchase more than one Membership in different groups, to represent your main professional category or a different area of your business is available, providing the category you wish to present is available in the WIBN Group you wish to join.

 

 

ATTENDANCE

If a Member is unable to attend a meeting they should arrange for a representative or substitute to attend in their place, having first checked with the Franchisee/Group Leader regarding suitability.

It is important to understand the impact of non-attendance at your monthly meeting, and how it can have a detrimental impact, both in terms of your professional reputation, commitment to support your group and not least the disappointment of other Members who may have wished to pass referrals or business to you. The WIBN format is at its most powerful, and successful when all the Members attend their monthly meetings.

If a Member is absent from 4 or more meetings, without sending a representative/substitute during any 12-month Membership period, their Membership may be terminated.

A leave of absence must be agreed in advance by your Franchisee/Group Leader.

If a Member is absent from 4 or more meetings, even where a sub may have been provided, during any 12-month Membership period, their Membership may be terminated, save for extenuating circumstances and is at the discretion of the Franchisee/Group Leader.

 

 

FURLOUGH

 

Members who are furloughed, remaining employed but not attending work, are encouraged to continue attending meetings or sending a sub wherever possible. WIBN meetings also act as a social interaction rather than task of employment and thus do not jeopardise your employment status.

 

MATERNITY

WIBN offer Members 6-months maternity leave, whereby your Franchisee/Group Leader will freeze your Fees (where applicable) for 6 months, at which point your membership will continue.

If your Membership is paid for by your employer, a ‘substitute colleague’ can take your seat for the duration of your 6 months maternity leave (should you wish or is necessary) with prior agreement of suitability of a replacement from your Franchisee/Group Leader. The Membership would be renewable at the renewal date, in the usual way.

 

 

LONG-TERM ILLNESS

If you are unexpectedly taken ill and results in a long-term illness leaving you unable to attend your monthly meetings, your Membership can be paused for up to 6 months and at the discretion of your Franchisee/Group Leader.

 

 

VISITING WIBN GROUPS

You are actively encouraged to visit other WIBN Groups if your professional category is not already represented. Members are permitted a maximum of 4 visits (paid at the standard WIBN Member rate for that group) to each WIBN Group within any 12-month Membership period. More visits may only be permitted dependent upon any concessions or special offers WIBN Associates Ltd or your Franchisee/Group Leader may wish to offer during times of national or global crisis.

If you are a WIBN National Group Member, a passport to visit other WIBN National Groups (if your professional category is available), at no extra cost, is included as part of your Fees.

 

 

MEETING ETIQUETTE

 

WIBN Franchisees and Group Leaders work hard to ensure the Members in each group connect well with each other, not just in the business pipeline by way of services and products that can be offered to one another, but also in terms of character. The success of WIBN is down to the expertise of our Franchisees and Group Leaders instinctively knowing when a WIBN Group is working successfully. A Franchisee is not required to provide a reason to terminate a Membership, should they feel that a Members’ contribution is having a detrimental impact on the wider group.

 

WIBN PORTAL

 

As a Member of WIBN you will be provided with access to our technology platform, the WIBN Portal, providing you with an inbox and direct messaging facility to support your collaborations with your network, and access to our community forum.
WIBN values diverse opinions and in order to maintain a welcoming environment for our community, your participation in it must always be respectful of others. In particular:
• We do not permit content that is obscene, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, or infringing of intellectual property rights (including publicity rights). For example, don't use obscenities or profanity, and don't express hatred or intolerance for people on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender or gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, or disability, including by promoting organizations with such views.

• Do not use adult language or sensitive subjects in your answers and do not include divisive language or biased messages.

• We do not permit content that is obscene, pornographic, or lewd.

• We do not permit content that invades others' privacy. For example, do not post other people's phone numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses, or other personal information, and do not allow links to phishing or other malware sites.

• We do not permit community Members impersonating other people or companies or pretending to be someone or something you are not.

 

BLOGS ON WIBN FORUM – COPYRIGHT IMAGES

 

As a benefit of membership you are able to create and post blogs within our WIBN Platform. You understand and confirm that it is your responsibility to ensure WIBN has rights to use any and all images that you attach to a blog posted on our platforms. Any images used must be either: owned by you, downloaded from Canva or from on of the free image websites (e.g. Pexels.com or Unsplash.com). All images used in blogs must also be credited, to ensure WIBN has a record of the image’s source.

 

PUBLICITY

We may use photographs taken at our WIBN meetings in publicity and marketing materials, including use on our website. Your attendance at meetings may mean that you are featured in such photographs, and you are deemed not to object to the taking of such photographs as detailed above. If you do not wish to be included in any photograph, please notify the photographer at the relevant event prior to the photographs being taken.
RECORDINGS (virtual/online events)
WIBN reserves the right to record meetings and by attending such meetings you are consenting to WIBN making and storing such recordings. You will receive a notification (visual or otherwise) when recording is enabled. If you do not consent to being recorded, you can choose to leave the event.

 

MEETING CHANGES

 

WIBN reserves the right to move a WIBN meeting to a new venue or platform where necessary and venue choice is entirely at the discretion of the Franchisee.
There will only be a meeting date or venue change when the circumstances are beyond our control and at the discretion of the Franchisee/Group Leader. Should the date or venue change without adequate notice and within 3 weeks of the diarised meeting, thus preventing a WIBN Member from attending their monthly meeting, one month will be added to the term of the Membership.
In the event of a venue change beyond what the Member deems to be an acceptable distance, thus preventing the Member from attending any future meetings and therefore cancelling their Membership, a pro-rata refund of Fees will be provided to the Member by the Franchisee/Group Leader.

 

NATIONAL CRISIS/GLOBAL PANDEMIC

In certain situations, such as a national crisis/global pandemic, which is beyond the control of WIBN, we may need to move our entire operation to online meetings only. The same level of expertise and work is required to arrange and host a WIBN meeting whether it be in-venue or online, and as such the result of such a crisis would not result in a refund of Fees. Any meal supplements pre-charged for in-venue meetings that are moved online will be refunded to the Member by the Franchisee/Group Leader.

 

 

LEAVING WIBN

If you do not wish to renew your Membership at the time your renewal is due, please note the following:

1. You will no longer be able to access the WIBN Portal

2. You may be asked to complete a customer satisfaction survey

3. You may be asked to submit a testimonial about your time as a Member of our organisation.

4. You will be responsible for removing any social media posts from our platforms

5. Your details will not be immediately deleted from our system, unless you request this at the time of your exit.

 

 

 

DATA PROTECTION

WIBN Associates Ltd is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. All Member data is processed in line with our Data Protection and Privacy Policy, which can be found on our website.

In accordance with the requirements of data protection legislation, as a Membership-based company, you will automatically be opted into our newsletter when you submit your profile to the WIBN website. This falls within the ‘Legitimate Interest’ section of data protection regulations. You can unsubscribe from any communications from WIBN at any time.

 

 

PRIVACY

 

WIBN takes the privacy and security of your personal information very seriously. Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect and use personal information in accordance with data protection laws. Our Privacy Policy can be found at www.wibn.co.uk/privacypolicy

 

FORCE MAJEURE

The WIBN Franchisee/Group Leader will not be liable for failure to hold a monthly meeting if such failure is as a result of Acts of God (including fire, flood, earthquake, storm, hurricane or other natural disaster), war, invasion, act of foreign enemies, hostilities (regardless of whether war is declared), civil war, rebellion, revolution, insurrection, military or usurped power or confiscation, terrorist activities, nationalisation, government sanction, blockage, embargo, labour dispute, strike, lockout or interruption or failure of electricity or telephone service and national or global pandemic

 

 

OUR RIGHT TO VARY THESE TERMS & CONDITIONS

 

We have the right to revise and amend these Terms and Conditions from time to time to reflect changes in technology, changes in payment methods, changes in relevant laws and regulatory requirements and changes in our system's capabilities.
WIBN Associates Ltd will from time to time distribute revised /updated Terms & Conditions, and these will supersede any previous Terms & Conditions issued by us and as such will form the bases of your Membership contract at such time as they are issued

 

DISCLAIMER

Neither WIBN Associates Ltd nor its employees, Franchisees or Group Leaders are to be held responsible for the outcome of business or any other activity conducted between WIBN Members. Each party should satisfy themselves as to the expertise and/or fitness of the other party to supply the service or product in question to an appropriate standard and their qualification(s) to do so.