Terms of Use

1. Agreement

These Terms of Use ("Terms") are a binding agreement between you and Jeff Holway, a sole proprietor based in Connecticut, USA, doing business as The Crew ("we," "us," "our"). They govern your use of the rulethecrew.com website, the The Crew mobile app, and any related services (together, the "Service").

By creating an account, downloading the app, or using the Service, you're telling us you've read these Terms, you understand them, and you agree to them. If you don't agree, please don't use the Service.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. If you are under the age of majority where you live, you confirm that a parent or legal guardian has reviewed these Terms and agrees to them on your behalf. That parent or guardian is responsible for your use of the Service, including any subscriptions purchased.

By using the Service, you represent that the information you give us is accurate and that you have the authority to agree to these Terms.

3. Your account

You are responsible for keeping your account credentials private and for everything that happens under your account. You may sign in with email and password, or with Sign in with Apple, or with Sign in with Google. If you think someone else has gained access, change your password and email us at support@rulethecrew.com right away.

One person, one account. Don't share accounts, don't sell them, and don't impersonate someone else.

4. Groups and admins

The Crew is a private-group app. Group admins control membership, scheduled games, and the player roster. By joining a group you agree that admins of that group will see your name, profile photo, and gameplay activity within the group. What happens in your crew stays in your crew: don't screenshot and publicly shame your crewmates without their consent.

5. What the Service does

The Crew helps recurring pickleball groups schedule sessions, generate brackets, track scores, and maintain history and rivalries over time. We provide tools and infrastructure; we don't run your sessions for you, we don't verify scores, and we don't mediate disputes between players.

We may add, change, or remove features at any time. Some features may be limited to paid tiers.

6. Subscriptions and payment

Some features require a paid subscription. Current plans are described on our website or in the app.

• Billing. Subscriptions are billed through the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or another processor we use. Their terms apply to the payment itself.
• Auto-renewal. Subscriptions renew automatically until you cancel. You can cancel anytime through the store you bought through; the cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period.
• Refunds. Refunds are handled by the store you purchased through and are subject to that store's policies. We can't issue refunds for App Store or Play Store purchases ourselves.
• Price changes. If we change a subscription price, we'll let you know before it affects you. You can cancel before the new price takes effect if you don't agree.
• Founding Crew offers. If you signed up under a Founding Crew or other promotional rate, the discount applies as described at the time of purchase. Standard auto-renewal terms apply once any promotional period ends.

7. Account deletion

You can delete your account at any time from the Profile screen under Danger zone. When you do:

• Your account is signed out and locked immediately.
• Permanent deletion of your profile and personal data completes within 30 days via a daily background job.
• Groups you lead are transferred to the longest-tenured member.
• Aggregate gameplay statistics are anonymized: your name is removed but historical match scores remain so other members keep their history.

For full details on data retention, see our Privacy Policy.

8. Your content and ownership

The Service lets you upload and post things: a profile photo, a display name, session details, scores, and comments in a crew feed. That's "your content."

You keep ownership of your content. By posting it, you give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host it, display it to your crew, back it up, and otherwise use it as needed to run the Service. This license ends when you delete the content, except where we need to keep it for legal or backup reasons.

You're responsible for what you post. Don't upload anything you don't have the right to share, or anything that's illegal, harassing, threatening, defamatory, hateful, sexually explicit, or that infringes someone else's rights. We can remove content that violates these Terms or that we think creates a real problem.

The Service itself, including the app, the website, the name "The Crew," our logos, designs, copy, and underlying software, belongs to us or our licensors. We're giving you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service in accordance with these Terms. Nothing here is a transfer of ownership.

9. Acceptable use

Don't:

• Use the Service to break any law.
• Impersonate another person or misrepresent your affiliation with a group.
• Try to access accounts, data, or systems you're not authorized to access, or probe, scan, or test for vulnerabilities without our permission.
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or otherwise try to extract our source code, except where the law explicitly says you can.
• Use bots, scrapers, or automated tools to access the Service in ways that aren't intended.
• Overload our infrastructure on purpose.
• Sell, resell, sublicense, or commercially exploit the Service or any part of it without our written consent.
• Use the Service to harass, threaten, or stalk anyone.

10. Copyright and DMCA notices

We respect intellectual property rights and expect you to do the same. If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, send a written notice to our designated agent that includes:

• Your physical or electronic signature.
• Identification of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed.
• Identification of the material you claim is infringing, with enough detail for us to locate it (for example, a screenshot, a crew name, or a description of where it appears).
• Your contact information (name, address, phone, email).
• A statement that you have a good-faith belief the use isn't authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
• A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the owner's behalf.

Send notices to our designated agent at dmca@rulethecrew.com. We'll respond to valid notices by removing or disabling access to the material, and we may notify the user who posted it.

Counter-notice. If you believe your content was removed in error, you can send a counter-notice to the same address with your signature, identification of the removed material and where it appeared, a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief it was removed by mistake or misidentification, your contact information, and your consent to the jurisdiction of the federal court in your district (or in Connecticut if you're outside the U.S.).

Repeat infringers. We will, in appropriate circumstances, terminate the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe.

11. Third-party services

The Service uses third-party platforms to operate, including Apple, Google, and our hosting and database providers. Your use of those platforms is governed by their own terms. If something goes wrong on their end, we'll work to get things running again, but we don't control their systems.

12. Suspension and termination

You can stop using the Service and delete your account at any time. Most things you can do yourself in the app; for anything else, email us.

We can suspend or terminate your account if you break these Terms, if your use puts us or other users at risk, or if we're required to by law. We'll generally try to give you notice except where the violation is severe (for example, abuse of other users or attempts to compromise the Service). If we terminate you for cause, we don't owe you a refund for any unused portion of a paid subscription, except where the law requires one.

If we ever shut down the Service entirely, we'll give you reasonable advance notice and an opportunity to export your data.

13. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranty of any kind. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

We don't guarantee that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or perfectly secure. Scores, standings, and head-to-head records are recorded by users and we don't independently verify them. If your crew gets in a fight about whether Mike really won 11-9, that's between you and Mike.

14. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither we nor anyone working with us will be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or loss of goodwill, even if we've been told such damages are possible.

Our total liability for any claim related to the Service is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose, or (b) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

Some jurisdictions don't allow these kinds of limits, so they may not apply to you. Where they don't apply, our liability is limited to the smallest extent the law allows.

15. Indemnification

You agree to defend and hold us harmless from any claim, demand, loss, or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of (a) your use of the Service, (b) your content, (c) your violation of these Terms, or (d) your violation of someone else's rights.

16. Dispute resolution and arbitration

Please read this section carefully. It affects your legal rights, including your right to go to court.

Informal resolution first. Before starting any formal proceeding, you agree to email us at support@rulethecrew.com and give us 30 days to try to resolve the issue. We'll do the same for you.

Binding arbitration. If we can't resolve a dispute informally, you and we agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be resolved by binding individual arbitration, rather than in court, except as noted below. The arbitration will be administered under the rules of a recognized arbitration provider, and judgment on the award may be entered in any court with jurisdiction.

Exceptions. Either of us may bring an individual claim in small-claims court instead, and either of us may seek injunctive relief in court for intellectual-property infringement or unauthorized access to the Service.

Class-action waiver. You and we agree that each may bring claims against the other only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims or preside over any form of class proceeding.

Opt-out. You can opt out of this arbitration agreement by emailing us at support@rulethecrew.com within 30 days of first accepting these Terms, stating clearly that you want to opt out of arbitration. Opting out won't affect any other part of these Terms.

If the class-action waiver is found unenforceable, the rest of this section is void, but the remainder of the Terms stays in effect.

17. Governing law and venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Connecticut, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. For any dispute not subject to arbitration, you and we agree it will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Connecticut, and we both consent to that jurisdiction.

18. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms as the Service evolves. If a change is material, we'll let you know in the app or by email at least 14 days before it takes effect. The "Last updated" date at the top will always reflect the current version. Your continued use of the Service after a change means you accept the updated Terms.

19. Apple-specific terms

If you're using the iOS version of the app, the following also applies:

• These Terms are between you and us, not Apple. Apple is not responsible for the app or its content.
• Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the app.
• If the app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you can notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price (if any). Beyond that, Apple has no warranty obligation.
• Apple is a third-party beneficiary of these Terms with respect to the iOS app and may enforce them.

20. Miscellaneous

If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision isn't a waiver of our right to enforce it later. You can't transfer your rights under these Terms without our written permission; we can transfer ours in connection with a sale or reorganization of the business.

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Cookies Policy, are the complete agreement between you and us about the Service.

21. Contact

Questions about these Terms:
Jeff Holway, sole proprietor
The Crew
Email: support@rulethecrew.com