Terms of Service

1. These terms

These terms govern use of the DiasporaPulse™ platform, operated by Epicurean Digital Consultants Ltd (Company No. 16622200). By creating an account or commissioning research you agree to them. If you are agreeing on behalf of an organisation, you confirm you are authorised to do so.

2. The service

DiasporaPulse is a market research platform connecting research commissioners with consenting participants from specific UK communities. We provide the panel, the study instrument, quality controls and the delivered findings.

3. Participant terms

• Participation is voluntary. You may withdraw at any time.
• You must give honest answers. Responses failing quality checks may be rejected, and the reasons are recorded.
• One account per person. Duplicate or automated accounts may be suspended.
• Rewards accrue as points and become redeemable once cleared. Points have no cash value until redeemed under the published threshold.
• Registration and profile completion earn no points. Rewards arise solely from completed, funded studies that pass quality review. A member’s first voucher can be requested at 500 points (£5); after that the minimum is 1,000 points (£10).

4. Client terms

• Findings are licensed to you for your internal business use.
• You must not attempt to re-identify any participant, and you must not use findings to target an individual.
• Fees, sample sizes and timelines are set in the individual order or statement of work.
• You are responsible for the lawfulness of the questions you ask.

5. Fees, payment and cancellation

• Minimum engagement. 100 completed responses, or £1,250, whichever is greater. We do not field a smaller study: below that a result cannot carry a reliable finding.
• Quotation. Published rates are a starting point. The written quote in the order form is the commitment, and it states the rate, the sample and what is included.
• Payment. 50% of the fee is due when the order form is signed, and fieldwork opens only once it has cleared. The balance is due within 14 days of the report being delivered.
• Late payment. Overdue invoices carry interest and a fixed recovery sum under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
• Not billed to you. Responses that fail our quality checks are excluded from the dataset and are not charged. Exclusion counts are reported with the findings.
• Quoted separately. Custom screening that materially reduces the eligible pool, extra questionnaire length, repeat waves, and analysis beyond the standard reporting set.
• Changes. A change of scope is agreed in writing and may change the price and the dates.
• Cancellation. Before fieldwork opens, we refund the deposit less work already done. After fieldwork opens the deposit is not refundable, because participant rewards are already committed.
• Tax. Fees are exclusive of VAT, which is added where it applies.

6. Data protection

Each party is an independent controller of the personal data it holds. Findings are delivered aggregated and de-identified: clients never receive participant identities, must not attempt to re-identify anyone, and must not use findings to target an individual. The data protection schedule attached to an order form sets this out in full, and our Privacy Policy explains what we hold and for how long.

7. Service levels

What we do commit to in every engagement: we tell you promptly if a study cannot be delivered as specified, we do not substitute a different sample without telling you, and we do not report a result we cannot evidence.

8. Acceptable use

You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access, disrupt the service, scrape it, or use it for anything unlawful. We may suspend an account that puts participants, clients or the platform at risk.

9. Intellectual property

The platform, its software and its methodology remain ours. Findings delivered to a client are licensed to that client. Aggregated, non-identifying benchmark data may be retained by us to improve research quality.

10. Liability

Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited. Subject to that, our aggregate liability in connection with an engagement is limited to the fees paid for it, and we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss.

11. Termination

You may close your account at any time. We may suspend or close an account for a material breach of these terms. Rewards already cleared remain payable.

12. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.