PRIVACY POLICY & TERMS OF SERVICE

The Privacy Policy was updated on August 10, 2007.

While the word "privacy" may mean different things to different people, we believe that once you understand how we use your information, the steps we take to protect it, and the resulting benefit to you, you will not only feel confident when sharing information with us, but will also find your participation in the Program a most rewarding experience.

Acknowledgment & Acceptance

By enrolling and/or using the UCard, including activating your card for participation in the UCard® Rewards Program ("UCard Rewards"), you agree that you have read and understand this Agreement ("Agreement") and that your membership shall conform to its terms and conditions.

The UCard™, UCard Rewards© Program, and UCard website at www.theucard,com are owned and operated by ELA Telecom Inc. (DBA AmeriCardGold). We welcome questions and comments about our Privacy Policy. If you want to contact us, we can be reached via email at: support@theucard.com

Cardholders are any individual who acquires a UCard and uses it for either “Show & Save” discounts, gift and/or loyalty purposes at participating merchants (“Merchants” or “Advertisers”) in the UCard network. Cardholders may upgrade their level of participation by activating their UCard online over the UCard website and becoming a UCard Rewards© Program member ("Members"). Members may redeem rewards by taking advantage of reward earning opportunities at select participating Merchants that offer rewards in exchange for repeat purchase activity. The details of these reward earning opportunities are posted online on the Merchant’s “Details” page of the UCard Savings Search engine, accessible from www.theucard.com If the merchant elects not to advertise their business on the UCard Savings Search engine, then please consult directly with the Merchant’s staff regarding the specific details of their rewards program and how to earn rewards. The term “Rewards” refers to retail store credits that are loaded onto the card and available for future redemption. The UCard is not redeemable for cash and no change will be given for unused value by participating merchants.
Access to Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

PII refers to any information that can be used to identify you as an individual in any way. Enrollment in the UCard Rewards Program is contingent upon your agreeing to the Terms of Service and providing basic registration information, including: first and last name, email address, age range, gender, zip code and country. All other information requested of you during your participation in the Program is optional. AmeriCardGold reserves the right to send Members messages from time to time. Such messages may include UCard Rewards© system updates; flash bulletins; order confirmations; merchant editorial profiles, administrative announcements; special requests and other similar messages ("Administrative Messages") and may be sent via email, regular mail, or text message to your mobile phone. Members can elect to stop receiving email directly from AmeriCardGold by unsubscribing to the general UCard newsletter. Members can also opt-in or opt-out from receiving text message alerts to their mobile phone.

In order to provide you with information about offers and services among merchants you shop or dine regularly at, we may provide certain of your PII to specific advertisers enrolled in the UCard Rewards Program to allow them to provide important information about products and services that would be of interest to you. By enrolling in UCard Rewards© and activating your UCard, certain PII elements may be shared among participating Merchant(s) whom you patronize. These fields include name, home mailing address, phone number (either home and/or mobile), and email address. Merchant(s) may use this information to communicate with you regarding new product announcements, sales, special events, notification when a reward level has been achieved, and other Administrative Messages the Merchant feels you would find useful and valuable. You can elect to stop receiving email directly from participating Merchants whom you patronize by unsubscribing to newsletters received directly from the Merchant. You can elect to stop receiving text messages to your mobile phone directly from participating Merchants whom you patronize by unsubscribing to the Text Message Alerts service when logged into your cardholder account over www.theucard.com

AmeriCardGold will only permit access to your PII to participating Merchants whom you frequent and allow points/credits to be added to your card by presenting it at the Point of Sale. Other then merchants whom you frequent, we do not rent or sell your Personally Identifiable Information (PII) to anybody without your express consent. You will not be contacted by outside third parties without your permission as a result of your participation in the Program.

In the event either we, or a participating advertiser, are unable to capture your transaction detail, we may need to provide certain of your PII to the advertiser to validate your transaction with them to ensure that your account is credited with the correct number of points and/or credits. However, before any PII is provided to an advertiser for any such purpose, the advertiser will be contractually bound to observe the strict requirements of the AmeriCardGold Gift & Loyalty Program.

AmeriCardGold may keep all information collected in accordance with this Privacy Statement indefinitely. Upon cancellation of your UCard Rewards account, all PII for your account is purged from our records.

AmeriCardGold will provide convenient access to the PII provided by you during enrollment in the UCard Rewards Program for your review and correction. To access your UCard Rewards© account info, please log in directly into the Cardholder Login area using your card ID# and password created during the registration process. Once logged in, click the Update Account Info link to edit any of your profile information. If you are having difficulty logging into your account or making necessary changes, please contact webmaster@theucard.com

Terms of Participation

Only individuals residing in the U.S, may become a cardholder and enroll in UCard Rewards©.

Corporations or other business entities are not eligible to become Members.

UCard Rewards© membership and its right to use is limited to one individual per UCard account (unique cardholder).

UCard Rewards© membership allows only one email address per Member.

Member agrees to provide only true and accurate information to AmeriCardGold (including to its advertisers and partners) at all times.

Member agrees to comply with the terms of all UCard Rewards© and UCard Rewards advertiser and partner offers, promotions, and programs at all times.

Member agrees not to abuse UCard Rewards© privileges by conduct which is detrimental to the interests of UCard Rewards©, including without limitation attempting to accrue Points and Credits or redeem Points and Credits in a manner inconsistent with the rules of UCard Rewards© or intent of this Agreement, having multiple accounts, attempting to earn Points and Credits through other than legitimate channels, participating in purchasing or redemption fraud, or tampering with UCard Rewards© award links, etc.

AmeriCardGold reserves the right to terminate or disable, at AmeriCardGold’s sole discretion, any UCard Rewards© membership if AmeriCardGold believes such Member has violated or acted inconsistently with the rules of AmeriCardGold or intent of this Agreement. Member understands and agrees disabling of membership will result in Member's inability to redeem and/or earn Points and Credits. Member understands and agrees termination of membership will result in the cancellation of all of Member's Points and Credits.
AmeriCardGold shall be the sole determiner in cases of suspected abuse, fraud, or violation of its rules and any decision it makes relating to termination of membership (including cancellation of Points and Credits) shall be final and binding.

Credits may be redeemed only at participating UCard Merchants where the credits were originally loaded or earned.

AmeriCardGold and participating Merchants reserve the right to limit the redemption of specific rewards and limit the number of rewards available at any particular purchase level.

Credits will be subtracted from Member's account once the reward is redeemed.
Once used to claim a reward, Credits will not be reinstated to Member's account.

In conjunction with transferring profile and balance information from an old card to a new card, Member agrees to confirm that all information in Member's personal profile is up-to-date and accurate.

Member agrees to promptly notify AmeriCardGold of any change in Member's address (mail or email) or personal profile by updating his or her personal information at the Update Account Info section of the Cardholder Login portal (MyUCard) of www.theucard.com. Member may be periodically contacted by AmeriCardGold with a request to update personal account information online.

AmeriCardGold reserves the right to cancel or disable accounts and expire unredeemed Points and Credits in those accounts that are inactive for a period of 12 consecutive months. Inactive shall be defined as lack of one of the following: website visit, email response (click through), survey completion, profile update or any gift or loyalty card transaction.

Member shall comply with all laws, rules, and regulations that are applicable to Member. Member acknowledges that Member may only participate in UCard Rewards© if and to the extent that such participation is permitted by such laws, rules, and regulations. AmeriCardGold refuses to enroll Member, or to restrict, modify, or terminate Member's participation in UCard Rewards©, without liability to Member or any other party, if Member violates any law, rule, or regulation, or if Member's participation in UCard Rewards© could violate any law, rule, or regulation.

Disclaimer of Warranties

Member expressly agrees that use of UCard Rewards© is at the Member's sole risk. UCard Rewards© and all services offered therein are provided on a strictly "as is" and "as available" basis. AMERICARDGOLD MAKES NO WARRANTY WITH REGARD TO ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, OR REWARDS OBTAINED BY MEMBERS THROUGH AMERICARDGOLD OR THROUGH UCARD ADVERTISERS OR PARTNERS; THAT AMERICARDGOLD WILL MEET MEMBERS' REQUIREMENTS; OR THAT AMERICARDGOLD WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, ERROR FREE; NOR DOES AMERICARDGOLD MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF UCARD REWARDS© OR AS TO THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED THROUGH AMERICARDGOLD. AmeriCardGold expressly disclaims any and all express and implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. AmeriCardGold shall not be liable or responsible for those guarantees, warranties, and representations, if any, offered by UCard advertisers, partners, manufacturers of merchandise, or suppliers of services. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by Member from AmeriCardGold or through participating UCard Merchants shall create any warranty not expressly made herein.

Limitation of Liability

AMERICARDGOLD SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, WHETHER DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL, RELATING TO THE PARTICIPATION OR INABILITY TO PARTICIPATE IN UCARD REWARDS©. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES; SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

AmeriCardGold is not responsible for damages or losses that result from participating or inability to participate in UCard Rewards©, or reliance on or use of information, services, or merchandise provided on or through UCard Rewards©.

Member acknowledges and agrees that AmeriCardGold neither endorses the contents of advertisements or third parties' Websites, nor assumes responsibility or liability for the accuracy of material contained therein, or any infringement of third party intellectual property rights arising there from, or any fraud or other crime facilitated thereby.

AmeriCardGold is not responsible and assumes no liability for changes or discontinuances of service from providers which may affect offers or the accrual of Points and Credits.

In no event shall AmeriCardGold’s liability, either jointly or severally, exceed $1, which is the published retail cost to produce a single plastic card.

Participation in Promotions of Advertisers and Partners

Member's correspondence with or participation in Reward earning opportunities at Merchants are solely between corresponding Member and the Merchant. AmeriCardGold assumes no liability, obligation, or responsibility for any part of any such correspondence or promotion, including without limitation withdrawal or modification of any offer or promotion.

Anti-SPAM Policy

We have a strict policy on unsolicited email and mobile text message. Because email and mobile text message is an integral part of the Program, by activating your UCard, you’ll be eligible to receive email and mobile text message from only those Merchants you patronize in the UCard Rewards© Network by giving that merchant your UCard to swipe through their terminal at the Point of Sale. If you later decide you wish to cease receiving communications from either AmeriCardGold or specific participating Merchants, you may do so at any time by following the opt-out instructions contained in the email communication or by updating your Opt-in preferences online when logged into your cardholder account. Please note that opting not to receive email and mobile text messages directly from merchants whom you patronize does not exempt you from receiving administrative emails, that include but are not limited to, notification of earned rewards, balances summary at frequented merchants, notices about vital program and membership status changes or alterations to our Terms of Service.

Use of Cookies

We use "cookies" to personalize the Program to your interests, and most importantly, to ensure that only you can access your account. We also review "log-file" data to monitor site performance and analyze traffic patterns and usage of our site. We enhance your use of the UCard Website by bringing certain advertising, promotions and marketing messages to you as you use our site. We also tailor your experience at our site by collecting anonymous data through the use of cookies that track user activity. Our cookies contain no information about you; instead, they assign you a unique number with no meaning outside of the UCard network. AmeriCardGold may use this number to track, for example, your exposure to particular banner impressions so you are not exposed to the same advertising message over and over again, and to target ads, promotions and other marketing messages that may be of interest to you. All users who receive a message targeted by AmeriCardGold's technology remain completely anonymous.

Third Party Services

To enhance the value of the UCard Rewards© service to its Members, AmeriCardGold may use trusted third parties to collect, process and store your PII for the purposes of data verification and supplementation. Data verification involves the use of a third-party data processing services to standardize and clean your provided enrollment information so that it is easily identified and accessed in our database. Data supplementation involves appending any publicly available information about you to your personal profile.

We might seek out any information about you that is publicly available on the open market and overlay this data onto ours for comparison purposes. Information collected in this manner could include your spending habits from a mail-order catalogue, demographic information you provided in entering a sweepstakes, or your financial history. All of this results in a Program that is tailored to your personal interests and provides you with the most relevant Reward-earning opportunities.

These third parties, including contractors, sub-contractors and partners, are contractually bound to preserve the confidentiality of your information and can use PII only for the sole purpose of providing services to AmeriCardGold. Such third parties shall be STRICTLY bound by the terms set forth in the AmeriCardGold Privacy Statement. Such third parties will agree to maintain the confidentiality and protection of your personal information, at all times during and after providing services.

Security

We maintain rigorous Security Practices to ensure as much as is reasonably possible that the confidentiality of your PII is not compromised. AmeriCardGold has established company-wide security practices for your protection. These practices include, but are not limited to, firewall security, the use of appropriate encryption technology, and the use of multiple levels of password security to limit access to data on a "need to know" basis. The use of encryption technology is also required of all clients exchanging data with AmeriCardGold. All contractors and employees are required to familiarize themselves with, and abide by, these safeguards.

Termination

AT ANY TIME EITHER MEMBER OR AMERICARDGOLD MAY TERMINATE MEMBER'S MEMBERSHIP WITH OR WITHOUT CAUSE. MEMBER'S RIGHT TO USE MEMBER'S MEMBERSHIP IMMEDIATELY CEASES UPON TERMINATION AND MEMBER'S UNREDEEMED POINTS AND CREDITS SHALL BE CANCELLED.

Termination of Member's membership by Member is effective upon Member submitting a termination request to webmaster@theucard.com and upon receiving a message back from AmeriCardGold confirming termination. Member understands that, in some cases, Member may still receive messages (which may have been scheduled prior to Member's termination) after termination. Member may not earn Rewards after termination.

Should Member object to any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement, or any subsequent modifications thereto, or become dissatisfied with UCard Rewards©, Member's only recourse is to immediately discontinue participation in UCard Rewards© and properly terminate his or her membership. (See paragraph above.)

AmeriCardGold reserves the right to terminate the membership of any Member who appears to be using UCard Rewards© in a manner inconsistent with this Agreement, the intent of this Agreement, or any UCard Rewards© rules.

Upon termination of the service or offer, or validation of your transaction, unless you directly authorize the advertiser to maintain or use your PII for other purposes, the Merchant will be required to delete your PII from its files.

Transferability

Member's right to use UCard Rewards© can be transferred by transferring a Member’s profile and credit balances to a new card and then updating the profile information associated with the new cardholder.

Proprietary Rights to Content

Member acknowledges that UCard content (including but not limited to text, sound, photographs, graphics, or other material contained in any UCard communication, advertisements, or messages, whether by AmeriCardGold or AmeriCardGold’s advertisers or partners), service and software are protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents, and/or other proprietary rights and laws; therefore, Member is only permitted to use content, service, or software as expressly authorized by AmeriCardGold its advertisers and partners, as the case may be.

Modifications

AmeriCardGold reserves the right to change this Agreement, and/or any part thereof, at any time. Member understands the most recent version of this Agreement will be located in the Legal Notices section that can be found at the footer of every page on the UCard Website.
Member's non-termination or continued use of UCard Rewards© constitutes an affirmative acknowledgment by Member of any modification to the Member Terms of Service Agreement and consent to abide and be bound by any terms thereof. At any time, if Member does not agree with the Member Terms of Service, Member may terminate Member's membership.

AmeriCardGold reserves the right to modify or discontinue the UCard Rewards© service with or without notice to Member.

AmeriCardGold shall not be liable to Member or any third party should AmeriCardGold exercise its right to modify or discontinue the UCard program service.

Notices

All notices given by AmeriCardGold to you will be given by email, regular mail or by general posting on the UCard Website.

Indemnification

Member agrees to indemnify and hold AmeriCardGold, its affiliates, officers, and employees harmless from any claim, demand, expense, or damage, including reasonable attorneys' fees relating to use of UCard and/or UCard Rewards© or violation of this Agreement.

Laws

We reserve the right to release information to local, state, or federal law enforcement officials when we believe in good faith that the law requires it, or when required to do so by order of a Court or authorized administrative agency.

Any dispute or claim arising out of or in relation to this Agreement, or the interpretation, making, performance, breach, or termination thereof, shall be finally settled by binding arbitration in Mount Laurel, NJ, or at another location determined by AmeriCardGold, under the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association by three arbitrators appointed in accordance with said Rules. Judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrators may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof.

This contract shall be governed by the law of the State of New Jersey, excluding its conflict of law principles. The arbitration proceedings shall be governed by federal arbitration law and by the Rules, without reference to state arbitration law.

Member and AmeriCardGold agree that, any provision of applicable law notwithstanding, neither party will request, and the arbitrators shall have no authority to award, punitive or exemplary damages against the other party.

This Agreement constitutes the complete and exclusive understanding between AmeriCardGold and Member relating to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous understandings, agreements, communications, and/or advertising with respect to such subject matter.

If any provision(s) of this Agreement is held by the arbitrators to be contrary to law, then such provision(s) shall be construed, as nearly as possible, to reflect the intentions of the parties with the other provisions remaining in full force and effect.

AmeriCardGold’s failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision unless acknowledged and agreed to by AmeriCardGold in writing.