Terms of Service.

These Terms of Service form a binding agreement between you and Plainview Ventures Limited trading as Black Flag Alert. Please read them carefully. By accessing or using the BLACKFLAG ALERT platform, you agree to be bound by them.

About these terms

These terms apply to all visitors and users of blackflagalert.com and any related applications, APIs, or services we provide (the "Service"). They form a contract between you ("you" or the "User") and Plainview Ventures Limited trading as Black Flag Alert, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 09687391) with its registered office at 15-17 Westmill Road, Ware, England, SG12 0EF ("BFA", "we", "us", or "our").

These terms incorporate by reference our Privacy Policy and Cookies Policy.

Acceptance

By using the Service, you confirm that:

1. you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these terms;
2. you are at least 18 years old;
3. if you are using the Service on behalf of an organisation, you have authority to bind that organisation to these terms; and
4. your use of the Service complies with all applicable laws and regulations.

If you do not agree to these terms, you must not use the Service.

Definitions

• "Account" means a registered user account on the Service.
• "Content" means any data, text, scores, ratings, charts, reports, or other material made available through the Service.
• "R-Score" means our proprietary credit risk score and its component ratings.
• "Public Records" means information obtained from Companies House and other public registries.
• "User" means any individual or entity accessing the Service.

The service

BFA provides a credit intelligence platform that aggregates Public Records, generates risk scores, and surfaces alerts on companies registered in England & Wales. Core search and company-profile features are free of charge. We may also offer paid features, enterprise plans, or API access under separate commercial terms.

We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time, with or without notice, although we will use reasonable efforts to provide advance notice of material changes affecting paid features.

Eligibility and accounts

To use certain features, you may need to register an Account. When you create an Account, you must:

• provide accurate, current, and complete information;
• maintain the security of your password and not share it with any third party;
• notify us immediately of any unauthorised access to or use of your Account; and
• be responsible for all activities that occur under your Account.

We may, at our sole discretion, refuse to create an Account, or suspend or terminate any Account, for any User who breaches these terms.

Data sources and accuracy

The Content surfaced through the Service is compiled from Public Records, third-party data providers, and our own analytical processing. While we use reasonable efforts to keep Content accurate, complete, and up to date, we do not warrant that it is error-free, comprehensive, or current.

R-Scores, risk ratings, and component breakdowns are statistical estimates. They are not a guarantee of any company's future solvency, creditworthiness, or commercial behaviour, and must not be relied upon as financial, investment, legal, or other professional advice.

If you believe any information published about a company is inaccurate, please submit a correction request via our contact form. We will investigate genuine corrections promptly. Companies that are themselves the subject of a profile may exercise the rights set out in our Privacy Policy in respect of any personal data we hold.

Permitted use

You may use the Service for:

• credit assessment, supplier due diligence, customer onboarding, and risk monitoring conducted in the ordinary course of business;
• internal research, reporting, and journalism, with appropriate attribution where redistributed;
• academic or non-commercial research, subject to fair use; and
• any other use we have expressly authorised in writing.

Prohibited use

You must not, and must not allow any third party to:

• use the Service for any unlawful purpose, including stalking, harassment, or doxxing of natural persons;
• use the Service to make automated decisions producing legal effects on individuals without independent human review;
• scrape, mirror, frame, or otherwise systematically extract Content (other than via our API on its published terms);
• reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to derive source code from any part of the Service;
• circumvent rate limits, paywalls, technical safeguards, or access controls;
• resell, sublicense, or otherwise commercialise Content without our prior written consent;
• use the Service in a manner that may damage, disable, overburden, or impair its operation;
• introduce viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs, or other malicious code; or
• misrepresent your identity or your affiliation with any person or entity.

Intellectual property

The Service, including all software, designs, text, graphics, the R-Score methodology, and the BLACKFLAG ALERT name and logo, is owned by BFA or its licensors and is protected by copyright, trade mark, database right, and other intellectual property laws.

Subject to your compliance with these terms, BFA grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to access and use the Service for the permitted purposes set out above. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.

Public Records remain the property of their original publishers (such as Companies House). Where we surface such records, we do so under the Open Government Licence v3.0 or an equivalent permission.

API and rate limits

If you access the Service via our API, you must additionally:

• keep your API credentials confidential and rotate them where compromise is suspected;
• observe published rate limits and back off appropriately on receiving 429 responses;
• cache responses where appropriate to reduce load on our infrastructure; and
• identify your client via the User-Agent header.

We may apply additional commercial terms to high-volume or enterprise API usage. See our contact form for arrangements.

Disclaimers

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, or non-infringement.

We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or free from harmful components. We are not responsible for any decisions made in reliance on Content.

Nothing in this section excludes or limits any warranty or condition implied by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 in favour of a User who is a "consumer" as defined in that Act, except to the extent permitted by law.

Limitation of liability

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for:

• death or personal injury caused by our negligence;
• fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation;
• any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by English law.

Subject to the above, and to the maximum extent permitted by law:

1. we exclude all liability for any indirect, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, revenue, business, goodwill, anticipated savings, or data;
2. our total aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with the Service, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise, will not exceed (a) the total amount paid by you to us in the 12 months preceding the claim, or (b) £100, whichever is greater.

You acknowledge that this limitation is reasonable having regard to the nature of the Service, the fact that Core access is provided free of charge, and that you remain responsible for verifying Content before relying on it.

Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless BFA, its officers, employees, and agents from and against any claim, loss, liability, damage, cost, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in connection with: (a) your breach of these terms; (b) your misuse of the Service; or (c) your violation of any law or the rights of any third party.

Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate your Account or your access to the Service immediately, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe that you have breached these terms, that your use poses a risk to other Users or to the integrity of the Service, or that we are required to do so by law.

You may close your Account at any time by writing to [email protected]. Sections that by their nature should survive termination, including Intellectual property, Disclaimers, Limitation of liability, Indemnity, and Governing law, will continue to apply after termination.

Changes to these terms

We may revise these terms from time to time. The "Last updated" and "Effective" dates at the top of this page indicate when the latest version takes effect. We will give you reasonable advance notice of material changes through the platform or by email. By continuing to use the Service after the effective date, you accept the revised terms. If you do not accept them, you must stop using the Service.

Governing law

These terms and any dispute arising out of or in connection with them (including non-contractual disputes) are governed by the law of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any such dispute, save that nothing in this clause limits your statutory rights, including any right to bring proceedings in the courts of the country in which you are habitually resident.

Contact

For questions about these terms:

• Email: [email protected]
• Post: Legal, Plainview Ventures Limited t/a Black Flag Alert, 15-17 Westmill Road, Ware, England, SG12 0EF
• General: contact form