Terms and Conditions

1. Who we are and acceptance of these Terms

1.1 These Terms and Conditions ("Terms") govern your use of the Club Giraffe matchmaking service ("Service"), provided by Club Giraffe Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 17432700, registered office 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom, WC2H 9JQ ("Club Giraffe", "we", "us", "our").

1.2 This version applies to members who register, reside, or access the Service from the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area. If you live elsewhere, including the United States, we will send you the terms that apply to you before you join.

1.3 By accepting your membership offer, you confirm that you have read, understood, and accepted these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not accept it.

1.4 Eligibility. Membership is by invitation. You can request an invitation through our website, and we decide at our discretion whether to invite you. You must be at least 18 years old, have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract, and be single and genuinely available for a long-term relationship. You confirm that all information you provide is accurate and that you are using the Service for genuine, personal matchmaking purposes.

1.5 What the Service is. Club Giraffe collects information about you, including your relationship history, dating preferences, and personal circumstances, to introduce you to people we think you will want to meet, using a combination of automated tools and human review (see Section 3). The Service currently operates in London and New York, and currently introduces men to women and women to men only. The Service is a matchmaking aid. It is not a guarantee of a relationship, compatibility, or any particular outcome.

2. Special category data and your consent

2.1 To make good introductions, we ask you to share information that UK GDPR and EU GDPR classify as special category data under Article 9, for example your sexual orientation, your relationship and dating history, and personal or emotional circumstances you choose to disclose (which may touch on health, such as references to therapy or past experiences).

2.2 Legal basis. We only process this data on the basis of your explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a)). This consent is captured through a separate, specific opt-in step during onboarding. It is not bundled with your acceptance of these Terms, and you may complete registration only after giving it deliberately.

2.3 Withdrawing consent. You may withdraw this consent at any time by messaging us or emailing hello@clubgiraffe.com. Withdrawal does not affect processing carried out before you withdrew, and because this data is core to how introductions are made, withdrawal may mean we can no longer offer you the Service.

2.4 Minimisation. We only ask for special category data that is necessary to introduce you to the right people, and never require you to disclose more than you are comfortable sharing, although limiting what you share may limit the quality of your introductions.

2.5 Full details of what we collect, how long we keep it, who can see it, and your rights over it are set out in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

3. How introductions work, and your conduct

3.1 Our process. We combine automated tools, including AI, with human review. Together they shortlist potential introductions using your profile, preferences, and the special category data described in Section 2. Before any introduction is made, a member of our team checks and signs off on it. As our technology develops, more of the shortlisting may become automated, but we will keep a human review and sign-off step before you are ever introduced to anyone.

3.2 Introductions. We introduce you to one member at a time. You will not see a photograph of a member before you are introduced. You may decline an introduction if you have a safety concern or if you already know the person or have a past relationship with them. Otherwise, we ask you to give each introduction a proper chance. We make each introduction in a WhatsApp group with both members and give each of you a short note about the other. By accepting membership, you agree that we may share your name, your phone number and that note with each member you are introduced to. We ask that you meet within one month of an introduction.

3.3 Because a human always reviews and confirms every introduction before it is put to you, no decision that produces legal or similarly significant effects about you is made by solely automated means under Article 22 UK/EU GDPR. If this changes, we will update this section and notify you before it takes effect.

3.4 The Club Pledge and your conduct. Before joining, you must agree to the Club Pledge. When using the Service you agree to: (a) be honest about who you are and your situation, and keep the information you give us accurate and current; (b) meet somewhere public the first time you meet another member; (c) treat every introduction, other members and our team with respect, whether or not an introduction goes anywhere, and not harass, threaten, or abuse anyone; (d) keep what you learn about other members private, and use another member's phone number or other contact details only to arrange and continue contact with that member; (e) not impersonate another person or misrepresent your identity, age, or relationship status; (f) not use the Service to solicit other members for commercial, illegal, or fraudulent purposes; and (g) report any concerning behaviour to us promptly. Our Acceptable Use Policy also applies and forms part of these Terms.

3.5 Verification. We verify the identity of every member before approving their membership (for example by photo or ID check), and we may ask you to confirm your relationship status. Verification confirms identity. It is not a criminal-record or background check, and we cannot guarantee any member's conduct, so please take the care you would on any first meeting.

3.6 We may suspend or terminate your membership, without refund of unused fees, if you breach the Club Pledge or this Section 3, misuse another member's contact details, or put another member's safety at risk.

4. Fees, pausing, refunds, liability and termination

4.1 Fees and term. The membership fee is set out in your membership offer, which we send you before you pay. The fee is payable in advance of any introductions. Your membership runs for 12 months from the day you join, extended only by any pause under Section 4.2. During your membership we aim to make at least one introduction every six months.

4.2 Pausing. You may pause your membership at any time by telling us, for up to 12 months in total during your membership. While you are paused we will not make introductions, and your membership is extended by the length of the pause, so your membership can last no more than 24 months from the day you join. If you tell us you want to keep seeing someone you were introduced to, we will stop making introductions until you tell us otherwise. This is not a pause, and your membership continues to run.

4.3 Half-fee refund. If, by the end of your 12-month membership, you have not had an introduction to someone you wanted to see again, we will refund half of the membership fee you paid. An introduction counts as one you wanted to see again if, after meeting, you tell us you would like to see that person again. This refund applies only to membership fees actually paid, and does not apply if your membership was suspended or terminated under Section 3.6.

4.4 No guaranteed outcome. Club Giraffe provides a professional matchmaking judgement service. We do not guarantee that you will be introduced to anyone, that any introduction will lead to a relationship, or any particular outcome from meeting someone. Our aims for how often we make introductions, and for you to meet someone you want to see again within six months, are aims and not guarantees. If we fall short, the refund in Section 4.3 applies.

4.5 Liability. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited. Subject to that, our total liability to you arising out of or in connection with the Service is limited to the fees you paid us in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, and we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss. Nothing in these Terms affects your statutory rights as a consumer, including your right to have services performed with reasonable care and skill.

4.6 Termination. You may end your membership at any time by contacting us. We may suspend or terminate your membership for breach of Section 3, a safety concern, extended inactivity, or as required by law. Section 5 and your data rights under our Privacy Policy survive termination.

4.7 Complaints. If you are unhappy with the Service, contact us at hello@clubgiraffe.com first. If we cannot resolve a data protection complaint to your satisfaction, you may also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) or, for EEA members, your local supervisory authority.

4.8 Your right to cancel. If you are a consumer, you have the right to cancel your membership within 14 days of the day you pay, without giving a reason. To cancel, tell us clearly by emailing hello@clubgiraffe.com. You may use the model cancellation form, but you do not have to. If you ask us to begin the Service during the 14 days, and then cancel, you will pay us an amount in proportion to what we have provided up to the point you told us you wished to cancel, and we will refund the rest within 14 days of hearing from you.

5. Governing law and changes

5.1 These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute, save that if you are a consumer resident in the EEA, you retain the protection of any mandatory consumer-protection provisions of your country of residence.

5.2 Changes to these Terms. We may update these Terms from time to time, for example to reflect changes to the Service or the law. We will give you reasonable notice of material changes (for example, by email) before they take effect. If a change affects how we use your special category data under Section 2, we will ask for your fresh explicit consent before relying on it. Continued use of the Service after a non-material change takes effect means you accept the updated Terms.

5.3 Contact us. Club Giraffe Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom, WC2H 9JQ, or hello@clubgiraffe.com.