The Villas Terms of Service

ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS

The Villas provides this website, its “Service” to you, subject to the following Terms of Service (“TOS”), which may be updated by us from time to time without notice to you. In addition, when using particular The Villas Services, you and BHI Retirement Communities shall be subject to any posted guidelines or rules applicable to such Services, which may be posted from time to time. All such guidelines or rules are hereby incorporated by reference into the TOS.

DESCRIPTION OF SERVICE

The Villas currently provides users with access to a large collection of informational resources, including, various communications tools (which can be used to create publicly available information, otherwise known as “Content”). Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any new features that augment or enhance the current Service, including the release of new The Villas properties, shall be subject to the TOS. You understand and agree that the Service is provided “AS-IS” and that The Villas assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, deletion, mis-delivery or failure to store any user communications or personalization settings.

In order to use the Service, you must obtain access to the World Wide Web, either directly or through devices that access Web-based content and pay any service fees associated with such access. In addition, you must provide all equipment necessary to make such connection to the World Wide Web, including a computer and modem or other access device.

The information provided on The Villas is presented as helpful general information and is not intended as advice and should not be considered as such.

You must be at least 18 years of age to access and view interactive areas (Message Boards) of The Villas.

PRIVACY POLICY

Registration Data and certain other information about you is subject to our Privacy Policy.

CUSTOMER CONDUCT

You understand that all information, data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages or other materials (“Content”), whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, are the sole responsibility of the person from which such Content originated. This means that you, and not The Villas, are entirely responsible for all Content that you upload, post, email or otherwise transmit via the Service. The Villas may not always control the Content posted via the Service and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity, or quality of such Content. You understand that by using the Service, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent, or objectionable. Under no circumstances will The Villas be liable in any way for any Content, including, but not limited to, for any errors or omissions in any Content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, emailed or otherwise transmitted via the Service.

You agree to not use the Service to:

  1. a. upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
    b. harm minors in any way;
    c. impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a The Villas official, forum leader, guide or host, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
    d. forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any Content transmitted through the Service;
    e. upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any Content that you do not have a right to transmit under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements);
    f. upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights (“Rights”) of any party;
    g. upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or any other form of solicitation, except in those areas (such as shopping rooms) that are designated for such purpose;
    h. upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;
    i. disrupt the normal flow of dialogue, cause a screen to “scroll” faster than other users of the Service are able to type, or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other users’ ability to engage in real-time exchanges;
    j. interfere with or disrupt the Service or servers or networks connected to the Service, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Service;
    k. intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, including, but not limited to, regulations promulgated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, any rules of any national or other securities exchange, including, without limitation, the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ, and any regulations having the force of law;
    l. “stalk” or otherwise harass another; or
    m. collect or store personal data about other users.

You acknowledge that The Villas may not pre-screen Content, but that The Villas and its designees shall have the right (but not the obligation) in their sole discretion to refuse or move any Content that is available via the Service. Without limiting the foregoing, The Villas and its designees shall have the right to remove any Content that violates the TOS or is otherwise objectionable. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content. In this regard, you acknowledge that you may not rely on any Content created by The Villas or submitted to The Villas, including without limitation information in The Villas Message Boards and in all other parts of the Service.

You acknowledge and agree that The Villas may preserve Content and may also disclose Content if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal process; (b) enforce the TOS; (c) respond to claims that any Content violates the rights of third-parties; or (d) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of The Villas, its users and the public.

You understand that the technical processing and transmission of the Service, including your Content, may involve (a) transmissions over various networks; and (b) changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices.

SPECIAL ADMONITIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL USE

Recognizing the global nature of the Internet, you agree to comply with all local rules regarding online conduct and acceptable Content. Specifically, you agree to comply with all applicable laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from the United States or the country in which you reside.

PUBLIC CONTENT POSTED TO The Villas

(a) For purposes of the TOS, “publicly accessible areas of the Service” are those accessible by the general public. By way of example, a publicly accessible area of the Service would include The Villas User Comments as they relate to a posted column.

(b) With respect to Content you elect to post to publicly accessible areas of the Service, you grant The Villas the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive and fully sublicensable right, and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed.

INDEMNITY

You agree to indemnify and hold The Villas, and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, co-branders or other partners, volunteers and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of Content you submit, post to or transmit through the Service, your use of the Service, your connection to the Service, your violation of the TOS, or your violation of any rights of another.

NO RESALE OF SERVICE

You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit for any commercial purposes, any portion of the Service, use of the Service, or access to the Service.

GENERAL PRACTICES REGARDING USE AND STORAGE

You acknowledge that The Villas may establish general practices and limits concerning use of the Service, including without limitation the maximum number of days that email messages, news content, roommate listings, or other uploaded Content will be retained by the Service, the maximum number of email messages that may be sent from or received by an account on the Service, the maximum size of any email message that may be sent from or received by an account on the Service, the maximum disk space that will be allotted on The Villas’ servers on your behalf, and the maximum number of times (and the maximum duration for which) you may access the Service in a given period of time. You agree that The Villas has no responsibility or liability for the deletion or failure to store any messages and other communications or other Content maintained or transmitted by the Service. You acknowledge that The Villas reserves the right to log off accounts that are inactive for an extended period of time. You further acknowledge that The Villas reserves the right to change these general practices and limits at any time, in its sole discretion, with or without notice.

MODIFICATIONS TO SERVICE

The Villas reserves the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Service (or any part thereof) with or without notice. You agree that The Villas shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Service.

TERMINATION

You agree that The Villas, in its sole discretion, may terminate your password(s), account(s) (or any part thereof) or use of the Service, and remove and discard any Content within the Service, for any reason, including, without limitation, for lack of use or if The Villas believes that you have violated or acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit of the TOS. The Villas may also in its sole discretion and at any time discontinue providing the Service, or any part thereof, with or without notice. You agree that any termination of your access to the Service under any provision of this TOS may be effected without prior notice, and acknowledge and agree that The Villas may immediately deactivate or delete your account and all related information and files in your account and/or bar any further access to such files or the Service. Further, you agree that The Villas shall not be liable to you or any third-party for any termination of your access to the Service.

DEALINGS WITH ADVERTISERS

Your correspondence or business dealings with, or participation in promotions of, advertisers found on or through the Service, including payment and delivery of related goods or services, and any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between you and such advertiser. You agree that The Villas shall not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings or as the result of the presence of such advertisers on the Service.

LINKS

The Service may provide, or third parties may provide, links to other World Wide Web sites or resources. Because The Villas has no control over such sites and resources, you acknowledge and agree that The Villas is not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any Content, advertising, products, or other materials on or available from such sites or resources. You further acknowledge and agree that The Villas shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such Content, goods or services available on or through any such site or resource.

PROPRIETARY RIGHTS

You acknowledge and agree that the Service and any necessary software used in connection with the Service (“Software”) contain proprietary and confidential information that is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws. You further acknowledge and agree that Content contained in sponsor advertisements or information presented to you through the Service or advertisers is protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents, or other proprietary rights and laws. Except as expressly authorized by The Villas or advertisers, you agree not to modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute or create derivative works based on the Service or the Software, in whole or in part.

The Villas grants you a personal, non-transferable and non-exclusive right and license to use the object code of its Software on a single computer; provided that you do not (and do not allow any third party to) copy, modify, create a derivative work of, reverse engineer, reverse assemble or otherwise attempt to discover any source code, sell, assign, sublicense, grant a security interest in or otherwise transfer any right in the Software. You agree not to modify the Software in any manner or form, or to use modified versions of the Software, including (without limitation) for the purpose of obtaining unauthorized access to the Service. You agree not to access the Service by any means other than through the interface that is provided by The Villas for use in accessing the Service.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT:

  1. YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. The Villas EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
    b. The Villas MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT (i) THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, (ii) THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, (iii) THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICE WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE, (iv) THE QUALITY OF ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL PURCHASED OR OBTAINED BY YOU THROUGH THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS, AND (V) ANY ERRORS IN THE SOFTWARE WILL BE CORRECTED.
    c. ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICE IS DONE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND THAT YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL.
    d. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM The Villas OR THROUGH OR FROM THE SERVICE SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED IN THE TOS.
  2. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT The Villas SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF The Villas HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), RESULTING FROM: (i) THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE; (ii) THE COST OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS AND SERVICES RESULTING FROM ANY GOODS, DATA, INFORMATION OR SERVICES PURCHASED OR OBTAINED OR MESSAGES RECEIVED OR TRANSACTIONS ENTERED INTO THROUGH OR FROM THE SERVICE; (iii) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSMISSIONS OR DATA; (iv) STATEMENTS OR CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY ON THE SERVICE; OR (v) ANY OTHER MATTER RELATING TO THE SERVICE.

EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES OR THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. ACCORDINGLY, SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OF SECTIONS 17 AND 18 MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

NOTICE

Notices to you may be made via either email or regular mail. The Service may also provide notices of changes to the TOS or other matters by displaying notices or links to notices to you generally on the Service.

COPYRIGHTS and COPYRIGHT AGENTS

If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide The Villas’ webmaster at Thevillas.org with the following information:

an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;
a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the site;
your address, telephone number, and email address;
a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your Notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf.

GENERAL INFORMATION

The TOS constitute the entire agreement between you and The Villas and govern your use of the Service, superseding any prior agreements between you and The Villas. You also may be subject to additional terms and conditions that may apply when you use affiliate services, third-party content, or third-party software. The TOS and the relationship between you and The Villas shall be governed by the laws of the State of New Jersey without regard to its conflict of law provisions. You and The Villas agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located within the county of Middlesex, New Jersey. The failure of The Villas to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the TOS shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the TOS is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties’ intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the TOS remain in full force and effect. You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to use of the Service, or the TOS must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred.

The section titles in the TOS are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.

VIOLATIONS

Please report any violations of the TOS to our webmaster at Thevillas.org

GOVERNING LAW; JURISDICTION

This Agreement shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New Jersey, without regard to any conflict of law’s provisions. Any dispute arising under this Agreement shall be resolved exclusively in the state and federal courts of the State of New Jersey, to which exclusive jurisdiction you hereby agree to submit.

TERMINATION

You may terminate this Agreement at any time by discontinuing your use of the website. We may terminate this Agreement and restrict your access to this website if you fail to comply with any term of this Agreement. Regardless of the basis for termination of this Agreement, our limitation of liability, your indemnity obligations, your restricted use of the information you may have downloaded here from, and the jurisdictional and governing law provisions of this Agreement shall survive.

Privacy Practices

Web Privacy Policy for Website Use

The Villas has created this privacy policy because we value our customers and recognize their right to keep personal information private. This statement discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for this BHI website, which may be updated by us from time to time without notice to you.

THE VILLAS GATHERS THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:

IP Address & Web Browser Info
BHI Retirement Communities’ web servers and forms on the web gather your IP address and Web browser type to help diagnose problems with our service, to administer our site, and to gather broad demographic information. Demographic information is gathered in aggregate only and cannot be traced to an individual user.

Cookies
Our website sets cookies to keep track of advertising banner ad hits and other similar information. The Villas’ web servers may also set a session ID cookie that is used to allow our servers to deliver information you request (e.g., search results). Session IDs cannot be traced to an individual person or customer name and are analyzed only in aggregate. Members who do not want to receive cookies can instruct their web browsers to refuse them; be aware, however, that doing so may prevent certain parts of The Villas’ site from working. Other organizations that place advertising on The Villas sometimes have the ability to assign a different cookie to you in a process that we do not control. Unless you’ve saved your customer name, cookies aren’t useable for identifying individuals (your computer will be assigned a random number); neither The Villas nor advertisers will know who you are.

E-News Mailing List
Signing up for our email distribution list is completely optional. The Villas’ signup form requires users to give contact and demographic information (e.g., ZIP code, age). Required fields are marked with an asterisk. We use this information to send customers information about The Villas (e.g., upcoming events, bulletins, and newsletters); customers may opt-out of receiving this information via email. At times, The Villas may rent names, mailing, and email addresses to carefully selected organizations. This information is rented on a single-use-only basis. Aggregate demographic information collected through the registration process may be shared with advertisers and other partners. This aggregate information is not traceable to an individual user.

Order Forms
When purchasing products or services on The Villas’ site, you’re asked for a credit card, billing, and shipping information. This information is used to debit a customer’s credit card for a donation of money to The Villas, or for goods and services purchased, and to ship merchandise. Only billing vendors and The Villas treasury staff have access to financial information and only for the purpose of billing customers. At times, The Villas may refer customers to other websites to purchase products. Your activity on those sites is covered by the privacy policies on those sites.

Online Surveys
At times, The Villas may run online surveys asking for specific contact or demographic information. These surveys are always optional. At times, The Villas may share both the results of and individual entries in, surveys with the sponsors of the survey. The results of surveys may be shared with partners and advertisers on an aggregate basis.

Contests
At times, The Villas may run contests on our site where we ask for contact or demographic information. These contests are always optional. At times, The Villas may share both the results of, and individual entries in, surveys with the sponsors of the survey. Results of contests may be shared with partners and advertisers on an aggregate basis.

Customer Feedback
The Villas stores feedback that customers send to us. This feedback is used to administer and refine The Villas’ site, and, at times, maybe shared with The Villas affiliates either in aggregate form or with specific identifying characteristics (e.g., email address, name) removed.

PROTECTION OF CHILDREN

Consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, we will never knowingly request personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without prior verifiable parental consent. If we become aware that a subscriber is under the age of 13 and has signed up without prior verifiable parental consent, we will remove his or her personally identifiable information from our files.

OPT-OUT

Our site provides users the opportunity to opt-out of receiving communications from us and from our partners, affiliates, and advertisers at the point where we request information about the visitor.

OFF-SITE LINKS

The Villas provides links to other sites. The Villas is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of these websites.

YOUR PRIVATE ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS

The Villas believes that customer’s private communications in email and other methods of communication should remain confidential. The Villas does not read or disclose private communications unless ordered to do so through a valid legal mechanism such as a search warrant, subpoena or court order, to protect the company’s rights and property, or during emergencies when we believe physical safety is at risk. Also, keep in mind that The Villas is not responsible for what other users may do with private communications you’ve had with them.

DELETE/DEACTIVATE INFORMATION

To have your information removed from our mailing list, you have two options:

  1. You can visit our unsubscribe page.
    2. You can send mail to the following postal address:

Membership/Mailing List
The Villas
4101 Waycross Drive

Columbus, Indiana 47203

The Villas is not responsible for removing information from third-party lists or databases.

CHANGE/MODIFY INFORMATION

The Villas gives users the following options for changing or modifying information previously provided:

1. If your email address has changed, visit our subscribe page and subscribe with your new email, then unsubscribe your old email.
2. If your physical address has changed, send an email to the webmaster at BHIseniorliving.org.

CONTACTING US

If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this site, you can contact us using our Contact Us form.

Accessibility

Accessibility Statement for THEVILLAS.ORG

The Villas and Patterson Riegel Advertising are committed to ensuring digital accessibility for people with disabilities. We are continually improving the user experience for everyone and applying the relevant accessibility standards.

Measures to support accessibility

The Villas website has been built using the WordPress platform, which meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.0 at level AA, and the platform continually strives towards ATAG 2.0 full compliance.  In addition, W3C best building practices were used during the construction of the website, including:

  • Proper page content structure and hierarchy
  • Design awareness and testing of color and contrast
  • Descriptive title and alternate <alt> text describing all photographs and pertinent graphics
  • ARIA landmarks where appropriate
  • Well-formed HTML semantics including proper tags for text and tables
  • Appropriate controls and navigation that allow for easy and intuitive keyboard navigation

Conformance status

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) defines requirements for designers and developers to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. It defines three levels of conformance: Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA. thevillas.org is partially conformant with WCAG 2.0 level AA. Partially conformant means that some parts of the content do not fully conform to the accessibility standard.

Technical specifications

Accessibility of thevillas.org relies on the following technologies to work with the particular combination of web browser and any assistive technologies or plugins installed on your computer:

  • HTML
  • WAI-ARIA
  • CSS
  • JavaScript

These technologies are relied upon for conformance with the accessibility standards used.

Assessment approach

Patterson Riegel Advertising assessed the accessibility of thevillas.org by the following approaches: