Terms of Service

• You must be at least 18 years old.
• You must hold a current University of Chicago or Chicago Booth email address. Students, faculty, and staff with those addresses may join. We may ask you to re-verify at any time and may close accounts we can no longer verify.
• One account per person, in your real name. You may not create an account for someone else, share your account, or transfer it.
• You are responsible for keeping your login secure and for everything done with your account. Tell us at support@pooluchicago.org right away if you think someone else has used it.
• You may not use Pool if you have previously been banned from it.

Pool shows deals that independent restaurants around Hyde Park offer to verified students, lets you claim or book them, and gives you a pass to show at the counter. Each restaurant decides its own deals, prices, hours, menu, and terms, and is solely responsible for the food and service it provides. Pool is not a restaurant, not a seller of food or vouchers, and, unless a future prepaid feature says otherwise, not a payment processor. When you redeem a deal you pay the restaurant directly. Pool is not a party to that purchase.

• Availability. Every deal is subject to availability, the restaurant's hours, any limits the restaurant sets, and the terms shown on the deal. A deal can change or end at any time, and we do not guarantee a deal will be available when you arrive.
• Limits. Unless the deal says otherwise, you may redeem each deal once every 30 days. A claim is tied to your account and cannot be transferred, sold, or combined with other offers.
• Redeem in person. Show your live pass in the app to staff before you order or pay. Screenshots, photos, and forwarded passes are not valid. Some restaurants confirm the pass with a staff PIN or by scanning it.
• Pass validity. A claimed pass is valid for the window shown on it, normally 24 hours or the deal's time slot. An unused claim expires on its own and does not count against your limit.
• What you pay. Tax and gratuity are your responsibility and are calculated on the full menu price unless the restaurant says otherwise. For two-for-one offers the lower-priced eligible item is the one discounted.
• Alcohol. Deals do not include alcoholic beverages unless the deal terms expressly say so, and any deal involving alcohol is available only to guests who are 21 or older with valid ID. Restaurants remain responsible for complying with Illinois liquor law.
• No cash value. Claims, passes, credit, and points have no cash value and cannot be exchanged for money.
• Restaurant discretion. A restaurant may refuse a redemption that does not meet the deal terms, that appears fraudulent, or for any lawful reason. Disputes about food, service, or a specific visit are between you and the restaurant, and we will help where we can.
• Abuse. Redeeming a deal you are not eligible for, using another person's pass, spoofing your location, or helping others do so is a breach of these Terms and may result in immediate termination.

Some deals must be booked for a time slot. A booking reserves a place for you and may take a spot from another student, so cancel in the app if you cannot make it. Repeated no-shows may limit your ability to book. A booking is a reservation of the deal, not a table reservation, unless the restaurant says otherwise.

• Referrals. You may share your invite code or link with other eligible students. Invites are tracked. When invite rewards launch, both the student who invites and the invited student whose invite counts under the rules shown in the app are eligible. We do not promise any cash or credit for a referral unless a specific written offer in the app says so.
• Credit. Any promotional credit we grant is funded by sponsors, has no cash value, cannot be withdrawn or transferred, may only be applied where the app says it can, and expires 120 days after it is granted unless stated otherwise. Referral rewards are capped at $50 per account in total.
• Points, streaks, leaderboards, Pool Wrapped. These are for fun and recognition only. Points have no monetary value. We may reset, adjust, or remove points, streaks, and leaderboards at any time, including to correct errors or abuse.
• Gifts. If you gift a deal to another student, the gift follows the deal's own terms and expires when the deal does.
• Changes. We may change or end any rewards program at any time. Changes do not take away credit already granted before it expires.

You are responsible for what you post: your name and preferred name, house name, messages, ratings, feedback, and anything else you share. You keep ownership of it, and you give Pool a worldwide, royalty-free license to store, display, and use it as needed to run the Service, for as long as your account exists. When using Pool you agree not to:

• break any law, or use Pool for anything other than personal, non-commercial purposes;
• post content that is illegal, harassing, hateful, threatening, defamatory, sexually explicit, or that infringes someone else's rights;
• impersonate anyone, misrepresent your eligibility, or use a name that is not yours;
• harass, stalk, or endanger other users or restaurant staff;
• send spam or unsolicited messages, or collect other users' information;
• scrape, reverse engineer, overload, or interfere with the Service, or bypass verification, location, or rate limits;
• resell deals or use Pool to promote a business.

Reporting and blocking. You can block any user from their profile, and you can report a user or content in the app or by emailing support@pooluchicago.org. We review reports promptly and may remove content, restrict features, or close accounts. We may screen content for objectionable material and remove anything that breaks these Terms, without notice.

Friends can see your name, house, and, if you keep the "Show my redemptions to friends" switch on, the deals you redeem. Leaderboards show your name and points to other students. You can change these in Profile. Our Privacy Policy describes exactly what other users, restaurants, and our service providers can see.

Pool started as a way for students to coordinate rides, and those features remain available to people who reach them. If you use them, you share pick-up and drop-off details with other students and, once matched, your phone number with your match. Pool does not vet drivers or riders, does not provide transportation, and is not responsible for anything that happens during a ride. Use your own judgment, meet in public places, and report any concern to support@pooluchicago.org.

We send push notifications you have allowed and emails needed to run your account, such as verification codes and replies to support requests. You can turn off push notifications in Profile or in your phone's settings. We do not send marketing email without asking first.

Pool does not currently process payments. If we introduce prepaid deals, the price, what it buys, the restaurant fulfilling it, how long it is valid, and how refunds work will be shown before you pay, and any such voucher will comply with the Illinois gift certificate rules on expiration. Payments would be processed by Stripe under its own terms. We will update these Terms before any paid feature goes live.

The Pool name, logo, app, website, and their design and code belong to us or our licensors and are protected by copyright and trademark law. We grant you a personal, non-transferable, revocable license to use the app on a device you own, in line with these Terms and the rules of the app store you got it from. Restaurant names, logos, menus, and photos belong to the restaurants or their photographers. If you send us feedback or ideas, we may use them without obligation to you.

Pool uses services from Apple, Google, Stripe, PostHog, Sentry, Resend, Amazon Web Services, and Vercel, each under its own terms. Maps and some restaurant photos are provided by Apple Maps or Google Maps and Places and are subject to their terms and attribution requirements.

If you downloaded Pool from the Apple App Store: these Terms are between you and Victor Hardt, not Apple. Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the app. To the extent any warranty applies and the app fails to conform to it, you may notify Apple and Apple may refund any purchase price; Apple has no other warranty obligation. We, not Apple, are responsible for addressing any claim relating to the app, including product liability, legal or regulatory compliance, and consumer protection claims, and any claim that the app infringes a third party's intellectual property. You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. government embargo or designated a "terrorist supporting" country and are not on any U.S. government list of prohibited or restricted parties. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you. Our contact details are at the end of these Terms.

If you downloaded Pool from Google Play: these Terms are between you and Victor Hardt, not Google. Your use of Google Play is governed by the Google Play Terms of Service.

You can delete your account at any time in Profile, or by following pooluchicago.org/delete-account. We may suspend or close your account, cancel claims, or remove content if you breach these Terms, if we cannot verify your eligibility, if required by law, or if we discontinue the Service. If we close your account for abuse we may keep your email address and device identifier to stop you from returning. Sections 5 through 18 survive termination.

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE". TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free, that any deal will be honored or available, or that any information in the app is accurate. Restaurants are independent; we are not responsible for their food, allergens, service, pricing, or conduct, or for the conduct of other users. Some jurisdictions do not allow these disclaimers, so some may not apply to you.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, VICTOR HARDT AND ANYONE WORKING ON POOL WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, ANY DEAL, ANY RESTAURANT, ANY RIDE, OR ANY OTHER USER. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100). These limits do not apply to liability that cannot be limited by law, including liability for our own fraud or willful misconduct.

You agree to defend and indemnify Victor Hardt and anyone working on Pool against claims, damages, and reasonable legal costs arising from your breach of these Terms, your content, your misuse of a deal, or your violation of any law or of someone else's rights.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to its conflict of law rules. Before filing a claim, contact us at support@pooluchicago.org and give us 30 days to try to resolve it informally. Any claim that is not resolved must be brought in the state or federal courts located in Cook County, Illinois, and you consent to their jurisdiction, except that either of us may bring a qualifying claim in small claims court. Nothing in these Terms limits any rights you have under Illinois consumer protection law that cannot be waived.

We may update these Terms. If a change is material we will tell you in the app or by email at least 14 days before it takes effect, unless the change is needed for legal or safety reasons. Using Pool after the effective date means you accept the new Terms. If you do not, delete your account before then.

• These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service.
• If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest still applies.
• If we do not enforce a right, we have not waived it.
• You may not assign these Terms. We may assign them as part of a merger, acquisition, or sale of the Service.
• Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, employment, or agency relationship between you and Pool, or between Pool and any restaurant.

Email support@pooluchicago.org, or write to: