Terms of Use & Membership Terms

1. Who we are

These terms apply when you use the Approved Tradesman website and services, whether you are looking for a trade business or you run one. By using the platform you agree to them.

Approved Tradesman is a trading name of Michael Wilde. References to 'Approved Tradesman', 'we', 'us' and 'our' mean Michael Wilde trading as Approved Tradesman.

Legal notices may be sent to: Suite 740, 80A Ruskin Ave, Welling, London DA16 3QQ. For questions, contact info@approvedtradesman.com or use the contact page.

2. What the platform does

We provide business listings and verification information. We check items that trade businesses give us, publish what has been checked, and monitor records over time.

We are not a contractor, agent, payment intermediary, insurer, broker, warranty provider, review platform, rating service, dispute-resolution service or lead marketplace.

3. What a listing or Verification Record does not mean

A listing or Verification Record is information to help you decide. It is not:

• A recommendation or endorsement of the business.
• A guarantee of workmanship, quality, conduct or reliability.
• A guarantee of insurance cover, availability, price, timescale or suitability for your job.
• A substitute for your own checks, quotes and judgement.

4. Your contract is with the trade business

Any contract for work, materials, quotes, deposits, timescales, guarantees or aftercare is directly between you and the trade business. We are not a party to it and we take on no obligations under it.

You decide whether to contact a business, invite a quote, accept a quote or engage anyone. We recommend you carry out your own checks, ask for written quotes and terms, and satisfy yourself that a business is right for your job.

5. Membership terms for trade businesses

Membership funds the cost of carrying out checks and monitoring a record over time. Prices, billing period and inclusions are shown before you commit.

Membership does not buy approval, a favourable verification outcome, additional verified items, faster verification decisions, or higher placement in search results. Verification outcomes are decided on the information checked.

A public live record and use of the Approved shield and certificate become available once the initial required checks have been confirmed — not on payment and not on clicking activate.

Where an item lapses or can no longer be confirmed, the record is updated to reflect that, whatever has been paid.

6. Renewal, cancellation and refunds

Membership is billed in advance for the period you choose — monthly or annually — and renews automatically until it is cancelled. We email you before every renewal and tell you the ongoing price before you start.

You can cancel at any time from the Billing area of your account, or by contacting us. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the period you have already paid for: your record stays live and monitored until that date, and no further payment is taken.

When a membership ends, the public Verification Record is taken down and reverts to a basic listing, and the Approved shield, certificate and QR code must no longer be used.

Where you are buying as a consumer, you have a legal right to cancel within 14 days of purchase. Because a membership starts straight away, if you ask us to begin within that period you agree that the service starts immediately; if you then cancel within the 14 days, we refund the amount paid less a proportionate charge for the part of the period already provided and for any set-up service already carried out.

Outside the 14-day period we do not refund the unused part of a period that has already begun, because the checking and monitoring for that period have been provided. If we suspend or remove a record for a reason that is our fault, or if we take a payment in error, we refund the affected period.

The one-off set-up service is a charge for our time in preparing a record. Once that work has been carried out it is not refundable, and it is never a payment for approval. Where we have not yet started, it is refunded in full.

7. Accounts

You are responsible for activity under your account and for keeping your sign-in details secure. Accounts must not be shared between unrelated businesses. Tell us promptly if you believe an account has been misused.

You must give accurate information and keep it up to date. Information you provide for checking must be genuine, current and yours to provide.

8. Acceptable use

You must not:

• Submit false, altered, expired or borrowed documents or information for checking.
• Claim or manage a business record you are not authorised to control.
• Use the Approved shield, certificate, QR code or our wording in a way that overstates what has been confirmed, or after a record has lapsed, been suspended or removed.
• Copy, scrape, harvest, resell or bulk-extract records or listings, or use automated tools against the platform.
• Interfere with the platform's security, availability or integrity, or attempt to access data you are not entitled to.
• Use the platform unlawfully, or to harass, defame or mislead anyone.

9. Intellectual property

The Approved Tradesman name, shield, certificate design, site content, layout and software are owned by us or our licensors and are protected by intellectual property rights.

While a membership is active and a record is live, we grant the business a limited, non-exclusive, revocable licence to display the shield, certificate and QR code that we issue for that record, unchanged, to show its verification status. That licence ends if the membership ends or the record is suspended or removed.

Information a business supplies remains its own. By supplying it, the business grants us the rights we need to check it, publish the permitted public parts of the record, and keep the record accurate.

10. Availability and changes to the platform

We aim to keep the platform available and accurate, but we may change, suspend or withdraw features, and maintenance or faults may interrupt access.

Records reflect the information we hold at the time. Information can change between checks, and a record may not reflect a change that has not yet been reported to us.

We may update these terms to reflect changes to the platform, our checks, or legal requirements. We will show the updated date at the top of this page, and where a change is significant we will give reasonable notice. If you do not accept an updated version, you should stop using the platform; members may cancel as described above.

11. Nothing in these terms limits rights that cannot legally be limited

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for consumer rights that cannot be excluded.