Terms of Service

1. Who we are

Votivus Consulting Limited is the sole contracting entity for our Services worldwide; there is no other affiliated entity you contract with. Our complete statutory particulars, including our telephone number, are published and kept current at votivusconsulting.com/legal/particulars and form part of our Electronic Commerce Law (Law 156(I)/2004) identity disclosure. If you enter into these Terms for an organisation, you confirm you have authority to bind it, and "you" means that organisation.

2. Definitions

• Audit Fee: the fee shown to you at checkout for our paid Growth Audit.
• Client materials: data, files, accounts, credentials, content, and other materials you provide to or make accessible to us.
• Consumer: an individual acting wholly or mainly outside that individual's trade, business, craft, or profession.
• Deliverables: the final reports, audits, recommendations, websites, copy, designs, and other outputs we produce specifically for you under an engagement. Drafts and work-in-progress are "Draft Deliverables".
• Engagement: a paid arrangement under which we provide Services to you, as described in its Engagement Terms.
• Engagement Terms: a proposal, order form, statement of work, or similar document setting out the scope, fees, and timing of a paid engagement.
• Business client: any client that is not a Consumer.
• Recurring Services: Services billed on a repeating basis (such as our monthly retainers), as described in section 8A.
• Confidential Information: non-public information disclosed by one party to the other that is marked confidential or that a reasonable person would understand to be confidential.
• Material, when used of a change, means a change that, viewed objectively, reduces your rights or increases your obligations or our fees in more than a trivial way.
• Votivus Background IP: materials, software, methods, frameworks, processes, and templates that (a) existed before the engagement, or (b) we develop independently of the engagement and that are not specific to you. It does not include anything created specifically for you as part of a Deliverable.

Where a signed Engagement Terms document applies, it controls for that engagement to the extent it conflicts with these Terms.

3. What we do

Votivus provides AI-assisted growth and marketing audits, single-service fixes, service bundles, recurring retainers, and related advisory work. The scope, deliverables, fees, and timing of any paid engagement are set out in the applicable Engagement Terms. We do not guarantee any specific business, financial, marketing, traffic, ranking, conversion, or revenue outcome (section 12). Any timelines, estimates, examples, or forecasts are indicative only and are not promises unless the Engagement Terms expressly say so. Any case studies, sample results, or testimonials we publish describe particular past situations and are not a representation that you will achieve similar results.

4. Free tools and informational content

Our free tools (including the free "Growth Snapshot") and website content are provided for general, directional guidance only. They are automated, rely on limited information, and are not a substitute for a paid engagement or tailored professional advice. We provide them "as is", may change or withdraw them at any time, and do not warrant that their outputs are accurate, complete, current, or fit for any purpose. You rely on them at your own risk. Nothing in this section affects your statutory rights as a Consumer or any liability we cannot lawfully exclude (see sections 16.1 and 19).

5. Who the Services are for

The Services are designed and offered for business use. By using a paid Service you confirm you are acting for purposes related to your trade, business, craft, or profession. We may ask you to confirm your business status (for example, a business name or registration/VAT number) before we provide paid Services. If, despite this, you are a Consumer, section 19 applies and gives you the full protection of consumer law; nothing in these Terms removes a Consumer's mandatory rights.

Acceptable use. You must not, and must not allow anyone to: use the Services unlawfully; upload malware or attempt unauthorised access; probe or test our systems without authorisation; scrape or systematically extract data from the Services; resell or commercially exploit the Services or free tools without our written consent; reverse-engineer or copy our Votivus Background IP except as the law allows; or submit content that infringes a third party's rights or is unlawful. We may investigate and suspend access for suspected breaches.

6. Consultations and the client portal

A booking you request is confirmed only when we accept it; we may decline, reschedule, or cancel where reasonably necessary (for example spam, conflict of interest, or lack of capacity) and will tell you if we do. Where we give you portal or account access, keep your credentials confidential, use them only for authorised purposes, and tell us promptly of any suspected unauthorised access; you are responsible for activity under your account. We provide the portal with reasonable skill and care but do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free availability, and may carry out maintenance or change features with reasonable notice where practicable.

7. Engagements, cooperation, and acceptance

Each paid engagement is defined by its Engagement Terms. Unless those terms say otherwise:

• Cooperation and access. You will provide the access, information, materials, credentials, and timely responses we reasonably need, and you authorise us to access the third-party platforms (such as analytics, advertising, website, and email accounts) you grant us. Delays caused by late or incomplete input may extend timelines and are not our responsibility.
• Revisions. Each Deliverable includes one (1) round of reasonable revisions within the agreed scope; further revisions or scope changes are chargeable.
• Acceptance. You accept a Deliverable when you confirm acceptance in writing, or, for business clients only, when ten (10) business days pass after delivery without your written, reasonable, scope-based objection. This deemed-acceptance rule does not apply to Consumers, who keep all statutory conformity rights.
• Change control. Any change to scope, fees, or timing takes effect only when agreed in writing (including by email).

8. Fees, payment, and the Audit Fee

Fees for paid Services are set out in the Engagement Terms or shown at checkout.

The Audit Fee and credit. If you book and pay for any paid Service within thirty (30) days of our delivering your Growth Audit, we credit the full Audit Fee against the fees for the first such paid Service you book, on a one-time basis. The credit is applied once, is not exchangeable for cash, and is not combinable with another Audit Fee credit. Except for that credit, and except where section 19 or other law gives you a refund right, the Audit Fee is non-refundable once the Growth Audit has been delivered, because the work is performed and delivered in full at that point.

Invoicing. Unless agreed otherwise, invoices are payable within fourteen (14) days of the invoice date. We may require advance payment for new clients or first engagements. Taxes (including VAT where it applies) are extra and your responsibility; we charge VAT where required.

Late payment (business clients). If you are a business and pay late, we are entitled under the Cyprus Late Payments in Commercial Transactions Law (Law 123(I)/2012) to statutory interest at the European Central Bank reference rate plus eight (8) percentage points from the day after the due date, a fixed EUR 40 recovery sum, and reasonable further recovery costs, and we may suspend work until overdue amounts are paid. We do not exclude or reduce these statutory entitlements.

Set-off. We may set off any amount you owe us against any amount we owe you. Business clients must pay in full without set-off or deduction except as required by law. A Consumer's statutory set-off and deduction rights are not restricted.

8A. Recurring Services, auto-renewal, and cancellation

This section applies to Recurring Services (such as monthly retainers). We draw it to your attention because it governs renewal and charging.

• Term and renewal. Unless the Engagement Terms state a fixed minimum term, Recurring Services run on a month-to-month basis and automatically renew for successive periods of the same length until cancelled under this section. Each renewal is charged in advance at the start of the period using your agreed payment method.
• Cancellation. Either party may cancel a Recurring Service by giving at least thirty (30) days' written notice (email is enough), effective at the end of the then-current paid period. You keep access to the Service through the period you have paid for. We do not pro-rate or refund a period that has already begun, except where the law or section 19 (Consumers) requires.
• Price changes. We may change the recurring fee on at least thirty (30) days' written notice before the change takes effect. If you do not accept the change, you may cancel under this section before it takes effect; continuing after it takes effect means you accept it.
• Failed payments. If a recurring payment fails, we may suspend the Service after notice and reasonable opportunity to fix it; sections 8 (late payment) and 20 (suspension) also apply.
• Consumers. If you are a Consumer, we will remind you of an upcoming renewal where the law requires, and nothing here removes your statutory rights. You may cancel at any time with effect as your statutory rights allow, and we will not require more notice than the law permits. The 30-day notice above is a maximum that never overrides a shorter period the law gives you.

9. Your responsibilities and warranties

You agree and warrant that: you will provide accurate, complete, and lawful information and materials; you have the right to give us, and to authorise our access to, the Client materials, accounts, and data you provide, and doing so does not infringe any third party's rights or breach any law or contract; where Client materials contain personal data about other people, you are the controller, you have a lawful basis and have given any required notices and obtained any required consents, and our processing is governed by the Data Processing Agreement (section 11); you will not provide special-category, regulated, or highly sensitive personal data unless we agree in writing; you will keep your own backups; and you will review Deliverables before relying on them and remain responsible for your own business, legal, financial, and tax decisions.

10. Disclaimers and the standard we meet

We provide all Services with reasonable skill and care: this single standard applies throughout these Terms. Subject to that and to your mandatory rights: we do not guarantee any specific outcome; our analysis relies on information available to us and on third-party platforms and data we do not control; and, except as expressly stated here or required by law, the Services, free tools, Growth Audit, and all content are provided "as is" and "as available", and we exclude implied warranties to the fullest extent the law allows (this exclusion does not apply to Consumers).

10A. Service warranty and your remedy for defective work

Warranty. We warrant that we will perform the Services and produce the Deliverables with reasonable skill and care and substantially in accordance with the agreed scope in the Engagement Terms.

Your remedy. If a Deliverable materially fails to meet that warranty and you tell us in writing, with reasonable detail, within thirty (30) days of delivery, or, for a defect that was not reasonably discoverable within that period (a latent defect), within a reasonable time after you become aware, or ought reasonably to have become aware, of it, we will, at our option and at no further charge, re-perform or correct the non-conforming work within a reasonable time. If we are unable to correct it within a reasonable time, we will refund the portion of the fee fairly attributable to the non-conforming Deliverable.

Exclusivity. For Business clients, re-performance, correction, or that refund is your sole and exclusive remedy for defective Services, and applies subject to section 16 and to any liability or right that cannot lawfully be excluded. For Consumers, this is in addition to, and does not replace, your statutory conformity and remedy rights, which prevail to the extent more favourable. This warranty does not apply to a failure caused by Client materials, your instructions, third-party platforms or assets you chose, or changes made by or for you after delivery.

11. Data protection

Our handling of personal data as a controller is governed by our Privacy Policy, which forms part of this agreement, and cookies by our Cookie Notice. Where we process personal data on your behalf (for example, analytics, advertising, CRM, or email data about your customers), you are the controller and we are your processor under our Data Processing Agreement, which contains the Article 28 GDPR terms and prevails over these Terms on data-processing matters.

How we use AI, in plain terms. We process your data using a combination of (a) our own self-hosted AI infrastructure, which we own and operate ourselves and on which we run our own locally-installed models, and (b) vetted third-party AI providers under contract, each bound by a no-training-on-customer-data commitment and, where applicable, Article 28 GDPR obligations. We draw a firm line between these two based on whether information is already publicly available: any of your data or materials that is not independently discoverable by the public (including your internal business data, analytics, ad account data, CRM data, and anything else you give us that isn't already public) is processed exclusively on our own self-hosted infrastructure and is never sent to a third-party AI provider. Only information that is already publicly available (for example, your public website content, public company information, or public competitive/market data) may additionally be processed using a vetted third-party AI provider as part of our research process. We make no representation that all processing occurs within the European Economic Area. Our own self-hosted infrastructure operates outside the EEA (see our Privacy Policy and Data Processing Agreement for the safeguards that apply to that arrangement), and any statement about in-house or local processing should be read subject to this section, not as a claim that no data ever leaves the EEA.

12. AI, and the limits of what we advise

We use AI-assisted tools to help produce audits, recommendations, content, and other outputs. AI outputs can contain errors and require human judgement. A qualified member of our team reviews AI-assisted outputs before delivery as part of meeting our reasonable-skill-and-care obligation, but you must exercise your own judgement before relying on any Deliverable. Our Services are general business consulting. Unless we expressly agree in writing, they do not constitute, and do not create any relationship of, regulated financial, investment, tax, legal, accounting, medical, or other licensed professional advice, and you should obtain independent licensed advice before acting where such advice is required.

13. Third-party platforms

The Services rely on third-party platforms (hosting, analytics, advertising, email, AI) that we do not control and whose availability and policies may change. We are not responsible for those platforms' acts, omissions, outages, or changes.

14. Intellectual property

Votivus Background IP. We own and retain all Votivus Background IP; nothing here transfers it to you.

Your content. You retain all rights in Client materials you provide.

Ownership of Deliverables. On our receipt of full payment for an engagement, we assign to you, with full title guarantee, all intellectual-property rights we hold in the final, client-specific Deliverables produced for you (for example your finished website pages, copy, and creative), so that you own them and may transfer them, including on a sale of your business; to the extent permitted by law we also waive moral rights in those Deliverables in your favour. Until we are paid in full we retain all rights in the Deliverables and Draft Deliverables, and you must not use any unpaid or draft output.

Embedded Background IP. Where a Deliverable incorporates Votivus Background IP or third-party materials, those are not assigned, but on full payment we grant you a perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable licence to use them as part of, and to the extent embedded in, the Deliverable.

Our non-infringement warranty. We warrant that the final Deliverables as delivered by us do not infringe a third party's intellectual-property rights. This warranty does not cover, and we are not responsible for, any claim to the extent it arises from (a) Client materials or content you supplied or specified, (b) third-party assets you chose, (c) modifications made by or for you after delivery, or (d) your use of a Deliverable other than as intended. This warranty is not qualified by our knowledge as to Deliverables we originate.

Feedback we may use freely. Portfolio: we may describe our work with you at a high level using only non-confidential, anonymised information unless you tell us in writing not to.

15. Confidentiality

Each party will keep the other's confidential information confidential, use it only to perform or receive the Services, and protect it with at least reasonable care. This does not apply to information that is or becomes public through no fault of the recipient, was already lawfully known, is independently developed, or must be disclosed by law (with notice where lawful). These obligations continue for three (3) years after the engagement ends; trade secrets and personal data remain protected for as long as the law requires. Personal data is also governed by the Privacy Policy and any DPA.

16. Limitation of liability

16.1 We never exclude or limit liability for: (a) death or personal injury caused by negligence; (b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; (c) gross negligence or wilful misconduct (meaning conduct showing reckless disregard of, or intent to harm, the other party's interests); (d) a data subject's direct rights under Article 82 GDPR; (e) any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including Consumers' mandatory rights. The exclusions and caps below apply only to the fullest extent the law allows.

16.2 Excluded losses. Subject to 16.1, neither party is liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, revenue, business, goodwill, anticipated savings, or management time, arising out of or in connection with the Services. Loss of or damage to data is not excluded and is instead subject to the cap in 16.3(b).

16.3 Caps. Subject to 16.1, our liability is capped as follows:

• (a) General cap. For all liability other than 16.3(b): the greater of (i) the fees you paid us for the relevant engagement in the twelve (12) months before the event, or (ii) EUR 5,000.
• (b) Data-protection and confidentiality cap. For liability arising from breach of our data-protection or confidentiality obligations (including loss of or damage to data): the greater of (i) two (2) times those fees, or (ii) EUR 50,000.
• (c) Overall aggregate cap. Our total aggregate liability across all engagements, Services, and causes combined will not exceed EUR 100,000.
• (d) Liability outside a paid engagement. Liability not arising under a paid engagement (for example, in connection with the free tools, the free Snapshot, or general use of the website) is subject to the general cap in 16.3(a) applied at the EUR 5,000 floor, and to the overall aggregate cap in 16.3(c).
• (e) Currency. The caps are stated in euro. Where fees you paid, or losses claimed, are in another currency, they are converted to euro at the European Central Bank reference rate on the date the liability arises.

16.4 Independent operation. Each exclusion and cap operates independently. If any is held unenforceable, the others continue, and the unenforceable provision is read down so our liability is limited to the greatest extent the law allows.

16.5 Notification. You will tell us about any claim reasonably promptly after you become aware of the circumstances. Statutory limitation periods apply; we do not seek to shorten them.

16.6 Basis of the bargain (Business clients). You and we agree that the fees for the Services have been set on the basis of the allocation of risk in these Terms, including the exclusions and caps in this section, and that this allocation is a reasonable and essential basis of the agreement between us as commercial parties. The caps reflect that our fees are modest relative to the potential value and risk of the work, and that you remain responsible for your own business decisions, backups, and insurance. This section 16.6 does not apply to Consumers and does not affect any liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

17. Indemnities

17.1 Your indemnity (business clients only; this section does not apply to Consumers). You will indemnify us against third-party claims and reasonable costs arising from (a) Client materials, accounts, content, or data you provide or give us access to that infringe a third party's rights or breach a law or contract, or (b) your unlawful use of a Deliverable, except to the extent the claim results from our breach, negligence, or wilful misconduct. This indemnity is subject to the caps in section 16.

17.2 Our indemnity. Subject to the caps in section 16, we will indemnify you against third-party claims that the final Deliverables, as delivered by us, infringe that third party's intellectual-property rights, except where the claim falls within an exclusion in our non-infringement warranty (section 14). The party seeking indemnity will promptly notify the other, allow the indemnifying party to participate in and reasonably direct the defence and settlement (but not settle in a way that imposes non-indemnified liability or admissions on the other without consent, not to be unreasonably withheld), and reasonably cooperate.

18. Compliance

Each party will comply with applicable anti-bribery, anti-corruption, sanctions, and anti-money-laundering laws, including the Cyprus Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering Activities Law (Law 188(I)/2007) where applicable. We may decline or terminate an engagement, and carry out reasonable due diligence, to meet these obligations.

19. If you are a Consumer

If you use the Services as a Consumer, this section applies and overrides anything inconsistent in these Terms. The business-only deemed-acceptance rule (section 7), the implied-warranty exclusion (section 10), your indemnity to us (section 17.1), the set-off restriction (section 8), and any term that would reduce your mandatory rights do not apply to you.

• You keep all mandatory rights under the Cyprus Consumer Protection Law (Law 112(I)/2021) and EU consumer law, which cannot be excluded.
• Right of withdrawal. For distance contracts you generally have 14 days to withdraw. If you ask us to begin during the withdrawal period, you may do so; if you then withdraw, you pay only for what was provided up to that point. The withdrawal right ends once the Services are fully performed only if you gave prior express consent to begin and acknowledged you would lose the right on full performance. We capture that consent and acknowledgment at checkout; if we did not, you keep the full withdrawal right.
• Our liability limitations and exclusions never reduce liability that cannot be limited against a Consumer.
• You may use out-of-court dispute resolution through the Cyprus Consumer Protection Service and the EU Online Dispute Resolution platform, and you keep the protection and courts of your country of residence.

20. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate the Services or an engagement where: you materially breach and do not fix the breach within a reasonable period after notice; you fail to pay overdue amounts; you breach section 5 or section 18; or the law requires it or continuing would expose us to legal, security, or reputational risk. Either party may terminate an engagement as its Engagement Terms allow. On termination: you pay for Services performed and committed third-party costs we cannot cancel; on payment we deliver completed Deliverables and section 14 applies; you stop using unpaid or draft output; and we handle personal data per the Privacy Policy and any DPA, except records we must keep by law. Sections 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 24, and 25 survive termination.

21. Force majeure

Neither party is liable for failure or delay in non-payment obligations caused by events beyond its reasonable control. The affected party will mitigate, and if the event lasts more than sixty (60) days either party may terminate the affected engagement.

22. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. The "last updated" date shows when. For material changes affecting existing paying clients we give reasonable advance notice (by email or portal notice) before they take effect; a "material" change is one that, viewed objectively, reduces your rights or increases your obligations in more than a trivial way. Continued use after a change takes effect means acceptance. For active paid engagements, the version in force when the engagement began continues to apply to it unless we agree otherwise.

23. Dispute resolution

The parties will first try in good faith to resolve any dispute by discussion, and may agree to mediation, before starting court proceedings. This does not prevent urgent interim relief, action over unpaid fees, or any step needed to preserve a limitation period, and does not apply to Consumers exercising statutory remedies.

23A. Complaints

If you are unhappy with any Service, tell us at info@votivusconsulting.com with reasonable detail. We aim to acknowledge complaints within five (5) business days and to resolve them within thirty (30) days, keeping you updated if a matter is complex. Raising a complaint does not affect your statutory rights or any deadline. If you are a Consumer and we cannot resolve your complaint, you may use the out-of-court routes in section 19 (the Cyprus Consumer Protection Service and the EU Online Dispute Resolution platform). Privacy complaints are handled under our Privacy Policy and may be taken to the Office of the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection.

24. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Cyprus. For business clients, the courts of Cyprus have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms. If you are a Consumer, this exclusive-jurisdiction rule does not apply to you: you keep the mandatory protections and the courts of your country of residence, and nothing here deprives you of them. Nothing in this section affects your statutory data-protection rights or your right to complain to a supervisory authority.

25. General

• Entire agreement. These Terms, with the Privacy Policy, Cookie Notice, and any Engagement Terms and DPA, are the entire agreement about the Services. Each party confirms it has not relied on any statement not set out in them, except that nothing excludes liability for fraud or for any pre-contract misrepresentation or misleading commercial practice that the law does not allow to be excluded.
• Severance. If a provision is unenforceable, the rest stand and it is read down to the minimum extent necessary.
• No waiver. Not enforcing a right is not a waiver.
• Assignment. You may not transfer your rights or obligations without our written consent; we may transfer ours on a reorganisation or sale, provided your rights are not reduced.
• Subcontracting. We may use qualified subcontractors and remain responsible for their work.
• Notices. We may notify you at the email linked to your account or enquiry; you send formal notices to info@votivusconsulting.com and legal notices to our registered office. Email notices are deemed received the next business day; postal notices on delivery.
• Electronic acceptance. Clicking to accept, signing electronically, or using the Services is acceptance, and electronic records are admissible evidence. Business clients accept these Terms (including the exclusive-jurisdiction clause in section 24) by signing the Engagement Terms or by an explicit acceptance step (such as ticking an acceptance box that records the version accepted) before paid Services begin, and we keep a record of the version each client accepted and when.
• No partnership; no third-party rights. Nothing creates a partnership, agency, or joint venture, and a non-party has no right to enforce these Terms.

26. Precedence

On personal-data matters, the Privacy Policy (controller processing) or DPA (processor processing) prevails over these Terms; the Standard Contractual Clauses prevail on international-transfer matters; a signed Engagement Terms document prevails for its engagement. On all other matters these Terms prevail.

Schedule A: Consumer pre-contract information, withdrawal, and digital-content rights

This Schedule applies if you are a Consumer. It supplements section 19 and gives the information required by the Cyprus Consumer Protection Law (Law 112(I)/2021) and EU consumer law. We also present the key items to you at checkout before you pay.

A1. Key pre-contract information. Before you are bound, we make available: (a) the main characteristics of the Services, as described on the relevant page and in any Engagement Terms; (b) our identity, registered office, and contact details (section 1 and votivusconsulting.com/legal/particulars); (c) the total price including taxes, or, where the price cannot reasonably be calculated in advance, the manner in which it is calculated, plus any additional charges; (d) the arrangements for payment and performance, and the time by which we undertake to perform; (e) our complaint-handling policy (section 23A); (f) the existence and conditions of the right of withdrawal (A2) and the model withdrawal form (A3); (g) the duration of the contract, or, for Recurring Services, the conditions for terminating an automatically renewing contract (section 8A); and (h) the existence of the legal guarantee of conformity for digital content and services (A4).

A2. Right of withdrawal. You have 14 days from the day the contract is entered into to withdraw from a distance services contract, without giving a reason. To withdraw, tell us by a clear statement (for example using the form in A3) sent to info@votivusconsulting.com before the 14 days expire. We will refund all payments received without undue delay and within 14 days of being informed. If you ask us to begin performing the Services during the withdrawal period: you may do so; you will then pay for what we have actually provided up to the moment you withdraw; and you lose the right of withdrawal only once the Services are fully performed, and only where you gave prior express consent to begin and acknowledged that you would lose the right on full performance. We capture that consent and acknowledgment at checkout.

A3. Model withdrawal form.

To Votivus Consulting Limited, 101 Evgeniou Vourgareos, Topolemidia, 4153 Limassol, Cyprus / info@votivusconsulting.com:

I/we hereby give notice that I/we withdraw from my/our contract for the supply of the following service: ____________________

Ordered on / received on: ____________________

Name of consumer(s): ____________________

Address of consumer(s): ____________________

Signature (only if on paper): ____________________ Date: ____________________

A4. Conformity of digital content and services. Where we supply you with digital content or digital services (for example a website build or hosted deliverable), they must conform to the contract under the Cyprus Consumer Protection Law and the EU Digital Content and Services Directive (2019/770). If they do not conform, you are entitled to have them brought into conformity, or to a proportionate price reduction or termination where the law allows, free of charge, in addition to the warranty in section 10A. Nothing in these Terms limits these statutory rights.

Votivus Consulting Limited: Terms of Service.