Soft Step Tree Planting Terms & Conditions (UK)

Company: Incubated Ltd (a private limited company registered in England & Wales) trading as Soft Step (“Soft Step”, “we”, “us”).
Website: thesoftstep.com
Contact: [email protected]

1) Important Notice: Our Status and What You Are Buying

1.1 No carbon products. Unless we expressly agree otherwise in writing, we do not sell carbon offsets, carbon credits, carbon removals, or tradeable carbon/biodiversity units.

1.1 We are a private company. We are not a charity, non-profit, charitable trust, fundraising body, or donation platform.

1.2 All payments made to Soft Step are commercial payments for environmental services. They are not gifts, donations, charitable contributions, voluntary payments, or sponsorships.

1.3 When you purchase a package, subscription, or other service from Soft Step, you are entering into a commercial contract under which we agree to provide environmental services (as described in these Terms and your Service Summary).

1.4 No ownership / no property rights. Your purchase does not give you any ownership, proprietary interest, security interest, or other right in or to:

• any land (freehold/leasehold or otherwise),
• any trees, forests, habitats, bees, colonies, hives, meadows, flora or fauna,
• any forestry assets, equipment, or infrastructure,
• any carbon credits, carbon offsets, carbon removals, biodiversity units, or other environmental instruments (unless we expressly sell them to you under separate written terms, which we do not do as standard),
• or any other asset of the company or any of its partners. 

2) Definitions

In these Terms:

• Business Customer means a customer purchasing wholly or mainly for business, trade, craft or profession.
• Consumer means an individual acting wholly or mainly outside business, trade, craft or profession.
• Environmental Services means the services we provide such as tree planting, forest protection, meadow expansion and pollinator/wildlife habitat protection.
• Service Summary means the separate document (similar to an insurance “schedule”) or invoice we issue confirming what you have purchased (e.g., category, quantities/levels, billing frequency, price).
• Subscription means an auto-renewing plan billed monthly or annually (as applicable).
• Order means your purchase through the website or other approved sales channel.

3) These Terms and Your Service Summary

3.1 These Terms apply to all Orders.

3.2 Your Environmental Services are described in:

• these Terms; and
• your Service Summary.

3.3 If there is any inconsistency between website marketing pages, emails, adverts, social media or other promotional material and these Terms and/or your Service Summary, these Terms and your Service Summary prevail.

4) Eligibility and Account Rules

4.1 You must be 18 or over to place an Order.

4.2 You must provide accurate and complete information and keep it up to date.

4.3 You are responsible for maintaining confidentiality of any account login credentials.

5) What We Provide (Environmental Services)

5.1 We provide Environmental Services, which may include (as selected in your Service Summary):

• Tree Planting (you select a quantity/level to be planted);
• Forest Protection (you select a protection level/area/plan);
• Meadow Expansion (you select a protection/restoration level/area/plan);
• Pollinator/Wildlife Habitat Protection (you select a level of support/coverage towards habitat or colony/hive running costs, described commercially as a proportionate service contribution to habitat management and welfare activities).

5.2 We may deliver services:

• on land we own; and/or
• on land owned/managed by third parties with whom we have commercial agreements (e.g., landowners, farmers, forestry organisations, planting operators).

5.3 Control and discretion. We retain full operational control over how and where services are delivered, including site selection, timing, species selection, husbandry/management decisions and contractors used, subject to Section 8 (substitution) and your chosen service category.

6) Service Timing (3-Month Allocation/Delivery Window)

6.1 Allocation/delivery timeframe. After the relevant payment is taken:

• for protection/restoration services (forest/meadow/habitat): we will allocate and/or begin performance within 3 months of the first payment for that service; and
• for monthly tree planting services: for each monthly payment, we will plant (or cause to be planted) the applicable trees within 3 months of that payment.

6.2 Services may be ongoing in nature and delivered in batches or seasons.

7) Updates, Certificates, GPS and Reporting

7.1 We may provide updates, reports, approximate GPS locations and/or certificates. Where we do, these are provided for information only.

7.2 No entitlement / no reliance. Certificates, updates, GPS information and other content do not create any legal right, ownership interest, proprietary claim, exclusive benefit, or enforceable environmental entitlement.

7.3 GPS locations (if provided) are typically approximate and may be shown at project level, not individual asset level.

8) Substitution and Changes (Including Global Substitution)

8.1 Substitution right. If any site, partner, contractor or project becomes unavailable, impracticable or materially more difficult due to events outside our reasonable control (including land access issues, legal restrictions, disease, wildfire, flood, extreme weather, supply chain disruption, or partner failure), we may substitute:

• the site and/or partner; and/or
• the country or region; and/or
• the method of delivery,
  provided that we deliver the same service category you purchased (e.g., tree planting must remain tree planting).

8.2 We will use reasonable efforts to ensure substitutions are consistent with the nature and intent of the service purchased.

9) Ecological Variability and No Guaranteed Outcomes

9.1 You acknowledge that environmental work is affected by ecological variability and external factors.

9.2 Reasonable endeavours. We will use reasonable endeavours to provide the Environmental Services described in your Service Summary.

9.3 No guarantees. We do not guarantee:

• survival of trees or colonies;
• permanence of any habitat outcome;
• specific biodiversity outcomes;
• specific carbon outcomes;
• specific hectares/metres outcomes within a precise timeframe (unless expressly stated in your Service Summary as a contractual commitment).

10) Prices, Payment and VAT

10.1 Prices are shown on the website and/or in your Service Summary.

10.2 If VAT is chargeable, it will be stated and added at checkout or on your invoice as applicable.

10.3 You authorise us (and our payment providers) to take payment using your chosen payment method.

10.4 If you fail to pay, we may suspend or cancel services and/or pursue outstanding sums.

11) Subscriptions, Auto-Renewal and Cancellation

11.1 If you purchase a Subscription, it will auto-renew at the end of each billing period unless you cancel before renewal.

11.2 How to cancel. You can cancel by:

• using your account settings (if available); or
• emailing us at [email protected] from the email linked to your account; or
• any other cancellation route we make available.

11.3 Cancellation stops future renewals. It does not undo services already delivered or allocated.

12) Consumer Cooling-Off Rights (14 Days)

This clause applies to Consumers only.

12.1 You have a legal right to cancel most online purchases within 14 days of the contract date.

12.2 If you cancel within 14 days, you will receive a refund, except that if you asked us to start providing services during the cooling-off period, you must pay for the services we provided up to the time you cancelled (calculated proportionately).

12.3 To exercise the right to cancel, you must clearly tell us (e.g., email). We may provide a cancellation form, but you do not have to use it.

13) Refunds After the Cooling-Off Period

13.1 Monthly payments (after 14 days): no refunds once the 14-day cooling-off period has passed.

13.2 Annual payments (after 14 days): if you cancel an annual Subscription after the cooling-off period, you are eligible for a pro-rata refund for the unused portion minus a £30 cancellation fee, unless:

• your Service Summary states a different cancellation fee; or
• we have already delivered/allocated the annual services in full (in which case no refund will be due for that portion).

13.3 Nothing in these Terms limits your statutory rights (including under the Consumer Rights Act 2015).

14) Acceptable Use of the Website

14.1 You must not misuse our website, including by introducing malware, attempting unauthorised access, scraping in breach of robots/technical restrictions, or interfering with service availability.

14.2 We may suspend or restrict access if we reasonably believe there is misuse.

15) Intellectual Property

15.1 We own (or license) all intellectual property rights in our website and content.

15.2 You may view and print pages for personal use only. You must not reproduce or exploit content commercially without written permission.

16) Business Customers: Badges, Logos and Marketing Claims

This clause applies to Business Customers.

16.1 We may offer spend-based recognition badges/marks (e.g., “Standard”, “Silver”, “Gold”, “Platinum”) (the Marks). The availability, criteria, thresholds and rules may change from time to time.

16.2 Not certification. The Marks are not a certification of environmental performance, ESG compliance, carbon neutrality, net-zero status, or quantified impact.

16.3 Licence. If we grant you permission to use a Mark, we grant a limited, non-exclusive, revocable licence to use the Mark solely:

• in your marketing materials, and
• strictly in accordance with our brand guidelines (as issued from time to time).

16.4 Prohibited uses. You must not:

• use any Mark in ESG reporting or regulated disclosures;
• claim (explicitly or implicitly) that Soft Step’s services make you “carbon neutral”, “net zero”, “carbon negative”, or equivalent;
• use the Marks in a misleading, defamatory, comparative, or unlawful way;
• register confusingly similar trade marks, domains or social handles.

16.5 Verification for Platinum (profit percentage). Where Platinum status is based on profit percentage, you must provide a statement from an authorised accountant and you permit us to contact that accountant to verify authenticity.

16.6 Revocation. We may suspend or revoke your right to use any Mark at any time if we reasonably believe you are misusing it, or if continued use creates legal or reputational risk.

16.7 Indemnity (Business Customers). You will indemnify us for losses arising from your misuse of Marks or your marketing/claims, including third-party complaints and regulatory action, to the extent caused by your breach of these Terms.

17) Liability

17.1 What we do not exclude (Consumers and Businesses)

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability for:

• death or personal injury caused by negligence;
• fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or
• any other liability which cannot legally be limited.

17.2 Consumers (B2C) – limitation of liability

17.2.1 We are responsible to you for foreseeable loss and damage caused by us. If we fail to comply with these Terms, we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking this contract or failing to use reasonable care and skill.

17.2.2 We do not accept liability for:

• losses that are not foreseeable;
• losses related to your business, trade or profession (Consumers should not use our services for business purposes);
• environmental outcomes outside our reasonable control (see Sections 8 and 9);
• reliance on certificates, GPS locations, updates or non-contractual statements (Section 7).

17.2.3 Where legally permitted and fair, our total liability to you for all claims in any 12-month period will not exceed the total amount you paid to us in that 12-month period.

17.3 Business Customers (B2B) – limitation of liability

17.3.1 Subject to 17.1, we exclude all implied terms to the fullest extent permitted by law.

17.3.2 Subject to 17.1, our total liability to you (whether in contract, tort, negligence or otherwise) is capped at the total fees paid by you to us in the 12 months prior to the claim.

17.3.3 We will not be liable for:

• indirect or consequential losses;
• loss of profit, revenue, goodwill, business opportunity or anticipated savings;
• reputational claims or regulatory exposure arising from your marketing/claims.

17.4 Environmental services disclaimer

You acknowledge that Environmental Services are subject to ecological variability and external events. We do not accept liability for site-level ecological outcomes beyond our obligation to use reasonable endeavours to deliver the purchased service category.

18) Force Majeure

18.1 We are not liable for failure or delay in performing obligations if caused by events beyond our reasonable control (including extreme weather, wildfire, flood, disease, government action, supply chain disruption, or third-party land access constraints).

18.2 Where this occurs, we may extend timeframes and/or substitute in accordance with Section 8.

19) Complaints and How We Handle Issues

19.1 If you have a complaint, contact us at [email protected]. We aim to respond within a reasonable time.

19.2 If you are a Consumer and we cannot resolve your complaint, you may have rights to escalate the dispute through applicable UK consumer channels.

20) Privacy and Data Protection

20.1 We will process personal data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

21) Changes to These Terms

21.1 We may update these Terms from time to time.

21.2 If changes materially affect your Subscription, we will provide reasonable notice (e.g., by email or prominent notice on the website). If you do not agree, you may cancel before the change takes effect.

22) Assignment and Third Parties

22.1 We may assign or transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms to another entity, provided this does not reduce your rights under these Terms.

22.2 You may not transfer your rights under these Terms without our written consent.

22.3 No one other than you and us has any rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce these Terms.

23) Governing Law and Jurisdiction

23.1 These Terms are governed by the laws of England & Wales.

23.2 The courts of England & Wales have exclusive jurisdiction, except that Consumers may also bring proceedings in their country of residence within the UK where mandatory rules allow.