GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Explore Maastricht – Maastricht Underground of Stichting Maastricht Marketing
1. Definitions
1.1 Maastricht Marketing (MM): the foundation established in Maastricht that, among other things, operates under the trade names Maastricht Underground (MU) and Explore Maastricht (EM), registered with the Chamber of Commerce under number 41078147.
1.2 The customer: the party (natural person or legal entity) to whom Maastricht Marketing (MM) sells or supplies services or products.
1.3 The service: the (group) booking, the (group) guided tour, the (group) activity, the ticket or any other (tourist) activity.
1.4 The service provider: Maastricht Marketing (MM) or another party responsible for the performance of the service.
1.5 The booking: the customer’s order to conclude the agreement with a service provider. The ticket or the agreement with the service provider.
2. Activities
MM organises and sells (group) guided tours, excursions and (group) programmes under the labels Explore Maastricht and Maastricht Underground. In doing so, it may make use of services provided by third parties. Reservations and tickets are offered, among other channels, via the websites www.exploremaastricht.nl and/or www.maastrichtunderground.nl, by offers sent from groups@exploremaastricht.nl, via the ticket kiosk, the Maastricht Underground Ticketshop cash desk and the Maastricht Store. All communication between MM and the customer preferably takes place by e-mail, unless otherwise agreed. The customer is responsible for providing correct contact details and for checking messages from MM in good time.
3. Applicability of the general terms and conditions
3.1 These terms and conditions apply to all services, products, activities, transactions and other obligations of/with MM, but expressly limited to offers , group bookings, tickets and online private tours/programmes under the trade names Explore Maastricht and Maastricht Underground.
3.2 Any deviations from these terms and conditions shall only be valid if agreed in writing.
3.3 If one or more provisions of these terms and conditions are null and void or are annulled, the remaining provisions shall remain fully in force and the void or annulled provisions shall be interpreted in such a way that their content is approximated as closely as possible without conflicting with the law.
3.4 The general terms and conditions are primarily available in Dutch and have been translated into English and German. In the event of discrepancies between the translations and the Dutch text, the Dutch version shall prevail.
3.5 MM reserves the right to amend these general terms and conditions. Amendments will be published on the page “Algemene voorwaarden | Explore Maastricht” and will enter into force after publication, unless stated otherwise. For existing agreements, the original terms and conditions remain applicable unless otherwise agreed.
3.6 The general terms and conditions will be made available to the customer electronically before or at the time of conclusion of the agreement in such a way that they can be stored by the customer and remain accessible for subsequent consultation.
4. Booking instruction by means of a offer
The regular option period is a maximum of 2 weeks and shorter depending on the performance date. The instruction to execute a group booking is concluded the moment MM receives the offer signed by the customer.
5. Payment of offers
After receipt of the signed offer, the customer will receive the (first) invoice.
5.1 For group bookings with a total amount due of more than € 500, 60% of the amount due must be paid within 14 days of the invoice date. The remaining amount must be credited to MM’s account no later than 14 days before the start of the purchased service.
5.2 For group bookings with a total amount due of less than € 500, 100% of the amount due must be paid within 14 days of the invoice date.
5.3 For any group booking made within 1 month before a performance date, 100% of the amount due must be paid within 14 days of the invoice date.
5.4 For any group booking made within 14 days before a performance date, 100% of the amount due must be paid immediately.
5.5 The customer will receive an invoice for each advance payment. Shortly after a performance date, the customer will receive the final invoice including VAT specification.
6. Cancellation and amendment conditions
MM distinguishes between the sales channels described (offers, online bookings, online flex bookings) when applying cancellation and amendment conditions. The applicable prices are adjusted accordingly. A reduction in the number of participants and/or a change of date and/or time is regarded as a cancellation.
6.1 Offers
6.1.1 After receipt of the signed offer up to 1 month before the start of the first activity in the programme, MM will charge € 35 administration costs in the event of (partial) cancellation. Reservation, organisation and amendment costs already charged will never be refunded.
6.1.2 From 1 month to 14 days before the start of the first activity in the programme, the cancellation costs amount to 50% of the reservation value, with a minimum payment of € 35 administration costs.
6.1.3 From 14 days until the day of performance, the cancellation costs are 100%.
6.1.4 One amendment is included free of charge; each additional amendment will be charged € 35 amendment costs.
6.1.5 MM reserves the right to make exceptions per offer to the above cancellation conditions (for example, but not limited to, bookings that take up large capacity on busy days). Any exceptions agreed and described in the offer always take precedence over the regular offer cancellation conditions described above.
6.1.6 Amendments and cancellations must be notified by e-mail to groups@exploremaastricht.nl.
6.2 Online bookings
6.2.1 Bookings cannot be amended.
6.2.2 Bookings are non-refundable.
6.3 Online Flex bookings
6.3.1 Up to 14 days before the start of the activity, cancellation is free of charge; the amount already paid will automatically be refunded to the account from which payment was made.
6.3.2 Within 14 days before the start of the activity, cancellation costs are 100%.
6.3.3 One amendment is possible up to 14 days before the start of the activity and is limited to one amendment per booking. 6.3.4 Subject to availability, additional persons can be booked up to 7 days in advance.
6.3.4 Subject to availability, additional persons can be booked up to 7 days in advance.
7. Complaints procedure
If the customer has a complaint about a service provided or an employee, the complaint must be submitted by e-mail to the service provider within 7 days of the time at which the service was provided. The service provider will contact the customer within 7 days of receipt of the complaint at the latest in order to discuss how the complaint can be resolved.
8. Liability
8.1 Participation in guided tours or other activities organised by MM is entirely at the participant’s own risk.
8.2 Unless intentional act or gross negligence on the part of (employees of) MM can be attributed, MM accepts no liability for consequential damage or damage resulting from death, injury, accidents, harm, loss or theft caused to the customer or other participants during or as a result of the performance of the service.
8.3 MM is never liable for damage resulting from inaccuracy or incompleteness of photos, folders, the website, social media and other information provided about, for example, the (quality of) the reserved and/or purchased service, unless there is intent or gross negligence on the part of MM.
8.4 MM is not liable for damage caused to third parties. The customer or other participant therefore indemnifies MM against claims from third parties on any grounds whatsoever.
8.5 If it is established in court that MM is liable for damage suffered by a customer caused by participation in activities, group programmes and guided tours, MM’s liability will never exceed the amount paid out in the relevant case under MM’s liability insurance, less the own risk stated in the policy.
8.6 MM accepts no liability for costs already incurred by the customer, such as insurance premiums, if a service cannot take place.
8.7 Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 6:89 Dutch Civil Code and Article 7:23 Dutch Civil Code, any right of claim lapses two months after the time at which the service was provided or the product was sold, or at least the time at which the customer was or could reasonably have been aware of the defect. The customer must notify MM of its complaint in writing by registered letter, stating reasons, within the aforementioned period.
8.8 MM is not responsible/liable for any promises made by its employees and/or third parties that deviate from the conditions stated in these terms and conditions or in the conditions of the responsible service provider, unless such promises are subsequently explicitly confirmed in writing in an e-mail or offer.
8.9 The (safety) instructions of MM’s employees on site must be followed at all times.
8.10 If MM uses third parties for the performance of the service, MM remains the point of contact for the customer. However, MM is not liable for shortcomings of third parties, unless these shortcomings are due to intent or gross negligence on the part of MM in the selection of the third party.
9. Refusal of access
9.1 Access to or participation in activities of MM or third parties may be refused in the event of suspected alcohol or drug abuse or other physical limitations that may entail (health) risks for the participant himself and/or other participants and/or employees and/or property of the relevant service provider.
9.2 If refusal takes place as a result of the preceding article (9.1), no refund will be made.
9.3 If a valid admission ticket with the possibility of scanning the relevant QR code cannot be shown, participation will always be refused. It is up to the customer to contact MM in good time in the event of lost or incorrectly received tickets. Offer bookings are an exception to this; no admission ticket is required for offerbookings.
9.4 Activities with only 1 participant may be cancelled by MM for reasons of personal sense of safety. In such cases, MM will try to provide a suitable solution if possible.
9.5 Customers must behave respectfully towards employees, other participants and property of MM or third parties during activities. In the event of misconduct (at MM’s discretion), MM may exclude the customer from participation without the right to a refund.
9.6 Groups consisting of 15 persons or more must take a private tour. Making multiple bookings of individual tickets to circumvent this rule will result in refusal of entry without any right to a refund.
10. Force majeure
10.1 The parties are not obliged to fulfil any obligation if and to the extent that they are prevented from doing so as a result of a circumstance that is not due to fault on their part and that is neither for their account under the law, a legal act or generally accepted views, including government measures imposed and weather conditions in the category code red in South Limburg (source: KNMI). In the event of extreme heat for which code orange is issued locally (source: KNMI), the activities may be unilaterally adapted in type or location or cancelled in consultation.
10.2 During the period that the force majeure continues, the parties may suspend the obligations under the agreement. If this period continues beyond the delivery term, the parties have the right to dissolve the agreement in whole or in part without being obliged to compensate any damage to the other party.
10.3 If an activity is temporarily interrupted by unforeseen circumstances, including but not limited to safety incidents, MM will endeavour within reason to resume the activity or offer an alternative. In that case no refund is due, unless the activity is completely cancelled.
11. Dissolution, statutory interest and extrajudicial costs
11.1 If amounts due are not paid within the set term, the customer is in default by operation of law and owes statutory interest and extrajudicial collection costs on the outstanding amount in accordance with the graduated scale for extrajudicial collection costs (BIK) or the applicable standards for collection costs.
11.2 Payments made by the customer or other contracting party will always first be applied to settle all interest and costs owed and subsequently to the invoices that have been outstanding the longest, even if the customer or other contracting party states that the payment relates to a later invoice.
11.3 In the event of bankruptcy, debt rescheduling arrangement (WSNP), suspension of payment, placement under guardianship or if the customer or other contracting party otherwise loses the power of disposal over its assets or part thereof, the agreement will be automatically dissolved. The customer or other contracting party is liable for the damage suffered by MM.
12. Intellectual property
All intellectual property rights in company and trade names, trademarks, logos, designs, (online) publications, editions, texts, photos and spoken statements during tours and guided tours are vested in MM. None of these expressions may be copied, recorded, filmed, made public or used without prior written permission from MM.
13. GDPR
Maastricht Marketing processes personal data of customers in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Personal data are processed exclusively for the performance of the agreement, customer service and, if consent has been given, own marketing purposes. For more information, see our privacy statement at: Privacy Statement | Explore Maastricht.
14. Applicable law and competent court / interpretation of text
Dutch law exclusively applies to all legal relationships with MM. All disputes in respect of which a choice of forum is permitted will be submitted exclusively to the competent court in the district in which MM is established. In the event of a dispute concerning the interpretation of these terms and conditions, the Dutch text is decisive. The applicability of the Vienna Sales Convention is expressly excluded.