GTC
General Terms & Conditions
Sect. 1 Scope of Application, Definitions of Terms
The following General Terms & Conditions (GTC) shall apply to the use of the online shop of Schokoladenmuseum Köln GmbH, Am Schokoladenmuseum 1a, 50678 Cologne, Managing Directors Annette Imhoff and Dr Christian Unterberg-Imhoff (hereinafter “Provider”) for the acquisition of admission tickets (hereinafter “Tickets”), other services and products, insofar as they are booked or purchased via the online shop at www.schokoladenmuseum.de.
The Cologne Chocolate Museum shall not recognise any conditions of the customer that deviate from these GTC.
Sect. 2 Contract Materialisation
(1) The products and services presented in the online ticket shop shall be neither binding nor legally binding offer, but an invitation to place an order. The offer to conclude a contract on the part of the customer shall be made by clicking the “buy with obligation to pay” button in the online ordering process.
(2) The contract shall materialise by the Provider issuing a declaration of acceptance, which shall be sent by separate e-mail (order confirmation, booking confirmation or reservation confirmation).
(3) The contract shall be concluded in the German language.
Sect. 3 House Rules
By acquiring Tickets, the customer shall accept the Provider’s house rules as binding.
Sect. 4 Prices
(1) Unless expressly stated otherwise, all prices set out on the Provider’s website shall include the respective applicable statutory VAT; in this context, with Tickets being VAT-exempt under sect. 4(20.) UStG (German VAT Act). Any handling, shipping and packaging costs shall not be included in these prices and shall be shown separately to the extent accrued. Prices shall be subject to errors.
(2) An amount of € 4.00 per voucher shall be charged for handling and dispatching vouchers by mail, € 5.95 per packaging unit shall be charged for the packaging and dispatching of items from the museum shop for dispatch within Germany, and the following shipping costs shall be charged for dispatch within Europe: Benelux and Austria: € 9.00; other EU countries: € 15.00.
Sect. 5 Payment
(1) Payments may exclusively be effected by credit card (Visa and MasterCard), EC card, SEPA direct debiting, advance payment or PayPal.
(2) Payment of the purchase price shall be due immediately upon conclusion of the contract.
(3) The Tickets and other services shall remain owned by the Provider until payment has been made in full.
(4) If a payment is charged back, the Provider may claim immediate return of the Tickets ordered or shall be entitled to rescind the contract and to block the Tickets or the barcode or QR code sent. The customer has to compensate the Provider for any damage resulting from the chargeback.
Sect. 6 Delivery of Tickets
(1) Tickets shall be delivered exclusively via the “Print@Home procedure”. Immediately after the purchase contract has been concluded, the Tickets, which shall be equipped with a barcode or QR code, shall be sent by e-mail as a PDF attachment and are to be printed out by the customer himself or herself or saved on the smartphone. Vouchers may be ordered either by Print@Home or by mail.
(2) Dispatch shall be effected at the customer’s risk to the e-mail address stated.
(3) If the customer failed to receive the e-mail with the Ticket within 24 hours after booking, the customer shall be obliged to point this out to the Provider without delay. The same shall apply to the receipt of any faulty PDF file or faulty Tickets. Tickets are to be checked for accuracy in terms of number, prices, date, time, event and location. Otherwise, claims for loss of the Tickets or other complaints shall be excluded.
(4) The Provider reserves the right to rescind the contract in the event of obvious pricing errors as well as in the event of impossibility and in cases of force majeure. In this case, the Provider shall inform the customer without delay to the extent possible, provided that the customer has stated a valid e-mail address when placing the order, and shall reimburse the customer without delay for the services already provided by the Provider.
Sect. 7 Print@Home Ticket
(1) Tickets that can be printed out by the customer himself or herself or saved on the smartphone via the Print@Home procedure shall become valid only upon payment in full.
(2) It shall be prohibited to print out a Print@Home Ticket more than once or to reproduce it otherwise for the purpose of misusing it.
(3) Misuse shall result in the right to admission being lost without compensation, with the Ticket losing its validity.
(4) The one-time usable barcode or QR code on the Ticket shall be electronically validated by the Provider at the admission control by barcode scanners. Multiple use by duplication of the code shall be excluded.
(5) The Provider reserves the right to deny access to owners of barcode copies or owners of admission tickets duplicated without authorisation. Furthermore, the Provider reserves the right to assert damages and to press criminal charges.
(6) The customer shall be obliged to keep the online ticket in a safe place like cash or conventional tickets and to protect it against misuse. If the Ticket is lost and/or misused, the Provider shall bear no responsibility and shall not provide any replacement.
(7) Commercial resale to third parties shall expressly not be permitted.
(8) The customer shall check on his or her own responsibility whether he or she meets the personal requirements for offered reductions. The condition for claiming the reduction must exist on the day the museum is visited. The customer must provide proof of such entitlement by presenting a photo ID to the admission control. Otherwise, the difference to the full ticket price must be paid at the museum box offices before admission.
(9) When purchasing Tickets with a validity note, the Tickets shall be valid for the day/period specified when ordering.
(10) Admission shall be bound to the Provider’s respective current opening hours or to the dates indicated on the Tickets. The opening hours shall be determined by the Provider.
(11) The admission ticket shall lose its validity when the venue is left and shall not be transferable to other persons after the event has been attended.
(12) The Provider shall be entitled to refuse admission in cases of overcrowding or for other security purposes or to terminate the visit prematurely. In the event of force majeure, costs shall not be reimbursed.
Sect. 8 Delivery of Products
Objects and products from the range of goods of the online shop and of vouchers shall be delivered against advance payment. Delivery shall be effected within two weeks of receipt of the full invoice amount, while stocks last. The Provider shall be entitled to determine a differing delivery period in the event of difficulties in delivery in this respect.
Unless delivery is effected within six weeks from conclusion of the contract, the customer shall be entitled to rescind the contract by written notice. In this case, the payments made by the customer shall be refunded. Farther-reaching claims of the customer shall be excluded in this case.
Sect. 9 Operation of the Online Shop
The Provider shall not warrant that the operation of the website (online shop) is undisturbed by interruptions or errors. The Provider shall endeavour to keep the operation of the website free from errors and interruptions to the extent technically possible under reasonable standards. The Provider shall accept no liability for the occurrence of viruses or other sources of disruption.
Sect. 10 Right of Revocation and Return
In regards to the sale of Tickets with a fixed validity date, the customer shall have no right of revocation or return, since the regulations on distance-selling transactions shall not be applicable to contracts on the provision of services in the area of scheduled leisure events. Each purchase order for such Tickets shall thus be binding immediately after confirmation by the Provider and shall be an obligation to accept and pay for the purchase order.
(2) Consumers shall have a fourteen-day right of revocation for Tickets and vouchers without a fixed validity date and for goods. The details shall follow from the separate notification regarding revocation.
Sect. 11 Particularities for the Arrangement of Group Programmes
(1) In the case of group tours, the Provider shall merely act as an agent for the museum guide and shall issue invoices in the name of the museum guide for external third parties. Payment shall be due immediately upon booking.
(2) If the orderer wishes to change a bindingly arranged programme, the Provider shall charge the orderer a service fee in the gross amount of EUR 12.00 per transaction. Changes in language, programme contents, date (day, time), reduction in the number of participants shall be subject to a charge.
(3) Having completed booking, the orderer may rescind the contract with the Provider up to 14 days before the agreed service. 50% of the agreed fee shall be charged as a cancellation fee for cancellations received after such period. Cancellations received within the last 7 days before the date or no-shows shall be subject to payment of 100% of the agreed fee. If any cancellation is made before the end of the 14-day period, the amount paid minus a one-off cancellation fee of EUR 18.00 shall be remitted back. Compliance with the cancellation periods shall be governed by the time of receipt of the rescission notice by the Provider in written form.
(4) The maximum group size for museum tours shall be 25 participants. The maximum group size including accompanying persons for school groups shall be 30 persons. The maximum number of participants for chocolate courses in the confectioner shall be 14 persons. The maximum number of participants for tastings in the salon shall be 20 persons. There shall be no obligation to lead groups exceeding the maximum number of persons.
(5) For programmes with young people under 16 years of age, the guest must provide at least one adult supervisor per group. The museum guide shall be entitled to refuse implementation of the programme with full payment of the fee if such requirement is not met on the part of the guest. Minors may participate in tastings and courses where alcohol is consumed only under the legal regulations.
Sect. 12 Final Provisions
(1) Contracts between the Provider and the customers shall be governed by the law of the Federal Republic of Germany to the exclusion of the UN Sales Law.
(2) Where the customer is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, the place of jurisdiction for all disputes shall be Cologne.
(3) The contract shall remain binding in its remaining parts even if individual clauses are legally ineffective. The ineffective clauses shall be replaced by the legal regulations, if any. To the extent that this would be an unreasonable hardship for either party to the contract, however, the contract as a whole shall become ineffective.
Note: the EU Commission offers the possibility of online dispute resolution on an online platform operated by it. This platform is accessible via the external link http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/.
We are neither willing nor obliged to participate in a dispute settlement procedure before a consumer arbitration board.
as of 25/05/2018