Crown Business Network
Terms and Conditions
The agreement between Crown Business Network, the businesses who are members of it, and the members of the public who use it to find them.
1. Who we are, and what these terms cover
Crown Business Network (“Crown”, “we”, “us”) is operated by Crown Business Network Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 17367868), registered office 10 Western Road, Romford, England, RM1 3JT.
These terms govern three relationships:
- Between Crown and a business that is, or applies to become, a member.
- Between Crown and a member of the public using the network to find one.
- Between a member business and a member of the public who contacts or engages them. Sections 7 and 8 apply to you both, and they are the most important sections here.
By using this site you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, please do not use the site.
2. What Crown is, and what it is not
Crown is a private, invitation-based network of UK businesses. We hand-pick businesses, carry out checks before we approve them, and give each approved business an exclusive listing for its industry in its county.
Crown is a means of introduction. We are not a party to any contract you go on to make with a member business, we do not carry out, supervise, inspect, price or manage any work, and we do not act as anyone's agent. We are not a trade association, a licensing body, an insurer, a payment service, a dispute resolution service, or a guarantor of any member's work.
To put it as plainly as we can: we do not guarantee, warrant or insure the work of any member business.
3. How a business becomes a member
Membership is by approval only. A business cannot add itself to the network and cannot make its own listing live. We may approach and invite a business directly, or a business may apply. An application is a request only — it creates a pending record for us to review, and does not create a membership, a listing or a login.
Before approving an application we may verify company details against Companies House, review the information supplied to us, and form our own judgement about whether the business is a fit for the network. We may decline any application without giving a reason. Approval is at our discretion and does not follow from paying a fee or completing a form.
4. Exclusivity: one business, one industry, one county
While a member holds a place, no other business may hold the same industry in the same county. A place is exclusive for as long as the membership is active; it is not permanent and does not survive a membership that is suspended or ended. Related industries may be treated as separate places, and holding one does not reserve the others. A member may hold places in more than one county.
Exclusivity applies to listing within the network. It grants no territory or right outside this site, and does not limit who else may trade in an area. A county is shown publicly only once we choose to make it visible, so a member may hold a place in a county that is not yet live.
5. Fees and leaflet campaigns
Membership may involve a one-off joining fee and an ongoing subscription. The fees that apply, and the interval at which the subscription is charged, are those set out to you at the point you join. Fees are for membership and the benefits in this section. They are not payment for work or for leads; we do not charge per enquiry and we take no share of any job.
While a paid membership is active, a member business is entitled to:
- A listing on the public site holding its exclusive place, and access to the Member Portal to manage that listing and its enquiries.
Leaflet and print campaigns are not included in membership. They are offered separately, on their own terms and for a separate fee, and taking one up is optional. Campaigns are arranged at our discretion — we decide timing, area, design and which members appear in each one, and we do not commit to a minimum number of campaigns or to any particular circulation.
Being listed or appearing in a campaign is not a promise of enquiries, customers or revenue. We cannot and do not forecast what a membership will be worth to any business.
We may change our fees, and will give reasonable notice before a change applies to an existing member. A member who does not wish to continue at the new fee may end their membership.
6. Vetting and the “Verified Member” badge
Please read this before you rely on anything you see on this site. When we approve a business we carry out checks, form a judgement, and satisfy ourselves that it is one we are willing to include. A “Verified Member” badge means we did that at the point of approval.
It does not mean:
- That we have inspected, tested or supervised the business's work.
- That we hold, or have verified, current certificates, licences or insurance for that business.
- That we re-check a member on any regular cycle. We do not carry out periodic re-vetting, and circumstances can change after approval.
- That we guarantee or stand behind the quality, safety, timeliness, pricing or outcome of anything the business does.
Our checks are for our own purposes in deciding who to admit. They are not a substitute for the checks you should make yourself.
7. Any contract for work is between you and the business — not with Crown
This is the most important section of these terms.
If you engage a member business, the contract for that work is between you and that business alone. Crown is not a party to it. That remains true even though you found the business here and contacted them here.
The member business, and not Crown, is responsible for:
- The quality, safety and workmanship of everything it does.
- Quoting, pricing, invoicing, deposits, payment and refunds.
- Timescales, attendance and completion.
- Holding the licences, registrations, certifications and insurance its work requires.
- Compliance with building regulations, health and safety, consumer law and any other legal obligation attaching to the work.
- Any guarantee, warranty or aftercare it offers you. Any such guarantee is given by that business and enforceable against it. Crown does not underwrite it.
- Any loss, damage or injury arising out of the work.
If something goes wrong with work you have had done, your claim is against the business that did it. We will help where we reasonably can, but we cannot carry out the work, put it right, or pay for it.
8. Please carry out your own due diligence
Our checks are not a replacement for your own. Before engaging any business found through this site — and particularly for building, electrical, gas, roofing, heating or other high-value or safety-critical work — we strongly recommend that you:
- Ask for and check current public liability insurance, and any other cover appropriate to the job.
- Verify any certification or registration the work requires directly with the scheme that issues it, for example a gas or electrical competent-person scheme.
- Get the work specified and quoted in writing before it starts, and any variation agreed in writing too.
- Obtain more than one quote where the job is significant.
- Ask to see examples of similar work, and speak to previous customers.
- Be cautious about large payments up front, and use a payment method that gives you protection where you can.
- Check whether the work needs building regulations approval, planning permission or a party wall agreement, and who is responsible for obtaining it.
- Keep your own copies of quotes, invoices, certificates and correspondence.
Taking these steps is your responsibility. Nothing on this site removes it.
9. Complaints and reporting a business
If you are unhappy with a member business, raise it with the business first. Giving them a fair chance to put it right is usually a step you need to have taken anyway. If that does not resolve it, report it to us.
What we can do: look into it, ask the business for their account, take it into consideration in deciding whether they remain a member, and where appropriate suspend or end their membership. What we cannot do: decide who is right, award compensation, order a business to return, or make any payment to you. We are not a dispute resolution or arbitration service and have no power to compel anyone.
Your legal rights against the business are unaffected by anything we do or decide. Depending on the matter you may also be able to go to Trading Standards, Citizens Advice, the relevant industry scheme, an ombudsman, or the courts.
10. Our liability to you
Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded. Nothing in these terms affects a consumer's statutory rights. Subject to that:
- We are not liable for the acts or omissions of any member business, or for any loss arising out of work carried out by one.
- We provide the site as it is. We do not warrant that it will be uninterrupted or error free, or that the information on a member's listing is accurate or current, since much of it is supplied and maintained by the member.
- If you use the site in the course of a business, we are not liable to you for loss of profit, business, contracts, anticipated savings or goodwill, or any indirect or consequential loss.
- Where we are liable to a consumer, our liability is limited to loss that was reasonably foreseeable at the time.
- Where we are liable to a member business, our total liability in any twelve month period is limited to the fees that member paid us in that period.
We are not liable for any failure caused by something outside our reasonable control.
11. Changes, law and jurisdiction
We may change these terms. The version published on this page is the one that applies, and the date it was last updated is shown below. These terms, and any dispute arising out of them, are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland you may also bring proceedings in the courts of the country you live in. If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest continues to apply.
12. How to contact us
Email [email protected].
We do not publish a telephone number. Putting your enquiry in writing means we have a record of it, which helps us deal with it properly.