Terms of Service
The deal between you and us: what you can expect from Pimpernel, what we expect back, and how our paid services work. Written in plain English, because terms you can't understand aren't really terms at all.
- Free stays free. The guides, tools and newsletter need no account or payment.
- Paid products have rules. Membership, the Move Pack and our done-with-you services are governed by these terms and paid through a secure third party (Stripe).
- We help; you decide and submit. For anything you file with an authority, the final call — and the final responsibility — is yours.
- We're not lawyers or advisers. Pimpernel is practical information and administrative help, not regulated legal, immigration, tax or financial advice.
- Your consumer rights stand. Nothing here takes away rights the law gives you.
These terms cover your use of Pimpernel — the website, the free tools and guides, the newsletter, and (once live) the paid membership and done-with-you services. By buying or using a paid service you agree to them. We've kept them readable on purpose; if anything's unclear, email team@pimpernelfrance.com and we'll explain it plainly.
Who we are
Pimpernel is a service providing practical information and help for British people living in or moving to France. Pimpernel is operated by Will Whinfrey, trading as Pimpernel, and when we say "we", "us" or "Pimpernel" we mean that operator. "You" means anyone using the site or our services. You can reach us any time at team@pimpernelfrance.com.
What Pimpernel is — and isn't
This is the most important section, so we've put it near the top. Pimpernel gives you carefully researched information and practical, administrative help. It is not regulated professional advice, and we are not:
- a law firm, and we don't provide legal advice or act as solicitors or avocats;
- tax advisers or accountants, and we don't provide tax advice or act as an expert-comptable;
- regulated immigration advisers, and we don't give advice on your individual immigration or visa case;
- financial advisers, and we give no investment, pension, transfer or currency advice.
Our guides and tools are general information — researched against official sources and kept current as best we can, but not a substitute for professional confirmation on anything consequential. Our human checks (a letter read, a dossier reviewed, a walkthrough) are a practical second pair of eyes and administrative help, not advice on your legal, tax or immigration position. When something needs a qualified professional — a notaire, avocat, expert-comptable or registered adviser — we'll tell you plainly and point you toward one. Whatever you submit to an authority remains your decision and your responsibility.
The free services
The library guides, the wizards and tools, and the newsletter are free to use. You don't need an account and we don't charge for them. We work hard to keep them accurate and up to date, but they're provided "as is", we may change or remove them, and — as above — they're information, not advice.
Your account
Some features need a free account. You must be 18 or over to create one, give accurate details, and keep your login to yourself. You're responsible for what happens under your account. We may suspend or close an account that's used unlawfully, abusively, or in breach of these terms.
Your Pimpernel, and the details you add
If you build a personal plan, you choose what to save — and you can edit or delete it any time. You're responsible for the accuracy of what you enter. How we handle your data is set out in our Privacy notice, which forms part of these terms.
The paid products
Everything below is optional. Prices shown are the current prices; where a founding or launch price is offered, we honour it for as long as we've said.
France Move Pack
A one-off purchase (currently £60 as a launch price; £80 thereafter). It builds your personalised plan, watches your deadlines, and unlocks the paid detail across the tools. The Move Pack gives you six months' access to those paid features from the date of purchase — comfortably longer than most moves. It is a single payment with no subscription and no automatic renewal; access simply ends when the six months are up, and you're free to buy again or move to Pimpernel Life if you want to continue.
Pimpernel Life
An optional membership for after you've landed (currently £15/month or £150/year). It keeps your plan saved, your deadlines watched, and a real person a click away. Life is a recurring subscription: it renews automatically each month or year until you cancel. You can cancel any time, and your access continues to the end of the period you've already paid for; we don't refund part-periods unless the law requires it. If we change the price, we'll tell you in advance and you can decide whether to carry on.
Done-with-you (Checked) services
These are delivered by a real person: for example a letter check, a dossier review, a first tax-return walkthrough, a settling-in call, or help with a family long-stay visa. Each is described where you buy it, including the price. We give a target turnaround for each — a target we work hard to hit, not a cast-iron guarantee. Our standing promise: if we can't actually help with your specific thing, we'll say so and refund you rather than take your money. As above, these services are practical and administrative help, not regulated advice.
Concierge
For more involved, hands-on help, Concierge is arranged and priced individually. We'll agree the scope, the price and what's included with you in writing before any work or payment begins.
Prices, payment and currency
Our prices are set in pounds sterling (GBP). Payments are taken securely by Stripe, our payment processor — we never see or store your card details. If you're paying from outside the UK, Stripe may show and charge the price in your local currency at its exchange rate. You'll always see the amount before you confirm, and Stripe emails you a receipt.
Your right to cancel, and refunds
If you're a consumer, you have cancellation rights under consumer law — including, for most distance purchases, a 14-day cooling-off period. There's an important exception for services and digital content: if you ask us to start straight away (for example, to begin reviewing your dossier within the 14 days) and we complete the work, you may lose the right to cancel for the part we've done. We'll make that choice clear at the point you buy. Beyond your legal rights, our own promise stands: if we can't help with your thing, we refund it. To cancel a subscription or ask about a refund, email team@pimpernelfrance.com.
What we need from you
Please give us accurate information, use Pimpernel lawfully, and don't rely on general information for a regulated decision without getting it confirmed by a qualified professional. Don't misuse the tools, try to break the site, or scrape, copy or resell our content.
Documents you send us
When you send documents for a check, you confirm you're entitled to share them. We use them only to do the job you asked for, handle them as described in our Privacy notice, and delete or return them afterwards. We may decline work that's outside our scope, that we're not able to do well, or that would be unlawful.
Our content, and your licence to use it
The guides, tools, wording and brand are Pimpernel's, or used with permission. You're welcome to use them for your own move. You may not republish, redistribute, scrape, resell or build a competing product from them without our written permission.
Availability
We aim to keep Pimpernel reliable, but we can't promise it will always be available or error-free. We may carry out maintenance, change features, or take things offline when we need to.
Our responsibility to you — the honest limits
We stand behind the work we do, and nothing here limits any liability that can't be limited by law — including for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for your statutory rights as a consumer. Subject to that: our guides and tools are information rather than advice, and we're not responsible for a decision you make on general information without getting it professionally confirmed; and for the paid services, our total responsibility to you is limited to the amount you paid us for the service in question.
Links and other services
We link to official sources and sometimes to other providers. We're not responsible for the content, accuracy or practices of sites and services we don't run — always check the source's own terms.
Changes
We may change our services, and we may update these terms. When we do, we'll change the date at the top; anything significant, we'll flag to account holders rather than bury it here. Continuing to use a paid service after a change means you accept the updated terms.
Ending things
You can stop using Pimpernel, or cancel a subscription, at any time. We may suspend or end your access if you seriously or repeatedly breach these terms, or where we're required to by law.
Which law applies
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you're a consumer resident elsewhere — for example in France — you keep the benefit of any mandatory consumer protections of the country you live in, and can bring a claim there where the law allows.
Complaints and contact
If something's wrong, tell us first — email team@pimpernelfrance.com and we'll try to put it right. For anything about your data, see our Privacy notice; you can also complain to your data-protection authority (the ICO in the UK, the CNIL in France).