Terms of Service

The Control Surface is a property management email analysis tool that uses artificial intelligence to scan, categorize, and summarize emails related to your rental properties. The Service connects to your Gmail account via Google's OAuth system and uses AI (including Google Gemini) to process email content.

The Service is a tool to assist with organization and is not a substitute for professional property management, legal, financial, or accounting advice.

You must provide accurate information when creating an account. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials and for all activities that occur under your account.

You must notify us immediately at support@thecontrolsurface.com if you believe your account has been compromised.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or pose a security risk.

Authorization: You represent and warrant that you have the legal right to grant us access to the email account you connect. You must not connect email accounts belonging to others without their explicit authorization.

Scope of Access: You grant The Control Surface permission to access, read, and process your emails via Gmail's read-only API (gmail.readonly scope) solely for the purpose of providing the Service. We cannot send, delete, or modify your emails.

Your Responsibility: You remain solely responsible for verifying the accuracy of all AI-generated summaries, extracted costs, and categorizations before making any financial, legal, or business decisions based on them.

You agree NOT to: (a) use the Service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable laws; (b) attempt to reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Service; (c) interfere with or disrupt the Service or servers; (d) use automated systems (bots, scrapers) to access the Service except as expressly permitted; (e) circumvent any access restrictions or rate limits; (f) resell, sublicense, or redistribute the Service without written permission; (g) use the Service to process data you are not authorized to access.

Resource Limits: We reserve the right to limit, throttle, or suspend accounts that consume a disproportionate amount of resources (including AI tokens, bandwidth, API calls, or storage) relative to their subscription tier. We will make reasonable efforts to notify you before taking such action, except in cases of abuse or system degradation.

Violation of these terms may result in immediate termination of your account without refund.

Pricing Tiers: Free (Scout): $0/year for 1 property with full features. Professional: $99/year for 2-50 properties with daily sync and historical data. Enterprise: $299/year for 51-150 properties with priority support. Custom: Contact us for 150+ properties with negotiated terms.

Annual Billing: All paid subscriptions are billed annually in advance. No monthly billing option is currently available.

Money-Back Guarantee: New paid subscribers may request a full refund within 14 days of their initial purchase. After 14 days, no refunds are provided for the current billing period.

Price Changes: We may change subscription prices with 30 days' notice. Continued use after a price change constitutes acceptance. Price changes do not affect your current billing cycle.

Cancellation: You may cancel your subscription at any time via your account settings. Upon cancellation, your access continues until the end of your current annual billing period. Important: Canceling your subscription does NOT automatically delete your data. To delete your data, you must separately use Settings → Delete Account.

Failed Payments: If payment fails, we may suspend access until payment is received. We are not responsible for any consequences of suspended access due to non-payment.

IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ CAREFULLY. The Service utilizes Generative AI (including Google Gemini) to interpret unstructured text and PDF attachments. AI is probabilistic and may occasionally produce "hallucinations," errors, or misinterpretations.

No Guarantee of Accuracy: We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any data extracted by the AI, including but not limited to: invoice amounts, vendor names, lease dates, rental rates, lease termination periods, or legal notices. Cost deduplication, rental rate discovery, and lease period extraction involve complex heuristics that may produce incorrect results.

Case Assembly Is Subjective: The grouping of emails into "cases" reflects our best efforts to create useful organizational structures. Case boundaries, titles, and categorizations are subjective judgments made by AI and may not align with your expectations or the actual relationships between emails.

PDF Limitations: The AI may be unable to read, parse, or accurately extract data from certain PDF attachments due to formatting, scanning quality, encryption, or other factors. You should not assume PDF content has been accurately captured.

User Duty to Verify: You acknowledge that it is your sole responsibility to verify all AI-generated summaries and data against the original source documents (emails and PDFs) before making financial decisions, paying invoices, or taking legal action.

Not Professional Advice: The Service provides informational summaries only. It does not constitute legal, financial, tax, accounting, or property management advice. You should consult qualified professionals before making decisions based on Service outputs.

Release: You hereby release The Control Surface LLC from any liability for losses, damages, or penalties arising from your reliance on AI-generated data without independent verification.

Third-Party AI: We use third-party AI services (including Google Gemini) to process your data. We do not control and are not responsible for the accuracy or availability of these third-party services.

Your Content: You retain full ownership of your property data, email content, and any information you provide to the Service.

Our Service: The Control Surface, including its software, design, features, documentation, and branding, is the intellectual property of The Control Surface LLC and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. You may not copy, modify, or create derivative works without written permission.

Feedback: If you provide suggestions or feedback about the Service, you grant us a perpetual, royalty-free license to use that feedback for any purpose without compensation to you.

The Service integrates with third-party services including Google (Gmail, Gemini AI), Stripe, and others. Your use of these services is subject to their respective terms and privacy policies.

We are not responsible for: the availability, accuracy, or conduct of any third-party service; any loss or damage arising from your use of third-party services; changes to third-party services that affect the functionality of our Service.

If Google or another critical third-party service becomes unavailable or changes its terms, we may need to modify or discontinue features of the Service.

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR ACCURACY.

WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT: the Service will meet your requirements; the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free; AI-generated outputs will be accurate or complete; any errors will be corrected; the Service will be compatible with your systems.

NO SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT: The Service is provided on a best-effort basis. We do not guarantee any specific level of uptime, availability, or performance. We do not offer a Service Level Agreement (SLA) or uptime credits.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of the above exclusions may not apply to you.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE CONTROL SURFACE LLC AND ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: loss of profits, revenue, data, or business opportunities; property damage; personal injury; business interruption; costs of substitute services; damages arising from reliance on AI-generated outputs; damages arising from third-party service failures.

OUR TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SERVICE SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF: (a) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR (b) ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100).

These limitations apply regardless of the theory of liability (contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, or otherwise) and even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless The Control Surface LLC, its officers, directors, employees, agents, and affiliates from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from or related to:

(a) your use of the Service; (b) your violation of these Terms; (c) your violation of any applicable law or regulation; (d) your violation of any third-party rights; (e) any content or data you provide to the Service; (f) decisions you make based on AI-generated outputs.

We reserve the right to assume exclusive defense of any claim subject to indemnification, at your expense.

By You: You may terminate your account at any time via Settings → Delete Account. Upon termination, your data will be deleted in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

By Us: We may suspend or terminate your account immediately, without prior notice, if we reasonably believe you have violated these Terms, engaged in fraudulent activity, or pose a risk to the Service or other users.

Free Account Inactivity: Free (Scout) accounts may be terminated at our discretion if you do not access or utilize the Service for a period longer than 12 consecutive months. We will attempt to notify you via email before termination. You may create a new free account after termination if you wish, but your previous data will not be recoverable.

Effect of Termination: Upon termination, your right to use the Service ceases immediately. Sections that by their nature should survive (including Disclaimers, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification, and Dispute Resolution) will survive termination.

No Refunds: Termination for cause does not entitle you to any refund of prepaid fees.

Informal Resolution: Before filing any formal dispute, you agree to contact us at support@thecontrolsurface.com and attempt to resolve the dispute informally for at least 30 days.

Binding Arbitration: If informal resolution fails, any dispute arising from or relating to these Terms or the Service shall be resolved by binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules. The arbitration will be conducted in English, and judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

CLASS ACTION WAIVER: YOU AGREE THAT ANY DISPUTE RESOLUTION WILL BE CONDUCTED ONLY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS AND NOT IN A CLASS, CONSOLIDATED, OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION. You waive any right to participate in a class action lawsuit or class-wide arbitration.

Small Claims Exception: Either party may bring an individual action in small claims court if the claim qualifies.

Opt-Out: You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by sending written notice to support@thecontrolsurface.com within 30 days of first accepting these Terms. The notice must include your name, email, and a clear statement that you wish to opt out.

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas, United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

For any disputes not subject to arbitration, you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Harris County, Houston, Texas.

The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply to these Terms.

We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue the Service (or any part thereof) at any time, with or without notice. We will make reasonable efforts to notify you of material changes that affect your use of the Service.

We are not liable to you or any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuation of the Service.

Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the modified Terms.

We shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performing our obligations under these Terms due to circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including but not limited to: natural disasters, acts of war or terrorism, pandemics, power outages, internet or telecommunications failures, government actions, third-party service outages (including Google, Vercel, Supabase, or payment processors), or labor disputes.

Entire Agreement: These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and The Control Surface LLC regarding the Service and supersede all prior agreements.

Severability: If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

No Waiver: Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms does not constitute a waiver of that right or provision.

Assignment: You may not assign or transfer these Terms or your rights under them without our written consent. We may assign our rights and obligations without restriction.

Notices: We may provide notices to you via email, in-app notification, or by posting on the Service. You may provide notices to us at support@thecontrolsurface.com.

Headings: Section headings are for convenience only and do not affect the interpretation of these Terms.

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by posting the updated Terms on the Service and updating the "Last Updated" date. For material changes (such as price increases or changes in liability limits), we will provide at least 30 days' notice via email to the address associated with your account.

Your continued use of the Service after changes become effective constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not agree to the revised Terms, you must stop using the Service.

For questions about these Terms, please contact us at:

The Control Surface LLC

4212 Woodhead Street Unit #2014, Houston, TX 77098

Email: support@thecontrolsurface.com