Terms and conditions

These terms govern access to and use of Techtuel, a service for the automatic transcription of audio and video content, available through a web interface and an API, published by L'Alternative Fabrique (see the legal notice).

Creating an account, using the free trial or taking out a subscription constitutes unreserved acceptance of these terms and of the acceptable use policy, which forms an integral part of them.

Techtuel transcribes an audio or video file, or a media file identified by its URL, into text. Transcripts are generated automatically by speech recognition models.

Usage is measured in credits. A credit is the service's unit of account, charged as follows:

• audio transcription: 2 credits per minute of media, rounded up;
• video that already has usable captions: 1 credit per transcript, whatever its length.

This tariff may change if the underlying processing cost changes. Any change is subject to the notice period set out in article 5.

A trial is available without creating an account, limited to a reduced credit allowance and a lower rate limit. It is intended for evaluating the service.

The free tier (100 credits per month) is available once an account is created. It is provided as is, with no availability commitment on our part, and may be changed or withdrawn subject to the notice period in article 5.

Creating multiple accounts to circumvent these limits is prohibited and breaches the acceptable use policy.

Paid plans are monthly subscriptions, billed in advance, in euros, at the rates shown on the pricing page. As the publisher benefits from the French VAT exemption for small businesses (art. 293 B of the French tax code), the prices shown carry no VAT. Should the publisher cease to qualify for that regime, prices would be increased by the applicable tax; such an increase, being fiscal in nature, would be notified under the terms of clause 5.

Payments are processed by Mollie B.V. (Netherlands). No card details pass through or are stored on our servers.

The credit allowance is refilled each billing period. Credits left unused at the end of a period do not carry over and are not refundable.

The subscription renews automatically at each due date until terminated. If a payment fails, access to paid features is suspended after a reminder; the account and the transcripts already produced remain accessible.

The service evolves. New features are included in your plan unless expressly stated otherwise.

Any price increase, change to the credit tariff or substantial reduction in allowances will be notified to you by e-mail at least thirty days before it takes effect, and applies only from the following billing period. You may terminate free of charge before that date. Continuing to use the service after it takes effect constitutes acceptance.

If you are a consumer within the meaning of the French Consumer Code, you have fourteen days from subscribing to exercise your right of withdrawal, without having to give reasons.

Before your payment is confirmed, you are asked to confirm, by ticking a box separate from your acceptance of these terms, that you expressly request immediate performance of the service and acknowledge that, once it has been fully performed, you lose your right of withdrawal (art. L. 221-25 and L. 221-28, 1° of the French Consumer Code). Absent that request, access to the service opens only once the fourteen-day period has expired.

If you withdraw after having requested immediate performance, the amount due is calculated pro rata to the credits consumed; the balance is refunded within fourteen days.

To exercise this right, write to contact@techtuel.com or use the contact form.

You may terminate your subscription at any time from your account. Termination takes effect at the end of the current period: access and remaining credits are kept until that date, with no renewal thereafter.

We may suspend or terminate your access if you breach these terms or the acceptable use policy — without notice where the seriousness or urgency warrants it — and without refund.

When the subscription ends, your account moves to the free plan: the transcripts already produced remain accessible and exportable, and only the paid features stop.

When your account is deleted, your transcripts are erased. Export them beforehand if you wish to keep them.

The service is provided without a contractual availability commitment. We use reasonable efforts to keep it running, but interruptions may occur: maintenance, incidents, or a technical provider's failure.

The service depends on third-party sources and providers whose availability is outside our control. A failure to transcribe a particular media file — an unreachable source, an unsupported format, a technical protection measure — does not constitute a failure of the service.

Transcripts are produced automatically and contain errors. They are supplied as is, with no warranty of accuracy, completeness or fitness for a particular purpose.

It is for you to check them before any use that commits you, in particular for legal, medical, contractual or journalistic purposes. We cannot be held liable for the consequences of unchecked use.

You are responsible for the accuracy of your account details, for keeping your credentials and API keys confidential, and for any use made through them.

You warrant that your use of the service complies with applicable law, third parties' rights and the acceptable use policy, in particular as regards rights over submitted content and the personal data it contains.

You indemnify us against any third-party claim, action or award arising from the content you have submitted or from your use of the service in breach of these terms, including reasonable defence costs.

Our liability is limited to direct and foreseeable loss resulting from a breach attributable to us. It may not exceed the sums you actually paid over the six months preceding the event giving rise to it.

Indirect loss is excluded, in particular loss of revenue, damage to reputation, and loss of data of which you kept no copy.

These limitations do not apply in cases of gross negligence or wilful misconduct, of personal injury, or where the law sets them aside, in particular under the statutory guarantees owed to consumers.

If you are a consumer, you benefit from the statutory guarantee of conformity for digital content and services (art. L. 224-25-12 et seq. of the French Consumer Code), independently of these terms. No clause may deprive you of it.

The service, its interface, code, documentation and trademarks remain our exclusive property. Your subscription grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable right of use for the duration of the subscription.

The transcripts produced from your media belong to you, within the limits of the rights you held over the original media.

The processing of your personal data is described in the legal notice. Where the media you submit contain third parties' personal data in a professional context, you act as data controller and we act as processor, on the terms of the data processing agreement.

These terms are governed by French law.

In the event of a dispute, please contact us so that we can seek an amicable solution. If you are a consumer and your written complaint has not been resolved, you may refer the matter free of charge to the consumer mediator we are registered with:

• Centre de la Médiation de la Consommation de Conciliateurs de Justice (CM2C)
• 49 rue de Ponthieu, 75008 Paris, France
• cm2c.net — cm2c@cm2c.net

The mediator may only be contacted after a prior written complaint to us has gone unanswered or has not been resolved to your satisfaction.

Failing an amicable resolution, the dispute will be brought before the competent courts. If you are a consumer, the protective rules of jurisdiction provided by law continue to apply to you.