Terms of Service

Last updated: September 27, 2026

These terms govern your use of EMC Local, a local business directory for New Caney and Splendora, Texas. By creating an account or using this site, you agree to these terms.

The Service

EMC Local lets visitors search for local businesses and lets business owners claim, verify, and manage their own listings. Some listings are added by us or suggested by the public before an owner claims them.

Accounts

You're responsible for keeping your account credentials secure and for all activity under your account. Provide accurate information when creating an account or claiming a listing.

Claiming a Business

Claiming a listing is a formal verification process, not a simple edit button — we review claims before granting editing access. Submitting a false or fraudulent claim of ownership is prohibited and may result in account suspension.

SMS Terms

By providing your phone number and submitting the Add a Business form, you consent to receive text messages from EMC Local, including one-time verification codes and account-related notifications. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out of text messages at any time, or reply HELP for assistance. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

Content You Submit

By submitting a business listing, claim information, photos, or other content, you confirm you have the right to submit it and grant EMC Local a license to display it on the site. We may edit, reject, or remove submitted content at our discretion — for example, if it's inaccurate, misleading, or violates these terms.

Prohibited Conduct

• Submitting fraudulent ownership claims or fake business listings.
• Posting false, misleading, or defamatory information about a business.
• Attempting to access another user's account or another business's claim without authorization.
• Using the site for spam, scraping, or any unlawful purpose.

Paid Plans, Billing and Refunds

Free listings. Every listing starts free. A Free listing shows your business name, phone number, and city. You can claim it to earn the Verified badge at no cost.

Premium listings. Premium is $10 per month or $100 per year and adds a full profile: cover photo, logo, full story, list of services, and all your contact links. You choose monthly or yearly when you sign up.

Website Package. The Website Package is a one-time $200 setup fee for a one-page website, then $40 per month for hosting and upkeep. Extra pages are $100 each. We build you a free preview before you pay anything. The setup fee is due when you approve the preview and is not refundable once you approve it. Your Website Package includes a Premium listing at no extra charge for as long as your monthly plan is active.

Payments. All payments are handled by Stripe. EMC Local never sees or stores your card number. Prices are in US dollars, and sales tax is added where the law requires it.

Automatic renewal. Monthly and yearly plans renew automatically until you cancel. You'll be charged at the start of each billing period.

Cancelling. You can cancel any time by emailing contact@emclocal.org or through the link in your Stripe receipt. Your plan stays active until the end of the period you already paid for, and then it ends. We don't refund the unused part of a billing period.

Refunds. If you ask within 7 days of your first payment for a Premium plan, we'll refund it in full. After that, payments are non-refundable except where the law requires it or where we made a billing mistake, which we'll fix.

Failed payments. If a payment fails, Stripe will retry the card a few times. If it still fails, your plan ends and your listing returns to Free.

What happens when a plan ends. Your listing returns to a Free listing. Premium content such as your photos, story, and services is hidden, not deleted, and we keep it for 90 days so you can restore it by resubscribing. For a Website Package, your site stays online until the end of your paid period, then we take it down.

Your website's domain name. We register your domain name in EMC Local's name and pay for it as part of your Website Package. After you've been a Website Package customer for 12 months, you can have the domain transferred to you for free at any time. If you cancel before your first 12 months are up and want to keep the domain, you'll first pay the monthly fees remaining in those 12 months, and then we'll transfer it to you for free. Domain transfers can take a few days, and new domains can't be transferred during their first 60 days because of an industry rule. On request, we'll also give you a copy of your website's files so you can host it anywhere.

Price changes. We may change prices for new customers at any time. If we raise your price, we'll give you at least 30 days' notice before it takes effect, and you can cancel before then.

The Verified badge. The Verified badge means we confirmed the owner's contact details through our claim process. It is not an endorsement of the business's work.

No Warranty

Business listings are provided "as is." EMC Local does not verify the accuracy of every detail in every listing and is not responsible for a business's products, services, pricing, or conduct.

Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, EMC Local is not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the site.

Suspension and Termination

We may suspend or terminate an account that violates these terms, including fraudulent claims or abusive behavior.

Governing Law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas.

Changes to These Terms

If these terms change, we'll update the date at the top of this page. Continued use of the site after a change means you accept the updated terms.

Contact Us

Questions about these terms can be sent to contact@emclocal.org.