Terms of Service
Effective April 14, 2026
Acceptance of Terms
By accessing or using Heartwood ("the Service"), provided by Seven Roots Consulting, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service. Your continued use constitutes acceptance of any updates to these terms.
Service Description
Heartwood is an AI-powered technology advisory tool that generates structured "Decision Briefs" in response to your IT and technology questions. Each brief is tailored to your company profile — including industry, size, revenue, and current technology environment — and delivered by a simulated panel of technology executives and an industry-matched specialist. Heartwood also offers a Deep Research Brief, a one-time purchase that produces an extended research report using live web search, including vendor comparisons, implementation timelines, risk analysis, and total cost of ownership. Deep Research Briefs are delivered as a PDF attachment to the email address associated with your account.
AI Disclaimer
Decision Briefs and Deep Research Briefs are generated by artificial intelligence (Claude, by Anthropic) and do not constitute professional IT consulting, legal, financial, or business advice. The panel members are simulated personas, not real individuals. Deep Research Briefs incorporate data gathered via automated web search; while we strive for accuracy, vendor pricing, product details, and market data may be outdated or incomplete. All briefs are intended as a starting point for your decision-making process. Seven Roots Consulting makes no guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of any AI-generated content. You are solely responsible for any actions taken based on Heartwood output.
Account & Authentication
Access to Heartwood requires a valid email address. Authentication is handled via a one-time passcode (OTP) sent to your email. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your email account and for all activity that occurs under your authenticated session.
Free Trial
Each verified email address receives three (3) complimentary Decision Briefs as a one-time trial. The trial requires no payment method and carries no obligation to subscribe. Unused free briefs are consumed per-use and do not reset or carry over once the trial is exhausted.
Paid Subscriptions
After the free trial, you may subscribe to Heartwood Pro for $99 per month, billed in U.S. dollars, to unlock unlimited standard Decision Briefs (subject to standard abuse-prevention rate limits) and 2 Deep Research credits per billing period. Unused Deep Research credits expire at the end of each billing period and do not roll over. By subscribing, you authorize Seven Roots Consulting to charge your designated payment method at the start of each billing period until you cancel. Your subscription renews automatically on a monthly cycle on the calendar day corresponding to your original purchase date; if that day does not exist in a given month, your subscription renews on the last day of the month. Separately, standalone Deep Research Briefs are available as a one-time purchase at $99 per brief. Standalone Deep Research Briefs are charged at the time of purchase and are independent of the Heartwood Pro subscription.
Payment Processing
All payments — including Heartwood Pro subscriptions and one-time Deep Research Brief purchases — are processed by Stripe, Inc. By making a purchase, you agree to Stripe's terms at https://stripe.com/legal and privacy policy at https://stripe.com/privacy. Heartwood does not store your full payment card details; we receive only a tokenized customer reference and transaction status from Stripe. You are responsible for keeping your payment method current. If a subscription payment fails, Stripe will retry per its standard schedule; if all retries fail, your subscription will move to a past-due state and access to paid features will be suspended until the payment succeeds.
Cancellation & Refunds
You may cancel your subscription at any time through the Manage Subscription option within Heartwood. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; you retain access to paid features until that date. All subscription fees are non-refundable. We do not issue refunds or credits for partially used billing periods, for periods of downtime or non-use, or for cancellations mid-cycle. Cancelling terminates auto-renewal; it does not refund the current period. Deep Research Brief purchases are non-refundable once the research process has begun. If the system is unable to generate your Deep Research Brief due to a technical failure, we will issue a full refund to the original payment method. We reserve the right to issue discretionary refunds in cases of duplicate charges, billing errors, or service unavailability exceeding seventy-two (72) consecutive hours.
Price Changes
We may modify subscription pricing at any time. Any change to the price of your existing subscription will take effect no sooner than thirty (30) days after we notify you by email sent to the address associated with your account. You may cancel before the change takes effect to avoid the new price; continued use of Heartwood Pro after the change constitutes acceptance of the new pricing.
Taxes
Subscription fees are stated exclusive of applicable taxes. You are responsible for any sales, use, VAT, or similar taxes applicable to your subscription, except for taxes based on our net income. Where required, Heartwood may collect and remit such taxes on your behalf.
Chargebacks & Disputes
If you believe a charge is incorrect, please contact us at panel@sevenrootsconsulting.com before initiating a chargeback with your card issuer. We will work in good faith to resolve billing issues directly. Filing a chargeback without first contacting us may result in immediate termination of your Heartwood account and a permanent bar on future service.
Acceptable Use
You agree not to misuse the Service. This includes, but is not limited to: automated scraping or data extraction, sharing your authenticated session or credentials with third parties, submitting intentionally misleading or harmful content, attempting to reverse-engineer or interfere with the Service's infrastructure, and using Heartwood output to mislead others about the source of advice.
Intellectual Property
The Heartwood name, branding, panel personas, and application design are the property of Seven Roots Consulting. You retain all rights to the questions and company information you submit. Decision Briefs and Deep Research Briefs generated for you are licensed for your internal business use. You may not redistribute, resell, or publicly publish briefs without written permission.
Limitation of Liability
The Service is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. Seven Roots Consulting shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of Heartwood or reliance on any Decision Brief. This includes, without limitation, damages resulting from business decisions made based on AI-generated content.
Termination
We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, with or without cause, and with or without notice. You may discontinue use of the Service at any time by ceasing to access it. Termination for cause — including but not limited to violations of these Terms, fraudulent activity, or abusive chargeback behavior — does not entitle you to a refund of prepaid subscription fees.
Modifications to Terms
We may update these Terms of Service at any time. Changes will be reflected on this page with an updated effective date. Your continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.
Governing Law
These terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Wisconsin, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any disputes arising under these terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Wisconsin.
Contact
If you have questions about these Terms of Service, please contact us at panel@sevenrootsconsulting.com.