Service Satisfaction Guarantee

This Guarantee is not part of the Terms and Conditions. It is a standalone commercial policy. It is not published in the Platform Rules, it is not incorporated into the Terms by reference, and a decision under it is not subject to the dispute resolution procedure at Clause 40 of the Terms. Section 9 explains why it sits where it does.

Clause 21.2(b) of the Terms makes the Joining Fee non-refundable save on cooling-off, where the law requires it, or where a refund is made under this Guarantee. That carve-out is what allows a refund under this policy to be paid at all.

1. Purpose

This Guarantee reflects Silvatree's commitment to delivering value through active member engagement.

It applies solely to the Joining Fee paid in pounds sterling under Clause 21.2 of the Terms. It is independent of your SILVA balance and of any SILVA activity. It is offered as a discretionary commercial commitment in respect of platform service quality.

2. Eligibility

You are eligible to apply only where, at the time you apply, all of the following are true.

On condition (c): a negative SILVA balance means you have, in net, consumed value from the network of Members. That is difficult to reconcile with a claim that the platform delivered you no service value, which is why it sits outside this Guarantee.

That is not the end of the road. A Member in genuine financial difficulty whose balance has become negative through legitimate trading is dealt with under the Hardship Wind-Down provision at Clause 29.5 of the Terms, which exists for exactly that case.

3. Engagement

This Guarantee is for Members who engaged genuinely and meaningfully and still did not get value commensurate with the Joining Fee. It is not for Members who joined and did nothing.

In assessing an application we look at the whole membership year:

• Silva Purchase Requests. The volume and quality of genuine SPRs — real commercial requirements for things you actually needed. As a guide, around three substantive SPRs a month, or thirty-six across the year, indicates strong engagement.
• Business referrals. The volume and quality of genuine introductions to businesses you know and trust and consider suitable for membership. The same rough guide applies.
• Trading activity. The volume and value of completed transactions, on either side.
• Listing maintenance. Whether your directory listing, Business Description and Key Words were kept current and accurate.
• Platform participation. Attendance at member events, responsiveness to matching opportunities, engagement with Trade Broker outreach.

The numbers above are guidance, not a pass mark. We assess engagement holistically and in good faith, having regard to your circumstances, your sector, the size of your business, and what level of activity was realistically available to you. A Member who narrowly missed a monthly figure but otherwise engaged strongly is not disqualified on that basis.

4. Quality of engagement

Engagement has to be real. Specifically:

• SPRs must be genuine commercial requirements, not requests fabricated to reach a threshold.
• Referrals must be businesses you actually know and trust and which are eligible under Clause 3.1 of the Terms.
• Trading activity must be real commercial exchange — wash trading and artificial transaction structures are prohibited by Clause 28.1(c) in any event.

We may disregard activity that, in our reasonable judgement, does not meet these standards.

5. The refund

Where you are eligible under section 2 and have applied under section 6, we assess the application against sections 3 and 4 and may:

(a) Approve in full. Members who demonstrate sustained, high-quality engagement across the year may be refunded up to 75% of the Joining Fee.

The remaining 25% is retained in respect of the onboarding, business verification and anti-money-laundering checks, Annual Expense Analysis, platform setup and member training we actually delivered and actually incurred cost on.

(b) Approve in part. Where engagement was material but partial, we may grant a proportionate refund.

(c) Decline. Where engagement was insufficient, or where we consider the application is not made in good faith.

All decisions are discretionary, made in good faith on the application as a whole, and based on the quality of engagement rather than on numerical thresholds alone. The maximum refund under this Guarantee is 75% of the Joining Fee paid. The Company's decision is final.

6. How to apply

(a) Submit a written application to [email protected] setting out: the date you joined; your confirmation of eligibility under section 2; a summary of your engagement across the year; and the reasons for your dissatisfaction.

(b) Acknowledgement within 5 Business Days.

(c) Review. We assess against sections 2 to 5 and may ask for supporting documentation we reasonably require.

(d) Decision in writing within 30 Business Days of a complete application. Where we cannot decide in that time we explain why and give you a revised timetable.

(e) Payment, where approved, in pounds sterling to your bank account on record, within 14 Business Days of the decision.

(f) Finality. The Company's decision is final.

7. Independence from SILVA

A refund under this Guarantee:

(a) is a discretionary commercial gesture in respect of platform service quality;

(b) applies solely to the Joining Fee and is determined independently of, and does not depend in any way on, your SILVA balance, SILVA activity, SILVA earnings or SILVA spending;

(c) is not a redemption of SILVA, an extension of credit, the assumption of credit risk in the regulatory sense, the issuance of electronic money, the operation of a payment service, or any regulated activity under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the Consumer Credit Act 1974, the Regulated Activities Order 2001, the Electronic Money Regulations 2011, the Payment Services Regulations 2017 or any related regulation; and

(d) does not create any creditor relationship between you and the Company, in respect of a SILVA balance or anything else.

8. Exit and SILVA settlement

(a) Receiving a refund does not require you to leave. You may continue in membership.

(b) If you do terminate after a refund, the standard Wind-Down Period at Clause 29.2 applies to your SILVA balance in the ordinary way. The refund does not affect the operation of Clause 29.2.

(c) For the avoidance of doubt: a positive SILVA balance at the end of the Wind-Down Period is forfeited to the Reserve Fund under Clause 29.2(c)(i); a negative balance is settled in cash under Clause 29.2(c)(ii). The refund is paid separately and independently of either.

9. Status, variation and withdrawal

(a) This Guarantee is a standalone commercial policy published by the Company. It does not form part of the Platform Rules and is not incorporated into the Terms and Conditions by reference. We may vary, amend or withdraw it at any time on not less than 30 days' prior written notice to Members.

(b) Where it is varied or withdrawn, applications already submitted before the effective date are assessed under the version in force when they were submitted.

(c) This Guarantee is not part of the Terms and Conditions. The Terms take precedence in the event of any inconsistency. A decision under this Guarantee is a discretionary commercial decision and is not subject to the dispute resolution procedure at Clause 40 of the Terms.

Why it sits outside the Terms

Placing this policy in the Platform Rules would make it contractual — Clause 1.1 incorporates the Platform Rules by reference and Clause 47.1 makes them part of the entire agreement. A refusal would then be reviewable under Clause 40, and section 5's "the Company's decision is final" would not hold.

We would rather be straightforward about what this is: a discretionary commitment we intend to honour, offered outside the contract, rather than a contractual promise dressed as a discretion. The trade-off is that you cannot force us to pay under it. Everything the Terms do guarantee you remains fully enforceable, including under the Consumer Rights Act standards we have mirrored at Clause 51.