SMSFlow

Terms and Conditions

Terms of service

The SMS Messaging Services (referred to as "the Services") provided by SMSFlow are subject to the following terms of service, which apply to your ("the customer") use of the Services.

By accessing or using the Services offered on this website ("the Site"), you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by these Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree with any part of these terms, you must immediately stop using the Services and exit the Site.

The Service is not available to minors or individuals who are not legally capable of agreeing to these Terms of Service.

By accepting these terms, you affirm that you are legally able to enter into a binding contract and will accurately provide the requested subscriber details.

SmsFlow reserves the right to update these Terms of Service at any time. Any changes will take effect immediately upon posting the revised agreement on this Site, and you agree to be bound by the most current version of these terms.

SmsFlow and its service providers are not liable for any injury, loss, or damage incurred by you or any user as a result of accessing or using the Services, including but not limited to:

Errors or inconsistencies in the information provided.
Unauthorised access to the Services.
Equipment failure or breakdown.
Non-deliverable of messages.
Inability to process a transaction due to failure of systems or facilities.
Destruction or access to your or any user’s data or equipment.
Alterations to or updates of the Services or related technologies.

You indemnify SMSFlow and its service providers against any claims arising from your access to this Site or your use of the Services.

This agreement and any related disputes will be governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa.

SMSFlow may, without prior notice, suspend, change, or discontinue the Service, including any features of the Site, at its discretion.

To access the Services, you will use a username and password. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of these credentials and must notify SMSFlow immediately if you suspect any compromise. By logging in, you commit to honouring all actions performed under your account.

Despite the Privacy Policy, any messages sent by you will be identifiable by your username for the session.

SMSFlow may suspend or terminate your access to certain parts of the Site if you violate these Terms, the Privacy Policy, or other applicable rules. You can choose to close your account at any time.

You are prohibited from reproducing, duplicating, selling, or exploiting any part of the Services for commercial purposes.

You may not use the Services for:

Impersonating or harassing others.
Sending libelous, fraudulent, misleading, obscene, or offensive content.
Violating privacy or proprietary rights.
Sending discriminatory, abusive, or sexually explicit messages.
Violating any laws or regulations.
Intercepting communications not intended for you.
Distributing viruses or harmful computer codes.
Infringing intellectual property rights.
Engaging in unsolicited mass messaging or similar behavior.
Endangering national security or steal or leak/disclose national secrets, intelligence or military secrets.
Organising cult activities or liaisons with cult members to breach laws and regulations.
Gambling (advertising of gambling services are allowed)
For the distribution of fake lottery, fake marriage or fake recruitment.
Luring or introducing prostitution.
The illegal sale of firearms ammunition explosives, banknotes or for smuggling.

SmsFlow is not responsible for identifying the sender of any messages. If you receive inappropriate or abusive messages, SMSFlow may, at its discretion, attempt to identify the sender and share that information with the recipient if possible.

Disclaimer

SMSFlow is not liable for any injury, loss, or damage incurred by users of the website, including but not limited to:

Errors or inconsistencies in the provided information.
Unauthorised third-party access.
Equipment failure affecting access to the website.
System failures preventing access to services.
Destruction or unauthorised access to user data.
Changes or updates to the website or services.

The user agrees to indemnify SMSFlow for any claims related to their use of the website or services.

SMSFlow reserves the right to modify or suspend the website or any part of it at any time.

Unless otherwise stated, SMSFlow owns the intellectual property rights for this website, and unauthorized use is prohibited.

Risks

Given the nature of the Service, SMSFlow cannot be held responsible for risks associated with data security, privacy, and message transmission reliability. The customer is fully responsible for any risks resulting from the use of the Service.

Limitation of Liability

The Services, along with all content and products available on the website, are provided "as is" and are subject to change without notice. SMSFlow disclaims all warranties to the fullest extent permitted by law, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

In no event will SMSFlow or its service providers be liable for any damages, whether direct, indirect, special, consequential, or punitive, arising from the use or inability to use the website or services.

Access to the Service

It is the customer’s responsibility to obtain all necessary devices and services to access and use the Services.

WASPA code of conduct

WASPA is an industry association that operates on a membership basis, serving as a self-regulatory body for its members. It plays a crucial role in managing consumer complaints against its members and ensuring that they comply with the strict standards outlined in the WASPA Code of Conduct. If you have a complaint or inquiry related to a WASPA member, you are encouraged to submit it to WASPA.

The full WASPA Code of Conduct is available on the WASPA website at https://waspa.org.za/code-of-conduct/.

What Should I Know Before Sending Bulk SMS Messages to My Contact List?

You may not send marketing messages, not specifically agreed to, too any number on the do not contact list.
Consent: Before sending bulk SMS messages, it’s essential to ensure that your recipients have given you explicit consent to receive these messages.
When running promotional SMS competitions, you must comply with all regulations as set out in the Consumer Protection Act, and other relevant legislation.
Opt-Out Options: Recipients have the right to opt out of receiving further SMS messages. Once they opt out, you are prohibited from sending them additional messages. SMSFlow includes an automatic opt-out system that detects opt-out replies and prevents further messages from being sent to those recipients. Keywords like “STOP” or “OPT OUT” will trigger the filter, but other variations such as “END,” “CANCEL,” “UNSUBSCRIBE,” or “QUIT” are also accepted. It's good practice to include an opt-out instruction like “Reply STOP to opt-out” in your SMS. According to the WASPA Code of Conduct, an SMS confirmation must be sent to the recipient to confirm their number has been added to the opt-out list, and SMSFlow does this automatically.
Prohibited Times for Direct SMS Marketing: Unless a consumer has explicitly or implicitly agreed to receive messages, direct marketing SMS campaigns should not be sent at the following times:

(a) Sundays and public holidays as per the Public Holidays Act, 1994.

(b) Saturdays before 09:00 or after 13:00.

These are the key points to remember when sending bulk SMS messages to your contact list. For a more detailed guide on direct SMS marketing, refer to Section 16 of the WASPA Code of Conduct.

Privacy Notice

1. GENERAL
Welcome to the SMSFlow.co.za website, owned and operated by SMSFlow (Pty) Ltd (the Company), part of the Flownamix Group of Companies.

The Company is committed to business practices in compliance with industry-acceptable privacy standards and in compliance with the law. This policy sets out the categories of personal information we may collect from you or other sources when you make use of our website and how we process that personal information.

We comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act No. 4 of 2013 (POPIA) and the principles outlined in Sections 50 and 51 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act No.25 of 2002 (ECTA) which govern your right to have your personal information kept private.

We may amend this policy from time to time, in line with changes required by legislation or our internal business requirements. The most updated version will apply and you, therefore, need to review the Privacy Policy each time you visit the website. Unless we expressly state otherwise, the amended version of the Privacy Policy shall supersede and replace all previous versions thereof.

By using our website, you consent to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

DEFINITIONS:

In this privacy statement, the Company makes use of the following terms:

“Personal Information” means all information which may be personal in nature or information about an identifiable natural or existing juristic person in terms of POPIA.
“User, you, your, or yourself” refers to any person who makes use of the Website.

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Personal Information will include information defined by the applicable legislation to be “personal information”. This is information that you provide to us that personally identifies you or another person, such as name, email address, ID number or company registration number, billing information, or other data that we can reasonably link to such personal information.

COLLECTION AND USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION:

In processing personal information, the Company ensures that it complies with the provisions of POPIA, and personal information is used for legitimate business purposes. The Company limits the use and disclosure of personal information to include only what is permitted in terms of POPIA, where consumers have consented to such collection, use, and disclosure.

All personal information retained on the Company’s database, including such information obtained using the Website, is in accordance with the retention provisions set out in the laws and regulations of South Africa, including those set out in POPIA.

We collect personal information about you when you provide information through the website or our systems. We may also collect information about you from other third parties related to our operations or within our business structure. The information we collect is limited to the details we need to provide the specific service that you have requested. We will only collect personal information for a specified purpose and collect and process personal information only for the purpose for which you give it to us. We do not collect or compile personal information for dissemination or sale to outside parties for consumer marketing purposes or host mailings on behalf of third parties.

It is SMSFlow's policy to limit the information collected to only the minimum required, considering the purpose for which the information was collected. In any instance where non-mandatory information is sought, you will be notified of this at the point of collection. SMSFlow makes every practical effort to avoid excessive or irrelevant collection of information. If you believe that our website has collected excessive information, we encourage you to contact our Privacy Officer at [email protected] to raise any concerns. Unless the law requires otherwise, we only use the personal information you provide to us to deliver the specific information or service you have requested.

Without your express consent, we will not use your contact details for any other purpose, except to:

perform our duties in terms of our agreement with you;
carry out, monitor and analyse our business;
contact you by email, SMS, letter, telephone, or in any other way about our products and services if you request us to do so, unless you tell us that you prefer not to receive communications;
develop or improve products or services that may be of interest to you;
carry out market research, business and statistical analysis;
carry out audits;
perform other administrative and operational purposes including the testing of systems;
comply with our regulatory or other obligations;
carry out any other reasonable business operation considering our business and the relationship between you and us.

We will keep your personal information confidential and only share it with others for the purposes set out in this policy, or otherwise if you have consented thereto, or if we are legally obliged or entitled to do so. We have trusted relationships with carefully selected third parties who perform services on our behalf.

We may share information about you with (i) any payment system we may use; (ii) other divisions or companies within the group of companies; (iii) other companies that provide products or services to us; (iv) regulatory and governmental authorities, ombudsmen, or other authorities, including tax authorities, where we are requested by them to do so; (v) any other third party if allowed to do so in law.

When we employ another company to perform a function on our behalf, we only provide them with the information that they need to perform their specific function. To the extent that that third party requires your information to enable SMSFlow to provide you with our services or perform business-related functions on our behalf, you hereby consent to SMSFlow sharing your personal information with such third parties.

SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION AND CHILDREN’S INFORMATION:

SMSFlow's intention is not to seek any sensitive information through our website unless legally required or for recruiting purposes. Sensitive information includes information relating to

race or ethnic origin;
political opinions; religious or other similar beliefs;
trade union membership;
physical or mental health; sexual life or criminal records.

We request that you do not provide sensitive information of this nature. If you do wish to provide sensitive information for any reason, you explicitly consent to our use of that information in the ways described in this privacy statement or as described at the point where you choose to disclose this information.

We understand the importance of protecting children’s privacy, especially in an online environment. Our website is not intentionally designed for or directed at children. It is SMSFlow's policy never to knowingly collect or maintain information about anyone under the age of 18.

CROSS-BORDER TRANSMISSION:
Personal information collected or processed by SMSFlow may be shared between companies within the SMSFlow Group or be processed by third-party service providers where it is necessary to meet the purpose for which you have submitted the information. For these purposes, personal information may be processed cross-border, and by submitting personal information on SmsFlow’s website or to our systems, you explicitly consent to trans-border transmission of the information.

CONSENT:
We only collect or process personally identifiable information if it is specifically and voluntarily provided by you or as otherwise disclosed in this Privacy Policy. If you provide us with personal information about another person, you warrant that you have that person’s consent to do so and that that person has given explicit consent for SMSFlow to collect or process their personal information for the purpose for which you submitted it to us.

RETENTION:
Some of the information we receive is not retained. Generally, information will be retained in terms of our internal retention policies. By way of example, contact information about visitors to our website (such as information generated through registration for access to areas on the site) will be retained as long as the information is required to completely service the contact request or until a user requests that we delete that information. Mailing list information, discussion posts, and emails are kept for the period of time considered reasonable to facilitate the visitor’s requests. Resumes are disposed of when they are either no longer under consideration or are considered outdated by our Human Resources departments.

SECURITY:
We have implemented generally accepted standards of technology and operational security in order to protect personal information from loss, misuse, alteration, or destruction. We make use of electronic and computer safeguards such as firewalls. We have physical and electronic access control to our buildings.
All SMSFlow employees follow a network-wide security policy under which we only authorize access. Only authorized SMSFlow personnel are provided access to personal information, and these employees have agreed contractually to ensure the confidentiality of this information. SMSFlow's policy is to use secure socket layer technology for our customer’s administration area to protect information submitted through web forms.

We are committed to ensuring your personal information is kept secure and confidential and not kept for longer than is necessary for the purpose for which we collected it.

RIGHT TO REQUEST ACCESS AND CHANGES TO PERSONAL INFORMATION:

If any of your personal information changes, you must let us know immediately by updating your SMSFlow account or contacting our Support team at [email protected].

Subject to applicable law, you have the right of access to personal information you have submitted to SMSFlow. SMSFlow is committed to providing reasonable and practical access to visitors to allow them the opportunity to identify and correct any inaccuracies. When requested and practical, SMSFlow will delete identifying information from current operational systems. If you want us to remove or update any of your personal information, please contact our Support team at [email protected].

SMSFlow does not assume responsibility for verifying the ongoing accuracy of personal information. When practically possible, if we are informed that any personal information submitted to our website or systems and stored by us is no longer accurate, SMSFlow will make appropriate changes. However, SMSFlow will not be liable for any damage that you may suffer from any cause whatsoever due to inaccurate information being provided to SMSFlow or a failure to update information.