This Agreement was updated on 11th November 2024.

For previous versions click here.

Introduction

This Policy describes the circumstances and conditions in terms of which we may provide certain refunds to customers of our Services.

The terms of this Policy constitute an agreement between us. Capitalized terms used but not defined in this Policy will have the meanings set forth in the applicable agreement between us governing your use of the Services (the “Agreement”).

Our Policy distinguishes Pre-Paid Services from Subscription Services.

Our Pre-Paid Services enable you to top up your account with redeemable Service credits that you can use at any time for certain of our Services.

Our Subscription Service offerings are recurring, time-based offerings. For example, where you purchase a monthly subscription. Subscription services may also entail Service usage limits that reset at the commencement of each recurring subscription period.

Pre-Paid Services

For certain Services, we may offer you the option to make purchases of Service Credits. Service Credits represent the amount credited to your account in order to able to make use of those Services.

Service Credits are not legal tender or currency, are not exchangeable for any sum of money or monetary value, are non-transferable and may be applied and used only in connection with your usage of our Services.

Nevertheless, there are three instances where Service Credits may be transferrable:

  1. As a Reseller of BulkSMS services or as a service provider selling BulkSMS services as part of your own offering, you undertake an authorised transfer of Service Credits from your BulkSMS account to a BulkSMS account of your client.
  2. You undertake an authorised transfer of Service Credits from one of your BulkSMS’ accounts to another of your BulkSMS’s accounts (that is, where the other account is a linked sub-account or parent-account in a commonly controlled group of BulkSMS accounts and the transfer is between Affiliates (group entities and related companies)); or
  3. On the termination of your account, you agree in writing to the transfer of any remaining Service Credits in your account to a BulkSMS approved non-profit organisation or non-governmental organisation with a registered BulkSMS account. BulkSMS’s approval of any non-profit or non-governmental organisation shall be granted or withdrawn in its sole and unfettered discretion at any time.

Purchased Service Credits will not be cancelled and/or refunded unless the purchase in terms of which the Service Credits were acquired took place less than 6 months prior to the date on which a cancellation and/or refund request occurred. All Service Credits (or an appropriate proportion thereof where applicable in the case of any Service Credits purchased simultaneously) will be deemed to be used and/or to have been used, in chronological order based on their time and date of purchase. All Service Credits will expire 2 years after the date of purchase or issuance if not used or, for any Service Credits purchased before 31 August 2022, on 31 August 2024.

Your available Service Credit balance may be reviewed in your BulkSMS account. You are solely responsible for verifying that the proper amount of Service Credits has been added to or deducted from your balance. Your Service Credit balance is not a bank account, digital wallet, stored value account, or other payment device.

We prohibit and do not recognize any purported transfers, sales, gifts, or trades of Service Credits. Evidence of any attempt to use, sell, or transfer Service Credits in any manner in violation of this policy may result in revocation, termination, or cancellation of your Service Credits and/or your use of the Services without refund and/or immediate suspension or termination of your BulkSMS account.

Subscription Services

We generally do not offer refunds for Subscription Services, unless legally obligated to do so in terms of the provisions of any applicable legislation, in which event we will comply with the requirements of that legislation.

We may, in certain exceptional cases, exercise our discretion to provide refunds to customers of our Subscription Services. We reserve our right not to do so and any indulgence that we may offer a person in this regard shall not be construed as a waiver of any of our rights. Some of the factors that may influence the exercise of our discretion include: whether the customer has made use of the Services during the subscription period; the extent of the customer’s usage of the Services during the subscription period, any costs that we may have incurred in making the Services available to the customer or in reserving the Services for the customer’s use, including any third party costs that we may have incurred, whether the customer is in breach of any of the provisions of the applicable agreement or any applicable policy governing acceptable usage of the Services and the amount of the requested refund with regard for our refunds and administration charges.

Refund and Administration Charges

Whenever a refund is to be made to you in terms of this Policy, whether for Pre-Paid Services, Subscription Services or any other products or Services, you will be charged a refund and administration fee of up to 7% of the value of the refund to be made to you, subject to a minimum refund and administration fee of USD25.00 (or, where your account is held in another currency, an equivalent sum in that currency at the relevant time that the charge accrues). Where BulkSMS is entitled to charge any “cooling off” cancellation fee in terms of its Standard Terms and Conditions, you will be charged the higher of the cooling off fee and the refund and administration fee, but you will not be charged both.

Modifications to this Policy

We may modify the terms of this policy at any time by posting a revised version on our website or by emailing a copy to the email address associated with your account. The modified policy will become effective upon posting or, if we notify you by email, as stated in the email message. By receiving or using any Service Credit after the effective date of any modification to this policy, you agree to be bound by the modified policy terms.