Terms of Service — Mobile Pet Groomers

1. Introduction and acceptance

1.1 These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the Mobile Pet Groomers platform (the “Platform”), including the Free tier, the Premium subscription, and the purchase and use of Wallet credit to Unlock Leads.

1.2 By creating an account, topping up your Wallet, subscribing to Premium, or otherwise using the Platform, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, you must not use the Platform.

1.3 The Platform is intended for use by pet-grooming businesses and service providers in the course of their trade. Nothing in this clause removes any protection the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (“CPA”) gives you (see clauses 6.5, 7.7 and 11.5).

1.4 Where you accept these Terms on behalf of a company, close corporation, trust, partnership or other entity, you warrant that you are authorised to bind that entity, and “you” refers to that entity.

2. Definitions

“Region” means a defined geographic service area made available on the Platform.
“Primary Region” means the single Region you select as your base service area, available on the Free tier at no charge.
“Covered Regions” means the Regions in which you have indicated you provide services.
“Free tier” means the default level of access granted to every approved Provider at no charge (clause 5).
“Premium” means the recurring paid subscription in clause 6, which expands lead visibility across all your Covered Regions and enables WhatsApp and SMS notifications. Premium provides expanded visibility and notifications only — it does not include or entitle you to any Leads or Wallet credit.
“Lead” means a record of a prospective customer or grooming enquiry made available on the Platform.
“Unlock” means the action by which you reveal a Lead’s contact details, which deducts the applicable Unlock fee from your Wallet Balance.
“Wallet” and “Wallet Balance” mean your prepaid balance on the Platform, redeemable solely to Unlock Leads (clause 7).
“Unlock fee” means the amount, displayed before you confirm, deducted from your Wallet Balance to Unlock a particular Lead.
“Provider”, “you” or “your” means the person or entity registered to use the Platform.
“PayFast” means PayFast (Pty) Ltd, our third-party payment processor.
“POPIA” means the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013.

3. Accounts and eligibility

3.1 You must register an account with accurate, current and complete information, and keep it updated.

3.2 You are responsible for all activity under your account and for keeping your login credentials secure. Accounts may not be shared, sold, or transferred.

3.3 We may verify your identity, business registration, licensing or insurance before or during your use of the Platform, and may decline or suspend access where verification fails. Access to Leads generally becomes available only after your account is approved.

3.4 You must be at least 18 years old and legally capable of entering into a binding contract.

4. How the Platform works

4.1 The Platform connects Providers with Leads. In summary:

(a) Every approved Provider gets a Free tier account showing Leads in their Primary Region, plus one complimentary Unlock (clause 5).
(b) To reveal a Lead’s contact details, you Unlock it, which deducts an Unlock fee from your prepaid Wallet Balance (clause 7).
(c) A Provider may subscribe to Premium to see Leads across all Covered Regions and to receive WhatsApp and SMS notifications (clause 6). Premium expands visibility and notifications only — Leads are still Unlocked using your Wallet Balance.

4.2 The Free tier, Premium and your Wallet Balance are separate. Cancelling Premium does not affect your Wallet Balance, and your Wallet Balance does not entitle you to Premium.

5. Free tier

5.1 On approval, every Provider receives Free tier access at no charge. The Free tier lets you view Leads within your Primary Region and Unlock them, subject to having sufficient Wallet Balance.

5.2 New Providers receive one complimentary Unlock (“welcome Unlock”) on approval, which may be used to Unlock one Lead in any Region you cover at no charge. The welcome Unlock has no cash value and is not transferable.

5.3 The selection and boundaries of Regions, and the rules for selecting or changing your Primary Region, are as set out on the Platform and may be reasonably adjusted by us from time to time on notice.

5.4 Access to the Free tier does not guarantee any number, value, frequency or quality of Leads.

6. Premium subscription

6.1 Premium is a recurring paid subscription that (i) lets you view and Unlock Leads across all your Covered Regions rather than only your Primary Region, and (ii) enables WhatsApp and SMS notifications in addition to email. Premium is a fee for expanded visibility and notification features. It does not include, bundle, or entitle you to any Leads, any Wallet credit, or any minimum number, value, frequency or quality of Leads. Lead availability depends on market conditions in each Region, which we do not control and do not warrant.

6.2 Region access is non-exclusive unless expressly stated otherwise on the Platform at the time of purchase; the same Region may be made available to other Providers. We may set, and adjust on reasonable notice, the number of Providers permitted to receive Leads in any Region.

6.3 Premium is currently R299 per month, billed monthly in advance via PayFast, as a recurring subscription. Fees are payable in South African Rand and are inclusive of VAT. The prices displayed on the Platform (for example R299 for Premium, and each Unlock fee) are the VAT-inclusive amounts you pay. A tax invoice is issued for each Unlock (see clause 7). Fees may change in accordance with clause 12; a price change takes effect from your next billing cycle after we give you notice.

6.4 Premium runs on a month-to-month basis with no minimum term and no lock-in. You may cancel at any time through the Platform or by emailing info@mobilepetgroomers.co.za. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current paid month; you retain Premium access until then and no cancellation penalty applies. On cancellation or expiry, your account reverts to the Free tier and your Wallet Balance is unaffected (subject to clause 7). Because Premium is billed one month at a time and you keep full access for the month you have paid for, cancellation does not give rise to a pro-rata refund of the current month. This does not limit any non-waivable right you may have under the CPA.

6.5 Where the CPA applies to you, nothing in this clause limits any non-waivable right you have under it. The CPA’s fixed-term provisions (section 14) do not apply to juristic persons, and certain other CPA provisions do not apply where the Provider is a juristic person whose asset value or annual turnover equals or exceeds the threshold prescribed under the CPA.

7. Wallet and Lead Unlocks

7.1 Your Wallet Balance is a prepaid, limited-purpose balance redeemable solely to Unlock Leads on the Platform. Wallet credit is not money, currency, a deposit, a stored-value instrument, electronic money, or a payment instrument. It has no cash value beyond Unlocking Leads, is not exchangeable for cash (except as required by law), and is not transferable to any other account or person.

7.2 When you top up your Wallet, you acknowledge that the amounts you pay help fund the advertising, marketing and lead-generation activities we undertake to source Leads for the Platform. Funding this activity is a core feature of the service you are paying for.

7.3 Top-ups range from a minimum of R10 to a maximum of R10,000 per transaction, via PayFast. Wallet credit is non-refundable for cash and is intended to be used to Unlock Leads. The only exceptions are (i) where a refund is required by applicable law, it will be given to that extent; and (ii) an approved dispute results in re-credit to your Wallet under clause 7.6. Your Wallet credit remains redeemable to Unlock Leads until used, and does not expire; we apply no expiry date to purchased Wallet credit, which meets or exceeds the minimum validity required by section 63 of the CPA. Wallet credit has no cash value and is not redeemable, refundable, exchangeable, or payable for or into cash, save where a refund is required by law.

7.4 The Unlock fee for a Lead is displayed before you confirm the Unlock. Unlock fees currently range from approximately R50 to R100 depending on the Region and lead-slot tier, and are deducted automatically from your Wallet Balance when you Unlock. Unlocking a Lead constitutes redemption of the Wallet credit used; on redemption, that credit is consumed and our obligation in respect of it is discharged, except under the Lead Replacement Policy below.

7.5 You are paying for access to a sales opportunity. We do not warrant that any Lead will respond, be reachable, be genuine, transact, or result in a booking. A Lead’s failure to convert into a paying customer is not a defect and is not, on its own, a ground for replacement or refund.

7.6 Lead Replacement Policy. We will re-credit the Unlock fee where, within 7 days of Unlocking, you demonstrate to our reasonable satisfaction that (i) both the telephone number and the email address supplied for the Lead are invalid, disconnected or non-existent; or (ii) the Lead duplicates a Lead you previously Unlocked; or (iii) the Lead falls materially outside the Region or criteria you selected. Replacement is by re-credit to your Wallet Balance only, never by cash refund. Submit replacement/dispute requests through the dispute function on the Platform within the 7-day window.

7.7 Where the CPA applies to you, the prepaid value represented by your Wallet Balance is treated as your property until redeemed, and the minimum validity period above reflects section 63 of the CPA. Nothing in this clause limits any non-waivable right you may have under the CPA.

8. Lead data, consent and your POPIA obligations

8.1 Leads contain personal information. We make Leads available to you having collected that information from the pet owner, with their consent to be contacted by groomers who Unlock their enquiry. Once you Unlock a Lead, you act as an independent responsible party in respect of your own subsequent processing of that personal information.

8.2 In respect of every Lead you Unlock, you must:

(a) comply with POPIA and all other applicable data-protection and direct-marketing laws, including the relevant provisions of the CPA;
(b) use the personal information only to provide the grooming service the Lead enquired about, and for no other purpose;
(c) not contact the Lead in any manner prohibited by law, and honour any opt-out or do-not-contact request;
(d) keep the information secure and retain it only as long as lawfully necessary; and
(e) not sell, re-sell, share, redistribute, sublicense or publish any Lead or its personal information.

8.3 You indemnify us against any claim, fine or loss arising from your processing of, or contact with, any Lead in breach of this clause 8. This indemnity does not extend to loss caused by our own breach, gross negligence or wilful misconduct.

8.4 Our collection and handling of personal information is described in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

9. Acceptable use

9.1 You must not:

(a) access or Unlock Leads outside the Regions you are entitled to;
(b) resell, redistribute, scrape, copy, or create a derivative database of Leads or Platform content;
(c) share, sublicense or transfer your account or access;
(d) circumvent Wallet deduction, Region restrictions, or any security or access control;
(e) use automated means to access the Platform except as expressly permitted; or
(f) use the Platform for any unlawful, fraudulent or harmful purpose.

9.2 Breach of this clause 9 is a material breach and may result in immediate suspension or termination. Where the breach is fraudulent or unlawful, no refund of Wallet Balance or Premium fees is due, except as required by law and without prejudice to our other remedies.

10. Intellectual property

10.1 The Platform, including its software, content, databases, branding and design, is owned by or licensed to us and is protected by law. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the Platform for its intended purpose during the term of these Terms.

10.2 Unlocking a Lead grants you a licence to use that Lead’s information solely as permitted under clause 8. It does not transfer ownership of any database or Platform content to you.

11. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

Please read this clause carefully — it limits our liability to you and asks you to accept certain risks. It does not exclude any liability that the law does not allow us to exclude.

11.1 The Platform and all Leads are provided “as is” and “as available”. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties not expressly stated in these Terms, including any warranty as to the number, quality, accuracy, genuineness or commercial value of Leads, or the availability of Leads in any Region.

11.2 We do not warrant uninterrupted or error-free operation of the Platform.

11.3 To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with these Terms is limited to the amount you paid to us in the three (3) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

11.4 We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss, or loss of profit, revenue, business or data.

11.5 Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including under the CPA where it applies (for example, liability for gross negligence, which the CPA does not permit to be excluded).

12. Changes to the Terms, pricing and the Platform

12.1 We may amend these Terms, fees, Unlock fees, Region definitions or Platform features. We will give reasonable notice of material changes through the Platform or by email.

12.2 Changes to the recurring Premium fee take effect from your next billing cycle after notice. Changes to Unlock fees apply to Unlocks made after the change; Wallet credit already purchased retains its value.

12.3 Continued use after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance. If you do not accept a change, your remedy is to cancel Premium (reverting to the Free tier) and to stop using the Platform. Your Wallet credit does not expire and remains usable to Unlock Leads.

13. Suspension and termination

13.1 We may suspend or terminate your access for material breach, suspected fraud, non-payment of Premium, or where required by law.

13.2 On termination by us for your fraudulent or unlawful conduct, no refund of Wallet Balance or Premium fees is due, except as required by law.

13.3 On termination or account closure for any other reason, any unused Wallet Balance is not refundable for cash, except where a refund is required by law (clause 7.3). Because Wallet credit does not expire, it is not forfeited. Any prepaid Premium access continues until the end of the paid month.

14. If we cease operating

If we permanently cease operating the Platform, we will give you reasonable advance notice and, where required by law (including section 64 of the CPA where it applies), repay the unused prepaid portion of your Wallet Balance and any prepaid Premium access within the period required by law.

15. Dispute resolution

15.1 If a dispute arises, the parties will first attempt to resolve it in good faith by negotiation, on written notice to info@mobilepetgroomers.co.za.

15.2 Failing resolution within 15 business days, the dispute may be referred to mediation or to the appropriate court. Where the CPA applies, you retain your right to refer the matter to the National Consumer Commission or another relevant consumer-protection body or ombud.

16. General

16.1 Governing law. These Terms are governed by the law of the Republic of South Africa.

16.2 Entire agreement. These Terms, together with any pricing and policies referenced (including the Privacy Policy), are the entire agreement between us regarding the Platform.

16.3 Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect.

16.4 No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of it.

16.5 Assignment. You may not assign your rights without our consent. We may assign on notice.

16.6 Notices. We may give notice through the Platform or to your registered email. You give notice to info@mobilepetgroomers.co.za.

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