Last update: 01/08/2023

RatherChat strives to make every user interaction a pleasure by ensuring that we fulfil our duties and obligations to every one of our valued users. In order to do so, we would like to take this opportunity to share with you our Terms and Conditions of Use and Service (“Terms”), where all users of RatherChat can see the exact details of how we value professional transparency and ethical conduct in all of our operations.

Please pay specific attention to the BOLD paragraphs of these Terms. These paragraphs limit the risk or liability of RatherChat, constitute an assumption of risk or liability by you, impose an obligation on you to indemnify RatherChat or are an acknowledgement of any fact by you.

These Terms govern the access and/or use by you, an individual from within South Africa, of chatbots, websites, applications, content, products, and services (the “Service/s”) made available by RatherChat Holdings (PTY) LTD, Registration Number 2017/171821/07 (“RatherChat”).

The terms “user”, “you” and “your” are used interchangeably in these Terms and refer to all persons accessing the Services or Application for any reason whatsoever. Accordingly, the terms “us”, “our” or “we” used refers to RatherChat or its possession.

Not all terms are necessarily defined in order.

1. INTRODUCTION

Your access to and use of the Application and/or Services constitutes your agreement to be bound by these Terms, which establishes a contractual relationship between you and RatherChat. If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not access or use the Application and/or Services.

These Terms expressly supersede prior agreements or arrangements with you and RatherChat.  RatherChat may immediately terminate these Terms or any Services with respect to you, or generally cease offering or deny access to the Services or any portion thereof, at any time, for any reason.

Additional terms may apply to certain Services, such as policies for a particular activity or promotion, and such supplemental terms will be disclosed to you in connection with the applicable Services. Supplemental terms are in addition to and shall be deemed incorporated into the Terms for the purpose of the Services.

RatherChat may amend these Terms from time to time. Amendments will be effective upon RatherChat’s posting of such updated Terms on this location, or the amended policies or supplemental terms on the applicable Service. Your continued access or use of the Services after such posting constitutes your consent to be bound by the updated Terms, as amended.

Our collection and use of personal information in connection with the Services is as provided in RatherChat’s Privacy Policy provisions. RatherChat may provide to an independent third-party (e.g. an Insurer) any necessary information (including your contact information) to render aspects of the Services, or if there is a complaint, dispute or conflict which requires the information.

2. THE SERVICES

The Services constitute a technology platform that enables users of RatherChat’s chatbot applications and/or websites (the “Application”), to, amongst other things, obtain marketing information, submit a purchase application, make customer service requests, or provide customer feedback related to inputted information on the Application. RatherChat provides the Application on behalf of affiliated and authorised independent third-party providers under agreement with RatherChat.

In order to use most aspects of the Services, you must input certain information into the Application. This information may include, amongst other information, your name, physical/email address, contact details, age, health features and type of product or service wanted. Your submission and our use of your personal information is protected by our Privacy Policy.

The Services are currently available for use in the Republic of South Africa.

Unless otherwise agreed by RatherChat in a separate written agreement with you, the Services are made available solely for your personal, non-commercial use.

3. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PARTIES

RATHERCHAT IS A TECHNOLOGY SERVICE PROVIDER, NOT A PROVIDER OF THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FROM INDEPENDENT THIRD-PARTY THAT ARE MADE AVAILABLE TO USERS ON THE PLATFORM.  ALL QUOTES, PRODUCTS, SERVICES OR PACKAGES OBTAINED AND/OR FACILITATED VIA THE APPLICATION AND/OR RATHERCHAT ARE PROVIDED BY INDEPENDENT THIRD-PARTY PROVIDERS WHO ARE NOT EMPLOYED BY RATHERCHAT OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES, BUT WHO WORK UNDER CONTRACT WITH RATHERCHAT.

Any Quote, Product, Service or Package obtained by you from a third-party provider via the Application is subject to those applicable terms and conditions of that same relevant third-party. RatherChat may be completely removed from your relationship with your chosen provider and not party to your private transactions with them. Therefore, you must understand all of the terms and conditions applicable to their Quote, Product, Service or Package to you.

If you make use of the Services, you do so entirely at your own risk.

RatherChat has checked that all product and service providers adhere to all applicable laws and RatherChat’s internal policies when operating. Notwithstanding this, all product and service providers are completely independent third-parties who may have their own additional terms of service. Please take care in understanding all applicable registrations, required permit holdings, policies and terms when using their services. Although RatherChat carefully curates each provider’s standards and services prior to being placed on the Application, RatherChat is not responsible for the qualifications, quality or standard of any product or service advertised or provided by such third-party providers.

Subject to your adherence to the Terms, RatherChat grants to you a personal, non-exclusive, non-assignable and non-transferable license to use and display all content, intellectual property and information contained on the Application on any device for which you are the primary or controlled user. However, nothing contained on the Application should be construed as granting any license or right to use any intellectual property without the prior written permission of RatherChat.

The Services may be made available or accessed in connection with third-party services and content (including advertising) that RatherChat does not control. You acknowledge that different terms of use and privacy policies may apply to your use of such third-party services and content. RatherChat is not responsible or liable for any products or services offered by such third-party providers.

4. YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES AND WARRANTIES

You must be at least 18 (eighteen) years of age and of full legal capacity to input such Underwriting Information and/or use the Services and/or Application.

You may not authorize third parties to use your personal Underwriting Information, and you may not allow persons under the age of 18 (eighteen) to use the Services or your inputted information.

You warrant that any information supplied by you to the Application or pursuant to the Services is accurate, complete, and up-to-date.

Your failure to input accurate, complete and up-to-date information may result in:

1. Your inability to access and use the Services;
2. Your inability to receive correct Quotes, Products, Services or Packages; or
3. RatherChat’s termination of these Terms with you.

You agree to comply with all applicable laws when using the Services and you may only use the Services for lawful purposes. You will not, in your use of the Services, harass or abuse or cause nuisance, annoyance, inconvenience or property damage, whether to RatherChat, the independent third-party product / service provider, or any other party.

In certain instances, you may be asked to provide proof of identity to access or use the Services, and you agree that you may be denied access to or use of the Services if you refuse to provide proof of identity.

You are responsible for obtaining the data network access necessary to use the Services. Your mobile network’s data and messaging rates and fees may apply if you access or use the Services from a wireless-enabled device and you shall be responsible for such rates and fees. You are responsible for acquiring and updating compatible hardware or devices necessary to access and use the Services and Applications and any updates thereto.

RatherChat does not guarantee that the Services, or any portion thereof, will function on any particular hardware or devices. In addition, the Services may be subject to malfunctions and delays inherent in the use of the internet and electronic communications.

5. GENERAL USER RESPONSIBILITIES AND WARRANTIES

By using the Application and/or the Services, you warrant that you:

1. Have read and agreed to these Terms and will use the Application in accordance with them;
2. Have not made any misrepresentations and any information provided by you is true, accurate and complete;
3. Will not post, upload, replicate or transmit any abusive content on an Application that is or could reasonably be considered threatening, harassing, defamatory, abusive, racist, sexist, discriminatory, in breach of confidence, in breach of privacy or restrict any user in any way from properly using the Services;
4. Will not send any unsolicited electronic messages or use any software, routine or device to interfere or attempt to interfere electronically or manually with the operation or functionality of the Application including but not limited to uploading or making available files containing corrupt data or viruses via whatever means, or deface, alter or interfere with the front end ‘look and feel’ of the Application or the underlying software code;
5. Will not infringe any third-party or the Application’s intellectual property or other rights or transmit content that the user does not own or does not have the right to publish or distribute; and/or
6. Will not facilitate or assist any third-party to do any of the above.
7. PAYMENT

Your use of the Services on the Application is free of charge, but you understand and agree that any Product or Service facilitated via the Application, and ultimately obtained from an independent third-party provider by you, will be subject to payments which you will be liable to pay the relevant provider for.

RatherChat may from time to time provide certain users with promotional offers and discounts that may result in different amounts charged for the same or similar services obtained through the use of the Services, and you agree that such promotional offers and discounts, unless also made available to you, shall have no bearing on your use of the Services or the Quotes, Products, Services or Packages applied to you.

7. RECEIPT AND TRANSMISSION OF DATA MESSAGES

Data messages, including e-mail messages, sent by you to RatherChat will be considered to be received only when acknowledged or responded to.

Data messages sent by RatherChat to you will be regarded as received when the complete data message enters an information system designated or used for that purpose by the recipient and is capable of being retrieved and processed by the recipient.

RatherChat reserves the right not to respond to any e-mail or other data message which contains obscene, threatening, defamatory or otherwise illegal, unlawful or inappropriate content and to take appropriate action against the sender of such e-mail or data message where necessary.

Messages sent over the internet cannot be guaranteed to be completely secure as they can be intercepted, lost or corrupted. RatherChat is therefore not responsible for the accuracy of any message sent by e-mail or the Application over the internet, whether from RatherChat to a user or from a user to RatherChat.

8. HYPERLINKS

The Application may include links to other internet websites (“the other sites“). RatherChat does not own or endorse the other sites and is not responsible for the information, material, products, or services contained on or accessible through the other sites. Any such hyperlinks do not imply any endorsement, agreement on or support of the content or products of such target sites.

RatherChat does not purport to own the content on other sites which may be shown on the Application.

9. ADVERTISING AND SPONSORSHIP

The Application may contain advertising and sponsorship. Advertisers and sponsors are responsible for ensuring that material submitted for inclusion on the Application complies with all applicable laws and regulations.

RatherChat, its members, employees, suppliers, partners, affiliates, and agents accordingly exclude, to the maximum extent permitted in law, any responsibility or liability for any error or inaccuracy appearing in advertising or sponsorship material.

10. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION

All material, information, data, software, icons, text, graphics, lay-outs, user-interfaces, images, sound clips, advertisements, video clips, trade names, logos, trade-marks, designs, copyright, service marks, the organisation and layout of the Application, underlying software code and/or everything submitted by you to the Application and RatherChat in use of the Services (“the intellectual property”), are owned (or co-owned or licensed, as the case may be) by RatherChat, its members, associates and/or partners, whether directly or indirectly, and as such, are protected from infringement by domestic and international legislation and treaties.

Subject to the rights afforded to you in these Terms, all other rights to all intellectual property on the Application and related to the Services are expressly reserved. You may not copy, download, print, modify, alter, publish, broadcast, distribute, sell or transfer any intellectual property, content, graphics or other material on the Application or the underlying software code whether in whole or in part, without the written consent of RatherChat first being granted, which consent may be refused at the discretion of RatherChat. No modification of any intellectual property, content or graphics is permitted. 

RatherChat reserves the right to make improvements or changes to the intellectual property, information, artwork, graphics and other materials on the Application, or to suspend or terminate the Application and/or Services, at any time without notice; provided that any action already concluded through the Application will not be affected by such suspension or termination, as the case may be.

Where any of the Application’s or Services’ intellectual property has been licensed to RatherChat or belongs to any third-party, other than that which has been submitted by a user to the Application in the use of the Services, all rights of use will also be subject to any terms and conditions which that licensor or third-party imposes from time to time and you agree to comply with such third-party terms and conditions.

Any enquiries regarding any of this clause relating to intellectual property must be directed to RatherChat at compliance@comparisure.co.za

11. DISCLAIMERS AND WARRANTIES

The Application, including any intellectual property appearing therein, is provided “as is” and “as available”. RatherChat makes no representations or warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties as to the accuracy, correctness or suitability of either the Applications or the information contained on them.

All information or opinions of users made available on the Application in relation to any of the Services are those of the authors and not RatherChat. While RatherChat makes every reasonable effort to present such information accurately and reliably on an Application, RatherChat does not endorse, approve, or certify such information, nor guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information on the Application.

RatherChat, its members, employees and partners accept no liability whatsoever for any loss, injury, or death, whether financial or physical, direct or indirect, consequential or arising from information made available on (or by means of) the Application and/or transactions or actions resulting therefrom, including the representation of any Quote, Product, Service or Package offered via the Application.

RatherChat, its members, employees, partners, and affiliates accept no liability whatsoever for any costs, expenses, fines or damages, including but not limited to direct or indirect loss or damages, including any economic loss, consequential loss, loss of profits or any form of punitive damages, and/or injury resulting from the facilitation and offering of the Services, and access to, or use of, the Application in any manner.

RatherChat takes reasonable security measures to ensure the safety and integrity of the Application and to exclude viruses, unlawful monitoring and/or access from the Application. However, RatherChat does not warrant or represent that your access to the Application will be uninterrupted or error free or that any information, data, content, software or other material accessible through an Application will be free of bugs, viruses, worms, trojan horses or other harmful components. The user’s access to and use of the Application remains solely at the user’s own risk and the user should take their own precautions accordingly.

12. INDEMNITIES

RatherChat relies on information supplied to it by the independent third-party providers relating to any Quote, Product, Service or Package made available on the Application and RatherChat accordingly bears no liability for any inaccuracies in such information supplied to it, including the representation of any Quote, Product, Service or Package offered via the Application. You acknowledge that the availability of any Quote, Product, Service or Package may be limited and dependent on a range of factors, or your own particular information.  RatherChat will take reasonable efforts to ensure that when any Quote, Product, Service or Package is no longer available or applicable, offers thereof are discontinued on the Application. However, we cannot guarantee the availability of any Quote, Product, Service or Package from our third-party providers.

You indemnify and hold harmless RatherChat, its members, employees, and partners from any demand, action or application or other proceedings, including for attorneys’ fees and related costs such as tracing fees, made by any third-party and arising out of or in connection with your use of the Application or Services offered or ordered through the Application in any way.

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold RatherChat harmless from any direct or indirect liability, loss, claim and expense (including reasonable legal fees) related to your breach of these Terms.

This clause will survive termination of this agreement.

13. COMPANY INFORMATION

Application owner: RatherChat

Legal Status: RatherChat Holdings is a (Pty) Ltd company

Registration Number: 2022/691981/07

Executive Directors: HJ Elcock; MMW Kloos; HW Elcock

Description of main business: Provision of chatbot technology services

E-mail address: compliance@comparisure.co.za

Application location: Cape Town

Address: Office 15 Island Works, 20 Cumberland Road, Paarden Eiland, 7405

Guarantees or professional indemnity or fidelity insurance cover held, or not: RatherChat has professional indemnity insurance

14. DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND GOVERNING LAW

Your access and/or use of the Application, any downloaded material from it and the operation of these Terms (including any transaction concluded pursuant thereto) shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa only.

Please contact compliance@comparisure.co.za in writing should you have any complaint or dispute with RatherChat or the Application or Services, which correspondence we shall confirm as received, and deal with appropriately as quickly as possible.

Should any dispute, disagreement or claim arise between the parties concerning the use of the Application or the Services, the parties shall endeavour to resolve the dispute amicably, by negotiation, and with the best interests of the parties in mind.

Should the parties fail to resolve such dispute in the aforesaid manner or within such further period as the parties may agree to in their negotiation, the parties will approach an independent industry expert, who shall mediate the discussion on their behalf.

Notwithstanding the above, the parties consent to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court of the Republic of South Africa, even in the event where the quantum in the dispute may be less than the monetary jurisdiction of that court. Either party may also always use the dispute resolution services of any applicable legislative tribunal or ombud, as provided for in applicable legislation.

The parties agree that in no circumstance will either party publicize the dispute on any social media or other public platform. The parties understand that any publicity of this nature can cause serious damage to the other parties, which damage may result in a financial claim.

15. TERMINATION OF USE OF APPLICATION OR SERVICES

In addition to the conditions provided for above, RatherChat reserves the right to terminate and cancel your use of the Application and/or the Services if you breach any of the Terms, or for any other reason.

If you wish to terminate your agreement with RatherChat, you may do so by discontinuing your use of the Application and/or the Services.

The obligations and liabilities of the parties incurred prior to the termination date of the agreement shall survive the termination of this agreement for all purposes.

16. NOTICES AND SERVICE ADDRESS

Each of the parties chooses their service address for the purposes of the giving of any notice, the serving of any process and for any other purposes arising from these Terms as being:

1. In the case of RatherChat, at compliance@comparisure.co.za ; or
2. In the case of the user, at the e-mail and/or addresses provided by the user to RatherChat as part of the user’s information or as provided to the Application.

Notwithstanding the above, any notice given in writing in English, and actually received by the party to whom the notice is addressed, will be deemed to have been properly given and received, notwithstanding that such notice has not been given in accordance with this clause.

17. GENERAL

This document contains the entire agreement between the parties in relation to the subject matter hereof. Save as contemplated in clause 1 above, no alteration, cancellation, variation of, or addition hereto will be of any force or effect unless reduced to writing and signed by all the parties to these Terms or their duly authorised representatives.

No indulgence, leniency or extension of time granted by RatherChat shall constitute a waiver of any of RatherChat’s rights under these Terms and, accordingly, RatherChat shall not be precluded as a consequence of having granted such indulgence, from exercising any rights against the user which may have arisen in the past or which might arise in the future.

Words importing the singular will include the plural and vice versa. Words importing one gender will include the other genders, and words importing persons will include partnerships, trusts and bodies corporate, and vice versa.

The headings to the paragraphs to the Terms are inserted for reference purposes only and will not affect the interpretation of any of the provisions to which they relate. 

Should you have any complaints or queries, kindly address an e-mail to compliance@comparisure.co.za advising RatherChat of same.

Each sentence, paragraph, term, clause and provision of these Terms and any portion thereof shall be considered severable and if, for any reason, any such sentence, paragraph, term, clause or provision is held to be invalid, contrary to, or in conflict with any applicable present or future law or regulation or in terms of a final, binding judgment issued by any court, it shall to that extent be deemed not to form part hereof and shall not impair the operation of, or have any effect upon such other sentence, paragraph, term, clause or provision hereof as may otherwise remain valid or intelligible, which shall continue to be given full force and effect and bind the parties hereto.

No term or condition of these Terms is intended to breach any peremptory provisions of any consumer protection or applicable legislation and any regulations thereto.