Connect98 UK Terms & Conditions

1. About Connect98

Connect98 Limited is registered in England and Wales under company number 13859524.

Our registered office is:

Connect98 is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office under registration number ZB569554.

2. The Connect98 Service

Connect98 provides a software platform that enables businesses to collect customer contact information and communicate with customers using SMS and related messaging functionality.

Depending on the package purchased, the service may include:

• a UK virtual mobile number;
• account setup;
• QR-based customer data capture;
• customer contact data management;
• SMS campaign functionality;
• inbound messaging functionality;
• automated opt-out handling;
• message and contact history;
• additional message credits; and
• ongoing platform support and updates.

The exact services, message allowance, setup charge and monthly subscription price applicable to your account are those displayed when you purchase your package.

3. Account Setup

You must provide accurate and complete information when setting up your Connect98 account.

You are responsible for keeping your account information current and for ensuring that only authorised people have access to your account.

You are responsible for activity carried out through your account by your authorised users.

Connect98 may carry out reasonable checks or request additional information where necessary to establish or maintain the service.

4. Charges and Payment

The charges applicable to your service are displayed when you subscribe.

Unless stated otherwise, prices are exclusive of VAT which will be added at the prevailing rate.

Your initial payment comprises the applicable one-off setup fee together with the first month's subscription charge.

Your monthly subscription will then be collected automatically using the payment method established when you subscribed.

You authorise Connect98 and its payment provider to collect recurring subscription charges until the service is cancelled.

It is your responsibility to make sure that credit/debit card details are valid and up to date.

If a payment fails or becomes overdue, we may contact you and may suspend the service until the outstanding amount has been paid.

5. Monthly Subscription and Cancellation

Connect98 UK packages are provided on a monthly subscription basis.

There is no long-term contractual commitment.

You may cancel your subscription at any time.

Cancellation stops future subscription renewals. Unless otherwise agreed, cancellation does not entitle you to a refund of setup fees, subscription charges or other amounts already paid or properly incurred.

Where you cancel during a paid subscription period, your service will normally remain available until the end of that period.

Connect98 may terminate or suspend the service in accordance with these Terms.

6. Message Allowances and Additional Credits

Each package includes the monthly message allowance stated when you subscribe.

Unused messages included in your normal monthly allowance do not roll over into the following month.

Additional message credits may be purchased where necessary.

Unused separately purchased additional message credits will roll over into the following month while your Connect98 account remains active, subject to any specific conditions disclosed when those credits are purchased.

Message usage is determined by the Connect98 platform and relevant telecommunications provider records.

7. Undelivered Messages

Where the Connect98 platform identifies a chargeable message as undelivered and the applicable service supports an automatic message credit, the relevant credit will be returned to your Connect98 message balance.

SMS delivery depends upon mobile networks, telecommunications providers, recipient devices and other systems outside Connect98's direct control.

Connect98 are not responsible for the delivery of undelivered messages once they have been passed to the relevant telecommunications provider.

A message being accepted for transmission does not guarantee successful or immediate delivery to the recipient.

8. Customer Responsibilities

You are responsible for:

• the accuracy and legality of data uploaded to or collected through your Connect98 account;
• the content of messages sent using the service;
• identifying the recipients you contact;
• ensuring that your messaging complies with applicable law;
• obtaining and maintaining any consent, permission or other lawful basis required for your communications;
• maintaining appropriate records where required;
• keeping account credentials secure; and
• ensuring your authorised users comply with these Terms.

You must not use Connect98 for unlawful, fraudulent, deceptive, abusive, threatening or otherwise prohibited communications.

You must not use the service in a way that is intended to evade legal requirements, recipient preferences or Connect98's compliance controls.

9. Electronic Marketing and PECR

Customers using Connect98 for direct marketing are responsible for complying with the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (“PECR”), as amended, and other applicable electronic marketing requirements.

You are responsible for determining whether you are permitted to send a particular communication to a particular recipient.

The availability of a telephone number within Connect98 does not itself mean that the recipient has consented to marketing or that sending a message is lawful.

Where consent is relied upon, you are responsible for ensuring that the consent satisfies applicable legal requirements.

10. Opt-Outs

Connect98 provides built-in opt-out handling as part of the service.

Where a recipient uses a supported opt-out mechanism, Connect98 may automatically record and apply that preference.

You must not knowingly circumvent, override or disregard an opt-out recorded by the platform.

You remain responsible for ensuring that suppression and opt-out requirements applicable to your marketing activities are respected.

11. Data Protection

Each party must comply with applicable data protection legislation, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (“UK GDPR”) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

In relation to personal data that you provide to Connect98 or collect through the service for your own business purposes, you will normally act as the data controller and Connect98 will normally act as your data processor.

You are responsible for determining the lawful basis for collecting and using that personal data and for providing any privacy information required by law.

Connect98 will process personal data on your documented instructions where it acts as processor, except where processing is required by law.

Connect98 may separately act as a data controller for personal information that it processes for its own legitimate business purposes, including account administration, billing, security, legal compliance and management of its relationship with you.

12. Data Processing and Security

Where Connect98 processes personal data on your behalf, Connect98 will:

• process the data only as necessary to provide the service and in accordance with your documented instructions, unless otherwise required by law;
• take appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal data;
• require persons authorised to process personal data to respect confidentiality;
• take reasonable steps to assist you with applicable data protection obligations where appropriate;
• use sub processors where reasonably necessary to provide the service, subject to applicable data protection requirements; and
• delete or return customer data following termination where required, subject to legal, regulatory, security and legitimate retention requirements. Connect98 reserve the right to charge a reasonable admin fee for this service.

You acknowledge that providing the Connect98 service requires the use of telecommunications, hosting, payment, email and other technology providers.

13. Customer Data

As between you and Connect98, you retain your rights in the customer data you provide to or collect through the service.

You grant Connect98 the rights necessary to host, process, transmit and otherwise handle that data for the purpose of providing, securing, maintaining and supporting the service.

We will not acquire ownership of your customer database merely because it is stored or processed through Connect98.

Your customer database will never be shared with any other third party.

14. Service Availability

Connect98 will use reasonable care and skill in providing the service.

However, we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free availability.

The service may occasionally be unavailable because of maintenance, upgrades, telecommunications failures, third-party services, security incidents or circumstances outside our reasonable control.

Where reasonably practicable, we will seek to minimise disruption.

15. SMS and Telecommunications Networks

SMS transmission relies upon telecommunications networks and third-party providers.

Connect98 cannot guarantee:

• delivery of every message;
• the precise time at which a message will be delivered;
• continuous availability of every telecommunications network;
• recipient handset availability; or
• actions taken by mobile operators or other communications providers.

Connect98 is not responsible for failures caused solely by systems or networks outside its reasonable control.

16. Acceptable Use

You must not use Connect98:

• for illegal activity;
• to send fraudulent, deceptive or deliberately misleading communications;
• to harass or threaten recipients;
• to distribute malware or malicious content;
• to impersonate another person or organisation unlawfully;
• to interfere with the operation or security of the platform;
• to attempt unauthorised access to Connect98 systems or data;
• to circumvent message controls, suppression mechanisms or opt-out functionality; or
• in a manner likely to cause material harm to Connect98, its telecommunications providers or other customers.

We may investigate suspected misuse and may suspend affected functionality while doing so where reasonably necessary.

17. Suspension

Connect98 may suspend some or all of the service where reasonably necessary because:

• charges are overdue;
• we reasonably believe the account is being used unlawfully;
• there is a material breach of these Terms;
• continued operation presents a material security or compliance risk;
• a telecommunications or technology provider requires suspension; or
• suspension is necessary to comply with law or a lawful regulatory requirement.

Where appropriate and reasonably practicable, we will inform you of the reason for suspension and what is required to restore the service.

18. Intellectual Property

Connect98 and its licensors retain all intellectual property rights in the Connect98 platform, software, branding, documentation and related technology.

Your subscription gives you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the service for your internal business purposes while your account remains active.

You may not copy, reverse engineer, resell, sublicense or commercially exploit the Connect98 platform except where expressly permitted by us or by applicable law.

19. Confidentiality

Each party may receive confidential information belonging to the other.

Each party must take reasonable steps to protect such information and must not disclose it except where necessary to perform this agreement, where authorised by the other party, or where disclosure is required by law.

This obligation does not apply to information that is already lawfully public or independently obtained without an obligation of confidentiality.

20. Liability

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability where doing so would be unlawful, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

Subject to the above, Connect98 will not be liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of anticipated savings or loss of business opportunity arising from use of the service.

Connect98 is not responsible for losses resulting from unlawful or inappropriate messaging carried out by a Customer, inaccurate customer data supplied by a Customer, or failures of third-party telecommunications networks outside Connect98's reasonable control.

To the extent permitted by law, Connect98's aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with the service will be limited to the total fees paid by the Customer to Connect98 during the 12 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

21. Changes to the Service

We may update or improve Connect98 from time to time.

We may also make changes where required because of technology, telecommunications providers, security requirements, regulation or law.

We will not intentionally remove material paid functionality without reasonable justification.

22. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms where reasonably necessary to reflect changes to the service, law, regulation, technology or our business operations.

Where a change materially affects an existing Customer's rights or obligations, we will take reasonable steps to provide notice.

Continued use of the service after an updated version takes effect will constitute acceptance where permitted by law.

23. Termination

Either party may terminate the agreement in accordance with these Terms.

You may terminate by cancelling your monthly subscription.

Connect98 may terminate the agreement where you materially breach these Terms and, where the breach is capable of remedy, fail to remedy it within a reasonable period after being asked to do so.

We may terminate immediately where continued provision would be unlawful or where serious misuse creates a material security, legal or telecommunications risk.

24. What Happens When the Service Ends

When your service ends:

• your right to use Connect98 ends;
• future subscription charges will cease, subject to charges already incurred;
• access to your account may be withdrawn; and
• customer data will be handled in accordance with applicable data protection requirements and our applicable retention procedures.

You should export any information that you are entitled to retain before your account closes where export functionality is available.

25. Third-Party Services

Connect98 uses third-party services to provide parts of the platform, which may include telecommunications networks, hosting infrastructure, payment processors and email providers.

Those services may occasionally affect Connect98's availability or functionality.

Nothing in these Terms makes those third-party providers a party to the agreement between you and Connect98.

26. Notices and Communications

We may contact you using the email address or other contact information associated with your account.

You are responsible for keeping those details accurate and current.

Operational notices, billing communications, security information and changes relating to your service may be sent electronically.

27. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with the package and pricing information presented when you subscribe and any other terms expressly incorporated into them, constitute the agreement between you and Connect98 concerning the service.

They replace earlier terms or understandings relating to the same service, except where expressly agreed otherwise in writing.

28. Governing Law

These Terms and any dispute or claim arising from them are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

The courts of England and Wales will have jurisdiction over disputes arising from or relating to these Terms, subject to any mandatory legal rights that apply.

29. Contacting Connect98

Questions about these Terms or the Connect98 service can be directed to Connect98 using the contact details provided on our website at www.connect98.com.