Terms & Conditions

These Terms of Engagement ("Terms") govern the relationship between Startology Consulting ("Startology") and its clients ("Client").

 

By accepting a quote, engaging our services, or making a payment, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

 

1. Authority

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Startology is a consulting firm and does not operate as a legal practice registered with the Legal Practice Council in terms of the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, as amended.

 

Startology offers business coaching, legal consulting, company registration and commercial contracting services.

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2. Professional Conduct

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Startology will deliver services in a professional and consistent manner.

 

It is your responsibility to provide clear, accurate, and complete instructions and documentation. Instructions may be provided in writing or noted during a consultation.

 

In instances where you may be unhappy with the quality of our work or services, we have provided and seek a refund, we will review your request on a case-by-case basis to find an amicable solution for both parties.

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3. Confidentiality

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All client information and instructions will be treated as confidential.

 

Startology will implement appropriate safeguards to protect your data. 

 

Any conflicts of interest will be disclosed and managed appropriately.

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4. Fees and Payments

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Fees are determined based on the nature and scope of the instruction and are subject to change based on complexity, time, and scope variations.

 

Variations to the instruction will be quoted separately and added to the final invoice if accepted.

 

Once a quote is accepted, you are liable for the full quoted fee.

 

A 50% deposit is required to commence work. The balance is due within 30 calendar days of commencement or upon delivery of the final product, whichever is earlier.

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You may cancel the instruction at any stage, but you will then forfeit your deposit.

 

Late payments may incur interest at the prevailing prime overdraft rate.

 

Disbursements and third-party costs (if any) will be communicated and charged separately.

 

We reserve the right to suspend any services should a payment be delayed or withheld by you without prior consent.

 

You acknowledge and agree that it is not a valid reason to withhold payment because you are awaiting payment from a third-party.

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5. Revisions

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Drafts will be delivered within 7–10 business days unless otherwise agreed.

 

Following receipt of your feedback, we will revise the written content, based on your feedback and present the final draft to you.

 

Additional revisions beyond the final version may incur extra charges.

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6. Intellectual Property

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All materials created by Startology remain its intellectual property.

 

You may use them only for their intended purpose and may not distribute or resell them without consent.

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7. Data Protection

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Startology complies with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

 

Personal data will be processed securely and only as necessary.

 

You warrant that you have the right to share any personal data provided.

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We have appointed an information officer responsible for overseeing questions in relation to the protection of personal information. If you have any questions about our privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact our information officer using the details set out below.

•    Information Officer: Tanya Language 
•    Email address: letschat@startology.info 

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We may collect, use, store, and transfer (“process”) different kinds of personal information about you which we have grouped together as follows:

• Identity Data including full name, identity number, job title, or the information about your company;

• Contact Data including email address, physical/registered addresses, proof of address, and contact phone numbers;

• Legal Data including confidential information provided to us when consulting and obtaining legal services including employment history, familial history, contractual and financial information and confidential or proprietary information;

• Social Media Data including your social media username and handle and all data publicly accessible through social media such as comments, likes, and reactions;

• Financial Data including bank account details, VAT number, and third-party payment provider information and payment card details;

• Transaction Data including details about payments to and from you, contracts, contractual terms, signups, subscriptions, invoices and other details of products and services you have obtained from us, or provide to us;

• Technical Data including internet protocol address/es, login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, cookies, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access the website;

• Usage Data including information about how you use our company, the website and services, survey results, reviews, testimonials; and

• Marketing and Communications Data including your preferences in receiving notices and marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences as well as details of which communications were sent to you and how they were sent.

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The following constitutes our reasons for processing your personal information:

• To make our services available to you

• To fulfil our service-related obligations

• To allow third parties to make their independent services available to you

• When you make use of our website and its features

• For administrative and internal business purposes

• For legal and regulatory compliance

• To personalize your experience with us

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We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose.

If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

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We may share your personal information to the following parties:

• Authorized third-party service providers under contract with us and who need your personal information in order to provide their services to us;

• Software services we use to improve our workflows including customer relationship management software, chat bots, and artificial intelligence;

• South African or other national governments and/or their respective authorities pursuant to our adherence with anti-corruption and crime-fighting legislation.

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The website may make use of “cookies” to automatically collect information and data through the standard operation of the internet servers. “Cookies” are small text files a platform can use (and which we may use) to recognize repeat users, facilitate access to and use of a website and allow the website to track usage behavior and compile aggregate data that will allow us to improve the functionality of the website and its content.

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The type of information collected by cookies is not used to personally identify you. If you do not want information collected using cookies, most browsers allow you to deny or accept the cookie feature. Please note that cookies may be necessary to provide you with certain features available on our website and thus if you disable the cookies, you may not be able to use those features. If you do not disable “cookies”, you are deemed to consent to our processing of any personal information collected using those cookies, subject to the provisions of this clause and our other policies or terms.

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We may share and process your personal information outside of South Africa for the purpose of cloud storage, the use of software for our business operations and to engage with service providers.

If we transfer your personal information out of South Africa, we will ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented.

We will only transfer your personal information to countries that have appropriate data protection legislation in place.
 

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorized way, altered, or disclosed. We also limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a legitimate need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instruction and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

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We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal information breach and will notify you and the Information Regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

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We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose we collected it for including any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal information, the purpose for which we process your personal information, any other applicable law requiring us to retain the personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

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You have rights in relation to your personal information where we are the relevant “Responsible Party” over such personal information:

• request access to your personal information

• request correction of your personal information

• erasure of your personal information

• object to the processing of your personal information

• request a restriction of processing your personal information

• request transfer of your personal information; and/or

• right to withdraw consent.

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We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

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8. Indemnity

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Apart from instances of fraud, willful misconduct, or gross negligence, Startology is not liable for any damages whether direct, indirect, consequential, or special damages in connection with the provision of our services.

 

You indemnify Startology against claims arising from your use of our services, except in cases of fraud, willful misconduct, or gross negligence.

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9. Breach

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Either party may terminate the relationship if the other breaches these Terms and fails to remedy the breach within 5 business days of written notice.

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10. Dispute Resolution

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Disputes will be resolved amicably where possible.

 

If unresolved, disputes may be referred to arbitration under the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa.

 

Neither party may publicize disputes on any media platform.

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11. General

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Neither party shall be liable for any delay or failure to perform its obligations contained herein if such delay or failure is due to events beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of God, fire, earthquake, labour dispute, war, martial law, transport interruption, government order, electrical outages or surges, riot, revolution, epidemic, pandemic, or other widespread disease. The affected party must promptly notify the other party in writing of the force majeure event and take reasonable steps to mitigate its effects. If the force majeure event continues for more than 30 consecutive days, either party may terminate these Terms upon written notice to the other.

 

These Terms are governed by South African law.

 

Any invalid provision shall not affect the remainder of the Terms.

 

These Terms constitute the entire agreement between the parties.

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These terms are subject to change without notice and are updated or amended from time to time and will be effective once we upload the amended version to our website. Your continued access or use of our services constitutes your acceptance any amendments. It is your responsibility to read this document periodically to ensure you are aware of any changes.