ChiRhos

Terms of Service

Let's do great things together!

We are delighted that you are interested in using the ChiRhos service. As with all services, there are some terms and conditions to using our service. Our terms of service consist of a set of policies, outlined below:

It should be noted that ChiRhos does not provide services to individuals, but only to ‘clients’ that consume ChiRhos services and provide onward services.  If you are an individual and you have a query or issue with content that is stored, has been sent or received in the ChiRhos service, you should contact the client who is your direct service provider.

Throughout these policies, references to ‘you’ should be taken to mean any client that has a current and valid agreement with ChiRhos. In order to use the ChiRhos service(s), you agree to these policies, in their entireity, as a binding contract.

ChiRhos reserves the right to change these terms as necessary. If we do so, then we will update the terms on our website and undertake to do our best to contact our clients via available channels (such as email). If the change is substantial and/or detrimental  to you as a client, you will have the option to terminate the service (please see the Billing and Termination policy). Should you continue to use the service, this means that you accept the changes.

No other deviation from these terms is permitted and accepted unless agreed in writing between both ChiRhos and you, as a client.

Data Protection Policy

At ChiRhos, the data we hold in our systems is extremely precious to us, because it is precious to you. Your data is held with Azure Storage and encrypted at rest. The encryption keys are held, rotated and otherwise maintained by Microsoft. Other than outgoing streams to client sites as part of workflow, all data transmitted to and from the ChiRhos API is encrypted using Transport Layer Security (TLS). Data is stored within one or more of the Microsoft Azure data centres.

For the purposes of this policy, we adhere to the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The following points should be read in this context.

  1. For the purposes of GDPR and similar legal regulations, the Data Processor is ChiRhos (Pty) Ltd, a company registered in South Africa.
  2. The Data Protection Officer is Mr. Daniel Matthews, and can be contacted at [email protected].
  3. ChiRhos provides data storage and processing services as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and is not a Data Controller.
  4. ChiRhos does not itself provide services to natural persons, but rather provides services to client parties using the ChiRhos platform. These clients may either be a Data Controller (in terms of GDPR or similar) or may also be a Data Processor themselves.
  5. A ChiRhos client will have one or more ‘tenants’, logically separate containers for data, within ChiRhos.
  6. A ChiRhos client will designate at least one ‘tenant administrator’ for each of their tenants, by name, email and contact phone number.
  7. As a Data Processor, ChiRhos has a minimum number of statements and policies regarding data retention and usage.

You must be at least 16 years of age to be a client of ChiRhos. We do not knowingly store or otherwise collect information about any person who is under 16 years of age. If you believe we have done so in error, then please let us know by emailing us at [email protected]. Note that this does not include information stored within the ChiRhos service by a client, in which case the client is responsible for the data they are collecting and storing within ChiRhos.

Data Retention and Removal Policy

As a Data Processor, all data stored within ChiRhos is subject to unlimited retention. Retention policies should be set by the Data Controller. However:

  1. Client parties may choose to remove data that they own
    1. A ‘Delete’ will simply remove the data from being available at the current point in time. Data can subsequently be restored.
    2. A tenant administrator may also choose to ‘Erase’ data:
      1. All personal and non-personal and historical data is entirely removed
      2. Data cannot be restored
  2. Client parties may choose to allow their users to delete data that they own
    1. A ‘Delete’ will simply remove the data from being available at the current point in time. Data can subsequently be restored.
  3. Any natural person with data stored within the ChiRhos platform may request deletion of their own record within the ChiRhos platform, either directly with ChiRhos or via a service provided by a ChiRhos client, within the constraints detailed below and at two levels:
    1. Wipe
      1. Only applies to personal data
      2. Sensitive data directly concerning a person (including phone numbers, email addresses and 'Properties' metadata) is blanked / replaced with placeholders except for:
        1. Retained (for legal/audit purposes): First name, Middle name, Last name, Alternative last name, Gender and Date of Birth
        2. Deleted but not wiped: Relationships and Memberships
      3. Applies to current data and all historical data
      4. Data cannot be restored
    2. Delete
      1. Data is deleted ‘in situ’
      2. Historical data remains in place
      3. Data can be restored

For personally indentifable information stored by ChiRhos as part of our service provider - client relationship, ChiRhos will not use that information for any purposes other than to communicate to you around the ChiRhos services that you are (or may wish) to use. Use of the services means that you consent to use of your information for these purposes, and no other.

ChiRhos may, at times, utilise third party services as part of the service we provide you. As currently stands, the service providers used are as follows. Any change to these will be published in the terms of service:

  1. We use Microsoft Azure to store your data and provide API services.
  2. We use Twilio Sendgrid to send emails from the service
  3. We use BulkSMS to send SMS messages from the service
  4. We use CloudFlare to manage our network traffic

Use of the ChiRhos name, logo and other marks to sell, market or otherwise promote products or services is forbidden without written permission. You are granted limited permissions to the ChiRhos logo for marketing, media and promotional purposes provided that the main purpose of the usage of the name and/or logo is to promote or review ChiRhos’s services.

ChiRhos reserves the right to revoke any permissions granted under this agreement and require you to remove any reference to the ChiRhos name, logo or branding which ChiRhos considers, in its own judgement, to be in breach of these terms.

Support Policy

ChiRhos will always endeavour to provide you a service that is stable, fast and always available. However, there are times when the unforeseen will happen. For this reason, ChiRhos undertakes to provide support to you during the following times:

For the service itself, ChiRhos may need to conduct maintenance and other tasks on the service. However, we endeavour to conduct these out of standard business hours. For this reason, ChiRhos commits to the following monthly uptime percentages:

  • 97.5% uptime between 8am-8pm CAT (“peak time”)
  • 95% uptime between 8pm-8am CAT (“off-peak time”)

Put another way, in a 30 day month, ChiRhos commits to no more than:

  • 9 hours downtime throughout the month from 8am-8pm
  • 18 hours downtime throughout the month from 8pm-8am

Should the downtime exceed these parameters within a calendar month, then affected clients will be due a service credit equal to 0.5% of their fee for each additional full hour of downtime during that affected month, up to a maximum of 50% of their monthly fee.

For example, if the service has downtime of 15 hours during peak time and 20 hours during off-peak time during a month, this would give 6 + 2 = 8 hours of excess downtime. This would give a service credit due of 4% of the fee for that month.

Note the following:

  1. Downtime refers to unavailability of the ChiRhos API to service requests due to ChiRhos’ own fault. It does not include downtime caused by:
    1. Actions of the client
    2. Termination of the service
    3. Failure of other parties providing part of the ChiRhos services (including, but not limited to, service providers such as Microsoft and CloudFlare)
    4. Other factors outside of ChiRhos’ reasonable control, including any force majeure event
    5. Any downtime that results from maintenance necessary to ensure the integrity of data and services provided
  2. During the Beta phase of the service, the maximum service credits are capped at 10%, however for the purposes of termination the level still remains at the equivalent downtime for 50% service credits (please see Billing and Termination Policy).
  3. Other than the service credits detailed, there is no other compensation due for lack of service provided.
  4. ChiRhos may pro-actively monitor and apply credits. However, this is not guaranteed. If you believe you should have received service credits, and you did not, please send details of the claim to [email protected] for review.

Billing and Termination Policy

ChiRhos charges client fees monthly in arrears, as per the pricing schedule. All prices exclude VAT and/or other applicable taxes unless explicitly stated otherwise. Payment terms are net 30 days from invoice date. The client is solely responsible for reporting and paying any taxes, duties and other fees that may be due from the appropriate authorities. If ChiRhos retrieves from you any taxes to be paid onwards, then ChiRhos will make clear on any invoices the nature and amount of any taxes that are being paid on the service.

Unless agreed in writing by ChiRhos with the client prior to the invoice due date, late payments will occur a 5% fee of any outstanding amount on an invoice (including any other fees) on the 1st of each calendar month following the due date of the invoice.

To terminate the service, the client must give ChiRhos one (1) full calendar month notice. The termination will take affect at the end of the month following the notice. For example, if notice is given on the 10th of March, the service would terminate on 30th April. The only exceptions to this are:

  1. In the case where service downtime exceeds that permitted under the service credit scheme (see Support Policy), then the client is permitted to terminate the service in the calendar month following the breach provided that they notify ChiRhos of such termination in writing (and receive confirmation of the notice) before the 14th of the month following the breach. In other words, the client has two weeks following the month containing the breach to decide to terminate at the end of that month.
  2. In the case where the Terms of Service has substantially changed or have changed in a way that is demonstrably detremental to the client, the client may terminate the service at the end of the current calendar month provided that they notify ChiRhos of such termination in writing (and receive confirmation of the notice) within 28 days of the terms changing.

ChiRhos reserves the right to terminate a client's service if, in ChiRhos's judgement, they are in breach of any part of these terms of service and/or ChiRhos deems them to be in bad standing on their account. In these cases, ChiRhos will endeavour to give at least one (1) full calendar month notice where possible, but reserves the right to terminate the service with immediate effect. In such cases, all outstanding fees and charges under these terms of service are still due.

Acceptable Use Policy

ChiRhos is designed to be a centralised store for your information. As such, we do not pro-actively restrict any content you choose to create or store in our service. The responsibility for ensuring such content is appropriate and properly attributed or owned lies with you. However, in order that we can adhere to applicable laws in the territories and jurisdictions we operate, we require the following from you:

You may not store, transmit or otherwise use the ChiRhos service (including the data store/API as well as Email, SMS and any other channel originating from or to ChiRhos) to disseminate information that is:

  1. Offensive: Content that could be regarded as pornographic, obscene or otherwise objectionable.
  2. Harmful: Content that could be regarded as abusive, defamatory, fraudulent, deceptive or otherwise negatively impact the reputation of ChiRhos and/or any other third parties.
  3. Illegal: Content that infringes any intellectual or copyright rights of ChiRhos or any other third parties, or content that contains or promotes any activity that may be illegal in certain territories such as gambling, arms dealing or acts of terrorism.

If ChiRhos, in their own judgement, determine that any content or activity violates any of the above clauses, they reserve the right to remove any content they deem fit. Where possible, ChiRhos undertakes to give 24 hours notice to the content owner before removal of the content, but this is not something ChiRhos will guarantee. ChiRhos also reserves the right to suspend or terminate the accounts and subscription of any user who violates these terms (please see the Billing and Termination Policy).

If you become aware of any violation of these terms, please report them to [email protected].

Liability, Indemnity and Legal Jurisdiction Policy

We want to treat your information and your service as if it was our own. For that reason, we will do everything we can to protect your data and ensure our service to you runs smoothly so that you can run your own service effectively too. In order for us to do this, we need you to agree to these terms so that we can run our service efficiently. We also need you to remember that we’ll do what we can to keep the service running and compensate you for downtime as defined in the Support policy. Other than that, you need to take responsibility for your own data and service!

This means that by using the ChiRhos service, you agree to all of the policies that form the Terms of Service. In addition, you agree to indemnify ChiRhos (including it's officers, agents, partners and employess) against any losses, direct or indirect and including any legal fees or costs, resulting from usage of the ChiRhos service. The liability for ChiRhos will be limited to the compensation schedule for any loss of service as detailed in the Support Policy.

For legal purposes, these Terms of Service are deemed to be a legally binding contract between ChiRhos (Pty) Ltd, a South African limited liability company, and the client. Any disputes fall under South African law. Any arbitration should take place in Cape Town, South Africa, unless expressly agreed in writing between both parties.

Other than any service guarantees provided within the Support Policy, ChiRhos does not make any representations or warranties concerning the quality, capability, accuracy or function of any aspect of its service. The service is provided 'as is' and any use is entirely at the client's own risk.