Terms

Who we are and what these terms cover

Praato is a trading name of DataGroup Holdings (Pty) Ltd (Reg. no. 2021/707457/07), based in Johannesburg, South Africa (“we”, “us”, “our”). Praato is not a separate company: when your business uses Praato, your agreement and your invoices are with DataGroup Holdings (Pty) Ltd.

These terms (“Terms”) govern your use of praato.com (the “site”) and of Praato. By using the site, messaging us, or using Praato, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the site or Praato.

Our service

Praato is business messaging for businesses. On every tier, your business gets:

• Help with Meta setup and business verification
• The Praato portal, where your team members read and reply to your contacts and manage templates, usage and billing
• The WhatsApp API, on every tier
• Help writing templates and getting them approved
• Support

We also connect your own systems for you, as integration work quoted per project. The scope, fees and timelines of integration work are agreed with you in writing, for example in a quote. Where that written agreement differs from these Terms, the written agreement applies to that work.

Fees and payment

Our tiers and their prices are set out on our Pricing page. Prices are in South African rand. DataGroup does not charge VAT, so the price you see is the price you pay.

Meta bills its message fees directly to your own card, not through Praato. You add your own card to your WhatsApp account for them.

On the Business tier:

• You are invoiced monthly, in arrears.
• You pay by card, through Paystack.
• There is no contract.
• You can move back to the Free tier, or leave, at the end of any month.

We may pause the service on an overdue account after giving you reasonable notice.

Messaging us

When you message us on WhatsApp, you are asking us to reply to you about your enquiry, and you agree to receive WhatsApp messages from us for that purpose. You can ask us to stop at any time, by telling us so on WhatsApp or by email (see “Contact us” below). We do not use your number for bulk messages, cold calling, or any purpose unrelated to your enquiry. How we handle your personal information is set out in our Privacy policy.

Acceptable use

When you use the site or Praato, you agree not to:

• Use them for any unlawful, fraudulent or harmful purpose.
• Try to gain access you have not been given to the site, our systems, or other businesses’ data.
• Interfere with or disrupt the site, Praato, or the networks connected to them.
• Give us someone else’s personal information without their permission.

Your responsibilities as a customer

If your business uses Praato, you are responsible for giving us accurate information and the access and approvals we need, and for making sure your contacts’ details were collected lawfully and may be used to message them. You are responsible for having a lawful reason, and your contacts’ consent, to message them. You are responsible for what your team members send.

Intellectual property

The site, its content, our brand, the Praato portal and the software we develop remain our intellectual property (or that of our licensors). Your messages and your contacts’ details remain your business’s. When integration work is complete and paid for, your business owns the deliverables specific to it, while we keep the underlying methods and reusable parts used to build them.

Third-party services

Praato relies on third parties, including Meta Platforms, Inc. (the operator of WhatsApp), Paystack (card payments) and Microsoft Azure (hosting). Your use of WhatsApp is also subject to Meta’s own terms and policies, including WhatsApp’s Business Messaging Policy. Meta decides whether to verify your business and approve your templates: we help, but cannot promise the outcome. We are not responsible for outages or changes outside our control.

Disclaimers

We work hard to keep the site and Praato reliable, but they are provided “as is”, without warranties of any kind, to the extent the law allows. We do not promise that they will always be available, uninterrupted or free of errors.

Limitation of liability

As far as the law allows, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental or consequential loss arising from your use of the site or Praato. Nothing in these Terms limits any liability that cannot lawfully be limited. These Terms do not affect any rights you have under the Consumer Protection Act, 2008 that cannot be excluded.

Ending the service

You may stop using the site at any time, and leave Praato as set out under “Fees and payment” above. We may suspend or end your access to the site or Praato if you breach these Terms or use them unlawfully. Integration work is ended under its own written agreement.

Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa, and the South African courts have jurisdiction over any dispute about them.

Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update this page and the date at the top. Using the site or Praato after a change means you accept the updated Terms.

Contact us

Questions about these Terms? Email us at info@datagroup.co.za. We are based in Johannesburg, South Africa.