Terms of Service
These terms keep things clear between Municate and the businesses we answer for. They are written to be read, not to hide anything. If a term here is unclear, ask us before you sign up.
The service
Municate provides an AI receptionist that answers phone calls, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram messages on behalf of your business, following a playbook configured with you. We set the service up with you, and you approve the playbook before it goes live.
Alongside answering, the service can hold a knowledge base you supply, connect to tools you already use, capture bookings and orders, raise tickets, and pass a conversation to a person on your team.
Billing
Municate is billed as a flat monthly fee for your organisation, in advance, at the plan you choose. There is no fixed-term contract: you can cancel at any time, and the service runs to the end of the period you have paid for. A once-off setup fee applies, and phone numbers beyond the ones your plan includes are billed monthly, as published on our pricing section.
What we refund, when, and how to cancel is set out in full in our Refund and Cancellation Policy.
Plans include unlimited WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram conversations and a monthly pool of voice minutes. Minutes used beyond the pool are charged at the per-minute rate published with your plan. Founders-rate pricing is locked for as long as the subscription stays active, as published on our pricing section.
Card details are taken and held by our payment gateway, not by Municate. Where you enable automatic renewal, you authorise us to charge that mandate for each period until you cancel.
If a payment fails we retry it and tell you. If it stays unpaid, we may suspend answering until it is settled. We will always tell you before we suspend.
Your responsibilities
You are responsible for the accuracy of the playbook: hours, prices, services, and the rules you approve. Municate answers from what you give us. You also confirm that you are entitled to connect the phone numbers and channels you ask us to answer, and that you will use the service lawfully.
Where the service handles your customers' personal information, you are the responsible party for that information and Municate acts on your instructions. That includes telling your callers what they need to be told, including that a call may be recorded, and having a lawful basis for the messages you ask us to send.
What you upload and connect
Material you add to your knowledge base stays yours. You give us permission to store it, index it, and answer from it for the purpose of running your front desk, and you confirm you have the right to give us that material.
Connecting an outside account is your decision and your authorisation. Municate reads from it, and writes to it where you have asked for that, in order to answer your customers. We are not responsible for an outside service being unavailable, changing what it allows, or the accuracy of what it returns.
What Municate does not do
Municate does not give professional advice on your behalf: no medical, legal, or financial advice beyond the approved answers in your playbook. Sensitive conversations are routed to your team according to your escalation rules. You remain responsible for the commitments your business makes to its customers.
The service is software. It can misunderstand a caller. Nothing it says creates an obligation you would not have taken on yourself, and you should treat the playbook as the thing that keeps it honest.
Availability
We aim for the service to answer around the clock, and we monitor it accordingly. Telephony, messaging platforms, and networks we depend on can fail in ways we do not control. When something on our side breaks, we tell you honestly and fix it as fast as we can.
Data
Conversation data belongs to your customer relationships. We process it to run the service, as described in our Privacy Policy and POPIA statement, and according to the retention settings you control. When you leave, you can request an export of your transcripts and captured leads.
Support access
A Municate administrator may enter your workspace to support you. Every such session is recorded against the person who opened it. If you would rather this were arranged with you each time, tell us and we will note it on your account.
Liability
To the extent the law allows, Municate's total liability for any claim arising from the service is limited to the fees you paid in the three months before the event giving rise to the claim. We are not liable for indirect losses, such as lost profits or lost business opportunities.
Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including under the Consumer Protection Act where it applies.
Ending the service
You can cancel at any time, effective at the end of the paid period. We may suspend or end the service for unlawful use, abuse of the platform, or non-payment, and we will warn you first unless the situation makes that impossible.
General
These terms are governed by South African law. If we update them in a way that matters, we will tell active clients before the change takes effect.
Questions about these terms: hello@municate.co.za.