Client Service Terms

A paid service agreement is formed only when The Spokesdude Network issues a uniquely identified written scope, proposal or order that identifies every incorporated term, and the customer expressly accepts that exact version by signature or a clearly attributable written or electronic response.

An enquiry, discussion, file delivery, silence, invoice or payment does not by itself create or vary the agreement.

Before the first paid electronic acceptance, the scope or acceptance pack must provide complete verified supplier identity and applicable ECTA section 43 disclosures, full price, currency and verified VAT or tax treatment, payment method, delivery timing and prerequisites, cancellation and refund information, privacy and security information, transaction-record access, exact scope ID and version, exact incorporated Client Service Terms version, exact Excel Special Terms version where applicable, and durable copies the customer can retain.

The Spokesdude Network is not required to begin work until every commencement prerequisite in the accepted scope, including any required cleared payment, usable files, complete instructions, satisfaction of any applicable cooling-off or approved early-start requirement, and separate work authorisation, has been satisfied.

The customer-specific written scope must identify the included work and deliverables. Work not expressly included is excluded unless both parties accept a written variation.

The scope controls the project description, deliverables, assumptions, dependencies, fees and dates. It does not override the general legal provisions of the incorporated terms unless a separately negotiated written agreement expressly identifies the provision being overridden and is accepted by authorised representatives.

Fees, payment timing, currency and verified tax treatment are stated in the accepted scope or proposal. An invoice issued after acceptance records those obligations and must not add or vary a material term unless the customer accepts a written variation.

Cleared payment means funds independently verified as settled and available in The Spokesdude Network's nominated account, or confirmed as settled by an approved payment provider. A payment screenshot, payment notification, deposit slip or proof-of-payment document is not clearance.

Invoices are issued only after scope acceptance. Work may be delayed or suspended when a required payment has not cleared, but any withholding or suspension must be fair and subject to statutory cancellation, refund and other mandatory rights.

Cash payments and payments into personal accounts are prohibited. Invoice numbering, credit notes, reversals, overpayments and chargebacks follow the approved manual process. No undisclosed bank or payment-provider charges may be added.

The customer must provide timely, accurate, lawful and usable information, files, access, decisions and approvals through the approved channels.

Passwords must be provided only through the separately approved password process. The customer confirms, to the best of its knowledge and authority, that it may lawfully provide and instruct The Spokesdude Network to use the materials.

The Spokesdude Network will notify the customer when a delivery clock pauses and restarts because a required prerequisite is outstanding.

Additional outputs, changed instructions, replacement data, new datasets, new charts, new analysis or new delivery formats may require a new quote, revised timeline and advance payment.

Only a written variation accepted by authorised representatives changes the scope, price or delivery period. A material variation must receive a new scope version and fresh acceptance before affected work proceeds.

No affected additional or changed work may proceed until the new scope or version, price, timing and incorporated terms are expressly accepted and any required payment has cleared.

Timelines begin only after agreed prerequisites are met. Delays caused by customer action, missing information, unavailable access, events outside reasonable control or legally required checks may extend the timeline.

The Spokesdude Network will communicate material delays reasonably. Dormant matters may be reviewed after 10 business days of missing customer input and may be administratively closed after 30 calendar days with reasonable notice, subject to statutory rights and accepted engagement terms.

Administrative closure does not cancel the agreement, forfeit money, deem a deliverable accepted, extinguish statutory rights or erase evidence. Before closure, The Spokesdude Network will give written notice explaining the missing input and proposed consequence. Resumption, cancellation, completed-work treatment and any refund will be handled under the accepted scope, the cancellation section and applicable law.

The accepted scope must state the administrative deliverable-review period and correction process. During that period the customer may identify errors or omissions against the agreed requirements.

Silence does not deem the deliverable accepted and does not remove any right or remedy under Consumer Protection Act section 54 or other applicable law.

New data, outcomes or instructions are variations rather than corrections.

The Spokesdude Network will perform services with reasonable care and skill, consistent with applicable law and the accepted scope.

Outputs depend on the source data, assumptions and instructions supplied. Unless expressly agreed, The Spokesdude Network does not independently audit every source value. The customer remains responsible for final business decisions and appropriate review.

The Spokesdude Network remains responsible for an error caused by its failure to exercise reasonable care and skill. Source-data limitations do not exclude any non-excludable service-quality remedy.

Each party must keep the other party's confidential information confidential and use it only for the engagement. This duty does not apply to information that the receiving party can show was public without breach, already lawfully known, independently developed, lawfully obtained from another source, authorised for release, or required by law to be disclosed. Where lawful and practical, the receiving party will notify the other before a compelled disclosure. These duties survive completion or termination.

The parties will identify their POPIA roles for the engagement before personal information is transferred. Where The Spokesdude Network acts as an operator for customer-controlled personal information, work involving that information may not begin until the parties have a written operator/data-processing schedule addressing documented instructions, confidentiality, safeguards, subprocessors, security incidents, assistance, return/deletion and audit cooperation.

Any cross-border transfer, special personal information, children's information or prior-authorisation issue must be approved before processing. The Privacy Policy is a notice and does not replace a required operator agreement.

The customer retains ownership of its original data and materials. Unless the accepted scope expressly provides for assignment, after full payment The Spokesdude Network grants the customer a perpetual, royalty-free licence to use, copy and modify the paid final deliverable for its internal business activities and the agreed purpose.

The customer may share the final deliverable with its employees, contractors and professional advisers for the customer's internal business activities and agreed purpose, provided that confidential information remains protected and those recipients do not sell or license The Spokesdude Network's reusable materials as standalone products.

The Spokesdude Network retains its pre-existing and reusable tools, methods, templates, generic formulas, code and know-how, but this does not restrict the customer's use of its own data.

The scope must identify editable/source files, third-party components, external-distribution rights and any different ownership arrangement. Client-identifying or confidential portfolio use requires prior written permission.

The Spokesdude Network will exercise reasonable care over customer files and property in its possession or control.

Before accepting customer files, the scope or data schedule must disclose the approved transfer method, permitted access, workbook and working-copy retention or deletion arrangement, service-provider and cross-border handling, backup limitations, and legal-hold, tax and dispute exceptions.

No workbook may be accepted before the applicable disclosure and POPIA controls are approved.

ECTA cancellation right: If the customer is a natural-person end user and the agreement is an electronic transaction to which section 44 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act applies, the customer may cancel the service without reason and without penalty within seven days after the agreement is concluded. If the customer paid before cancelling under that right, The Spokesdude Network will refund the payment within 30 days after cancellation.

Section 44 does not apply where the service begins with the consumer's consent before the seven-day period ends, as contemplated in section 42 of that Act.

CPA direct-marketing cancellation right: If the transaction resulted from direct marketing and section 16 of the Consumer Protection Act applies, the customer may cancel in writing within five business days after the transaction or agreement was concluded, without reason or penalty, subject to that Act. For a valid rescission of this service transaction under section 16, The Spokesdude Network will return payment within 15 business days after receiving the cancellation notice.

Early commencement: The Spokesdude Network will not treat acceptance, payment, workbook or file delivery, urgency, or the ordinary acceptance statement as a request to begin during a cooling-off period.

Where early commencement is legally available, The Spokesdude Network will use a separate attorney-approved request. That request must record that the consumer expressly asks The Spokesdude Network to begin the service before the ECTA seven-day period expires and understands that ECTA section 44 will not apply once the service begins in those circumstances.

An early-start request concerning ECTA does not waive, remove or restrict a Consumer Protection Act section 16 right where that right applies. If an approved request is not obtained, work will not begin until the applicable cooling-off period expires or the lawful position has been confirmed.

Other cancellations and refunds: Outside a mandatory cooling-off right, a cancellation before work begins will be assessed fairly and any refundable amount paid promptly. After work begins, The Spokesdude Network may charge only for lawful, evidenced completed work or committed cost that the accepted contract and applicable law permit. No automatic percentage or administration deduction applies.

If The Spokesdude Network cannot provide the agreed service, or if a statutory service remedy requires a refund, The Spokesdude Network will provide the remedy required by law. Cancellation and refund requests may be sent to info@thespokesdude.com. The Spokesdude Network will provide its decision and calculation in durable form.

The Spokesdude Network will perform the agreed services with reasonable care and skill. Results depend on the data, assumptions and instructions supplied by the customer.

To the extent permitted by law, The Spokesdude Network is not responsible for loss caused solely by materially incomplete, inaccurate, unlawful or misleading customer information that The Spokesdude Network could not reasonably have detected within the agreed scope, or by a customer decision made contrary to an express limitation stated in the deliverable.

The customer must review the deliverable before using it for a material decision. Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for gross negligence, intentional wrongdoing, fraud, breach of a non-excludable statutory duty, or any other liability that South African law does not permit to be excluded or limited.

A customer may send a written complaint to info@thespokesdude.com. The Spokesdude Network will acknowledge and consider it reasonably.

The parties may attempt good-faith management discussion or mediation, but this process does not delay or restrict a statutory complaint, urgent relief or lawful court remedy.

Nothing prevents a person from approaching a competent court, the National Consumer Commission, the Information Regulator or another competent body where applicable law allows it.

These terms are governed by South African law, subject to mandatory rights. Notices should be sent to the contact details stated in the accepted scope or the published website contact details. Email dispatch records are useful evidence, but automated dispatch alone is not treated as conclusive proof that the recipient received and understood a notice.

Neither party may assign an agreement without consent, except for a lawful restructuring or business transfer that preserves the other party's rights. The Spokesdude Network remains responsible for subcontractors used to perform its obligations, and subcontractors must be subject to appropriate confidentiality, service and POPIA controls.

A genuine event outside reasonable control may delay performance only to the extent it prevents or delays performance despite reasonable mitigation. The affected party must give notice where practical. Accrued payment, refund, cancellation and statutory rights are preserved.

If a clause is unenforceable, the rest of the agreement continues as far as the law allows. Delay or non-enforcement is not a waiver. Confidentiality, intellectual-property, payment, records and dispute provisions survive completion or termination where their nature requires it.

The accepted scope and incorporated versioned documents form the agreement. Amendments require an accepted written variation.