Terms of service

Draft: these terms are being finalised and will be confirmed before Kewbee opens for sign-ups.

Last updated: to be confirmed before launch. These terms apply to every organisation that uses Kewbee. They are written in plain English. They were drafted without a lawyer: they are a careful starting point, not legal advice.

1. Who we are and what these terms cover

Kewbee ("we", "us", "our") provides a hosted business phone, messaging, team inbox and meeting service ("the service") to organisations ("you", "your organisation"). Our legal details: to be confirmed before launch.

By creating an organisation, accepting an invitation, or using the service, you agree to these terms. If you accept for an organisation, you confirm you are authorised to bind it. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

2. Accounts and security

• The person who creates the organisation is its owner. Owners and admins manage people, seats, phone lines and settings.
• Keep passwords and sign-in methods secret. You are responsible for everything done under your organisation's accounts, including by the people you invite.
• Tell us promptly if you suspect unauthorised access. We may require a password reset or suspend an account to protect the service.
• You must give accurate information and keep it up to date.

3. Plans, seats and payment

• Prices are on the pricing page, in Australian dollars. We are not currently registered for GST, so none is charged. If that changes we will tell you at least 30 days before GST is added on top of these prices.
• Each person has a seat (Pro, Standard or Collaborator). The seat decides which parts of the service they can use. Seats are billed monthly for the people enabled in that month.
• You bring your own phone and texting providers. Their call, text and number charges are owed to them, under your agreement with them, not to us.
• Founding-customer pricing, free periods and any other arrangement agreed in writing apply for the period stated and then end unless extended in writing.
• We may change prices on at least 30 days' written notice. A change takes effect at the start of your next billing period, and you may cancel before it starts.
• Invoices are payable within 14 days unless agreed otherwise. If an invoice is overdue we may suspend the service after giving you notice and a reasonable time to pay.
• Fees already paid are not refunded when you cancel, except where the law requires a refund or we say otherwise in writing. You can cancel at any time and the service continues to the end of the period you have paid for.

4. Acceptable use

You must not use the service to:

• send unsolicited commercial messages or bulk marketing, or break the Spam Act 2001, the Do Not Call Register Act 2006, the Telecommunications (Telemarketing and Research Calls) Industry Standard or the rules of the carriers and providers you use;
• harass, threaten, deceive or impersonate anyone, or send unlawful, abusive, defamatory or infringing content;
• attempt to break, overload, scan or reverse engineer the service, bypass its limits, or access data that is not yours;
• resell the service, or give it to other organisations, without our written agreement;
• use it as your only way to reach emergency services (see section 6).

The service is a tool for conversations with customers and colleagues. It has no bulk marketing tools by design. If you break these rules we may remove content, restrict features or suspend an account, giving notice where we reasonably can, and without notice where there is a risk of harm or a legal requirement.

5. Calls, messages, recording and consent

• Call and message recording and call transcription are off by default. If you turn them on you are responsible for telling the people involved and for getting any consent the law requires, including the surveillance devices and telecommunications interception laws of each state and territory and the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979.
• You are responsible for having the right to call and message the people you contact, for identifying your business in commercial messages, and for honouring opt-outs and the Do Not Call Register.
• Texts and pictures or files sent as MMS pass through your texting provider and the mobile networks. Delivery is not guaranteed and each carrier may have its own content rules and size limits.
• You decide what your organisation keeps and for how long. You are responsible for your own record-keeping obligations.

6. Emergency calls

The service uses the internet and your phone provider. Calls to 000 or 112 may not work, may not carry your location, and will not work if there is a power or internet failure. Keep a standard phone service or mobile phone available for emergencies and do not rely on the service to call emergency services.

7. Your content and data

• You own the content you and your customers put into the service ("your content"). You give us permission to store, process, copy and display it only as needed to provide, secure and support the service for you, and as required by law.
• You promise that you have the rights needed to put your content into the service and that it does not break the law or anyone's rights.
• Our privacy policy explains how personal information is handled. For personal information about your customers, you are the one who decides how it is used and we process it on your behalf.
• You can export your data using the tools in the service, or ask us to. After an account ends we keep your data for a period (to be confirmed before launch) so you can export it, then delete or de-identify it, except where the law requires us to keep it.
• We may use anonymous, aggregated usage data (that does not identify you or your customers) to run and improve the service.

8. AI features

Summaries, transcripts, suggested replies and assistant answers are produced by software and can be wrong, incomplete or out of date. Check them before relying on them, especially for names, numbers, addresses and anything that matters to a customer. You are responsible for what you send or decide based on them.

9. Availability, support and changes to the service

• We work to keep the service running but we do not promise that it will be uninterrupted or error-free. Voice and messaging also depend on third-party carriers, providers and networks we do not control.
• We may update, add or remove features. If we remove a feature you pay for we will tell you and give a fair remedy.
• We will give notice of planned maintenance that is likely to interrupt the service where we can. Support hours and any service level are as published or agreed in writing.

10. Our responsibility

• Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any right or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law or any other law that cannot be excluded.
• Subject to that, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit, revenue, business or data, or loss caused by third-party carriers, providers or networks, or by events outside our reasonable control.
• Subject to that, our total liability to you for all claims in any 12 month period is limited to the fees you paid us in that period. Where the law allows us to limit our liability for a breach of a non-excludable guarantee, we limit it to resupplying the service or paying the cost of having it resupplied.
• You agree to pay for losses we suffer because you break the acceptable use rules (section 4) or the consent and messaging rules (section 5).

11. Ending the agreement

• You can stop using the service and cancel at any time.
• We may suspend or end your access if you materially breach these terms and do not fix the problem within a reasonable time after we tell you, if you do not pay, or if the law requires it. We may end the service entirely on at least 90 days' notice.
• Clauses that by their nature should continue after the agreement ends do: payment owed, your content and data (section 7), our responsibility (section 10), and the law that applies (section 12).

12. General

• Changes: We may update these terms. For material changes we will tell account owners at least 30 days before they apply. Continuing to use the service after that means you accept them.
• Law: These terms are governed by the laws of Australia and of the state or territory of to be confirmed before launch, and the courts of that place. Both of us submit to those courts.
• Notices: We may give notice by email to the owner or admins of your organisation or in the service. You may give notice by email to to be confirmed before launch.
• The whole agreement: These terms, the pricing page, and anything we agree in writing are the whole agreement. If part of it is unenforceable, the rest still applies. We may transfer our rights to a successor to our business, and you may not transfer yours without our written agreement.