Terms and Conditions of Solarinstallers.org.za

These terms and conditions are the contract between you and Solarinstallers.org.za (“us”, “we”, etc). By visiting or using Our Website, or signing up for our Services, you agree to be bound by them.

We are: Any of our founders, associates, contributors or members acting on our behalf with authorisation

You are: Anyone who uses Our Website, whether a private individual, an organisation, business and/or its associates or employees in their capacity as authorised representatives of your organisation

Please read this agreement carefully. By using our website or any of the associated services, you agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions

These are the agreed terms

1.             Definitions

“Content”	means the textual, visual or aural content that is encountered as part of your experience on Our Website. It may include, among other things: text, images, sounds, videos and animations. It includes content Posted by you.
“Intellectual Property”	means intellectual property owned by us, of every sort, whether or not registered or registrable in any country, including intellectual property of kinds coming into existence after today; and including, among others, patents, trademarks, unregistered marks, designs, copyrights, software, domain names, discoveries, creations and inventions, together with all rights which are derived from those rights.
“Our Website”	means any website or service designed for electronic access by mobile or fixed devices which is owned or operated by us or our associates. It includes all web pages controlled by us.
“Post”	means place on or into Our Website any Content or material of any sort by any means.
“Services”	means all of the services available from Our Website, whether free or charged.
“User”	means anyone who visits and/or interacts with Our Website, whether as visitor or subscriber.

2.             Interpretation

In this agreement unless the context otherwise requires:

• a reference to a person includes a human individual, a corporate entity and any organisation which is managed or controlled as a unit.
  • a reference to a person includes reference to that person’s successors, legal representatives, permitted assigns and any person to whom rights and obligations are transferred or pass as a result of a merger, division, reconstruction or other re-organisation involving that person.
  • in the context of permission, “may not” in connection with an action of yours, means “must not”.
  • the headings to the paragraphs and schedules (if any) to this agreement are inserted for convenience only and do not affect the interpretation.
  • any agreement by either party not to do or omit to do something includes an obligation not to allow some other person to do or omit to do that same thing;
  • a reference to an act or regulation includes new law of substantially the same intent as the act or regulation referred to.
  • this agreement is made only in the English language. If there is any conflict in meaning between the English language version of this agreement and any version or translation of this agreement in any other language, the English language version shall prevail.

3.             Basis of Contract

• We do not offer the Services in all countries. We may refuse to provide the Services if you live in a country we do not serve. Acts and Regulations referred to on our website are specifically applicable in South Africa, and may not be applicable nor comprehensive elsewhere.
  • In entering into this contract you have not relied on any representation or information from any source except the definition and explanation of the Services given on Our Website.
  • Subject to these terms and conditions, we agree to provide to you some or all of the Services described on Our Website free of charge, or at the prices we indicated from time to time for specific services, which will be declared and charge upfront or as a subscription.
  • Some of our Services are now or may in future, be available to you only subject to additional terms. Those terms will be set out on Our Website. You now agree that if you choose to use any such service, the relevant terms will become part of this agreement.
  • You acknowledge that you understand exactly what is included in the Services and you are satisfied that the Services are suitable and satisfactory for your requirements;
  • So far as we allow use of our Intellectual Property, we grant a licence to you, limited to the terms set out in this agreement.
  • Our contract with you lasts for the period you use our website or services, and/or the period you’ve subscribed for in the case of paid services, and/or the period you remain registered with us. Your continued use of our Services after any changes in our Terms of Use shall be deemed acceptance by you of the changed Service, system and/or terms.
  • The contract between us comes into existence when you first use our website, sign up, register or subscribe, whichever comes first and infers applicability
  • If we give you free access to a Service or feature on Our Website which is normally a charged feature, and that Service or feature is usually subject to additional contractual terms, you now agree that you will abide by those terms, with exclusion of payments required for the agreed period.
  • We may change this agreement and / or the way we provide the Services, at any time. If we do:
    • The change will take effect when we Post it on Our Website.
    • You agree to be bound by any changes. If you do not agree to be bound by them, you should not use Our Website or the Services.
    • In the case of paid services; we will give you notice of the change.
    • If you make any payment for Services in the future, you will do so under the terms Posted on Our Website at that time.

4.   Your account and personal information

• When you visit Our Website, you accept responsibility for any action done by any person using your name, account or password. You should take all necessary steps to ensure that the password is kept confidential and secure and should inform us immediately if you have any reason to believe that your password has become known to anyone else, or if the password is being, or is likely to be, used in an unauthorised manner. This includes any situation where an employee or other authorised representative uses these credentials on behalf of your organisation, whether approved by you or not.
  • You agree that you have provided accurate, up to date, and complete information about yourself. We are not responsible for any error made as a result of such information being inaccurate.
  • You agree to notify us of any changes in your information immediately it occurs. If you do not do so, we may terminate your account. This is explicitly, but not exclusively applicable to qualifications and registrations which substantially affect your credentials and professional standing.
  • You declare that you are an authorised representative of your organisation and that you have obtained the necessary permission to register, post and/or act on behalf of your organisation.
  • Should you require the transfer of your account’s control from another party to yourself, for example from a previous employee who used to be the authorised person, or from someone impersonating your organisation, you may contact us. We may require various documents and proof for such transfer to be approved, ie Company Registration document, letter of request on a company letterhead and signed by the CEO or MD. 

5.   Accuracy of Information

We are not able to verify all claims made by service providers during the listing process, whether directly or indirectly, regarding qualifications, experience, registrations etc. We therefore require all service providers to be as truthful as possible when answering questions regarding their operations and credentials during listing.

• If you notice any shortcomings in your business during the listing of your profile, please reach out so we can assist you with the contact details of resources who can assist to close the gaps.
  • We have to hold each other accountable – if you notice suspect listings, falsifications of qualifications, copying of other providers’ portfolios or work pictures etc, please report it on our contact form.
  • Since a primary purpose of this site is to improve the legitimacy and credibility of service providers in our industry; if a provider’s stated or uploaded information is found to be misleading and/or falsified, we retain the right to refer this to the relevant inspectors, associations or authorities for further investigation. We will cooperate in full with such investigations, by providing any information submitted by you during registration and/or listing, even after termination of your account by either party. We retain the right to flag, suspend and/or delete accounts if the outcome of an investigation has indicated a breach of our ethics and honesty requirements.
  • We may not make any judgements regarding the legality of actual Electrical Installations, and you hereby agree that we may refer any disputes in this regard to an Approved Inspection Authority or other relevant body of our choosing and availability, including all information submitted by you on our website.

6.             Participation in Continuous Improvement

• In order to improve our offering, we welcome any constructive comments and suggestions for improvement. Please use the contact form.
  • Any materials (ie installation methodology) which can be offered to improve the installation community’s quality of work, is welcome and you will be referenced and tagged if approved for posting on our website. Please use the contact form.
  • Please share the link for registrations and listing with all other legitimate Providers you know, let’s grow the quality and credibility of our industry.

7.   Paid subscription terms

• Where/ if applicable, details of the cost and benefits of Solarinstallers.org.za subscription are as set out on Our Website and accordingly updated from time to time.
  • Payment for a Solarinstallers.org.za subscription is as per the offer for the paid service.
  • You do not have to take any action for this to apply. By signing up for, and accepting a paid service, you do instruct us to start immediately / give you immediate access / provide the paid service. You know that by doing so, you may not be entitled to a refund.
  • Apart from your cancellation right, termination of Solarinstallers.org.za subscription will be regulated by this contract set out in paragraph 15 below.
  • We reserve the right to modify the Solarinstallers.org.za subscription rules or system and to change the terms and conditions of this agreement at any time, without prior notice. Your continued use of the Solarinstallers.org.za Service after such modifications shall be deemed an acceptance by you to be bound by the terms of the modified agreement. The terms that apply to you are those Posted here on Our Website on the day you subscribe to Our Website.

8.             The price

• The prices payable for advanced Service packages / subscriptions are clearly set out on Our Website.
  • The price charged for any Services may differ from one country to another. You may not be entitled to the lowest price unless you reside in the qualifying country.
  • Prices are inclusive of any applicable value added tax or other sales tax.
  • When you subscribe for a subscription Service, that payment may not cover other Services, for which we will ask you to pay either by addition to your subscription or by a single payment.
  • Due to our mostly free Services, we are not yet VAT registered. If you require a detailed Tax Invoice, please request this via our contact page.

9.             Renewal payments

• Unless indicated otherwise, renewals are automatic.
  • If you want to cancel your subscription, one calendar month’s notice must be given by using the “My Account” tab on Our Website to access your personal information and change your requirements for Services or cancel your subscription
  • At the start of each month, we shall automatically take payment from your credit card of the sum specified on the invoice sent earlier and shall confirm the renewal of your Solarinstallers.org.za subscription for a further period by sending you an email message.
  • Certain Subscriptions are only available on Annual basis, and cannot be cancelled before the term is complete. Cancellation notice needs to be done more than 1 calendar month before completion of the current term.
  • Subscriptions are non-refundable and non-transferable.

10.        Security of your credit card

We take care to make Our Website safe for you to use.

1. Card payments are not processed on a page controlled by us. We use one or more online payment service providers who will encrypt your card or bank account details in a secure environment. Currently we use Payfast, a highly credible and experienced gateway. Their T&C’s are available here: https://payfast.io/legal/
   1. If you have asked us to remember your credit card details for your next purchase or subscription, we will securely store your payment details on our systems. These details will be fully encrypted and only used to process your automatic monthly payments or other transactions which you have initiated.
   1. Any suspect activity on your Credit Card via our site, must be reported to us asap. Where possible we will assist with taking necessary action, but we do not offer any guarantees regarding the resources available, nor the success of such actions.

11.        How we handle your Content

1. Our privacy policy is strong and precise. It complies fully with current privacy law which is available on our website.
   1. If you Post Content to any public area of Our Website it becomes available in the public domain. We have no control over who sees it or what anyone does with it.
   1. Even if access to your text is behind a user registration it remains effectively in the public domain because someone has only to register and log in, to access it. You should therefore avoid Posting unnecessary confidential information.
   1. We require the freedom to be able to publicise our Services and your own use of them. You therefore now irrevocably grant us the right and licence to publish any Content that you place on Our Website, in public domains and in any medium. You represent and warrant that you are authorised to grant all such rights.
   1. You now irrevocably authorise us to publish feedback, comments and ratings about your activity through Our Website, even though you may be deem it defamatory or critical. You may lodge a challenge to unfair comments, and we may at our discretion allow you to formulate a response or clarification, or remove such unfair comments. We will not be held responsible for any delay or omission in taking action requested by you.
   1. Posting content of any sort does not change your ownership of the copyright in it. We have no claim over it and we will not protect your rights for you.
   1. You understand that you are personally responsible for your breach of someone else’s intellectual property rights, defamation, or any law, which may occur as a result of any Content having been Posted by you.
   1. You accept all risk and responsibility for determining whether any Content is in the public domain and not confidential.
   1. Please notify us of any security breach or unauthorised use of your account.
   1. If you send to us material of any sort, you are deemed to have granted to us a licence to use it in the terms set out at sub paragraph five above. We will reference you as the author of such material, but we will not be held liable if such referencing is omitted by error or otherwise. If you notice such omission, please contact us.
   1. Please ensure you do not infringe on anyone else’s copyright when producing and submitting your material to us. You will remain liable for any plagiarism or copyright infringements, this responsibility is not transferable to us.
   1. We do not sell personal data to any third parties. Your information may be used to connect you with Service Providers / Product Suppliers who match your requirements/ needs based on the information you provided, whether directly or indirectly. Advertisements relevant to your needs, based on information supplied by you, may also be displayed to you from time to time. An advertisement free subscription option may be purchased by you.

12.        Restrictions on what you may Post to Our Website

We invite you to Post Content to Our Website in several ways and for different purposes. We have to regulate your use of Our Website to protect our business and our staff, to protect other users of Our Website and to comply with the law. These provisions apply to all users of Our Website.

We do not undertake to moderate or check every item Posted, but we do protect our business vigorously. If we believe Content Posted breaches the law, we shall co-operate fully with the law enforcement authorities in whatever way we can.

You agree that you will not use or allow anyone else to use Our Website to Post Content or undertake any activity which is or may:

1. be unlawful, or tend to incite another person to commit a crime;
   1. consist in commercial audio, video or music files;
   1. be obscene, offensive, threatening, violent, malicious or defamatory;
   1. be sexually explicit or pornographic;
   1. be likely to deceive any person or be used to impersonate any person, or to misrepresent your identity, age or affiliation with any person;
   1. request or collect passwords or other personal information from another user without his permission, nor Post any unnecessary personal information about yourself;
   1. be used to sell any goods or services or for any other commercial use not applicable to our industry. not intended by us, for yourself or for any other person.
   1. Collect information with the intention of passing it to a third party for his commercial use;
   1. facilitate the provision of unauthorised copies of another person’s copyright work;
   1. link to any of the material specified in this paragraph;
   1. Post excessive or repeated off-topic messages to any forum or group;
   1. sending age-inappropriate communications or Content to anyone under the age of 18.

13.        Your Posting: restricted content

In connection with the restrictions set out below, we may refuse or edit or remove a Posting which does not comply with these terms.

In addition to the restrictions set out above, a Posting must not contain:

1. hyperlinks, other than those specifically authorized by us. We reserve the right to remove any hyperlinks or contact information posted in breach with this condition.
   1. keywords or words repeated, which are irrelevant or unnecessary to the Content Posted.
   1. the name, logo or trademark of any organisation other than that of you or your own company’s.
   1.  inaccurate, false, or misleading information.

14.        Removal of offensive Content

1. For the avoidance of doubt, this paragraph is addressed to any person who visits Our Website for any purpose.
   1. We are under no obligation to monitor or record the activity of any Visitor or customer for any purpose, nor do we assume any responsibility to monitor or police Internet-related activities. However, we may do so without notice to you and without giving you a reason.
   1. If you are offended by any Content, the following procedure applies:
      1. Your claim or complaint must be submitted to us in the form available on Our Website, or contain the same information as that requested in our form. It must be sent to us by email or contact form. Complaints posted via WhatsApp or phone call will not be addressed.
      1. we shall remove the offending Content as soon as we are reasonably able;
      1. after we receive notice of a claim or complaint, we shall investigate at our discretion and based on our available resources;
      1. we may re-instate the Content about which you have complained or not.
   1. In respect of any complaint made by you or any person on your behalf, whether using our form of complaint or not, you now irrevocably grant to us a licence to publish the complaint and all ensuing correspondence and communication, without limit.
   1. You now agree that if any complaint is made by you frivolously or vexatiously you will repay us or the investigating party the cost of our investigation including legal fees, if any.

15.        Security of Our Website

If you violate Our Website we shall take legal action against you.

You now agree that you will not, and will not allow any other person to:

1. modify, copy, duplicate or cause damage or unintended effect to any portion of Our Website, or any software used within it.
   1. link to Our Website in any way that would cause the appearance or presentation of Our Website to be different from what would be seen by a user who accessed Our Website by typing the URL into a standard browser or downloaded from a mobile application store and operated on a mobile device;
   1. download any part of Our Website, without our express written consent;
   1. collect any service listings, descriptions, or prices;
   1. collect any information obtained from or about Our Website or the Content except as intended by this agreement;
   1. aggregate, copy or duplicate in any manner any of the Content or information available from Our Website, other than as permitted by this agreement or as is reasonably necessary for your use of the Services;
   1. share with a third party any login credentials to Our Website;
   1. Despite the above terms, we now grant a licence to you to:
      1. create a hyperlink to Our Website for the purpose of promoting an interest common to both of us, ie a link on your own website indicating your registration and cooperation with us. You can do this without specific permission. This licence is conditional upon your not portraying us or any product or service in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive manner. You may
      1. place the applicable “Solarinstallers.org.za Member” logo on your own website or material, free of charge, provided it may not be modified and must be clearly secondary to your main logo on your website or other material.

16.        Storage of data

1. We may, from time to time, set a limit on the number of messages you may send, store, or receive through the Service. We may delete messages in excess of that limit. We shall give you notice of any change to your limit, except in an emergency.
   1. We assume no responsibility for the deletion or failure to store or deliver email or other messages.
   1. You accept that we cannot be liable to you for any such deletion or failure to deliver to you.
   1. We maintain reasonable procedures for general backup of data for our own purposes but we give no warranty that your data will be saved or backed up in any particular circumstances unless we have made specific contractual arrangements with you in writing.

17.        Termination

1. This agreement terminates on the expiry of your subscription.
   1. You may terminate this agreement at any time, for any reason, with immediate effect. You may terminate the agreement either by sending notice to us by email, or by completing the form on Our Website and submitting it. We reserve the right to check the validity of any request to terminate your subscription.
   1. We may terminate this agreement at any time, for any reason, with immediate effect by sending you notice to that effect by post or email.
   1. Termination by either party shall have the following effects:
      1. your right to use the Services immediately ceases;
      1. we are under no obligation to forward any unread or unsent messages to you or any third party;
   1. In the event of such termination by us, we will within seven days refund to you the balance of your subscription outstanding for any Service, pro rata with time not elapsed.
   1. There shall be no re-imbursement or credit if the Service is terminated due to your violation of any of the terms of this agreement, including the requirement for honesty and ethics.
   1. We retain the right, at our sole discretion, to terminate any and all parts of the Services provided to you, without refunding to you any fees paid if we decide in our absolute discretion that you have failed to comply with any of the terms of this agreement.
   1. Information provided by you which have legal implications or are potentially damaging to the public or other users, might not necessarily be deleted with your account. This includes any false claims regarding registrations, qualifications or memberships which might be handed to any investigating authority and/or disclosed to the public in the interest of safety or security.

18.        Interruption to Services

1. If it is necessary for us to interrupt the Services, we will give you reasonable notice where this is possible and when we judge the down time is such as to justify telling you.
   1. You acknowledge that the Services may also be interrupted for many reasons beyond our control without any notice.
   1. You agree that we are not liable to you for any loss, foreseeable or not, arising from any interruption to the Services.

19.        Intellectual Property

You agree that at all times you will:

1. not do anything which does or might reduce the value of our Intellectual Property or challenge our ownership of it.
   1. notify us of any suspected infringement of the Intellectual Property;
   1. so far as concerns software provided or made accessible by us to you, you will not:
      1. copy, or make any change to any part of its code;
      1. use it in any way not anticipated by this agreement;
      1. give access to it to any other person than you, the licensee in this agreement;
      1. in any way provide any information about it to any other person or generally.
   1. not use the Intellectual Property except directly in our interest.

20.        Disclaimers and limitation of liability

• The law differs from one country to another. This paragraph applies so far as the applicable law allows.
  • All implied conditions, warranties and terms are excluded from this agreement. If in any jurisdiction an implied condition, warrant or term cannot be excluded, then this sub paragraph shall be deemed to be reduced in effect, only to the extent necessary to release that specific condition, warranty or term.
  • Our Website and our Services are provided “as is”. We make no representation or warranty that the Service will be:
    • useful to you;
    • of satisfactory quality;
    • fit for a particular purpose;
    • available or accessible, without interruption, or without error.
  • We do not claim faultless knowledge in any subject, for ourselves or our contributors. We disclaim any obligation or liability to you arising directly or indirectly from information you take from Our Website.
  • We make no representation or warranty and accept no responsibility in law for:
    • accuracy of any Content or the impression or effect it gives;
    • delivery of Content, material or any message;
    • privacy of any transmission;
    • third party advertisements which are posted on Our Website or through the Services;
    • the conduct, whether online or offline, of any user of Our Website or the Services;
    • failure or malfunction of computer hardware or software or technical equipment or system connected directly or indirectly to your use of the Services;
    • any act or omission of any person or the identity of any person who introduces himself to you through Our Website;
    • any aspect or characteristic of any services advertised on Our Website;

you agree that in any circumstances when we may become liable to you, the limit of our liability is the amount you have paid us in the immediately preceding 3 month period for the Services concerned. This applies whether your case is based on contract, tort or any other basis in law.

• We shall not be liable to you for any loss or expense which is:
  • indirect or consequential loss; or
  • economic loss or other loss of turnover, profits, business or goodwill even if such loss was reasonably foreseeable or we knew you might incur it.
  • This paragraph (and any other paragraph which excludes or restricts our liability) applies to our directors, officers, employees, subcontractors, agents and affiliated companies as well as to us.
  • If you become aware of any breach of any term of this agreement by any person, please inform us via email.  We welcome your input but do not guarantee to agree with your judgement.

21.        You indemnify us

You agree to indemnify us against all costs, claims and expense arising directly or indirectly from:

• your failure to comply with the law of any country;
  • your breach of this agreement;
  • any act, neglect or default by any agent, employee, licensee or customer of yours;
  • a contractual claim arising from your use of the Services;
  • a breach of the intellectual property rights of any person;

and for the purpose of this paragraph you agree that the cost of our management and technical time is properly recoverable and can reasonably be valued at R 1500 per hour without further proof.

22.        Miscellaneous matters

• You undertake to provide to us your current land address, e-mail address and telephone numbers as often as they are changed together with all information that we may require to enable us to fulfil our obligations under this contract
  • The schedules, if any, to this agreement are part of the agreement and have the same force and effect.
  • If any term or provision of this agreement is at any time held by any jurisdiction to be void, invalid or unenforceable, then it shall be treated as changed or reduced, only to the extent minimally necessary to bring it within the laws of that jurisdiction and to prevent it from being void and it shall be binding in that changed or reduced form. Subject to that, each provision shall be interpreted as severable and shall not in any way affect any other of these terms.
  • The rights and obligations of the parties set out in this agreement shall pass to any permitted successor in title.
  • If you are in breach of any term of this agreement, we may:
    • terminate your account and refuse access to Our Website;
    • remove or edit Content, or cancel any order at our discretion;
    • issue a claim in any court.
  • Any obligation in this agreement intended to continue to have effect after termination or completion shall so continue.
  • No failure or delay by any party to exercise any right, power or remedy will operate as a waiver of it nor indicate any intention to reduce that or any other right in the future.
  • Any communication to be served on us shall be delivered by a physical recorded delivery.

Any communication to be served on you shall be delivered by a physical recorded delivery or email.  Email shall be deemed to have been delivered to the address from which the receiving party has last sent e-mail: within 24 hours if no notice of non-receipt has been received by the sender.

• In the event of a dispute between the parties to this agreement, then they undertake to attempt to settle the dispute by engaging in good faith with the other in a process of mediation before commencing arbitration or litigation.
  • So far as the law permits, and unless otherwise stated, this agreement does not give any right to any third party.
  • Neither party shall be liable for any failure or delay in performance of this agreement which is caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including any labour dispute between a party and its employees.
  • In the event of any conflict between any term of this agreement and the provisions of the memorandum of incorporation of a limited company or any comparable document intended to regulate any other corporate or collective body, then the terms of this agreement shall prevail.
  • The validity, construction and performance of this agreement shall be governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa and you agree that any dispute arising from it shall be litigated only in that country.