Acceptable Use Policy

Legal and Honest Use

You must use SortedMate services lawfully, honestly, and in accordance with your subscription terms. You are responsible for ensuring your use complies with all applicable laws and regulations in your jurisdiction.

Respect for Others

You must not use the service to harass, threaten, defame, or harm other users or third parties. You must respect the rights and dignity of all individuals.

Unlawful Activity

Using SortedMate for any illegal purpose or violating any applicable laws, regulations, or industry standards.

Unauthorized Access

Attempting to gain unauthorized access to any part of the SortedMate service, other user accounts, connected systems, or underlying infrastructure.

Service Disruption

Interfering with, disrupting, or attempting to damage SortedMate servers, networks, or infrastructure. This includes denial-of-service attacks and system overloading.

Malicious Code

Uploading, transmitting, or distributing malicious code, viruses, worms, trojans, ransomware, or any harmful content that could compromise system security or user data.

Spam & Unsolicited Messages

Sending spam, unsolicited messages, or bulk messaging via our SMS/WhatsApp features beyond legitimate business communications with your clients (such as quote notifications, appointment reminders, and invoice alerts).

Reverse Engineering

Reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling, or attempting to extract the source code or proprietary algorithms from SortedMate services.

Harmful AI Content

Using our AI features to generate harmful, deceptive, illegal, or abusive content. This includes creating content designed to mislead, scam, or harm others.

Special Category Data Storage

Storing special category personal data (health data, biometric data, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, or sex life/sexual orientation data) on the SortedMate platform.

Unauthorized Reselling

Reselling, sublicensing, sharing access, or providing SortedMate services to third parties without explicit authorization from SortedMate Ltd.

Data Scraping

Scraping, crawling, automated data extraction, or bulk downloading of data from the SortedMate platform without authorization.

Circumventing Limits

Attempting to circumvent usage limits, rate limits, access controls, or payment requirements.

Third-Party Policy Violations

Using the messaging features in any way that violates Twilio's Acceptable Use Policy or WhatsApp Business Policy.

Prohibited Messaging

You must not use messaging features for:

• Mass marketing or promotional campaigns
• Contacting people who have not consented to receive messages
• Spam or unsolicited bulk messaging
• Phishing, scams, or fraudulent activity
• Harassment or abusive messaging

Consent Requirements

You are responsible for obtaining and maintaining lawful consent from all recipients before sending SMS or WhatsApp messages. You must comply with all applicable telecommunications regulations, including GDPR consent requirements and ICO guidance on electronic marketing.

Data You Control

You are fully responsible for all data you enter into SortedMate, including customer information, quotes, jobs, invoices, and attachments. You must ensure you have the lawful authority to process and store this data.

Lawful Basis

You must have a lawful basis (under UK GDPR or applicable data protection laws) to store your clients' personal data on the platform. This typically includes:

• Contract (you have a service agreement with the individual)
• Consent (you have obtained explicit consent to store their data)
• Legal obligation (you are required by law to maintain records)
• Legitimate interests (assessed and documented)

Prohibition on Unauthorized Data

You must not upload or store data that you do not have the lawful right to process. This includes data obtained without consent, data from third parties without permission, or data obtained through fraudulent means.

Response to Violations

If you violate this Acceptable Use Policy, SortedMate may take the following actions in its sole discretion, depending on the severity and frequency of the breach:

Termination Notice

For serious or severe breaches (such as attempted unauthorized access, malicious activity, or major data violations), we may terminate your account immediately without notice.

For other violations, we will endeavor to provide 14 days' notice before account termination, as set out in our Terms of Service. In urgent cases, we may reduce or eliminate this notice period.

Prior Contact

We will endeavor to contact you before taking enforcement action to provide you an opportunity to remedy the violation, except in urgent or serious cases where immediate action is necessary to protect the platform or other users.