Terms and Conditions

These Terms govern your use of PerseuBot, a service that answers your customers on WhatsApp and books appointments into your calendar. They are written for the business that subscribes, not for that business's customers. Read Section 6 first if you read nothing else: it describes how PerseuBot connects to WhatsApp, and the risk that connection carries.

1. Who you are contracting with

These Terms and Conditions (the "Terms") are a binding agreement between you (the "Customer", "you") and:

PerseuBot is a service operated by Vertice Studio. You can reach us at contacto@perseubot.com.

By creating an account, or by otherwise accessing or using the Services, you confirm that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Services.

If you are entering into these Terms on behalf of a company or other organisation, you represent that you have authority to bind it, and "you" means that organisation.

2. Definitions

• "Services" — the PerseuBot platform: the WhatsApp answering assistant, the appointment-booking engine, the management console, the public booking page, the reminder and campaign sender, and the websites and APIs that support them.
• "Account" — the workspace and credentials through which you and your Authorised Users access the Services.
• "Authorised User" — an individual you allow to access the Services under your Account, whether an owner, an employee or a contractor. Your plan sets how many of these you may have.
• "End Customer" — an individual who interacts with you through the Services: someone who messages your WhatsApp number, or who books through your booking page.
• "Customer Data" — everything you, your Authorised Users or your End Customers put into or generate through the Services: business configuration, services and prices, knowledge-base answers, conversations, messages, customer records and appointments.
• "Linked Number" — the WhatsApp account you connect to the Services as a linked device (see Section 6).
• "Third-Party Services" — services operated by others that the Services depend on, listed in Section 7.
• "Subscription" — your paid plan, including its trial period.
• "DPA" — the data-processing terms in Part C of our Privacy Policy, which govern our processing of End-Customer personal data on your behalf.

3. What the Services do

3.1. PerseuBot is a multi-tenant platform that lets a business run an automated assistant on its own WhatsApp number, answer common questions from a knowledge base the business writes, take and manage appointments, send appointment reminders and promotional campaigns, and hand any conversation over to a human at any moment.

3.2. The assistant answers from what you teach it. Replies are generated by a large language model that is constrained to the services, prices, opening hours, policies and answers you configure. The assistant is built to refuse questions outside that material and to escalate to you rather than improvise. It is not built to be, and must not be relied on as, a source of information you have not given it. See Section 10.

3.3. Bookings are written to a shared calendar. Availability is calculated from the service duration, staff working hours, breaks, holidays and existing appointments you configure. Double-booking is prevented at the database level rather than by an application check.

3.4. The two halves are independent. Answering and booking can each be switched on or off. Every feature is available on every plan; plans differ only in their numeric limits.

3.5. We may change, add to or withdraw features. We will not make a change that materially degrades the core functionality of a paid Subscription during its then-current term without giving you notice.

3.6. The Services are business tools for businesses and professionals. They are not consumer products and are not intended for individuals acting outside their trade or profession.

4. Accounts, trials and eligibility

4.1. You must be at least 18 and able to enter into a binding contract.

4.2. You are responsible for the accuracy of the information you give us, for keeping your credentials confidential, for everything that happens under your Account, and for the acts and omissions of your Authorised Users, who are bound by these Terms as if they were you.

4.3. Free trial. Paid plans begin with a free trial of the length shown at signup. We collect your payment details at signup so that the Service does not stop when the trial ends, but we charge nothing during the trial, and cancelling before it ends costs you nothing. If you do not cancel, the first payment is taken when the trial ends.

4.4. Tell us immediately at contacto@perseubot.com if you suspect unauthorised use of your Account.

5. Your responsibilities and acceptable use

5.1. You are solely responsible for your use of the Services and for your Customer Data, including its legality and accuracy and your right to use it.

5.2. Your relationship with your End Customers is yours. The Services are a channel between you and them. You — not us — are responsible for what you sell, your prices, the appointments you commit to, your cancellations and refunds, and your own legal obligations toward those people, including consumer-protection and data-protection obligations. We are not a party to anything you agree with an End Customer.

5.3. What the assistant says is attributed to you. Replies go out from your number, in your business's name. You are responsible for the knowledge base and configuration that produce them, and for supervising the result.

5.4. You agree not to, and not to let any Authorised User or third party:

• (a) use the Services in breach of any law, regulation or third-party right;
• (b) send unsolicited, unlawful, deceptive, harassing or harmful messages, or use the campaign sender for bulk marketing to people who have not agreed to receive it;
• (c) connect a Linked Number you are not entitled to use, or one belonging to somebody who has not agreed to it;
• (d) upload malware, or attempt to gain unauthorised access to, probe, scan or disrupt the Services or any related system;
• (e) reverse-engineer, decompile or extract source code from the Services, except where that restriction is prohibited by law;
• (f) resell, sublicense or provide the Services to third parties as a service bureau, except as your plan expressly allows;
• (g) route special categories of personal data (Article 9 GDPR — health, biometric and similar) through the Services unless you have a valid legal basis and have told us in advance. The Services are not specifically designed to safeguard such data;
• (h) circumvent usage limits, rate limits or the anti-abuse controls described in Section 6.5, or place a disproportionate load on our infrastructure.

5.5. Marketing and consent. The campaign sender lets you message your customer list. Obtaining a lawful basis to do so is yours, not ours. The Services do not collect marketing consent on your behalf; a customer record created from an ordinary conversation carries no consent, and by default it is still eligible to be included in a campaign. Where the law or the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy requires prior opt-in, you must have it before you send. The Services do honour an End Customer's STOP immediately and permanently for campaigns, but that is a backstop, not a legal basis.

5.6. We may suspend or limit access, in whole or in part, if we reasonably believe your use breaches this Section, threatens the security or integrity of the Services, or exposes us or others to liability. We will give you prior notice where practicable and prompt notice where not.

6. How PerseuBot connects to WhatsApp — and the risk you accept

This Section is the most important one in these Terms. Please do not skip it.

6.1. Not a Meta product, not an official integration. PerseuBot is not affiliated with, sponsored by, endorsed by or connected to WhatsApp LLC or Meta Platforms, Inc. in any way. "WhatsApp" is a trademark of Meta Platforms, Inc., used here only to identify the service we interoperate with. We are not a Meta Business Solution Provider and we do not use the WhatsApp Business Cloud API.

6.2. How the connection actually works. You link your existing WhatsApp account to PerseuBot the same way you link WhatsApp Web: by scanning a QR code from your phone under Linked devices. PerseuBot then operates as one of your linked devices, using an independent implementation of the WhatsApp multi-device protocol. That is what allows the Services to run on the number your customers already write to, without you obtaining any approval from Meta.

6.3. Acknowledgement of risk. You expressly acknowledge and accept that:

• (a) automating a WhatsApp account in this way is contrary to WhatsApp's Terms of Service. WhatsApp permits automation only through its official Business Platform;
• (b) Meta may restrict, suspend or permanently ban the Linked Number, without warning, without explanation and without a route of appeal. This can happen at any time, including to an account that has behaved carefully;
• (c) a ban may affect the number itself, not only its use with PerseuBot — including your ordinary personal or business use of WhatsApp on that number;
• (d) Meta may change the protocol at any time, which can interrupt or permanently end the Services' ability to connect, in a way we cannot prevent, predict or fix on any committed timescale;
• (e) we cannot contract with Meta on your behalf, appeal a ban for you, or restore a banned number.

6.4. Use a dedicated number. We strongly recommend connecting a business number that is not your personal one and that you could replace without disruption to the rest of your life. You are responsible for this choice.

6.5. What we do to reduce the risk. The Services pace outbound messages at a human rhythm, cap how much any account may send per hour and per day, ramp new connections up gradually rather than starting at full volume, restrict campaigns to customers who have messaged you recently, and stop sending promotional messages to anyone who replies STOP. These are harm-reduction measures based on observed behaviour. They are not a guarantee, and no configuration of the Services makes a ban impossible.

6.6. Allocation of this risk. Given 6.1 to 6.5, and to the maximum extent permitted by law:

• we give no warranty that any Linked Number will remain usable, that messages will be delivered, or that the connection will remain available;
• we are not liable for the restriction, suspension or loss of a Linked Number, for any interruption caused by a change on Meta's side, or for any loss of business, bookings, goodwill or customer contact resulting from either;
• if the connection becomes permanently impossible for reasons outside our control, either party may terminate under Section 17.4 and your remedy is the refund described there.

This allocation does not limit anything set out in Section 16.1, and does not apply where we have failed to provide the harm-reduction measures described in 6.5.

7. Third-Party Services

7.1. Providing the Services requires third parties. Today these are:

The current list, with locations and transfer safeguards, is kept in Section 9 of the Privacy Policy and is the authoritative version.

7.2. WhatsApp is not on that list because we have no relationship with Meta. See Section 6.

7.3. We do not control Third-Party Services and are not responsible for their availability, performance, pricing, policies or changes. Any of them may change, restrict or terminate access in ways that affect the Services.

7.4. You authorise us to transmit Customer Data to those providers to the extent needed to run the Services — for example, sending the text of a message together with your knowledge base to the model provider in order to generate a reply. How that is handled is set out in the Privacy Policy and the DPA.

8. Fees, billing and taxes

8.1. Plans. Access requires a Subscription. The fees, billing period and plan limits are those shown on our pricing page and in the Services at the time you subscribe.

8.2. Payment. Fees are charged in advance for each billing period to the payment method you provide, through Stripe. Card details are handled by Stripe on its own hosted pages and never reach our servers. Your first charge falls on the day your free trial ends.

8.3. Taxes. Prices are stated exclusive of VAT, which is added where applicable. If you are a VAT-registered business in another EU Member State and provide a valid VAT number, the reverse-charge mechanism may apply.

8.4. Plan changes. You may upgrade at any time; the change takes effect immediately and is charged pro rata. A downgrade takes effect at the end of your current billing period, and from that moment your Account is subject to the lower plan's limits — including, where the lower plan allows fewer of them, the deactivation of surplus team logins, services or knowledge entries. The Services tell you what will be affected before you confirm.

8.5. Usage limits. Each plan carries limits — team logins, services, knowledge entries, campaign messages per month, and an approximate monthly allowance of assistant replies. The reply allowance is a projection derived from a budget, not an exact counter, and is presented as such. Reaching a limit suspends the metered feature for the remainder of the period; it does not terminate your Subscription.

8.6. Late payment. Overdue amounts may accrue interest at the statutory rate for commercial transactions under Portuguese law, and we may suspend the Services for non-payment after reasonable notice.

8.7. Refunds. Except where the law requires otherwise or these Terms expressly say otherwise, fees already paid are non-refundable, including for part of a billing period.

8.8. Price changes. We may change fees with at least 30 days' notice before the start of your next renewal period. If you do not accept the new price, you may cancel before it takes effect.

9. Trials, betas and early-stage features

9.1. Free trials and free plans may be modified or withdrawn at any time, except as to a trial already running.

9.2. Some features may be offered as beta or evaluation features. They are provided as is, may change or be withdrawn, and are excluded from any commitment we make elsewhere.

9.3. You acknowledge that PerseuBot is early in its commercial life and that its availability and feature set will evolve.

10. The assistant, and what it produces

10.1. The assistant's replies are generated automatically by a large language model, from the material you configure and the message it is answering.

10.2. Output can be wrong. Despite grounding, refusal and escalation safeguards, a language model can produce text that is inaccurate, incomplete, out of date or unsuitable. We do not warrant that any reply will be accurate, error-free or fit for a particular purpose.

10.3. Automation is disclosed. As required by Article 50 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (the AI Act), the assistant tells each End Customer that they are talking to an automated assistant and that they can ask for a person. You must not configure the Services, or instruct the assistant, in a way that conceals or contradicts that disclosure.

10.4. Oversight is yours. You are responsible for the knowledge base and configuration you provide, for supervising the assistant, and for any commitment made on the basis of what it says. Keep a human in the loop for anything consequential.

10.5. To the extent any intellectual-property rights subsist in output generated for you through the Services, and to the extent we hold them, we assign them to you, subject to your payment of applicable fees and to the rights of the underlying model providers.

11. Intellectual property

11.1. Ours. The Services, including all software, design and underlying technology (but not Customer Data and not Third-Party Services), belong to Vertice Studio or its licensors. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use them during your Subscription, for your own business purposes, in accordance with these Terms.

11.2. Yours. As between us, you keep all rights in your Customer Data. You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive licence to host, store, process, transmit and display it solely in order to provide, secure and maintain the Services, and as the Privacy Policy and the DPA permit.

11.3. We do not train on your data. We do not use Customer Data to train our own models, and we do not permit our model providers to train on it.

11.4. Feedback. If you send us suggestions, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free licence to use them.

11.5. Aggregated data. We may produce and use aggregated, anonymised statistics about use of the Services in order to operate and improve them, provided the result identifies neither you nor any individual.

12. Confidentiality

12.1. Each party may receive non-public information from the other ("Confidential Information"). Each will protect it with at least reasonable care, use it only under these Terms, and disclose it only to people and advisers who need it and are bound to confidentiality.

12.2. This does not cover information that is or becomes public without breach, was already known, is independently developed, or is lawfully received from a third party. Disclosure required by law is permitted, with notice where lawful.

13. Availability and support

13.1. We aim to keep the Services available and to answer support requests at contacto@perseubot.com during Portuguese business hours.

13.2. Best efforts, not an SLA. Unless a separate written service-level agreement applies to your plan, we make no uptime commitment. The Services may be unavailable during maintenance, because of a Third-Party Service outage, because of a change or enforcement action on Meta's side (Section 6), or for reasons beyond our reasonable control.

13.3. We will try to give advance notice of maintenance we expect to cause material disruption.

14. Warranties and disclaimers

14.1. Each party warrants that it has authority to enter into these Terms.

14.2. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Services are provided "as is" and "as available", without warranty of any kind, express, implied or statutory, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Services will be uninterrupted, error-free or secure, that any Linked Number will remain usable, or that assistant output will be accurate or suitable.

14.3. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any right or warranty that cannot be excluded or limited under mandatory law, including Portuguese consumer law where it applies.

15. Data protection

15.1. Both parties will comply with applicable data-protection law, including Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and Portuguese Law No. 58/2019.

15.2. Roles. For personal data about your Account and Authorised Users, we are the controller. For personal data about your End Customers that we process in order to provide the Services — phone numbers, names, message content, booking details — you are the controller and we are the processor.

15.3. The DPA. Our processing on your behalf is governed by Part C of the Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference and which sets out subject matter, duration, nature and purpose, types of data and categories of data subject, our obligations, our sub-processors, our assistance to you, and the safeguards for international transfers. Accepting these Terms accepts the DPA.

15.4. Transfers. You acknowledge that providing the Services may involve transferring personal data outside the European Economic Area — in particular to the model provider and to Stripe's US affiliate — under the safeguards described in the Privacy Policy.

16. Limitation of liability

16.1. Nothing in these Terms limits liability for: (a) death or personal injury caused by negligence; (b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; (c) wilful misconduct or gross negligence; or (d) anything that cannot be limited under mandatory law.

16.2. Excluded losses. Subject to 16.1, neither party is liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, revenue, goodwill, anticipated savings or data, even if advised of the possibility.

16.3. Cap. Subject to 16.1, each party's total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these Terms, in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, will not exceed the total amount you paid us for the Services in the twelve (12) months before the event giving rise to the liability, or €100 where the Services were provided free of charge.

16.4. WhatsApp availability. Section 6.6 applies in addition to this Section.

16.5. Your responsibility. Because you control your Customer Data, your knowledge base, your configuration, your relationship with your End Customers and your supervision of the assistant, you are responsible for losses arising from those matters, and you will indemnify us against third-party claims arising from your breach of Section 5, from your Customer Data, or from your relationship with your End Customers, to the extent permitted by law.

17. Term, suspension and termination

17.1. Term. These Terms apply for as long as you have an Account. A Subscription runs for the period stated in your plan and renews automatically unless cancelled before the end of the then-current period.

17.2. Cancellation by you. You may cancel at any time from the billing screen in the console. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the period you have already paid for; the Services keep working until then. It does not entitle you to a refund of fees already paid, except where the law requires one.

17.3. Termination by us. We may suspend or terminate for material breach — including non-payment — that is not cured within 14 days of notice, for the conduct described in Section 5, or where required by law.

17.4. Termination because the connection has failed. If the Services can no longer connect to WhatsApp for reasons outside our control and we do not restore the connection within 30 days, either party may terminate on notice, and we will refund the unused portion of any fees you have paid in advance for the period after termination.

17.5. Effect. On termination your right to use the Services ends. We will keep your Customer Data available for export for 30 days, after which we may delete it, subject to the retention terms in the Privacy Policy and to any legal retention obligation.

17.6. Survival. Sections that by their nature should survive — including 6.6, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18 and 19 — do so.

18. Changes to these Terms

18.1. We may update these Terms. If we make a material change we will tell you by email or in the Services at least 15 days before it takes effect.

18.2. Continuing to use the Services after that constitutes acceptance. If you do not accept, you may cancel before the change takes effect.

19. Governing law and disputes

19.1. These Terms are governed by the law of Portugal, excluding its conflict-of-laws rules and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.

19.2. Subject to any mandatory right you have as a consumer, the courts of the district of Évora, Portugal, have exclusive jurisdiction.

19.3. If, exceptionally, you use the Services as a consumer, mandatory Portuguese consumer-protection rules continue to apply and you may use the European Commission's Online Dispute Resolution platform at ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.

20. General

20.1. Entire agreement. These Terms, with the Privacy Policy and the DPA, are the entire agreement between us on this subject and supersede anything earlier.

20.2. Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We may assign them to an affiliate or in connection with a merger or sale of assets, on notice to you.

20.3. Severability. If a provision is unenforceable, the rest stands and the provision is replaced by an enforceable one closest to the original intent.

20.4. No waiver. Not enforcing a provision does not waive it.

20.5. Force majeure. Neither party is liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including Third-Party Service outages, enforcement action by Meta, internet failures, acts of government and natural events.

20.6. Notices. Legal notices to us go to contacto@perseubot.com and to our registered office. We may notify you by email to your Account address or through the Services.

20.7. Relationship. The parties are independent contractors. Nothing here creates a partnership, agency, joint venture or employment relationship.

20.8. Language. These Terms are published in Portuguese and English. If the two conflict, the Portuguese version prevails.

Questions about this document? contacto@perseubot.com