Terms of Service

1.About these terms & us

OctConnect ("OctConnect", "we", "us", "our") is a service operated by Fine Content Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 16603901, whose registered office is at 49 Noakes Avenue, Chelmsford, United Kingdom, CM2 8EN.

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") govern your access to and use of the OctConnect website at octconnect.co.uk and the OctConnect calling service (together, the "Service"). By creating an account, completing checkout, or otherwise using the Service, you confirm that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

These Terms are between OctConnect and you, the person who registers for and pays for the Service (the "Customer", "you", "your"). People you choose to call through the Service (your "Contacts") are not parties to these Terms, but you are responsible for ensuring your use of the Service in connection with them complies with these Terms and applicable law.

2.The OctConnect service

OctConnect is a paired-calling service for the diaspora. In simple terms:

• We assign you a local UK phone number and pair it with a local Zimbabwe phone number for each Contact you set up.
• When you dial your assigned UK number, it connects through to your Contact's phone in Zimbabwe. When your Contact dials their assigned Zimbabwe number, it connects through to you.
• Calls draw down from the bundle of minutes included with your plan (see section 5).

For your security and to prevent misuse, a paired number generally only connects calls between the specific mobile numbers you have registered for that pair. Calls from or to other numbers may be rejected.

The Service is a software-based calling service that relies on third-party telecommunications carriers and the public telephone networks in the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe and elsewhere. It is not a fixed-line or mobile phone line, an internet access service, or a replacement for either, and it does not provide a number you can use as your primary personal telephone number.

3.No emergency calls

4.Eligibility & your account

• You must be at least 18 years old and have the legal capacity to enter into a contract to use the Service.
• You must provide accurate, current and complete information when you register and keep it up to date — including a valid email address, a valid mobile number for you, and valid mobile numbers for the Contacts you set up.
• You are responsible for keeping your account login details and verification codes confidential, and for all activity that takes place under your account. Tell us straight away at support@octconnect.co.uk if you think your account has been accessed without your permission.
• One account per person. We may refuse, suspend or close accounts that we reasonably believe are duplicates, fraudulent, or set up using false information.
• You confirm that you have the right to give us the phone numbers of the Contacts you set up, and that those Contacts are content to receive and make calls through the Service. You must not use the Service to contact anyone who has asked not to be contacted.

5.Plans, minutes & top-ups

Plans

The Service is offered on monthly subscription plans. The plans available, the price of each, the number of calling minutes included each month, and what counts as "included" calling are shown on our pricing page and at checkout, and may change from time to time (see section 6). Plans are billed in pounds sterling (GBP) unless another currency is shown to you at checkout.

Your monthly minutes

• Each billing month you receive a fresh allowance ("pool") of minutes for your plan. Minutes are consumed by calls connected through the Service, rounded as described at checkout.
• Minutes do not roll over. Unused minutes expire at the end of each billing month and have no cash value.
• If your plan supports calling beyond your included minutes ("overage"), additional minutes are charged at the per-minute rate shown for your plan and added to your next invoice. If overage is not enabled on your plan, calls will not connect once your minutes are used up until you top up or your plan renews.

Additional Contacts

Some plans let you add extra paired Contacts for an additional recurring monthly charge per Contact. Adding a Contact increases your monthly subscription amount; the prorated difference for the current billing period is added to your next invoice, and the full amount applies from your next renewal. Removing a Contact reduces your subscription from the next renewal. Additional Contacts share your plan's monthly minute pool unless we tell you otherwise.

Top-ups

You can buy one-off bundles of extra minutes ("top-ups"). Top-up minutes are added to your current billing month's pool and, like plan minutes, do not roll over and expire at the end of that month. Top-ups are charged as a one-off payment at the time of purchase. Once a top-up has been added to your account it is non-refundable, except where you have a right to a refund under applicable consumer law or section 8.

6.Billing, renewals & price changes

• Your subscription renews automatically each month on the anniversary of your sign-up (or the nearest available date) until you cancel. You authorise us, through our payment processor, to charge your saved payment method for the subscription charge and any applicable add-on, overage or top-up charges on each renewal.
• All prices are inclusive of UK VAT where applicable unless stated otherwise. If the applicable rate or basis of tax changes, the price you pay may change accordingly.
• We may change our plans, prices, included minutes, overage rates and top-up bundles. If we increase the recurring price of your plan or materially reduce what it includes, we will give you at least 30 days' notice by email before the change takes effect, and you may cancel before the change applies if you do not wish to accept it (see section 8). Changes to overage rates and top-up prices apply from the date stated in the notice; one-off top-ups you have already purchased are not affected.
• We may also offer promotional or introductory pricing. Unless we say otherwise, after any promotional period the standard price for the relevant plan applies on the next renewal.

7.Payment & failed payments

• Payments are processed by our third-party payment provider (currently Stripe). We do not store your full card details on our own systems. By providing a payment method you authorise the relevant charges and confirm you are entitled to use that payment method.
• If a payment fails (for example, your card is declined or expired), we will mark your subscription as past due and your calling Service will be paused. Our payment provider will normally retry the charge over the following days. You can restore your Service at any time by updating your payment details in your account.
• If your subscription remains unpaid, we may cancel it, in which case your account, paired numbers and any remaining minutes will be released (see sections 8 and 9).
• You are responsible for any fees your bank or card issuer charges in connection with payments to us.

8.Cancellation & refunds

Cancelling your subscription

You can cancel your subscription at any time from your account dashboard or by emailing support@octconnect.co.uk. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current paid billing period — you keep access until then, and you will not be charged again. We do not provide partial refunds for the unused part of a billing period except where required by law or under the 30-day guarantee below.

30-day money-back guarantee

If you are a new Customer and you are not happy with the Service, you may request a full refund of your first month's subscription charge within 30 days of your first payment, by emailing support@octconnect.co.uk. The guarantee applies once per Customer, covers the first subscription payment only (not add-on charges, overage charges or top-ups), and we may decline it where we reasonably believe the Service has been misused or the guarantee is being abused. We will process approved refunds to your original payment method within 14 days.

Your statutory cancellation rights

Where applicable consumer law gives you a "cooling-off" or other cancellation right, nothing in these Terms removes it. By asking us to start providing the Service immediately (which we do as soon as your numbers are set up), you acknowledge that if you cancel under a statutory cooling-off right after the Service has started, you may be charged a proportionate amount for the Service supplied up to the point you cancelled.

What happens to your numbers and minutes

When your subscription ends for any reason, your assigned numbers stop working and are returned to us, and any remaining minutes are forfeited and have no cash value. See section 9.

9.Your phone numbers

• The UK and Zimbabwe numbers we assign to you are licensed to you for use with the Service only for as long as your subscription is active. You do not own them, you do not acquire any property right in them, and you may not sell, transfer or share them.
• Numbers are not portable — you cannot move an OctConnect-assigned number to another provider, and we cannot port in numbers from elsewhere.
• We may, acting reasonably, change a number assigned to you (for example, where required by a regulator, a numbering authority or our carriers, or for technical or security reasons). We will give you reasonable notice where we can.
• When your subscription, plan or a particular Contact ends, the associated number(s) are released back to us and may be re-allocated to another customer in the future. We are not responsible for calls placed to a released number after it has been re-allocated.
• You must not publish, advertise or distribute an assigned number for any purpose other than enabling the Contacts you have registered to call you and you to call them.

10.Acceptable use & fair use

You agree that you will not, and will not allow anyone else to, use the Service:

• for anything unlawful, fraudulent, deceptive, abusive, harassing, threatening, defamatory or obscene, or to infringe anyone's rights;
• to make nuisance, silent, hoax, bulk, automated or unsolicited marketing calls, or to operate a call centre, dialler, robocalling, SIM box, call-termination, traffic-pumping or similar operation;
• to resell, rent out, sublicense or commercially exploit the Service or your assigned numbers, or to provide a service to third parties using the Service;
• to call premium-rate, revenue-share, special-service or international numbers in a way designed to generate revenue or to defraud us or any carrier;
• in a way that places an unreasonable or disproportionate load on the Service, or that interferes with, disrupts or attempts to gain unauthorised access to the Service, our systems, or any network;
• in breach of the acceptable-use or fair-use rules of any underlying network or carrier;
• to circumvent, disable or interfere with security or usage-control features of the Service (including the paired-number restriction in section 2 and any minute limits).

Fair use. Plans are intended for personal, non-commercial use to keep in touch with family and friends. We may apply fair-use controls and, where we reasonably believe use is excessive, automated, commercial or otherwise contrary to these Terms, we may limit, suspend or terminate the Service (see section 13). We may monitor call records (such as numbers dialled, times and durations) for billing, fraud prevention, network management and compliance — see our Privacy Policy.

11.Service availability & quality

• We work hard to keep the Service running well, but we do not guarantee that it will be available without interruption, error-free, or that calls will always connect or be of a particular quality. The Service depends on third-party carriers and on mobile and fixed networks in the UK, Zimbabwe and elsewhere, which we do not control — and on local conditions in Zimbabwe (such as power supply and network congestion) that can affect calls.
• We may suspend or restrict the Service, in whole or in part, for maintenance, upgrades, security, capacity management, or for legal or regulatory reasons. We will try to give advance notice of planned work and to keep disruption to a minimum.
• We do not offer a service-level agreement or service credits for downtime on consumer plans.
• You are responsible for the equipment and network you use to access the Service (your phone, your network or carrier, and any charges they impose).

12.Third-party networks & services

The Service is delivered using third-party telecommunications carriers, numbering providers, payment processors, email and messaging providers, and other suppliers. We are not responsible for the acts, omissions, outages, policies or charges of those third parties, or of any mobile or fixed network operator involved in carrying a call. Where a third party imposes a restriction or charge that affects the Service, we may pass that on to you or change the Service accordingly, acting reasonably.

13.Suspension & termination by us

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service (in whole or in part), or close your account, with immediate effect where:

• you breach these Terms (including the acceptable-use and fair-use rules in section 10) or our Privacy Policy;
• your payment is overdue and remains unpaid after we have asked you to settle it;
• we reasonably believe your account or use is fraudulent, abusive, or poses a risk to the Service, our other customers, our carriers or any network;
• we are required to do so by law, by a regulator, a numbering authority or a carrier; or
• continuing to provide the Service to you would expose us to legal, regulatory or commercial liability.

We may also stop offering the Service generally, or close your account on at least 30 days' notice without cause; in that case we will refund any subscription charge you have paid for the period after your account closes.

On termination, your right to use the Service ends, your assigned numbers are released, and any remaining minutes are forfeited. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including sections 8, 9, 14, 16, 17, 18 and 21) will continue to apply.

14.Privacy & your data

We handle personal data — yours and that of the Contacts you set up — in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable data protection law, including the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. You confirm that you have a lawful basis to provide us with your Contacts' phone numbers for the purpose of operating the Service and that you have given them any information about that use that the law requires you to give. The Privacy Policy explains what we collect, why, how long we keep it, and your rights.

15.Intellectual property

The OctConnect name, logo, website, software and content are owned by or licensed to Fine Content Ltd and are protected by intellectual property laws. We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the Service for its intended purpose in accordance with these Terms. You must not copy, modify, distribute, sell, reverse-engineer or create derivative works from any part of the Service, or use our branding, except as expressly permitted.

16.Our liability to you

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability for: death or personal injury caused by our negligence; fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; any liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded; or your statutory rights as a consumer (see section 17).

Subject to that:

• we provide the Service to you for your personal, domestic use only, and we are not liable for any loss arising from your use of the Service for any business, commercial or resale purpose (including loss of profit, business, contracts, goodwill or revenue);
• we are not liable for losses that are not reasonably foreseeable, or that result from circumstances outside our reasonable control (see section 21), or from third-party networks or services (see section 12), or from any inability to make emergency calls (see section 3);
• our total liability to you in connection with the Service, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty or otherwise, is limited to the total charges you paid to us for the Service in the 12 months immediately before the event giving rise to the liability (or, if greater, £100).

17.Your statutory rights

If you are a consumer, you have legal rights in relation to services that are not carried out with reasonable care and skill, or that are not as described. Nothing in these Terms affects those rights. For information about your rights, contact your local Citizens Advice or Trading Standards office.

18.Your responsibility for misuse

You will be responsible to us for any losses, costs, claims, fines or charges (including reasonable legal costs and any amounts charged to us by carriers or regulators) that we reasonably incur as a result of: your breach of these Terms; your fraudulent, unlawful or abusive use of the Service; or your use of the Service for any business, commercial or resale purpose. This does not apply to the extent the loss was caused by us.

19.Changes to the service & these terms

We may update these Terms from time to time — for example, to reflect changes in the Service, our suppliers, the law or regulatory requirements. If we make changes, we will post the updated Terms here with a new "last updated" date and, where the changes are material and to your disadvantage, we will give you reasonable notice by email (at least 30 days for changes that materially affect your rights or increase what you pay). If you do not accept a change, you may cancel before it takes effect; if you continue to use the Service after a change takes effect, you accept the updated Terms. We may also change, improve or discontinue features of the Service, provided we do not materially reduce the core Service you have paid for during a billing period for which you have already paid.

20.How we communicate with you

We will send you service messages — for example, confirmations, payment notices, minute-balance alerts and changes to these Terms — by email and/or SMS to the contact details on your account. These are not marketing messages and you cannot opt out of them while you have an active account, because they are part of providing the Service. Separately, we will only send you marketing communications if you have agreed to receive them, and you can opt out of those at any time. Make sure your email address and mobile number stay current in your account.

21.General

• Entire agreement. These Terms and the documents they refer to (including the Privacy Policy and the plan details shown at checkout) make up the whole agreement between you and us about the Service, and replace any earlier agreement or understanding.
• Assignment. You may not transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms to anyone else. We may transfer ours to another company (for example, on a sale or reorganisation of our business), provided this does not reduce your rights under these Terms; we will tell you if this happens.
• No waiver. If we delay enforcing any part of these Terms, that does not mean we have given up our right to do so.
• Severability. If any part of these Terms is found to be unlawful or unenforceable, the rest continues to apply.
• Force majeure. We are not responsible for failure or delay in performing our obligations caused by events outside our reasonable control, including network or carrier failures, power outages, acts of government or regulators, industrial action, natural events, war, terrorism or epidemics.
• Third parties. Except as expressly stated, no one other than you and us has any rights to enforce these Terms under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
• Notices. We will contact you using the email address on your account; you can contact us at support@octconnect.co.uk.
• Governing law & jurisdiction. These Terms and any dispute arising out of or in connection with them or the Service are governed by the law of England and Wales. You and we both agree that the courts of England and Wales have non-exclusive jurisdiction — meaning, if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you may also bring proceedings in your home jurisdiction.

22.Contact us

Questions, complaints or anything else: email support@octconnect.co.uk or call 0330 027 2159. We aim to acknowledge complaints within 5 working days and to resolve them within 28 days.

OctConnect is a service of Fine Content Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 16603901. 49 Noakes Avenue, Chelmsford, United Kingdom, CM2 8EN