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Legal

Terms of Service

Version 1.0 — 30 March 2026  |  Effective immediately

1. Service Description

Billdog is an AI-powered platform that helps South African property owners identify errors in their municipal bills and dispute them. Our service includes:

  • AI analysis of your municipal bill to identify potential billing errors
  • Generation of a legally compliant dispute letter citing relevant South African legislation
  • Delivery of the dispute letter to your municipality via email
  • Tracking the progress of your dispute

Billdog is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Our dispute letters are generated using AI analysis and cite applicable legislation, including Section 102 of the Municipal Systems Act (No. 32 of 2000).

2. Success Fee Model

Billdog operates on a success-fee-only basis:

  • No upfront charges. You pay nothing to upload, analyse, or send a dispute letter.
  • 15% success fee. If your dispute results in a billing correction or refund, we charge 15% of the amount recovered.
  • You confirm the outcome. We only charge after you confirm that the municipality has corrected the billing error or issued a refund.
  • Minimum fee: R50. If the success fee calculates to less than R50, we waive it entirely.

Payment is processed via PayFast using your card on file. Your card details are tokenised by PayFast — Billdog never sees or stores your card number.

3. Your Obligations

By using Billdog, you agree to:

  • Provide accurate information including your name, municipality, and account number
  • Upload genuine municipal bills — not fabricated or altered documents
  • Respond to communications from your municipality regarding your dispute
  • Report the outcome of your dispute honestly so that success fees are calculated correctly
  • Not use the platform for frivolous, vexatious, or fraudulent disputes

4. AI Disclosure

Billdog uses artificial intelligence to analyse your bill and generate dispute letters. Specifically:

  • We use Claude by Anthropic for bill analysis and letter generation
  • Your bill text, account number, and municipality name are sent to Anthropic's servers for processing
  • AI analysis identifies potential errors — it is not infallible and may not catch every issue
  • Generated letters are based on AI analysis and relevant legislation

We are transparent about our use of AI because we believe it builds trust. AI-powered analysis is a feature of our service, not something we hide.

5. Limitation of Liability

Billdog provides its services on an “as is” basis. We make no guarantees regarding:

  • The accuracy of AI-generated bill analysis
  • The outcome of any dispute with your municipality
  • The amount of money you may recover
  • The timeframe in which your municipality will respond

Our total liability to you is limited to the amount of success fees you have paid to Billdog. We are not liable for any indirect, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the platform.

6. Intellectual Property

Your content: You retain ownership of all documents you upload, including your municipal bills and any personal information.

Our content:Billdog's dispute letter templates, AI analysis methodology, branding, and platform code are our intellectual property and may not be copied, modified, or distributed without permission.

7. Account Termination

  • By you: You can delete your account at any time from your Settings page. Your data will be permanently deleted after a 30-day notice period.
  • By us: We may suspend or terminate accounts that are used for fraud, abuse, or violation of these terms.

8. Payment Terms

  • Payment is processed by PayFast, a South African payment gateway
  • You add a card on file before sending your first dispute letter
  • Your card is only charged when you confirm a successful dispute outcome
  • There is no recurring billing, no subscription, and no hidden fees
  • All amounts are in South African Rand (ZAR)

9. Privacy

Your use of Billdog is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal information in compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

10. Age Restriction

You must be at least 18 years old, or have the legal capacity to enter into contracts under South African law, to use Billdog.

11. Governing Law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. Any dispute arising from these terms or your use of Billdog will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the South African courts.

12. Changes to These Terms

We may update these terms from time to time. For material changes, we will notify you via email before the changes take effect. Continued use of Billdog after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

13. Contact

For questions about these terms, contact us at privacy@billdog.co.za.

Terms of Service v1.0 — 30 March 2026