Términos del Programa de Mensajes / Messaging Program Terms

Two audiences, deliberately in one document.

• Sections 1–5 and 8–10 bind the Tenant. They are Exhibit C to the Platform Terms of Service (Platform Terms of Service) and form part of that agreement.
• Sections 6 and 7 are consumer- and carrier-facing. Section 6 is the program disclosure published for recipients and for carrier review; Section 7 is the exact language shown at the point of consent. The Spanish-first consumer version lives in Customer Notice §6.

1. Scope, and why this document is separate

Messaging is the most closely regulated thing the Service does. Federal law, state telemarketing law, carrier rules and the CTIA Messaging Principles all attach to it, and their requirements are specific and evidentiary: who the sender is, what the recipient was shown, what the recipient did, and what happened when the recipient asked to stop.

This document therefore does two distinct jobs, and they should not be confused with each other:

1. It allocates responsibility between Techne and the Tenant (Sections 2, 8, 9). That allocation is an agreement between the parties to these Terms.
2. It documents the consent mechanics the software actually implements (Sections 3–7), so that both parties — and, where required, a carrier or a regulator — can check them against the product rather than take them on faith.

The design principle behind Sections 3–7. The consent-capture surfaces are the control that matters, so they are built to be inspectable and are not left to anyone's discretion: two separate, never-pre-checked checkboxes; the exact language pinned in the software by an automated test; an append-only record of what each person was shown and did; automatic, immediate honoring of opt-out keywords; and a customer portal that can revoke marketing consent but cannot grant it. Those surfaces are identical for every Tenant, and neither a Tenant nor Techne may weaken them without treating the change as a legal change under Section 10.

2. Who is the sender

2.1 The Tenant is the sender of record. For every SMS and email sent to an End Customer through the Service, the Tenant is the sender: it owns the customer relationship, it decides the program exists, it owns the content, and it is the party that must hold the consent.

2.2 Techne is the transmitter. Techne provides the software and the connection to Twilio. Techne does not select recipients, does not compose marketing content, and does not decide that a given business should have a messaging program.

2.3 The number is shared, and that has consequences. Plaza sends over a Twilio toll-free number shared across all Plaza tenants, verified with carriers for the declared use case.

(a) A recipient who replies STOP to that number stops messages from every Plaza business that texts them from it — transactional and marketing alike. Neither Techne nor any Tenant can override that.
(b) Carrier action against the number — filtering, throttling, revocation — caused by one Tenant's traffic affects every Tenant. This is why Acceptable Use Policy §5.6 permits immediate action without notice.
(c) The program registered with carriers describes the traffic Plaza actually sends. Sending content outside that declared use case is a breach (Acceptable Use Policy §5.3).

2.4 Techne's identity is disclosed too. Because the number is shared and Techne operates it, Techne is identified in the program disclosure (Section 6) alongside the sending business. This is accurate and is not an assumption of the Tenant's obligations.

3. The two consents, and how they are captured

3.1 Two separate checkboxes. Neither pre-checked. At the final step of a booking on a Tenant's public booking page, beside the phone-number field, the customer sees two distinct, independently operable checkboxes, both unchecked by default:

(a) Transactional messages — confirmations, changes, and reminders about the appointment being booked. This one is optional as well — messaging consent is never a condition of booking or of service — but it is offered at booking because the messages are about the very transaction the customer is entering into. A customer who leaves it unchecked completes the booking and simply receives no text messages.
(b) Marketing messages — offers and promotions. Optional. Never required. Never bundled with (a). Never a condition of booking, of service, or of a price.

3.2 They may not be merged, defaulted, or reworded. The separation, the unchecked default, and the disclosure text are product invariants pinned by an automated test against the live dictionary strings (sms-disclosure-copy.test.ts, src/app/book/[slug]/SmsDisclosure.tsx). A Tenant may not alter them (Acceptable Use Policy §5.2). Techne will not change them without treating the change as a legal change under §10 of this document.

3.3 The booking form is the only door for marketing consent. Marketing consent can be granted only at the booking-form checkbox. It carries the full disclosure and is tied to the phone number the customer is entering at that moment. No other surface in the product grants it — see Section 5.4.

3.4 Off-platform consent. A Tenant that holds consent obtained outside the Service (for example, on a paper intake form carrying equivalent disclosure) may record it, and must be able to produce the original evidence — the exact language, the date, and the person's affirmative act — on demand. Recording a consent that was not actually given is a breach of Acceptable Use Policy §5.2 and, in most cases, a violation of law.

4. The consent record

4.1 Append-only. Consent is stored as an append-only event log. Every event records the exact language displayed to the person, the method by which consent was given or revoked, and the timestamp. Records are never edited in place; the current state of any consent is simply the most recent event for that person and channel.

4.2 Why it is built that way. A consent record that can be edited is worth little as evidence. An append-only log with the verbatim language shown is the artifact that answers the only questions that matter in a TCPA dispute: what exactly did this person see, and what exactly did they do?

4.3 Consent records survive account deletion. When a Tenant deletes its account, customer personal information is erased on day zero — but consent records are deliberately excluded from erasure and are retained (Data Processing Addendum §7.2(c), Privacy Policy §7.2). They are retained because they are the proof that messages already sent were lawfully sent. Both parties benefit; neither can waive it unilaterally.

4.4 Consent records are never sold or shared. Mobile opt-in data, phone numbers collected for messaging, and consent records are never sold, rented, or shared with any third party for marketing purposes, and are disclosed only to the subprocessors strictly necessary to deliver a message (Privacy Policy §6.5). This commitment is also a carrier registration requirement and must appear in the published Privacy Policy.

5. Stopping, getting help, and resuming — exactly what the software does

5.1 STOP. A reply consisting of any of the following words — STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT, REVOKE, OPTOUT — stops messages. Keyword opt-outs are matched on the whole message. In addition, the software recognizes natural-language revocation requests written inside a longer message and honors them. The recipient receives one confirmation message and then nothing further.

5.2 What STOP stops. Because the toll-free number is shared, STOP ends both the transactional and the marketing program, for every Plaza business messaging that person from that number (Section 2.3(a)).

5.3 HELP. A reply of HELP, INFO, or AYUDA returns contact information and program identification.

5.4 START — and what it deliberately does not do. A reply of START, UNSTOP, YES, UNPAUSE, or RESUME resumes transactional messages only. It does not restore marketing consent. Marketing consent, once revoked, can be granted again only at the booking-form checkbox (Section 3.3).

5.5 The customer portal is revoke-only, on purpose. In the "Mis citas" portal, a customer can turn marketing off but cannot turn it back on. The consent-preference system marks the marketing/SMS pair as revoke-only and fails closed on any preference pair it does not recognize.

The reason is worth stating because it is unusual and no comparator does it: a portal session is authenticated by email, not by the phone number. Allowing an email-authenticated session to grant consent for a phone number would break the link between the consenting person, the number, and the disclosure text — the exact link a TCPA record must preserve. So the only path that grants marketing consent is the one that shows the full disclosure next to the phone field the person is typing into.

5.6 Opt-outs by any other means must be honored. The keyword list above is what the software recognizes automatically. The law requires honoring a revocation made by any reasonable means — spoken at the counter, by email, by phone, by note. A Tenant that receives one off-platform must record it in the Service promptly; the software cannot honor what it was not told (Acceptable Use Policy §5.4).

5.7 Timing. Automatic keyword opt-outs take effect immediately on receipt. Opt-outs recorded by a Tenant take effect when recorded. Neither party may send after that point.

6. Program disclosure (published to recipients and to carriers)

Plaza appointment and marketing messages

Program. Plaza is the appointment and messaging platform operated by Techne Studios LLC (Raritan, New Jersey) on behalf of independent local businesses — salons, barbershops, auto shops and similar service businesses. Messages you receive come from the business you booked with, sent through Plaza's shared toll-free number.

Two kinds of messages. Appointment messages: confirmations, changes, reminders, receipts, and sign-in links for the "Mis citas" portal. Marketing messages: offers and promotions, sent only if you separately checked the marketing box when booking.

Frequency. Appointment messages are sent as your appointments require. Marketing message frequency varies by business.

Cost. Message and data rates may apply. Plaza and the business do not charge you for messages; your carrier's rates apply.

Opt out any time. Reply STOP to any message. Because the number is shared across the businesses that use Plaza, STOP stops messages from all of them. You will get one confirmation. You can also turn off marketing messages in the "Mis citas" portal, or just tell the business.

Help. Reply HELP or AYUDA, or email soporte@technestudios.net.

Resuming. Reply START to resume appointment messages. START does not turn marketing messages back on — for that, check the marketing box the next time you book.

Carriers. Messages are delivered by wireless carriers that are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. Participating carriers may change without notice.

Privacy. We do not sell or share your phone number or your consent record with anyone for marketing. See our Privacy Policy at crm.technestudios.net/privacy and these terms at crm.technestudios.net/terms.

7. Point-of-consent language

The following is the language shown beside the checkboxes at booking. Spanish is primary; English is the secondary rendering.

Both sentences are reproduced below exactly as the software stores them. {merchant} is replaced with the booking business's name when the page renders, and the first box carries the word (optional) / (opcional) after the sentence, because messaging consent is never a condition of booking.

Español (primary)

☐ Acepto que {merchant} me envíe recordatorios, confirmaciones y recibos de mis citas por mensaje de texto, y por correo electrónico si proporciono uno. La frecuencia de los mensajes varía. Pueden aplicar tarifas de mensajes y datos. Responde HELP o AYUDA para ayuda, STOP para cancelar. (opcional)

☐ También me gustaría recibir promociones y ofertas ocasionales de {merchant} por mensaje de texto, y por correo electrónico si proporciono uno. Hasta 4 mensajes al mes. Pueden aplicar tarifas de mensajes y datos. Responde HELP o AYUDA para ayuda, STOP para cancelar. El consentimiento no es una condición de compra.

English (secondary)

☐ I agree to receive appointment reminders, confirmations and receipts from {merchant} by text, and by email if I provide one. Message frequency varies. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel. (optional)

☐ I'd also like to receive occasional promotions and offers from {merchant} by text, and by email if I provide one. Up to 4 msgs/month. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel. Consent is not a condition of purchase.

Required elements, so the language can be checked rather than admired. Any revision must retain all of the following across the point-of-consent surface — the checkbox sentences above together with the messaging-program section published on the same booking page: identification of the sending business by name; identification of Techne Studios LLC / Plaza as the platform; a description of the message type; "message and data rates may apply"; the STOP instruction; the HELP/AYUDA instruction; frequency language on the marketing box; the express statement that marketing consent is not a condition of booking or service; links to the Terms and Privacy Notice; and the shared-number disclosure.

8. Tenant representations, warranties, and covenants

The Tenant represents and warrants, continuously:

1. It holds prior express written consent, meeting TCPA requirements, for every number to which it sends or causes to be sent a marketing message through the Service, and appropriate consent for every number receiving transactional messages.
2. Every number and address in its account came from a lawful source and not from a purchased, rented, scraped, appended, or third-party list.
3. It has not created, altered, or backdated a consent record inaccurately.
4. It honors every revocation, by whatever means received, and records off-platform revocations promptly.
5. Its message content complies with law, with carrier rules and the CTIA Messaging Principles, and with the use case registered for the shared number.
6. It complies with applicable calling-time restrictions and state telemarketing law.
7. It will not alter, obscure, or work around the disclosure language or the consent controls.

Breach of any of these is a material breach of Platform Terms of Service and triggers the indemnity at §12 of those Terms, which expressly covers TCPA and CAN-SPAM claims.

9. What Techne does, and does not, undertake

9.1 Techne will: operate the consent-capture surfaces and the append-only consent log; honor recognized opt-out keywords automatically and immediately; refuse to send marketing to a person without a recorded marketing consent; maintain the revoke-only portal design; keep the disclosure text pinned by an automated test; and maintain the toll-free registration for the declared use case.

9.2 Techne will not: review or approve a Tenant's message content in advance; verify that an off-platform consent a Tenant records was actually obtained; supervise a Tenant's compliance; or act as the Tenant's compliance function. Techne has no duty to monitor (Acceptable Use Policy §11.5).

9.3 No delivery commitment. Delivery depends on Twilio and on carriers. Messages may be filtered, delayed, or dropped, including lawful ones. Techne is not liable for undelivered, delayed, or misdirected messages, and neither are carriers (Platform Terms of Service §§8.5, 13.6).

9.4 Techne may act on risk immediately. See Acceptable Use Policy §5.6 and Platform Terms of Service §15.2.

10. Changes to this Exhibit

Techne may update this Exhibit on notice under Platform Terms of Service §16.2, and immediately where a change is required by law, by a carrier, or by Twilio — in which case Techne will notify Tenants as soon as reasonably practicable.

A change to Section 3 or Section 7 — the consent surfaces or the point-of-consent language — is a legal change, not a copy change. It requires: updating this document; updating the pinned dictionary strings and re-running sms-disclosure-copy.test.ts; and checking the approved toll-free verification submission for consistency.

Exhibit C to Platform Terms of Service. Related: Acceptable Use Policy §5 (the operational rules) · Privacy Policy §6 (the consumer-facing summary) · Customer Notice §6 (the Spanish-first booking-page notice).