1. INTERPRETATION & DEFINITIONS
1.1. For the purposes of this Agreement unless inconsistent with the text:
1.2. words importing the singular include the plural and vice versa;
1.3. words signifying one gender include the other genders;
1.4. the following words have the meanings assigned alongside:
1.5. “Ad hoc Fees” means Fees due by the Customer to MC arising from repairs performed at the Customer’s request that fall outside of the ambit of MC Service obligations and any other Fees or charges due in terms of this Agreement.
1.6. “Agreement” means this agreement between MC and the Customer for the Service being rendered by MC together with any application of the Customer, Schedules and or annexures forming part hereof and or as amended from time to time.
1.7. “Annual Maximum Limit” means the number of repairs per Appliance per annum that MC is required to affect, which limit is currently set at 1 (one) repair per annum per item covered.
1.8. “Appliance Maximum Repair Spares Value Limit” means the Repair Spares Value per Appliance set by MC from time to time that represents the maximum amount that MC will be obliged to expend on an Appliance per call-out.
1.9. “Appliance/s” means a consumer electronic appliance nominated by a Customer for Service Cover in terms of this Agreement.
1.10. “Audio-visual Appliances” means appliances generally used by consumers for audio-visual entertainment, such as televisions, home theatres and smart televisions, but excludes any item upon which the Customer can load software.
1.11. “Beyond Economical Repair” means an Appliance that MC believes will cost more to repair than the market value of the Appliance.
1.12. “Customer” means the person whose Appliance MC has agreed to maintain on the terms and conditions set out in this Agreement.
1.13. “Mastercare” or “MC” means a private company trading as Mastercare with principle place of business at Southdown Ridge Office Park, Block A, Suite 24 & 25 C/O John Voster & Nellmapius, Irene Ext 54, 0157, Centurion, South Africa and its successors in title and assigns; whereby all post-sale services will be performed by MC.
1.14. “Fee/s” or “Service Fee/s” means the fee payable by the Customer to MC in consideration for MC providing Services to the Customer;
1.15. “ICT Appliances” means appliances generally used by consumers in the processing of data or communication, such as laptops, personal computers. Excluding tablet devices and smart phones.
1.16. “In-home Service” means the dispatch of a technician to the Customer’s home to repair or evaluate the repair of an Appliance and / or the removal of the Appliance from the Customer’s home for the purpose of repairing the Appliance.
1.17. “Kitchen Appliances” means appliances generally found in consumers’ kitchens such as refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, tumble dryers and microwave ovens.
1.18. “Repair Value” means the commercial value of a repair and shall be calculated with reference to MC standard labour rates from time to time (currently R685 (six hundred and eighty five) per hour, excl VAT, and the list price of any parts and consumables required for a repair.
1.19. “Schedule” means a print-out from MC computer systems from time to time upon which the details of the Customer, the Appliance/s and the fees payable by the Customer to MC are described.
1.20. “Service” means the performance of the necessary repairs to restore the Appliance/s to working order during the currency of this Agreement and “Maintain” shall have a similar meaning.
1.21. “Service Agent” means a sub-contractor to MC that MC has contracted to collect, deliver or repair an Appliance.
1.22. “Service Area” means the area within a fifty (50) kilometre radius of each of MC’s service agents from time to time.
1.23. “Service Product/s” means a matrix of maintenance services and bundles that MC may offer from time to time permitting the Customer to nominate one or more Appliances to be maintained by MC in consideration for the corresponding Fees.
1.24. “Technical Failure” means a failure of a mechanical part of the Appliance due to latent defect or as a result of normal wear and tear.
1.25. “Waiting Period” means a period of three months from the inception of this Agreement or the addition of any new Appliance, during which MC shall not be obliged to render Service Services other than telephonic support.
1.26. “Year” means twelve calendar months from the beginning of the month in which the Service Agreement is signed, and then each subsequent period of twelve calendar months.
2. Service Products: As per Section B first aforementioned herein
2.1 Additional Options: MC may, from time to time, add additional ancillary services to its Service Product offering and these terms and conditions will apply, mutatis mutandis.
2.2 Information Required:
2.2.1 When nominating an Appliance, the Customer will be required to provide, inter alia, the make and model of the Appliance/s.
2.2.2 In the event that the information is incomplete or incorrect in any way and whether material or not, MC shall at its sole discretion not be required to provide Service Services and shall be entitled to cancel the Agreement upon notice to the Customer.
3. Service
3.1 MC hereby agrees to maintain the Appliance/s for the duration of this Agreement, subject to these terms and conditions and in particular the exclusions and exceptions set out therein.
3.2 To this end, MC will provide, at no additional cost to the Customer, labour and parts which MC, in its sole discretion considers necessary to restore the appliance to working order following a Technical Failure to the maximum of the:
3.2.1 Appliance Maximum Repair Value Limit, and
3.2.2 Annual Maximum Limit.
3.3 MC’s obligation to Maintain the Appliance will be suspended for any period during which the Customer has not paid the requisite monthly or annual maintenance Fee/s.
3.4 The Customer agrees to a three-month Waiting Period before MC is required to provide Service Services on an Appliance.
3.5 MC will, however, provide telephonic support and assistance through our qualified MC Support team, on parts that could be faulty.
4. Fees & Payment, Administration & Ad-hoc Fees
4.1 Fees are payable as per Section C first aforementioned herein.
4.2 If the Customer changes banks, MC cedes this agreement or banking regulations change, the Customer agrees to sign a new debit order mandate.
4.3 Payment will only have been made if the debit order is not returned, or in the event of an EFT, and EFT has been honoured.
4.4 The computer accounts of a certificate signed by the financial manager, subscriber manager or any director of MC, whose appointment need not be proved, will be prima facie proof of all monies due by the Customer to MC.
5. General Extensions and Exclusions
5.1 The extensions and exclusions set out in this clause apply to all Appliances, regardless of the product category into which they fall.
5.2 MC’s Service obligation includes:
5.2.1 Email and telephonic access to MC’s technical service call centre during office hours.
5.2.2 Telephonic support and fault diagnosis.
5.2.3 In-Home Service unless specified otherwise in the relevant product category or where the Customer’s home is outside of the Service Area.
5.2.4 Physical repairs to the Appliance to correct a Technical Failure of the Appliance.
5.2.5 Re-connection of any Appliance disconnected or removed for repair.
5.2.6 A maximum of one (1) repair per Appliance per annum, calculated from the inception of this Agreement.
5.2.7 A Maximum Repair Value per event.
5.3 Technical Failure excludes, inter alia, the following:-
5.3.1 Any use of the Appliance for a purpose or duration for which it is not commonly intended to be used, including commercial appliances.
5.3.2 Any use of the Appliance for commercial or business purposes.
5.3.3 Any accident to, neglect, abuse or misuse of the Appliance, including missing parts or defective discs or other media.
5.3.4 Moisture, water damage, corrosion, rust, or other environmental factors.
5.3.5 Rodents, insects or other pestilence.
5.3.6 “Force Majeure” a disastrous natural event outside human control, such as some floods, an earthquake, hurricane or volcanic eruption, and including lightning.
5.3.7 Electrical surge, including as a result of load shedding.
5.3.8 Tampering with or repair by any non-MC approved person.
5.4 MC’s Service obligation excludes: –
5.4.1 The electricity supply to the Appliance, including the wiring from the plug socket to the Appliance.
5.4.2 Cosmetic parts, such as the exterior of the Appliance or any cabinet containing the Appliance.
5.4.3 Speakers, amplifiers, sub-woofers, clocks, pilot lights.
5.4.4 Batteries, globes, bulbs, filters or other consumable items.
5.4.5 Any ancillary device connected to the Appliance such as a decoder, home theatre, external speakers, external hard drives etc.
5.4.6 Routine cleaning of any moving parts such as DVD lasers or filters on dishwashers, tumble dryers and washing machines.
5.4.7 Hand-held remote controls.
5.4.8 Tuning or re-tuning of any appliance or ancillary appliance unless required as part of a repair.
5.4.9 After-hours call-outs.
5.4.10 Any interaction with Multichoice, Cellular Service Provider, or any other provider of content with regard to the connection of smart cards or account queries.
5.4.11 The repair of any Appliance that is still under a manufacturer’s warranty or within ninety days after the manufacturer has affected a repair. MC will, however, liaise with the manufacturer to assist the Customer in this regard.
5.4.12 The repair of any Appliance subject to a manufacturer or distributor recall.
5.4.13 The repair of any Appliance not correctly listed in the Schedule.
5.4.14 Defects that pre-date the inception of the Service Agreement that were known or should reasonably have been known to the Customer.
5.5 The Customer agrees that MC shall not be required to keep any parts removed from any Appliance separate, nor to provide any such parts to the Customer.
5.6 If the Customer disputes whether a repair falls within one of the exclusions listed in this Agreement, then the dispute shall be referred to a qualified technician nominated by MC, who shall act as an expert and whose decision shall be final and binding on MC and the Customer.
5.7 For the avoidance of doubt, MC will not consider the following categories of Appliances:
5.7.1 Appliances used for commercial purposes e.g. Pubs, conferences, advertising, cooking schools etc. See Annex A for Commercial appliances we do service.
5.7.2 Rear-screen projection televisions, vcr’s and other outmoded technology.
5.7.3 Appliances that are more than eight years old will have to go through an evaluation process. Only then it will be deemed as a unit repairable / that can be added to the cover plan in question. (any appliance that is more than eight years old will automatically form part of this agreement)
5.7.4 Appliances that are “grey” or parallel imports and appliances that are not supported by the local representatives of imported appliances.
5.7.5 Appliances situated outside the borders of the Republic of South Africa.
6. Specific Exclusions
6.1 The exclusions set out in this clause apply to all relevant Appliances and Appliance Categories, but are listed here under particular categories for ease of reference.
6.2 Audio-visual Appliances – Service Excludes: –
6.2.1 Service of any antennae, aerial, satellite dish, LNB or cabling to the Appliance.
6.2.2 Any tapes, DVD’s or data stored on any hard drive or storage medium of any kind, it being acknowledged that repairs to hard drives / swap-outs of PVR devices are likely to result in recorded data and programmes being deleted.
6.3 Kitchen Appliances – Service Excludes: –
6.3.1 Plumbing required between the water supply of the home and the Appliance.
6.3.2 Gas leaks in refrigerators or freezers, which in the opinion of MC cannot be repaired. Light bulbs, glass shelves or icemakers in a refrigerator.
6.3.3 Drain hoses and water supply hoses.
6.3.4 Damage caused by foreign objects, blocked filters, pumps and drains.
6.3.5 ICT Appliances – Service Excludes: –
6.3.5.1 Software or data loss or corruption of any kind, whether due to viruses, malware or as a result of the Technical Fault, it being acknowledged that the Customer is obliged at all times to ensure that the Appliance is protected from viruses and other malware and that the Customer’s data is fully backed up.
6.3.5.2 Reconstitution, retrieval, backing up or transferring any data on an appliance regardless of whether the fault relating to the device has deleted or corrupted data or that repairs to the appliance are likely to delete the data or where hard drives or other memory media need to be replaced.
7. Service Levels
7.1 The Customer is required to request maintenance (no later than 30 days after the fault becomes evident) by calling MC call-centre during office hours and providing the call centre agent with, inter alia, the following details:
7.1.1 The Service Contract number.
7.1.2 Updated contact numbers and confirmation of physical address.
7.1.3 The make and model of the Appliance that requires repair.
7.1.4 A full description of the reason that the Appliance requires repair.
7.2 MC will endeavour to responds to a request for maintenance within a reasonable time of the request being received, which shall depend on the nature of the request, type of appliance, time of day that that request was received, service area and availability of appropriate.
7.3 Where the Appliance is located outside of MC Service Areas from time to time, In-home Service shall not apply and Service will instead be provided on a “Carry-in” basis. : –
7.4 MC will endeavour to repair the Appliance within a reasonable time after the initial response, but the repair time is dependent on the availability of spare parts.
7.5 MC shall not be obliged to repair any appliance which requires repair and in respect of which the Customer has requested MC to do so where the necessary spare parts are not available or where, in the reasonable opinion of MC, it is Beyond Economical Repair. In this event, MC shall be entitled, but not obliged to: –
7.5.1 Declare the Appliance to be Beyond Economical Repair, and
7.5.2 Terminate its obligations in respect of that Appliance and the Customer’s obligation to pay Service Fees in respect of that Appliance (on a pro-rate basis in the case of a multiple Appliance product), and
7.5.3 Compensate the Customer by paying to the Customer an amount equal to the lesser of the replacement value of the Appliance and six times the monthly premiums paid by the Customer on that Appliance.
8. Breach
8.1 Without prejudice to any other claims and remedies that MC may have against the Customer, MC may cancel and terminate this agreement with immediate effect if the Customer breaches any term of this agreement and remains in breach for a period of ten days from the date upon which MC notified the Customer.
8.2 Notification shall mean the dispatch by MC of a notification, whether in the form of an email, SMS, telephone call or otherwise to such an address provided by the Customer to MC from time to time.
8.3 The Customer shall be liable for all the Attorney’s legal costs on an attorney-and-own-client scale, including tracing costs and collection commission.
9. Data Protection
9.1 MC shall comply with the provisions of all laws, which regulate the protection of personal data, including but not limited to the Protection of Personal Information Act No.4 of 2013 (as amended) (“POPIA”) and the Electronic Communications and Transaction Act No.25 of 2002 (as amended).
9.2 MC shall comply with all laws, policies and procedures relating to the protection, storage, handling, privacy, processing and retention of data as well as the destruction of data, including personal data.
9.3 MC shall ensure that the personal information or data obtained from the Customer is processed for only the express purpose for which it was obtained.
9.4 MC agrees that we may obtain personal information, for the duration of this Agreement, for the fulfillment of the rights and obligations contained herein and may only further process such information for the specific purposes for which it was obtained.
9.5 The Customer agrees that MC may share their personal information with its affiliates, partners or staff in order to provide the products or render the services.
10. General
10.1 The Customer is responsible for the procurement of all licenses or other compliance with any procedures required to use the Appliance, including but not limited to television licenses required under the Broadcasting Act and compliance with RICA.
10.2 Due to the difficulty of estimating repair times and traffic conditions, it is not possible to give accurate estimates for response, repair or appointments. Accordingly, all times referred to in this agreement, including but not limited to response times, repair times and appointments shall be approximate estimates and the Customer agrees not to hold MC liable for or to claim for any losses, particularly of a consequential or pure economic nature.
10.3 If the Customer is not a Consumer as defined in the Consumer Protection Act, then all risk in and to the Appliance from damage, loss or theft shall remain vested in the Customer for the duration of this agreement.
10.4 If the Customer is a Consumer as defined in the Consumer Protection Act, then all risk in and to the Appliance from damage, loss or theft shall remain vested in the Customer for the duration of this agreement unless such loss, damage or theft is proved to have arisen from the gross negligence of MC or its appointed Service Agent.
10.5 This Agreement, the Schedule and any appendices hereto, constitute the sole record of the agreement between MC and the Customer with regard to the appliance, and MC shall not be bound by any representation, warranty, or implied term not recorded herein or by MC.
10.6 No addition to, variation or consensual cancellation of this agreement shall be of any force and effect unless reduced to writing and confirmed on behalf of duly authorised representative of MC. No indulgence which MC may grant to a Customer shall constitute a waiver of any of MC’ rights.
10.7 MC may, without notice, cede and assign its rights and obligations under this agreement, either absolutely or as collateral security to any person or entity whereupon the Customer shall hold the Equipment on behalf of such person instead of MC and, if required, make the maintenance payments to that person or entity. The Customer may not cede or assign his rights in terms of this agreement without the prior written consent of MC.
10.8 The Customer hereby indemnifies MC against any loss or damage suffered by MC arising out of or in connection with the Customer’s use of the Appliance/s from whatever cause and against any claims of whatever nature that may be instituted against MC arising from the use of the Appliance/s and any consequential loss or damage arising from the foregoing.
10.9 The customer recognizes that MC is entitled to assess its existence, details and propensity to pay and accordingly consents to MC accessing relevant databases for the purposes of assessing this and to MC providing information to such databases on the Customer’s propensity to pay monies due to MC.
10.10 The Customer agrees to a payment holiday to the value and extent that or if any credit or rebate is due to the Customer.