1Who we are
Braintec is a South African company that provides analytics and automation services. One of these is an automated booking assistant that businesses use to manage their appointments. Customers message the assistant on WhatsApp or Telegram to book, move or cancel appointments.
When you use the assistant, the business you are booking with decides how your information is used for its appointments. Under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA), that business is the responsible party and Braintec is its operator: we process your information on the business's behalf, only to run the booking service, and under a written agreement with the business.
2You are messaging an automated assistant
Replies come from an automated assistant that uses artificial intelligence to understand your messages and manage the business's appointment diary. It can check availability and book, move or cancel appointments. It does not give professional advice of any kind, such as medical or treatment advice, and questions like that are for the business directly.
If you would rather deal with a person, contact the business directly.
3What we collect
- Your phone number, if you use WhatsApp, or your chat ID, if you use Telegram. The messaging service shares this with us when you send a message, and we use it to recognise you and reply.
- Your display name on WhatsApp or Telegram, which is sent with your messages.
- Your full name, which you give us so the business knows who the appointment is for.
- Your messages and the assistant's replies, so the conversation makes sense from one message to the next.
- Your appointment details: the date and time, and whether it was booked, moved or cancelled.
We do not ask for health information, ID numbers, email addresses or payment details. Please don't share sensitive details, such as health information, in the chat. If you do, they are stored with your message history and protected in the same way, but they are not needed to make a booking.
4How we use it
- To book, move and cancel your appointments with the business.
- To remember your conversation, so you don't have to repeat yourself.
- To send you messages about your appointments, such as confirmations and reminders.
- To keep the service secure and to find and fix problems.
We process your information because it is needed to arrange the appointment you have asked for, as allowed by section 11 of POPIA. We do not sell it or use it for advertising or marketing. We do not use it to train artificial intelligence models, and we only use AI services whose terms stop them from using it for training.
6Information sent outside South Africa
Some of our service providers store or process information outside South Africa, including in the European Union and the United States. We only use providers that are bound by laws, agreements or binding rules that give your information a level of protection comparable to POPIA, as section 72 of POPIA requires.
7How long we keep it
- Message history is deleted 90 days after your last message.
- Technical logs, which we use to find and fix problems, are deleted automatically within 30 days.
- Appointment records are kept for as long as the business needs them to manage its bookings. The business's own customer records are governed by its own legal obligations.
8How we protect it
Information travels over encrypted connections, access is limited to the people and systems that need it, and access keys are stored securely. If a security breach is likely to affect your information, we will tell the business promptly so that you and the Information Regulator can be notified as POPIA requires.
9Your rights
Under POPIA you can:
- ask whether we hold information about you, and for a copy of it;
- ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete;
- ask us to delete your information;
- object to how your information is being used.
Contact the business or us using the details below. We will respond within 30 days. If you are unhappy with how your information has been handled, you can complain to the Information Regulator at inforegulator.org.za.
10Deleting your information
To have your information deleted, email privacy@braintec.dev from any address and include the phone number or Telegram username you used with the assistant. We will delete your message history within 30 days and let you know when it's done.
Deleting your information doesn't cancel upcoming appointments, so please cancel those first. The business may need to keep a record of past appointments for its own legal reasons.
11Children
If you are under 18, please ask a parent or guardian to book for you. Parents and guardians booking for a child can use the assistant in the normal way.
12Changes to this policy
We will update this page if the way we handle information changes, and change the date at the top. If a change affects you significantly, the assistant will tell you the next time you message it.
13Contact us
For questions about this policy or your information, or to reach our Information Officer, email privacy@braintec.dev.