Payment and Grace Period Policy

In short

• We bill you once a month, after you have used the service. Each invoice is due 14 days after its date.
• If an invoice is not paid on time, we do not cut you off. We send friendly reminders first, and you keep full access for 14 days after the due date.
• After the grace period, your workspace becomes read-only. Everyone can still sign in, view and export all of their data, and you can still pay.
• From the day after day 30 past the due date, only the account owner or billing admin can sign in, to pay, to see invoices and to export data.
• Paying the outstanding balance restores full access immediately, within minutes, at any stage.
• We never delete your data automatically. The earliest possible deletion is 120 days after the due date, and only after 14 days' written notice to you and a review by a person at Tarleaks.
• We charge no late fee and no interest.
• If you have a problem paying, or you disagree with an invoice, write to us at info@tarleaks.com. We would rather talk early.

This policy is part of the Terms of Service of Tarleaks ("we", "us"), who operate Tarleaks ERP. It explains what happens, and when, if an invoice is not paid. It also explains what you can do at each step.

1. About this policy

1.1 This policy applies to every customer of the hosted Tarleaks service ("you"). Section 9 explains how it applies to self-hosted licences.

1.2 In this policy:

• Invoice date is the date printed on the invoice.
• Due date is the date that is 14 days after the invoice date.
• Day 0 is the due date. A step "on day +3" happens 3 days after the due date, and so on. Every number of days in this policy is counted from the due date.
• Outstanding balance is the amount of the invoice (or invoices) that is overdue and not under dispute.
• Account owner is the person who created the workspace or who was later named as owner. Billing admin is a user whom the account owner has given billing rights.
• Seat means an active user in your workspace, as described in the Terms of Service.

1.3 If this policy and an order form signed by both of us say different things about payment, the order form applies.

2. How we bill you

2.1 We bill monthly, in arrears. This means you use the service first and we invoice you afterwards.

2.2 Each invoice is based on the number of active seats in the month. We count the peak, which is the highest number of active seats you had at any one time during that month.

2.3 For every invoice we issue a tax invoice with a sequential number. VAT is added where it applies, at the rate shown on the invoice.

2.4 When we receive your payment, we issue a receipt. If we refund or correct an invoice, we issue a credit note (a tax credit note where VAT is involved).

2.5 You can see all invoices, receipts and credit notes in your workspace under Settings → Billing. We also send each of them by e-mail to the account owner and to the billing contacts in your workspace.

2.6 Each invoice is due 14 days after its date. The invoice shows how to pay.

3. The courtesy steps if an invoice is not paid

3.1 We know that invoices are sometimes missed. Late payment is usually an oversight, a change of bank details or a delay in approval. So we move step by step, we tell you before each step, and we make it easy to put things right.

3.2 The table shows the steps. All days are counted from the due date.

3.3 We send notices to the account owner(s) and to the billing contacts in your workspace. Please keep these details up to date under Settings → Billing.

3.4 The final notice names the exact date on which read-only mode will start. This means you will never be surprised by a restriction.

4. Read-only mode

4.1 Read-only mode starts on the day after the grace period ends.

4.2 In read-only mode:

• everybody in your workspace can still sign in;
• everybody can still view their data and export all of it;
• the billing page and payment keep working; and
• creating and changing records is paused.

4.3 Nothing is removed. Your records, documents and settings stay exactly as they were.

5. Suspended accounts

5.1 If the outstanding balance is still unpaid after day +30, we suspend the workspace.

5.2 When a workspace is suspended, only the account owner or billing admin can sign in. They can sign in to pay, to see invoices and to export data. Other users are paused until the balance is paid.

5.3 Suspension is not deletion. Your data stays safe and complete.

6. Paying restores access at once

6.1 At any stage, paying the outstanding balance restores full access immediately. In practice this takes a few minutes after we receive the payment.

6.2 If you have paid and access has not returned, write to info@tarleaks.com with your payment reference. We will check it straight away.

6.3 Restoring access does not cost anything extra. We charge no late fee and no interest.

7. Our promise on your data

7.1 You can always export your data. In the grace period, in read-only mode and when suspended, you can export all of your data in machine-readable formats.

7.2 We never delete your data automatically. Deletion is a human decision and it is never quick.

7.3 We will not delete any data before day +120. Even then, deletion happens only if all of the following are true:

• the outstanding balance is still unpaid;
• we have sent written notice to the account owner(s) at least 14 days before the deletion date; and
• a person at Tarleaks has reviewed your account and confirmed that deletion is appropriate.

7.4 If you pay, or agree a payment plan with us, at any time before deletion, we will not delete your data.

7.5 Some records must be kept by law, such as invoices and tax records. We keep them for the period the law requires. For tax records under UAE VAT rules this is 5 years.

8. If you have a problem

8.1 Disputing an invoice. If you believe an invoice is wrong, write to info@tarleaks.com. Please say which invoice, which amount and why. We will answer in writing.

8.2 While a good-faith dispute is open, the disputed amount does not move your account through the steps in section 3. The part of the invoice that is not disputed must still be paid on time.

8.3 When the dispute is settled, we issue a credit note if the invoice was wrong. If the invoice was correct, the steps continue from where they paused, and we will tell you the dates in writing before any restriction applies.

8.4 Asking for more time. If you cannot pay by the due date, please tell us. We may agree a longer payment schedule in writing, for example in an order form or an e-mail from our billing team. While an agreed schedule is kept, the steps in section 3 do not apply to the amounts it covers.

8.5 Pausing the steps. We may pause the steps on your request while a genuine dispute is being resolved.

8.6 We decide requests under this section fairly and reply in writing.

9. Self-hosted licence renewals

9.1 If you run Tarleaks on your own servers under a signed licence key, you pay a one-time licence fee and a yearly maintenance and renewal fee. Invoices, receipts and credit notes work as described in section 2.

9.2 Renewal invoices follow the same courtesy steps and the same grace period as in section 3.

9.3 Your installation checks in with us about every 6 hours. It keeps working offline for up to 30 hours. This is an allowance in the signed licence answer.

9.4 If a renewal invoice is still unpaid when the grace period ends, your licence expires on its end date. Then:

• your installation keeps running read-only, so you can view and export all of your data. We never lock you out of your own data;
• you receive no updates and no support until the renewal is paid; and
• you cannot add user seats beyond the number licensed.

9.5 Fresh installations and re-activations need a valid licence.

9.6 Once the renewal is paid, we issue a new licence answer and the installation returns to normal.

10. Partners

10.1 If a partner introduced you to Tarleaks, your invoices and payment steps are exactly the same. A partner never changes what you pay.

10.2 We share with a partner only limited information, as set out in the Terms of Service. This includes whether your account is active or suspended, so that the partner knows the status of its commission. A partner cannot see the content of your workspace.

11. Contact

11.1 Questions about an invoice or this policy: info@tarleaks.com.

11.2 Formal notices: info@tarleaks.com, or United Arab Emirates.

11.3 This policy forms part of the Terms of Service. The language clause of the Terms of Service also applies to it. The latest version is always available at https://tarleaks.com/payment-grace/.