These terms are an agreement between you and AkomaSMS ("we", "us") for the use of our website, dashboard and API. You accept them by ticking the box when you create an account, by accepting an invitation to join a team, or by sending a message through AkomaSMS. If your account was set up for you by a partner app, such as Akoma POS, you accept them when you first use AkomaSMS. If you accept on behalf of a business, you confirm that you are authorised to bind it. You must be at least 18 years old.
1. The service
AkomaSMS lets businesses send bulk SMS, scheduled campaigns and one-time passwords, through the dashboard or our API. We are not a mobile network. Messages are passed to Arkesel, a licensed SMS gateway, which delivers them through the mobile network operators. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal data.
2. Your account
- Give accurate details when you register and keep them up to date. You must confirm your phone number with the code we text you.
- You are responsible for everything done under your account, including by team members you invite and by anyone using your API keys.
- Keep your password and API keys private. Tell us at once if you think they have been exposed, and revoke the affected keys.
3. Credits and payment
- Credits are bought in advance through Paystack, by card or mobile money. Prices are shown in Ghana cedis on the pricing page.
- Paystack charges us a percentage on every payment, so a 2% Paystack fee is added at checkout. The fee and the total are shown before you pay.
- One credit sends one SMS segment. A long message, or one using special characters or emoji, is split into several segments and costs one credit per segment.
- Credits are deducted when a message is accepted for delivery, not when it is read.
- If we refuse or cancel a message before it is sent, its credits go back to your wallet.
- A message that the network fails to deliver, for example because the number is switched off or invalid, is still charged.
- We may change our prices. A change applies to purchases made after it, never to credits you have already bought.
- Credits have no cash value and cannot be transferred to another account.
- If Paystack is still confirming your payment when you return to AkomaSMS, we keep checking and add your credits automatically once it is confirmed. A checkout that is never paid is closed after about an hour.
- Free credits, such as a signup bonus, are a goodwill gift. They cannot be refunded or exchanged, and we may change or stop offering them at any time.
4. Refunds
You may ask for a refund of unused credits from a completed payment. We review each request and, if approved, refund the price of the unused credits. The Paystack fee added at checkout is not refunded, because Paystack does not return it to us. Credits already used to send messages cannot be refunded. We do not refund credits on an account closed for breaching these terms.
5. Sender IDs
A sender ID is the name your recipients see, up to 11 characters. It must be approved by us, and where required by Arkesel and the networks, before you can use it. It must represent your own business or brand. We refuse sender IDs that imitate banks, mobile networks, government bodies or any other organisation you do not represent. We may suspend an approved sender ID that is used to mislead recipients.
6. Acceptable use
You must not use AkomaSMS to send:
- requests for a PIN, password, one-time code, mobile money or card details;
- messages pretending to come from a person or organisation you are not;
- fake prizes, lotteries, loans, jobs or investment offers;
- messages to people who have not agreed to hear from you, or who have opted out;
- threatening, hateful, obscene or defamatory content;
- gambling, adult or other restricted content without the licences the law requires;
- anything else that breaks Ghanaian law, including the Electronic Communications Act, 2008 (Act 775), the Electronic Transactions Act, 2008 (Act 772) and the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038), or the rules of the National Communications Authority and the mobile networks.
Outgoing messages are screened automatically. We may hold a message for review or refuse it. We may suspend or close an account used for fraud or spam, and we may report the activity to the networks, Arkesel or the authorities.
7. Consent and opt-outs
You confirm that everyone you message has agreed to receive messages from you. You must act promptly on any request to stop, and send promotional messages only at reasonable hours. You are responsible for your recipient lists under the Data Protection Act, 2012, and we process that data only on your instructions.
8. Delivery and availability
We work to keep the service running at all times but cannot guarantee it. Delivery depends on Arkesel and the mobile networks, which are outside our control, and messages may be delayed or lost on their side. Delivery reports show the status the networks give us. We may pause the service for maintenance, and will give notice where we can.
9. API use
The API is subject to rate limits. Do not try to get around them, probe our systems for weaknesses, or use the API in a way that harms the service for other customers.
10. Your content and our platform
Your messages, contacts and templates remain yours. You give us permission to store and process them only so we can provide the service. The AkomaSMS software, brand and website belong to us, and these terms do not transfer any of them to you.
11. Your responsibility for claims
You agree to cover any loss, fine or legal claim we face because of messages you send or because you broke these terms or the law.
12. Limits on our liability
We are not liable for indirect losses, such as lost profit, lost business or lost data. Our total liability to you in connection with the service is limited to the amount you paid us in the three months before the claim arose. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited under Ghanaian law.
13. Suspension and closing an account
You may close your account at any time. We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, puts recipients at risk, or that Arkesel or a network asks us to stop. Where we close an account for reasons other than a breach, we will refund unused credits as described above.
14. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms. The date at the top of the page shows when they last changed. We will email account holders about significant changes before they take effect. Continuing to use the service after that means you accept the new terms.
15. Governing law and disputes
These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Ghana. If a dispute arises, contact us first and we will try to resolve it informally. Any dispute that cannot be resolved that way will be decided by the courts of Ghana.
16. Contact us
- Email: akomasms@gmail.com
- WhatsApp (messages only, no calls): 0502742556