Aqwire Terms of Service

1. General Provisions

These Terms are a contract between you (the “Client”, “Customer”, or “You") and Aqwire and apply to your use of the Corporation’s proprietary platform (“Portal” or “Platform”). Please read the following terms carefully. By proceeding with the Services offered by Aqwire, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the following terms and conditions, including the Privacy Policy and electronic disclosure notice. If you disagree with the terms, do not use the Services.

You further represent that you have the authority to enter into this Agreement on your behalf and on behalf of the Client or organization for which you act.

2. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware and the applicable laws of the United States of America.

3. Overview of Aqwire Services

Aqwire helps people through its cross-border payments website/platform, allowing billers (the “Partnered Entity”) from diverse industries to collect payments from its clients, locally and globally.

4. Platform Use

Aqwire allows users to pay bills from the existing billers in its business portal, which we serve as payment agents. Aqwire works with local banks, locally licensed payment entities, foreign exchange service providers, credit card processors, and/or credit card schemes (e.g., Visa, MasterCard), and other third-party service providers to receive and/or settle payments to a recipient’s bank account.

You must confirm that you meet the legal age requirement to utilize the Platform, which is set at 18 years or older. By accepting these Terms, or by notifying a specified entity of your intention to direct payment through the Platform (each referred to as a "Transaction"), you affirm and guarantee to us the following: (a) you are of legal age, being at least 18 years old; (b) you have not been previously suspended or banned from accessing the Platform; and (c) your registration and/or use of the Platform adhere to all applicable laws and regulations.

Suppose you are using the Platform on behalf of an entity or individual (other customers). In that case, you confirm and assure that you possess the authority to bind such parties to these Terms legally. Moreover, you consent to be bound by these Terms on behalf of such parties.

5. Customer User Accounts and Registration

To access specific features of the Platform, you must register a user account. During registration, you must furnish certain personal information, such as your email address, other contact details, and other requirements to confirm your identity. You commit to providing us with accurate information and ensuring its ongoing accuracy. Upon registration, you will be prompted to create a password. It is your sole responsibility to safeguard the confidentiality of your user account and password, and you acknowledge accountability for all activities conducted using your login credentials. You agree to maintain the privacy and security of your access credentials. In the event of any suspicion of unauthorized access to your user account, you must promptly notify us at support@aqwire.co.

6. Services

We reserve the right to assign these Terms at any time without prior notice or consent. The failure to enforce any provision shall not affect our right to enforce such provision later, nor shall any waiver by us of any breach or default of these Terms, or any provision thereof, constitute a waiver of any subsequent breach or default or of the provision itself.

Suppose any portion of these Terms is deemed invalid or unenforceable. In that case, the unenforceable portion shall be enforced to the maximum extent permitted by law, and the remaining portions shall remain in full force and effect.

By using this Site, you are engaging with the Services of Aqwire to use its payment facility.

7. Payment Instructions

i. International Transactions shall refer to the payment method used by a Client for transactions processed through Aqwire’s payment network outside the Philippines, such as PayPal, U.S. bank transfer (ACH), and credit/debit card payments, such as but not limited to VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Diners, JCB, and UnionPay

ii. Local Payments shall refer to the payment method used by a Client for transactions conducted within the Philippines, such as e-wallets, local bank transfers, and credit/debit card payments. The method is limited to VISA and Mastercard.

Aqwire shall provide an option for an Auto-debit (bank account or credit/debit cards) functionality to the Clients upon completion of the following requirements:

i. You must approve the Auto-debit function by electronically agreeing through the checkbox provided in the payment portal;
ii. If the credit/debit card and/or bank account is used for Auto-debit, you must complete the Auto-debit Enrollment Form online. In addition, you must provide an accomplished ‘Card Authorization Form’ and this must be signed by the cardholder, with the cardholder’s valid ID, in addition to the Auto-debit enrollment requirements;
iii. In the event that the owner of the funding method used (credit/debit card or bank account) is different from the Client, the said owner shall provide an 'Authorization Form’ allowing the use of the said funding method. Furthermore, the 'Authorization Form’ shall indicate that the credit/debit card/bank account owner shall not file any chargebacks or indemnity claims against the transaction(s);

Aqwire shall ensure that the payments are deposited/transmitted to the Partnered Entity’s depository bank in accordance with the schedule set forth. However, settlements are affected during Philippine and U.S. holidays. The below time frame does not include holidays and shall be settled on the next available banking day.

i. Reservation Fee
Payments shall be settled within the next Philippine banking day upon signoff or approval by Partnered Entity’s Clients, whether local or international.
ii. All Other Payments
Within five (5) banking days for local and international transactions, from the transaction date.

Aqwire shall send an automated email receipt to the Client’s email address after every successful payment.

8. Responsibilities of Aqwire

a. To ensure effective payment and billing services, Aqwire shall implement a Refund and Chargeback Policy. An approved refund request, as defined in the Policy, shall be paid by Aqwire subject to reimbursement from the Partnered Entity through a deposit in Aqwire's bank account.

b. Aqwire will grant Refund Requests to Clients in accordance with Aqwire's Refund and Chargeback Policy. Aqwire shall not issue or process any refund without the Partnered Entity’s approval in physical writing and/or electronic communications.

c. Aqwire will exert diligent efforts to ensure continuous and uninterrupted service operation to the Clients of the Partnered Entity at all times. In case of an error or system issue, Aqwire shall resolve the same error within twenty-four (24) hours from the time of receipt of the notice of error or system failure from the Partnered Entity, its employees, representatives or Clients. In the event that the error or system issue cannot be resolved within twenty-four (24) hours, Aqwire shall immediately inform the Partnered Entity, but such rectification should not exceed seventy-two (72) hours from the time the notification on the error or system issue was received.

d. Aqwire shall resolve all encountered unprocessed transactions, including those reported by the Partnered Entity that are due to invalid account numbers and invalid double postings. The corrected transactions shall be reported to the Partnered Entity within three (3) banking days from the time they are uploaded. Beyond this period, all transactions shall be expected to be accurate, final, and valid.

e. Aqwire takes no responsibility for the Partnered Entity's liability to fulfill its obligations to its Clients.

9. Rights and Obligations of the Customer

a. Before, during, and after transactions, it is imperative to recognize and understand the associated risks. Prior to initiating any transactions, Clients must acknowledge potential security vulnerabilities inherent in online interactions, including data interception and the possibility of inaccuracies in provided information. During transactions, vigilance is paramount to mitigate risks such as fraudulent activities or technical errors that may disrupt the process. Even after transactions are completed, concerns regarding data security and dispute resolution mechanisms persist. While Aqwire strives to maintain a secure and reliable portal, users are urged to exercise caution and diligence throughout their interactions. By utilizing our Portal, users implicitly acknowledge and accept these risks, committing to employ necessary precautions to safeguard their interests and assets.

b. The Aqwire business portal facilitates efficient transactions, but users must remain mindful of potential risks. Through awareness, vigilance, and adherence to prescribed security measures, users can navigate transactions with greater confidence. Our commitment to security and transparency aligns with our dedication to facilitating safe and reliable business interactions.

c. The Client must sign the 'Chargeback and Refund Agreement', whether written or electronic, at the time of the closing of the sale stating that the Clients agree to Aqwire's Refund and Chargeback policy.

d. The Client agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Aqwire from any claims, losses, damages, liabilities, or expenses incurred as a result of fraud, for the reason of failure to provide the required Authorization Form, or any unauthorized transactions initiated by the Client or his/her authorized representative.

e. The Client acknowledges that Aqwire is a third-party service provider facilitating payment processing and the outstanding amount that is owed is determined by the Partnered Entity. Aqwire shall not be held responsible for any mistakes in the invoices provided and has no role in determining the payment terms governing the obligation to pay to the Partnered Entity.

10. Data Privacy

Aqwire and the Client both represent and warrant that:

All information or data regarding any of the parties that may come into the possession of the other party by virtue of this Agreement are to be regarded as confidential and handled in compliance with all applicable laws, as amended from time to time, including but not limited to, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of 27 April 2016, General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the Philippine Republic Act No. 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012.

Kindly read the Aqwire Privacy Policy for information on how we collect, use, store, retain, and disclose your personal information.

11. Liability and Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and absolve Aqwire, including its shareholders, directors, officers, and representatives from any costs, claims, liabilities, or demands (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) resulting from the violation of these Terms or from unauthorized use. Aqwire shall not be held liable under any circumstances for costs, claims, liabilities, or damages arising between the User and its suppliers, Clients, or employees. You release Aqwire from any and all costs, claims, liabilities, or damages that may arise from any dispute between the User and its suppliers, Clients, or employees related to the use of the Platform and/or these Terms.

You are accountable for your usage of the Platform and agree to shield and indemnify Aqwire, its officers, directors, employees, consultants, affiliates, subsidiaries, and agents against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, which include reasonable legal fees and costs.
This indemnification pertains to various aspects: (i) your access to, utilization of, or alleged use of the Platform; (ii) any violations of these Terms, referenced representations, warranties, or agreements, or any relevant laws or regulations; (iii) infringements upon third-party rights, such as intellectual property, publicity, confidentiality, or privacy rights; or (iv) conflicts between you and any third party. We retain the right, at our own expense, to assume exclusive defense and control over any matter subject to indemnification by you, and you commit to cooperating with our defense in such cases.

The Aqwire Entities shall not be held liable to you for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages (including damages for loss of profits, goodwill, or any other intangible loss) arising from or related to your access to, use of, or inability to access or use the Platform, or any materials or content therein. This applies regardless of whether such damages arise from warranty, contract, tort (including negligence), statute, or any other legal theory, and regardless of whether any Aqwire Entity has been notified of the possibility of such damages.
Further, Aqwire takes no responsibility for the Partnered Entity's responsibility to fulfill its obligations to its Clients unless occasioned by the fault or negligence of Aqwire.

Aqwire will not be liable for any failure or delay in performance to the extent that performance, in part or in whole, is rendered impossible by a Force Majeure Event. Force majeure means any unavoidable circumstance beyond the control of the Party claiming force majeure, including but not limited to, an act of God, storm, severe flood, tempest, riot or civil disturbance, war (declared or undeclared), military action, insurrection, act of any governmental or military agency acting under actual or assumed authority, expropriation, industry-wide strikes, and any other causes beyond the control of the non-performing party.

12. Third-Party Services

Aqwire may provide tools through the Platform that enable you to export information, including User Content, to third-party services, including through features that allow you to link your user account on Aqwire with an account on the third-party service, such as Twitter or Facebook, or through our implementation of third-party buttons (such as "like" or "share" buttons).

Before engaging with any third party or service providers, we perform extensive due diligence, including detailed security and legal analysis. We do not engage a third party unless our quality standards are met. Our third parties are all subject to contract terms that enforce compliance with our Privacy Policy and applicable data protection laws that prohibit the providers from using your data on their own behalf.

By using one of our third party or service providers, you hereby agree that we may transfer the information to the relevant third party service provider. It is not within Aqwire's control and Aqwire cannot be held responsible for any third party service’s use of your exported information or their content.

13. Third-Party Services

Aqwire has a dispute resolution process in place to address inquiries, complaints, reports, and requests. Upon receipt of your communication, Aqwire's Customer Support function will provide the information with as much detail as possible.

Aqwire will use commercially reasonable efforts to ensure that the Services are Available 99.9%, measured monthly, excluding scheduled maintenance. For purposes of this SLA, “Availability” or “Available” shall be defined as where the Services are available for access and use through its web application. Any downtime resulting from a customer’s equipment or system or service provider required by the customer, outages of utilities, or other reasons beyond Aqwire’s control will be excluded from any such calculation.

Customer Support for the Services can be reached through email at support@aqwire.co, for all support requests, and is available from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. PhST, every Monday to Friday, excluding special and non-working holidays; and twenty-four-seven (24/7) for Critical Priority requests. On special and non-working holidays, our Customer Support will attend to all queries and requests within twenty-four (24) to forty-eight (48) hours from the next banking day, unless the matter involves a Critical Priority request.

Aqwire has a structured response plan to address requests, according to its Severity Level (“SL”) to be determined upon the request review or issue identification.

You may reach out to Aqwire Customer Support (“Support”). All requests may be sent to support@aqwire.co, for detailed inquiries and concerns that may require documented responses. Such requests may be coursed to the department below:

i. Customer Support Team.
Handles the ongoing support. Provides continuous assistance by addressing any questions or issues that arise during your use of Aqwire’s payment portal.
ii. Customer Support Hotlines.
All requests for immediate assistance regarding urgent matters and quick resolutions may be reached through the below dedicated hotlines:

Severity Level	Error State Description	Target Response Time	Target Resolution Within
1 - Critical	Renders the Services inoperative or causes to fail catastrophically	30 minutes	3 hours
2 - Major	Affects the operation of the Services and materially degrades Client’s use thereof	2 hours	< 48 hours
3 - Minor	Causes only a minor impact on the operation of the Services and non-critical data	24 hours	< 14 Days
4 - Trivial	Defects that do not necessarily affect the Services functionality	48 hours	< 28 days

To ensure fast throughput, the information must be made available to Customer Support: (i) Description; (ii) Steps to reproduce; (iii) Expected result; (iv) Actual result; and (v) Screenshots, if any. For further determination, the table below are sample scenarios for each Severity Level:

Severity Level	Sample Scenarios
1- Critical	Majority of Clients in multiple regions are unable to access the payment portal due to downtime that’s not scheduled. Majority of Clients are unable to complete their transactions due to an internal error in the application. “The connection is untrusted” due to website SSL Certificate expiration.
2 - Major	Clients are unable to proceed to the next step for a certain payment type due to a failure in form validation. Clients cannot use one of the payment methods due to an internal error in the application. Clients cannot pay for a project because it’s missing from the list. Mismatch on the expected amount for a given payment type and project.
3 - Minor	“Contract Number” shows instead of “Customer Number” on the receipt. Client was unable to get a copy of the payment email receipt due to application error. Missing logo on the payment page.
4 - Trivial	Discrepancies in the layout or design of the website. Spelling or grammatical errors. Clicking “Done” button does not redirect the Client back to the landing page. Receipts end up on the Client’s spam folder.

14. Modification of these Terms

Aqwire reserves the right to change this Policy at any time to comply with applicable laws and regulations, to align with new industry practices, or for other legitimate purposes. In the event of any changes, we will notify you through email and by revising the date found at the top of the Policy with a modified “Updated as of” so that you are always aware of the changes in these Terms.

15. Contact Information

You agree that the Corporation may contact you about your account, transaction, and the Platform. You can contact us by sending correspondence via email at support@aqwire.co.

Current as of 01 August 2024

Payer Terms of Service