Billing Policy & FAQs (South Africa)

1. Purpose and relationship to the membership terms

This Billing Policy explains Lawryse payment, renewal, cancellation, credit and account-status rules in plain language. The Dashboard Membership Terms and Conditions remain the governing membership agreement. Service-specific terms govern Advertising, Guest Article and Gold purchases.

2. How membership billing works

• Membership is per attorney, in rand, for Standard or Premium.
• Every membership starts with a 7 day free trial. It starts when your card is saved, using a card check charge of R1, refunded at once. Nothing else is charged during the trial, and if you cancel before it ends you pay nothing.
• When the trial ends, your first payment is taken from your saved card, for the first month or year as you chose.
• You then pay monthly or yearly, in advance. Yearly billing is twelve months less 10%.
• Your membership renews automatically at the end of each period unless you cancel.
• The signup and Compare plans pages show your plan, the price and the renewal basis before you pay.

3. Founding price and price changes

Members who join during the pilot pay the founding price for their plan, held for the first 12 months from joining. After that the normal price applies. A price change never applies to a month or year you have already paid for: it applies only from your next renewal. Lawryse emails you at least 40 days before the founding price ends, before a yearly renewal, and before any other price change that affects you. The email states the date, the price and how to cancel.

4. Changing plan

• Standard to Premium takes effect at once. In your free trial nothing is charged. Once you have paid, we charge the difference for the rest of your current month or year, calculated by the day, to your saved card. If the card is declined, your plan does not change.
• Premium to Standard takes effect at the end of the period you have paid for. You keep Premium until then and nothing is refunded for the time already paid. In your free trial it takes effect at once. You may withdraw the change until the period ends.

5. Taxes

Lawryse is not currently registered as a VAT vendor and no VAT is presently charged. When Lawryse becomes registered, membership prices stay VAT-inclusive. Advertising, Guest Article and Gold prices are exclusive of VAT, and VAT is added at checkout once Lawryse is registered. Every invoice or receipt records the VAT treatment that applied on its date.

6. Successful payment and records

A membership payment is taken only after the trial ends. Successful payments generate an invoice or receipt and an account transaction record. Lawryse’s payment provider processes card details; Lawryse does not store full card details.

7. Failed payments and retries

A failed payment starts a 14 day grace period. Lawryse or its payment provider may make up to three retries during that period. Please update or authenticate your payment method promptly.

8. Cancelling

Cancel through the Dashboard or by emailing accounts@lawryse.com. No Lawryse approval is required. A cancellation made in the Dashboard takes effect when it is submitted; the Dashboard asks, but does not require, a short reason. You are emailed an acknowledgement. A cancellation emailed to accounts@lawryse.com takes effect when Lawryse receives it.

Unless a mandatory law gives you an earlier right, after you cancel your account stays active until the end of the period you have already paid for and does not renew, and you may withdraw the cancellation until that period ends. A cancellation received after a renewal has already been lawfully processed applies to the following renewal, unless a cooling-off, reversal or early-cancellation right requires otherwise. After membership ends, your details are kept as set out in the Privacy Policy, and you are welcome to rejoin at any time.

9. Mandatory rights

Nothing in this Policy removes a right that applies under the Consumer Protection Act, the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act or another mandatory law. Where the Consumer Protection Act fixed-term cancellation right applies, you may exercise it on the prescribed notice, subject only to a lawful reasonable cancellation charge. Where an electronic cooling-off right applies, Lawryse honours it.

10. Advertising purchases

Advertising is purchased separately and paid upfront. The booking summary shows the product, campaign details, applicable Premium discount, tax treatment and total payable. Advertising is governed by the Advertising Terms and Booking Conditions.

11. Guest Article publication fees

During the pilot, Members can publish one article a week at no additional charge, and Premium includes one free article a month. Otherwise a Guest Article is paid for upfront, as a single article or a bundle of publication credits, at the prices on the Rates page in the Dashboard. Each purchased article is one publication credit. Credits do not expire and are not refunded in cash, except where the law requires. Advertising discounts and advertising or referral credits do not apply to Guest Articles.

12. Gold Reserved Placement

Gold is an optional placement for one category and one calendar month, paid upfront and charged separately from membership. Its price, cancellation and refund rules are in the Gold Reservation Terms. A Gold cancellation made before the reserved month begins is refunded as those terms say.

13. Referral and service credits

A credit applied to an Advertising booking is applied as shown at checkout, and tax is calculated according to the legally applicable treatment of that transaction.

14. Refunds, reversals and chargebacks

The card check charge made when your trial starts is refunded at once. Membership fees are ordinarily non-refundable for the current paid period once access has been provided, except where mandatory law, a cooling-off right or a confirmed service failure requires a refund or adjustment. A chargeback does not cancel an undisputed debt and may result in suspension while the payment is investigated.

15. Restoring a suspended account

You may sign in to update billing details and contact support. Once the outstanding payment is confirmed, normal access and your public profile may be restored. Restoration does not guarantee immediate search-engine re-indexing.

16. Billing questions

Contact accounts@lawryse.com for membership payments, cancellations, invoices, credits, Advertising and Gold payments and booking-related billing. Telephone: 087 1888 990.