Terms of Use

Hello and welcome to mybento.net (the “Site”), we hope you enjoy learning about us and our various offerings. Please read these terms of use (“Terms of Use”) carefully because they are a binding agreement between you and Bento Technologies (Pty) Ltd (“Bento, we, our or us”). These Terms of Use explain the conditions applicable to how you must make use of the Site. You automatically agree to these Terms of Use and you acknowledge our Privacy Policy by using or accessing the Site. If you do not agree with these Terms of Use, do not access or use this Site.

Bento is an online benefits platform that allows employees to choose and manage their own benefits. Bento provides a platform that matches employee needs with relevant solutions available in the market to assist SME’s and startups who may not be able to provide these opportunities directly, or only partially.

Bento owns and operates the Site. The documents and other information and content available on the Site, including, for example, any information made available to you during a demo of our platform (a “Demo”) are collectively referred to as “Site Content” The Site Content is protected by intellectual property laws throughout the world. Bento grants you a limited, revocable license to access and use the Site and the Site Content.

You may not use the Site in any way that violates any laws, infringes on anyone’s rights, is offensive, or interferes with the Sites or any Site feature. You may not copy, distribute, modify, reproduce, republish or retransmit any Site Content or any portion of the Site Content in any electronic medium or in hard copy, or create any derivative work based on such Site Content, without our express written permission.

In return for using some of the services available by Bento, you may have to pay a fee to Bento (“Fee”), but any Fee will be detailed to you in the relevant Terms applicable to you before you incur such a Fee, or in any further service-specific agreement you may conclude with Bento.

The Site and Site Content are for informational purposes only and we do not make any recommendations on or via the Site; accordingly, you should not rely upon the Site or Site Content as the sole basis for any decision or action.

Any unauthorised use of the Site may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offence.

Bento may operate in various functions or representative capacities when users make use of the Service. Please consult the relevant End User Terms or Client Terms to understand Bento’s roles in such a relationship. Your use of the Site and/or Services is entirely at your own risk and based on your own volition and expertise.

For information on the Services we offer please contact us directly at info@mybento.net, where we will gladly engage with you regarding all our Service offerings. Further and exact information about our Services is explained in our Client and End-User Terms of Service

Should you wish to engage our Services, a Fee may be applicable, but any such applicable Fee will be explained to you in detail in the applicable Terms in advance of incurring any such Fee.

All Site layout, content, programmes, techniques, material, information, data, software, icons, text, graphics, images, sound clips, advertisements, video clips, user interface design and layout, trade names, logos, trademarks, designs, copyright and/or service marks, together with the underlying software code and everything submitted by you to the Site or Bento in use of the services, (“the intellectual property”) are owned (or co-owned or licenced, as the case may be) by Bento, its shareholders, associates and/or partners, whether directly or indirectly, and as such, are protected from infringement by domestic and international legislation and treaties.

For clarity, all rights to any intellectual property provided by you to the Site will remain with you, but for which you provide us with a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use such intellectual property as we deem fit on the Site and/or in advertising, for as long as you remain a user of the Site and our services.

Using the Site does not give you any ownership rights to the Site Content. Further, nothing in these Terms of Use is to be construed as conferring to you any license or right under any patent, copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property right of Bento or any third party. Bento and its suppliers reserve all rights not granted in these Terms of Use.

You may not copy, download, print, modify, alter, publish, broadcast, distribute, sell or transfer any intellectual property, editorial content, graphics or other material on the Site or the underlying software code whether in whole or in part, without the written consent of Bento first being granted, which consent may be refused at the discretion of Bento. No modification of any intellectual property or editorial content or graphics is permitted. Should you breach these provisions, Bento and/or the rightful intellectual property rights owner may launch legal proceedings against you for a breach of contract, resulting in a claim of damages against you.

We reserve the right to make improvements or changes to the intellectual property, information, graphics and other materials on the Site or to suspend or terminate the Site, at any time without notice; provided that any transactions or functions already concluded via the Site, will not be affected by such suspension or termination (as the case may be).

Where any of the Site’s intellectual property has been licensed to us or belongs to any third party, other than that which has been submitted by you to the Site in the use of the services, all rights of use will also be subject to any terms and conditions which that licensor or third party imposes from time to time and you agree to comply with such third party terms and conditions.

Subject to adherence to the Terms of Use, Bento grants to you a personal, non-exclusive, non-assignable and non-transferable license to use and display all content and information contained on the Site on any machine which you are the primary user. However, nothing contained on the Site or in these Terms of Use should be construed as granting any licence or right to use any intellectual property without the prior written permission of Bento.

Your submission of personal information through the Site is governed by our Privacy Policy. Please read our Privacy Policy carefully before using our Site.

To provide our Services to you, we recognise you must trust us with your personal information. Maintaining your trust is one of Bento’s top priorities, and as a result, we abide by the following principles to protect your privacy:

• We protect your personal information and use it only in connection with your use of our Services as set forth in these User Terms and described in our Privacy Policy.
• Because privacy and security go hand-in-hand, we have implemented industry standard administrative, technical and physical security safeguards designed to protect your personal information.

If, at our request, you send certain specific submissions or without a request from us you send creative ideas, suggestions, proposals, plans, or other materials, whether online, by email, by postal mail, or otherwise (collectively, ‘comments’), you agree that we may, at any time, without restriction, edit, copy, publish, distribute, translate and otherwise use in any medium any comments that you forward to us.

We are and shall be under no obligation to maintain any comments in confidence; to pay compensation for any comments; or to respond to any comments. We may, but have no obligation to, monitor, edit or remove content that we determine in our sole discretion to be unlawful, offensive, threatening, libellous, defamatory, pornographic, obscene or otherwise objectionable or violates any party’s intellectual property or these Terms of Use. You agree that your comments will not violate any right of any third-party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, personality or other personal or proprietary right. You further agree that your comments will not contain libellous or otherwise unlawful, abusive, or obscene material, or contain any computer virus or other malware that could in any way affect the operation of the Site or any related website.

You may not use a false e-mail address, pretend to be someone other than yourself, or otherwise mislead us or third parties as to the origin of any comments. You are solely responsible for any comments you make and their accuracy. We take no responsibility and assume no liability for any comments posted by you or any third-party.

By using the Site, you warrant that:

• you have read and agreed to these Terms of Use and will use the Site in accordance with them;
• all information you provide to the Site or to Bento is true and accurate in every respect, understanding that any false information supplied may constitute a criminal offence;
• you understand and agree that you take all responsibility for the decisions you make via the Site;
• you are above the age of 18 (eighteen) years old and have the legal capacity to understand, agree with and be bound with these Terms of Use. If you are under the age of 18 (eighteen), you must not use the Site, nor provide us with any of your personal information;
• you lawfully possess and submit all information to the Site or to Bento for the use of it or the services;
• you will not send any unsolicited electronic messages or use any software, routine or device to interfere or attempt to interfere electronically or manually with the operation or functionality of the Site including but not limited to uploading or making available files containing corrupt data or viruses via whatever means or deface, alter or interfere with the front end ‘look and feel’ of the Site or the underlying software code;
• you will not infringe the intellectual property or other rights of any third party or the Site or transmit content that you do not own or do not have the right to publish or distribute;
• you will not use the Site for any commercial purpose other than as expressly provided for by Bento herein;
• you will not use the Site to breach any applicable law or regulation or perform or encourage any illegal activity in South Africa; and/or
• you will not facilitate or assist any third party to do any of the above, failing which, your failure will automatically be deemed to be a material breach of these Terms of Use, allowing us to use our full spectrum of rights available against the infringing party, including reporting you to the authorities, denying you access to or use of any Service, or the Site and/or claiming contractual (including consequential) damages from you.

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold Bento and our parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners, officers, directors, agents, contractors, licensors, service providers, subcontractors, suppliers, interns and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, made by any third-party due to or arising out of your breach of these Terms of Use or the documents they incorporate by reference, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third-party. Bento reserves the right, at its own cost, to assume the exclusive defence and control of any matter requiring indemnification by you, in which event you will fully cooperate with Bento in asserting any available defences. You agree that the provisions in this section will survive your access or use of the Site.

Bento does not make any warranties or promises about the Site or Site Content. For example, information on this Site may not be current, or complete when you visit the Site and it may contain errors and inaccuracies. Additionally, we do not make any commitments of the Site’s functionality, availability, reliability or ability to meet your needs. Bento provides the Site and Site Content “as is” and “as available” for your use at your own risk. To the extent we are permitted by law, Bento disclaims all warranties, whether expressed, implied, or statutory, including all the warranties listed above, and any warranties of title, accuracy, and quiet enjoyment.

The demo and any prototype features and tools are offered solely for experimental purposes and are without any warranty of any kind.

The Site is only available on compatible devices connected to the internet. It is your responsibility to obtain these devices and any data network access necessary to utilise the Site. The network’s data and messaging rates and fees may apply if you use the Site and you shall be responsible for such rates and fees.

Without prejudice to any of Bento’s other rights (whether at law or otherwise), we reserve the right to deny you access to the Site or any services where we believe (in our reasonable discretion) that you are in breach of any of these Terms of Use, or applicable laws.

Bento does not guarantee that the Site, or any portion thereof, will function on any particular hardware or device.

In no case shall Bento, our directors, officers, employees, affiliates, agents, contractors, interns, suppliers or third party service providers be liable for any injury, loss, claim, or any direct, indirect, incidental, punitive, special, or consequential damages of any kind, including, without limitation loss of data, replacement costs, or any similar damages, whether or not a Bento party has been advised of the possibility of such damages, or any theory of liability, whether based in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability or otherwise, arising out of or in connection with the Site or Site Content.

Bento takes reasonable security measures to ensure the safety and integrity of the Site and to exclude viruses, unlawful monitoring and/or access from the Site. However, Bento does not. warrant or represent that your access to the Site will be uninterrupted or error-free or that any information, data, content, software or other material accessible through the Site will be free of bugs, viruses, worms, trojan horses or other harmful components. Your access to and use of the Site remains solely at your own risk and you should take precautions accordingly.

• Site/Domain owner: Bento Technologies (Pty) Ltd
• Company type: For-profit, private limited liability
• Registration Number: 2020/929401/07
• Director/s: C Snyman, DCvR Williams
• Description of main business: Online employee benefits platform
• Telephone number: None
• E-mail address: info@mybento.net
• Website address/name: https://mybento.net/ 
• Physical address: None
• Postal address: 1 The Hague, 10B Tamboerskloof Road, Cape Town
• Registered address: 1 The Hague, 10B Tamboerskloof Road, Cape Town
• Membership of any association: None

The Site may contain links to third-party web sites or services that are not owned or controlled by us. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party websites or services. You further acknowledge and agree that we shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any such content, goods or services available on or through any such websites or services. We strongly advise you to read the terms and conditions and privacy policies of any third-party websites or services that you visit.

Data messages, including email messages, sent by you to Bento will be considered to be received only when acknowledged or responded to.

Data messages sent by Bento to you will be regarded as received when the complete data message enters an information system designated or used for that purpose by the recipient and is capable of being retrieved and processed by the recipient.

Bento reserves the right not to respond to any email or other data message which contains obscene, threatening, defamatory or otherwise illegal, unlawful or inappropriate content, and to take appropriate action against the sender of such email or data message where necessary.

Messages sent over the internet cannot be guaranteed to be completely secure as they can be intercepted, lost or corrupted. Bento is therefore not responsible for the accuracy or safety of any message sent by email or automated systems over the internet, whether from Bento to you, between users or from a user to Bento.

These Terms of Use shall be subject to South African Law and the South African Courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising from the use of the Site and our Services.

Should any dispute, disagreement or claim arise between you and Bento concerning use of the Site or any services, you agree that we shall endeavour to resolve the dispute amicably, by negotiation, and with the best interests of both parties in mind.

Should we fail to resolve such dispute in the aforesaid manner or within such further period as we may agree to in negotiation, you agree that we will approach an independent industry expert who shall mediate the discussion between ourselves, for the purposes of finding a mutually beneficial solution.

Notwithstanding the above, you and Bento consent to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the High Court of South Africa, Western Cape division, even in the event where the quantum in the dispute may be less than the monetary jurisdiction of that court. Either of us may also always use the dispute resolution services of any applicable legislative tribunal or ombud, as provided for in applicable legislation.

Both you and Bento agree that in no circumstance will either party publicize the dispute on any social media or other public platform. Both you and Bento agree and understand that any publicity of this nature can cause serious damage to the other party, which damage may result in a financial claim against the infringing party.

IN ADDITION TO ITS OTHER RIGHTS HEREIN, BENTO RESERVES THE RIGHT TO TERMINATE AND CANCEL YOUR USE OF THE SITE AND/OR ANY SERVICES IF YOU BREACH ANY OF THESE TERMS OF USE, OR FOR ANY OTHER REASON IN ITS SOLE DISCRETION PROVIDED THAT BENTO GIVES REASONABLE NOTICE TO YOU.

You may terminate your use of the Site at any time, subject to any additional conditions related thereto which you may be subject to by virtue of another agreement concluded between yourself and Bento. Further, termination by you will not affect any existing obligation that you may have accrued at the time of termination, which will not be affected by same termination.

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify or replace these Terms of Use at any time. If a revision is material we will make reasonable efforts to provide at least 30 days’ notice prior to any new terms taking effect. What constitutes a material change will be determined at our sole discretion.

By continuing to access or use the Site or Site Content after those revisions become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised terms. If you do not agree to the new terms, in whole or in part, please stop using the Site or Site Content.

Users from locations outside of South Africa, please note that Bento complies with all South African laws in representing the Services. Should foreign law be applicable in any regard to your use of our services and/or the Site in any way, you warrant that you are at all times acting in accordance with same foreign law, and indemnify Bento from any liability we may acquire by virtue of our supply of the Site and/or our Services.

The Site can be accessed from countries around the world and may contain references to products and services that are not available in your country. These references do not imply that Bento intends to provide any product or service offerings in your country. We control and operate the Site, the Site Content and our offerings from our facilities in South Africa. Bento makes no representations that the Site, the Site Content and any of our offerings are or will be appropriate or available for use in foreign countries. Those who access or use the Site or the Site Content from other jurisdictions do so at their own volition and are responsible for compliance with all applicable laws.

If we are prevented from or hindered or delayed in performing any obligation under these Terms of Use by reason of any circumstance beyond its reasonable control (including but not limited to, acts of god, medical pandemics, governmental restraints, strikes, labour disputes (other than strikes or labour disputes by its own staff), war, extreme weather, electrical/internet load-shedding, fire, flood, riot, sabotage and terrorism), we shall be excused from performance to the extent affected by the circumstances concerned so long as we shall both give notice to you, if applicable, of those circumstances promptly after they first affected performance and use all reasonable commercial endeavours to remove or avoid their cause or effect.

For the purposes of the giving of any notice, the serving of any process and for any other purposes arising from these Terms of Use we chose our service address as info@mybento.net. In the case of you as the user it shall be at the e-mail and addresses provided by you to Bento in your engagement with us.

Either party is entitled from time to time, by written notice to the other, to vary its service address to any other address which is not a post office box or poste restante, provided that the change will become effective only 14 (fourteen) days after service of the notice in question.

Notwithstanding the above, any notice given in writing in English, and actually received by the party to whom the notice is addressed, will be deemed to have been properly given and received, notwithstanding that such notice has not been given in accordance with this clause.

If you have any questions about these Terms of Use, you can contact us on info@mybento.net.

This document contains the entire agreement between the parties in relation to the subject matter hereof. No alteration, cancellation, variation of, or addition hereto will be of any force or effect unless reduced to writing and signed by all the parties to these Terms of Use or their duly authorised representatives.

No indulgence, leniency or extension of time granted by Bento shall constitute a waiver of any of Bento’s rights under these Terms of Use and, accordingly, Bento shall not be precluded as a consequence of having granted such indulgence, from exercising any rights against You which may have arisen in the past or which might arise in the future.

Words importing the singular will include the plural and vice versa. Words importing one gender will include the other genders, and words importing persons will include partnerships, trusts and bodies corporate, and vice versa.

The headings to the paragraphs in these Terms of Use are inserted for reference purposes only and will not affect the interpretation of any of the provisions to which they relate.

In the event of you failing to pay any amount timeously or breaching these Terms of Use, you shall be liable for all legal costs (on the scale as between attorney and user) (including collection commission) which may be incurred by Bento in relation to the payment failure or breach.

Each sentence, paragraph, term, clause and provision of these Terms of Use and any portion thereof shall be considered severable and if, for any reason, any such sentence, paragraph, term, clause or provision is held to be invalid, contrary to, or in conflict with any applicable present or future law or regulation or in terms of a final, binding judgment issued by any court, it shall to that extent be deemed not to form part hereof and shall not impair the operation of, or have any effect upon such other sentence, paragraph, term, clause or provision hereof as may otherwise remain valid or intelligible, which shall continue to be given full force and effect and bind the parties hereto.

No term or condition of these Terms of Use is intended to breach any peremptory provisions of any consumer protection legislation and any regulations thereto (“Prohibited Provision”). Any breach of any such Prohibited Provision shall be governed by the provisions of the clause above.