Legal
Privacy Policy
GrowMatic SA ("GrowMatic", "we", "us") helps South African businesses respond to customers faster and cut manual admin. This policy explains what personal information we collect when you contact us or use our website, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the rights you have under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).
The short version: we only collect what we need to reply to you and provide our services. We don't sell your information. You can ask us to show you what we hold, correct it, or delete it at any time — just email ewan@growmaticsa.com.
1. Who is responsible for your information
GrowMatic SA is the "responsible party" for the personal information described here.
- Information Officer: Ewan, GrowMatic SA
- Email: ewan@growmaticsa.com
- WhatsApp / phone: +27 82 790 0255
- Location: South Africa
2. What we collect
| Category | Examples | How we get it |
|---|---|---|
| Contact details | Name, email address, phone number, business name | You give them via our website form, chat, WhatsApp, or email |
| Enquiry & conversation content | The messages you send us, what you ask about, booking preferences | Website chat, WhatsApp, email, phone |
| Booking details | Preferred date/time and related notes for a consultation | You provide them when requesting a call |
| Usage information | Basic technical data and whether a "WhatsApp us" button was clicked | Automatically, as you use the site |
| Local browser storage | A random chat session ID and your recent chat history | Stored in your own browser (localStorage) so a chat can continue — not a tracking cookie, and not sent to advertisers |
We do not intentionally collect special personal information (such as health, religion, or race), and you should not send us any. We do not use advertising or third-party tracking cookies on this site.
3. Why we use it
- To respond to your enquiry and have a conversation with you across WhatsApp, email, our website chat, or phone.
- To arrange and confirm a consultation or booking.
- To provide, set up, and support the services you ask us about or sign up for.
- To follow up on an enquiry (we stop as soon as you ask us to).
- To keep records for accounting, and to meet legal obligations.
- To improve how our own service responds to customers.
4. Our legal basis under POPIA
We process your personal information because you have consented, because it is necessary to take steps at your request or to perform a contract with you, or because it is in our (or your) legitimate interest to respond to a business enquiry. Where we rely on your consent, you may withdraw it at any time (see section 8).
5. Who we share it with
We use a small number of trusted service providers ("operators") to actually deliver the messaging, email, and booking features. They may only process your information on our instructions. We do not sell your personal information.
| Provider | What they help us do |
|---|---|
| Twilio | Deliver WhatsApp messages and handle phone calls |
| Anthropic (Claude) | Generate helpful replies to your messages using AI |
| Resend | Send our email replies and notifications |
| Cloudflare | Route email sent to our address into our inbox |
| Supabase | Securely store enquiries, bookings, and conversations |
| Google (Calendar) | Hold a tentative slot when you request a booking |
| GitHub Pages | Host this website |
We may also disclose information if required by law, or to establish, exercise, or defend a legal claim.
6. Sending information outside South Africa
Some of the providers above process information on servers outside South Africa (for example in the United States or the European Union). Where that happens, we take reasonable steps, as required by section 72 of POPIA, to ensure your information continues to receive an adequate level of protection — including relying on providers that are bound by comparable data-protection commitments.
7. How long we keep it
We keep your personal information only for as long as we need it for the purposes above, or for as long as the law requires (for example, tax and accounting records). When it is no longer needed, we delete or de-identify it. You can ask us to delete your information sooner (see below).
8. Your rights
Under POPIA you have the right to:
- Ask what personal information we hold about you, and request a copy.
- Ask us to correct or update information that is wrong or out of date.
- Ask us to delete or destroy your information.
- Object to us processing your information, and withdraw any consent you gave.
- Complain to the Information Regulator (details below).
To exercise any of these, email ewan@growmaticsa.com or WhatsApp +27 82 790 0255. We'll respond as soon as reasonably possible.
9. Keeping your information safe
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against loss, unauthorised access, and misuse. No system is perfectly secure, but we work only with reputable providers and limit access to your information to what is necessary.
10. Children
Our services are aimed at businesses, not children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18.
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The "last updated" date at the top shows when it last changed. Significant changes will be reflected here.
12. Complaints — the Information Regulator
If you believe we have not handled your personal information properly, you can lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa):
- Website: inforegulator.org.za
- General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
- POPIA complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
We'd always prefer you talk to us first so we can put things right — reach us any time at ewan@growmaticsa.com.