Legal
Terms of Service
These terms are a plain-language summary of the agreement between you and Informed Software Solutions Limited, trading as By My Word. They govern this pre-release website and waitlist. Additional product terms may apply before the full app launches.
On this page
Accepting these terms
By creating an account, joining the waitlist, or using By My Word, you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, please don't use the service.
What By My Word is
By My Word helps a person (the "candidate") gather references. With a referee's agreement, we capture a short spoken reference, produce a written draft from what the referee said, and let the referee review and sign it. The signed letter is delivered to the candidate. We use automated speech-to-text and AI drafting as described in our Privacy Policy; the letter is drafted only from what the referee actually said.
Accounts
- You must provide an accurate email address and keep your account secure.
- You're responsible for activity that happens under your account.
- You must be old enough to enter a binding agreement in your country to use By My Word.
Referee content & consent
- When you request a reference, you confirm you have a genuine relationship with the referee and permission to give us their contact details.
- A referee takes part voluntarily, records in their own words, and approves and signs the letter before it is finalized. Nothing is sent on a referee's behalf without their sign-off.
- Referees must not record unlawful, defamatory, harassing, or knowingly false content. We may decline, hold for review, or remove content that appears to break these terms.
Payments
Unlocking a full letter is a one-off purchase - no subscription. On the web, payments are handled by Stripe; in the app, by Apple or Google. Prices are shown before you pay and may include tax depending on where you are.
Acceptable use
You agree not to:
- Impersonate anyone, or request or record a reference under false pretences.
- Upload unlawful content or infringe anyone's rights.
- Attempt to break, overload, probe, or reverse-engineer the service, or bypass its security or rate limits.
- Use the service to harass, defame, or harm another person.
Your letters & content
You keep ownership of the content you provide. A signed reference letter is created for the candidate to keep and use for genuine reference purposes. We keep the licences we need to operate the service (for example, to store, process, transcribe, render, and deliver the reference).
No background check
By My Word confirms that we reached the contact you gave us and that a person there recorded and signed the reference. We do not verify a referee's identity, job title, or employment history, and we don't check the accuracy of what's said. A By My Word letter is a genuine signed account from the contact provided - not a background check or a guarantee of anything stated in it.
Liability
The service is provided as-is. To the extent the law allows, we're not liable for indirect or consequential loss. Nothing in these terms limits rights you have under consumer law that cannot be excluded.
Ending your account
You can delete your account at any time; what deletion does is described in our Privacy Policy (in short: we anonymize your details and remove content from references that were never signed, while signed letters are retained as legal records). We may suspend or end access if these terms are breached.
Governing law & disputes
These terms are governed by New Zealand law and disputes may be brought before the courts of New Zealand. Your local consumer-protection rights still apply where the law says they must.
Changes
We may update these terms. If a change is material, we'll update this page and its "last updated" date and, where appropriate, let you know in the app or by email. Continuing to use By My Word after a change means you accept the updated terms.
Contact
Questions about these terms? Reach us through our Support page.