Mendel

Terms of Service

Working draft — last updated 2026-07-18. Not final legal text; a lawyer review is pending before publication.

This is a plain-English skeleton for a lawyer to refine. It is not legal advice and is not ready to publish. Bracketed notes mark decisions for you and your lawyer. [Company name / LLC to be filled in. "We," "us," and "the service" refer to it below.]

1. What the service does

The service is a "set and forget" helper. Before Shabbat, you tell it what to handle by chatting with it. Once Shabbat begins, it follows only the plan you locked in beforehand — it takes no new instructions and makes no new decisions. After Shabbat ends, it can send you a summary of what happened.

2. It's a tool, not a religious authority

We built the service with rabbinic guidance, but it does not give religious rulings and is not a substitute for your own rabbi. Whether it's appropriate for you to use on Shabbat is a question for you and your rabbi. You are responsible for that decision.

3. Best effort, no guarantees

We try hard to make the service work, but we can't promise it will run perfectly. It may miss something, act late, or act in a way you didn't intend, and it depends on things outside our control — your devices, your power and internet, and the outside phone and email networks we hand messages to. We provide the service "as is." [Lawyer: standard "no warranties" language here.]

4. The emergency feature

The emergency feature is a convenience, not a safety system. It is not a monitored alarm, a medical-alert service, or a substitute for 911 or a professional monitoring company, and you should not rely on it as your only way to get help. When you set up an emergency alert, you must list at least one reachable contact and confirm the acknowledgment we show you. [Lawyer: pull in the fuller emergency language from EMERGENCY-AND-LIABILITY.md.]

5. Your responsibilities

You agree to give accurate information, keep any detection devices powered and connected, tell the people you list that they may receive alerts on your behalf, and use the service lawfully. You confirm you have permission to give us the contact details of anyone you add.

6. Plans, billing, and cancellation

Base plan: $20 per month, or $16 per month billed annually.
Premium plan: $50 per month, or $40 per month billed annually.
Lifetime founder rates (beta participants): Base $12/mo, Premium $30/mo. [Updated 2026-07-17 to match the locked FEATURE-SPEC pricing; the earlier $10/$8 figures predated the two-tier decision.]
Automatic renewal: Both plans renew automatically — monthly plans each month, annual plans each year — until you cancel. We will remind you before an annual renewal. [Lawyer: many places require clear up-front auto-renewal disclosure, a renewal reminder, and easy cancellation — please make this compliant for the states/countries we sell in.]
Canceling: You can cancel anytime in your account settings. Canceling stops the next charge; it doesn't refund time already paid. [Refund policy to be set with lawyer.]
Price changes: We may change prices with advance notice; changes apply at your next renewal.

7. Acceptable use

Don't use the service to break the law, to harass anyone, or to send messages people haven't agreed to receive.

7a. SMS Terms

Program description. Mendel sends text messages to enrolled users, including: account and onboarding notifications; two-way planning conversations you initiate before the Sabbath; confirmations that your automation schedule is set; post-Sabbath summary recaps; and check-in notifications to contacts you have designated (after those contacts confirm enrollment).

Frequency and rates. Message frequency varies based on your settings and activity. Message and data rates may apply according to your mobile carrier's plan.

Opting out and help. Reply STOP at any time to stop receiving messages; reply START to re-enroll; reply HELP for help or contact support@[DOMAIN]. Opting out of texts may limit service functionality that depends on SMS delivery (for example, recaps or designated-contact notifications will no longer reach the opted-out number).

Delivery. SMS is a best-effort channel. Delivery of any individual message is not guaranteed, and wireless carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. Do not rely on text messages as your sole channel for time-sensitive communications.

Privacy. Our handling of mobile information is described in the Privacy Policy [link].

8. Limitation of liability

[Lawyer to draft. Commonly: we are not liable for indirect or consequential harm, and total liability is capped at the amount you paid in the last [12] months — written to fit the states/countries we operate in.]

9. Other terms

[Lawyer to add: changes to these terms, indemnification, governing law and venue, dispute resolution, and how we'll contact you.]

10. Contact

[Support email / mailing address.]