Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms & Important Notices

By accessing or using the Colossus platform ("Service"), including our website at colossus.fit, web application, mobile applications, and administrative dashboard, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service. Ticking an acceptance checkbox, or continuing to use the Service, constitutes your electronic signature and acceptance of these Terms in accordance with the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 ("ECTA").

In compliance with ECTA, the following information is provided: the Service is operated by Colossus Coaching Systems (Pty) Ltd ("Colossus", "we", "us"), a private company incorporated in the Republic of South Africa with registration number 2026/335857/07 and registered office in Stellenbosch, Western Cape, 7600. Contact email: hello@colossus.fit. Website: colossus.fit.

2. Description of Service

Colossus is a fitness coaching platform that connects coaches and athletes. The Service includes:

• Strength and cardio workout programming, with optional cardio data import from Apple Health and Health Connect
• Nutrition tracking, including barcode scanning against public food databases (Open Food Facts and USDA FoodData Central)
• Habit, water, sleep, and body-composition tracking
• Optional menstrual-cycle tracking, with optional phase-aware adjustments to training and nutrition programming
• Progress check-ins with photo, video, and written notes
• Real-time messaging between coaches and clients (text, image, and voice notes), including group messaging
• Live one-to-one and group video and voice calls between coaches and clients, and discovery-call video between a coach and a prospect
• Coach program listings, enrolments, and reviews
• Recovery session planning and logging, with optional sync from Apple Health and Health Connect
• Analytics and progress dashboards
• Coach-led communities and forums layered on group messaging
• Sellable content bundles (lifetime-access digital products)
• Broadcast messaging to a coach's roster over push, chat, and email
• Referral programs, and promotional codes and free-trial codes
• Sales tools for coaches: public lead-capture forms, prospect CRM, discovery-call booking, public storefront pages, email automations, and outbound webhook integrations
• Studio team accounts allowing multiple coaches to operate under a single business

We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time.

3. User Accounts

You must create an account to use most features of the Service. You may register and sign in with an email address and password, or with Sign in with Apple or Google sign-in. You are responsible for:

• Providing accurate and complete registration information
• Maintaining the security of your account credentials
• All activity that occurs under your account
• Notifying us immediately of any unauthorised use

You must be at least 16 years old to create an account. If you are under 18 (or under the age of majority where you live, if that is higher), you may use the Service only with the consent and supervision of a parent or legal guardian, and by creating an account you confirm that a parent or legal guardian has read and agreed to these Terms on your behalf and consents to our processing of your personal information, including health and fitness data, as described in our Privacy Policy. Accounts registered by automated methods are not permitted.

4. User Roles & Independent Status

Coaches may create workout plans, nutrition plans, and programs for their clients, and operate sales tools to attract new clients. Coaches are solely responsible for the content, accuracy, and safety of the training and nutrition programs they provide, for any communications they send to clients or prospects, and for the lawful basis on which they contact prospects through the Service. Colossus does not verify coaching credentials and is not a party to the coaching relationship between a coach and a client.

Independent status. Coaches and Studio teams use the Service as independent businesses. Nothing in these Terms, and nothing in the operation of the Service, creates any employment, agency, partnership, joint venture, or franchise relationship between Colossus and any user, or between Colossus and any coach's clients or prospects. Each coach contracts directly with their own clients; Colossus provides the platform only.

Clients (athletes) may use the Service to follow training plans, log workouts, cardio, nutrition, and check-ins, communicate with their coach, and enrol in coach programs. Clients should consult a qualified medical professional before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.

Studio team accounts. A coaching business may operate as a Studio team account with multiple coaches under one team. Within a team there are three roles, applied additively (every member can have their own assigned clients):

• Owner, has full administrative rights: billing, bank account, seat management, team settings, and cross-coach access. There is exactly one owner per team.
• Admin, has cross-coach visibility into the team's clients and revenue, but cannot change billing or bank-account details.
• Coach, manages only the clients assigned to them and does not see other coaches' financial or client data.

The team owner is the contracting party with Colossus for the Studio subscription and is responsible for charges incurred by the team account.

5. Coach Programs & Client Payments

Coaches may offer training programs to their clients through the Service. Prices are set by the coach and displayed in the currency the coach has configured (currently ZAR, USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, or CAD). Card payments are processed by Paystack; Colossus does not store full card details.

Colossus may charge a platform fee on each program transaction. The current fee is disclosed to coaches in the coach dashboard before they list a program, and may be revised from time to time on notice.

ECTA cooling-off right. In accordance with section 44 of ECTA, where applicable, you have the right to cancel an electronic transaction and receive a full refund within 7 days of enrolment, provided you have not begun using the program (no workouts have been logged against it).

Standard enrolments can be refunded directly from your account. Enrolments purchased with a referral reward, promotional code, or other discount are refunded by contacting your coach or us at hello@colossus.fit rather than through the self-service tool. Nothing here limits any statutory cancellation right you may have.

Chargebacks and payment abuse. You must not initiate a chargeback in bad faith or repeatedly dispute charges that you authorised. We may suspend an account while a suspected fraudulent payment or bad-faith chargeback is investigated, and may recover reasonable costs incurred in responding to it, to the extent permitted by law. Nothing in this paragraph limits your right to dispute a charge you did not authorise.

6. Coach Subscriptions & Studio Seat Overage

Coaches may subscribe to paid Colossus tiers, billed monthly via Paystack. The current tier list, included features, and pricing are displayed in the coach dashboard at the time of subscription. Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled.

Studio seat overage. The Studio tier includes a base allocation of coach seats. If the team's active membership exceeds that allocation, an overage charge is billed once per billing period at the per-seat rate disclosed in the team's billing settings, charged automatically against the team owner's saved Paystack authorisation. The overage is calculated from the number of active members at the time the charge is raised.

Cancellation. You may cancel a coach subscription at any time from the coach dashboard. The subscription remains active until the end of the current billing period.

30-day money-back guarantee. If you cancel within 30 days of your first subscription payment, that first payment is refunded in full via Paystack. The guarantee applies once, to your initial subscription charge. If that first payment was discounted (for example with a referral reward or promotional code), the refund is arranged by contacting us rather than through the self-service tool. Subsequent renewal charges are not refundable except where required by law.

7. Coach Payouts

Revenue from program purchases is settled to coaches via a Paystack subaccount linked to the coach's (or Studio team's) bank account. Colossus acts as a marketplace facilitator and is not the merchant of record for coaching revenue. Coaches are solely responsible for declaring and paying any taxes (including VAT and income tax) due on the revenue they earn through the Service, in accordance with applicable laws, including the requirements of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) where relevant.

8. Lead Capture, Sales Tools & Webhooks

The Service includes tools that allow coaches to capture prospect data through public lead-capture forms, discovery-call booking pages, and public storefronts. Coaches who use these tools act as the responsible party under POPIA for the leads they collect. They must:

• Have a lawful basis to collect and contact each prospect
• Provide accurate descriptions of their service and pricing
• Honour unsubscribe requests from prospects, which the Service surfaces in every marketing email it sends on their behalf
• Comply with any applicable laws governing direct marketing, electronic communications, and consumer protection in the jurisdictions of their prospects

Coaches may configure outbound webhooks to forward lead and discovery-call events to external systems they control. Coaches are responsible for the security of those endpoints and for any onward processing of personal information delivered to them.

Colossus may suspend or remove sales-tool features that are used to send unsolicited bulk communications, fraudulent offers, or content that violates Section 9 (Acceptable Use).

9. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose
• Upload harmful, abusive, or offensive content
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the Service or to another user's account
• Interfere with or disrupt the Service or servers
• Scrape, crawl, or use automated tools to access the Service beyond the documented public APIs
• Impersonate another person or entity
• Share another user's personal data without consent
• Upload or sell content that infringes another person's intellectual property or other rights
• Use the sales tools to send unsolicited bulk communications ("spam"), or to contact prospects without a lawful basis
• Misrepresent coaching credentials, qualifications, or the results that clients can expect from a program

10. Content Ownership & Licence

You retain ownership of content you upload to the Service (workout plans, messages, voice notes, photos, videos, lead forms, storefront copy, etc.). By uploading content, you grant Colossus a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, transmit, display, and process that content solely as necessary to provide and improve the Service to you and the parties you have shared it with (for example your coach, your clients, or your team members).

Colossus and its logo, design, and other brand elements are the property of Colossus Coaching Systems (Pty) Ltd and may not be used without our prior written permission.

11. User Content, Communities & Moderation

Content posted in chats, communities, forums, reviews, check-ins, storefronts, and content bundles is authored by users, not by Colossus. We do not pre-screen user content, we do not endorse it, and the views expressed are those of their authors. A coach's programs, plans, posts, and bundles are the coach's own professional work product, not ours.

We have the right, but not the obligation, to moderate: we may remove, hide, or restrict content, restrict features, or suspend accounts where we reasonably believe these Terms have been violated. In-app reporting tools are provided, and community posts that attract multiple pending reports may be hidden automatically pending review. We may preserve and disclose user content where required by law, or where reasonably necessary to protect the safety of any person or the integrity of the Service.

Reviews of coaches and programs must reflect the reviewer's genuine experience. We may remove reviews that are fraudulent, incentivised without disclosure, or unrelated to the service reviewed.

12. Intellectual Property Complaints

If you believe that content available on the Service infringes your intellectual property rights, send a written take-down notification to hello@colossus.fit with the subject line "Take-down notice". Modelled on section 77 of ECTA, the notification must include:

• Your full name, address, and contact details
• Identification of the right that has allegedly been infringed
• Identification of the material or activity claimed to be infringing, with enough detail for us to locate it
• The remedial action you require
• A statement that you are acting in good faith and that the information in the notification is, to your knowledge, true and correct
• Your signature (an electronic signature is accepted)

We will review the notification, may remove or disable access to the material, and will notify the user who uploaded it, who may respond. Please note that under ECTA a person who lodges a notification of unlawful activity with knowledge that it materially misrepresents the facts is liable for damages for wrongful take-down. We may terminate the accounts of repeat infringers.

13. Third-Party Services & Data

The Service interoperates with services and data sources that we do not control. Your use of a third-party service is governed by that third party's own terms and privacy policy, and our integration with a third party is not an endorsement of it. In particular:

• Payments are processed by Paystack. Payment processing is subject to Paystack's terms and the rules of the card networks.
• Health integrations (Apple Health, Health Connect) import data recorded by your device, wearables, and other apps. The availability and accuracy of that data depend on your device, operating system, and the recording app, not on Colossus.
• Nutrition databases (Open Food Facts, USDA FoodData Central) contain crowd-sourced and public data that may be incomplete, outdated, or inaccurate. Always verify nutrition information and ingredients against the physical product packaging, especially if you have an allergy, intolerance, or medical condition.
• Real-time calls and messaging depend on network conditions between the participants; quality and availability are not guaranteed.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Colossus is not responsible for the availability, accuracy, or conduct of any third-party service or data source, or for loss arising from your reliance on third-party data presented through the Service.

14. Health Disclaimer & Assumption of Risk

14.1 No medical advice. The Service is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions regarding a medical condition, before beginning a new exercise or nutrition program, and before relying on any calculation, recommendation, or program produced by the Service.

14.3 Estimates, not prescriptions. Calorie and macronutrient targets, maintenance-energy (TDEE) estimates, safe-rate guidance, recovery and readiness metrics, and projected timelines produced by the Service are informational estimates derived from population-level formulas and your logged data. They are not individualised medical or dietetic advice. Cycle tracking, phase predictions, and any cycle-based programming adjustments are informational estimates only. They are not a medical device, not a diagnostic tool, and not a method of contraception or fertility planning, and must not be relied on for those purposes.

14.4 Savings. Nothing in this section 14 excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, and nothing in it requires you to assume any risk arising from our own gross negligence.

15. Disclaimer of Warranties

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. Without limiting the foregoing, and to the same extent, we do not warrant that:

• The Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free, or that defects will be corrected
• Any calculation, estimate, metric, or recommendation produced by the Service is accurate, complete, or suitable for your individual circumstances
• Any particular fitness, body-composition, health, or business outcome will be achieved through use of the Service
• Data sourced from third parties (section 13) is accurate or complete

The Service does not provide medical, dietetic, legal, tax, or financial advice. Where the CPA applies to a transaction, nothing in this section limits any statutory warranty or right (including under sections 54 to 56 of the CPA) to the extent that it cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

16. Limitation of Liability

16.1 Exclusion of indirect loss. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Colossus shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the Service, including any loss of data, loss of revenue, loss of business, or harm arising from training, nutrition, or health-related decisions.

16.2 Cap. To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with the Service or these Terms, whether in contract, delict (including negligence), or otherwise, shall not exceed the greater of: (a) the total amounts you paid to Colossus in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim; and (b) R1,000 (or the equivalent in the currency in which you transacted).

16.3 What is not excluded. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for: (a) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; (b) gross negligence or wilful misconduct on the part of Colossus or any person acting for or controlled by Colossus, as contemplated in section 51(1)(c) of the CPA; or (c) any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

16.4 Coach services. Coaches are independent providers (section 4). To the maximum extent permitted by law, Colossus is not liable for the services, programs, advice, conduct, or content of any coach, or for any dispute between a coach and a client or prospect. Nothing in these Terms affects any claim a client may have directly against their coach.

16.5 Allocation of risk. You acknowledge that the fees for the Service reflect the allocation of risk set out in these Terms, and that this allocation is a reasonable and essential part of the bargain between you and Colossus.

17. Indemnity

17.1 All users. To the maximum extent permitted by law, you indemnify Colossus Coaching Systems (Pty) Ltd, its directors, employees, and agents (the "Indemnified Parties") against all third-party claims, losses, damages, fines, penalties, and reasonable costs (including reasonable legal costs) arising out of or in connection with: (a) your breach of these Terms; (b) content you upload, post, sell, or transmit through the Service; (c) your violation of any law or of any third party's rights; or (d) your misuse of the Service.

17.2 Coaches. In addition, if you are a coach or a Studio team, you indemnify the Indemnified Parties against all third-party claims, losses, damages, fines, penalties, and reasonable costs arising out of or in connection with:

• The coaching services, programs, plans, advice, or other content you provide or sell through the Service (including content bundles)
• Injury, illness, or loss suffered by any client or prospect in connection with your services
• Your marketing, lead-capture, and direct-communication practices, including compliance with POPIA and other direct-marketing and consumer-protection laws
• Your tax obligations, including VAT and income tax on revenue earned through the Service
• Infringement of third-party rights by content you upload or sell
• Disputes between you and your clients, prospects, or team members

17.3 Procedure. We will notify you in writing of any claim subject to this section within a reasonable time of becoming aware of it. We may, at our election, assume control of the defence and settlement of the claim; you may not settle any claim in a way that imposes obligations on any Indemnified Party without our prior written consent (not to be unreasonably withheld).

17.4 Limits. This section does not apply to the extent that a claim arises from an Indemnified Party's own gross negligence or wilful misconduct. Where you are a consumer under the CPA, this section applies only to the extent permitted by the CPA and is limited to loss actually caused by your breach of these Terms or your unlawful conduct.

18. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account at any time for violations of these Terms or for any other reason at our discretion. You may delete your account at any time using the in-app "Delete account" tool, or by contacting support. Account deletion removes your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Upon termination, your right to use the Service ceases immediately. Provisions intended to survive termination survive in accordance with section 22.

19. Dispute Resolution & Arbitration

19.1 Definitions. In this section, "Business User" means a coach, a Studio team, or any user who uses the Service in the ordinary course of business; and "Consumer" means a user who is a consumer for the purposes of the CPA and who is not a Business User.

19.2 Talk to us first. Before starting formal proceedings, the party raising a dispute must send the other a written notice describing the dispute (to hello@colossus.fit in our case, or to the email address on your account in yours). The parties will attempt in good faith to resolve the dispute within 30 days of that notice. This step does not prevent either party from seeking urgent or interim relief from a competent court.

19.3 Arbitration (Business Users). Any dispute between Colossus and a Business User arising out of or in connection with these Terms or the Service that is not resolved under section 19.2 shall be referred to and finally resolved by arbitration administered by the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA) in accordance with its rules for the time being in force, including its expedited rules where the amount in dispute falls within their scope. The seat of the arbitration shall be Cape Town, the language shall be English, and the tribunal shall consist of one arbitrator agreed by the parties or, failing agreement, appointed by AFSA. The arbitration and the award shall be confidential, and the award shall be final and binding and may be made an order of any competent court. Each dispute must be arbitrated individually; class or consolidated arbitration is not permitted.

19.4 Consumers are not required to arbitrate. Nothing in this section requires a Consumer to submit a dispute to arbitration or deprives a Consumer of any forum available under law. A Consumer may refer a dispute to the courts (section 20), or to any body available under the CPA (including the National Consumer Commission, an accredited ombud, or the National Consumer Tribunal), or, for personal-information matters, to the Information Regulator under POPIA. A Consumer and Colossus may agree in writing to arbitrate a particular dispute after it has arisen.

20. Governing Law & Jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa. Subject to section 19, the parties consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Western Cape, South Africa, for any dispute arising from these Terms or the Service.

If you are a Consumer habitually resident outside South Africa, you may additionally benefit from mandatory consumer-protection provisions of the law of your country of residence; nothing in this section deprives you of that protection.

21. Changes to Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify users of material changes via email or in-app notification, and where a change materially affects risk, liability, or dispute resolution we will give at least 14 days' notice before it takes effect, where reasonably practicable. Continued use of the Service after such changes constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. Each version of these Terms carries a version identifier, and the version you accepted is recorded against your account.

22. General Provisions

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any additional terms presented to you for specific features, constitute the entire agreement between you and Colossus regarding the Service and supersede all prior agreements on that subject. Nothing in this clause excludes liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or limits any right you have under applicable law.

Severability. If any provision of these Terms (or part of one) is held to be unlawful, void, or unenforceable, including under sections 48 to 51 of the CPA, that provision will be severed or modified to the minimum extent necessary, and the remainder of these Terms will continue in full force and effect.

No waiver. A failure or delay by either party to enforce any provision of these Terms is not a waiver of that provision or of the right to enforce it later.

Assignment. We may assign or transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms to an affiliate, or in connection with a merger, acquisition, restructuring, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets, provided your rights under these Terms are not materially diminished. You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations without our prior written consent.

Force majeure. Neither party is liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including power or telecommunications failures (including load-shedding), failures of hosting or payment infrastructure, acts of government, labour disputes, epidemics, or natural disasters. This does not excuse payment obligations for services already delivered.

Survival. Sections 10 (in respect of content you have shared), 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, and 22, and any accrued payment obligations, survive termination of these Terms or of your account.

Notices. Colossus chooses as its address for the service of legal notices its registered office in Stellenbosch, Western Cape, 7600, with a copy by email to hello@colossus.fit. You choose the email address linked to your account as your address for notices. A notice sent by email is deemed received on the first business day after transmission. Data messages are valid notices under ECTA.

Interpretation. Headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation. "Including" means "including without limitation". A reference to legislation is a reference to that legislation as amended or replaced from time to time.

Language. These Terms are concluded in English. Translations of the Service interface are provided for convenience; the English version of these Terms prevails.

23. Coach Data Processing Addendum

23.1 When this applies. This section applies where you use the Service as a coach to manage your own clients. In respect of your clients' personal data that Colossus processes on your behalf (“Client Personal Data”), you are the controller and Colossus is your processor within the meaning of applicable data protection law, including the EU GDPR and UK GDPR where they apply. This section forms the data processing terms required by Article 28 of those laws. Colossus remains an independent controller for your own account, billing, security, and platform data, as described in the Privacy Policy.

23.2 Our obligations as processor. Colossus will: (a) process Client Personal Data only on your documented instructions, including as given through your ordinary use of the Service, unless required otherwise by law; (b) ensure personnel authorised to process Client Personal Data are bound by confidentiality; (c) implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures; (d) engage sub-processors only under section 23.4; (e) taking into account the nature of the processing, assist you by appropriate means to respond to data subject requests; (f) assist you with security, personal data breach notification, and data protection impact assessments so far as reasonably possible; (g) on termination, delete or return Client Personal Data and delete existing copies, except where retention is required by law; and (h) make available information reasonably necessary to demonstrate compliance with Article 28 and allow for and contribute to audits.

23.3 Your obligations as controller. You warrant that you have a valid lawful basis for the collection and processing of Client Personal Data and, for health and fitness data, that each client's explicit consent (or another lawful condition) has been obtained, whether directly or through the consent the Service captures on your behalf. You will issue instructions, and configure the Service, only in a manner consistent with applicable data protection law, and you will provide your clients with any privacy information required of a controller.

23.4 Sub-processors. You give Colossus general authorisation to engage the sub-processors it uses to provide the Service, as described in or referred to by our Privacy Policy. Colossus will give you reasonable notice of any intended addition or replacement of a sub-processor and an opportunity to object on reasonable data-protection grounds, and remains responsible for its sub-processors' performance.

23.5 International transfers. Where Colossus transfers Client Personal Data to a country without an adequacy decision, it does so under an appropriate transfer safeguard such as the Standard Contractual Clauses or the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, as described in the Privacy Policy.

23.6 Data subject tools. The Service provides self-service tools through which each data subject can access, export, correct, and delete their own data. You and your clients should use these tools in the first instance; Colossus will provide reasonable further assistance on a verified request.

23.7 Precedence. If there is a conflict between this section and the rest of these Terms in relation to the processing of Client Personal Data, this section prevails to the extent of the conflict.

24. Contact

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us at hello@colossus.fit.