Legal

Shortdesk Terms of Service

Last updated 26 May 2026

1. Agreement to terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the services provided by Shortdesk Ltd, a company registered in Scotland under company number SC888902, with registered office at 20 Margaret Thomson Crescent, Edinburgh, EH6 7FD ("Shortdesk", "we", "us", "our").

By creating an account, signing up for a free trial, paying for a subscription, or otherwise using our services, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use our services.

If you are entering into these Terms on behalf of a company or other legal entity, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity. In that case, "you" and "your" refer to that entity.

2. The services

Shortdesk provides AI-powered workflow automation services for small businesses, including:

Sales automation — outbound prospecting, reply handling, follow-up sequences
Recruitment automation — CV screening, candidate scoring, pipeline management
Marketing automation — content production and distribution (where available)
Bespoke automation — custom-scoped engagements

Services are delivered via our hosted automation engine, with configuration captured through our onboarding process and stored in your dedicated configuration record. Outbound communications may be sent from your own Gmail/Outlook inbox (via OAuth integration) or, where applicable, from Shortdesk-controlled infrastructure as agreed.

We may update, modify, or discontinue features. Material changes will be notified to active Clients with reasonable advance notice.

3. Eligibility and account

Our services are for business use only. You must be at least 18 years old and authorised to act on behalf of the business you represent.

You are responsible for:

Maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials
All activity that occurs under your account
Promptly notifying us of any unauthorised use
Providing accurate, current, and complete information during onboarding

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, our Acceptable Use Policy (Section 8), or applicable law.

4. Subscriptions, fees, and billing

Subscription plans are described on shortdesk.io/pricing. Bespoke engagements are quoted individually.

Billing is processed via Stripe. You authorise us to charge your nominated payment method for all fees, including applicable taxes (VAT where applicable).

Billing cycles are monthly or annual as you select at checkout. Subscriptions auto-renew at the end of each cycle unless cancelled in advance (see Section 6).

Fees are exclusive of VAT unless stated otherwise. VAT will be added at the prevailing UK rate where applicable.

Failed payments — if a charge fails, we will retry. After a reasonable number of failed attempts, we may suspend or terminate your account.

Price changes — we may change subscription pricing with at least 30 days' notice. Changes will not affect the current paid cycle.

5. Free trial and discovery calls

We may offer free trials or discovery calls at our discretion. Trial accounts are subject to these Terms. We may revoke a trial at any time without liability.

Discovery calls for bespoke engagements are free and non-binding for either party until a Stripe invoice is issued and paid.

6. Cancellation and refunds

You may cancel your subscription at any time via your account, by contacting innes@shortdesk.io, or as we otherwise direct.

Effect of cancellation:

Your subscription remains active until the end of the current billing cycle
You will not be charged for subsequent cycles
No refunds are issued for partial cycles (whether monthly or annual)
After cancellation, your account is downgraded to inactive at cycle end
Your data is retained for a 30-day export window, then deleted (see Section 17)

Refund exceptions:

We will refund a payment made in error (e.g., duplicate charge)
Refund decisions for service failure are at our discretion
Statutory rights (where applicable) are unaffected

7. Customer responsibilities and warranties

You warrant and agree that:

(a) You have lawful basis for all personal data you input into our services. You comply with UK GDPR, PECR, and (where applicable) CAN-SPAM, EU GDPR, and other relevant data protection and electronic communications laws when sending outbound communications via Shortdesk.

(b) You will not use our services to send spam or unsolicited communications in breach of applicable law, our Acceptable Use Policy, or the policies of the underlying email or messaging providers (Google, Microsoft, Twilio, Slack, etc.).

(d) You have the right to grant us any access we need to deliver the service (e.g., access to your Gmail/Outlook account via OAuth).

(e) You will not use the services to harass, defame, infringe intellectual property, or otherwise harm third parties.

(f) You are responsible for the workflows, content, prompts, and configurations you create or commission through our services.

You agree to indemnify Shortdesk against any third-party claim arising from your breach of these warranties (subject to the limitations in Section 14).

8. Acceptable Use Policy

You will not:

Use the services to send unsolicited bulk email (spam)
Use the services in breach of the terms of any underlying email or messaging provider
Attempt to gain unauthorised access to our systems or other users' data
Reverse engineer, decompile, or extract our source code, models, or proprietary methods
Resell, sublicense, or transfer your subscription without our written consent
Use the services to process personal data of individuals located in jurisdictions where you lack a lawful basis
Use the services for any illegal purpose
Send content that is defamatory, obscene, infringing, or harmful
Use the services to compete with Shortdesk by building a similar service

We may suspend or terminate your account immediately for material breach of this AUP.

9. Data processing

We process personal data on your behalf when you use our services. This processing is governed by:

Our Privacy Policy
A Data Processing Agreement (DPA), available on request — recommended for Clients processing non-trivial volumes of personal data

You warrant that all personal data you provide has been collected lawfully and that you have informed data subjects as required by applicable law.

We commit to:

Processing personal data only on your documented instructions
Implementing appropriate technical and organisational security measures
Notifying you of any personal data breach affecting your data without undue delay
Assisting you with data subject requests
Deleting or returning your personal data at the end of our engagement (subject to legal retention obligations)

10. Intellectual property

Your data and configurations — you retain all rights, title, and interest in your data, your workflow configurations, your content, and your prompts. You grant Shortdesk a non-exclusive, limited licence to process this material solely for the purpose of providing the services.

Shortdesk platform — Shortdesk retains all rights in our software, workflow templates, brand, documentation, and methodology. You receive no rights other than the right to use the services per these Terms.

Feedback — if you provide suggestions or feedback, you grant us a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free licence to use it without restriction.

Aggregated and anonymised data — we may collect, use, and retain anonymised and aggregated data derived from service usage for the purposes of analysing, improving, and benchmarking the services.

11. Third-party services

Our services integrate with third-party providers (listed in our Privacy Policy Section 6). These providers operate under their own terms and privacy policies, which you should review:

Stripe (payments)
Google / Microsoft (OAuth, email)
Airtable (data storage)
Anthropic (AI processing)
Twilio, Slack, and others as applicable

We are not responsible for the availability, accuracy, or security of these third-party services, or for changes they make to their terms or pricing. If a third-party service becomes unavailable or changes materially, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to adapt the services, but we make no guarantee that all features will remain available.

12. Confidentiality

Each party may share confidential information with the other to perform under these Terms. Confidential Information means any non-public business, technical, or commercial information disclosed by one party (Discloser) to the other (Recipient), whether or not marked as confidential, that a reasonable person would understand to be confidential.

The Recipient will:

Use Confidential Information only to perform under these Terms
Protect it with at least the same care as it protects its own confidential information (and in no event less than reasonable care)
Not disclose it to third parties except to its employees, contractors, and sub-processors who need to know and are bound by confidentiality obligations

Obligations survive termination for 5 years, or indefinitely for trade secrets.

13. Warranties and disclaimers

We provide the services on an "as is" and "as available" basis. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and any warranty arising from course of dealing or usage of trade.

We do not warrant:

That the services will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free
That defects will be corrected
That the services will meet your requirements
That AI-generated outputs will be accurate, complete, or fit for any particular purpose

You are responsible for reviewing AI-generated content before relying on it or sending it to third parties.

Nothing in this section limits warranties that cannot be excluded under UK consumer law (where you qualify as a consumer, which is unusual given our B2B nature).

14. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

Neither party will be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, including lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, or business interruption, even if advised of the possibility.
Our total aggregate liability under or in connection with these Terms (whether in contract, tort, breach of statutory duty, or otherwise) is capped at the total fees you paid to Shortdesk in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the liability.

The following are carved out from these limitations and not subject to the cap:

Liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence
Liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation
Liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law
Each party's indemnification obligations

15. Indemnification

By you: you will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Shortdesk against any third-party claim arising from (i) your breach of these Terms, (ii) your use of the services in violation of applicable law, (iii) your content or data, including any allegation that your data infringes third-party rights or violates privacy law, or (iv) any unsolicited communication sent via the services in breach of applicable law.

By Shortdesk: we will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless you against any third-party claim that the Shortdesk platform itself (excluding your data and configurations) infringes a third party's intellectual property rights, provided you notify us promptly and grant us sole control of the defence.

16. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate your account immediately if:

You materially breach these Terms (including the AUP)
You fail to pay any sum due after reasonable notice
We are required to do so by law or by a third-party provider whose services we rely on
Continuing to serve you would expose us to unreasonable risk

You may terminate at any time per Section 6.

Either party may terminate for any reason on 30 days' written notice. We may terminate immediately if continuing performance would breach applicable law.

17. Effect of termination

On termination:

Your right to access and use the services ends
We will retain your data for 30 days from the termination date for export purposes; you may request an export during this period
After 30 days, we will delete your data subject to applicable legal retention obligations (e.g., 7 years for billing records under UK tax law)
Sections that by their nature should survive (e.g., IP, confidentiality, liability, indemnification, governing law) will survive

18. Changes to these Terms

We may revise these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be notified to active Clients by email at least 14 days before they take effect. By continuing to use the services after the effective date, you accept the revised Terms. If you do not agree, you may terminate per Section 6.

19. General

Force majeure — neither party is liable for delay or failure due to events beyond reasonable control (natural disasters, war, pandemic, denial-of-service attacks, third-party provider failures).

Assignment — you may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We may assign in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganisation, or sale of substantially all assets.

Severability — if any provision is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect.

Entire agreement — these Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any DPA or specific scope of work, constitute the entire agreement between us regarding the services and supersede any prior agreements.

No waiver — failure to enforce any right or provision is not a waiver of that or any other right.

No third-party beneficiaries — these Terms do not give rights to any third party except as expressly stated.

Notices — written notices to Shortdesk should be sent to team@shortdesk.io and to your registered email address. Notices are deemed received on the next business day.

20. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of Scotland. Disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Scottish courts.

21. Contact

For questions about these Terms, contact:

Email: team@shortdesk.io
Post: Shortdesk Ltd, 20 Margaret Thomson Crescent, Edinburgh, EH6 7FD

For privacy-specific matters, see our Privacy Policy or contact privacy@shortdesk.io.