SMS Terms & Acceptable Use

These SMS Terms describe how text messaging works on Stello. They apply to anyone who sends or receives SMS messages through our service and supplement our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Program Description

Stello's SMS program enables small business owners to send a short, one-time review request message to a customer with whom they have an existing service relationship. A typical message looks like this:

Hi Sarah! Thanks for choosing Joe's Plumbing. How was your kitchen sink repair? https://stello-kappa.vercel.app/feedback/abc123

Recipients are invited to tap the link and rate their experience. Recipients who report a positive experience are invited to leave a public review on Google. Recipients who report a negative experience are directed to a private feedback form visible only to the sending business.

How Recipients Are Added

Stello does not add recipients on its own. The business owner who uses Stello manually enters each customer's phone number and confirms, at the time of sending, that the customer has consented to receive SMS communications from the business. This consent must come from a prior, documented basis such as:

• A signed service agreement that mentions SMS communication.
• A booking or intake form where the customer provided their phone number for service-related messages.
• An explicit verbal agreement during a service interaction.

The business owner is the legal sender of every message and is solely responsible for compliance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Federal Communications Commission's regulations, and any applicable state or international laws regarding commercial messaging.

Message Frequency

Recipients should expect to receive one (1) message per completed service. Stello does not send recurring or marketing messages. A business owner may request a follow-up review only after a new service has been completed for the same customer.

Cost

Message and data rates may apply. Standard SMS rates from your wireless carrier may apply to messages received from Stello. Stello does not charge recipients to receive messages.

How to Opt Out

Recipients can opt out of all future Stello messages from any business at any time by replying with any of the following keywords:

STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT

Once a recipient sends a STOP keyword, the underlying carrier (Twilio) will block all future messages to that phone number from the originating Stello sender. The recipient will receive a single confirmation message acknowledging the opt-out. Recipients can opt back in at any time by replying START.

How to Get Help

Recipients can reply HELP to any Stello message to receive contact information and opt-out instructions. For other questions, recipients or businesses can contact us at support@usestello.com.

Carrier Disclaimer

Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. Stello relies on Twilio and the underlying mobile carriers for message delivery and cannot guarantee that any message will be delivered to a particular recipient at a particular time.

Reporting Abuse

If you received a Stello message that you believe was sent without your consent or in violation of these terms, please report it immediately by emailing support@usestello.com with the date, time, and content of the message. We investigate every report and will suspend any account that we find to have violated these terms.

Changes to These SMS Terms

We may update these SMS Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. Continued use of the service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.