Text messages
The whole of what TradeClear sends, and why.
TradeClear texts one group of people: the trade contractors that a general contractor has engaged and needs documents from. It never texts anybody else, and it never texts anything but a request for those documents.
Who receives a message
Consent is recorded at two points, by two different people.
First, the general contractor. They add a trade contractor to their roster and enter the mobile number that business gave them for work correspondence. Before anything is sent, the person adding them has to confirm that the engagement is real and that the number was given to their company. That confirmation is recorded against the account and the number, with who made it and when.
The point at which consent is confirmed, inside the product, shown in its default state. The box is empty until the person adding the trade contractor ticks it, and the invite cannot be sent until they do. The same confirmation is required when a roster is imported as a list.
The trade contractor has an existing business relationship with the general contractor named in the message, and the documents being requested are ones that contractor already requires before work starts. TradeClear sends the first request on their behalf.
Where the recipient agrees
The link in that first message opens a page on this site. Directly above the button that sends their documents, it says what continuing means for texting them, how to stop, and where to get help. Pressing that button is the trade contractor's own agreement to the reminders that follow, given by them, on this site, and recorded against their number.
What the trade contractor sees, and agrees to, before any reminder is ever sent.
Anybody who does not want the messages can reply STOP to the first one and never hear from this number again, without uploading anything.
What is sent
Two messages exist. This is the whole vocabulary.
The first request, sent once when they are added:
Bayview Construction Group Inc. needs your WSIB number and insurance before you start. No login: https://tradeclear.ca/upload?token=…
A reminder, sent only when a document is expiring or has lapsed:
Your certificate of insurance expires in 9 days for Bayview Construction Group Inc. Upload the new one here, no login: https://tradeclear.ca/upload?token=…
Every message names the general contractor asking, and every link goes to tradeclear.ca and to a page belonging to that one business. There is no marketing, no newsletter and no promotion of any kind.
How often
One message when they are added. After that, a message only when a WSIB clearance or a certificate of insurance is within a week of expiring or has already lapsed, which for most trades is a handful of times a year. Nothing is sent on a schedule and nothing is sent when there is nothing to ask for.
Stopping them
Reply STOP to any message and no further messages are sent to that number. Reply START to turn them back on. Reply HELP for contact details.
TradeClear records the opt-out and tells the general contractor that the number has stopped messages, so they can reach that business another way rather than trying again.
Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency varies with how many documents are due.
The rest
What is stored, who can see it and for how long is in the privacy policy. What the service does and does not do is in the terms of service. Questions about a message you have received, including where the number came from, go to hello@antipodetech.com.
TradeClear is a service of Antipode Technologies Inc., Ontario, Canada. The sending number is a Canadian toll-free number and answers calls with a recorded explanation of what it is.