The agreement
Terms and conditions for polygraph examinations
These terms and conditions govern every polygraph examination Spot on Polygraph carries out, from the moment a quote is accepted or a booking is made. They are written to be read rather than skimmed past, because the clauses that cost money are the ones people find out about afterwards.
In effect from 24 August 2026. They replace every earlier version.
Before the detail
The terms in short, and then in full
The summary below is a courtesy, not the agreement. Where it and a clause disagree, the clause is what binds both of us. Read the clause that covers your situation before you rely on anything here.
A quote is free and binds nobody
Asking for a price costs nothing and commits you to nothing. What binds you is accepting the quote or making a booking, and from that moment the invoiced amount is owed.
A confirmed booking is not cancellable
A slot held for you is a slot nobody else can use, and an examiner who travels is a day that cannot be sold twice. Cancel inside seven days and the deposit is forfeited.
The report follows the payment
Reports are released once the invoice is settled in full. That is the same for every client and every matter, with the single exception of approved VIP account clients.
Nobody is examined without consenting
Every examinee signs a consent form before anything is switched on. Consent is what makes the examination lawful and what allows the report to go to the client who booked it.
A result is not a verdict
An examination reports deception indicated, no deception indicated, or inconclusive. It is one piece of evidence among others and it is not a finding of guilt.
The report lands inside a day
Charts are analysed after the examination, not during it, and that analysis is what the turnaround buys. Clause 5 gives the exact window. Rushing it is the one thing that would make the result worth less.
Clause 1
Paying for the work
Every invoice is payable on the terms printed on that invoice. The terms available are cash on delivery, immediate payment, seven days and thirty days, and which one applies to you is agreed before the work is done and never afterwards. Use the quote number as your payment reference.
Clients without an account
A client who uses us occasionally and has no thirty day account or written agreement with us pays as follows.
- Eighty five percent of the quote is paid before the examination, which is what secures the date and the examiner.
- The balance is paid before the report is released. No report leaves this office while an invoice is open, and there is no discretion in it.
- An account client pays on the terms agreed with the office, and those terms are in writing before the first booking.
If an invoice is not paid
We would rather be paid than charge anybody for being late, so the sequence below is deliberately slow to start and does not compound.
There is a cheaper way to do all of this. Paying the invoice in full before the examination starts applies the special price to the whole engagement, which is ten percent off the examination itself. The consultation fee is the same whichever route you take. See the price list.
Clause 2
Booking, deposits and cancellation
Who is responsible for the booking
Whoever places the booking, whether online, by email or over the phone, is the person responsible for paying for it. That does not change because the examinee is somebody else, because a manager instructed it, or because the company later decides not to proceed.
Securing the date
- An eighty five percent deposit is payable within twelve to twenty four hours of the booking being made.
- The date is held from the moment that payment reflects, not from the moment it is sent.
- If the deposit does not arrive in that window we may release the slot to another client, and we will tell you before we do.
Cancelling
A confirmed booking is not cancellable. An examiner's day is booked out to you and cannot be sold twice, and the cost of an empty day does not disappear because the examination did not happen. What follows applies whether or not a deposit was actually paid.
If somebody refuses to be examined on the day, the booking is still payable. Six people booked is six people invoiced, whether five sit down or all six do. The slot, the travel and the examiner's day were bought when the booking was confirmed.
Clause 3
What the price covers
Every price we publish excludes VAT, and VAT at fifteen percent is added once, to the subtotal. The written quote shows the subtotal, the VAT and the total as three separate lines so that it can go straight into your books.
The consultation fee
The consultation fee covers the briefing the examiner runs with you before any instrument is attached: the case facts, the questions, and what the examination can and cannot establish. It is charged once per engagement, not once per person, and it is the same amount whichever payment route you take.
Travel
- Travel is charged per examiner and per trip, so two examiners at the same site on the same day is two travel charges.
- Long distance work is charged by the kilometre, measured from our office in Centurion to your address and charged there and back. The distance shown on your quote is the one way distance, labelled each way.
- Where a route changes on the day, through a road closure, a toll not accounted for or a change of address, the difference is discussed with you before it is charged and it stays reasonable.
Using our examination room
Coming to our room in Centurion is charged per day rather than per person, at one rate inside ordinary weekday hours and another after four in the afternoon, at weekends and on public holidays. The room is by appointment only. The solar examination vehicle, where a suitable room is not available at your premises, is a separate charge shown on the quote.
Clause 4
On the day of the examination
Most of this clause is a request rather than a rule. An examination run in the wrong conditions produces a weaker result, and a weaker result is worth less to you than the hour it took.
What we need from you
- A closed room with the door shut and no interruption, a table and three chairs.
- A warm room, particularly in winter, and drinking water available.
- The person responsible for the matter available on time for the briefing.
- Examinees comfortable in English, or an interpreter arranged in advance with the office.
Who can be examined
- An examinee must sign the consent form before anything is attached. Nobody is examined without it, and nobody may be compelled to sign it.
- An examinee must be sober and must have slept at least four hours.
- Tell the examiner about medication, a medical condition, a pregnancy or a recent trauma before the day rather than on it. It changes how the examination is run, not whether it happens.
How long it takes
Setting up takes ten to fifteen minutes, the briefing takes twenty to thirty minutes, and the examination itself takes about an hour per person. One examiner covers five to seven people in a day, and that ceiling is set by the accuracy the work demands rather than by the clock. Where more people are booked, more examiners are quoted.
Every session is recorded. The recording protects the examinee and the examiner equally. You may bring your own memory stick for a copy, or buy one from us.
Clause 5
Results, reports and who receives them
What a result can say
An inconclusive result can follow from a lack of sleep, a cold room, strong medication such as an antidepressant, illegal drug use, physical or emotional distress, or a recent personal trauma. Where it happens the examiner will say what is likely to have caused it and whether a retest is worth doing.
A polygraph result is evidence, not a verdict. It is one input into a decision that belongs to you, and it does not on its own establish guilt, justify a dismissal or replace a proper investigation. Anybody who tells you otherwise is selling something.
The report
- Reports are emailed within 12 to 24 hours of the examination. Charts are analysed afterwards, and that analysis is what the turnaround buys.
- The report goes to the client who commissioned and paid for the examination. The examinee consents to that in writing before the examination begins, and is told at the briefing exactly who will receive it.
- It goes to nobody else. We do not discuss a matter, a result or an examinee with anyone outside the engagement.
- A report is released once the invoice is settled in full. The only exception is an approved VIP account client, on the terms agreed with the office.
Clause 6
Your information
A polygraph engagement collects some of the most sensitive information a business ever holds about a person: an allegation, an account of what happened, a physiological record and a recording of the session. How we handle it is set out in full in our privacy policy, which is written to the Protection of Personal Information Act and forms part of these terms.
- A record of a confession is kept for up to six months. Everything else is kept for up to three months and then destroyed.
- Nothing is sold, published or shared for marketing, and nothing is shared with anybody outside the engagement.
- An examinee or a client may ask what we hold about them, ask for it to be corrected, or object to what we are doing with it. The privacy policy says how.
Clause 7
General
What we are responsible for
We are responsible for carrying out the examination competently, in accordance with the standards our examiners are trained and accredited to, and for reporting what the charts show. We are not responsible for the decision you take afterwards, and we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss arising from a decision that was yours to make. Nothing in this clause limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.
Accepting these terms
Accepting a quote, paying a deposit or making a booking, by any means, confirms that you have read these terms and agree to them. If you are booking on behalf of a company, you confirm that you are authorised to bind it.
Changes, severability and the law
- These terms may be updated. The version that applies to your engagement is the one published on the date your booking was confirmed, and every version carries its effective date at the top of this page.
- If any clause is found unenforceable, the rest stands and that clause is read down to the extent that it is enforceable.
- These terms are governed by the law of the Republic of South Africa, and the parties submit to the jurisdiction of the South African courts having jurisdiction.
Talking to us first
If something has gone wrong, phone the office on 082 545 2449 or write to spotonpolygraphceo@gmail.com before anything else. Most of what ends up as a dispute is a misunderstanding that one phone call would have settled, and we would rather have the call.
Nothing to sign yet
Start with a quote. It is free and it binds nobody
A written quote costs nothing, commits you to nothing and holds for fourteen days. None of the terms on this page apply until you accept one or make a booking.
Prefer to read the numbers first? The full price list is published, and the questions people ask are answered before anybody has to phone. Our services are listed in full.