By paying Deposits and Fees to use Atherton Web Design services you are agreeing to the terms of the proposal and the following terms and conditions.
Terms and Conditions
1. STANDARD TERMS AND CONDITIONS
These are the standard terms and conditions for Graphic and Website Design and Development and apply to all contracts and all work undertaken by Atherton Web Design for its clients.
2. DEPOSITS AND FEES
A deposit of the total fee as specified in a quote or proposal is due before work will commence. The remaining amount invoiced shall become due 7 days after work is completed to your reasonable satisfaction. but subject to the terms of the “approval of work” and “rejected work” clauses. We reserve the right not to commence any work until the deposit has been paid in full.
The deposit is non-refundable if work has been completed. A partial return of the deposit will be available if work commenced totals less than the deposit amount at $60/hr. More money will be invoiced if more work is completed than the deposit amount charged at the standard rate of $60/hr if you terminate the contract before work on the project is ended. Where work is contracted adhoc ie. changes asked for then charged at $60/hr based on time taken to complete the work, these fees are non-negotiable and are due 7 days from completion; failure to pay will result in debt collection process see item 4 – Payment.
Hosting fees are charged yearly every July and you are paying for the next financial year. If you choose to not continue hosting at this time we ask that you email us before 30 days of receiving your renewal saying that you are not continuing before the account is suspended for non-payment. Hosting fees are refunded based on the remaining months left in the year from the request to cancel. You are still liable to expenses for domain names if you fail to notify of cancellation. Particularly for domains as these are automatically renewed for clients for convenience and billed after the renewal. So please notify an intention to stop domain renewal as soon as possible or be liable for future domain renewals.
Failure to pay an invoice or return messages after 90 days will result in the debt be handed to a debt collection agency and you will be liable for the cost to recover such debts. Please ensure we have an updated email to send you renewals.
3. ADDITIONAL EXPENSES
You agree to reimburse us for any requested expenses which do not form part of our proposal including but not limited to the purchase of templates, third party software, stock photographs, fonts, domain name registration, web hosting or comparable expenses.
4. PAYMENT
Upon completion of the 7 day review period, we will invoice you for the balance of the project. Once the website is deemed ready and live the balance is due 7 days from completion. Over 30 day late payments for hosting will end in the website being suspended. It is the policy that late payment on work other than hosting will also end in the website being suspended. Suspension can affect your email. Once outstanding bills are paid website and email will be reinstated at no cost. Outstanding bills over 90 days will be handed to a debt collection agency and you will be liable for the cost to recover such debts.
5. SUPPLY OF MATERIALS
You must supply all materials and information required by us to complete the work in accordance with any agreed specification. Such materials may include, but are not limited to, photographs, written copy, logos and other printed material. Where there is any delay in supplying these materials to us which leads to a delay in the completion of work, we have the right to extend any previously agreed deadlines by a reasonable amount.
Where you fail to supply materials, and that prevents the progress of the work, we have the right to invoice you for any part or parts of the work already completed.
6. COMMUNICATION
Preferred methods of communication are phone calls and emails, although facebook messages personally or through the Atherton Web Design page will be accepted. Atherton Web Design is not liable for instructions given via message service or text message. These systems are for quick messages only; changes and project information should be sent via email to ensure clear communication.
7. VARIATIONS
We are pleased to offer you the opportunity to make revisions to the design and try to be very flexible when changes are made. However, we have the right to limit the number of design proposals to a reasonable amount and may charge for additional time taken if you make a change to the original design specification. We will notify you in the course of a project where changes are going above what is allotted for the project.
Our website development phase is flexible and allows certain variations to the original specification. Specifically two rounds of changes 1 after development and then 1 after training. Most changes can be provided. However some changes can create major deviation from the specification once agreed adding more time to the project. Hence “extra” changes will be charged at the rate of $60 per hour above the quoted figure.
8. PROJECT DELAYS AND CLIENT LIABILITY
Any time frames or estimates that we give are contingent upon your full co-operation and the changes requested . During development there is a certain amount of feedback required in order to progress to subsequent phases. Failure to give feedback will delay the project. Insufficient feedback can create unexpected results both situations are not the fault of Atherton Web Design and may result in extra fees.
Atherton Web Design will attempt to provide timelines for work completion, however given the nature of IT; Atherton Web Design is not liable for missing deadlines. We will communicate with you if a timeline can not be met. Requests for new work; changes etc charged on an hourly rate, will have a minimum turn around of 5 work days. Emergency work or after hour contact hours ( outside 9am – 5pm – Monday to Friday ) will be charged at $120/hr.
9. APPROVAL OF WORK
On completion of the work you will be notified and have the opportunity to review it. You must notify us in writing of any unsatisfactory points within 7 days of such notification. Any of the work which has not been reported in writing to us as unsatisfactory within the 7-day review period will be deemed to have been approved. Once approved, or deemed approved, work cannot subsequently be rejected and the contract will be deemed to have been completed and the balance of the project price will become due. Once the site completed and paid for further changes are charged out at $60/hr.
10. REJECTED WORK
If you reject any of our work or not approve subsequent work performed by us to remedy any points recorded as being unsatisfactory, and we, acting reasonably, consider that you have been unreasonable in any rejection of the work, We can elect to treat this contract as at an end and take measures to recover payment for the completed work.
11. WARRANTY BY YOU AS TO OWNERSHIP OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
You must obtain all necessary permissions and authorities in respect of the use of all copy, graphic images, registered company logos, names and trade marks, or any other material that you supply to us to include in your website or web applications.
You must indemnify us and hold us harmless from any claims or legal actions related to the content of your website.
12. WARRANTY OF WORK
The internet is an ever advancing technology. This means work cannot be warranted for an indefinable time. Changes are made to browsers, search engine algorithms and social medium platforms constantly. So there is no warranty for specific functionality. We will endevour to do as much as possible to help you with troubleshooting websites, but 3 months after launch, time spent fixing problems will be charged at $60/hr. Sites over 2 years of age are considered “old” in terms of the web, so we cannot guarantee that solutions can be found for sites over this age and the only solution could be updating to a whole new site, nor can we guarantee any site is “future proof,” despite every effort made to provide the most modern and future looking website possible at development time.
13. LICENSING
Once you have paid us in full for our work we grant to you a license to use the website and its related software and contents for the life of the website.
14 SEARCH ENGINES
We do not guarantee any specific position in search engine results for your website. We perform basic search engine optimisation according to current best practice and provide advice on bettering your search position as part of the service. Further SEO work can be obtained after the website is completed if the general setup is not competitive enough for your industry.
15. CONSEQUENTIAL LOSS
We shall not be liable for any loss or damage which you may suffer which is in any way attributable to any delay in performance or completion of our contract, however that delay arises. We also shall not be liable for any loss or damage, which you may suffer due to performance problems with our host.
16. DISCLAIMER
To the full extent permitted by law, all terms, conditions, warranties, undertakings, inducements or representations whether express, implied, statutory or otherwise (other than the express provisions of these terms and conditions) relating in any way to the services we provide to you are excluded. Without limiting the above, to the extent permitted by law, any liability of Atherton Web Design under any term, condition, warranty or representation that by law cannot be excluded is, where permitted by law, limited at our option to the replacement, re-repair or re-supply of the services or the payment of the cost of the services that we were contracted to perform.
17. SUBCONTRACTING
We reserve the right to subcontract any services that we have agreed to perform for you as we see fit.
18. NON-DISCLOSURE
We (and any subcontractors we engage) agree that we will not at any time disclose any of your confidential information to any third party.
19. HOSTING
We are a reseller for another host. By default we set up hosting for you for convenience and are therefore your host. If you have any questions or problems please contact us. As a customer of a reseller if you contact our host directly you will be advised to contact us. If you want to change hosting this is fine, as long as there is no outstanding money owing on work, hosting or domains. Once debts are paid the website passwords will be given to your new host for transfer. Work to perform transfers will be charged at $60/hr. We reserve the right to lock domains from transfer, refuse to provide passwords and suspend sites if money is owing. We also reserve the right to change passwords, delete files or make changes to your site without your knowledge if there is a vulnerability in your site that puts the security of the server in jeopardy, as this can effect more than your site. You are bound by the terms and conditions of our host, as we are, and reserve the right to remove content or sites that break these terms and conditions. If you would like a copy of the full hosting terms and conditions please ask.
20. BACKUPS
We will endeavour to maintain a backup of your website on our hosting. If you choose to use another host however, you are ultimately responsible for maintaining your own backups with respect to your website and we will not be liable for restoring any client data or client websites except to the extent that such data loss arises out of a negligent act or omission by us.
21. OWNERSHIP OF DOMAIN NAMES
All domains will be registered in your name and company name. When we purchase domains and hosting on your behalf then you will be charged for any expenses that we have incurred. If you do not want to renew a domain we require this in writing before the domain name is renewed. Renewals are on an automatic renewal system and are billed after they have been renewed. This ensures smooth continuation of web and email service. Failure to advise us of a cancellation of a domain renewal before the renewal date will mean that you will still have to pay for the cost incurred. Cancellation will be then scheduled for the next renewal period.
Domain Names registered with other providers are ultimately your responsibility and any help given to restore or redirect domains or sites or troubleshooting with other suppliers will be charged at $60/hr.
22. CROSS BROWSER COMPATIBILITY
By using current versions of well supported content management systems such as “Wordpress” and “Magento”, we endeavour to ensure that the web sites we create are compatible with all current modern web browsers such as the most recent versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari. Third party extensions, where used, may not have the same level of support for all browsers. Where appropriate we will substitute alternative extensions or implement other solutions, on a best effort basis, where any incompatibilities are found. Complete compatibility is hard to achieve and we can not be held responsible for new browsers or changes to browser compatibility over time. A website must be reviewed at least every 2 years for compatibility and changes required are charged out at $60/hr .
23. E-COMMERCE
You are responsible for complying with all relevant laws relating to e-commerce, and to the full extent permitted by law will hold harmless, protect, and defend and indemnify Atherton Web design and its subcontractors from any claim, penalty, tax, tariff loss or damage arising from your or your clients’ use of Internet electronic commerce.
24. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
SEO is a very specialised field of marketing and a time consuming process. It may take months to see results depending upon the competition in the customers industry. There is no guarantee of no.1 ranking or consistent top 10 rankings for any keyword phrase as Atherton Web Design has no control over search engine ranking algorithms and on going SEO efforts by competitors. Search engines like Google may hinder the rankings of new websites until they have proved their ability to exist for more than ‘x’ amount of time or have enough back link strength. Search engines can drop rankings for no clear or predictable reason. Often such rankings re-appear without any SEO efforts. Atherton Web Design Fees for Web Development do not include any SEO work besides the standard set up in development. We are transparent about SEO requirements and are interested in ensuring clients can control their SEO progress given SEO is an expense most small businesses cannot afford. Bottom line – the affordable fees Atherton Web Design provides cannot warrant a specific google ranking or even up take of a new domain in the first few months. Your website is like a shop front Atherton Web Design warrants the shop front, but cannot guarantee customers. A new shop requires advertising and marketing to guarantee customers so to a Website. A new website does not guarantee customers and payment of invoices are not conditional on performance of the site.
25. GOVERNING LAW
The agreement constituted by these terms and conditions and any proposal will be construed according to and is governed by the laws of Queensland. You and Atherton Web Design submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in and of Queensland in relation to any dispute arising under these terms and conditions or in relation to any services we perform for you.