Terms of Service

This Agreement was last modified on January 2nd, 2019

Please read these Terms of Service (“Agreement”, “Terms of Service”) carefully before commencing any agreements, contracts or work with Website Creatives.

Website Creatives (“us”, “we”, or “our”) refers to Website Creatives and its owner, employees and freelancers contracted by Website Creatives. The Client (“you”, “yours” or “they”) refers to the company, individual or party receiving the services by Website Creatives. This Agreement sets forth the legally binding terms of service.

Any variation or alteration of these Terms of Service shall not be valid unless approved in writing by a representative of Website Creatives directly with the Client.

Website Creatives may vary these Terms of Service from time to time as they deem necessary, but any changes so made will not affect any existing contract between The Client and Website Creatives. Website Creatives will notify The Client via email where any modifications have been made.

1. WEBSITE DESIGN AND BUILD SERVICES

1.1. Initial consultation of work will be free of charge to The Client. This may include basic outlines of design, website structure including number of pages and back-end admin pages, layout, type of software/tools needed, timescale of work, SEO improvements and guidelines. These are subject to change before any work on the project has started.

1.2. Work will only commence once a written agreement of the details of work and billing amount (via paper or email) has been confirmed by The Client and Website Creatives. This includes a timescale/deadline, and a total fixed amount or an hourly rate for payment.

2. Payment

2.1. A deposit of 50% must be made to Website Creatives by The Client before any work by Website Creatives is commenced. Any other amount must be agreed by both Website Creatives and The Client. Website Creatives must have a good relationship with The Client prior to any work started for assurances of payment where the deposit is to be set less than 50%. This payment is non-refundable.

2.2. Final 50% payment must be paid before launch of finalised work. These terms must be agreed upon before work is commenced.

2.3. Any further updates given to Website Creatives from The Client during this period may result in an extended deadline and further charges.

2.4. All payment must be received promptly and within the allocated dates. Any delays in payment may result in an extension of deadlines. Website Creatives accepts no responsibility for delayed work and deadlines where The Client has missed or delayed a payment deadline.

2.5. If the project is cancelled by The Client before the project is 100% complete, The Client must pay the remaining amount owed up to the completed percentage. For example, if the project is 80% complete, The Client must pay 80% of the remaining amount owed.

2.6. Website Creatives does not charge V.A.T.

2.7. The standard rate for work completed is charged per hour at £25 an hour. Any website and content edits will be charged at the standard rate a minimum of one hour.

3. Timescale of Work

3.1. Website Creatives and The Client will have agreed upon a timescale or deadline of work. In the event of unexpected circumstances where Website Creatives will be unable to fulfil the deadline, Website Creatives will notify The Client as soon as possible.

3.2. When Website Creatives contacts The Client during the project The Client must respond within 48hrs or there may be delays to the project. Any period longer than 48hrs Website Creatives will reserve the right to terminate the project.

3.3. If the project stalls or delays for 10 business days (2 weeks) due to the actions or absence of The Client, the project is put on hold and a part reinstatement fee is required to start the project again. The part reinstatement fee is 50% of the remaining project total cost. This is not in addition to the original cost, it is part of the original agreed total. A new schedule may need to be booked if there is none available at the time.

4. Revisions

4.1. Website Creatives will send updates on the project for The Client to oversee and check. The Client can return revisions on the project, however delays to the project deadline may be as a result of the revisions. If The Client makes revisions where the project will run over the deadline, The Client will have to pay for the extra work at the standard hourly rate as outline in the initial agreement. Website Creatives does factor in an approximate revision time for the overall project deadline.

4.2. The Client can send up to two revisions per update.

5. Search Engine Optimisation – SEO

5.1. Each site is built with compliant and up-to-date standards of SEO. This does not guarantee page one rankings in Google, Bing or other search engines. It is not Website Creatives job to ensure a high ranking site, unless otherwise hired to do so. The Client must understand that constant monitoring must be done by The Client to check Search Engine rankings. The Client is recommended to contact a SEO specialist for further advice.

6. Refunds

6.1. If The Client is unhappy and would like a refund they are to contact Website Creatives as soon as possible who will seek to rectify the issues where applicable. If no agreement can be resolved then Website Creatives will present a Termination Agreement which will outline the costs of work completed by Website Creatives so far and assets owned either by Website Creatives or The Client.

6.2. Website Creatives will only refund the unused time so far of the website design and build. Website Creatives will not return any work completed that belongs to Website Creatives. This includes code, design, images, licences and credit. All The Client owned assets will be returned to The Client within 48hrs of the Termination Agreement date. The refund amount does not include the initial 50% deposit.

7. Meetings and Locations

7.1. All meetings must be arranged in 48hrs in advance. They are to be arrange for weekdays only, excluding public holidays.

7.2. The location must be a public location such as a cafe, or an official business location such as an office. Website Creatives will not attend any meetings in private locations such as The Client’s home.

7.3. The location must be in the area of Brighton and Hove. Any other locations will be at Website Creatives discretion and travel costs will be charged to The Client.

7.4. Any other arrangements must be fully agreed by Website Creatives and The Client and be in written form.

HOSTING AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT SERVICE

8. Payment

8.1. The full amount must be paid on or before the due date. The payment covers the month period ahead.

8.2. The Client has an option to either use a subscription service or a standing order; where payment will be collected automatically each month via AND CO (via Stripe) or Bank Transfer (Standing Order).

8.3. If Website Creatives has not received any payment on time, an invoice will be sent to remind The Client for payment. If no payment is received by the 10th day after the due date, Website Creatives will terminate the Hosting and Technical Support service for The Client. The Client will have their access removed from the hosting and any other components related to the service and will not receive any further updates for the premium plugins or themes that have been licenced to Website Creatives.

8.4. If there is no further communication from The Client one month from the termination date, Website Creatives will remove any stored backups.

8.5. Yearly payment options: Website Creatives does not offer Yearly payment options to new clients. The Client who already has had a yearly payment option may renew this each year where Website Creatives offers it.

9. Maintenance

9.1. Website Creatives performs a weekly maintenance on each client WordPress site. This includes: updating plugins, updating themes, checking security logs, testing plugins/themes for compatibility,* and checking load times and performance.**

9.2. This check is done via two programmes: ManageWP, CloudWays App Manager.

9.3. *where applicable updates are ready. If an update causes any conflicts such as functional or visual errors, or performance errors on the client site, then Website Creatives will either restore a previously saved backup or put The Client’s site in maintenance mode. Website Creatives will try to identify the error and attempt to contact the theme or plugin author to rectify the issue.

9.4. **The site is monitored for bandwidth, storage and ram usage. If the site is nearing or has gone over the allotted amount of bandwidth, storage or ram usage then Website Creatives will move the site onto a separate server. Website Creatives will invoice The Client for the new server amount which will reflect higher costs with the higher performance needed. Website Creatives will advise The Client when they are approaching the usage limits.

9.5. The servers used for hosting are not owned by The Client or Website Creatives. The Client and Website Creatives must comply with the rules set out with the owners of the server, Digital Ocean (https://www.digitalocean.com), and the company that provides the server software, Cloudways (https://www.cloudways.com). The country, state and governing laws must also be followed in regard to the location of the server used.

9.6. Any misuse, broken rules and terms, or illegal use or content will be terminated and any information will be handed over to their respective authorities.

10. Storage

10.1. The hosting must only be used for The Client’s WordPress site. It may not be used to store files other than what is needed for display and functionality of the The Client’s WordPress website.

10.2. If The Client has website files exceeding the server’s storage allocation, Website Creatives will advice The Client to store the extra files on an alternative space such as Amazon AWS, Dropbox or OneDrive.

11. Large Images, Video and Sound files

11.1. No large files over 5mb may be used as part of the website. Website Creatives can arrange an alternative for separate hosting and storage for the large files. If the client has a large amount of smaller files to be used it is also recommended that they use an alternative hosting and storage for those files.

12. Access

12.1. The client does not have access to the hosting control panel in server admin.

12.2. The client must not give out access to the WordPress username or password to anyone other than any members of their business that will be editing the site. If the client is found to be negligent or has shared the login information with 3rd parties, the hosting package will be terminated and the website will be transferred into a zip file and given to the client for hosting elsewhere.

13. Support

13.1. Website Creatives only offers technical support with the Hosting and Technical Support service as outlined in paragraph 9.1. It does not included any content updates and edits, promotional work or Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) work. If any of these are needed The Client is to contact Website Creatives and arrange the work at the standard rate of £15 per hour. See paragraph 2.6 for more information.

24/7. Website Creatives does not provide 24 hours, 7 days a week support for the Hosting and Technical Support service. The hours kept are the standard 9am to 5pm weekdays, not including holidays and bank holidays. If The Client wishes to receive 24/7 support The Client is to set up a further service with Website Creatives.

14. Retainers

14.1 Retainers cover a period agreed to by the Client and Website Creatives for a fixed amount of cost and work hours during each period. The cost and hours available are non-transferable and cannot be carried over into the next period.

15. Cancellation and Refund

15.1. If The Client is unhappy with the service they are to contact Website Creatives and explain the issues where Website Creatives will seek to rectify them. If no resolvement is made then The Client may cancel the service.

15.2. If The Client would like to cancel the service, they are to email Website Creatives stating that they would like to cancel. The date cannot be a date prior to the email. The email must state the date in which they would like to cancel. Website Creatives will honor this request within 48hrs and send over the website files to The Client via Website Creatives choice of delivery.

15.3. Monthly payments: A refund will only be given if the cancellation date is within the first 5 days since the last payment was made. The refund will only include the amount of the last payment The Client has made. The refund will be returned via the same method The Client uses to pay for the service. Refunds take up to 14 working days to complete.

15.4. Yearly payments: The refunded amount will only be for the total amount of months left for the yearly period. Months used will not be refunded.

Any questions or further information please get in touch with Website Creatives.