Terms and conditions of business

General terms and conditions

The following Terms and Conditions of Service apply to all design services provided by John Stutely. All work carried out by John Stutely is done so on the understanding that the client has agreed to my terms and conditions which are stated on this page.

All Copyright and ownership rights will be retained by John Stutely on all intellectual property and design work unless specifically released in writing after all costs have been settled.

Project Acceptance

John Stutely will provide the customer with a written estimate, quotation or proposal which will be delivered by e-mail or post.

For projects totalling £2,500 or less, or where the work is on an extremely tight deadline, a return e-mail confirming acceptance of costs will be acceptable.

For projects in excess of £2,500 a copy of the written estimate or quotation should be signed and dated by the customer to indicate acceptance and should be returned to John Stutely. Where such systems are in place the client may send an official purchase order in reply to the estimate, quotation or proposal.

Design charges and schedule

All costs, charges and a schedule for delivery of all elements of a project will be set out in a written estimate, quotation or proposal provided for the client. At the time of the clients signed acceptance of this estimate or quotation, indicating the acceptance of these Terms and Conditions, a non-refundable deposit of 25% of the quoted fee will become due by return. Work on the project will not commence until this amount has been received.

Charges for other products or services sourced from third parties

Charges for any additional products or services required to be sourced from third parties as part of a project will become payable in full before purchasing or commissioning such products or services.

Payment

Payment will become due in full upon completion of the work as set out in the written estimate, quotation or proposal. The client will be sent an approval form and invoice prior to project completion. The client will be required to sign and return the approval form to John Stutely.

Payments may be made by cash, cheque, electronic funds transfer or BACS in GB Pounds or Euros.
For clients in the Europe: Payments may also be made in Euros via Paypal provided the client covers any Paypal fees.

Publication and / or the release of work completed by John Stutely on behalf of the client, will not take place before cleared funds have been received. The work will be held in stasis until payment in full has been received.

Payment Default

An account shall be considered to be in default if it remains unpaid for 30 days from the date of invoice, or following a returned cheque.

Returned (bounced) cheques will incur a fee of £100 per returned cheque and the account shall be considered to be in default if the due date of the invoice has been exceeded.

Any accounts which remain outstanding for 30 days after the date of invoice will incur an extra charge of 5% on the 31st day and an additional 5% (cumulative) on the 31st day of each subsequent month on the outstanding amount.

In the event of persistent default, the client shall pay John Stutely all reasonable legal expenses and third party collection agency fees in the enforcement of these Terms and Conditions.

Copyrights and Trademarks

The client shall ensure that they hold the appropriate copyright and/or trademark permissions for all logos, text, images, photographs, illustrations, diagrams or any other intellectual property for inclusion in the customers website, print or other medium. John Stutely will not claim any ownership or rights to any such third party material.

The customer agrees to fully indemnify and hold John Stutely completely free from any legal or civil action in any and all claims resulting from the client not having obtained copyright and/or any other necessary permissions from their respective owners.

The client may request in writing, from John Stutely, permission to use any designs for which John Stutely holds the copyright in forms other than for which it was originally intended. I shall grant usage of my copyright material at my own discretion and some uses may attract an appropriate charge.

The client will allow John Stutely to remove and/or replace any logos, text, images, photographs, illustrations, diagrams or any other intellectual property or file for use in any project for the client which is believed to be copyright and/or royalty free or in the public domain, and is supplied or sourced in good faith, but which subsequently turns out to have copyright or royalty usage limitations.

Where a multiple choice of design is presented only one solution will be deemed to be given by John Stutely as fulfilling the contract. All other designs will remain the property and exclusive copyright of John Stutely.

Alterations

The client agrees that changes or alterations which are required to be carried out after the acceptance of the draft design, and which a over and above the work detailed in the written estimate, quotation or proposal, will be liable to a separate charge.

Telephone conversations or e-mails requesting alteration will attract a minimum charge of thirty minutes.

Third parties

The client agrees that John Stutely holds no responsibility for any amendments, adjustments, alterations or interference of any kind made by any third party, before or after a design is published. Any such involvement by a third party of which I am unaware, may, at my own discretion, render any previous agreement null and void.

Licensing

Any graphic, design, photography, copywriting, drawing or illustration created for the customer by John Stutely is licensed for use by the client only and may not be modified, re-used, or re-distributed in any way or form without the express written consent of John Stutely.

In the event that there is a risk that another party may make a claim over a design, and such design should be registered by the client with the appropriate authorities prior to publishing or first use or searches and legal advice sought as to its use.

The client agrees John Stutely will not be held responsible for any and all damages, nor for any loss, or consequential loss, non-delivery of products or services, whatever the cause resulting from such claims.

Data Formats

The client agrees to supply, in a timely fashion, all logos, text, images, photographs, illustrations, diagrams or any other material for use by John Stutely in the clients project(s) in the following formats and methods:

Text should be supplied in an electronic format only, via e-mail or on CD-ROM as:

• Plain text (.TXT)
• MS Word (.DOC)
• Rich Text Format (.RTF)
• Adobe PDF (.PDF)

Images should to be supplied in an electronic format, and only via e-mail if 10mbs or less in total, or on CD-ROM as:

• Uncompressed JPEG (.JPG or .JPEG)
• Photoshop PSD (.PSD)
• Tagged Image File Format (.TIFF .TIF)
• Vector images should be supplied in PDF format (.PDF)

John Stutely will not be held responsible for the quality of any image supplied by the client which the client later deems to be unacceptable. Images should be of an acceptable and suitable quality for their intended use.

The client agrees to supply John Stutely with all necessary materials required to create and complete the project, and to supply them in a timely manner in order for me to meet with the schedule laid out in the written estimate, quotation or proposal.

Project Duration

A projects duration shall be considered by the client to be an estimation. I will always try to work to the schedule, however I cannot be held responsible for any project over-runs, whatever the cause. Estimated project duration should be deemed to be from the date that cleared funds are received John Stutely for the initial payment or by date confirmed in writing by e-mail or post.

Project Completion

John Stutely will consider the design project complete upon receipt of the clients signed approval form.

Print only

John Stutely does not provide an in-house print service and accepts no responsibility or liability for any third party printing. While I will be happy to help and advise on print, the final decision on choice of printer and print materials, and acceptance of proof from the printer lies with the client.

Website design only

John Stutely will provide the client with the opportunity to review progress at key stages. Unless agreed otherwise these will usually be on completion of coded templates and on delivery of complete web site. Upon delivery of the final site I will make one set of minor changes at no extra cost within 14 days of delivery. The minor changes are to include errors or omissions by either party in the course of building your website and include small textual changes and small adjustments to placement of items on the page. Minor changes do not include changes to images, schemes, styles, or any navigation features which shall be considered major changes as they will only occur where the client has had a change of mind. Minor changes can be sent to me by e-mail or post. Major changes must be clearly specified and sent by e-mail or post and a price agreed upon, based on my hourly rate, to rectify before such changes are made.

Website visuals should be considered as an approximation of their final coded presentation. Sometimes coding restrictions in specification and or third-party applications may place a restraint on a design visual that was not previously perceived.

John Stutely will consider that the client has accepted the final website if there is no notification of changes within 14 days

The client agrees to allow John Stutely the appropriate access to computer systems, including the necessary read/write permissions, usernames and passwords, as required, for the purpose of completing a website project. Such access shall be granted until all due invoices are settled in full.
The client also agrees to grant the same access, as required, to remove data and/or sites for failure to comply with these Terms and Conditions.

John Stutely agrees to keep all knowledge of the clients computer system access codes, usernames and passwords confidential. I will not disclose such information to any third-party without the express written permission of the client. I strongly recommend that once I have completed my work, and my invoices have been settled in full, that the client changes all access codes, usernames and passwords. The client agrees that John Stutely will not be held responsible, liable or accountable in any way for any malicious attack, virus, trojan, worm or other computer infection, unauthorised access, loss of data or loss of revenue, howsoever caused.

Website Hosting and Domain Registration

John Stutely does not offer in-house hosting and domain registration services. However, I can offer such services through my limited company astutech ltd. Alternatively I will be happy to help and advise on alternative hosting and registration services.

John Stutely does not guarantee any third party service, continuous service, and will accept no liability for loss of service, downtime, malicious attack or damage to the website whatever the cause. Fees due to any third party hosting or organisation are the responsibility of the client and John Stutely has no liability for their payment.

Search Engine Submission

John Stutely cannot guarantee any placement or acceptance for a website on any Search Engine or third party directory or other website listing system, nor can I guarantee that the clients web site will be found under any particular search terms.

Design Credits

The client agrees to allow John Stutely to place a small credit on any printed material. The client agrees to allow John Stutely to place a small credit in the foot of their website with a link to my website.

The client also agrees to allow John Stutely to link to the clients website for demonstration purposes and to use any designs in my own publicity.

Unacceptable content

John Stutely will not work with any text, images or other data which I deem to be defamatory, libelous, immoral, offensive, obscene or illegal. I also reserve the right to refuse to include any submitted material without giving reason. In the event of any content, text, images or other data which I do include in all good faith and which subsequently turn out to contravene these Terms and Conditions, the client will be obliged to allow John Stutely to correct or remove such content. John Stutely will not be held responsible for any such data being included. All data submitted is the responsibility of the client. All advertising material must conform to all standards laid down by all relevant advertising standards authorities.

Cancellation of orders

Cancellation of orders may be made by telephone or e-mail with a follow up of formal notification in writing to my postal address. The client will then be invoiced for all work completed over and above the non-refundable deposit that will have been made at the time of first ordering. The balance of all monies due must be paid in full within 14 days.

Acceptance of Quotation and Terms and Conditions

The placement of an order validated by the customers signature on the estimate, quotation or proposal form, (or by return of an acceptance email for work under £2,500 in total value) constitutes acceptance and agreement to comply fully with all the Terms and Conditions and forms a Contract for Business between the signatory and John Stutely.

Disclaimer

John Stutely makes no warranties of any kind, express or implied, for any and all products and/or services that it supplies. John Stutely will not be held responsible for any and all damages resulting from products and/or services it supplies. John Stutely is not responsible for any loss, or consequential loss of data, or non-delivery of products or services, of whatever cause. While I take all reasonable measures to investigate suppliers, materials or any other third party product or service that I recommend, I accept no responsibility for the performance or quality, or any consequential loss arising from their failure. The client agrees not to hold John Stutely responsible for any such loss or damage. Any claim against John Stutely shall be limited to the relevant fee(s) agreed in writing and paid by the client.

John Stutely reserves the right to use the services of sub-contractors, and third-party suppliers for any work, content or services and usage shall be bound by their Terms and Conditions. John Stutely will not knowingly perform any actions to contravene these and the client also agrees to be so bound.

Whilst these terms and conditions will apply to any contract upon which they have been agreed, John Stutely reserves the right to change any rates and any of the Terms and Conditions at any time and without prior notice.