QuickStart Website Terms of Service

This is a variation of the original Contract Killer template by Andy Clarke which can be found here.  Between us, AOG Design and you .

Summary

We will always do our best to fulfil your needs and meet your goals, but sometimes it’s best to have a few things written down so that we both know what’s what, who should do what and what happens if stuff goes wrong. In this contract you won’t find complicated legal terms or long passages of unreadable text. We have no desire to trick you into signing something that you might later regret. We do want what’s best for the safety of both parties, now and in the future.

In short

You are hiring us (AOG Design) to design and develop a website for the estimated total price as outlined in our proposal. Of course it’s a little more complicated, but we’ll get to that.

What Do Both Parties Agree To Do?

As our customer, you have the power and ability to enter into this contract on behalf of your company or organisation. You agree to provide us with everything that we’ll need to complete the project – including text, images and other information – as and when we need it and in the format we ask for. You agree to review our work, provide feedback and approval in a timely manner too. Deadlines work two ways and you’ll also be bound by any dates that we set together.

You also agree to stick to the payment schedule set out at the end of this contract. We have the experience and ability to perform the services you need from us and we will carry them out in a professional and timely manner. Along the way we will endeavour to meet all the deadlines set but we can’t be responsible for a missed launch date or a deadline if you have been late in supplying materials or have not approved or signed off our work on-time at any stage. On top of this we’ll also maintain the confidentiality of any information that you give us.

Getting Down to the Nitty Gritty

Design

If we are designing your application we’ll create designs for the look-and-feel, layout and functionality of your website. This contract includes one main design plus the opportunity for you to make up to two rounds of revisions. If you’re not happy with the designs at this stage, you will pay us in full for all of the work that we have produced until that point and you may either cancel this contract or continue to commission us to make further design revisions at our standard design rates.

HTML and CSS Layout Templates

If the project includes HTML markup and CSS templates, we’ll develop these using valid HTML and CSS code. The landscape of web browsers and devices changes regularly and our approach is to look forward, not back. With that in mind we will test all our markup and CSS in current versions of all major desktop browsers to ensure that we make the most from them. Users of older or less capable browsers or devices will experience a design that is appropriate to the capabilities of their software.

We do not cater for people using Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and cannot predict the behaviour of that browser. We will also test that these templates perform well on Apple’s iPad. We will not test old or abandoned browsers, for example Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or 5.5 for Windows or Mac, previous versions of Apple’s Safari, Mozilla Firefox or Opera unless otherwise specified. If you need us to consider these older browsers, we will charge you at our standard rate for any necessary additional design work, development and testing.

Text Content

We may have written a hundred blog posts but we’re not responsible for writing or inputting any text copy unless we specified it in the original estimate. We’ll be happy to help though, and in addition to the estimate we will charge you at our standard copy writing or content input rate.

Photographs

You will supply us photographs in digital format. If you choose to buy stock photographs we can suggest vendors of stock photography. Any time we spend searching for appropriate photographs will be charged at our standard discovery rate.

Changes and Revisions

We know from plenty of experience that fixed-price contracts are rarely beneficial to you, as they often limit you to your first idea about how something should look, or how it might work. We don’t want to limit either your options or your opportunities to change your mind. The estimate/quotation prices at the beginning of this document are based on the amount of work we estimate we’ll need to accomplish everything that you have told us you want to achieve. If you do want to change your mind, add extra pages or templates or even add new functionality, that won’t be a problem. However, you will be charged accordingly and these additional costs will need to be agreed to before the extra work commences. This additional work will affect deadlines and they will be moved accordingly. We’ll be up front about all of this if and when it happens to make sure we’re all on the same page before proceeding. We may also ask you to put requests in writing so we can keep track of changes. If the nature or functions of the project change significantly throughout the process, we reserve the right to deem the current project cancelled. At this point you will pay us in full for all the work we have done and may commission us to complete the new project based on the new requirements. This will require a new quote and contract.

Technical Support

You may already have professional website hosting, you might even manage that hosting in-house; if that’s the case, great. If you don’t manage your own website hosting, or your current hosting environment does not support the solution we are providing, we can set up an account for you at one of our preferred, third-party hosting providers. We will charge you a one-off fee for installing your site on this server, plus any statistics software such as Google Analytics, then the updates to, and management of that server, plus any support issues will be up to you. We do not offer or include technical support for website hosting, email or other services relating to website hosting if it is not agreed upon beforehand and you are not on any Website Care Plan.

Legal stuff

We can’t guarantee that the functions contained in any web page templates or in a completed website will always be error-free and so we can’t be liable to you or any third party for damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages arising out of the operation of or inability to operate this website and any other web pages, even if you have advised us of the possibilities of such damages. If any provision of this agreement shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this agreement and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. Phew!

Copyrights

You guarantee to us that any elements of text, graphics, photos, designs, trademarks, or other artwork that you provide us for inclusion in the website are either owned by your good selves, or that you have permission to use them. When we receive your final payment, copyright is automatically assigned as follows: You own the graphics and other visual elements that we create for you for this project. We’ll give you a copy of all files and you should store them really safely as we are not required to keep them or provide any native source files we used to make them. You also own text content, photographs and other data you provided, unless someone else owns them. We own the markup, CSS and other code and we license it to you for use on only this project. We love to show off our work and share what we have learned with other people, so we reserve the right to display and link to your completed project as part of our portfolio and to write about the project on websites, in magazine articles and in books about web design.

Payments

All payments will be made from your nominated Credit Card with the following payment schedule.

• $997 deposit payment (Payment 1)
• $997 payment automatically scheduled 1 month from deposit payment (Payment 2)
• $997 payment automatically scheduled 2 months from deposit payment (Payment 3)
• $49 Website Care Plan payment automatically scheduled 3 months after 3rd Payment. (Payment 4) until cancelled.

NB: If you are unable to supply all of the right content at this stage, it does not mean we have not done our job. Once the site has been tested and is ready to go live, either with your content or placeholder images and dummy text, we will issue the final invoice.

Once the final invoice is paid we will hand over the keys and show you how to put your own content in once it’s ready. If the final invoice is not paid within the credit terms we have given you, we are under no obligation to keep the site on our server or continue with the project in anyway.

But where’s all the horrible small print?

Just like a parking ticket, you can’t transfer this contract to anyone else without our permission. This contract stays in place and need not be renewed. If for some reason one part of this contract becomes invalid or unenforceable, the remaining parts of it remain in place. Although the language is simple, the intentions are serious and this contract is a legal document under exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Australia.

WEBSITE CARE PLANS TERMS OF SERVICE

Authorisation

You are engaging AOG Design, as an independent contractor to perform work as described in the package(s) or service(s) you have purchased. In the event access to your website is necessary, you hereby authorises AOG Design access and “write permissions” to all directories and files of your account with any other third party hosting provider, as well as permission to install any necessary WordPress plugins for maintenance and security.

Copyright

AOG Design does not assume any responsibility or liability for the content of the websites it manages, maintains and/or hosts.

Pricing & Payments

All prices appearing on this site are subject to change without notice. Once a client of AOG Design, you authorise AOG Design to charge the payment method you submitted for all the invoices generated for the services rendered by AOG Design. In order to cancel your recurring payment or change payment method, simply contact AOG Design prior to your payment due date.

Cancellation & Refunds

Cancellation of any monthly recurring service can occur at anytime after your first 1 month (30 days) of service. No Refunds are available after your purchased package or service has been started, unless otherwise specified in any authorised by AOG Design.

Refusal of Service

AOG Design reserves the right to refuse service to any individual, website, or blogs that contain offensive, obscene, hateful, malicious content or any other reason.

Third Party or Client Page Modification

With a WordPress based website, client will independently edit or update his or her web pages after completion of the site, unless otherwise agreed upon in this agreement by client and AOG Design. If anyone other than AOG Design or its subcontractors attempts to update the web site and damages the design or impairs the ability for the web pages to display or function properly, time to repair the web pages will be assessed at an hourly rate of $100 per hour beyond the time allotted in the monthly care plan. There is a one-hour minimum.

Limitation of Liability; Disclaimer of Warranties

Although there are limitations to the guarantees we can provide, your satisfaction is very important to us. Please read and understand our limits of liability before ordering services. AOG Design does not guarantee, represent, or warrant that the functions contained in these webpages or the Internet website will meet the client's requirements or that the operation of the webpages will be uninterrupted or error-free. You expressly agree that your use of, or inability to use, the functions contained in these webpages or the Internet website is at your sole risk. The functions of the webpages and the Internet website created for you are provided “as is” and “as available” for your use, without warranties of any kind. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the webpages and website is with client.  To the extent not prohibited by law, in no event will AOG Design be liable to the client or any third party for any damages, including, but not limited to, any lost profits, lost savings, loss of data, business interruption, or incidental, consequential or special damages arising out of the operation of or inability to operate these web pages or website, however caused, even if AOG Design has been advised of the possibility of such damages. AOG Design does not represent, guarantee or warrant that the functions contained in these webpages or Internet website will be free from loss, corruption, attack, viruses, interference, hacking, or other security intrusions, and AOG Design disclaims any liability relating thereto. This Work Statement Agreement is governed by the laws of Australia without giving effect to its conflict of laws provision. You expressly agree that exclusive jurisdiction for any claim or dispute with AOG Design or relating in any way to your use of the created webpages or Internet website resides in the courts of the Australia.

Acceptance

Please note that by submitting your payment, you are agreeing to all of our terms of service as they are written here. AOG Design reserves the right to change or update these terms at any time without prior notice. The user of this site agrees to the terms of this agreement on behalf of his or her organisation or business. This Agreement constitutes the entire understanding of the parties. Any changes or modifications thereto must be in writing and signed by both parties.
 Please contact us with any questions regarding the AOG Design terms of service by emailing [email protected].