TERMS AND CONDITIONS
AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS & CONDITIONS:
By using Elegant Web Designs Australia’s services and signing up as a Client for any job, task or project, you, the Client, agree to be legally bound by these Terms & Conditions.
Please, read these terms carefully. By using the products and/or services of Elegant Web Designs Australia you agree to abide by these Terms & Conditions.
These T&C and any additional Terms of Sale (T.O.S.) or contract specific to a project, service, special offer or promotion set out the entire agreement between Elegant Web Designs Australia and the Client.
DESCRIPTION & DEFINITIONS
Elegant Web Designs Australia:
In these terms and conditions, Elegant Web Designs Australia, the Elegant Web Designs Australia service, all services related to it, and all text, images photographs, user interface, “look and feel”, data and other content included in it from time to time (including, without limitation, the selection, coordination and arrangement of such content) are referred to as “Elegant Web Designs Australia”, “Elegant Web Designs”, www.elegantwebdesigns.org, “EWD”, “us”, “we”, “website” or “service”.
Client:
“Client” is defined as representing one business (company or entity) or person (sole trader). Client may also be referred to as “himself/herself” or “his/her” or “their” or “site owner” in this document. Client may also be referred to as the staff member, employee, agent or third party on behalf the Client.
Service:
Elegant Web Designs Australia provides the client various services including, but not limited to:
• Template Website Design and Development
• Ecommerce Development and Consulting
• Custom Website Design and Development
• Web and Internet Consulting
• Website Maintenance and Security
• Website and Email Hosting Service
• SEO – Search Engine Optimisation Service
• Digital Marketing Service
• Google AdWords / Online Advertising Service
• Social Media Service
• Online PR Service
• Email Marketing Service
Deliverables:
For each project or job, Elegant Web Designs Australia follows a production process that is divided into stages. For each stage, specific deliverables are produced for the client which will be specified in a project brief or a job quote where applicable. A task, job or project will be considered complete where either the Client approves the task, job or project as being completed or where Elegant Web Designs Australia determines that the task, job or project is complete according to the project scope or the task / job definition and parameters as set out in a verbal or written agreement.
Elegant Web Designs Australia may provide the Client with domain name registration, web and email hosting services, custom website design, website design, digital marketing services and consulting services and so on in accordance with the product and/or service the client has requested.
Project Scope:
A project scope defines and sets out what work or service or item or feature is to be included and / or completed for the project in question. The descriptions and definitions and parameters in a project scope are intended to be clear to Elegant Web Designs Australia and the Client as well as to any third party to judge and finalise the interpretation of any part of a project scope and the relevant task, job or project.
Estimates:
An estimate is an approximation of the hours or fees required to complete or deliver a task, job or project. Any final invoice or fee for the work approved by a Client based on an estimate will usually be close or similar to the estimated figure excluding variations to the project or changes in the scope. However, an estimate is not a fixed price and should not be viewed by a Client as such. An estimate is a guide to the final price only.
Elegant Web Designs Australia will sometimes use an estimate during the early stages of project discussions or for ad-hoc works where Client and Elegant Web Designs Australia have together approved this billing / engagement model.
Elegant Web Designs Australia will usually follow up an estimate by providing a retainer invoice of invoice where the Client has given a general approval for the estimated fee or cost.
Retainer invoices / invoices:
A retainer invoice or invoice is a specific fee or price that we set down for the requested task, job or project. It will include parameters and defined deliverables. A retainer invoice or invoice will not vary as it is fixed. Any variations to the retainer invoice or invoice or requirements requested by the client will be quoted separately with a set fee or price for that job or project or task.
FORMS AND RESPONSES
Client Portal:
Elegant Web Designs Australia provides an online client portal for Clients to use to contact Elegant Web Designs Australia for an enquiry, a call back or a change request. If requested, Elegant Web Designs Australia may issue a Proposal with an Estimate or invoice in respect of any deliverable proposed to be provided under these Terms & Conditions. Elegant Web Designs Australia may decide, in its sole discretion, to deny a quotation request or information enquiry.
PROPOSALS, ESTIMATES AND QUOTES:
In response to a request for service or a specific product or service request, Elegant Web Designs Australia may produce a proposal that will remain valid and open for acceptance by the Client for up to 30 days, unless otherwise agreed by Elegant Web Designs Australia, from the date of issue that may include any of the following:
Creative Brief / Proposal
Project Scope
Job / Task Definition
Description and Features
Fees and Charges
Any other specifics or TOS related to the product, service or special offer
Elegant Web Designs Australia reserves the right to withdraw a proposal or quote at any time.
By approving any estimate or project contract, verbally or in writing, a Client agrees to be bound by these terms and conditions and to pay to Elegant Web Designs Australia the agreed fees set out in the quote or project contract when Elegant Web Designs Australia requests payment or as otherwise set out in the quote or the project contract.
INVOICES, SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION
Invoices
All pricing is given in Australian Dollars.
Elegant Web Designs Australia’s invoices are due on the date of issue and are payable upon receipt by the Client unless otherwise agreed to in writing.
Any outstanding invoices for work completed or services provided to the Client by Elegant Web Designs Australia requires payment in full due on receipt of the invoice unless otherwise agreed to writing between the parties. On completion of a task, job or project the client is obliged to pay the balance of the invoice in full.
Fees Due in Advance for Service
Some services including, but not limited to, hosting and support fees and search engine opimisation fees are due in advance for the applicable period as noted in the invoice. Such fees and the related invoice must be paid in full prior to the commencement of the applicable service period be that one month, one year, or 24 months.
If a client account is closed by EWD, a fee of $3,900 (exc. GST) will be charged to reactivate the account for any further work requested by the client. This fee covers administrative costs, account reactivation, and any additional work required to restore the account to its previous state. The client must settle the reactivation fee before any work can be commenced, and failure to do so will result in the work being delayed until payment is received. This clause is binding and applies to all clients who choose to work with EWD.
Quote, Job or Project Completion
Once a Client approves the job or task to “go live” or where Elegant Web Designs Australia defines the job or task as being “completed”, an invoice will be issued to the Client with payment on that invoice due immediately unless otherwise agreed to in writing between the parties.
Any warranty work that Elegant Web Designs Australia will carry out to fix / correct any bugs or faults in the website or system as reported by the Client or as found by Elegant Web Designs Australia that may be covered by warranty or by the scope of the task, job or project will be completed as soon as reasonably possible by Elegant Web Designs Australia.
A revision, where allowed and applicable, to the design or function of the website or system that may be included in the scope of the task, job or project will be completed as soon as possible by Elegant Web Designs Australia.
Elegant Web Designs Australia reserves the right to postpone or delay or refuse warranty fix work or revisions or enhancements to a website or system for the Client if the Client has overdue outstanding invoices for any job, task or project.
Project Contract Payment Milestones
For each project contract, there are payment milestones that will occur at various stages or points during the timeline of project. For each payment milestone, a fee is due as set out per contract which will be invoiced at the time of the payment milestone being reached with payment by the Client on that invoice due immediately unless otherwise agreed to in writing between the parties.
Suspension:
If the client defaults on their payment or otherwise fails to pay their account with Elegant Web Designs Australia as per the terms under this agreement, Elegant Web Designs Australia reserves the right to suspend services and to apply administrative fees of $165.00 per hour, plus any other costs that may have been incurred, to reactivate the services.
Refunds:
Hosting fees, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) fees, Digital Marketing service fees and all service fees charged, unless otherwise specified, are non-refundable for the term / service / product paid for by the Client.
Termination:
If the client chooses to discontinue the services supplied by Elegant Web Designs Australia and the Client has paid all monies owed to Elegant Web Designs Australia, Elegant Web Designs Australia will help the client to transfer their Domain Name to another provider/agent if requested to do so by the Client. Charges to the Client may apply if the work required or requested to complete the transfer falls within 5 years or the project launch date as specified by EWD.
Elegant Web Designs Australia may opt to discontinue services if an amount payable to Elegant Web Designs Australia is overdue or to take down a website permanently in any case where an amount payable is overdue by more than 30 days. In any such event, the client remains liable for the total cost of the contract including all disbursements; unless otherwise agreed in writing between Elegant Web Designs Australia and the client.
Elegant Web Designs Australia may terminate any agreement immediately if the client breaches any of these Terms & Conditions, or if he/she is a company going into insolvent liquidation, or if the client is a person he/she is declared bankrupt.
Ownership of the product remains with Elegant Web Designs Australia until payment in full is made to Elegant Web Designs Australia by the client.
Elegant Web Designs Australia reserves the right to discontinue services and terminate the Client at the sole discretion of Elegant Web Designs Australia where Elegant Web Designs Australia provides the Client notice in writing of said termination.
Debt Collection:
Upon default by the Client in regard to any obligation under their agreement with Elegant Web Designs Australia and where the Client fails to rectify the default after notification by Elegant Web Designs Australia, the Client authorises Elegant Web Designs Australia to notify any debt collection agency of the default and charge said debt collection agency with collecting the outstanding debt owed to Elegant Web Designs Australia by the Client.
Should this occur then at Elegant Web Designs Australia’s sole discretion it may terminate the contract and/or service being provided to the Client at which time the full outstanding balance for the remainder of the minimum term in the relevant agreement or payments shall be due in full.
Elegant Web Designs Australia at its sole discretion may choose to apply to NCAT (NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal) http://www.ncat.nsw.gov.au/ to have a legal ruling handed down by a judge on whether or not the Client is required to pay Elegant Web Designs Australia any money to Elegant Web Designs Australia relating to overdue invoices and/or costs or time lost by Elegant Web Designs Australia in the process of pursuing payment for overdue invoices from the Client. Elegant Web Designs Australia reserves the right to invoice the Client for debtor administrative processing of the debt and debtor management time incurred by Elegant Web Designs Australia relating to the matter for the respective Client.
DIRECT DEBIT AGREEMENTS:
Direct Debit agreements may be offered to a Client on a minimum term or no minimum term basis
Clients pay an initial payment on the date and for the amount specified on the Agreement. Debits then commence on the same day of every month (or as per the individual Direct Debit Request agreement).
Minimum Term:
Should the client want to end their Direct Debit contract before the agreed minimum term as agreed in the Direct Debit Request Service Agreement with Elegant Web Designs, the client is liable to pay immediately the full outstanding balance for the remainder of the minimum term plus any debt collection fee and charges as per the “Debt Collection” clause.
No Minimum Term:
Direct Debits continue ongoing month to month indefinitely until cancelled. Clients may request to cancel their Direct Debit agreement at any time. Clients must give 90 days’ notice when cancelling a no minimum term agreement.
Where the service / work has already been supplied and/or completed, the relevant direct debit charge due for that service / work all payments will continue to be charged and collected from the Client until the required minimum amount due has been paid to Elegant Web Designs Australia.
Cancellation of a Direct Debit Request Agreement:
Should the Client decide to cancel their Direct Debit Request agreement with Elegant Web Designs Australia before the minimum term has been completed as agreed with Elegant Web Designs Australia, the client is liable to pay the full outstanding balance for the remainder of the minimum term to Elegant Web Designs Australia plus any debt collection fees and charges as per the “Debt Collection” clause herein.
MONTHLY WEBSITES
MONTHLY PACKAGE WEBSITES – DEFINITIONS:
Monthly Package Website: A website owned by Elegant Web Designs Australia that is leased to a client. A monthly package website is owned, controlled and serviced by Elegant Web Designs Australia.
Payout Options: Pay out prices will vary depending on the website type chosen and the period of time the website has been live from official launch of the completed site.
Rental Period Minimum Term: All rental plans are a minimum of 24 months. There is no maximum time period on your plan, you can rent your website for as long as you like and pay it out anytime.
MONTHLY PACKAGE WEBSITE – TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
Monthly Package Website – Ownership of a Monthly Package Website:
The control and code of all Monthly Package Websites remains the property of Elegant Web Designs Australia throughout the rental period until such a time as when the website is purchased by the client at which point the ownership of the website and the code is transferred to the client.
This control includes cPanel, hosting admin, MySQL or FTP access which Elegant Web Designs Australia does not provide to clients under any circumstances.
Monthly Package Website – Ownership of Website Content:
The ownership and copyright of the website content including all text, images, multimedia as supplied by the client remains with the client at all times unless otherwise bound by these Terms and Conditions or unless otherwise agreed.
Monthly Package Website – Rental Plan Expiration and Termination Options:
At the end of the minimum term rental plan (24 months from launch), the client can choose to continue to rent the website on a month to month term with no further fixed terms by continuing to pay the pre-existing monthly rental fee.
Or, the client can choose to cancel the rental plan upon completion of the defined rental period minimum term and terminate the website and the associated hosting by providing 90 days written notice to Elegant Web Designs Australia requesting said termination.
Or, the client can choose to purchase the Monthly Package Website outright and take full ownership and control of it.
Monthly Package Website – Purchasing a Monthly Package Website (Template / E-commerce / Custom):
A Monthly Package Website can be purchased after the minimum rental plan has been completed and/or paid in full. The rental plan can be paid out in advance bringing the rental plan to a close and making the website available for purchase. The purchase price of a Monthly Package Website is defined by the monthly fee over a 60 month period, less the following discounts:
First 24 months = 60 month total, less amount paid to date
3rd Year = 60 month total, less amount paid to date less 10%
4th Year to 5th Year = 60 month total less amount paid to date, less 15%
After 5 years rental, the purchase price will be zero dollars and will be owned by the client at no additional cost excluding hosting and support fees.
Example:
A Basic Template EWD Website has been rented for 3 years (at $75p/m) and the client wants to purchase it:
Original website price = $4,500
– Yr 1 (after 12 months) = $3,600 (to purchase this site outright)
– Yr 2 (after 24 months) = $2,700 (to purchase this site outright)
– Yr 3 (after 3 years rent) = $1,620 (to purchase this site outright)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Elegant Web Designs Australia is the copyright owner of all works created or developed by Elegant Web Designs Australia for a client unless otherwise agreed to in writing. When payment for the product or service is made in full by the client for the product or service, the client is licensed to use the product or service for its intended use within the context of their business and the product itself. However, the client is restricted from selling the product or promoting the product as their own unless otherwise agreed in writing with Elegant Web Designs Australia.
Elegant Web Designs Australia claims no intellectual property rights to works created by any third party designers or developers that may be used from time to time, such rights remain with the relevant third party.
MORAL RIGHTS
As a creator of copyright material, Elegant Web Designs Australia has the following rights:
To be attributed when its work is used;
Not to have its work falsely attributed to someone else, nor to have the altered work attributed as if it were unaltered; and not to have the work treated in a manner that would prejudice Elegant Web Designs Australia’s honour or reputation.
INTERNATIONAL LICENSING REQUIREMENTS
Elegant Web Designs Australia may display its own copyright and intellectual property notices on any websites that Elegant Web Designs Australia develops and the client (or any third parties related to or engaged by the client) must not remove, obscure, deface or alter such copyright and intellectual property notices except by agreement in writing with Elegant Web Designs Australia.
THIRD PARTY
The client agrees that in the provision of web design services by Elegant Web Designs Australia we may utilise the services of third party contractors, and that we may pass on to such contractors any information or materials, including design brief and data, provided to us by you.
In the event any material necessary for the production of the project must be passed on to a third party, Elegant Web Designs Australia will incur no liability for losses incurred in transit, or due to the delay of the shipper of the third party.
Elegant Web Designs Australia may accept to maintain and secure a website that is not hosted by Elegant Web Designs Australia’s third party. In that case, the client will refer to Elegant Web Designs Australia fees and charges for the requested services.
AGREEMENT NON EXCLUSIVITY
The client acknowledges that Elegant Web Designs Australia is providing services to the client on a non-exclusive basis and that Elegant Web Designs Australia may provide services and products of the same or a similar nature to any other party (provided that in doing so it does not breach privacy).
Elegant Web Designs Australia shall be free to reproduce, use, disclose display exhibit, transmit, perform, create derivative works, and distribute any items unless specifically agreed otherwise. Further, Elegant Web Designs Australia shall be free to use any ideas concepts know-how or techniques acquired in construction of sites for any purpose whatsoever, including but not limited to developing, manufacturing and marketing products and other items incorporating such information unless specifically agreed otherwise.
Elegant Web Designs Australia retains the right to use the completed project and any preliminary designs for the purpose of design competitions, future publications on design, educational purposes, marketing materials, and portfolio. Where applicable the client will be given any necessary credit for usage of the project elements.
WARRANTIES & LIABILITIES
Limited Warranty:
Elegant Web Designs Australia provides a limited warranty for websites and systems that are developed and designed by Elegant Web Designs Australia. This warranty is valid for up to 90 days from the date of launch of the website or system or from the date that Elegant Web Designs Australia determines that the website or system is ready to launch unless otherwise agreed to in writing between the parties. This limited warranty applies to works performed by Elegant Web Designs Australia that are “in scope” for a project scope and contracted project or that are clearly specified in the applicable written quote.
Where applicable for any bug or problem or fault with the noted or reported function or element that is covered by this limited warranty where the function or element is deemed to be “not working” when assessed by Elegant Web Designs Australia against the project scope or the written quote specifications, Elegant Web Designs Australia will “fix” the bug or problem or fault in the website or system at no cost to the Client where Elegant Web Designs Australia determines that the bug or problem or fault is because of recently completed works performed improperly or incompletely by Elegant Web Designs Australia during the execution of the works in question.
This warranty is voided if the Client or a third party acting on behalf of the Client is issued with FTP or Shell or MySQL or similar access to the website / system hosting or the relevant hosting control panel by Elegant Web Designs Australia.
This warranty may be voided if a Client or a third party acting on behalf of the Client installs any extensions or plugins or additional software into the website or system without the express written permission and approval of Elegant Web Designs Australia.
This warranty does not include any issues or faults or incompatibilities that are caused by third party software, systems, extensions, plugins or similar.
Website
Elegant Web Designs Australia will ensure that any site or application will function correctly at the time of the website development and going “live” when viewed with the current versions of the following internet browsers; Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari, unless otherwise agreed in writing.
Any warranty or guarantee provided by Elegant Web Designs Australia for a website is conditional upon the website being hosted by Elegant Web Designs Australia on hosting servers run and operated by Elegant Web Designs Australia that have restricted access to the hosting server and/or the hosting control panel for the hosting server.
Any warranty or guarantee provided by Elegant Web Designs Australia for a website is rendered null and void if the client or any other third party accesses the website or the relevant website server via an FTP connection or hosting control panel.
Elegant Web Designs Australia can offer no guarantee of correct function with all browser software in future releases of any internet browser. However, Elegant Web Designs Australia will offer and provide a quote for services to modify the website (where possible) to cause the site to correctly function and/or correctly render in the changed version of an internet browser.
Where any Client or agent or party acting for or on behalf of the Client acts on or in the website or system that causes disruption or error to the website or system, Elegant Web Designs Australia is not liable and the Client will be liable for any and all costs associated or incurred with fixing the error or disruption.
Search engine optimisation services
Whilst Elegant Web Designs Australia will try to improve the position of the client’s Website in the Search Engine results in response to a search request, we do not warrant that this effort will be successful nor can Elegant Web Designs Australia warrant the time that the position a search engine will be held.
Elegant Web Designs Australia cannot be held responsible for any changes to the position of the client’s Website in the Search Engines results pursuant to the provision of search engine optimisation services by Elegant Web Designs Australia.
Copyright and Intellectual Property
Elegant Web Designs Australia is not responsible for the contents and data of any Web Site we design for the client, and upon publication the client must satisfy themselves that the website will comply with all applicable laws, and codes of practice governing the use of websites and related services. This includes the intellectual property and copyright ownership of all material that the client has provided to us.
Elegant Web Designs Australia is similarly not responsible for the client’s subsequent use of the site and compliance of various Commonwealth and state legislations.
Domain Name
Elegant Web Designs Australia is not responsible for the client’s choice of domain name and the legal consequences that the domain name use could occur relating to the Trademark and Competition or the AuDa governing laws.
Client’s Third Party
Elegant Web Designs Australia is solely not responsible for the performance of the product or service if the client installs or orders another third party to install anything such as software that would alter or damage the website and its functionality. Furthermore, the client may be liable for charges or fees incurred by Elegant Web Designs Australia for the repair of any product or service if the client or their third party installs any unapproved software into the product or service supplied by Elegant Web Designs Australia
Data and Proofing
Elegant Web Designs Australia shall make every effort to ensure the final product is free of any grammatical and spelling errors, before giving the final product to the client.
Elegant Web Designs Australia is not responsible or held liable for any errors contained in the final product after the final product, this remains the final responsibility of the client.
Elegant Web Designs Australia cannot take responsibility for any copyright or privacy infringements caused by materials submitted by the client and reserves the right to refuse use of any such material unless proof of permission is provided if requested.
Hosting
Elegant Web Designs Australia shall use reasonable endeavours to provide continuing availability of the hosting server and the services but Elegant Web Designs Australia shall not, in any event, be liable for service interruptions or down time of the server.
Elegant Web Designs Australia operates and provides hosting servers that are delivered as a managed service which are ordinarily restricted from client access or third party access.
Elegant Web Designs Australia does not ordinarily provide clients or third parties with access to the hosting servers in any of the following methods or means; FTP, CPanel, WHM, Shell or via any other similar means or method. That if a client formally requests and is provided access to their hosting server by Elegant Web Designs Australia, upon receipt of said request, via FTP or any hosting control panel, this will void any warranty or guarantee including the 1st Level Support provided by Elegant Web Designs Australia.
Elegant Web Designs Australia will not be liable for any costs incurred, compensation for loss of earnings due to the unavailability of the site, servers, software or any material provided by its agents.
Hosting- 1st Level Support
All CMS or ecommerce websites hosted by Elegant Web Designs Australia include up to 4 hours per calendar month of 1st level support which includes standard tasks on the hosting control panel such as setting up email accounts or domain name parking. It also includes general support for standard tasks and functions in the CMS or ecommerce system.
If the 4 hours of support is not used in any given month, the included hours expires at the end of the month and does not roll over to the subsequent month.
Custom hosting plans do not include additional hours of 1st level support unless otherwise agreed to in writing.
Any excess 1st level support provided in a given calendar month will be charged at the standard hourly rate applicable.
1st Level Support is rendered null and void if the client accesses the hosting server using FTP or the hosting control panel.
Loss
In no event will Elegant Web Designs Australia be liable to any party including the client for any indirect, punitive, special, incidental or consequential damage or loss, financial or otherwise, in connection with or arising out of these Terms (including for loss of profits, use, data, or economic advantage), regardless of how it arises. The client will indemnify Elegant Web Designs Australia from and against any claim by any party claiming any such damage against Elegant Web Designs Australia.
Elegant Web Designs Australia will not be liable for any costs incurred or compensation for loss of earnings due to the unavailability of the site, servers, software or any material provided by Elegant Web Designs Australia or its agents / third party partners.
Technology Compatibility
Elegant Web Designs Australia will ensure that any website or application will function correctly on the server to which it is initially installed.
Elegant Web Designs Australia can offer no guarantee of correct function with all browser software including future releases.
General Liabilities
Elegant Web Designs Australia may from time to time and without notice or liability to the client suspend any of the services if the reason for doing same is an event beyond the reasonable control of Elegant Web Designs Australia.
Elegant Web Designs Australia will not be liable or become involved in any disputes between the site owner and their clients and Elegant Web Designs Australia cannot be held responsible for any wrongdoing on the part of a site owner.
GOVERNING LAW
These terms and conditions and any agreement entered into by Elegant Web Designs Australia or service provided by Elegant Web Designs Australia that arises in a dispute or legal matter shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the law for the time being enforced in the State of QLD, Australia, and each party submits to the jurisdiction of the State of QLD, Australia.