Terms & Conditions
Last updated - Tuesday 14th April, 2009
The following Terms & Conditions of service apply to all products and services provided by Touched by Design. In the approval of any quote, you agree to be legally bound by these Terms & Conditions. These Terms & Conditions are subject to amendments and modifications without notice. The latest amendment date is attached at the top of this file.
1. PERMISSIONS AND COPYRIGHT
Any visitors to Touched by Design's website located at http://www.touchedbydesign.com.au/ may not use any copyrighted material such as pages, images, text or code without the written permission from Touched by Design.
Artwork supplied to us by the client remains the property of the client who supplied it.
All artwork designed, created and supplied by Touched by Design such as layered design files (Photoshop and Flash) and images, remain the property of Touched by Design. Text and/or pictures provided to Touched by Design or that the client has paid for and approved to be purchased on their behalf to create specific artwork, remains the property of the client.
All quotes supplied to the client represent payment for a 'final product' ie. html files or pdf files. Fees are payable to Touched by Design if the layered design files are required to be supplied to client upon finishing the project. These fees are dependant on time taken by Touched by Design to create the job. For more information regarding fees and charges for releasing layered design files, please contact us.
If a variety of design concepts are presented in the project design process, only one solution is deemed to be given by Touched by Design as fulfilling the contract. All other designs remain the property of Touched by Design, unless otherwise pre-arranged.
Touched by Design retains the right to display any or all artwork created in portfolio and advertising materials. All concepts or other materials created by Touched by Design that are not selected by client and are not included into the final delivery, remain the full property of Touched by Design.
2. QUOTATION
Upon request, Touched by Design will provide the customer with a written estimate or quotation in relation to the specific job requirements of the customer.
3. PROJECT ACCEPTANCE
Once the customer is satisfied with the quote, an official order for the work must be written and received for the work to commence. This reply order binds the client to accepting Touched by Design's Terms & Conditions and is to be sent via post or by email. No work on a project will commence until this document has been received by Touched by Design.
All quotes provided by Touched by Design have a validity period of 14 days from date of issue. After 14 days have expired, Touched by Design reserves the right to re-access the requirements of the client and amend the pricing accordingly, if the requirements have changeed from the original quote.
Touched by Design is eligible to withdraw from contract at any time prior to quote acceptance.
4. DESIGN FEES
Charges for the design services that Touched by Design will be providing are outlined in the quote. The quotes are calculated at Touched by Design's hourly rate and includes, but is not limited to any third party products that are required such as domain names, hosting, printing and delivery.
5. OTHER FEES
If a clients requires changes at any time, Touched by Design will assess the requirements and adjust the quote accordingly or will generate a brand new quote. Once this has been completed, step 2 in Touched by Design's Terms & Conditions process will need to be adhered to.
6. PROJECT DURATION
The necessary steps will be taken by Touched by Design, so that the job is completed promptly and swiftly, however, Touched by Design is not bound to complete any job in any specific time period, unless otherwise pre-arranged.
The client agrees to provide Touched by Design with timely responses after receiving notifications of questions and/or changes. The client shall have 30 days to respond after point of contact from Touched by Design unless otherwise pre-arranged. If after 30 days the client has failed to respond and has shown no reasons for doing so, Touched by Design will assume the project complete. At such time, Touched by Design will have no further obligation to client, and client shall pay Touched by Design all fees and expenses associated with work performed by Touched by Design.
7. MATERIAL
Touched by Design reserves the right to refuse to handle any media that is inappropriate, which contains a virus or hostile program, any media which constitutes harassment, racism, violence, obscenity, harmful intent or spam and any media which constitutes a criminal offence or infringes privacy or copyright.
8. CHANGES, UPDATES AND MAINTENANCE
Touched by Design includes three bulk lots of changes (equivalent to 4 hours of work) in all quotes provided. One bulk change is represented by one correspondence with one or multiple changes. If over 4 hours of changes accumulate before job is finished, Touched by Design may decide this to be outside of the original quote, therefore will result in fees becoming payable by the respective client.
Bulk lots of changes does NOT include a complete change to the template created. The template of a website is the basic layout created, as well as animation and template imagery used, therefore, the client agrees that changes required over and above the approved quote will be liable for a separate charge.
Any extra changes, updates or maintenance beyond the three bulk lots allowed that are required to be completed by Touched by Design, will incur a minimum charge of 1 hour of work, unless otherwise pre-arranged with Touched by Design. Hourly work from there on in will be charged per hour at Touched by Design's hourly rate. Touched by Design is not responsible for any amendments made by a third party, before or after a design is published.
If the client requests design or content alterations to a job that has already been approved, Touched by Design reserves the right to quote separately.
9. PAYMENT PROCESS
After Touched by Design has received an acceptance reply as an agreement to having read the Terms & Conditions, a non-refundable deposit of 50% of the quoted fee is required to be paid to Touched by Design before the work on the design job will commence. Only upon receipt of this payment, will a project be opened for the client for services requested, unless otherwise pre-arranged.
The final 50% payment is due to be paid once Touched by Design has adhered to all and only the aspects of the originally approved quote. All invoices provided by Touched by Design must be paid within 14 days of receiving invoice or by final approval.
Payment is to be made by cash, cheque, money order or preferable, direct deposit into Touched by Design's nominated account. Account details can be found at the bottom of any supplied invoice.
10. FAILURE TO PAY
An account will be considered default if it remains unpaid for 30 days from the date of invoice. Any future work logged in to be completed will cease until full payment to Touched by Design of products and/or services has been completed. With regards to website design, Touched by Design reserves the right to remove all website files from the internet if an invoice has not been paid for within 30 days of receiving invoice. This includes, but is not limited to, hosting, domain registration, databases, content management systems, search engine submission, design and maintenance and sub-contractors.
Removal of such materials does not relieve the customer of there obligation to pay the due amount. Clients whose accounts become default agree to pay Touched by Design any legal expenses and third party collection agency fees incurred in the enforcement of these Terms & Conditions.
Accounts that remain outstanding for over 30 days will incur an extra charge of 5% per week of the outstanding amount until such time as the payment has been received.
Web Design Specific Terms & Conditions
11. REVIEWING AND TESTING
Touched by Design will host all websites until they are approved by client. All new websites, updated websites and changes to any websites will be available to be reviewed by client at a test URL, which will be an extension of the http://www.touchedbydesign.com.au/ web address. All .html files are built, reviewed and tested on a Mac version of Mozilla Firefox. Live testing is performed on both Mac version of Mozilla Firefox, and PC versions of Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer.
Touched by Design tests all .html files ensuring they comply with W3C XHTML standards. Should updated W3C XHTML guidelines be introduced after the site or templates were sold to client, Touched by Design reserves the right to quote separately for any additional work needed. If a client requires updates to an existing website, Touched by Design reserves the right to quote separately to convert the existing website files, so they and the new files all comply with W3C XHTML standards.
12. WEB STANDARDS
Touched by Design shall make every effort to ensure that all developed sites are designed to be viewed by the majority of visitors. Websites are designed to work with the main internet browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer latest releases. New layouts are tested with older browsers to ensure as much compatibility as possible. In accepting the Terms & Conditions, client agrees that Touched by Design cannot guarantee correct functionality with all browser software across different internet browsers and operating systems.
Client agrees that a .html page built from a graphic design may not exactly match the original design because of the difference between the display in design software and the rendering of XHTML code by internet browser software. Touched by Design ensures that all necessary steps shall be taken to match the design as closely as possible when building the website.
13. DOMAIN NAMES AND HOSTING
Touched by Design can at it's own discretion, but is not obliged to, offer domain name registration and hosting via a third party service.
The client agrees that registration of a domain name does not provide endorsement of the right to use of the name and that they are responsible for this action. Client agrees that Touched by Design holds no liability from any claim resulting from client's registration of a domain name.
The domain name and hosting is registered in the client's own name, address, email address and contact details through a third party service. Client takes all responsibility in supplying truthful details and by abiding with the Terms & Conditions set out by the third party for such service. Client agrees that if at any time their contact details including name, address, email address or contact should change, it is their responsibility to contact the third party service or Touched by Design, depending on who registered the service, to update their contact details.
Registration costs for the third party services can be added to the quote amount or by client registering the services and providing Touched by Design with username, password and ftp details when the information is required to be used. Any support relating to the domain name, hosting and/or email services are to be made between either the client or Touched by Design and the third party service, depending on who originally registered the service.
Any other domain name and hosting services or costs not included by Touched by Design, including, but not limited to, further domain name registration fees, domain name transfer charges, yearly domain name renewals, hosting upgrades, extra disk space, bandwidth and any other related or hidden charges, are to be paid either by the client or Touched by Design and the third party service, depending on who originally registered the service. If Touched by Design registered the service than a separate quote will be generated to cover any extra services.
The client agrees to pay the domain and hosting fees as soon as required by the third party. Failure to do so may mean renewal invoices for the domain and hosting services not being received by client, therefore resulting in the defaulting of your account and the cancellation of your domain name and hosting service. Client is aware that subsequently, their domain name will become available for purchase by another party.
14. SEARCH ENGINES
Touched by Design does not offer any guarantees in terms of search engine acceptance or ranking on any particular search engine. Touched by Design creates all web pages so they are optimised as best as possible for search engines, with the inclusion of meta tags and clean and simple XHTML code. Touched by Design will do a single search engine submission via a free service provided by Google.
For websites that already have a significantly high ranking, Touched by Design will make every effort, but provides no guarantee, in maintaining your current search engine rankings. Client agrees that website rankings change daily and will not hold Touched by Design liable if rankings change at any time in the updating process.
15. EMAIL ADDRESSES
Touched by Design may offer, but is not obliged to, offer to setup up email accounts as part of registering a new domain and hosting service through a third party service. A basic (standard) mailbox will be setup for client. Touched by Design will only be responsible in ensuring the incoming and outgoing of emails associated with the new email account and will not be held liable for any other problems associated with the email account nor be liable for any spam or viruses the email account may download after email account setup.
Print Design Specific Terms & Conditions
16. LOGO DESIGN
When requested to design a logo, Touched by Design will provide a set of 4 different logo options, and where possible, variations of the 4. If none of the 4 logos are selected, then a new logo fee will be charged to re-design another set of 4 logos. A set of 3 changes are included as part of the logo fee. Changes required over and above the 3 included will be liable for a separate charge.
17. GENERAL DESIGN
Client agrees to provide Touched by Design with all text, logos, images, colours, product information and where necessary, custom document sizes, to complete an approved project. Client is responsible for supplying all content in a suitable format and in a timely manner. Should images be required to be purchased form a third party, upon client approval, costs associated with the purchase and use of the images will be added to the approved quote.
18. PRINTING
Touched by Design sources online and telephone quotes for clients requiring printing as part of the print design process. Client is aware that this is a third party service and prices are subject to change depending on the Terms & Conditions of the printing service to be utilised, therefore, will not hold Touched by Design liable for amendments that may need to be made to the original quote. Client agrees that changes to the quote may also be made if clients print requirements change at any time.
Touched by Design sets up all print design jobs with 3mm - 5mm bleed. Client is aware that this is because of the possible movement of the paper during the die-cut procedure, therefore, Touched by Design will not be held liable for minor inconsistencies between the approved final artwork and the trimming of the final product.