By placing any order with Black Sheep Digital, you confirm that you are in agreement with and bound by the terms and conditions set below:
DEFINITIONS:
The Client: The company or individual requesting or enquiring about the services from Black Sheep Digital.
Black Sheep Digital: Black Sheep Digital’s project lead and all associates or companies affiliated with Black Sheep Digital.
These terms and conditions apply to the creation by Black Sheep Digital of any website and associated hosting and maintenance services or creation of branding, print, photography, or any other solutions for the client.
These terms and conditions are intended to form a binding contract between Black Sheep Digital and the Client, which should be interpreted only under Scottish (UK) law. Nothing in the following clauses overrides any rights that the Client has in law, other than where it is agreed in law that this is allowable.
GENERAL
Black Sheep Digital will carry out work only where an agreement is provided either by email, telephone, mail, or any other form of electronic communication. An ‘order’ is deemed to be a written or verbal contract between Black Sheep Digital and the client, this includes telephone, verbal and email agreements.
WEBSITE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
Conceptualising is the process of producing website concepts for clients. Concepts can include site mock ups, graphics and design proposals. This will be included in the cost of sites but please bear in mind that unless previously agreed, only one concept is possible. You should therefore ensure that you let us have your preferred colour scheme and design requirements beforehand. If you don’t do this we will design the website appropriately but if it is not to your taste we may not be able to rework the website without additional charges. This is why it is often best to show us another website that you like as an example of what you require.
Whilst every endeavour will be made to ensure that the website and any scripts or programs are free of errors, Black Sheep Digital cannot accept responsibility for any losses incurred due to malfunction, the website or any part of it.
The domain names, website, graphics and any programming code remain the property of Black Sheep Digital until all outstanding accounts are paid in full.
Any HTML, XHTML, css coding, scripts, cgi applications, asp/php scripts, or software (unless specifically agreed) written by Black Sheep Digital remain the copyright of Black Sheep Digital and may only be commercially reproduced or resold with the permission of Black Sheep Digital.
Black Sheep Digital cannot take responsibility for any copyright infringements caused by materials submitted by the client. We reserve the right to refuse any material of a copyrighted nature unless adequate proof is given of permission to use such material.
Black Sheep Digital designs websites in accordance with The Client’s specifications. It is The Client’s responsibility to ensure that the website and its content comply with standing regulations. We cannot accept responsibility for any failure to comply with regulations related to accessibility, selling online or those related to a specific business or trade. We can research this on The Client’s behalf upon request, but in any business where complex compliance issues exist we recommend that the client takes legal advice from their company solicitor.
Any additions to the brief will be carried out at the discretion of Black Sheep Digital and where no charge is made by Black Sheep Digital for such additions, Black Sheep Digital accepts no responsibility for ensuring such additions are error-free and reserve the right to charge an according amount for any correction to these or further additions.
The client agrees to make available as soon as is reasonably possible to Black Sheep Digital all materials required to complete the site to the agreed standard and within the set deadline. On any occasion where we cannot progress your website because you have not provided the required information when you have agreed to do so, and we are delayed as a result, we reserve the right to impose a discretionary surcharge of up to 25%.
Text content should be delivered as a Microsoft Word (or similar) document with the pages in this document representing the content of the relevant pages on your website. These pages should have the same titles as the agreed website pages. Contact us if you need clarification on this.
Black Sheep Digital will not be liable for costs incurred, compensation or loss of earnings due to the failure to meet agreed deadlines.
Black Sheep Digital will not be liable or become involved in any disputes between the site owner and their clients and cannot be held responsible for any wrongdoing on the part of a site owner.
Black Sheep Digital will not be liable for any costs incurred, compensation or loss of earnings due to the work carried out on behalf of the client or any of the client’s appointed agents.
Black Sheep Digital will not be liable for any costs incurred, compensation or loss of earnings due to the unavailability of the site, its servers, software or any material provided by its agents.
Black Sheep Digital is not responsible for The Client’s ongoing website promotion. Should The Client require the site to be promoted on an ongoing basis a separate contract must be agreed. The order in which websites are ranked in the natural search results is controlled by the search engines. While we can optimise your site for this we are unable to make any guarantees about the success of any search engine promotion activity.
The website is provided to and accepted by The Client as a fully functioning, completed work. Black Sheep Digital is not responsible for future support. However, we are more than happy to provide upon request and for an agreed fee. No guarantee of future support is given unless an ongoing support package is negotiated.
A copyright statement and link to Black Sheep Digital will appear in small type at the bottom of The Client’s website. Black Sheep Digital will submit The Client’s website to several of the major search engines as part of the design commission. If a client wishes Black Sheep Digital to promote a website as a separate commission, Black Sheep Digital will make every reasonable effort to promote the website effectively but cannot guarantee a high placement in search engine results.
Black Sheep Digital can accept no responsibility or liability if any search engine, online directory or search site, submitted to as part of a website promotion commission, chooses not to list a client’s website.
Black Sheep Digital does not undertake to maintain or update The Client’s website as part of the design commission. If The Client wishes Black Sheep Digital to maintain or update a website as a separate commission, Black Sheep Digital will create with The Client a maintenance contract appropriate to the amount of work required. Website maintenance may also be undertaken on a time and materials basis if the client so wishes.
Black Sheep Digital reserves the right to alter prices at any time without notice. If The Client has commissioned any services from Black Sheep Digital prior to a change in prices, that commission will not be subject to any increase until it is due for review, but any subsequent commission may be subject to an increase.
CHARGES
The initial consultation/meeting between Black Sheep Digital and The Client is free of charge.
If, after the initial free consultation, The Client wishes Black Sheep Digital to carry out any further work, eg prepare a formal proposal, screenshot, etc, a non-returnable deposit of £150 may be requested. If charged, this amount will be deducted from the final amount due, should The Client engage the services of Black Sheep Digital.
Thereafter, all time spent communicating or consulting with The Client or their agents in person, by telephone, email, letter, Skype, etc, will be charged at Black Sheep Digital’s discretion at their hourly rate, which is available on request. Time spent travelling to and from meetings/consultations with The Client or their agents will be charged at Black Sheep Digital’s discretion at their standard hourly rate.
All time spent consulting/meeting with The Client and/or their agents, excluding the initial free consultation, is deemed chargeable.
Black Sheep Digital reserves the right to alter prices at any time without notice. If The Client has commissioned any services from Black Sheep Digital prior to a change in prices that commission will not be subject to any increase, but any subsequent commission may be subject to the alteration in prices.
QUOTES/ESTIMATES
Prices given in quotes or estimates are for the time it is estimated to build The Client’s website providing that all materials to be included on The Client’s site – images, text, logos, etc – are provided web-ready, and no editing or adjustments will be required before it can be used. Any extra time taken to edit, adjust or otherwise prepare material for The Client’s website will be charged at Black Sheep Digital’s discretion at their standard hourly rate, which is available on request.
DEPOSIT
Upon instruction, a deposit of up to 50% will be required before any design work will be carried out. Where The Client’s website is to be hosted on a server not controlled by Black Sheep Digital, 75% of the final estimate must be paid before any design work can commence, unless otherwise agreed.
BALANCE
Once a website has been designed and completed the final balance of payment is then due in accordance with our payment terms. There are no exceptions to this, i.e if the client decides they no longer want the site, as they have commissioned the work and paid a deposit they are still obliged to pay for the work that has been done. Non-payment will result in legal action being taken if necessary.
PAYMENT
Invoices will be sent by email unless otherwise requested.
Payment is currently accepted by cheque or BACS and in UK Pounds Sterling, unless otherwise agreed. If your cheque is returned by the bank as unpaid for any reason, you will be liable for a “returned cheque” charge of £25.
Credit card payments can also be accepted via our Stripe or PayPal electronic invoice system.
Cancellation
Should The Client wish to cancel at any point during the process they shall remain liable for the work that has taken place and shall be invoiced accordingly.
PAYMENT OF ACCOUNTS
A non-returnable deposit is required from any new client before any work is carried out. It is Black Sheep Digital’s policy that any outstanding accounts for work carried out by Black Sheep Digital or its affiliates are required to be paid in full, no later than 14 days from the date of the invoice unless by prior arrangement with Black Sheep Digital.
Once a deposit is paid and work completed you are obliged to pay the balance of payment in full. We will contact clients via email, telephone and/or letter to remind them of such payments if they are not received when due.
Websites developed by Black Sheep Digital and its affiliates will not be put “live” or copies made available until payment for the project has been made in full.
If accounts are not settled or Black Sheep Digital has not been contacted regarding the delay, access to the related website may be denied and web pages removed, we will then pass such cases to a debt collection agency or the Small Claims Court to pursue payment, non payment can result in county court judgements (ccj’s) being added to the client’s credit rating.
Following consistent non-payment of an invoice our Solicitors will contact the client in question, with a view to taking the matter further and if need be to seek payment through legal procedures, and if necessary court summons.
Black Sheep Digital shall also be entitled to charge such reasonable costs as it may incur in recovering any overdue balances.
DATABASE, APPLICATION AND E-COMMERCE DEVELOPMENT
Black Sheep Digital cannot take responsibility for any losses incurred by the use of any software created for the client. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure products are problem-free and accurate, the ultimate responsibility lies with the client in ensuring that all software is functioning correctly before use.
Any HTML, XHTML, scripts, cgi applications or software (unless specifically agreed) written by Black Sheep Digital remain the copyright of Black Sheep Digital and may only be commercially reproduced or resold with the permission of Black Sheep Digital.
Where applications or sites are developed on servers not recommended by Black Sheep Digital, the client is expected to provide or seek any information, additional software, support or cooperation pertaining to the server required in order for the application to be correctly developed. Where large applications are to be developed, it is the client’s responsibility to provide a suitable testing environment which is identical to the final production environment.
The client is expected to test fully any application or programming relating to a site developed by Black Sheep Digital before being made generally available for use. Where “bugs”, errors or other issues are found after the site is live, Black Sheep Digital will endeavour (but is not obliged to) to correct these issues to meet the standards of function outlined in the brief.
COMPATIBILITY
Black Sheep Digital will endeavour to ensure that any developed/designed site or application will function correctly on the server it is initially installed in and that it will function correctly when viewed with the web browsing software Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Black Sheep Digital can offer no guarantees of correct function with all browser software. Especially where those browsers do not support or fully support W3C standards-based code. Black Sheep Digital does not support compatibility with Internet Explorer 6 and earlier as standard.
Black Sheep Digital makes every effort to design pages which display acceptably in the most popular current browsers but cannot accept responsibility for pages which do not display acceptably in new versions of browsers released after pages have been designed.
WEBSITE HOSTING
The Client should note that Black Sheep Digital uses several third-party hosting services, and reserves the right to change the hosting service used at will so as to provide the most reliable and cost-effective service possible.
Black Sheep Digital offers professional Web Hosting Services. In the extremely rare event of a hacker attack, virus outbreak or other unforeseen event, Black Sheep Digital cannot accept liability for losses caused by the unavailability, malfunction or interruption of this service, or for loss of turnover, sales, revenue, profits or indirect, consequential or special loss.
The annual hosting fee is designed to be suitable for typical small business use. Black Sheep Digital therefore reserves the right to immediately withdraw from, or renegotiate hosting services with, any Client whose use of bandwidth or storage space is deemed by Black Sheep Digital as inappropriate to Black Sheep Digital hosting service. Storage and bandwidth limits are available on request.
Black Sheep Digital reserves the right to refuse to handle in any way, material which may be deemed offensive, illegal or in any way controversial, and also to terminate the hosting service should the necessity arise.
All Hosting accounts with Black Sheep Digital run for 12 months at a time, and are automatically renewed when the hosting period expires. If a client does not wish to renew their hosting account with Black Sheep Digital, the client must inform Black Sheep Digital by email or post no later than 30 days before the hosting period expires. It is up to The Client to keep a note of renewal dates for their accounts.
All secure server facilities with Black Sheep Digital run for 12 months at a time, and are automatically renewed when the secure server facilities expire. If a client does not wish to renew their secure server facilities with Black Sheep Digital, the client must inform Black Sheep Digital by email or post no later than 30 days before the secure server facilities expire. It is up to The Client to keep a note of renewal dates for their accounts.
All Hosting Accounts and Secure Server facilities with Black Sheep Digital are payable annually in advance.
Payment for Web Hosting Accounts with Black Sheep Digital cancelled before the 12-month hosting period expires may be refunded in proportion to the amount of the hosting period remaining.
Full or partial refunds for secure server facilities with Black Sheep Digital cannot be given if the contract is cancelled before the 12-month period has expired.
Regular backups are made of all websites hosted by Black Sheep Digital. The possibility of multiple failures is extremely unlikely, but Black Sheep Digital still advises that The Client should download their own periodic backups of their website. This can be done through The Client’s Control Panel. Get in touch for more details.
Black Sheep Digital shall not be liable for the loss or delay of any email directed to or from an email address supplied under the Black Sheep Digital service. The Client is advised that it is their responsibility to perform regular checks that their “Black Sheep Digital” email is fully operational.
Black Sheep Digital shall not be liable for breaks in service or availability of The Client’s website, except insofar as it will extend the hosting period paid for proportionately to any such break in service.
Black Sheep Digital shall not be liable for the misuse of data of any kind associated with the website and obtained in a fraudulent or illicit manner by third parties.
DOMAIN NAMES
Black Sheep Digital does not accept responsibility for any liability to third parties for breach of their Intellectual Property Rights in relation to the domain name(s) requested by its clients.
Black Sheep Digital shall not be liable for any failure to register or renew any website name (domain name) as requested by the Client, or for any delay in so doing which results in the loss of the domain name.
Upon successful Registration or Transfer, Black Sheep Digital will host the client’s domain name(s) for the Initial Registration Period and for such time as it remains validly registered to the client subject to such rules of the respective Naming Organisation as may be in force from time to time.
Domain Names secured by Black Sheep Digital on behalf of its clients will automatically be renewed and liable for payment before the Registration Period has expired. If a client does not wish their Domain Name(s) to be renewed, they must inform Black Sheep Digital by email or post no later than 30 days before the Registration Period expires. It is up to The Client to keep a note of renewal dates for their domain names.
Domain Names secured by Black Sheep Digital on behalf of their clients shall be registered in the client’s name and address. Unless otherwise requested, Black Sheep Digital’s administration email address chris@blacksheepdigital.uk will be entered as the Admin Contact email address.
As part of the registration process, The Client is required to provide certain information and to update this information to keep it current, complete and accurate. This information includes: (i) full name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone number, and fax number if available; (ii) the name of an authorised person for contact purposes in the case of a registrant that is an organisation, association, or corporation. It is The Client’s responsibility to notify Black Sheep Digital of any changes to these changes so that domain name records can be updated. The Client acknowledges that providing inaccurate information or failing to update information promptly will constitute a material breach of this Agreement and will be a basis for cancellation of your domain name.
The Client acknowledges that Black Sheep Digital will make some of the information that The Client provides during the registration process publicly available as required by the registry for The Client’s domain name. Additionally, The Client acknowledges that the registry for The Client’s name may impose guidelines, limits and/or requirements that relate to the amount and type of information that Black Sheep Digital may or must make available to the public or to private entities. Black Sheep Digital will not otherwise disclose The Client’s information to any third party unless it is required to maintain The Client’s domain name. The Client may request a copy of their information in Black Sheep Digital possession to review, modify or update such information.
Black Sheep Digital makes no claim that its domain name costs are less than or equivalent to those of other domain name providers. The Client is free to secure domain names from any other supplier they wish to, in which case they will be wholly and totally responsible for its administration, management, renewal and any modifications necessary to facilitate the hosting of any web services and/or email from Black Sheep Digital.
LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY
Where The Client uses a third-party product or service then their relationship is exclusively with the supplier of that product. Though Black Sheep Digital may introduce these products and services, it is entirely up to the Client to inform themselves both as to benefits and risks and to correct usage.
The Client should note that the internet is operated by many companies not under Black Sheep Digital’s control, and that it is therefore not possible for Black Sheep Digital to guarantee quality of service beyond using reasonable endeavours to solve Client issues.
Black Sheep Digital can in no circumstances be liable for any consequential loss on the part of the Client howsoever caused. Black Sheep Digital’s liability to compensate any Client for any failure on its part shall be limited to the equivalent of the fees paid to Black Sheep Digital by the Client during the previous 12 months in connection with the relevant Black Sheep Digital service provided.
COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
Informal procedure
Anyone who experiences a problem with their web service provided by Black Sheep Digital should raise the matter directly by e-mail to chris@blacksheepdigital.uk with the subject reference ‘Web service complaint’, giving sufficient information to locate the material (such as a url) and clearly outlining the grounds for complaint.
Black Sheep Digital will approach the individual responsible for the material in question with a view to resolving the matter to the satisfaction of the complainant.
Formal complaints procedure
The formal complaints procedure should only be used where the complainant feels that the nature of the complaint is too serious to be dealt with informally, or where a satisfactory conclusion has not been reached after following the informal procedure.
A formal complaint should be made in writing to Black Sheep Digital, who will acknowledge receipt and ensure that the matter is looked into as soon as possible.
An initial response to any complaint can be expected within seven days of its receipt; a full and considered response to the complaint should be completed within 30 days and any subsequent remedy implemented with a minimum of delay.
Should Black Sheep Digital waive any of these terms on an individual basis, this shall not affect the validity of remaining clauses or commit Black Sheep Digital to waive the same clause on any other occasion.
By agreeing to these terms and conditions your statutory rights are not affected.
Black Sheep Digital reserves the right to change or modify any of the terms and conditions contained in the Terms and Conditions.
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