Terms Of Service

Terms of Service for L’homme de l’ecosse
Covering WordPress Design, Development, Consulting & Support

1. DEFINITIONS
   The Client – the entity which enters into a contract with L’homme de l’ecosse.
   Domain Name – the root address of a website, e.g. www.webaddress.com. All such names must be registered with the appropriate naming authority, which will usually charge a fee.
   Downtime – time when the website is not accessible via the Internet. This may be because of a technical failure of the Host or because work is being carried out on the site.
   Host – the company on whose system the Website physically resides.
   Link, Hyperlink – a ‘clickable’ link embedded on a web page which may take the form of a graphic or text.
   Search Engine – a website which contains a directory of websites on the Internet enabling users to find websites by subject matter classification.
   Website – a collection of web pages and associated code which forms an integrated presence.
   The Work – the subject matter of the contract between the Client and L’homme d’ecosse.
2. FEES
   1. Fee Payable
      An initial deposit of 25% Payment is required in advance for standard services costing €500 or less. For larger, custom projects I require a 50% non-refundable deposit before the project begins. The fee agreed does not include the cost of domain registration, hosting set up fee or hosting unless the product description describes otherwise, or otherwise agreed by both parties for custom website projects.
   2. Maintenance Fees
      Ongoing maintenance is not included in the project. I do have maintenance plans available. If you feel that you will need maintenance in the future, please contact me accordingly.
3. DISCLAIMERS
   1. Third Parties
      L’homme de l’ecosse can take no responsibility for services provided by third parties through us or otherwise, including the Hosting of the Client’s Website, although L’homme de l’ecosse will do all possible to ensure that Website downtime is kept to a minimum.
   2. Maintenance and Correction of Errors
      L’homme de l’ecosse takes no responsibility for the functionality or maintenance (unless a maintenance contract is in place) of the website after the Work has been completed. Errors (both technical and typographical) attributable to L’homme de l’ecosse will be corrected free of charge, but L’homme de l’ecosse reserves the right to charge a reasonable fee for correction of errors for which L’homme de l’ecosse is not responsible, including, but not limited to malicious modification of the website by a third party and typographical errors contained in materials provided to L’homme de l’ecosse by the Client. L’homme de l’ecosse also reserves the right not to fix any such errors upon conclusion of the project.
   3. Extent of Work
      Installation on the Internet is limited to the uploading of all necessary files to the host, and testing of functionality. No registration of the website with Search Engines will be undertaken unless otherwise agreed with the client. SEO and other Search Engine functions will not be applied unless SEO is part of the purchased package or an SEO agreement has been discussed and agreed upon as well as paid accordingly.
   4. Consequential Loss
      Under no circumstances will L’homme de l’ecosse be responsible or liable for financial or other loss or damage caused by the failure or use or misuse of its software, web sites and/or all other technologies and products. The Client should ensure that data on their site is regularly backed up and that a contingency plan is in place to minimise possible losses as a result of software failure. Alternatively I offer a backup service.
   5. Status and Duration of Offers
      Proposals and offers for custom website design and development services are valid for a period of one month from the date issued. L’homme de l’ecosse is not bound to honour offers that have expired. Offers are not legally binding until an acceptable timetable for the work has been agreed by both parties. This timetable must be agreed within the month that the offer is valid. If an acceptable timetable has not been approved by both parties within one month of the offer being made, the offer is deemed to have expired.
   6. Search Engine Listings
      L’homme de l’ecosse does not guarantee listings on Search Engines and the Client accepts that it is Search Engines and not L’homme de l’ecosse who determines whom they list and whom they will not. The Client further understands there is no guaranteed placement or rank on the Search Engines and that a new website may never even appear on Search Engines at all. L’homme de l’ecosse does not control Search Engine’s algorithms and huge shifts can appear daily, weekly and even hourly.
   7. Backups
      There is no guarantee that: web site backups will be successful every or any time, that I will retain a copy of any and/or all backups or that those backups will be usable for future use. L’homme de l’ecosse is not liable nor responsible, in any fashion, for any damage or loss of any files, information or any server data during or resulting from these backups. Should any damage occur, L’homme d’ecosse will act in good faith and make a valiant effort to resolve the issue, however, there are no set guarantees.
   8. Maintenance Agreements
      L’homme de l’ecosse reserves the right to change the terms of any and all maintenance agreements at any time, for any reason, without prior notice. These changes may affect current contractual agreements.
   9. Support
      L’homme de l’ecosse provides free technical support as it relates to a healthy website experience up to 30 days after payment has been made in full. Beyond that the client is fully responsible for any misfortune that may occur. L’homme de l’ecosse does offer support at a premium which is determined on a case by case basis.
4. COMPLETION OF WORK AND PAYMENT
   1. Completion of Work
      L’homme de l’ecosse warrants completing the Work in accordance with its Standard terms of service to the specifications previously agreed with the Client. The agreed completion date for the Work is approximately 28 to 60 days for standard CMS websites and 60 to 90 days for standard eCommerce websites. If the Work is a custom design and/ or development project, the delivery schedule will be agreed between the parties prior to the start of the project. L’homme de l’ecosse will not charge more than the amount previously agreed unless the Client has varied the specifications of the Work since the agreement. L’homme de l’ecosse will not undertake changes to the specifications of the Work which would increase the cost, without prior written authorization from the Client.
   2. Supply of Materials
      The Client is to supply all materials and information required for L’homme de l’ecosse to complete the Work in accordance with the agreed specification. Such materials may include, but are not limited to, photographs, written copy, logos and other printed materials. Where the Client’s failure to supply such materials leads to a delay in completion of the work, L’homme de l’ecosse has the right to extend previously agreed deadlines for the completion of the Work by a reasonable amount. The items required before Work commences are outlined in the appendix, if applicable. Where the Client’s failure to supply materials prevents progress on the Work for more than 7 days, L’homme de l’ecosse has the right to invoice the Client for any part or parts of the Work already completed.
   3. Approval of Work
      On completion of the Work, the Client will be notified and have the opportunity to review it. The Client should notify L’homme de l’ecosse, in writing, of any unsatisfactory points within 7 days of receipt of such notification. Any of the Work which has not been reported in writing to L’homme de l’ecosse as unsatisfactory within the 7 day review period will be deemed to have been approved. Once approved, or deemed approved, work cannot subsequently be rejected, and the contract will be deemed to have been completed and the remaining payment under Clause 2.1 Fee Payable will become due (if applicable such as in the case of custom design and/or development projects). The Contract will remain in effect until all obligations have been completed in terms of this Clause.
   4. Rejected Work
      If the Client rejects the Work within the 7 day review period, or will not approve subsequent Work performed by L’homme de l’ecosse to remedy any points reported by the Client as unsatisfactory, and L’homme de l’ecosse considers that the Client is unreasonable in his repeated rejection of the Work, the contract will be deemed to have expired and L’homme de l’ecosse can take any legal measures to recover both payment for the completed Work and reasonable expenses incurred in recovering payment.
   5. Payment
      Upon completion of 7 day review period, L’homme de l’ecosse will invoice the Client for the remaining balancing payment in accordance with Clause 2.1 Fee Payable hereof (if applicable), which, in the absence of agreement to the contrary, is to be paid by the Client within 7 days of the date that the invoice was issued. This clause is usually only of relevance for custom design and/or development projects where the payment is split 50% deposit and 50% on completion.
   6. Remedies for Overdue Payment
      If payment has not been received by the due date, L’homme de l’ecosse has the right to suspend ongoing work for Client and hosting services, if applicable, until such time that full payment of the outstanding balance has been received. If full payment has still not been received after the final reminder due date, L’homme de l’ecosse has the right to replace, modify or remove the Website and revoke the Client’s license of the Work until full payment has been received. By revoking the Client’s license of the Work or removing the web site from the Internet, L’homme de l’ecosse does not remove the Client’s obligation to pay any outstanding monies owing.
   7. Footer Credit
      The credit in the footer “L’homme de l’ecosse Web Design” is a main source of referral business. L’homme de l’ecosse understands from time to time the desire to remove the credit to L’homme de l’ecosse. L’homme de l’ecosse has discovered a happy medium is to charge an additional €250.00 for the removal of the footer credit. L’homme de l’ecosse would rather keep the footer credit in place.
   8. Full Payment
      When full payment is made it represents the client is 100% completely satisfied with the work provided by L’homme de l’ecosse.
5. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
   1. Offers and Proposals
      Offers and proposals made by L’homme de l’ecosse to potential clients should be treated as trade secrets and remain the property of L’homme de l’ecosse. Such offers and proposals or the information contained within them must not be passed to third parties or publicly disseminated without prior written authorisation from L’homme de l’ecosse. This includes, but is not limited to, technical features, functionality, aspects of the design and pricing information.
   2. Warranty by Client as to Ownership of Intellectual Property Rights
      The Client will obtain all the necessary permissions and authorities in respect of the use of all copy, graphic images, registered company logos, names and trademarks or any other material it supplies to L’homme de l’ecosse for inclusion on the Website. The conclusion of a contract between L’homme de l’ecosse and the Client shall be regarded as a guarantee by the Client to L’homme de l’ecosse that all such permissions and authorities have been obtained and that the inclusion of such material on the Website would not constitute a criminal offence or that of civil relevance. By agreeing to these terms of service, the Client removes the legal responsibility of L’homme de l’ecosse and indemnifies the same from any claims or legal actions however related to the content of the Client’s site. In clear terms, L’homme de l’ecosse takes no responsibility for any content on or around the Client’s web site and is in no way, shape or form liable for any such content.
   3. Domain Name
      Any Domain Name obtained will belong to the Client, if that registration has been paid for in full (either separately or as part of a website design project). The Client agrees to indemnify L’homme de l’ecosse, including any incidental costs, against any claims that a Domain Name applied for, or obtained, violates the intellectual property rights of a third party. The Client warrants that the domain name sought is not a trademark of a third party.
   4. Ownership
      Once L’homme de l’ecosse has received full payment of all outstanding invoices and the Work has been approved by the Client in accordance with Clause 4.3 hereof, the Client will be the owner of the Website and its contents. The custom code which provides the extended functionality of the website, ie non-standard WordPress or Profiler code, will remain the copyright of L’homme de l’ecosse and the Client will be granted a license to use it. The intention of this clause is to allow L’homme de l’ecosse to re-use the code without limitation, and to prevent the Client from selling code at a commercial level as their own intellectual property.
   5. Trade Secrets
      Any code that is not freely accessible to third parties and not in the public domain, and to which L’homme de l’ecosse or their suppliers owns the copyright, may not be copied, published, distributed or passed to any third parties in any form without prior written consent from L’homme de l’ecosse. Unless previously agreed otherwise in writing, no modifications may be made by the Client or any third party to code to which L’homme de l’ecosse or their suppliers owns the copyright. L’homme de l’ecosse acknowledges the intellectual property rights of the Client. Information passed in written form to L’homme de l’ecosse, and that the Client has indicated is confidential or a trade secret, will not be published or made available in any other way to third parties without the prior written consent of the Client.
6. RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
   1. Right to Terminate
      L’homme de l’ecosse reserves the right to refuse or break a contract without prior notice, if it is believed that the Client, their Website, or any material is illegal, immoral or otherwise unacceptable. If the Client breaks any rules set forth in this document, L’homme de l’ecosse reserves the right to break this contract and no payments shall be refunded. If the client fails to respond to L’homme de l’ecosse and/or any of it’s workers/contractors/employees within 10 days of the initial contact attempt, that client shall be considered idle and their project shall no longer be a priority until further notice. L’homme de l’ecosse also reserves the right to terminate any and all work obligations and contracts agreed to by that client if they fail to respond within 10 days. Any money paid will not be refundable after termination and L’homme de l’ecosse reserves the right to collect the remaining funds on that project whether the project has been completed or not.
   2. Events Beyond the Control of L’homme d’ecosse
      L’homme de l’ecosse will not be liable for breach of contract where that breach was due to software, hardware or electrical failure, natural events such as fire or other events beyond the control of L’homme de l’ecosse.
   3. Supply and Pricing of Services
      L’homme de l’ecosse reserves the right to use whoever it feels appropriate at the time for third party software and services, and to alter its prices as necessary without prior notice and without affecting existing contractual pricing agreements.
7. INTERPRETATION
   1. Jurisdiction
      This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of France and shall claim venue and jurisdiction for any legal action or claim arising from the contract between L’homme de l’ecosse and the Client. The said contract is void where prohibited by law. Anyone in agreement with this contract and who has engaged in work with L’homme de l’ecosse will be governed by the jurisdiction any and all procedures will take place in said country.
   2. Survival of Contract
      Where one or more terms of the said contract are held to be void or unenforceable for whatever reason, any other terms of the contract not so held will remain valid and enforceable at law.
   3. Change of terms of service
      These terms & conditions may change from time to time. The Client is responsible for reading L’homme de l’ecosse terms of service at reasonable intervals (such as before they sign and agree to any and all contracts and/or make any and all payments). The terms of service are subject to change without prior notice.