Terms of Service

Service descriptions

Website design

The designing of a clients website. The costs involved in website design include the items mentioned on the Pico Design website. Website design services do not include the following: Any hosting fees, any maintenance fees, any ongoing search engine optimisation and online presence tasks, any email fees, any domain name hosting fees, any extra work that is not agreed upon at the time of quotation or prior to the website being launched. Services that are added to the website design cost will be paid for immediately and a receipt will be issued.

Website hosting

The term hosting means the storage of your website, email addresses and data, on a professional web server providing a fast and reliable connection to the Internet and mail server facilities to enable the email accounts to be used with software to receive email. The Pico Design hosting package also includes yearly renewal of the website domain name. Work by Pico Design is required to administer these services and is included in the hosting fee. Any other work not related to the hosting administration such as website updates, addition of new pages, work to the design of the website is not included in the hosting service.

Email Administration

Within the cost of the hosting above, up to 10 email addresses can be set up. If required, Anti-Virus and Anti-Spam options can be added to email accounts with no charge, although these items are by request as they are sometimes not required. Pico design will supply instructions and email settings in order for the client to set up email accounts with an email program such as Outlook. The client is responsible for ensuring email accounts are set up correctly. It is recommended that the client has Pico Design set up a personal email address of the same domain name as the website solely for use as an administration email address so that both the client and Pico Design can clearly identify that any requests have come from the client and not other parties.

Website maintenance

Maintenance is a basic service which will mean the website will be updated, improved upon, and altered in order to keep it working well. For example if there are browser updates, then the website must work in the latest browsers, if web standards change (standards for programming websites) then these updates will be made where appropriate to retain current standards of markup and accessibility. Website maintenance does not include regular updates to the website, nor monitoring or further improvement to the website in regards to search engine placement or the online presence of the website or the company the website represents.

Online presence

The Online presence service will mean that the website will be monitored in terms of it's position in the main search engines, the way in which the company or website appear online, and on what online business directories, the type of inbound links to the website. Attempts will be made by Pico Design to improve upon any findings that can be improved upon, such as the position of the website in the main search engines, contacting and changing any listings in online business directories, and informing the client if any unusual or incorrect inbound links are present that cannot be changed by Pico Design. Online presence does not include updating/changing the website's content unless it's purpose is to optimise language used or wording.

Website launch

This is not an extra service however several activities should be kept in mind. Prior to launch of a website (for which it will be agreed), the client should double check all email facilities are working correctly and ensure that all consequences of having a live website have been considered such as the the possibility of enquiries from the website, having the appropriate company paperwork, and being 'a running business' etc. These may seem obvious, but once the website is live, the client should be prepared for business.

Website Updates

Once Pico Design have completed and launched a website, should any updates to the website need to be made then Pico Design will need to carry out these updates. There is a fair amount of work involved in the update or addition of a page to a website. Pico Design's prices for updating a website are very reasonable. Updates cannot be made by the client. There are fees for one-off updates or if regular updates are required then it may be more cost effective to add regular updates to the yearly fee.

Client responsibilities

Input from the client in the form of images, text, ideas, product information or any other information is very important. Clients should check that information they supply to Pico Design is correct as correcting information afterwards will result in delays. Pico Design will require regular contact with the client as a website cannot be produced without a client. If there is an unreasonable lack of response from the client, or a failure to provide content for the website causing Pico Design delays in commencement of, continuing, and/or completing design work then this can be charged for. The Pico Design website(s) and information supplied by Pico Design should be read carefully and it will be assumed that the client has understood any information unless Pico Design is told otherwise.

Third Party Services

Search Engines

Pico Design have no control over Google, Yahoo, Live Search or any other search engine's activities whatsoever. All measures are taken prior to and immediately as the site goes live, to enable correct and efficient indexing of the website after it is launched. However, search engine companies will index a website once it is launched, but will do so in their own time and no responsibility can be taken by Pico Design for the time it takes for the site to be indexed. A new website can be indexed within a week, but longer is very possible. Best efforts are made to program the website with 100% valid markup and optimise the website for it's particular content, but no responsibility can be taken for the position in the organic search results of any search engine. A vast amount of factors determine what position a website is given in a search engine and it cannot be controlled.

Web Hosting and email

Although extremely reliable, no responsibility can be taken by Pico Design should the web server, which is maintained by staff at a data centre, develop a temporary fault and the website be rendered offline for a period of time or the mail server develop a temporary fault and render your email unaccessible for a period of time. It should be noted that professional web/mail server downtime is very rare and the servers are built to be maintained while they are running.

Printing Services

All printing services are contracted out and Pico Design can take no responsibility for any failure to meet a stated delivery date from the printing company. Arrangements will be made for a proof to be sent of a design and this will be checked to make sure it is of good quality and permission will be given to the printers for the item to be printed. Should the print quality of the delivered product not be suitable then the printing company should be contacted about this.

Terms and Conditions from any third party services must be accepted and will form part of any contract with Pico Design.

Payment

General

Prior to a clients website going live, any outstanding design costs and the hosting fees must be received by Pico Design and cleared in the bank. Should the client choose to host the website somewhere other than with Pico Design, then full payment for website design services will be required before any work is started on the website design. All invoices issued by Pico Design are due for immediate payment, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

Website design

No less than 50% of the web design cost will be asked for prior to any design or planning work, with the exception of a mock-up design which is solely for the purpose of demonstrating the possibilities of a new design or ideas and to show quality of work.

Once the Website is in production or there has been an extended amount of time since contact with the client and work has been carried out on the website in the clients absence, then the remaining design cost, or part of it, may be asked for at the discretion of the designer. Once the website has been designed and is ready for launch payment is required for work done, even if the client decides they do not want the website anymore.

Hosting/Maintenance/other ongoing service

Prior to launching the website to the Internet, payment for hosting/maintenance fees will be required for the first year, unless arrangements have been made in writing where a monthly plan has been set up for the hosting/maintenance services. For subsequent yearly hosting fees, a standing order should be set up. Where a monthly plan has been agreed the first month payment will be required prior to the website being launched, and then the following monthly payments by standing order (quoting the suppled reference number) which will pay for each month of service in advance of that month. Should the client request a new page or any extra services to be added to the website after the website is launched, then this will not affect the price of the hosting fee for that year, but may do for subsequent years.

Bespoke projects

An estimation will be given to the client to provide an approximate price which reflects what is thought to be involved with a project at the time. 50% payment is required before any work is started, and then regular payments will be required as work progresses until the work is completed. A project may take longer, and involve more work than originally estimated and therefore the regular payment structure may mean that the cost to the client may rise above that of the estimate.

Payment Methods

Payment is to be made by bank transfer upon request of money. Credit cards are not accepted at present. If a bank transfer cannot be carried out, then cheques are acceptable but are not the preferred method. If a credit card is the only/easiest option for the Client, then PayPal may be considered for payment, but only after prior agreement.

Late Payment

Late payment of the final website design cost and the first years hosting/maintenance (or first month if agreed) will result in a delay in the site being launched, which also means a delay on any search engines being able to index the site. Late payment for ongoing hosting/maintenance fees will incur a further charge of 20% of the payment due, and will be added to the payment due. Should payment be refused or payment is continually late, then the measures as detailed below may be taken.

Non-payment

Should the agreed payment not be made upon request by invoice then Pico Design shall take measures to reflect the inconvenience caused. Websites and/or Services may be suspended, website may be taken down and replaced with a holding page, and if further action is required notice of failure to pay may be displayed on your website or holding page. Once payment has been received and has cleared then full services will be resumed back to their former state. No liability can be taken for any affect a website suspension may have on the indexing of the website by the search engine companies, any change in the websites position in search engine results or any adverse affects to the clients business. This may result in pico design requesting that the client find another company to host and maintain their website and email services.

If payment is refused then Pico Design will take legal action to recover the outstanding fees.

Prices

Quotations

Quotations are to remain valid for 30 days, after this time period a re-quote may be needed. A Quotation is anything that is agreed by both parties verbally and confirmed in writing, or just in writing usually via email. At the time of quotation an estimate of the length of time it may take to compete work will often be given and this assumes that the client can supply all information when required to do so. Should the client introduce extra work to the original quotation or is unable to supply the required information, then the length of time that was estimated previously will increase.

Website design

The price stated on any Pico Design media for website design is approximate and as each design job is unique, and so the price of website design may vary. Many factors determine the price for a website design. As a guideline most designs will cost a base price which is for a website that will be under 20 pages. Should the website exceed this number of pages no extra will be charged if the extra pages are needed due to a miscalculation by Pico Design. Should more pages be requested by the client then these shall be charged at the current rate for adding new pages, £40 per page. Websites that will exceed approximately 20 pages, will be calculated using a system devised by Pico Design to ensure that the client's website project is fairly priced in relation to it's size and the work involved. Should the client wish for additional work to be carried out during the website design process, an invoice for the additional work will be issued for immediate payment.

Hosting/Maintenance

The hosting/maintenance fee covers websites up to 20 pages (and all the extra files required on the server to make the website work). For websites that are over 20 pages then a small increase in the hosting fee will apply as the website will require more storage space can require more bandwidth. This will be decided fairly and a charge applied if necessary.

Email

There are no separate set up fees or hosting fees for up to 10 email addresses. However, after the first 10 email addresses a charge will be made and added to the hosting fee, as extra storage space and bandwidth will be used.

Additional features

Clients are encouraged to view the additional features that can be built into websites prior to quotation as adding some additional features can be more difficult to add as a design progresses and may incur a small charge. Additional features are optional and are not needed in order to have a fully standards compliant, accessible quality website designed.

Paper

To keep in line with Pico Design's green policy, Invoices, Quotations, Receipts and any other correspondence that do not need signing will be sent to the client by email, with the exception of the client not having an email address prior to any domain name being purchased. Hard copies can be sent to a client for a small charge of £2 per document.

Price increases

Prices will need to be reviewed on occasion, and if it is felt necessary they will be increased by a reasonable amount. Once a quote has been issued, and has been accepted and at least half paid within the valid period, no increase in the website design cost will be incurred, nor will any of the website design or hosting/maintenance service costs rise in the first year. The prices will remain as they were at the time you accepted the quote. After the first year of hosting/maintenance service has been paid, then the hosting cost may need to be increased by a suitable amount. If it is decided that a service does not require a price increase then there will not be one. Prices can be changed at any time, and the current price list can be viewed on the pico design website.

Contracts

Website and Email Hosting

A minimum contract term of 12 months is required for website hosting. Should the hosting contract be ended before the 12 months then no refund will be given on the remainder of the term.

Domain names

Domain names are usually registered for 2 years at a time, with the exception of international domains which can be registered for 1 to a number of years. Should the client cancel the hosting contract then the cost of the domain name registration up until the date of it's next renewal will be charged. If the domain name is needed to be transferred away from the care of Pico Design then there will be an administration cost. The administration cost is separate to any charges made by a domain registry company.

Cancellation prior to launch

Should the client wish to cancel a website design prior to launch, then payment will still be required for all work done by Pico Design.

Cancellation of hosting or other ongoing services by the client

60 days notice is needed in order to cancel services, Notice of cancellation should be given in writing from the allocated email address associated with the website domain to ensure that it is the client that sent the email, and a reply will be sent from pico design which confirms any cancellation. At the end of the 60 days, the website and all email will be removed from the server. Email on the server cannot be transferred. It is the clients responsibility to obtain the required website files and any email remaining on the server by the last day of cancellation, and is responsible for any alterations needed for the website to work on a new web server. An administration fee will be required for all the website files to be emailed in a zipped file (or equivalent). A final invoice will be sent which will include any charges for outstanding domain registration, any outstanding hosting/maintenance charges and any administration fees. Once payment of the final invoice is received and cleared, the website can then be zipped up and emailed. Once the contract has ended and the website removed then any website files and email will not be available.

Termination of client services by Pico Design

In the unlikely event that Pico Design wish to terminate a clients contract, Pico Design will give 30 days notice to the client in writing. An email will be sent to the client's allocated admin account calling for services to be discontinued. If there is no reply that confirms this, then a letter will be sent by Royal Mail Special Delivery. By the end of the period the client should have set up their website and services elsewhere. Fees will be charged and the same terms will apply as mentioned above in cancellation of services. All fees must be paid before any website files are released. No Refunds will be given for hosting fees already paid.

Fair and Appropriate use

Website

For websites which are administered by Pico Design, Pico Design will ensure that no unacceptable content is placed on the web server in accordance with the terms of service of the web hosting company. If content is placed on the site by the client then the client shall not publish unlawful, indecent or objectionable material. Material means descriptions, images, photographs, illustrations, logos. Any costs, time and inconvenience resulting in any investigation of content on the website will be passed on to the client for immediate payment.

Pico Design should be informed at least 7 days prior to any company marketing scheme where the website may attract many more visits than is usual, such as a TV advert or newspaper/magazine advert. Should notice not be given and the website has enough visits to cause a charge being made to Pico Design by their hosting supplier, then the charge will be passed on requiring immediate payment. If notice is given, then an arrangement can be made if any charges will apply, and/or the hosting fee can be increased by a small amount to allow more bandwidth to the website.

Email

Email accounts must not be abused. The sending of SPAM (Unsolicited Commercial/Bulk email) is not allowed, and any other activity which is considered inappropriate use. It is recommended that virus checking software is used at the client side to ensure no viruses are sent with emails or to Pico Design. The client is responsible for their email accounts and preventing unauthorised access. It extremely important that the client protect their computers and network sufficiently with virus protection etc so that their email addresses are not compromised. If any email addresses are compromised, this may mean your services will be shut down until the problem is resolved. Any disruption caused by a failure to properly secure your computer system will result in administration charges.

Clients Privacy

Pico Design administer email addresses and will never read the clients email as this is private. If help with email is requested then it is accepted by the client that Pico Design may see one or more emails for that particular address. It is also accepted that if after several attempts to contact the client with no reply sent, then Pico Design may need to access the clients email account to investigate. Pico Design will supply a password for each email account, and if the client would like to change the password the client will be given instruction on how to do this. The client is responsible for their own email account security and passwords.

Copyright

Pico Design own copyright for any work produced including logos used on the website that were in previous use but have not been supplied in a high quality digital format by the client. The client may only have permission to use any of the materials from the website once payment for the design has cleared. Until payment has cleared the logo that was in previous use by the client must be used, and not the logo produced by Pico Design. Pico Design may refuse to use any material which is supplied by the client which is thought to be offensive or copyright ownership of the material is in question. Any work produced by Pico Design may include a small link to Pico Design. By request this can be removed for a one time charge of £300. Pico Design will be allowed automatically to use any work produced for promotion of Pico Design, such as displaying screen shots and descriptions on the Pico Design website, and linking to the clients website.

Errors and correct function

Best efforts will be made by Pico Design to produce a website that is error free, and the website will be made to work and tested in the main web browsers to ensure that it works correctly prior to launch. If there are found to be errors then Pico Design will make attepts to fix these errors, although will not be obliged to. Pico Design cannot take any responsibility for any errors or incorrect information that exists.

Clients switching web designers

Pico Design can assist the client to enable an easy transfer of services from elsewhere, however, Pico Design will not make contact with, be contacted by, or be involved in any disputes with any current web designers or service providers that the client may be having problems with.

Hosting services elsewhere

Should the client wish to host their website elsewhere then Pico Design will be provided with appropriate access to the web server from the start in order for the website to be tested, developed and installed, and updated if required. Pico design cannot offer the client any support with their chosen web server/hosting service, and if any changes to function of the web server are required then it will be expected by Pico Design that the client makes these changes. If it is found that the web server is unsuitable and requires alteration to programming to make the website work, then the client will be charged for any extra work needed. If Pico Design is required to maintain the website's function and offer the online presence service, then yearly fees will still apply, minus the Pico Design hosting portion of the fee. If no yearly fee is paid to Pico Design for maintenance then it is the client's responsibility to ensure that their website continues to work correctly. Pico design will code the website with valid HTML and CSS, and will ensure the website meets certain accessibility levels. If any of the website files are altered by the client, Pico Design will not accept any responsibility should the website break, the website's HTML/CSS becomes invalid or the website no longer meets mimimum legal accessibility standards (this includes changes to text which render the website difficult to read). Any work required to fix the website will be chargable at an hourly rate. Email services are the entirely the client's resonsibility. The client is advised to host the website with Pico Design.

Changes to Terms of Service

Pico Design may change the terms of service at any time.