Terms of Business

All services provided by Three Dots Consultancy Ltd to the Client are subject to the following terms of business:

Acceptance

A copy of these terms and conditions must be signed by all new Clients at the time of submission of work to Three Dots Consultancy Ltd, indicating agreement to and acceptance of these Terms and Conditions. Alternatively, payment of an advance fee will be deemed as acceptance of our terms and conditions.

Contract Timelines

Any agreed starting date is subject to full receipt of an initial fifty percent stage payment. During the project, Three Dots Consultancy Ltd will require the Client to provide website content: e.g. copy, text, images, movies and sound files. If the website content in order to populate the site has not been supplied in advance of the agreed project commencement date, delivery and completion dates may be affected. Once completed and we receive confirmation that you would like the site to go live, we will require up to 72 hours for the site to migrate to all servers. If the website content is not supplied by the 8th week from the agreed starting date, full and final payment will be still due by the Client. Three Dots Consultancy Ltd will still complete the project in full, as outlined in the project quotation, once content has been supplied, therefore completing the development and allowing Three Dots Consultancy Ltd to launch the site.

Three Dots Consultancy Ltd agrees to provide samples of design to give the Client a clear idea of how the site will look and function. Three Dots Consultancy Ltd will make every effort to meet any agreed due dates. The Client should be aware that failure to submit required information or materials may cause subsequent delays in the production and delivery of the finished work.

Charges and Fees

Charges for services to be provided by Three Dots Consultancy Ltd are defined in the project quotation that the Client receives via e-mail. Quotations are valid for a period of 30 days. Three Dots Consultancy Ltd reserves the right to withdraw or amend the quotation after expiry of the 30 days. Unless agreed otherwise with the Client, all project work is subject to stage payments as outlined below:

  • Prior to project commencement - 50 percent of the project stage quotation
  • Interim mid project stage - 25 percent of the project stage quotation
  • Completion prior to release of materials or upload to the server - 25 percent of the project stage quotation
  • Where work packages or project work has been quoted or estimated at less than £750 (ex-VAT), the full amount will be invoiced in advance of project commencement.

Changes in client input or direction or excessive changes will be charged at the ad hoc consultancy rate for every hour of additional development time. Any work the Client wishes Three Dots Consultancy Ltd to create which is not specified in the original project quotation will be considered an additional service. Such work will be charged at the ad hoc consultancy rate, currently £85.00 per hour, and invoiced at the end of the calendar month in which the work was undertaken or on completion of work package, whichever is sooner. VAT will be added to all fees and charges at the relevant statutory rate.

Project Restart Fee

Because of substantial costs incurred by Three Dots Consultancy Ltd to stop and restart a project once it is underway, should the project’s progress be halted at any time by the client for 60 days or more, for any reason, the project will be considered abandoned. All incomplete work will remain the property of Three Dots Consultancy Ltd and any paid fees or deposits will be non-refundable.

Clients wishing to restart an abandoned project will be subject to a restart fee of £500.00 ex VAT. This will be due immediately and the project work will recommence upon payment of this fee subject to THREE DOTS current availability.

Expenses

The Client agrees to reimburse Three Dots Consultancy Ltd for any of the following expenses, not in the original quotation necessary to complete the project: e.g. fonts, couriers, proofs, props, research, shipping, software, stock photography/artwork, travel, telephone consultation etc. The Client will be contacted prior to any of the aforementioned expenditure being committed to.

Payment

Invoices will be provided, via email, by Three Dots Consultancy Ltd upon completion of the work for web design and any associated services. Invoices are due as outlined in the payment terms on the invoice, normally 7 days after completion of a project stage.

Late Payment

Accounts unpaid 7 days after the date of invoice will be considered in default. Accounts that remain unpaid 10 days after the date of the invoice will be subject to a service charge in the amount of the higher of 1.5% of the total amount due or £50 per day. If the Client in default, Three Dots Consultancy Ltd will, at its discretion, remove services, including data and files held on hosted web space. Three Dots Consultancy Ltd is not responsible for any loss of data incurred due to the removal of the service. Removal of such material does not relieve the Client of the obligation to pay any outstanding charges assessed to the Client’s account. Cheques returned for insufficient funds will be subject to a return charge of £50 and the Client’s account will immediately be considered to be in default until full payment is received. Clients with accounts in default agree to pay Three Dots Consultancy Ltd reasonable expenses, including legal fees and costs for collection by third-party agencies, incurred by Three Dots Consultancy Ltd in enforcing these Terms of Business.

Website Optimisation

Due to external factors, such as changes to the way search engines rank websites, we cannot offer any guarantees regarding the position we will achieve for websites, or the speed at which your website will be found by search engines. We cannot accept liability for any change in rankings, or drop off in the position of your website due to changes in the algorithms of the search engines or the factors that they use to rank websites.

Compatibility

Three Dots Consultancy Ltd will endeavor to ensure that any developed/designed site or application will function correctly on the server it is initially installed on and that it will function correctly when viewed with the latest versions of Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 8 web browsing software. Unless otherwise stated in the project quotation, Three Dots Consultancy Ltd can offer no guarantees of correct function with other browsers or older versions of the browsers previously listed. Other web browsers will not be tested unless specifically agreed to in the project quotation. All websites built by Three Dots Consultancy Ltd are designed to be viewed on a desktop or laptop computer. Style sheets for viewing websites on mobile/handheld devices (e.g. mobile phones, PDAs, tablets, iPads etc.) are not included unless otherwise stated in the project quotation. Customised style sheets for printed versions of web pages are not included unless otherwise stated in the project quotation.

Domain Names

All domain name services are provided by third party domain registrars, which have been sourced for their reliability, support and overall performance. Domain name registrations and related transactions are carried out in compliance with the policies of both ICANN and NOMINET. By using the services of Three Dots Consultancy Ltd to register domain names, you also agree to Nominet's Terms and Conditions.

We will always register, transfer and renew domain names in our client's name - never in our own. You are always in control of every aspect of your domain name(s) and can manage your domain's WHOIS data through your control panel. It is your responsibility to keep this data correct.

Domain names are usually subject to the registration terms and conditions set by the relevant registry as well as the registration terms of Three Dots Consultancy Ltd.

All domain registrations are bound by our Registrant Agreement and relevant 3rd Party terms. Where possible links to the relevant 3rd party terms and dispute resolution policies are included below, if you have any queries regarding these please raise a support ticket and we’ll be glad to assist where possible.

.uk

com, .net, .org, .info, .biz

All domains are renewed on a annual or bi-annual basis. We will send out reminder emails 60 days, 30 days, 15 days, 7 days and 1 day before expiry. We will send the emails to the email address on the account. It is the registrants responsibility to make sure their contact details are up to date. Three Dots Consultancy Ltd take no responsibility if your domain renewal fails due to your contact details being incorrect. If you do not wish to renew a domain please make sure you contact us a minimum of 14 days before your domain expires by emailing us at studios@threedots.digital.

If you do not renew your domain before its expiry date it will have all services we provide suspended and you will have up to 30 days (protected period) after to renew the domain name at the original renewal fee. Please log into the client portal area to view renewal fees. After 30 days your domain will be suspended and will go into a 60 day grace period which you can still renew your domain name but with an additional redemption fee of £75 + VAT. This must be requested by email before the 75th day after your domain has expired, after 90 days after your domain will be cancelled and deleted from the register. Three Dots Consultancy Ltd will not guarantee the renewal of a domain name.

Hosting

All hosting services are provided by a third party, which has been sourced for their reliability, support and overall performance in the hosting market. Three Dots Consultancy Ltd has limited control over the servers used and are constantly monitoring their performance to ensure maximum reliability. For this reason, Three Dots Consultancy Ltd cannot be held responsible for any hosting issues such as website downtime, server hacking, data loss, email issues or any other hosting related issues.

Print

All printing services are provided by a third party, which has been sourced for their reliability, support and overall performance in the printing industry. The Client is responsible for all final checks to material to be printed. When commissioning print work, Three Dots Consultancy Ltd is not liable for any of the following:

  • Loss or damage caused by any inaccuracy; Loss or damage caused by omission;
  • Loss or damage caused by delay or error, whether the result of negligence or other cause in the printing process;
  • Loss or damage to clients’ artwork/photos, immaterial whether the loss or damage results from negligence or otherwise.

Graphic Design Services

All graphic design services will be carried out by Three Dots Consultancy Ltd as detailed in the project quotation. Any subsequent changes in client input or direction or excessive changes will be deemed to be an additional service and will be charged at the ad hoc consultancy rate for every hour of additional design time. Any work the Client wishes Three Dots Consultancy Ltd to create which is not specified in the original project quotation will also be considered an additional service. Such work will be charged at the ad hoc consultancy rate and invoiced accordingly.

Termination

Termination of services by the Client must be requested in a written notice and will be effective on receipt of such notice. Telephone requests for termination of services will not be actioned until and unless confirmed in writing. The Client will be invoiced for work completed to the date of first notice of cancellation for payment in full within 14 days.

Copyright

The Client retains the copyright to data, files and graphic logos provided by the Client, and grants Three Dots Consultancy Ltd the rights to publish and use such material. The Client must obtain permission and rights to use any information or files that are copyrighted by a third party. The Client is further responsible for granting Three Dots Consultancy Ltd permission and rights for use of the same and agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Three Dots Consultancy Ltd from any and all claims resulting from the Client’s negligence or inability to obtain proper copyright permissions. A contract for website design and/or placement shall be regarded as a guarantee by the Client to Three Dots Consultancy Ltd that all such permissions and authorities have been obtained. Evidence of permissions and authorities may be requested.

Standard Media Delivery

Unless otherwise specified in the project quotation, this Agreement assumes that any text will be provided by the Client in electronic format and that all photographs and other graphics will be provided electronically in .gif, .jpeg, .png or .tiff format. Documents provided in other formats that need to be converted to digital formats will be deemed to be an additional service, charged at our standard hourly consultancy rate as detailed in Fees & Additional services.

Design Credit

A link to Three Dots Consultancy Ltd will appear in small type at the bottom of the Client’s website. If the Client requests that the design credit be removed, a nominal fee of 10% of the total development charges will be applied. When total development charges are less than £5000, a fixed fee of £500 will be applied.

Access Requirements

If the Client’s website is to be installed on a third-party server, Three Dots Consultancy Ltd must be granted temporary read/write access to the Client’s storage directories which must be accessible via FTP. Depending on the specific nature of the project, other resources might also need to be configured on the server.

Post-Placement Alterations

Three Dots Consultancy Ltd cannot accept responsibility for any alterations caused by a third party occurring to the Client’s pages once installed. Such alterations include, but are not limited to additions, modifications or deletions. Any proofreading/editing service performed on behalf of the Client relates to the initial project content, as outlined in the project quotation. Three Dots Consultancy Ltd will not be responsible for any further proofreading/editing unless a new project quotation has been issued and accepted by the Client.

Domain Names

Three Dots Consultancy Ltd may purchase domain names on behalf of the Client. Payment and renewal of those domain names is the responsibility of the Client. The loss, cancellation or otherwise of the domain brought about by non or late payment is not the responsibility of Three Dots Consultancy Ltd. The Client should keep a record of the due dates for payment to ensure that payment is received in good time.

General

These Terms and Conditions supercede all previous representations, understandings or agreements. The Client’s signature below or payment of an advance fee constitutes agreement to and acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.

Governing Law

This Agreement shall be governed by English Law.

Liability

Three Dots Consultancy Ltd hereby excludes itself, its Employees and/or Agents from all and any liability from: Loss or damage caused by any inaccuracy;

  • Loss or damage caused by omission;
  • Loss or damage caused by delay or error, whether the result of negligence or other cause in the production of the web site and other services provided;
  • Loss or damage to Clients’ artwork/photos, supplied for the site, immaterial whether the loss or damage results from negligence or otherwise.

The entire liability of Three Dots Consultancy Ltd to the Client in respect of any claim whatsoever or breach of this Agreement, whether or not arising out of negligence, shall be limited to the charges paid for the Services under this Agreement in respect of which the breach has arisen.

Severability

In the event any one or more of the provisions of this Agreement shall be held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the remaining provisions of this Agreement shall be unimpaired and the Agreement shall not be void for this reason alone. Such invalid, illegal or unenforceable provision shall be replaced by a mutually acceptable valid, legal and enforceable provision, which comes closest to the intention of the parties underlying the invalid, illegal or unenforceable provision.