Terms & Conditions

Terms of Hosting Services

Our Responsibilities

It’s our responsibility to provide you with:

• A web server for your website
• An email server for your email(s)
• Technical support of the above services

Your Responsibilities

• You will keep secure the login name and password for all your accounts (e.g. hosting control panel, email accounts and WordPress if applicable) and to not pass that information to any unauthorised person. In the event of your login name and password being used by any unauthorised person, we accept no responsibility and you will be liable for additional charges arising from this.
• It is your sole responsibility to make regular back-ups of your data and files used in connection with our hosting services. You can initiate backups from your control panel manually and store them as required. We do routinely run daily backups of your account and data (as well as added WordPress website backups) and while it’s most likely these backup mechanisms should cover in the event of an emergency and data loss (and that’s why we put these layers of protection in place), we cannot be held responsible whatsoever for the loss of your data and files, so recommend routinely that the client makes manual backups too.

You must not:

• Perform any action that degrades the performance of our server or network which would then affect our other clients.
• Perform any action that is illegal or falsely advertising services that may harm or risk members of the public.
• Transmit any viruses either via your website or your email accounts.
• Upload or transfer any material which infringes the intellectual property rights of other parties. We accept no responsibility for your actions.
• Upload any material which is seen as offensive in line with public decency (e.g. pornographic or overtly tasteless). We reserve the right to inform the relevant authorities and to terminate this our commercial relationship.
• Use our server or network to send unsolicited or spam e-mail.

Any controlled or repeated breaking of the above rules will result in the termination of your account.

Email Addresses

We provide IMAP, POP3 and SMTP email services as part of your hosting.  You can have as many email accounts as you require, though your limiting factor will be the disk space available on your hosting package which will also need to be shared with that of your website and the backups of your website.

We recommend that you regularly undertake housekeeping of your email accounts (usually this involves removing emails you no longer need or saving large attachments and removing those emails) so that you don’t hit your quota limit for disk storage.

You can always of course upgrade your package with us to get more disk space storage, though often a clear structure for how you deal with large data and house keeping of your email accounts is often a better way to deal with your data storage limitations.

For heavy email users we often recommend using providers such as Google or Microsoft where for a set fee they will often be able to allocate much larger storage allocations for email (from 30-50GB to start) which we cannot directly compete with.

While our hosting offers email accounts as standard, we cannot discount our hosting packages for those that don’t use the email services as this is really a secondary (though to many, important) service to the performance website hosting that we offer.

FREE Email Setup

FREE setup for your email for all clients either in person (at the Emedias office) or via a remote Zoom session. We’ll guide you if you need assistance setting up email on your mobile phone, tablet or computer. We can do remote visits to set up email accounts but this will be charged at our hourly rate (£35 an hour).

We hope that by offering FREE setup as a new client (or as a current client, if you get a new device that needs configuring) this will limit complications and time spent by us both in the future. If an excessive amount of time is taken to setup devices outside of our control (network or software issues) we may have to charge a small fee to cover our time taken to assist though generally speaking this hasn’t ever been a problem historically.

Standard Backups

Your entire hosting account containing your website and email (if applicable) is backed up offsite at a remote data centre every 24 hours.  We then store 7 days worth of backups in a rotation.

The primary use of this backup is to protect your data in the event of disaster recovery (e.g. a server hardware failure) so the data can be transferred and services restored with minimal downtime.  In some instances it may also be useful to rollback your hosting account in certain circumstances (say you accidentally actioned a deletion of all your emails).

Added to these full account backups, we also recommend and setup backups for your WordPress website (if applicable).  If there’s a problem with your WordPress website then you will be able to rollback to a selection of recent WordPress backups.  By default we hold two WordPress backups at any time but you can easily increase this backup rotation number if you have the space to do so.

It’s also useful to be able to backup your website manually, especially when WordPress updates are applied.  Then if there’s any issues with your updates (and this is more common than you may think), you can safely restore your WordPress site prior to when you applied the updates.

Manual cPanel backups recommendation

While we have our automated backup systems in place, our control panel software (cPanel) also allows you to initiate manual cPanel backups yourself.  You can download your full account as a backup and store as needed (recommended via a cloud service such as Google Drive, Dropbox etc…).  Extra backup options such as the manual cPanel backup may give you more flexibility for backup options in the case you need to restore your data.

Technical support

Technical support is offered via phone or email.  As a small independent business, support hours are limited to weekdays from 9am until 5pm. Generally speaking the hosting services are monitored 24/7 so action is taken outside of the above working hours.  Similarly if you have an urgent emergency, you can initiate contact out of hours and at weekends for support.

If you require 24 hours support then another hosting company would be recommended.

Reliability and uptime

Server uptime can not be guaranteed at 100% with our current physical server solution and generally it’s known to be cautious of companies that promise this availability, though some options are available below.

As a small independent business we have had minimal downtime over the last decade and our server up time over the last 3 years has been 99.96%. We cannot compensate for downtime so we work hard to limit the possibility before it happens.

While we cater for and are prepared as best as possible for hosting difficulties, if your website and email services are a critical service for your business then you should carefully consider whether another hosting company would be better for your needs.

If your hosting requirements are business critical then we can setup systems to cater for this need, involving cluster cloud servers and optionally multiple data centres but the prices but be prepared that the costs are very high.

Scripting

We are not directly responsible for our client’s programming issues other than ensuring that programming languages such as PHP are installed and functioning on the server environment.

Fair usage policy

Our website hosting packages and pricing only differ by how much storage space you need on the server but we do have to balance how each client uses resources on the server.

By monitoring each client’s usage on the server we’re able to guarantee great performance for all our clients.  It’s actually very rare (only two occurrences in the last decade) but if a client is using too high a percentage of resources on the server we’ll advise the best course of action.

Domain name registration

We recommend that our clients register their domain name themselves so they are 100% in control of the domain and legally it’s in their name.  We can recommend who to register your domain name with guide you on this process. While we don’t recommend it, if you still prefer, we can register the domain name on your behalf.

Charges & Payments

• We accept payment via bank transfer, standing orders and cheque, though we prefer bank transfer and standing orders for speed and convenience for both parties.
• We are NOT VAT registered.
• Payment is due on receipt of all hosting invoices (as we too have to pay on receipt too, for digital services). We will alert you on invoices that are overdue.
• Hosting can be refunded within 14 days if you’re not happy with the service.
• Refunds will not be issued for hosting services that are cancelled before the end of the hosting period.
• All hosting services will renew until cancelled by the client.
• Constant failure to pay your hosting service invoices will result in your hosting account being suspended. Repeated payment delays or non payment will result in the termination of your hosting account.

Force Majeure

We are not liable for any delay or failure in performance from unforeseeable circumstances that prevent us from fulfilling our contract to offer you hosting services.

These unforeseeable circumstances cover any acts, events, omissions, happenings or non-happenings beyond its reasonable control including acts of God, strikes, work stoppages, governmental regulations, acts or directives, war, riot, fire, flood, civil commotion, equipment or facilities shortages or delays which are experienced by providers of internet services generally, or any circumstances beyond its reasonable control.

Indemnity

The client agrees to indemnify Emedias against any action arising from action on the part of your usage of our hosting services.

Terms of Design Work

The following contains the terms and conditions under which we work together (myself the designer, you the client). You will be directed to these terms before a project is initiated and these terms and conditions are applied until the project is complete.

Any amendments to these conditions (volume of work required, costs, timelines) for this project will be made clear in communication to yourself.

Designer & Client

Point Of Contact

You will be hiring me (Carl Warrent) to design, make changes to or provide maintenance updates for your website at the agreed pricing.

The client is expect to provide everything that’s needed to complete the project as required (written content, logos, photos).

The work can be reviewed and you can provide feedback, to make changes if required, then on agreed completion an invoice will be issued for payment of services rendered.

Deadlines

It’s important that if deadlines are to be met that all content (e.g. written content, logos, photos etc…) has been provided before the project work starts.

If feedback is fragmented, delayed or unclear this may affect deadlines.

If the requirements for a project change or are extended then the deadline will need to take this into account too.

My Skill Set

I created my first website in 1994 and have been creating websites for over 20 years commercially.  I have the skills and experience to action what’s been agreed with you and will deliver to set deadlines.

If your requirements are outside of my skill set and experience then I will be open and help explain the options available to you and give recommendations.

Pricing & Invoicing

Deposit

Any projects over £200 will require a deposit to begin the work. For most Web Design projects the client will be expected to pay 50% up front.  On successful completion of the project, an invoice for the final 50% will be requested

This deposit is refundable within the first 14 days if you change your mind.

For larger projects extra milestones may be placed to cover the duration of the project. Invoices would be issued as milestones are completed and require prompt payment for development to continue.

Fixed-Price Projects

Many web design projects are fixed price. Fixed-price projects will be quoted in one self-contained sum. My hourly rate doesn’t apply to these jobs.

Should the cost of the fixed price project change due to changes or revisions I will inform you and put a fair plan in place to account for this.

Hourly Rate

Unlike fixed-price projects sometimes hourly rates will apply if it’s hard to estimate a fixed price.  In this case a rough estimate will still be presented as guidance and I’ll document the hours taken to complete a set project.

My standard hourly rate is £35 an hour, which usually covers work completed Monday to Friday between 09:00-17:00.  In matters of urgency my hourly rate is doubled (£70 an hour) if work is required in the evenings or weekends.  In extreme cases, if I am out of the country and work is required my hourly rate will be tripled (£105 per hour).

An invoice will be generated on completion of the project.

Often if a client has a small change that takes less than 10 minutes, I will regularly action this for FREE.  All actions over 10 minutes will be recorded and added to an invoice.  It’s more common of late to generate very small invoices for 10 to 30 minutes of time meaning you will more accurately be charged for the time taken to complete a task or project.  Previously I may have automatically billed for 1 hour even if the job was only 20 minutes in duration, so I believe things are fairer now too.

Payment

Invoices are issued on the day of completion or shortly after.

Most project invoice payments are due within 14 days.  This excludes pre-project invoices (e.g. a deposit to start a project) and invoices for hosting services.

Failure to pay project invoices may lead to suspension of any hosted services you have with Emedias.

Late Payment

Payment terms for projects are 14 days.  Pre-project invoices are due on receipt (as a deposit to start a project) and in most instances the work will begin once the invoice has been paid.  Delay to paying pre-project invoices may delay the overall project deadline.

Feedback & Revisions

Feedback

Whether I’m working on a full website design or smaller change request, you will be given the opportunity to review my work, provide feedback and check for errors.

This will often result in an email detailing what’s been actioned, with applicable notes and asking for feedback.  On larger projects it’s often more efficient to run through everything that’s been done via a remote Zoom session where we can both go over the project in detail.

When providing feedback if you’re unhappy with the direction or quality of my work, you can pay me for the work covered up to this point, then cancel our agreement to work together.

Content Input

Currently all the websites developed are on the WordPress platform, which is a content management system – meaning you can, with guidance, update the content (words, photos etc…) yourself, if you wish.

It’s common that I’ll input all the content you provide to get the website completed initially, then once the site is live and in the future:

A) I can be asked to make content changes at my hourly rate or

B) We can arrange a session (charged by the hour) to show you how to make the most out of WordPress so you can login and make the changes yourself.

If the scope of the content changes dramatically during development this can affect A) deadlines and B) costs associated with the extra unplanned time I may have to spend to action those changes.  Though you will need to be guided prior (see above), you could also make these changes yourself, once proficient to do so via WordPress.

Changes and Revisions

From experience, some requirements for projects may change as time progresses.  I’m happy to facilitate these changes, though if the project is of a fixed price, we may need to fairly re-calculate the effort required to deliver the project with updated requirements.

Generally speaking the key is that my time is covered.  I will happily cover some minor changes to projects requirements but if changes add additional hours I’ll need to give a cost estimate for the additional time taken to deliver the project.

Communication

Email

You can email me.  I’m generally responsive without much delay.

Telephone

You can call me on 01603 478 733 to discuss anything project related.

Working Hours

I work Monday to Friday, 9am till 5pm.  All work and communications will commonly take place in these standard office hours.

I do not work on public holidays. Special working hours will always be current and available over on the Emedias Google My Business listing.

While I’m available via phone and Zoom, be aware at times I may be unavailable as I’m already on a call or in a zoom session (sometimes for up to 2 hours).  Likewise I may also be away from the office to attend meetings and other commitments.

Ownership & Accreditation

Textual Content

Please provide the written content for the project as separate word documents, ideally named for the page they apply to (e.g. Homepage, About page etc…) or if the content is contained within one large word document, please section it clearly.

You are responsible for the content being correct from a spelling and grammar point of view.  I can try correct or highlight issues but try to make sure the content you submit is final and as correct as possible.

In our feedback review, I can help action changes but if the time taken to correct your content takes longer than 30 minutes I’ll need to record the time taken to make these changes.  30 minutes is a lot of time for re-editing, so feel it’s fair to document and record any extra time taken.

You are responsible for providing terms and conditions, privacy and cookie policy copy for your website, whichever is applicable.  I can help advise you on these topics but ultimately you’ll need to provide this content, specific to your business.

Images & Photos

You should provide illustration images (e.g. logos) in a vector digital format where possible.  This will benefit the website from a quality and file size point of view.  If you’re not able to provide a vector format file, then a PNG file may suffice, though ideally as high resolution as possible.

You should provide photos in a high quality, high resolution format where possible.  I can then optimise these images for placement onto your website.

The biggest issue when receiving photos is that they’re too small to be used or improved upon.

I always recommend that clients transfer image assets via WeTransfer (or any large file assets).  This is a FREE service perfect for the transfer for files from one person to another.  You can use this via your computer or mobile phone.

If you use Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive you can also share assets with me on those platforms.

While it feels convenient to send assets via email this is not recommended, unless you’re sending small files or a limited number of larger files.

Copyright

You must ensure that all the text, images and content you provide are either owned by yourself or that you have permission to use them.  You may be liable for prosecution so it’s very important to either generate your own content or gain permission to use said content.

If you can use your own photos (or those taken via a paid photographer), the photos will look more personal and relatable.

If you’re struggling to find photos to use for your website, I would always recommend using stock libraries such as Shutterstock.

On completion of a project with full payment received, copyright will be automatically assigned as follows. The visual elements (logos or any visual templates created) will then be yours as assets. If you need the source files I can transfer them to you and you can use and store them as required.  While I keep copies of all assets in the case a client needs them in the future, I cannot guarantee they won’t be removed at some point so it’s recommended you keep copies of these assets safe.

Accreditation

I take great pride in all the website projects I deliver and believe if I do a superb job for you it will reflect well on us both.

Taking this into account, at times I will often highlight recent website projects both on my own website and across my social media accounts.

As standard, I will display a hyperlink on your website to proudly display my involvement in the creation and development of your website.  This commonly involves the display of my logo but in some circumstances if you want a more subtle link presence this is fine too, just let me know.

The link is an important way for me to generate new business but If you want to fully remove any presence of a link this can be actioned but will add a £30 charge to the final bill.

Your website

While in the past I would build websites by hand consisting of HTML, CSS, PHP and JavaScript, these days I rely on theme frameworks on the WordPress platform.

This means the underlying code is maintained and developed, so there’s less chance that a website will need a technical re-write as standards and processes change. Further this makes the process of developing websites much quicker and allows for easier integration of new features.

WordPress is a superb open source system for websites and currently the most popular platform with around 40% of all websites being served by WordPress.

Responsive Design

The biggest web design change in recent years has been the switch to support responsive design, which is the process of a website being able to dynamically change it’s shape and structure to work across all devices, whether a large desktop computer screen or a very small mobile screen. This change was mostly driven through the explosion in popularity of using smart phones to access the internet.

When developing a website be assured the design will be fully tested for how it looks and performs across both a wide selection of device screens (e.g. mobile, tablet, desktop screen) and various web browser software.

Website Content Maintenance

If your website needs content amends and updates after the website goes live you can either:

A) Ask me to make content changes at my hourly rate or

B) We can arrange a session (charged by the hour) to show you how to make the most of WordPress so you can login and make the changes yourself.

Most clients tend to ask me to action updates for speed, quality and convenience reasons.

WordPress Updates Maintenance

Once your WordPress website is live it’s your responsibility to ensure that WordPress and its related plugins are kept up to date.  It’s important to keep WordPress updated so it receives important security updates, as well as receiving new features as they’re added.

I can advise and show the process of how you can keep your WordPress installation up to date (and the importance of making a backup before any changes are made) OR I offer a low cost scheduled service to regularly take care of these updates for you.

The service I offer to update WordPress will in most instances be a straightforward process but it’s important to backup and test the updates fully, as at times one element or plugin may have a clash that causes issues for your website.  In this instance I can assess and recommend further action, such as delaying an update to this specific plugin or in very rare circumstances recommending if an alternative plugin is required.

Lost data or assets

In most instances the content and assets of your website are added to and amended on the live website and it’s unlikely I’ll have backups of these individual content parts that make up your website.

Taking the above into mind, it’s important that your live website has sufficient backup procedures in place.  Clients that are hosted on the Emedias servers will have nightly full account backups and then additionally extra WordPress specific backups too.  If you’re not hosted on Emedias it’s recommended you discuss with your provider as to what options are in place to minimize data loss.

3rd Party Website Hosting

Generally I will recommend your website is hosted on Emedias servers as they’re fast, secure, familiar and have all the features needed for your website but I can appreciate some clients may be locked into or prefer 3rd party hosting solutions.

Website design prices are exclusive to being hosted on Emedias servers. Typically a £200 charge will be added to the standard design prices when working on a 3rd party hosted server.

In my experience, some 3rd party hosting solutions (not all) may be poor, under powered or add extra levels of complication.  If complications exist this will add extra development hours on top of the agreed project price but only if any issues arise.

Obviously too, if you are using a 3rd party host, I’m not responsible for that hosting solution.

Legal

I can never guarantee that my work will be error-free and so cannot be liable to you, your company or any third-party for damages, including lost savings, lost profits or other consequential, incidental or special damages, even if you’ve advised me of them.