Thriving Designs will not enter into any contract when it is known that the other party's terms conflict with any of those set out below. Should it happen that a client's own terms and conditions conflict with any of the same set out on this page, this document shall take presidence, unless a separate contract has been signed by the client and by an authorized agent of Thriving Designs. By utilizing services provided by Thriving Designs you agree to the following terms and conditions:
PROPOSALS/QUOTES
Proposals and quotes are valid for 30 days after issue. Expired proposals must be verified by Thriving Designs as accurate, or a new proposal must be requested, if the client decides to utilize Thriving Designs' services after the 30 day time period.
TIME FRAME
Thriving Designs will make every attempt to provide formal proposals in a timely fashion. Upon the client accepting a proposal and providing the specified down payment the client will be given a queue number. This number will indicate how many projects are ahead of the client's project. Any project given a queue number is considered a pending project. Projects not given a queue number are considered active projects. However, under certain circumstances the client's project may progress even if the project is not the current active project.
REVSIONS/ADDITIONS/ALTERATIONS/MAINTENANCE
Each project is allowed 3 major revisions and 3 minor revisions. Solely Thriving Designs will decide what constitutes a major and a minor revision. All revision, addition, alteration, and maintenance requests must be submitted to Thriving Designs in writing (mailed letter or email). Additional revisions over the allowed amount will be billed by the hour at the level 1 rate. Additions, alterations, and maintenance will be billed at the appropriate rate.
PAYMENTS
Payments must be made by the due date indicated on the invoice provided at the time of billing. Payment must be made online using an approved payment method or by US check. All design projects under $300 must be paid in full prior to the start of the project. Any project equal to or over $300 must have a deposit of an amount indicated in the proposal. Following payments may be made weekly, bi weekly, or monthly, with a minimum payment of $100 per payment. International clients must pay for their project in full before work will begin.
CHARGES AND FEES
Accounts more than 2 weeks past due, according to the time stamp or postmark, will be charged a 1% late penalty. Accounts more than 30 days past due will be considered neglected, and any operating websites attached to that account may be taken offline. Checks have a mandatory 10 day waiting period before the payment will be credited to your account. Returned checks will be charged a $30 fee.
REFUNDS
Refunds must be requested within 7 days of payment. A refund of the remaining balance of the most recent payment, minus cost of services already performed, will be issued within 14 days. Refund requests for the cost of domains must be made before the domain is registered. Refunds of the cost of domains are not available after the domain is registered. No refunds will be given once 7 days have passed. Instead, clients may use any remaining positive account balance for other services. Positive account balances are available to active clients for up to 18 months, and inactive clients for 12 months.
OWNERSHIP/COPYRIGHTS
The client guarantees, unconditionally, that all media (images, audio, video) and text provided to Thriving Designs by the Client or one of it's agents for use on the client's website is property of, or is licensed for internet use by the Client. Thriving Designs accepts no liability for any media or text provided by the client unlawfully. If Thriving Designs discovers or is notified of any copyright or trademark infringement of any media and/or text provided by the Client, Thriving Designs reserves the right to immediately take down the offending material with or without notice. While Thriving Designs strives to produce original work, if works, media, or text provided by Thriving Designs is discovered to infringe on one or more copyrights or trademarks, and Thriving Designs is unable to make arrangements to allow lawful use of the material, Thriving Designs' liability is limited solely to a refund of the paid amount for said material, if applicable. Thriving Designs will not perform research checking any of the media or text provided by the client for legality or availability. Thriving Designs retains all ownership of all work until the project is paid in full. After the last payment is processed and credited to your account you receive full ownership of the design of your site for custom designs only. Unless the correct permissions and/or licenses are obtained, designs based on a template provided by a third party remain the property of the third party. Thriving Designs and/or other third parties retain ownership of the website code, which you have a license to use for the life of the site, until the site is redesigned by Thriving Designs or a third party, or shut down. The provided website code may not be used for any other purpose without express written permission from Thriving Designs. Thriving Designs retains the right to use materials created or acquired by Thriving Designs for other projects, including stock or original photography and other design work. All materials provided by Thriving Designs or other third parties and not used in the final design remain property of Thriving Designs or other third parties.
HOURS OF OPERATION
Thriving Designs normally is open Monday - Friday from 9am to 5 pm Eastern Time, except for U.S. federal holidays. However, most email accounts are checked periodically after hours, and work may be performed after hours as well for no additional fees. Work performed during U.S. federal holidays is subject to an additional 15% holiday fee.
DESIGN CREDIT AND USE FOR MARKETING
Thriving Designs retains all rights to use work provided by us for marketing purposes as we see fit. All designs include one or more of the following: "© (current year) Thriving Designs" (for ThrivingSite sites until the "paid" date, or donated sites), -or- "Designed by Thriving Designs". This mark must remain on the website for the life of the design. To have this mark removed a $400 non-refundable fee will be charged before the mark is removed. If the mark is removed by a third party without or before the $400 fee is processed a $500 penalty will be charged, in addition to the fee to remove the tag.
STATUS
*Note: The following terms apply to design projects only. Invoices for non-design services not paid on time may result in the suspension or cancellation of the non-design service until payment is received in full.
PENDING - Projects in queue. May include projects currently in the Design, Development, or Testing phase.
ACTIVE - Projects currently in the Design, Development, or Testing phase and not in queue.
COMPLETE - Completed projects, client responds to periodic status requests.
INACTIVE - Projects with no client to Thriving Designs communications for more than 30 days. Inactive projects may be moved to pending, active, or complete upon communication from the client.
NEGLECTED - Projects with invoices not paid within 30 days of the date of issue are subject to a late payment fee of 1%/month, starting the day after the due date. If any issues arise that prevent the Client from making a payment the Client must notify Thriving Designs IMMEDIATELY to make alternate arrangements. Payments over 60 days due may, at our discretion, be turned over to a third-party collection agency. If a Client provides a payment by a check with a stop payment order, or provides payment by credit/debit card and the payment is charged back, the Client's account will immediately receive a late payment fee, along with any additional fees Thriving Designs' incurs, regardless of when the initial or following payments were made. If the Client refuses to make a payment, and litigation efforts are unsuccessful, all copyright of the design and all related materials not provided by the Client will revert to Thriving Designs with no refund. The Client will have no right to use any provided material, and legal action will be taken to enforce this policy, if necessary.
ABANDONED - A project will be considered abandoned if the client if the client cuts off contact (refusing to respond to emails, phone calls, or letters). An invoice for any remaining amount, based on the current estimated value of the project, will be issued, regardless of the status of the project on abandonment. Abandoned projects are subject to the same payment policies as neglected projects. Abandoned projects may be moved to pending, active, or complete by written request from the Client only.
DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND DELIVERY
The creation of a website uses the following generalized phases:
1. Discovery of the client's wants and desires for the website
2. Submission of a Proposal
3. Design
4. Development
5. Testing
6. Completion
TIMELINESS
We expect client provided content to be sent to us in a timely manner. If content is not provided within 30 days of the start of the project the project will be considered idle and the client forfeits all funds paid, however these terms and the written contract, if applicable, remain active and valid.
LIABILITY
All services provided by Thriving Designs are provided "as is" and without warranty. Thriving Designs accepts no liability arising from any direct, indirect, special, punitive, incidental, or consequential damages arising from the use of provided services. This includes, without limitation, lost profits, business interruption, loss of data, or any other losses directly or indirectly resulting in the use of the website, services, or goods provided by Thriving Designs.
PROJECT SUITABILITY
Each project is evaluated in a case by case basis to ensure it passes Thriving Designs' standards of ethics, morals, and local/national/international laws. We reserve the right to refuse clients on these bases. We also reserve the right to refuse to perform work for current clients, and, at our option, terminate all connections, including all contracts, with a client that requests work that goes against these policies.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Thriving Designs treats all information received from current, past, and potential clients as confidential. Due to that, Thriving Designs will not share or sell this information with third parties unless it is deemed necessary to share information due to law enforcement request or suspected illegal activities of the client.
DISCLOSURE TO LAW ENFORCEMENT
Thriving Designs prohibits the use of any of our services, directly or indirectly, for illegal activities. Therefore, the client agrees that Thriving Designs may disclose any and all client information, including logged IP addresses, account history, account use, and any other information that is deemed as necessary to share with law enforcement. Information will be provided to any law enforcement agent who makes a written request corresponding to a subpoena or other court order. Under most circumstances, except when explicitly requested to do otherwise, the client will not be notified of this request.
ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES
Thriving Designs has no tolerance for illegal acts of any kind. This includes, but is not limited to, trademark, patent, or copyright infringement, child pornography, online threats, cyber contraband, cyberstalking, terrorism, advertising or soliciting prostitution through the internet, drug sales, computer-based fraud, online gambling, cybertresspass, cyberlaundering, cybervandalism, and cybertheft. If Thriving Designs suspects a client of any illegal activity it reserves the right to report the client to the appropriate authorities without notifying the client. If Thriving Designs or law enforcement deems a client is taking part in illegal acts Thriving Designs reserves the right to suspend any and all accounts that belong to said client with or without notice.
OTHER AGREEMENTS
The client may also be subject to additional conditions set forth by our providers, if such services are requested.
NOTICE
This agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance to the laws of New York State. Any litigation under this agreement shall be resolved in the trial courts of Chautauqua County, State of New York.
ARBITRATION
All disputes, controversies, or claims arising out of or relating to this contract shall be submitted binding arbitration in accordance with the applicable rules of the American Arbitration Association then in effect.
SEVERABILITY
If any provision of this agreement is held unenforceable, then such provision will be modified to reflect the parties' intention. All remaining provisions of this agreement shall remain in full force and effect.
ATTORNEY'S FEES
In the event of litigation relating to the subject matter of this agreement, the non-prevailing party shall reimburse the prevailing party for all reasonable attorney fees and costs resulting therefrom.
NON-WAIVER
The failure by one party to require performance of any provision shall not affect that party's right to require performance at any time thereafter, nor shall a waiver of any breach or default of this agreement constitute a waiver of any subsequent breach or default or a waiver of the provision itself.
ACCEPTENCE
By submitting your first payment you agree to all the terms contained in this document. Thriving Designs reserves the right to change or update these terms at any time with or without notice. Your continued use of Thriving Designs' services indicates your acceptance of all changes.
