Terms & Conditions

Terms & Conditions

The following Terms and Conditions of Service apply to all products and services provided by Art Aim Ltd t/a Simpsons Creative, hereafter referred to as ‘SC’.

In these Terms and Conditions, the “Client” or “Customer” means the person, firm or company who commissions the services of ‘SC’ or “the Company”.

All work is carried out by ‘SC’ on the understanding that the Client has agreed to ‘SC’s’ Terms and Conditions.

Copyright is retained by ‘SC’ on all design work including but not limited to words, pictures, ideas, visuals and illustrations (unless specifically released in writing) and after all costs have been settled.

If a choice of design is presented, only one solution is deemed to be given by ‘SC’ as fulfilling the contract, all other designs remain the property of ‘SC’ unless otherwise agreed in writing.

Invoicing

The client agrees to pay for all products and services provided by ‘SC’ directly. ‘SC’ will not invoice a third-party client without prior written agreement, before commencement of any work, and will only do so if written agreement is obtained directly from that third party Client.

Estimates & Project Acceptance

At the time of proposal, ‘SC’ will provide the Customer with a budget estimate or quotation. The latest Terms and Conditions can be read on ‘SC’’s website. Where a Client does not request a budget estimate, or does not provide sufficient information for a full budget estimate to be provided, time will be charged on an hourly basis at the set Client rate, all time is reconcilable at the end of a project. Any quotation given by ‘SC’ relating to the price of the services and the time or period for delivery of the services or otherwise is based on the relevant conditions and information known to ‘SC’ at the time and does not constitute an offer. Unless previously withdrawn or otherwise agreed in writing, any quotation shall be valid for a period of 30 days, or if different for the period stated in the quotation. However, all quotations and orders are subject to withdrawal or alteration in whole or in part by ‘SC’ at any time.

The budget estimate or quotation is to be agreed in writing by the Client to indicate acceptance, the client may send an official order in the form of a Purchase Order number or document or written agreement in an email in reply to the estimate or quotation which binds the client to accept ‘SC’’s Terms and Conditions. No work on a project will commence
until agreement has been received by ‘SC’. If the client places verbal orders, ‘SC’ shall be entitled to ask the client to confirm any order in writing or will confirm back to the client that a verbal order has been agreed.

All costs exclude VAT, which will be charged at the appropriate rate or rates.

Design Charges

‘SC’ reserves the right to request advance payment from the Client for the total amounts due for the Services in respect of external third-party costs and initial design work. ‘SC’ shall be entitled to await payment in full before commencing the Services.

Payment

Having agreed a price for design, print and production an initial payment of one third of that fee is payable on development of the creative work, the second third will be invoiced at the artwork stage and the final third invoiced upon completion. In the case of websites, one third is payable on commencement of project, the second third upon approval of design and the final third upon completion of the build. ‘SC’ reserve the right without notice to charge interest on past due balances at the rate of 2.5% per month while the account remains unpaid. ‘SC’ reserve the right to refuse completion or delivery of work until past due balances are paid.

Publication and/or release of work done by ‘SC’ on behalf of the client, may not take place before cleared funds have been received.

Returned cheques will incur an additional fee of £50 per returned cheque. ‘SC’ reserves the right to consider an account to be in default in the event of a returned cheque.

Default

An account shall be considered to be in default if it remains unpaid for 30 days from the date of invoice or following a returned cheque. ‘SC’ shall be considered entitled to remove ‘SC’’s and/or the customer’s material from any and all computer systems, until the amount due has been fully paid. This includes any and all unpaid monies due for services, including, but not limited to, hosting, domain registration, search engine submission, design and maintenance, subcontractors, printers, photographers and libraries.

Removal of such materials does not relieve the customer of their obligation to pay the due amount. Customers whose accounts become default agree to pay ‘SC’ reasonable legal expenses and third-party collection agency fees in the enforcement of these Terms and Conditions.

Copyrights & Trademarks

By supplying text, images and other data to ‘SC’ for inclusion in the customer’s website or other medium, the customer declares that it holds the appropriate copyright and/or trademark permissions. The ownership of such materials will remain with the customer, or rightful copyright or trademark owner.

Any artwork, images, or text supplied and/or designed by ‘SC’ on behalf of the customer, will remain the property of ‘SC’ and/or its suppliers.

The customer may request in writing from ’SC’, the necessary permission to use materials (for which ‘SC’ holds the copyright) in forms other than for which it was originally supplied, and ‘SC’ may, at its discretion, grant this. Such permission must be obtained in writing before it will allow any of the aforesaid artwork, images, text, or other data to be used.

By supplying images, text, or any other data to ‘SC’, the customer grants ‘SC’ permission to use this material freely in the pursuit of the design.

Should ‘SC’, or the customer supply an image, text, audio clip or any other file for use in a website, multimedia presentation, print item, exhibition, advertisement or any other medium believing it to be copyright and royalty free, which subsequently emerges to have such copyright or royalty usage limitations, the customer will agree to allow ‘SC’ to remove and/or replace the file.

The customer agrees to fully indemnify and hold ‘SC’ free from harm in any and all claims resulting from the customer in not having obtained all the required copyright, and/or any other necessary permissions.

Revisions & Alterations

The customer agrees that changes required over and above the estimated work or required to be carried out after acceptance of the draft design will be liable to a separate charge.

Time quoted allows for 3 sets of minor copy/design revisions after initial layout, unless otherwise agreed on the assumptions of that particular project estimate. All initial content should be supplied as approved copy in editable electronic format, anything not provided in that format may be liable to an additional time charge.

The customer also agrees that ‘SC’ holds no responsibility for any amendments made by any third party, before or after a design is published.

Errors & Omissions

It is the client’s responsibility to check PDF proofs carefully for accuracy in all respects. ‘SC’ is not liable for errors or omissions. Written or email confirmation of approval to go to print is required from the client. If approval is given verbally, ‘SC’ reserve the right to request approval in writing or to reply to the client via email confirming verbal approval has taken place.

Property & Suppliers Performance

‘SC’ will take all reasonable precautions to safeguard property entrusted to us. In the absence of negligence on our part, however, we are not responsible for loss, destruction or damage or unauthorised use by others of such property. We will use our best efforts to ensure quality and timely delivery of all printed matter. Although we may use our best efforts to guard against any loss arising from the failure of our suppliers, media, or others to perform in accordance with their commitments, ‘SC’ is not responsible for failure on their part. We cannot in any way be held responsible for quality, price, performance or delivery of materials made or supplied by others where the work has been placed directly by the client.

Licensing

Any design, copywriting, drawing, idea or code created for the customer by ‘SC’, or any of its contractors, is licensed for use by the client on a one-time only basis and may not be modified, re-used, or re-distributed in any way or form without the express written consent of ‘SC’ and any of its relevant subcontractors.

All design work, where there is a risk that another party make a claim, should be registered by the client with the appropriate authorities prior to publishing or first use or searches and legal advice sought as to its use. ‘SC’ will not be held responsible for any and all damages resulting from such claims. ‘SC’ is not responsible for any loss, or consequential loss, non-delivery of products or services, of whatever cause. The customer agrees not to hold ‘SC’ responsible for any such loss or damage. Any claim against ‘SC’ shall be limited to the relevant fee(s) paid by the customer.

Data Formats

The client agrees to ‘SC’’s definition of acceptable means of supplying data to the company.

Text is to be supplied to ‘SC’ in digital format as standard text (.txt) or MS Word (.doc) via e-mail.

Images which are supplied in an electronic format, are to be provided in a format as prescribed by ‘SC’ via e-mail.

Images must be of a quality suitable for use without any subsequent image processing, and ‘SC’ will not be held responsible for any image quality which the client later deems to be unacceptable. ‘SC’ cannot be held responsible for the quality of any images which the client wishes to be scanned from printed materials.

Additional expenses may be incurred for any necessary action, including, but not limited to, photography and art direction, photography searches and purchases, media conversion, digital image processing, or data entry services.

Design Project Duration

Any indication given by ‘SC’ of a design project’s duration is to be considered by the customer to be an estimation. Estimates are based upon a reasonable time schedule and may be revised to take into consideration your priority scheduling requests requiring overtime and/or weekend working. Knowledge of your deadlines is essential to provide an accurate estimate. In addition, third party suppliers may charge additional ‘rush’ charges in respect of work required in a hurry.

In general, the client needs to allow 7-10 working days for standard litho print items (more complicated items/finishing may require extra time) and 3 working days for digital print production, though printing can be completed more quickly it will be determined by the project specification and may incur additional charges.

Rights of Access for Website Construction

The client agrees to allow ‘SC’ all necessary access to computer systems and other locations, as required, in order to complete a website project and until all due funds are cleared, including the necessary read/write permissions, usernames and passwords. The customer also agrees to allow ‘SC’ access to any computer systems, usernames and passwords required to remove data and/or sites for failure to comply with these Terms and Conditions.

The customer agrees to supply ‘SC’ with all necessary materials, electronic, or otherwise, required to create and complete the project, and to supply them in a timely manner.

Website Design Only

Once web design is complete, ‘SC’ will provide the customer with the opportunity to review the resulting work initially in PDF format. Only once the static PDF pages have been approved will website construction begin. If navigation and/or design changes are required after approval of the PDF and once website construction has begun, the client may be liable to any additional cost implications arising from this request. Any additional minor text or image changes required to the live test site will be charged on an hourly rate basis. The client is responsible for approval of the test site before it goes live.

Hosting Websites

‘SC’ offers hosting services via a third-party supplier. The third-party contract terms apply to client websites hosted by ‘SC’ and can be made available on request. Where ‘SC’ suggest possible subcontractors, they do not guarantee continuous service and will accept no liability for loss of service, whatever the cause. ‘SC’ may request that clients change the type of hosting account used if that account is deemed by ‘SC’ to be unacceptable because of poor service, lack of bandwidth or in any other way insufficient to support the website.

Domain Registration

‘SC’ cannot guarantee the availability of any domain name. Where ‘SC’ is to register a domain name on behalf of a client it will endeavour to do so but the client should not assume a successful registration until confirmed in writing.

Fees for domain registration will be charged annually until cancelled in writing by the client. Charges will be incurred up to the point of cancellation.

Search Engine Submission

Due to the infinite number of considerations that search engines use when determining a site’s ranking, ‘SC’ cannot guarantee any particular placement. Acceptance by any search engine cannot be guaranteed and when a site is accepted, the time it takes to appear in search results varies from one search engine to another.

Website/Server Maintenance

‘SC’ reserve the right to undertake software updates & install security patches, as required, to the servers and software used to power the websites. These updates include updating, if used, WordPress (WP), the WP core, WP plugins, WP themes and WP translations as required. ‘SC’ is not liable for any downtime or issues arising from these updates, if required updates are no longer compatible ‘SC’ will remove these and quote on suggested alternatives.

Plugin Licences

‘SC’ will purchase licences for required plugins on request, the cost of these licences will be invoiced to the client along with any time needed to install or update licences. If a website is transferred into SC without the appropriate licences ‘SC’ will require these to be purchased as part of the transfer process and the cost charged to the client.

Transferring Existing Websites into SC

When ‘SC’ transfer in existing websites the client confirms that they have full ownership & rights to the website and its content. ‘SC’ requires all websites to be compatible with our hosting systems, the latest version of WordPress & any installed plugins and/or themes are up to date. Websites that are not up to date will require updating and the time required to do this will be invoiced to the client on an hourly basis.

‘SC’ require that all transferring websites are stable, error free and do not consume excessive resources or use an excessive number of plugins.

‘SC’ reserve the right to cancel or refuse a website transfer during any part of the process.

Design Credits

The customer agrees to allow ‘SC’ to place a small credit on printed material, exhibition displays, advertisements and/or a link to ‘SC’’s own website on the customer’s website. This will usually be in the form of a small logo or line of text placed towards the bottom of the page.

The customer agrees to allow ‘SC’ to place websites, along with a link to the client’s site on ‘SC’’s own website for demonstration purposes. ‘SC’ reserve the right to photograph and or distribute or publish for our company’s promotional and marketing needs any work ‘SC’ create for the client, including use for but not limited to roughs, visuals, mock-ups and presentations, as samples for our portfolio, newsletters, brochures, and website and for entry for awards.

File Storage

We will endeavour to store files on computer discs for a period of twelve months beyond the delivery of a project. Thereupon, ‘SC’ reserve the right to discard them without notice.

Rights of Refusal

‘SC’ will not include in its designs, any text, images or other data which it deems to be immoral, offensive, obscene or illegal. All advertising material must conform to all standards laid down by all relevant advertising standards authorities. ‘SC’ also reserves the right to refuse to include submitted material without giving reason. Any images and/or data that ‘SC’ does include in all good faith, and then finds out that it contravenes these Terms and Conditions, the customer is obliged to allow ‘SC’ to remove the contravention without hindrance, or penalty. ‘SC’ is to be held in no way responsible for any such data being included.

Cancellation

Cancellation of orders may be made initially by telephone contact, or e-mail, however, following this, ‘SC’ will need formal notification in writing to the company’s postal address. The client will then be invoiced for all work completed. The balance of monies due must be paid within 30 days. Please note: any cancellation which is not formally confirmed in writing and received by ‘SC’ within 14 days of such instruction being issued, will be liable for the full quoted cost of the project.

Force Majeure

Production schedules, storage of files and property belonging to the client will be established and adhered to by both the client and ‘SC’, provided that neither shall incur any liability, penalty or additional cost due to delays caused by a state of war, riot, civil disorder, fire, industrial dispute or strike, accidents, energy failure, equipment breakdown, delays in shipment by suppliers or carriers, action of government or civil authority, and acts of God or other causes beyond the control of the client or ‘SC’. Where production schedules are not adhered to by the client, final delivery date or dates will be adjusted accordingly.

Disclaimer

‘SC’ makes no warranties of any kind, express or implied, for any and all products and/or services that it supplies. ‘SC’ will not be held responsible for any and all damages resulting from products and/or services it supplies. ‘SC’ is not responsible for any loss, or consequential loss of data, or non-delivery of products or services, of whatever cause. While we take reasonable steps to investigate the materials we recommend, we accept no responsibility for the performance or quality of materials or any consequential loss arising from their failure. The customer agrees not to hold ‘SC’ responsible for any such loss or damage. Any claim against ‘SC’ shall be limited to the relevant fee(s) paid by the customer.

‘SC’ reserves the right to use the services of subcontractors, agents and suppliers and any work, content, services and usage is bound by their Terms and Conditions. ‘SC’ will not knowingly perform any actions to contravene these and the client also agrees to be so bound.

General

These Terms and Conditions supersede any previous Terms and Conditions distributed in any form. ‘SC’ reserves the right to change any rates and any of the Terms and Conditions at any time and without prior notice.

The placement of an order for design and/or any other services offered by ‘SC’ and validated by the customer’s agreement to commence work on the project constitutes acceptance of the estimate or quotation and agreement to comply fully with all the Terms and Conditions and forms a Contract for Business between the Client and ‘SC’. The validity and enforceability of this agreement will be interpreted in accordance with the laws of England, but ‘SC’ reserves the right to bring proceedings in connection with this contract in any other court of competent jurisdiction. Failure by ‘SC’ to enforce any of these conditions shall not be construed as a waiver of that condition or any other condition.

Simpsons Creative
Launchpad, Charringtons House, Old River Lane, Bishop’s Stortford, Herts, CM23 2ER
VAT Reg No. 573 2090 50 | Company No. 2722636

Updated: August 2022

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