General Policies, Procedures, and Terms of Service

I. PAYMENTS

An itemized electronic invoice will be generated and sent to the email address on file in the client billing portal. All major credit cards are accepted as well as Klarna, upon request. Credit/debit card payments can be completed online or over the phone during regular business hours. In addition, a late fee will be assessed to accounts after every 30-day recurring cycle the account remains outstanding.

For installments on project fees, we require at least a 50% deposit. Projects with balances under $300 are not eligible for installments and must be paid in full prior to the start of the project.

Effective June 1, 2012, all invoices will include a 3% project consulting fee. Consulting fees are nonrefundable.

PLEASE NOTE:

• Only the amount of design and development costs are eligible for installment billing. Any additional components which require up-front costs on behalf of the client such as hosting provided by a third party, domain registration, printing, and/or premium add-ons will be required in addition to the base project deposit.
• All fees discounted during sale periods must be paid in full prior to the end of the sale period.

II. PROCEDURES

Consultations are generally done via email for the purpose of preserving a written record to refer back to if necessary. No design project will be scheduled into the processing queue until the project file is complete, including submission of the terms of service agreement and receipt of the project questionnaire. Please be aware that all telephone consultations are recorded for quality assurance and training purposes. These recordings may also be used to clarify project specifications in litigation.

Design projects are completed in three phases:

1. Consultation Phase: You will be allowed as many consultations as needed. These are billed at a rate of 3% of your base project total. You will receive thorough answers to any and all questions that arise during the course of the execution of your project as they relate to the project. Additional instruction and/or training and support are offered at our regular hourly consultation rate. Video tutorials for many tasks and functions are provided upon request.
2. Design Phase: We will present 1-3 concept variations depending on necessity and based on your project questionnaire. Once a draft has been selected, customizations will be implemented and submitted to you for review. Requested revisions will be implemented until we arrive at an approval of your final project design. While the revision process is typically not restricted, we sometimes must weigh the project against the value of our time to determine whether it is necessary for revision limitations to be set. Once we have surpassed a reasonable number of revisions for your project, modifications will be performed at our normal hourly rate or negotiated at a flat-rate. This generally only applies to layout or color scheme changes after customization has been completed to initial project specifications.
3. Development Phase: Once we receive design approval, finalization of your project will begin. Revisions requested during this phase will be processed with the assessment of hourly or flat-rate fees. Once your project reaches development, significant modification requests may require an entirely new proposal.

III. CUSTOM WORKS, DISCLOSURE, AND CREDITS

We are not liable for any conflicts, downtime, or errors that result from modifications you perform to installed designs. Fees will be assessed for modifications that require our attention to correct.

Please be aware that high-resolution graphics included in web design projects must be specifically requested if desired and carry additional costs; by default, graphics created for web design projects are optimized for web use only. All works produced as a result of the contracted web design project will become the sole intellectual property of the client. Logo design is not included in this proposal.

A hyperlinked disclosure crediting our firm for the work performed will be reflected in small print the website footer. eDesign-Pro Company reserves the right to use visual representations of the final product as part of our project portfolio.

IV. WEB HOSTING SERVICES

1. Accounts are not to be used for any method of housing scripts, documentation, instruction, imagery or redirection to website(s) that engage in, encourage, inform or facilitate any type of illegal activity. Accounts found to be engaging in activity which is considered illegal in nature will be terminated immediately without notice.
2. Accounts are not to be used as a file backup system. Your web storage is meant to be purchased solely for the purpose of supporting the files necessary for the operation of your website(s). Images, files, attachments, and other forms of multimedia are acceptable in any capacity so long as they are directly associated with your website. Excessive use of web storage for purposes unrelated to website hosting are not allowed.
3. Accounts are not to be used to send spam, host or distribute malware, or knowingly and willingly engage in practices that are intended to hack or compromise the security of any website, on or off of our server network. Engaging in malicious activity will result in at least temporary suspension of the account. This does not apply to clients who become victims of hacking or other malicious external attacks. We will perform a full scan and sweep as well as working with you to regain the security of your account and take steps to maintain the integrity of your files and databases.
4. Each hosting tier has its own specific resource allotment. A client will be permitted to remain on their current tier as long as they do not utilize over 125% of their resources more than three months during any 12-month rotating period. Tier specifications are general guidelines based on averages. Excessive memory and CPU resource usage will result in upgrade requirements on accounts which may or may not exceed the allotments listed above.
5. By using our service, you agree to undergo periodic, automatic plan upgrades as your account’s resource requirements increase. Please note that account audits may result in retroactive billing in certain extreme circumstances.
6. eDesign-Pro supports the protection of intellectual property. Accounts may become subject to suspension and/or termination according to jurisdictional laws which govern online use of copyrighted content in the event that a trademark claim is filed against a website and/or client for violation of a valid, registered trademark or service mark or if an account is found to be engaged in the practice of duplicating content proven to be lifted from a website not owned or operated by the client or the client’s agent.
7. 99% Uptime Guarantee: Inaccessibility of more than 1% of any rolling 30-day period will result in an automatic account credit equal to one month of service for all shared hosting clients. Clients are not responsible for requesting these credits or tracking outages. Please note that business, enterprise, and dedicated clients will receive credits equal to one-half month’s service in the event that uptime is under 99% and one full month’s service in the event that uptime is under 97.5%.
8. Invoices are generated automatically and delivered to the email address associated with the client’s billing portal account. eDesign-Pro is not liable for loss of data resulting from termination of accounts due to nonpayment. It is the client’s responsibility to ensure that renewal occurs within 10 days of the account’s expiration date.
9. Annual shared web hosting packages include cPanel migration to our servers from any hosting provider at no cost to you. If for any reason a cPanel migration fails, manual migration rates will apply with the first gigabyte free.
10. eDesign-Pro reserves the right to modify rates periodically. In the event that your package or plan rate changes, you will be notified in writing within 14 business days. If you have purchased a package with a locked-in rate, the new rate will become effective upon expiration of your guaranteed rate plan. Accounts exceeding tier allotments prior to the end of the billing cycle will result in an upgrade to an appropriate package at the current rate of service.
11. Clients with WordPress-powered websites are required to keep the platform version as well as all themes and plugins up to date to ensure the security and integrity of each installation and the server they are housed on. Clients are also to remain aware of and adhere to the banned plugin rules which are updated periodically. Hacks resulting from a client’s violation of this policy may result in suspension and/or termination of hosting services.

Accounts found to be in violation of the terms of service will be subject to suspension pending measures to reach an acceptable level of compliance.

V. WEBSITE MAINTENANCE SERVICES

Website Maintenance is a subscription-based service. No refunds are issued upon cancellation of the service. Termination will occur on the renewal date and updates will continue until termination unless otherwise requested.

The following tasks are included in the base maintenance service and will be processed according to the specific plan frequency of your selected maintenance tier:

• Offsite cloud backups: All website files and databases are backed up with restore capability.
• Theme, Plug-in, and Platform Updates: Automatic updates are included in your plan. Manual updates for any elements that do not offer automatic updating will be applied as approved by the client and billed at the hourly rate of your plan tier.
• Database Optimization: Like defragmenting your computer’s hard drive, this helps your data to be processed more efficiently for smoother operation and faster load times.
• Spam Comment Moderation/Deletion: Spam detection will be installed and activated on the website.
• Post Revision Removal: Excessive post revisions are removed , retaining only the three most recent post revisions.
• Support to resolve any issues that arise as a result of updates/maintenance tasks: In the event that any updates “break” functionality of your site, we will resolve those issues for you. A specified number of hours of developer time for resolving issues or making requested changes to the site are included in your package. These hours do not roll over from one month to the next. Unused developer time expires at the start of each new calendar month.
• Performance Monitoring: We run analysis with Google PageSpeed and Yahoo! YSlow ruleset to determine an overall grade of website performance and of individual factors. We will then provide recommendations on what needs improving to keep your website’s speed and load optimal.

Optional Add-Ons:

• Discounts on additional developer hours, as needed: Standard rate $150/hr.
  Post-paid hours (billed only for what you use): $100/hr for month-to-month clients, $90/hr for semiannual contract clients, or $75/hr for annual contract clients.
  Paid-in-advance hours are billed with monthly maintenance at a rate of $50/hr. Unused hours do not roll over.
• Uptime/Downtime Monitoring: A log of your website’s offline status is maintained to reflect your web host’s reliability and uptime.
• Security/Vulnerability Monitoring: Daily scanning of all website files to ensure your account has not been hacked. This also includes a vulnerability check to detect weak points in your website security that can be resolved prior to a hack occurring.
• Broken Link Monitoring
• Performance Optimization: Utilizing findings from performance monitoring, this service optimizes your site’s performance to increase speed/load times. The performance optimization addon includes client reports, which is a detailed monthly report of all maintenance, security, and monitoring work performed.
• More frequent backups: Can be done as often as hourly.
• Database maintenance and cleanup: $15/mo.
• SEO ranking, competitor and keyword analysis: $35/mo. This does NOT include search engine optimization, but I do offer those services as well.
• Full reporting that details exactly what tasks have been executed and the result of each ($5, only billed for the months in which it is requested)

VI. SATISFACTION GUARANTEE & REFUND POLICY

Clients will be presented with necessary concepts variances for every project. We do not restrict the number of revisions to one chosen concept for design projects. It is our practice to ensure client satisfaction with the selected final option.

Subsequent to approval and acceptance of the final draft presented as outlined in Section II, the following conditions will apply:

• There will be additional fees assessed on an hourly and/or flat-rate basis for revisions.
• Once a payment is received on an active service contract, there are generally no refunds issued for project termination after the project has begun.
• All approved refunds are subject to the following stipulations:

1. Service contracts – web hosting, maintenance, technical support, and other recurring services – terminated by the client prior to the activation of the service will be issued less the assessment of a 25% cancellation fee.
2. Prorated portions of unused hosting packages will be refunded or credited to the client depending on the age of the account and according to policies defined in the following subsections:
   1. Prorated portions of unused hosting packages terminated more than 45 days from the date of account activation are only refunded to the client if the move is due to excessive server-related issues (more than 3 occurrences within 1 year of less than 99% uptime in a rolling 30 day period). Terminating a hosting package more than 45 days from the date of account activation due to preference without any fault or breach on behalf of eDesign-Pro will result in a prorated no-cash-value credit being issued to the account which are not restricted and can be applied toward any service.
   2. Hosting service refunds/credits are prorated from the start of the next monthly billing cycle following account termination. All promotional discounts and included services (such as migration) will be forfeited if the account is terminated prior to the end of the designated hosting cycle. Migration and other prorated service fees will be deducted at the regular rate from the refund or credit issued.
   3. Hosting service refunds/credits are prorated from the start of the next monthly billing cycle following account termination. All promotional discounts and included services (such as migration) will be forfeited if the account is terminated prior to the end of the designated hosting cycle. Migration and other prorated service fees will be deducted at the regular rate from the refund or credit issued.
3. Approved refunds and credits are processed within 90 days of termination and funds are returned within 3 business days of processing. Only first-time accounts are eligible for a refund. Any intentional violation our Terms of Service will waive your refund eligibility.
4. If a hosting account is terminated due to repeated or intentional terms of service violations, no refund or credit of any kind will be issued. We are not required to provide advanced warning for termination due to intentional terms of service violations. Unintentional terms of service violations due to events beyond client control such as account hacks, malware, and similar methods of without-knowledge manipulation or abuse of server processes will result in immediate suspension and notification of steps to resolve the breach.

VII. CREDIBILITY AND REPUTATION

Project history is open to each of our prospective clients. Check out some of the testimonials that our clients have provided. If at any time prior to the start of your design you would like to contact references, request that information by emailing service@edesign-pro.com. The eDesign-Pro Company Facebook page contains open public ratings, reviews, and recommendations posted by those who have worked with us as well. We welcome you to submit your honest feedback upon completion of your project! Here are some testimonials submitted by our past clients. The eDesign-Pro Facebook page contains open public ratings, reviews, and recommendations posted by those who have worked with us as well. Please leave a review with your honest feedback upon completion of your project if you so desire.

VIII. TIME-FRAME AND COMMUNICATION

A project timeline will be established based on your target launch date. This will be provided as a supplemental addendum to this agreement.

If we are forced into downtime on scheduled projects due to excessive “hold time” as we wait on a client to view and accept or decline particular elements or provide information relating to the project, the result could possibly be an automatic extension on the project deadline by placing the project back into the design queue and moving on to other clients. Generally, after five consecutive business days of non-communication on an active project, the project is considered stale.

Rush projects are given priority for a surcharge of 25% of the base project total. Failure to meet your target completion date will result in a refund of all or a portion of the rush fee if the delays were the sole responsibility of our staff.

Your billing data, third-party application and/or service login credentials, or other personal information is never released to any independent contractor on our team. Clients are expected to maintain the same login credentials for any service necessary to execute the contracted work. We will not be held liable for lack of timely fulfillment of the obligations set forth in our service contract in the event that access is restricted due to invalid credentials being provided. If limited access results in project delays, our stale project terms will apply.

IX. SCOPE OF SERVICES

DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, MAINTENANCE, and TECHNICAL SUPPORT SERVICES:
Services provided are to encompass any and all skills, resources, and/or technologies required in order to design and develop requested features and modifications for each desired project.

Training and Post-Completion Support: Instruction relating to the services provided will be fully communicated prior to project completion. All supportive documentation included with any web-based application, plug-in, extension, or integrated component will be provided to the client. A maximum of three (3) support tickets directly relating to the services provided will be included under your project contract. Once this limit has been exhausted, support packages are available for a fee.

HOSTING SERVICES:
Services provided are to encompass any and all technologies required in order to support the successful operation of web hosting resources. No additional services are implied to be included in any hosting package unless it is essential to specified operations – please see section IV for details regarding web hosting services. Technical support for non-server or hosting account related requests will be billed according to our current rate at the time of inquiry.

Support tickets should be generated via the client billing portal and are handled by level of urgency/importance, then in chronological order as they are received.

X. CLIENT RESPONSIBILITY

Client involvement is required as well as a client’s staff/team if applicable depending on project specifications. The client is responsible for the provision of information relating to preferences and necessary elements as well as prompt response to requests for access to necessary credentials. Design projects are set to the back of the processing queue after 5 days of non-communication after an informational request or submission of draft for approval has been sent. After a period of 30 days, stale projects will require a reactivation fee. After a period of six months, the project will be terminated without the option of a refund.

XI. CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT

All content contained within communication between the provider and the client is property of eDesign-Pro Company and Toler Enterprises. The information provided is not intended for review or consumption by anyone other than the client with exception of parties holding direct interest in the specified project including its affiliates and/or subsidiaries.

XIV. AGREEMENT TO TERMS

Depending on the services you have contracted through eDesign-Pro Company, you may receive a supplementary set of Terms. Conditions in one set do not nullify your responsibility to adhere to the terms contained in the other.

Completion of the form below reflects acceptance of the terms listed herein. A copy of the terms as they appear will be emailed to the client along with the proof of acceptance. Upon submission, the IP of your machine will be captured and the information provided will serve as a digital signature for the contract.

These terms are subject to change at our discretion. Continuity of service for more than 30 days after notification of an update to our service agreement expresses acknowledgment of and intended adherence to newly stated terms.

LAST UPDATED THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2023.