Definitions:

The Client: The company or individual requesting the services of The DM Lab.
The DM Lab: Primary designer/site owner & employees or affiliates.

General

The DM Lab will carry out work only where an agreement is provided either by email, telephone, mail or fax. The DM Lab will carry out work only for clients who are 18 years of age or above. An ‘order’ is deemed to be a written or verbal contract between The DM Lab and the client. This includes telephone and email agreements. The DM Lab charges an hourly rate of £90.00 + VAT or a day rate of £720 + VAT.

Website Design

Whilst every endeavour will be made to ensure that the website and any scripts or programs are free of errors, The DM Lab cannot accept responsibility for any losses incurred due to malfunction, the website or any part of it. The website, graphics and any programming code remain the property of The DM Lab until all outstanding accounts are paid in full. Any scripts, cgi applications, php scripts, or software (unless specifically agreed) written by The DM Lab remain the copyright of The DM Lab and may only be commercially reproduced or resold with the permission of The DM Lab.

The DM Lab cannot take responsibility for any copyright infringements caused by materials submitted by the client. We reserve the right to refuse any material of a copyrighted nature unless adequate proof is given of permission to use such material. Any additions to briefs provided will be carried out at the discretion of The DM Lab. Where no charge is made by The DM Lab for such additions, The DM Lab accept no responsibility to ensure such additions are error free. We reserve the right to charge an according amount for any correction to these or further additions. The client agrees to make available as soon as is reasonably possible to The DM Lab all materials required to complete the site to the agreed standard and within the set deadline.

If The DM Lab cannot proceed with a project due to lack of co-operation from the client with regards to supplying The DM Lab with requested content and responses to queries we cannot be held responsible for not meeting agreed deadlines.

The DM Lab will not be liable for costs incurred, compensation or loss of earnings due to the failure to meet agreed deadlines. The DM Lab will not be liable or become involved in any disputes between the site owner and their clients and cannot be held responsible for any wrongdoing on the part of a site owner. eg. Any disputes re content/images that have been provided to us for inclusion on the site.

The DM Lab will not be liable for any costs incurred, compensation or loss of earnings due to the work carried out on behalf of the client or any of the clients appointed agents. The DM Lab will not be liable for any costs incurred, compensation or loss of earnings due to the unavailability of the site, its servers, software or any material provided by its agents.

A non-refundable deposit of 50% is required with all of our projects before any design work will be carried out.

Once a website has been designed and completed the final balance of payment is then due in accordance with our payment terms. There are no exceptions to this. If the client decides they no longer want the site, as they have commissioned the work and paid a deposit they are still obliged to pay for the work that has been done. Non payment will result in legal action being taken if necessary. Once full payment is received for a website, it is assumed that the project has been completed to the client’s satisfaction and no refunds can be offered. We do offer free updates for a month after completion to allow for any final amendments that may be required.

Database, Application and E-Commerce Development

The DM Lab cannot take responsibility for any losses incurred by the use of any software created for the client. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure products are problem free and accurate, the ultimate responsibility lies with the client in ensuring that all software is functioning correctly before use. Any scripts, applications or software (unless specifically agreed) written by The DM Lab remain the copyright of The DM Lab and may only be commercially reproduced or resold with the permission of The DM Lab.

Where applications or sites are developed on servers not recommended by The DM Lab, the client is expected to provide or seek any information, additional software, support or co-operation pertaining to the server required in order for the application to be correctly developed. Where large applications are to be developed, it is the client’s responsibility to provide a suitable testing environment. This should be identical to the final production environment.

The client is expected to test fully any application or programming relating to a site developed by The DM Lab. This is to be undertaken before being made generally available for use. Where “bugs”, errors or other issues are found after the site is live, The DM Lab will endeavour (but is not obliged to) to correct these issues to meet the standards of function outlined in the brief.

Compatibility

The DM Lab will endeavour to ensure that any developed / designed site or application will function correctly on the server it is initially installed in. That it will function correctly when viewed with the web browsing software. The DM Lab can offer no guarantees of correct function with all browser software.

Force Majeure:

Every effort will be made to carry out the contract but its due performance is subject to cancellation by The DM Lab or to such variation as may be necessary as a result of inability to secure materials or suppliers or as a result of any Act of God, war, or labour dispute, fire, flood, drought, legislation or other cause (whether of the foregoing class or not) beyond The DM Lab’s control.

Website Hosting

The DM Lab cannot accept liability for losses caused by the unavailability, malfunction or interruption of this service. Or for loss of turnover, sales, revenue, profits or indirect, consequential or special loss. The DM Lab reserves the right to refuse to handle in any way, material which may be deemed offensive, illegal or in any way controversial. The DM Lab also reserves the right to terminate the free hosting service should the necessity arise.

Website Optimisation

Due to external factors, such as changes to the way search engines rank websites, we cannot offer any guarantees. Guarantees regarding the position we will achieve for websites. The process of optimising websites itself will bring in more traffic and hits. As a result, you’ll see visits increase to your site naturally. We cannot accept liability for any change in rankings. Nor a 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.

The DM Lab uses ‘white hat techniques’ when optimising websites. We always aim to achieve a top ten ranking for your website within six months of undertaking the optimisation process. Due to the work involved payment is generally required in advance. However, we are unable to offer a refund of any monies to clients in relation to this type of work. The DM Lab reserves the right to refuse to handle in any way, material which may be deemed offensive, illegal or in any way controversial.

Payment of Accounts

A deposit is required from any new client before any work is carried out. It is the The DM Lab’s policy that any outstanding accounts for work carried out by The DM Lab or its affiliates are required to be paid in full. This is to be no later than 14 days from the date of the invoice. This is to be adhered to unless by prior arrangement with The DM Lab. Once a deposit is paid and work completed you are obliged to pay the balance of payment in full. We will contact clients via email and telephone to remind them of such payments if they are not received when due.

If accounts are not settled or The DM Lab have not been contacted regarding the delay, access to the related website may be denied and web pages removed. We will then pass such cases to the Small Claims Court to pursue payment. Non payment can result in County Court Judgements (CCJ’s) being added to the clients credit rating. Following consistent non-payment of an invoice our solicitors will contact the client in question. This will be undertaken with a view to taking the matter further. If need be The DM lab will seek payment through legal procedures, and if necessary court summons.

Referral and Commission Payments

The DM Lab will acknowledge business that is either sold or referred and the become a client. The payment will be 5% of the net value of each invoice that is paid by the new client.

Insurance:

The DM Lab is professionally indemnified against negligence to a maximum of £1,000,000.

Complaints Procedure Informal procedure

Anyone who experiences a problem with their web service provided by The DM Lab should raise the matter directly. You can do this by using our telephone number. Please supply sufficient information to locate the material (such as a URL) and clearly outlining the grounds for complaint.

The DM Lab will approach the individual responsible for the material in question. This will be done with a view to resolving the matter to the satisfaction of the complainant.

Formal complaints procedure

The formal complaints procedure should only be used where the complainant feels that the nature of the complaint is too serious to be dealt with informally. Or where a satisfactory conclusion has not been reached after following the informal procedure.

A formal complaint should be made in writing to The DM Lab. We will acknowledge receipt and ensure that the matter is looked into as soon as possible.

An initial response to any complaint can be expected within seven days of its receipt. A full and considered response to the complaint should be completed within 30 days. Plus any subsequent remedy implemented with the minimum of delay.

Copyright

Full copyright to any chosen graphic design concept out of the designs presented to you is yours once payment has been received in full. However, The DM Lab retains the right to display the item / items in any online or offline portfolios. As well as for the purpose of marketing or advertising our services on or offline.

Cancellation Rights

You have a right to cancel your order. In the event of cancellation you will be invoiced for the cost of the work carried out so far. This is based on our hourly rate. If no work was completed, you will not be charged.

A cancellation notice of 60 days in writing will need to be given to terminate the agreement. If the cancellation is within the 12 month period or the agreed time period the contract will need to be paid in full.

Security

The DM Lab uses high quality firewall and virus checking software to reduce the threat of hackers and virus infection; however it is strongly recommend that you install your own security.

Privacy Policy

We are committed to protecting your privacy. Only using the information that we collect about you lawfully (in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998).

We collect information about you for 2 reasons. Firstly, to process your order and second, to provide you with the best possible service.

We do not sell any of your details with third party companies, without your express permission. We will only email you or contact you about work related matters.

The type of information we will collect about you includes: your name, address, phone number/s, and e-mail address.