Terms of Service
GENERAL WORKING AGREEMENT
This document defines the terms and conditions of our working relationship. All projects or services that Beta Images Creative Design Studio may be contracted to produce or provide for CLIENT will be subject to the following:
WORKING/BILLING PHASES
Based on our experience with long-term design communications projects, we have found that it is mutually advantageous to handle each project in logical working/billing phases. Concept revisions, extensive alterations, or a switch in marketing objectives sometimes makes it impossible to accurately estimate in advance the total cost of a project. Planning the work, cost estimating, and billing in several phases permits Beta Images Creative Design Studio or CLIENT to adjust for such revisions/or halt work before completion if a project is postponed or canceled. Any canceled project is billed only through phases and/or portions of phases that were actually completed by Beta Images Creative Design Studio. For each project, CLIENT will receive a proposal/estimate outlining the project specifications and our proposed scope of services and working/billing phases. Each proposal estimate will contain a project budget, which includes estimated fees for professional services and separate itemized costs for anticipated out-of-pocket expenses. We will begin work upon CLIENT’S approval of the written estimate. Your approval (written or oral) will constitute an agreement between us.
PAYMENT/ESTIMATES
CLIENT agrees to pay Beta Images Creative Design Studio in accordance with the terms specified in each proposal/estimate. All accounts will be required to pay 50% of the project cost before work can begin as a retainer fee. Once the CLIENT has received a first draft or mock-up of any work, the 50% down payment retainer fee is no longer refundable. If no form of design has been submitted to the CLIENT and the CLIENT chooses not to hire Beta Images Creative Design Studio for services, the 50% retainer fee will be returned within 7 business days. Unless otherwise specified, all subsequent balances due are payable upon art approval. Interest on past due balances is 18% per annum or 1.5% per month. We reserve the right to refuse completion or delivery of work until past due balances are paid. Estimate: Billing will reflect the actual costs incurred. Valid for only 30 days from date on estimate. Client requested changes will be billed additionally. The client will be notified of any price changes.
OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENSES
Fees for professional services do not include outside purchases such as, but not limited to, printing, photography, color printouts, laminating, illustrations, separations, shipping and handling or courier service. Expenses are itemized on each invoice. Expenses are subject to Florida sales tax unless 1) You are a nonprofit organization; or 2) the work is for resale and you have submitted a resale certificate to Beta Images Creative Design Studio. If consultant or supervisory services are required in out-of-town locations, we will bill lodgings, meals, and transportation at cost. Reimbursement for mileage is calculated at current allowable rates.
REVISIONS AND ALTERATIONS
New work requested by CLIENT and performed by Beta Images Creative Design Studio after a proposal/estimate has been approved is considered a revision or alteration. If the job changes to an extent that substantially alters the specifications described in the original estimate, we will submit a proposal revision memo to you, and a revised additional fee must be agreed to by both parties before further work proceeds. Author’s alterations and other copy changes requested after layouts or mechanicals are completed are billed at standard hourly rates.
OVERTIME
Estimates are based on a reasonable time schedule, and may be revised to take into consideration your ‘Priority Scheduling’ requests requiring overtime and weekends. Knowledge of your deadlines is essential to provide an accurate estimate. In addition, outside suppliers such as service bureaus charge a 100% to 200% markup on overtime after 5:30pm and weekends.
NATURE OF COPY
CLIENT agrees to exercise due diligence in its direction to us regarding preparation of materials and must be able to substantiate all claims and representations. You are responsible for all trademark, servicemark, copyright and patent infringement clearances. You are also responsible for arranging, prior to publication, any necessary legal clearance of materials we prepare.
ERRORS AND OMISSIONS
It is the CLIENT’S responsibility to check proofs carefully for accuracy in all respects, ranging from spelling to technical illustrations. Beta Images Creative Design Studio is not liable for errors or omissions. Your signature or that of your authorized representative is required on all mechanicals or artwork prior to release for printing or other implementation.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
CLIENT shall pay for all transmissions charges. The Beta Images Creative Design Studio is not responsible for any errors, omissions or extra costs resulting from faults in the telephone, cable, satellite network or from incompatibility between the sending and receiving equipment.
INSPECTION OF BOOKS
Upon reasonable notice, any and all invoices from our vendors, time sheets and other documentation relating to your account will be available to you. All invoices can be viewed online at our invoicing utility powered by Fresh Books.
PROPERTY AND SUPPLIER’S PERFORMANCE
Beta Images Creative Design Studio will take all reasonable precautions to safeguard the property you entrust to us. In the absence of negligence on our part, however, we are not responsible for loss, destruction or damage or unauthorized use by others of such property. We will use our best efforts to ensure quality and timely delivery of all printed (offset, silk-screened, embossed or otherwise reproduced) pieces. Although we may use our best efforts to guard against any loss to you through the failure of our vendors, media, or others to perform in accordance with their commitments, Beta Images Creative Design Studio is not responsible for failure on their part. If you select your own vendors, other than those recommended by us, you may request that we coordinate their work. If at all possible, we will attempt to do so, but we cannot in anyway be held responsible for quality, price, performance or delivery. LIEN ‘ All materials or property belonging to the CLIENT, as well as work performed, may be retained as security until all just claims against the CLIENT are satisfied.
USE OF SERVICED PROVIDED
Beta Images Creative Design Studio reserves all rights to place published/launched pieces of art or websites designed on our website as a portfolio item. We reserve the right to use examples any pieces of work we have provided for you an any publications of our choose. Examples of uses are, but not limited to, portfolios, brochures, advertisements, post cards, and e-mail marketing campaigns. We will not publish your work until either the website has been officially launched and it is live on the internet or your particular brand has been officially launched. Government organizations are exempt for publication if requested via written notice or e-mail. All other organizations must submit a formal written notice requesting no publication of their services provided if they wish to not be published in any form.
RIGHTS OF OWNERSHIP
Once a project has been delivered by us and is fully paid for by CLIENT, Beta Images Creative Design Studio will assign the reproduction rights of the design for the use(s) described in the proposal. According to the Copy right Law of 1976, the rights to all design and art work, including but not limited to photography and or illustration created by independent photographers or illustrators retained by Beta Images Creative Design Studio, or purchased from a stock agency on your behalf, remain with the individual designer, artist, photographer or illustrator. Unless a purchase of ‘All Rights’ (A Buyout) is negotiated with Beta Images Creative Design Studio and/or his/her authorized representative, you may not use or reproduce the design or the images therein for a purpose other than the one(s) originally stipulated. If you wish to use the design we have created and/or the images within it for another purpose or project, including a reprint or exhibition, you must contact us to arrange the transfer of rights and any additional fees before proceeding. If printing or other implementation is done through your vendors, you agree to return to us all our original mechanicals and artwork (slides, prints, drawings, separations, etc.) within two weeks, and to provide us with printed samples of each project. We reserve the right to photograph and/or distribute or publish for our firms promotional and marketing needs any work we create for you, including mock-ups and comprehensive presentations, as samples for our portfolio, firm news letter, brochures, slide presentations and similar media. We agree to store mechanical boards and computer disks for a period of 6 months beyond the delivery of a job. Thereupon, we reserve the right to discard them.
TERM AND TERMINATION
The term of this agreement will continue for work in progress until terminated by either of us upon thirty (5) days written notice or a formal termination e-mail. If you should direct us at any time to cancel, terminate or ‘put on hold’ any previously authorized purchase, we will promptly do so, provided you hold us harmless for any cost incurred as a result. Upon termination of this agreement, Beta Images Creative Design Studio will transfer to CLIENT all your property and materials in our control and for which you have paid. CLIENT will indemnify and hold Beta Images Creative Design Studio harmless for any loss or expense (including attorney ‘s fees), and agree to defend Beta Images Creative Design Studio in any actual suit, claim or action arising in any way from our working relationship. This includes, but is not limited to assertations made against CLIENT and any of its products and services arising from the publication of materials that we prepare and you approve before publication.
PRODUCTION SCHEDULES
Production schedules will be established and adhered to by both CLIENT and the Beta Images Creative Design Studio, provided that neither shall incur any liability, penalty or additional cost due to delays caused by a state of war, riot, civil disorder, fire, labor trouble 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 the Designer. Where production schedules are not adhered to by the Client, final delivery date or dates will be adjusted accordingly.
WEBSITE AFTERCARE POLICY
The Website Aftercare Policy entails updating a previously designed Beta Images website with new content based on copy provided by the client. We will add new pages with provided content or update existing pages that adhere to our policy restrictions for free for the life of the project. Cropping and formatting existing images to stay consistent with the previously designed format is included in this service. We provide content updates to ensure that your site maintains a level of professionalism as intended with the original design. This does include embedding third party scripts as long as this does not alter the original design of the site or require custom graphic design. No advertisements or any form of custom graphic design is included in the free content updates.
If any major content updates such as large section additions that alter the original design of the site (i.e. Navigation, Panel structure, general layout design) are not included in the standard free content update. Updating content that requires new design/coding/css/html/php/javascript or any other applicable markup or programming language is considered a Design Project and is not included the the free content update.
Any content update that Beta Images estimates will take over one (1) hour to complete will be deemed a Design Project and not included in the free standard content updates. Content updates will be completed in a timely manner in accordance to Beta Image’s availability and you will be notified upon content update request as to the estimated date of completion for all updates. Large content updates may still fall under the free standard content updates offered by Beta Images if updated in pieces not greater than one (1) hour at a time and not exceeding four (4) hours a month. Exceptions may be made at Beta Image’s discretion.
ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS
The validity and enforceability of this agreement will be interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of Florida applicable to agreements entered into and performed in the State of Florida. This agreement is our entire understanding and may not be modified in any respect except in an executed agreement. If we must retain attorneys to collect our invoices, we will be entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees, court costs, and interest at the maximum rate permitted by law.