Terms and Conditions

Welcome

Below is the terms and conditions for use of our products and services. Please be sure to Contact Us with any questions or concerns. BY USING THE SITE OR ANY OF OUR SERVICES, YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF USE; IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT USE THE SITE OR OUR SERVICES. For privacy information and use of our websites, please see our Privacy Policy

OakTree Designs terms and conditions – Web Design

You the client (“Client”)
Christine Kollo, Nikolaus Kollo and/or any employee of such trading as OakTree (or Oak Tree) Designs Incorporated, the company (“Company”).

  • The Client has a need for services; and
  • The Company has an interest in performing such services for the Client; and
  • The parties wish to set forth the terms and conditions upon which such services will be provided to the Client.

By signing the documents, checking the box relating to the terms and conditions when signing-up to our service or paying your first invoice you are legally bound by these terms. If you do not agree with these terms and conditions you may not use the service.

Both parties agree as follows:

Description of the Services

The Company will provide services available in the chosen plan or service the Client has signed up for.

Signup

The person signing up for a website plan will automatically be assigned as the key decision maker or sign off person and is the only person authorized to request changes or cancel the contract. If the Client wishes to give another person this authority too, the Client will need to contact the Company with their name and email address and the Company will add them to the approved list.

If the Client no longer wishes for this additional person(s) to have this authority, it is the Client’s responsibility to inform the Company.

Payment

The Client agrees to provide the Company with a direct debit mandate and authorizes the Company to deduct payments of the current monthly and/or annual costs as published on the Company’s website, or as otherwise agreed upon. The bank account must be registered in the Client’s name or business. A credit card or PayPal account may be provided as well and will be charged under the same conditions.

There will be no refund or credit for partial months or years of service – the monthly plans are designed to help the Client cover the costs of the original web design over a longer period and depending on the time of cancellation, most or all of the work may have been completed. All associated costs are chargeable and shall be payable until an account is terminated or cancelled by either the Client or the Company.

The Company may increase the prices at any time by giving the Client not less than 30 day’s notice provided that the increase does not exceed 25% of the prices in effect immediately prior to the increase. The company will not increase monthly rates more than 25% within a 12 month period.

Late Payment

Payments received after the invoice due date will be subject to a 2% compounded monthly late fee. Unpaid invoices past due more than 60 days are subject to service disruption – See Suspension of Service for details. Please note – we are always happy to work with clients and find a solution to admin issues. Please get in touch with us as soon as possible if you think you may be late with your payment.

Payment Terms/Schedule for Web Design

  1. Upfront costs are to be paid immediately via Direct Debit, Credit Card or PayPal. The Direct Debit setup and processing period will typically take 5-7 working days to complete (from the client sign-up date).
  2. Monthly or annually recurring costs are to be paid via Direct Debit (unless otherwise agreed by the company in writing), Credit Card or PayPal. The monthly payment will be taken on the same date each month. Should a payment date fall on a non-working day, the payment will be processed on the next available working day.
  3. The first monthly payment to be paid no-later than 7 days from client sign-up (unless otherwise agreed by the Company in writing beforehand).
  4. The first annual payment to be paid no-later than 7 days from client sign-up (unless otherwise agreed by the Company in writing beforehand).

Payment Terms/Schedule for Add-Ons

  1. Payment for add on services will be charged in its entirety immediately using the method of payment the Client has already provided unless otherwise agreed upon in writing beforehand.

Payment Terms/Schedule for CRM or dedicated Servers.

  1. Payment for CRM installation services will be charged immediately using the method of payment the Client decided upon: Direct Debit, Credit Card or PayPal. The Direct Debit setup and processing period will typically take 5-7 working days to complete (from the client sign-up date).
  2. Monthly or annually recurring costs are to be paid via Direct Debit, Credit Card or PayPal (unless otherwise agreed by the company in writing). The monthly payment will be taken on the same date each month. Should a payment date fall on a non-working day, the payment will be processed on the next available working day.
  3. The first monthly payment to be paid no-later than 7 days from client sign-up (unless otherwise agreed by the Company in writing beforehand).
  4. The first annual payment to be paid no-later than 7 days from client sign-up (unless otherwise agreed by the Company in writing beforehand).

Payment Terms/Schedule for Graphic Design.

  1. 50% of the payment for graphic design services will be charged immediately using the method of payment the Client decided upon: Direct Debit, Credit Card or PayPal (unless otherwise agreed by the company in writing). The Direct Debit setup and processing period will typically take 5-7 working days to complete (from the client sign-up date).
  2. The remaining 50% is due no later that 15 days past the receipt of the final project presentation before completed design documents are provided. Watermarked designs will be sent until final payment is made.

1-year Contracts

Standard and E-Commerce Web Design clients will be assigned a 12 month fixed-term contract and will be required to pay out the remainder of the contract if they wish to terminate service (unless otherwise agreed by the company). After the one year contract has completed, clients will be lowered to a continuing care service plan of choice as agreed upon at the time of signing. The price of the service plans are subject to change and the client will be notified of the change at least 30 days in advance.

2-year Contracts

Clients on a 2 year contract have opted in for an extended commitment with a Pro or Plus Continuing Care option with an complimentary Brand Design and/or Audit.

Standard Web Design clients will be assigned a 24 month fixed-term contract and will be required to pay out the remainder of the first year only of the contract if they wish to terminate service (unless otherwise agreed by the company). After the one year contract has completed, clients will be lowered to a continuing care service plan of choice as agreed upon at the time of signing. The price of the service plans are subject to change and the client will be notified of the change at least 30 days in advance.

Continuing Care Plans

All monthly web design clients are required to select a continuing care plan at the beginning of the project. The care plans cover associated costs the Company covers on the Clients behalf (Domain name acquisition and renewals, hosting fees, SSL certificate, specialized plug-ins/software, etc.) and labour hours for security, maintenance, updates etc.

Continuing care costs are mandatory and can be paid monthly or yearly. Please note – we offer a 10% discount for yearly subscribers. See Payment Terms/Schedule for Web Design section above for more information.

QUOTED WEB DESIGN PROJECTS

We will create separate accounts under your name or business and you will be responsible for all related costs, updates and maintenance. Once the site is launched, OakTree will remain available for a period of 60 days to make minor content updates, make any relevant fixes or to assist with the website in a manner that is related to the original scope of work. After the 60 day period has lapsed, any inquiries or assistance will be billed at our current hourly rate.

For most up to date information about Continuing Care plans and options, please visit our Web Design page for more information or Contact us for more assistance.

Website Content

Content includes but is not limited to: written words (also known or referred to as copy), branded graphics (logos, patterns, etc.), photographs, videos, social media posts, sounds, music, animations, etc.

The Client is responsible for providing all content. If no content or incorrect or inaccurate content is provided, this is not the Company’s responsibility and the Client will still be billed as agreed. Filler (lorum ipsum, stock photos, etc.) content will be provided or relevant content will be included by the company if they so choose to so in the event that inadequate content was provided. The Company has the right to bill the Client for any hours spent collecting content assets for the project.

The Company is not responsible for any legal issues that arise from a sites content on any platform – See copyright and intellectual property rights below. It is the Clients responsibility to ensure that no website content includes information that is not for public consumption (privacy concerns, classified documents, etc.). If the Company deems content to be inappropriate, dangerous or illegal in anyway, the Company reserves the right to deny the request to include it. In certain situations, if the Company believes any person is at risk of harm in any way, the proper authorities will be alerted and our work will cease – if on a 12 or 24 month contract, the Client will be responsible for paying out the rest of their contract in a one time payment and the contract will then be cancelled.

Copyright

Any content provided must be owned by the Client and not infringe on any copyright laws. The Client shall indemnify the Company against all claims in respect of any alleged infringement of copyright trademark or design.

Intellectual Property Rights

Websites

Any intellectual property rights for the web design shall pass to the client upon completion and payment.

Graphic Design

Any intellectual property rights for design work as relating to a Web Design project such as logo creation shall be passed to the Client upon completion and final payment. For more in-depth terms and conditions of the Company’s Graphic Design services, please go to the Graphic Design section HERE. Please note – designs created by the Company that are not approved by the Client remain property of the Company.

Domain names

Any domain names purchased by the Company for the Client will be the property of the Client, held in trust by the Company. If the contract is cancelled, the ownership of the domain will be transferred to the domain registrar of the clients choosing. However, the transfer of ownership to another registrar is at the risk of the Client and the Company is not responsible for any errors incurred, if any, during said transfer. The Client is responsible to pay a transfer fees to the Company to cover studio hours needed to complete the transfer. See Termination & Notice below for details.

Emails

Any email service provided by the Company will cease to exist if the contract is cancelled by either party. Access to any data related to email accounts such as emails, contacts and appointments will be erased. The Client is responsible for taking their own backups and archives of email. The Company can not he held responsible of any loss of data at anytime due to e-mail errors.

Existing Domain Names & Email Addresses

In the event that the Client already has a Domain Name and/or Email Address setup, which are then transferred to the Company to manage, the Company can not be held responsible for any downtime or loss of data during this process. This could include items such as existing emails and contacts, existing calendar appointments, and existing 3rd party websites, etc. Upon migration, there is no guarantee that any historic emails will be available. It is the Clients responsibility to make the necessary arrangements to ensure a backup or archive is available to them after the transfer has been completed.

Domain name renewals

If the client has registered their own domain(s) using their own account (domain control panel), it is the clients responsibility to manage their domain(s), and the Company will not be held accountable for any issues that arise from domain errors. This includes any payments and renewals via the relevant domain registrar. Domains that have been registered by the Company, or domains that have been transferred to the Company’s account, will be managed by the Company – see domain names under Intellectual Property for more information.

Suspension of service

The Company has the right to stop providing services or suspend services if payment is not received within 60 days past the invoice due date. The website will be disabled and an “under construction” page will be created and used as the sites homepage temporarily until payment in full with interest is made. We understand that life happens, please contact us if you run into issues paying your bill – we never want to see this happen and are always happy to find a solution. See the late payment section for information about late fee’s.

If no payment or attempt of payment has been made within 90 days past due, the domain name ownership and web design (Client supplied content not included) will be forfeit by the Client and ownership will pass to the Company. Full payment, interest and a reactivation and administration charge of $150.00 plus tax will be required to regain ownership and continuation of service.

If payments become chronically late, the Company reserves the right to transfer the site to a self-hosted account and support from the Company will be stopped.

What is classed as a content update and what is support?

A content update is a change to existing content and pages only, with the exception of news and blog articles which will be added as new posts (see website content section). Any additional page requests after the website has launched will be chargeable (unless specified otherwise by the Company). Support is for (through OakTree Fort Client Portal) questions regarding the services or assistance with an issue with WordPress, CRM software, E-mail addresses etc. It is not for adding or removing content or doing work on website content.

Fair usage quota (maintenance plans & On-Call Service)

Continuing Care Pro and Plus plans include unlimited content updates and support in the plan options. However, the Company reserves the right to determine what constitutes a reasonable amount of time spent on each client in general, each update or support item. While we are committed to providing our clients with exceptional service, we ask that clients respect our time and expertise. The intention for unlimited content updates is to support our clients with all their website needs but common sense and reason needs to be applied as well. We cannot continue our business if we are working 60 hours a week for one client paying $100/month.

In the event that a client requests an excessive number of, or time consuming updates or modifications, the Company may charge additional fees or modify the terms of the ongoing maintenance plan at the Companies discretion.

Please see the Contact Us page for most to date business hours – requests received outside of business hours will not be actioned until the next business day. We will work with our clients to ensure that their needs are met within a reasonable time frame, but we cannot guarantee immediate availability or turnaround times. We encourage our clients to communicate their needs and expectations with us so that we can work together to provide the best possible service.

CRM

The Company does not own the copyright for Perfex CRM and we do not sell Perfex CRM. We install, configure and maintain instances of the software for our clients. The Company purchases a licence for the software from Perfex CRM for the Clients use. The Company not have any ownership rights to the software or licence acquired for the client. For the privacy policy and terms in relation to Perfex CRM, please visit their website for further information.

Dedicated Servers & Website Hosting

The Company is not liable for lost, stolen or otherwise missing data. We will however, make every attempt reasonably possible to recover lost data but are not liable if it is not retrieved successfully. The Company uses Cloudways for all of our server requirements. For full terms and conditions of use for dedicated servers, you agree to the above terms as well as those listed at https://www.cloudways.com/en/terms.php.

Legal

The Client must not use our services to advertise or promote anything that is illegal or encourages criminal activity. If the Client does, the website will taken down with immediate effect and all associated files will be deleted without warning. The company is not liable or able to be held accountable for any content of any kind. It is up to the client to keep their content within the limits of the law – See the Content section for more information.

Termination & notice

  1. All costs and fees are non-refundable, unless agreed upon by The Company.
  2. The Client may terminate this agreement up to 30 days prior to the last day of the minimum agreement term. The Client must give 30 days written notice to the Company for any cancellations of service.
  3. In the event of cancellation, the Client is responsible to have their site ported to a new host and domain registrar. A $250 transfer charge will be applied to their final bill. That will include the $50 domain transfer fee as well as the transfer of all their files. The Company is not liable for any missing, incomplete, corrupted or misconfigured data during the transfer and the Client acknowledges that the transfer is at their own risk.
  4. The Company can terminate this agreement at any time and must give 30 days written notice to the Client. If the Company initiated the cancellation, the $50 domain transfer fee only will be applied to the last bill and the files, domain and hosting settings will be transferred to a self-hosted setup.
  5. Any external costs will be payable by the Client for any fees incurred during the transfer.

Complete Port Over – The Company offers a complete port over service if the Client would like to leave our network. The service fee includes:

– Domain registrar account setup
– Domain name transfer
– Hosting account setup
– Hosting transfer
– All files transferred, reset and configured for new server requirements
– 30 days of support and maintenance
– Basic documentation for updating WordPress and new account details

Please Contact Us for current pricing – the cost changes depending complexity of the port over, market hosting and domain rates and our studio hourly rate.

Limitation of Liability

In no event will the Company be liable for any special, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages nor loss of data, profits or revenue, cost of capital, or downtime costs, nor for any exemplary or punitive damages, arising from any claim or action, incidental or collateral to, or directly or indirectly related to or in any way connected with, the subject matter of the agreement, whether such damages are based on contract, tort, statute, implied duties or obligations, or other legal theory, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

Privacy

We do not collect or store any information that is not directly required to provide service. We will not, at any point, sell your information to anyone. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information. Please note – We are not responsible if information held on our servers is lost or stolen. Our servers are through Cloudway, please see their Privacy Policy for more information.

Miscellaneous

Independent

The parties are independent and are not partners, principal and agent or employer and employee and the Contract does not establish any joint venture, trust, fiduciary or other relationship between them, other than the contractual relationship expressly provided for in it. None of the parties shall have, nor shall represent that they have, any authority to make any commitments on the other party’s behalf.

Force Majeure

The Company shall not be liable for any failure to perform under this Contract when such failure is due to causes beyond that party’s reasonable control, including, but not limited to, acts of provincial or governmental authorities, acts of terrorism, natural catastrophe, fire, storm, flood, earthquakes, accident, and prolonged shortage of energy.  In the event of such delay the date of delivery, time for completion or renewal of service will be extended by a period of time reasonably necessary for both Company and Client. If the delay remains in effect for a period in excess of 60 days, the Client may terminate this Contract immediately upon written notice to the Company.

Promotional use

The Company will keep all original artwork and digital files prepared in connection with the project and may use them for promotional purposes without prior permission from the Client. For example, but not limited to, on their portfolio page and/or related social media accounts. Including but not limited to OakTree Designs account as well as the personal account of Christine and Nikolaus Kollo or other employees of the Company. Please let us know if you would like designs changed or removed from our portfolio, social media or other mediums used for promotional use.

Designed by

‘Created by OakTree Designs’ shall be included in the Client’s website footer and will include a hyperlink back to www.oaktreedesigns.ca/. If the Client wishes for this not to be visible, the Client must inform the Company, in writing as to why and the link will be removed within 30 days.

Time

The Company will make every effort to stay within the agreed upon time frame for project completion but will not be held liable due to project delays.

Questions

If you have any questions or want to discuss our terms and conditions further, please contact us.

OakTree Designs terms and conditions – Graphic Design Services

Terms & Conditions

These Standard Terms and Conditions provide the basis for a good working relationship between OakTree Designs Inc. (“OakTree” “Oak Tree” or “Company”) and you (the “Client”). These terms form an integral part of the agreement between OakTree Designs and the Client.

COPYRIGHT AND OWNERSHIP

  1. Except for the retained rights described in the paragraph below, all services provided and all materials OakTree Designs produced on your behalf will become the Clients property upon payment in full.
  2. The Company retains the right to:
    1. Use work produced for the Client as part of its portfolio materials in both its online and offline portfolios and social media posts in relation to our portfolio;
    2. Add the Clients firm/company name and logo to our client list; and
    3. Use the Clients completed work in design competitions, publications, exhibitions, or other promotional purposes.
  3. Any material or ideas prepared or submitted to the Client that has not yet been paid for (overdue invoices included), or have not been chosen to be produced will remain property of the Company (regardless of whether the physical embodiment of creative work is in your possession in the form of copy, artwork, plates, recordings, films, tapes, etc.) and may be submitted to other clients for their use, provided that such submission or use does not involve the release of any confidential information regarding your business or methods of operation.

DISBURSEMENTS

  1. In addition to our fees, you agree to pay either the Company or the provider directly for third party charges we incur to complete the projects. Third party charges will be treated as disbursements and may be billed separately. These charges could include things such as: specialty printing services, stock images, vector graphics etc. It is the Clients responsibility to read and understand the Terms & Conditions set forth by any third-party company used for a project.

FEES & ALTERATIONS

  1. Any revisions, additions, or alterations to the project modifying the terms of the agreement as the Services to be performed and not included in any fee specified, shall be billed as additional services. Such additional services shall include, but are not limited to, changes in the extent of work, changes in the complexity of any elements of the project, and any changes made after approval has been given for a specific stage of design, documentation, or preparation of artwork.

RUSHED OR PROLONGED WORK

  1. Any work required in advance of an agreed schedule or timetable, any shortening of the contract period, or additional fees and expenses incurred during a project due to Client delays or extensions shall be charged and paid for at an additional rate of 50% of the Company’s hourly rate. Please contact us for our current rates.

CLIENT APPROVAL

  1. The Client will appoint a single representative of the Client with full authority to provide necessary information required by the Company and to provide approvals.
  2. The Client will be required to proofread and approve all elements of final designs. Approval must be provided before production can continue and artwork is released. Corrections, if required, will be identified in writing on proofs, artwork, facsimiles, or digital proofs and submitted for the Company to revise and resubmit for client approval. Final approval is required on every project and must be marked “Approved” or with similar language with the name or initials of the individual who is authorized by the Client to approve artwork for release and production. Email authorization from the Client will constitute authorization and approval to carry out work defined in the request for service.
  3. Please note – final client approval is not required for remaining invoices to be paid. If the Company has adhered the the service request and deems the Client to be unreasonable in their requests for modifications, the final invoice will be sent to the Client for payment.

QUALITY OF SOURCE MATERIALS PROVIDED BY THE CLIENT

  1. Additional charges will apply when materials are submitted by the Client in a form that prevents them from being readily used and applied at recognized professional standards. An example would be to recreate a low-resolution logo image file into a vector file or proof-reading written content.

PRODUCTION

  1. In those instances where the Client assumes responsibility for production, printed proofs, copies, prototypes and mock-ups must be approved by the Company prior to use. The Company will be available at reasonable times to provide advice during the production period and for approval of minor modifications of the project (hourly rates will apply).
  2. When the Company is engaged in a supervisory function and assumes responsibility for production on behalf of the Client, the Client agrees to abide by the decisions made by the Company.

GRAPHIC DESIGN PAYMENT SCHEDULE

  1. Unless otherwise noted, the Client’s payment schedule is tied to the project’s milestones as per below:
    1. 50% deposit upon contract acceptance
    2. 50% (plus any additional charges) balance due upon completion of design – Final design files will not be released until final payment has been made. The Client is required to pay the final invoice once the service request has been fulfilled, regardless if they have made final approval. See Client Approval section for more information.

Late/DELAYED PAYMENTS

Payments received after the invoice due date will be subject to a 2% late fee (compounded monthly).

Please note – we are always happy to work with clients and find a solution to admin issues. Please get in touch with us as soon as possible if you think you may be late with your payment.

DESIGN CREDITS

  1. The Client agrees that the Company is entitled to claim authorship of the design, and will be permitted editorial credits to the Company on all published or manufactured work. The Client must obtain the Company’s consent in writing before the Company’s name, in any form, is reproduced in any finished product or other published material by the Client.

TERMINATION

  1. This agreement may be terminated in writing if either the Client or OakTree Designs commits a breach and fails to remedy the breach within 14 days of receiving written notification from the other party specifying the breach and requiring its remedy.
  2. This agreement may be terminated by any reason by either the Client or OakTree Designs, if a written notification is provided within 30 days.
  3. On termination of this project, or any part of it, for any reason, the Client will pay the Company for the work completed to date, along with all expenses incurred on the project. Any advance of fees provided will be credited against the amount due. The initial 50% deposit is non-refundable, no exceptions. 
  4. In the event of termination, the Company will retain all copyrights even if the fees agreed to in advance have included the assignment of the copyright.

INDEMNITY

  1. The Client will provide accurate and complete information and materials to the Company, and warrants and guarantees that all materials are owned by the Client or that the Client has all necessary rights (including copyright and waiver or moral rights) in such materials, to allow the Company to use them for the project. The Company is not responsible for any copyright infringement issues for materials provided by the Client.
  2. We will use our reasonable best efforts to guard against any loss to you caused by the failure of media, suppliers, or others to perform in accordance with their commitments, but the Company will not be responsible for any such loss or failure on their part, or any destruction or unauthorized use by others of the Client’s property.
  3. The Company is not responsible for errors or omissions in any work produced as per the Client’s approval or final payment, and no financial responsibility is assumed by the Company for errors or damages resulting from such errors.
  4. The Company will not be responsible for delays in delivery caused by acts of God, strikes, fires, floods, or any other similar circumstances beyond the Company’s control.
  5. The Client agrees to indemnify the Company, its employees, contractors and agents against all third-party claims (including, without limitation, reasonable lawyers’ fees) arising from or relating to any content or materials provided to the Company by the Client or in relation to the use by the Client, or anyone else, of materials produced by the Company at the Client’s request.
  6. All indemnification obligations shall survive the termination of services.

APPLICABLE LAW

  1. This agreement and all terms and conditions will be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of Canada.

Please Contact Us with any questions. Thank you.