payment terms, client responsibilities & general conditions

Payment Terms

All payments are to be made within 7 days of invoicing, unless a prior written agreement has been made with CreativeTones. A deposit of 50% is required to commence work, with the remaining balance due upon completion of the agreed project milestones or deliverables. CreativeTones is entitled to charge the Client for any fees incurred relating to the commencement of collection and recovery processes for accounts that remain unpaid in excess of 30 days. Interest of 10% of the final invoice amount applies to overdue payments of 60 days or more.

Client Responsibilities and Continuation of Work

The Client is responsible for providing all content, approvals, and feedback necessary for the timely completion of the project. If CreativeTones notifies the Client of a delay caused by missing feedback or materials, and the Client fails to respond or provide the required content within 14 days, CreativeTones reserves the right to issue a full invoice for all work completed up to that point. Full payment of this invoice is required before any further work will continue. This clause applies to all graphic design work, including website development.

Suspension of Work

CreativeTones reserves the right to suspend all work on the project if payments are not received within the agreed timeframe, or if the Client fails to provide required content or approvals. Work will resume only after outstanding payments are made.

Ownership of Work

All work created by CreativeTones remains the property of CreativeTones until full payment has been received.

Revisions and Scope of Work

The project includes 3 rounds of revisions as agreed. Additional revisions or changes outside the agreed scope may incur additional fees, invoiced separately.

Cancellation and Refunds

If the Client cancels the project after commencement, the Client must pay for all work completed up to the cancellation date. Deposits are non-refundable.

Communication

The Client agrees to provide approvals, content, and feedback via email or other agreed channels. Response times exceeding reasonable periods may delay project delivery and may trigger invoicing as per the non-responsive client clause.

Confidentiality

CreativeTones will keep all Client information confidential and will not disclose any project details without prior consent.

Limitation of Liability

CreativeTones is not liable for any indirect, consequential, or special damages arising from the use of the delivered work. The Client is responsible for ensuring that all supplied content (images, logos, text) does not infringe third-party rights.

Force Majeure

CreativeTones will not be held liable for delays caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of God, technical failures, or third-party service outages.

Termination

CreativeTones may terminate the project, with written notice, if the Client is unresponsive or fails to pay. The Client is required to pay for all work completed up to the date of termination.

website development disclaimer

no warranty

CreativeTones provides web development and related services “as is” and without any express or implied warranties. While we strive to deliver high-quality, functional, and secure websites, we cannot guarantee that the website will be error-free, uninterrupted, or completely secure.

limitation of liability

CreativeTones is not responsible for:

• Any downtime, unavailability, or performance issues of the website
• Loss of data, content, or revenue resulting from website downtime
• Errors or issues caused by third-party software, hosting providers, plugins, or themes
• Any damages, whether direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential, arising from the use of the website

hosting and third-party services

Responsibility for website hosting, server maintenance, and any third-party services (e.g., domain registration, hosting, plugins, themes, APIs) rests with the client. CreativeTones cannot be held liable for failures or interruptions caused by these services.

content responsibility

The client is responsible for providing accurate content, including text, images, and media. CreativeTones is not liable for any copyright infringement, errors, or omissions in client-supplied content.

maintenance and updates

CreativeTones may provide optional maintenance and update services, but the client acknowledges that regular updates, backups, and security measures are the client’s responsibility unless otherwise agreed.

limitation on claims

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the total liability of CreativeTones arising out of, or in connection with, the services provided shall not exceed the total amount paid by the client for the project.

agreement acceptance

By engaging CreativeTones for web development services, the client acknowledges and agrees to this disclaimer.

website maintenance

At CreativeTones, we want your website to run smoothly and always look its absolute best. We understand that the web can be full of surprises, challenges, and unexpected limitations. That’s why we pride ourselves on being professional and dedicated—ensuring everything we create truly shines.

CreativeTones is committed to helping your website continue to shine. At the same time, we want to make you aware of some important information:

While we love building great websites, we know that maintaining one is an ongoing process. That’s why CreativeTones allocates regular time and resources to ensure your website stays secure, up to date, user-friendly, and performing at its best. With the CreativeTones Maintenance Plan, we actively support your website’s overall health and long-term performance.

regular content updates

CreativeTones recommends to keep your website fresh and engaging by regularly updating the content. Add new blog posts, articles, or product/service information will provide value to your visitors. Remove outdated or irrelevant content to maintain a professional image. CreativeTones, as part of our website maintenance program, do minor edit of one photo addition/change and/or one simple content edit per month (max 12 times per year) and after this time these edits fall outside of our website maintenance.

CreativeTones will give client priority on any additional site edits outside of standard website maintenance scope (for which a separate quote can be provided on request).

reporting

CreativeTones can provide a monthly report to you on a variety of activity on your website. Please reach out if you would like.

software updates

CreativeTones will ensure that your website’s software, including content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, plugins, themes, and scripts, are up to date. These updates often include security patches, bug fixes, and new features that improve performance and protect against vulnerabilities.*

backup and recovery

CreativeTones will implement a regular backup system to protect your website’s data. Backups can be done regularly. CreativeTones will store the backups securely offsite via cloud-based backup services and test the restoration process periodically to ensure your backups are functional. These backups will be stored with CreativeTones whilst under maintenance program. After this time backups will be deleted. If recovery of website is required CreativeTones will implement backup restoration for a minimal fee of $125.00.

security monitoring

CreativeTones will protect your website from cyber threats by monitoring security vulnerabilities, install up-to-date security plugins or services to scan for malware, monitor login attempts, and enforce strong passwords. Regularly review security logs and take appropriate actions to address any suspicious activities.

performance optimisation

CreativeTones will optimise your website for fast loading times and smooth user experience. Regularly check page load speeds, optimise images and videos, minify code, and utilise caching techniques. Monitor website performance via them performance tools.

broken links and error handling

Regularly scan your website for broken links and fix them promptly. Use tools or plugins that can detect and report broken links, ensuring a seamless user experience. Set up custom error pages to handle 404 errors and guide visitors to relevant content.

mobile responsiveness

With the increasing use of mobile devices, CreativeTones will ensure your website is mobile-friendly. CreativeTones will regularly test your website’s responsiveness across different devices and screen sizes. Make necessary adjustments to optimise the mobile experience.

email

CreativeTones holds no responsibility if your email addresses are targeted with spam as it is outside of our control CreativeTones holds no responsibility if the Client’s email account details are attained and used to send spam or malicious material.

copyright

CreativeTones respects copyright. If you supply copyrighted content without permission, the owner has the right to take legal action against you, with possible infringement. It’s important to not supply any unauthorised copyrighted material to CreativeTones for any of your content.

CreativeTones accepts no responsibility for any copyrighted content on your website.

confidentiality

CreativeTones respects confidentiality and will address the handling of confidential information exchanged during the maintenance process. CreativeTones will include provisions to protect sensitive data and will always endeavour to maintain absolute confidentiality.

search engine optimisation (SEO) & search engine listings

CreativeTones can help with your SEO needs although does not directly work with your SEO apart from installation and sending your details to Google on site completion (new websites). CreativeTones can connect you with our SEO specialist who can help and assist with your websites SEO.

CreativeTones takes no responsibility for your Google rankings and other analytics concerning SEO.

data responsibility

With website hosting, depending on your choice, there is often limited data and sometime hosting plans are very cheaper due to shared hosting plans which may mean limited data.

websites on shared servers

Cheaper hosting such as linux shared hosting means that your website is located on shared server that shares its space with many websites across the world. This may mean limited service time and in some cases downtime of your website. Whilst CreativeTones doesn’t want to see you website down it however cannot be responsible for this outage.

If the client finds this to be an an ongoing issue please contact CreativeTones to discuss upgrading you to a more suitable plan.

hacked or broken websites

Whilst CreativeTones will endeavour to fully protect your website, it however is not responsible for any site that is “hacked” or maliciously attacked in any form. The company cannot be blamed or made to pay for any money lost from any downtime to the client’s website relating to a hack or malicious malware.

CreativeTones will endeavour to get your website cleaned and running as soon as possible.