Terms and Conditions
Acceptance of Terms
The Supplier permits the use of this Website subject to these terms and conditions ("the Terms and Conditions"). By using this Website in any way, you shall be deemed to have accepted all the Terms and Conditions unconditionally. You must not use this Website if you do not agree to the Terms and Conditions. Your use of any services offered by us will also be subject to applicable provisions of the Terms and Conditions. In the event of any conflict between the Terms and Conditions and any other conditions stipulated elsewhere, the Terms and Conditions as contained herein will prevail.
Use of the Website
The contents of this Website, including any content, information, software, icons, text, links, graphics, lay-outs, images, sound clips, trade names, logos, trademarks and service marks are protected by law, including but not limited to copyright and trade mark law, and are owned by or licensed to The Supplier. No license to or right in any of such contents is granted to or conferred upon you. Any unauthorized use, distribution or reproduction of the said contents is prohibited. By entering this Website, you agree that you will not use any device, software or other instrumentality to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Website and that you will not take any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure. In addition, you agree that you will not use any robot, spider, other automatic device, or manual process to monitor or copy the pages of the Website or the content contained herein, without the prior written consent from an authorized The Supplier representative (such consent is deemed given for standard search engine technology employed by Internet search websites to direct Internet users to this Website). You may not use the Website to distribute material which is defamatory, offensive, and unlawful or contains hate speech.
Disclaimer
While The Supplier takes reasonable measures to ensure that the contents of this Website are accurate and complete, The Supplier makes no representations or warranties, whether express or implied, as to the quality, timeliness, operation, integrity, availability or functionality of this Website or as to the accuracy, completeness or reliability of any information on this Website. The Supplier reserves the right to make changes, corrections and/or improvements to the information and to the products and programs described in such information, at any time without notice.
The Supplier will use reasonable endeavours to maintain the availability of the Website, except during scheduled maintenance periods, and reserves the right to discontinue providing the Website or the service or any part thereof with or without notice to you. Any person who accesses this Website or relies on this Website or on the information contained in this Website does so at his or her own risk.
In addition to the disclaimers contained elsewhere in these Terms and Conditions, The Supplier also makes no warranty or representation, whether express or implied, that the information or files available on this Website are free of viruses, spyware, malware, trojans, destructive materials or any other data or code which is able to corrupt, destroy, compromise or jeopardise the operation, stability, security functionality or content of your computer system, computer network, hardware or software in any way. The Supplier does not accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions on this Website.
Linked Third-Party Website and Third-Party Content
This Website may contain links or references to other websites outside of our control, including those of advertisers. These Terms and Conditions do not apply to those websites and The Supplier is not responsible for the practices and/or privacy policies of those sites or the cookies those sites use. In addition, because The Supplier has no control over such external sites and resources, you acknowledge and agree that The Supplier is not responsible for ensuring the availability of such external websites or resources and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products, or other materials on or available from such websites or resources. Your use of such other websites is entirely at your own risk and we are not responsible for any loss, expense, claim or damage, whether direct, indirect or consequential, arising from your use of such other websites or your reliance on any information contained on those websites.
Permission for Hyperlinks, Deep Linking, Crawlers and Metatags
Nobody may establish a hyperlink, frame, metatag or similar reference, whether electronically or otherwise (collectively referred to as linking), to this Website or any subsidiary pages before receiving the prior written approval of an authorised representative of The Supplier, which may be withheld or granted subject to such conditions The Supplier may specify from time to time. Furthermore, this Website or any part hereof may not be "framed" or "deep linked" in any way whatsoever. This Website may from time to time contain message boards which allow users to comment on their experience at The Supplier. At times those comments may contain references to matters not related to The Supplier. Those references do not necessarily represent the views of The Supplier.
Limitation of Liability
THE SUPPLIER SHALL IN NO WAY BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL INJURY, LOSS OR DAMAGES WHICH MIGHT ARISE FROM YOUR USE OF, OR RELIANCE UPON, ANY MATERIAL OR CONTENT CONTAINED IN THE WEBSITE OR ANY LINKED WEBSITE, OR ANY INABILITY TO USE THE WEBSITE, OR ANY UNLAWFUL ACTIVITY ON THE WEBSITE CAUSED BEYOND THE REASONABLE CONTROL OF THE SUPPLIER.
YOU HEREBY INDEMNIFY THE SUPPLIER AGAINST ANY LOSS, CLAIM OR DAMAGE WHICH MAY BE SUFFERED BY YOURSELF OR ANY THIRD PARTY ARISING IN ANY WAY FROM YOUR USE OF THIS WEBSITE OR THE RECEIPT BY YOU OF AN ELECTRONIC MAIL FROM THE SUPPLIER OR ONE THAT PURPORTS TO EMANATE FROM THE SUPPLIER, UNLESS THE LOSS, CLAIM OR DAMAGE ARISES AS A RESULT OF THE GROSS NEGLIGENCE OF THE SUPPLIER.
Changes to these Terms and Conditions
The Supplier reserves the right to update and/or amend the Terms and Conditions from time to time and without any notice, and you are accordingly encouraged to check the Website regularly. Any such change will only apply to your use of this Website after the change is displayed on this Website. If you use this Website after such updated or amended Terms and Conditions have been displayed on this Website, you will be deemed to have accepted such updates or amendments.
Termination
The Supplier may in its sole discretion terminate, suspend and modify this Website and/or your use of this Website, with or without notice to you. You agree that The Supplier will not be liable to you in the event that it chooses to suspend, modify or terminate this Website or your use of this Website.
Governing Law
The Terms and Conditions shall be governed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa and application for any of the services offered on these pages or sites will constitute your consent and submission to the jurisdiction of the South African courts regarding all proceedings, transactions, applications or the like instituted by either party against the other, arising from any of the terms and conditions pertaining to such services.
Terms of Use
The information contained on this site is provided for information only. While the information contained on the site has been compiled in good faith, no representation is made as to its completeness or accuracy. RCS-Communication makes no commitment, and disclaims any duty, to update or correct or to provide notice as to any error or omission in any report or other information contained on the site. RCS-Communication reserves the right to add, modify or delete information on this site at any time.
ALL INFORMATION AND CONTENT ON THE SITE ARE SUBJECT TO APPLICABLE STATUTES AND REGULATIONS, AND ARE FURNISHED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. RCS-COMMUNICATION SHALL NOT BE LIABLE (WHETHER IN NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) TO ANY PERSON FOR ANY ERROR, OMISSION OR INCOMPLETENESS IN THE INFORMATION, OR RELIANCE ON THE INFORMATION, ON THE SITE, NOR SHALL RCS-COMMUNICATION BE UNDER ANY OBLIGATION TO ADVISE ANY PERSON OF ANY ERROR THEREIN. IN NO EVENT SHALL RCS-COMMUNICATION BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, OR LOSS OF INFORMATION) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE OR THE INFORMATION THEREON, EVEN IF RCS-COMMUNICATION HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. BECAUSE SOME JURISDICTIONS PROHIBIT THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
Please note that there is no guarantee that any email sent to RCS-Communication will be received by RCS-Communication, or that the contents of the email will remain confidential during internet transmission.
Introduction
This document defines the terms and conditions of our working relationship. Unless otherwise agreed to in writing by both the parties, by placing an order with RCS-Communication, you confirm that you are in agreement with and bound by the terms and conditions below.
Definitions
As used herein and throughout this Agreement:
- “Agreement” means the entire content of this Basic Terms and Conditions document, the Proposal document(s), Schedule(s), together with any other Supplements designated below, together with any exhibits, schedules or attachments hereto.
- “Content” means all materials, information, photography, writings and other creative content.
- “Copyrights” means the property rights in original works of authorship, expressed in a tangible medium of expression, as defined and enforceable under South African and International Copyright Law.
- “Deliverables” means the services and work product specified in the Proposal to be delivered by RCS-Communication to the CLIENT, in the form and media specified.
- “Services” means all services and the work product to be provided to Client by RCS-Communication as described and otherwise further defined.
- “Trademarks” means trade names, words, symbols, designs, logos or other devices or designs used in the Final Deliverables.
- “Ongoing Management” means the ongoing work to keep the website functioning and secure. This includes, but is not limited to: data management, backups, maintenance, upgrades and software patches.
General Terms
RCS-Communication's number one priority is to offer the CLIENT a professional web service, which may include but is not limited to web design, hosting, domain registration/renewal, maintenance, online advertising management, search engine optimization, social media marketing, and graphic design.
Authorisation
The CLIENT authorises RCS-Communication to perform the services outlined in this agreement on the CLIENTS’ behalf, which may include, but is not limited to, registering their domain, accessing hosting accounts and disk space, creating databases and applications, managing their online advertising, accessing social media accounts, accessing Google Analytics statics, accessing email accounts to provide support, accessing and managing DNS on the client's behalf and submitting their websites to search engines.
Agreement Scope
Services supplied, costs and rates are limited to what is specifically set forth in the service package agreement. Any additional services will require an additional agreement. Our agreement is for the full package containing various services.
Should the CLIENT not utilise all services offered within the complete package, the CLIENT will still be liable for the full payment for the complete package.
Costs and Fees
Changes and additions outside of the scope of this document will be quoted and invoiced to the CLIENT. The CLIENT will be advised of all costs, charges, and additions before the commencement of the additional work. Fees for professional services do not include outside purchases such as, but not limited to, software licensing, copyright licensing, photography, color printouts, illustrations or courier service. Additional expenses are itemized on each invoice.
Production Schedules
Production schedules will be established and adhered to by both the CLIENT and RCS-Communication. Where production schedules are not adhered to by the CLIENT, the final delivery date or dates will be adjusted accordingly. Additional costs may be charged for CLIENT delays if the delays result in an increase in time to manage or deliver the services.
Payment
The CLIENT agrees to pay RCS-Communication in accordance with the terms specified in each proposal/estimate. Payment will be due from the date of signing the agreement.
If the CLIENT fails to pay any invoice, RCS-Communication reserves the right to withdraw the website and associated materials or refuse completion and/or delivery of work until past due balances are paid. 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. The CLIENT is responsible for any debt collection, legal or court fees that may come due.
In the event of cancellation of the project prior to completion, the CLIENT will be liable for 1 month's payment as per the 30-day cancellation notice.
Confidentiality
RCS-Communication will not disclose to any third party or use, other than for the purposes of this agreement, any knowledge or information imparted to or obtained by it during or in connection with the fulfillment of this agreement, which is of a secret or confidential nature relating to the business, equipment, processes, products, services or business strategies offered or employed by the CLIENT. This obligation of confidence will cease to apply in relation to information that RCS-Communication is required to disclose by any law, or which becomes part of the public domain other than as the result of a breach by RCS-Communication of its obligations of confidence under this Agreement.
Outsourcing
If needed, RCS-Communication reserves the right to outsource any specific project requirements to insure that the terms of this agreement are met. Any subcontractors or external suppliers will be bound to the terms of this agreement.
Promotion
RCS-Communication is confident that the CLIENT’s expectations will be exceeded and as such is notifying the CLIENT that RCS-Communication reserves the right to use the CLIENT’s website, associated graphics and any unused ideas and development in the promotion of RCS-Communication services or any design competitions. CLIENT agrees to allow RCS-Communication to retain a credit and link from the footer of the website.
Copyright
The CLIENT is responsible for all trademark, copyright, and patent infringement clearances. The CLIENT is also responsible for arranging, prior to publication, any necessary legal clearance of materials RCS-Communication uses for this project. The CLIENT indemnifies RCS-Communication against any loss or damage arising directly or indirectly from any unauthorised use of photographs, text, or other Intellectual Property not under copyright ownership of the CLIENT.
Ownership / Project Copyright
RCS-Communication reserves all rights over working source files, databases and owns full ownership of the website and design. The CLIENT will not have access to the Control Panel, Database or FTP unless otherwise agreed to.
Open Source Software
RCS-Communication makes extensive use of open-source software and components to supply websites and services to the CLIENT. RCS-Communication will not charge additional licensing fees on open-source software. Premium Plugin will be charged extra on a project by project basis. The CLIENT will be liable and pay upfront for yearly renewal fees for any Premium Plugins used within a project.
The CLIENT indemnifies RCS-Communication against any loss or damage arising directly or indirectly from any failure of software supplied to the CLIENT.
All software and components not developed by RCS-Communication retain the original license and terms associated with them. RCS-Communication cannot assign any rights to the CLIENT and the CLIENT agrees to be bound by the original Author’s terms.
Force Majeure
RCS-Communication shall not be deemed in breach of this Agreement if RCS-Communication is unable to complete the Services or any portion thereof by reason of fire, earthquake, labor dispute, act of God, death, illness, any pandemic or incapacity of RCS-Communication or any local, provincial, national or international law, governmental order or regulation or any other event beyond RCS-Communication’s control (collectively, “Force Majeure Event”). Upon the occurrence of any Force Majeure Event, RCS-Communication shall try to give notice to the CLIENT of its inability to perform or of delay in completing the Services and shall propose revisions to the schedule for completion of the Services.
Limitation of Liability
The services and the work product of RCS-Communication are sold “as is.” In all circumstances, the maximum liability of its Designers, Directors, Officers, Employees, Design Agents and Affiliates (“RCS-Communication parties”), to the CLIENT for damages for any and all causes whatsoever, and the CLIENT’s maximum remedy, regardless of the form of action, whether in contract, tort or otherwise, shall be limited to the net cost of this project as specified in this Agreement. In no event shall RCS-Communication be liable for any lost data or content, lost profits, business interruption or for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages arising out of or relating to the materials or the services provided by RCS-Communication even if RCS-Communication has been advised of the possibility of such damages, and notwithstanding the failure of essential purpose of any limited remedy.
Termination / Cancellation
RCS-Communication may terminate this Agreement with immediate effect giving written notice to the other of such termination. The CLIENT may terminate the agreement providing 30 days written notice. The CLIENT will be liable for final payment during the 30 days notice period and all other outstanding balances. The CLIENT shall assume responsibility for collection of all legal fees necessitated by default in payment.
Domain Names
All domain names are legally owned by the CLIENT. All domain name registrations are subject to availability and registration rules. RCS-Communication will manage the domain name(s) on behalf of the CLIENT unless the CLIENT requests in writing that the CLIENT manages their own domain(s) and payment of fees.
RCS-Communication is an Accredited Registrar with the ZA Registry in South Africa.
The CLIENT indemnifies RCS-Communication against any loss or damage arising directly or indirectly from any failure of services related to domain renewals, registrations, domain name trademarks.
Hosting
RCS-Communication will offer the suggested hosting package required for the CLIENT's project.
The exact package required will determine the monthly cost. Due to website growth, disk-space and an increase in traffic, the CLIENT will be responsible for any over-usage, charged per GB for Traffic & per 100mb for Disk Space.
Should the CLIENT decide to make use of their own hosting provider, the CLIENT will be responsible for contacting the chosen host for support relating to hosting matters & ensure that RCS-Communication will have the correct hosting environment needed for the project. RCS-Communication will charge for costs incurred liaising with the hosting company and supporting the CLIENT with hosting related issues. RCS-Communication will charge for costs incurred due to differences in hosting environment if installation and management exceeds standard time frames.
Browser Variance
Our websites are optimised for XHTML compliant browsers and adjusted to support the latest versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox & Internet Explorer (IE). We test using the browsers that are statistically the most commonly used. Layout and aesthetic elements may change or degrade in some browsers.
Colours
Website visitors use different monitors with different settings. Colours and image quality of the website including graphics and photography will shift between computers and monitors.
Testing and Acceptance of the Website
Once the project has, in the opinion of RCS-Communication been completed, RCS-Communication will notify the CLIENT either verbally or in writing, and provide the CLIENT with an opportunity to test and review the website. If the CLIENT determines that the website does not comply with the Project Components agreed to in this document, RCS-Communication agrees to carry out any necessary and reasonable modifications.
Client Responsibilities
If the CLIENT or an agent of The CLIENT other than RCS-Communication attempts to update, edit or alter the site’s template, infrastructure, source files or hosting management in a way that causes damage to individual pages or the site’s architecture, time to repair web pages will be assessed at our STANDARD or OVERTIME hourly rate, and is an additional cost above the costs outlined in the agreement.
Errors and Omissions
It is RCS-Communication responsibility to carefully check for accuracy in all respects, ranging from spelling, technical illustrations and ensure an overall error free environment. However RCS-Communication is not liable for errors or omissions. The CLIENT indemnifies RCS-Communication against any loss or damage arising directly or indirectly from any errors and omissions.
Updates/Changes
RCS-Communication offers Monthly Care Plans / Maintenance as set out in the service package agreement. RCS-Communication will ensure that any maintenance work is attended to within 48 working hours from date of receiving the instructions from the CLIENT.
Copy
All text must be supplied in a digital format that can be copied and pasted. RCS-Communication will not re-type/type-out any text found in any non-editable file format.
Images
Graphics and photographs are to be supplied in digital format on eMail, File Transfer, Flash Drive. Photographs must not exceed a file size of 2mb each (unless by prior arrangement). Larger files will incur an extra cost due to increased time in processing.
Branding
All logos and branding must be provided in an industry-standard vector format.
Fraud/Scam
Should there be any allegations against the CLIENT regarding illegal activity on the website eg, using the website to scam users/ fraud clients, RCS-Communication will have the right to terminate the website with immediate effect. It is the CLIENTS' responsibility to provide RCS-Communication with proof that such allegations are false before the website will be activated again.
Spam
In order to reach your clients, you may wish to send out a monthly newsletter, with a link to your new website, of course. Never send out mass emails using regular mail programs. Always make use of an email service like Mailchimp ( https://mailchimp.com ) which is free for limited mail sending and can be used with templates to look professional. When sending out mass emails you do not want to be seen as spam or blacklisted, so please always follow these guidelines:
- You need to ensure that you receive explicit permission from the recipients of your mailing list that you may send them mail and ensure that you are able to prove that they have signed up.
- NEVER buy or take over a mailing list. Even if it is given or sold to you with the promise or guarantee that the recipients all opted in to receive commercial communication. Recipients of the list, if they did opt in, would have done so to receive mail from a specific company, about specific topics. None of the recipients of the list would have signed up to receive mail from your company, about your product. The list will not be legitimate and will lead to spam complaints.
- Include an unsubscribe option in each mail, ensure that the functionality is tested regularly and in working order.
- Ensure that your list is kept up to date. Also perform regular maintenance to remove email addresses for which the list is receiving bounce messages. Receiving bounce emails could indicate that the address no longer exists. Should the address ever be reactivated, it may belong to a completely different recipient, which means your opt-in confirmation from the previous client is not valid.
- Be transparent - provide explicit information on who you are, what you provide and what the customer can expect to receive from you in the commercial mail. This would avoid confusion and cut down on spam complaints.
- Be accessible. Ensure that the contact email addresses and contact details you provide in all communication and on your website are in working order and regularly monitored.