Terminology
- The “Client” – the consumer of the services
- The “Company” – Purple Parasol Ltd is the legal entity provider of the Services.
- The “Services” – WordPress Hosting, Installation, Configuration, Maintenance, Support, Training, Coaching and Internet Marketing Strategy Planning
- “Custom Development” – specific software customizations to the website that do not form part of the standard WordPress setup and configuration, which the Client has requested the Company perform on its behalf
Accuracy of Description of Goods
- Subject to where the goods are stated to be sold as complying with a recognised trade or industry standard, all descriptions, specifications and any other printed matter submitted by the Company are approximate only.
- All, if any, statements, recommendations and advice given (whether before or after the contract) by the Company or its agents, to the Client or the Client’s agents are given without responsibility unless given in writing and signed (with a handwritten signature) by a Director of the Company in response to a specific written request from the Client for advice before or at the time of or after the contract is made.
Software Acceptance
On receipt of the Custom Development it is the responsibility of the Client to verify that the website is operating as specified and is hence fit for purpose. The client will normally have 7 days to verify the software unless a longer period has been agreed.
Any issues should be communicated back to the Company in order that that can be remedied and then verified once again by the client.
For example, if the Custom Development in question is the set up of a Contact Form; then the Client should check that the valid completion of a contact form results in the receipt of an email. It is the responsibility of the Client to make sure that valid contact emails do not end up in their spam folder and go unnoticed. The Company prefers that its clients use a Business Gmail email account as this makes it easier to help Clients with their email setup.
Software Warranty and Support
Custom Development is provided without warranty. The reason for this is that the development the Company undertakes is built upon the WordPress platform provided by Automattic, the Thesis Theme provided by Chris Pearson (http://diythemes.com/) and WordPress plug-ins provided by upwards of fifty other independent development companies. None of the underlying products have a warranty. All these providers can change their software with little or no notice. The Company can therefore make no guarantee or warranty on the software that is delivered.
WordPress Hosting Services
The Company hosts Client sites at Liquidweb at Lansing, Michigan, USA. The Company chose Liquidweb as they have an excellent reputation for their support and offer a Service Level Guarantee:
Liquid Web provides an industry leading Service Level Agreement (SLA) to our Dedicated Server and VPS customers which includes:
- 30 minute Hardware Replacement guarantee
- 100% Network Up-time guarantee
- 30 minute initial response guarantee
This Network Up-time guarantee assures that all major routing devices within our network are reachable from the global internet 100% of the time.
The choice of Liquidweb provides a solid, reliable and scalable platform for Client websites.
Please note the Network Up-time guarantee does not guarantee the availability of websites; there are a number of scenarios which are excluded from the Liquidweb SLA scheduled network maintenance, hardware maintenance, software maintenance, malicious attacks and cPanel (control panel) software update Issues.
WordPress Installation and Setup
The Company will install and configure WordPress in line with industry best practices to increase the reliability, scalability, performance and security of the platform. This means your website will suffer less outages, perform better if it suffers the “Digg” effect of having a sudden influx of visitors and be less vulnerable to hackers. We also register you website with Google, Yahoo and Bing Webmaster tools to maximise the opportunity of your site’s earliest inclusion in the search engine rankings.
All web sites developed by the Company will be designed as best possible in accordance with industry standard best practices, and will be navigable by search engines. The Company offers no warranties as to the placement of a site within any search engine index but do follow best practices and guidelines specified by key search engines.
WordPress Maintenance, Thesis and Plug-in Upgrades
On an upgrade to either WordPress or Thesis being made available by the software supplier, the Company will test the new version on a blog that has the full set of recommended plug-ins. This aims to identify any incompatibilities.
Sometimes the plug-in provider will, within a few days of the release of the new version of WordPress, provide a new version of the plug-in that is compatible. In these cases the Company will typically delay the whole WordPress upgrade for a few days.
Resolution of Plug-in Incompatibility
If no plug-in update is forthcoming the Company will communicate with Clients to determine if the best plan is to,
a) simply deactivate the plug-in; or
b) replace the plug-in by an alternative with similar features or
c) delay the upgrade to WordPress.
This service is included within the monthly subscription.
Resolution of Custom Code Incompatibility
If a Client has specific customizations then an upgrade to WordPress, Thesis or a plug-in can cause client custom code to malfunction. In this scenario the Client should alert the Company to the problem. The Company will then take one of two actions depending of the extent of the problem. In either case the repair work is chargeable. If the fix is a trivial one and the Company will amend the custom code; if the problem is more complicated the Company will revert the client’s website to the previous version of WordPress, Thesis or the plug-in in order that normal operation of the Client website can be resumed.
If the area of failure is critical to the operation of the website (e.g a payment page or software download) then the Company will recommend the Client set up a clone of the website at http://test.yourdomain.com, and the Company will apply the software upgrades and work on the custom code to see what has to be done to make it compatible with the latest WordPress software.
Please note that this is a very unlikely scenario. It is only liable to arise where there has been significant custom development and there is a large number of complex plug-ins installed.
To date, the Company reports only one failure of custom code despite having made thousands of upgrades. The failure occurred when Thesis was upgraded from version 1.5 to 1.6. The problem was resolved in only fifteen minutes by six minor changes to a custom stylesheet, custom.css.
WordPress Training
WordPress training videos are aimed at teaching clients how to exploit the features with WordPress, Thesis and the many WordPress plug-ins. The goal is for Clients over time to become self-sufficient in the use of WordPress.
The Company is not liable for any consequential losses as a result of any client site downtime occurring as a result of a Client applying the changes described in the training videos.
Any charges associated with recovery of the site will be suffered by the Client if the Client has made an error in following the training. The Company will waive these charges if the error in the training material.
WordPress Coaching
Any scheduled WordPress coaching associated with the Gold or Platinum packages takes place one on one, over the telephone.
A Client may reschedule a coaching call but needs to give at least 24 hours notice.
The Client is not able to carry “coaching credits” over from one month to the next it is a “use it or lose it” service.
Internet Marketing Strategy Planning and Review
The Company provides this high level consultancy service to Clients who want to delegate some or all their internet marketing strategy. The Company consultants will offer “best advice” based on the keyword research and competitive analysis as to how the Client can market its services on the internet.
However, the advice does not constitute a guarantee of success and the Company has no liability for any losses the Client may make in pursuing a recommended strategy.
Delivery
a) Any time or date stated for intended delivery is given as an estimate only and shall not be of the essence.
b) Delivery will entail the installation of the custom development software on the website and the sending of a notification email to the client.  Retention of the email is deemed conclusive proof of delivery.
c) In the event of any delay the Company shall not be under any liability whatsoever to the Client. The expression `liability whatsoever’ in these conditions shall mean all liability of any kind including, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, liability in contract for negligence or under statute.
Payments
Site Set Up Payment
Full Payment for site setup is made in advance at the time of ordering.
The setup is subject to a 30 day money back guarantee. This means you can cancel for any reason, even if you have just changed your mind, and have all the site setup charges refunded.
Monthly Subscription
Payment for the Monthly Subscription is made in advance at the start of each billing period.
Like the site setup charges, the first month’s subscription is subject to a 30 days money back guarantee.
On cancellation during subsequent months then there will be no partial month refund. There is no fixed term contract so you can cancel your subscription at any time.
WordPress Custom Development
Payment for custom WordPress Development is made in two stages: 50% in advance and 50% on Software Acceptance.
The Company will contact the client after software acceptance to take payment by credit card or Paypal. (UK companies may also pay by cheque or bank transfer)
There is no money back guarantee on custom software development however Clients are protected under normal consumer protection regarding “fitness for purpose” of goods and services.
For example, if you ask for “X” and we provide “X” but you have changed your mind and want “Y” that is too bad – you are still bound to pay for X although of course we would stop building X and starting building Y as soon as you tell us and would communicate the cost implications at that time.
However if you asked for X and we provide “Z” then the onus is on us to deliver “X” and if that is not possible for some unanticipated reason we would offer you a full refund.
Guarantee and Liability
The Company shall be under no liability whatsoever to the Client for or arising out of any defect in, failure of or unsuitability for any purpose of the goods or any part thereof whether the same shall be due to any act, omission, negligence or wilful default or the design, workmanship or materials or to any other cause whatsoever.
Warranty
The Company provides all of their custom development as is, without warranty implied or otherwise, and will not be held responsible for damage, loss of earnings or other costs incurred through the use of their software.
Infringement of Rights
a) The Client will ensure that by providing the Company with any material for publication that the copyright is held by you, and that all materials are licensed and in proper use.
Further more you will indemnify the Company of any blame or liability should it be proved that copyright infringement has occurred as a result of the Company’s actions, omissions or those of their suppliers.
b) The Client shall indemnify the Company against all loss, damages, cost and expenses suffered as a result of any work done in accordance with the Client’s specification(s) which result in infringement of a patent, registered design or other right in industrial property.
Property Law
All contracts made between the Company and the Client shall be governed by English Law and the Client shall submit to the jurisdiction of the English Courts.
Offer and Acceptance
- A quotation does not constitute an offer to supply.
- The placing of an order shall be deemed to be subject to these terms and conditions. Any other provisions contained in any document issued by the Client shall be excluded from these terms and conditions.
- No modification or amendment of these terms and conditions shall be binding upon the Company unless otherwise stipulated herein or agreed to in writing by a Director of the Company.
- The Company may maintain an action for the price of the goods and services sold notwithstanding the property in them may not have passed to the Client.
Amendments and Cancellation
The Client shall redeem all costs incurred by the Company in the event of any change to or cancellation of an order to supply goods or services, regardless of such an order being verbal or in writing. The postponement or cancellation of an order for software development will require the Client to redeem all costs incurred by the Company plus an amount not less than 50% of the remaining development costs as estimated by the Company.
Copyright & Intellectual Property Rights
- All custom development remains the property of the Company and may not be used, sold, resold, implemented or otherwise distributed until payment has been made in full.
- Purple Parasol will hold exclusive rights to the copyright and distribution of all software, designs, code, database designs, HTML Components or other materials deemed necessary in the development its software solutions.
- The Company reserves the right to re-use, re-engineer or re-distribute either in part or whole at its own discretion, code, code modules, designs or other components which may have been developed on behalf of a client.
- The Company reserve the right to link to, refer to or use as examples any work undertaken on behalf of a client for marketing purposes, designs or other components which may have been developed on behalf of a client.