Terms & Condtions

Web Designing Terms and Conditions

Last updated: November 13, 2022

Throughout the site, the terms “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd. Any term “you”, “The Client”, “Client”, “Our Clients” refers to anyone or entity that makes use of our services.
At Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd we are proud to say we design awesome stuff. We are committed to excellence and because client satisfaction is one of our top priorities, we respond to our clients’ creative needs, by offering innovative designs, friendly service and a personal experience. The following terms have been tailored throughout years of design experience to protect both The Client and Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd during a working relationship, built on trust.

These terms and conditions can be updated at any time without notice and it remains the Client’s responsibility to check the terms and conditions regularly.

1. Estimates and Quotes:
1.1 Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd may provide Clients with initial estimates, otherwise referred to as quotations, for projects on request. The final project value may vary from the initial quotation if additions are requested to the original scope of work.
1.2 Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd will provide quotations in writing by email to Clients. Acceptance by a Client of a Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd estimate is subject to acceptance of the terms and conditions unless specifically agreed in writing between the Client and Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd to the contrary.

2. Invoices and Payment Terms:
2.1 Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd standard payment terms are 3 days from the date of invoice.
2.2 All invoices require full payment before project is started due to initial cost of reserving a domain and server setup costs involved.
2.3 Monthly maintenance and/or hosting invoices will be invoiced by the 20th of the month and needs to be paid before the end of the month in which the invoice was issued. Late payment will result in suspension of hosting services and/or website services. A R200 reconnection fee will be charged along with any outstanding amount before services are recommenced. Accounts outstanding for longer than 7 days will result in permanent closure of website/domain. All website files will be handed over to client once all outstanding invoices has been paid in full.
2.4 Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd reserves the right to increase their services fees annually. The client will be notified of these increases in advance.
2.5 Since hosting is a monthly reoccurring expense, we may charge you if any project is delayed for longer than 30 working days from the start of the project.

3. Project Terms:
3.1 Unless expressly agreed in writing to the contrary Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd will not accept liability to the Client for unforeseen delays in completing a project.
3.2 In the event that there is a delay in the completion of a project, Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd will communicate such delays to the Client in writing via email.
3.3 All website or online marketing tactic setup content needs to be provided by the client within 5 working days after payment to commence a project.
3.4 All Graphic design content needs to be provided within 5 working days after payment to commence a project.
3.5 The client is required to provide Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd with all the content required for a project within the period detailed above. Should the client delay issuing Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd with the content required for the project, Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd reserves the right to adjust the expected completion date. In such instances, Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd will start to bill the client the monthly maintenance fee as agreed upon.
3.6 Project times for informational websites are 7 – 14 working days for a 5 page website depending on the scope and amount of pages. E-commerce/Online shop may take up to one calendar month to complete depending on the on the scope of the project.

4.1 Maintenance does not mean “eyes on the website” all the time and issues on the website still need to be reported to Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd.’s support department.
4.2 Similarly, hosting up time remains the responsibility of our ISP and do not fall under any maintenance agreement. Clients will however be informed of such downtime.

5. Termination Of Service:
5.1 Cancellation of any products or services may be made at any time by providing Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd with a cancellation request 1 calendar month in advance, in writing.
5.2 In the event of cancellation of the agreement prior to the completion of the cancellation period, Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd reserves the right to pursue any of the following: (1) remove equipment, software, services or resources owned by the Company, (2) bring legal action against the Client for contractual breach or (3) remove any created websites, graphics, content, links, advertising and accounts.
5.3 We don’t offer any refunds on services that have already started due to the time and effort that have already been invested in such project.
5.4 We reserve the right to cancel any project at our sole discretion. We will notify you 30 days in advance of our intention to cancel the project. If an agreement can’t be reached within 30 days the agreement of the project will be null and voided. We will however provide you with alternative options such as a different service provider.
5.5 In the event that you wish to move your website and website maintenance to a different service provider we will provide you full access to your website backend to access it once it has been transferred. Access to a full backup of your CPanel and website will be provided to restore your hosting services and website once the transfer is completed.
5.6 Depending on your new service provider a transfer of service may take up to 5 working days and during this period your website and emails will cease to work until the transfer is completed and your new service provider has restored your emails from the CPanel backup.
5.7 In the event that you cancel your domain and website with the intent not to continue with the domain and website, we will save a backup of the server and the website for a period of 1 month after which we will discard the backup.
5.8 In the event that a Client requests a transfer of their domain(s) during the website design process to a different service provider, Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd shall comply with such request, however, such request shall be considered a breach of the agreement by the Client and Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd shall immediately cease all work.
5.9 In the event of a breach of contract by the Client, Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd shall not provide any reimbursement and shall discontinue any and all further work under the agreement.

6. 3rd Party Services:
6.1 Our online servers are managed by our preferred ISP and they therefor have access to your website in terms of providing us with hosting capabilities. Your personal information shared in confidence with us are not shared with out ISP but any public info available on your website is available to them.
6.2 We do make use of services offered by Google to enhance the performance of your website and as results any public info available on your website will be available to them.
6.3 We do make use of services offered by various social media platforms to promote your website and as such any public info available on your website will be available to them.

7. Website Development and Design Terms and Conditions:
7.1 Additional pages above the scope of work agreed will be quoted separately.
7.2 All E-commerce websites will come with Flat Rate and Free shipping setup. It is the client’s responsibility to negotiate shipping costs with his/her preferred supplier and to provide Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd with specified rates. Alternative Shipping Plugin purchase and configuration fall out of the scope of work, unless specifically quoted for. We allow for 2 revisions of website under designing phase. After which monthly maintenance fee applies.
7.3 All e-commerce website will have C.O.D and Offline EFT payment as the default payment options. Any other supported payment gateways will be quoted separately.
7.4 The client agrees that all content provided by the client including articles, website wording, graphics and videos are owned by the client and free of any copyright infringement. In the event that it comes under our attention that content provided are copyright protected, such media will not be used on the website.
7.5 Viruses & Outdated Websites, Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd makes every effort to take security precautions on our clients’ websites, this includes the relevant security plugins which keeps its servers secure, wherever possible. However, we cannot guarantee the prevention of hacks, viruses or unexpected data deletion and cannot be held liable for any such damages as a result. With that in mind we do go to extreme lengths to ensure that such scenarios don’t occur.
7.6 You agree to defend, indemnify, save and hold harmless, Grey Swan Designs (Pty)Ltd and its officers, directors, agents, affiliates, and employees from any and all third-party claims, demands, liabilities, costs or expenses, including reasonable attorney fees arising from or in any way relating to or arising out of any damage or loss of any nature whatsoever those results, directly or indirectly, from Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd.
7.7 While your website is being managed by us your website will have our company name in its footer to indicate that the website was designed by Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd. In the event that you move your services to a different service provider our branding will be removed before a final backup is provided to you.

8. SEO And Conditions:
8.1 Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd accepts neither responsibility nor liability to the Client for the actual rankings achieved or how such rankings may vary over time. Search engines are known to change their algorithms and in such doing rankings and traffic may fluctuate. 8.2 We do endeavor to ensure that your website content and data remains relevant to ensure favorable search results rankings.
8.3 All websites are released with basic SEO setup to ensure visibility on search engines. To achieve higher rankings, we offer Standard and Premium SEO packages. Setup and implementation of SEO settings may take up to 3 calendar months where you after you will receive monthly reports, reviews and suggested improvements.

9. Email Terms and Conditions:
9.1 Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd will assist with email setup on client’s laptop or computer making use of remote support software subject to our standard rates and remote support terms.
9.2 Each domain product comes with a certain amount of disk space. Clients will be notified when they are reaching this limit. It remains the client’s responsibility to clean up mailboxes to prevent reaching this limit Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd cannot be held responsible for failure to clean mailboxes. Failure to do so may result in email delivery issues or website performance issue.

10. Hosting Terms and Conditions:
10.1 Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd will invoice for domain renewals on an annual basis. This is only applicable for websites hosted and maintained by Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd.
10.2 Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd will not be liable to the Client for any compensation in respect of any downtime that may occur with the hosting of their website(s).
10.3 In the event that a Client wishes to move their website to another web server supported by another party, then Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd will cooperate fully, subject to all outstanding amounts being paid up in full, in some instances a transfer fee may be applicable.
10.4 Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd will troubleshoot any problems reported by the Client with their email. If the problem is due to an omission by Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd then no charge will be made to the Client. If the problem is not due to an omission by Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd then the Client may be charge for remote support to resolve the issue.
10.5 Login details and passwords need to be kept confidential and secure by The Client. Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd will not be held accountable for email account/website hacks if The Client doesn’t keep their login data secure. We do not keep passwords on record and will subject any password request to security measures deemed sufficient to legitimize the request.
10.6 Clients may make use of their own hosting services but we don’t accept any responsibility for poor website performance. It’s advised to transfer your existing domain to our servers for us to manage.

11. General Service Disclaimers:
The Client acknowledges the following with respect to services:
11.1 Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd accepts no responsibility for policies of Google, third-party search engines, directories or other websites (“Third-Party Resources”) that the Client may submit to with respect to the classification or type of content it accepts, whether now or in the future. The Client’s web site or content may be excluded or banned from any Third-Party Resource at any time and the Client agrees not to hold Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd responsible for any liability or actions taken by Third-Party Resources under this Agreement.
11.2 The Client furthermore acknowledges that the nature of many of the resources the Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd may employ under this Agreement are competitive, therefore Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd does not guarantee top rankings, consistent positioning or specific performance of any strategies employed and the Client accepts that the Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd past performance is not indicative of any future results the Client may experience.
11.3 The Client recognizes that SEO and submissions to search engines and directories can take an indefinite amount of time for acceptance or inclusion and that internet advertising may be subject to the individual advertising network’s policies and procedures.
11.4 The Client accepts that Google AdWords, search engines, directories or other resources may block, prevent or otherwise stop accepting submissions for an indefinite period of time.
11.5 The Client acknowledges that search engines may drop listings from its database for no apparent or predictable reason. The Company shall re-submit resources to the search engine based on the current policies of the search engine in question.
11.6 Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd will endeavor to make every effort to keep the Client informed of any changes that Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd is made aware of that impact any of the campaigns and strategies and the execution thereof under this Agreement. The Client also acknowledges that Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd may not become aware of changes to third party resources, industry changes or any other changes that may or may not affect campaigns or services.
11.7 Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd, for the duration of this agreement, may develop design strategies and codes, which, in Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd.’s opinion improve the Client’s website. Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd and the Client will review these suggestions together and once mutual agreement is reached activate these changes.
11.8 Third-Party Resources, particularly Facebook, change their layout and can very often affect any business page installations and applications. The Company will not be held liable for these changes and, should work need to be done to rectify, then a new “quote” would need to be drawn up.
11.9 Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd and its subcontractors retain the right to display all designs as examples of their work in their respective portfolios. Should you wish not to have your designs used for promotion, written consent is needed whereby all digital designs will be removed from social media or any other electronic media. If no written consent is received within 30 days from completion of work, we will proceed on that assumption that you approve the use of designs for our promotional purposes.

12. Copyright:
12.1 The source code of all website web pages remains the intellectual property of Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd until such time as payment is made in full by the client and may not be copied and used by any other party without the consent of Grey Swan Designs (Pty)Ltd.
12.2 All scripts, CSS and include files used within Client websites, remains the intellectual property of Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd until such time as payment is made in full by the client and may not be copied and used by any other party without the written consent of Grey Swan Designs (Pty)Ltd.
12.3 The stored procedures, functions and triggers programmed into SQL Databases remain the intellectual property of Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd until such time as payment is made in full by the client and may not be copied and used by any other party without the consent of Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd.
12.4 All Client logo images, images unique to the Client, i.e. of their premises, workforce and their business, plus all written content, belong to the Client and are covered under their copyright. Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd will not reuse Client written content or images without the express permission of the Client.
12.5 Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd will not be liable for any copyright infringements committed by the Client with regards to content provided for marketing materials. The Client hereby agrees that all content submitted to Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd is original content and not copied off other websites as copying content of other online assets will directly impact Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd ability to run an effective marketing strategy for the Client. In the event that it becomes evident that content provided are copyright protected, We will not use it on The Client’s website until written permission has been received from the copyright holder. Such permission must be obtained by The Client.
12.6 The Client and the Company acknowledge and agree that the Specifications and all other documents and information related to the development of the Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd Campaign (the “Confidential Information”) will constitute valuable trade secrets of the Company. The Client shall keep the Confidential Information in confidence and shall not, at any time during or after the term of this Agreement, without the Company’s prior written consent, disclose or otherwise make available to anyone, either directly or indirectly, all or any part of the Confidential Information.

13. Breach:
13.1 In the event that the Client does not pay an invoice within the time frame allocated in the invoice, then Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd has the right to suspend all further works for that Client until such time as payment is made in full.
13.2 In the event that the Client does not pay maintenance invoice within 30 days of the due date, then Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd reserve the right to turn off any website hosting until such time as the invoice is paid in full.
13.3 In the event that the Client becomes insolvent or goes into liquidation Grey Swan Designs(Pty) Ltd have the right to immediately terminate their contract with the Client and invoice for the full value of project works carried out to that date, plus suspend any email or hosting services.
13.4 In the event that a Client delays the progress of a project with Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd then Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd will be entitled to give 14 days’ written notice to the Client. If the Client does not satisfactorily remedy the cause(s) of the delay, within the 14 day notice period, then Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd will have the right to terminate the service. Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd will invoice the Client for the full value of works carried out to-date.
13.5 In the event the Client fails to make any of the payments referenced in deadline set forth, Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd has the right, but is not obliged, to pursue any or all of the following remedies: (1) terminate the Agreement, (2) remove equipment, software, services or resources owned by the Company or (3) bring legal action.

14. What Can You Expect From Us:
14.1 We aim to achieve the highest level of client satisfaction and for our clients to have absolute faith in our standard of work and the professional manner in which we conduct business. We will:
14.1.1 Be friendly, courteous and helpful when contacted.
14.1.2 Make every effort to explain things clearly and in terms you can understand, keeping jargon to a minimum.
14.1.3 Agree with you the type of service you can expect to receive.
14.1.4 Respond to your phone calls, emails and letters in a timely manner.
14.1.5 Treat all clients fairly.
14.1.6 Confidentiality.

15. What We Expect from Our Clients:
15.1 We expect You to: Provide any information that has been requested within agreed timescales.
15.2 Pay all invoices within the payment terms defined in our agreement Let us know in advance if you are unable to do this, or if your circumstances change.

16. Rush Fees:
16.1 In the event that you require your website urgently, a rush fee may apply to your designs. Rush fees are calculated based on the complexity of your designs and range from 100% to 300% of the original costs: Original Cost + Rush Fee = Rush Fee Total.
16.2 Time line for rush fee jobs is based on the complexity of your work. Rush fee jobs on normal websites are scheduled to be completed within 7 – 10 working days. This timeline may be adjusted depending on complexity of the design.
16.3 E-Commerce websites are generally excluded from rush jobs due to the vast amount of work required and testing of checkout process. In the event that your online shop doesn’t consist of many products, a rush job may be considered.

17. Force Majeure – Circumstances beyond our control:
17.1 We shall not be liable to you for any breach, hindrance and/or delay in the performance of a
Contract attributable to any cause beyond our reasonable control, including without limitation any natural disaster and unavoidable incident, actions of third parties (including without limitations suppliers, government, quasi-governmental, supra-national, local authorities and/or hackers), insurrection, riot, civil commotion war, hostilities, war like operations, national emergencies, terrorism, arrests, piracy, restraints or detainments of any competent authority, strikes or combinations or exclusion of work labor, epidemic, pandemic, load-shedding, fire, explosion, storm, flood, drought, weather conditions, earthquake, natural disaster, accident, mechanical breakdown, third party software, pandemics, loadshedding, failure or problems public utility supplies (including electrical, telecoms and/or internet failure), shortage of or inability to obtain supplies, materials, equipment or transportation (”Event of Force Majeure”), regardless of whether the circumstances in question could have been foreseen.
17.2 Loadshedding has a detrimental effect on our time frames and during periods of loadshedding, either during and after, that our time frames will be negatively affected.
17.3 Other conditions that might arise due to loadshedding such as extended outages such as municipal equipment failure will also impact our timeframes and we take no responsibility in the negative effect this might have on project timelines.

18. Website Access:
18.1 We don’t allow any website backend access to any client for the following reasons:
18.1.1 We were entrusted to develop your website based on our years of experience and under the monthly maintenance contract we are ultimately responsible for the up keep of your website. 18.1.2 In the event that you on purpose or accidently change settings or layout changes that cause your website not display properly or cease to function properly both your and our reputation are damaged. The subsequent downtime in repairing these faults is costly to your business both in protentional loss of business and our hourly fee to repair your website.
18.1.3 We are responsible for your website’s security and by providing you with full access may compromise your website’s security and that of other websites on our servers.
18.2 Website access is provided only for E-Commerce website owners under the following conditions:
18.2.1 The owner and employees of the E-Commerce website will be granted Shop Manager access to perform shop related functions as manage clients, orders, stock management and payments.
18.2.2 Management of products in terms of removing and adding of products remain the duty of Grey Swan Designs (Pty) Ltd. Adding of new products fall outside of the monthly maintenance fee and is charged separately.

19. Improving Our Services:
19.1 We are keen to improve our high level of Client service and welcome any comments that you have, either complimentary or critical. 16.2 If a project has not met your expectations, we would appreciate your feedback about what we can do to avoid the situation in future and to rectify the current situation. We want our clients to be 100% happy with the service they receive.