Terms and Conditions
The purpose of this document is to answer any questions about, and set down any terms or conditions, for the service we provide.
We don’t want to hide behind a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo, being big fans of honesty, reason and common sense, so we hope we've answered most queries below. If you have any questions, please contact us.
We run our business with a “life's too short” and “good karma” attitude - life is too short to mess about and do wrong by our clients, and we expect our clients to treat us as well as we treat them.
Apologies if it’s a long, boring page of text, but it makes it much easier to “cut out and keep”.
Updated 29th August 2024
1. (Lack of) Commitment - payments and cancellation
1.1 Kick-off
When you decide to start your journey towards having a fairly marvellous website, we ask you pay for your first month.
We will register your domain name (if you haven’t already got one), configure your choice of email, set up the development site.
You'll be given a list of next steps to complete ready for us to build your site, and the chance to pick a date when you think you will have everything together ready for us to start building.
1.2 Cancelling
When your site launches, you will be invoiced for the first 12 months although you still pay monthly.
If you decide you do not need or want the website we have built before the first 12 months have passed, the invoice is torn up. - you do not have to pay for any unused months. We'll transfer your domain name back to you.
If you decide you want to end our relationship before the first 12 months have passed, but want to keep the website we have built, you will need to pay the remainder of the invoice. We’ll help you move it to hosting of your own choice.
1.3 If I do cancel, will you just shutdown the site?
No, we will try to help you work out your next steps first. We've seen how some of our 'competitors' work - shutting down sites at the hint of any change. Just because things are not right now, we'd like you to come back or recommend us to your friends and colleagues.
This is explained in depth (and with more pictures) at https://dev.fairlymarvellous.co.uk/packages-prices/pay-monthly-websites/
1.4 What happens after 12 months?
Your monthly payments continue and we keep providing the same level of service. However, if you do decide to end our relationship, you can take your website with you.
We try to keep existing clients on their original rate if we increase package prices.
1.5 What if my payments are late?
The first thing to do is talk to us. Things happen, life gets in the way, we're not going to shut down your site the first time a direct debit bounces.
But please consider the relatively small cost of our packages, the fact that we're a non-profit, and that every time a payment fails it costs us time and money chasing it.
2. Ownership & Access
2.1 Who owns my website?
You do (as long as your invoice has been paid in full). This is not a rental package or lease. Of particular importance, we always register domain names in our client's name, not ours. If you decide to 'leave' you keep your domain name.
However, there are many parts of your site that require ongoing license fees to maintain - if you want to take your site away and end our relationship, you will have to start paying them.
2.2 Can I update the site myself?
Yes, you will have Editor access to make changes whenever you like, after all - it's your site! However, many of our clients like to know they can change things if they want, but find it easier to ask us to make the changes for them, which is why we include updates in our packages.
2.3 Can I/my Ads/SEO/Copy expert have Administrator access?
No, sorry! We do not allow anyone to have admin access on their live sites - clients will have all the access they need to update & run their site, but no access to break it!
Instead we will work with any experts you want to be involved, either installing extra plugins or making extra configuration changes for them, or by providing a development environment for them to work in and us to push live.
This is the only way we can ensure your site (and all the other sites we look after) keep running smoothly and stay secure, and offer our level of support, at the price we charge.
2.4 Can I install plugin X or Y?
It depends! We know some plugins cause problems or are just bloated/inefficient.
We have picked what we consider to be the best tools for most needs, and we will test others where we don't cover that functionality. Then we will install the plugin for you or find a better alternative.
2. Fair’s Fair Policy
We’re not clock watchers. We know that sites need more updates at certain times and then may not need any for ages.
Typically, we expect a Startup site to average 1 request per month, Growth sites average 4 requests per month including blog posts. A request is a piece of work that takes 15-30 minutes.
If we feel that your requirements are consistently more than this, to the point that it could affect our ability to support our other clients, we will either recommend an upgrade to your package or show you how to make updates yourself.
Online shops need lots of updates, especially to stock levels and coupons, which you are best off doing yourself, but we’ve picked a system that is easy for you to use so it doesn’t eat into your time. And we’re there to help.
The same goes for hosting - our server configurations are far more powerful than the typical shared hosting plans offered by others, so it’s unlikely you will exceed their capabilities. But if your site is generating so much traffic that we need to upgrade you (this is generally a nice problem to have), we’ll have a chat about your options.
Ultimately, we will never spring a surprise bill on you. Any changes or upgrades will be discussed, options offered and agreed in advance.
