Terms of Business
Last updated 20.01.2021
Terms and Conditions
The following Terms and Conditions of Service apply to all products and services provided by Skim New Media Ltd (hereinafter referred to as Skim) and in the event of any dispute are governed by the laws of England.
All work is carried out by Skim on the understanding that the client has agreed to our terms and conditions.
Copyright of agreed work provided by Skim including words, pictures, ideas, visuals, illustrations delivered as part of the project scope is given to the client unless specifically detailed in writing and after all costs have been settled. This copyright is limited to the use of these materials by the Customer for their promotion only.
If a choice of designs is presented and one is chosen for your project, only that solution is deemed to be given by us as fulfilling the contract. All other designs remain the property of Skim, unless specifically agreed in writing.
Project Acceptance
At the time of proposal, Skim will provide the Customer with a written estimate or quotation by email. These Terms and Conditions can be requested at any time from Skim.
A copy of the written estimate or quotation is to be signed and dated by the Customer to indicate acceptance and should be returned to Skim.
Alternatively, the client may send an official purchase order in reply to the estimate or quotation which binds the client to accept our terms and conditions, or an email acknowledging acceptance of the quotation.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Skim Terms & Conditions are what govern the job, not any conditions on the Customer’s purchase order.
Design Charges
Charges for design services to be provided by Skim will be set out in the written estimate or quotation that is provided to the Customer. At the time of the Customer’s signed acceptance of this estimate or quotation, indicating acceptance of the Terms & Conditions, a non-refundable payment of 50% of the quoted fee will be raised by invoice to the Customers under normal terms.
The remaining fifty (50) percent of the project quotation total will be due upon completion of the work or release of materials.
Source Files
We will supply proofs and files as appropriate for printing or online use, or other graphic files as detailed in the job scope or request. Our design source files, including but not restricted to indd, psd, AI, png, fla or other source files or raw code can be supplied on request.
Charges for Other Services
Charges for any additional services requested during the project that are over and above the estimated time or out of scope, will become fully payable (100% of the quoted amount) at the time of estimate or quotation acceptance.
Payment
On approval of the work an invoice for the remainder of the agreed fee will be raised. Any invoice queries must be submitted by email within 14 days of the invoice date.
Accounts which remain outstanding for 30 days after the date of invoice, will incur late payment interest charge at the Bank of England Base Rate plus 8% on the outstanding amount from the date due until the date of payment.
Payments are preferred by online transfer.
Default
An account shall be considered default if it remains unpaid for 30 days from the date of invoice, or following a returned cheque. Skim shall be entitled to remove Skim‘s and/or the Customer’s material from any and all computer systems, until the amount due has been fully paid.
This includes any and all unpaid monies due for services, including, but not limited to, hosting, domain registration, search engine submission, design and maintenance, sub-contractors, printers, photographers and libraries.
Removal of such materials does not relieve the Customer of its obligation to pay the due amount.
Customers whose accounts become default agree to pay all Skim ‘s reasonable legal and accounting expenses and third party collection agency fees in the enforcement of the debt and these Terms and Conditions.
Copyrights and Trademarks
By supplying text, images and other data to Skim for inclusion in the Customer’s website or other medium, the Customer declares that it holds the appropriate copyright and/or trademark permissions. The ownership of such materials will remain with the Customer, or rightful copyright or trademark owner.
Any artwork, images, or text supplied and/or designed by Skim on behalf of the Customer, will remain the property of Skim and/or its suppliers unless otherwise agreed in writing. A licence for use of the copyright material is granted to the Customer solely for the project defined in the scope or request and not for any other purpose.
The Customer may request in writing from Skim, the necessary permission to use materials in forms other than for which it was originally supplied, and Skim may, at its discretion, grant this and may charge for the additional usage. Such permission must be obtained in writing before any of the aforesaid artwork, images, text, or other data is used.
Any software, code, plugin or other third party material used in a web or digital project remains the property of the creator and any ongoing licence fees or fees for upgrades are the responsibility of the client, not Skim.
By supplying images, text, or any other data to Skim, the Customer grants Skim permission to use this material freely in the pursuit of the design
Should Skim, or the Customer supply an image, text, audio clip or any other file for use in a website, multimedia presentation, print item, exhibition, advertisement or any other medium believing it to be copyright and royalty free, which subsequently emerges to have such copyright or royalty usage limitations, the Customer will agree to allow Skim to remove and/or replace the file on the site.
The Customer agrees to fully indemnify and hold Skim free from harm in any and all claims resulting from the Customer in not having obtained all the required copyright, and/or any other necessary permissions.
Alterations
The Customer agrees that changes required over and above the estimated work, or in addition to the agreed scope, or where the client makes changes to the supplied copy or changes required to be carried out after acceptance of the draft design, might be liable to a separate charge.
The Customer also agrees that Skim holds no responsibility for any amendments made by any third party, before or after a design is published.
Licensing
Any design, copywriting, drawing, idea or code created for the Customer by Skim, or any of its contractors, is licensed for use by the client for their promotion and may not be modified, re-used, or re-distributed in any way or form without the express written consent of Skim and any of its relevant sub-contractors.
All design work – where there is a risk that another party make a claim, should be registered by the client with the appropriate authorities prior to publishing or first use or searches and legal advice sought as to its use.
Skim will not be held responsible for any and all damages resulting from such claims.
Skim is not responsible for any loss, or consequential loss, non-delivery of products or services, of whatever cause. The Customer agrees not to hold Skim responsible for any such loss or damage.
Any claim against Skim shall be limited to the relevant fee(s) paid by the Customer.
Data Formats
The client agrees to Skim’s definition of acceptable means of supplying data to the company.
Text is to be supplied to Skim in electronic format as standard text (.txt), MS Word (.docx) or via e-mail / FTP or shared folder.
Images which are supplied in an electronic format are to be provided in a format as prescribed by Skim via e-mail / FTP. Images must be of a quality suitable for use without any subsequent image processing, and Skim will not be held responsible for any image quality which the client later deems to be unacceptable.
Skim cannot be held responsible for the quality of any images which the client wishes to be scanned from printed materials.
Additional expenses may be incurred for any necessary action, including, but not limited to, photography and art direction, photography searches, media conversion, digital image processing, or data entry services, colour correction and alteration of images
Design Project Duration
Any indication given by Skim of a design project’s duration is to be considered by the Customer to be an estimation. Skim cannot be held responsible for any project over-runs, whatever the cause. Estimated project duration should be deemed to be from the date that cleared funds are received by Skim for the initial payment or by date confirmed in writing by Skim.
Rights of Access for Website Construction
The client agrees to allow Skim all necessary access to computer systems and other locations, as required, in order to complete a website project and until all due funds are cleared, including the necessary read/write permissions, usernames and passwords.
The Customer also agrees to allow Skim access to any computer systems, usernames and passwords required to remove data and/or sites for failure to comply with these Terms and Conditions.
The Customer agrees to supply Skim with all necessary materials, electronic, or otherwise, required to create and complete the project, and to supply them in a timely manner.
Design Project Completion
Skim considers the design project complete upon receipt of the Customer’s signed Approval form or signoff email. Other services such as printing, display panel production, filmwork, website uploading, publishing etc either contracted on the client’s behalf constitute a separate project and can be treated as a separate charge.
Hosting websites
Skim offers a managed hosting services using a high performance hosting platform. This is supported by a third party and provides high uptime and disaster recovery plans. Skim does not guarantee continuous service and will accept no liability for loss of service, whatever the cause.
As part of this service Skim will ensure the upkeep of the website limited to software updates, security, back-ups and the technical day to day management of the website hosting.
Changes to the website design or content are not included within the hosting service.
Domain Registration
Skim cannot guarantee the availability of any domain name. Where Skim is to register a domain name on behalf of a client it will endeavour to do so but the client should not assume a successful registration.
Search Engine Submission
Due to the infinite number of considerations that search engines use when determining a site’s ranking, Skim cannot guarantee any particular placement.
Acceptance by any search engine cannot be guaranteed and when a site is accepted, the time it takes to appear in search results varies from one search engine to another. Rankings will also vary as new sites are added. Skim recommend that Customers use a professional SEO company and are happy to provide details of such companies, but accept no responsibility for their services.
Design Credits
The Customer agrees to allow Skim to place a small credit on printed material exhibition displays, advertisements and/or a link to Skim own website on the Customer’s website. This will usually be in the form of a small line of text placed at the bottom of the page.
The Customer also agrees to allow Skim to place websites and other designs, along with a link to the client’s site on Skim’s own website for demonstration purposes and to use any designs in its own publicity and portfolios.
Rights of Refusal
Skim will not include in its designs, any text, images or other data which it deems to be immoral, offensive, obscene or illegal. All advertising material must conform to all standards laid down by all relevant advertising standards authorities. Skim also reserves the right to refuse to include submitted material without giving reason. In the situation where any images and/or data that Skim does include in all good faith, and subsequently discovers is in contravention to such Terms and Conditions, the Customer is obliged to allow Skim to remove the contravention without hindrance, or penalty. Skim is to be held in no way responsible for any such data being included.
Cancellation
Cancellation of orders may be made initially by telephone contact, or e-mail, however, following this, Skim will need formal notification in writing to the company’s postal address. The client will then be invoiced for all work completed over and above the non-refundable deposit that will have been made at the time of first ordering. The balance of monies due must be paid within 30 days. Please note: any cancellation which is not formally confirmed in writing and received by Skim within 14 days of such instruction being issued, will be liable for the full quoted cost of the project.
Disclaimer
Skim makes no warranties of any kind, express or implied, for any and all products and/or services that it supplies. Skim will not be held responsible for any and all damages resulting from products and/or services it supplies. Skim is not responsible for any loss, or consequential loss of data, or non-delivery of products or services, of whatever cause. While we take reasonable steps to investigate the materials we recommend, we accept no responsibility for the performance or quality of materials or any consequential loss arising from their failure. The Customer agrees not to hold Skim responsible for any such loss or damage. Any claim against Skim shall be limited to the relevant fee(s) paid by the Customer.
Skim reserves the right to use the services of sub-contractors, agents and suppliers and any work, content, services and usage is bound by their Terms and Conditions. Skim will not knowingly perform any actions to contravene these and the client also agrees to be so bound.
Skim and its clients agree to comply with Printers Terms and Conditions which include disclaimers for non-completion on time and the flexibility to supply quantities within 10% of the total ordered. Skim recommend that if an exact quantity is required, then 10% extra is added to the quantity and extra time made available should the job be delayed.
General
These Terms and Conditions supersede any previous Terms and Conditions distributed in any form. Skim reserves the right to change any rates and any of the Terms and Conditions at any time and without prior notice.
Acceptance of Terms and Conditions and Quotation
The placement of an order for design and/or any other services offered by Skim, by email, verbally or in writing, is deemed to be acceptance of these terms and conditions, which are freely available on request.
An estimate validated by the Customer’s signature on the estimate or quotation form, or by email, constitutes acceptance of the estimate or quotation and agreement to comply fully with all the Terms and Conditions and forms a Contract for Business between the signatory and Skim.
Skim New Media Ltd
Hillside Cottage
Hessenford
Torpoint
Cornwall
PL11 3HH