Terms and Conditions For Website Users

Hello and welcome to our website! We’re so glad you’re here. Before you get too stuck in, you should know that we expect you to comply with a few terms of use while you’re in the area. By using our website, you imply that you consent to the following terms and conditions.

Limited liability

You must accept that the owners of thedigitalbrew.com is not legally responsible for any damages you may incur as a result of using this website. This includes anything that might happen as a result of:

  • Clicking through to external links
  • Comments on posts
  • Advertisements
  • Errors/omissions
  • Advice
  • Downloads
  • The use of any information or materials included on the site
  • Governing law

We are located in QLD, Australia, so our website and any sales through our website are governed by the laws in this area.

Due Diligence

While we do our best to ensure that all information provided on this site is accurate, it is your responsibility to double-check facts against your own knowledge and research.

Image Sources

Any stock images used in graphics on this site are paid for with correct licencing, created originally, or sourced from websites that provide free stock images for commercial use (creative commons). This is to the best of our knowledge. Please do your own due diligence.

Copyright Notice

thedigitalbrew.com contains graphics, layouts, wording, information, descriptions, designs, and branding that is unique to our brand and owned by us. You may not copy or reproduce the materials or information on this website for sale, use by a third party, publication, or distribution. We reserve the copyright on all contents of this website. Unless you have special written permission by us, you must not breach these terms.

Terms and Conditions for Website Package Clients

The following are our general terms and conditions for clients who book our services, including web design and copywriting packages. If we’ve provided a proposal or mentioned specific terms while discussing your project in writing, those terms will apply. But otherwise, the following general terms and conditions apply for clients:

Scope

The amount quoted in your proposal covers the deliverables listed only. This will clearly lay out what you get and when you get it. If you see that anything is missing, please request an updated proposal before agreeing to your proposal and terms so we can add the missing items. The quoted amount does not include anything that’s not specifically mentioned in your proposal.

If you need additional work, we will confirm the scope and fees in writing. In this case, your agreed upon terms and conditions will apply to this and any future work you engage us on.

Note that if you change your project requirements or scope during the project, requiring changes to work that’s already completed (e.g. you change your services or target audience), we’ll need to charge extra to cover the time spent working on your project. A new timeline may also apply.

We will always do our best to produce work that fits the brief, and so far, we’ve found that two rounds of revisions are plenty to nail it on both your copy and design. However, if you need further changes beyond the included rounds of revisions, we’ll be happy to continue. At this point, you’ll be billed for all the work completed up to this point. Any additional revisions will be completed at an agreed upon project fee or hourly rate. 

Standard format

The end product of a website package is your responsive website, hosted for you on our platform, or uploaded to your chosen hosting (depending on our agreement). Your site will be optimised for any screen resolution.

Copy for your site will be added to the site on your behalf. Drafts of your copy will also be provided via Google docs. After your site is live and handed over, you’ll have access to your content management system (WordPress) to log in and update the content yourself. Or you can engage us for additional updates. 

All graphics provided for your site need to be in .gif, .svg, .jpg, or .png and sent electronically via email, Google Drive, or Dropbox. If your images are not in a usable format please let us know before agreeing to your proposal as charges may apply to convert them to the correct dimensions/file type.

Fee conditions

The project conditions and fees are valid through to the expiry date listed on your proposal. If you wish to move forward with the project after this date, we may provide you with a new quote for approval before commencing.

All amounts listed in your proposal and on your invoice are in Australian dollars. Payment is via Credit/Debit/Bank transfer. If you’re an Australian business, we’re required to charge GST. This will be calculated and added to your invoice in addition to the amount listed here.

For one-off projects under $1000 (excl. GST) payment in full is required upfront. 

For one-off projects over $1000 (excl. GST) we invoice:

  • Your first instalment (50%) upfront
  • Your second instalment (25%) on completion of your first draft
  • Your final instalment (25%) before launch or two weeks after completing the final version of your site (whichever comes first)
For some projects, we may offer a payment plan. For example, the full cost of your project may be spread out over 12 months, with invoices sent on the same day each month until paid in full.
 

Payments are due within 7 days. 

Please note that we can’t guarantee time/availability in our schedule until after your first instalment or initial payment clears on our end.

If you’re unable to pay on time, please contact us as soon as you are aware so that we know when to expect your payment and can give you some grace.

We reserve the right to add a late fee of 2% interest on the total amount for every month your payment is late to help cover the extra admin costs required to recover payment. But we’d rather not do that, so we’ll be sure to remind your finance team when payment is due.

If your invoice remains unpaid 45 days from the due date, your account will be considered in default. At our discretion, we may temporarily remove your website. We will always attempt to call or email you before we do this – it’s a last resort that we hope to never do. Please note that removing your website does not mean you are no longer obligated to pay any remaining charges against your account. 

Clients with accounts in default agree to pay our reasonable expenses, including legal fees and costs for collection by third-party agencies, where they are incurred by The Digital Brew in obtaining payment.

If your invoice remains unpaid 6 months after the due date, we may, at our discretion, take down or sell the website to try and minimise financial losses. In some cases, we may choose to engage a debt collection agency. Only once your website is paid in full, along with any late fees, will we hand over your site. 

Communication

We will endeavour to be reachable and respond to any questions/enquiries you make within 1 business day.

It’s your duty to provide accurate data and background information needed according to the nature of the product we are producing. It’s also your duty to respond in a timely manner to all communication and requests for feedback to ensure that the project timeline is adhered to.

Acceptable lines of communication are primarily email, followed by text messaging, with phone calls to be reserved for more urgent matters or scheduled ahead of time. You’re also welcome to join our Slack workspace and message us there – we’re on Slack throughout the day, most days.

If we do not hear from you during a project for more than 14 days (after multiple attempts by us to contact you), your project will be considered inactive. If you would like to continue the project after these 14 days you will be required to pay a project restart fee and we will reevaluate your delivery timeframes and project fees.

Reviews and feedback

We love getting your feedback! When we deliver the first version of your content and site, we’ll tell you how to give us feedback. We use a range of collaborative tools, including Trello, Google docs, and Userback.

By working with us you are agreeing to provide and feedback within the timelines that have been outlined so that we are able to meet the project deadlines.

We find that projects always go smoother if there’s just one person managing the feedback process, so we strongly advise that you pick just one company representative for this task. But if there’s more than one person on your team who would like to provide input and feedback, please ensure you do this as a group (all in one go) and let us know when you’re done. This ensures we get a clear picture of what you want changed and we can make the updates within a single round of revisions (that way, you can make the most of the included revisions).

Google Docs

We love using Google docs, but like any tool, it’s important to avoid relying on it 100%. 

It’s your responsibility to make a copy of all delivered files for your own records. 

Due to the digital nature of the files, we cannot guarantee their availability beyond 1 week after they are delivered. While we have backup systems in place, we do not take responsibility for files after they are delivered. You can download, copy, and backup all delivered files once we deliver a project. If you’re unsure about how to do this, we’ll be happy to walk you through the process.

SEO

We follow current best practices to help optimise your site for SEO. Please note that good SEO results generally take time, though – and they’re impossible to guarantee.

There’s also more to the picture than just what’s on your website. There are many factors outside of our control that may impact your ranking in Google – from media mentions and backlinks to algorithm changes. If SEO is important to you, we recommend undertaking an off-page SEO strategy (whether you do this yourself or engage an agency) along with regular content/blogs on your site. This will complement the on-page search engine optimisation techniques we’ve done.

Outdated browsers

We only develop websites for modern and up-to-date browsers (for example: Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge). We do not develop for old, abandoned, and outdated browsers (for example: Internet Explorer or previous versions of Safari, Firefox, Opera, etc.)

If you need your website to function on a specific outdated browser, this will need to be outlined in the scope of work before the proposal is signed. If you’re unsure about your users’ browser requirements, please consult with us beforehand. 

We may charge additional fees to design, develop, test, and support the look and functionality of your website on old, unsupported, and outdated browsers. We also reserve the right to refuse or cancel projects that require support for these browsers.

If you decide that your website needs to support an outdated browser part way through your project, we will either:

  1. Charge additional fees to cover the additional design, development, and testing requirements, or
  2. Cancel the project – in which case, you’ll be billed for any work produced up to that point

Intellectual property

All materials produced by The Digital Brew will become the client’s intellectual property once paid for in full; however, we reserve the right to use materials produced in our portfolio.

Ownership of any software or designs and assets not created by The Digital Brew are subject to the terms of the licence for that specific piece of property. Examples of this property can include, but are not limited to:

  • Content management systems
  • Plugins
  • Themes
  • Designs
  • Images
  • Videos
  • Icons
  • Code
  • External software
  • Integrated SaaS products

You guarantee that any text, graphics, photos, designs, trademarks, or other artwork that you provide to us for use on your project is either owned by you, or you have the proper licences and/or permissions to use them.

Credit

We will include a link back to The Digital Brew in your site footer. If you do not want to credit The Digital Brew, please let us know before agreeing to the proposal. Note that if another party takes over the site, you are responsible for ensuring they do not put their name on the design unless the site’s content and appearance changes by 50%+ from the original look designed by The Digital Brew. 

Confidentiality

We will ensure confidentiality of any data shared which remains the property of the client. You also agree to keep our specific processes and intellectual property/templates for private use only.

Subcontracting

We reserve the right to subcontract out any parts of the project as we see fit. 

Extra expenses

If designing and launching your website requires additional expenses beyond what we’ve included in your proposal, you agree to reimburse us for these (we’ll send an invoice). This may include stock photography, third-party software, plugins, fonts, templates, and more. 

We’ll make it clear if you’ll be up for an extra expense before we make the purchase, and let you know what your best options are to fit your budget.

Plugins/Software

Any plugins installed on your website are to be used in accordance with the individual licence terms of that plugin. If you are on a maintenance plan with The Digital Brew, you will have access to our library of premium plugins that we can use on your website. If your website requires specific functionality from a plugin that we do not have a licence to, you will be required to purchase that licence separately.

Most of the plugins we use are licenced under the GPLv2 licence, and are therefore free to use, modify, and distribute as needed, as long as no trademarks or copyrights are infringed. 

Please note that if you decide to cancel your maintenance plan with The Digital Brew and move your website services to a different company:

  • Your website will be provided to you in an ‘as is’ state
  • Our licences will be removed from the premium plugins, however, they will still continue to function in their current state
  • If you require updates and support for specific plugins, you will need to purchase your own licence
  • If your website is using a plugin that is not GPL licensed and requires a licence to function, we will notify you, and you will be required to purchase your own licence

Pricing Changes

We reserve the right to change the pricing of our products or services at any time. You will be given one month notice prior to the pricing change. If you continue to use our services and products after the notification period, it is implied that you agree to the new pricing terms.

Liability

You, the client must agree to indemnify, save and hold harmless The Digital Brew from any and all damages, liabilities, costs, losses or expenses arising out of any claim, demand, or action by a third party arising out of any breach of your responsibilities or obligations, representations, or warranties under this agreement.

The services and the work product are provided “as is.” In no event shall we 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.

Your approval

We will undertake projects under your direction, and create/publish products only with your expressed approval. As such, all work completed must first be approved by you before it goes live. We do not accept responsibility for any outcomes or actions as a direct result of the work produced.

Termination

Our working relationship will remain ongoing until our one-off project ends or either party decides to end our ongoing engagement.

Either party may choose to terminate the engagement at any time. If the engagement is ended part-way through a project (i.e. after briefs are provided and work has begun), we’ll finish up by delivering the content for these briefs. If you’re ending an ongoing maintenance/hosting plan, you’ll need to provide 30 days notice. As such, hosting services will end one month after you provide notice.

When the engagement ends, you’ll be sent an invoice for any work delivered.

Other legal stuff

This contract cannot be transferred to any other person, company, or organisation without our permission. If any part of this contract is or becomes invalid or unenforceable, the rest of the contract will still remain valid and in place.

This contract is a legal document under exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Queensland, Australia.

Terms and Conditions for Maintenance Package Clients

You accept the following terms and conditions:

Fee conditions

Your hosting and maintenance conditions and fees are valid through to the expiry date listed on your proposal. If you wish to move forward with hosting and maintenance after this date, we may provide you with a new quote for approval before commencing.

All amounts listed in your proposal and on your invoice are in Australian dollars. Payment is via Credit/Debit/Bank transfer. If you’re an Australian business, we’re required to charge GST. This will be calculated and added to your invoice in addition to the amount listed here.

We invoice on the last day of the month in advance for the upcoming month. This payment is due within 7 days.

For content updates (outside of your included updates within your maintenance plan), we invoice for all work submitted during the month (including items awaiting your feedback) on the last day of the month. This payment is due within 7 days.

If you’re unable to pay on time, please contact us as soon as you are aware so that we know when to expect your payment and can give you some grace.

We reserve the right to add a late fee of 2% interest on the total amount for every month your payment is late to help cover the extra admin costs required to recover payment. But we’d rather not do that, so we’ll be sure to remind your finance team when payment is due.

If your invoice remains unpaid 45 days from the due date, your account will be considered in default. At our discretion, we may suspend your hosting account and temporarily remove your website. We will always attempt to call or email you before we do this – it’s a last resort that we hope to never do. Please note that removing your website does not mean you are no longer obligated to pay any remaining charges against your account. 

Clients with accounts in default agree to pay our reasonable expenses, including legal fees and costs for collection by third-party agencies, where they are incurred by The Digital Brew in obtaining payment.

If your hosting invoices remain unpaid for two or more months, we will engage a debt collection agency and take your site down. Once the funds owed are collected, we will send you a copy of your website files and database so you can find another host. Only once your outstanding invoices are paid in full, along with any late fees, will we hand over your site. 

Plugins/software

Any plugins used on your website are to be used in accordance with the individual licence terms of that plugin. While you’re on a maintenance plan with The Digital Brew, you will have access to our library of premium plugins that we can use on your website. If your website requires specific functionality from a plugin that we do not have a licence to, you will be required to purchase that licence separately.

Most of the plugins we use are licenced under the GPLv2 licence, and are therefore free to use, modify, and distribute as needed, as long as no trademarks or copyrights are infringed. 

Please note that if you decide not to go on a maintenance plan with The Digital Brew and host your website services with a different company:

  • Your website will be provided to you in an ‘as is’ state
  • Our licences will be removed from the premium plugins, however they will still continue to function in their current state
  • If you require updates and support for those specific plugins, you will need to purchase your own licence for them
  • If your website is using a plugin that is not GPL licensed and requires a licence to function, we will notify you, and you will be required to purchase your own licence

Backups

The Digital Brew has permission to make copies of your content as needed to perform agreed-upon services. This includes backups. 

We backup your site in line with the frequency listed in your maintenance package. These backups are designed to minimise data loss or site issues. If systems fail or the site breaks, it means we can restore your site to an earlier version. Any updates made between the backup version and the corrupted/broken version will be lost. Regular backups minimise this loss.

If/when the maintenance package finishes, The Digital Brew will no longer keep a backup copy of any content or design files. It is then your responsibility to maintain a copy of all your files in a safe location.

Backup frequency and storage

Depending on the maintenance plan you choose, your website will be backed up either weekly, daily, or 6 hourly. 

These backups will be stored in a secure location external to your website. Backups are kept for 90 days, after which they are discarded. We also store the first backup of each month indefinitely (until your maintenance plan ends), to ensure we have access to all older versions of your website.

Malware/viruses

If your website becomes infected, malware will be removed as a part of your maintenance plan. In some cases, we may have to revert to a backup of your website. As a result of this, there may be some data loss from your website.

If your website has become infected with malware due to the fault of someone other than The Digital Brew (including employees and subcontractors), you may be required to pay for the cost of the cleanup.

Monthly content update limits

The number of content update jobs included per month will be outlined in your website maintenance plan agreement. 

Each separate job is counted as a separate 15-minute block of time (maximum). This time can be used for The Digital Brew to update or add content provided to your website. 

You can combine 15 minute blocks together if you have a number of content updates required. Included jobs expire at the end of each month (they don’t roll over).

If you’ve reached your content update limits for the month but require additional work before the next month, additional work will be billed at our hourly rate.

We will estimate whether you have enough blocks left in your month to carry out the work. If we begin working on your updates and realise the job is larger than our initial estimate (or we run into an unexpected technical hurdle that means we need more time), we will let you know immediately and seek approval before continuing. We will never bill extra without prior approval.

Plugin, theme, and WordPress core updates

We’ll check for plugin, theme, and WordPress core update checks once a week, and make updates as needed.

If there are any plugin, theme, or WordPress core updates made available as a result of patching a security vulnerability, we will update them as soon as possible.

Website user roles/access

As part of your website maintenance plan, you’ll be provided with an Editor user login. This will give you access to everything you might need to update your website content.

If you need administrator access to your website, you can contact us at any time and we will provide you with Administrator level access. Administrator access will allow you to make more advanced/technical changes to the back end beyond just content updates. 

Please note that if your website stops functioning as a result of actions taken from your administrator account, we’ll bill you for the time taken to repair your site. This will be billed in 30 minute blocks, with a one hour minimum charge. We’ll give you a rough estimate and options before we do the repair work.

Domain and email hosting

The Digital Brew does not offer domain or email hosting services (this is separate to web hosting which is included in your maintenance package). We may recommend suitable places to purchase your domain or host emails, but we are not responsible for managing these. For complex email transfers/setups/management, we recommend engaging an IT professional. 

Note that we’ll need login access to your domain host so we can update the appropriate settings to launch your website. 

Service level agreement

The Digital Brew takes every reasonable step to ensure maximum server uptime. 

We choose a reputable hosting provider with 99.9% uptime and excellent service to ensure any issues are resolved quickly. However, we do not make any promises that the service will be free from error or downtime (even big, important sites go down occasionally). As such, we are not liable for interruptions to the service or server downtime – these things are out of our control. 

We may choose to switch hosting providers down the track if we can find a more suitable solution elsewhere – if this happens we will carefully time the transfer to minimise the impact on your site.

Third party or client page modification

You will have access to update and add pages to your website as needed, unless different terms have been agreed upon.

In the event that anyone other than The Digital Brew (including employees and subcontractors) makes an attempt to change the website in any way that causes the website to display or function incorrectly, you will be charged for the time taken to repair the website at our hourly rate. This will be billed in 30 minute blocks with a one hour minimum charge. We’ll give you a rough estimate and options before we do the repair work.

Acceptable use

While your site is hosted and maintained by The Digital Brew, you agree to use it for lawful purposes only. This includes:

  • The content you publish on the site – ensure it is not obscene, indecent, or defamatory, and ensure it does not infringe on intellectual property rights
  • The external sources you link to on the site – ensure they are lawful and decent
  • The downloads available on your site – do not upload any known corrupt data sources or viruses
  • The behaviours, services, and activities you undertake through the site – ensure they are legal and morally sound
  • Ensure you don’t send emails without permission (including emails collected through your site unless they have specifically subscribed to your newsletter/services)

If we feel our server is being used in a way that does not meet these guidelines or could negatively impact The Digital Brew and other clients, we have the right to remove you from our maintenance and hosting package immediately.

Development and code

The Digital Brew is not responsible for any issues you may experience with programming and code, other than ensuring that programming languages such as PHP are installed and functioning on the hosting server. In the event that we develop elements on your site using custom code, we’ll ensure these are function and stay up to date while you’re on the maintenance package.

Data, space, and server usage

We have a reasonable allowance for server CPU usage per site, depending on your chosen hosting and maintenance package. If your site gets a lot of traffic and uses more than 5% of the server’s processing power and impacts other customers, we’ll have a chat about an upgraded hosting solution that will work for your needs. If this happens to you, it probably means you’re getting a lot of traffic, so it’s a good thing!

We also include a set amount of data transfer (bandwidth) per site, depending on your hosting package. If your account goes over your bandwidth limit within any month, we’ll get in touch to arrange an upgraded account with increased bandwidth. If you don’t get back to us within 3 business days, we’ll automatically upgrade your account for you to ensure you have suitable bandwidth. 

You cannot use your web hosting with The Digital Brew to host the following:

  • File distribution websites
  • Adult content websites
  • Scripts, pages, files, data, or graphics for other websites
  • Any files that do not directly support your main website hosted with The Digital Brew

You have access to the amount of web space available within your hosting plan. This space is to be used exclusively for website hosting – not for any other file storage. If you require more web space than your plan allows, we’ll let you know so you can upgrade or find an alternative storage option.

Privacy

Your privacy is extremely important to us. That means we do not share your details with third parties unless required to do so by law, or as part of the services we’re providing you.

Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold The Digital Brew and its employees and contractors harmless from and against all liabilities, legal fees, damages, losses, costs, and other expenses in relation to any claims or actions brought against The Digital Brew arising out of any breach by yourself of the terms of this agreement or other liabilities arising out of or relating to the website.

Limitation of liability

The total liability of The Digital Brew with respect to any claim you may make, shall be limited to the payments made for the services under this agreement. 

The Digital Brew shall not be made liable for any potential loss of business, profits, or opportunity as a direct or indirect result of the services or agreement. 

The Digital Brew shall not be liable as a result of any viruses that may infect the website.

Agreement term and termination

This agreement is effective from the date that the service begins and shall remain until the service is terminated in writing by either party. 

If the client fails to pay for the service on time or commits a breach of this agreement, The Digital Brew have the right to provide written notice and terminate the agreement and service with immediate effect.

Either party may terminate this agreement at any time with notice provided in writing. 

Upon termination, all your customer account data will be deleted – you will be provided with a zipped file including a copy of all website files, ready for your new website manager to set up on your new hosting provider.

Other legal stuff

This contract cannot be transferred to any other person, company, or organisation without our permission. If any part of this contract is or becomes invalid or unenforceable, the rest of the contract will still remain valid and in place.

This contract is a legal document under exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Queensland, Australia.