The following terms and conditions apply to all transactions through The Company. The placing of an order indicates the acceptance of these Terms and Conditions. Please read them carefully and print a copy for future reference. These Terms and Conditions do not affect your statutory rights. To order Goods and/or Services you must be at least 18 years of age and we have the right to refuse at our discretion to supply any Goods ordered by you. In these conditions “the Customer” means the person, firm or company who commissions the services of Studio Creative Services “the Company”. By commissioning the Company to undertake work “the project” on their behalf, the Customer agrees that these Terms and Conditions of trading define our working relationship. All Projects, Services or Goods that the Company may be contracted to produce or provide for the Customer will be subject to the following:
NO WAIVER
Our failure to insist upon strict performance of any provision of these Terms and Conditions, shall not be deemed to be a waiver of our rights or remedies in respect of any present or future default of the Customer in performance or compliance with any of these Terms and Conditions.
FEES
Definition ‘Estimate’ an approximation of the costs and final values may differ, ‘Quotation’ an accurate cost and will be the final value. For each project, the Customer will receive an estimate outlining the project specification, estimated fees for our time based on our current hourly rate and, where appropriate, quotations for any Goods required and professional services commissioned by us in order to complete the project. We will begin work upon the Customer’s project once written or oral approval of the estimate is received and this will constitute an agreement between us. The Customer agrees to pay the Company in accordance with the terms specified in each estimate or quotation. Estimates and Quotations are valid for 30 days from the date on the document.
PAYMENT
Unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Company, all Customers that have not submitted a credit application and been approved by our Accounts Department will be required to pay in full before work can commence, and will be required to pay on request for any additional costs incurred during the process. Full payment must be received and cleared prior to processing the order. All prices are quoted in Pounds Sterling and payment cannot be accepted in any other currency. Payment for the Goods which include delivery charges are to be via agreed method at the time you place your order. We are pleased to accept Bank Transfers for goods, however all funds must be cleared prior to us commencing any creative or production work. All credit accounts shall be paid up on or before the 30th day after the date of the invoice. Payment by Cheque is not accepted. We reserve the right without notice to charge interest on past due balances at the rate of 12% per annum or 1% per month. We reserve the right to refuse completion or delivery of work until past due balances are paid. The Customer shall pay the Company’s costs, charges and expenses directly or indirectly incurred in obtaining or otherwise enforcing payment of outstanding accounts.
VAT
Where applicable all prices estimated/quoted are subject to VAT at the current rate. If VAT is noticed on your order after the bill has been paid, you as the customer are still liable to pay the VAT in full. We are bound by law to charge VAT according to HM Customs & Excise guidelines.
ESTIMATES & QUOTATIONS
Orders are accepted subject to sight of artwork and resources supplied in the required format. We withhold the right to adjust prices quoted to take account of any unexpected changes in artwork and specifications received. Orders are also subject to be adjusted due to changes in the law or Government regulations requiring us to increase prices by way of direct taxation, import duties, customs and excise duties or otherwise. The prices are based on today’s current costs of production and in the event of any increase in wages or costs of materials to us occurring after the confirmation of accepted contract, we shall be entitled to charge such increases to you.
REVISIONS & ALTERATIONS
New work requested by the Customer and performed by the Company after an estimate/quotation has been approved is considered a revision or alteration. If the job changes to an extent that substantially alters the specifications described in the original estimate/quotation, we will submit a revised estimate/quotation to you, and a revised additional fee must be agreed to by both parties before further work proceeds. It is normal practice for contact reports to be issued by the Company’s staff of meetings between the Customer and the Company. If the subject matter of a contact report is not questioned by the Customer within three working days of its receipt, it will be taken to be a correct record of the meeting to which it refers. Author’s alterations and other copy changes requested after layouts or mechanicals are completed are billed at our standard hourly rates.
CUSTOMER SUPPLIED ARTWORK
All artwork supplied by customers must be supplied in CMYK format. The Company cannot be held responsible for any colour shift that may occur when converting from RGB to CMYK. All artwork must be supplied as 300dpi Hi-Res PDF’s. The Company is not responsible for any errors created from customer supplied artwork.
OVERTIME & RUSHED ORDERS
Estimates are based on a reasonable time schedule, and may be revised to take into consideration your “Priority Scheduling” requests requiring overtime and/or weekend working. Knowledge of your deadlines is essential to provide an accurate estimate. In addition, our suppliers may mark up their charges in respect of work required in a hurry. Work undertaken within tight time constraints may have to be produced by circumventing certain processes, e.g. hard copy proofs, sample mock ups. Any issues or error incurred due to circumventing processes will be the Customers responsibility.
EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY
Under no circumstances whatever shall the Company be liable for losses special to the particular circumstances of the Customer, indirect or consequential loss including loss of profits, damage to property or wasted expenditure. Without prejudice to the other provisions of these conditions, the Company’s liability shall not exceed the total of the contract fees for the project. The fees for any project are based on the assumption that the liability of the Company and Customer are as set out herein.
NATURE OF COPY & PROPERTY BELONGING TO OTHERS
The Customer agrees to exercise due diligence in its direction to us regarding preparation of materials and must be able to substantiate all claims and representations. The Customer is responsible for all trademark, copyright and patent infringement clearances and is responsible for arranging, prior to publication, any necessary legal clearances, licenses, usage or royalty payments.
ERRORS & OMISSIONS
It is the Customer’s responsibility to check proofs carefully for accuracy in all respects, including but not limited to prices, spelling, dimensions and distances. The Company is not liable for errors or omissions. The Customer’s signature or that of his authorised representative is required on return of all proofs or artwork or written confirmation via e-mail, letter or fax prior to release for printing or other implementation. Orders placed with time constraints causing the Company to negate process will fall outside the company’s liability.
DESCRIPTION OF GOODS/WARRANTY & LIABILITY
Although we warrant that the Goods will, at the time of delivery, correspond to the description given by us, all products we sell are of a technical nature and it is not practical to publish detailed specifications of all the products. All images, descriptive matter, specifications and advertising are for the sole purpose of giving an approximate description of the Goods. We reserve the right to alter any details of products advertised without notice and while every effort is made to describe Goods accurately in the advertisement no warranty is given as to accuracy and no responsibility will be accepted for error or mis-description and any resulting loss.
PAPER QUALITY & WEIGHT (GSM)
We cannot give guarantee of the paper quality or of the paper grams (GSM) of what was printed in the past or a sample was sent to you as we buy from different source of paper mills and merchants. Supplier to supplier’s paper may vary from paper’s smooth, rough, colour, grain etc. ( +/- ) 5% variation of paper grams (GSM) can happen due to large volume of paper purchase from a different merchant.
OVER RUNS & UNDER RUNS
Some printers’ terms enable them to deliver over or under the quantity ordered and to charge accordingly. In such cases the Customer will accept over runs or under runs that do not exceed +/- 10% of the quantity ordered and the Company will bill for the actual quantity delivered within this tolerance. If an accurate quantity is imperative that this +/- 5% tolerance is taken into consideration when requesting quantity.
QUANTITY CHANGES TO ORDERS
Any changes in quantity ordered must be made in writing (via email) prior to commencement of processing. Any increases in the order must be regarded as a separate contract unless written notification is received before work commences on the original order. We reserve the right to alter the delivery date agreed initially due to our having to potentially order in more materials to achieve a desired larger quantity.
ORDER RETURNS, CANCELLATION, REFUNDS
Due to nature of products we sell, reimbursements for products already printed are not possible. It is possible to cancel orders that the company have received orders for but have not already been produced or sent to print. In that case, we are entitled to charge a £25 administration fee to cover time spent processing the order. If your order is in the process of production and you decide to cancel, then due to the costs involved – you will be charged for all costs of production up to that production point.
PRINTING DEFECTS
Customers must notify The Company in writing (via email) within 5 business days of delivery of any defects discovered in the finished Goods. In order to receive replacements Customer must return 95% of the delivered product within 7 days of delivery. The Company shall not be liable for any costs, expenses incurred by the Customer or any other person or third party company arising directly or indirectly out of any print error. In the event that we have printed of finished a document incorrectly or below standard and it is found to be the Company fault, then we will supply a full re-print without cost to the Customer. If the Customer wishes to alter the artwork prior to the re-print then this will be treated as a new order and be consequently the print run will be charged for.
PROPERTY & SUPPLIERS PERFORMANCE
The Company will take all reasonable precautions to safeguard property entrusted to us. In the absence of negligence on our part, however, we are not responsible for loss, destruction or damage or unauthorised use by others of such property. We will use our best efforts to ensure quality and timely delivery of all printed matter. Although we may use our best efforts to guard against any loss arising from the failure of our suppliers, media, or others to perform in accordance with their commitments, the Company is not responsible for failure on their part. We cannot in any way be held responsible for quality, price, performance or delivery of materials made or supplied by others where the work has been placed directly by the Customer or their agents
PLACEMENT OF ADVERTISING
At your request, we will purchase media space on your behalf which will be billed to you at current rates plus the standard Company commission. The Company cannot be held liable for advertising which does not appear on a particular time/date or issue or in a particular position or break.
PRODUCT GUARANTEE
All hardware products supplied by the Company are covered by the manufacturers guarantee against component failure and defects. The majority of our products are covered by a minimum 1 year guarantee. Should hardware product components fail or defects occur the Company will liaise with manufacturers on the customers’ behalf to negotiate replacement. The Company will not be liable to replace the goods if the manufacturer rejects the failure or defect claim as not conforming to the manufacturers guarantee terms and conditions.
LIEN
All materials or property belonging to the Customer, as well as work performed, may be retained as security until all just claims against the
Customer are satisfied.
RIGHTS OF OWNERSHIP
Once a project has been delivered by us and is fully paid for by the Customer, the Company will assign the reproduction rights of the design for the use(s) described in the proposal. According to copyright law, the rights to all design and artwork, including but not limited to photography, music and or illustration created by independent photographers, artists or illustrators retained by the Company, or purchased from a stock agency on behalf of the Customer, remain with the individual designer, artist, photographer or illustrator. Unless a purchase of “All Rights” (a Buyout) is negotiated on behalf of the Company, you may not use or reproduce the design, work or the property therein for a purpose other than the one(s) originally stipulated. If you wish to use the design we have created and/or the images within it for another purpose or project, including a reprint or exhibition, you must contact us to arrange the transfer of rights and the payment of any additional fees before proceeding. Master artwork including roughs, visuals, mock-ups and presentations is the property of the Company and will not be released or copied for the Client or any third party to use in any way whatsoever without prior written agreement by a Partner of the Company. We reserve the right to photograph and/or distribute or publish for our firm’s promotional and marketing needs any work we create for you, including roughs, visuals, mock-ups and presentations, as samples for our portfolio, newsletter, brochures, presentations and website and for entry for awards. We will endeavour to store files on computer disks for a period of 6 months beyond the delivery of a job. Thereupon, we reserve the right to discard them without notice.
DELIVERY
Every effort will be made to deliver products and services on time, but any delivery day specified is a ‘best endeavour’ and no liability is accepted by the company for any loss arising from delay or error in the delivery of the goods or service. We will do our very best to ensure that product orders are dispatched on the day specified for overnight next day delivery, but we cannot give an exact delivery time or assure that the delivery will be made on as per our indicated time, as we have to rely on third party delivery companies/couriers. The Company shall not be liable for any losses, costs, damages or expenses incurred by the customer or any other person or company arising directly or indirectly out of any failure to meet any estimated delivery date. We will not be under any liability whatsoever in the event that we are prevented or delayed from supplying or making delivery of any Goods or Service by any reason or cause beyond our control. Any delivery times given are estimated and might be extended in connection with high volume of orders. If an order is delivered to the wrong delivery address due to the customer providing us with the wrong address, the Company will re-deliver the package to the correct address and charge for the additional collection and delivery cost.
COMPLAINTS
Any complaint with the service received must be made in writing (via email) within 48 hours of the conclusion to you receiving your Goods or Service. Any complaint made after this time period are void of any rights to refund or reprint. Defects in products provided discovered after this time will not be affected.
LIMITATION
The Customer will indemnify and hold the Company harmless for any loss or expense (including legal fees), and agree to defend the Company in any actual lawsuit, claim or action arising in any way from our working relationship. This includes, but is not limited to claims made against the Customer and any of its products and services arising from the publication of materials that we prepare and the customer approves before publication.
FORCE MAJEURE
Production schedules, storage of files and property belonging to the Client will be established and adhered to by both Customer and the Company, provided that neither shall incur any liability, penalty or additional cost due to delays caused by a state of war, riot, civil disorder, fire, industrial dispute or strike, accidents, energy failure, equipment breakdown, delays in shipment by suppliers or carriers, action of government or civil authority, and acts of God or other causes beyond the control of the Customer or the Company. Where production schedules are not adhered to by the Customer, final delivery date or dates will be adjusted accordingly. We will not be held responsible for failure or delay in the carrying out of our obligations under the contract arising from any cause outside our reasonable control or by inability to procure materials or articles except at higher prices due to any such cause and in such circumstances we shall be entitled by notice to terminate the contract in whole or in part without incurring any liability whatsoever to you.
LIABILITY
Except as may be implied by law and except in the case of death or personal injury where the Customer is dealing as a consumer, in the event of any breach of these Terms and Conditions by us the remedies to you shall be limited to damages which shall in no circumstances exceed the price of the Goods and we shall under no circumstances be liable for any indirect, incidental or consequential damages.
SEVERABILITY
In the event that any or any part of these Terms and Conditions shall be determined invalid, unlawful or unenforceable to any extent such term, condition or provision shall be severed from the remaining Terms and Conditions, which shall continue to be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.
GENERAL
The validity and enforceability of this agreement will be interpreted in accordance with the laws of England but the Company reserves the right to bring proceedings in connection with this contract in any other court of competent jurisdiction. Failure by the Company to enforce any of these conditions shall not be construed as a waiver of that condition or any other condition.