Our community values human relationships, honesty, and trust, and we strive to maintain high service standards. However, for all collaborations and business dealings, it is necessary to have written terms and conditions to provide clear direction. It is important that you read and understand these terms to know what charges we invoice for and why, why we do not release copyright files, and any additional fees that may apply for further work or copyright releases.
If you have any questions, please do ask immediately.
1. Standard Terms & Conditions:
Acutech IT Solutions provides products and services to clients, and the following Terms and Conditions of Service apply to all of them. Any disputes that may arise are subject to the laws of Dubai Courts, Government of Dubai. By agreeing to our services, the client agrees to our terms and conditions.
Acutech IT Solutions retains the copyright on all design work, including words, pictures, ideas, visuals, and illustrations unless explicitly released in writing after all costs have been paid. If we present multiple design options and one is chosen for the project, that design is considered to fulfill the contract. All other designs remain the property of Acutech IT Solutions unless agreed upon in writing.
2. Project Acceptance:
At the time of proposal, Acutech IT Solutions will provide the customer with a written estimate or quotation by email. These Terms and Conditions will be attached to the estimate or quotation. 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 Acutech IT Solutions.
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 Acutech IT Solutions Terms & Conditions are what govern the job, not any conditions on the customer’s purchase order.
3. Design Charges:
Charges for design services to be provided by Acutech IT Solutions 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 become immediately due.
Unless agreed otherwise with the Client, all design services require an advance payment of a minimum of fifty (50) percent of the project quotation total before the work commences or is supplied to the Client for review. The remaining fifty (50) percent of the project quotation total will be due upon completion of the work prior to upload to the server or release of materials.
4. Source Files:
We will supply proofs and PDF files as appropriate for printing, or other graphic files as detailed in the job scope or request.
Charges for design work do not cover the release of our copyright design source files, including but not restricted to indd, psd, AI, png, fla or other source files or raw code; if the Client requires these files for transfer to an in-house or other designer, they will be subject to a separate quotation or ‘buy-out’ charge.
5. 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.
The customer should reimburse Acutech IT Solutions for any requested expenses which do not form part of our proposal including but not limited to the purchase of templates, third party software, stock photographs, fonts, domain name registration, web hosting or comparable expenses.
The pricing expressed in the estimate or quotation is exclusive of any tax, and does not include travel and other reasonable expenses incurred in connection with the provision of the Services.
6. Payment:
The customer will be provided with an Approval Form or Proof Email, and an Invoice prior to final publication. At this time the remainder of the amount due will become payable and the customer will also be required to sign and return the Approval Form or signify approval by email to Acutech IT Solutions.
Any invoice queries must be submitted by email within 14 days of the invoice date.
Payments may be made by online transfer, cash or cheque.
Payments made by cheque must be previously agreed and may be subject to an administration charge. Cheques should not be sent in regular mail unless sent recorded delivery.
Publication and/or release of work done by Acutech IT Solutions on behalf of the client, may not take place before cleared funds have been received.
Acutech IT Solutions reserves the right to consider an account to be in default in the event of a returned cheque.
7. Default
An account shall be considered default if it remains unpaid for 30 days from the date of invoice or following a returned cheque. Acutech IT Solutions reserves the right to remove any of its or the customer's material from computer systems until the outstanding amount has been paid in full. This includes unpaid fees for services such as hosting, domain registration, search engine submission, social media management, design and maintenance, sub-contractors, printers, photographers, and libraries.
However, removal of such materials does not excuse the customer from its obligation to pay the amount due. Customers whose accounts are in default agree to pay all reasonable legal and accounting expenses incurred by Acutech IT Solutions, as well as third-party collection agency fees for debt collection and compliance with these Terms and Conditions.
8. Copyrights and Trademarks
By supplying text, images and other data to Acutech IT Solutions 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 Acutech IT Solutions on behalf of the customer, will remain the property of Acutech IT Solutions and/or its suppliers unless otherwise agreed in writing. A license 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 Acutech IT Solutions, the necessary permission to use materials (for which Acutech IT Solutions holds the copyright) in forms other than for which it was originally supplied, and Acutech IT Solutions 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 license fees or fees for upgrades are the responsibility of the client, not Acutech IT Solutions.
By supplying images, text, or any other data to Acutech IT Solutions, the customer grants Acutech IT Solutions permission to use this material freely in the pursuit of the design.
Should Acutech IT Solutions, 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 Acutech IT Solutions to remove and/or replace the file on the site.
The customer agrees to fully indemnify and hold Acutech IT Solutions 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.
9. Subcontracting
Acutech IT Solutions reserves the right to subcontract any services that it has agreed to perform.
10. 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, will be liable to a separate charge.
The customer also agrees that Acutech IT Solutions holds no responsibility for any amendments made by any third party, before or after a design is published.
11. Licensing
Any design, copywriting, drawing, idea or code created for the customer by Acutech IT Solutions, or any of its contractors, is licensed for use by the client on a one-time only basis and may not be modified, re-used, or re-distributed in any way or form without the express written consent of Acutech IT Solutions 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.
Acutech IT Solutions will not be held responsible for any and all damages resulting from such claims.
Acutech IT Solutions is not responsible for any loss, or consequential loss, non-delivery of products or services, of whatever cause. The customer agrees not to hold Acutech IT Solutions responsible for any such loss or damage.
Any claim against Acutech IT Solutions shall be limited to the relevant fee(s) paid by the customer.
12. Data Formats
The customer agrees with the interpretation by Acutech IT Solutions of appropriate means of supplying data to the company. Text is to be supplied to Acutech IT Solutions 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 Acutech IT Solutions via e-mail / FTP. Images must be of a quality suitable for use without any subsequent image processing, and Acutech IT Solutions will not be held responsible for any image quality which the client later deems to be unacceptable.
Acutech IT Solutions 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, color correction and alteration of images.
13. Design Project Duration
The estimated duration of a design project provided by Acutech IT Solutions is an approximation and should be considered as such by the customer. Acutech IT Solutions is not liable for any project delays, regardless of the cause. The estimated project duration begins from the date that Acutech IT Solutions receives cleared funds for the initial payment or from the date confirmed in writing by Acutech IT Solutions.
14. Rights of Access for Website Construction
The client agrees to allow Acutech IT Solutions 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 Acutech IT Solutions 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 Acutech IT Solutions with all necessary materials, electronic, or otherwise, required to create and complete the project, and to supply them in a timely manner.
15. Design Project Completion
Acutech IT Solutions 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, website uploading, publishing etc either contracted on the client's behalf constitute a separate project and can be treated as a separate charge.
16. Website design only
Acutech IT Solutions require that a template is approved by the customer before coding of a site commences. Once the template(s) for the web site are approved by the customer, coding will commence; any changes to navigation items, colors, structure or content that require changes to the template will incur an additional charge.
Once web design is complete, Acutech IT Solutions will provide the customer with the opportunity to review the resulting work. Acutech IT Solutions will make one set of minor changes at no extra cost within 14 days of the start of the review period. Minor changes include small textual changes and small adjustments to placement of items on the page. It does not include changes to images, colour schemes or any navigation features. Any minor changes can be notified to Acutech IT Solutions by e-mail.
Acutech IT Solutions will consider that the client has accepted the original draft, if no notification of changes is received in writing from the customer, within 14 days of the start of the review period.
17. Hosting websites
Acutech IT Solutions offers a shared hosting service through an out-sourced virtual server.
Acutech IT Solutions does not guarantee continuous service and will accept no liability for loss of service, whatever the cause.
Acutech IT Solutions may request that clients change the type of hosting account used if that account is deemed by Acutech IT Solutions to be unacceptable because of poor service, lack of bandwidth or in any other way insufficient to support the website. Fees for hosting on 'Acutech IT Solutions' virtual server are due at the commencement of any period of service and are non-refundable.
Fees due to third party hosting organizations are the responsibility of the client and Acutech IT Solutions are not liable for their payment, nor for the renewal of domain names, which are the sole responsibility of the customer / domain owner.
18. Domain Registration
Acutech IT Solutions cannot guarantee the availability of any domain name. Where Acutech IT Solutions is to register a domain name on behalf of a client, it will endeavor to do so but the client should not assume a successful registration.
19. Backups
The client is responsible for maintaining backups with respect to their website and Acutech IT Solutions will not be liable for restoring any client data or client websites except to the extent that such data loss arises out of a negligent act or omission by us.
20. Search Engine Submission
Due to the infinite number of considerations that search engines use when determining a site’s ranking, Acutech IT Solutions 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.
21. Design Credits
The customer agrees to allow Acutech IT Solutions to place a small credit on printed material exhibition displays, advertisements and/or a link to Acutech IT Solutions own website on the customer's website. This will usually be in the form of a small logo or line of text placed towards the bottom of the page.
The customer also agrees to allow Acutech IT Solutions to place websites and other designs, along with a link to the client's site on 'Acutech IT Solutions' own website for demonstration purposes and to use any designs in its own publicity and portfolios.
22. E-commerce
The customer is responsible for complying with all relevant laws relating to e-commerce, and to the full extent permitted by law will hold harmless, protect, and defend and indemnify Acutech IT Solutions and its subcontractors from any claim, penalty, tax, tariff loss or damage arising from your or your clients use of Internet electronic commerce.
23. Rights of Refusal
Acutech IT Solutions will not incorporate any text, images, or data into its designs that are considered immoral, offensive, obscene, or illegal. All advertising material must adhere to the standards set by relevant advertising standards authorities. Acutech IT Solutions reserves the right to reject submitted material without providing a reason. If Acutech IT Solutions unknowingly includes any images or data that are in violation of these terms and conditions, the customer is responsible for allowing Acutech IT Solutions to remove the violation without any obstruction or penalty. Acutech IT Solutions is not responsible for the inclusion of such data in any way.
24. Cancellation
Cancellation of orders may be made initially by telephone contact, or e-mail, however, following this, Acutech IT Solutions 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 Acutech IT Solutions within 14 days of such instruction being issued, will be liable for the full quoted cost of the project.
25. Disclaimer
Acutech IT Solutions makes no warranties of any kind, express or implied, for any and all products and/or services that it supplies. Acutech IT Solutions will not be held responsible for any and all damages resulting from products and/or services it supplies. Acutech IT Solutions 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 Acutech IT Solutions responsible for any such loss or damage. Any claim against Acutech IT Solutions shall be limited to the relevant fee(s) paid by the customer.
Acutech IT Solutions 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. Acutech IT Solutions will not knowingly perform any actions to contravene these and the client also agrees to be so bound.
Acutech IT Solutions and its clients agree to comply with Printers Terms and Conditions.
26. Non-disclosure
We (and any subcontractors we engage) agree that we will not at any time disclose any of your confidential information to any third party.
27. Consequential Loss
Acutech IT Solutions shall not be liable for any loss or damage which the client may suffer which is in any way attributable to any delay in performance or completion of the contract, however that delay arises.
28. General
These Terms and Conditions supersede any previous Terms and Conditions distributed in any form. Acutech IT Solutions reserves the right to change any rates and any of the Terms and Conditions at any time and without prior notice.
29. Acceptance of Terms and Conditions and Quotation
The placement of an order for design and/or any other services offered by Acutech IT Solutions, by email, verbally or in writing, is deemed to be acceptance of these terms and conditions.
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 Acutech IT Solutions.