Terms & conditions.

2. WordPress Hosting & Maintenance

2.1 Service Description

A website maintenance subscription provides you with regular backups of your website, security checks and scans as well as automatic updates of all your WordPress core & plugins. Depending on the plan you choose, your maintenance subscription may include limited regular content updates to your website as well.

In order to create or activate your website maintenance subscription, you will be required to create a request using our online form. Once your request is processed, you will receive a recurring invoice via the email address you provided. Your subscription will become active as soon as your first invoice is paid and the payment is cleared.

For more information or to contact Vibes Design: Send an email to info@vibesdesign.com.au

The WordPress Maintenance service is a pro-active service that is designed to work on the Vibes Design hosting platform. All software updates are scheduled and performed proactively and periodically according the your plan. It is not provided as an on-demand or on-call service to perform maintenance. It includes the following activities:

1. Secure backup of website and database
2. Security scans and monitoring
3. Malware monitoring and removal
4. Software updates and patches
5. Remote surveillance and up-time monitoring
6. Performance Monitoring

2.2 Service Restrictions

The WordPress Maintenance service is intended for single use only with the following conditions.

1. Service is only available on the Vibes Design hosting platform. It is not available on any other providers hosting platform.
2. You can only sign up for a single installation of WordPress or one website inside a WordPress Multi-site installation, per service.
3. You cannot change your Website name once you have signed up for WordPress Management. You may however cancel your service subscription anytime and re-join with a new website
4. You may not re-sell or re-brand our services as your own
5. Service will be suspended if it is moved to another providers network.

2.3 WordPress Support

Unlike maintenance, which is planned and scheduled, support requests are reactive and ad-hock. Clients usually ask for a combination of support and maintenance, so we have plans that offer both.

The Basic plan is maintenance only and does not include any support as part of the package. Support requests under this plan are all billed at $165/hour in 30min increments.

Requests for support can be raised via our Client Area or Email. Support includes but is not limited to fixing broken functions and features, operations and administration support, content creation and editing, website changes, plugin configuration support or theme customisation

2.4 Software Updates

We follow best practices when updating WordPress, Plugins and Themes and always make a backup. However, as we are not the authors of the plugins and themes you may have installed, we cannot guarantee or warrant that they will be error-free, bug-free or function as described by the author. If issues do arise due to a plugin or theme update, we can roll back the update or contact the plugin author.

2.5 Free plugins and themes

Free WordPress themes and plugins usually offer updates and support through the WordPress repository. The developers of these themes and plugins provide them for free. They are also distributed with no warranties, so if something goes wrong, you will have to bear the risk.

We will use our best efforts to update free WordPress themes and plugins and will update them as they become available via the official WordPress.org repository periodically according to your plan.

2.6 Premium plugins and themes

Premium WordPress themes and plugins are commercial products and require a license to receive updates. Licenses are usually purchased for an agreed fee. If your site does have premium plugins and themes with active licenses and they support automatic updates, then Vibes Design will update them as part of the WordPress Maintenance service periodically according to your plan. If they don’t have an active license and they don’t support automatic updates, then we won’t be able to update the plugins or themes.

As an additional service Vibes Design can purchase non-transferable licenses for most premium plugins and themes on your behalf. This add-on service allows us to apply software updates for any premium plugins or themes seamlessly even if they don’t support automatic updates. Our fees for WordPress Premium Plugin or Theme License and Support are billed separately and are made up of the plugin or theme cost, plus currency conversion (if applicable), plus a handling fee of 20% plus GST.

2.7 Child Themes

A child theme in WordPress is a sub theme that inherits all the functionality, features, and style of its parent theme. Child themes are a safe way to modify a WordPress theme without making any changes to the parent theme’s files. When the parent theme gets updated, changes made in the child theme are preserved and applied on the updated version as well. It is highly recommended that your site use child themes otherwise any updates performed on the parent theme may break your customisations.

2.8 Plugin or Theme Defects

Like all software no theme of plugin can ever be 100% safe or without bugs. If your plugins or themes contain bugs and errors, become defective, no longer work, or are no longer supported, reached end-of-life, your site may not work as expected. This is to be expected no matter who or how your site was built. This may lead to your site not functioning correctly or being vulnerable and/or compromised.

In extreme cases we may need to take your site down to protect the hosting server from misuse. In such a case Vibes Design will usually provide advice on the best solution going forward.

When a theme or plugin causes errors it will need to be handled as a Support case. This means it is no longer a WordPress Maintenance case. Each plan has different levels of Support, and the Basic plan is billed at our hourly rate. While we will look for a speedy resolution we cannot quote on a fixed amount of time it will take to resolve an issue. There are literally millions of developers who write and code plugins and themes all with varying quality, terms, conditions and warranties. We will try to resolve the issue but we cannot warrant any theme, plugin, or WordPress, or be held responsible for any cause and effect or data loss that may occur as a result of the use WordPress or any plugins or themes.

2.9 Secure Access

Vibes Design will require administrator access to your WordPress site to fulfil the service. The client will either supply a Vibes Design Administrator account or Vibes Design will create one if required. If you or another authorised third party or administrator removes access or degrades this account, the service will be set to “Suspended” state.

In addition to the administrator account, Vibes Design may require additional management plugins. These additional plugins are required to fulfil of the service. If any of these plugins are de-activated or removed by a third party the service will be set to “Suspended” state.

2.10 Service Suspension

If your site has been moved to another provider, other than Vibes Design, the service will be placed in ‘Suspended’ status. If any of the Management plugins have been de-activated or removed from your site, the service will be placed in ‘Suspended’ status.

If the service is set to ‘Suspended’ state, Vibes Design will notify the Client that the service has been suspended via the client portal, billing contact, or phone.

While the status of the service is “Suspended”, the client acknowledges that the WordPress Maintenance and Support service will not be performed. The service will remain ‘Suspended’ until the client advises Vibes Design to re-activate the service and agrees to pay an $75 service re-activation fee. Should the site be compromised or hacked while in ‘Suspended’ status all additional activities required to repair or remedy the site are billable at $165/hour.

If your site has Administrators other than Vibes Design whose activities cause operational issues with your site, any remedial actions required by Vibes Design to restore your site will be billable at $165/hour.

2.11 Backup/Restore

Backups are performed daily via our Acronis cloud backup addon and are retained according to your WordPress Maintenance plan. There are limits in terms how many days your backups are retained and the maximum data size. It is your responsibility to make sure that size of your data does not exceed maximum backup size according to your plan.

Should you require a restoration from a backup, manual restorations may be requested by raising a service request. We allow for one (1) restoration per month without fee. Additional restorations in any given month are billed at $75 per request.

If you have exceeded your backup data allowance you can restore from a full cPanel backup which you have a local copy of. Simply upload it to the hosting service and lodge a service request. We will then be able to restore the backup as required along with any applicable fees.

Please note we also take our own daily and weekly backups for disaster recovery purposes. As a last resort you can request a full or partial restore from our internal archives. Due to its complexity this request requires may take 48 hours to process and is subject applicable fees.

2.12 Processing and Payment

Vibes Design will process your website maintenance subscription purchase as promptly as possible. Your first invoice must be settled before your subscription can be activated.

If your initial payment authorisation is revoked, your subscription will be terminated. We reserve the right to reject any subscription order at any time.

Website maintenance subscriptions renew automatically unless you cancel by sending your cancellation request to info@vibesdesign.com.au. Website maintenance subscriptions cannot be cancelled in the first 12 months. Payments for website maintenance subscriptions will be direct debited from your provided credit or debit account. All website maintenance subscription payments are processed by GoCardless. Visit https://gocardless.com/en-au/ for more details.

It is your responsibility to provide valid payment details, and ensure that your payment details are up to date.

If your credit or debit account details change, you must notify us of the changes.

If your credit card expires or your payment method is otherwise invalid, your subscription may automatically be cancelled.

All charges are non-refundable.

2.13 Pricing

When you purchase a website maintenance subscription, you agree to pay the price stated at the time of your order. You also agree to the billing frequency specified at the time of your order.

Any discount eligibility is determined at the time of order. Discounts cannot be applied retrospectively. All prices are in Australian Dollars (AUD).

Vibes Design reserves the right to change the prices and fees at any time. We will provide you with 14 days’ notice if the regular rate of a website maintenance subscription changes from what was stated at the time of your order.

Price changes will take effect from your next billing date after the notice period. If You do not wish to continue your Website Maintenance Subscription at the revised price, you may cancel your subscription before the end of your current direct debit pay cycle.

Vibes Design right to change website maintenance products

Vibes Design reserves the right to modify the content, inclusions, type and availability of any website maintenance product at any time. In the event your subscription package changes, you will be given 14 days notification prior to when you would need to make a decision to cancel and not be affected. Your package change will automatically take place from your next billing cycle.

If any or all of our website maintenance products are temporarily unavailable, you will not automatically be entitled to receive a refund. We reserve the right to issues refunds or credits at our sole discretion. If we issue a refund or credit, we are under no obligation to issue the same or similar refund in the future.

2.14 Your Obligations

It is your responsibility to ensure that there are sufficient clear funds available in your account to allow a debit payment to be made in accordance with a direct debit request.

It is your responsibility to check your account statements to verify that the amounts debited from your account are correct and notify Vibes Design if you believe you are being billed incorrectly.

Vibes Design will not refund past subscription payments if a subscriber has failed to contact Vibes Design directly to cancel, or to report unexpected payments.

2.15 General

You agree that all subscriptions provided, benefits accepted or offers made by Vibes Design shall be deemed to be provided in Australia, notwithstanding your location, and the terms of such subscriptions, benefits and offers shall be governed exclusively by Victoria law, and the Courts of Victoria shall have exclusive jurisdiction to determine any such matters that may arise involving or alleged to involve Vibes Design.

You acknowledge that these Website Maintenance Subscription Terms and Conditions may be modified by Vibes Design from time to time, including but not limited to terms relating to fees and charges, cancellation and modifying your subscription.

You will be notified of any changes to these Subscriptions Terms and Conditions by Vibes Design.

3. Response and Resolution Times

We aim to respond and resolve issues as follows:

• Critical Issues: Respond within 2 hour and resolve within 4-24 hours.
• Non-Critical Issues: Respond within 24 hours and resolve within 5-7 business days.

Times may vary based on issue complexity and current workload.

4. Security Incident Response

In case of a security incident:

• We will respond immediately to contain and assess the issue.
• Notify you with a detailed report on the impact and resolution steps.
• Work to resolve the issue, restore security, and prevent future incidents.

Updates will be provided throughout the process.

5. Client Responsibilities

Clients must:

• Provide and maintain administrator access to their WordPress site.
• Keep payment details up-to-date to avoid service disruptions.
• Inform us of any changes that may impact service delivery.

Failure to meet these responsibilities may affect service quality and timeliness.

6. Service Level Credits

If we fail to meet agreed service levels:

• Critical Issues: Credit equivalent to one month of maintenance fees.
• Non-Critical Issues: Evaluated case-by-case.

To claim a credit, notify us within 7 days of the breach. Credits apply to the next billing cycle.

3. Website Development Services

You are responsible for keeping a copy of any existing Web Site which we may replace pursuant to the provision of web development services including all databases and hosted files. Vibes Design can provide an archival solution for the existing website at our standard commercial rates.

3.1 Quote or Estimate

Vibes Design will provide a Quote or Estimate for each Website Development Service. An Estimate is an informal price based on limited information and assumptions where as a Quote is a fixed price based on an Request for Quote (RFQ).

Once a Quote or Estimate is delivered you may engage us to carry out a Project for you by:

1. accepting a Quote or Estimate electronically, via email, in writing; or
2. signing and returning a Purchase Order to us;
3. giving us written, emailed or verbal authorisation to commence a Project.

Unless we notify you otherwise, we will accept that engagement subject to these terms and conditions. The Project will commence when we accept the engagement.

A deposit of 50% is required with any project before any design work will be carried out.

3.3.1 Scope of Work

The Quote or Estimate will contain a Scope of Work (SOW) which defines a set of boundaries and assumptions that define the extent of a project. It is the agreed work to be performed by Vibes Design and lists services, deliverables, actions and assumptions for the project. Any services, deliverables, actions or end products not listed in the Scope of Work or any deviations away from the assumptions will be deemed Out of Scope.

To help deal with uncertainty, misunderstandings and accommodate unexpected outcomes, the Scope of Work should be double checked and agreed on before engagement.

Most of the time we can deal with Out of Scope work for an additional charge. If we cannot provide the service due to technical limitations, we will advise you in advance and offer other options.

3.2 Supply of Materials

1. You must supply all materials and information required before project commencement in order for us to complete the work in accordance with any agreed specification dates. Such materials may include, but are not limited to, written copy, images, photographs, logos and other printed material. Materials must be delivered electronically via services such as FTP, DropBox, GDrive or OneDrive
2. Unless otherwise agreed, the materials need to be supplied in full prior to the commencement of work. Receiving partial data, or in bits and pieces is acceptable but commencement of work can only start once ALL applicable data is received.
3. Should there be a delay in supplying these materials to us it will lead to a delay in the completion of work. When there is a delay we reserve the right to extend any previously agreed deadlines. If your data is not supplied within one (1) month of project commencement, Vibes Design reserves the right to place your project on administrative hold. If data is supplied within two (2) months of invoice, the project will be cancelled and subject to cancellation fees.
4. Where you fail to supply materials, and that prevents the progress of the work, we have the right to invoice you for any part or parts of the work already completed.

3.2.1 Supply of Copy

1. Where the Client has agreed to supply the Copy it must be supplied in a complete form without the need of further editing, changes and additions.
2. Minor changes will be accepted on a case-by-case basis however major changes will be treated as a variation and change to project scope.
3. We will not be responsible for the content and you must satisfy yourselves that the website will comply with all applicable laws, and codes of practice governing the use of websites and related services. This includes the intellectual property and copyright ownership of all material that you have provided to us.

3.2.2 Supply of Images

Where the Client has agreed to supply images and image editing is out of scope, they must:

1. Be supplied in a complete form with the agreed resolution. If they do not meet the minimum standards, it will impact on the quality of the images on the site and in some cases may be unusable
2. Where possible images should be supplied in the following order of preference – PNG, GIF and JPG
3. Images will be used “as-is” without the need of further editing, cropping or alterations.
4. Minor changes will be accepted on a case-by-case basis however non minor changes will be treated as a variation and a change to project scope.

Where the Client has agreed to supply images and image editing is in scope, they must:

1. Be supplied in a equal of higher resolution than required. If they do not meet the minimum standards, it will impact on the quality of the images on the site and in some cases may be unusable
2. Where possible images should be supplied in the following order of preference – PNG, GIF and JPG
3. Images will be edited and cropped to the required format and resolution.

3.3 Variations and change of scope

Once a project has commenced, we work within the defined scope and assumptions. We can tolerate a minimal number changes and variations in cases where there is minimal impact on the budget, however more significant changes and variations cannot be absorbed within the existing budget. What may seem a small cosmetic change can easily translate to a significant number of engineering hours and impact on the timeline.

Any deviation away from the agreed scope will need to be assessed on a case by case basis for any impact on the project scope and deadlines, and if required will be deemed as a variation and billed on a time and materials basis.

In cases where Vibes Design is supplying the materials, we are pleased to offer you the opportunity to make a reasonable amount of revisions to the design and development. However, we have the right to limit the number of design proposals to a reasonable amount and may charge for additional designs if you make a change to the original design specification.

3.4 Acceptance

You must provide complete feedback within 7 calendar days during development process and production review. If no feedback is provided within this time, Vibes Design reserves the right to move forward with the project, assuming no changes have been requested and that work is accepted in its current form. Any changes requested past this time are subject to our standard rates of $165/hour or part thereof.

3.5 Delays

You may request an Administrative Hold of your project for up to 3 months at a cost of $165 p/h. We will stop working on the project until you advise us that you are ready to move forward. If the project is placed on hold for more than 3 months, we may terminate the project and all monies paid by you to us will be forfeited, with no refunds available.

3.6 Training

If training was not in scope but is is required once the website is complete this is charged at $175/hour for phone/skype training or $300/hour for face to face training in the Vibes Design offices. Off site training may be provided upon request and an agreed fee.

3.7 Refunds

There are no refunds or credits available to design services.

3.8 Service

1. The Service includes the building and producing a website according to your requirements
2. Specifications of your Website will be determined by your the Service Description or Statement of Works. It includes but is not limited to the following:
   1. development based on pre-designed or custom designed templates (which may incur additional recurring licensing or support fees from theme owners)
   2. creating a logo, or editing any logo provided by you
   3. adding copy provided by you, or writing unique copy based on inputs from you;
   4. changing the design and layout or functionality of any page or the theme (i.e. colour and fonts) based on your review;
   5. editing the search engine optimisation meta-data used to optimise the Website for search engines;
   6. integrating any supported social media and video assets you request; and
   7. set up of e-commerce features and functionality including payment and shipping gateways.
3. Optional plugins to add further components or functionality to your Website may be required (which may incur additional recurring fees)
4. Websites running on WordPress CMS greatly depend on Plugins to be able to accommodate some of the custom requirements usually set forth by the Client. Vibes Design selects these Plugins based on availability and the Client’s budget at the time of development. Third parties, out of Vibes Design’s control, develop and maintain these Plugins. From time to time, some of these Plugins might become outdated/unsupported and thus need replacement in order for the Client’s website to remain current, functional and secure. Vibes Design excludes itself, its Employees and/or Agents from all and any liability from losses that may result due to this. Furthermore, the Client will be responsible to cover the costs involved to replace the failing Plugin(s) and restore the website. Vibes Design will work closely with the Client to replace the failing Plugin(s) and restore the Client’s website in the most efficient manner possible.
5. 3rd party software licenses – The client is responsible for acquiring all the licenses themselves. Upon request Vibes Design will provide a list of the plugins/themes licenses required.
6. Should your Service Description include payment gateway system, you agree and acknowledge that:
   1. it is your responsibility to select, set up and manage a Gateway which is compatible with our platforms;
   2. any fees or obligations concerning the Gateway is solely your responsibility; and
   3. we will not be responsible for any delays or impacts to the Service caused by the Gateway.
7. If you have any objections or resistance to proceeding with the build and customisation of the Website, or to the publication of the approved Website, you must notify us via email and specify the reasons for your objections or resistance (such to be reasonable, and genuine issues raised in good faith). We will investigate those reasons, and attempt to resolve your issues and concerns. If a resolution is unable to be agreed within seven (7) calendar days from the day on which we became aware of your objections, then either party may cancel the Service.
8. Completion of the build and customisation of the Website in a timely manner depends upon your responsiveness to any of our requests, and where applicable, provision of timely and complete feedback or approvals. We are not responsible for any delays in provisioning the Service which occur as a result of your failure to respond as requested or required.

3.9 Handover

Vibes Design will provide you with an opportunity to review the completed Website on our development server. If the Website is approved, or we receive no response from you within five (5) business days of our request, it will be deemed as completed and handed over once final invoice has been paid.

Once a site has been handed over, you acknowledge that CMS applications (such as WordPress, Joomla or Drupal), require ongoing maintenance and updates to keep the site secure, bug free and operational. You agree that it requires pro-active monitoring software updates and/or patches to secure the applications from hackers and malicious scripts. For WordPress sites, Vibes Design provides a fully managed pro-active maintenance service, and an on-demand support service for an additional fee. While your site will be tested to conform to the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, we cannot warrant WordPress, third party plugins or themes to be working error free on any one specific browser.

Vibes Design will review and repair any pre-existing code errors and/or bugs in the website if developed by Vibes Design and reported within 30 days of handover. Any cosmetic changes or alterations, or code errors reported outside of this time period will be subject to additional charges at our standard commercial rates of $165 per hour or part thereof.

Depending on the scope the handover may be delivered in two forms:

3.9.1 Archived

Archived handovers are delivered as an archive in .zip format of the completed site once final invoice has been paid. For the site to go live it requires hosting and installation which is the responsibility of the client. Unless otherwise stated the minimum hosting requirements are PHP 7.0 or greater, MySQL 5.6 or greater, and minimum 4096MB RAM in most cases

3.9.2 Published

Published handovers are delivered by migrating your finished developed site to a live production site once final invoice has been paid. If the production site is hosted by Vibes Design the installation and migration is provided free of charge. If the production site is not hosted by Vibes Design the installation and migration can be provided as an additional billable service subject to the hosting.

3.10 Intellectual Property

1. You are solely responsible for ensuring that you have all appropriate rights and licenses to the Content supplied and utilised in the Website. All Content must be submitted electronically, should be copies and not originals, and should be of a high quality standard. Should any files be too large for electronic delivery, you must make arrangements for these to be delivered to us. We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to refuse to use any Content we believe is objectionable or may infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others, or would be in breach of our Acceptable Use Policy. Unless we have otherwise expressly agreed, we will not return any Content to you, and you are responsible for maintaining back-up copies of all submitted Content. Under no circumstances will we be responsible or liable for any loss of, or damage to, any of your Content.
2. Vibes Design claims no ownership over your Content. You expressly grant us, and our supplier, a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to cache the entirety of the Website (including your Content). You agree that any such caching is not an infringement of any of your intellectual property rights or any third party’s intellectual property rights.
3. Additionally, you grant us, and our supplier, a worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free, and sub-licensable license to:
   1. use in connection with producing the Website and delivering the Service, any Content and any pictures, images and voice recordings of the Client’s facilities, properties or products or its employees, agents or clients where created by us (or our supplier)(if any) in the course of provisioning the Service (for clarity, also “Content”); and
   2. create, publish and use screenshots or depictions of your Website (including any Content) for our marketing activities (for example, creating marketing materials that show screenshots of the Service in which the Website (including any Content) is featured). You may withdraw consent to this use by notifying us in writing at info@vibesdesign.com.au and we will take reasonable steps to process your removal request.
4. You represent and warrant that:
   1. you have full rights to use, broadcast and distribute the Content and documentary substantiation for all the claims made therein;
   2. Content is truthful and not misrepresenting or misleading and does not plagiarise, libel, defame or harm any party;
   3. your use of the Service will not invade the rights of privacy of any third party or otherwise infringe upon or violate the rights or property interests of any third party; and
   4. you will not use the Service except as permitted by these Service Terms.
5. You agree you are responsible for obtaining any agreements and/or consents required of any third parties in connection with the grant of any licences to us (or our supplier) under this Service Terms.
6. Any Websites delivered by us under the Service are without any representation or warranty as to your ability to obtain trademark, copyright, or similar protections in any jurisdiction throughout the world. We expressly disclaim (i) all liability to you or any third party for any infringement of intellectual property or proprietary rights; and (ii) that we will be responsible for, or provide any advice or guidance in respect of, any potential intellectual property rights issues which may arise from your use of the Service (including without limitation the use of Content in your Website).
7. We are not responsible for any Content contained in your Website, nor are we responsible for your use of the Website. You are solely responsible for ensuring your Website complies will all applicable laws and regulations, and does not infringe any third party’s rights, at all times.
8. Your access to, and continued use of, the Website is contingent upon, and at all times subject to, payment of the monthly fees for the Service. Except as otherwise expressly stated in these Service Terms, no other rights, titles or interests in the Website are granted to you.

3.11 Indemnity

1. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Vibes Design, and its supplier, and their affiliates and their respective officers, agents, partners, directors, shareholders, suppliers, and employees from and against any loss, damages, liabilities, claims, demands, suits, expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, which any such party may incur arising out of or relating to:
   1. content or your modification, display and use of the Website;
   2. claims that your products or services are defective, injurious or harmful or violate the rights of any third parties;
   3. claims relating to any Gateway; and
   4. claims predicated on a breach by you of these Service Terms or the Contract.

3.12 Definitions

Content means any text, logos, pictures, artwork, customer data and other materials as supplied to us in relation to the service

Customer Data means all information regarding you (including without limitation any listing details, trade name, trade address, phone number, website address, contact information (including telephone, email or other), primary email address(es), contact name etc.) supplied to us by you in relation to the service.

Staging Site A temporary URL provided by Vibes Design while we build your site to be removed once your site goes ‘live’

Staging Server The server that will host the Staging Site

Production Site The permanent URL that will host your ‘live’ website

Production Server The server that will host the Production site