1 : General Terms and  Conditions relating to all services 

1.1  : Services are provided by Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited, whose registered  address is 5 Tenzing Drive, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP13 7RR.  Registered number :  3298690.

1.2  : Unless otherwise stated, prices exclude VAT.  VAT number 669 1843 92.

1.3  : In order to continually improve the services it provides, Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited reserves the right to alter these terms and conditions at any  time.  The placing of an order with Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited by a customer signifies that the customer  accepts that changes to the company’s standard conditions may occur and any  amended terms and conditions represent a change to the contractual terms of the product or service provision.  Updated terms and conditions will be posted on the company’s main website, www.appliedconsultancy.com.

1.4  : Full payment must be made at the time of order unless agreement has been given  for payment by invoice instead.  All such  payments are due strictly within 14 days of invoice.  Failure to pay within this timeframe will  lead to the service being withdrawn until payment is made in full.  Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited  reserves the right to charge interest on all payments at a rate 5% above the  standard Natwest Bank rate. 

1.5  : Payment can be made by cheque, made payable to Applied Consultancy Solutions  Limited, or by BACS to our account (sort code 60-11-01, account number  83436200), or, where previously agreed, via credit card. 

1.6  : Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited may, in it’s absolute discretion, choose  to terminate any service by giving 30 days notice in writing.  In the unlikely event of this occurring, Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited will reimburse the customer on a pro-rata basis, but will not accept any other charges or claims for damages from the  customer. 

1.7  : Terms and conditions in this document are legally severable.  All jurisdiction will be under English Law.

1.8  : All customer complaints must be made according to our customer complaints procedure, a Word version of which can be found here.

2 : Web Site Design  Services

Specific Terms and Conditions

2.1 : In order to  keep prices low and to project manage our implementations in a quality way, Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited, follows a strict methodology defined by initial draft and final draft stages.  Where a customer wishes to have the opportunity to review their website more than the allowed two times prior to launch, this service can be added at an  additional price.

2.2 : Where  a website draft is issued to a customer, the  customer should provide feedback within 14 days.  Where no feedback has been received within 14  days, it will be assumed that the customer is happy with the proposed draft and  work will continue.  Any subsequent additional change requested by the customer will be  chargeable. 

2.3 : Where  acceptance of a final draft has not been received with 14 days of notification of the completion of the draft to the customer, it will be assumed that the  customer is happy with the final draft and the site will be fully launched “as is”  with payment being due within 14 days.  Where this occurs, the customer may then request minor changes at zero  cost within 30 days of the site launch.

2.4 : Applied  Consultancy Solutions Limited cannot accept responsibility for any legal action,  including copyright infringement, arising from the use of material provided by  the customer.  Where compelled to  attend court for legal reasons to testify, provide legal advice, information, or  for any other purpose, Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited will charge their customer for their attendance at the company’s standard consultancy rates.  Customers ordering web design services from Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited accept these terms and agree to pay for  such court attendance, or any other time consuming legal activity, as a  condition of the acceptance of their order.

2.5 : All websites created by Applied Consultancy Solutions  Limited carry a small ACS credit/link to the company’s website.  Where a customer specifically requests that such a credit should not be included on the site, an additional fee will be  payable.

2.6 : Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited has no control over Search Engines and, as such, cannot guarantee Search Engine listings or  positions.  Although every effort is made to achieve as good a Search Engine listing as possible (including the use of keywords and advertising of the site to the Internet’s search engines), the  customer must recognise and accept that achieving a good listing is taking much longer and is becoming more difficult to achieve without separate payment being  made directly to the Search Engines, than previously.  In ordering web site design services from  Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited, the customer accepts this, and agrees not to hold the company responsible in any way for failure to achieve Search Engine  listings. 

2.7 : Some web site design packages provided by Applied  Consultancy Solutions Limited specify a maximum number of pages, graphics or shopping trolley items.  Where additional items are requested by the customer,  these will be added only on payment of an additional fee.

2.8 : Where a customer has already registered a domain name  elsewhere, it must be accepted by the customer that the responsibility for asking the existing registrar to transfer the domain name to Names and Space  (Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited’s own hosting platform) lies with the  customer and is out of the control of Applied Consultancy Solutions  Limited.  Where such a transfer is not  carried-out in good time, this will not prevent the site being launched (possibly to temporary web space) within the usual timescales and invoices being  raised (and payable within 14 days). 

2.9 : Where a customer elects to have their website hosted by  an alternative hosting company, Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited cannot  accept responsibility for any loss of functionality or non-availability caused by a change of technology or processes implemented by the hosting company after the launch of the website.  Where Applied  Consultancy Solutions Limited is asked to investigate such problems by a customer, this work will be chargeable at Applied Consultancy Solutions  Limited’s standard consultancy rates. 

2.10 : Where a customer has elected to purchase one of Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited’s web site change packages, reasonable textual and graphical changes will be made to the website within the current topology at no further charge within the duration of the change package  contract.  Where topology changes are required (additional pages or sections, or a complete re-design, for example), these will be quoted for separately.  Where a customer does not request changes within a change package  contract, no refund will be given for non-use. 

2.11 : Where a customer has not purchased a web site change  package, Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited  will quote for any necessary changes and a signed order must be received prior to work being started. 

2.12 : Where a customer does not make payment within 14 days of invoice, Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited reserves the right to suspend  e-mail and web site services, replacing the website with a holding page  reminding that payment is overdue. 

3 : Web Site Hosting Services

Specific Terms and Conditions

3.1 : Customers will be contacted by Applied Consultancy Solutions limited at least 14 days prior to the expiry of their web site hosting contract.  Renewal invoices must be paid in full prior to the expiry date of the previous contract for  un-interrupted  service.

3.2 : Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited’s web servers are  housed in a secure, environmentally-controlled data warehouse with multiple  power supplies, multiple connections to the Internet and on-site maintenance  staff.  Despite these measures, all PCs  (servers included) do experience some downtime, either due to reboots,  preventative maintenance or upgrades.  In  addition, Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited are reliant on the services of a number of other external parties in order to provide an end-to-end (i.e. browser  to website) service, and so no guarantees on service availability are given.  Where a customer feels that their  service has been affected more than on comparative ISPs, this should be reported  via the Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited support website, www.acssupport.co.uk , and will be investigated.  Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited do not offer service rebates under any circumstances and the ordering of a service from Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited indicates that the customer accepts  this.

3.3 : Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited accepts no responsibility for the content posted on it’s servers.  If, however, a complaint is made by a third party regarding the content of a customer site, Applied Consultancy Solutions  Limited will act to prevent the site from being viewed on the Internet as soon as possible until the two parties have resolved their differences.  Under no circumstances will Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited enter into any legal process regarding any web hosting services whatsoever.  Where  compelled to attend court for legal reasons to testify, provide legal advice, information, or for any other purpose, Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited will charge their customer for their attendance at the company’s standard  consultancy rates.  Customers ordering web hosting services from Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited accept these terms and agree to pay for such court attendance, or any other time consuming  legal activity, as a condition of the acceptance of their order.

3.4 : Although Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited make  irregular back-ups of some of the contents of their servers for preventative  maintenance purposes, no guarantee is made that an up-to-date back-up of any website will be available in the event of a server hardware, or other,  problem.  Customers are strongly advised  to maintain adequate back-ups of the information they post onto any web server  and accept that Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited is not liable for the loss of any data from servers for any reason, as a condition of order acceptance.

3.5 : Any service problems should be reported via the Applied  Consultancy Solutions Limited support website, www.acssupport.co.uk , and will be investigated in strict rotation.  Service problems reported via other means will not be acted upon.  Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited do not offer service rebates under any circumstances.

3.6 : Where a customer wishes to transfer a domain name to or  from one of Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited’s web servers, the process detailed on the www.NamesAndSpace.com website must be  followed.  Customers wishing to transfer  a domain name away from Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited servers are  reminded that they are responsible for finding the transfer details (name servers, IP addresses and, in the case of .co.uk names, Nominet TAG) from their  new ISP.  Without these details, the transfer cannot take place.  Transfer  requests will not be progressed should there be any outstanding amounts on the  customer account.  Where a domain name is transferred away from our servers before the end of a rental period, no refund will be given for any unused period of hosting.  Where a request to transfer a domain away from our servers is received  after the end of a hosting period, a full renewal period’s hosting fee must be  received before the transfer request is processed.

4 : Telecoms/IT  Maintenance Services

Specific Terms and Conditions

4.1  : Maintenance contracts are for a period of 12 months from the date of  invoice.  Where the maintenance contract follows-on from an initial installation, the 12 month term will run from the date on which Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited completes the installation of the network, as defined by the official order.  Where additional work has been added to the  scope of the implementation during the implementation timescales, and this leads to a delay in the overall completion, the maintenance contract invoice will  still be raised once the initial ordered work is complete, and is payable  strictly within 14 days even if the extended work is not completed by this  time.

4.2  : Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited cannot accept responsibility for any  damage to systems, lost data or other financial loss as a result of a lack of  maintenance visits/action as a result of non-payment within the specified  timescales. 

4.3  : Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited accepts no responsibility, whatsoever,  for any equipment damage, loss of data or financial loss, howsoever caused,  resulting from any action carried-out by it’s staff in the course of  implementation of the maintenance contract, except where the damaged equipment has been supplied by Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited or for any damage  whatsoever to any software or data regardless of origin.  The placing of an order by a customer signifies that this term is fully understood and accepted.  All customers are advised to take regular  back-up of data on all PCs and other equipment, particularly in advance of any  maintenance action being taken. 

4.4  : Where a fault has been caused or worsened by customer intervention (i.e. a  customer attempting to fix a fault and failing) and this increases the amount of time required by Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited to fix the fault, Applied  Consultancy Solutions Limited reserves the right to charge any additional work at it’s standard service charges, even if a maintenance contract exists.  Note that customer intervention can also invalidate any equipment warranty which may be in place. 

4.5  : The customer accepts that during maintenance work, slight damage may sometimes  be caused to walls, ceilings, paintwork etc. or other elements of the surrounding area.  Although Applied  Consultancy Solutions Limited will, in these cases, attempt to make reasonable repairs, the company accepts no legal or financial responsibility for doing so  and, by ordering from Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited, the customer agrees  not to hold Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited responsible for such damage.

4.6  : Where Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited staff need to work on equipment not supplied by Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited and not covered by the maintenance contract (e.g. PC problems where PCs are not specifically included within the scope of the maintenance contract), this additional work will be charged at Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited’s standard service charges. 

4.7  : From time-to-time, Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited may recommend to a customer that an upgrade to Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited supplied equipment/software or other equipment, or additional equipment/software may be required to prevent repeated occurances of a fault, error, or unstable operation.  If a customer fails to act on this advice, and this leads to repeated maintenance requests, Applied  Consultancy Solutions Limited may, at it’s absolute discretion, refuse to continue to support future occurances of the same fault/error or unstable  operation until the recommended actions are taken.  In this eventuality, the customer will still be liable for the full payment of the maintenance contract as  ordered. 

4.8  ; Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited provides a range of maintenance services  ranging from ad-hoc, individually priced service visits, to a full next day  on-site services with enhanced same day remote diagnostics support.  Some packages are “best endeavours” and it is  important that customers understand that this does not constitute any guarantees that a visit to site, if necessary, will be made within a specified time.   

4.9  : Where a customer has purchased a “next day on-site” maintenance package, a  visit to site will be treated as a possible course of action after telephone supported diagnostics/remote configuration (if possible) have been tried.   

4.10 : If a “next day  on-site” package has been purchased and a visit to site is required to resolve a problem, there may be circumstances under which other customer support calls  mean that it is not possible to visit a customer site on the next day.  Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited do,  however, aim to meet the “next day on-site” target in at least 80% of cases for each customer, although this is not a contractual commitment.  It should be noted that some faults will not  be fixed on the same day as the initial site visit (e.g. when faulty equipment needs to be returned to the supplier for repair or  replacement).

4.11 : Wherever possible,  five day’s notice should be given for moves and changes (if included in the  maintenance package) and these will be scheduled around other customer faults, which will always take priority over moves and changes.  Moves and changes will be charged for, at  Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited’s standard ad-hoc service rates, where  these are not included in the purchased maintenance package. 

4.12 : The maintenance contract provides support between the hours of 9am and 5.00pm, Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays) only.  Where moves and changes or support are  required outside these hours, Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited reserves the right to make and additional charge. 

4.13 : All faults/requests for assistance must be made via Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited’s support  website, www.acssupport.co.uk or via  the company’s support telephone number, which may change from time to time.  Support requests made via other means will  not be acted upon.  In all cases, the customer must give their support contract number and contact details. Support requests are dealt with in strict rotation, with problems affecting multiple  customers simultaneously taking precedence over those affecting a single customer.  Customer contacts will be contacted by a member of Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited staff, usually  within 8 hours.

4.14 : Customers will be contacted by Applied Consultancy Solutions limited at least 14 days prior to the expiry of their maintenance contract.  Renewal invoices must be paid in full prior to the expiry date of the previous contract for un-interrupted  maintenance cover. 

4.15 : When renewal invoices are raised, an assessment of the network topology (number of PCs, number of  voice extensions etc.) will be made and this may result in a change to the  maintenance charge band. 

4.16 : Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited may, in it’s absolute discretion, choose to terminate any  maintenance contract by giving 30 days notice in writing.  In the unlikely event of this occurring, Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited will reimburse the customer on a pro-rata basis, but will not accept any other charges or claims for damages from the customer.
 

5 : Telecoms/IT  Equipment Supply Only

Specific Terms and Conditions 

5.1 : Payment in full must be received prior to the supply of  goods unless prior agreement has been received that an invoice will be raised instead. 

5.2 : Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited will normally  pass-on a supplier’s warranty, if one exists.  Typically, repair/replacement under warranty will involve sending the  original equipment directly to the supplier prior to a replacement being sent  back.   

5.3 : Returns in the event of faulty equipment should be shipped, at the customer’s expense, back to Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited, unless otherwise advised to return direct to the manufacturer. 

5.4 : Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any damage caused to the supplied product, or  other equipment, software, data or personnel, caused by incorrect installation, configuration or incompatibility.  Where in doubt, customers are advised to use Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited’s  installation service, or that of another qualified resource. 

5.5 : Once an order has been received and accepted by Applied  Consultancy Solutions Limited, the transaction will be considered as final, and  no refund will be given in any circumstances unless either Applied Consultancy  Solutions Limited fails to source the equipment within the specified timescales, or the equipment is found to be faulty and a replacement cannot be sourced. 

6: Telecoms/IT Installation Services

Specific Terms and Conditions

6.1 : All payments are due strictly within 14 days of  invoice.  Failure to pay within this  timeframe will lead to the service being withdrawn until payment is made in  full.  Applied Consultancy Solutions  Limited reserves the right to charge interest on all payments at a rate 5% above  the standard Natwest Bank rate. Where a  payment is late, Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited reserves the right to  request payment in advance for all future work carried-out for the same customer. 

6.2 : The customer accepts that during an installation,  slight damage may sometimes be caused to walls, ceilings, paintwork etc. or  other elements of the surrounding area.  Although Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited will, in these cases, attempt to make reasonable repairs, the company accepts no legal or financial  responsibility for doing so and, by ordering from Applied Consultancy Solutions  Limited, the customer agrees not to hold Applied Consultancy Solutions Limited  responsible for such damage. 

6.3 ; Where the scope of an installation changes throughout  the timescales of the implementation, invoices will be raised for the original work, when complete, and are payable within the standard 14 days, regardless of whether or not the additional work has been completed.  Where payment for the additional work (as specified on the original order form) is not made within 14 days, work on additional pieces of work will cease until the outstanding payment is received  in full.  In these circumstances, Applied  Consultancy Solutions Limited reserves the right to request payment in advance  for the additional work, prior to the work being re-started and prior to any  future work for the same customer.

 

7 : Web Site Maintenance Services
Specific Terms and Conditions