Terms & Conditions

1.0 Introduction

1. These terms and conditions of business ("the terms") govern every contract made between Ami Creative Ltd for the supply of graphic design, illustration, printing, websites or goods and services to any person, firm, charity or company (“the client”).
2. The terms prevail over any written terms and conditions of the client.
3. Any variation to the terms must be agreed in writing by Ami Creative Ltd.
4. All contracts between Ami Creative Ltd and the client will be governed by English law and the parties agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
5. Separate Terms and Conditions of Business exist over dealings between Ami Creative Ltd and clients in respect of media relations, training services, journalism and public relations consultancy.
6. We reserve the right to change these Website terms without notice. The new terms will be posted upon the website and your continued use of the website will be considered acceptance of them. You are advised to check the website terms regularly.

2.0 Price & Payment

1. The client will pay Ami Creative Ltd the fixed fee or current list price charge – whichever is agreed at the time of instruction.
2. Ami Creative Ltd reserves the right to add interest to any account outstanding after 30 days up to the maximum permitted by legislation.
3. New customers - A 50% deposit is required before any work will commence and must be cleared funds so any cheque deposits must allow up to 5 working days to clear. On completion of any projects the remaining 50% is required upon completion and will remain the property of Ami Creative Ltd until the invoice is paid in full (excluding bespoke web based projects- where ami creative retain ownership of source code).
4. Existing customers – Not authorized for a credit account must pay for goods or services in full upon completion of the job.
5. Existing 30 day account customers – should be paid in full within 30 days of the invoice date, by cash, card, cheque or BACS.
6. Ami Creative Ltd reserves the right NOT to release final files until payment has cleared through its bank.
7. Ami Creative Ltd reserves the right (without disclosing a reason) to demand payment for work on collection at any time.
8. The client will pay any expenses incurred by Ami Creative Ltd in connection with the recovery of monies outstanding (including legal costs on an indemnity basis).

3.0 Ordering

1. Orders for work must be given in writing to Ami Creative Ltd by the client.
2. Not withstanding clause 3.1, if Ami Creative Ltd accepts a verbal order from the client, this serves as an agreement and any work will be chargable (see cancellation policy). Ami Creative Ltd will not be held responsible for any mistakes (made by either party) arising from that verbal order.
3. Ami Creative Ltd reserves the right to refuse to accept any order.

4.0 Estimates

1. All estimates given by Ami Creative Ltd will be valid for 28 days from the date of estimate.
2. If the client’s final order changes from the original specification made for the quotation, Ami Creative Ltd reserves the right to vary the estimate.
3. Estimates assume that the copy, text, pictures, graphs, pie charts, tables and other illustrations received from the client are final and require no further amendment.
4. Ami Creative Ltd will not touch up, improve or otherwise alter illustrations or graphs etc supplied by the client unless specifically requested to. Our hourly rates will apply in all such cases.
5. Estimates assume that there will be a maximum of two sets of proofs and amendments/corrections for all work. Excessive authors amendments (in excess of twosets of proofs/changes) will be charged out at our hourly rate.
6. Although we strive to work towards permanent working partnership with all of our clients, if we are asked to provide a competitive quote we will always seek to undercut a lower quote supplied by one of our competitors. All we ask is sight of the competing quote and any conditions which apply.

5.0 Turnaround Times

1. It is up to the client to set themselves realistic timescales for the production of graphic design and/or printed work. As well as weekends, national holidays and the constraints of normal office hours, there are elements of the creative process which cannot be fasttracked (such as drying times, reprographics, folding, delivery times etc).
2. Where quoted, turnaround times are normal target times only and Ami Creative Ltd accepts no liability for failure to meet these times, but will always use its best endeavours to do so.
3. Where a client misses a time critical deadlines, this may result in their work missing printing slots booked on a client’s behalf. This will usually result in missed delivery deadlines. We will use our best endeavours to minimise the adverse impact of missed deadlines – but the onus is on the client to meet agreed deadlines in the first place.

6.0 Print Finish

1. Unless stated by the client, Ami Creative Ltd will decide, at its discretion, which print finish to use (either matt or silk).

7.0 PDF's (Portable Document Format)

1. It is the client’s responsibility to supply PDF documents set up ready to print and correctly formatted to our specifications (please ring for details).
2. Ami Creative Ltd cannot be held responsible for loss of earnings as a result of PDFs being incorrectly set up for print (low resolution etc).

8.0 Color Balancing, Proofing & Cutting

1. Clients need to be aware that when undertaking full colour printing using the CMYK printing system, it is difficult to guarantee exact colour matches with reference to Pantonecolour numbers and slight variations of colours throughout a printed batch.
2. Clients are advised that pdf proofs, when viewed on screen or printed off, are not 100% colour accurate and there may be some variation in tone due to lighting effects,paper specification etc.
3. As a matter of course, the cost of digital proofs are not included in Ami Creative Ltd estimates. To guarantee absolute piece of mind in respect of colour and picture quality, Ami Creative Ltd advises clients to allow the time and budget to enable us to provide full colourproofs. Proofs should be requested when the artwork is signed off.
4. Clients need to be aware that the cutting process of any printed products requires an allowance of 2mm along the horizontal or vertical line.

9.0 Uncollected work

1. If any items of work including prints and original files belonging to a client are not collected after 6 months of the requested work being done, Ami Creative Ltd reserve the right to dispose of such material.

10.0 Copyright, moral rights and consents

1. Ami Creative Ltd claims no copyright in material submitted to us for the purposes of fulfilling the clients instruction.
2. The client warrants that the client owns or controls all rights, has obtained all copyright, or has permissions, consents and waivers that as are now and hereafter required for all copying, processing, scanning, printing and manipulation to be undertaken by Ami Creative Ltd.
3. The client also warrants that no copyright or moral rights will be infringed by Ami Creative Ltd carrying out the requested work.
4. The client agrees to indemnify Ami Creative Ltd against all losses, damages, claims or expenses whichAmi Creative Ltd may incur by virtue of any breach of the above warranties.
5. Clients should obtain the consent of any adult or, in the case of children, from the guardian or parent of the child, for the use, re production and/or printing of any photograph featuring that person. Ami Creative Ltd cannot be held liable for any infringement of privacy, or any damages arising from, the use of such photographs.
6. Ownership of the final artwork becomes the full property of the client upon payment of all fees. Ami Creative retains ownership of all draft materials not used in the final design. This includes layered photoshop files, illustrator files, original flash files, Quark/InDesign, PHP/HTML/CSS source code files etc, remain our intellectual property and cannot be released to the client unless explicitly negotiated. For copyright reasons fonts used within a project cannot be released either. Under copyright law, the design company is the owner of all files and artwork created for the client, and the client is the owner of the end product (i.e. a printed business cards). Release of electronic files to the client is at the discretion of the designer and is determined by the type of project. Copyright ownership may be transferred to the client for a fee that is based on the uses for which rights are being transferred.
7. Graphic design is a service, not a product - customers are billed for the time and expertise of our professional graphic designers. In accordance with industry standards, Ami Creative charges for design services by the hour (unless a flat fee has been negotiated in writing).

11.0 Liability

1. The client must contact Ami Creative Ltd, concerning the details of any Ami Creative Ltd invoice, or any complaint, within 7 days of the date of the invoice. Letters of complaint should be on the client’s headed notepaper and signed on behalf of the client by a Director of the firm, charity or organisation.
2. Where it is mutually agreed that sub-standard work should be reprinted in whole or part, the client should arrange for all items to be returned, completely in unopened boxes.
3. The use by the client of any items which he/she regards as sub-standard will be deemed by Ami Creative Ltd as acceptance by the client that the item is fit for use and full repayment will be expected.
4. Ami Creative Ltd liability to the client or any other party for the loss including theft, or destruction or damage to any materials provided by the client which are deposited with Ami Creative Ltd for whatever reason;-
5. Will be limited to the replacement cost of the actual material and;
6. Ami Creative Ltd will not be liable for the cost of reshooting or reprinting the material contained on the material and;
7. Ami Creative Ltd will not be liable for any loss or damage to the client or any other party including loss of income and;
8. It is the clients responsibility to insure against such loss and damage.
9. Ami Creative Ltd will not be liable for failing to complete any contract between Ami Creative Ltd and the client due to circumstances beyond Ami Creative Ltd control including loss of power supply, machine breakdown, loss of materials, fire, storm, flood, act of god, war, civil disturbance or terrorism.

12.0 Returns Policy & Discounts

1. Any goods must be returned within 14 days of collection/delivery.
2. It is not the policy of the company to give discounts, refunds or partial refunds.

13.0 Cancellations

1. Any cancellations will be discussed at the time of cancellation with the client as all projects vary in turnaround time. If the work has not yet commenced the order can be cancelled and the client will not incur any cancellation costs and any deposits can be refunded within 48 hours. For orders which have been started and are already in production a cancellation cost will be discussed and any design time (charged at the hourly rate) and materials up to the point of cancelling must be covered. Payment for any cancellations will be due as per your payment terms.

14.0 Amendment

1. These terms may be changes, amended or altered in part, or in full, without warning by Ami Creative Ltd. It is the responsibility of the client, and his/her staff, to read and understand these terms and conditions.

15.0 Data Backup

1. Whilst AMI Creative Ltd. shall use its reasonable endeavours to ensure that backup copies of the Client’s Web Site and all Client data contained in the Web Site are made at reasonable intervals, the Client shall be solely responsible for the backup of such data and AMI Creative Ltd. shall not be liable for any damages, loss, costs or other expenses arising out of or in connection with any loss of data by the Client which are due to the failure of the Client or AMI Creative Ltd. to back up such data. If the Client requests a restore for reasons other than an error by AMI Creative Ltd., then AMI Creative Ltd. reserves the right to charge for this service.
2. Where AMI Creative Ltd. had been requested to perform additional backup services, AMI Creative Ltd. will only backup whatever is specified in writing. AMI Creative Ltd. cannot be held responsible for extra items not included in backup routines if not requested to do so in writing.

16.0 Website Updates

1. AMI Creative Ltd. does not undertake to maintain or update a client's website as part of the web design process. If a client wishes AMI Creative Ltd. to maintain or update a web site as a separate agreement, AMI Creative Ltd. will negotiate with the client a maintenance contract appropriate to the amount of work required.

17.0 Search Engines

1. AMI Creative Ltd. accept no responsibility or liability if any search engine, online directory or search site, submitted to as part of a web site promotion commission, chooses not to list a client's web site.

18.0 Misc. Website Terms

1. All creation and source files (E.g. photoshop psd files, php source files) remain the intellectual property of AMI Creative Ltd. on completion of a web design project. You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell, or exploit for any commercial purposes, any portion of the services or products provided by AMI Creative Ltd. No client has rights to modify, re-produce or use source code in any form or manner without prior permission of AMI Creative Ltd.
2. The Web Site shall be for the sole use of the client and shall not be capable of assignment to a third party by the client.
3. AMI Creative Ltd will only commence work on a Project after receipt of a non refundable, 50% deposit of the project fee from the client. The final 50% payment is to be made on completion of the website. The website will be made live on the internet once remaining balance of 50% is paid in full.
4. Whilst AMI Creative Ltd. offers hosting of websites, no guarantees can be made as to the availability or interruption of this service by AMI creative Ltd. and cannot accept liability for losses caused by the unavailability, malfunction or interruption of this service.
5. The client agrees that AMI Creative Ltd. may include development credit(s) and/or link(s) displayed on the client’s web page, unless this is otherwise defined at the project planning stage. These development credit(s) and/or link(s) may not be removed or modified, by the client or by a third party authorised by the Client, without written authorisation from AMI Creative Ltd.
6. None of the rights or obligations of the client under the contract may be assigned or transferred in whole or in part without the prior written consent of AMI Creative Ltd.
7. The copyright for all material provided by AMI Creative Ltd, such as HTML code, graphics, photographs, code libraries and text, will remain the property of AMI Creative Ltd
8. AMI Creativie Ltd. provides an e-commerce service where by it allows clients to use software with bespoke design and functionality specific to that client.
9. AMI Creativie Ltd. holds all rights on software used in ecommerce and bespoke websites.
10. The client holds full rights to store items, product categories, images, store customers, orders. Such information can be provided in the form or a database backup if required by the client.
11. AMI Creative Ltd makes every effort to design pages which display acceptably in the most popular current browsers, but cannot accept responsibility for pages which do not display acceptably in new versions of browsers released after pages have been designed.

19.0 Brochure (1 page) websites

1. The client is to provide all textual content for the page. Small brochure style websites shall we optimised for up to 5 key phrases and submitted to major uk search engines. AMI Creative Ltd. cannot guarantee top search engine positions for such websites (when compared to larger, more text heavy sites), as the purpose is to increase exposure to search engines, to link to a parent website and to create an online persence.

20.0 Cancellation

1. If at any point client wishes to cancel, they may do so but will be invoiced an amount that AMI Creative Ltd. judges to be proportional to the amount of work completed. Approx £45 +VAT per hour. If, during the project process, the client does not supply the content required in order to complete the agreement within a reasonable amount of time, AMI Creative Ltd. will consider that the client wishes to cancel the agreement and charge accordingly.
2. AMI Creative Ltd. hold the rights to cancel or suspend a clients service or serviceas if a client fails to clear due invoices.

21.0 Content Managed & e-Commerce Websites

1. Full payment is expected upon completion of these sites. If a client wishes to add further content or products before going live payment is still expected as the project is complete from a development point of view. AMI Creative Ltd. will not wait until a client has added further content and prices before the remaing balance is paid. If payment is not made in a timely manner, AMI Creative Ltd. will proceed with obtaining payment through court action, where all interest and fees will be paid by the client.