Terms of Use
The Main Points
- We are not responsible for failures beyond our control: Acts of God, war, riot or civil commotion, government acts, equipment or facilities shortages.
- We don’t support any type of discriminatory, inflammatory, or illegal activities. Nor do we support any businesses involving animal cruelty, environmental damage, human rights infringement, racial slurs, pornography, or gun violence. If a product we create and sell later evolves to include content in any of these genres, we reserve the right to block access to websites and/or email and/or other services provided by Fairwind Creative, and may terminate the relationship immediately.
- We keep your personal information private, and do not sell or lease to anyone, outside of any terms of our data access agreements.
- You are responsible for the security of your passwords. We do not store our clients’ passwords on our databases, however we can assist with recreating new ones if the old ones are lost.
- Invoices are payable upon receipt.
- We do not guarantee that email is 100% reliable nor instantaneous.
- Responsibilities and Liability: Fairwind Creative assumes no liability for our clients’ website content, and we will not be held responsible for any localized disruption of service due to our clients’ Internet service provider, or as a result of power outages. It is understood that hosting fees do not include any editing or changes to the website code. Additions, deletions, and other changes or upgrades requested will be charged by Fairwind Creative at an hourly charge separate from the hosting fee. Any transactions occurring via this Internet presence are susceptible to the unpredictable nature of the Internet; Fairwind Creative’s liability in no way extends beyond any potential, realized or not: sales, receipts, proceeds, contracts, or any form of monetary gain for the client.
Terms
Fairwind Creative provides a variety of graphic design and Internet services subject to the customer’s compliance with the terms and conditions set forth in this policy.
The Fine Print
- Fairwind Creative reserves the right to modify these policies and operating rules at any time. It is the customer’s responsibility to check this document regularly. The customer’s continued use of the service shall be deemed to be an acceptance of these policies and operating rules. It is the responsibility of the customer to remain up-to-date with regard to system notices and schedules. This includes reading any and all mailings from Fairwind Creative to our customers. Fairwind Creative reserves the right to revise or discontinue any or all pricing options, time packages, special discounts, or any other aspect of the service at its sole discretion and without prior notice.
- Fairwind Creative reserves the right to send its customers periodic email messages outlining new services, features, prices, etc. and/or important system announcements such as upgrades and maintenance shutdowns.
- Fairwind Creative’s failure to insist upon or enforce strict performance of any term or condition in this policy shall not be construed as a waiver of any term or condition or right.
- The registered owner of an account is responsible for the actions of all parties using that account. It is the responsibility of the customer to ensure that all contact information provided is accurate and complete and kept current.
- Force Majeure: Fairwind Creative shall not be responsible for any failure to perform any obligation or provide service hereunder because of any Act of God, strike, work stoppage, governmental acts or directives, war, riot or civil commotion, equipment or facility shortages, or other similar force beyond such Fairwind Creative’s reasonable control.
- Fairwind Creative will have the final say on what constitutes a violation of these terms and conditions.
- Use of Fairwind Creative services constitutes an understanding and acceptance of these Terms of Use. If you do not wish to be bound by these Terms of Use, you may not continue to use our services. Any violation of these Terms of Use may result in the suspension and/or termination of the services without refund. If you do not agree to be bound by these Acceptable Use Guidelines, please notify us so that we may initiate a closure of your account.
- Indemnity: You agree to indemnify, hold harmless, and defend Fairwind Creative, its officers, employees, staff, agents, contractors, and subsidiaries, from and against any claims, actions, damages, liabilities, legal fees, losses, and other expenses in relation to any claims or actions brought against Fairwind Creative arising out of any breach by you of these Terms and Conditions or other liabilities arising out of your use of any website, database, or software product developed, maintained or adapted by Fairwind Creative, or arising out of any breach by you of use, misuse, copyright, Terms and Conditions, or other liabilities arising out of your use of other websites, information and/or materials.
- Governing Law: This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the Province of British Columbia, Canada.
Use of Services
- The customer agrees to use Fairwind Creative’s services only for lawful purposes, in compliance with all applicable laws.
- Acceptable Use: Customers are expected to exhibit good netiquette. Adult content is not permitted. Other specific activities that are prohibited include, but are not limited to: threatening harm to persons or property or otherwise harassing behavior; fraudulently representing products/services using customers accounts; facilitating, aiding, or encouraging any of the above activities. In all cases Fairwind Creative has the final say on what does and does not constitute an Acceptable Use.
- Violations: Fairwind Creative reserves the right to investigate suspected violations of these Guidelines. When Fairwind Creative becomes aware of possible violations, Fairwind Creative may initiate an investigation which may include gathering information from the customer or customers involved and the complaining party.
- During an investigation, Fairwind Creative may block access to customers’ websites and/or email and/or other services provided by Fairwind Creative. If Fairwind Creative believes, in its sole discretion, that a violation of these Guidelines has occurred, it may take responsive action. Such action may include, but is not limited to, temporary or permanent blocking of customers’ websites and/or email and/or other services provided by Fairwind Creative, and the suspension or termination of the customer’s service.
- Fairwind Creative, in its sole discretion, will determine what action will be taken in response to a violation on a case-by-case basis. Violations of these Guidelines could also subject the customer to criminal or civil liability. Violations may also result in additional charges or fines being levied against violating customers, regardless of whether such customers have been found guilty in a court of law.
Email and Related Services
- Email service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis without warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied. No advice or information given by Fairwind Creative or its employees shall create a warranty.
- Fairwind Creative does not guarantee that email is 100% reliable, nor instantaneous. In no instance shall Fairwind Creative be held liable for any email difficulty, suspension, lack of service, customer action, outcome, nor inaction of any Fairwind Creative’s customers resulting from email. Under no circumstances shall Fairwind Creative be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, punitive, or consequential damages that result in any way from the customer’s use of or inability to use email or to access the Internet for email use, or the customer’s reliance on or use of information services or merchandise provided on or through the service, or that result from mistakes, omissions, interruptions, deletion of files, errors, defects, delays in operation, or transmission, or any failure of performance.
- Fairwind Creative will investigate complaints regarding email and may, in its sole discretion, take action based on the rules below. If an email message is found to violate one of the policies below, or to contain unlawful material, as described in the “Webspace and Use of Material” section below, Fairwind Creative may take action as outlined in section A above.
- Fairwind Creative customers may not send email in any way that may be illegal. Fairwind Creative recognizes that email is an informal medium; however, customers must refrain from sending further email to a user after receiving a request to stop.
- Unsolicited advertising mailings, whether commercial or informational, are strictly prohibited. Fairwind Creative customers may send advertising material only to addresses which have specifically requested that material.
- When sending email messages, customers must refrain from activities such as forging headers and sending unsolicited email (commercial or otherwise), commonly known as SPAM. Fairwind Creative customers may not alter the headers of email messages to conceal their email address or to prevent others from responding to messages. Customers who send SPAM may be charged up to $5,000 CDN in cleanup fees.
- Fairwind Creative customers may not send, propagate, or reply to mailbombs. Mailbombing is defined as either emailing copies of a single message to many customers, or sending large or multiple files or messages to a single user with malicious intent.
- Violations of the Fairwind Creative policies outlined in this document can sometimes result in massive numbers of email responses. If a Fairwind Creative customer receives so much email that Fairwind Creative resources are affected, Fairwind Creative staff may block access to the customer’s equipment at the router level.
- Email checking: Customers may choose to set their email programs to automatically check for incoming email messages (retrieve). If customers choose to do this, it is recommended that they retrieve email at a minimum of every fifteen minutes. If email is being retrieved more often than every 15 minutes, and causes excessive strain on the mail servers, then that particular email account may, at Fairwind Creative’s transgression, be turned off or have the password changed until the problem can be corrected. In such case it is up to the customer to contact Fairwind Creative. Fairwind Creative shall not be held liable for any customer action, outcome, nor inaction resulting from this email suspension.
- Spam filters: The use of spam filters is at the customers own risk. Fairwind Creative will not be held liable for any legitimate email messages labelled as spam, or bounced as spam. Fairwind Creative will not be held liable for any spam of any sort that bypasses the spam filters.
- Webmail: Use of webmail is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis without warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied. No advice or information given by Fairwind Creative or its employees shall create a warranty. Fairwind Creative makes no guarantee as to the readability or preview-ability of any email messages read via webmail.
- Email troubleshooting: Fairwind Creative does not guarantee the functionality of POP or IMAP email accounts that our clients configure on their various devices through third party email programs (Outlook, Gmail, Apple Mail, etc.). We offer email troubleshooting at our regular hourly rate, but such services must be pre-scheduled during Fairwind Creative’s business hours and are not included in the cost of email setup.
Webspace and Use of Material
- The service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis without warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied. No advice or information given by Fairwind Creative shall create a warranty. Under no circumstances shall Fairwind Creative be liable for any loss, damage, liability or expense incurred or suffered which is claimed to result from use of or inability to use the service, or the customer’s reliance on or use of information services or merchandise provided on or through the service, or that result from mistakes, omissions, interruptions, errors, delays, defects, or any failure of performance.
- Materials in the public domain (e.g., images, text, and programs) may be downloaded, stored or uploaded using Fairwind Creative services. Customers may also re-distribute materials in the public domain. The customer assumes all risks regarding the determination of whether the material is in the public domain.
- Unlawful Material: The customer is prohibited from storing, distributing or transmitting any unlawful material through Fairwind Creative services. Examples of unlawful material include but are not limited to direct threats of physical harm, child pornography, and copyrighted, trademarked and other proprietary material used without proper authorization. The customer may not post, upload or otherwise distribute copyrighted material on Fairwind Creative’s servers without the consent of the copyright holder. The storage, distribution, or transmission of unlawful materials could subject the customer to criminal as well as civil liability, in addition to the actions outlined in section A above. The customer may not store or distribute certain other types of material. Examples of prohibited material include, but are not limited to, programs containing viruses or Trojan horses and tools to compromise the security of other sites, tools used to collect email addresses for use in sending bulk email, or tools used to send bulk mail.
- Disk space: It is the customer’s responsibility to ensure that their overall disk usage is within the bounds associated with their account. Periodic examination of disk space usage may generate an emailed request to remove files or upgrade to a new option with larger disk limits, in which case the customer must comply immediately.
- It is the customer’s responsibility to maintain backup copies of all webpage content and graphics they commission from Fairwind Creative.
Website Design and Development
- Design Cancellation: If you choose not to pursue the construction of a website before or after signing off on the design proofs, Fairwind Creative will only charge you for the partial time invested in the project, and will retain full ownership of the artwork (with the exception of any integrated logos or self-contained page graphics created by Fairwind Creative, so long as they were paid in full). Domain registrations and any approved work will be billed at our regular rate.
- Website Staging: There will be no extra charge for the first month during which a new website is being created. Once the website is complete, it will be available for you to preview using your own Internet connection. After a period of one month, your predetermined fees for web hosting and maintenance will apply.
- Content and Completion: If you do not keep in regular communications with us, or wish to put the project on hold, Fairwind Creative will send you an invoice for work completed to date. After a period of 6 months of inactivity we will deem your project on hold and issue a work-to-date invoice, which must be paid before work on your project can resume. If you decide to abandon the project at any time, a work-to-date invoice will be issued. Once it is paid and your account is brought up-to-date, all content, logos, graphics, or any other materials supplied by you to Fairwind Creative, will be delivered to you on CD. In the case of database-driven websites, Fairwind Creative retains sole ownership of all database programming and the associated code. Fairwind Creative shall perform a data export, into .CSV format, and deliver this data to you on CD.
- Assignment of Copyright: The client retains ownership of all content, logos, graphics, or any other materials supplied by the client to Fairwind Creative. The client retains sole ownership of all content, designs, logo development, and graphic designs contracted and paid for in full. This ownership does not extend to any restriction on the part of Fairwind Creative to develop similar systems or systems perceived to be similar for other clients of Fairwind Creative. Fairwind Creative retains sole ownership of any content supplied by Fairwind Creative. Fairwind Creative retains sole ownership of all database programming and the associated code. In the event of cancellation, Fairwind Creative issues no guarantees that the code developed for a specific project will function on other servers.
- Changes to the Website: After the site is completed and has been functioning for some time, the client may request Fairwind Creative to make design or programming changes or customizations. These changes will be billable at the Fairwind Creative rates, in effect at that time.
- Browsers: We design and guarantee our websites to function in the current version of Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. We no longer support Microsoft Internet Explorer, which was retired as of June 15, 2022. Our websites will also function in most other current browsers, but all the functionality and graphic enhancements cannot be guaranteed. Websites can be developed for particular non-popular browser demographics, if Fairwind Creative is made aware of such demographics at a client’s initial consultation, including the client supplying particular usability statistics. There is no guarantee or warranty that a current website will display perfectly with future releases of browser software. Fairwind Creative will not be held responsible for incompatibility issues that require coding adjustments.
- Disclaimer of Warranty and Liability: All software integrated into Fairwind Creative’s websites (being primary open source in nature) is provided “as is” without representations or warranties of any kind, whether expressed or implied. You must assume the entire risk of using the software, and Fairwind Creative shall have no liability to you or any other third party for any damages whatsoever, including, but not limited to, any economic or data loss, even if such loss was foreseeable by Fairwind Creative. Any violation of the intellectual property rights of any party as a result of the use of the software is explicitly against the terms of this license, and Fairwind Creative disclaims any liability for the use of the software in this way as unauthorized and outside the scope of any warranty or agreement between the user and Fairwind Creative.
- No Guarantee of Results: We make no promise, no guarantee, and no warranty, directly or implied, verbally or in writing, as to your potential ranking in Google or any search engine, website, social media platform, organic, paid, or any other means. These platforms are frequently changing their algorithms and policies, and best practices are continually evolving. You will not hold Fairwind Creative liable for any issues arising from such placement nor from our attempts to increase your ranking. When Fairwind Creative specifically endeavours to improve your rankings, we operate in good faith to the best of our abilities. In no instance shall Fairwind Creative be held liable for any damages relating to our efforts, nor the efforts of any other agency, company, service, or person retained to improve rankings. There are no guarantees of results in any ranking.
Phone and Email Support
Generally, simple questions of clarity and use of Fairwind Creative’s products by Fairwind Creative clients are not invoiced. A “no charge” line entry on your monthly invoice will usually be record of your support call. Other issues can induce phone support charges at our current rates. These include, but are not limited to:
- Internet connectivity problems
- Domain searches and registration entanglements
- Email support for non-Fairwind Creative email accounts
- Email support attributable to user error
- Repetitive and chronic “how to” support
- Repetitive and chronic “lost password” inquiries
- Smartphone/tablet configuration and troubleshooting
- Help sending large files
- Troubleshooting problems with Spam filters
- Twitter, Facebook, and other social media account support
- Computer hardware troubleshooting
- Comparative shopping questions
- Strategic planning and consulting
- Setting up new email accounts
- Configuring existing email accounts on new computers
- Cooking and baking questions
Domains
- WHOIS: As a general practice, when we manage the registration of our customers domain name(s), we tend to put the registration in our customers name, and to put the contact details of postal address, telephone numbers and email addresses to be Fairwind Creative’s. We do this to reduce the amount of spam our customers would otherwise receive, and to make it easier for us to administer these domain names. Customers who disagree with this and want to have all of their contact details on the public record of their domains, contact us.
- The service we offer to our customers and clients includes managing all aspects of their domain names, including, but not limited to, registration, renewal, management, troubleshooting, leasing, selling, and expiring. Our customers are free to fully manage all aspects of their domain names. If our customers choose to do this, contact us to make arrangements. The main contact on file will be emailed the relevant links and passwords. Note that any subsequent consultation or troubleshooting will be billed at our rates in effect at that time.
- Legal Requirements: We are an OpenSRS Reseller, and are therefore bound by certain obligations and requirements under the 2009 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) between the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and its accredited registrars. Here is a plain language ICANN document of registrant rights and responsibilities that currently exist: Registrants Rights and Responsibilities.
- Renewals: we follow the practice of opting out for domain renewals. This means that about ten days before a domain name expires, we will email the account holder a reminder, with the option to receive a discount for a longer renewal term. If we receive no response, we will renew the domain name in question, and will invoice the customer. If our customer has not paid this invoice within thirty days, and has a credit card on file with us, we will charge said credit card.
- Outstanding Balance: If a customer has an account outstanding with us, and has not made arrangements to to bring this account up-to-date, and if we consequently shut down the website for non-payment, we reserve the right assume total ownership of the domain name(s), and to lease or sell the domain name(s) in order to recover our costs. If we receive more money than the amount outstanding from the account, we will keep the difference. We also reserve the right to send the account to collections.
- Transfer: Accounts must be paid in full in order for control of a domain name and/or website to be transferred to another party.
- Abandoned: A customer who cancels a website must inform Fairwind Creative in writing about what the customer intends to do with any domain names. If no arrangements have been made with Fairwind Creative, the domain name(s) will be considered to have been abandoned. Fairwind Creative reserves the right assume total ownership of the domain name(s), and to lease or sell the domain name(s) in order to recover our costs. If we receive more money than the amount outstanding from the delinquent account, we will keep the difference. We also reserve the right to send the account to collections.
- Overdue Accounts: In the event of your account falling more than 90 days behind, we reserve the right to shut down your website and email, and sell or lease your domain name.
System Security
- The customer is prohibited from utilizing Fairwind Creative services to compromise the security or tamper with system resources or accounts on computers at Fairwind Creative or at any other site. Use or distribution of tools designed for compromising security is prohibited. Examples of these tools include but are not limited to password guessing programs, cracking tools or network probing tools.
- Fairwind Creative reserves the right to release the contact information of customers involved in violations of system security to system administrators at other sites, in order to assist them in resolving security incidents. Fairwind Creative will also fully cooperate with law enforcement authorities in investigating suspected lawbreakers.
Passwords
- Each Fairwind Creative customer is responsible for the security of his or her password. Generally, secure passwords are between 6 and 8 characters long, contain letters of mixed case and non-letter characters, and cannot be found in whole or in part, in normal or reverse order, in any dictionary of words or names in any language.
- The customer is responsible for changing his or her equipment password regularly. Each Fairwind Creative customer is responsible for keeping secure and confidential all passwords, and for changing these passwords if the customer feels that the security of these passwords have been compromised.
- A customer with an insecure password may be directed to change the password to one which complies with the above rules.
- Customers who repeatedly choose insecure passwords may be assigned a password by Fairwind Creative.
Privacy Policies
- For each visitor to our websites, our web servers automatically recognize consumers’ domain name and/or IP addresses.
- We collect the email addresses of those who communicate with us via e-mail, aggregate information on what pages consumers access or visit, user-specific information on what pages consumers access or visit.
- With respect to cookies: We use cookies to store visitors preferences, record session information, such as items that consumers add to their shopping cart, record user-specific information on what pages users access or visit, customize Web page content based on visitors’ browser type or other information that the visitor sends.
- If you do not want to receive e-mail from us in the future, please let us know by writing to us at the address on our contact page.
- If you supply us with your postal address on-line you will only receive the information for which you provided us your address.
- With respect to Ad Servers: We do not partner with or have special relationships with any ad server companies.
- Upon request we provide site visitors with access to all information [including proprietary information] that we maintain about them, transaction information (e.g., dates on which customers made purchases, amounts and types of purchases) that we maintain about them, communications that the consumer/visitor has directed to our site (e.g., e-mails, customer inquiries), contact information (e.g., name, address, phone number) that we maintain about them.
- Consumers can access this information by writing to us at the address on our contact page.
- Upon request we offer visitors the ability to have inaccuracies corrected in contact information. Consumers can have this information corrected by writing to us at the address on our contact page.
- With respect to security: We have appropriate security measures in place in our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of information that we have collected from you at our site.
- If you feel that this site is not following its stated information policy, you may contact us at the above addresses or phone number.
Rates
- At any time, you may contact us to inquire about our current rates for web design, web development, editing and general web content work, social media services, SEO, digital marketing, logo design, print design, and other graphic design services. We offer a 20% discount for all registered charities by way of a donation back to the organization upon receipt of full payment. In exchange, we require a tax receipt. Some services are billed as flat fees, and some as annual fees.
- Notwithstanding any stated rates, it is the responsibility of our customers to inquire about specific rates for work to be carried out by Fairwind Creative or its contractors.
- Fairwind Creative’s rates are subject to change without notice.
- Projects are locked into a specific hourly rate at the time of the Project Proposal creation and/or Project Agreement signoff. If the project sticks to the proposed timeline, the customer is not subject to increases, but if a project is unexpectedly delayed or paused, all future work will be billed at the hourly rate in effect at that time.
Payment
- Projects under $500 are typically billed in a single invoice upon completion.
- Projects over $500 are typically billed in two or more invoices—the first being a 50% down payment, and the second including the final 50% balance along with any third party fees (such as related software subscriptions and/or stock imagery pre-approved by the client prior to purchase).
- For website projects, the final balance is due prior to the website’s public launch on the Internet.
- For logo design, the final balance is due prior to the release of all original logo artwork files and/or any accompanying brand guides.
- For print marketing and other graphic design services, the final balance is due prior to the hand-off of final, print-ready artwork to the client and/or any print shops involved on the project.
- No exceptions.
- In the event of non-payment after 45 days of a completed project, Fairwind Creative will retain full ownership of all artwork and materials created according to the agreement, and the customer will be contacted by a collections agency. If a website’s final balance goes unpaid for 45 days, the domain name (if registered by Fairwind Creative) will be rendered un-viewable on the Internet until the account is paid in full, and after 60 days it will be cancelled.
- Subsequent Costs
- Projects that include Fairwind Creative web hosting will be billed annually at the rate in effect at the time of renewal.
- Projects that include Fairwind Creative monthly software updates (for WordPress websites, Drupal websites, or otherwise) will be billed annually at the rate in effect at the time of renewal.
Website Cancellation
- Either the client or Fairwind Creative may terminate the relationship with one month’s notice in writing for an account in good standing.
- Accounts must be paid in full in order for control of a domain name and/or website to be transferred to another party.
- Cancelling clients must give 30 days’ notice to Fairwind Creative for termination of services. Or in lieu of 30 days notice, they will be charged for an additional month of service.
- Cancelling clients must contact Fairwind Creative and request service termination in writing (email or post).
- All requests for FTP password access and any domain name changes and transfers must be done via email.
- Cancelling clients need to be aware that, in transferring a website away from Fairwind Creative, there will be interruptions in service, which can include difficulty receiving email, loss of email, and the inability of the website to be viewed by potential visitors. This process can last up to one week. We will not deliberately make a change that will lower or eliminate a search engine ranking.
- Projects on hold and abandonment of projects: If you do not keep in regular communications with us during the timeline detailed in your project proposal, or wish to put the project on hold, Fairwind Creative will send you an invoice for work completed to date. After a period of three months of inactivity, we will deem your project on hold and issue a work-to-date invoice, which must be paid before work on your project can resume. If you decide to abandon the project at any time, a work-to-date invoice will be issued. Once it is paid and your account is brought up-to-date, all content, logos, graphics, or any other materials supplied by you to Fairwind Creative, will be provided via downloadable digital files or CD. In the case of database-driven websites, Fairwind Creative retains sole ownership of all database programming and the associated code. Fairwind Creative shall perform a data export, into .CSV format, and provide this data to you via downloadable digital files or CD.
Disclaimer
- All information found on the Fairwind Creative website is Copyright Fairwind Creative. All Rights Reserved. No documentation or information on this website may be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, or transmitted in any form without the express written consent of Fairwind Creative.
- In no instance shall Fairwind Creative be held liable for any damages relating to this website whatsoever. In particular Fairwind Creative shall not be liable for direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages, or damages for lost profits, loss of revenue or loss of use, cost of replacement goods, loss or damage to data arising out of the use or inability to use any Fairwind Creative website, any Fairwind Creative product or service, nor any email accounts supplied by Fairwind Creative. This includes damages arising from use of or in reliance on the documents or information present on any Fairwind Creative website (including any information obtained through any links on a Fairwind Creative website, even if Fairwind Creative has been advised of the possibility of such damages).
- Use of the Fairwind Creative website, and any customers websites, is at your own risk. Fairwind Creative is not responsible for the accuracy of the information contained on the Fairwind Creative website, and any customers websites. Fairwind Creative reserves the right to make changes to the website at anytime without notice.
For more details or clarification contact us.
Last updated: August 9, 2023