my policies

Last Updated: October 10, 2011

Please read through my policies carefully. I believe that these are fair and to the point. Adherence to these few and simple policies will help to make our professional relationship the best it can be.

General Policies

1. Any and all quotes given are good for 30 (thirty) days only. After 30 days, ALL quotes will be reconsidered.
2. I have many clients that have sales of varying types. Preparing sales takes time. All sales are due no later than 5 days prior to their opening date. If you fail to provide the sale by the due date, your sale may not be available at the time you had hoped for. In addition, the latest I will upload sales is 10pm PST and the earliest is 8am PST.
3. If you am unhappy about something, please discuss this with me calmly. Calling or emailing and hurling obscenities, insults, or disparaging remarks is not going to cause me to drop what I’re doing and run to your aid. In fact, if you want to get shoved to the back of the line – this is the fastest way possible to get there. I treat all my clients fairly and professionally and I expect the same professional courtesy from each of my clients. Your payment to me is for web design, graphic design, creative writing – not as a whipping girl.
4. At any given time, I am working with upwards of 6+ clients at once. I answer email as quickly as humanly possible and of course, answer emergency or uber important emails immediately upon reading them. If you have emailed or contacted me and have not received an answer, please consider how long it has been. If it’s been 5 minutes or fewer, I would recommend giving me just a bit more time. I strive to get to all emails the day they are sent and one business day is not only an acceptable industry standard, it is actually ahead of the curve. And as all our mothers have said at one point or another – patience is a virtue!

Web Design Policies

1. Before site work will commence, all all required information must be in hand. This includes, but is not limited to, all product information (pricing, photos, images, descriptions, options, etc), company information, purchase and return policies, shopping cart information (tax rate, shipping preferences, email notification preferences, etc) and entire site copy (verbiage for all pages in the site). It is your responsibility to make sure have required information to me in a timely manner as I will not work on your site before this information is presented to me.
2. You have 10 business days to have required information to me. If you am going to need extra time, you must inform me as delays in this step tend to have a domino effect and will cut into the next client’s design schedule. It is my goal to have sites completed within 15 business days of receiving your deposit. Delays on your part will only lengthen this process.
3. I make every effort to design a site that is something you, the client, want. However, I cannot do this if you am unclear in making your wishes known. Please make certain that you know in advance or am able to reach an end decision once I start this design process. I cannot do unlimited page layouts, backgrounds, logo design, etc until one finally hits your fancy. For this relationship to function properly, you need to have a pretty good idea of what you am looking for.
4. If, at any time during the design process, you become unreachable for any length of time, and do not notify me of this, please be advised that your site will be placed on hold and work will commence on the next person in line. When you do return, you will have to wait until any current sites being worked on am finished before your site is picked up again and finalized. I cannot stress enough how important good communication is during this process. One simple email can avoid a whole host of problems.
5. I do not accept photographs, articles, blocks of text, page layouts, design ideas or anything else that has obviously been taken or plagiarized from another site. Remember, you am original and your site should be as well!
6. All product photos or any other photos must be in web-ready form. An additional fee will be incurred for cropping photos, cleaning up photos, sharpening blurry photos, brightening photos, and all other form of photo work – with the exception of sizing. I will size each photo one time for use on the site.
7. Once site is complete, final payment is due. Once the final payment has been received I will transfer the site to your host. If payment is not received within 10 business days of site completion, you will be charged a 10% penalty fee plus 5% monthly for every month the account is unpaid.

Billing Policies

1. A chargeback is an unacceptable method of attempting to obtain a refund. As the majority of chargebacks are done after the work is finished or well on the road to completion, any chargeback will be viewed as fraud and handled accordingly. I have a zero tolerance policy on this matter and will not hesitate to notify the proper authorities or take legal action to make sure that I am not defrauded in this manner.
2. A 50% deposit is required before work will begin. Once design work has commenced, this deposit is non-refundable. Please be certain you do want, need and can afford a site before engaging my services.
   Note: this deposit does not apply to jobs totaling less than $350. Any job total of $350 or less is due and payable up-front before work will begin. No exceptions will be made.
3. All unpaid balances over 15 days are subject to a late fee in the amount of 10% of balance remaining, with a minimum charge of $25. Please pay your balances when they are due to avoid extra fees. If you need extra time to pay a balance due, please let me know as I am more than happy to work with you to reach a satisfactory solution.