The part that says you gotta pay your bills

If it were up to us, we'd make our entire agreement something like, "We'll provide the service, you'll pay your bills, and we'll both be reasonable and not cause trouble for each other."

Or we could just say, "You no pay your bills, your website, she disappear."

But after paying those lawyers all that money, we better at least use some of their stuff. 

Also, much of the service we provide is acquired from "upstream" providers with their own contracts. Those agreements require that we incorporate their provisions into our own terms with our clients. Their senses of humor are untested...

Therefore, the following terms apply to all services we provide, unless specifically modified in writing. In the event of any conflict or inconsistency, the terms of any written agreement (including any Project Proposal) shall take precedence, followed by any executed Master Services Agreement, and finally these Terms.

And speaking of legal stuff, there are privacy and accessibility requirements that likely apply to your website. We recommend and can implement the systems we use ourselves to create and continuously update a privacy policy (via Termageddon) and accessibility (via UserWay) on your site, or you can work with professionals of your choice (or do it yourself) to research and update your your website to keep it in compliance with privacy, accessibility, and any other requirements.

We provide one-on-one and/or video training as part of our service, and tried to make the website easy to revise within the normal sorts of updates you told us you would be making. If you need to go beyond those sorts of changes, please have us do it, or take the time to learn how from us or from educational material we can provide, and always make "backups" of anything you change, so you can recover from mistakes.

Standard Payment Process

We will retain and use your credit card information following our standard payment process, as follows (unless otherwise agreed in writing):

Budgets, Billing, etc.

• We always agree on a project scope and budget before we begin.
• When a payment schedule includes progress payments, these payments are due upon our completion of milestones in the project, even if full implementation of a phase is delayed because you have not yet supplied all of the text, images, or other information that is needed.
• For new website projects, your initial Online Business Partner subscription charge for the billing cycle you select will be processed when we activate your service on the server and start on the development phase.
• Scheduled payments for our services and regular recurring and one time charges for services we pay on your behalf, such as domain renewals and Online Business Partner software subscription/hosting costs, are automatically charged to your credit card, scheduled to allow a bit of time to respond should a card expire or be declined; we will send you a payment receipt.
• Unless otherwise specified in the project plan, support arrangement, or proposal, our website projects include an allowance of up to three hours for review meetings, training and/or revisions during or immediately following the design and development of the website, with a 30 minute minimum per session. 
• We charge by the hour (billed in 20 minute blocks) for time we spend on your behalf beyond the scope of a project proposal, such as for site updates, editing text or graphics, programming, phone support, researching, etc. We will provide an estimate of costs of implementing your instructions on request, and we will advise you prior to starting if we estimate that the cost of implementing your request will be significant, in our sole and exclusive judgment. 
  

• "Backtracking" on a project will almost always incur new costs. Changing the approved design will at a minimum incur additional design time, and time for us to reprogram the new design.
• We offer free "self help" and paid "we will help you or do it for you" options. Paid services are at our rates in effect at the time of service, or as agreed under a service agreement. Such work is charged as work is requested (or per the service agreement); if work is on-going, we will charge your credit card to bring the account up-to-date periodically as agreed. Our prepaid support services do not "roll over" to the next period if not used.
• When you want us to make changes for you, please accumulate and send your changes and material in batches, as multiple smaller tasks can usually be accomplished within the allowance of our minimum.
• Urgent work: Work is normally handled on a "first come, first served" basis, which will usually mean about a week or so depending on our workload. A rush surcharge and a one-hour minimum apply when we must push aside work for other clients or work outside of normal hours in order to respond to your emergency.

No Spam Policy:  Sending of "Spam" is strictly against our policy, the policy of every one of the providers with whom we are contracted, and often a violation of Federal and State laws. Please contact us with any questions.

Payments:  Generally, payments are made via automated charges to your credit card. If that will not work, please contact us to make arrangements that work for both of us. By supplying us with your credit card information, you authorize us to charge your credit card on file to pay for any amounts due or payable to us.

It is up to you to keep your account up to date, so please notify us promptly when your email or credit card information changes.

A late fee of 5% of the unpaid balance or $20, whichever is greater, will be charged on past due balances monthly until paid. We reserve the right to suspend all services and access to your website, email, and/or domain registration when payments are overdue, and will not make payments to our providers for overdue accounts out of our own funds in such cases

We regret the need to implement such a policy, however we feel the costs of the additional administrative overhead to manage late payments should be covered only by those who do not pay their invoice on time.

Cancellation, Termination, Abandoned Projects, and Refunds:  You or we may cancel services or a project underway for any reason. If you wish to cancel, please do so by email or USPS mail, and include your name, address, domain name, new email address (if we are hosting your email), and reason for your cancellation.

If you are cancelling ongoing services (such as hosting, domain names, SEO services, etc.), please give us 30 days advance notice, as we routinely perform and/or incur costs for the following month prior to the renewal date, unless we have such advance notice.

If we agreed to take installment payments for your project , we will promptly charge your credit card for any balance due according to our agreement. If there is work in progress and/or unbilled services on your behalf, then those services already performed or fees already incurred will be charged at our then-current hourly rates. We will promptly charge your credit card for any balance due. Once the service is obtained on your behalf for the specified period, prepaid hosting fees, prepaid domain registration fees, and related fees are not refundable.

You should download any information, customer lists, email., etc. prior to cancellation. Once an account is terminated, such information is deleted by the data centers and is not retrievable.

Project delays: We allocate time to complete projects as they are initiated, and business needs evolve over time, thus projects cannot be put "on the shelf" for an extended period and then restarted; to complete a project efficiently, we need to proceed start to finish without extended delays. If we are delayed more than two weeks while waiting for materials you are responsible for providing, or for responses to our requests for needed information, then any previous agreement regarding project pricing or timing may be declared as void at our sole discretion, and in such case we may elect to revert to our hourly rates for restarting and completing a project. At a minimum, when a client has "gone missing", their project will be moved to the "back of the line". If "missing clients" have ongoing costs (i.e., hosting, etc.) and we are unable to obtain timely payment through credit card charges as agreed, then the project will be deemed as canceled, as described above.

Accounts that are found to be in violation of our acceptable use policy, for spamming reasons, or other violations of our terms of use, particularly when the violation is causing harm to our equipment, or the accounts of our other customers, may be terminated immediately without notice and without refund.

Rights and ownership of material you supply: You guarantee that any text, graphics, photos, designs, trademarks, or other material furnished to us for inclusion in your website are owned by you, or that you have permission from the rightful owner(s) to use each item you are furnishing, and will hold harmless, protect and defend us from any claim or suit arising from the use of such material.

Rights, ownership, and transferability of material we supply:  In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, unless we enter into a separate written agreement, we are selling only the right to use the graphics, designs, and other material we create on your own website hosted by or through us; these remain our intellectual property and you may not sell or give away any rights to use them.

Marketing and publicity:  By engaging us for your project, you grant us permission to feature your project(s) in our portfolio, on our website, and across our social media channels as part of our marketing efforts. This may include visual and textual representations of the work delivered.  If you prefer not to have your project showcased, you may notify us in writing at any time, and we will honor your request to exclude it from our promotional materials.

Every few months, we hear from someone who tells us they really own the domain name, content, or website that we host or manage (and thought belonged to someone else), and they demand that we remove the access of our primary contact, delete content, turn off the website, or take other such drastic action.

Usually these messages come from former spouses or partners, or some other associate of our primary contact. In every case, all parties (and sometimes people we have never heard of) insist they are in the "right".

OK, look. We want to do what is right and do not take sides. But we didn't go to judge school, and nobody made us king. So here is how we will handle these situations:

• In the spirit of "the golden rule", we can only assume that whoever is shelling out the gold (i.e., paying the bills) is in charge of the site.
• If there is a dispute that goes into the legal system, we will of course honor any court order. (In other words, don't try to talk us into doing something that the client paying the bills doesn't want us to do. Tell it to the judge, and we will faithfully follow the resulting instructions.)
• We'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't put us in this situation!

We are not lawyers and nothing on this page is intended as legal advice.

SERVICES POLICIES, DISCLAIMERS, AND LIMITATIONS:

The Internet is a complex network of equipment, services and providers of information, thus the Service may not be available to you at all times. If you are dissatisfied with Short Story Marketing/Frisco Websites' or its providers' service or any of the terms, conditions, rules, policies, guidelines, or practices, your sole and exclusive remedy is to discontinue using the service.

In our various package offerings and options, we may offer "limited", quantified, or "unlimited" web pages, assistance requests, minor updates, number of products, and any other component of the service we provide. While we have attempted to make clear what is and is not included within these offerings, we have to restrict such work and services to "within reason" in our sole discretion.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: SHORT STORY MARKETING/FRISCO WEBSITES AND ITS PROVIDERS ("WE") MAKE NO REPRESENTATION, WARRANTY, OR GUARANTEE AS TO THE RELIABILITY, TIMELINESS, QUALITY, SUITABILITY, TRUTH, AVAILABILITY, ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE SERVICE OR ANY CONTENT EXCEPT FOR WHAT IS STATED. WE DO NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT (A) THE USE OF THE SERVICE WILL BE SECURE, TIMELY, UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE OR OPERATE IN COMBINATION WITH ANY OTHER HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, SYSTEM OR DATA, (B) THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR EXPECTATIONS, (C) ANY STORED DATA WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE, (D) THE QUALITY OF ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL PURCHASED OR OBTAINED BY YOU THROUGH THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR EXPECTATIONS, (E) ERRORS OR DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR (F) THE SERVICE OR THE SERVER(S) THAT MAKE THE SERVICE AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. THE SERVICE AND ALL CONTENT IS PROVIDED TO YOU STRICTLY ON AN "AS IS" BASIS. ALL CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS, ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW BY SHORT STORY MARKETING/FRISCO WEBSITES AND ITS PROVIDERS.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: IN NO EVENT SHALL EITHER PARTY'S AGGREGATE LIABILITY EXCEED THE AMOUNTS ACTUALLY PAID BY AND/OR DUE FROM YOU IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTH PERIOD IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO SUCH CLAIM. IN NO EVENT SHALL EITHER PARTY AND/OR ITS LICENSORS BE LIABLE TO ANYONE FOR ANY INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES OF ANY TYPE OR KIND (INCLUDING LOSS OF DATA, REVENUE, PROFITS, USE OR OTHER ECONOMIC ADVANTAGE) ARISING OUT OF, OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH THIS SERVICE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE, OR FOR ANY CONTENT OBTAINED FROM OR THROUGH THE SERVICE, ANY INTERRUPTION, INACCURACY, ERROR OR OMISSION, REGARDLESS OF CAUSE IN THE CONTENT, EVEN IF THE PARTY FROM WHICH DAMAGES ARE BEING SOUGHT OR SUCH PARTY'S LICENSORS HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

DOMAIN NAME POLICIES: If you have us register your domain name for you, we will normally do so through our primary domain registrar eNom. Please see their terms and conditions for your registration agreement, dispute resolution policy, and other terms.

These terms may change without notice. Please check this page regularly for the current terms. Your use of our services constitutes your acceptance of these terms, including the terms of our upstream providers. We will provide current copies of those providers' terms upon request.

Short Story Marketing LLC/First Source Solutions Inc. dba Frisco Websites

PO Box 554

Front Royal, VA 22630

866-640-1234