Terms of
Service
APPLICABILITY
These terms apply to all retainer
accounts with AV Consulting. If you pay a
quarterly retainer in exchange for
consulting services, Internet email, web
site hosting, or related services, these
terms apply to you. If you received this
document with an invoice, these terms
apply. Absent other written agreements,
these terms govern the business
relationship between us.
QUESTIONS OR PROBLEMS
If you have any questions about these
terms, or if there is anything in these
terms that you find unworkable, please call
us, and we will work with you to find an
acceptable alternative.
CHANGES
It may be necessary to change these
terms without notice. As a matter of good
customer relations, we will try to notify
you of changes that affect you, but we are
not obligated to do so. The current Terms
of Service can be found at
http://avconsulting.com/terms.html.
RETAINER
We provide services on an advance
retainer basis. Your retainer allows us to
host your web site and Internet email at no
additional charge. Additional fees apply
for certain hosting services (see the Fee
Schedule, below); your retainer does not
cover these additional charges. Your
retainer entitles you to 30 minutes of
consulting time and/or technical support
per calendar quarter at no additional
charge. If we host more than one domain for
you, you will be billed an additional
retainer fee for each domain. You may use
the time that comes with each retainer for
any of your domains. Time purchased on
retainer expires at the end of the quarter
and is not carried forward.
BILLING FOR TIME
If you use more time in a given quarter
than is covered by your retainer, the
additional time will be billed to you on
your next invoice. Time is billed per
minute, rounded to the next minute, with a
five-minute minimum per item. At our
discretion, some time may not be billable,
depending on the nature of the service.
Rates vary depending on the type of service
(see Fee Schedule). If you are dissatisfied
with the web site or email hosting services
we provide, we want you to call us; time we
spend on technical problems or issues
related to the web hosting or email service
that we provide for you is not billable,
unless we determine that the problem likely
resulted from actions taken by you, in
which case the time to resolve the problem
will be billable. We also want you to call
us whenever you have a question; time we
spend discussing or answering questions
about the kinds of services we can provide,
is not billable. Time we spend on tasks
that you request, such as changing email
addresses or configuration, or changing the
contents of your web site, is usually
billable. Helping with Internet or
computer-related problems, or issues with
your equipment or services provided by
third parties, is always billable. If in
doubt about whether a particular issue will
result in you being billed for consulting
time, please ask. Otherwise, this document
is your only notice that we will bill you
for time.
AUTHORIZATION TO BILL FOR SERVICES
When you or any authorized person asks
us to perform a service, you authorize us
to charge you for up to one hour of our
time. If we are not able to complete the
service in one hour, we will contact you or
another authorized person to authorize more
time. If additional products or services
are needed to perform the requested task,
and those products or services are listed
in the Fee Schedule, we will bill you for
that amount; if a needed product or service
is not listed in the Fee Schedule, we will
ask for authorization to bill you for it.
Verbal or written authorization (hard copy,
fax or e-mail) by any authorized person is
sufficient authorization in all cases.
Anyone working for, or reasonably claiming
to work for or on behalf of your
organization, is considered an authorized
person. To limit the persons who are
authorized to obligate your organization,
we must have a list of those persons. The
list should specify who is authorized to
add or remove persons from the list. If a
person not on the list is authorized to
obligate you for payment of a service, even
one time, that person is added to the list
of authorized persons, and is considered
authorized from then on, until you tell us
otherwise. Our written work log (available
on request) is sufficient to document who
authorized an expense, that the service or
product was provided, and the amount of
time spent on the service.
INVOICES
Invoices are due upon receipt, and
payment is expected within 15 days of the
date of the invoice. See notes on the
invoice for penalties for late payment and
returned checks. You will be billed for
services for each calendar quarter.
Invoices may be mailed more or less often,
depending on the activity and outstanding
balance on your account.
DISCLAIMER AND LIMITATION OF
LIABILITY
We understand that you rely on our
services, and that their loss can cost you
money. While we try to keep our hosting
services available at all times, we will
not always succeed. For reasons that are
beyond our control, or in our control,
including errors on our part, you may lose
the use of these services for or long or
short periods. You may lose some or all
data, email and web sites stored on our
servers (so keep good backups)! As
consultants, we provide answers to
questions you ask, and we may offer advice.
While we try to provide you with the best
information, we can be wrong, and taking
our advice might not be the best course of
action in all cases. We might fail to
provide you with information that could
have saved you money. We cannot insure you
against these risks. By using our services,
you agree to assume all risks involved. You
agree not to hold us liable for damages
resulting from the use, non-use, or
non-availability of our services, nor from
the improper use of our services, from
taking or ignoring our consulting advice,
or from any other cause. You agree that our
liability is limited to the amount you
paid, and your maximum remedy is a refund
of that amount.
