Trading Terms and Conditions
REVISION DATE: DECEMBER 2025
UK: All prices exclude VAT at 20% unless otherwise stated.
EUROPE & REST OF WORLD: All prices are in GBP and rated at 0% VAT. Business customers only.
Definitions: ‘The Company’ is Thinkpad Creative. ‘Client’ is you as a business or individual requesting services from Thinkpad Creative.
1 – All quotations, whether written or verbal, contain prices for services including the specification detailed within each aspect of the quote. Any additional services required outside of the original quotation specification to complete a project or as requested by the Client, will be quoted for in advance of work being started and charged for accordingly upon completion. All prices within quotations are fixed for 30 days from date of quotation, after which the quotation and prices within are no longer valid. Where there is a change of specification by the Client after work has commenced, the Company will inform the Client in advance of any extra costs before the changes will be made.
2 – All quotations agreed upon are non-negotiable once work commences. Quotations by the Company are for services, including our time, skills, expertise and knowledge, as well as any costs of goods incurred to the Company for providing such services. Any costs to the Company for providing or completing services are private to the Company and have no relevance to the Client who is paying for services as stated in the quotation.
3 – A signed purchase order (preferably with a purchase order number and value) will need to be raised for the full quoted and agreed amount before we commence work on any job. A separate Purchase Order may need to be raised for any extras not included in the original quotation. If the Client does not use purchase orders, an email or letter with written consent to proceed in line with our quotation will be accepted to commence work.
4 – Deposits are non-refundable as soon as the Company receives a purchase order or agreement to proceed (this includes all forms of work, website development and/or print work). In the event a project is cancelled by the Client, the project will be put on hold and the Company will determine whether a final charge will be made depending on what stage of the project the Company is currently at.
5 – Payment may be required for each stage of a project. If a project exceeds the expected time-scales, outside of the Company’s control (i.e. you, the Client, do not provide information, media, text, images etc… on time for us to complete the requested work), an initial invoice for the relevant work completed to date will be issued at the Company’s discretion. The remaining amount will then be invoiced upon completion. All work will remain the property of the Company until full payment has been received. All quotations are based on the stated number of changes or alterations, and additional changes or alterations by the Client may incur extra charges.
6 – Whilst every effort will be made to achieve agreed delivery, the Company cannot accept liability or be held financially responsible for any targets or deadlines being missed for delivery of any work which is outside of the Company’s control.
7 – All creative work produced and devised during a project(s), creative, digital, software files and related correspondence remain the property – physically, intellectually and in copyright, of the Company until full payment has been made on the Client’s account, and all project costs have been cleared.
8 – Any requests for stock images will be charged for in addition to services quoted for in the original quotation. Stock images are NOT included within costs for services.
9 – It is the responsibility of the Client that all materials (including, but not limited to images, diagrams, logos, videos, data, as well as intellectual property in other media) supplied to the Company by the Client will have the relevant copyrights, licenses and permissions for use in the commissioned project. The Company will not accept responsibility/liability for infringements caused by any wrongly supplied materials, and will not be held liable for any fines or court judgements raised against the Client for breach of copyright. It remains the Client’s responsibility to seek copyright protection if desired for any creative/intellectual property provided to the Client by the Company.
10 – Once final proofs/materials for print work have been signed off by the Client, the Company will not be held responsible financially or otherwise for any errors relating to text content or images which have been clearly shown within the provided proofs.
11 – Any printing, fulfilment, mailing or third-party services that are provided by the Company will require a minimum up-front payment of 50% (possibly higher in relation to value) of the agreed cost (this figure will be at the discretion of the Company and may in some cases be as much as 100%). This will be agreed between the Company and the Client before work commences. Please note that the Company will be unable to proceed to this stage without receipt of, or proof of this payment. The outstanding costs will then be invoiced upon delivery and due within 28 days from the date of invoice.
12 – The Client should be aware that due to a variety of factors there will often be variance in colours shown between digital proofs, colours on screen, printer’s proofs, and final printed items. These factors are determined by the source of the print or visual (each output source e.g. the Company’s printer, the Client’s printer, the image setter, the monitor etc will differ from the other), the types of inks or make-up of colours (even Pantone colours can vary significantly and often surprisingly depending on what paper stock or substrate they are printed on), the type of print process (short-run digital, longer-run litho printing), the substrate (paper, card, plastic etc) used, individual preferences (ambient light, personal computer settings etc) and several other reasons. If re-prints are ordered some time apart from the original print run, the Company cannot guarantee to match the original print in colour, feel or quality as many factors change over time. As a result of this the agency is unable to guarantee 100% consistency and accuracy of colour on all items and may not always be able to achieve the exact result expected by the client. In the case of printed items, the only true guide as to what is likely to be produced, is to request a ‘wet-proof’ on the actual intended substrate with the actual inks to be used, although this will incur additional cost. However as long as the Client accepts there may be inconsistencies across work produced, this step may not be necessary. The Company does not accept any responsibility for colour variations as a result of these indeterminate factors. These terms however do not affect the quality of work produced. Although variations may occur the overall quality will still be of an exceptional high standard based on the cost & print run.
13 – Request of digital files and media: Unless stated in any pre-order contract, you the Client do not own any copyright or rights to the original artwork files created for digital and/or printed media. All design work and original files are owned by the Company. You, the Client, do not own rights to the fonts and we are prohibited by law to supply these to you. Items supplied by you the Client remain yours (i.e. photos, text, diagrams etc). Upon payment of work, the Client owns the right to the printed media or digital file (i.e. pdf). Designs must NOT be reproduced without the approval of the designer/the Company. Where possible we are more than happy to send you relevant files which you have rights to (i.e. files you supplied to us, although we do not guarantee to keep these for you), without charge. If you request artwork files, website files or any large number of files from us, we reserve the right to make a standard file package & transfer charge to complete this request (starting at £70 +VAT). This covers our time to gather, package and transfer the files to you for your own use.
14 – Every endeavour will be made to deliver the correct printed quantity ordered, but estimates are conditional upon margins of 5%. The Company reserves the right to change/alter ordered amounts in the Clients best interest.
15 – In good faith, the Company holds any supplied files, originals and materials for a period of up to 12 months. Resumption of work on a project not completed, would be completed according to the original schedule of costs so long as the project specification remained unaltered and was completed within 12 months of the original quotation date.
16 – Whilst taking every care to protect all media and correspondence supplied, the Company cannot accept liability or be held responsible financially or otherwise for any loss. Disputes will not be entered into.
17 – The Company reserves the right to commission freelance support or outsource any services if it is felt it is in the best interests of the Client. Any outsourced services remain the property/responsibility of the Company and such services are deemed to be carried out ‘indirectly’ by the Company. Any costs associated with outsourcing services are private to the Company and have no relevance to the Client who is paying for services as stated in the quotation.
18 – As part of larger projects which involve 3rd parties commissioned directly by the Client, the Company will not be held responsible in any way for services not carried out/managed directly or indirectly by the Company.
19 – Created websites and online apps or platforms which are designed and developed by the Company use pre-built coding, themes, plugins and additional programming in order to design and build a website, app or platform for the Client. These elements are used at the discretion of the Company in order to provide cost effective services which meet the requirements of the Client. Costs incurred in these third-party themes, plugins and extras are private to the Company and have no relevance to the Client who is paying for our services, including our time, skills, expertise and knowledge, as well as any costs of goods incurred to the Company for providing such services as stated in the quotation, and not solely the third-party extras used for their website. The costs involved in using these themes, plugins and extras are irrelevant to Client who is agreeing to the quotation costs which reflect the overall completed project and not solely for single elements/cost of goods sold used within.
20 – Advice of any loss, quality or damage issues must be reported to the Company within 28 days of delivery and receipt (whether printed or digital) and any claim in respect thereof must be made in writing to the Company within 28 days of completion. The Company shall not be liable in respect of any claim unless the aforementioned requirements have been complied with.
21 – In the event of any bona fide dispute or difference arising between the parties in connection with the quotation (excluding any dispute relating to non-payment of the charges, for whatever reason), the parties shall attempt to resolve such dispute or difference in good faith or by mediation. It is the responsibility of the Client to inform the Company immediately of any issue that may lead to a dispute (including but not limited to quality, service, cost, deadline), without such information, no disputes will be entered into.
22 – The Company cannot guarantee the Client exclusivity of any marketing concept, strategy, design or other intellectual property provided. Therefore, the Company will not accept liability for any alleged claim from the Client or any third party as the result of unintentional similarity in part or whole of a third party’s copyright protected or registered trademark or brand, identity, strapline, colour usage, image style and content, product or otherwise.
23 – If at any point during the design or development cycle a client wishes to cancel, they may do so, but will be invoiced an amount (minimum of 50% of the quotation) that the Company judges to be proportional to the amount of work completed on the commission and further compensatory charges for booked design time or printing press time or any other supply costs accruing.
24 – The Company reserves the right to use both initial creative concepts and final approved design work for the purposes of the Company’s marketing activities (both online and offline) unless otherwise not agreed by the Client, or requested by the Client not to do so.
25 – Trading Terms and Conditions may be changed at any time without prior notice to the Client.
26 – The company shall be under no liability if it should be unable to carry out any provision of the quotation for any reason beyond its control including (without limiting the foregoing), an Act of God, Legislation, War, Act of terrorism, Fire, Flood, Drought, Failure of power supply, Lock out, Strike by employee’s in contemplation of furtherance of dispute or inability to procure materials required for the performance of the contract. During the continuance of such a contingency the Client may, by written notice, elect to terminate the contract and pay for work completed to date and materials used, but subject thereto, shall otherwise accept delivery when available.
27 – Retention of Title: The Company will have a lien over any product, data or materials if all payments due from the Client have not been paid and cleared in full within 28 days from the date of invoice (or otherwise stated). We reserve the right to withhold supply of goods and, in the case of web services, recall services including the hosting of websites until payment has been made in full. This includes all digital and physical goods, including changes, updates and amendments to websites.
28 – Upon requesting work or submitting a purchase order, the Client is agreeing fully to the Company’s Trading Terms and Conditions by commissioning services.
29 – The Company reserves the right to cancel the quotation/contract and discontinue work at any time if the Client requests content that is contrary to our ethics and preferences. This includes everything related to pornography, sex, drugs, gambling, illegal practices, or other content at the Companies discretion. The Client will be notified of this as soon as any issues comes to light.
WEB HOSTING, DOMAIN & EMAIL SERVICE AGREEMENT
30 – Service Level Agreement: This agreement describes the standard level of service that all website hosting customers can expect from the Company. It attempts to quantify the levels of service that all hosting customers can expect, and the remedies we offer if we fail to provide service at those levels.
31 – FREE 12 Months Hosting, Domain Names & Emails: To benefit from our FREE 12 months hosting, emails and domain names which are included with every new customer website, a minimum term contract applies of 2 years from the expiry date of the initial FREE 12 months term time. This means you will be required to renew your services with us for a further 2 years before the end of the contract period. During this time, you will not be able to transfer any domain names, hosting, website files or emails to any other provider without incurring a charge for ending your contract mid-term. Please contact us if you wish to terminate any contract mid-term and we will provide you with any associated costs.
32 – The Company provides website hosting services with the latest reliable & secure technology. We do not constantly check the websites we host to ensure they are functioning correctly as routine use, maintenance and software updates can affect website functions. It is therefore the responsibility of the Client to ensure their website is operating as it should. Any errors found should be reported to the Company as soon as possible and will be corrected without charge, unless the error has been caused by the Client in which a support charge will be required to fix the relevant errors.
33 – The Company will not be held responsible for website errors caused by server downtime or maintenance. Server maintenance is out of our control and is required at regular intervals throughout the year to maintain performance and speed. Emergency maintenance may also be required without warning to correct and fix any server related errors, in this case the Company will not be held responsible for any website downtime or lost business caused by the emergency.
34 – Response times: Support, unless noted otherwise in a supplementary service level agreement, technical support is provided by the Company on a first-come, first-served “best effort” basis. We aim to at least acknowledge, if not fully answer, all emails to our support address info@thinkpadcreative.com within 5 working hours. We aim to answer the phones during working hours (9am to 5pm), but under times of high demand or staff sickness, may defer to an answering service where we promise to return all messages as soon as possible.
35 – WordPress: For websites hosted by the Company which have been built (or part-built) upon the WordPress platform, please be aware that WordPress irregularly makes updates which means that the Company may need to make updates to your site so that your website continues to work upon our servers. It is not known how many times per year WordPress make updates, however, we estimate between 4 – 8 updates per year. The more functionality a WordPress site has the more time needed to make updates to that website. The Company works reactively for such updates – we respond should we be informed of a critical change (by WordPress) or should the client point out an error in functionality. Please note, the Company cannot be held responsible for any functionality failure caused directly by an update to WordPress or a plug-in of which we were not made aware. Updates are not free or included with hosting. The Company will charge on a monthly, quarterly, biannual or annual basis for these updates, this will be included on your initial quotation. Please note, WordPress updates are not considered to be maintenance of a website.
36 – Website Attacks & Vulnerabilities: The Company does not guarantee websites developed using the WordPress platform and associated plugins will remain 100% free from attack (including all malware, credit card scrapers, viruses, vulnerabilities or other associated exploits). As these platforms and plugins rely on third party developers and open-source programming, website security cannot be completely guaranteed. Therefore, it is imperative that the Clients website be kept up to date by utilising one of the Company’s ongoing backup & update services (enquire for costs). In the event of a website attack, the Company will not be held responsible for any legal consequences or repercussions from any other parties affected by an attack on the Clients website. It is the Clients responsibility to ensure the website remains up to date to protect and prevent against any such attacks. The Client is responsible to ensure they have adequate policies and indemnity insurance to protect against any claims made against them for a breach of security and/or data. If the Client is granted administration access to the website and chooses to install third party plugins, the Client does so at their own risk. By requesting the Company to develop the Clients website, the Client is agreement to these terms.
37 – Website changes: Changes to website content (including all text, images, design, templates, code and functions) will be quoted and/or charged for at the company’s current hourly rate. If the client requests changes without a quotation, the company reserves the right to either perform the changes and invoice for the work accordingly, or withhold making changes until a quotation has been agreed upon and/or a purchase order has been received.
38 – Invoicing: To ensure your services, website, email or domain is renewed and continues to remain active, payment must be received within our payment terms as stated in the invoice. Failure to pay within this time could lead to loss of service.
39 – Website hosting, domain names and email accounts run annually, and are paid for in advance of their term time. An invoice will be sent automatically 60 days in advance of renewal dates. This provides the Client with 28 days to either make payment or cancel such services in advance of the Company making renewal payments for such services. Should a client not wish for the Company to renew a service, the Company requests a notice period of 28 days in advance of cessation along with details to what you would like to do if a service is to be moved away. If we do not hear such a request, it will be assumed that you are in agreement for services to be renewed and are in agreement with the service terms for the following year.
40 – Should the Company be informed after the 28-day notice period that services are no longer required, the original invoice will still need to be paid by the Client due to services already being paid for and renewed by the Company.
41 – In the event the Client requests to move their website, hosting, domain names or email accounts, the Company will not be held liable for any delays or loss of business caused by the transfer such services to another server or provider. In such an event, we reserve the right to make a standard administration charge to assist in transferring your services to another provider (starting at £70 +VAT).
42 – Exceptions: The Client shall not be entitled to any credit hereunder if the network downtime is caused by: (i) actions of the Client or others authorised by the customer to use the service under the Agreement; (ii) customer application, software, or Client’s operating system failure, (iii) the result of network maintenance activity, (iv) denial of service attack, hacker activity, or other malicious event or code targeted against the Company or a Company’s customer, or (v) failure of any network or Internet Infrastructure not owned or managed by the Company.
PAYMENT TERMS AND CONDITIONS
43 – All prices exclude VAT. VAT will be charged at the current rate at the date of invoice. Prices are fixed for 28 days from date of quotation. Payment is accepted by bank transfer (cash or cheque upon agreement). All payments must be received in full, no more than 28 days from date of invoice. Late payments may incur charges unless otherwise agreed between the Company and the Client.
44 – If you are unable to pay an invoice on time, you must contact us and explain your reasons to avoid any late payment charges. Charges will be deferred at the discretion of the Company.
45 – All prices exclude delivery unless otherwise stated. Delivery costs will be quoted for before delivery. Digital items do not require delivery, although a file package and transfer charge may be applied.
46 – New clients may be requested to make up-front payments for services depending on what is requested. An initial invoice for either the full or part amount +VAT will be provided before work commences, as agreed between the Company and the Client. These payment terms override our standard 28 day terms.
47 – Payment may be required for each stage of a project. If a project exceeds the expected time-scales, outside of the Company’s control (i.e. you, the Client, do not provide information, media, text, images etc… on time for us to complete the requested work), an initial invoice for the relevant work completed to date will be issued. The remaining amount will then be invoiced upon completion. All work will remain the property of the Company until full payment has been received.
48 – The Company reserves the right to invoice for any disbursements for part works carried out including third party costs incurred on a project should the project be unable to be completed for any reason or has been delayed/put on hold by the Client for a period of 4 weeks or more then stage invoicing will occur.
49 – No refunds will be given for work where the Client has accepted completion of services and paid their invoice in full. Payment of work indicates the Client is happy with the completed services and has taken full ownership of such provided services in line with the quotation for such services. Advice of any loss, quality or damage issues must be reported to the Company within five clear working days of delivery and receipt (whether printed or digital) and any claim in respect thereof must be made in writing to the Company within 28 days of completion. Proof of quality issues or work not completed in line with the original quotation must be provided within 28 days of completion, in order for the Company to take any request for refunds seriously. If completed and paid for digital services (i.e. websites), are moved away from the Company’s provided hosting, this action indicates the Client is happy with the completed services and has taken full ownership of such provided services in line with the quotation for such services. Therefore, no refunds will be provided for any aspect of the provided services in line with the original quotation. The Company shall not be liable in respect of any claim unless the aforementioned requirements have been complied with. Refunds will be given at the discretion of the Company.