Service terms.

1. The agreement

“The Web Cartel”, “we” and “us” refer to the independent UK web business providing the service. “Client” and “you” refer to the person or organisation purchasing it.

A binding project begins when you accept the written proposal or agreement and pay any required initial invoice. The agreement consists of that proposal, these terms and any later written change agreed by both parties. If they conflict, the project-specific written proposal takes priority.

These terms are primarily intended for business and organisational clients. Nothing in them removes any statutory rights that legally apply to a consumer.

2. Scope and deliverables

The proposal will describe the deliverables, included pages or functions, refinement rounds, timetable assumptions and price. Work that is not reasonably included in that description is outside scope.

Estimates, examples and early concepts are not additional promised deliverables unless the proposal says otherwise. A requested change affecting structure, functionality, integrations, content volume or an approved direction may require a revised price and timetable.

3. Client responsibilities

You will provide accurate information, suitable content, feedback, approvals and access reasonably required to deliver the work. You confirm that you have permission to supply and use all text, images, logos, personal data and other materials you provide.

You remain responsible for checking business facts, legal statements, prices, contact details and final supplied content before launch. We will raise obvious concerns but do not provide legal, regulatory, financial or specialist compliance advice unless expressly agreed through an appropriately qualified professional.

4. Timings and communication

Dates depend on timely access, content, decisions and feedback. Unless expressly described as guaranteed, delivery dates are reasonable targets rather than strict deadlines.

If required material or feedback is more than 10 working days late, we may pause the project and reschedule the remaining work around other commitments. We will explain any resulting timetable change. A project inactive for more than 30 days may require a written restart plan and a reasonable rescheduling charge where additional work is caused.

5. Fees and payment

Fees and payment stages are set out in the proposal. Unless stated otherwise, invoices are due within 14 calendar days. Deposits reserve project capacity and are applied to the project price.

If an invoice is overdue, we may pause work after giving reasonable written notice. For qualifying business-to-business debts, we reserve the rights available under UK late-payment law, although we will normally try to resolve genuine payment problems directly first.

Third-party charges—such as domains, hosting upgrades, licences, paid fonts, software subscriptions or specialist services—are separate unless the proposal expressly includes them.

6. Refinements and approval

The included refinement rounds are listed in the proposal. A refinement adjusts the agreed direction; it is not a new design direction, page, feature or substantial rewrite.

We will identify the point at which final approval is requested. Approval may be given in writing by email or through the agreed project channel. Changes requested after final approval or launch are quoted separately unless included in an active care plan.

7. Changes and additional work

Either party may propose a change. Before undertaking material additional work, we will describe its effect on price, deliverables and timing and obtain written agreement. You are not required to accept an optional change.

Small requests may be grouped and quoted together. We will not knowingly add chargeable work without first making the additional cost clear.

8. Third-party services

Projects may rely on providers such as hosting companies, domain registrars, form processors, analytics services, email providers or software libraries. Their services are governed by their own terms, availability, prices and privacy practices.

We will exercise reasonable care when configuring agreed third-party services but cannot control their future changes, interruptions or decisions. Where an important provider changes materially, we can discuss proportionate remedial work.

9. Intellectual property

You retain ownership of materials you supply. Third-party materials remain subject to their original licences.

Unless the proposal states a different arrangement, once all project invoices are paid, we assign to you the copyright we own in the final bespoke website design, final written content created specifically for you and project-specific code delivered as the finished work. Any assignment that legally requires writing takes effect through the accepted written agreement and payment in full.

We retain ownership of pre-existing tools, reusable methods, general know-how, development utilities and materials not created exclusively for the project. You receive a continuing licence to use any such element included in the delivered work as necessary to operate that work. Open-source and third-party components remain governed by their licences.

10. Portfolio use and confidentiality

We will treat genuinely confidential information with reasonable care and will not intentionally publish credentials, private operational information or personal data.

We will ask before publishing a detailed case study or private screenshots. Unless confidentiality is agreed in writing, we may identify a publicly launched website as work completed by The Web Cartel and link to its public pages.

11. Testing, launch and support

We test the agreed work on current versions of major browsers and reasonable screen sizes. You will be given an opportunity to review the work before launch. Minor differences between browsers and devices are not necessarily defects.

Unless the proposal includes a warranty period or care plan, post-launch changes and ongoing support are separate. We will correct a reproducible fault that makes the delivered work materially inconsistent with the agreed scope when reported within 14 days after launch, provided it was not caused by client changes, third-party changes or misuse.

12. Website-care plans

Care plans run monthly unless agreed otherwise. The included allowance, checks and target response time are shown on the care page or proposal. Unused monthly time does not roll over.

Either party may end a monthly plan by giving 30 days' written notice. Fees already covering an active month remain payable, and any agreed additional work remains chargeable. Care plans are not guaranteed uptime, round-the-clock incident response or unlimited development services.

13. Cancellation and ending a project

Either party may end a project for a serious breach that is not remedied within a reasonable period after written notice. You may also ask to cancel for convenience.

On cancellation, you will pay for work completed and reasonable non-cancellable commitments incurred up to the end date. We will account fairly for payments already received; any retained amount will reflect completed work, reserved time that could not reasonably be reallocated and genuine costs—not an arbitrary penalty. Applicable consumer cancellation rights are unaffected.

After payment of sums due, we will provide the completed deliverables then available in a reasonable format, subject to third-party rights and the intellectual-property section above.

14. Results and responsibility

We will provide the agreed services with reasonable care and skill. We do not guarantee particular search rankings, visitor numbers, sales, enquiries, uninterrupted availability or business outcomes because these depend on factors outside our control.

Each party remains responsible for losses it directly causes through breach of the agreement or negligence. Neither party is responsible to the other for indirect or consequential loss, or for lost profit, revenue or anticipated savings, except where such an exclusion would be unlawful or unfair.

For business clients, our total liability arising from an affected project will normally be limited to the fees paid or payable for that project during the 12 months preceding the event. This limit does not apply to fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, death or personal injury caused by negligence, or any liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

15. Events outside reasonable control

Neither party is responsible for delay caused by events it could not reasonably control, provided it communicates the problem and takes reasonable steps to reduce the effect. If such an event prevents meaningful progress for an extended period, both parties will discuss a fair revised plan or closure.

16. Resolving concerns

Please raise a concern promptly so there is an opportunity to understand and resolve it. Both parties will first try in good faith to settle a dispute through direct discussion.

The agreement is governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales will have jurisdiction, except where mandatory consumer law gives you the right to use another applicable court or law.

17. Contact and updates

Questions about these terms can be sent to hello@thewebcartel.co.uk.

These website terms may be updated for future work. Changes do not retrospectively alter an existing accepted agreement unless both parties agree in writing.