Terms & Conditions

General

RANE Group Ltd will carry out work only where an agreement is providedeither by email, telephone, mail or fax. RANE Group Ltd will carry out work only for clients who are 18 years of age or above. An ‘order’ is deemed to be a written or verbal contract between RANE Group Ltd and the client, this includes telephone and email agreements.

Website Design

Whilst every endeavour will be made to ensure that the website and any scripts or programs are free of errors, RANE Group Ltd cannot accept responsibility for any losses incurred due to malfunction, the website or any part of it.

The website, graphics and any programming code remain the property of RANE Group Ltd until all outstanding accounts are paid in full.

Any scripts, cgi applications, php scripts, or software (unless specifically agreed) written by RANE Group Ltd remain the copyright of RANE Group Ltd and may only be commercially reproduced or resold with the permission of RANE Group Ltd.

RANE Group Ltd cannot take responsibility for any copyright infringements caused by materials submitted by the client. We reserve the right to refuse any material of a copyrighted nature unless adequate proof is given of permission to use such material.

Any additions to the brief will be carried out at the discretion of RANE Group Ltd and where no charge is made by RANE Group Ltd for such additions, RANE Group Ltd accept no responsibility to ensure such additions are error free and reserve the right to charge an according amount for any correction to these or further additions.

The client agrees to make available as soon as is reasonably possible to RANE Group Ltd all materials required to complete the site to the agreed standard and within the set deadline.

RANE Group Ltd will not be liable for costs incurred, compensation or loss of earnings due to the failure to meet agreed deadlines.

RANE Group Ltd will not be liable or become involved in any disputes between the site owner and their clients and cannot be held responsible for any wrongdoing on the part of a site owner.

RANE Group Ltd will not be liable for any costs incurred, compensation or loss of earnings due to the work carried out on behalf of the client or any of the clients appointed agents.

RANE Group Ltd will not be liable for any costs incurred, compensation or loss of earnings due to the unavailability of the site, its servers, software or any material provided by its agents.

A deposit of 50% is required with any project before any design work will be carried out.

Once a website has been designed and completed the final balance of payment is then due in accordance with our payment terms. There are no exceptions to this, i.e If the client decides they no longer want the site, as they have commissioned the work and paid a deposit they are still obliged to pay for the work that has been done. Non payment will result in legal action being taken if necessary.

SEO

Search Engine Optimisation Agreement

General Terms Applicable to All Packages and Services

This agreement is hereby entered into between RANE Group Ltd (hereinafter referred to as “Company”) and the Individual or Company to whom the Invoice is addressed to (hereinafter referred to as “Client”) on the date of the 1st payment received.

1. “Company” agrees to provide “Client” with Search Engine Optimisation and Reporting Services (if applicable) (hereinafter referred to as “SEO”). “Company” is authorised to improve the ranking of, and/or positioning the contents of the “Client” URL (1 per Customer), in the search engines and/or directories that are used by the general public.
2. “Client” agrees to pay “Company” an agreed monthly fee as for the duration the duration of the service. Fee must be received at the beginning of each month prior to any services provided. SEO Services are intended to provide the client with preferential positioning in selected search engines and report results on an ongoing and timely basis. SEO Services include:

• Research keywords and phrases
• Edit “Client” website content where applicable
• Edit various html tags and page content to submit to selected search engines and directories
• Create as required, additional web pages for the purpose of “catching” keyword/phrase searches
• Submit your pages to search engines and directories
• Attempt to rank for keywords agreed upon
• A flow of links from “Company” private network of websites
• Regular reporting
• Consultation service for new content to be added to the “Client” URL
• Unnatural links and penalty recovery service (if ever required during contract term

1. For the purposes of providing these services, “Client” agrees to provide:

• “Client” agrees and authorises “Company” FTP access to the main site for uploading new pages, and making changes for the purpose of Optimisation OR approval to go through 3rd Party “Client” authorises “Company” use of all logos, trademarks, Web site images, etc., for use in creating informational pages and any other uses as deemed necessary by “Company” for search engine positioning and Optimisation
• If “Client” site is light in textual content, “Client” will provide additional relevant text content in electronic format for the purpose of creating additional web pages. “Client” agrees to provide content, for example, 200 to 500-word “articles” about each of their keyword phrases if required

1. “Client” acknowledges the following with respect to services:

• “Company” has no control over the policies of search engines with respect to the type of sites and/or content that they accept now or in the future. “Client” site may be excluded from any directory at any time at the sole discretion of the search engine or directory. “Company” will attempt to resubmit those pages that have been dropped from the index, and perform penalty recovery service if required
• Due to the competitiveness of some keywords/phrases, ongoing changes in search engine ranking algorithms and other competitive factors, “Company” can never guarantee #1 positions or consistent top 10 positions for any particular keyword, phrase or search term.
• It is solely at the discretion of the search engines themselves to list the “Client” site.
• Occasionally, search engines will stop accepting submissions for an indefinite period of time.
• Occasionally, search engines will drop listings for no apparent or predictable reason. Often listing will “reappear” without any additional submissions. Should the listing not reappear, “Company” will re-submit the site based on the current policies of the search engine in question.
• “Client” links from the “Company” private network of websites can be removed upon early termination of this agreement by “Company” or “Client”

1. The “Company” is not responsible for changes made to the Web site by other parties that adversely affect the search engine rankings of the “Client” Web site.
2. Additional Services not listed in this proposal can be provided for at an additional fee, once requested by “Client”. “Company” will determine the fee and agree with “Client” before commencing such additional services.
3. “Company” is not responsible for “Client” overwriting SEO work to “Client” site. For example, Client webmaster or administrator making changes and uploading over work already provided.
4. The total monthly cost under this agreement for the above services will be based upon whichever package is chosen.
5. “Company” reserves the right to cancel the service at any time. In this event “Client” will not be entitled to a pay for the remaining period of service.
6. All payments are to be made in advance of work starting for that calendar month. If payment is late by more than 30 days, “Company” reserves the right to stop work until a payment has been made.

Indemnification

“Client” agrees that it shall defend, indemnify, save and hold “Company” harmless from any and all demands, liabilities, losses, costs and claims, including reasonable legal fees asserted against “Company”, its agents, its customers, officers and employees, that may arise or result from any service provided or performed or agreed to be performed by its agents, employees or contractors. “Client” agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless “Company” against liabilities arising out of; (1) any injury to person or property caused by any products sold or otherwise distributed in connection with “Company” (2) any material supplied by “Client” infringing or allegedly infringing on the proprietary rights of a third party; (3) copyright infringement.

Disclaimer

“Company” will not be responsible for any damages your business may suffer. “Company” makes no warranties of any kind, expressed or implied for services we provide. “Company” disclaims any warranty or merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This includes loss of data resulting from delays, non-deliveries, wrong delivery, and any and all service interruptions caused by “Company” and its employees. It is recommended that you keep a backup of your important data. “Company” reserves the right to revise its policies at any time.

Database, Application and E-Commerce Development

RANE Group Ltd cannot take responsibility for any losses incurred by the use of any software created for the client. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure products are problem free and accurate, the ultimate responsibility lies with the client in ensuring that all software is functioning correctly before use.

Any scripts, cgi applications or software (unless specifically agreed) written by RANE Group Ltd remain the copyright of RANE Group Ltd and may only be commercially reproduced or resold with the permission of RANE Group Ltd.

Where applications or sites are developed on servers not recommended by RANE Group Ltd, the client is expected to provide or seek any information,additional software,support or co-operation pertaining to the server required in order for the application to be correctly developed. Where large applications are to be developed, it is the clients responsibility to provide a suitable testing environment which is identical to the final production environment.

The client is expected to test fully any application or programming relating to a site developed by RANE Group Ltd before being made generally available for use. Where “bugs”, errors or other issues are found after the site is live, RANE Group Ltd will endeavour (but is not obliged to) to correct these issues to meet the standards of function outlined in the brief.

Website Hosting

We offer limited hosting services by buying server space from Big Wet Fish. They have great customer and technical support and service guarantee for an annual average of 99% network availability for their infrastructure.

Should you require any additional information, please refer to the Big Wet Fish's own websites for their terms and conditions.

We have processes to block IP addresses which may be fraudulent or may disrupt the hosting service.
We cannot accept responsibility or be liable for loss if these IP addresses are used by the client for any external source - such as website monitoring or any third party crawler or bot etc.
Sometimes these can increase server load and IPs associated with these may be blocked for the protection of the server uptime.
A full list of blacklisted IPs can be made available and clients can send a list of whitelisted IPs which they want to include

Whilst RANE Group Ltd provides hosting through Big Wet Fish, no guarantees can be made as to the availability or interruption of this service by RANE Group Ltd cannot accept liability for losses caused by the unavailability, malfunction or interruption of this service, or for loss of turnover, sales, revenue, profits or indirect, consequential or special loss.

Hosting Payment Policy & Billing Procedures

All accounts are set up on a pre-pay basis. We accept payments via BACS, Cheque and PayPal. Setup fees are charged for all new accounts that are paid on a monthly basis and major account changes and are non-refundable. All pricing is guaranteed for the term of pre-payment. RANE Group Limited reserves the right to change prices at any time. Payment is due each anniversary month or period following the date the account was established. If 10 days have passed and payment has not been posted, the account will be suspended until further notice. The customer is responsible for all money owed on the account from the time it was established to the time that the customer notifies RANE Group Limited to request termination of services.

Payment of Accounts

A deposit is required from any new client before any work is carried out. It is the RANE Group Ltd policy that any outstanding accounts for work carried out by RANE Group Ltd or its affiliates are required to be paid in full, no later than 30 days from the date of the invoice unless by prior arrangement with RANE Group Ltd.

Once a deposit is paid and work completed you are obliged to pay the balance of payment in full. We will contact clients via email and telephone to remind them of such payments if they are not received when due.

If accounts are not settled or RANE Group Ltd have not been contacted regarding the delay, access to the related website may be denied and web pages removed, we will then pass such cases to the Small Claims Court to pursue payment, non payment can result in county court judgements (ccj’s) being added to the clients credit rating.

Following consistent non payment of an invoice our Solicitors will contact the client in question, with a view to taking the matter further and if need be to seek payment through legal procedures, and if necessary court summons.

Passing of Rights

Once all amounts due to us from you are paid and cleared you are assigned the rights to use, as applicable, the products and services, including, the web site which includes the text, graphics, animation, audio components and digital components contained within the finished web site, in accordance with these terms and conditions, the Project Agreement and any applicable agreement, terms or licence but no rights of ownership are conveyed unless specifically stated in the Project Contract.

No such rights as described in above will pass until all amounts due to us from you are paid. This means that we will have a lien over any service, products, data or information. If you have not paid the invoice in full within 2 months from the date of the invoice you agree that you will forfeit your rights.

The rights to photographs, graphics and any third party items such as source code, always remain the property of their respective owners.

The Client is responsible for the copyright of the photographic material on the website no matter how they are obtained and will be liable for any copyright infringement whether made accidental or deliberate

Unless you have our specific written agreement in the Project Contract, all products, including Content Management Systems, interfaces, navigational devices, menus, menu structures or arrangements, icons, help, all operational instructions, scripts, cgi applications, software, programming/source code, and all other components of any source or object computer code that comprises the Website, all literal and non-literal expressions of ideas that operate, cause, create, direct, manipulate, access, or otherwise affect the Content and design elements used or developed and all software, and our products and results of our services remain our property and we retain full ownership rights and all intellectual property rights. You specifically agree not do anything that may in any way infringe upon or undermine our rights, title, or interest in the Website or our products and services. This includes, but is not limited to, any sale, transfer or gift of the whole or of any part of any item, data or anything whatsoever that we own. You fully understand that we may reproduce, reuse, develop and use in any other way we choose, anything within our ownership

Complaints Procedure

Informal procedure

Anyone who experiences a problem with their web service provided by RANE Group Ltd should raise the matter directly using our online contact form to do so, giving sufficient information to locate the material (such as an url) and clearly outlining the grounds for complaint.

RANE Group Ltd will approach the individual responsible for the material in question with a view to resolving the matter to the satisfaction of the complainant.

Formal complaints procedure

The formal complaints procedure should only be used where the complainant feels that the nature of the complaint is too serious to be dealt with informally, or where a satisfactory conclusion has not been reached after following the informal procedure.

A formal complaint should be made in writing to RANE Group Ltd, who will acknowledge receipt and ensure that the matter is looked into as soon as possible.

An initial response to any complaint can be expected within seven days of its receipt; a full and considered response to the complaint should be completed within 30 days and any subsequent remedy implemented with the minimum of delay.

We reserve the right to decline work involving: Businesses involved in activities that we consider as involving an unacceptable reputational risk, such as gambling, adult entertainment, tobacco products and cannabis-based products, which are not, authorised as medicines.

Behaviour

Abusive behaviour towards staff will not be tolerated. Profanity, abusive behaviour whether physical, verbal or otherwise and violence are all prohibited.