Terms and Conditions

Last updated 15 January 2024.

Agreement to Terms:

The use of services provided by Creative Genes Group (Pty) Ltd. and www.cgstudios.co.za implies acceptance of these terms.

Changes to Terms

Terms may change without notice, and the client agrees to check for updates regularly. Notice of changes may be posted on social media and newsletters.

Force Majeure

Creative Genes is not liable for late delivery due to uncontrollable circumstances like power outages, subcontractor delays, or strikes.

Email Setup

Clients with hosting or maintenance packages must install hosted email addresses. Installation assistance incurs separate charges. Client is responsible for email-related issues and local backups.

Meetings:

Creative Genes is not obligated to attend in-person or virtual meetings for projects under R50,000. Travel costs for on-site meetings are billed at R4.60/KM plus toll fees, to be settled upfront.

Disclaimer:

Creative Genes is not responsible for business damages, makes no warranties, and disclaims liability for service interruptions or data loss.

Confidentiality:

Creative Genes will not disclose confidential information, except when required by law or if public domain. Obligation ceases in lawful disclosure situations.

Disclosure to Law Enforcement:

Subscriber information may be disclosed to law enforcement agencies without further consent upon lawful request.

Registrant Education and Domain Name Rights:

Information regarding registrant education and domain name rights is available through provided links.

Abuse Reporting:

Violations can be reported to info@cgstudios.co.za.

Payment Terms:

• Initial Fees: 50% deposit for design projects, with the remaining 50% due upon project completion.
• Refunds: 50% deposit refundable within 14 working days; no refunds after 14 days. Exceptions for dissatisfied clients with deposits over R1000 within 14 days.
• Payment Methods: EFT only; no cash, cheques, or instant money. Project release upon full payment.

Payment Failure and Delays:

• Services Suspension: If payment is not received within 7 working days past due date, services will be suspended.
• Restoration Fees: R250 for hosting, R450 for websites. Other services billed at 10% of service value.
• Service Cancellation: After 30 days past due, services will be canceled, and data lost permanently.
• Legal Costs: Client liable for legal costs on a scale as between attorney and client, plus interest at 8% per annum on outstanding balance.

Copyrights and Intellectual Property

All clients of Creative Genes Group are obligated to include a “Website Engineered by Creative Genes Studios” link in the footer of every page of their website. By engaging our services, you are acknowledging and agreeing to this condition. Removal of this link without our explicit consent is prohibited. A fee of R4,000.00 may be paid to permanently remove this credit. If a new website is designed by another company with more than an 80% change, the credit can be removed without additional cost.

Upon project completion, all rights and ownership of CUSTOM designs and programming created by Creative Genes are transferred to the client. Third-party graphics or programs and software are not transferred and remain under the copyright of their respective owners.

Creative Genes retains the right to resell custom-designed websites that remain unpaid or any graphics not legally used by the client. Additionally, Creative Genes reserves the right to showcase websites and graphics designed by them for marketing purposes.

The client is responsible for obtaining proper licensing and permissions for all imagery and resources used in projects. Creative Genes may pause services until documentary proof is provided.

Hours of Operation

Our business operates from Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. For assistance outside these hours, please contact us via email at info@cgstudios.co.za or phone 076 435 6565.

Communication

Official communication channels include:

• Email: info@cgstudios.co.za, sales@cgstudios.co.za
• Content submission: cggroupza@gmail.com
• Phone: 076 435 6565

Non-Communication

If there is a lack of communication from the client for a period of at least fourteen (14) days during the design and development process, Creative Genes reserves the right to cancel the project without prior notice, and no refund will be issued.

Content

Clients are responsible for providing content to Creative Genes, either electronically or through courier delivery. If the content is of poor quality and requires improvement, the client will incur additional costs at an hourly rate agreed upon between Creative Genes and the client.

Errors and Omissions

While Creative Genes is responsible for checking for accuracy, including spelling and technical illustrations, the company is not liable for errors or omissions. The client indemnifies Creative Genes against any loss or damage arising directly or indirectly from errors and omissions.

Updates/Changes

Creative Genes commits to addressing any changes requested within 72 working hours from receiving instructions from the client, unless communicated otherwise.

Website Project Timeline

Step 1: Enquiry 

Select a package via the form or send a general inquiry using the contact form.

We will get in touch with you to find out more about your business and your requirements. You will then receive a proposal or quote.

Step 2: Deposit 

A deposit of 50% of the total fee is due before any work will commence. Please note that by submitting your deposit or down payment for our services, you are agreeing to all of our terms of service as written here. Creative Genes reserves the right to change or update these terms at any time without prior notice.

Step 3: Content Request Form

Upon receipt of the proof of payment of the deposit, Creative Genes will send the client content request form. Please take the time to fill out the form with as much detail as possible as this will help with the creation of the website. 

The client will be sent 3 website themes to choose one that best matches with what the client would like their website to look like. Please make sure that the chosen website theme aligns with your business brand requirements as this cannot be changed at a later stage.

The template and chosen theme must be submitted within 5 working days of receiving the link.

Our themes come with varied functionality. If at any stage of the project, the client requests integration that is not incorporated in the chosen theme, additional costs will be incurred by the client.

*All themes purchased to be used for the client remain the property of Creative Genes Studios and should the client require the theme license it will be billed accordingly.

Step 4: Website Development

Once a website theme is chosen, all content is received, the project will be assessed by Creative Genes and the client will be provided with a time frame in which the first draft will be developed and produced.

Creative Genes WILL NOT COMMENCE WEBSITE DESIGN OR DEVELOPMENT UNTIL STEPS 1-3 HAVE BEEN COMPLETED.

Step 5: Revision 

First Draft

The first draft will not be a complete website  but rather a single page (homepage) consisting of your branding colors, layout, logo and place holder images and text. At this point, you only need to approve the layout, colors, icons, graphics typography and amount of pages to be designed. If you approve, this will be used to design the rest of the website. 

Please note that if the website package only contains of a single page, the first draft will be complete design equivalent to a second draft.

Once Creative Genes has compiled the first draft it will be sent to the client for revision.

Revision 1

Once the client has been sent the first draft she/he has 5 working days to review and request changes.

Changes may ONLY be requested by completing the Website Revision Form or the review software.

At this stage, the client needs to comment only on the layout, colors, icons, graphics typography and amount of pages to be used. 

*The client accepts that by not communicating with Creative Genes during any review period, Creative Genes will accept the client’s silence as agreement to a finished product. In which case final full payment must be made by the client..

Second draft

This will be the complete website design with correct images, copywriting, layout, colors, icons, graphics, typography, SEO, and amount of pages to be used. 

Revision 2

Please note that the Website Revision Form will be considered the complete brief for the first revision, so it is important that you include all of the updates / changes in detail. Your document should be sectioned into pages, as per your website pages.

*The client accepts that by not communicating with Creative Genes during any review period, Creative Genes will accept the client’s silence as agreement to a finished product. In which case final full payment must be made by the client.

Additional Revisions

1. a) Revision 2 will be considered the final draft unless additional revisions are requested.
2. b) Additional revisions will be quoted separately from the initial quotation. Work will only commence once the quote has been formally accepted.
3. c) Please note that additional revisions will only be undertaken once the invoice for revisions one and two has been settled. Additional revisions will be considered a new project.

Step 6: Going live

1. a) The client is sent the final draft along with a second invoice with full outstanding fee of the project.

Going Live – The Final Product

In order for a website to be taken live the client must have a registered domain and a working hosting environment. This can be obtained through Creative Genes (partnered with Domains.co.za) or another service provider. Should the client choose to host through Creative Genes, once the signing up process and purchase of the product have been completed, Creative Genes can take the website live.

Should the client wish to use another service provider Creative Genes will require Cpanel/FTP details – the client can obtain these from their service provider. Additionally, clients will need to ensure that the service provider has set up a MySQL database before Creative Genes can take the site live.

Only upon settlement of the full fee will the client be sent his/her login details. Once the client receives their admin login details, Creative Genes does not take responsibility of any changes/modifications made by the client.

Receipt of the final invoice marks the project complete. The website is now a live, complete, and working final product.

It is the responsibility of the client and their hosting provider to backup the website once it has been uploaded to the client’s hosting. If the website is hosted with Creative Genes Studios, Creative Genes Studios will keep a single orginal copy copy of the final website uploaded until the hosting service is dicontinued or cancelled.

Additional Changes

Any additional changes or modifications the client would like Creative Genes to implement to the live website will be charged at the current hourly rate. The changes will fall into a new working cycle as they are considered a new project.

Our hourly rate for additional work, not included in the quotation, is levied at R750 .00 excl. VAT

Updates and/or maintenance of websites will also be levied at R 750.00 excl. VAT per hour.

A delivery fee of R225.00 excl. VAT will be levied for all items printed by Creative Genes, that is priced less than R2 000.00 excl. VAT (only in Gauteng and Cape Town).

Overtime, if required, will be charged extra at R1 000.00 excl. VAT per hour.

Training

Once the website has been taken live the client will be sent a video on how to make changes to the website, alternatively, the client can request a training session on ‘how to update ’ their website moving forward which will be billed hourly. If the client requests further training Creative Genes will charge a consulting fee per hour thereafter and it will be quoted separately.

All training is done via Google meet, Zoom or Microsoft Teams unless otherwise arranged with client.

Improvement, development, and maintenance

1. a) Should the client wish to improve their online presence, please browse our online marketing solutions under the marketing tab at www.cgstudios.co.za
2. b) Should the client require Creative Genes to maintain their website, an hourly fee will be charged.

The client needs to accept the quotation before any work will commence.

Payment is to be made in FULL after all changes are completed.

Any changes or updates requested that take up to 4 hours to implement from our end have a turnaround time of up to 3 working days;

Any updates that exceed 4 hours will have an added turnaround time of 1 working day per 2 hours. We understand that the majority of updates or changes are urgent so we therefore will try our best to prioritise these changes or updates.

Should a Client choose to maintain their own website, Creative Genes cannot be held responsible if anything breaks during content updates, plugin additions as well as theme updates. This also pertains to anything that the Client has chosen to edit without our knowledge and/or approval. Alternatively, feel free to get Creative Genes to maintain your website at our hourly rate. If you choose to update your own website and in rare cases, the website does break and is unfixable we can always restore a previous backup for you upon your request.

Third-party software 

Creative Genes builds their websites using the open-source content management system (CMS) called WordPress, we are then obligated to abide by their terms of use which means if you choose to use Creative Genes’s services you accept these terms and warrant that Creative Genes will not be responsible for any damages or faulty software from WordPress.org.

Creative Genes also builds their websites using premium third-party themes and plugins, using reputable companies such as Themeforest or Codecanyon. Although these companies are trustworthy and meet current website standards, we cannot be responsible for any broken, faulty, or damaged themes or plugins as we have no control over any third-party software and or products.

Viruses & Outdated Websites

Creative Genes takes all the security precautions on our Clients websites and includes the relevant security plugins as well as keeps its servers secure wherever possible. However we cannot guarantee the prevention of hacks, viruses or unexpected data deletion and cannot be held liable for any such damages as a result.

Creative Genes cannot be responsible for any websites that have stopped working or have become faulty over time due to the website becoming “outdated”. Outdated websites can be affected due to many aspects, such as new browser software, outdated web code, etc. Creative Genes cannot be expected to keep your website updated in every aspect without being compensated to do so. In this situation, the Client may opt to have their website redeveloped.

SIGN OFF

The Client hereby acknowledges, accepts and confirms understanding that:

Sign off is the act where the Client accepts, via email, Whatsapp or any other written format that can be stored and archived, a Deliverable as 100% completed to their initial requirement and to their ultimate satisfaction thereof.

Once the Client gives sign-off on a Project or Retainer Deliverable, then that Deliverable is declared and deemed as finalized. Any change requests on a signed off Project Deliverable will be quoted for at an hourly rate. Change requests for Retainer Deliverables are only limited by the amount of time available within the retainer to implement those changes.

Giving sign off on a Project requires the Client to immediately settle any and/or all outstanding fees, unless other alternate prior written arrangements are in effect and in agreement with Creative Genes.

It is the sole responsibility of the Client to ensure that all aspects of a Deliverable are 100% accurate before giving sign off.

If signed off artwork is sent to print, manufacturing, production, or a signed off service implemented, but it contains errors that the Client did not notice, then the resulting printing, manufacturing and implementation costs will be for the Client’s account.

As soon as the Client gives sign off on a Deliverable the Client automatically accepts all liabilities that might arise from the Deliverable as a whole.

Outsourcing

If needed, Creative Genes (Pty)Ltd reserves the right to outsource any specific project requirements to ensure that the terms of this agreement are met. Any subcontractors or external suppliers will be bound to the terms of this agreement.

User Agreement & Hosting Terms of Service

Creative Genes Studios does not own or maintain any servers, all hosting is done through shared hosting packages provided by DiaMatrix cc trading as Domains.co.za.

The use of services from Creative Genes hosting constitutes an agreement to Domains.co.za terms of use agreement which can be found here.

Proof of residence and identity will have to be submitted before a domains is transferred to Client.

Account Setup / Email on file

We will set up your account before we create your order. It is your responsibility to provide us with an email address that is not @ the domain(s) you are signing up under. If there is ever an abuse issue or we need to contact you, the primary email address on file will be used for this purpose. It is your responsibility to ensure the email address on file is current or up-to-date at all times. Providing false contact information of any kind may result in the termination of your account.

Transfers

Our transfers team will make every effort to help you move your site to us at a fee. However, transfers are provided as a courtesy service, and we cannot make guarantees regarding the availability, possibility, or time required to complete an account transfer. Each hosting company is configured differently, and some hosting platforms save data in an incompatible or proprietary format, which may make it extremely difficult if not impossible to migrate some or all account data. We will try our best, but in some cases, we may be unable to assist you in a transfer of data from an old host.

Please contact us with specific details to receive a price quote for website transfers.

Content

All services provided by Creative Genes may only be used for lawful purposes.

The customer agrees to indemnify and hold Creative Genes harmless from any claims resulting from the use of our services.

Use of our services to infringe upon any copyright or trademark is prohibited. This includes but is not limited to unauthorized copying of content, images, photographs, or any other copyrighted work. The offer of sale of any counterfeit merchandise of a trademark holder will result in the immediate termination of your account. If you believe that your copyright or trademark is being infringed upon, please email info@cgstudios.co.za.

Examples of unacceptable material on all servers include:

IRC Bots, Proxy Scripts / Anonymizers, Pirated Software / Warez, image, filedump, mirror, or banner-ad services (similar to rapidshare, photobucket, or commercial banner ad rotation), affiliate servers, topsites, commercial audio streaming (more than one or two streams), Escrow, High-Yield Interest Programs (HYIP) or related sites, Multi-Level Marketing Schemes, Investment sites (FOREX, egold exchange), sale of any controlled substance without prior proof of appropriate permit(s), AutoSurf sites, Bank Debentures, Bank Debenture Trading Programs, Prime Banks Programs, lottery sites, muds / rpg’s, hate sites, hacker focused sites/archives/programs, or sites promoting illegal activities, IP Scanners, Brute Force Programs, Mail Bombers and Spam Scripts. Forums and or websites that distribute or link to warez content are prohibited.

Using a shared account as a backup/storage device is not permitted, except one cPanel backup of the same account.

Creative Genes’ services, including all related equipment, networks, and network devices are provided only for authorized customer use. Creative Genes’ systems may be monitored for all lawful purposes, including to ensure that use is authorized, for management of the system, to facilitate protection against unauthorized access, and to verify security procedures, survivability, and operational security. During monitoring, information may be examined, recorded, copied and used for authorized purposes. Use of Creative Genes’ system(s) constitutes consent to monitoring for these purposes.

We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. Any material that, in our judgment, is obscene, threatening, illegal, or violates our terms of service in any manner may be removed from our servers (or otherwise disabled), with or without notice.

Failure to respond to email from our abuse department within 48 hours may result in the suspension or termination of your services. All abuse issues must be dealt with via ticket/email and will have a response within 24 hours.

If in doubt regarding the acceptability of your site or service, please contact us via our contact form or email and we will be happy to assist you.

Potential harm to minors is strictly forbidden, including but not limited to child pornography or content perceived to be child pornography. Any site found to host child pornography or linking to child pornography will be suspended immediately without notice.

Violations will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency.

It is your responsibility to ensure that scripts/programs installed under your account are secure and permissions of directories are set properly, regardless of installation method. When at all possible, set permissions on most directories to 755 or as restrictive as possible. Users are ultimately responsible for all actions taken under their account. This includes the compromise of credentials such as username and password. It is required that you use a secure password. If a weak password is used, your account may be suspended until you agree to use a more secure password. Audits may be done to prevent weak passwords from being used. If an audit is performed, and your password is found to be weak, we will notify you and allow time for you to change/update your password.

Zero Tolerance Spam Policy

We take a zero-tolerance stance against sending of unsolicited e-mail, bulk emailing, and spam. “Safe lists” and “double opt-in” will be treated as spam. Any user who sends out spam will have their account terminated with or without notice.

Sites advertised via SPAM (Spamvertised) may not be hosted on our servers. This provision includes, but is not limited to SPAM sent via fax, email, instant messaging, or usenet/newsgroups. No organization or entity listed in the ROKSO may be hosted on our servers. Any account which results in our IP space being blacklisted will be immediately suspended and/or terminated.

Creative Genes reserves the right to require changes or disable as necessary any web site, account, database, or other components that does not comply with its established policies, or to make any such modifications in an emergency at its sole discretion.

Creative Genes reserves the right to charge the holder of the account used to send any unsolicited e-mail a clean-up fee. This cost of the clean-up fee is entirely at the discretion of Creative Genes.

Payment Information

You agree to supply appropriate payment for the services received from Creative Genes, in advance of the period during which such services are provided. You agree that until and unless you notify Creative Genes of your desire to cancel any or all services received, those services will be billed regularly.

Cancellations must be done in writing via the cancellation form provided in your Creative Genes Client Area, or via email. Once we receive your cancellation and have confirmed all necessary information with you via e-mail, we will inform you in writing (typically by email) that your account has been canceled. An employee will confirm your request (and process your cancellation) shortly thereafter. If you do not hear back from us or do not receive the automatic confirmation email within a few minutes after submitting your cancellation, please contact us immediately via phone. We require that cancellations of service are done through the online form to (a) confirm your identity, (b) confirm in writing you are prepared for all files/emails to be removed, and (c) document the request. This process reduces the likelihood of mistakes, and fraudulent/malicious requests, and ensures you are aware that the files, emails, and account may be removed immediately after a cancellation request is processed.

As a client of Creative Genes, it is your responsibility to ensure that your payment information is up to date and that all invoices are paid on time. Creative Genes provides a 7-day grace period from the time the invoice is due and when it must be paid. Any invoice that is overdue for 7 days and not paid will result in account suspension until the account balance has been paid in full.

Creative Genes reserves the right to change the prices/charges at any time.

Backups and Data Loss

Your use of the service is at your sole risk. Creative Genes is not responsible for files and/or data residing on your account. You agree to take full responsibility for files and data transferred and to maintain all appropriate backups of files and data stored on Creative Genes servers.

Unless your package selected includes regular backup, Creative Genes are not responsible for providing backup for emails, websites, and other files hosted.

If the files are backed up, they will be backed up on third-party software hosting and limited to the space provided. 

Cancellations and Refunds

Creative Genes reserves the right to cancel the account at any time with or without notice.

Any abuse of our staff in any medium or format will result in the suspension or termination of your services.

Customers may cancel at any time via a cancellation form or email.

There are no refunds on administrative fees, install fees for custom software, hosting (if purchased as part of a website design package), SSL certificates, or domain name purchases.

Violations of the Terms of Service or User Agreement will waive the refund policy.

Uptime Guarantee

If your shared server has a physical downtime that is not within the 99.9% uptime you may receive pro rata credit for the downtime on your account. Approval of the credit is at the discretion of Creative Genes dependent upon the justification provided. Third-party monitoring service reports may not be used for justification due to a variety of factors including the monitor’s network capacity/transit availability. The uptime of the server is defined as the reported uptime from the operating system and the Apache Web Server which may differ from the uptime reported by other individual services. To request a credit, please contact info@cgstudios.co.za with justification. All requests must be made in writing via email. Uptime guarantees only apply to shared hosting solutions.

Shared Servers

All hosting packages are provided on Linux shared hosting. No control panel will be provided to clients only email and website access.

Price Change

We reserve the right to change prices listed on our company websites, and the right to increase the number of resources given to plans at any time.

Indemnification

Customer agrees that it shall defend, indemnify, save and hold Creative Genes harmless from any and all demands, liabilities, losses, costs and claims, including reasonable attorney’s fees asserted against Creative Genes, its agents, its customers, officers and employees, that may arise or result from any service provided or performed or agreed to be performed or any product sold by customer, its agents, employees or assigns. Customer agrees to defend, indemnify and hold Creative Genes harmless against liabilities arising out of; (1) any injury to person or property caused by any products sold or otherwise distributed in connection with Creative Genes; (2) any material supplied by customer infringing or allegedly infringing on the proprietary rights of a third party; (3) copyright infringement and (4) any defective products sold to customers from Creative Genes’ server.