Terms of Service

1. Who we are

Matlou Digitals (Pty) Ltd ("we", "us") is a South African company. Contact: kmatlou@matloudigitals.co.za · 063 756 5991 · matloudigitals.co.za. "You" means the client named on the quote.

2. Quotes and acceptance

• A quote is valid for 14 days from its date, unless it says otherwise.
• Paying the deposit means you accept the quote and these terms. No signature is needed.
• The version of these terms that applies is the one in force on the date of your quote.

3. Payment

• The deposit shown on your quote is due before work starts.
• The balance is due when the work is complete, before the website goes live or is handed over.
• Payment is by EFT to the bank account on your quote, using the quote number as reference.
• If a payment is late, we may pause work until it is received. We do not charge interest on late payments.
• Prices are in South African rand. We are not VAT registered, so no VAT is charged unless your quote says otherwise.

4. Timeline

• Work starts once we have your deposit and the content we need (for example your logo, photos, services and prices).
• Any delivery date on your quote runs from that point. Delays in sending content, feedback or approvals move the timeline by the same amount.
• If we cannot reach you for 30 days, we may pause the project. If it stays paused for a further 30 days, we may treat it as cancelled under section 7.

5. What we need from you

• Accurate information and timely feedback.
• Content you own or have permission to use. You are responsible for the rights to logos, photos, text and other material you give us.
• Access to the accounts we need (such as your domain or Google account) for the duration of the project.

6. Changes and revisions

• Your quote states how many rounds of changes are included. Our standard is 4 rounds plus 1 extra round if something still isn't right.
• A round is one combined list of changes, sent together.
• Extra rounds, and anything outside the scope on your quote, are quoted separately before we do them.

7. Cancellation

• You may cancel at any time by letting us know in writing (email or WhatsApp is fine).
• Your deposit secures your slot in our schedule. If you cancel, we keep a reasonable amount for that reserved time and any work already done, and refund the rest.
• What is reasonable depends on how much notice you give, how far the work has progressed, and whether we can fill the slot.
• If you cancel because of the death or hospitalisation of the person the service was for, we charge no cancellation fee.
• If we cancel for any reason other than your breach of these terms, we refund all money paid for work not yet delivered.

8. Ownership

• Once you have paid in full, the website we build for you, its design and your content belong to you.
• Your domain, email, Google and social media accounts are yours and stay in your name.
• Third-party items (for example fonts, plugins, icons or stock images) remain subject to their own licences.
• We may show the finished website in our portfolio. If you'd prefer we didn't, tell us and we won't.

9. Your accounts and access

• We use access to your accounts only to do the work you asked for.
• At handover we remove our access. We recommend you change any passwords you shared with us.

10. Third-party services

Domains, hosting, Google Workspace, social media platforms and similar services are provided by other companies. Their fees, terms, outages and changes are outside our control. Unless your quote says otherwise, their fees are not included in our price.

11. After launch

• For 14 days after launch, we fix any errors in the work we delivered at no charge.
• After that, updates and new features are quoted separately or covered by a maintenance plan.

12. Liability

• Our total liability for any claim about a project is limited to the amount you paid us for that project.
• We are not liable for indirect losses, such as lost income or lost bookings, to the extent the law allows.
• These limits do not apply to loss caused by our gross negligence or wilful misconduct, and nothing in these terms limits your rights under the Consumer Protection Act where it applies.

13. Your personal information

We use your personal information only to provide our services and to contact you about your project, in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). We do not sell or share it, except with service providers needed to deliver your project.

14. Communication and disputes

• Email and WhatsApp messages count as written notice.
• If something goes wrong, please tell us first so we can try to fix it.
• These terms are governed by the laws of South Africa.

15. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. Each version is numbered and dated, and the version in force on the date of your quote applies to your project.