Clear terms for working together

1. Parties, definitions and acceptance

HS Digital is a division of Humelela Swinene Group. In these terms, “HS Digital”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Humelela Swinene Group acting through its HS Digital division. “Client”, “you” and “your” refer to the person or organisation requesting, purchasing or using our services.

These terms apply when you accept a quotation or proposal, instruct us to begin work, pay an invoice or deposit, create or use a client-portal account, or continue using a recurring service after receiving these terms. A person accepting on behalf of an organisation confirms that they are authorised to do so.

Your agreement with us consists of these terms, the accepted quotation or proposal, any service schedule, our Cancellation and Refund Policy, our Privacy Notice, and any written change approved by both parties.

2. Services, quotations and commencement

We provide website design and development, website redesign, website and email hosting, business email setup and migration, maintenance, support, domain-related assistance and protected client-preview services. The exact deliverables, assumptions, timetable and price are set out in the applicable quotation or proposal.

• A quotation is valid for the period stated in it and may be withdrawn before acceptance.
• Upon signature of the engagement letter, a 50% project deposit is payable. Work begins only after the signed engagement letter, cleared deposit, required information and access credentials have been received.
• Timelines are estimates unless a written document expressly states that a date is guaranteed.
• Third-party products, licences, hosting, domains and email services remain subject to the relevant provider’s technical limits and terms.
• Anything not expressly included in the agreed scope is out of scope and may require a separate quotation.

Information on the public website is general and does not itself constitute a binding offer. A service becomes binding when the quotation or proposal is accepted and any stated commencement requirements are met.

3. Client responsibilities

You must provide accurate instructions, content, approvals and access reasonably required to perform the service. You are responsible for:

• Ensuring that supplied text, images, logos, data, software and other material are accurate, lawful and properly licensed.
• Reviewing drafts and providing consolidated feedback and approvals within agreed timeframes.
• Keeping account credentials secure and promptly reporting suspected unauthorised access.
• Maintaining current contact and billing information.
• Using websites, mailboxes, domains and hosting resources lawfully and in accordance with provider acceptable-use rules.
• Keeping any business records or source material that you are independently required to retain.

Delays caused by missing content, access, payment, feedback or approvals may extend the delivery date. If a project remains inactive because we are waiting for the client for more than 30 days, we may reschedule it according to available capacity. Material inactivity may require a revised timetable or quotation.

4. Website projects, drafts and approval

Website projects are delivered according to the agreed scope and review process. Drafts may be placed in the private client portal for review before launch. Client-portal previews are for review only: forms, server-side code and some third-party functions may be disabled or behave differently from the final live site.

• Included design concepts, pages and revision rounds are limited to those stated in the quotation.
• Feedback outside the agreed scope, new features or repeated changes after approval may be quoted separately.
• You must test and approve important content, contact details, calculations, links and business information before launch.
• Written approval, an instruction to launch, or use of the completed website in business constitutes acceptance, subject to any rights that apply by law.
• Minor defects reported within 14 days after launch that relate directly to the agreed scope will be assessed and, where covered, corrected without an additional development fee.

We do not guarantee a particular search-engine position, number of visitors, enquiries, sales, revenue or other business result unless a specific written performance commitment has been agreed.

5. Hosting, business email, domains and third parties

Hosting and email services depend on infrastructure and services supplied by third parties, including Xneelo. Published storage, mailbox, traffic, uptime, backup and security features are subject to the selected package, provider terms, fair or acceptable-use rules, maintenance, technical limits and events outside our reasonable control.

• Storage and mailbox capacity may be expanded by agreement and may increase the monthly fee.
• Domains remain subject to registry availability, renewal rules, transfer requirements and third-party charges.
• You must provide timely renewal instructions and payment. We are not responsible for a domain lost because instructions, payment or accurate registrant information were not supplied in time.
• Email filtering reduces unwanted or harmful mail but cannot guarantee that every legitimate message is delivered or that every harmful message is blocked.
• Backups are a recovery measure, not a guarantee against every form of data loss. Restoration depends on available backup points and the affected service.
• Scheduled and emergency maintenance may temporarily affect availability.

We may reasonably change an underlying provider or technical configuration where needed to maintain or improve a service, provided that this does not materially reduce the agreed service without notice.

6. Fees, invoices and payment

Fees, deposits, billing intervals and payment dates appear in the quotation or invoice. Unless stated otherwise:

• Upon signature of the engagement letter for once-off setup or development work, a 50% project deposit is payable before work begins. The deposit is non-refundable and is credited toward the total project fee, except where a refund is required by mandatory law or expressly agreed in writing.
• Recurring hosting, email, maintenance and support fees are payable in advance for the relevant service period.
• Third-party, domain, licence and registration charges may be payable before we commit the cost.
• Quoted amounts exclude work or costs outside the agreed scope.
• You must raise a genuine invoice query promptly and pay any undisputed portion by the due date.

If an amount remains overdue, we may pause work or suspend the affected service after reasonable notice. Where the Consumer Protection Act applies, any mandatory notice and opportunity to remedy a material breach will be honoured. Suspension does not erase fees already due or costs already incurred.

Taxes will be charged only where applicable and shown on the relevant invoice.

7. Scope changes, client instructions and approvals

Either party may propose a change. A change affecting price, timing or deliverables must be approved in writing before the additional work begins. Email or an approval recorded through the client portal is an acceptable written record.

We may rely on instructions from the client contact or an authorised user. You must tell us promptly when a person’s authority or portal access changes. We may pause an instruction that appears unusual, unsafe, unlawful or inconsistent with the agreed scope until it is confirmed.

8. Intellectual property and portfolio use

You retain ownership of content and branding that you owned before the project. You grant us a limited licence to use supplied material to perform, test, host and support the service.

Once all amounts for the relevant project are paid, you receive the rights in the final custom website deliverables that the quotation states will be transferred. The following remain excluded unless expressly agreed:

• Third-party software, fonts, stock media, plugins, themes, libraries and services, which remain subject to their own licences.
• Our pre-existing tools, reusable code, methods, templates, know-how and general development techniques.
• Rejected concepts, working files and internal project material.

Unless you ask us in writing not to do so for a legitimate confidentiality reason, we may identify you as a client and display the publicly launched work in our portfolio or proposals after launch. We will not publish private client-portal drafts as portfolio work.

9. Acceptable use, security and access

You may not use our services to distribute unlawful, infringing, deceptive, abusive or malicious material; send spam; compromise systems; impersonate another person; evade security controls; or consume resources in a way that materially harms other users or breaches an upstream provider’s policy.

Client-portal access is personal to the authorised user. You must not share passwords or verification codes. We may suspend access immediately where reasonably necessary to contain a security incident, protect data, comply with law or prevent material harm. We will restore access when the risk has been addressed and restoration is lawful and reasonably practical.

10. Service standard, warranties and liability

We will perform our services with reasonable care and skill and in accordance with the agreed scope. If a service does not meet an applicable statutory or agreed standard, please notify us promptly so that we can investigate and provide an appropriate remedy.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither party is liable to the other for indirect, special or consequential loss, loss of anticipated profit, loss of opportunity or reputational loss that was not reasonably foreseeable when the agreement was made. This does not exclude liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including liability arising from fraud, wilful misconduct, gross negligence where exclusion is prohibited, or a mandatory consumer right.

Subject to those exceptions, our aggregate liability arising from an affected service will not exceed the fees paid for that affected service during the six months immediately before the event giving rise to the claim. This limitation does not reduce any minimum remedy or protection that applies under the Consumer Protection Act or another applicable law.

We are not responsible for loss caused by inaccurate client material, unauthorised client instructions, compromised client credentials, unsupported third-party changes, a client’s failure to act on a warning, or events outside our reasonable control.

11. Suspension, cancellation and termination

Cancellation, refunds, notice periods and treatment of prepaid amounts are explained in our Cancellation and Refund Policy.

Either party may terminate for a material breach that is not remedied within a reasonable written cure period. Where section 14 of the Consumer Protection Act applies, the statutory written-notice and remedy periods apply. We may act sooner where immediate suspension is reasonably required for security, illegality, fraud or serious harm.

On termination, amounts for completed work, services already supplied and unavoidable third-party commitments remain payable. Subject to payment, we will provide reasonable cooperation for an orderly handover of agreed client-owned material. Migration, export, restoration or handover work outside the agreed service may be chargeable.

12. Confidentiality and personal information

Each party must protect confidential information received from the other and use it only for the relevant service, except where disclosure is authorised or required by law. This duty does not apply to information already lawfully public, independently developed or lawfully received without confidentiality restrictions.

Personal information is handled as described in our Privacy Notice and applicable data-protection law.

13. Complaints, disputes, governing law and general terms

Please raise a concern first with info@hs-group.co.za. We will try to resolve it in good faith through direct discussion. A consumer may also use any complaint or enforcement process available under applicable South African law.

These terms and each service agreement are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. The parties consent to the jurisdiction of the South African courts that have authority over the dispute, without preventing either party from using an applicable tribunal, regulator or alternative dispute-resolution process.

• Neither party is responsible for delay caused by an event beyond its reasonable control, but must take reasonable steps to reduce the effect.
• You may not transfer the agreement without our written consent, which will not be unreasonably withheld. We may transfer it as part of a lawful restructuring or sale, subject to continued performance and applicable law.
• If one clause is invalid or unenforceable, the remaining clauses continue to apply.
• A failure to enforce a right immediately is not a waiver of that right.
• Electronic communications and records may be used to give instructions, approvals and notices.
• We may update these website terms prospectively. Material changes affecting an active recurring service will be notified reasonably in advance where required.

Official legislation is available from the South African Government: Consumer Protection Act and Electronic Communications and Transactions Act.

14. Contact details