Website Maintenance Terms & Conditions
These Terms & Conditions apply to all website maintenance services provided by Polkadot Digital (“Polkadot Digital”) to the Client.
By making payment towards any monthly maintenance retainer, the Client agrees to these Terms & Conditions in full.
1. Maintenance Retainer & Contract Term
All website maintenance retainers are billed upfront and payment must be received prior to any work commencing.
All website maintenance agreements are subject to a minimum initial term of three (3) months. Thereafter, either party may terminate the agreement with thirty (30) days written notice.
The monthly maintenance retainer reserves ongoing support availability, scheduling capacity, and maintenance resources for the Client.
Unused maintenance hours do not roll over, accumulate, or carry forward into future months unless otherwise agreed to in writing by Polkadot Digital.
Unused hours may not be exchanged for cash, credits, refunds, or discounts under any circumstances, including cancellation of services.
2. Scope of Website Maintenance
Website maintenance may include, but is not limited to:
- WordPress, plugin, and theme updates
- Copy/text updates
- Image replacements and uploads
- Updating pricing and product information
- Adding blog posts
- Adding products and categories
- Removing content and images
- Creating additional pages within the existing website structure
- Basic website troubleshooting and support
Website maintenance does not include:
- Major development work
- Custom coding
- Website redesigns
- Advanced functionality development
- E-commerce/shop integrations
- Paid plugin purchases or licensing fees
- Hosting migrations or server transfers
- Malware removal or hacked website recovery
- Third-party API troubleshooting
- SEO services unless separately quoted
- High-level troubleshooting caused by third-party work
Any work falling outside the maintenance scope may be quoted separately.
3. Turnaround Times
Polkadot Digital will make reasonable efforts to complete requested maintenance work within appropriate timeframes.
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, standard website maintenance requests may take up to seventy-two (72) business hours to be implemented from the time all required information and approvals have been received.
Urgent requests may be prioritised where possible but are not guaranteed unless specifically agreed to in writing.
4. Third-Party Plugins, Software & External Services
Polkadot Digital is not responsible for issues, crashes, downtime, compatibility conflicts, security vulnerabilities, or functionality loss caused by:
- Third-party plugins
- Themes
- Software updates
- Hosting providers
- External integrations
- APIs
- Third-party developers
- Client-installed tools or modifications
Where the Client requests the installation or use of third-party software or plugins, Polkadot Digital cannot guarantee compatibility with existing or future website functionality.
WordPress, WooCommerce, plugins, themes, and related platforms are continually updated by third-party providers, and future incompatibilities may occur outside of Polkadot Digital’s control.
5. Website Access & Client Responsibility
The Client agrees to provide all required access credentials, including but not limited to:
- WordPress logins
- FTP access
- cPanel or hosting access
- Domain access where required
The Client remains responsible for:
- Maintaining valid plugin/theme/software licenses
- Ensuring hosting accounts remain active and paid
- Reviewing completed work
- Reporting website issues promptly
- Approving requested work within reasonable timeframes
Maintenance services do not constitute continuous monitoring (“eyes on the website at all times”). Website issues and errors must still be reported by the Client where identified.
6. Third-Party Changes & Site Breakage
If the Client, their staff, or any third party modifies the website, hosting environment, plugins, code, settings, or functionality without Polkadot Digital’s involvement, Polkadot Digital will not be held liable for any resulting errors, crashes, downtime, security issues, or loss of functionality.
Any repair work required due to third-party modifications may be billed separately depending on the severity and time required.
7. Hosting & Backups
Where the Client is not hosted with Polkadot Digital, Polkadot Digital cannot be held responsible for:
- Hosting/server downtime
- Email downtime
- Server configuration issues
- Hosting-related failures
- Backup failures managed by third-party hosts
Where backups are included, Polkadot Digital will take reasonable care in maintaining backups but does not guarantee that backups will always be available, complete, or recoverable.
Clients remain responsible for maintaining their own independent backups where critical data is involved.
If the Client is hosted with Polkadot Digital, backups may be retained for a limited period only before being overwritten by newer versions.
SLA Agreement
8. Business Hours
Polkadot Digital business hours are:
Monday to Friday
08H30 – 16H00
Excluding:
- Public holidays
- Company closure periods
- Festive season shutdowns
- Unforeseen circumstances outside of reasonable control
Polkadot Digital aims to acknowledge client communication within approximately three (3) business hours during standard business hours.
This acknowledgement does not constitute completion of work, but confirms receipt of communication and that estimated timelines will be provided where applicable.
9. Out-of-Hours Support
Out-of-hours periods include:
- Weekdays after 16H00
- Weekends
- Public holidays
- Company closure periods
Urgent support requests may be accommodated at Polkadot Digital’s discretion.
Urgent issues may include:
- Website downtime
- Website crashes
- Critical website errors
- Security-related emergencies
Out-of-hours work may be billed at a rate of R1000 ex VAT per hour under circumstances including but not limited to:
- Emergency fixes caused by third-party work
- Urgent client requests outside standard working hours
- Delays caused by the Client requiring emergency turnaround
- Site issues resulting from unauthorised changes or installations
All out-of-hours charges will be communicated and approved prior to work commencing wherever reasonably possible.
10. Delays & Timeframes
Polkadot Digital will make reasonable efforts to meet agreed timelines.
However, Polkadot Digital shall not be held responsible for delays caused by:
- Delayed client feedback or approvals
- Delayed content delivery
- Hosting/server issues
- Third-party software conflicts
- External supplier delays
- Unforeseen technical issues
- Force majeure events
Where delays occur, updated timelines will be communicated as reasonably possible.
11. Limitation of Liability
While Polkadot Digital takes reasonable care when performing maintenance services, no guarantee is provided that websites will remain uninterrupted, error-free, fully secure, or continuously available.
Polkadot Digital shall not be held liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, financial, reputational, data-related, or business losses arising from:
- Website downtime
- Data loss
- Security breaches
- Plugin/theme conflicts
- Hosting/server failures
- Third-party software failures
- Client or third-party modifications
- Delays in implementation
The Client acknowledges that websites and third-party platforms inherently carry technical risks outside of Polkadot Digital’s direct control.
12. Acceptance of Terms
By paying any maintenance invoice or continuing to use maintenance services provided by Polkadot Digital, the Client confirms acceptance of these Terms & Conditions in full.