Terms of Service

1. What you're buying

Golden Heart Web Design builds and maintains a website for your business in exchange for a flat monthly subscription. Setup covers design, development, domain connection, email configuration, SSL, and launch. Setup is paid before work begins — either as the one-time fee, or as a year in advance, or covered by the minimum term you sign for; section 2 sets out the three. The monthly fee is separate: your subscription begins with a build period of approximately 30 days, and the first monthly invoice is issued at the end of it, once your site is live and you have approved it. If the build takes longer, that date is extended. Cancel before you approve the site for launch and no monthly fee is ever charged; what happens to setup money already paid is set out in section 2.

2. Setup: minimum term, paid annually, or setup fee

You choose one of three arrangements when you subscribe, and it is recorded on your subscription:

(a) Setup included with a minimum term. Setup is provided at no separate charge in exchange for a minimum term of 12 months, confirmed in writing before work starts. After that term the subscription continues month to month and may be cancelled at any time with no further obligation. Cancelling inside the minimum term does not create a debt for the remaining months; it does mean the setup build price for your plan, shown on the pricing page — becomes payable.

(b) Build paid up front, no minimum term. The build price for your plan — 13 months of that plan, from $481 — is charged at checkout, and no minimum term applies. The subscription is month to month from the outset and may be cancelled at any time with nothing owed beyond the period already invoiced. The setup fee is not refundable once the site has been delivered.

(c) Paid annually. Twelve months paid in advance, less 2.5%. Setup is free and no minimum term applies — the year in advance is the commitment. The subscription renews annually unless cancelled; cancelling stops the next renewal and the year already paid for runs to its end. Part-years are not refunded except where required by law or where I have failed to deliver.

All three arrangements include the same service and the same ownership rights described in section 4.

3. Referral and multi-site discount

For each separate business you refer that becomes a paying subscriber at the standard rate, and for each additional website you host under your own account, your monthly rate is reduced by 10%. Discounts accumulate to a maximum of 100% — at 10 qualifying referrals your own subscription costs nothing. A discount applies from the billing period after the referred subscription's first successful payment, and is removed if that subscription is cancelled or refunded. Referrals must be distinct businesses under separate ownership and billing.

A referral qualifies only if their plan costs at least as much as yours. Referrals on a cheaper plan than the one you are on do not count toward your discount. Ten subscribers on the entry plan therefore earn a free entry plan, not a free top plan. This is measured against your current plan, not the one you were on when they signed up: if you move up a plan, referrals now below your level stop counting and your discount falls accordingly; if you move down, more of them count and it rises. I will tell you what a plan change works out to before you make it.

4. What you leave with

Your content is yours from the first day — text, images, logos, anything you supplied — and so is any domain you already owned, which I never hold and only need DNS access to. You can have a copy of your content at any time, for any reason.

If you cancel, within 30 days of your last day of service I hand over the complete source code as files you can host anywhere, your database and content, and the transfer authorisation code for any domain I registered on your behalf, with the domain unlocked. Where a registrar lock applies — most registries impose one for 60 days after a domain is registered or transferred — the code is issued as soon as that lock allows, and I tell you the date.

This is conditional only on the build having been paid for, which happens one of two ways: the one-time build price paid at checkout, or the 12-month minimum term served. Cancelling inside the minimum term makes the build price payable, as set out in section 2, and once settled the handover proceeds on the same terms. A referral discount does not affect this: if referrals have reduced your bill to nothing, the months still count.

The purpose of that condition is narrow — it stops a site being commissioned, paid for with a single month, and taken away. It is not a restriction on leaving. If I cease trading, everything above becomes yours at that moment at no charge, whatever stage you are at.

5. Hosting, uptime and security

Sites are hosted on Hostinger, and application plans on Vercel. Both publish a 99.9% uptime commitment, which is what I pass on. Uptime is measured by those providers and excludes downtime caused by changes you make or by third-party services your site depends on. Security updates are applied at least monthly, and immediately for anything critical. Backups are taken so that a failure is recoverable, and SSL certificates are kept valid without you needing to act.

If I fall short of any of this, tell me. I would rather fix it, or refund the period affected, than have you leave over something I could have put right.

6. Content edits and support

Each plan includes the content edits listed on the pricing page. Additional edits can be requested and are quoted before any work begins. Add-ons are billed monthly alongside the plan and may be cancelled independently, effective at the next billing date. Support is provided by email, with response targets that vary by plan.

7. Your responsibilities

You are responsible for the accuracy and legality of the content you supply, for holding the rights to any images, text, or logos you provide, and for your own compliance obligations — including any industry regulation applying to your business. You agree not to use a site built here for unlawful purposes.

8. Billing, changes, and cancellation

Subscriptions are billed monthly in advance through Stripe. Plan changes are prorated to the day. Fees already paid are not refundable except where required by law or where I have failed to deliver the service described. Prices may change with at least 30 days' written notice; any referral discount you have earned continues to apply against the new rate.

9. Non-payment

If a payment fails, Stripe retries automatically and I will contact you. If a subscription remains unpaid after 30 days, service — including hosting and maintenance — may be suspended until the balance is settled. Your content and domain remain yours throughout.

10. Liability

The service is provided with reasonable skill and care, but without warranty that a website will produce any particular commercial result. To the fullest extent permitted by law, total liability arising from the service is limited to the amount you paid in the twelve months preceding the claim.

11. The signed agreement wins

If you signed a Service Agreement and anything in it disagrees with these terms, the agreement governs. These terms cover what it does not.

12. Getting in touch

Questions about these terms go to tim@goldenheartwebdesign.com.