Terms of service · The Dot Scripts

1. Parties and agreement

In these terms, “we” and “us” mean Shanthan Kumar Mudumba, trading as The Dot Scripts (ABN 26 587 882 801), of Thornhill Park, Victoria 3335, Australia. “You” means the client named in the proposal.

A contract is formed when you accept a proposal in writing or pay the first invoice issued under it. The contract consists of the proposal and these terms. Where the two conflict, the proposal prevails.

2. Our services

We will provide the services described in the proposal with reasonable skill and care. Dates in a proposal are estimates. They depend on your providing content, access, feedback and approvals when they are requested, and they will be extended by any delay in doing so.

3. Your responsibilities

To provide the content, information and access to systems that the work requires.
To review work submitted for approval, and respond, within seven days.
To nominate one person with authority to give instructions and approvals.
To ensure that you hold the rights to all text, images, data and other materials that you supply to us.

4. Fees and payment

Fixed-price projects. Unless the proposal states otherwise, fees are payable as 30 per cent before work begins, 40 per cent on approval of the design or at the midpoint stated in the proposal, and 30 per cent before launch or handover.
Hourly work. Time is invoiced monthly in arrears at the rate stated in the proposal, supported by a timesheet. We will tell you before an estimate is exceeded.
Due date. Invoices are payable within 14 days of their date.
Taxes. Fees exclude GST and any other applicable taxes, which are added to an invoice where they apply. You are responsible for any tax that your own country requires you to withhold or pay on our fees.
Third-party costs. Hosting, domains, software licences, advertising spend and charges from AI and automation providers are payable by you, either directly to the provider or to us at cost.
Late payment. Where an invoice is more than seven days overdue, we may suspend work until it is paid, and we may charge interest on the overdue amount at 1.5 per cent per month.

The first payment on a fixed-price project is a deposit and is not refundable once work has begun.

5. Changes to scope

Work outside the proposal is a change of scope. We will quote for any change, including its effect on cost and timeline, and will proceed only once you have approved the quotation in writing.

6. Approval and acceptance

We will submit work for your approval at the stages set out in the proposal. Work is treated as accepted when you approve it in writing, when you put it into live use, or seven days after it is submitted if you have not notified us of any defect.

7. Intellectual property

The work we create for you. On payment in full of all fees for a project, ownership of the designs, code and other materials created specifically for you under that project passes to you.
Our own tools. We retain ownership of the methods, components and code that we developed independently of your project. Where these form part of the work, we grant you a perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use them as part of it.
Third-party and open-source materials. These remain subject to their own licences, which we will identify on request.
Your materials. You retain ownership of everything you supply, and you grant us a licence to use it for the purpose of providing the services.

8. Portfolio

We may identify you as a client and display the completed work in our portfolio and case studies. You may withdraw this permission at any time by notifying us in writing, and we will never disclose your confidential information in doing so.

9. Confidentiality

Each party will keep confidential all non-public information received from the other, will use it only for the purposes of the engagement, and will disclose it only to those who need it for that purpose or where the law requires. This obligation continues after the engagement ends.

10. Personal data

Where the services involve personal data for which you are responsible, we will process it only on your instructions and for the purposes of the engagement, will protect it with appropriate security measures, and will tell you promptly if we become aware of a breach. You remain responsible for ensuring that you are entitled to collect and use that data. Our own handling of personal data is described in our privacy policy.

11. AI and automation

AI systems can produce inaccurate or incomplete output. We design each system with the review and approval steps agreed with you, and you are responsible for the decisions taken on the basis of its output.
These systems rely on models and platforms operated by third parties, which may change their behaviour, pricing or availability. We are not responsible for such changes, and will advise you where they affect your system.
Usage charges from those providers are third-party costs under clause 4.

12. Warranty

For 30 days after launch or handover, we will correct, at no charge, any defect that causes the work not to function as described in the proposal. This does not cover faults caused by changes made by anyone other than us, by third-party services or hosting outside our control, or by use of the work other than as intended. After that period, corrections are charged at our hourly rate or covered by a management plan.

13. Liability

Our total liability arising from an engagement is limited to the fees you have paid us for the project to which the claim relates.
We are not liable for loss of profit, revenue, data or business opportunity, or for any indirect or consequential loss.
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot be excluded or limited by law. Where the Australian Consumer Law applies, our services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded.

14. Ending an engagement

Either party may end an engagement by giving 14 days’ written notice. Either party may end it immediately if the other commits a serious breach and does not remedy it within 14 days of being asked to. On termination you will pay for all work carried out up to the date it takes effect, the deposit is not refunded, and we will hand over the work for which you have paid.

15. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia, and the courts of Victoria have jurisdiction, wherever you are located. The parties will first attempt to resolve any dispute by discussion in good faith.

16. General

The proposal and these terms are the entire agreement between the parties for the engagement.
Notices under these terms must be in writing and may be given by email, to the address stated in the proposal for you and to hello@thedotscripts.com for us.
Neither party is liable for delay caused by events beyond its reasonable control.
Neither party may transfer its rights or obligations without the other’s written consent.
If any provision is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue to apply.
We may update these terms from time to time. The version in force when a proposal is accepted applies to that engagement.

17. Contact

Questions about these terms may be sent to hello@thedotscripts.com.