CRST Website & Web Development Terms and Conditions
Cornerstone Services, Inc. builds WordPress websites and WordPress websites only. Cornerstone provides support and site administration services only for the WordPress websites that it built and builds. We do not provide site support, changes, administration or similar services for sites that we did not build. The Company is also a hosting provider and offers website hosting services as a separate service. These Terms and Conditions below apply to our web development and web hosting services in this context.
Support Protocols & Support Hours
We are available during normal business hours, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm EST (GMT-4), excluding major US national holidays. If you have any support issues or questions, you are first requested to send an email to info@crst.net and our internal policy is to respond back within one hour. If you need immediate assistance, you may call (845) 255-5722 x1 for the CRST Customer Service desk.
For any support question, billing matter, or site development or management issue, you will be contacted by either the CRST Customer Service department (info@crst.net) or the CRST Project Management department (production@crst.net). You understand and agree that we will communicate with you via email and phone only. Our protocols from us to you are as follows:
- email you twice (2x) within two (2) business days; and,
- make two (2) subsequent phone calls within three (3) business days in the event of no response to our initial email outreach.
Each attempt will have a specific request which will in turn require you to make a specific decision. You understand that we may or may not be able to leave voicemail and are not required by you to leave voicemail related to our efforts. Even if you acknowledge our efforts, but do not directly address our specific request (or requests) then your return communication from you to us will be deemed invalid.
All essential communication must be in writing. Should we be requested to review your instructions to us regarding past direction, such a review will only relate to emailed or documented correspondence.
Our Service Obligations
We make reasonable, good faith efforts both to communicate and to provide these described website development, web hosting and related services to you. We pledge to give our best to meet performance dates or periods specified in the Estimate or as outlined by the CRST Customer Service and/or CRST Project Management departments. All provided service commitment dates, as provided in writing, are provided with our best efforts intentions but are estimates only and should not represent the essence for performance of the Services.
Customer Obligations
You acknowledge and agree that you have read all the Terms and Conditions stated herein regarding our efforts and work for you. Aside from the stated Terms and Conditions, you and we understand and acknowledge that the best possible outcomes arise when we work cooperatively and assume one another’s highest intentions.
Web Development Protocols
Once the CRST Project Management department has all website content in hand, and a minimum 50% down payment has been paid, we will begin to work on your website build. It is our intention that website builds are completed within 30 - 45 days; however, site construction may take longer due to multiple reasons such as Customer availability or Customer response delays to CRST Project Management questions or requests for approval. Our communication may be verbal, but all requests for final approval will be sent via email from us to you. CRST uses a staging method whereby you may privately review our on-going site construction without having the website be public. Your site will not be live without your explicit and written consent.
Domain Names
Cornerstone is able to acquire, administer and otherwise manage your domain name including a domain name transfer (if not use) from third party domain registrant to us. In some cases, transfer of domain names requires your active involvement. No domain name acquisition or management will take place without your direct written approval. With your written approval, we may also source and secure additional new domain names to act as additional redirected URLs to your site, or, simply to buy and hold. The process of securing domain names is a separate and billable service, separate from that of the website development service. Premium domain names may be available at market rate prices, and such domain names will require advance payment. Please note that annual domain name registration represents an annual charge separate from that of web hosting or periodic web support.
Web Hosting Environment
CRST builds its WordPress websites within a secure web hosting environment as offered by our overseas provider, 97 Teams in Wales UK. This hosting platform has a high level of web security and yet still offers a wide range of web development construction options. However, there may be some utilities or features found in other hosting environments that we do not support because we deem them to be susceptible to potential security breaches. For example, the default plugins that we use for your site build will come from, and be regularly updated by, a dedicated and secure library for such plugins. If you wish to have a plugin that is not similar or available through this library, then such plugin will need to be vetted by us and our hosting provider, and, be subject to third party charges which are passed on by us to you.
Website Content
Customer is required to provide unique website content necessary for CRST to build or support Customer’s website. Website content includes materials such as high resolution graphics, images, videos, logos, vector art, drawings/illustrations, or custom fonts unless otherwise stated. This provided content belongs to you and we make no claim to it. Services to obtain website content such as copywriting, copyediting, image retrieval, image modification, font-matching, etc., if requested, typically represent additional service charges.
All site content provided to Cornerstone by Customer must be self-originated or self-created and not be trademarked or unlicensed or otherwise subject to restricted use by third party entities with oversight control of such content. When you provide your written text or copy to us, you do so with the intent that it is largely final; that is, you are not providing outlines or draft versions of copy that necessitate our and your on-going editing to bring this content to a final version which could have otherwise been practically achieved in advance.
Third-party content may be necessary for your site development or support. In such instances, we agree to advise you of such additional costs and you will agree to pay for such content where needed. Any software, plugins, images, copy, etc. sourced from a third party is unique bound by the terms of service and charges of that third party, and you agree and understand to abide by such terms and pay for any charges that accompany such third party content.
Copyediting, Copywriting and Content Creation
Copyediting, copywriting and content creation services are not typically part of your initial site build and represents a separate, paid-for services, billable at prevailing CRST Project Management hourly rates. You may request an estimate for copywriting, copyediting or content creation services by sending an email to info@crst.net. Please note that we do not provide such services for websites not built by Cornerstone Services.
Questionable or Prohibited Content
You may not post, or request us to post, prohibited or questionable content on your website. Prohibited or questionable content is an intentionally broad term wherein we may decide without your prior consultation that some content on your website is inappropriate or potentially harmful to yourself or others. Examples of such questionable or prohibited content may be, but are not limited to, the following: (a) trademarked or copyrighted text or images, (b) web-links or files deemed destructive or damaging to Customer, to other websites or to CRST web servers (including possible malware links acting as Trojan horse viruses), (c) pornographic, threatening, degrading, insensitive or racially offensive content, (d) excessively large files or images, etc. Our policy is to advise you of our findings, but any determination or outcome (which may include removal of such questionable or prohibited content) might not involve consultation with you.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Policy
Our WordPress site construction abides by contemporary, prevailing best practices for eventual website SEO optimization. We refer to our website builds as “SEO friendly” and do our best to have your new website construction be ready for SEO optimization. You therefore understand and acknowledge that our initial construction makes no guarantees regarding the amount of SEO content, SEO rankings or completeness with SEO keywords. An “SEO friendly” website is different from SEO services. SEO services are a separate service provided by the Cornerstone. Specific SEO development services are therefore not included with our initial website builds. As with any site build wishing to gain commercial or user web interest, CRST/Cornerstone strongly recommends Client's consideration and immediate adoption of an SEO strategy to maximize anticipated SEO results.
You may have one or multiple emails tied to your domain name. We will assist you with initial set-up or email addresses from your domain name, but after the launch of your website, additional or on-going email set-up and administration is a paid-for service (via CRST Project Management hours). Our recommendation is that you set-up a Google Workspace account along with the website that we build for you. If you do not wish to incur the additional charges from Google for email account services, then you may also ask us for cPanel access which is the backend control panel access utility that we use to administer your webpage and services such as emails. However, your requesting formal access to cPanel means that you take unconditional, full responsibility for any issues that arise from your own self-administration. Should you request our support after encountering any issues with cPanel access, then we charge per hour with no time estimate to assist you with such support. Ultimately, we believe the cost/benefits of use of a Google Workspace service outweigh other email connectivity options. Please note that we do not offer email management administration or support outside of either our cPanel access or Google Workspace access.
Web Hosting Services
Our annual, default hosting service includes the following:
- SSL Security
- 2GB Disk Space
- 100GB Bandwidth Per Month
- Fully Integrated WordPress environment
- Access to No-Charge Default Library of PlugIns
- Daily Backups
- Email/Phone Support (M-F, 9-5, EST/GMT-4)
Please note that for many websites that have emails using the site domain (outside of a third party service such as Google Workspace), 1 GB disk space will prove to be too small. Please if you need additional disk space, please contact the CRST Customer Service department at info@crst.net. If you run out of space, we will contact you via the described CRST Support Protocols described herein.
Confidentiality
Customer agrees to keep in strict confidence all Proprietary Materials which is defined as technical processes, methodologies, spreadsheets, maps, wizards, utilities, documentation, specifications, software, and similar, that are confidential (non-public) in nature and which have been developed and/or disclosed by Cornerstone Services, Inc. to Customer and Customer’s staff members and employees, agents, vendors, consultants or subcontractors. Customer also agrees to ensure that its employees, officers, representatives, advisers, agents, contractors or subcontractors to whom it discloses Proprietary Materials will similarly comply with this confidentiality requirement.
All Proprietary Materials will be, at all times, the exclusive property of Cornerstone and shall not be used for any purpose other than in such purposes as specifically directed by provided by us. Further our own use of our own Proprietary Materials is non-exclusive to you and may be used for other CRST clients without our having to consult you about such use. You also agree not to copy, reproduce, repurpose, rename, alter, adapt, reverse engineer or deconstruct CRST web development code or our service methodologies without specific written permission.
In the process of serving and supporting you in our work for you, you recognize that Cornerstone may disclose internally limited confidential details about you to our employees, officers, vendors, agents, representatives, advisers or subcontractors who need to know such information for the purposes of enacting our services for you. Additionally, as may be required by law, court order or any governmental or regulatory oversight or authority, Cornerstone may share or surrender all or partial Customer information.
Website Service Support Billing
Some minor requests, at our determination, may be done at no charge. Other requests, at our determination, including any requests made which require a job ticket creation, are billable at the CRST Web Programming Support Rate of $100/hr. In some instances, as with urgent requests, no advance payment is required. In other cases, such as with scheduled site construction with the CRST Project Management area, advance payment may be requested. In either instance, you understand that our payment terms are identical: invoices are payable upon receipt. Unless client you request an estimate in advance for our support service, you acknowledge that you will be billed at the $100/hr. rate and that such a rate is reasonable and non-negotiable.
Non-Payment Protocols
All matters related to non-payment are handled via our stated CRST Support Protocols. You agree that if you do not respond appropriately to our described Support Protocol, after an additional five (5) business days of our outreach efforts, you will be in a position of non-payment regarding your website maintenance and website hosting and/or other provided CRST web services.
Non-payment for any reason may prompt us to suspend domain registration, site hosting or site maintenance services for you. You also understand that related web services such as domain registration, email, shopping cart, or other services, may also be suspended or terminated. Specifically, for an example, non-payment to us by you for items such as domain name renewal may mean that such items are no longer available to you and may need to be re-purchased from the public markets. If web services are suspended or terminated by us, you, your agents and/or your clients unconditionally agree to hold harmless Cornerstone Services, Inc. and its staff members regarding any inconveniences, actual or perceived damages that may arise from this non-payment scenario.
If you wish to reinstate your website, web hosting and related web services with us, we may or may not elect to do so. Should CRST reinstate some or all services originally provided to you, you agree that it will be upon our sole determination, and that such efforts may invoke billable web programming or project management support time, payable by you in advance, to resurrect. You further understand that in such a non-payment scenario, our resurrection attempts are “best efforts”; you will make no demands upon us regarding our reinstatement efforts, and, we make no promises regarding what we may or may not be able to reinstate.
Accounts in arrears accrue at an interest rate of 18% per annum, compounded monthly. After thirty (30) days after non-payment, Cornerstone will send written documentation via USPS First-Class Mail notifying Customer of non-payment (such as a statement of account). Sixty (60) days after initial the initial non-payment event, any domain names or code or property held by Cornerstone on client’s behalf shall become the de facto property of Cornerstone without prejudice until Customer settles its owed amounts with us including accrued interest or other penalties.
Cornerstone will not be bound by you regarding any court order or legal attempt to maintain its web and web-related services without payment. Further, our services to you are for Customer and Customer alone, regardless of the deemed importance or essentialness of the services we provide. If there is a change or ownership or control of your organization, this in no way affects your financial obligations to Cornerstone or your compliance, understanding and agreement to the Terms and Conditions set herein.
Liability and Indemnity
Customer recognizes and agrees to limits of liability of Cornerstone Services, Inc. and its staff, employees, consultants, contractors and subcontractors regarding work rendered to Customer in respect of web development, web hosting, domain registration, or other web services. Customer agrees that Cornerstone will not be held liable for the following: any specific or anticipated profit loss, loss of business opportunities, accounting loss (such as with that pertaining to goodwill), contract or bid losses, software damages, indirect costs, data breaches, time loss or similar.
Customer agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Cornerstone Services, Inc. from any and all damages, costs and expenses regarding any work, direct or indirect, between Cornerstone and Customer, Customer’s agents and/or Customer’s own clients. You understand that Cornerstone may not be subject to any litigation charged against you and is not subject to legal consequences arising from judgements or appeals involving our work for you. Customer is solely responsible for all website content and further responsible for any liability arising from infringement upon breach-of-privacy matters and third party intellectual property rights.
Termination of Service
with reasonable advance notice, should you or we wish to terminate our web development support and/or services with us, you or we are free to do so, assuming there are no outstanding payment issues. Should you wish to transfer your domain name and website to third party provider, we will not invoke additional charges for processes that are cooperative, reasonable and uneventful. You have rights to the WordPress site code, which will be compression packaged professionally and returned to you directly; however, you acknowledge and understand that many plugins that we use for your web site may only operate and work in our unique and secure hosted environment. No further support is available from us to you once a site has been removed from our hosted environment or is not under our direct control.
Force Majeure
Cornerstone shall have no liability to Customer if it is prevented from, or delayed in executing, its commitments to Customer due to events, omissions or accidents beyond its reasonable control, including (but are not limited to) strikes, lock-outs, workforce disputes (whether involving the workforce of CRST or any other party), economic crisis, internet failure, extreme weather, acts of God, civic unrest, sabotage, compliance with any law or governmental order, rule, regulation or direction, accident, server failure, loss of vendor support, etc.
Additional Considerations
(a) CRST places a “built by” statement and CRST logo on each site that it constructs; (b) you acknowledge and do not object that CRST may display tastefully public information and images about your web site, domain name and related web services on our own websites (crst.net, donerightmail.com or politicalmailing.us) as evidence of the work done by Cornerstone; (c) if you wish to send anything to us in writing, our address is 31 South Ohioville Road, New Paltz, NY 12561.