Terms of Service
Terms of Service
Effective date: 10 September 2026
1. About These Terms
These Terms of Service (the Terms) govern the use of https://townsendwebdesign.com and the purchase or use of services supplied by Will Townsend, trading as Townsend Web Designs (Townsend Web Designs, we, us or our).
Our contact details are:
Address: 401 Tempest Road, Lostock, Bolton, BL6 4HL, United Kingdom
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://townsendwebdesign.com
Please read these Terms before ordering or using our services. A quotation, proposal, statement of work, order form or other written service description that we accept is called an Order. Each Order incorporates these Terms. If an Order expressly conflicts with these Terms, the Order takes priority for that particular service.
Nothing in these Terms excludes or restricts rights that cannot lawfully be excluded, including mandatory rights available to consumers.
2. Business Customers and Consumers
A Business Customer purchases services wholly or mainly for purposes relating to a trade, business, craft or profession. A Consumer purchases services wholly or mainly for purposes outside a trade, business, craft or profession.
Some provisions apply differently to Business Customers and Consumers. A customer ordering on behalf of an organisation confirms that they have authority to bind that organisation.
Our services are intended only for people aged 18 or over. By ordering or using them, you confirm that you are at least 18 and legally capable of entering a contract.
3. Our Services
Our services may include:
website design and development;
website hosting, maintenance and technical support;
AI chatbots and AI voice agents;
business-process automation;
lead-generation services;
search-engine optimisation and digital marketing;
bespoke software; and
related consultancy, configuration and support.
The scope, deliverables, assumptions, dependencies, timetable, fees and any usage limits for a project will be stated in the relevant Order. Unless expressly stated otherwise, dates are reasonable estimates rather than guaranteed deadlines.
We may use employees, independent contractors and specialist subcontractors to provide the services. We remain responsible for our obligations to the extent required by law and contract.
4. Quotations and Contract Formation
Unless stated otherwise, a quotation remains open for 30 days from its issue date. We may withdraw or amend a quotation before it is accepted.
A binding contract is formed when the first of the following occurs:
you accept a quotation or Order in writing or electronically;
both parties sign an agreement;
you make a payment for the services;
you complete an online checkout; or
we begin work at your express request and confirm acceptance.
We may decline an order before a contract is formed, including where the requested work is unlawful, unsafe, technically unsuitable or outside our capacity.
5. Prices, VAT and Payment
Prices are stated in the Order. Unless stated otherwise, quoted prices include the charges identified in the Order. Townsend Web Designs is not currently registered for VAT, so VAT is not charged. If our VAT status changes, VAT may be added where legally required, but not retrospectively to a fixed price already paid unless the law requires otherwise.
Unless an Order states otherwise:
project fees and the first billing period for an ongoing service are payable 100% in advance;
an invoice must be paid within 72 hours of issue;
we are not required to start or continue work until cleared payment is received;
recurring services are billed in advance for each renewal period; and
you are responsible for charges imposed by your bank or payment provider.
We accept the payment methods shown at checkout, on the invoice or otherwise agreed in writing. We may change the payment methods we accept.
If payment is late, declined, reversed or disputed without proper grounds, we may pause work, withhold delivery, suspend hosting or other services, and extend relevant deadlines. We will not charge contractual late interest or debt-recovery fees unless separately agreed or available as a mandatory statutory entitlement that we choose to exercise.
You must raise a genuine invoice dispute promptly and provide reasonable details. An undisputed part of an invoice remains payable.
6. Recurring Services
Hosting, maintenance, support, software access and similar ongoing services may renew monthly or annually as stated in the Order. Fees are charged in advance.
You may cancel an ongoing service at any time by emailing [email protected]. Cancellation normally takes effect at the end of the billing period already paid for. Unless required by law or expressly stated in the Order, fees for a billing period that has started are not refundable.
There is no minimum term unless an Order expressly provides one. We may change recurring fees by giving reasonable advance notice. If you do not accept an increase, you may cancel before it takes effect.
7. Consumer Cancellation Rights
This section applies only to Consumers where statutory cancellation rights apply to a distance or off-premises contract.
You will normally have 14 days from the date the contract is made to cancel a service contract without giving a reason. To cancel, email [email protected] with a clear statement that you wish to cancel.
If you ask us to begin providing services during the 14-day cancellation period and then cancel before they are fully performed, you must pay a proportionate amount for the work supplied up to cancellation. Your right to cancel a service may end once the service has been fully performed, provided you expressly requested early performance and acknowledged that the right would be lost on full performance.
For digital content not supplied on a physical medium, the cancellation right may be lost once supply begins if you expressly consented to immediate supply and acknowledged that you would lose the right to cancel.
Before beginning relevant work or supplying relevant digital content during the cancellation period, we may require you to provide the necessary express request, consent and acknowledgement. If you do not provide it, we may wait until the cancellation period ends.
These provisions do not affect statutory remedies where services or digital content fail to conform to applicable consumer law.
8. Other Cancellations and Refunds
You may cancel before work begins. Where no work has been undertaken and no non-refundable third-party cost has been committed, we will refund sums paid, subject to any applicable statutory rights and reasonable payment-processing restrictions.
If you cancel after work has begun, you must pay for work completed up to cancellation and all authorised or reasonably committed third-party costs. We may deduct these sums from any amount already paid and refund the balance, if any.
Completed bespoke work and fully supplied digital services are not refundable merely because you change your mind. This does not remove any remedy that a Consumer has where the work does not meet mandatory legal standards.
9. Project Process, Feedback and Acceptance
You must provide accurate content, access, decisions, feedback and approvals within 24 hours where reasonably possible or within another period stated in the Order. A delay by you may extend delivery dates and may result in additional costs where it materially changes the work or schedule.
Unless the Order states otherwise, unlimited reasonable design concepts and revision rounds are included within the original agreed brief. This does not include:
new features or pages outside the agreed scope;
changed instructions or a replacement brief;
repeated reversal of previously approved decisions;
work caused by inaccurate or incomplete materials;
third-party changes; or
requests that are unlawful, unsafe or technically impracticable.
We may quote separately for out-of-scope work and will not undertake it without agreement.
Work is treated as accepted when the first of the following occurs:
you approve it in writing;
it is published, launched or put into production at your request;
you begin commercially using the deliverable; or
you do not report a material failure to meet the agreed specification within seven days after delivery.
Acceptance does not remove statutory consumer rights or an express written warranty.
10. Ongoing Support and Maintenance
Ongoing support, hosting and maintenance are provided only while the relevant recurring service remains paid and active. They do not continue free of charge indefinitely.
Normal support hours are 09:00 to 17:00 UK time, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays in England and Wales. We aim to acknowledge support requests within one business day. This is a response target, not a guaranteed resolution time.
Support does not include new development, redesign, recovery from customer changes, third-party failures, malware introduced outside our control or other work outside the Order unless agreed separately.
11. Customer Responsibilities
You must:
provide complete, accurate and timely instructions, information and materials;
cooperate with us and make authorised personnel reasonably available;
ensure that you own or have permission to use all text, images, trademarks, databases, software, contact details and other materials you provide;
review and approve deliverables before publication or operational use;
keep passwords, API keys and access credentials secure and promptly report suspected compromise;
comply with laws applicable to your activities, website, marketing and industry;
provide legally compliant privacy notices, cookie controls and other disclosures for services you control;
obtain all necessary notices, consents and lawful bases before providing personal information to us or using contacts in AI, voice, automation, lead-generation or marketing systems;
maintain suitable backups unless the Order expressly states that we will do so;
follow third-party platform rules and licence conditions; and
avoid instructions or uses that would cause either party to break the law or infringe another person's rights.
You are responsible for decisions made using the services and for checking that the services are appropriate for your particular legal, regulatory and commercial requirements.
12. Intellectual Property
Each party retains ownership of materials it owned or developed independently before the project.
You retain ownership of content and materials you supply. You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, copy, modify and otherwise use those materials to provide the services and meet our contractual obligations.
We retain ownership of our pre-existing and reusable materials, including code libraries, templates, frameworks, prompts, processes, methods, know-how, tools and generic components (Background Materials). After full payment, we grant you a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive licence to use Background Materials incorporated into the final deliverable as part of that deliverable. You may not extract, resell or distribute Background Materials as a standalone product unless agreed in writing.
After full payment, ownership of bespoke final designs and code created specifically for you under the Order transfers to you, excluding Background Materials and Third-Party Materials.
Themes, fonts, plugins, stock media, open-source software, AI services and other third-party materials (Third-Party Materials) remain subject to their respective licences. You are responsible for ongoing licence and renewal fees unless the Order says otherwise.
To the extent we own transferable rights in AI-generated output created specifically for you, those rights transfer with the bespoke deliverable after full payment. AI outputs may not qualify for intellectual-property protection, may resemble other outputs and may be subject to third-party rights. We do not guarantee that an AI output is unique, protectable or free from third-party claims.
We may reuse general skills, ideas, experience and non-confidential techniques learned during a project. Unless you object in writing before publication, we may identify you as a customer and display non-confidential completed work in our portfolio, case studies and marketing.
No transfer or licence takes effect until all relevant fees have been paid.
13. Domains, Hosting and Third-Party Services
Where practicable, domains should be registered in your name using your accurate contact details. If we initially register or administer a domain or account for convenience, this does not give you ownership of our master accounts, systems or unrelated customer resources.
You are responsible for domain, hosting, plugin, licence, usage and software-renewal charges. Third-party fees and reasonable price increases may be passed on after notice. Failure to pay or renew may cause suspension, loss of functionality, deletion of data or expiry of a domain. We are not responsible for avoidable loss caused by your failure to act on renewal notices or pay charges.
Third-party services are controlled by their providers. Subject to mandatory law, we are not responsible for outages, security incidents, policy changes, discontinued features, account suspensions or price changes outside our reasonable control. We may replace a provider with a reasonably suitable alternative where necessary.
You may request migration to another provider. Migration is subject to payment of all outstanding fees, technical feasibility, third-party restrictions and any reasonable migration fee agreed in advance.
14. AI Services and Outputs
AI features may include chatbots, voice agents, content generation, classification, data extraction, workflow automation and other tools described in the Order.
AI systems are probabilistic. Outputs may be inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, biased, offensive, unsuitable or misleading. You must independently review outputs before publishing, acting on or relying upon them. AI output is not professional legal, medical, financial, employment, insurance or other regulated advice.
Our services must not be used to make a final decision producing legal or similarly significant effects concerning a person—such as recruitment, credit, insurance, eligibility or access to essential services—without appropriate human review, lawful authority, transparency and safeguards.
You are responsible for obtaining all necessary rights, notices and consents before submitting another person's information to an AI system. You must not submit special-category, highly sensitive or confidential personal information unless we have expressly agreed suitable safeguards in writing.
Fair and reasonable usage limits may apply as stated in the Order or service description. We may restrict excessive use that threatens security, availability, third-party limits or disproportionate cost. Where reasonably possible, we will notify you and offer an appropriate paid usage increase before restricting legitimate use.
We do not guarantee that an AI output is unique, accurate, non-infringing or suitable for a particular purpose.
15. Acceptable Use
You must not use our website or services to:
break any law, regulation, court order or third-party platform rule;
infringe privacy, confidentiality, intellectual-property or other rights;
generate or distribute malware, malicious code, spam or phishing material;
impersonate or deceive another person or misrepresent AI output as human-generated where disclosure is required;
harass, threaten, exploit or discriminate unlawfully;
facilitate fraud, unlawful surveillance, unauthorised tracking or identity theft;
collect, scrape or process personal information unlawfully;
bypass access controls, usage limits or security measures;
probe, disrupt or overload systems without written permission;
use output for a high-impact decision without required human oversight; or
instruct us to send unlawful marketing communications or use unlawfully obtained lead data.
We may investigate suspected misuse and suspend or terminate affected services where reasonably necessary.
16. Lead Generation, Marketing and SEO
Lead generation, marketing and SEO depend on competition, platforms, audiences, budgets, market conditions and customer conduct. We do not guarantee any number or quality of leads, sales, revenue, profit, conversion rate, search-engine position, website traffic or return on investment.
Unless the Order expressly allocates responsibility differently, you are responsible for approving claims, offers, target audiences and final campaign content, and for ensuring that your marketing complies with applicable direct-marketing, advertising, privacy and consumer laws.
Search engines, advertising networks and social platforms may change their algorithms, policies, prices and services without notice. Such changes are outside our control.
17. Availability, Maintenance and Changes
We aim to provide reliable services, but we do not promise a fixed uptime percentage or guarantee uninterrupted, secure or error-free operation. Availability may be affected by maintenance, updates, emergencies, internet failures, third-party services and events outside our reasonable control.
We may carry out scheduled or emergency maintenance. Where reasonably practicable, we will give notice of planned disruption.
We may modify or discontinue features where reasonably necessary for security, legality, technical improvement, supplier changes or commercial viability. For a material adverse change to a paid ongoing service, we will give reasonable notice where practicable and, if no reasonable replacement is provided, allow cancellation before the change takes effect.
18. Confidentiality
Each party must protect confidential information received from the other, use it only for the contract and disclose it only to personnel, contractors and professional advisers who need it and are subject to suitable confidentiality obligations.
This does not apply to information that is public through no breach, was already lawfully known, is independently developed, is lawfully received without restriction or must be disclosed by law. Where lawful and practicable, the receiving party will give advance notice of a compelled disclosure.
These confidentiality obligations continue after termination.
19. Data Protection
Each party must comply with data-protection laws applicable to its activities. Our Privacy Policy explains how we process personal information for our own purposes.
Where we process personal information solely on your documented instructions, you will normally act as controller and we as processor. The parties will enter into a compliant data-processing agreement where required. You are responsible for establishing a lawful basis, providing required notices and ensuring that your instructions are lawful.
We may use subprocessors subject to appropriate data-protection obligations. International transfers will be handled using a lawful transfer mechanism where required.
20. Warranties and Disclaimers
We will provide services with reasonable care and skill. If you are a Consumer, you have statutory remedies where we fail to do so.
Except for express commitments in an Order and rights that cannot lawfully be excluded, we do not warrant that:
the services will be uninterrupted, error-free or compatible with every system;
every vulnerability or defect will be identified or corrected;
AI output will be accurate, complete, unique or non-infringing;
any lead, sale, revenue, profit, ranking, traffic level or commercial result will be achieved; or
third-party services will remain available on existing terms.
You are responsible for deciding whether the services and outputs meet your needs and for maintaining backups unless paid maintenance expressly includes backups.
21. Liability to Consumers
If you are a Consumer, we are responsible for loss or damage that is a foreseeable result of our breach of contract or failure to use reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for loss that was not foreseeable when the contract was formed.
We supply services to Consumers for private use. We are not responsible under a Consumer contract for business losses, including lost profit, revenue, opportunity or business interruption.
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability where doing so would be unlawful, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or breach of mandatory consumer rights.
22. Liability to Business Customers
This section applies only to Business Customers.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither party is liable to the other for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit, revenue, sales, business, anticipated savings, opportunity, goodwill or reputation, or loss or corruption of data that could reasonably have been avoided by maintaining appropriate backups.
Subject to the liabilities that cannot be limited below, our total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to an affected service, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty or otherwise, will not exceed the total fees paid to us for that affected service during the 12 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim. If the service has existed for less than 12 months, the cap is the total fees paid for it.
Nothing limits or excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, deliberate default, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded.
23. Indemnity by Business Customers
If you are a Business Customer, you will reimburse us for reasonable losses, liabilities and external costs arising from a third-party claim caused by materials you supplied, your unlawful instructions, your breach of section 11 or 15, or your infringement of privacy or intellectual-property rights, except to the extent the claim was caused by our breach, negligence or deliberate wrongdoing.
We will notify you promptly of a relevant claim and allow reasonable participation in its defence. We will not agree a settlement imposing an admission or non-monetary obligation on you without your consent, not to be unreasonably withheld.
24. Suspension and Termination
We may suspend or terminate a service immediately where reasonably necessary because of:
non-payment;
a serious or repeated breach of these Terms or an Order;
illegal, harmful or prohibited use;
a material security or operational risk;
abusive or threatening behaviour toward our personnel;
a third-party provider restriction; or
a legal or regulatory requirement.
Where a breach can reasonably be remedied without urgent risk, we will normally provide an opportunity to remedy it.
Either party may cancel a monthly or other recurring service before its next renewal. A fixed project may be terminated as set out in section 8 or the relevant Order.
On termination:
access to the affected service may be closed;
all accrued and undisputed fees become payable;
you must pay for completed work and committed third-party costs;
each party must stop using the other's confidential information except where retention is lawful and necessary; and
relevant data will normally be deleted after 30 days, subject to the Privacy Policy, backup cycles, a data-processing agreement and legal retention duties.
Reasonable export or migration assistance may be charged separately. You should request any available export before termination or within the 30-day period.
Provisions intended to survive termination—including payment, intellectual property, confidentiality, disclaimers, liability and dispute terms—will continue.
25. Non-Solicitation for Business Customers
During the engagement and for six months afterwards, a Business Customer must not knowingly solicit for employment or direct engagement a contractor or worker first introduced to it through our performance of the services, except through a general recruitment campaign not targeted at that person or with our written agreement.
This section applies only to the extent reasonable and enforceable under applicable law. It does not restrict a person's lawful choice of employment.
26. Public Statements and Misrepresentation
Neither party may knowingly make a false statement that materially misrepresents the other party, the services or their results. Nothing in this section prevents an honest review, a protected disclosure, a regulatory complaint, a legal claim or any statement required by law.
27. Events Outside Reasonable Control
Neither party is responsible for delay or failure caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including internet or utility failure, cyberattack despite reasonable safeguards, industrial dispute, natural disaster, epidemic, war, civil disorder, government action or failure of a critical third-party provider.
The affected party must take reasonable steps to reduce the impact. Payment obligations for services already supplied are not excused.
28. Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms for future orders. For an ongoing service, we will give reasonable advance notice of a material change. A change required urgently for law, regulation or security may take effect immediately, with notice as soon as reasonably practicable.
A change will not retrospectively alter an existing fixed project unless both parties agree or the change is required by law. If a material change substantially disadvantages you in an ongoing service, you may cancel before it takes effect.
29. Notices
You may send contractual notices to [email protected]. We may send notices to the email address you provided. A notice sent by email is treated as received on the next business day unless the sender receives a delivery-failure notification.
You must keep your contact details current.
30. Negotiation and Disputes
If a dispute arises, each party should first give the other written details and allow a reasonable opportunity to resolve it through good-faith negotiation. Nothing prevents either party from seeking urgent injunctive relief, using a statutory consumer dispute process or commencing proceedings before a limitation period expires.
Consumers may have mandatory rights to bring proceedings in another court or jurisdiction. Those rights are not restricted by these Terms.
31. Governing Law and Courts
These Terms and any non-contractual dispute are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
For Business Customers, the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.
For Consumers, the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction, but a Consumer may also have the right to bring proceedings in the part of the United Kingdom or other country where they live. Any mandatory local consumer protection remains unaffected.
32. General Terms
If part of these Terms is unlawful or unenforceable, it will be treated as modified to the minimum extent necessary or removed, without affecting the remainder.
A delay in enforcing a right is not a waiver. A waiver is effective only if given in writing.
You may not transfer a contract without our written consent, except where mandatory consumer law permits. We may transfer it as part of a genuine business transfer or restructuring, provided this does not reduce a Consumer's rights.
Except where expressly stated, no person other than the parties has a right to enforce the contract under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
These Terms and the relevant Order form the entire agreement between us about the service. A Business Customer acknowledges that it has not relied on a statement not included in the contract, but nothing excludes liability for fraud. This entire-agreement wording does not restrict mandatory Consumer rights or remedies for misleading statements.
33. Contact
Questions about these Terms or the services should be sent to:
Will Townsend trading as Townsend Web Designs
401 Tempest Road
Lostock
Bolton
BL6 4HL
United Kingdom
Email: [email protected]