Terms of Service

Effective Date: 24 June 2026
Website: The-Geek-Factory.com
Business: The Geek Factory PTY LTD
Contact Email: support@the-geek-factory.co.za

These Terms of Service govern your access to and use of The-Geek-Factory.com, our client portals, digital products, software, plugins, hosting-related services, support services, website development services, managed online store services, and any other services provided by The Geek Factory.

By using our website, requesting a quote, placing an order, creating an account, approving work, making payment, or using our services, you agree to these Terms.

If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not use our website or services.

1. Who We Are

The Geek Factory provides technology and digital business services, including but not limited to:

Website design and development
WordPress development and maintenance
Hosting-related services
Domain-related services
Managed online store services
IT support
Software, plugin, and digital product development
Client portals and automation systems
Technical consulting
Digital strategy and related services

Depending on the service, The Geek Factory may act as a service provider, developer, technical support provider, hosting reseller, software provider, digital agency, or contractor.

2. Use of Our Website and Services

You may use our website and services only for lawful purposes.

You agree not to:

Break any applicable law or regulation
Use our services for fraud, abuse, spam, malware, phishing, hacking, illegal content, or harmful activity
Attempt to gain unauthorised access to systems, accounts, servers, or data
Interfere with the security, performance, or availability of our website or services
Copy, resell, reverse engineer, exploit, or misuse our systems without written permission
Provide false, misleading, or incomplete information
Use our services in a way that harms The Geek Factory, our clients, suppliers, infrastructure, or reputation

We may suspend or terminate access where we reasonably believe these Terms have been breached.

3. Quotes, Proposals, and Orders

Quotes and proposals are valid only for the period stated in the quote. If no period is stated, quotes are valid for 7 calendar days from the date issued.

A quote, proposal, estimate, or discussion does not create a binding service agreement until we confirm acceptance, receive required payment, or begin work based on your approval.

We may decline any project, order, or service request at our discretion, especially where the work is unlawful, abusive, technically unreasonable, outside our service scope, or creates unacceptable business risk.

4. Pricing and Payment

All prices are shown in the currency displayed on the website, quote, invoice, or checkout page.

You agree to pay all applicable fees, charges, taxes, renewal fees, setup fees, subscription fees, and usage-based charges connected to the services you order.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing:

Website development, managed store development, software work, and custom projects may require upfront payment.
Hosting, domains, subscriptions, maintenance, retainers, and support plans may be billed in advance.
Work may pause if invoices are overdue.
Services may be suspended or terminated for non-payment.
Bank charges, payment processing fees, currency conversion fees, and failed payment costs may remain your responsibility where lawful.

We reserve the right to correct obvious pricing errors, invoice errors, or administrative mistakes.

5. Late Payments

If payment is overdue, we may:

Pause work
Suspend services
Remove access to client portals or systems
Withhold delivery of unpaid work
Charge reasonable late fees or collection costs where permitted by law
Refer unpaid accounts for collection or legal recovery
Terminate the service after reasonable notice where required

Suspension for non-payment does not cancel amounts already owed.

6. Refunds, Cancellations, and Cooling-Off Rights

Refund rights depend on the type of service, the stage of work, and the country or region whose law applies.

Where mandatory consumer law gives you cancellation, refund, cooling-off, repair, replacement, or price reduction rights, those rights will apply.

Subject to applicable law:

Fees for completed work are not refundable.
Deposits may be non-refundable once work has started, unless local law requires otherwise.
Custom development, design work, software configuration, website builds, domain services, hosting setup, digital services, and professional time may not be refundable once performed.
Subscription services may be cancelled according to the cancellation terms of the specific service.
Domain registrations, renewals, transfers, SSL certificates, third-party licences, and similar supplier-based services are usually non-refundable once submitted or activated.
If you cancel a project after work has started, you may be charged for work completed, third-party costs, reserved time, administrative costs, and reasonable losses.

We will not use these Terms to remove any cancellation or refund right that you are legally entitled to under applicable consumer law.

7. Project Timelines and Delivery

Project timelines are estimates unless we expressly agree to a fixed deadline in writing.

For website and managed online store development, typical delivery may depend on project size, client responsiveness, content readiness, third-party approvals, technical complexity, revisions, integrations, and payment status.

The Geek Factory is not responsible for delays caused by:

Late client feedback
Missing content, images, products, credentials, approvals, or information
Third-party platforms, payment gateways, hosting providers, registrars, APIs, or software vendors
Scope changes
Client-requested revisions
Force majeure events
Technical issues outside our reasonable control

If a deadline is business-critical, it must be agreed in writing before work begins.

8. Client Responsibilities

You are responsible for providing:

Accurate business information
Correct contact and billing details
Website content, images, logos, brand assets, product information, and legal text where required
Access credentials where needed
Timely feedback and approvals
Required licences, permissions, and authorisations
Payment according to agreed terms
Compliance information specific to your industry, country, business, or customers

You confirm that you have the right to provide all materials, content, trademarks, images, data, and access credentials given to us.

You are responsible for reviewing and approving work before publication or launch.

9. Website Development and Design Work

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, website development includes only the work listed in the approved quote, proposal, invoice, or project scope.

Additional work may be charged separately, including:

Extra pages
Extra products
Extra revisions
Copywriting
Image editing
Advanced SEO
Custom functionality
Plugin development
Payment gateway setup
Marketplace integrations
Hosting migrations
Email setup
Legal documents
Performance optimisation
Security hardening
Emergency support
Training
Ongoing maintenance

A website is considered delivered when it is made available for review, staged, published, transferred, or otherwise provided to you.

10. Revisions and Scope Changes

Projects may include a specific number of revisions if stated in the quote or proposal.

A revision means a reasonable adjustment to work already included in scope. A revision does not include a new design direction, new functionality, new pages, new integrations, new content structure, or a change in business requirements.

Scope changes may require a new quote, additional fees, and revised timelines.

11. Hosting, Domains, and Third-Party Services

Where we provide hosting-related, domain-related, SSL, email, CDN, backup, security, or third-party services, those services may depend on external suppliers.

You acknowledge that:

Domain availability is not guaranteed until registration is completed.
Domain renewals are your responsibility unless we expressly manage them for you.
Expired domains may become unavailable, deleted, auctioned, or purchased by another party.
Hosting uptime may be affected by maintenance, attacks, upstream providers, server failures, software faults, or force majeure events.
Email delivery cannot be guaranteed because it depends on recipient servers, spam filters, DNS, authentication, blacklists, and external systems.
Third-party platforms may change pricing, policies, APIs, features, or availability.

We are not liable for third-party failures outside our reasonable control.

12. Managed Online Store Services

Managed online store services may include setup, configuration, product loading, maintenance, support, or related services, depending on the selected package.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, you remain responsible for:

Product descriptions
Product images
Product pricing
Stock availability
Delivery terms
Refund policy
Tax settings
Legal compliance
Customer service
Consumer complaints
Product safety
Payment gateway compliance
Shipping and fulfilment

The Geek Factory may assist with setup and management, but we are not the seller of your products unless expressly stated in writing.

13. Software, Plugins, and Digital Products

Software, plugins, scripts, automation tools, and digital products may be provided as custom work, licensed products, subscriptions, or internal tools.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing:

Software is provided under a limited, revocable, non-exclusive licence.
You may not resell, redistribute, copy, sublicense, reverse engineer, or commercially exploit our software.
We do not guarantee compatibility with all themes, plugins, browsers, servers, hosting environments, PHP versions, WordPress versions, APIs, or third-party platforms.
Updates, support, and maintenance may require an active subscription or service agreement.
Custom software may require ongoing maintenance to remain secure and compatible.

Digital products may not be refundable once accessed, downloaded, activated, delivered, or used, except where mandatory law requires otherwise.

14. Support Services

Support may be provided by email, ticket system, WhatsApp, remote access, phone, or other approved channels.

Support availability, response times, service hours, and included support depend on your selected package, retainer, maintenance plan, or written agreement.

Unless expressly included, support does not include:

Major redesigns
New features
Malware cleanup
Data recovery
Emergency after-hours work
Third-party platform troubleshooting
Custom development
Training
Content creation
SEO campaigns
Legal compliance reviews

We may refuse support where the request is abusive, unlawful, unsafe, outside scope, unpaid, or technically unreasonable.

15. Access Credentials and Security

If you provide login credentials, API keys, hosting access, domain access, website admin access, database access, or similar information, you authorise us to use that access only as reasonably necessary to provide the service.

You remain responsible for:

Keeping your own credentials secure
Changing passwords after project completion where appropriate
Managing staff and contractor access
Using strong passwords and multi-factor authentication where available
Maintaining backups unless backup services are expressly included

We are not liable for damage caused by weak passwords, compromised accounts, unauthorised third-party access, outdated software, client negligence, or security issues outside our reasonable control.

16. Content, Compliance, and Legal Responsibility

You are responsible for the legality, accuracy, ownership, and compliance of all content you provide or approve.

This includes:

Text
Images
Logos
Videos
Product listings
Pricing
Claims
Testimonials
Advertising content
Health, financial, legal, or professional claims
Privacy policies
Terms and conditions
Cookie notices
Refund policies
Industry-specific disclosures

We may assist with templates and general wording, but unless expressly agreed in writing, we do not provide legal advice.

You should have legal documents reviewed by a qualified attorney where compliance risk is significant.

17. Intellectual Property

Unless otherwise agreed in writing:

The Geek Factory retains ownership of our pre-existing tools, frameworks, systems, templates, processes, designs, code libraries, plugins, concepts, documentation, know-how, and internal methods.
You retain ownership of your pre-existing brand assets, business content, logos, trademarks, and materials.
Once paid in full, you receive the agreed rights to use the final delivered work for your own business purposes.
Unpaid work remains the property of The Geek Factory and may be withheld.
Third-party software, themes, plugins, stock images, fonts, APIs, licences, and services remain subject to their own licence terms.

You may not claim ownership of The Geek Factory’s underlying systems, reusable components, or internal development framework unless expressly transferred in writing.

18. Portfolio and Credit

Unless you request otherwise in writing, we may reference completed work in our portfolio, case studies, marketing materials, or client list.

We may include a small website credit such as “Website by The Geek Factory” in the footer of websites we build, unless removal is agreed in writing.

Confidential projects may be excluded from public display by written agreement.

19. Confidentiality

Both parties agree to treat confidential information with reasonable care.

Confidential information may include business plans, client data, pricing, credentials, technical systems, project details, internal documents, trade secrets, and non-public information.

Confidentiality does not apply to information that is publicly available, already known, independently developed, legally required to be disclosed, or disclosed with permission.

20. Privacy and Data Protection

Our handling of personal information is governed by our Privacy Statement.

By using our website or services, you agree that we may process personal information as described in the Privacy Statement and as necessary to provide services.

If we process personal information on your behalf as part of a hosting, website, software, or managed service arrangement, additional data processing terms may apply.

21. Backups and Data Loss

Unless backup services are expressly included in your service package, you are responsible for maintaining your own backups.

Even where backups are provided, backups may be limited by retention periods, storage limits, technical failure, corruption, malware, hosting restrictions, or third-party provider issues.

We are not liable for data loss unless caused directly by our proven gross negligence or intentional misconduct, and only to the extent permitted by law.

22. Service Suspension and Termination

We may suspend or terminate services if:

Payment is overdue
You breach these Terms
Your use creates security, legal, reputational, or operational risk
You use services for spam, abuse, malware, phishing, fraud, hacking, or illegal activity
Required information or cooperation is not provided
A third-party supplier suspends or terminates related services
Continuing the service becomes commercially, legally, or technically unreasonable

Termination does not affect amounts already owed.

Where practical and lawful, we will provide notice before suspension or termination. Immediate action may be taken for security, abuse, fraud, legal risk, or urgent operational reasons.

23. Acceptable Use

You may not use our services to host, transmit, promote, or support:

Illegal content
Malware, ransomware, viruses, spyware, or malicious scripts
Phishing pages
Spam or unsolicited bulk messaging
Fraudulent activity
Copyright infringement
Hate speech where unlawful
Harassment or threats
Child exploitation content
Hacking tools intended for abuse
Botnets or command-and-control systems
Content that exposes The Geek Factory, our suppliers, or our clients to legal or operational risk

A separate Acceptable Use Policy may also apply.

24. Third-Party Tools, Platforms, and Integrations

Our services may integrate with third-party platforms, including payment gateways, hosting providers, domain registrars, analytics tools, email providers, CRM systems, accounting systems, APIs, marketplaces, and plugins.

You agree that:

Third-party services are governed by their own terms and policies.
We are not responsible for third-party pricing, outages, data loss, restrictions, policy changes, or service failures.
Some features may stop working if third-party APIs, licences, accounts, or subscriptions change.
You may need to maintain active third-party accounts or licences for the service to function.

25. Warranties and Disclaimers

We will provide services with reasonable skill and care.

However, to the maximum extent permitted by law, we do not guarantee that:

Our website or services will be uninterrupted, error-free, or always available
Any website, store, plugin, software, or system will be free from bugs or vulnerabilities
Search engine rankings, traffic, sales, leads, revenue, uptime, conversions, or business outcomes will be achieved
Third-party platforms will remain compatible or available
Security measures will prevent every possible attack
Email delivery will always succeed
Data will never be lost

Nothing in these Terms excludes warranties, guarantees, or rights that cannot legally be excluded.

26. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, The Geek Factory will not be liable for:

Loss of profits
Loss of revenue
Loss of business
Loss of goodwill
Loss of data
Loss of opportunity
Indirect or consequential loss
Third-party service failure
Search ranking changes
Website downtime
Cyberattacks
Client error
Unauthorised access caused by weak credentials or poor client security
Delays outside our reasonable control

Where liability cannot be excluded, our liability will be limited to the amount paid by you for the affected service during the period giving rise to the claim, unless applicable law requires otherwise.

This limitation does not apply where liability cannot legally be limited, including intentional misconduct or other non-excludable liability under applicable law.

27. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold The Geek Factory harmless from claims, losses, damages, penalties, costs, and expenses arising from:

Your breach of these Terms
Your unlawful use of our services
Content or materials you provide
Products or services you sell through your website or store
Your breach of third-party rights
Your failure to comply with laws applicable to your business
Your misuse of hosting, email, domain, website, or software services

28. Force Majeure

We are not responsible for delays or failures caused by events outside our reasonable control, including:

Power failures
Internet outages
Hosting failures
Supplier failures
Cyberattacks
Natural disasters
War, unrest, strikes, or civil disruption
Government action
Platform outages
Payment gateway outages
Domain registry failures
Illness or emergencies
Other events beyond reasonable control

29. Changes to Services and Terms

We may update our website, services, pricing, packages, features, and these Terms from time to time.

The updated Terms will be posted on this page with a revised effective date.

If changes materially affect an active paid service, we will take reasonable steps to notify affected clients where practical.

Continued use of our website or services after changes means you accept the updated Terms, where legally permitted.

30. Governing Law and Disputes

Unless another written agreement applies, these Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa.

Where you are a consumer in another country or region, you may also have mandatory consumer protection rights under your local law. These Terms do not remove those mandatory rights.

Before starting legal proceedings, both parties agree to try to resolve disputes in good faith by contacting:

support@the-geek-factory.co.za

Subject line:

Terms Dispute

If a dispute cannot be resolved informally, it may be referred to the appropriate court, tribunal, regulator, ombud, or dispute resolution body with jurisdiction.

31. Contact Details

For questions about these Terms, contact:

The Geek Factory PTY LTD
Website: The-Geek-Factory.com
Email: support@the-geek-factory.co.za
Subject Line: Terms Query