Terms of service

1. About these terms

These terms are the agreement between you, the business taking a plan, and me. "I", "me" and "MonthlySite" mean the business behind monthlysite.co.uk. MonthlySite is a trading name of Transform Sites, run by Charlie.

You agree to these terms when you pay for a plan. They apply alongside the plan details on the pricing page at the time you sign up.

MonthlySite is a service for businesses, including sole traders. By signing up, you confirm you're doing so for your business, trade or profession. Nothing in these terms takes away any rights you have by law that can't be excluded.

One-off website builds (from £549) are quoted separately and aren't covered by these terms.

2. The free preview

The instant website preview is free and needs no card. It shows how your website could look, using my templates and example words. It isn't your finished website: I build that properly once you choose a plan.

The templates, designs and example words in the preview belong to me. Please don't copy or publish them without a plan.

3. What's in each plan

Every plan includes designing and building your website, writing the words for your pages from what you tell me, hosting, an SSL certificate (the padlock), security updates and support by email. The full list for each plan is on the pricing page.

Your domain name is the one thing outside the plan. Its yearly renewal is typically £10 to £20, and I'll tell you the cost before I register or renew it for you.

4. Getting started and going live

There's no setup fee. Your first monthly payment starts your build.

Once you've paid, I'll email you within one working day to get started. I aim to have your website live within 1 days of getting your details (your logo, photos, services and so on). That depends on you sending what I need and answering my questions, and moving a domain from another company can take longer. If anything will take longer, I'll tell you at the start.

I'll send you a private link to check your website before it goes live, and I'll make your changes before launch.

5. Paying

• Monthly plans are paid monthly, in advance. Yearly plans are paid yearly, in advance, and cost the same as 10 months.
• Payments are taken automatically by Stripe, on the same date each month or year, until you cancel.
• The prices you see are what you pay. Nothing gets added at the checkout.
• If I ever change my prices, I'll email you at least 30 days before the new price applies to you, so you can cancel first if you'd like. A yearly plan keeps its price for the year you've paid for.
• If a payment fails, Stripe will try again and I'll let you know. If it's still unpaid 14 days after I've told you, I may pause your website until it's sorted. I won't delete anything without telling you first.
• You can move between Starter, Growth and Pro whenever you like. Email me and I'll switch it over, and your new price starts from your next payment.

6. No minimum term, and cancelling

Plans are month to month. Cancel any time and you won't be charged again.

You can cancel from the link in any Stripe receipt, or by emailing me at hello@monthlysite.co.uk. You don't need to give a reason, and there's no exit fee.

Your plan stops at the end of the month you cancel in. You keep your domain name, your text and your photos. The design and hosting are part of the plan, but you can buy the site outright if you'd like to keep it.

In practice, your website stays live until the end of the billing period you've already paid for, and you won't be charged again after that.

A yearly plan runs for the year you've paid for, and if you cancel it simply doesn't renew. If something goes wrong part-way through the year, email me and we'll agree something fair. Apart from that, payments for periods that have started aren't refunded.

7. Who owns what

Yes. Your domain is registered in your name, and one standard .co.uk, .uk or .com domain is included in every plan for as long as you stay on it. If you cancel, you keep it and the yearly renewal becomes yours.

• Yours: your domain name, and everything you give me for your website (your text, photos, logo, prices and other details). The words I write for your pages from your information are yours too.
• Mine: the design, templates, code and hosting set-up. While your plan is active, you're licensed to use them for your website.
• If you leave: I'll send you a copy of your text and photos if you ask, and help you point your domain wherever you like. Your website goes offline when your plan ends, unless you buy it.
• Buying your website: if you'd like to keep the site exactly as it is, you can buy it outright for a one-off fee, which I'll quote in writing before you decide. After that, the design and code for your site are yours to host wherever you like.
• My portfolio: I'll only show your website as an example of my work if you say that's fine.

8. Changes to your website

Changes are included in every plan. Email or WhatsApp me what you need.

A content change or small edit means things like new prices, opening hours, photos, a new service or a paragraph of text. Unused changes don't roll over to the next month.

Bigger jobs aren't small edits: extra pages beyond your plan, a redesign, new features like online booking or a shop, or rewriting the whole site. If you ask for something like that, I'll tell you before I start if it's outside your plan, and suggest the best way to do it.

"Unlimited" means what a small business normally needs. If requests ever go well beyond that, I'll talk to you about it first. I'll never charge you for anything you haven't agreed to.

9. Your part

• Give me accurate information, and reply to my questions so I can keep things moving.
• Only send me content you have the right to use. If you send photos, logos or text that belong to someone else, make sure you have permission.
• Check your website before it goes live, and whenever I make a change you've asked for. You're responsible for your own business claims, prices, qualifications and registration numbers (for example Gas Safe or FCA numbers).
• Keep your email address up to date, because that's how I'll contact you.
• If you give me access to accounts like your Google Business Profile or your domain, you stay the owner. I'll only use that access to do what you've asked.

If someone makes a claim against me because of content you supplied, you agree to cover my reasonable costs of dealing with it.

10. Acceptable use

Your website mustn't be used for anything illegal, fraudulent or misleading, or to host content that's hateful, sexually explicit, or that infringes someone else's rights. It mustn't be used to send spam, spread malware or collect people's details unlawfully.

If content breaks these rules, I may remove it or pause your website. I'll tell you why and, where it's safe to, give you the chance to fix it first.

11. Hosting, uptime and support

• Your website is hosted on Cloudflare's global network. I aim to keep it available all the time, but no host can promise that, so I don't guarantee a particular uptime or offer service credits.
• I keep your website's software secure and up to date, and keep backups so I can restore it if something goes wrong.
• Support is by email and WhatsApp, from me. I reply within one working day. Working days are Monday to Friday, except bank holidays in England.
• Some things depend on other companies, like Cloudflare, Stripe, domain registries and Google. I'll do what I can when they have problems, but I'm not responsible for their services.
• I build every website to be fast and Google-friendly, and Growth and Pro include local SEO. Nobody can honestly promise you a particular position on Google, and I don't.

12. Liability

Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law doesn't allow to be limited.

Apart from that:

• I'm not liable for loss of profits, sales, business, goodwill or data (beyond restoring backups), or for any indirect or consequential loss.
• My total liability to you for anything arising from these terms is limited to the fees you've paid me in the 12 months before the thing that caused the claim.
• I'm not responsible for delays or failures caused by events outside my reasonable control.

13. Data protection

We'll both follow UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018). How I use your own details is explained in my privacy policy.

Your website may collect details from your customers, for example through its contact form. For those details you're the controller and I'm your processor. That means I will:

• only use them to run your website, and otherwise only on your instructions (these terms count as your instructions)
• keep them confidential and secure
• only use the services listed in my privacy policy to help (such as Cloudflare for hosting), under terms that protect the data in the same way, and tell you before I add a new one so you can object
• help you respond if one of your customers asks to use their data rights, and with your own security obligations
• tell you without undue delay if there's a data breach affecting your website
• delete or return the data when your plan ends, unless the law requires me to keep it
• give you the information you need to show you're complying

Your part is to have a lawful reason for what your website collects and a privacy notice on your site. I can add a simple one for you.

14. If I need to end the agreement

I can end your plan by giving you at least 30 days' notice by email, for example if I stop offering the service. If I do, I'll help you move your website and refund anything you've paid for the time after it ends.

I can end it sooner if you seriously break these terms, for example by not paying or by using your website for something unlawful, and don't put it right within 14 days of me telling you.

15. Changes to these terms

I may update these terms from time to time. If a change matters, I'll email you at least 30 days before it applies to you. If you don't agree, you can cancel before then. The date at the top of this page shows when they last changed.

16. The legal bits

• These terms, with the plan details on the pricing page, are the whole agreement between us.
• If a court decides part of these terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies.
• If I don't enforce something straight away, I can still enforce it later.
• Nobody else has rights under these terms.
• I may use trusted subcontractors, but I stay responsible for the work. You can't transfer your plan to someone else without my agreement.
• We'll send each other notices by email: me to the address you signed up with, you to hello@monthlysite.co.uk.
• These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales can deal with any dispute. I'd always rather sort things out by talking first.