Business Express

Every business operates under terms of services – ours is no different.  We love working with you and really do want a long-term relationship.  To help us achieve this we apply the following terms and conditions to ALL transactions:

Pricing and Quotes

• Standard delivery on all printed work is two working days (or more for items that require finishing, offset printing) from the date you approve the final artwork.  We can often complete your work faster than that, but there is a charge for rush service.  Rush fees are 20% for within one-working day and 10% for between one and two working days.  Our Express Service pricing schedule applies to while-you wait or short turn-around printing, which does not have rush fees (as it is already rush).
• All prices exclude GST unless otherwise stated.
• All prices presume payment prior to or on collection of the job.  Delayed payment attracts a higher rate (see payment terms).
• Quotes are valid for 30 days unless stated otherwise.
• All quotes for printing work assume that print-ready artwork is supplied.  We charge for all time required to prepare your documents for printing.
• *Pricing for flyers or any printed material where more than 1 unit is requested assumes a single source image unless stated otherwise.  For example, our price for 500 business cards is for 500 copies of a single card, not for 250 each of 2 cards.
• All prices exclude delivery.
• *Our printing prices include the time required to print and complete the job, but not time we spend with you getting your job ready to print, fixing errors, resizing from US format to NZ format, improving your document, giving you advice on how to set up your document or making changes to your document.  We are very happy to provide these services to you but we do charge for all that time at our standard rates.

Abandoned Jobs

Every now and then we get asked to design or print something and the customer takes too long to respond to questions, decides to cancel the job after we have incurred expenses, or simply doesn’t show up to collect the job.

• You have committed to pay us as soon as you ask us to perform any service for you.  This includes any pre-printing work such as design or editing, even if you subsequently decide not to proceed with the job.
• We are entitled to invoice for any uncollected or abandoned job.  A job is deemed to be uncollected if it has not been picked up after seven days of notification.  A job is deemed abandoned if you have not responded to our requests for more information or approval to start printing in seven days from the first request.  All jobs that are abandoned or uncollected become payable in full immediately upon issuing an invoice and deemed complete and unpaid.  Late fees will apply and prompt payment and any other discounts offered are automatically withdrawn.

Payment Terms

We love working with you.  We also love getting paid.  My kids also love to eat.  Cashflow is an important issue in most business at the moment.  We understand that – it’s important to us too.  But we are not a bank and are not in the business of providing financing to other businesses.  This seems obvious, yet there are a few that seem to think that not paying their bills on time is perfectly acceptable.

• All prices presume payment prior to or on collection of the job.  Acceptable forms of payment on collection are cash, EFTPOS, cheque and VISA/MC (with PIN).  Direct Deposit to our bank account prior to collection is also accepted.
• If payment is not made on completion of the job for any reason, or if any payment is declined or rejected after presentation the invoice price will be increased by 10% immediately.  This may be waived if payment is received in full by the due date.
• If we agree to receive payment after to completion of the job, payment terms will be 7 days from invoice unless otherwise stated.  Loss of discounts (including any offered price below our standard pricing and prompt payment discount) and late fees will be effective on the due date if payment has not been made in full.
• If payment is not received by us in full by the stated due date you will be accessed a late fee of $20.  This late fee will be charged each week until all balances (including new charges and late fees) are paid in full.
• Should any invoice be unpaid in full by the due date all outstanding invoices shall become payable in full immediately and any discount offer withdrawn immediately.
• Credit cards are not accepted for payments on account.
• Offset printing and special order products may require payment in advance.
• We reserve the right to change the offer of deferred payment terms at any time and without notice.  Please check your invoice for the due date.
• Once a debt is more than 60 days past due we may refer it to a debt collection agency or take legal action.
• We will collect any additional costs of collection from you, including, but not limited to, credit agency/debt collection fees, accounting and legal fees connected to collection, costs of registering on the PPSR register, postage and courier charges for serving notices, our time incurred in following up debts at $1/minute.  Late fees will continue to accumulate.
• Failure of us to apply late payment fees or withdraw discount offers in one instance shall not require us to do the same in other instances.  If we let you off the hook once, be thankful, not demanding – we probably won’t do it again!

Yes, I know that this all sounds very draconian and legalistic – it is.  But if you pay on collection then none of this will apply to you.  If you pay before the due date, then we are both happy.  But if you treat us like a bank then we will have to charge you like a bank.

Let’s use a parenting analogy: I tell my kids the behaviour that I expect from them and the consequences that will follow if they choose different behaviour.  When they break the rules I tell them that I don’t like having to enforce the punishment but they have chosen this punishment by their choice of actions and I would be unjust if they were to get away without punishment.  If they had chosen the behaviour they knew I wanted then they would have received rewards, not punishment.  It’s their choice.

So now it’s up to you – when you ask us to print something you have accepted our terms of service and agree to pay for it promptly.  I have clearly explained the consequences of not paying for it as we have agreed.  If you chose to violate that agreement for payment, you now know the consequences and have agreed, in advance, to us implementing those consequences.  If you don’t like the consequences, pay on time.  That way we will both be happy!

Acceptance of Jobs, Printing Quality and Standards

We pride ourselves on the quality of the work we do.  However, there are some things that we can’t control using the technology available to us.  We also find that the design of a job sometimes has an impact on the final result.  By working well with us you can often get a better result.

• When you supply print-ready artwork or approve a proof that we have prepared you have accepted total responsibility for the content of that job.  Any changes made after approval may result in additional printing charges and/or time charges.  You should carefully check all details especially phone numbers, email and other addresses as these are common areas where unobserved errors can creep in.
• We reserve the right to decline to complete any job for any reason.  No compensation shall be payable if we are unable or unwilling to complete any job.
• We cannot guarantee absolute colour matching.  If you require a specific colour match you must advise us in writing before the job is accepted by us.
• Cutting tolerance is up to 2mm.
• We do not take responsibility for printing or cutting issues where a job is not supplied with adequate bleed (at least 3mm).
• Folding tolerance is 2mm.  Folding on printed toner can lead to cracking.  We do not take responsibility for cracking or folding errors.

Ownership of files and printed work

• All printed work and designs remain our property until paid for in full.  We reserve the right to register a PPSR charge against you or your organisation to maintain our security interest.
• Any artwork or documents that we have prepared for you are your property (once paid for).  However we are entitled to charge a small administration fee to send these to you if this is requested after the job is completed.
• We are entitled to hold (and not release) any artwork or printed material to you if you have other outstanding balances with us.
• We store your artwork, logos and other information on our systems for a limited time.  You are responsible for maintaining and securing your business documents.  We are not responsible for damages if we are unable to locate your artwork or previously printed files.  We will charge for time if you request us to recreate any artwork.

Communication

• We send invoices and other correspondence out by email.  If you have contacted us by email or supplied us with an email address then we assume that you have received our email messages.  Late payment penalties will still apply if you didn’t read our email messages or receive our invoices.
• By making contact with us you consent to receive communications from us by telephone, SMS, Email, postal mail or any other reasonable method.
• We do not supply your contact details to third parties.
• All our bulk emails are compliant with New Zealand Anti-SPAM legislation.  You may opt out or change your profile by following the instructions on the email.

Grace, Humour and Thick Skin

Life is too short to get upset with people.  It is true that we make mistakes and even offend people from time to time.  The mere mention of terms of service, late fees, and the like is offensive to some people.  So I apoligise now to anyone who take issue with this.  We don’t take ourselves that seriously and like a bit of a laugh from time to time – even at our own expense.  We try to be as gracious as possible, honest and ethical, while still trying to run a profitable business that employees people, feeds families, pays bills on time and doesn’t get in trouble with the IRD.  My skin is pretty thick.  I forgive easily.  If this is how you do business then we’ll get on just fine.  If not, I’d be happy to recommend some of my competitors that you can do business with.

These Terms of Service were updated on 14 April 2011 (items marked with * have been added or changed) and apply to all jobs commenced on or after that date.  If you want to discuss these, please call me.  Peter McCarroll – 04-831-1232.