Terms of Business

Karen Hyde Ltd, (“Karen Hyde” or “We”): A Virtual Business Assistant Service, providing flexible support for busy businesses.

Engagement

A phone consultation or meeting, up to two hours duration, is free for new clients.
We reserve the right to validate your identity. This may include asking you for further information, requiring you to take steps to confirm ownership of your email address or verifying your information against third party databases or through other sources.

Prior to the commencement of a new project or task, we will send a letter of engagement setting out the agreed statement of work and delivery schedule.

Our statement of work will contain details of the work to be performed, hourly rate, or payment package, dates of delivery, agreed deliverables, payment terms and details relating to specific or specialist tasks.

The signed statement of work indicates the client’s acceptance of our terms of business.
Should your original requirements change, we may amend the original quotation and statement of work, following consultation with you.

We will not undertake any work which is believed to be unethical or unlawful.

The core hours, during which standard rates apply, are set out in the Statement of Work.  The hourly rate for work completed outside of these hours, at the client’s request, will be billed on a separate line on the invoice.

Fees

Engagement and assignments are conducted on a time, task or project basis.

All charges are billed to the nearest 15 minutes.

Any telephone calls made on behalf of the client and within the UK will be charged at 30p per minute. All call times will be recorded and added to the month end invoice.

You will be invoiced for all approved expenses (including, without limitation, costs and expenses associated with meals, lodging, local transportation and any other applicable business expenses).

Expenses will be listed on the invoice as a separate line item.

Our charges and rates are reviewed on 1st January each year and clients will be notified of any new charges in writing.

Karen Hyde Ltd is not currently VAT registered.

Payment terms

Monthly retainer packages must be paid in advance.

Clients with a monthly retainer package can rollover up to 25% of the hours left in their current month to the next month of service.

Terms of payment for each invoice are 14 days from date of invoice.

Payment should be by BACS, bank transfer, online banking to account details provided on the invoice.

We will provide you with sufficient details to support all invoices, including time sheets for services performed, expense receipts and descriptions of authorised expenses.

If an invoice remains unpaid for 45 days after the invoice date, we retain the right to cease all activities set out under the terms of engagement.

If an invoice remains outstanding for 60 days after the invoice date, all monies due (whether invoiced or not) become payable immediately and where applicable The Late Payment of Commercial Debt (Interest) Act 1998 as amended may be applied.

Responsibilities

The client agrees to transfer all electronic data and files necessary for us to perform the work.

We agree to treat as private and confidential and not, without the client’s prior written consent, at any time for any reason during or after the term of the engagement to disclose or permit to be disclosed or made use of any confidential information concerning the client’s business, customers, suppliers or associated companies, results from studies or surveys which they may acquire during the engagement.

We take reasonable precautions to safeguard any property belonging to you and made available to us for the purposes of the engagement.

We will destroy all such material in our custody one year after its creation or delivery to the Client (whichever is later) unless it continues to be used for the purposes of the engagement.

Final proofreading remains the responsibility of the client.

Obligations

We shall have fulfilled our obligations when any one of the following first occurs:

We accomplished the activities described within the Statement of Work, including delivery, of the materials listed in the Statement of Work section entitled “Deliverable Materials”.

You accept such activities and materials without unreasonable objections.

Cancellation

Either party has the right to cancel services or deliverables by giving ten working days’ advance written notice to the other party.

Where an engagement is undertaken on a time reservation basis, this fee is not refundable.

Cancellation in 5 working days or less before commencement of services will incur charges of 50% of the assignment fee.

Cancellation within 24 hours of the commencement of services will incur a charge of 100% of the assignment fee.

Karen Hyde Ltd registered address is Suite 1, Armcon Business Park, London Road South, Poynton, Cheshire SK12 1LQ. Registered in England and Wales:

Last updated November 2017