Terms & Conditions

All work performed by The Marketing Department Agency, The Marketing Department, Inc. (hereafter referred to as “The Marketing Department” or “TMD”), freelancers and/or subcontractors working on behalf of or for The Marketing Department is subject to the following Terms & Conditions.  By accepting a Quote and/or Invoice, in writing or verbally, the customer agrees to be bound by these terms and conditions.

• The Marketing Department reserves the right to refuse business to anyone for any reason.
• The Marketing Department reserves the right to cancel any contract at any time for any reason.
• Due to the custom nature of the work done by The Marketing Department, all prepayments and deposits are non-refundable and all jobs are non-cancelable. All costs for a project are due 100% in advance by certified funds only unless other terms and/or payment schedule has been specifically outlined and agreed to by all parties involved. No work will begin on the project until The Marketing Department has received full payment.
• Final payments for work done on a deposit or other terms agreement will be due upon receipt of the first drafts or proofs. The Marketing Department reserves the right to request the final project payment at any time.
• In order to qualify for any terms, to start work with a deposit on the initial Invoice or to qualify for a retainer and/or monthly contract agreement, the client must provide The Marketing Department with a valid Visa or MasterCard using the standard Credit Card payment form from The Marketing Department unless prior arrangements have been made.
• If customer and The Marketing Department have entered into a retainer and/or monthly contract agreement, both parties agree to be bound by the terms of the contract as outlined in the signed agreement.  Any cancellations of the agreement by the client must be submitted in writing at least thirty (30) days in advance of termination date and client will be responsible for any outstanding fees that remain.  Payment for any and all outstanding fees must be made prior to termination date.  If payment is not made by termination date, The Marketing Department reserves the right to charge any outstanding balances to the credit card on file.
• If additional costs are incurred during the project, Invoices may be submitted as costs are incurred and/or a final Invoice will be presented to the client at the end of the project with the remaining amount due.  If payment is not made on the Invoice(s) within 10 calendar days from the Invoice Due Date, The Marketing Department reserves the right to charge any outstanding balances to the credit card on file.
• If, for any reason, the client does not contact The Marketing Department within 5 business days of receiving an Invoice to make payment arrangements or does not pay any Invoice 10 days from the Invoice Payment Due Date (or by the date agreed upon by both parties if payment arrangements have been made), The Marketing Department reserves the right to charge the credit card on file for that customer for the entire remaining balance on all outstanding Invoices.  In addition, additional service fees and/or late fees may apply.  If payment arrangements have been made for any or all outstanding Invoices and the client does not meet a payment due date within 24 hours, The Marketing Department will charge the entire remaining balance due for all outstanding Invoices to the credit card on file for that client.  Additional service fees and/or late fees may apply.
• Once the customer agrees to the original quote and/or Invoice either verbally or in writing, the customer is responsible for all costs as reflected in the quote and/or Invoice and no attempted cancellation by the customer is valid.  If a project is cancelled for any reason, the customer will be responsible for the total amount due for the project in its entirety, plus, additional time, services and materials purchased and/or used up to that point, even if The Marketing Department previously waived the cost of those services as a benefit to the customer and in anticipation of completion of the entire project by The Marketing Department.  The customer will also be responsible for a 25% cancellation fee.  If the customer unreasonably withholds approval of any portion of a project (approval not given within 30 days or by project deadline/due date) or does not approve the start of a project within 30 days of payment, The Marketing Department reserves the right to terminate the project immediately and collect all funds still due plus any additional costs incurred including but not limited to, time, services, materials and cancellation fees.  If, for any reason the customer refuses to pay any portion of the amount due or for any other reason The Marketing Department must obtain legal assistance, the customer agrees to pay all of the costs involved in arbitration or litigation.
• Although The Marketing Department may provide several concept/design selections to choose from, all costs/quotes include one (1) concept/design selection unless otherwise indicated on the quote.  Additional concept/design selections may be purchased for an additional fee.
• “Change of Quote Forms” are submitted digitally via email and may be returned via e-mail only – changes need to be sent in a written format for later review. The return email will be considered a digital signature and the client agrees to be bound by the changed quote, prices and/or payment terms.
• Quotes are based on the information provided to The Marketing Department by the customer.  If there are any changes (including, but not limited to: number of pages, number of designs selected, formatting, designs & graphics, number of colors, type of colors (Process, Spot and/or Pantone), colors, quantity, bleeds, overall ink coverage per page, binding, number of folds, trims, type of proof, number of proofs), the cost of the customer’s project may be increased.  If The Marketing Department discovers that the original information provided is incorrect, or if the customer contacts The Marketing Department with changes to the scope of the project, or for any of the other reasons outlined herein, all work on the customer’s project will cease until a “Change of Quote Form” is signed and returned to The Marketing Department.  The “Change of Quote Form” will provide the customer with a new quote and, if necessary, a new anticipated delivery time.   The customer agrees not to unreasonably withhold consent to the new quote.  If the customer does not agree to the new quote, the customer will still be responsible for time, services and materials used up to that point, if any, even if The Marketing Department previously waived the cost of those services as a benefit to the customer and in anticipation of the completion of the entire project by The Marketing Department.  The customer will also be responsible for a 25% cancellation fee, and The Marketing Department will provide the customer with an invoice, breaking down the costs and will refund the customer’s balance, if any.  If the customer unreasonably withholds consent to a new quote, the customer agrees to pay the costs involved in arbitration or litigation.
• In regards to Websites – Overly-extended requests for redesign and projects quoted with a flat cost.  We have been designing websites for a very long time and the following is rarely the case (perhaps 1 in 30 projects), but it does happen on occasion and when it does, the quote winds up not covering the time required to do the project.   This refers to a very extreme situation. Here is an example of this sort of situation:   The Marketing Department delivers one or more possible starting designs for your site, which you need to approve or tweak, or outright reject.  From an approval, we will build the entire site. We are happy to tweak the design or go back to the drawing board 3 to 4 times until you are happy with the design, the color pallet, and the overall look and feel.  However, the process will go much more quickly and smoothly ilf you provide our staff with examples of websites that you like and would like to have your site emulate.  Please do this at the time of the quote because we use a “Theme” we do have some limitations as to what we can do.  If your idea requires extensive modification, then custom programming will be required and is definitely not included in the original quote we provided to you.  However, It is essential that you like your website, and the best way to ensure this is good communications about what you do and don’t like – from the onset of your project. Usually (perhaps 98% of the time), the initial design or two hit the mark for the client and we are off and running.  However, if we find that we simply cannot find a design or color pallet, or images that suit you, then we can wind up spending a large amount of time on the first step. In such cases, there will need to be an additional fee charged for the extra time and we will let you know in advance when we are approaching this point.
• The Marketing Department requires that one person from the client company be assigned to be the project contact person.  If this contact person needs to be changed at any point during the implementation of a project, The Marketing Department must be notified IN WRITING (by email) of this change.  Any input received by anyone other than the assigned contact person may be disregarded.  Whoever is assigned as the project representative will be assumed to have the authority to make decisions on the project; if that person’s decisions are later rejected by the client then extra fees may be charged to cover any additional time required to make changes to the project.
• All information regarding both initial project implementation and project changes must be submitted in writing by the client to The Marketing Department.  This project information can be submitted by email to your account representative.
• The customer is responsible for delivering any and all artwork (including but not limited to: photographs, illustrations, copy & logos) that is to be used in the design project that the customer and The Marketing Department agree to before the project will be started.  Artwork may be submitted physically or digitally.  Please talk to your representative at The Marketing Department for more information on how to submit your artwork. The Marketing Department is not responsible for errors, server problems or any and all transmittal problems associated with sending files over the Internet.  The customer is responsible to provide The Marketing Department with all artwork and copy on time. The Marketing Department will work closely with the customer to attempt to resolve any transmittal problems, however, if such transmittal problems begin to take a considerable amount of The Marketing Department’s time to resolve, the customer may be responsible for additional costs.  If the artwork is not received in a timely manner and/or in the recommended time in order to complete the customer’s project by the date requested by the customer, The Marketing Department cannot be held in any way responsible if the job is not completed by the requested date.
• Layout, design and/or copywriting work cannot be started until all requested materials, including copy (or text), logos, photos, etc., have been received from the customer.  It is the customers’ responsibility to provide these items to The Marketing Department on a timely basis and in a form or format that is usable by The Marketing Department.  Any materials provided that are not up to standard will be requested to be resubmitted by the client.  If requested materials are not available in the format required for the project, The Marketing Department may be able to reproduce materials digitally at an additional fee.  A “Change of Quote” will be submitted to and must be signed & returned to The Marketing Department by the client before any work will be done.  If a client requests that The Marketing Department reproduces any materials, it will be assumed by The Marketing Department that the client has the rights or and/or permission from the owner of any trademarked or copyrighted photos, text, logos, etc. and the client will be responsible for any copyright, trademark and/or legal issues that may be incurred.
• All photo or image use is dictated by the terms & conditions from the companies where the images were purchased UNLESS the images belong to the client.  To determine if a photo can be rightfully and legally used be sure and check the Terms & Conditions on the website where each image was purchased.  DO NOT DOWNLOAD AND STEAL IMAGES FROM GOOGLE OR ANY OTHER SEARCH ENGINE – THOSE IMAGES ARE NOT RIGHTS RELEASED AND YOU CAN GET SUED FOR USING THOSE IMAGES. Generally speaking, image licenses are only good for one use – so if an image was purchased to be used on a website then that same image cannot be used in a brochure UNLESS a second license is purchased or the original license indicates this specifically.  To guard yourself against legal issues be sure to consult with the stock photo company where the images were purchased.  This information can be requested from your TMD rep at the time images are purchased for your job.
• If the project has a media deadline/materials due date, The Marketing Department reserves the right to give the final approval of the project when the final approval cannot be obtained by the customer.  Once final approval is given on any project, The Marketing Department cannot be held responsible for any omissions or errors (including, but not limited to: textual changes, typos, misspellings, size, colors).
• All project completion times are approximate. The vast majority of project delays are due to a lack of response or materials or information from the client. The Marketing Department strives to complete all projects in a timely manner and will offer Rush Service if requested. Rush Service is available at an additional cost for any job with a turnaround time that is two (2) weeks or less. The Marketing Department will include the Rush Service fee in the customer’s original quote if the customer has requested Rush Service. If the customer requests Rush Service after The Marketing Department has begun work on the customer’s project, a “Change of Quote Form” will need to be completed, as discussed above.  The customer is responsible for all shipping charges that may apply, including any additional charges for Rush delivery (for example, overnight service) and those charges must be paid in advance of shipment.  If The Marketing Department has discussed an approximate completion time with the customer, The Marketing Department is not responsible for late completion and/or any additional shipping fees incurred if the customer does not send The Marketing Department all artwork and copy as originally agreed (if the artwork is submitted using the FTP site, a disk with the artwork is still required, please see the paragraph outlining use of the FTP site for more information), or for any other delays due to circumstances beyond The Marketing Department’s control (including, but not limited to, delays by the shipper {either coming or going}, problems in transmitting files, delays by the customer, delays in receiving the “Artwork Approval Form” from the customer, changes to any artwork or copy necessary).
• Every job is proofed by The Marketing Department and we will make every effort to ensure that the customer’s job is accurate and free of typographical errors.  However, the customer is responsible for the final approval of the job and any errors including but not limited to typographical errors, incorrect contact information and/or layout & design issues are ultimately the responsibility of the end customer.  Approval of the proof by the customer, either verbally or in writing, certifies that the customer has reviewed the proof sent to them and confirmed that the artwork is final and that there are no additional changes or corrections (including but not limited to text changes, typos, misspellings, design changes, color changes, size changes and/or layout changes) and that the customer does not want The Marketing Department to make any further changes, additions or deletions to the artwork.  The customer is also approving that the artwork is ready to be delivered to the final recipient (printer, magazine or other party assigned by the customer) AS it currently IS.  Once approved, whether verbally, via email or by signing & faxing an artwork approval form, The Marketing Department is released from any liability for any omissions or errors.
• Rush Jobs – Rush Fees may apply for any job with a turnaround time that is two (2) weeks or less. We highly recommend that all jobs be given at least 48 hours between the time the design and typesetting are finished and the time the item goes to press.  This is because it takes that much time to “digest” the information and to ensure that no typos or content errors exist.  Proofing a job takes time and can be very difficult, because of the way people read things and how easy it is to not see an error – and that’s why we warn that you take extra time to ensure your piece is exactly the way you want it.  Please take an extra day or two to proof and reproof your job, because the final proofing is the responsibility of the client. Rush fees may vary according to the job type and artwork deadline. Once final approval is given on any project, The Marketing Department cannot be held responsible for any omissions or errors (including, but not limited to: textual changes, typos, misspellings, size and colors).
• The Marketing Department is not responsible for keeping any digital files of artwork for any customer.  It is the customer’s sole responsibility to provide The Marketing Department with any digital files (including but not limited to: artwork, photographs, illustrations, copy & logos) required for any project.  The Marketing Department includes delivery of finished artwork to one (1) recipient with any project.  Customers can request digital files be delivered to an additional recipient(s) at an additional fee.  Contact your Sales representative for fee information and details.
• All work performed on an hourly basis will be billed in 1-hour increments and have a 1-hour minimum.  The customer may receive a quote with a flat fee for their projects from The Marketing Department, however, any work done above and beyond the scope of the flat rate may be billed at an hourly rate.  The customer will be responsible for any additional fees that may be incurred on their project.  Hourly rates vary depending on the type of work to be performed (i.e., design, copywriting, programming, etc.), ask your account representative for the hourly rate for your project if needed.
• All online pricing is subject to change at any time without notice.
• The Marketing Department reserves the right to modify these Terms and Conditions at any time, and without prior notice, by posting amended terms on this website.  The customer’s continued use of The Marketing Department’s services indicates customer acceptance of the amended Terms & Conditions.
• This agreement may not be assigned or transferred to another party, for any reason whatsoever. If the customer is a corporation, partnership or other entity, the party signing on behalf of the entity is certifying by signing that they are authorized to do so.  This agreement is construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas.