Terms & Conditions

1. About these terms

These Terms & Conditions apply to the Buddy Development Studio website and, where relevant, to quotations, development work, hosting, domain-related services, maintenance, support, integrations and other services supplied by Buddy Development Studio.

By instructing Buddy to commence work, accepting a quotation, paying an invoice or deposit, or using a service supplied under an agreed scope, you accept the applicable project terms together with these baseline terms.

2. Quotations and estimates

Website calculator results, project configurator results, verbal indications and preliminary estimates are indicative only unless Buddy expressly identifies them as a formal quotation. A formal quotation confirms the agreed scope, price, assumptions and any project-specific conditions.

Changes requested after scope approval may require a revised quotation, additional fee or adjusted delivery date. Work outside the agreed scope is not automatically included.

3. Pricing and payment

Prices are stated in South African Rand unless indicated otherwise. Payment timing, deposits, staged payments, recurring charges and due dates are those stated in the applicable quotation or invoice. Third-party costs may change independently of Buddy and are subject to confirmation before purchase or renewal.

Buddy may pause work or suspend non-essential service delivery where an undisputed amount is materially overdue, subject to applicable law and any specific agreement with the client.

4. Client responsibilities

The client must provide accurate information, content, approvals, access credentials and decisions reasonably required to complete the work. The client is responsible for ensuring that material supplied to Buddy may lawfully be used, including text, logos, photographs, product information, databases, trademarks and other intellectual property.

Delays in receiving required client material or approvals may affect delivery dates.

5. Development and acceptance

Buddy develops according to the agreed scope and will use reasonable care in testing supported devices, browsers, workflows and integrations. Unless otherwise agreed, minor differences between environments, operating systems, browsers, third-party platforms or devices do not automatically constitute a defect.

The client should review supplied milestones and report material issues within a reasonable period. Where a formal acceptance process is specified in the quotation, that process applies.

6. Intellectual property

Unless a quotation states otherwise, ownership or usage rights in the final custom deliverables created specifically for the client transfer only after all amounts due for those deliverables have been paid in full.

Buddy retains ownership of pre-existing know-how, reusable components, development methods, internal tools, generic libraries, templates, frameworks and material not created exclusively for the client. Third-party software, fonts, plugins, libraries, APIs, themes, stock media and other licensed material remain subject to their respective licence terms.

Nothing in these terms transfers ownership of Buddy's internal products, including Buddy-branded platforms or technologies, unless expressly agreed in writing.

7. Hosting, domains and email

Hosting, domain registration, DNS and email services depend partly on third-party infrastructure, registries and upstream providers. Availability, renewal rules, transfer rules, registry requirements and provider pricing can change. A domain name cannot be guaranteed until registration has been successfully completed by the relevant registry or registrar.

Where annual Buddy hosting pricing is offered at the equivalent of a reduced number of monthly payments, the applicable quotation or published package confirms the billing rule in effect at purchase or renewal.

8. Third-party services and integrations

A project may depend on third-party services such as payment gateways, courier systems, Google services, messaging services, domain registrars, hosting infrastructure or external APIs. Buddy is not responsible for changes, outages, account restrictions, policy changes, discontinued features or failures that originate within a third-party service and are outside Buddy's reasonable control.

Additional work required because a third party materially changes an API, platform or requirement after implementation may be quoted separately.

9. Maintenance and support

Maintenance is not automatically included unless it appears in the applicable quotation, invoice or selected maintenance plan. Each maintenance plan covers the services described for that plan. New features, redesigns, major integrations, content migrations and work outside the plan may be quoted separately.

10. Backups and client data

Where backup services are included, Buddy will take reasonable steps to operate them as described. Clients should still keep independent copies of important business content and source information where practical. Backup availability does not guarantee that every file, message or data state can always be restored.

11. Acceptable use

Buddy services may not be used to unlawfully access systems, distribute malware, infringe intellectual property, send unlawful unsolicited communications, host illegal content, facilitate fraud, abuse infrastructure, or engage in conduct prohibited by South African law or an applicable upstream provider's acceptable use rules.

12. Security

Buddy applies reasonable security measures appropriate to the project and service. The client must protect passwords, administrator accounts, API keys and devices under the client's control. No website, server, email account or application can be guaranteed to be immune from all vulnerabilities, attacks or outages.

13. Suspension and termination

Either party may terminate or decline future work in accordance with the applicable quotation, recurring-service arrangement and South African law. Buddy may suspend access where reasonably necessary to protect security, prevent unlawful use, respond to an upstream provider requirement, or address materially overdue undisputed amounts.

On termination, amounts already due remain payable. Transfer of files, domains, data or credentials is subject to payment status, ownership rights, technical feasibility, third-party rules and any applicable project agreement.

14. Cancellations and refunds

Cancellation and refund rights depend on the nature and stage of the service, work already performed, non-refundable third-party purchases, the applicable quotation and any rights that apply under the Consumer Protection Act or other law. Buddy will not use these terms to remove a statutory right that cannot legally be waived.

15. Warranties and limitation of liability

Buddy will perform services with reasonable care and skill. Except for rights or warranties that cannot legally be excluded, Buddy does not guarantee uninterrupted availability of third-party services, indefinite compatibility with future software changes, specific commercial results, search rankings, sales volumes or business outcomes.

To the extent permitted by law, Buddy is not liable for indirect or consequential loss arising from matters outside its reasonable control, including third-party outages, unlawful client content, compromised client credentials, unsupported modifications by others, or a client's failure to maintain required accounts and access.

16. Confidentiality

Each party should treat non-public business, technical and commercial information received from the other as confidential and use it only for the relevant project or service, except where disclosure is authorised, already public, independently known, or required by law.

17. Privacy

Personal information is handled in accordance with Buddy's Privacy Policy and applicable South African privacy law.

18. Electronic communications

The parties may communicate and conclude routine project actions electronically, including by email, accepted online forms, digital documents and other agreed electronic channels. Important scope, price or ownership changes should be recorded in writing.

19. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. Before commencing formal proceedings, the parties should first attempt in good faith to resolve a dispute through direct written communication, without limiting either party's legal rights or access to an appropriate court, tribunal, regulator or consumer body.

20. Changes to these terms

Buddy may update these website terms when services, business practices or legal requirements change. Changes do not retrospectively rewrite a signed project agreement unless the parties agree to the change or the law requires it.

21. Contact

Questions about these terms can be sent to buddy@buddydevelopmentstudio.co.za.