Terms of Service

From the Design Buffs family thank you for choosing us for your creative needs! Our goal has always been to provide you access to creative talent and deliver the best work we can in the most convenient, frictionless and cost-effective way. 

When we say “Company”, “we”, “our”, or “us” in this document, we are referring to Design Buffs, trading under CKP Ventures Ltd. When we say “contractor” in this document, we are referring to our internal Design Buffs team members and contractors. When we say “you” in this document we are referring to you, the customer purchasing our Services.

When we say “Services”, we mean any product created and or maintained by Design Buffs. That includes all past Design Buffs plans which may no longer be actively listed on our website.

When you use our Services, now or in the future, you are agreeing to the latest Terms of Service. That’s true for any of our existing and future products and all variations that we add to our Services over time. There may be times when we do not exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Terms of Service; in doing so, we are not waiving that right or position. These terms do contain a limitation for our liability.

If you violate any of the terms, we may terminate your account. We also reserve the right to terminate your account at any time and for any reason. That’s a broad statement and it means you need to place a lot of trust in us. We do our best to deserve that trust by being open about who we are, how we work, and always being open to your feedback.

General Terms

1. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and password. The Company cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage from your failure to comply with this security obligation.
2. You may not use the Services for any purpose than outlined in our Terms below.
3. You are responsible for all changes to your account. That includes: upgrading your Service, downgrading your Service, or cancelling your Service.
4. You are strictly forbidden from contacting any designer or manager within our network for employment or contracts outside of Design Buff’s knowledge and oversight. Contracting or paying our team for work completed outside the service offering from Design Buff will result in a fine equal to the yearly salary of that Design Buffs team member.
5. Each provision of this Agreement will be considered severable, such that if anyone provision or clause conflicts with existing or future applicable law or may not be given full effect because of such law, no other provision that can operate without the conflicting provision or clause will be affected.
6. By agreeing to our terms of service you are also acknowledging that you have read and agree to our Expectations Agreement and Refund Policy as well as the terms listed here in this document.

Our Duties and Responsibilities

1. Recruit, screen, interview, and assign a Design Buffs contractor to perform the type of work within their discipline under the client's supervision;
2. Pay Design Buffs contractor's fees and cover work-related expenses.
3. Design Buffs' contractors acknowledge that they are not entitled to holidays, vacations, disability benefits, insurance, pensions, or retirement plans, or any other benefits offered or provided by the client; and
4. Design Buffs will provide and replace a Design Buffs contractor upon the customer's request

Payment, Refunds, and Plan Changes

1. For paid Services that offer a free trial, we explain the length of the trial when you sign up. After that trial period, you need to pay by the completion of the trial to keep using the Service. If you do not pay, you will no longer have access to the Service until you make your payment. If you have utilised a trial in the past, you will not be eligible for a trial on the same Service offering again in the future.
2. For paid Services, you will pay Design Buffs at the rates set forth via our active pricing plans on our website. Payment is due upon registration for an account and will be billed for on a monthly basis, unless agreed otherwise.
3. For paid Services that involve a daily hour cap for Design Buffs contractors, any unused hours do not roll over and can not be utilised at a later date.
4. For paid Services that involve a weekly hour cap for Design Buffs contractors, you may not request more than 8 hours of work from your Design Buffs contractor on a particular day. Any unused hours that were purchased in bulk at the onset of the Service, do not carry over to the next month of the Service. From the day you register for your bulk hours, you have one month to use those hours before they expire. You will schedule the hours throughout the month with your Design Buffs contractor.
5. Design Buffs contractors are presumed to be non-exempt from laws requiring premium pay for overtime, holiday work, or weekend work. Design Buffs will charge the client special rates for premium work time only when a Design Buffs contractor’s work on assignment to the client, viewed by itself, would legally require premium pay and the client has authorized, directed, or allowed the Design Buffs contractor to work such premium work time. The client's special billing rate for premium hours will be a flat fee of $50 an hour for any overtime, holiday work, or weekend work that falls outside of the standard hours of the employment agreement.
6. You have read and agree that you understand our Refund Policy and how it may relate to your particular product choice.
7. All Design Buffs contractors are subject to Design Buffs standard UK holidays and days off assigned by Design Buffs
8. If the client uses the services of any Design Buffs contractor as its direct employee, as an independent contractor, or through any firm other than Design Buffs during an active Design Buffs plan or 365 days after cancellation of the Design Buffs contractor to the client from Design Buffs, the client must pay Design Buffs a fee in the amount of the yearly Design Buffs salary for that employee.
9. If your payment is late or overdue, we will give you up to 3 business days of additional service while you finalize your payment. If your payment does not arrive within 3 business days of it being overdue, your plan will be paused and all work will halt until you have made your payment current.
10. If you ever wish to change the plan you are on, you can contact us: hello@designbuffs.com. Changes to your plan often involve a pro-ration of charges but can be handled on an individual basis depending on the scenario. You are allowed to upgrade/downgrade your service once per month with an active plan.

Non-Compete & Cooperation

• Design Buffs contractors are assigned to work for you. You can not under any circumstances, sell or staff Design Buffs contractors as if they were your own team members.
• Design Buffs contractors are restricted from contacting any of your customers regarding any outside work other than what was assigned to the Design Buffs contractor directly from you. This means you will be the point of contact for the Design Buffs contractor. If you want your Design Buffs contractor replying directly to your customers, you may do that as long as the Design Buffs contractor expresses their consent.
• Design Buffs shall not solicit or contact any user, account, or related parties without your prior written consent. This means if you are using Design Buffs to get work done for clients you manage Design Buffs will not and can not contact or approach your clients. Your clients are your clients, and we forbid Design Buffs contractors from making contact with your clients without your explicit written consent to do so. If you want to connect us with a friend or someone who may be interested in our services, that is allowed.
• Design Buffs can not claim any work that has been completed by the Design Buffs contractor as our own. The work we complete for you under our Services is under your ownership and Design Buffs claims no right to ownership of any of the Services rendered. This simply means you will not see us talking with anyone else about the work we have done for you, that work is confidential and Design Buffs nor its contractors have ownership over the work rendered, you do. We may share your testimonial on our site if you permit us to.
• Both parties agree to cooperate fully and to provide assistance to the other part in the instance of an investigation and resolution of any complaints, claims, actions, or proceedings that may be brought by or that may involve Design Buffs or its contractors.

Extended Employment and Pay Raises

• We have a lot of customers who stay with us for months on end, if not longer. If you are with us, and the same Design Buffs contractor for 6 months or more, you can opt-in to giving your Design Buffs contractor a raise. A raise equates to a $100/mo fee on top of your existing Service charge. This extra fee goes directly into the pocket of your Design Buffs contractor and is a great way for you to reward a Design Buffs contractor for their extended efforts with you. We can always work out a custom raise amount and we will contact you with regards to this raise after you have been with us for 6 months or more with the same active Service.

Swaps and Changes to Your Team

• In order to swap in a new designer and replace your existing one, you must first contact us via hello@designbuffs.com - we will talk to you about your options and assign a new designer as soon as possible. 

We mention liability throughout these Terms but to put it all in one section:

You expressly understand and agree that the Company shall not be liable, in law or in equity, to you or to any third party for any direct, indirect, incidental, lost profits, special, consequential, punitive or exemplary damages, including, but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses (even if the Company has been advised of the possibility of such damages), resulting from: (i) the use or the inability to use the Services; (ii) the cost of procurement of substitute goods and services resulting from any goods, data, information or services purchased or obtained or messages received or transactions entered into through or from the Services; (iii) unauthorised access to or alteration of your transmissions or data; (iv) statements or conduct of any third party on the service; (v) or any other matter relating to this Terms of Service or the Services, whether as a breach of contract, tort (including negligence whether active or passive), or any other theory of liability.

Neither party will be responsible for failure or delay in the performance of this Agreement if the failure or delay is due to labour disputes, strikes, fire, riot, war, terrorism, acts of God, or any other causes beyond the control of the nonperforming party.

If you have a question about any of the Terms of Service, please contact our Support team: hello@designbuffs.com

Legal Fees

• All reasonable legal fees and related expenses (including costs of experts, evidence and counsel) paid or incurred by Design Buffs pursuant to any claim, dispute or question of interpretation relating to this Agreement shall be paid or reimbursed by the Client Company if Design Buffs is successful on the merits pursuant to a legal judgment or arbitration.

Term of Agreement

This Agreement will be active from the first date on which the client registers for a Design Buffs plan.