Your services.
Our agreement.

1. Who is agreeing?

Supplier: Stephen Meredith, sole trader trading as Gold Oak Digital, The Grange, Berrington, Shrewsbury, SY5 6HB. Email: info@goldoakdigital.co.uk. Phone: 07735 929411.

Customer: the business, sole trader, partnership, company or organisation named in the Order Schedule or written order confirmation. The person accepting the agreement confirms that they have authority to bind that customer.

2. How an order is formed

Sending an enquiry, choosing an option on the website or requesting a quote does not by itself place an order. An order is formed when Gold Oak Digital and the customer agree the applicable Order Schedule or written order confirmation and the customer accepts these terms in writing, electronically, or by completing the agreed checkout process.

The Order Schedule should state the selected service, price, scope, key dates, payment arrangements and any project-specific terms. If it expressly conflicts with these general terms, the Order Schedule takes priority for that point.

3. Website plans and prices

The total charges over the initial 12 payments are £719.88 for Essential, £959.88 for Business and £1,188 for Complete, before any separately agreed extras. The first payment date and service commencement date are confirmed in the Order Schedule or checkout.

For early website ownership, the stated website purchase prices are £499 for Essential, £699 for Business and £899 for Complete. For buyout calculations only, one twelfth of the applicable website purchase price is credited for each initial monthly payment already made.

One-off website projects start from £499. The final fixed price, scope and payment milestones for a one-off build are confirmed before work starts. Bespoke work, additional pages or functionality outside the agreed scope is quoted separately and is only chargeable after customer approval.

Prices are the amounts payable as quoted. If VAT becomes legally chargeable, Gold Oak Digital will identify it clearly on the relevant quote or invoice before it is due.

4. What the monthly plans include

Unless the Order Schedule says otherwise, a monthly website plan includes:

• the agreed WordPress website, up to the page limit of the selected plan;
• mobile-friendly design and reasonable copywriting assistance;
• tap-to-call, WhatsApp and enquiry-form functionality where appropriate;
• one .co.uk domain for the website;
• one branded email mailbox;
• website hosting, SSL and daily backups;
• Google Analytics and Google Search Console setup where access and consent settings allow;
• WordPress, theme and plugin maintenance for items managed by Gold Oak Digital;
• reasonable small content changes to existing pages during the care period, normally up to 30 minutes of production time per calendar month unless the Order Schedule states a different allowance; and
• technical support relating to the services Gold Oak Digital supplies.

Unused monthly content-change time does not roll over. New pages, redesigns, new features, large copy rewrites, data entry, advertising, ongoing SEO campaigns, Google Business Profile management, advanced booking systems, ecommerce, CRM connections and automations are not included unless expressly listed in the Order Schedule.

No particular level of traffic, Google ranking, sales, leads or enquiries is guaranteed.

4A. Reviews & Reputation service

Gold Oak Reviews reply support starts from £39 per month. The wider Reviews & Reputation service is £99 per month unless a different scope or price is agreed in the Order Schedule. The selected service, included work and monthly price are confirmed before work starts.

Unless the Order Schedule says otherwise, the service may include:

• an initial review and reputation audit of the agreed Google Business Profile;
• creation or improvement of a direct review-request link and reasonable review-request wording;
• monitoring of new reviews on the agreed profile;
• professional responses to new reviews in the customer's business name, based on the public review and any response preferences or factual information supplied by the customer;
• alerting the customer to negative, unusual or sensitive reviews where input may be needed before a response is published; and
• a periodic summary of review activity and practical recommendations for improving review collection and reputation management.

The service applies only to the business profiles, platforms and monthly workload stated in the Order Schedule. It does not include guaranteed review removal, legal dispute handling, paid advertising, ongoing local SEO, website work or management of additional locations unless expressly agreed.

Gold Oak Digital will not knowingly create, buy or arrange fake reviews, impersonate customers, or use misleading review practices. The customer must not ask Gold Oak Digital to publish false information or to respond with factual claims that the customer knows are inaccurate.

Where a review raises allegations about safety, discrimination, criminal conduct, professional negligence, legal disputes or another sensitive matter, Gold Oak Digital may pause the response and ask the customer for instructions or factual confirmation before publishing.

4B. Online Growth service

Where the Order Schedule includes Online Growth, it is an ongoing managed service from £179 per month. The exact monthly workload, profiles, locations and deliverables are confirmed in the Order Schedule.

Online Growth may include Reviews & Reputation work together with agreed Google Business Profile setup or optimisation, local SEO improvements, service or location content, citation/NAP consistency work, conversion improvements, search visibility monitoring and reporting.

Online Growth does not guarantee any particular Google ranking, map position, number of reviews, star rating, traffic level, lead volume, sales level or enquiry volume. Search engines, directories and review platforms control their own algorithms, moderation, suspensions, display rules and feature availability.

4C. Account access and customer responsibilities for managed services

The customer must provide timely and lawful access to the accounts, profiles and information reasonably needed to deliver Reviews & Reputation or Online Growth. Where a platform supports delegated manager access, that method should be used instead of sharing a personal password where reasonably practicable.

The customer remains the owner or authorised controller of its Google Business Profile and other customer accounts. Gold Oak Digital receives only the level of access reasonably necessary for the agreed service and will take reasonable care of credentials and permissions supplied to it.

The customer is responsible for ensuring that its business information, offers, prices, claims, opening hours and other factual material are accurate. Gold Oak Digital may rely on information supplied or approved by the customer when making profile changes, creating content or responding to reviews.

The customer must tell Gold Oak Digital promptly about material changes to its business or about any account restriction, ownership dispute, security concern or platform notice that may affect the service.

5. Design, content, revisions and launch

The customer must provide accurate business information, access details and any logos, photographs, text or other materials requested for the project, and confirms that it has the right to use anything it supplies.

For a standard website build, Gold Oak Digital targets having the first complete version ready within one week after receiving the information, access, content inputs and other materials reasonably needed to build it. This is a service target rather than a guaranteed completion date unless the Order Schedule expressly makes it one. Complex functionality, additional scope, third-party delays or delayed customer feedback may extend the timeline.

Gold Oak Digital will prepare the website and provide a preview. Unless a different allowance is stated in the Order Schedule, the build includes two consolidated rounds of reasonable design or copy revisions before launch. A revision round means one collated set of feedback. Additional rounds or changes outside the agreed scope may be quoted separately before work is carried out.

The customer should review previews and provide consolidated feedback within five working days where reasonably possible. The customer is responsible for checking its own prices, factual claims, contact details, policies and other business-specific content before launch.

The website will only be launched after express approval from the customer. Silence is not approval. Target dates depend on the customer supplying information, access and decisions on time. If either side causes a material delay, revised dates and any billing consequences will be agreed in writing.

6. Payments and overdue invoices

Monthly plan payments are due on the billing date agreed at checkout or in the Order Schedule. One-off project payments are due according to the agreed milestones. Payment details are shown on the checkout, invoice or order confirmation.

Reviews & Reputation and Online Growth are ongoing managed services billed monthly. Unless the Order Schedule states a different minimum term, they run month-to-month and may be ended by either party on 30 days' written notice. Charges remain payable for service supplied through the end of the notice period. These managed services do not create any website ownership or website buyout obligation.

Gold Oak Digital will not increase the agreed website-plan price during the initial 12-payment term unless the customer asks for and approves a change in scope. Prices for ongoing managed services remain as stated in the Order Schedule until changed by agreement or on at least 30 days' written notice, with the customer free to end the affected managed service before the new price takes effect. Additional work will always be quoted or otherwise agreed before it is charged.

If an undisputed payment becomes overdue, Gold Oak Digital will contact the customer and give at least 14 days' written notice to resolve it before suspending an affected service. Genuine invoice disputes should be raised promptly. Where applicable, Gold Oak Digital may exercise its statutory rights in relation to late commercial payments.

Suspension for non-payment does not transfer ownership of the customer's domain to Gold Oak Digital and does not permit deletion of customer data contrary to the handover and retention provisions in this agreement.

7. Hosting, maintenance, backups and support

Gold Oak Digital will take reasonable care to maintain the website services within the agreed scope. Support requests should be sent to info@goldoakdigital.co.uk. Gold Oak Digital aims to acknowledge ordinary support requests within two working days. This is a response target, not a guaranteed resolution time.

Hosting availability can depend on third-party infrastructure, internet providers and software suppliers, so uninterrupted service is not guaranteed. Gold Oak Digital will take reasonable steps to investigate and resolve issues within its control.

One restoration from an available clean backup is included per incident. A restoration does not necessarily fix the underlying cause of a problem. More involved repairs, malware clean-up or work caused by customer changes, third-party changes or unsupported software may be quoted separately. This does not remove the customer's remedies where a problem was caused by Gold Oak Digital failing to perform its obligations with reasonable care and skill.

8. Ownership, domains and handover

The customer keeps ownership of its pre-existing logo, photographs, copy, trade marks, domain rights and other materials supplied to Gold Oak Digital.

For a monthly website build, ownership of the bespoke website work created by Gold Oak Digital transfers to the customer after all 12 initial monthly payments have been made, or earlier where the customer completes the early website purchase described in section 10. For a one-off build, ownership transfers when the agreed build price has been paid in full.

On transfer, Gold Oak Digital assigns the copyright it owns in the bespoke website work to the customer. WordPress, third-party themes, fonts, stock assets, plugins and other third-party or pre-existing components remain subject to their own licences. Where an ongoing paid licence is needed after handover, Gold Oak Digital will identify it where reasonably practicable.

The customer's domain should be registered in the customer's name where the registrar permits. Any domain managed by Gold Oak Digital remains subject to the registrar's rules and renewal process.

After ownership has transferred and all undisputed sums are paid, Gold Oak Digital will provide the agreed website files/database and customer-owned credentials within 10 working days of a written handover request. Any separately requested migration work may be quoted first.

Gold Oak Digital will only publish the customer's name, logo or project as a public case study where the customer has given permission.

9. What happens after the first 12 payments?

After the initial 12 monthly payments, the customer owns the bespoke website work and can choose one of the following:

• Move to Gold Oak Care, currently £39.99 per month, on a month-to-month basis;
• Move to hosting only, currently from £15 per month at the price agreed at that time; or
• Transfer the website elsewhere and end Gold Oak Digital's ongoing services.

Gold Oak Care currently includes hosting, SSL, daily backups, WordPress/theme/plugin maintenance, technical support and agreed minor content changes. The exact content-change allowance and any third-party licence or domain-renewal charges will be confirmed for the ongoing service.

Hosting-only service includes hosting, SSL, daily backups and one clean-backup restoration per incident. It does not include routine content changes or WordPress/theme/plugin maintenance unless separately agreed. Domain renewal and third-party licence costs are only included if the hosting-only confirmation says they are.

Gold Oak Care and hosting-only service continue month to month after the initial term. Either party may end the ongoing service on 30 days' written notice. No new 12-month minimum term begins automatically.

Any proposed price change after the initial term will be notified in writing at least 30 days before it takes effect. The customer may end the ongoing service before the change takes effect.

10. Early cancellation and website buyout

Reviews & Reputation and Online Growth

Unless the Order Schedule states a different minimum term, Reviews & Reputation and Online Growth are month-to-month services and either party may end them on 30 days' written notice. The customer remains responsible for undisputed charges up to the end of the notice period. There is no early website purchase or buyout amount for cancelling those managed services.

When a managed service ends, Gold Oak Digital will stop making changes or responding on the customer's behalf from the effective termination date and will remove its delegated access where reasonably practicable. The customer remains responsible for its profiles, accounts, content and ongoing platform compliance after termination.

The monthly website plan includes use of the website, hosting, maintenance and support during the service period. Ownership of the bespoke website transfers to the customer automatically after all 12 initial monthly payments have been made.

The customer may end the monthly plan before the end of the initial 12-payment term by giving 30 days' written notice.

If the customer cancels and does not want to keep the website

The monthly website service will end at the end of the notice period. Gold Oak Digital's hosting, maintenance and support will stop and the website may be taken offline. The customer does not acquire ownership of the bespoke website files, design or Gold Oak Digital-created website content.

The customer continues to own its domain name, logo, photographs, trade marks and other materials it supplied. Any undisputed approved extras or non-refundable third-party costs already committed specifically for the customer remain payable.

If the customer cancels and wants to keep the website

The customer may purchase the website early. The standard website purchase prices are:

Example: if a Complete-plan customer cancels after three initial monthly payments and wants to keep the website, three twelfths of the £899 purchase price (£224.75) is treated as paid. The remaining website purchase balance would be £674.25, plus any other undisputed approved charges.

Once the early website purchase balance and any other undisputed sums are paid, ownership of the completed bespoke website work transfers to the customer in its then-current state and the normal handover process in section 8 applies.

No early website purchase payment is required merely to cancel the service where the customer does not wish to retain the bespoke website.

Material breach

If either party materially breaches this agreement, the other party may give written notice describing the breach and allow 14 days to remedy it where the breach can be remedied. If it is not remedied within that period, the affected services may be ended. A customer ending the agreement because Gold Oak Digital has materially breached it and failed to remedy that breach is not required to pay an early website buyout merely to end the service.

One-off projects

For a one-off project cancelled by the customer, the customer pays for approved work completed up to cancellation and any non-refundable third-party costs specifically committed for the project. Any amount paid in excess of those sums will be refunded.

11. Third-party services and licences

Gold Oak Digital services may rely on third-party services such as WordPress, hosting infrastructure, domain registrars, email providers, analytics tools, Google Business Profile, Google Search, review platforms, directories, themes, plugins and fonts. Those services can change their features, pricing, availability, policies, algorithms, moderation or terms independently of Gold Oak Digital.

Gold Oak Digital will not knowingly commit the customer to a new recurring third-party charge without approval. Where a paid third-party licence is included only while Gold Oak Digital manages the service, continued use after handover may require the customer to obtain its own licence.

Gold Oak Digital is not able to guarantee that a third-party platform will publish, retain, remove, rank or display particular content, reviews or profile information. If a platform suspends, restricts or changes an account or feature, Gold Oak Digital will provide reasonable assistance within the agreed scope but does not control the platform's decision.

12. Confidentiality and personal information

Each party will keep the other's confidential business information secure and will use it only as reasonably necessary for the project, except where disclosure is required by law or the information is already lawfully public.

Gold Oak Digital uses customer contact, project and billing information for administering enquiries, orders, support and the business relationship in accordance with its privacy notice.

Where Gold Oak Digital processes personal data on the customer's behalf through website forms, hosting, backups, review-management workflows, customer contact lists or support, the data-processing terms in section 13 apply. The customer remains responsible for deciding why it collects or uses its own customer and prospect data, for having an appropriate lawful basis, and for providing any privacy information required by law.

13. Data-processing terms

This section applies only where Gold Oak Digital acts as a processor of personal data on behalf of the customer.

Gold Oak Digital will:

• process personal data only on the customer's documented instructions, including instructions recorded in the agreement, Order Schedule, support request or email, unless UK law requires otherwise;
• ensure people authorised to process the data are subject to appropriate confidentiality obligations;
• take appropriate technical and organisational measures proportionate to the services and risks;
• not appoint a sub-processor for the relevant processing without the customer's prior specific or general written authorisation, and will place equivalent data-protection obligations on authorised sub-processors;
• where general authorisation applies, inform the customer of a material new or replacement sub-processor in advance where reasonably practicable so the customer can raise a legitimate data-protection objection;
• provide reasonable assistance, taking account of the nature of the processing, with data-subject requests, security obligations, breach response and other applicable UK data-protection duties;
• notify the customer without undue delay after becoming aware of a personal-data breach affecting data processed on the customer's behalf;
• ensure any restricted international transfer made on the customer's behalf uses an appropriate lawful transfer mechanism where one is required;
• at the end of the relevant service, delete or return personal data at the customer's choice where reasonably practicable, except where retention is required by law or remains temporarily in secure backups until overwritten under the applicable retention cycle; and
• make available information reasonably necessary to demonstrate compliance with these processing obligations and allow reasonable audits or inspections, subject to appropriate notice, confidentiality and security safeguards.

The customer is responsible for ensuring that its instructions and use of the website services comply with applicable data-protection law.

14. Responsibility and service limitations

Each party is responsible for its own breaches of this agreement and should take reasonable steps to reduce avoidable losses.

Gold Oak Digital is not responsible for loss caused solely by inaccurate information supplied by the customer, unauthorised customer changes, failures of third-party systems outside Gold Oak Digital's reasonable control, or the customer's failure to follow reasonable security or handover instructions.

Nothing in this agreement excludes or restricts liability where the law does not allow it to be excluded or restricted, including liability for fraud or for death or personal injury caused by negligence. Nothing in this agreement removes the obligation to perform services with reasonable care and skill where that obligation applies.

For Reviews & Reputation and Online Growth, Gold Oak Digital will perform the agreed work with reasonable care and skill but does not control whether customers choose to leave reviews, what rating they give, whether a platform removes or retains a review, or how a search engine ranks or displays a business. Results can be affected by competition, customer behaviour, platform policy, algorithm changes, account history and factors outside Gold Oak Digital's reasonable control.

15. Events outside reasonable control

Neither party is responsible for delay or failure caused by an event genuinely outside its reasonable control, provided it takes reasonable steps to reduce the effect of the event and resumes performance as soon as reasonably practicable. This does not excuse payment for services already supplied.

16. Ending services and data handover

When services end, Gold Oak Digital will cooperate with a reasonable handover of customer-owned assets and credentials in accordance with section 8. The customer should arrange migration or download of anything it needs before hosting ends.

Gold Oak Digital may retain records it reasonably needs for accounting, tax, dispute or legal purposes. Website data held only for service delivery will be handled under the data-processing terms above and applicable backup-retention cycles.

For managed Google/reputation services, Gold Oak Digital will remove or relinquish its delegated account access when the service ends where the platform permits. The customer should ensure it retains its own owner/admin access at all times.

17. Complaints, law and disputes

Any complaint should first be sent to info@goldoakdigital.co.uk with enough detail for the issue to be investigated. Both parties will first try in good faith to resolve a dispute directly and may agree to use mediation.

This agreement and any non-contractual dispute arising from it are governed by the law of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales will have jurisdiction, subject to any mandatory rule that requires otherwise.

18. General terms

Changes. A change to the agreed project scope, price or these terms must be agreed in writing. Email is sufficient unless a formal signature is reasonably required.

Whole agreement. These terms together with the Order Schedule and any expressly incorporated written documents form the agreement between the parties for the relevant order. Neither party relies on a statement that has not been included in those documents, except that this does not limit liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

Severability. If a provision is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue so far as the law allows.

No waiver. A delay in enforcing a right does not by itself waive that right.

Notices. Routine notices may be sent to the email addresses used for the order. A notice ending the agreement should clearly state that it is a cancellation or termination notice.

19. Acceptance

The agreement begins when the customer accepts the completed Order Schedule or written order confirmation together with these terms. Electronic acceptance, an agreed e-signature process or written email acceptance may be used. Gold Oak Digital will make a copy of the accepted terms available to the customer.

Agreement version: 1.1 · Effective 21 September 2026