General Terms and Conditions
1. Contractual provisions
1.1 Scope: The Swiss Tree AG trades publicly as The Swiss Tree Hereinafter, the name The Swiss Tree will be explicitly referred to.
1.2 Contract term: Unless otherwise agreed, the contract term is three years. At the end of the current contract term, the term is automatically extended by one year, unless one of the parties has sent written notice of termination by registered mail at least 45 days beforehand. All support services stop upon notice of termination. The contract only expires at the end of the notice period. With the expiry of the contract, all products created by The Swiss Tree shall be returned to The Swiss Tree, and all hosting services such as domains and emails will be terminated.
1.3 General provisions: If any provision of these terms and conditions is invalid, this does not affect the validity of the contract. The validity of the remaining provisions in these terms and conditions remains likewise unaffected. The ineffective provision shall be replaced by one that comes closest in sense and purpose. These terms and conditions are governed exclusively by Swiss law. The place of jurisdiction is Uster.
1.4 Amendments: The Swiss Tree reserves the right to amend parts of the contract or terms and conditions to reflect changing circumstances without having to give direct notice to the customer. The customer has the right to extraordinary termination of the contract with a pro-rata refund of prepaid costs for the remaining duration of the contract duration, insofar as they can plausibly demonstrate that these amendments would have prevented them from entering into the contract if they had been placed at that time.
2. Payment Terms
2.1 Prices: The package prices posted on the website and in the contract apply for the creation of the customer’s website and annual costs, as well as the conditions of the terms and conditions. Any additional services not included in the package will be billed at an hourly rate of 120 USD. Any further enhancements, adjustments, or other services will be billed at the same hourly rate unless otherwise agreed in writing.
2.2 Late payments: The Swiss Tree will not charge any fees for the first reminder notice sent after an open invoice remains unpaid by the payment deadline. [] If the customer again fails to pay the amount by the due date, The Swiss Tree will charge a fee of 30 USD for the first collection notice and 70 USD for the second collection notice for the settlement of incurred costs and loss of income. The customer acknowledges that if The Swiss Tree is forced to pass on the account to a collection agency, this will result in additional costs for the customer. The Swiss Tree is entitled to temporarily deactivate the customer’s website without notice for non-payment, until such time as the customer pays its outstanding balance.
2.3 Annual fees: These apply from the date the contract is signed unless otherwise agreed. They apply regardless of actual use, or partial use. For as long as the customer’s site remains in operation, they are payable to The Swiss Tree. If there is reason to suspect that the customer will soon be unable or unwilling to pay in the near future, The Swiss Tree is entitled to demand the outstanding balance immediately.
2.4 Instalment payments: The Swiss Tree is in no way obliged to offer installment payment options once the contract is signed. If The Swiss Tree does grant the customer’s request for an installment payment plan, they are entitled to charge additional fees for the additional administrative expenses and loss of income.
3. Rights and Obligations of Theswisstree.com
3.1 Self-promotion: Unless otherwise agreed, the customer agrees that The Swiss Tree may display the graphics, websites, etc. it has created for the customer on the company’s website. The customer will allow The Swiss Tree to place a link to their website on the customer’s site. As a rule, The Swiss Tree places their logo without further comment in the address bar at the bottom of the customer’s website; this logo links to the company’s site.
3.2 Browser compatibility: The Swiss Tree is constantly adapting their websites to new versions of browsers. This service is included in the annual service contract. Unless indicated otherwise, the settings are for desktop screens and do not include explicit versions for smartphones and/or tablets. No guarantee of the browser-compatible display is made for outdated or not commonly used technologies and/or browser versions with less than 3% of the market share in Switzerland. If the customer should become aware of a browser incompatibility not excluded above, this will be remedied at no charge by The Swiss Tree.
3.3 Warranty: The Swiss Tree agrees to undertake their commission with the utmost care, and commit to the repair of any defects at no extra charge. If such repair should fail (e.g. in the case of impossibility), the customer asserts no claim for compensation, unless such failure was the result of intentional or grossly negligent acts.
3.4 Disclaimer of liability: The Swiss Tree accepts no liability for direct or indirect damage due to technical problems, server failure, data loss, transmission errors, or other reasons, and is not liable for lost profits and consequential damages. They will not reimburse the costs of third-party services. The Swiss Tree is not liable for damages caused by faults in third-party programs.
3.5 Copyright: The copyrights of all works completed by The Swiss Tree are retained by The Swiss Tree, and all work remains their intellectual property. This expressly includes all textual, photographic, and graphical works created by The Swiss Tree. These may only be used for other purposes with the express written consent of The Swiss Tree. Such consent may incur fees. In particular, the programming code, the user interface, and the FTP data structure of The Swiss Tree pages are its intellectual property and can under no circumstances be disclosed to third parties.
3.6 Consultants: If the customer is not satisfied with their assigned web consultant, The Swiss Tree agrees to provide another consultant at no extra charge, or to fulfill their obligations via customer support in order to ensure optimal project support. If excessive cost or discrepancies arise with the customer, The Swiss Tree may refer the customer to another employee.
3.7 Termination: The Swiss Tree is entitled to terminate the contract and stop delivery of all services for failure to comply with the contract terms including any outstanding payment obligations. Such termination/suspension does not establish any claim for damages for the customer.
3.8 Hosting: The annual fees cover server space for at least one domain to be provided by The Swiss Tree. The choice of server provider is at the sole discretion of The Swiss Tree. The customer cannot access the server administration and, unless otherwise agreed, The Swiss Tree sets up servers and domains based on their own default settings and in their own name. A move from an existing server must be explicitly wished by the customer. The customer is responsible for arranging the forwarding of any associated email accounts. The Swiss Tree package prices include the hosting of newly registered sites, but not the transfer/redirection of existing servers. The latter can be provided by The Swiss Tree at an extra cost.
3.9 Email: Unless otherwise agreed in writing, The Swiss Tree will provide a free email server for one email address together with the technical access data required for the independent setup of addresses. Additional accounts are subject to a charge. Upon request, The Swiss Tree will remotely set up a custom email for an additional fee. In special cases, such as the set-up of mobile devices, technical links, data transfer of existing accounts, etc., a successful installation cannot be guaranteed, and all services will be billed at the hourly rate. The Swiss Tree is not liable for any unreceived or unsent emails from email accounts or contact forms, and cannot completely prevent the delivery of spam emails.
3.10 Search engines: The Swiss Tree will register the customer’s website with various search engines and link directories. It will also create and manage Google AdWords campaigns. The Swiss Tree makes no guarantee whatsoever that the customer’s website will obtain a certain search engine ranking because such positioning depends on numerous factors over which The Swiss Tree has no influence. The Swiss Tree will retain a portion of the campaign budget to cover its own expenses. The customer acknowledges that The Swiss Tree will not disclose the nature of its activities related to search engine placement, as these are the intellectual property of The Swiss Tree. Any activities for partnerships with external search engine companies are not included in the annual fees.
3.11 Closure of business: If for some reason The Swiss Tree ceases its activities in this area of business, the customer will be provided a free data CD containing all relevant website data. This will allow the customer to continue operating the site on its own.
3.12 Privacy: The Swiss Tree treats all received data as confidential. No data shall be disclosed to third parties. Excluded is that which, under strict conditions, must be disclosed to partners involved in fulfilling the contract.
4. Customer Rights and Obligations
4.1 Support: The customer has the right to support by telephone and email. Changes to existing website content will be made upon request. The Swiss Tree reserves the right to charge for extensive modifications.
4.2 Copyright: The customer must check any materials provided for graphic design for any existing copyrights and obtain any necessary permits for its use. The customer assumes sole responsibility for any copyright claims or intellectual property rights violations. This does not include images and scripts procured by The Swiss Tree. The customer is solely responsible for any text content or other publications. The customer agrees to exempt The Swiss Tree from any and all third-party claims arising from actions for which the customer is responsible. The customer shall bear the costs of any legal action.
4.3 Address information: The customer agrees to notify The Swiss Tree of any address changes (e.g. email, company address, phone number) within 14 days. The Swiss Tree is not obliged to conduct research to correct this data. The customer is liable for any damages resulting from incorrect address data, such as reminder fees arising from the non-delivery of invoices.
4.4 Obligation to cooperate: The customer is obliged to actively participate in the completion of its site. Customers with projects with design and set-up costs under 2500 USD – agree to provide all material required for the activation of the website within three months, unless otherwise agreed in writing. If they fail to comply, they are obliged to pay the full set-up costs. This also applies if it was agreed in writing that a (partial) payment only becomes due at the time of activation. The customer shall be given a reasonable grace period for the delivery of the outstanding materials, during which time invoicing will be suspended. This grace period will normally be no more than 30 days.
4.5 Print items: The Swiss Tree assumes no liability for any variation in the colors reproduced on print products such as brochures, flyers, or business cards. If the variations are significant, the customer will have to negotiate reprinting with the printing partner selected by The Swiss Tree. With an ‘OK to print’, the customer gives approval that all information shown on the print merchandise such as text and contact details is correct and that they have been checked for spelling mistakes by the customer. The Swiss Tree assumes no liability for delays in delivery caused by the printer. The customer is only granted a license to use print products. Open data sg. is not included in the scope of supply, and the copyright remains with The Swiss Tree.
4.6 Duty of care: The password and account information for the website are to be kept safe, and only disclosed at the customer’s own risk. Improper changes to the CMS may result in a loss of data. Possible recovery efforts can be invoiced by The Swiss Tree. The customer is obliged to check any materials provided for graphic design for any existing copyrights and obtain any necessary permits for its use.
4.7 Design: The basis of the design and associated amount of effort form the website layout at the time of contract signing. If the customer requests subsequent changes after the contract signing, The Swiss Tree will make goodwill adjustments of up to 30% of the originally calculated work hours at no extra charge. If it is not possible to make the subsequent changes in the voluntary additional time frame, any additional services will be billed at our hourly rate. The dissatisfaction with a supplied homepage gives no ground for the non-payment of outstanding invoices, whereby The Swiss Tree makes every effort to provide the customer with an optimal product.
4.8 Delays: The Swiss Tree endeavors to meet delivery dates. Should The Swiss Tree fail to comply, they are granted an adequate subsequent delivery period. The Swiss Tree is not liable for any damages resulting from such a delay, in particular for services in which third parties are integrated.