Step3 Digital

Welcome to the Step3 Digital Limited (Company No. 09956516) Master Terms and Conditions. These terms apply to all services supplied by Step3 Digital Limited (referred to as “Step3”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) to you (referred to as “the Client”, “you”, or “your”).

By instructing us to deliver work, subscribing to our hosting or maintenance packages, or using our technical support services, you agree to these terms.

• Service Application: These master terms govern all active service modules, including Web Hosting, Website Maintenance, Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) Support, and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
• Payment Terms: Invoices for Web Hosting and recurring maintenance packages are issued in advance and strictly payable on receipt of invoice. Invoices for Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) support, strategic work, and ad-hoc projects are payable within 30 days of the invoice date unless otherwise specified in writing. Payment must be made via Direct Debit or direct Bank Transfer.
• Taxes: All fees quoted by Step3 are exclusive of Value Added Tax (VAT), which will be charged at the prevailing UK rate.
• Overdue Payments: Invoices remaining unpaid past 14 days may incur statutory interest and compensation pursuant to the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. Step3 reserves the right to suspend active services, including website hosting, if accounts remain unpaid 30 days past the due date.
• Contract Duration: Standard services operate on a rolling monthly basis. Either party may terminate an agreement by providing 30 days’ written notice via email.

• Hosting Specifications: Step3 provides WordPress-optimised hosting environments configured according to the storage, bandwidth, and resource allocations set out in your Executive Order Schedule, proposal, or active service plan. Standard environment provisioning includes SSL certification, Enterprise CDN integration, Web Application Firewall (WAF) security, and automated daily backups retained for 14 days.
• Resource Allocations and Scaling: You are responsible for ensuring your selected hosting tier covers your site’s operational requirements. If your site consistently exceeds its allocated storage or bandwidth limits, Step3 will contact you to agree to a suitable service plan upgrade. Step3 reserves the right to apply technical controls or charge for excess usage if resource consumption threatens infrastructure stability.
• Service Availability: Step3 shall use commercially reasonable endeavours to maintain a 99.99% target service availability. This is a target and not a strict guarantee. Scheduled infrastructure maintenance is carried out outside core UK business hours whenever possible. The Client acknowledges that the sole and exclusive remedy for any failure to meet uptime targets shall be the provision of service credits, applied at Step3’s sole discretion, and Step3 shall not be liable for any subsequent loss of revenue or business interruption resulting from downtime.
• Maintenance & Plugin Care: For clients subscribing to our maintenance packages, Step3 carries out weekly updates of the WordPress core software and installed plugins.
• Safe Rollback Protocol: An automated backup is executed immediately prior to applying updates. If an update causes site instability or conflict, we will endeavour to revert the site to the previous stable backup and notify you.
• Security Hotfixing: Critical vulnerability alerts reported for installed plugins trigger an immediate security patch update to protect your web application.
• Backups & Data Loss: We take daily backups but cannot guarantee absolute data recovery. The Client is ultimately responsible for maintaining their own independent backups of all website content. Step3 shall not be liable for any loss of data or corruption of files beyond our reasonable control.
• Acceptable Use Policy: Use of all Step3 Digital services is strictly subject to our Acceptable Use Policy, which is incorporated into and forms an integral part of these Master Terms by reference.

Service Applicability: The terms in this section apply exclusively to clients who have explicitly opted into or signed up for our PAYG Technical Support module in their Executive Order Schedule, proposal, or written service agreement. If you have no active PAYG agreement in place, you will never be billed for ad-hoc support without prior written instruction.

On-Demand Billing: Ad-hoc creative, technical, and strategic WordPress support is provided at our standard rate of £90 + VAT per hour unless agreed otherwise in writing. Time spent is logged using digital time trackers, with itemised timesheets attached to monthly invoices.

Built-in Task Approval Cap: To ensure complete cost control, a default limit of 1 hour applies to any individual support task. If an estimated task requires more than 1 hour, we pause and seek your explicit approval before proceeding.

Monthly Spend Ceiling: Step3 establishes a monthly spend ceiling agreed with you (defaulting to £180 + VAT per month unless specified otherwise). We track cumulative monthly time and alert you when approaching this limit.

• Core Operating Hours: Standard technical support and helpdesk monitoring operate Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00 UK time (GMT/BST), excluding UK public bank holidays.
• Incident Response Targets: Requests submitted during UK business hours are triaged according to the following target response windows:
  • Priority 1 (Critical): Site offline, core transaction flow broken, or active breach. Target initial response within 2 business hours.
  • Priority 2 (High): Major site functionality impaired or performance severely degraded. Target initial response within 4 business hours.
  • Priority 3 (Standard): Routine layout tweaks, content edits, or general queries. Target initial response within 1 to 2 business days.

• Intellectual Property (Client Owned): Client content, bespoke media, and custom visual design assets created specifically for your project remain your property upon full payment of all relevant invoices.
• Intellectual Property (Step3 Owned): Pre-existing code frameworks, server configurations, proprietary tooling, and underlying software infrastructure (“Step3 Background IP”) remain the exclusive property of Step3 Digital Ltd. Upon full payment of all fees, Step3 grants the Client a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the Step3 Background IP solely to the extent necessary to operate the provided website and services for the duration of this Agreement.
• UK GDPR Compliance: Both parties agree to comply with all applicable Data Protection Laws, including the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. Where Step3 processes personal data on behalf of the Client as a Data Processor, such processing shall be governed by Step3’s Data Processing Agreement (DPA), which is incorporated into these terms by reference. Step3 processes personal data solely on documented instructions from the Client.

• You are responsible for maintaining valid licences for any paid plugins or themes unless Step3 Digital provides them as part of your plan.
• We cannot be held liable for issues arising from unlicensed, expired or unsupported third-party software.

You agree to:

• Keep your login credentials secure.
• Maintain antivirus and system updates on any device accessing your site.
• Use strong passwords and avoid shared admin accounts.
• Ensure all website content and activity comply with UK law and our acceptable-use policy.

• We do not host email on our web servers.
• You are responsible for your domain registration, renewal and DNS accuracy.
• We are not responsible for expired or suspended domains due to missed renewals.

If third parties (e.g. SEO consultants, developers, content editors) make changes that cause issues, we can assist but such work is chargeable.

• You must not use the Service for illegal or harmful activity (spam, malware, phishing, copyright violation, etc.).
• We may suspend or terminate your Service immediately if we believe such activity has occurred.

• On termination, hosting and/or maintenance will cease.
• You should export or request a copy of your data before termination; we may delete backups after 14 days.
• Any outstanding invoices remain payable.

We provide all Services using reasonable skill and care. However, to the maximum extent permitted by law, Step3 Digital Ltd excludes all implied conditions, warranties, representations or other terms that may apply to our Services, including but not limited to any implied terms of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, or uninterrupted, error-free operation.

• Statutory Exceptions: Nothing in this Agreement limits or excludes Step3 Digital Ltd’s liability for death or personal injury caused by its negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability which cannot be lawfully limited or excluded under English law.
• Exclusion of Indirect Losses: Subject to the Statutory Exceptions above, Step3 Digital Ltd shall not be liable to the Client, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), for breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, arising under or in connection with this Agreement for any:
  • Loss of profits or revenue;
  • Loss of sales or business;
  • Loss of agreements or contracts;
  • Loss of anticipated savings;
  • Loss of or damage to goodwill;
  • Loss of use or corruption of software, data or information; or
  • Any indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss.
• Financial Cap: Subject to the Statutory Exceptions above, Step3 Digital Ltd’s total aggregate liability to the Client in respect of all other claims, losses, or damages arising under or in connection with this Agreement shall be limited to the total fees paid by the Client to Step3 Digital Ltd for the specific Services giving rise to the claim in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the date the claim arose.
• Suspension of Services: Step3 Digital Ltd shall not be liable for any loss, damage, or business interruption resulting from the lawful suspension of services due to the Client’s non-payment of invoices as set out in Section 1.

You agree to indemnify and hold Step3 Digital harmless from any claims, damages or costs (including legal fees) arising from your misuse of the Service or breach of this Agreement.

We may modify the Services or these terms with notice. Continued use after notice constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

This Agreement is governed by the laws of England & Wales.
Any disputes shall be resolved through mediation in the UK before either party pursues court action.

This Agreement represents the entire understanding between Step3 Digital Ltd and the Client and supersedes prior discussions.

If any clause is held invalid, the remainder will continue in effect.

Neither party shall be in breach of this Agreement nor liable for delay in performing, or failure to perform, any of its obligations under this Agreement if such delay or failure result from events, circumstances or causes beyond its reasonable control (including, but not limited to, acts of God, extreme weather, strikes, cyber-warfare, telecommunications infrastructure or internet backbone failure, pandemic, or failures of third-party cloud hosting providers).

During the term of this Agreement and for a period of twelve (12) months following its termination, the Client shall not, without the prior written consent of Step3 Digital Ltd, directly or indirectly solicit, entice away, employ, or engage any employee, director, or contractor of Step3 Digital Ltd who has been involved in the provision of the Services.