Terms of service
These terms apply when you use a Ridgeback Digital monthly plan or buy a once-off website. We've kept them short and in plain language. Nothing here takes away your rights under the Consumer Protection Act.
The free preview
We design your homepage and send it to you at no cost. You're under no obligation. If you don't go ahead, you owe us nothing, and we don't use the design for anyone else's business.
Prices and payment
All prices are in rand and no VAT is charged. Monthly plans are paid in advance each month by EFT or card. Each payment covers the month ahead.
If a payment is late
We know cash flow can be tight, so we'll always talk to you first.
- 3 days late: we send you a friendly reminder on WhatsApp.
- 7 days late: we send a second reminder with your invoice.
- 14 days late: we send a final notice with the date your website will be paused.
- 15 days late: your website is paused and shows a simple "temporarily unavailable" page. No changes are done while the account is behind.
- 30 days late: your plan is cancelled.
Once you've paid what's owed, we switch your website back on within 1 working day. If your site was paused, there's a once-off R150 reactivation fee.
We don't charge interest or late fees. We never take your website down without warning you first, and we never put anything negative about your business on it.
Monthly plans
You can choose a 12-month agreement with no setup fee, or month-to-month with a once-off setup fee of R2,999. Each plan includes the work listed on our pricing section, including small changes each month: up to 3 on the Website plan and up to 6 on Website + Google and Website + Google + SEO. A small change is something like new prices, opening hours, photos, a few lines of text or a service added to a list. We do them within 2 working days of your request. Unused changes don't carry over to the next month, and extra small changes cost R150 each, agreed before we do them. Bigger jobs, like new pages or sections, new features, a redesign or a lot of new content, are quoted in rand before we start. The homepage preview is free and you owe nothing if you don't go ahead. To start the full build, you pay your first month upfront; we start once the payment has cleared in our account. We aim to put your site live within 7 working days of receiving everything we need from you. Add-ons are priced on our pricing section, and monthly add-ons are month-to-month. If you pay 12 months upfront by EFT, you pay for 11. If you cancel a prepaid year early, we refund the unused full months, less the free month. Before a prepaid year ends, we remind you in writing; if you do nothing, your plan simply carries on month to month.
Cancelling a plan
You can cancel any plan by telling us in writing, on WhatsApp or by email. Your plan then ends 30 days after the day you tell us.
- The notice month is still payable. For example, if you tell us on 10 March, your plan runs until 9 April and the payment for that month is still due.
- If you stop paying without telling us, we treat your first missed payment as your notice. You owe that one month and nothing more.
- Month-to-month plans: there's nothing else to pay.
- 12-month agreements: the setup fee was waived because you agreed to 12 months. If you leave early, you pay back only the part of that R2,999 we haven't earned yet. It goes down by R250 for every month you've paid, so after 12 months there's nothing to pay back.
After your plan ends
- Your domain is yours. It's registered in your name, so it stays with you, and we'll help you move it if you ask.
- We keep a copy of your website for 30 days after your plan ends, in case you change your mind. After that it's deleted.
- Want to keep the website itself? You can buy it outright at any time for the once-off price, less R300 for every month you've paid. After 30 months it's yours for free.
Once-off websites
Once-off websites are paid 50% before we start and 50% before the site goes live. Once you've paid in full, the website is yours. Hosting and care after launch are offered separately as a monthly care plan.
Your content
You're responsible for the information you give us, like prices, opening hours and claims about your services, and for having the right to use any photos or logos you send. You own your content, and we only use it to build and run your website.
Our work
While you're on a monthly plan, we look after the website's design and code and give you full use of it. Images we create for your site are made for your business and may be used on your website and social media. With your permission, we may show your website as an example of our work.
Uptime and liability
We work hard to keep your website online and fast, but no host can promise 100% uptime. We're not responsible for losses caused by events outside our control, such as hosting outages, power or network failures. Our responsibility to you is limited to the fees you've paid us in the last three months, except where the law doesn't allow this limit.
Changes to these terms
If we change these terms, we'll tell current clients at least 30 days before the changes apply to them.
Law and contact
These terms are governed by the laws of South Africa. For any question, email us at [email protected]. See also our privacy policy.