Over the years Mirata has been privileged to work with some amazing customers. We believe that good customer relationships start with good communication. Our team is focused on communication, and our systems are designed around communication, that’s why customers stay with us.
Our Business Guidelines highlights the main points that you need to be aware of when engaging Mirata as your technology provider.
Becoming a Mirata customer
When we begin a business relationship with a customer, we don’t ask you to sign a contract, and we don’t sign contracts issued by our customers. What we do ask, is that you register as a customer through our Customer Support site, and that you spend a little time reading and acknowledging our Business Guidelines. When you signup with Mirata, you are agreeing to be the SPOC (single point of contact). A single point of contact helps us to keep your costs low and develop quality solutions quickly. It’s really important that you read through our Business Guidelines and various policies so that you understand how we work, and what you can expect of us.
Our registration process provides us with some basic information about who you are, and how we can contact you, as well as giving you access to our support systems, and helping you find out more about Mirata.
When trade takes place between businesses based in different sovereign states, factors like currency, government policies, judicial systems, ethics, culture, all have the potential to complicate trade. Mirata is committed to reducing the resistance of international trade, and as such our Business Guidelines, Customer On-boarding Systems and Support Services are all configured to operate globally, which means you can become a Mirata client wherever you are based in the world!
Working with Mirata Ltd
When working with us, we expect all clients, associates, partners, volunteers and staff, to carry out their work in a manner which authenticates the aims and values of Mirata Ltd. In both word and action we expect that the conduct of everyone using Mirata Ltd services and resources do not conflict in any way with our core values. In practice this means that when using Mirata Ltd services and resources you should not undertake any activity that:
- is illegal
- is abusive, profane, hateful, harassing, threatening, defamatory or libelous
- promotes bigotry, racism, or hatred against any group or individual
- is sexual, indecent, erotic, obscene or pornographic
- is spectral, ghoulish, macabre, or contains occult or demonic references
- involves gambling, exploitative raffles, sweepstakes, or pyramid schemes
- is false, misleading or constitutes a misrepresentation
- violates any patents, copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property rights
Included in the above restrictions, is the display of any materials, images, adverts, visuals, signage, décor, exhibits and marketing materials. By using services and resources of Mirata Ltd, clients, associates, partners, volunteers and staff, expressly agree not to undertake any activity that may bring the name of Mirata Ltd into disrepute.
Agreeing costs and paying invoices
It is always best at the start of a customer relationship to identify what costs are involved and how billing takes place.
Once we have the received all the details about your business and the type of service you require, we often send an interim proposal with some indicative costs to help you plan. This is particularly helpful for clients who are applying for funding or have not currently got the budget in place to begin work. After discussion, and once we are happy with the completed specification, we will issue you with a formal quote through our Customer Support site.
Unless otherwise agreed, invoices relating to web design, web development and web projects, usually require a 60% deposit with the balance (40%) being payable on completion (or go-live date) of the project. For complex and long-term projects we will arrange staged payments that will fall due at agreed times. After discussion with you we may accelerate (or delay) the frequency of staged payments in line with a projects progress.
Invoices relating to the registration of domains or installation of any hosting, or bespoke work should be paid in full in advance. Invoices relating to the registration of domains or installation of any hosting are not refundable.
Some of our Support or Consultancy Contracts are payable monthly in advance by Standing Order / BACS or Yearly in advance.
Invoice due dates vary according to the type of product or service, however, our expectation is that invoices should generally be paid within 30 days.
We may at our discretion add charges to cover delayed payment. The interest we charge if a business is late paying for goods or a service is “statutory interest”. This is currently 8% plus the Bank of England base rate for business to business transactions. It is time consuming to chase payments, and therefore we reserve the right to pass on this cost to those customers who delay payment. We may from time to time, use a collection agent, for invoices that become significantly overdue and this will mean that you will become liable for additional costs, fees, and disbursements reasonably incurred by Mirata (or it’s agent) in the recovery of any unpaid invoices. If you are delaying your payment for a specific reason, then please tell us as soon as you can.
Prices are shown in UK Sterling unless otherwise stated. All prices throughout Mirata web site(s) exclude VAT unless otherwise stated. VAT is charged at the current UK rate (VAT Registration No. GB 936 2858 89).
Making Payments
All genuine invoices and payment requests from Mirata Ltd can be verified via our Customer Portal. All payment requests are logged within the portal, which also provides details of the destination bank that payments should be made to. For the avoidance of doubt, Mirata bank details are limited to the following banks only:
- National Westminster Bank
Sort Code **-**-35
Account Number ****2045 - Cooperative Bank
Sort Code **-**-50
Account Number ****0379
Mirata Ltd will never request that you make payments to alternative banks or accounts. If you are in any doubt whatsoever, you should always contact us prior to making any payment. Mirata cannot accept responsibility for payments that have been made to incorrect bank accounts.
Ownership and Intellectual Property Rights
Once payment has been received in full, all ownership is passed to the customer. It’s important to remember that part payments do not in any way constitute part ownership, and that ownership will only occur after full payment is completed. Customers should be aware, that some projects may include elements of code, or web applications that are Open Source. Any Open Source technologies included as part of a customer project are released under the GNU General Public Licence (GPL). Customers who wish to exclude Open Source applications from their projects should ensure that they stipulate this in their initial specification.
Providing you with a service
If you have a particular deadline that is critical to your work, please advise us of the significance of the deadline. We will always endeavor to provide services by an agreed date, but all dates are estimates and we cannot accept any liability for any failure to meet a certain date.
We will always provide our service with the reasonable skill and care of a competent solutions provider, but it is technically impracticable to provide a completely fault or error free service and we do not undertake to do so. We will however always use our best efforts to repair any reported faults or correct any errors as soon as reasonably possible.
Mirata does not provide telecommunications services necessary to connect to our services or to obtain access to the Internet. The customer is responsible for providing suitable computer hardware, software and telecommunications equipment and services necessary to access and use our services.
While we make every effort to support most common browser types and versions, we cannot guarantee that our sites or web applications will render or function correctly in browsers other than the most recent version of Firefox or Internet Explorer.
While we make every effort to support most operating systems, we cannot guarantee that our sites or web applications will render appropriately or that all website functions will be supported. In addition, we cannot be held responsible for an individuals PC settings that may cause a site to render inappropriately.
Occasionally we may change the technical specification of a service or suspend a service for operational reasons such as repair, maintenance or improvement of the service or because of an emergency.
Customers will always wish to maximize the value they can obtain from our fixed quote service, and rightly so. We are happy to work with customers by adapting specifications and providing added value during the project life cycle. Decisions relating to the allowable threshold of added value, additional support and features, ultimately rest with our team. We reserve the right to refuse to carry out work, or provide a service for a customer, if we feel that the work or service requested may be detrimental to other customers, to Mirata, or to other organizations that work closely with Mirata. We may also refuse (or suspend work) for any customer who is abusive, rude, petulant, threatening or over demanding. We want to provide the best possible service to our customers, but in doing so we will not tolerate hostile behaviour.
If we are unable to carry out work for a customer, we will provide an explanation of why this is the case. Please be aware that in refusing work, we are in no way discriminating against a customer, or a customers values.
Managing your projects
Our project management methodology is based on the ‘Agile’ concept because of the iterative and relational nature of how our team works. Being agile, literally means our team has the ability to find problems and create solutions quickly and efficiently. The flexibility of the ‘Agile’ method allows our project teams to respond to customer reaction and constantly improve and develop products. ‘Scrum’ is the most popular agile term in use today and it identifies three basic parties to the project, The Product Owner (this is you, the customer, or SPOC), the Development Team (this is us, Mirata), and the Scrum Master (this is our lead engineer, coder or designer). Ensuring our ‘Scrum’ is confined to three key people, means we can keep costs low and adapt to change quickly.
If you have the need to include a wider cohort within your project (focus groups, staff and workforce contributors, investor or stakeholder relations, management teams, partners etc.) then our expectation is that customers will manage these interactions themselves, outside of the core ‘Scrum’. When you signup with Mirata, you are agreeing to be the SPOC (single point of contact). A single point of contact helps us to keep your costs low and develop quality solutions quickly. We understand that on occasions, especially when dealing with larger organizations or groups, dialogue with third parties is necessary, and costs for these interactions are available on request.
Using our services
It is really important that you do not use any of our services in any of the following ways.
(a) fraudulently, in connection with a criminal offense, or unlawfully;
(b) to send, receive, upload, download, use or re-use any information or material which is illegal, offensive, abusive, libelous, indecent, defamatory, obscene, menacing, or to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety;
(c) to transmit knowingly or recklessly any electronic material which would cause, or is likely to cause, detriment or harm, in any degree, to computer systems owned by other Internet users;
(d) to store or transmit overtly adult in nature, pornographic, psychic, demonic, or spectral material, warez, hacking tools, reverse engineering tools or advice;
(e) to send or provide unsolicited advertising or promotional material or to receive responses to any unsolicited advertising or promotional material sent or provided by any third party;
You are also responsible for monitoring your services and ensuring that they do not consume excessive bandwidth.
Security of our service
Our customers are responsible for the security and proper use of all user names and passwords used in connection with the services we provide (including changing passwords on a regular basis). You should take all necessary steps to ensure that they are kept confidential, secure, used properly and not disclosed to unauthorized people.
We reserve the right to suspend user name and password access to a service if at any time we consider that there is or is likely to be a breach of security. We also reserve the right to require the customer to change any or all of the passwords used in connection with our services.
It is also important that you inform us of any changes to the information you supplied when registering for any of our services.
Ending your service
On the rare occasion that a customer should wish to end their service with us, for example transfer to a new host, all web site content and associated data (subject to any outstanding payments) will be returned to the account holder via a digital download. Because we provide bespoke web hosting and email services, we cannot offer migration support, or assist 3rd party providers in replicating any services supplied by Mirata. If you choose to move to an alternative provider, then you must do so at your own risk. We cannot guarantee a continuity of service, nor can we be liable for any loss of data or costs incurred by your new provider. We will always try and accommodate preferred handover dates, however, we reserve the right to match any handover dates to our existing renewal and billing frequencies. We will always advise you in advance of any termination dates.
Any associated domain names owned by the customer, will be transferred to the new host on receipt of an appropriate TAG (Authorization Code) from the customer. In the absence of a replacement TAG, or should a transfer not be requested, domain names will we pointed to www.mirata.ltd.uk until they lapse.
Monthly Support and Consultancy services are specifically designed to avoid large capital costs, defaulting on, or terminating a regular payment may mean that any development or support work done prior to default, may be charged at the normal project cost. In the case of projects or services which have included any investment by Mirata, we reserve the right to re-use or allocate the same or similar resources, knowledge or solutions to other projects as may be necessary. In the case of early termination, all services will be immediately suspended pending a review of the client project costs incurred to date. If Mirata ends your service or project for any reason, we will write to you giving an explanation of why we have taken such action.
Domain names
We accept no responsibility in respect of the use of a domain name by the customer. Any dispute between the customer and any individual or organization regarding a domain name, must be resolved between the parties concerned and Mirata will take no part in any such dispute.
We reserve the right, on becoming aware of a dispute concerning a domain name, at our discretion and without giving any reason, to either suspend or cancel the relevant service associated with the domain name, and/or to make such representations to the relevant naming authority as it deems appropriate. No refund in respect of registration fees or management services will be given.
At our discretion domains may be registered in the Company name of Mirata Ltd (or our representative) using our registered office address. This is part of our domain management service and is for the protection of both client ownership and anonymity.
Clients who manage their domain names through an alternative registrar should always ensure that their DNS records are updated in line with the settings advised by the Mirata Ltd technical team. Occasionally we may require you to change the DNS records for operational reasons such as repair, maintenance or improvement of the service or because of an emergency. Any change notifications will always be verified by our management team.
Domain names that have expired or are no longer in use will we pointed to www.mirata.ltd.uk until they lapse.
When we work for free
We occasionally do pro bono work for small businesses, charities, churches and non-profit organizations. For such cases, fees may be waived or heavily discounted. Our provision of pro bono work is done so at our discretion. We reserve the right to autonomously grant or refuse pro bono work for a new client and also to terminate provision of pro bono work for an existing client at our discretion.
If service is terminated either by us or at the request of the client, all web site content and associated data will be returned to the client. Any associated domain names registered on behalf of the client, however, remain our property, and may be purchased at our domain registration rate for a two year period per domain. Retrospective charges for domain registration periods may be made at our discretion. Should a pro bono relationship end, we also reserve the right to release domains into the wild. Management and subsequent transfer of domains and content may incur a fee.
Providing effective pro bono work for small businesses, charities, churches and non-profit organizations, can require a substantial investment of finance and resources on our part. Because we do not expect, or require, a return from such work, we reserve the right to re-use or allocate the same or similar resources, knowledge or solutions to other projects as may be necessary.
All knowledge, communications and solutions provided during pro bono work remain the property of Mirata.
Keeping our customers informed
We may publish notices to our customers via our website; notices will be considered effective on the date of publication. A notice from us which is sent by e-mail to the customers e-mail address will be considered effective on the date it is sent. A notice from the customer to us will be deemed effective when received by us at the e-mail address support@mirata.ltd.uk.
By becoming a customer you grant us permission, in accordance with the Data Protection Acts 1984 and 1998, to send advertising and promotional material pertaining to other products and services and to third-party products and services selected by ourselves. You can opt out of receiving such information from us at anytime by notifying us by e-mail to the address support@mirata.ltd.uk.
The extent of our liability to our customers
We are not liable for direct or indirect loss of profits, business or anticipated savings, nor for any indirect or consequential loss or damage or for any destruction of data.
