Refund Policy

This policy explains how refunds work for website and development services provided by Ctrl Alt Develop Web Design (ABN 90 804 460 904). We’ve kept it plain, because surprises in fine print help no one. The specifics of any project — what’s included, the payment schedule, and sign-off points — are set out in the proposal or agreement we sign with you. Where this policy and a signed agreement differ, the agreement wins.

Your rights under Australian Consumer Law

Nothing in this policy limits the rights you have under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), and those rights can’t be excluded. Our services come with guarantees that we’ll provide them with due care and skill, that they’ll be fit for any purpose or result you’ve told us you want to achieve, and that they’ll be delivered within a reasonable time.

If we don’t meet one of these guarantees:

• For a minor problem, we get the chance to fix it within a reasonable time, at no extra cost to you. If we refuse, don’t manage it in a reasonable time, or can’t, you can have it put right elsewhere and recover the reasonable cost from us, or cancel.
• For a major problem, you choose the remedy: cancel the service and get a refund for the part of the service that hasn’t been provided to you — and, where the failure leaves delivered work with no value to you, a refund of what you paid for that work — or keep going and recover compensation for the drop in value. Either way, you may also be entitled to compensation for other reasonably foreseeable loss caused by the problem. A major problem includes one that can’t be fixed, one that’s so far from what was agreed you wouldn’t have proceeded, or work that’s substantially unfit for a purpose you told us about and can’t be put right within a reasonable time.

Deposits

Most projects start with a deposit, set out in your proposal. The deposit reserves your place in our schedule and is applied to the discovery, planning, and initial design work that begins straight away. If you cancel after we’ve started, the deposit is credited against the cost of the work we’ve actually done plus any third-party costs we’ve already committed; you pay any balance above that, and we refund any part of the deposit not used. This doesn’t affect your rights if a consumer guarantee isn’t met (see above).

Milestone payments

We bill in stages tied to the project’s milestones. Each stage is paid once its work is delivered and you’ve signed off on it.

• If you cancel before a milestone’s work has started, that milestone is refundable.
• Once a milestone’s work has been delivered and approved, that stage is treated as complete and isn’t normally refunded — though this is always subject to your Australian Consumer Law rights, including a refund where a major failure affects the work.
• If you cancel partway through the project, we’ll refund the portion covering work we haven’t yet started, and bill for any work completed up to that point.

After launch

After your site goes live, we fix genuine bugs in the work we delivered, free of charge, for 30 days. What this warranty does and doesn’t cover is set out in your agreement, and it doesn’t affect your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

Third-party costs

Some costs are paid to outside providers on your behalf — domain names, hosting, premium plugins, licensed fonts, stock images, and similar. Once we’ve purchased these, they’re non-refundable, because the provider has already been paid.

Care plans and retainers

Ongoing care plans and retainers are billed per period (for example, monthly). You can cancel at any time with the notice stated in your plan. We don’t refund the current period once it has started, and your plan runs to the end of that period.

Changing your mind

The ACL doesn’t require a refund when you simply change your mind, choose a service that wasn’t right for you, or where a problem was genuinely caused by something outside our control rather than by a failure of our services. If your needs change mid-project, talk to us — we’ll always try to find a fair way forward.

How refunds are handled

Where a refund is due, we process it promptly, back to your original payment method. We are not currently registered for GST, so no GST is charged on our services and refunds don’t include GST; if that changes, any GST that was charged will be included in the refund. When we need to fix a failure of one of the consumer guarantees above, we cover the cost of putting it right — there’s no charge to you for that.

Raising an issue

If something isn’t right, tell us first. Email hello@ctrlaltdevelop.io with your project name and what’s wrong, and we’ll work with you to fix it or agree on a fair remedy. Most things are sorted with a conversation. If we can’t reach a resolution together, you can also contact Consumer Affairs Victoria.

Governing law

This policy is governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia, and is subject to the Australian Consumer Law.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Contact us at hello@ctrlaltdevelop.io.