Billing and Payment Policies

For your convenience, RJM Web Design provides a variety of ways for clients to pay their bills including checks, money orders, electronic checks, PayPal, PayPal Credit, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express. All online payments will be processed through our merchant services provider (PayPal at the time of this writing) no matter what type of electronic payment method you choose. At this time, we do not accept Bitcoin or other crypto-currencies.

It is expected that payments be made on-time. "On-time" means no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on the due date. There are no "grace periods," no "exceptions," no "special cases," and no "extensions." If your payment does not arrive on time, your site and/or service(s) will be suspended. Painful experience has taught me that allowing late payments accomplishes nothing except to guarantee future late payments by those very clients to whom that courtesy was once extended.

If I'm so much as a day late paying my upstream providers, everyone's sites go down: and I can't pay my upstream providers on time if my clients don't pay me on time. My upstream providers don't accept sob stories or excuses in lieu of payment, so neither can I.

Payments can be made online by clicking the link in the the invoice email, or by postal mail. Payments made by mail using a check or money order should be made payable to RJM WEB DESIGN and mailed to:

RJM Web Design
PO Box 370
Fleischmanns NY 12430-0370

Please allow sufficient time for your payment to reach the office if you pay by mail. I suggest seven to ten days, especially in the winter. Snow delays are common here.

Phone Payments

Effective April 1, 2018, there will be a fee of $15.00 for phone payments. This fee will not apply if you attempted to pay online but encountered an error.

Payment Plans

In general, payment for new work must be made before the site goes "live." Monthly, quarterly, and semi-annual payment plans may also be approved in some cases, but each payment will include an additional payment fee of $15.00 or 1.5 percent of the billed amount for the site or service, whichever is less.

Renewals are generally billed annually in advance and include an automatic prepayment discount. Monthly, quarterly, and semi-annual payment plans may also be approved in some cases, but each payment will include an additional payment fee of $15.00 or 1.5 percent of the billed amount for the site or service, whichever is less. In addition, services billed other than annually in advance will not receive a prepayment discount. Please bear this in mind before requesting a switch to quarterly or monthly billing.

Consequences of late payment

If your payment is not received by 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on the due date on the invoice, your site and all associated services will be suspended. Payment of the full amount of the invoice plus a $35.00 late fee will be required to restore your site and/or service(s). In some cases the late fee may be waived, but full payment of the balance due will always be required to restore your service(s).

While your site is suspended, your visitors will be greeted by a "Suspended Account" page, your e-mail will not work, and you will not have access to your files or databases. If you have services such as FTP, CalDAV, CardDAV, or WebDisk, those services will not work, either.

If your payment still hasn't been received 10 days after the due date on the invoice, your site and account will be terminated, your files will be deleted, and you may become ineligible for future services. In addition, if your balance due was for services already provided, your account will be turned over to a commercial collection agency.

Returned Checks

Checks returned as non-payable for any reason will result in a $20.00 fee, immediate suspension of your service(s), and the loss of the privilege of paying by non-certified checks in the future. This privilege can only be restored by presenting a letter from the bank or credit union on which the check was drawn explaining that the check was returned due to an error on their part.

Transfers of Domains Held in Trust

On occasion, I hold domains in trust on behalf of clients. This may be because the client requested a turnkey solution and doesn't want to be responsible for obtaining and renewing a domain or domains, or it may be because the client allowed the domain to expire and I redeemed it to expedite getting their site back online. In either case, the client may request that the domain be transferred to them at any time.

If the client has a currently paid-up account, there is no charge to transfer ownership of a domain or domains held in trust. If the client has been terminated due to non-payment, there is a fee of $35.00 per domain to effect a transfer. If the client has a past-due balance for services already rendered, the balance must be cleared and a $35.00 fee per domain paid to effect a transfer.

For further information, please contact me.