Policies & Procedures
This page ‘Policies & Procedures’ is for the information of current, new and potential clients and outlines my practices.
Business Hours
I am generally available for work, email contact, messaging and telephone/Skype calls during standard business hours, Monday to Friday from 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. WAT (West African Time).
Chargeable Hours
Any agreed service, including scheduled telephone/Skype/Zoom calls, falls under chargeable hours. However, any written communication with the client, such as email and text messages, will not be billed.
Communication
Email is preferred, but texting and messaging through WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS or Skype is acceptable. Telephone/Skype/Zoom calls are always planned in advance to avoid any possible interference. I respond to non-urgent emails within a day or on the first working day and to urgent emails as soon as I can.
Programs/Software
On a regular basis, I work with Calendly (schedule), Dropbox and Google Drive (cloud storage), Microsoft Office (word processing), Wave App (invoicing and accounting) and Clockify (time-tracking). Most of these programs are suitable for sharing and collaborating and clients will never be charged for my use of any of the programs I choose to work with. Using a program of the client’s choice is always possible, provided that the client will cover any fees.
Time-Tracking
Time will be tracked in increments of one minute, rounded to the closest minute. I use specialized software from Clockify for accurate time-tracking.
Invoicing & Payment
Clients will receive an invoice with a 30-day payment period at the beginning of the month. With a monthly retainer package, the invoice is always a month in advance of the hours. Hourly rate clients will also receive an invoice at the beginning of the month, based on the number of hours worked in the month before. Please note that, if the payment is not received before or on the due date, I am entitled to charge an additional late payment fee of 10% of the initial invoice. In the case of continued delay (14+ days overdue), services may be suspended until the payment is received.
Payment Methods
Payments can be made via Payoneer (preferred) or bank/wire transfer. If you wish to pay in a different way, please let me know about your preferred option.
Referral Bonus
Clients who refer a new client to me will be rewarded with a discount of 20% on one invoice. This discount will be applied after the new client’s first payment.
Meetings
Only virtual meetings are preferred, via Skype, Zoom or Google Hangouts
Privacy & Confidentiality
I attach great importance to your privacy. Information will never be disclosed, loaned, leased, rented or sold to third parties, or made public without your permission, unless I am legally obliged to do so. Personal data and information that I receive, e.g. contact form messages via the websites, newsletter subscriptions and any information from and about clients, is kept confidential. I strive to help my clients and anyone interested in my services as effectively and efficiently as possible. The data and information I receive will therefore only be used to optimize and/or improve the services that I offer. Some non-personal data about my website visitors is collected automatically; e.g. name of the Internet service provider and web browser, which pages are visited and length of time spent on each page. The identity of visitors remains anonymous, unless they manually submit information on the website. All passwords are encrypted and I work with Internet security and virus protection.
Policy & Price Changes
I reserve the right to change this policy and the prices of my services. I may occasionally update this policy and will timely notify my clients if there are significant changes. In the case of a change in price, clients will receive a notice 30 days before any changes become effective.
Environment
To make a positive contribution to the environment, I keep paper use at a minimum. For instance, invoices are sent by email and not printed and any paper as well as supplies are reused and/or recycled whenever possible.
Agreement & Termination
I do not work with a contract, but I do ask all clients to sign an agreement to protect our work relationship. Work will commence after the agreement has been read, understood and signed. The agreement is non-binding and does not oblige us to commit to a long-term partnership; either of us is free to terminate the work relationship. I kindly request all clients with a monthly retainer package to send a notice of termination at least 30 days in advance if they do wish to terminate the partnership. Please note that there will be no refunds without a 30-day advanced termination notice.