Terms of Service

Welcome to The Work Vault – Here is what you need to know.

(last updated 30/07/2018)

We are The Work Vault Limited (“TWV”) incorporated in the UK under company number 11551853. These are our terms and conditions. They tell you what we do and how we do it.

By using our site, you indicate that you accept these terms and conditions, and the referenced policies, and that you agree to abide by them.

TWV operates a platform linking Sellers to Buyers.

Services
Services are offered on TWV which are fixed price services; or Custom Jobs, which can be fixed price, price per hour or price per item. Services delivered in these ways on TWV are collectively referred to in these terms as “Jobs”. Whether or not a Job is offered and/or accepted is entirely at the discretion of the Seller/Buyer. TWV has no control over this process. Services are provided by Sellers directly to Buyers, who determine the deliverables, price and all other requirements.

On Commencement of a Job the Buyer pays funds into the Escrow Account, and the Buyer must confirm their requirements upfront in the workspace.

The Seller must provide regular progress updates and respond within one (1) working day to all messages from the Buyer, in the workspace.

Sellers must deliver work within the delivery times either defined in their Hourlie, or agreed with the Buyer upfront in the workspace for Custom Jobs. Sellers’ rankings will be penalised for late delivery.

Sellers must fulfill their Jobs and Buyers agree to pay for work delivered. Users will be penalised for cancellations or refunds caused by them, without just reason. Sellers must provide, and be given the opportunity by the Buyer to provide, at least two further iterations on the work delivered if the Buyer is not initially satisfied.

Once the Job has been completed the Seller will raise a request to receive payment, including the release of funds held in the Escrow Account. Sellers must not request payment upfront before work has been completed. Buyers must pay within the 7 day payment terms.

Funds
TWV IS NOT A BANK and only holds funds for the purposes of settling the provision of services and specific invoices of Sellers. We strongly recommend that all users do not hold dormant balances on the platform. TWV reserves the right to apply Admin Fees or write downs to dormant balances until they are withdrawn or become zeroed. Funds held by TWV on the platform are not insured nor covered by any Financial Services Compensation Scheme or any other government agency. TWV hold the funds in a separate client account.

Payments
TWV acts as an Agent of Payment between the Buyer and Seller. In return for full invoice payment by the Buyer for the Job, TWV agrees to discharge the Buyers obligations relating to debts owed to the Seller under this agreement. TWV agrees to make such funds available to the Seller balance with 24 hours, subject to fraud an AML procedures. Sellers are then able to withdraw those funds subject to the setting up of a valid withdrawal account. TWV takes its obligations to prevent fraud and money laundering seriously and reserves the right to delay payments to sellers if fraud or money laundering is suspected.All payments for work completed must go via TWV unless TWV has given its express written permission otherwise in relation to a specific payment or invoice; attempts to pay outside of TWV will lead to sanctions not limited to immediate account suspension. Users must immediately report to TWV any offers to pay outside of TWV made by their Buyer or Seller.

Rights
Once payment has been made, Buyers are granted all rights for the delivered work.

Contacting
For purposes of service messages, notices, offers and news about TWV, Users receive alerts on certain pages and emails to the email addresses associated with their accounts. Users can easily unsubscribe from any email notification using an unsubscription link found at the end of any email as well as their Settings page.

User accounts
To access the full TWV site, Users have to register for an account, provide accurate and complete information, and keep their account information updated. Both Buyers and Sellers undergo the same account registration process.

Each account must be a personal account, but Users may trade as a sole trader, company or any other legal entity (whether incorporated or unincorporated).

Users cannot register for more than one account.

The information that Users supply in the public profile of their account must comply with TWV profile policies.

TWV reserve the right to restrict your access, temporarily or indefinitely block your account, stop any Jobs you have in progress, warn other Buyers and Sellers of your actions or issue you a warning if:

you breach the letter or spirit of these terms and conditions or the referenced policies;
we are unable to verify or authenticate any information you provide to us;
we believe that your actions may cause any loss or liability to our Users or to us
Users are solely responsible for any activity that occurs on their account, unless it is a result of actions beyond their control (such as hacking or if someone steals their password when they have taken reasonable steps to keep it secure). Users may never use another person’s user account or registration information for the Website.

You confirm that you are not economically barred/limited under sanctions rules of any country worldwide. If your circumstances change to be included in such lists, please cease using TWV immediately.

As per UK AML regulation, TWV is unable to support users from North Korea, Iran, Syria, Cuba, Sudan (Republic of Sudan or North Sudan), South Sudan (Republic of South Sudan) and Region of Crimea.

Job delivery
The Seller’s payment for Custom Jobs are either agreed as fixed price, price per item or as a per hour rate Job:

for a per hour rate Custom Job the Buyer agrees to pay the Seller based on the time spent, not on the real or perceived quality of any deliverables provided. The Seller must provide the Buyer, on request, with a breakdown of their billed hours as evidence;
for a fixed priced Custom Job the Buyer agrees to pay the Seller based on deliverables. The parties should agree upfront in the workspace whether to divide the project into milestones, with associated milestone payments. If milestones have not been agreed then the Custom Job will only be invoiced on full completion of all deliverables.
for price per item Custom Jobs the Buyer agrees to pay the Seller for all items delivered.
On acceptance of a Proposal the Buyer will pay into the Escrow Account the agreed deposit amount.

The Buyer must then provide their detailed requirements in the workspace so that the Seller can get started. These requirements should include (but not be limited to):

timeframe for delivery of the Job or milestones;
description of any subjective elements of the Job like aesthetics providing similar examples;
breakdown of all expected deliverables;
any other expectations for the work.

Once requirements have been received from the Buyer, the Seller must:

respond in the workspace within one (1) working day to confirm commencement of work. Failing to respond within one (1) working day may mean the Buyer requests and will be entitled to a refund in accordance with Section 6;
provide regular progress updates in the workspace and respond within one (1) working day to all workspace messages from the Buyer;
complete the Job, including handover of all deliverables in the workspace, within the delivery timescales agreed with the Buyer,
if missing a previously agreed deadline is unavoidable then the Seller must inform the Buyer immediately in the workspace and provide a revised delivery date.
failing to deliver the work within agreed timescales, or repeatedly revising previously agreed deadlines, may mean the Buyer requests a cancellation of the Custom Job and will be entitled to a refund of any funds in the Escrow Account.
late or non-delivery of a Job will negatively affect the Seller’s rankings on TWV.
All direct communication between Buyer and Seller should go via the workspace to keep both parties protected in case of a Dispute.

When the Custom Job is completed (or an agreed milestone has been reached) the Seller will raise an Invoice:

the fees charged in the Invoice should be as has been explicitly agreed upfront in the Proposal. If requirements/ scope changes materially during a Custom Job the Seller may need to propose a change to a previously agreed price. This must be explicitly agreed in the workspace before any extra work is undertaken so that the Buyer can confirm whether they wish to proceed with the additional scope for the extra cost;
the Buyer must pay the Invoice within seven (7) days of the Invoice being raised;
alternatively, if the Buyer does not agree that the Job has been completed then the Buyer can reject the Invoice. The Buyer must then provide the Seller with detailed feedback in the workspace on what work remains outstanding. The Seller must provide, and be given the chance to provide, at least two iterations of the deliverables based on detailed feedback from the Buyer;
if the Buyer does not either i) pay the Invoice or ii) reject the Invoice within such seven (7) day period TWV will provide assistance to the Seller to chase payment and may temporarily or permanently restrict the Buyer’s account. If the Invoice remains unpaid after fifteen (15) days a final 24-hour notification will be issued to the Buyer. If after 24 hours the Buyer has not responded to this notification the funds in the Escrow Account, up to the unpaid Invoice amount, will be automatically processed and will remain at the discretion of TWV for approval.
if the Buyer pays the invoice or funds are utilised in accordance with d) above, TWV and the Seller will be entitled to assume that the Buyer is satisfied with the Job and does not have a dispute of any kind in relation to the Job. The Buyer agrees that they will not file a dispute or seek to reverse payment through their credit card provider, bank or PayPal.

Per Hour Contracts
The Seller’s payment for Per Hour Contracts is set as a per hour rate Job using the per hour rate as stated on the Seller’s profile at the time of the Per Hour Contract setup. The Buyer agrees to pay the Seller based on the time spent, not on the real or perceived quality of any deliverables provided.

Every seven (7) days an invoice will be automatically raised by the system on behalf of the Seller according to the number of hours tracked by the Seller during the last seven (7) days and the per hour rate of the Per Hour Contract.

Upon invoice raise

The Buyer can pay the Invoice manually within three (3) days of the Invoice being raised.
If not paid manually by the Buyer within three (3) days, the invoice will be automatically paid by the system charging one of the payment methods of the Buyer on file at any time.

The Buyer can reject the invoice within three (3) days of the Invoice being raised only if screenshots of the Seller’s screen taken by the TWV Time Tracker App prove that the Seller was not working on the Buyer’s Job during the time tracked.

Protection for Sellers
In the rare event that a Buyer refuses payment for legitimate services performed by a Seller, TWV will provide limited payment protection to the Seller as mentioned below (“Per Hour Payment Protection”). Per Hour Payment Protection will be provided only if all of the following criteria are met:

Seller must have used the TWV Time Tracker App to track the time.
Buyer must have an Account in good standing and at least one valid and authenticated Payment Method, and Buyer must agree to automatically pay for hours billed by the Seller.
Seller’s Account must be in good standing.
The screenshots of the Seller’s screen taken by the TWV Time Tracker App must be clearly related to the applicable Job requirements or Buyer instructions in the workspace.
The number of hours billed must not exceed the weekly limit of hours as defined in the Per Hour Contract.
Within ten (10) days after invoice raise, if the invoice is rejected the Seller must submit a Dispute specifically identifying the details of the work that should be paid. Within ten (10) days after invoice raise, if the invoice is not rejected and not paid the Seller must contact TWV Customer Support identifying the details of the work that should be paid.
Per Hour Payment Protection is available with a maximum rate per hour protected by TWV to Seller the lesser of

the rate defined in the Per Hour Contract terms;
the usual per hour rate billed by Seller on the Site across all Buyers; and
the going rate for the same skills on the Site in Seller’s area (such determination to be made in TWV’s sole discretion).

Protection for Buyers
TWV will adjust the invoice to Buyer for work that is not clearly related to either the Job requirements or Buyer instructions in the workspace and within the hours authorised for the week, subject to and conditioned on the following terms:

Seller must have used the TWV Time Tracker App to track the time.
Buyer must have an Account in good standing and at least one valid and authenticated payment method, and Buyer must agree to automatically pay for hours billed by the Seller.
Seller’s Account must be in good standing.
The Buyer rejects the invoice within three (3) days of the Invoice being raised identifying the time billed and screenshots of the Seller’s screen that are not clearly related to either the Job requirements or Buyer instructions in the workspace.

Quality
All Sellers on TWV must strive to deliver a high standard of work, appropriately meeting their Buyer’s needs.

Specifically, Sellers must ensure that all deliverables are:

error free;
fully address each of the Buyer’s defined requirements;
are a complete set of deliverables as defined in the Hourlie description or as agreed in the workspace as part of the requirements for Custom Jobs;
and, for Hourlies and Jobs, are of a standard consistent with the level of expertise indicated in the Seller’s profile and proposals.

The heavy but important bits:
The Buyer and Seller decide on the type of Job, Hourly, custom or fixed price. They determine the terms and conditions of “Jobs” , including deliverables, any specific requirements, and for “Jobs” the price, directly between them. The Buyer and Seller create a direct service contract between themselves and TWV are not party to that contract (‘the Service Contract’).

Subject to this being varied as part of the Service Contract, ownership in and to any materials and or deliverables arising from a Job and any intellectual property rights therein, will be assigned to the Buyer upon successful payment to the Seller. If the Buyer and Seller wish to include any special terms of the contract (for example, in relation to the ownership of the work produced, ownership of intellectual property rights or special rights of termination), the Buyer and Seller should negotiate and document these terms in the Job workspace.

Subject to variation in the Service Contract, the terms and conditions of each Job shall be deemed to incorporate a term that in consideration of the fee paid for the Job the Seller thereby assigns to the Buyer absolutely with full title guarantee the following rights throughout the world:

the entire copyright and all other rights in the nature of copyright subsisting in the Job
any database right subsisting in the Job and
all other rights in the Job of whatever nature, whether now known or created in the future, to which the Seller is now, or at any time after the date of Commencement of the Job may be, entitled by virtue of the laws in force in the United Kingdom and in any other part of the world,
in each case for the whole term including any renewals, reversions, revivals and extensions and together with all related rights and powers arising or accrued, including the right to bring, make, oppose, defend, appeal and obtain relief (and to retain any damages recovered) in respect of any infringement, or any other cause of action arising from ownership, of any of these assigned rights, whether occurring before, on, or after the date of Commencement of the Job.

You promise that:

you are able to pay for the services if you are a Buyer and perform the services if you are a Seller;
you are not in breach of any applicable laws, rules or regulations or obligations to any other person;
you have made and will make all required legal and tax filings. If relevant, you will file all necessary legal documentation relating to your self-employment required by any governmental body, and pay all applicable taxes including without limitation PAYE or other income tax and national insurance;
you shall not (and shall not permit) any third party to either take any action or upload, download, post, submit or otherwise distribute or facilitate distribution