General Terms and Conditions (T&C)

§ 1 Scope of Application

(1) These General Terms and Conditions ("GTC") apply to all business relations between Weber Media Consulting GmbH, Herlingsburg 6-10, 22529 Hamburg ("Agency") and the client ("Customer").

(2) The GTC apply in the version valid at the time of order. Deviating, conflicting or supplementary terms and conditions of the Customer shall not become part of the contract unless the Agency expressly agrees to their application in writing.

(3) The version of these GTC valid at the time of contract conclusion is decisive. Individual agreements between the Agency and the Customer take precedence over these GTC. The content of such agreements is governed by a written contract or the Agency's written confirmation.

(4) These GTC apply exclusively to businesses within the meaning of Section 14 of the German Civil Code (BGB), legal entities under public law and special funds under public law.

§ 2 Subject Matter

(1) The Agency provides services in the areas of web design, web development, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine advertising (SEA), social media marketing, content creation, digital recruiting, digitalization consulting and related digital marketing and technology services.

(2) The specific scope of services is set out in the respective offer, service description or individual contract. No oral side agreements exist; amendments and supplements require written form.

(3) The Agency is entitled to engage qualified third parties (subcontractors) to fulfill its contractual obligations. The Agency is liable for their performance as for its own.

§ 3 Offers and Contract Formation

(1) The Agency's offers are subject to change and non-binding unless expressly designated as binding. Any commitment period stated will be observed.

(2) A contract is formed by the Agency's written order confirmation or by commencement of performance. Acceptance may also be made by email.

(3) Changes or extensions to the originally agreed scope of services (change requests) require a separate written agreement. Additional effort arising from change requests will be charged at the Agency's then applicable hourly rate unless a fixed price has been agreed.

§ 4 Scope of Services

(1) The Agency performs its services in accordance with the current state of the art and with the care of a prudent businessperson. What is owed is performance appropriate to the purpose of the order, but not a specific economic result.

(2) Unless otherwise agreed, websites and digital products are optimized for current versions of common browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) and for display on desktop and mobile devices.

(3) Dates and deadlines are binding only if expressly agreed as such in writing. If the Agency gives non-binding dates, it will inform the Customer without delay when it becomes apparent that a date cannot be met.

(4) For ongoing services (e.g. SEO, ads management, social media), the scope of services refers to the monthly period defined in the contract. Unused allocations expire at the end of the respective billing period unless otherwise agreed.

§ 5 Client Cooperation Obligations

(1) The Customer shall provide the Agency with all information, materials and access required for performance in good time and in full.

(2) The Customer shall designate a contact person who is authorized to make decisions for the duration of the project and who provides the Agency with timely feedback. Delays caused by the Customer's late cooperation shall not be at the Agency's expense and do not entitle the Customer to a reduction in remuneration.

(3) Content provided by the Customer (texts, images, logos, etc.) must be free of third-party rights. The Customer shall indemnify the Agency against all third-party claims arising from the use of the materials provided.

(4) Acceptance and approvals must be given by the Customer within 10 working days of request. If no response or justified objection is received within this period, the performance shall be deemed accepted.

§ 6 Remuneration and Payment Terms

(1) Remuneration is as set out in the respective offer or individual agreement. All prices are net plus statutory value added tax.

(2) For project orders, unless otherwise agreed, a down payment of 50% is due upon placement of the order and the balance upon completion and acceptance.

(3) For ongoing contracts (retainers, ads management, etc.), billing is monthly in advance. Invoices are payable within 14 days of the invoice date without deduction.

(4) Costs for third-party services (e.g. advertising budgets with Google or Meta, stock photos, hosting, domain fees, premium plugins) are not included in the remuneration and will be invoiced separately or borne directly by the Customer.

(5) If the Customer is in default of payment, the Agency is entitled to charge default interest at 9 percentage points above the applicable base rate pursuant to Section 288(2) BGB. Further claims for damages remain unaffected.

§ 7 Usage Rights and Copyright

(1) The Agency grants the Customer the usage rights to the works created (designs, texts, code, graphics) required for the contract purpose after full payment of the agreed remuneration. Unless expressly agreed otherwise, these are simple, non-transferable usage rights.

(2) Until full payment, all usage rights remain with the Agency. Drafts, concepts and intermediate results may not be used, published or passed on to third parties by the Customer without the Agency's consent.

(3) The Agency is entitled to use the work created in the course of the order with reference to the Customer (portfolio, website, social media) unless the Customer expressly objects in writing.

(4) Open-source components used in projects are subject to their respective license terms. The Agency will inform the Customer on request about open-source licenses used.

§ 8 Warranty

(1) The Agency warrants that the services provided conform to the agreed specifications. The Customer must report obvious defects without delay, at the latest within 14 days of acceptance, in writing.

(2) In the case of justified defects, the Agency will first remedy them. If remedy fails after two attempts, the Customer may at its option demand a reduction in remuneration or withdraw from the contract.

(3) The warranty period is 12 months from acceptance unless a longer period is mandatorily prescribed by law.

(4) No warranty is given for defects caused by subsequent changes by the Customer or third parties, improper use, changes in the technical framework (e.g. browser updates, third-party API changes) or defective materials supplied by the Customer.

§ 9 Liability

(1) The Agency has unlimited liability for damage arising from injury to life, body or health and for intent and gross negligence.

(2) In the case of slight negligence in the breach of essential contractual obligations, the Agency's liability is limited in amount to the foreseeable, typical contractual damage at the time of contract conclusion, but at most to the amount of the net remuneration agreed for the respective order.

(3) Any further liability – for whatever legal reason – is excluded. This applies in particular to lost profit, indirect damage and consequential damage.

(4) The Agency is not liable for achieving specific search engine rankings, specific reach, click figures or conversion rates. Forecasts and estimates do not constitute guaranteed characteristics or warranties.

(5) The liability limitations also apply in favor of the Agency's employees, representatives and vicarious agents.

§ 10 Confidentiality and Data Protection

(1) Both parties undertake to keep confidential all confidential information obtained in the course of cooperation and to use it only for the purposes of contract performance. This obligation continues after the end of the contract.

(2) Confidential information means all information marked as confidential or to be regarded as confidential under the circumstances, in particular trade secrets, customer data, access data and strategic plans.

(3) The Agency processes personal data in accordance with the provisions of the GDPR and the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG). Where the Agency processes personal data on behalf of the Customer, the parties shall conclude an agreement on commissioned processing pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR.

(4) Further information on data processing can be found in our privacy policy.

§ 11 Term and Termination

(1) Project contracts end upon acceptance and full payment of the agreed performance.

(2) Ongoing contracts (retainers, support contracts) are concluded for the minimum term agreed in the contract. They then automatically extend by one further month each time unless terminated in writing with 30 days' notice to the end of the month.

(3) The right to extraordinary termination for good cause remains unaffected. Good cause exists in particular if a party materially breaches contractual obligations despite written warning with an adequate period for compliance.

(4) In the event of early termination by the Customer without good cause, the Agency is entitled to remuneration for services rendered up to the termination date and to reimbursement of proven expenses.

(5) Upon termination of the contractual relationship, the Agency is obliged to return or transfer to the Customer all materials and access in its possession, provided the Customer has paid for the underlying services in full.

§ 12 Final Provisions

(1) The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).

(2) The place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with this contractual relationship is Hamburg, provided the Customer is a merchant, legal entity under public law or special fund under public law.

(3) If individual provisions of these GTC are or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions shall be unaffected. The invalid provision shall be replaced by a provision that comes closest to the economic purpose of the invalid provision.

(4) Amendments and supplements to these GTC require written form. This also applies to the waiver of the written form requirement itself.