Terms & Conditions 

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Confidentiality & Data Protection 

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• We only work with UK based clients and companies, due to insurance reasons. 

• All our virtual assistants are UK based and sign strict confidentiality contracts. 

• Your information is held securely and backed up in accordance with UK Data Protection Laws, including GDPR. 

• We are a registered Data Protection Controller (ICO Registration:ZA769879). Data controller is: Holly Pattison, Balance Business Solutions email: holly@balancebusinesssolutions.com tel: 01273 978276 and all information requests should be made via email in the first instance.

• We use secure email and ISO 27001 compliant cloud storage. 

• All original work will be returned to clients as soon as work is completed, unless otherwise requested. 

• On written termination of the contract, we delete all client data held, excluding data held for our own tax records and contract documents. 

• Our privacy policy has been provided under separate cover. 

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Payments 

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• Payments are due upon receipt of invoice. Balance Business Solutions reserves the right to charge interest on a daily basis on outstanding sums at the statutory interest rate, as per government guidelines.

• Balance Business Solutions reserves the right to halt services and not to return work if invoices are not paid in a timely manner.

• Pre-paid hours are non-refundable and are valid for one calendar month unless agreed otherwise within the contract. 

• All hours are billed in increments of 15 minutes. 

• Any items requested to be purchased will be charged to the client accordingly in the form of a disbursements invoice and will be payable upon receipt of invoice. Balance Business Solutions reserves the right to charge interest on a daily basis on outstanding sums at the statutory interest rate being 8% plus the Bank of England base rate.

• All postage, printing, other stationery or additional expenses bought on behalf of the Client’s business will be added to the invoice for reimbursement.

• Printing will be outsourced and charged at cost and will be billed separately. 

• An agreement, in writing or by email, of a set number of hours a week or month may not be carried over to subsequent periods by the client, without prior written agreement from both parties.

• Billable time includes meetings and calls, and includes the writing and/or reading of correspondence sent by mail or email.

• A time report can be provided to the client upon request. 

• Either the Client, Balance Business Solutions or their associates have the right to terminate a contract for services if there is a breach of its terms, or in the event of inappropriate or aggressive behaviour. 

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Submitting Virtual Assistant Work 

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• Working hours is Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm; any communication outside of these hours will normally be dealt with on the next working day unless agreed in advance.

• Any work conducted outside of usual working hours at the request of the client will be chargeable at a rate of time and a half. Should BalanceBusiness Solutions or their associates conduct work outside of working hours NOT at the request of the client, this will be chargeable at the usual rate. 

• All work requests should be submitted to our central emailinfo@balancebusinesssolutions.com or on the business WhatsApp group, unless otherwise agreed. This ensures we can schedule and track all work. 

• We will acknowledge all work within one working day during business hours of Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. If you haven’t received an acknowledgement, please call 01273 978276 and check we have received the request. 

• All details (e.g. templates, passwords or processes etc.) should be submitted along with work at the time of submission. We will not schedule work until all the materials are received. 

• Final proofreading and checking of all work supplied is the responsibility of the client.

• Any errors must be reported within two (2) days of receipt of completed work. Errors generated by Balance Business Solutions or their associates will be rectified free of charge, but amendments or alterations requested by the client thereafter will be charged at the standard hourly rate.

• When submitting databases or marketing work, your virtual assistant will ask you how people requested this information and ask for proof of validation in order to comply with GDPR. 

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Turnaround of work and rush jobs fees 

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• Our usual turnaround of work is next working day for all tasks under one hour long received and acknowledged by us before 5pm. 

• If you have an urgent job we will try and accommodate it, but it will be subject to a £20 rush job fee, regardless of the size. This compensates us for having to move other clients in our schedule to accommodate your work. 

• Work which is over an hour long will be scheduled and you will be given an ETA when we acknowledge receipt of the job. 

• For ad-hoc job requests turnaround times will be advised in the acknowledgement email. Please ensure you advise us of any deadlines for the job you are handing to us so that we can ensure this is considered.

• It is up to you to check work which we return and raise any queries forthwith thereafter. 

• Any errors must be reported within two (2) days of receipt of completed work.

• Holidays: We take UK public bank holidays and between Christmas and New Year off each year.

 

Digital Formats for virtual assistants 

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• We use the following programmes: Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Publisher, Adobe Acrobat PDF, Google Docs, G-Suite, Zoom, Quickbooks, Later, Asana, Toggl, Slack, WhatsApp, Canva, Mailchimp, Airtable and Dropbox amongst other platforms. We will always try to support other formats or programmes. However, we request that you discuss this with us prior to booking our services to ensure we can accommodate this request. 

• We can accommodate file sizes up to 15MB. If you have a larger file than this, please call us and we can advise on the best way of transferring it to us. 

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Data and Privacy 

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• Please note: We only work with UK based clients and virtual assistants due to insurance reasons. 

• Our privacy policy has been provided under separate cover. 

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Disclaimer and Applicable Law 

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• We will not be liable for any losses you might sustain arising directly or indirectly from our completing work save in so far as the same arises directly from our negligence. 

• This contract shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United Kingdom and shall be subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the court of Great Britain.