TERMS & CONDITIONS

Policies & Procedures effective 8/2020

Last updated 8/2023

Terms & Conditons are subject to change with or without notice at any time.

As a sumFunction, Inc. dba Content Commanders customer, you agree to the following policies and procedures. A signature from you, the client, or an authorized representative of Content Commanders is optional to invoke these policies or practices. Accepting a quote, making any form of payment, or accepting services from Content Commanders implies your consent to follow the policies and procedures listed below.

Auto-billing:

Invoices are sent from Content Commanders (payable via Paypal) to request payment for your services. Accounts with services totaling $1,001 may be established as an auto-bill account. If your account is established as an auto-bill account, a valid credit or debit card must remain on file and the pre-approved amount will be automatically deducted from the card associated with your billing account on the day you are scheduled to pay. If you are unable to pay your designated amount on your scheduled pay date, you must notify an authorized Content Commanders team member at least three (3) days prior to your scheduled pay date. Failure to notify a Content Commanders team member, update a payment method, or reschedule your pay date will immediately restrict your account, including removing access to any documents, software or information related to your services. Failure to bring your account up to date within five (5) business days of a failed auto-bill payment will close your account and forfeit any payments made towards your service.

Change in scope of work (adding a new service):

If you are an existing Content Commanders customer with an open order/service and would like to add a new service to your account, you will receive a new quote for your additional service. This additional service will be treated as an add-on and will not be combined for discount, promotional or payment installment purposes. Your new service will be billed separately unless you request a combined bill. Additions to your scope of work will increase the amount you pay (auto-bill or recurring invoices included).

Change in scope of work (deleting an existing service):

If you are an existing Content Commanders customer with an open order/service and would like to delete an existing service on your account, your account will be immediately adjusted to accommodate this change. You will immediately lose access to any software, documents or information related to the recently deleted service. Depending on the terms of your quote, your account balance may decrease. If your account balance decreases, your payment installments may be affected according to the adjustment. Your new account total will be taken into consideration and a new payment installment will be established according to the remaining balance on your account and Content Commanders’ preset installment options. You will be responsible for the new amount of your bill for the remainder of your installment payments according to the following:

$400-$800: Two (2) installments; final payment must be made before work is delivered or marked as final
$2000-$3000: Two (2) installments; final payment must be made before work is delivered or marked as final
$3001-$4,000: Three (3) installments; final payment must be made before work is delivered or marked as final
$4,001-$6,000: Four (4) installments; final payment must be made before work is delivered or marked as final
$6,001-$9,000: Five (5) installments; final payment must be made before work is delivered or marked as final
$9,000 and above: Six (6) installments; final payment must be made before work is delivered or marked as final

Circumvention

Content Commanders employs freelancers and entrepreneurs (known as team members) to provide some of its backend operations. These team members are qualified and committed to providing a stellar level of service for Content Commanders and building their independent businesses. As a client of Content Commanders you may contact one of our freelancers independently to work on a project that is not currently assigned, earmarked or designated for Content Commanders. Should you decide to use one of Content Commanders’ team members for an independent project, you are releasing Content Commanders from all liability, terms, arrangements, financial obligations, schedules, communication, delivery products, services, marketing and legal remedies associated with you, your company and the independent freelancer/entrepreneur. Content Commanders will not mediate or participate in any grievances associated with your independent project. You will hold the freelancer completely responsible for their contributions to your project independently of Content Commanders

Confidentiality:

Content Commanders respects your privacy and requests for confidentiality. Your information will not be shared with anyone outside of Content Commanders without your written consent. All communications, services, account related activity, billing/payment information is held in strict confidentiality and will be encrypted and stored to enhance your privacy and protection. Your information will never be sold to third- party companies or be compromised in any way that would affect your integrity and Content Commanders’ commitment to you, the client.

Communicating with our clients:

Content Commanders aims to provide stellar customer relationship management and communications efforts with our clients, partners, colleagues and associates at all times. If a conflict arises, Content Commanders will

work diligently to resolve the matter amicably and in a timely manner. To aid in proper communication, we ask that clients respect our office hours, policies, procedures, services, service descriptions, rates and team members. In addition, we have implemented the following communications requirements:

Please allow up to one business day to receive a response from one of our team members. We will do our best to immediately confirm receipt of your written (email and postal mail) requests once we receive it. Please take into consideration our office hours when expecting a response to your inquiry.
Please do not communicate with us about your account, services or billing arrangements via any of our social media profiles. We invite respectful and cordial communication about testimonies or general inquiries via social media. However, for more personal or detailed matters, please use our email address or phone number to communicate with us.
You may communicate with us via texting the Customer Relations Text Line. However, this method should not be substituted for regular correspondence via email, phone, or the online collaboration portal.
Please consider your tone, word choice, attitude, or behavior when communicating with anyone on the Content Commanders team. Disrespect, profanity, racist commentary, prejudice, discrimination, sexism, or religious bias will not be tolerated. If you violate any of these terms, your account will be immediately canceled, and you will forfeit all payments made to Content Commanders or services from Content Commanders. Depending on the nature of your communication, you may be banned from working with Content Commanders indefinitely.

Discounts:

Discounts are given at the discretion of Content Commanders. Please note you will only be approved for discounts/promotions you can receive. All discounts will be approved before starting your service with Content Commanders and will be detailed on your quote. No customer can receive multiple or conflicting discounts on any service. Discounts may not be combined. Discounts may not be transferred to another person or company. Discounts may be voided with your quote if they are not redeemed when your quote is issued or set to expire. Once a quote with an applicable discount has expired, it will not be renewed.

Fractional Marketing Director

Fractional Marketing Director (FMD) services are provided with a three (3) month minimum engagement requirement. Cancelation of this service requires forty-five (45) days written notice. Otherwise, you will continue to incur invoicing/billing for the total amount of your service until we receive the notice to cancel. Cancelation within the three (3) month minimum engagement requires a cancellation fee of one-half (½) payment of the monthly rate of your service. Your cancellation fee will not be applied to any service or work performed.

For example: If you have the Fractional Marketing Director Lite service ($2650) per month and you wish to cancel within the first thirty (3) days of your services, you will be required to pay your first full month of service ($2650) plus an additional $1325.

As your Fractional Marketing Director, Content Commanders has your permission to act on your behalf to communicate with third parties about relevant projects and information related to your FMD service. Additionally, Content Commanders has your permission to publish information on social media sites for your business. The Fractional Marketing Director service is a “use or lose” service. If you do not make service requests during the term of your engagement, you will still be billed for the Fractional Marketing Director services. Advertising dollars associated with your FMD service can be rolled over for three (3) months starting on the first month of your service. This is referred to as an “ADR cycle”. Unused ad dollars will expire after ninety days. A customer may have a maximum of three (3) ADR cycles within a year. If the customer maintains their FMD service at the same commitment level after completion of their three (3) ADR cycles, they may request a credit totaling the full amount of unused ad dollars be applied to their account to discount the remaining term of their engagement. This is referred to as an advertising dollar rollover discount “ADRD.” The ADRD can only be applied to accounts that commit to three (3) months of the FMD service after completing the three ADR cycles.

Ghostwriting surcharge:

Ghostwriting services are offered separately in addition to content development services. All content written and delivered to Content Commanders clients are the joint property of the client and Content Commanders unless ghostwriting services are ordered and paid for. Therefore, Content Commanders has the right to use information such as documents/files in our promotional or testimonial content as well as a part of our portfolio/breadth of work. We will adhere to our confidentiality statement and remove all proprietary information such as logos, names, contact information prior to sharing your information with the public. There is a 15% surcharge for ghostwritten services including graphic design work (logos, websites, illustrations, mockups, concepts, etc.). This surcharge will be added to the total amount of your quote at the beginning of your services and will be included in your first payment (on an installment plan). You may not request a ghostwriting surcharge be added to your account once a service has been delivered or marked as final by Content Commanders

Intellectual Property or Proprietary Information:

You may not use or reference any Intellectual Property (IP) or proprietary information that Content Commanders owns and/or claims rights to. This includes logos or graphic representations (letterhead, brochures, business cards, pictures/images, websites, social media banners/profile pictures, flyers, characters, symbols, patterns, designs), written content (words, tables, charts, infographics). If you would like to use or reference any of this information, you must obtain written consent from the owner of Content Commanders prior to implementing this information. Content Commanders may request a full and finalized version of the information you wish to include Content Commanders’ IP or proprietary information in. Content Commanders should be allowed up to thirty (30) days to review your information and make a final decision. If we determine that Intellectual Property compensation needs to be awarded to Content Commanders prior to permitting the use of our IP or proprietary information in your work, we will request the amount we are seeking, in writing. If the requesting party is unable to fulfill the financial award requested by Content Commanders, we reserve the right to review any counter offers or reject the request altogether.

Office hours:

Content Commanders operates with the following schedule:

Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays: 10am-6pm Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Tuesday & Sundays: Closed
Saturdays: By paid appointment only: 10am-1pm Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Content Commanders closes to observe the following holidays/occasions : New Year’s Day, Inauguration Day, Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Founder’s Birthday (Sept. 16), Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve.

If you have a project that is due during a scheduled off-day/closing, your work will be delivered prior to the off –day (pending your payment) or discussed with you prior to the due date. Rush services will not be delivered on off days/closings.

Online collaboration suite:

All VIP customers and CMS clients are required to maintain an online collaboration portal with Content Commanders. All other clients may receive an online collaboration portal if Content deems it necessary to maintain their account. Access to the online collaboration portal will be included in your service for the duration of your service. It is imperative that all communications be conducted within that portal to assist with meeting the complexity or confidentiality of your project. In addition, all files (documents, images, etc.) should be uploaded in the online portal to maintain confidentiality and accountability. Content Commanders will not be held responsible or accountable for any communications, files, documents or information transmitted outside of the assigned online portal. Failure to meet the financial obligations of your account will suspend access to your online collaboration portal. Once suspension on your online collaboration suite has occurred, you will immediately lose access to any software, documents or information related to your service.

Payment Installments:

Services totaling $399 after any applicable discounts or promotions must be paid in full to begin your services. Payments can be made online via an electronic invoice submitted by Content Commanders. The following options are available for payment installments:

$2000-$3000: Two (2) installments; final payment must be made before work is delivered or marked as final
$3001-$4,000: Three (3) installments; final payment must be made before work is delivered or marked as final
$4,001-$6,000: Four (4) installments; final payment must be made before work is delivered or marked as final
$6,001-$9,000: Five (5) installments; final payment must be made before work is delivered or marked as final
$9,000 and above: Six (6) installments; final payment must be made before work is delivered or marked as final

Payments must be made on time and according to a predetermined schedule to secure your account and prevent suspensions or restrictions to services.

Payment to Start Services:

All services require payment. Barters or exchange are not accepted at this time. Payment can be made via electronic payment (credit cards, debit cards and e-checks). We are unable to accept mailed (paper) checks at this time. All electronic checks must be cleared prior to rendering any services. Payments must be received prior to the onset of any project or assignment. Payments should be made in full to secure your service unless you are being billed on a payment installment arrangement, previously approved in writing by Content Commanders. If payment is not received, your assignment will be placed on hold or delayed until an approved arrangement has been made. Content Commanders does not offer net payment terms.

Quality of work:

Content Commanders provides 100% custom and original content to meet your needs. We will not plagiarize, steal, copy or infringe on any work (graphic images, audio, visual, wording, research, etc.) for our benefit or to benefit our clients at any time. Content Commanders will always provide proper credit/attribution to any works referenced that is not authored or developed by any of our team members. If it is discovered that Content Commanders has mistakenly used content which does not belong to us, we will immediately remove, cease and desist from using that content, provide our written acknowledgement of our error and rectify the matter to the best of our ability. Content Commanders is led by a competent, resourceful and committed person who always tries to align the company with best practices, integrity, honesty and professionalism. Therefore, Content Commanders will operate to produce quality work and meaningful interactions with our clients, partners, vendors, outlets, associates and team members. Content Commanders employs highly professional people to deliver the work and associated tasks that help meet our clients’ needs. While the team may increase or decrease at any given time, Content Commanders is fully committed to providing 100% custom and original content to our clients.

Quotes for Service:

Upon making the decision to work with Content Commanders, you will be issued a quote for service outlining the scope of work and the associated services which are necessary to meet your needs. Services are delivered as described and will not be modified. Once a price is established on a quote, it will not be revoked or negotiated. Quotes expire seven (7) calendar days from the date they are issued. All applicable discounts or promotions will expire when the quote expires unless they are associated with long-term promotions (monthly or celebratory). No customer is eligible to receive multiple or conflicting discounts on any one service or quote. Discounts may not be combined. Quotes may not be transferred to another person or company. Accepting a quote (with your signature) does not constitute the beginning of any work or delivery of services. Accepting a quote means that you agree to the pricing and service description outlined in the quote. If you do not sign a quote, but meet the payment requirements as set forth in the quote, your payment constitutes as agreement to the terms and pricing outlined in the un-signed quote. You are expected to meet the payment requirements listed in the quote and secure services with your first payment. You must meet all payment obligations to maintain the prices extended to you in your quote. If you fail to officially accept a quote with your signature, but make the required payment (payments) that your quote entails, you are accepting the terms of the quote and being held responsible to adhere to all of the terms listed in the quote in addition to all of Content Commanders’ policies and procedures. Once a quote with an applicable discount has expired, the quote will not be renewed.

Rate Card

Customers who do not have a service engagement with us, including our Fractional Marketing Director service or a custom service engagement agreement, will be charged rate card prices for the services they request. These fees are billed at the agency billable hourly rate and have pre-established billable hour minimums that are non-negotiable. Discounts are not available for rate card prices. Fees for services ordered using the rate card are due in full when ordering. Rate card prices are subject to change at any time. Please inquire about these rates before engaging our services.

Referrals

Content Commanders rewards loyalty and word-of-mouth advertising with paid referrals. If you would like to refer a potential client to Content Commanders, you must complete the referral form provided by a Content Commanders team member. The standard referral commission is 10% of the net sale you refer. If the customer is on a payment installment arrangement, you will receive 5% of the total sale as a commission with their first payment and the remaining 5% as commission with their final payment. All payments will be made via PayPal. A referring party is ineligible for commission on upsold orders.

Refunds:

Content Commanders does not offer refunds of any payments received. If you are unhappy with your service for any reason whatsoever, you must provide a valid explanation in writing. If your account is an auto-bill account, billing will be suspended during the investigation of your complaint. The Content Commanders team will review your concerns and provide you with an appropriate follow-up action or final decision within fifteen (15) business days. Once Content Commanders has rendered a follow-up action or final decision, it will not be reversed.

Typical follow-up actions or final decisions include:

A 75% discount on a future service from Content Commanders (the service must have equal or lesser word count and an appropriate delivery deadline). Rush requests are not included in this offer.
Up to two (2) revisions on your existing assignment. A full re-write of your existing content, including changes in scope of work, topic, idea research, citations/references is not considered a revision and is not applicable under these terms.
Forfeiture of any pending balance owed to Content Commanders, in which all services will immediately be cancelled. You will receive “as is” work (including drafts and working documents). You will immediately lose access to any software, documents or information related to your service.

Revisions:

Three revisions of your work are included in any Content Commanders service. A full rewrite of your existing content, including changes in scope of work, topic, idea research, citations/references, is not considered a revision and is not applicable under these terms. Revisions cannot be transferred amongst services or clients. If you exceed your revisions, you will be charged $15 per hour for each set of revisions. You will be notified in advance of the total hourly amount to revise your content. The total hourly amount will be due immediately to begin revising your work. If you are not satisfied with your set of revisions (for reasons excluding grammar, syntax, misspellings or errors due to Content Commanders) you will be charged for an additional set of revisions.

Social Media

To protect privacy, confidentiality and personal branding/identity, the Content Commanders staff or team members are strictly prohibited from personally connecting with Content Commanders clients on any social media platform/network.

Success/Failure Acknowledgement

Content Commanders consistently works hard to provide stellar services to our clients. However, we can not guarantee the results related to our work due to many variables outside of our control. We are open to feedback and constructive criticism related to your project. We are unable to provide partial or full refunds for any service marked as “complete” by you and/or the Content Commanders team.

Unresponsiveness:

It is our goal at Content Commanders to provide timely work and keep your project on schedule. We aim to complete all drafts and revisions within the deadlines and milestones mutually established by our team and yours. When we submit content for you to review, you will have two business days to provide feedback. If we do not receive feedback or an adjusted deadline within this time frame, we may close your project without further revision. You will not be eligible for a refund of any payments made up until this point. We will also forfeit any future payments on your project, meaning that you will not owe us any payments for work on the project. Should you decide to re-engage your project after it has been closed through this process, your order will be placed in our queue and processed according to a new deadline. You will also be required to make any outstanding payments to re-open your project.

White-labelling or Outsourcing our Services:

Content Commanders does not permit outsourcing or white labelling our services or brand identity to any clients, partners, vendors, associates, organizations or outlets. You may not order services from Content Commanders with the intent on re-selling, re-using or re-distributing the services under your brand or identity as well as the brand or identity of a third party. You must give proper credit/attribution to all work associated with Content Commanders after you have received written permission to use the content. Failure to prove prior written consent from Content Commanders and proper credit/attribution on any works produced by Content Commanders will result in legal remedies to the fullest extent of the applicable law for copyright infringement.

Word count:

All assignments are evaluated and priced according to word count/page length. Content Commanders assigns 400 words per page. Therefore, a page of work is considered up to 400 words/ up to 400 words is equivalent to one page. Payment quotes for content development services are priced per 400 words. There are no partial page prices. You are allowed a 10% (40 words) overage of word count as a courtesy. Therefore, you are charged a full page rate for partial pages. Anything in excess of 400 words and the 10% courtesy overage will be counted as an additional page. Names, titles, dates and heading are included in your word count. Options such as footnotes, tables, charts and citations are charged separately.

Verbal Agreements:

Verbal agreements do not supersede written agreements or policies. Any verbal agreement or arrangement between a client, partner, vendor, associate, outlet or team member must be confirmed in writing before it is considered authorized and approved. Either party may request that a verbal agreement be confirmed in writing. Both parties must accept the written confirmation before it is executed. Email, fax, text messages and posts in the online collaboration suite between authorized representatives of Content Commanders and the client, partner, vendor, associate,and outlet are permissible forms of written agreements that confirm verbal agreements.