Terms and conditions of Office Assistants
Legal Information
Office Assistants is the Trading Name of Orchard Bureau Ltd
Registered in England & Wales No. 04729249
Registered Office: 82 Rainham Road, Rainham, Essex RM13 7RJ
Institute of Certified Bookkeepers Registered Practice No. 4635.
Terms and Conditions of Trading
Please read the following carefully. If you have any queries concerning these Terms and Conditions, please contact Office Assistants immediately on 01708 524800 or info@officeassistants.org.uk.
1. Payment, Charges and Cancellations
I. Payment is required once any work has been completed and before delivery, unless there is an agreement for business clients to the contrary.
II. Clients are invoiced at the end of each calendar month and payment is required by Standing Order or within 15 days. No work will be carried out whilst there is an overdue balance.
III. Where payment is made by cheque and if for any reason the cheque is returned unpaid, any costs incurred by Office Assistants will be passed on to the client, together with an additional £10 administration charge.
IV. Office Assistants reserves the right to charge interest @ 8% above base rate on any outstanding balances to cover the additional storage / administrative costs of work not collected.
V. Any work already undertaken by Office Assistants will be charged irrespective of cancellation. In the event of a client cancelling work, a cancellation charge will be made at basic daily rates. Any discounts given will be revoked and standard fees will apply.
VI. In the event of non payment by a limited company or partnership, Office Assistants reserves the right to pursue settlement of any outstanding balance directly from the personal funds of the directors or partners of that business.
Acceptance of these terms and conditions is implied when Office Assistants is asked to undertake work.
2. Deadlines
Whilst Office Assistants can agree to a suitable deadline for all work undertaken, deadlines can only be met if sufficient time has been given. Please note the following deadlines:
I. VAT Returns: Records must be delivered by the 14th of the month in order to meet a month end deadline.
II. CIS Returns: information must be received by the 10th of each month in order to meet a month end deadline.
III. Payroll: information must be given 48 hours prior to the pay date (Bank Holidays and weekends excluded).
IV. Year End Accounts: accounting records should be complete (with no missing information) and delivered within 6 weeks of the filing deadline at Companies House (10 months after the client’s accounting year end). An earlier delivery of records is preferable.
Whilst Office Assistants makes every effort to remind clients about their deadlines, they cannot be held responsible for any penalties and/or fines if the client fails to provide complete records by the deadline dates stated above.
It is the client’s responsibility to ensure all returns and payments are made on time in order to avoid penalties, interest and surcharges from HMRC. Office Assistants accepts no responsibility for the financial consequences incurred by clients who fail to make returns and payments by the stipulated deadlines and is not responsible for communicating the precise financial liability that will be faced should failure to meet deadlines occur.
3. Responsibility
I. Whilst Office Assistants offers a high standard of accuracy, the final responsibility of proof reading for any errors rests with the client. In the event of any errors being found within 24 hours of receipt by the client, Office Assistants undertakes that they will be rectified free of charge.
II. Office Assistants will not accept any responsibility for the end use of any document they produce or edit. Clients are solely responsible for appropriate use, including abiding by copyright laws, plagiarism laws and publishing requirements.
III. Office Assistants also retains the right to refuse work from any client if it is felt to involve material that may be illegal, immoral or objectionable.
IV. It is the responsibility of the client to ensure all calculations pertaining to VAT, taxes and salary are correct. Office Assistants accepts no responsibility for returns or payments made in incorrect amounts.
4. Security and Back-ups
I. All incoming e-mails and files will be scanned using Office Assistant’s latest anti-virus software. Every effort is made to ensure systems are virus free.
II. Any attachments to e-mails are believed to be free from viruses, however, it is the client’s responsibility to carry out all necessary checks before opening them and Office Assistants accepts no liability in connection therewith.
III. Office Assistants makes every effort to ensure that client’s data is secure and performs regular system backups. However, it is suggested that clients make their own copies of any work completed for them as back-up files are kept for a short period of time.
5. Exchange of Paperwork and Information
I. Office Assistants recommends that clients sending in original documents do so using a reliable tracing method such as Royal Mail Special Delivery or Recorded Delivery.
II. The preferred method for the delivery of information is via e-mail to info@officeassistants.org.uk.
III. Any client that wishes to personally deliver paperwork or information to Office Assistants must make an appointment in advance.
IV. All work completed by Office Assistants is returned to the client by normal postage. However, if the client desires, arrangements can be made to use Recorded Delivery and the postage costs for this will be passed on to the client.
6. Changes to the Terms and Conditions of Trading
I. Office Assistants may from time to time make changes to their Terms and Conditions of Trading and these changes will be published on this page of the company website. Clients should refer to this website for the most up to date version of the Terms and Conditions.
II. Office Assistants assumes a client’s continued acceptance of the Terms and Conditions, whether amended or not, unless the client states otherwise either in writing or verbally.