Fees, Terms & Conditions

Fees
My fees are based upon the time taken to research the specific topic or subject requested by the client. The rate of my fee is appropriate to the complexity of the research undertaken. The rate can vary from assignment to assignment as the projects are generally specific to the client.

I normally ask the client to cover certain costs - such as when there is a lot of data that needs photocopying, or the international postage is considerable or if there are banking fees etc. I do not charge for normal travelling expenses or time spent travelling. I only charge for time spent directly on the research project. My normal commission is for a minimum of one hour's research and I can provide free estimates as to the duration of projects.

Terms and Conditions

A note on Copyright

Most of the documents we source, identify and / or locate are Crown Copyright. Electronic versions that are obtained on your behalf from The National Archives, other archives or elsewhere are the copyright of the provider (i.e. the archive facility holding them). Usually their copyright terms do not permit you to reproduce them and it is advised that you consider reading their terms. In obtaining these documents we are acting as your agent or representative and do not take any form of title to the documents. Any report(s) produced by us and all of its contents are our copyright, as are any digital photographs that we take of the originals. All of these documents remain as our copyright but you are given a free licence to reproduce them for any non-commercial purpose.

Basic Terms

The fees and scope of the project will be defined in correspondence with you. Please notethe followign terms:

a) The quotation forms part of the agreement between us and you.
b) We will undertake research work as instructed by you.
c) We will use reasonable endeavours to perform the research and with due care and diligence.
d) We will try to identify all information required but it must be noted that record series are not always complete and often no records may have survived.
e) We will aim to produce the deliverables in the format requested.
f) The agreed research will normally be started within two months of receipt of payment. This cannot be guaranteed and it should be noted that some projects have an open-ended nature.
g) Fees once paid are non-refundable unless agreed by us prior to the commencement of the research. We reserve the right to charge a cancellation fee.
h) We retain all intellectual property used or generated by the research project.
i) You agree that we may use the information discovered during the project for use on our website or any websites we are associated with, and any other form of publication such as for example books, periodicals and magazines.

Payment

We will agree a mutually beneficial method and mode of payment with you by correspondence.

Cancellation

The performance of our services commences immediately upon receipt of payment. You may cancel at any time prior to us receiving payment.

Deliverables

Our main / default method of delivery of reports, documents and any other supporting images is by fully electronic means. Copies of original documents will be from electronic scans produced by The National Archives or by digital photographs taken of the originals, microfiche or microfilm. Our report to you will normally be in PDF format. In most cases these documents are of a size that can be emailed to you. If the report and supporting images are too large in electronic terms or are of considerable Mega Bytes size then the report and images will be sent to the postal address of the client on suitable electronic media (normally but not necessarily CD-ROM or USB memory stick / card).

If you specifically wish to receive a "paper" report or images then our report and supporting documentation will be printed where possible. We reserve the right to levy a surcharge to cover these additional printing costs and for any postage charges resulting as a result of sending the material by post / courier.