Terms for managed projects

Booking terms

Written in plain language and not yet reviewed by a lawyer. Where this and the law disagree, the law wins.

What you are agreeing to. When you accept a quote, SERVEOT books the people named on it for the dates on it, on your behalf. The quote is the agreement: the work in it, the prices in it, and nothing that is not.

What is included. Finding and approaching suitable people, comparing them, getting prices, and coordinating them so the project happens. SERVEOT's fee for that work is a line of its own on every quote and is never taken out of what a supplier charges.

What is not included. Anything not on the quote. Travel, extra days, additional images, usage beyond what was agreed, or work added after the quote was accepted are all quoted separately before they happen.

Who does the work. The professionals named on the quote. They are independent, and SERVEOT is not their employer. SERVEOT chooses them, coordinates them and stands behind that choice, but does not perform the work itself.

What SERVEOT cannot promise. That a particular person is available until they have confirmed, that weather holds, that a shoot produces the images you imagined, or anything else that depends on somebody else's judgement. What is promised is the sourcing, the coordination and honest answers about what is going wrong when something is.

Changes. Tell SERVEOT as early as you can. A change before anyone is booked usually costs nothing. A change after costs whatever the suppliers charge for it, and that is quoted before it is agreed.

Cancellation

Written in plain language and not yet reviewed by a lawyer. Where this and the law disagree, the law wins.

Before you accept a quote. Nothing is owed. A quote is an offer and you can ignore it.

After you accept, before anyone is booked. Cancel and you owe SERVEOT's fee for the work already done, and nothing else. SERVEOT will tell you exactly where the project stands when you ask.

After people are booked. The suppliers' own cancellation terms apply, and those are stated on the quote wherever they are known. A studio held for a date and a photographer who turned other work down are real costs to somebody, and SERVEOT will not pretend otherwise. What SERVEOT can do is ask, and it will.

If SERVEOT cancels. If a project cannot be delivered for a reason on SERVEOT's side, you get everything back, including the fee.

If a supplier drops out. SERVEOT replaces them at the agreed price where that is possible, and tells you straight away where it is not. You are never charged twice for the same thing.

Working together directly

Written in plain language and not yet reviewed by a lawyer. Where this and the law disagree, the law wins.

The short version: SERVEOT does not own your relationships.

There is no period during which you may not speak to, hire, or work with somebody you met through SERVEOT. Not two years, not one, not any. A search introduces you and what you agree afterwards is yours — SERVEOT takes no commission on it and never has.

The one thing that is asked, and it is about a project rather than about people: when SERVEOT has done the sourcing for a managed project — found the people, approached them, negotiated the prices and put a quote in front of you — that project is booked through SERVEOT. Going around it after the work is done means SERVEOT did the sourcing for nothing, and the fee on the quote is what pays for that work.

That is limited to the project SERVEOT actually worked on. The next one is entirely yours to arrange however you like, with the same people, without asking.

Why it is written this way. A non-circumvention clause is usually a way of holding a relationship hostage because the middleman is not sure they are worth calling twice. SERVEOT would rather be worth calling twice.

Partner terms

Written in plain language and not yet reviewed by a lawyer. Where this and the law disagree, the law wins.

When these apply. When you take work through a managed SERVEOT project. They do not apply to work a brand found through a search and arranged with you directly — SERVEOT takes no part in that and no commission on it.

What you are agreeing to. The scope, the price and the dates in the booking SERVEOT sends you. If any of it is wrong, say so before you accept rather than after.

Being paid. SERVEOT pays you what was agreed, on the terms in the booking. You invoice SERVEOT, not the brand, on a managed project. If SERVEOT has not been paid, that is SERVEOT's problem to solve and not a reason to delay you beyond the agreed terms.

If you cannot do it. Tell SERVEOT the moment you know. Nobody is punished for an honest early no. What causes real damage is silence, and a partner who goes quiet on a booked project will not be put in front of another brand.

Your own work. Copyright, usage and licensing stay as you and the brand agree them, and the booking states what usage was sold. SERVEOT does not acquire rights in your work by arranging the booking.

Being listed. A profile SERVEOT built about you from public sources is yours to correct or remove at any time, whether or not you ever take work through it.

Refunds on managed projects

Written in plain language and not yet reviewed by a lawyer. Where this and the law disagree, the law wins.

This covers managed projects. Search credits are covered separately at /refund, and those rules are more generous because a search is a smaller thing to argue about.

Money not yet spent comes back. Anything paid to SERVEOT that has not been committed to a supplier is returned on request, at any point, for any reason.

Money already with a supplier follows that supplier's terms, which are on the quote where they are known. SERVEOT will ask on your behalf and tell you the answer whether or not it is the one you wanted.

The SERVEOT fee is for work that has been done. Where the work has genuinely not been done — a project cancelled before sourcing started, or one SERVEOT could not deliver — the fee comes back too.

If something went wrong. Say so. A project that was badly handled is worth more to SERVEOT as a corrected mistake than as a kept fee, and there is no form to fill in: reply to the email with your project reference in it.

Questions

contact@serveot.com, with your project reference in the subject if you have one.