Our Terms & Conditions

OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS You won't find any fine print here, but all contracts and assignments entered into with dbate will be subject to the following Terms and Conditions. Please read the text below thoroughly before placing your order, because by placing an order with us you will be deemed to have read and agreed to the following Terms and Conditions:

Your personal data
First of all, be assured that we will never reveal your personal data to third parties under any circumstances, other than where required by law.

Fairness Principle
dbate operates based on the 'Fairness Principle'. This means that we are dedicated, in all fairness, to do our best to satisfy our customers. The section below explains how we work.

We guarantee the quality of our work.
What do we mean by 'guarantee'? It means that we will work with you, as a team and within the limits of the conditions outlined below, to ensure that you'll always have the best English text and instruction possible in the end. We are committed to the quality of our work, and we'll continue to work with you until the results are the best they could possibly be. This is all about making sure that you're satisfied with your text.

You are the owner
It's important to remember that you are always the owner of the text. The final responsibility for the approval of the text is always yours. It's therefore essential for you to communicate all your doubts and questions to us as soon as possible. We can only give you our best if you are sure exactly what you want, and you communicate it to us clearly and in good time. Please note that this means that you cannot under, any circumstances, hold us liable if you publish a text processed by us without having first checked and approved it yourself. If you do have any reservations whatsoever about the text, you are hereby expressly advised to communicate your reservations to us within five days of having received the completed assignment from us. Failure on your part to do so will automatically exempt us from further liability for subsequent damage or losses of any nature whatsoever incurred on your part due to the commercial or other use of the text.

Approval Period
Given all of the above, and given the fact that you are always the owner of the text, we have formulated a strict policy with regard to approvals, disapprovals, guarantees and revisions: It's up to you to communicate any questions you might have about the text to us within a period of 5 (five) workdays. If we have not received any queries or feedback from you within 5 (five) workdays of the date of delivery of the assignment, you will be deemed to have approved the work, and will thereby waive all further claims of any nature whatsoever against us with respect to the applicable assignment and related consequences. Any additional work on the applicable assignment, after the five-day approval period, may be deemed as extra work, and may entail additional charges. Although this is our policy, we understand that this is all about delivering the best work possible. And we want you to be satisfied. So, obviously, we will always be open to working with you to resolve every reasonable doubt or query.

Timelines, Rush Jobs and Quality
Keeping the above in mind, please always try to give us enough time to give our very best performance. Of course, that's not always possible, especially in the case of 'rush jobs'. Obviously you'll only order a rushed job when you need the results as soon as possible: But keep in mind that the faster they work, the more mistakes human beings make. So be sure to give us AND yourself enough time to revise the translated or edited text. You are the owner of the text, so the burden is on you to make absolutely sure that the final text is the one you want and are prepared to publish. You are ultimately exclusively responsible for your text.

Human Labour, Human Error and Second Opinions
It's worth keeping in mind that translation, editing and copywriting are forms of human labour, and therefore prone to human error. Like any other human process, the translation or editing process is not necessarily always going to be perfect after a single session. You would not expect it from a copywriter or advertising agency, so why would you expect it from a translator? The first draft you see might not be perfect yet. It's a human work process and it's personal: every author, translator, or editor will deliver a (slightly) different version of any given text. And every different reader could conceivably imagine a better or different style or version. Keep in mind that the version you ultimately prefer is a question of taste and personal preference. The mere fact that 'someone else' thinks the text 'could be better' is not necessarily proof that the text in review is 'not correct' or not an accurate representation of your original source text. Please be aware of the fact that we will NOT accept any third-party second opinion as being anything more than a 'personal opinion'. Please keep this in mind when seeking second opinions. If you do feel the need for a second opinion, by all means do so, but communicate this to us, and we will, in good faith, do the same. That way, you will be sure to get the best of both worlds. It is very important to understand that, under no circumstances will we waive our fees if you decide to consult a third party for a second opinion prior to having requested us to review the text first. Your decision to consult a third party for a second opinion will in no way diminish your payment obligations towards us for work done. Please remember that our aim is to satisfy your requirements, so please always talk to us first!

Word Count and Hourly Estimates
In the case of a translation assignment, we will calculate our fees based on the word count in the source text (Dutch). The English text is normally approximately 10-20% more than the source language . In the case of an editing or writing assignment, we will give you the most accurate possible estimate of the time we expect to put into the work. Our fees will be calculated based on the actual time invested in the job; which may deviate from the estimate by approximately 10-20% in either direction. Alternatively, if you prefer, we could agree on a fixed rate in advance.

Text changes after order placement
In principle, we will start to process your text as soon as we have received the order confirmation for the assignment. Any changes on your part to the text, after the work on the text has begun will, in principle, be subject to additional charges for extra work. We will notify you in advance of all additional charges.

Delivery Periods and Payment
We will deliver all assignments by or before the deadlines specified in your order. If we are unable to do so due to a force majeure or circumstances beyond our control, we will notify you to that effect at the earliest possible time to enable you to make alternative arrangements. All payments are calculated in EUROS and subjects to local Value Added Tax of 21%. By placing your order for an assignment with us, you accept our payment conditions: All invoices are to be fulfilled in full within 30 days of the invoice date. In the case of large assignments (valued at over € 500 per order), you may be asked for an advance payment of up to 50% of the quoted total amount.

Once you have placed the order, you will be liable to pay the agreed amount in full within 30 days of the invoice date without settlement, suspension, price reduction or other reservations. This also applies where you seek a second opinion or remove the assignment from us after placement with us. Disagreement on the quality or content of the text will under no circumstances diminish your obligation to fulfil all invoices in full. If payment has not been fulfilled after the expiry of the payment period, you will be deemed to be in default without the need for a reminder or notice of default (Article 6:81 and 6:82 sub a of the Dutch Civil Code) and you will be bound to pay losses due to delays in the form of 6% interest per month on the outstanding amount, as well as the actual extrajudicial collection costs to a minimum of 15% of the invoice amount.

Liability
Liability on the part of dbate, on any grounds whatsoever, for damages of any kind including but not limited to: direct and indirect damages, loss of profits, consequential damages, lost profits, lost savings, loss of goodwill, damage through business interruptions, damage incurred or to be incurred by third parties or customers or customers of the customer by or in connection with the assignment, is limited to the maximum amount that the dbate insurer pays out for such claims, except in the case of intent or deliberate negligence on the part of dbate or one of its executives.

Prevalence
In the case of conflict between your General Terms and Conditions and these Terms and Conditions, these Terms and Conditions will at all times prevail.

Applicable Law & Conflict Resolution
All assignments taken on by us are subject to the laws of the European Union. By placing an assignment with us, you will be deemed to agree that, in the case of a conflict arising out of the applicable assignment, the matter will be resolved as follows: You will appoint two experts to assess the quality of the assignment on your behalf. We will appoint two experts to assess the quality of the assignment on our behalf. Your assessors will cooperate with ours and come to an agreement concerning the appointment of a fifth expert assessor. All five assessors will then determine (by vote if necessary) how the conflict is to be resolved. The assessors' final decision will be binding for both parties. Each party will be liable for all costs related to its own assessors and both parties will share the cost of the fifth assessor on a 50/50 basis.

Questions?

If you have a job that needs to be done, simply call us at +31 35 7725225 or send us an email with your text attached. We'll get back to you as soon as possible with an offer.