Terms and Conditions – Quality Transcription
1. General
1.1. Wherever these Terms and Conditions differ from an existing contract or service agreement, the conditions of the contract or service agreement take precedence.
1.2. Governing law and jurisdiction: The terms of this Agreement shall be governed and constructed in accordance with the law of Perth, Australia, and the parties submit to the jurisdiction of the Courts of Perth and the Commonwealth of Australia.
2. Definitions and Interpretation
2.1. QT/Us means Quality Transcription, ABN 14 115 037 718, any employees, agents or Subcontractors of Quality Transcription.
2.2. Rates refers to any of QT pricing brochures and rates displayed on the QT website as applicable in the current calendar year.
2.3. Client/You means anyone by whom QT has been engaged in the provision of services.
2.4. Transcript means the type-written version of audio provided by the Client to QT, and Transcription means the production of a Transcript by QT.
2.5. Manager refers to a duly authorised manager of QT.
2.6. Personal Information means the information or an opinion (including information or an opinion forming part of a database) whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained from the information or opinion.
2.7. Confidential Information means information that:
2.7.1. is by its nature confidential;
2.7.2. is identified (whether in writing or not) as confidential by the Client to QT;
2.7.3. QT knows or ought to know is confidential;
2.7.4. Is Personal Information.
2.8. Words importing a gender include the other; words in the singular number include the plural and vice versa; and references to legislation or to provisions in legislation include references to amendments or re-enactments of them and to all regulations and instruments issued under the legislation.
3. Supply of Services
3.1. QT provides a transcription, typing, document-production and virtual assistant/concierge service for businesses, institutions and individuals.
3.2. QT may be engaged in the provision of services explicitly, by verbal and written negotiation, or implicitly, by the provision of audio to QT by Client for the purpose of Transcription.
3.3. By engaging QT in the provision of services, the Client acknowledges that the Client has read and accepted the Terms and Conditions set out herewith.
3.4. QT reserves the right to decline to engage in the supply of services to any Client. This will usually be as a result of very poor quality audio. If QT declines to complete a Transcript at any stage during the supply of services to a Client, the Client will be notified as soon as practically possible and any services completed thus far will be invoiced and due for payment by the Client.
3.5. Supply of services may be carried out by either a QT employee or an authorised QT subcontractor.
4. Rates
4.1. Rates Sheets are available on the QT website,
4.1.1. in a separate rates letter/Client agreement; or,
4.1.2. in the case of prospective Clients, by email.
4.2. Upon providing QT with audio for Transcription, it is deemed that you have read, understood and accepted all information contained in the Rates Sheet, and are liable for all subsequent Transcription costs incurred by Us.
4.3. Itemised quotations for cost of services are provided in good faith, and are an approximation of anticipated charges based on information provided by Client. A precise assessment of final charges will be made once the audio has been received, and other factors relevant to the Transcription of the audio are known. QT reserves the right to alter the final charges made to Clients, in line with Rates Sheet, where circumstances change.
4.4. For all Clients, pricing is based on a rate per audio minute, dependent on audio quality.
4.4.1. ‘Audio minutes’ refers the total minutes of transcribed audio per file, with each file rounded up to the nearest whole minute.
4.4.2. ‘Audio quality’ is rated from low through to high, with ‘low’ audio charged at a higher rate in line with our standard rates.
4.5. QT will only inform Client of a divergence from a quotation if the cost of services is likely to vary by greater than 15%.
4.6. In special circumstances, QT is able to provide an enforceable pricing agreement with a Client. To do so, the entirety of audio subject to the pricing agreement needs to be provided by the Client in order for QT to make an assessment of anticipated costs.
4.7. Discounts are available in the following circumstances:
4.7.1. A volume discount is available to Clients sending greater than 10 hours of audio in a single batch with flexible turnaround.
4.7.2. The decision as to whether or not the discount is applicable is at the discretion of the QT Manager and is determined on a case-by-case basis, however this will be confirmed with the Client prior to any costs being incurred.
5. Invoicing
5.1. An invoice for work completed is issued upon completion of services provided by QT, unless other arrangements are made.
5.2. QT reserves the right to issue invoices more frequently to new Clients, and also to require payment of outstanding invoices before continuing to provide services.
6. Payment
6.1. QT reserves the right to charge late fees on overdue amounts at a rate of 10% of the outstanding balance or $25 whichever is greater, per month.
6.1.1. QT payment terms are strictly pay on receipt unless otherwise agreed prior to the commencement of services. Late fees will be charged after an invoice remains outstanding for 10 days from the date of invoice.
6.2. QT retains ownership of all Transcripts until the invoice for those Transcripts is paid and reserves the right to take reasonable measures to recover costs from invoices outstanding greater than 30 days.
6.3. In the event of a cheque from Client being refused by the bank, or a refund being made by the credit card, Client will be responsible for all bank charges resulting from the returned cheque/credit card refund.
6.4. In the event of invoices that remain unpaid, QT has the right to commence legal proceedings to recover the debt.
6.5. Foreign Clients should note that whilst invoices are issued in local currency, credit cards are debited in Australian dollars (AUD). When reviewing credit card debits by QT, Client should allow for small price differences caused by short term currency exchange rate fluctuations.
6.6. Prepayment for Transcription is available at the discretion of Manager, and such funds provided to QT with this purpose in mind remain in your credit until exhausted by payment for services, or for a maximum of 12 months from the date of prepayment.
6.7. Surcharges apply for all payments made by credit card.
7. File Retrieval/Archiving
7.1. For security and confidentiality purposes, unless archiving is requested by Client, QT purges all Client Transcripts from our servers one week after completion of transcript.
7.2. A general offsite backup is maintained for approximately one year. Files may be retrieved during this time where possible for a small retrieval fee.
8. Turnaround
8.1. Except where another arrangement exists, turnarounds detailed in Rates Sheets operate as guidelines only and may vary depending on audio quality and volume of work. Turnarounds are not enforceable in any way. QT endeavours to meet all reasonable requests for specific turnaround times, and the Client may add notes detailing a specific turnaround request to any audio uploaded. QT will notify the Client if any reasonable deadline specified in a note is unlikely to be met.
9. Style
9.1. QT Standard (sometimes known as “intelligent verbatim”) style will be used for all transcripts of interviews/focus groups (and other multi-speaker recordings unless otherwise agreed). In order to improve the readability of the transcript, the Standard QT style excludes false starts, repeated words, verbal acknowledgements (when not pertinent to the meaning of the transcript), repetitive speech habits, over-talking and trailing off.
9.2. Dictation, unless instructions are given to the contrary, will be transcribed using the exercise of reasonable care, skill and discretion by the typist, with regard to punctuation, capitalisation, and spelling of words. This applies to all Transcription.
10. Trials
10.1. Where requested, and at the discretion of the Manager, QT may offer a free trial of services for two minutes of audio for the purpose of confirming template, style and quote specifications.
11. Cancellation
11.1. Where Transcription of a standard turnaround cancelled file has not yet been commenced, there is no fee charged for cancellation.
11.2. Where Transcription of a cancelled file has been commenced, Client will be charged for the audio minutes transcribed at the time of cancellation. Cancellation can be made by either party.
11.3. Where Transcription of a cancelled file has been completed, the full amount for Transcription of the file is payable. Cancellation can be made by either party.
12. Dispute resolution
12.1. Although all Transcripts are quality assured prior to return to Client, it must be noted that the final checking of Transcripts is the responsibility of the Client.
12.1.1. QT will comply with any reasonable request for correction of typing without charge, but does so at Manager’s discretion, taking into account quality of audio, nature of Transcript, and types of errors.
12.1.2. a request for the correction of a Transcript must be made within 14 days of issuance of invoice for the Transcript.
12.1.3. QT is not liable for any charges the Client might incur correcting a Transcript.
12.2. QT endeavours to resolve all disputes to the satisfaction of Client and aims to do so in a peaceable and amicable manner. If any dispute or difference arises out of, or in connection with, these Terms and Conditions which are unable to be resolved by negotiation, then QT and Client agree that the dispute shall be submitted to an independent mediator appointed by agreement between QT and Client. Any disputes regarding the quality of a Transcript should be assessed by a mediator familiar with the nature and standard practices of the industry. Costs for mediation are to be shared by the parties. In the event that either QT or Client should fail or refuse to agree to, or participate in, this dispute resolution procedure, then either party shall be free to seek to resolve matters by obtaining independent legal advice.
12.3. QT will provide appropriate avenues for people to state and resolve any grievances about the service received without fear of penalty or victimisation.
12.4. All grievances will be handled according to QT Terms and Conditions, Risk Management, Privacy and Confidentiality policies.
12.5. Consumers of QT services are able to lodge complaints in the following ways:
Via email: To the relevant staff member or to the manager. Via post: PO Box 5307, Dalkeith, WA, 6009.
12.5.1. Complaint details will be recorded, including: date of the complaint, name and contact details of the complainant (this information will be kept confidential),
a record of the investigations undertaken, the nature of the complaint (including subject and details of the matter), final action taken and the date and manner in which the complainant was informed of the outcome.
12.5.2. The complainant will be notified within 10 working days from the notification of the complaint as to the process being undertaken to reach a resolution and will be informed as to the final outcome and/or updated as appropriate. Organisational members will be given the opportunity to answer any complaint.
13. Warranties and liability
13.1. QT warrants that services will be provided using reasonable care and skill, and that all typists are subject to strict confidentiality agreements, have appropriate experience and have undergone a rigorous quality review process.
13.2. Sale of goods and services
13.2.1. Refunds for Transcription will only be considered after a mediation assessment.
13.3. QT shall not be liable for any loss, damage, costs, expenses or other claims for compensation arising from:
13.3.1. any breach by Client of these conditions;
13.3.2. any Client material or instructions supplied by Client which are incomplete, incorrect, inaccurate, illegible, out of sequence or in the wrong form, or arising from their late arrival or non arrival, or any other fault attributable to Client; 13.3.3. any use by Client of the transcribed or typed material for illegal or libellous purposes;
13.3.3. the production by QT of any Transcript, or the use by Client or anyone else of any Transcript.
13.4. QT recommends that any Client material sent to QT through the postal services is sent via Express Post. QT shall not be liable for any loss, damage, costs, expenses or other claims arising from any Client material which is lost or damaged through the postal system or of which Client have not retained a copy.
13.5. QT will not be liable for any loss or damage to any cassettes/discs or due to any mechanical failure of a cassette/disc. For this reason we recommend that Client maintain a duplicate copy of any material provided to us.
13.6. Force Majeure
13.6.1. QT does not accept liability for failing to supply services due to Acts of God, fire, flood, electrical or telecommunications problems or any other reason beyond our control.
13.7. All incoming emails, discs, CDs or other media will be scanned for viruses. QT will not open unsolicited emails or email attachments which do not have an accompanying explanatory message.
13.7.1. QT will endeavour to scan all email attachments sent to customers. However, it is the responsibility of all recipients to check attachments prior to opening the file as no responsibility or liability will be accepted by QT.
14. Confidentiality
14.1. The Client warrants that it has the right to disclose any Confidential Information which it discloses to QT.
14.2. The Client agrees to save, protect, defend, indemnify and hold QT harmless from and against any and all claims and/or financial losses of any type arising from any third party claim that use of the information disclosed by QT hereunder in accordance with these Terms and Conditions violates or infringes any third party’s property or proprietary rights of any kind.
14.3. QT and its operations will at all times adhere to the letter and spirit of the National Privacy Principles as set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
14.4. QT at all times acknowledges that Confidential Information remains the exclusive property of Client and this agreement does not convey any proprietary or other interest in the Confidential Information to QT, except in circumstances where Clause 6.3 applies.
14.5. QT will use the Confidential Information provided by the Client only for the purpose of providing the services to Client.
14.6. QT agrees that during and after the provision of services:
14.6.1. It will only disclose the Confidential Information on a “need to know” basis to its directors, employees, agents or subcontractors for the purposes of providing the Services.
14.6.2. It will inform its directors, employees, agents or Subcontractors of their obligation under these Terms and Conditions and will ensure they sign any confidentiality agreements which are necessary to ensure their compliance with these Terms and Conditions and the standards required by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
14.6.3. Confidential Information will be kept in a secure location where it cannot be accessed by any third party.
14.7. The obligations of QT under these Terms and Conditions will not be taken to have been breached where the Confidential Information:
14.7.1. is legally required to be disclosed, provided the Client is notified promptly in order to contest such a disclosure;
14.7.2. is or becomes generally available to the public through no wrongful act, omission or breach of these Terms and Conditions by QT;
14.7.3. was in QT’s possession prior to the time it was acquired from the Client free from any obligation as to confidentiality and was not acquired, directly or indirectly, from the Client;
14.7.4. has been independently developed or acquired by QT;
14.7.5. forms part of a Transcript that falls under the conditions set out in Clause 6.3 retaining ownership of the Transcripts until the invoice for those Transcripts is paid.
14.8. Term and Termination:
14.8.1. obligations as to the non-disclosure of Confidential Information are ongoing and will survive the expiration or termination of the provision of the services.
14.9. Waiver and Variation:
14.9.1. a provision or obligation under these Terms and Conditions may not be waived except in writing signed by the party granting the waiver
14.9.2. a provision or obligation under these Terms and Conditions may not be varied except in writing signed by the parties.
15. Signing
15.1. All Clients are taken to have read, understood, accepted and agreed to these Online Terms and Conditions set out above. The upload of files and/or instruction to commence services constitutes acceptance of the Online Terms and Conditions.
QT Transcription, ABN 14 115 037 718
PO Box 5307, Dalkeith, Western Australia, 6009