Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of These Terms

By accessing this website, sending a message through the contact form, requesting a quotation or accepting a quotation, you agree to these Terms of Service. If you do not agree with any part of these terms, please do not use the site and do not engage the Company for work. Where you act on behalf of an organisation, you confirm that you have authority to bind that organisation to these terms.

A signed proposal or a written confirmation by email that refers to these terms forms a binding agreement between the client and SNTK SYSTEMS LLC. Where a signed proposal contains terms that differ from these terms, the signed proposal takes priority for the engagement it covers.

2. About the Company

SNTK SYSTEMS LLC is a computer integrated systems design practice that works from a relay room in Duluth. The company address is 285 Henley Pl, Duluth - 30097-1976, United States (US). The contact email address is service@sntksystems.us and the contact telephone number is +12706379764. All references to the Company, we, us and our in these terms describe SNTK SYSTEMS LLC.

The Company works on racks, patch bays, bus bars, relay hardware, signal tracing and grounding for facilities of many kinds. It offers design, assembly, testing, documentation and maintenance services connected with those systems.

3. Services We Provide

The Company provides professional services under six broad headings: stack frame layout and cabinet scheduling, patch bay inspection and wiring, bus bar bonding and continuity work, relay replacement and testing, signal tracing and drawing correction, and ground path checking. A description of each heading appears on the services page of this website. The description is informative and does not amount to a promise that every engagement will include every task.

The scope of a particular engagement is defined in the quotation or the proposal that the client accepts. Work outside that scope is treated as additional work under the changes section below. The Company may decline work that it cannot carry out safely, lawfully or to its own standard, and it will explain the reason for a refusal.

4. Quotations and Proposals

A quotation is based on the information available at the time it is prepared, including any site reading, drawing or note supplied by the client. A quotation remains open for the period stated in it, and if no period is stated it remains open for thirty days from the date it is issued. The Company may withdraw a quotation before it is accepted if the underlying information turns out to be materially wrong.

A quotation is not a fixed price guarantee where the scope depends on conditions that cannot be seen until work begins. Where an unseen condition is discovered, such as concealed damage, an unrecorded circuit or a building constraint, the Company will stop, inform the client and agree a revised scope before continuing. The Company will not carry out unplanned work and present an unexpected invoice.

5. Engagements and Scheduling

A date offered for a site visit or a swap window is a reservation, not a guarantee, until the engagement is confirmed in writing. The Company schedules work in a way that allows each row on the bay to be completed and proven without rushing. If a client needs a date moved, the Company will make a reasonable effort to accommodate the request and will confirm any effect on other work.

Where a client cancels a confirmed booking at short notice, the Company may charge for the reserved time, as described in the cancellation section. The Company will always try to offer a replacement date before applying a charge.

6. Client Responsibilities

The client agrees to provide accurate information about the room, the building and the systems involved. The client agrees to supply any drawing, schedule, access credential or permit that a lawful and safe visit requires, and to nominate a person with authority to approve changes during the work. The client agrees to pay the agreed fees on time and to tell the Company promptly about anything that might affect the work.

Where the client supplies drawings that turn out to be out of date, the client remains responsible for the consequences of relying on them, though the Company will typically identify a discrepancy during a signal trace or a stack frame review anyway. The client also agrees not to ask the Company to carry out work that would breach a building code, a lease or a safety rule.

7. Site Access and Safety

The client agrees to provide safe access to every area named in the scope, including the lighting, the working space and the isolation arrangements needed to carry out the work without risk. Where a lock, a badge or an induction is needed, the client agrees to arrange it before the visit. The Company reserves the right to stop work if a site is unsafe and to reschedule once the condition is corrected.

The Company will follow the safety rules of the building and will use its own protective equipment. Where a live system must remain energised, the Company and the client will agree in advance on the boundaries and on who is authorised to operate the system. No employee or contractor of the Company will work on a live conductor without an agreed procedure.

8. Fees, Invoicing and Payment

Fees are stated in the quotation and may be set as a fixed amount, a time and materials rate or a combination of both. Parts and consumables are charged at the agreed rate unless a fixed figure is stated. Travel and accommodation are quoted separately where a site lies outside the Duluth area.

Invoices are due within the period stated on the invoice, and if no period is stated they are due within thirty days of the invoice date. The Company may charge interest on an overdue amount where the law permits. If an invoice remains unpaid after a reasonable reminder, the Company may suspend further work until the account is current. A client who disputes an invoice should raise the point in writing within the stated period so that the matter can be resolved before the next visit.

9. Changes and Additional Work

Where the client asks for a change to the scope, the Company will prepare a short written change note describing the additional work and its effect on the price and the schedule. Work on the change begins only after the client approves the note. Where an urgent safety issue requires immediate action, the Company may act first and document the change immediately afterwards.

The client agrees not to instruct an employee of the Company to carry out additional work outside the agreed channels. This protects both sides, because it keeps every part of the engagement within a scope that has been priced and approved.

10. Intellectual Property

The Company retains ownership of its methods, its templates, its generic drawings and its documentation style. On full payment of the fees for an engagement, the client receives a licence to use the project drawings, the test records and the handover binder for the upkeep of the room covered by the engagement. The licence covers the client and any party the client engages to maintain the room, and it does not permit resale of the material as a stand alone product.

The text, layout, code and imagery of this website remain the property of the Company and its licensors. You may read the site and print a copy for your own reference. You may not copy the site into another product, remove a notice of ownership or present the material as your own.

11. Confidentiality

Each party agrees to keep confidential any non public information that the other party shares during an engagement. Information about a room, a building layout, a security arrangement, a client list or a pricing schedule is treated as confidential. The obligation applies during the engagement and continues for a reasonable period after it ends.

The obligation does not apply to information that is already public, that the receiving party already held without restriction, that the receiving party develops independently or that the law requires the receiving party to disclose. Where disclosure is required by law, the receiving party will notify the other party where it is lawful to do so.

12. Third Party Materials and Tools

The Company may specify hardware, software or services from a third party supplier. The Company will choose a supplier with reasonable care and will pass on any warranty that the supplier offers where that is possible. The Company does not make an independent warranty about a third party product and is not responsible for a defect that lies within the product itself.

Where a third party licence or a third party subscription is required to use a system, the client is responsible for that licence and its renewal unless the scope states otherwise.

13. Warranty and Service Standards

The Company warrants that it will carry out its work in a competent and workmanlike manner, with reasonable skill and care, and in line with the approved drawings and the applicable codes. Where a defect in the work of the Company appears within the period stated in the engagement, the Company will correct it at no additional charge for labour. The warranty does not cover damage caused by misuse, by alteration by another party, by a failure in a third party product or by an event outside the control of the Company.

The warranty remedy is the correction of the affected work. If correction is not practical, the Company may offer a proportionate refund of the fee for the affected item. Nothing in this section limits a right that the law gives a consumer which cannot be excluded.

14. Limitation of Liability

To the extent permitted by law, the total liability of the Company arising from an engagement is limited to the amount of the fees paid for the part of the work that gave rise to the claim. The Company is not liable for lost profit, lost revenue, lost data, loss of goodwill or an indirect loss, even if the possibility of such a loss was mentioned before the engagement.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for fraud, for wilful misconduct, for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded. Where a limitation is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force.

15. Indemnity

The client agrees to indemnify the Company against a claim, a loss or a cost arising from inaccurate information supplied by the client, from a breach of the client duties in these terms or from a condition on the site that the client knew about and did not disclose. The Company agrees to indemnify the client against a claim that directly results from a breach by the Company of these terms or from the negligence of the Company in carrying out the work.

A party that seeks an indemnity must tell the other party promptly, must allow the other party to take part in the defence where it is reasonable and must not settle a claim in a way that admits fault on the part of the other party without that party being informed.

16. Cancellation and Suspension

The client may cancel a confirmed engagement in writing. Where a cancellation is received more than the notice period stated in the engagement before the booked date, no cancellation charge applies, although the Company may invoice for work already carried out and for parts already ordered. Where a cancellation is received with less notice, the Company may charge for the reserved time up to the value of the booking.

The Company may suspend or end an engagement if the client fails to pay a sum that is due, if the client asks for work that would be unsafe or unlawful or if the conduct of the client makes it unreasonable to continue. In that case the Company will give written reasons and will invoice for work carried out up to the date of suspension.

17. Force Majeure

Neither party is liable for a delay or a failure that is caused by an event outside its reasonable control, such as a severe weather event, a power failure across a region, a widespread transport disruption, a public health restriction or an act of a public authority. The affected party will tell the other party promptly and will make a reasonable effort to resume the work. If the event continues for a long period, either party may end the affected engagement without a cancellation charge, and the Company will invoice only for work completed.

18. Acceptable Use of This Website

You agree to use this website lawfully and in a way that does not interfere with its operation or with the use of the site by another person. You may not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the site or to its underlying systems, you may not introduce malicious code and you may not use an automated process to harvest content in a way that places an unreasonable load on the site.

The site is provided as a source of information about the Company and its services. The content is offered in good faith and with reasonable care. The Company does not promise that every detail is complete for a particular purpose, and a visitor should not rely on the site alone when planning a technical change to a real installation.

19. Governing Law and Disputes

These terms are governed by the law of the state in which the Company keeps its registered address, without regard to rules that would apply the law of another place. The courts of that state have jurisdiction over a dispute, subject to any right that a consumer may have to bring a claim in a local court.

Before a dispute goes to a court, the parties agree to discuss the matter in good faith. The client may write to service@sntksystems.us and the Company will respond within a reasonable period. Many disagreements are resolved at that stage, because the records of the work and the original scope are usually clear.

20. General Provisions

If any provision of these terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision is limited or removed to the minimum extent necessary and the remaining provisions continue in full force. A failure by either party to enforce a provision on one occasion is not a waiver of the right to enforce it later.

These terms, together with an accepted quotation and any signed change note, form the whole agreement between the parties on the subject of the engagement. Either party may assign the agreement only with the written consent of the other party, except in the case of a sale of the whole business of the Company. A notice under these terms must be in writing and sent to the address or the email address stated below.

The Company may update these terms from time to time to reflect a change in law or in its practice. A material change is posted on this page with a new effective date and applies to new engagements from that date. An engagement already in progress is governed by the terms that applied when it began, unless both parties agree otherwise in writing.

21. Contact Details

Questions about these Terms of Service may be sent to the Company using the details below. Please include the engagement reference where one exists so that the message can be routed to the right record.