The rules of the road, in plain English

Scope

What these terms cover

These terms apply to services provided by Orca IT Solutions, a family-owned IT company based in Gilbert, Arizona.

They govern computer and laptop repair, network and server work, cyber security services, remote support and managed IT under our Pod Care plan, whether performed onsite in the Phoenix metro or remotely anywhere in the United States. By approving an estimate, authorizing work, or using our services, you agree to these terms.

Your specific engagement comes first

Where you have a signed service agreement, a managed services scope document or an approved written estimate, that document governs the specifics of your engagement, what is included, what is excluded, response expectations and pricing. These general terms fill in everything that document does not address. If the two conflict, your engagement document wins.

We reserve the right to decline or discontinue work where it would be unsafe, unlawful, or beyond our competence to perform properly. If we cannot do something well, we will say so and, where we can, point you toward someone who can.

Your responsibilities

To do our job we need honest information and reasonable access. That means telling us what changed before something broke, providing physical or remote access to the systems involved, ensuring you have the legal right to authorize work on the equipment and accounts concerned, and holding valid licenses for the software you ask us to install or support.

• Provide accurate information about the systems, the fault and any prior repair attempts
• Ensure you own or are authorized to approve work on the equipment and accounts
• Hold valid licenses for software we are asked to install, migrate or support
• Give reasonable and safe access to premises, equipment and network for onsite work
• Nominate someone who can answer questions and approve decisions during a project

Money

Estimates, approval and payment

Nothing gets billed that you did not approve. That is the core of how we handle money, and the rest is detail.

Estimates and approval

Estimates are provided free of charge and are based on the information available at the time. Hardware repair is quoted after a diagnostic, because the same symptom can have very different causes and costs. Work begins only after you approve the scope and price, and approval may be given in writing, by email or by text.

If during the work we discover something that changes the scope or the cost, a second fault behind the first, a part that is no longer available, an environment that differs from what was described, we stop and contact you. We do not continue on the assumption that you would have agreed. Estimates remain valid for the period stated on the estimate; hardware pricing in particular moves with supply. Full detail on this process is on our estimates page.

Payment terms

Invoices for one-time repairs and projects are due on the terms stated on the invoice, generally upon completion or upon collection of equipment. Managed IT is billed monthly in advance at a flat per-user rate on a consistent date. Projects that require us to purchase hardware on your behalf may require a deposit covering that equipment, which is stated in the proposal before anything is ordered.

We accept Zelle, PayPal, major credit and debit cards, and ACH or business check from business accounts. There is no surcharge for choosing one accepted method over another. Accepted methods and invoice timing are described on our payments page. Overdue accounts may result in work being paused, and any late charges will be as stated on your invoice. We would always rather have a conversation about a cash-flow problem than send a reminder into silence.

Hardware, licenses and ownership

Hardware and third-party licenses purchased on your behalf belong to you. Manufacturer and publisher warranties and license terms apply to those items directly, and we will help you make a claim under them. You retain ownership of your data, your domain, your Microsoft 365 tenant and your configurations at all times, including after our engagement ends.

No surprise line items

If it is not on an estimate you approved or included in your managed scope, it does not appear on your invoice without a conversation first.

Equipment, Data and Warranty

Devices in our care, your backups, and what is warranted

These three sections matter most in the rare cases where something goes wrong. Please read them.

Equipment left with us

When a repair is complete or you decline to proceed, we will contact you to arrange collection or return. Equipment left with us for more than 30 days after we notify you that it is ready, without arrangement, may be treated as abandoned and disposed of or recycled in accordance with Arizona law, and storage charges may apply.

This is not a policy we enjoy enforcing and we make a genuine effort to reach people first, by phone and text. If you need more time, simply tell us. An arrangement made in advance is always fine. Any device we do dispose of has its storage wiped or destroyed rather than passed on.

Backups and data

Please read this paragraph carefully. You are responsible for maintaining a current backup of your data before any service is performed. Repair, upgrade, reinstallation, migration and recovery work all carry an inherent risk to data, particularly on drives that are already failing, which is frequently the reason the device came to us in the first place.

We take reasonable care, and where a backup is possible we will offer to make one or advise you to. But we cannot guarantee the preservation of data on hardware that is already degraded, and we are not liable for data loss where no usable backup existed. Data recovery, where attempted, is offered on a best-efforts basis: some drives are recoverable, some are partially recoverable, and some are not recoverable at any price. We will tell you honestly which category we think yours is in before you spend money on it. Backup design and monitored recovery are part of what we do for managed clients precisely because this problem is preventable.

Warranty on parts and labor

We warrant our workmanship and the parts we supply. The specific warranty period and conditions applicable to your job are stated on your invoice, so please keep it. If something we repaired fails in a way related to our work within that period, bring it back and we will make it right.

Warranty does not cover new or unrelated faults, accidental or liquid damage occurring after the repair, damage from power events, software or configuration changes made by others afterward, or hardware failure outside the parts we supplied. Manufacturer warranties on hardware we procure for you are provided by the manufacturer under their own terms, and we will assist you in claiming under them.

Legal

Liability, confidentiality, termination and governing law

The standard sections, kept as short and readable as we can make them.

Limitation of liability

Our services are provided with reasonable skill and care. To the fullest extent permitted by Arizona law, our total liability arising out of or relating to a particular engagement is limited to the amount you paid us for that engagement. We are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential or special damages, including lost profits, lost business opportunity, or loss of data.

We do not offer legally binding uptime or response guarantees, and we do not certify any client as compliant with HIPAA, PCI DSS or any other framework. What we do is implement and document the technical safeguards those frameworks require. Any provider claiming to certify your compliance is overstating what they can deliver.

Confidentiality

Information about your business, network, systems and data that we encounter in the course of providing services is treated as confidential and is not disclosed to third parties except as needed to deliver the service you asked for, or where legally required. This obligation continues after our engagement ends. How we handle personal information specifically is described in our privacy policy.

Termination

Managed services do not require a long-term contract. Either party may end the arrangement with reasonable written notice as stated in your service agreement. On termination, we will provide documentation and hand over credentials and administrative access for systems we manage on your behalf, and you will settle any amounts due for services already delivered. We do not hold client environments hostage, and we do not charge a fee to release access that was always yours.

Governing law and changes to these terms

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Arizona, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute will be handled in the state or federal courts located in Maricopa County, Arizona. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remainder continues in effect.

We may update these terms from time to time; the current version on this page applies to work approved after it is posted. Terms specific to your engagement, including warranty details, appear on your estimate and invoice. Questions go through the contact form on this page or (602) 677-0779.

Questions before you approve?

Ask us. Clear expectations at the start prevent almost every dispute at the end. (602) 677-0779.