Effective date: 6 October 2026
These Terms of Service ("Terms") apply to your use of burntproteasociety.com and to products and services supplied by The Burnt Protea Society ("BPS"), including BPS Digital.
BPS is operated by Robert Brett Mackay Suverkrop, trading as The Burnt Protea Society, as a sole trader in the United Kingdom.
Business correspondence address: 39 Redbud Road, Tonbridge, TN9 1FX
Email: theburntproteasociety@gmail.com
By purchasing a BPS product or service, placing an order, starting a paid subscription, or using a service that states these Terms apply, you agree to these Terms. If a written proposal, quotation, project agreement, MOU or contract contains different terms, that document takes priority for the matter it covers.
Nothing in these Terms removes rights that cannot lawfully be excluded or restricted.
1. BPS services
BPS may provide or develop services including:
- BPS Digital tools, including ASH, SEED, ROOT, STEM and BLOOM;
- website design and development under Websites by BPS Digital;
- website deposits and balance payments;
- Website Care subscriptions;
- Studio Time, credits or time-limited access;
- digital products, downloads and online tools;
- writing, editorial and publishing support;
- project development and creative support;
- BPS Focus Sessions and other one-to-one creative or practical support sessions; and
- other BPS products and services described at the point of purchase.
Features, availability and pricing may change over time. The product page, checkout page, quotation or written agreement in force when you order forms part of the description of what you are buying.
2. Website use
You may use the BPS website for lawful personal or business purposes.
You must not:
- misuse, attack, disrupt or attempt to gain unauthorised access to the website or any BPS system;
- upload malicious code or harmful material;
- use BPS services to infringe another person's rights;
- copy, scrape, reproduce or commercially exploit BPS website content, tools or systems except where law permits or BPS has agreed in writing;
- use BPS services for unlawful, fraudulent, abusive or deceptive activity; or
- attempt to bypass payment, access controls, usage limits or security measures.
3. Orders and contracts
A contract is formed when BPS accepts your order or booking, confirms a project or subscription, or otherwise confirms that we will provide the relevant paid product or service.
For bespoke work, the scope, price, stages, estimated timing and payment structure may also be set out in a proposal, quotation, email confirmation or separate agreement.
You are responsible for checking that the scope and information supplied to BPS are correct before work begins.
4. Website design and development
For website projects, the agreed proposal or quotation will define the work included.
Unless agreed otherwise:
- you must provide accurate information, content, approvals and access reasonably needed to complete the project;
- you are responsible for ensuring that material you provide can lawfully be used;
- delays in providing content, access or approvals may delay delivery;
- material changes outside the agreed scope may require a revised quotation or additional charge;
- third-party fees such as domains, premium software, paid plugins, specialist hosting or external subscriptions are not included unless expressly stated; and
- launch timing may depend on third-party providers, DNS changes, account verification or client approvals outside BPS control.
BPS may use reasonable reusable components, frameworks, templates and development methods when building a site.
5. Client payment accounts
BPS processes payments only for BPS products and services.
If BPS builds a website or payment flow for a client business, that client's customers must pay through the client's own Stripe or other payment account. Client customer payments must not be routed through the BPS Stripe account.
The client remains responsible for its own customer terms, refunds, taxes, privacy compliance, payment disputes and payment-provider account.
6. Deposits and balance payments
Where a deposit is required, the amount and purpose will be stated before payment.
A deposit may reserve project capacity and may be applied towards the total project price. Any rule stating that a deposit is non-refundable applies only to the extent permitted by law and subject to any statutory consumer cancellation rights.
For bespoke projects, the remaining balance is due at the stage stated in the quotation, invoice or project agreement. BPS may pause work, withhold final handover or postpone launch where an undisputed payment is overdue.
7. Website Care subscriptions
Where Website Care is sold as a recurring subscription:
- the price, billing interval and included services will be shown before purchase;
- the subscription renews automatically until cancelled unless stated otherwise;
- you may cancel through the available customer portal or by contacting BPS;
- where cancellation is set to take effect at the end of the current billing period, access or service continues until that period ends and no further renewal should be charged; and
- unless the purchase terms state a minimum commitment, there is no additional minimum term beyond the paid billing period.
Cancellation does not automatically create a right to a refund for a billing period already supplied, but this does not affect any statutory right to a refund, price reduction or other remedy.
8. BPS Focus Sessions
A Focus Session request is an enquiry only. Submitting a request does not create a booking and no payment is due at the request stage.
Unless the relevant page states otherwise, the Brett Suverkrop Focus Session is a 30-minute session priced at £30 once accepted. Requested time slots must be at least 24 hours after submission and remain subject to availability.
BPS may accept or decline a request after reviewing the subject, information supplied and proposed times. If accepted, BPS will confirm a suitable time and provide the applicable payment link. The session is not confirmed until the required payment has been received.
Focus Sessions provide practical, educational and creative guidance based on relevant experience. They do not provide legal, medical, therapeutic, financial, tax or other regulated professional advice, and no particular outcome or solution is guaranteed.
Any specific rescheduling, cancellation or refund terms that apply to an accepted session will be stated before payment or in the confirmation. Nothing in those terms affects statutory consumer rights that cannot lawfully be excluded.
9. Digital products, tools, Studio Time and credits
A digital product, Studio Time purchase, credit pack or access period provides the access or functionality described at the point of purchase.
Where an expiry period, usage limit or renewal rule applies, it will be displayed before purchase. We will not retrospectively impose an undisclosed expiry on a purchase already made.
Unused time or credits have no cash value and cannot be transferred unless BPS expressly allows it.
BPS may improve, replace or retire features where reasonably necessary. If a paid change materially removes what you purchased before you have had a reasonable opportunity to use it, BPS will provide an appropriate remedy where required by law.
10. Consumer cancellation rights
If you are a consumer purchasing at a distance, you may have statutory cancellation rights.
For many service contracts, the cancellation period is 14 days from the day the contract is entered into.
If you expressly ask BPS to begin providing a service during that cancellation period and then cancel before the service is completed, you may be required to pay a proportionate amount for the service already supplied, where the law allows.
If a service has been fully performed during the cancellation period, the statutory cancellation right may be lost only where the legal requirements for starting and completing the service early have been met.
For digital content supplied immediately and not on a tangible medium, the statutory cancellation right may be lost once supply begins only where you have given the required express consent to immediate supply and acknowledged the loss of that cancellation right.
Where the law requires BPS to obtain a specific request, consent or acknowledgement, these Terms alone do not replace that requirement.
11. Refunds and statutory remedies
Any BPS refund policy operates in addition to your statutory rights.
Where you are a consumer, digital content must meet the standards required by applicable consumer law, and services must be provided with reasonable care and skill.
If a product or service is faulty, not as described or otherwise fails to meet a legal requirement, you may have rights to repeat performance, repair, replacement, a price reduction, refund or another remedy depending on the circumstances.
For change-of-mind requests outside any applicable statutory cancellation period, refunds are discretionary unless the product page, quotation or separate agreement states otherwise.
12. Delivery and timing
Digital products may be made available by download, online access, email, account access or another method stated at purchase.
Bespoke services are delivered according to the agreed project process. Any delivery date stated as an estimate is not guaranteed unless BPS expressly agrees that it is a fixed deadline.
BPS will keep you reasonably informed if a material delay arises.
13. Client responsibilities
You are responsible for:
- providing accurate and lawful information;
- responding to reasonable requests for decisions, approvals and access;
- maintaining your own account credentials and security;
- backing up material where appropriate;
- checking and approving final content before publication or launch;
- ensuring claims, prices, policies and regulated statements used by your own business are accurate and lawful; and
- obtaining professional advice where your project involves legal, tax, medical, financial, regulatory or other specialist requirements.
14. Intellectual property
BPS owns or licenses the BPS brand, website content, product names, design systems, methods, software, templates, reusable code, frameworks and other pre-existing BPS materials.
You retain ownership of original material that you provide to BPS and original user-created content you create through BPS Digital.
You give BPS a limited permission to use material you provide only as reasonably necessary to deliver the service, carry out your instructions, maintain records or exercise our legal rights.
For website projects, unless a written agreement states otherwise, once all agreed fees are paid you may use the final client-specific website and deliverables for your business. BPS retains ownership of its pre-existing tools, frameworks, templates, reusable components, development methods and BPS materials. Third-party materials remain subject to their own licences.
BPS may refer to publicly launched client work in its portfolio unless we have agreed otherwise in writing.
15. BLOOM and publishing-related support
BLOOM and related BPS services may help a creator prepare, review or present a project for consideration by BPS Publishing Studio.
Submission, review or payment for preparatory support does not guarantee publication, representation, investment, partnership or a publishing contract.
Any publishing, rights, revenue-share or collaboration arrangement must be agreed separately in writing. An MOU, publishing agreement or other contract may apply before BPS undertakes work beyond the relevant preparatory service.
16. AI-assisted features
Some BPS Digital tools may use AI-assisted functionality.
AI-assisted outputs are tools for drafting, organising, exploring or developing creative work. They may contain errors, omissions or unsuitable suggestions and should be reviewed by the user.
Unless expressly stated otherwise, BPS Digital output is not legal, medical, financial, tax or other regulated professional advice.
17. Third-party services
BPS services may rely on third-party platforms such as Cloudflare, Stripe, domain registrars, email providers, form providers, booking tools or other software.
Those services are subject to their own terms, availability and technical limitations.
BPS is not responsible for a third party's independent outage, suspension, policy change or account decision, although we will take reasonable steps within our control to provide or restore the BPS service where appropriate.
18. Service availability and changes
We aim to keep BPS services available and useful, but we do not promise uninterrupted or error-free availability.
We may suspend access temporarily for maintenance, security, updates or circumstances outside our reasonable control.
We may change or discontinue free features. Material changes to paid services will be handled fairly and in accordance with applicable law and any specific agreement.
19. Limitation of liability
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability where it would be unlawful to do so, including liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for death or personal injury caused by negligence.
If you are a consumer, your statutory rights are not affected and any limitation of liability applies only to the extent permitted by law.
If you are purchasing wholly for business purposes, and unless a separate written agreement states otherwise, BPS's total aggregate liability arising from the specific service giving rise to a claim will not exceed the total fees paid to BPS for that specific service. This business-to-business cap does not apply to liability that cannot lawfully be limited.
BPS is not liable for losses caused by inaccurate information, unlawful material or instructions supplied by a client, or by a client's failure to maintain accounts, credentials, backups or third-party services for which the client is responsible.
20. Suspension and termination
BPS may suspend or terminate access where reasonably necessary because of:
- material breach of these Terms;
- overdue undisputed payment;
- fraud, abuse or unlawful use;
- security risk; or
- conduct that materially threatens BPS, another user or a third-party service.
Where appropriate, we will give reasonable notice and an opportunity to remedy the issue.
Rights and obligations that are intended to continue after termination, including payment obligations and intellectual property provisions, remain in effect.
21. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms as BPS develops.
The version that applies to a completed purchase is generally the version accepted when the contract was formed, together with any later change expressly agreed with you.
Updated website Terms may apply to future purchases and future use of services. We will not use a website update to remove rights already accrued under an existing contract.
22. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.
If you are a consumer, you may also have mandatory rights under the law of the part of the United Kingdom or other jurisdiction where you live, and nothing in these Terms removes those rights.
23. Contact
The Burnt Protea Society
Operated by Robert Brett Mackay Suverkrop, trading as The Burnt Protea Society
Business correspondence address: 39 Redbud Road, Tonbridge, TN9 1FX
Email: theburntproteasociety@gmail.com
Website: burntproteasociety.com