General Terms and Conditions (GTC)
This English version of the GTC is provided for convenience only. In the event of discrepancies or questions of interpretation, the German version prevails.
These General Terms and Conditions (GTC) apply to all services offered by GUYCOLLE GmbH (hereinafter "GUYCOLLE"). By using our services, you accept the following terms unchanged and in full.
1 Scope of application and conclusion of contract
1.1 These GTC govern the use of services and products that GUYCOLLE provides or offers to its customers (hereinafter "Customer"). They cover in particular web development, custom software, maintenance and further development, hosting services, e-mail hosting, Microsoft 365 provisioning, IT consulting, device management as well as helpdesk and on-site services.
1.2 Acceptance of these GTC takes place through use of the respective services and products. When a contract or a customer-specific quotation for services and products of GUYCOLLE is delivered, GUYCOLLE provides these GTC to the Customer together with the contract documents in writing by post or e-mail. The Customer confirms acceptance by signing and returning the quotation or contract, by using the service or by paying the invoice. The GTC form an integral part of the contract with the Customer.
1.3 In the event of contradictions between a written quotation or an individual contract and these GTC, the provisions of the quotation or the individual contract prevail.
2 Services and rights of GUYCOLLE
2.1 GUYCOLLE provides both free and paid services. The Customer selects the services to be provided by GUYCOLLE from the range of services available at the time of use. The conditions of the customer-specific quotation apply to all services. GUYCOLLE may change its range of services at any time and may restrict individual services or discontinue their provision.
2.2 GUYCOLLE is entitled to engage subcontractors and third-party providers for the provision of its services, in particular hosting providers, data centre operators, Microsoft as the provider of Microsoft 365, and freelance staff. GUYCOLLE remains responsible towards the Customer for the provision of the agreed services. Subcontractors are bound to confidentiality by GUYCOLLE.
3 Rights and obligations of the Customer
3.1 The Customer is entitled to use the services and products for their intended purpose and in a lawful manner, and undertakes to comply with these GTC and with any instructions issued by GUYCOLLE, in particular regarding the maintenance, updating or deletion of software.
3.2 When ordering, registering and using the services, the Customer is obliged to provide truthful and verifiable information. GUYCOLLE may at any time and without stating reasons request the Customer to submit documents or information enabling GUYCOLLE to verify the accuracy of the details provided by the Customer. GUYCOLLE is entitled to postpone acceptance of the order or registration, to suspend the provision of services or to terminate the contract with the Customer with immediate effect if the Customer fails to submit suitable documents or information within the deadline set by GUYCOLLE.
3.3 The Customer is not entitled to make a purchased service available to third parties, whether free of charge or against payment. If GUYCOLLE establishes that services purchased by the Customer are being used not by the Customer but by a third party, GUYCOLLE is entitled to suspend the provision of the service concerned until this defect has been remedied. The Customer remains obliged to pay the full remuneration owed for this service.
3.4 The Customer undertakes to keep the applications and software used by them, both server-side and client-side, technically up to date, to maintain them regularly and to carry out updates. The Customer further undertakes to delete from the server any applications and software that are no longer required.
3.5 The Customer is obliged to report to GUYCOLLE without delay any faults or interruptions of the services used and to support GUYCOLLE in rectifying the fault wherever possible. The Customer bears the costs of identifying and rectifying faults by GUYCOLLE if the Customer has requested the investigation and the cause of the fault is attributable to the conduct of the Customer, to the equipment used by the Customer, or to the conduct of users of the Customer's website.
3.6 The Customer is responsible for the content of the information that they, or third parties communicating with them, transmit or have processed via GUYCOLLE, distribute or make available for retrieval. This includes language, images, sounds, computer programs, databases, audio and video files as well as references such as links to such information. GUYCOLLE has no obligation to monitor the content made available by the Customer.
3.7 The Customer undertakes to make only permissible content accessible when using the products and services of GUYCOLLE. Impermissible content includes in particular content that infringes the rights of GUYCOLLE or of third parties, notably intellectual property rights, personality rights, provisions of the Swiss Unfair Competition Act (UCA) including the Customer's imprint obligation pursuant to Art. 3 para. 1 lit. s UCA, or content that endangers business reputation. Also impermissible is any content that constitutes a criminal offence, in particular in the areas of pornography, depictions of violence, racism, trade secrets, defamation and fraud.
3.8 The Customer provides GUYCOLLE with the information, content, access and decisions required for the provision of the services in good time and in a suitable form. If the Customer fails to fulfil their duties to cooperate, or does so late, agreed deadlines are postponed accordingly. Any additional effort arising as a result is charged at the agreed hourly rate. If a project is dormant for more than 60 days due to outstanding cooperation on the part of the Customer despite two written requests, GUYCOLLE is entitled to close the project and to invoice the services rendered up to that point.
3.9 The Customer treats all access credentials as confidential and does not disclose them to unauthorised third parties. For access to systems provided or managed by GUYCOLLE, in particular hosting administration, Microsoft 365 and admin areas of applications, the Customer is obliged to activate multi-factor authentication (MFA) and to keep it activated, provided the system supports it. If the Customer waives or deactivates MFA, they bear the resulting risks themselves; Clause 10.5 remains reserved. The Customer notifies GUYCOLLE without delay of any suspected compromise of access credentials.
4 Data backup
4.1 The Customer is solely responsible for taking suitable and necessary security measures to be able to restore their information and data in the event of loss or unauthorised or unintended alteration. The measures to be taken by the Customer vary according to the level of protection required as well as the probability of occurrence and the severity of the risk. GUYCOLLE recommends that its customers back up their data regularly.
4.2 As part of its hosting services, GUYCOLLE performs daily backups of customer data. The retention period is 14 days unless otherwise agreed in the quotation. These backups serve to restore data in the event of a fault and do not replace the Customer's own independent data backup.
5 Invoicing and terms of payment
5.1 The obligation to pay for paid services and products commences upon conclusion of the contract or upon use of the service.
5.2 GUYCOLLE generally invoices the Customer for project services rendered after completion of the project. The invoice is payable by the due date stated.
5.3 Orders exceeding an amount of CHF 10,000 are invoiced in instalments:
1/3 upon placement of the order
1/3 upon completion of 50% of the project scope
1/3 upon completion of the project
5.4 Invoices issued by GUYCOLLE may be paid by QR-bill, bank transfer, TWINT, Apple Pay or credit card.
5.5 If the Customer breaches the terms of payment, GUYCOLLE is entitled to charge default interest at a rate of 8% per annum. From the second reminder onwards, cost-covering reminder fees may additionally be charged. GUYCOLLE is furthermore entitled to terminate the contract without notice in accordance with Clause 14.3. In addition, GUYCOLLE has the right to suspend the service after an unsuccessful first reminder.
5.6 The Customer is not entitled to set off claims of GUYCOLLE against counterclaims unless the counterclaim is undisputed or has been established by a legally binding decision.
6 Recurring fees and hosting packages
6.1 Hosting services, e-mail hosting, Microsoft 365 licences and comparable subscription services are invoiced on the basis of recurring fees. The billing period is monthly unless otherwise agreed in the quotation.
6.2 The minimum contract term for hosting packages is 12 months from activation. After expiry of the minimum contract term, the contract is automatically renewed for further periods of 12 months each, unless it is terminated with one month's notice to the end of the current contract period.
6.3 Notice of termination must be given in writing by e-mail or by post.
6.4 GUYCOLLE is entitled to adjust the prices for recurring services with 60 days' advance notice. In the event of a price increase, the Customer has an extraordinary right of termination effective at the next possible end of the current contract period. If this right of termination is not exercised, the price change is deemed accepted.
6.5 Licences for Microsoft 365 and comparable third-party products are invoiced in accordance with the terms of the respective provider. Upon termination of the contractual relationship with GUYCOLLE, the provision of these licences ends accordingly.
6.6 The hosting packages are dimensioned for the normal operation of the agreed applications. If the Customer permanently consumes excessive resources (computing power, memory, storage space, data traffic) and thereby impairs the infrastructure or other customers, GUYCOLLE informs the Customer and proposes a change to a suitable package. In the event of acute impairment, GUYCOLLE is entitled to temporarily throttle or block the service concerned.
6.7 E-mails may be sent via GUYCOLLE's infrastructure only to recipients who have consented to receiving them or with whom an existing customer relationship within the meaning of Art. 3 para. 1 lit. o UCA exists. Bulk mailing without consent (spam) is prohibited. Newsletters and mailings must contain a functioning unsubscribe option. In the event of abuse reports, imminent blacklisting or a breach of this provision, GUYCOLLE is entitled to block the Customer's e-mail dispatch without prior notice.
6.8 If GUYCOLLE registers domain names on behalf of the Customer, registration takes place in the name of the Customer as the holder; GUYCOLLE acts as the technical and administrative contact. The terms of the respective registry apply in addition. Upon termination of the contract, GUYCOLLE supports the Customer in transferring the domain; the effort involved is charged in accordance with Clause 14.4. GUYCOLLE is not liable for the loss of a domain resulting from unpaid registration fees after a reminder has been issued.
7 Service levels and availability
7.1 For hosted services, GUYCOLLE aims for an average availability of 99.5% as an annual mean, measured outside planned maintenance windows. This figure is a target value and not a warranted characteristic.
7.2 Planned maintenance windows are announced to the Customer by e-mail at least 48 hours in advance. Maintenance work is generally carried out between 22:00 and 06:00 (CET).
7.3 Response times for reported faults during business hours (Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 17:30, excluding Swiss public holidays):
Critical faults (service unavailable): within 4 hours
Medium faults (service impaired): within 1 working day
Minor faults / enquiries: within 3 working days
7.4 Extended service level agreements with guaranteed availability or 24/7 support may be arranged in a separate agreement.
8 On-site service and travel expenses
8.1 GUYCOLLE offers on-site service primarily in the region of Bern, Zurich, Winterthur and St. Gallen along the A1 motorway. Assignments outside this region are possible by arrangement.
8.2 On-site assignments are charged at the agreed hourly rate, with a minimum assignment duration of one hour.
8.3 Travel to the site and travel time are charged in accordance with GUYCOLLE's current expense regulations. The regulations are available on request and apply in addition to these GTC.
9 Acceptance and warranty
9.1 Project deliverables, in particular websites and custom software, are deemed accepted upon written approval by the Customer, but at the latest upon productive use (go-live). The Customer inspects the delivered work within 14 days of notification of completion and reports any defects in writing and in a comprehensible manner. If neither approval nor a substantiated notice of defects is given within this period, the deliverable is deemed accepted. Insignificant defects do not entitle the Customer to refuse acceptance; they are remedied under the warranty. The same procedure applies to determining the achievement of milestones pursuant to Clause 5.3.
9.2 GUYCOLLE endeavours to provide its services carefully and professionally. However, GUYCOLLE cannot guarantee that the Customer's website will be available on the internet without interruption or that the data requested by the Customer will be transmitted correctly and without delay over the internet. GUYCOLLE gives no guarantee that the services provided by GUYCOLLE and any third parties engaged will enable the Customer to achieve their intended economic or other purpose.
9.3 Fault reports by the Customer must contain a written notice of defects by e-mail with a comprehensible description of the defects claimed. The Customer must grant GUYCOLLE a reasonable grace period of at least 30 days to remedy the specified defects. After unsuccessful expiry of the grace period, the Customer is entitled to terminate the contract with immediate effect. GUYCOLLE reimburses the Customer any remuneration already paid on a pro-rata basis for the period during which the Customer no longer uses the service as a result of the termination. Any further compensation is excluded, subject to Clause 10 of these GTC.
10 Liability of GUYCOLLE
10.1 The liability of GUYCOLLE for its own actions is excluded to the extent permitted by law. Furthermore, GUYCOLLE is not liable for defects in deliveries and services of third parties, nor for damage arising from such defects.
10.2 Any liability is excluded for damage arising because third parties misuse the communication infrastructure of GUYCOLLE or the Customer's website or interfere with them without authorisation. This concerns in particular interference through computer viruses, DDoS attacks, alterations by hackers and the unauthorised sending of e-mails. The exclusion of liability also covers damage incurred by the Customer as a result of measures taken by GUYCOLLE that are necessary to ward off such third-party interference, for example blocking access to the Customer's website in order to protect GUYCOLLE's infrastructure and the websites of other customers against DDoS attacks.
10.3 Liability for auxiliary persons and subcontractors is excluded to the extent permitted by law.
10.4 To the extent that liability cannot be excluded by law, it is limited to the order value of the individual contract concerned, but in any event to a maximum of CHF 50,000 per damaging event.
10.5 Any liability is furthermore excluded for damage attributable to phishing, social engineering, CEO fraud or comparable attacks directed against the Customer or their employees, as well as for damage arising because the Customer has stored access credentials carelessly, disclosed them to third parties or waived multi-factor authentication contrary to Clause 3.9.
11 Liability of the Customer
11.1 The Customer is liable to GUYCOLLE without limitation for damage caused by unlawful intent or gross negligence. Liability of the Customer for slight negligence is expressly excluded.
11.2 The Customer indemnifies and holds GUYCOLLE harmless from all third-party claims arising from unlawful use of the services by the Customer or use in breach of the contract, in particular from impermissible content pursuant to Clause 3.7 or impermissible e-mail dispatch pursuant to Clause 6.7. The indemnity also covers the reasonable costs of legal defence.
12 Force majeure
12.1 Neither party is liable for delays or non-performance of obligations caused by events of force majeure. Force majeure includes in particular natural disasters, war, civil unrest, strikes, official orders, pandemics, prolonged power outages, failures of telecommunications and internet infrastructure, as well as serious technical faults at upstream providers that lie outside the sphere of influence of the affected party.
12.2 The affected party informs the other party without delay of the occurrence and the expected duration of the force majeure event. The contractual obligations are suspended for the duration of the force majeure event.
13 Data protection and data processing on behalf of the Customer
13.1 GUYCOLLE processes personal data in compliance with the provisions of the revised Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and, where applicable, the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union (GDPR).
13.2 Where GUYCOLLE processes personal data on behalf of the Customer in the context of hosting services or other services, the parties conclude a data processing agreement (DPA) no later than upon commencement of the processing. The DPA governs in particular the nature and purpose of the processing, the categories of data concerned, technical and organisational measures, and the rights and obligations of both parties. Unless an individual DPA is agreed, GUYCOLLE's standard DPA in its current version applies; it will be provided to the Customer on request.
13.3 When Microsoft 365 and comparable cloud services are used, data processing takes place in accordance with the terms of the respective provider. The Customer acknowledges that these providers may also process data in data centres outside Switzerland and the EU. GUYCOLLE informs the Customer of the data locations on request.
13.4 GUYCOLLE's privacy policy is available on the website under Privacy Policy.
14 Contract term and termination
14.1 These GTC apply for the entire duration of the Customer's use of the services.
14.2 For hosting services and other recurring services, the provisions of Clause 6 apply.
14.3 GUYCOLLE may terminate the contract with the Customer without notice if bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings have been initiated against the Customer, if it becomes otherwise apparent that the Customer is no longer able to meet their payment obligations, or if the Customer fails to pay the costs for the next contract period in advance or to provide corresponding security before expiry of the contract term.
14.4 After the end of the contract, GUYCOLLE is entitled to delete the Customer's data after a transition period of 30 days. During this period, the Customer is entitled to a one-time handover of their data in a customary format (database dump, file archive). Any data handover or migration support beyond this is charged on a time and material basis.
15 Confidentiality
15.1 The parties undertake to treat all confidential information of the other party that comes to their knowledge in the course of the business relationship as strictly confidential and not to disclose it to third parties.
15.2 Confidential information includes in particular business data, concepts, source code, access credentials, customer data and all other information designated as confidential or confidential by its nature.
15.3 The confidentiality obligation applies for the duration of the contractual relationship and for five years beyond its termination.
15.4 Exempt from confidentiality is information that is demonstrably publicly known, was already known to the receiving party before receipt, or was developed independently by the receiving party.
16 Copyright and rights of use
16.1 The rights to use the works created by GUYCOLLE in the course of its general activities (frameworks, libraries, reusable components, design templates, concepts, methods) remain with GUYCOLLE. The Customer receives the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use these works within the scope of the agreed order.
16.2 With respect to customer-specific custom code that was developed exclusively for the Customer as part of an individual project and is not based on reusable components of GUYCOLLE, the Customer receives the exclusive right of use upon full payment of the agreed remuneration. The underlying frameworks, libraries and open-source components remain with their respective rights holders; the Customer uses these in accordance with the respective licence terms.
16.3 Concepts, design proposals, designs, graphic drafts and sketches, texts, images, photographs and presentation proposals (e.g. pitches) remain the property of GUYCOLLE until a corresponding transfer of rights of use has been agreed in writing and remunerated. Unless otherwise agreed, the Customer's use of the works created by GUYCOLLE is limited in terms of content, time and territory to a single use within the scope of the agreed order. No right to modify the works is granted.
16.4 GUYCOLLE is entitled to designate its authorship of its works in a form to be determined by GUYCOLLE.
16.5 The unlawful use of copyright-protected works of GUYCOLLE as well as of presentation proposals obliges the Customer to pay a contractual penalty amounting to 50% of the order volume, but no less than CHF 10,000. The right to claim further damages is expressly reserved. Payment of the contractual penalty does not lift the prohibition of use. Any further use is subject to payment of the aforementioned contractual penalty and obliges the Customer to pay damages.
17 References
17.1 From the commencement of use of the services, the Customer grants GUYCOLLE permission to use the Customer's company logo and a brief project description as a reference on its website, in presentations and in other marketing materials.
17.2 If the client is a reseller (e.g. an agency), the reseller is obliged to obtain this permission from its end customer.
17.3 The Customer may revoke the use of references at any time in writing. GUYCOLLE removes the logo and the project description within 30 days.
18 Severability clause
18.1 Should any provision of these GTC be or become unlawful, invalid or unenforceable for any reason, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. Unless otherwise agreed, the invalid provision is deemed replaced by a valid provision that comes as close as possible to the economic purpose of the original provision and the intention of the parties at the time the contract was concluded. The same applies to any gaps in these GTC.
19 Applicable law and place of jurisdiction
19.1 These GTC and all legal relationships arising from them are governed exclusively by Swiss law, to the exclusion of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (Vienna Sales Convention, CISG).
19.2 The exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with these GTC is Zurich, Switzerland. Mandatory statutory places of jurisdiction remain reserved, in particular the place of jurisdiction for consumer contracts pursuant to Art. 32 of the Swiss Civil Procedure Code (CPC). GUYCOLLE reserves the right to bring proceedings against the Customer at the Customer's ordinary place of jurisdiction as well.
Final Provisions
GUYCOLLE reserves the right to amend these GTC. Amendments are communicated to the Customer in a suitable form at least 30 days before they take effect, for example by e-mail or by a notice on the invoice. If the Customer continues to use the services after the amendments take effect, the amendments are deemed accepted. In the event of material amendments to the Customer's detriment, the Customer has an extraordinary right of termination effective as of the date on which the amendments take effect.
Last amended: Kyburg, 04.08.2026