Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") apply when you use acharyya.dev, request a free consultation, or hire me, Suman Acharyya ("I", "me"), for software development, AI integration, deployment, testing or related services ("Services"). "You" means the person or company engaging me.

For paid work, we will also agree a written proposal or Statement of Work ("SOW"). If the SOW or a contract we both sign says something different from these Terms, the signed document wins.

If you hire me through a marketplace such as Fiverr, that platform's terms on payments, delivery and disputes apply first, and these Terms fill in the rest.

I work as an independent contractor. Nothing in these Terms makes me your employee, partner or agent.

Discovery calls, project estimates, code and app audits, AI integration checks, hosting reviews and bug triage offered as "free" cost you nothing and create no obligation to hire me. You may use the advice however you like.

• Free consultations are general guidance based on the information you share. They are not a guarantee of results or a fixed quote.

• I may limit the time spent on a free review, and may decline requests that would need substantial work to answer.

• Anything you share during a consultation is treated as confidential under section 8, whether or not we go on to work together.

Estimates and proposals are based on the scope known at the time and list their assumptions. Unless stated otherwise, a proposal is valid for [30] days.

A cost range is an honest estimate, not a fixed price. Fixed-price work is only fixed when the SOW says so.

Each SOW sets out the deliverables, milestones, timeline, price and what counts as done. Work outside that scope is a change request.

• For any change, I will tell you in writing how it affects cost and timeline before doing the work.

• Changes go ahead only after you approve them in writing (email is fine).

• Timelines depend on you providing feedback, content and access on time. Delays on either side move the dates accordingly.

• Deposit: work starts after a deposit of [30]% of the project fee, unless the SOW says otherwise.

• Milestones: the remaining fee is invoiced by milestone, as set out in the SOW. Hourly or retainer work is invoiced [monthly].

• Payment terms: invoices are due within [7] days, in the currency stated on the invoice (usually USD or INR).

• Taxes: fees exclude applicable taxes such as GST, which are added where the law requires. Bank, platform and currency conversion charges on your side are yours to cover.

• Late payment: if an invoice is more than [14] days overdue, I may pause work until it is paid, after telling you in writing.

• Third-party costs — hosting, domains, app store fees, paid APIs and AI model usage — are paid by you, directly where possible.

• Give accurate requirements, timely feedback and one decision-maker for approvals.

• Provide the content, designs, accounts and access the project needs, and make sure you have the right to use them.

• Review and test each delivery within the review period in the SOW. If you don't raise issues within that period, the milestone is treated as accepted.

• Keep your own backups, and be responsible for how the software is used once it is live.

You own what you pay for. Once you have paid in full for a deliverable, all rights in the custom code, designs and documentation I created for you under the SOW transfer to you.

• Until full payment, I keep ownership and you have a licence to review and test the work.

• I keep ownership of my pre-existing tools, snippets and know-how. Where they are part of your deliverable, you get a permanent, royalty-free licence to use them in that product.

• Open-source components stay under their own licences. I will tell you about any licence that restricts how you can use your product.

• I may list your company name and a short project description in my portfolio, unless you ask me not to or we have an NDA that says otherwise. I never publish your code or confidential details.

I keep your non-public information confidential — code, data, business plans, credentials and anything you mark as confidential — and use it only to deliver the Services. This continues after the project ends.

• I am happy to sign your NDA, or provide mine, before you share anything sensitive.

• Access credentials are stored securely, used with the least access needed, and returned or deleted when the project ends. Please revoke access you no longer want me to have.

• Confidentiality does not cover information that is already public, that I already had, or that the law requires me to disclose.

Projects often depend on services I don't control, such as cloud hosts, payment providers, app stores and AI model providers. I'm not responsible for their outages, price changes or policy changes, but I will help you work around them.

For AI features, model outputs can be inaccurate or unpredictable. I build in guardrails, but you are responsible for reviewing how AI output is used in your product, especially for legal, medical or financial content.

I do not paste your confidential code or data into third-party AI tools without your permission.

For [30] days after a milestone is accepted, I fix bugs in my own work free of charge. A bug is where the software doesn't do what the SOW describes.

• This does not cover new features, changes made by others, third-party failures or problems caused by hosting you manage.

• After that period, ongoing maintenance and support are available on an hourly basis or as a monthly retainer.

• Apart from this, the Services are provided "as is". I don't promise that software will be completely error-free or work without interruption.

To the extent the law allows, my total liability for any claim connected with a project is limited to the fees you paid me for that project in the [3] months before the claim arose.

Neither of us is liable to the other for indirect or consequential losses, such as lost profits, revenue, data or business opportunities. Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law, such as for fraud.

• Either of us may end a project with [7] days' written notice.

• Either of us may end it immediately if the other seriously breaches these Terms and does not fix it within 7 days of being told.

• If a project ends early, you pay for work done up to that date, and I hand over that work once it is paid for. Deposits cover work already started and are non-refundable unless the SOW says otherwise.

These Terms are governed by the laws of India. If a disagreement comes up, we will first try in good faith to resolve it by talking for at least 30 days.

If that doesn't work, the courts at Kolkata, West Bengal have exclusive jurisdiction, unless we agree in writing to mediation or arbitration instead.

I may update these Terms from time to time. The date at the top shows the latest version. Changes don't affect a signed SOW already in progress.

Questions about these Terms: hello@acharyya.dev. How I handle personal data is explained in the Privacy Policy.