Terms of Service

1. Agreeing to these terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") set out the rules of engagement between you and Comstar IT Solutions (ABN 93 061 298 407) ("Comstar", "we", "us"). They apply whenever you use our website at comstarit.com.au or engage us to provide IT services.

By using our website, submitting an enquiry, or asking us to carry out work, you agree to these Terms. If something here doesn't sit right with you, please get in touch before we start work so we can discuss it. We're always happy to talk things through.

2. About Comstar IT Solutions

Comstar IT Solutions is a sole-trader IT support business operated by Stas Kouprine, based in Melbourne's south-east. We've been providing IT services for over 20 years — everything from managed support and network installations to cybersecurity, cloud computing, CCTV, and custom-built computers.

We work with both households and small businesses. Whether it's a home Wi-Fi problem or a company-wide cloud migration, we bring the same level of care and professionalism to every job.

3. Quotes, pricing and scope of work

Before we start any paid work, we'll provide you with a quote or a clear explanation of our pricing. Here's how that typically works:

• Written quotes are based on the information you give us and what we can reasonably assess at the time. If we get on-site and discover the situation is more complex than expected (it happens — technology can be unpredictable), we'll let you know before doing any additional work that would change the price.
• Quote validity — unless we say otherwise, a written quote is valid for 30 days from the date we send it.
• Hourly work — some jobs are billed by the hour rather than a fixed quote. We'll always confirm the hourly rate and give you a rough estimate of how long we expect the work to take.
• Parts and hardware — if a job involves purchasing parts, equipment or software licences on your behalf, these will be itemised separately. We'll confirm the cost with you before ordering.
• No surprises — we don't believe in hidden charges or sneaking extra costs onto an invoice. If the scope of work changes, we'll discuss it with you first.

All prices are in Australian dollars (AUD). If GST applies, it will be clearly shown on your invoice.

4. How we work — on-site and remote

On-site visits

For work that requires a physical presence — network cabling, hardware setup, CCTV installation, or anything that can't be done remotely — we'll come to you. Our on-site service area covers the bayside and South-East Melbourne suburbs, from Brighton and Caulfield down to Frankston and Dandenong.

We'll agree on a date and time window for the visit. We do our best to be punctual, but traffic and previous jobs sometimes run over — if we're going to be late, we'll call you.

Remote support

Many IT issues can be diagnosed and fixed remotely, which saves you time and gets things sorted faster. Remote support works across all of Melbourne (and beyond, for that matter). We use industry-standard remote access tools with encrypted connections. Before we connect to your system, we'll explain what we're doing and ask for your permission.

You're welcome to watch what we're doing on-screen during a remote session, and you can end the session at any time.

5. What we need from you

To help us do a good job, we need a few things from you:

• Accurate information — tell us as much as you can about the problem or what you're after. The more detail we have, the better we can help.
• Access — make sure we can get to the devices, rooms, network equipment, or accounts we need to work on. For on-site visits, someone who can authorise the work should be available (or reachable by phone).
• Authorisation — you confirm that you're authorised to request work on the systems, devices and accounts in question. If you're asking us to work on a business system, you're confirming you have the authority to do so on behalf of that business.
• Backups — while we always try to protect your data during any work, we strongly recommend backing up important files before we start. We'll remind you of this, but ultimately it's your responsibility to maintain your own backups (see section 12).
• Licences and subscriptions — if you ask us to install or configure software, you're responsible for holding valid licences for that software. We won't knowingly install pirated or unlicensed software.

6. Payment terms

Here's how payment works:

• Invoices are issued after the work is completed (or at agreed milestones for larger projects) and are payable within 14 days of the invoice date, unless we've agreed otherwise in writing.
• Payment methods — we accept bank transfer (EFT) and other methods as agreed. Payment details are included on every invoice.
• Overdue invoices — if an invoice goes unpaid beyond its due date, we may need to pause any ongoing work until it's sorted out. We'd rather have a conversation about it than let things escalate, so if you're having trouble paying on time, please just let us know.
• Large projects — for bigger jobs (such as a full network rollout or a cloud migration), we may ask for a deposit or progress payments. This will be agreed upfront as part of the quote.

We don't store your credit card or bank details on our systems. Payments are processed through standard banking channels or secure payment platforms.

7. Cancellations and rescheduling

Things come up — we get it. If you need to cancel or reschedule an on-site appointment, please let us know as early as possible, ideally at least 24 hours in advance. This allows us to offer that time slot to another client.

If you cancel at very short notice (less than 2 hours before a scheduled visit) or if we arrive at the agreed location and can't gain access, we may need to charge a call-out fee to cover our travel time. We'll always be reasonable about this and take the circumstances into account.

8. Your rights under Australian Consumer Law

This is important, and we want to be upfront about it: our services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), which is Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth).

Under the ACL, you are entitled to:

• services provided with due care and skill;
• services that are fit for any purpose you've made known to us;
• services supplied within a reasonable time; and
• for any goods (hardware, equipment, parts) we supply — that they are of acceptable quality, match their description, and are fit for purpose.

If our services or any goods we supply have a major failure, you are entitled to a refund or to have the services re-performed, plus compensation for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage.

Nothing in these Terms limits, excludes or modifies your rights under the ACL or any other law where doing so would be unlawful. If there's ever a conflict between these Terms and the ACL, the ACL wins.

9. Warranties and what we stand behind

Beyond your statutory rights under the ACL, here's what we commit to:

• Our workmanship — we stand behind the quality of our work. If something we configured, installed or set up doesn't work as it should within a reasonable period after the job, we'll come back and fix it at no extra charge. What counts as "reasonable" depends on the nature of the work, but we're not in the business of cutting corners.
• Hardware we supply — any hardware or equipment we source and supply comes with the manufacturer's warranty. We'll help you with warranty claims where we can, but the warranty itself is between you and the manufacturer.
• Honest assessment — if we think a job isn't worth doing, or if we think you'd be better off with a different approach, we'll tell you. We'd rather give you straight advice than sell you something you don't need.

10. Limitations on our liability

Subject to your rights under the ACL (which we don't limit — see section 8), and to the maximum extent permitted by law:

• We are not liable for indirect, special, or consequential loss, including loss of profits, revenue, data, or business, arising out of or in connection with our services. IT environments are complex, and while we do everything we can to minimise risk, we can't guarantee that every job will go perfectly or that unforeseen issues won't arise.
• Where our liability can't be excluded but can be limited, our liability is limited (at our choice) to re-performing the relevant services, or refunding the fees you paid for the specific piece of work in question.

We carry appropriate professional indemnity and public liability insurance for the nature and scale of our business.

11. Third-party products and software

A big part of what we do involves recommending, installing and configuring products and software made by other companies — things like Microsoft 365 subscriptions, UniFi networking equipment, Sophos security products, backup software, and so on.

A few things to be aware of:

• These products come with their own terms of use, licences, and warranties from the vendor. Our role is to set them up properly and help you get the most out of them, but we're not responsible for bugs, outages, or policy changes made by the vendor.
• If a third-party product has a fault covered by its warranty, we'll help you navigate the warranty process where we can.
• Subscription-based services (like Microsoft 365 or cloud backup) have ongoing costs set by the provider. These are separate from our service fees, and price changes by the provider are outside our control.

Our website may also contain links to third-party websites. We don't control those sites and aren't responsible for their content or privacy practices.

12. Data and backups

This deserves its own section because it's one of the most important things we can say: always maintain current, independent backups of your important data.

We take every reasonable precaution to protect your data when working on your systems. Before making significant changes, we'll usually take a snapshot or backup where practical. But technology is inherently unpredictable — hardware can fail, software updates can cause conflicts, and data loss can occur despite best efforts.

We are not responsible for data loss that results from:

• hardware failure that was not within our control;
• pre-existing issues with your systems that weren't disclosed to us;
• your decision not to maintain adequate backups; or
• actions taken by third-party software or services.

If data loss occurs as a direct result of negligence or lack of due care on our part, we accept responsibility in accordance with the ACL and these Terms. We'll also do what we can to help you recover — including attempting data recovery or restoring from backups where possible.

13. Use of our website

Our website at comstarit.com.au is here to give you information about our services and make it easy to get in touch. You agree to use it lawfully and not to:

• attempt to gain unauthorised access to the website, its server, or any connected systems;
• introduce viruses, malware, or any other harmful code;
• use the site in any way that could damage, disable, or impair it; or
• scrape, copy, or republish any substantial part of the site's content without our permission.

We may update, change, or temporarily take down the website for maintenance or other reasons without advance notice.

14. Intellectual property

The content on our website — including text, graphics, the Comstar name and logo, page layouts, and code — is owned by or licensed to Comstar IT Solutions. It's protected by Australian and international intellectual property laws.

You're welcome to view and print pages for your own personal, non-commercial use, but you can't otherwise reproduce, distribute, or commercially exploit any of our content without getting our written permission first.

If we create any custom scripts, configurations, or documentation for you as part of a paid engagement, you're welcome to use those in your own environment — that's what they're for. However, we retain the underlying intellectual property in our methods, templates, and general know-how.

15. Privacy

How we handle your personal information is set out in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms. The short version: we collect only what we need, we don't sell your data, and we keep it secure.

16. Ending an engagement

Either you or we can end an ongoing engagement by giving reasonable notice. What's "reasonable" depends on the situation — wrapping up a managed support arrangement obviously takes more notice than cancelling a one-off job.

We may also suspend or stop providing services if:

• invoices remain unpaid significantly beyond their due date and attempts to resolve the situation haven't worked;
• you breach these Terms in a way that's material; or
• continuing the work would be unlawful, unethical, or impractical.

Ending an engagement doesn't wipe the slate clean — you're still responsible for paying for any work already done, and any obligations that accrued before termination still stand.

17. Resolving disagreements

If something goes wrong or you're unhappy with our work, please talk to us about it. We'd much rather resolve things through a direct conversation than through formal channels. In over 20 years of doing this work, most issues can be sorted with an honest chat.

If we can't resolve things informally, we both agree to attempt mediation through a mutually agreed mediator before pursuing any legal action. This isn't about avoiding accountability — it's about finding practical solutions.

Nothing in this section prevents either of us from seeking urgent injunctive or interlocutory relief from a court where necessary.

18. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Victoria, Australia. Both parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria and the relevant Commonwealth courts in relation to any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms.

19. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we'll update the "last updated" date at the top of this page. The current version will always be available here. If you continue using our website or services after changes are published, that constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms.

For existing clients on an ongoing engagement, we'll make reasonable efforts to notify you of any material changes before they take effect.

20. Getting in touch

Questions about these Terms? Something you'd like clarified? We're happy to talk it through.

• Comstar IT Solutions (ABN 93 061 298 407)
• Email: info@comstarit.com.au
• Phone: 0411 074 873
• Hours: 9 am – 6 pm, seven days a week
• Service area: South-East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia