Terms & Conditions

Name of company

Announce Page

Office

58 Howard Street, Belfast, County Antrim, N Ireland,  BT1 6PL

Contact details

Tel: +44 2890 625911

E-mail: info@announce-page.com

VAT no.

128 6046 15 

Regulatory authority

Terms of Service← Back

Copyright © 2011 Announce Telecom :

Terms and Conditions 

Service Level Agreements

Document Index.

1.0  Maintenance Support Choices.

1.1. Pay As you Go

1.2  Routine Aftercare 

2.0  Contacting us for Technical Support.

2.1  Reporting Line/Network Faults.

3.0  Frequently Asked Questions.

4.0  Terms and Conditions (for AMC). 

4.1  Terms and Conditions Outside (AMC's )

5.0  Payment Terms

1.0 Maintenance Support Choices

1.1 Pay As You Go (PAYG) Maintenance Support

PAYG support is provided as standard to all customers who have purchased business communications equipment from Announce Page but do not wish to pay an annual maintenance contract, it is also made available to businesses who find themselves without reliable and costeffective maintenance support from their original supplier. There are no guaranteed service response times but many businesses find it ideal for their needs knowing that reliable technical support and engineer service is available at a fixed cost when needed.

1.2 Routine Aftercare can be provided by telephone or email.

If you contact us for technical support or for advice by telephone you will be charged for the call if it is under 15-minutes. Calls longer than 15-minutes and up to one-hour will be charged per hour.  Technical support provided by email will also be charged using the same scale as above for telephone support, however on occasion where we can provide very brief answers to a question on a existing feature or service, we may not charge you for the email support (this will be at our discretion). PAYG customers are advised to use email for technical support if they wish to keep charges to a minimum, email contact also allows you to easily keep a copy of our support replies to avoid further calls/charges on the same issue.

Technical response to routine issues logged by phone or email will normally be provided within 1 working day (or less).

Routine questions with using the phone system (aftercare on system usage) £25.00  £35.00, £35.00 will also be charged for each additional hour (or part-hour).

Changes to your phone system to your phone system will be charged for at £35.00  per session (a session is defined as up to 60-minutes). We aim to complete remote access programming requests within 2 x working days (or less) and often achieve a completion rate of within 1 x working day. Remote access programming (where available) to make changes

Fault Response quickly as possible (best effort) to critical equipment faults (such as loss of telephone service) for PAYG maintenance customers but will not reschedule booked appointments to do so, we will give advice by phone to provide temporary service (using powerfail connections or call diversion) until an engineer can respond to the fault. If you are reporting a fault of an urgent nature, this should be logged by telephone to speed up the process of talking to a engineer, technical response will normally be within 4 x working hours or less. If you are also a lines/calls customer of ANNOUNCE PAGE or one of our network partners and your fault is possibly lines/network related, then we will try to ensure you talk to one of our engineers within 2 x working hours or less.

Announce telecom will endeavour to respond as PAYG Charges at standard rates, engineering rates are time related (known as Time Related Charges orTRC).

Visits will be subject to an initial visit charge which includes the first hour and then an hourly ratefor additional hours or part hours. The actual charge is dependant on location/travelling time, please email

All parts and services used on service visits to PAYG customers are chargable info@announce-page .co.uk to find out the current TRC rate for your location. 

Maintenance Support Choices

Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC)

An Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) is available for an optional annual charge.

Usually this charge is discounted for the first year following equipment purchase/installation.

Maintained customers receive priority response above other customers for both routine requests and engineer response times. When an engineer responds to a fault, there is no charge for the engineering time or parts used to restore service as long as the part is covered under your maintenance schedule (subject to terms/conditions).

Announce Page will charge for an engineer callout when a reported fault is found to be due to misuse, user error or is non-equipment related (such as a external line fault).

Routine Aftercare system administration) can be provided by telephone or email.

Technical response to routine issues logged by phone will normally be within 4-working hours or less, response to emailed requests will normally be within 1 x working day or less.

Calls/Emails are assigned a priority dependant on the nature/importance of the request.

Routine questions with using the phone system (aftercare on system usage or

Changes to your phone system to your phone system will be charged for at £35.00 per session (a session is defined as up to 60-minutes). Remote access programming requests will normally be completed within 1 x working day (or less). Maintained customers receive up to 4-hours of free remote programming per annum to cover system operation changes or routine minor requests.

Remote access programming (where available) to make changes

Fault Response within 24-hours (or less) to critical equipment faults (such as loss of telephone service) and within 3 x working days for less urgent faults to maintaince-contracted customers We will give advice by phone or arrange temporary service (using powerfail connections or call diversion) until an engineer can respond to the fault. Calls logged with critical equipment issues will normally receive a technical response by phone within 2 x working hours (or less). Critical issues should only be logged by phone to speed up the process of talking to an engineer.

ANNOUNCE PAGE will endeavour to respond

Charges for onsite Moves/Changes

engineering rates which are time related (known as Time Related Charges or TRC). Visits to your premises for changes or upgrades etc will be subject to an initial visit charge which includes the first hour and then an hourly rate for additional hours or part hours. The actual charge is dependant on location/travelling time, please email

TRC rate for your location.

Maintained customers receive a discount on our standard info@announce-page.com  to find out the current

Events not covered under extended warranty companies, maintained equipment is not covered against lightning damage, power surges, damage or floods etc. A maintenance service will be provided but any parts provided and services will need to be paid for a our standard rates, this may be covered by your business insurance.

In line with other telecom maintenance

Annual Maintenance Charge (AMC)

number of factors including the number of users and type of equipment being maintained.

Additional factors considered include the number of calls logged during the previous year and number of callouts to your premises.

The annual maintenance charge is calculated by a 

2.0 Contacting us for Technical Support

You can contact us for technical support (or to report a fault) by telephone, email or online from our website.

We encourage customers to use email for routine system usage questions so that we can provide a clear written answer or description which can be kept and/or printed by you but please log a call if your enquiry is more urgent or if you are unsure about how to describe it in writing. When you call ANNOUNCE PAGE for technical support and an engineer is not immediately available, basic details of your call will be logged and then forwarded to an engineer who will call you back to provide assistance.

The above describing maintenance support choices describe the standard response times to calls which are prioritised dependant upon the nature of the call.

Please note that dependant on the type of maintenance support you receive from ANNOUNCE PAGE a charge (from £25.00 + vat) may be levied for technical support provided by phone or email (please see the maintenance support options pages above for further details).

You can log maintenance calls by phone Monday-Friday between 9.00am and 5.00pm, outside of these time you can leave a message for us on voicemail.

If you require copies of user documentation such as manuals or guides, you will in most cases find these available for download on our website.

Downloads button to access resources for your model of telephone equipment model.

There is also a System Help link providing answers to frequently asked questions.

You can also emaiL during the original telephone system equipment installation which are applicable for your particular hardware or operating configuration.

We can also provide temporary access to an FTP server if you need to download files which are too big for email. Please ask us for details and temporary access.

www.announce-page.co.uk

2.1 Reporting Line / Network Faults

If one of your external telephone lines has no dial tone or your telephone system is working for internal calls but you cannot dial to the outside world or receive calls in – you may have a network fault with your external telephone lines.

Getting initial advice on the problem

We would normally recommend that all maintenance-contracted customers, have their phone lines provided by ANNOUNCE PAGE or one of our preferred network partners. Log a call initially with us on 07896588295, or 0289062911, or by email, so that we can provide further advice and tests that you can do to isolate the problem. If a fault is likely to be a network/external line problem then this fault will need to be reported to the network service provider (the company who bills you for your telephone line rental, and often your telephone calls as well). If you are on PAYG maintenance support, and do not have your lines/calls provided by us, we will charge you for technical support or an engineer site visit to investigate the problem.

Line Test (from telephone exchange)

In all cases if it is not clear if the fault is due to the external telephone line(s), a line test can be arranged by the network service provider which will reveal many common failures but is less accurate in more intermittent or unusual issues so it should not be totally relied upon.

Reporting the Fault to the Network Service Provider

If the network service is provided by ANNOUNCE PAGE or one of our network partners, we will deal with the fault reporting on your behalf and liase as necessary to ensure the fault is dealt with or an escalatation is made for an engineer visit on behalf of the network service provider.

You will be kept updated by telephone and/or email so please ensure you provide an alternate contact number (such as a mobile phone).

If your telephone line service is provided by another company (such as BT), we can provide

chargeable technical advise but you will need to report the fault yourself and liase directly with your network service provider. BT business faults can be reached on 0800 800 154.

If your incoming telephone service has failed it may be possible for the network service provider to arrange a temporary diversion of your calls to an alternate telephone number (such as another office or to a mobile phone).

LINE TEST SERVICE & ANNOUNCE PAGE RESPONSE TO LINE FAULTS

ANNOUNCE PAGE can provide a line testing service on analogue or digital ISDN lines to prove issues which are unusual or not accepted as a fault with the external telephone line(s).

This is normally a chargeable service, however if your lines/network services are provided by ANNOUNCE PAGE or one of our network partners this service may be discounted or free of charge. It should be noted that if you insist on calling ANNOUNCE PHONE engineers to your premises on a fault which is subsequently proven to the external lines provided by another telephone company we will charge for the visit as an unnecessary callout.

Who are Openreach

Openreach is a BT Group business which provides services for all communications companies (including Announce telecom and BT) on the external telephone network between the telephone exchange and your premises. Your network service provider will liase with Openreach to depatch an engineer if a fault is proved or likely to be due to your external telephone lines. Openreach will raise charges for faults not due to the external telephone network.

3.0 Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How much do we pay for an engineer visit on your Pay As You Go support service?

A. Charges are time-related (known as TRC) and consist of an initial visit charge which includes the first hour and a lower charge for additional hours (or part hours).

The exact charges are dependant on a number of factors including your location/travelling time, costs involved in visiting your premises (such as tolls/parking) and the number of services (such as line rental) we provide for you. Please email We also offer discounted pre-booked ½ and full-day rates for more extensive jobs such as system upgrades and office moves etc.

info@announce-page.com.co.uk to find out the time related charges for your site.

Q. What hours/days of the week are covered for maintenance purposes?

A. For standard maintenance purposes we provide maintenance coverage and are open to log calls/faults Monday-Friday (excluding public holidays) between 9:00am and 5.00pm.

Outside of these hours you can leave a message on our voicemail service.

Please contact us to discuss individual requirements for your business.

Q. What is the Maintenance Schedule (What is covered)?

A. If you pay for an annual maintenance contract then you will be sent a maintenance schedule document, this details the items covered under your maintenance contract and which have extended warranty applied to them. Normally this will cover the telephone system and digital featurephones along with items such as voicemail etc. Additional peripheral items such as basic telephones (known as Pots or SLTs), cordless telephones and music on hold units etc are not covered unless specifically requested (atextra charge). Your premises cabling may also be covered under extended guarantee if it was originally installed by announce telecom.

Items that will require routine replacement such as linecords, handset cords and batteries are not covered and will need to be paid for when required.

Q. Why have we been charged for an engineer callout on a maintenance contract?

A If a announce telecom engineer is called out to your premises and finds that the fault is due to a non equipment fault (such as power failure or external line failure), you will be charged for the callout at standard time related charges (TRC). You may also be charged if we are called to correct a fault with your cabling if it was not originally installed by Announce telecom or if you have not followed or refused to accept advice provided by telephone prior to the callout.

Q. Why has the cost of our annual maintenance contract changed this year ?

A. The cost of the maintenance contract may be revised up or down, equipment changes (such as upgrades or expansions) may affect the total price you pay. We also look at the previous years history to ascertain your usage of telephone/email support plus the number of engineer callouts and parts replacements made. Your contract may be increased if you do not follow advice we provide on the care of the equipment and the process for logging calls/faults.

Can we contract another company/engineer to work on our telephones or phone system?

If you are on a maintenance contract or have hardware warranty with ANNOUNCE telecom then the answer is no – we need to control the works and attachments made on your phone system. Having a non-approved engineer working on your equipment will invalidate hardware warranties and your maintenance contract.

4.0 Terms and Conditions (for AMC)  

4.1 MAINTENANCE PERIOD

The maintenance agreement starts on the date the Annual Maintenance Charge (AMC) is received and banked and will be valid for oneyear unless agreed otherwise in writing and subject to clause 3a and 7 below. Where the maintenance agreement is cancelled early by the customer, no percentage of the AMC is refundable to the customer. Where the AMC has not been received and the current agreement is time expired, Announce Telecom reserve the right to cease or suspend maintenance service or to charge for any works at standard Announce Telecom service rates.

4.2 MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR

Maintenance cover is divided into two options of service as described below in 2a and 2b, maintenance cover arranged for the customer with third party maintenance providers is outlined in clause 6 below. Maintenance cover options 1 and 2 are subject to clause 2c and clause 4 and clause 5.

(a) Maintenance Option 1 – Full Cover: ANNOUNCE Telecom shall as soon as is reasonably practicable after notification provide the services of a maintenance engineer to carry out any maintenance of and repairs to the equipment listed on the maintenance agreement.

The maintenance time and any replacement materials and spare parts will be provided free of any extra charge as a result of fair wear and tear arising from the proper operation of the equipment. Any maintenance repairs or customer visits caused other than by fair wear and tear may be carried out at the customers expense at current ANNOUNCE Telecom charges.

All maintenance repairs or replacements may be carried out at the premises where the equipment is installed or elsewhere at the option of ANNOUNCE Telecom.

The option 1 full-cover maintenance agreement only covers equipment and peripheral items detailed on the Maintenance Renewal letter or Maintenance Schedule and does not cover the following items unless specifically detailed: i. Standard telephone handsets, known as

POTS phones. ii. Wearable items such as handset and line cords on System Keyphones. iii. Cleaning of equipment, additional on-site programming, expansion, moves and changes or De-Commissioning of the system.

(b) Maintenance Option 2 – Support Cover: ANNOUNCE Telecom shall as soon as is reasonably practicable after notification provide the services of a maintenance engineer free of charge for the first hour to carry out any maintenance of and repair and replacements to the equipment as may be reasonable requested by the Customer (subject to the Customer making payment for any replacement parts at ANNOUNCE Telecom current charges). Maintenance visits which extend beyond 1 hour will be charged at ToneTel Telecom standard rates.

All maintenance repairs and replacements may be carried out at the premises where the equipment is installed or elsewhere at the option of ANNOUNCE Telecom. The support cover agreement does not cover the following items unless specifically detailed on the Maintenance Renewal letter: i.

Cleaning of equipment, additional on-site programming, expansion, moves and changes or De-Commissioning of the system.

(c) Where a fault has been lodged and ANNOUNCE Telecom has responded and no maintained equipment fault exists then this is deemed to be an ‘Abortive Visit’ and Abortive Visits will be charged to the Customer at current charges. Where a fault has been lodged and Announce is unable to gain access to the Customer’s premises then ANNOUNCE Telecom may charge the Customer an abortive visit call-out fee at current rates.

4.3 ALTERATIONS TO EQUIPMENT AND WIRING

(a) All alterations to equipment and wiring (including removal and reinstallation to new premises) shall be carried out by  ANNOUNCE Telecom, an authorised ANNOUNCE Telecom installer or partner, where alterations have been carried out other than by the above, Announce Telecom reserve the right to charge for a Maintenance Acceptance Test (MAT) or to cancel the agreement with immediate effect in writing whilst reserving the right to retain the AMC.

(b) ANNOUNCE PAGE may adjust the AMC, and the legal notice without notification, or if the equipment is altered, in accordance with current charges.

4.4 CARRIER’S / NETWORK PROVIDER’S LIABILITY

Where a fault that has been lodged has been a non-system fault, but is due to the carrier (ie British Telecom or Cable & Wireless etc) then ANNOUNCE Telecom will charge the customer for the call out at current rates. The customer may by quoting the carrier’s fault reference number be able to reclaim the cost that has occurred. ANNOUNCE Telecom cannot accept responsibility where the carrier refuses to cover all these costs.

4.5 CUSTOMER RESPONSIBILTIES AND LIABILITIES

(a) The customer shall not allow the equipment to be moved, interfered with or tampered with and shall at all times comply with advice given by ANNOUNCE Telecom in relation to the operation and care of the equipment.

(b) The customer should ensure that site documents & records are made available to Announce Telecom on each visit.

(c) The customer shall maintain an environment suitable to support the efficient operation of the equipment. The customer is responsible for any damage caused by electrical power surges and lightning.

(d) Where a fault lodged has been due to the following items, then ANNOUNCE PAGE will charge the customer for the call out at current rates and also charge for any parts provided: i. Power Failures / Surges / Lightning damage. ii. Misoperation/User error. iii. Accidental damage, fire, flood or other acts of God.

4.1 Terms and Conditions Outside (AMC) 

4.1 THIRD PARTY, RELATED WORKS, AND SCHEDULING WORKS.

Where ANNOUNCE PAGE arranges any maintenance work or cover for a customer with a third party, then any agreement is between the customer, and that third party and ANNOUNCE PAGE cannot be held responsible for any claims or additional costs. By receipt of email only, will ANNOUNCE PAGE, refer to works in progress from a third party telecoms provider, or any contractor working along side a telecoms provider. ANNOUNCE PAGE does not accept conversations recorded, as part of an agreement or form any contract in an agreement. The third party of the customer relating to charges, must refer to there third parties own terms and conditions. Also by notice any investigations relating to unschedule works, or unscheduled documentation, or meetings will be charged, and given notice by email, and in agreement of an email charges of £220 per hour will be applicable. Also note 2.0. & 2.1 for more information on fault reporting. 

5.0 PAYMENT TERMS

Payment for maintenance cover is due before the period of cover commences, payment for the provisioning of any works or services is due on that invoice date, unless you have made a written agreement. Failure to pay any outstanding invoices that is due may result in your maintenance agreement being suspended, canceled, or all relevant issues terminated . Unfortunately in these times we do not offer credit on small amounts, and failure to pay promptly will make you liable on the interest of money the owed, at the bank of england rates, with court actions or any other outstanding charges incurred by Announce PAGE in the pursuit of money owed, and the suspension does not affect the accrued rights of ANNOUNCE PAGE.