Terms Of Service

Please read these terms of service carefully. By using the services of Kenton Garden Services CC or signing up as a customer, you are agreeing to these terms of service, which will result in a legal agreement with binding legal obligations between you and KGS.

The agreement is concluded between Kenton Garden Services CC (registration number 2001/014046/23), a close corporation incorporated in terms of the close corporation laws of the Republic of South Africa, whose registered address is at 10 Industrial Road, Riversbend, Bushman’s River Mouth, Eastern Cape, South Africa (“ KGS ”, “ we ”, “ our ” or “ us ”) and you, the person or business entity who uses KGS as their service provider (“ you ”, “ your ” or “ customer ”). KGS may at its own discretion, amend or amplify the terms of service. KGS will notify you of any such amendments.

The provision of the services stipulated in a quotation issued by KGS to you, which you have accepted, (“ quotation ”) or alternatively, and only in the event of the absence of a quotation, in terms of a standing arrangement between you and KGS (“ standing arrangement ”), shall be subject to the terms and conditions contained herein (“ terms ”) (a quotation and/or a standing arrangement and these terms shall collectively be referred to as the “ service agreement ”), which supersede and replace all prior terms, conditions, proposals or quotations exchanged between the parties. Your acceptance of any services (including services covered by a quotation and/or provided in terms of a standing arrangement) shall constitute your acceptance of the terms contained herein.

We agree to perform the services in compliance with the specification and description of the services on the quotation alternatively as per a standing arrangement, read with these terms. These terms shall apply to the provision of services by KGS to customers that require their services. Services shall be provided at the customer’s address as may be recorded in the quotation or otherwise as recorded in KGS’s records from time to time (the “ premises ”). The specific type of service/s required appear in the quotation or alternatively, are as per the standing arrangement (“ service ” or “ services ”).

Service description

Lawn mowing (standard service applicable unless expressly stipulated otherwise)

• Standard service includes general grass and edge cutting.
• All lawn areas on the premises will be cut to an acceptable length as solely determined by KGS, having regard for the season and other applicable factors (and never to a length which is lower than the lawn mower’s cutting capability).
• Although as a rule all lawn edges are cut both horizontally and vertically each time a specific lawn is cut, customers may from time to time request KGS to suspend vertical and/ or horizontal cutting of the edges as to allow for fuller lawns or to stop receding lawns.
• Included in the quoted service price for lawn mowing is the collection and removal of all lawn and edge cuttings, as well as the sweeping and removal of leaves on the lawn area only.
• All lawn mowing will be suspended on days when a specific area’s ground is too wet, and then in those instances the mowing teams will only resume with servicing on the next rain-free/ workable day.
• Customers will be charged an additional collection fee in all instances where KGS is required to collect access keys or remotes for the premises at another location, or from a person who is not on-site.
• All customers’ gardens will be serviced twice per month, unless other arrangements have been made between KGS and the customer in writing. The first service will take place on/before the 15 th of each month and the second service on/before the end of the month.
• Set routes can be viewed on our website. The routes are however subject to growth patterns, weather and public holidays. KGS may change the routes at any time, at its sole discretion.
• Mowing charges includes mowing of the grass only. The lawnmowing teams will under no circumstances be able to do any work in the garden.

Removal of refuse

• All refuse collected on the premises other than the normal lawn mower cuttings and leaves will carry an additional charge for the customer, which will be calculated per trailer load or any part thereof. All fibrous plant material (banana leaves, palm leaves, Strelitzias plants and leaves) and tree branches or stumps thicker than a 100mm in diameter will be sorted and removed to the Port Alfred landfill site, and for this service the customer will be charged a further additional “landfill” fee, which is an amount over and above the normal refuse collection fee.
• Under no circumstances will KGS remove any building rubble of non-organic material from the premises.
• KGS will not remove any refuse, other than lawn mowing cutting and leaves, from the premises unless the customer has expressly requested KGS to do so, whether it be by way of a once-off verbal arrangement, or a standing arrangement as agreed upon between the parties in writing.

Monthly maintenance

• The number of maintenance visits per month will be agreed upon by the parties,
• Monthly visits do not take place in a specific order and visit days may therefore vary depending on weather conditions, unless a specific maintenance day or days have been agreed upon between the parties in writing.
• No plant consumables have been included in the quoted monthly maintenance charges. As such, there will be an additional charge for the customer should it be required of KGS to use any pesticides, fertilizer, mulch and/ or herbicides during a particular visit to your premises.
• KGS shall not be liable for the natural effect of circumstances outside its direct control (such as severe weather conditions, drought, or water restrictions) on any garden and we assume no responsibility or liability of any nature whatsoever in respect thereof.
• Should you have any specific maintenance requests – the details thereof must be provided to KGS in writing prior to the maintenance visit and may incur an additional charge.
• You will be informed of all plague outbreaks detected as soon as reasonably possible following such detection, and the appropriate course of action and concomitant cost thereof will then be agreed upon between the parties.

Tree felling and tree trimming

• All trees taller than 2.5 meters shall be excluded from the scope of tree pruning and will only be attended to as part of our tree felling and tree trimming service.
• Tree felling and tree trimming attended to by KGS will carry an additional charge and will only be done on your request, and only once you have accepted a written quotation from KGS in this regard.
• You acknowledge that pruning of Milkwood trees requires a special (separate) permit to be obtained from the local municipal authority prior to such pruning taking place and that, as owner of the premises, it is your responsibility to obtain such permit. KGS will assist in applying for the permit at an additional charge, if requested. In such circumstances, the details of the property owner (including his/her identity number) and/or such other documents and particulars as may be advised from time to time must be made available to KGS.
• KGS will only cut and remove tree branches which support bird nests once the nests have been abandoned naturally.

Gutter cleaning

• Gutter cleaning will be done during the pre-holiday clean-up session, unless otherwise agreed upon between the parties in which event, it will be attended to at an additional charge.

Pre-holiday clean-ups

• Pre-holiday clean-ups will take place 3 times a years:-
  • The pre-December clean-up period will be from October until the first week in December;
  • The pre-Easter clean-up period will be the entire month before the Easter long-weekend.
  • The mid-winter clean-ups will take place during July and August.

  Garden drum service

  • One drum per customer are supplied at no extra cost. In case of theft of the drum, the customer will be responsible for the replacement value of the drum.
  • [Client to provide more information and particulars]Drums will be cleaned on a weekly basis.
    
  • weekly drum service
  • more refuse An allowance of one drum refuse per week has been made. Should more than one refuse be required, each extra refuse will be charged at an additional rate.
  • Only organic material will be removed, and non-organic material will be left on site.

  1. These terms shall apply to and be incorporated into the service agreement and prevail over any inconsistent terms or conditions contained, or referred to, in the customer’s acceptance of a quotation, or specification or other document supplied by the customer.

  2. The customer’s acceptance of a quotation for the services by KGS constitutes an offer by the customer to purchase the services on these terms. No offer placed by the customer shall be accepted by KGS other than:

  • by written acknowledgement issued and executed by KGS; or
  • on receipt by KGS of the agreed deposit monies in respect of the services, in full and in cleared funds; or
  • (if earlier) by KGS starting to carry out the services

  at which point a contract for the supply and purchase of the services on these terms will be established (“contract ”).

  3. The services carried out under the contract shall be provided by KGS to the customer from the date specified in the service agreement (quotation) or, where no date is so specified, from the date on which the contract is established in terms of clause 2 above.

  4. The Customer shall provide KGS with a key and/or a remote to gain access to the outside of the premises only, and particularly the entire area to be serviced at the premises, whenever the services are to be performed.

  5. Should KGS not be able to obtain full access to the service area on a specific allocated day/ time due to an occurrence which is attributable to the customer, or should KGS only obtain access after the start of the allocated time as a result of this occurrence, then in those instances the time lost as a result of the delay will be deducted from the allocated time, which may lead to the premises not being serviced in full on that particular day, or in some circumstances, not being serviced at all.

  6. In order to be able to attend to the gardening service needs of all of its customers, KGS will as far as reasonably possible adhere to the predetermined work schedule for a particular day, and the specific timeslots allocated for each service. Poor weather conditions may however cause a delay in service, and in certain instances it may even be necessary to abandon the services completely on a particular day.

  7. All work carried out by KGS during the servicing of gardens will be done strictly in accordance with the service agreement. Should the customer require any additional services during a specific visit the customer will have to inform KGS of this at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled services.

  8. None of the KGS employees are permitted to engage in any work which will require of them to climb higher than the standard size stepladders provided by KGS. Should the need arise for KGS to perform work of this nature then specific prior arrangements will have to be made with KGS to do a formal assessment, and to provide a separate quotation.

  9. Should KGS discover any problems with pests, weeds, or termites during the servicing of a premises a report of this will be compiled and emailed to the relevant contact person as listed in the service agreement.

  10. Please note that due to health and safety reasons no employee of KGS will be permitted to carry out work on any portion of the premises where bees and/or hornets are detected, and in such instances the customer will be required to have the bees removed before KGS will continue with the services.

  11. KGS will from time to time use noisy machinery to carry out certain maintenance work, and it will therefore be incumbent on customers to notify KGS timeously should any specific day/ time not be convenient due to unwanted noise disturbance. Please also note that since these machines may cause excessive dust and smoke, it is advised that all doors and windows on the premises are kept closed at all times while maintenance work is being carried out. \

  12. Under no circumstances will KGS or any of its employees be permitted to wash any cars or windows during the scheduled services.

  13. KGS and its employees agree to enter the customer’s premises at their own risk.

  14. Should any customer at any time be dissatisfied with the standard of work, timekeeping of the KGS personnel, or any other unwanted act of an employee of KGS, then this should be brought to the attention of the KGS management immediately in order for KGS to investigate the allegation, and to take appropriate action.

  15. Although KGS will take all reasonable measures to ensure that no damage and/ or harm is caused to the customer’s property and/ or the customer, and/or his/ her family members and/or visitors while the garden is being serviced and/ or maintained by KGS, neither KGS nor any of its employees shall be liable for any losses or damage to any property, or any personal injuries or death suffered by the customer, and/or his/her family members, and/or any visitors, irrespective of the cause of such losses, damage or injuries

  16. PAYMENT OF ACCOUNTS

  • Upon conclusion of the service agreement the customer will be required to make an immediate full payment for all the services contracted for the first month, and thereafter all payments for a particular month will have to be made IN ADVANCE by no later than the 27th day of the month preceding the month in which the services will be carried out. Should any portion of a customer’s service payment still be outstanding after the 27th KGS may immediately suspend all services, and only resume once the full outstanding payment has been received by KGS. The Customer shall remain liable for payment of all service charges notwithstanding such suspension of services. Customers are advised to contact the KGS accounts department on 046-648-1846 to make other payment arrangements.
  • Customers are to use their unique customer account number as payment reference for all payments made to KGS. This number is obtainable from the KGS accounts department.
  • The KGS service rates will increase each year during the month of November or during any month of the year, should fuel prices necessitate an increase, and notices in this regard will be sent to customers by way of email at least 30 (thirty) days prior to the date on which the increase will become effective. Emails will be sent to the email address provided by the customer in the service agreement, as updated from time to time, and it will therefore remain the responsibility of the customer to ensure that KGS is in possession of the customer’s correct contact details.
  • PLEASE NOTE that any outstanding payments from the customer which has become due and payable to KGS in terms of the service agreement, as read with this terms and conditions shall bear interest at a rate of two percent (2%) per month from the due date until paid in full, as well as a further once-off admin fee of five percent (5%) on the outstanding amount.
  • In all instances where KGS services the garden of a customer who resides overseas all service payments to KGS will have to made by the customer by way of debit order.

  17. CANCELLATION OF SERVICE AGREEMENT:

  • The service agreement shall be for the fixed term as indicated in the service agreement.
  • On the expiry of the fixed term service agreement the agreement will continue on a month to month basis, unless the parties have already agreed to renew the agreement for a further fixed term, or unless KGS or the customer has expressly indicated that they would not like to renew the agreement.
  • After the expiry of the fixed term, the service agreement may be cancelled by either party on one calendar months’ written notice to the other party, such notice to be provided by either email, or in person.

  18. The customer will not be permitted to employ any of KGS’s personnel in any capacity whatsoever during the currency of the contract or for a period of at least two (2) years from the date of cancellation.

  19. Please note that the service agreement entered into by the parties, which incorporates these terms and conditions shall constitute the entire agreement between the parties, and no alteration, variation or amendment of the service agreement by the customer shall have any force or effect unless agreed upon between the parties, reduced to writing, and signed by both parties.