Service Level and Terms for Support Contracts

Last updated: [02/04/2026]

These terms apply to all support-based services provided by PIE Code, a trading name of Pie Web Limited (Company No. 07995302), which may also be referred to as your WordPress Development Strongarm plan, the Ongoing Support component of a wider agreement, or as otherwise named in your proposal, contract or agreement. They should be read alongside our General Terms of Business, which apply to all services unless explicitly overridden here.

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1. Definitions

• Working Day (WD): 8 hours of service-level time, typically within business hours
• Base Hours: Retained hours included in your monthly support plan
• Backlog: A queue of future or low-priority requests, available to Essentials+ clients

2. Service Levels

For all Support Agreements except standalone Ad-hoc Support:

• Service Level Window (SLW): 08:30–18:00 UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays)
• Maximum Waiting Time: (Time from receiving your request to our first human response) 1 Working Day
• Maximum Response Time: (Time from receiving your request to work commencing) 3 Working Days
• Rollover: Any unused retained hours roll over indefinitely, unless otherwise agreed

The above guarantees apply only to Base Hours included within your active monthly Support Agreement.

The SLA does not apply to:

• Any authorised hours worked beyond your Base Hours in a given calendar month (Ad-hoc Overages)
• Any standalone Ad-hoc Support agreement
• Any Rollover Hours
• Any Out-of-hours support requests

Work falling outside Base Hours will be scheduled subject to team availability and existing retained client commitments.

3. Communication Channels

You can raise support requests through the following channels:

• Support Portal: https://support.pie.co.de
• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: +44 (0)20 7873 2224 — request a callback within SLW
• Slack: A dedicated Slack channel on our Slack server/servers

Essentials clients are entitled to a monthly call with a Lead Developer. Advantage and Premium clients receive weekly calls.

4. Billable vs. Unbillable Time

Billable time includes:

1. Time spent delivering the services listed in your support contract
2. Time spent researching or delivering any services not included above
3. Time spent communicating with you or third parties about the above

Unbillable time includes:

1. Time spent researching how to deliver services listed in your support contract
2. Time spent administering your contract (e.g. reporting and billing)

If we don’t know how to do something in WordPress, we won’t charge you while we figure it out. If you ask us to investigate a different CMS or external platform, that research time will be considered billable.

All billable time will be logged and provided with each invoice.

5. Approval and Escalation

By raising a support request, you authorise us to spend up to 1 hour investigating or resolving the issue.

If we believe a request will exceed 1 hour:

• We’ll notify you with a time estimate
• We won’t continue until you’ve explicitly approved the work through one of our nominated support channels

This threshold resets each time additional hours are required. No further billable time will be spent without your explicit approval.

Without explicit written approval, your monthly usage will be limited to your Base Hours. If that limit is reached, we’ll stop work unless you authorise additional hours. Any work beyond the authorised maximum will not be billed unless explicitly approved through one of our nominated support channels.

6. Support Request Closure and Backlog

If you are on the Essentials, Advantage, or Premium tier, you have access to a backlog for lower-priority or future-scheduled requests.

If we’ve responded to a ticket and do not hear back from you, we will:

• Send a reminder after 5WD
• If we have not heard from you within 10WD of our last reply, we will either:
  • Move the request to your backlog (Essentials+ clients), or
  • Close the request (Ad-hoc clients)

Backlogged items remain available for prioritisation during your scheduled calls or when you’re ready to proceed.

If we request more information from you and do not receive a response, the same process applies: a reminder at 5WD, followed by backlog or closure at 10WD, depending on your tier.

7. Rollover Hours and Reasonable Use

Unused Base Hours from your Support Contract roll over indefinitely and can be used for future work.

There is no cap on how many hours you can accrue; however, we ask clients to be mindful that:

• Redeeming large volumes of hours (e.g. more than twice the amount of monthly retained hours) is subject to scheduling availability and needs to be booked in advance
• We may need to phase or prioritise the work across multiple weeks or months depending on current commitments
• Rollover hours are not covered under SLA response or waiting times unless otherwise agreed

This approach ensures we can honour all Support Contracts fairly while still giving you flexibility in how you use your retained time.

8. Out-of-Hours Support

We can accommodate out-of-hours support requests with advance notice. This service:

• Must be pre-arranged and agreed in writing
• Will be billed at double your ad-hoc hourly rate
• Will not count toward your included hours or be covered by the SLA

9. Term and Termination

Support contracts carry a minimum commitment of three months. After that, they continue month-to-month unless terminated.

To cancel your Support Contract, you can notify us at any point after your second Base Hours invoice. We’ll treat your next scheduled invoice as the final one.

Note: Support Contracts are non-refundable, and this termination clause applies in addition to our general terms of business.

10. Late Payment

If payment is overdue, we reserve the right to suspend support and continue invoicing for the monthly base charge until your account is brought back into good standing. This does not affect your obligation to pay, nor does it prevent future billing cycles.

Please also refer to our General Terms of Business for further details on non-payment, interest charges, and recovery action.

11. Rate Reviews

We review our pricing periodically to reflect changes in operating costs, market conditions, and the level of service provided.

Where pricing changes apply to your Support Contract, we will provide reasonable notice in writing, typically no less than 28 days, before any changes take effect.

If you do not wish to continue under the updated pricing, you may terminate your Support Contract in line with the Term and Termination clause.