Engagement letter

1. The parties and the engagement

This engagement is between No Trace ("No Trace", "we") and the client named in the signature block ("you"). It covers one URL, identified in the schedule as the Specified URL, and no other.

You confirm that you are the person named in the Specified URL, or that you are authorised to act for that person or business. We rely on that confirmation.

2. What we will do

We will assess the Specified URL, tell you in writing whether we believe it can be removed, and if so pursue the removal routes named in the assessment. Those routes are drawn from: publisher negotiation, platform policy, data-protection delisting, formal legal notice, and de-indexing and cache removal.

No Trace is not a law firm. Where a route requires legal representation we instruct independent counsel in the relevant jurisdiction at our own cost.

3. The fee

3.1 The fee is :fee for the Specified URL. There are no hourly charges, no disbursements and no further sums of any kind.

3.2 The fee is payable on signature of this letter and is held in a client account. It is not our money until the Specified URL is verified as removed under clause 4, or until this letter is terminated under clause 6.

3.3 Where the fee is paid in a currency other than US dollars, the amount is the figure quoted to you at checkout, which was fixed at the prevailing rate at that moment and does not change afterwards.

4. What "removed" means

4.1 The Specified URL is removed when it does not appear in Google search results for any of the Agreed Search Terms listed in the schedule, when checked:

• from three regions: the United Kingdom, the United States and one European Union location;
• across the first ten pages of results, being the first 100 results, for each term in each region;
• on two separate occasions at least seven days apart.

4.2 Every check must pass. A single appearance of the Specified URL in either round means that round has failed.

4.3 A copy of the same content at a different URL, including an AMP version, a cached copy, a mirror or a syndicated reproduction, is treated as part of the same engagement and is removed at no additional cost.

4.4 A result that has merely moved to a later page of results has not been removed, and we will not treat it as such.

4.5 Verification is signed off by a member of our staff who is not the handler of your case. You receive the evidence, listing every check by region, term and date.

5. The removal window

5.1 The Removal Window is :removal_window days, beginning on the date of the written assessment. The assessment states the date it ends.

5.2 We may propose extending the Removal Window once, by up to 30 days, and only where we believe the additional time will succeed. An extension takes effect only if you agree to it in your case record. We cannot extend it without you.

6. Refund

6.1 If, at the end of the Removal Window, the Specified URL continues to appear in Google search results for the Agreed Search Terms as verified under clause 4, No Trace shall refund the Fee in full within five Working Days. No deduction shall be made for work performed.

6.2 If we assess the Specified URL as not removable, we will tell you within 48 working hours of payment and refund the fee in full, with a target of 24 hours from that assessment. This engagement then ends.

6.3 You may cancel at any time before the assessment is issued and receive a full refund.

6.4 A refund is always the whole of the fee actually paid, in the currency in which it was paid. Payment-processing charges are ours, not yours. There is no partial refund and no partial-success fee.

7. After removal

7.1 For twelve months after the Specified URL is verified as removed, we re-check it monthly against the Agreed Search Terms. If it reappears at the same URL, we reopen the matter and pursue removal again at no charge, with a fresh Removal Window.

7.2 A different URL published after settlement is a new matter and a new fee.

8. Confidentiality

8.1 We will not disclose your identity, the Specified URL, or anything you tell us, to anyone other than as strictly required to pursue the routes named in the assessment, and then only what the request itself requires.

8.2 We will not publish your name, your matter or any description of it, and we do not publish client names, case studies or testimonials of any kind.

8.3 This undertaking does not expire when the engagement ends.

8.4 Your personal data is held as described in our privacy notice. Case records are retained for six years after closure, being the limitation period, and are then anonymised.

9. What we will not do

We will not mislead a publisher, a platform or a court. We will not make a claim we cannot evidence, we will not conceal who we act for where a route requires us to say, and we will not pay a site that charges for removal.

10. Progress

You receive a written update in your case record at least every seven days while the matter is active, and immediately on any material development.

11. Governing law

This engagement is governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.