Client Rights and Responsibilities

The North Carolina Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) is pleased to have you as a client. The SBTDC is a business development service of the University of North Carolina system. The SBTDC provides counseling, management education, and technical assistance to North Carolina businesses and would-be entrepreneurs.

As a new client of the SBTDC, we would like to advise you of certain rights and responsibilities, which you have as one our clients.

You have a right to exact prompt, courteous, and professional counseling services and to be advised if the SBTDC is unable to provide services within the time frame required.

You have a right to feel comfortable that all information shared with the SBTDC and any of its resources (staff, faculty, and consultants) will be held in strictest confidence. No information provided by you will be used to the commercial or other advantage of any staff member, consultant or other resource of the SBTDC or by any third party. You also have the right to expect that your client status with the SBTDC will remain confidential. No public use of your name, address, or business identity will be made without your prior approval. Please not, however, that the SBTDC is funded in part by the state of North Carolina, the US Small Business Administration, and other public and private-sector agencies and organizations. Limited information with respect to your client status (name, address, nature/scope of service, and amount of service) may be provided to those public agencies which fund the SBTDC or which are responsible for auditing the financial and program performance of the SBTDC.

You have a right to feel secure that no fee will be charged by the SBTDC or its resources for the counseling services which are provided to you and that no fees may be paid to or accepted by SBTDC consultants for their services (note that the SBTDC does charge fees for training, management education, and specialty services, such as its computer-based procurement matching services, market research, etc.). Also, no recommendations will be made as to the purchase of goods and services from any individual or firm which any of the SBTDC staff or its resources have any financial, familial, or personal interest.

Our role is to counsel and assist owners of small, medium-sized, and high-growth businesses. We also provide information to and assist those planning to go into business. We will not make business decisions or judgments for you, although we will make recommendations and suggestions as appropriate. These will be based upon our best efforts to apply the experience and resources then available to us to your case in order to assist you in making your own business decisions.

The counseling services which are provided to you are part of the effort of the constituent institutions of the University of North Carolina to respond to the growing needs of the business community. They are not intended to compete with, replace, or be a substitute for services which are available from the private sector. Clients whose needs can be fully and affordably met by private-sector practitioners or firms will be encouraged to use these resources.

In consideration of the SBTDC furnishing you with free counseling and technical assistance, you agree to waive all claims against the state of North Carolina, The University of North Carolina (and its constituent institutions), the SBTDC, its staff, or any other resources employed by or used in connection with these services.

You also agree to waive all claims against the US Small Business Administration and other public and private-sector agencies and organizations which support the SBTDC. However, no waiver of liability is intended against any licensed professional attorney or accountant providing assistance to SBTDC clients in their professional capacity.

You will be expected to cooperate with the SBTDC in its ongoing efforts to assure the quality and effectiveness of the counseling services which it provides. In this respect, the SBTDC will ask clients who receive five or more hours of assistance will be asked to a complete a brief, "impact" assessment one year following the close of their case file. Finally, clients may receive direct inquiries from the US Small Business Administration and other public-sector agencies with respect to the services provided by the SBTDC. Your response to all these inquiries is expected and will be greatly appreciated.

We welcome you as a client and encourage you to call us if you have any questions or comments regarding your rights and responsibilities or with respect to our services. You can do so by calling the SBTDC Executive Director from anywhere in North Carolina toll-free (800/258-0862).