This Web Hosting Agreement is between Hello World Web Hosting, and the person (individual, company or corporation) who signs up for a web hosting plan from us and is responsible for payment, commonly known as "the customer."
Our Terms of Service details our business arrangement with you, the customer. Our Acceptable Use Policy, which governs the customers' use of our web hosting services, in a sub-part of and included in this Terms of Service agreement. The act of purchasing and using our services constitutes your acceptance of and agreement to abide by both our Terms of Service and our Acceptable Use Policy. In case that a court of competent jurisdiction considers that any of the Agreement's provisions is invalid, unenforceable, or void, the remaining ones will completely reserve their validity.
This Terms of Service Agreement together with the Order and Acceptable Use Policy constitutes the complete and exclusive agreement between the parties regarding its subject matter and supersedes and replace any prior understanding or communication, written or oral.
1. Services
Subject to the terms of this agreement, Hello World Web agrees to provide the web hosting services as ordered and paid for in advance by the customer. Our goal is to value and support our web hosting customers; to provide a secure hosting environment by our own due diligence and by enforcing reasonable security policies amongst all hosting accounts, for the good of all; and to maintain our servers (both hardware and software) in order to provide our customers with the most trouble-free hosting possible striving for 99.9% uptime.
2. Term
The initial service term of the agreement shall begin on the date that the customer places the order and makes the first payment, and Hello World Web acknowledges receipt of the order and payment by emailing a receipt and "Welcome" email. Service will continue as long as payments are made in a timely manner, unless and until the agreement is cancelled by either party.
- 2b. Cancellations
Customer may cancel their hosting services at any time, by placing the request from within the Client Portal account. Cancellations can be made effective immediately or at the end of the term. We can not refund any amount paid for hosting services, including dedicated (or semi-dedicated) servers, but you can transfer the amount paid (the balance on your account) to another of our hosting products by upgrading or downgrading your account.
Hello World Web may suspend or terminate (cancel) your account, with notice to the customer, if customer is found to be in violation of the Acceptable Use Policy or Terms of Service, and refuses to cooperate to remedy the violation.
Either party may terminate this agreement upon ten (10) days advance notice if the other party admits insolvency, makes an assignment for the benefit of its creditors, files for bankruptcy or similar protection, is unable to pay debts as they become due, has a trustee or receiver appointed over all or a substantial portion of its assets, or enters into an agreement for the extension or readjustment of all or substantially all of its obligations.
3. Payment Of Hosting Services
- 3a. Payments Are Due In Advance
Payments for all hosting services are due payable in advance before or on the first day of each billing cycle. Invoices are emailed five (5) days prior to the due date. Please familiarize yourself with our Billing and Payment Procedures, including acceptable forms of payment and late payment procedures.
Payments must be made in United States dollars, through one of the 3rd party payment processors listed in our Acceptable Payment Methods. Past due accounts will be:
- accessed a 10% late fee (with a minimum of $5.00) at five (5) days past due;
- suspended at fifteen (15) days past due; and
- terminated at thirty (30) days past due.
- A reinstatement fee of $15.00 will be due if your account is suspended due to non-payment.
- Customer agrees to pay Hello World Web's reasonable reinstatement fee following a suspension of service for non-payment, and to pay Hello World Web's reasonable costs of collection of overdue amounts, including collection agency fees, attorney fees and court costs.
- 3b. Fee Increases
Hello World Web may increase its fees for services effective the first day of a Renewal Term by giving notice to customer of the new fees at least forty-five (45) days prior to the beginning of the Renewal Term, and if customer does not give a notice of cancellation as provided in Section 2 above, the customer shall be deemed to have accepted the new fee for that Renewal Term and any subsequent Renewal Terms (unless the fees are increased in the same manner for a subsequent Renewal Term).
- 3c. Termination Due To Violation Of TOS or AUP
If your service is suspended or termination due to a violation of the TOS or AUP, no refund will be given for unused services.
- 3d. No Refunds On Unused Services
As a general policy we do not give refunds for unused hosting services, and overpayments are applied to your account in the form of a credit towards future services. Upon request and at our discretion we will consider a refund, depending on the situation. Under no circumstances can there to be refunds for our setup fee, administrative fees, license fees, fees paid to 3rd paties on your behalf, domain registration fees, master reseller accounts, virtual private servers, or dedicated servers.
4. Customer Contact Information
The contact information we have on file for you should always be accurate and current. If customer is an individual, customer represents and warrants that he or she is at least 18 years of age, and otherwise legally competent in all respects to, or, if an entity, customer is a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, or other legal entity duly formed and in good standing, as applicable, and possesses all legal authority and power to accept and be bound by these terms. Purposefully misrepresenting your country of residence in order to establish hosting services with Hello World Web is a violation of our TOS and grounds for account termination.
5. Indemnification
Customer agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Hello World Web, its affiliates, and each of their respective officers, directors, agents, and employees from and against any and all claims, demands, liabilities, obligations, losses, damages, penalties, fines, punitive damages, amounts in interest, expenses and disbursements of any kind and nature whatsoever (including reasonable attorneys fees) brought by a third party under any theory of legal liability arising out of or related to the actual or alleged use of customers' services in violation of applicable law or the AUP by customer or any person using customer's log on information, regardless of whether such person has been authorized to use the services by customer.
6. Disclaimer of Warranties
Hello World Web makes every effort to provide a secure and stable hosting environment for each of our customers. Because there are many factors that affect our ability to provide this, some beyond our control (such as network or data center outages, fire, flood and other acts of God, etc); we can not provide any warranty or represent that the services will be uninterrupted, error-free, or completely secure. To the extent permitted by applicable law Hello World Web disclaims any and all warranties including the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. All services are provided on an "As Is" basis.
7. Limitation of Damages
Neither party shall be liable to the other for any lost profits or any indirect, special, incidental, consequential or punitive loss or damage of any kind; or for damages that could have been avoided by the use of reasonable diligence, arising in connection with the agreement, even if the party has been advised or should be aware of the possibility of such damages. Notwithstanding anything else in the agreement to the contrary, the maximum aggregate liability of Hello World Web and any of its employees, agents or affiliates, under any theory of law (including breach of contract, tort, strict liability, and infringement) shall be a payment of money not to exceed the amount payable by customer for three months of service.
8. Force Majeure
Hello World Web shall not be in default of any obligation under the Agreement if the failure to perform the obligation is due to any event beyond our control, including, without limitation, significant failure of a portion of the power grid, significant failure of the Internet, natural disaster, war, riot, insurrection, epidemic, strikes or other organized labor action, terrorist activity, or other events of a magnitude or type for which precautions are not generally taken in the industry.
9. Method Of Contact And Support Requests
All requests for technical support, billing inquiries, and all other business contact should be done in writing through the Client Portal online ticket system or by using LiveChat (available on every page of our website). In the extremely unlikely event that the Client Portal support desk is unavailable we maintain an off site Status Blog, along with a presence on our social media accounts, in order to keep our customers informed of any outages. We recommend you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and subscribe (by RSS or email) to our Status Blog to stay informed of any changes to your hosting account, notification of scheduled server maintenance, and notification of computer end-user security concerns.
- 9a. Everyday Website Management
Use of Hello World Web's hosting service requires a certain level of knowledge in the use of Internet languages, protocols, and software. This level of knowledge varies depending on the anticipated use and desired content of customers' website. Some examples of basic knowledge required are, and not limited to, HTML, use of an FTP program, locating and linking web documents, installing web-based software, optimizing graphics, setting permissions on scripts you install, setting up email accounts, etc. Any of this can be learned by a little Googling and reading, and we assist you in learning as much as possible, with videos and tutorials available for almost every aspect of your cPanel hosting control panel.
The Customer affirms that he or she has the necessary knowledge to create and/or manage the website, is willing to learn, or will hire someone with this knowledge. Customer agrees that it is not the responsibility of Hello World Web to provide this knowledge or Customer Support outside of the defined service of Hello World Web Hosting Support.
- 9b. Excessive And Frivilous Support Requests
Our support staff is available 24/7/365 to assist you in and resolve any issues or malfunctions there may be in our provided website hosting services involving our core server software and server hardware. We make every reasonable effort to ensure you have an enjoyable hosting experience, and can be available for an occassional generic question regarding Internet protocols or best practices, however excessive and unwarranted use of our support services is prohibited.
There is no way to quantify ahead of time what constitutes "excessive support requests." If you have a valid issue with your hosting account, no matter how often, we certainly want you to contact us...that's why we're here. But as explained in section 9a, our support services can not be a substitute for seeking your own knowledge and doing your own research.
- 9c. No Support For Custom Software
We can not guarantee to provide support for any custom software you install on your website, even if it is installed by one of our provided auto-installers, nor do our provided auto-installers support the scripts they install. Support for those scripts and applications are available through the developer who authored the application, and you are encouraged to contact them or their scripts' support forum. You are welcome to ask our support for help with a script, and we'll certainly help if we can (or point you in the right direction), but this can not be guaranteed that we'll have experience with any given software beyond what we provide and support.
- 9d. Torturous Conduct
Any case of indecent treatment towards a Hello World Web support staff will be considered inappropriate. Each customer is expected to conduct themselves in a professional and respectful manner in all communication with Hello World Web support staff regarding any requests for help through email, by phone or through the Client Portal online support desk. Each customer should avoid applying any forms of written emotional outburst or cursing, which is both counterproductive and wastes time in which we could be solving the issue at hand. Any attempts of deliberately undermining behavior will be interpreted as a breach of this TOS/AUP.
Other acts of treatment towards Hello World Web support staff that will be considered as unacceptable include any verbal, oral, written or delivered by a second party threats addressing Hello World Web or any of its employees, support staff, partners, equipment, and concerns. Any forms of such threats will be interpreted as a breach of this TOS. Hello World Web keeps the right to assess which behavior will be treated as a breach of this TOS and to give no refunds to the users whose accounts have been terminated for repeated violation of the aforementioned policy.
10. Cooperation With Law Enforcement
While we place a high value on our customers' privacy, we will divulge, without prior notice to the customer, any customer or end user information requested in response to a formal or informal request from a law enforcement or regulatory agency or in response to a formal request in a civil action that on its face meets the requirements for such a request. We will cooperate and comply with any search warrant or court order.
11. Changes To Server IPs Or Network
Through required maintenance, occasional hardware failure and server operating system upgrades it may be necessary to migrate customers' accounts to different servers, which would result in a change of IP address. These rare migrations are planned to minimize downtime and except during an emergency hardware failure are scheduled for the middle of the night to minimize any disruption to our customers' websites. Hello World Web reserves the right to change its network in its commercially reasonable discretion, and shall not be liable for any unintentional resulting harm to customer.
12. Governing Law And Disputes
The Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of California, exclusive of its choice of law principles, and the laws of the United States of America, as applicable. The Agreement shall not be governed by the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods. Exclusive venue for all disputes arising out of or relating to the agreement shall be the state and federal courts in Placer County, California, and each party agrees not to dispute such personal jurisdiction and waives all objections thereto.
13. Ownership
Each party acknowledges and agrees that the other party retains exclusive ownership and rights in its trademarks, service marks, trade secrets, inventions, copyrights, website files and other intellectual property. Neither party may use the other party's name or trade mark without the other party's prior written consent. The parties intend for their relationship to be that of independent contractors and not a partnership, joint venture, or employer/employee. Neither party will represent itself to be agent of the other. Each party acknowledges that it has no power or authority to bind the other on any agreement and that it will not represent to any person that it has such power or authority. This Agreement may be amended only by a formal written agreement signed by both parties.
- 13a. Transfer Of Ownership
Customer may not transfer the Agreement without Hello World Web's prior written consent. Approval for assignment is contingent on the assignee meeting Hello World Web's credit approval criteria. Hello World Web may assign the Agreement in whole or in part.
- 13b. Survivorship
The following provisions will survive expiration or termination of the Agreement: Fees, indemnity obligations, provisions limiting liability and disclaiming warranties, provisions regarding ownership of intellectual property, these miscellaneous provisions, and other provisions that by their nature are intended to survive termination of the Agreement. There are no third party beneficiaries to the Agreement. Neither insurers nor the customers of resellers are third party beneficiaries to the Agreement.
14. Right Of Refusal Of Service
Hello World Web may refuse to extend hosting services to any customer or any website at its sole discretion.
15. Notice Of Changes To The TOS/AUP
Hello World Web is committed to providing the best possible web hosting service and is dedicated to staying abreast of new and available technologies that will better serve our customers. We reserves the right in our sole discretion and reasonable commercial judgment consistent with industry standards and the collective needs of our customers, to amend, modify add or remove parts of the TOS/AUP from time to time to further detail or describe reasonable restrictions and conditions on our customers' use of our hosting services. Amendments to the TOS/AUP are effective upon notice to our customers.
