Terms of Service

Terms

Please note that the term "Ecoda" refers to "Ecoda Pty Ltd" IMPORTANT NOTICE: *All Payments To Ecoda Are Non-Refundable after the first 30 days* Ecoda Pty Ltd ("Ecoda") agrees to furnish services to the Subscriber, subject to the following TOS (Terms of Service). Use of Ecoda Service constitutes acceptance and agreement to Ecoda's AUP as well as Ecoda's TOS (Terms of Service). All provisions of this agreement are subject to the TOS (Terms of Service) of Ecoda and AUP (Acceptable Use Policy). The AUP may be changed from time to time at the discretion of Ecoda. Subscriber understands that change to the AUP by Ecoda shall not be grounds for early contract termination or non-payment. This Agreement shall be construed in all respects in accordance with the laws of the state of NSW, country of Australia applicable to contracts enforceable in that state. The customer warrants that all information provided to Ecoda is truthful and correct and accurate and up to date and that the person designated is of above 18 years of age and is legally empowered to act and enter into this contract as the customer or on behalf of the customer as indicated on the relevant application form Disclosure to Law Enforcement: The AUP specifically prohibits the use of our service for illegal activities. Therefore, Subscriber agrees that Ecoda may disclose any and all subscriber information including assigned IP numbers, account history, account use, etc. to any law enforcement agent who makes a written request without further consent or notification to the Subscriber. In addition Ecoda shall have the right to terminate all service set forth in this Agreement. Service Rates: Subscriber acknowledges that the nature of the service furnished and the initial rates and charges have been communicated to Subscriber. Subscriber is aware that Ecoda may prospectively change the specified rates and charges from time to time. The promotional offer is contingent upon Ecoda achieving and maintaining its cost of service goals including but not limited to rates charged to company by its suppliers. Payment: Establishment of this service is dependent upon receipt by Ecoda of payment of stated charges. Subsequent payments are due on the anniversary date of the month for that month's service. All invoices are sent to you by email, we do not send invoices via postal mail. Payments and Fees: Credit cards that are declined for any reason are subject to a $1.00 declination fee. Service will be interrupted on accounts that reach 20 days past due. Service interrupted for nonpayment is subject to a $30 reconnect charge. Accounts that are not collectable by Ecoda may be turned over to an outside collection agency for collection. If your account is turned over for collection, you agree to pay Ecoda a "Processing and Collection" Fee of not less than $50 nor more than $150. If you desire to cancel your account, please follow the proper procedure to do this as outlined in this TOS. Refund and Disputes: All payments to Ecoda are nonrefundable after the 30 day money back peroid. This includes the one time setup fee and subsequent charges regardless of usage. All overcharges or billing disputes must be reported within 60 days of the time the dispute occurred. If you dispute a charge to your credit card issuer that, in Ecoda's sole discretion is a valid charge under the provisions of the TOS and /or AUP, you agree to pay Ecoda an "Administrative Fee" of not less than $50 and not more than $150. Failure to Pay: Ecoda may temporarily deny service or terminate this Agreement upon the failure of Subscriber to pay charges when due. Such termination or denial will not relieve Subscriber of responsibility for the payment of all accrued charges, plus reasonable interest and any collection fees. Account Cancellation: Ecoda provides an ongoing service as all service providers do, you agree that your service can only be cancelled by completing the online cancellation form. Requests for canceling accounts may be made at least 7 days Prior to the due date. There is no canellation fee. You must have all account information to cancel. Subscriber acknowledges that the service provided is of such a nature that service can be interrupted for many reasons other than the negligence of Ecoda and that damages resulting from any interruption of service are difficult to ascertain. Therefore, subscriber agrees that Ecoda shall not be liable for any damages arising from such causes beyond the direct and exclusive control of Ecoda. Subscriber further acknowledges that Ecoda's liability for its own negligence may not in any event exceed an amount equivalent to charges payable by subscriber for services during the period damages occurred. In no event shall Ecoda be liable for any special or consequential damages, loss or injury. New Domain Accounts: All new webhosting accounts involving new domains will be set up and entered into our DNS servers within 1 to 2 business days. Due to unforeseen complications, however, this process may sometimes require up to 5 business days Transfer of Domains: New webhosting accounts which involve the transfer of a domain from another provider to Ecoda will require a minimum of seven (7) days to be set up and entered into our DNS servers. Due to the unpredictable nature of the transfer process, no guarantees are made regarding the amount of time a specific transfer may take. If the transfer of the domain is done by Ecoda on behalf of the account holder a handling fee will be incurred. If the customer cancels service during the transfer period for any reason, all charges are considered earned. Support Boundaries: Ecoda, provides technical support to our subscribers (except for public holidays.) We limit our technical support to our area of expertise. The following is our guidelines when providing support: Ecoda provides support related to your server or virtual site physical functioning. Ecoda does not offer tech support for application specific issues such as cgi programming, html or any other such issue. Ecoda does not provide technical support for customers of Resellers. If you can email, we encourage you to email [email protected] for assistance. If you are able to get online and have other questions, the answers may be on our support page - we encourage you to check there first. Lastly, the Help files in the program you are using may have the answer to your question so please do investigate these resources before contacting tech support. SPAM and Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE): Ecoda takes a zero tolerance approach to the sending of Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) or SPAM over our network. Very simply this means that customers of Ecoda may not use or permit others to use our network to transact in UCE. Customers of Ecoda may not host, or permit hosting of, sites or information that is advertised by UCE from other networks. In addition, it is not acceptable to transmit bulk email through remote SOCKS, HTTP or other similar proxies who in turn make a SMTP (TCP port 25) connection to the destination mail servers. This technique may result in account suspension or termination. Violations of this policy carry severe penalties, including termination of service. In order to prevent unnecessary blacklisting due to spam we reserve the right to occasionally sample bulk email being sent from servers. Violation of Ecoda's SPAM policy will result in severe penalties. Upon notification of an alleged violation of our SPAM policy, Ecoda will initiate an immediate investigation (within 48 hours of notification). During the investigation, Ecoda may restrict customer access to the network to prevent further violations. If a customer is found to be in violation of our SPAM policy, Ecoda may, at its sole discretion, restrict, suspend or terminate customer's account. Further, Ecoda reserves the right to pursue civil remedies for any costs associated with the investigation of a substantiated policy violation. Ecoda will notify law enforcement officials if the violation is believed to be a criminal offense. First violations of this policy will result in an "Administrative Fee" of $300 and your account will be reviewed for possible immediate termination. A second violation will result in an "Administrative Fee" of $600 and immediate termination of your account. Users who violate this policy agree that in addition to these "Administrative" penalties, they will pay "Research Fees" not to exceed $175 per hour that Ecoda personnel must spend to investigate the matter. PLEASE, DO NOT SPAM from your account.

Network

IP Address Ownership: If Ecoda assigns Customer an Internet Protocol address for Customer's use, the right to use that Internet Protocol address shall belong only to Ecoda, and Customer shall have no right to use that Internet Protocol address except as permitted by Ecoda in its sole discretion in connection with the Services, during the term of this Agreement. Ecoda shall maintain and control ownership of all Internet Protocol numbers and addresses that may be assigned to Customer by Ecoda, and Ecoda reserves the right to change or remove any and all such Internet Protocol numbers and addresses, in its sole and absolute discretion. Our allocation of IP addresses is limited by ARIN's new policies. These new policies state that use of IP addresses for IP based virtual hosts will not be accepted as justification for new IP addresses. What this means to you is that you MUST use name-based hosting where possible. We will periodically review IP address usage, and if we find that clients are using IP addresses where name-based hosting could be used, we will revoke authorization to use those IP addresses that could be used with name-based hosting. Bandwidth and Disk Usage: Customer agrees that bandwidth and disk usage shall not exceed the number of megabytes per month for the Services ordered by Customer on the Order Form (the "Agreed Usage"). Ecoda will charge $0.05 per MB over the allocated limit which will only be sold per MB, this means if you use 100mb over your limit, you will be charged $5.00. If you find you are using more bandwidth than expected, we will review your account and sugguest moving up to the next plan which may work out as a viable cost effective alternative. Ecoda does not meter the bandwidth used on our Business Standard, Business Advanced, Business Pro and Business Enterprise web hosting accounts however Bandwidth is still monitored by our network team, regardless of the unmetered bandwidth included with these hosting plans. Accounts using high amounts of bandwidth will be audited to ensure the bandwidth is being used according to our terms of service. Unmetered bandwidth may not be used to provide streaming media for more than a continuous 30 minutes at any given time. Any Account violating this section will be suspended. Unmetered shared hosting plans are not to be used for the sole purpose of load balancing. All hosting plans must abide by our resource usage below.

Resource Usage

Ecoda implements per account resource restrictions which may vary from plan to plan. In addition to these, customers must not:

1. Use 25% or more of system resources for more than 60 seconds.
2. Run stand-alone, unattended server-side processes at any point in time on the server. This includes any and all daemons, such as IRCD.
3. Run an account as a file store on any shared server
4. Run any type of web spider or indexing software.
5. Run any software that interfaces with an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) network.
6. Run any bit torrent application, tracker, or client.
7. Participate in any illegal file-sharing activities
8. Run any gaming servers.
9. Run cron entries with intervals of less than 5 minutes.
10. Run any MySQL queries longer than 15 seconds. MySQL tables should be indexed appropriately.

If you feel you need more flexibility please contact us and we can provide you with a dedicated server that will suit your requirements. System and Network Security: Users are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of the Ecoda Network. Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. Ecoda will investigate occurrences, which may involve such violations and may involve, and cooperate with, law enforcement authorities in prosecuting Users who are involved in such violations. These violations include, without limitation: Accessing data not intended for such User or logging into a server or account, which such User is not authorized to access. Attempting to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without proper authorization. Attempting to interfere with service to any user, host or network, including, without limitation, via means of overloading, "flooding", "mail bombing" or "crashing". Forging any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any e-mail or newsgroup posting. Taking any action in order to obtain services to which such User is not entitled. Notification of Violation: Ecoda is under no duty to look at each customer's or user's activities to determine if a violation of the AUP has occurred, nor do we assume any responsibility through our AUP to monitor or police Internet-related activities. First violation: Any User, which Ecoda determines to have violated any element of this Acceptable Use Policy, shall receive an email, warning them of the violation. The service may be subject at Ecoda's discretion to a temporary suspension pending a User's agreement in writing, to refrain from any further violations. Second Violation: Users that Ecoda determines to have committed a second violation of any element of this Acceptable Use Policy shall be subject to immediate suspension or termination of service without further notice. Suspension of Service or Cancellation: Ecoda reserves the right to suspend network access to any customer if in the judgment of the Ecoda network administrators the customer's server is the source or target of the violation of any of the other terms of the AUP or for any other reason which Ecoda chooses. If inappropriate activity is detected, all accounts of the Customer in question will be deactivated until an investigation is complete. Prior notification to the Customer is not assured. In extreme cases, law enforcement will be contacted regarding the activity. The customer will not be credited for the time the customer's machines were suspended. Ecoda reserves the right to amend its policies at any time. All Sub-Networks, resellers and managed servers of Ecoda must adhere to the above policies. Failure to follow any term or condition will be grounds for immediate Cancellation. You will be held responsible for your actions in the matter described on these Terms and conditions. Therefore, it is in your best interest to implement a similar or stricter Terms and conditions or otherwise called Acceptable Terms of use policy. Indemnification: Ecoda wishes to emphasize that in agreeing to the Ecoda Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and Terms of Service (ToS), customer indemnifies Ecoda for any violation of the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and Terms of Service (ToS) that results in loss to Ecoda or the bringing of any claim against Ecoda by any third-party. Miscellaneous Provisions: You must provide us with, and keep current, good contact information for you. E-mail, fax, and telephone contacts are used, in that order of preference. A waiver by Ecoda of any breach of any provision of this Agreement by Subscriber shall not operate as or be construed as a continuing or subsequent waiver thereof or as a waiver of any breach of any other provision thereof. Subscriber shall not transfer or assign this Agreement without the prior written consent of Ecoda. Company may assign Agreement at anytime without consent from or notice to Subscriber. Company reserves right to cancel customers rights under this contract at anytime without further obligation. Ecoda takes no responsibility for any material input by others and not posted to the Ecoda Network by Ecoda. Ecoda is not responsible for the content of any other websites linked to the Ecoda Network; links are provided as Internet navigation tools only. Ecoda disclaims any responsibility for any such inappropriate use and any liability to any person or party for any other person or party's violation of this policy. Ecoda is not responsible for any damages your business may suffer. Ecoda does not make implied or written warranties for any of our services. Ecoda denies any warranty or merchantability for a specific purpose. This includes loss of data resulting from delays, non-deliveries, wrong delivery, and any and all service interruptions caused by Ecoda. Where a customer believes a password has been revealed or compromised they must notify Ecoda at the earliest possibility The customer agrees that any services provided are not continuous or faultless or error free and that interruptions, delays, faults, degradations and outages to services may occur from time to time. For example interruptions may occur due to maintenance of software or hardware, outages also may be the result of hardware or software failure or external network failures, etc. The customer will not hold Ecoda responsible or liable for any interruption or delays or degradation to services It is absolutely forbidden to host pornographic content or IRC servers on Virtual Server Accounts. Virtual Server Accounts found hosting this material will be subject to immediate cancellation without refund. Responsibility for Content: You, as Ecoda's customer, are solely responsible for the content stored on and served by your Ecoda hosted service(s). You must maintain the security of all account passwords and applications or scripts and ensure all scripts under your account are free from malicious content that may harm any part of the Ecoda infrastructure, other client accounts hosted by Ecoda, or the external systems of visitors viewing your content. Web applications: You, as Ecoda's customer, are solely responsible for making sure the web applications utilised on your hosting account are kept secure, patched and up to date. Open source applications are vulnerable to attacks via exploits in the software, and the developer of the software provides updates when vulnerabilities have been detected. It is your responsibility to install these updates/patches ASAP. If you are incapable of installing these updates, you will need to employ the services of a Web Developer who is able to assist you. Keeping your web based applications patched and up to date will ensure a secure web site and data, and is also essential to maintain compatibility with changes in server components such as Apache, PHP, and MySQL. Windows Servers: Requirements for using Microsoft software. Subscribers are prohibited from allowing more than five (5) authenticated users of the Microsoft Windows Server Operating Systems under Microsoft licensing terms and could create liability issues with Microsoft if violated. Customer agrees not to remove, modify or obscure any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notices that appear on Software Products or that appear during the use of Software Products. Customer further agrees not to reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Software Products. Ecoda may provide you access to other third party software and/or services ("Third Party Products ") through reseller relationships Ecoda has established with certain commercial vendors, including without limitation, Microsoft Corporation ("Third Party Vendors"). Unless otherwise notified, Customer understands that product support for Third Party Products is provided by Ecoda and not by the Third Party Vendor. Neither Ecoda nor any Third Party Vendor makes any representations or warranties, express or implied, regarding any Third Party Products. Customer expressly acknowledges and agrees that use of third party products is at customer's sole risk and such third party products are provided "as is" and without representation or warranty of any kind from Ecoda or any third party vendor, including without limitation, any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy or completeness of responses or results, correspondence to description, or non-infringement of third party rights. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, neither Ecoda nor any third party vendor will be legally responsible for any damages, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising from the use or inability to use any third party product. Customer agrees to observe the terms of any license and/or applicable end user subscriber agreement for third party products and that customer shall be fully liable to third party vendors and Ecoda with respect to any improper use of such third party products or violation of license agreements with them and/or applicable end user subscriber agreements. Denial of Service: We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone at any time for any reason.

Hardware Replacement For Dedicated Servers

Whilst Ecoda takes all reasonable steps to monitor and maintain the quality and functionality of the hardware it provides, from time to time hardware failures will occur. Upon receiving notification of a hardware failure via the correct support channels, Ecoda will endeavor to replace the failed hardware within two(2) hours with the following limitations applying:

1. It is at the sole discretion of Ecoda whether individual server components or an entire server is replaced to resolve a hardware failure in the fastest and most practical way based on the situation presented;
2. The replacement timeframe does not include the time required to rebuild any RAID arrays, restore any data, or return any hosted services to an online and functioning state;
3. Ecoda is not responsible for restoring data to a server and is not liable for any data loss experienced due to the hardware failure and subsequent replacement and data restoration process;
4. Ecoda is not liable for any loss of business or costs incurred to a business as a result of the hardware failure, downtime during replacement and data restoration, or any data loss experienced.