Terms and Conditions General

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Nuco Technologies Ltd t/a Host-IT™ Internet Solutions

Nuco Technologies Ltd - General Services Terms, Conditions and Usage Policies
(v1)

  1. Hosting
  2. Server Abuse
  3. Unauthorised use of other people's accounts or computers
  4. Password Confidentiality
  5. Abuse General
  6. Email Collection and Storage
  7. Anti-Spam Policy
  8. Outgoing SMTP Mail Policy (including "Bulk Mail")
  9. Excessive CPU/RAM/Usage
  10. Unmetered Resources
  11. IRC and Chat Rooms
  12. Backups of your data
  13. Support Area
  14. Payment Policies
  15. Account Vetting
  16. Cancellation
  17. Domain Transfers
  18. Lawful Purpose
  19. Indemnification
  20. Disclaimer
  21. Non Solicitation
  22. Competency
  23. Newsletters

Host-it provides Internet World Wide Web page hosting, Marketing, and Development. Host-IT™has certain legal and ethical responsibilities consistent with the use of its servers and equipment involved in these services.

Our general policy is to act as a provider of internet presence. We have specific ethical concerns regarding the use of its computers detailed below. Host-IT™reserves the right to suspend or cancel a customer's access to any or all services provided when we, in our sole discretion, decide that the account has been inappropriately used.

Hosting
All Virtual services are for the minimum period ordered and renew automatically unless notice of cancellation is made in via the online billing panel cancellation process or in writing at least 24 hours prior to the renewal date (see cancellation section below). Monthly, Quarterly, Semi-Annually, Biennially and Triennially plans are for the minimum period of the billing option (ie a twelve month payment term is a minimum of twelve months and a one month payment term is a minimum of one month).

Longer term payment options are discounted to reflect the minimum period so as a result there are no refunds if they are terminated mid term so if you only require short term hosting please ensure that you select the lowest term available for the service you are ordering. Note that dedicated servers and rack space and COLO which have signed contracts have a minimum term as specified in the agreement but can have shorter payment terms.

Specific Acceptable Use Policies

Server abuse
Any attempt to undermine or cause harm to a server, or customer, of Host-it is strictly prohibited.

Unauthorised use of other people's accounts or computers

Host-it  will react to any use or attempted use of an Internet account or computer without the owner's authorisation. Such attempts include "Internet scamming" (tricking other people into releasing their passwords), password robbery, security hole scanning etc. Any unauthorized use of accounts or computers by a Host-IT™ customer, whether or not the attacked account or computer belongs to Host-it, will result in action against the attacker. Possible actions by Host-it for any use or attempted use of an Internet account or computer without the owner's authorisation include warnings, account suspension or cancellation, and civil or criminal legal action, depending on the seriousness of the conduct.

Password Confidentiality

It is the responsibility of Host-IT™ customers to keep the username(s) and password(s) that Host-IT™ supply, confidential. If a password is disclosed to a third party, any actions by the third party will be the responsibility of the account holder. Host-IT™ reserves the right to terminate the account with immediate effect, without refund if, as a result of these actions, there is is a breach in the agreed terms and conditions.

Abuse General

Any customer who violates Host-it Policies in abusing either space/site transfer by using more space than has been paid for, or using excessive bandwidth will be notified via email and given a maximum of 14 days to remedy the problem or pay an additional fee. If the problem is not resolved within the allotted 14day period, the client hosting will be terminated and a refund paid by Host-IT™ for the unused period less an admin fee of £19. Host-it reserves the right to exercise its sole discretion in determining what constitutes a violation of this provision.

Email Collection and Storage

To avoid unnecessary server traffic and maintain a high performance for our mail servers the minimum period for mail collection on a shared Host-IT™ mail server is 2 minutes. This will also allow sufficient time for normal server reboots to be performed with minimum errors. For dedicated servers there is no minimum period although normal bandwidth charges will apply.

To ensure a stable email platform for all customers we include a retention policy limit of 30 days on all 'Trash' and 'Junk' (spam) email folders stored on any of our email servers. All mail stored in such folders will be deleted after 30 days automatically and this process is scheduled on a weekly basis. We accept no responsibility for any deleted email.

Anti-Spam Policy

All of our panel based email accounts come with spam filtering (global and per user configurable). Although the solution we offer is one of the most sophisticated of its type due to the nature of spam it is impossible to guarantee any level of filtering so this service is included but is on the basis that we make no warrantees regarding its performance. Our products and services may not be used for the sending of spam and all messages sent from any of our products and services, shall be in compliance with our Anti-Spam and Bulk Mail policies.

We continuously monitor customer use of any of our outbound mail services to ensure that it is in compliance with this Policy and may suspend or terminate any account that is found to be in breach of our terms and conditions without refund. This includes any malicious activity such as the sending of unsolicited or spam email.

Further to this, Nuco Technologies Ltd (T/A Host-it Internet Solutions) reserve the right to charge any customer found to be in breach of these policies additional fees if the spamming results in an ISP (Internet Service Provider) filter/block resulting in service interruptions for other Host-it customers.

Outgoing SMTP Mail Policy (including "Bulk Mail")

In order to use our shared mail gateway services, customers must abide by all laws and regulations including the Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 and ensure that the content of any emails is of a legal and ethical nature.
Because this is a “shared service”, we impose a limit to all outgoing emails sent through any of our mail gateway services. This is currently set at 100 emails per hour, per domain on the 'mailout' service (these are servers used for Dedicated, Colocation and Rack Space customers).For users of our Virtual Hosting email services, in particular 'smtp4.host-it.co.uk', we limit per user at a rate of 100 emails per hourly period.
We reserve the right to amend these limits without prior notice in order to ensure system stability and availability to all users. Any attempts to circumvent these limits by means of spreading bulk mails across multiple domains/accounts or if the mail sending service appears on any 3rd party blacklist (impacting other customers) as a result of emails that a customer has sent out, then we reserve the right to block any offending domains AND/OR the account holder from using the service.

Customers who wish to send large amounts of mail at a quicker rate than our current limit would need to use their own dedicated mail gateway which can be set-up on a VPS or Dedicated Server which we can advise on if required.

Customers sending marketing or "bulk email" transmissions must ensure that they are only sent to recipients that have expressly 'opted in' with a clear 'remove from list/unsubscribe' option contained within the email.For the purpose of definition "bulk email" is classed as over 500 emails per week and applies to all customers using any of our mail gateway services.

Mailing lists that have been obtained from a 3rd party are strictly prohibited unless vetted and agreed for use by us in writing and any mailing lists which have been created directly by the customer should also be designed so that recipients need to confirm the request (Opt-in) to receive marketing communication via an email confirmation (this ensures that only the person that receives the email could have subscribed to the list). Information on when/how they opted in and if possible an IP address should be retained so this information can be supplied if a recipient complains about receiving an email and/or disputes that they opted into a list.

Any customer account we determine as being used to send unsolicited email, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate the domain(s) and associated account.

It is our policy to investigate all allegations of spam and we reserve the right to charge our normal labour rate to cover any time taken.
At our discretion our abuse department may contact the account holder in order to investigate or resolve any mailsending abuse related matters prior to taking any further action.

Excessive CPU/RAM/Usage

Client agrees to take all responsibility for all programs/code including CGI scripts executed under their account. Programs or code which consume an excessive amount of CPU run time or Random Access Memory (RAM) or any other server resource on a shared server are not permitted. Client agrees and understands that such excessive use can have an adverse effect on the performance of the web server and affect other users/sites on the same server. Client agrees to accept responsibility for programs or code executed under his/her account, regardless of who authored the program. The use of cgi or html chat scripts or pages is also strictly prohibited. We reserve the right to suspend accounts without notice to clients who violate these terms. Host-IT™ has sole discretion over what constitutes excessive usage however we will only need to suspend services without notice if this is affecting the service of other sites/services on the same server/service.

Unmetered Resources

If you have selected a service/plan which has an un metered bandwidth/disk space quota then we will not define a set quota per month but will instead allocate an overall quota to multiple users of the service. For example if a VPS has up to 100Mbs burst then this may be shared between multiple users on the same physical server and provided the total amount of bandwidth available is not exceeded users can benefit from as much capacity as they need. This option gives users the opportunity to use much more than a fixed quota amount would allow so they can make savings in bandwidth costs however when selecting this option it needs to be taken into consideration that the total amount is not guaranteed to be always available.

The main problem with Unmetered (or Unlimited) quotas is that without clearly defined guaranteed minimum quotas you have no way of knowing what you are really going to be allowed to use. As a result our Unmetered hosting also has a 'Minimum Guaranteed Amount' ("MGA") which will equate to not less than double the highest set quota amount for the same service. So for example if the next highest quota is 1000GB Unmetered users are guaranteed to have not less than 2000GB regardless of other users usage.

Most providers who offer unlimited/Unmetered plans have very strict rules on the type of content/files you are allowed to host. We have a slightly different approach in that we only require these restrictions if you exceed the 'MGA'. The restrictions are as follows;

All files on a web site  must be part of the active web site and directly linked to the site and also directly related to the primary subject matter of the site. The website data allowance must also not be used for storing data backups of any content. The Unmetered aspect is also excluded for sites which have large downloads as part of the primary subject matter for example file, graphic or photo download web sites. However these sites are still welcome to host with us up to the ‘MGA’ limit.

We added this option/principle of allocating bandwidth as a result of requests from our customers.

IRC and Chat Rooms

We currently do not allow IRC, Chat Rooms or IRC bots to be operated on our servers.

Note: We believe in freedom of speech and expression, however, we will not risk a law suit or bad publicity for our company by hosting any "questionable material". Examples include but are not limited to:

  • Any site advocating illegal activities.
  • Certain radical or cult style groups.
  • Any site specifically slandering another person or organisation or another cultural, religious, or ethnic group
  • Posting any Warez-related material -
    (pirated software, software evaluation cracks, etc.) on your web site.
  • Any other questionable material, as determined by Host-IT™

Backups of your data

It is the responsibility of the customer to ensure that appropriate up-to-date back-ups of any data that belongs to or has been uploaded by the customer to the service, server or hosting space provided are maintained. These data backups should also not be stored on the web space itself.

Support Area

Please note that the support area is for clients only. It is not an integral part of the services we supply. The information contained within this area is deemed to be correct, but all information and downloads are used at the clients own risk. We reserve the right to limit access to this resource where necessary. For the avoidance of doubt it is the customers responsibility to keep their contact details and email address up to date within their online account(s).

Payment Policies

Any account not settled within 7 days may be subject to suspension.

No domain will be released to another hosting company until all outstanding amounts are paid. In the event that a transfer is made without our authority we reserve the right to charge an admin fee of up to £250 + vat. Where the account holder is a limited company but the registrant is a separate legal entity services are offered solely on the basis that the registrant agrees that they will pay a release fee of equal value to any outstanding balance in order to secure release of a domain name or asset. By subscribing to any service with us you confirm that you have advised any applicable registrant of our terms and conditions and in particular this specific term relating to release fees. All payment is in Sterling. Where payment for services or design is overdue we reserve the right to charge interest at the rate of up to 8% per month, and also reserve the right to suspend service and also reserve the right to suspend any/all current services supplied to the legal entity or associated companies or hosting account until cleared payment is received, with a re-connection fee of no less than £65 + vat. We may charge you a reasonable fee to cover our administration costs if any payment you are required to make is not honoured by your bank or building society, credit card company or other payment method, the current minimum charge is £45 + vat.

Payment by credit/debit card. Where payment is made by this means the contract will be deemed to exist between ourselves and the card holder used in the initial transaction, however invoices may be made payable to the details you require for the purpose of vat or tax. For panel based hosting this can be set or amended via the panel by the customer as required.

Account Vetting

For security all accounts are vetted. This process may take up to 24 hours to complete and after this process if we find anything that we deem to be suspect with the transaction we reserve the right to reject the application and issue a refund.

Cancellation

Host-IT™ reserves the right to cancel service at any time. Any violation of policies will not receive a refund if we institute our right of cancellation. Any violation which results in extra costs will be billed to the customer (i.e. transfer, space etc.).

In the case of cancellation of any product/service by the customer services which were signed up for via an online panel (for example Virtual hosting and back up plans) can normally be cancelled via the same online panel provided the cancellation is performed at least 24 hours prior to the renewal date. If you require assistance please contact us at least seven days before the renewal and we would be happy to assist you. Note that in order to ensure that the authorised person is the one making the request we may ask that notice is also be made in writing (See Written Cancellation below).

Written Cancellation - If you are unable to access your online panel or the request requires further confirmation you can also make a cancellation request in writing. This should be signed by either the person that originally ordered the service or someone authorised to make such request. For example in the case of a limited company a director and in the case of an individual a close relative or legal representative. Notices can be sent by post or faxed to the number/address shown on our web site (email is not a secure method so is not suitable for this type of request). We will confirm receipt so please ensure that we have acknowledged that this has been received. Notification should be sent by recorded letter or via fax with a retained transmission slip.

In the case of signed agreements (ie dedicated servers, colo and rack space) the terms and methods of cancellation will be detailed in the agreement itself. If unsure, please contact us.

Domain transfers

This area is now covered by our Domain Registration/Renewal/Transfer Terms.

Lawful Purpose

Host-IT™ reserves the right to refuse service to anyone. Customers may only use our server/s for lawful purpose. Transmission of any material in violation of any Federal, State or Local regulation is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to copyrighted material, material legally judged to be threatening or obscene, and material protected by trade secrets. Host-IT™ expressly forbids anyone from using its servers for the propagation, distribution, housing, processing, storing, or otherwise handling in any way which we deem to be objectionable. The designation of any materials as such described above is left entirely to the discretion of Host-it.

Indemnification

Customer agrees that it shall defend, indemnify, save and hold Host-IT™ harmless from any and all demands, liabilities, losses, costs and claims, including reasonable legal fees asserted against Host-it, its agents, its customers, officers and employees, that may arise or result from any service provided or performed or agreed to be performed or any product sold by customer, it's agents, employees or assigns. Customer agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Host-IT™ against liabilities arising out of; (1) any injury to person or property caused by any products sold or otherwise distributed in connection with Host-IT™ server; (2) any material supplied by customer infringing or allegedly infringing on the proprietary rights of a third party; (3) copyright infringement and (4) any defective products sold to customer from Host-IT™ server.

Disclaimer

Host-IT™ will not be responsible for any damages your business may suffer. Host-IT™ makes no warranties of any kind, expressed or implied for services we provide. Host-IT™ disclaims any warranty or merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. The includes loss of data resulting from delays, non-deliveries, wrong delivery, and any and all service interruptions caused by Host-IT™ and its employees. Host-it reserves the right to revise its policies at any time.

Non-Solicitation

Customer also agrees that during the term of this agreement and for a period of up to one year after termination of this agreement that they will neither solicit , discuss nor offer any form of employment nor use, hire or utilise in any way the services of any current employee or person who has been employed by Host-IT™ at any time in the previous twelve months. In the event of a breach a fee equal to twelve months salary of the employee or director is payable to the offended party.

Competency

Use of our service's 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 Client's Web space by the Client.

The following examples are offered:

Web Publishing: requires knowledge of HTML, properly locating and linking documents, 'FTPing' documents, creating graphics, text, sound, image mapping, etc.

CGI-Scripts: requires a knowledge of the UNIX environment, TAR & GUNZIP commands, Perl, C Shell scripts, permissions, etc.

E-mail: a knowledge of POP3 service, mail forwarding, use of mail clients to receive mail, etc.

The Client agrees that he or she has necessary knowledge to create and utilise the service. Client agrees that it is not the responsibility of Host-IT to provide this knowledge or Customer Support outside of the defined service.

Newsletters

As a customer of Host-IT™ you may receive newsletters informing you of our news. However please note that this will only be from ourselves as your details are not passed to 3rd parties and the maximum number for each email address will be four per year although typically two is the average.

DNS Service / Holding Page.
We offer a free domain name resolution service ("DNS") which is available without additional charge to either companies purchasing a hosting plan or for domain(s) which are directly managed by us for the registration/renewal. We can offer three DNS servers for each respective service and for maximum resilience we recommend that all three are used as at least one of these will be located on a different IP range and also hosted in a separate data centre and at least one name server has a separate domain extension (ie different primary domain). Domains pointed at our web sites will also show a default branded holding page which will also confirm that they are pointed at our web space and also to identify the web server they are pointed at. It is the responsibility of the customer to ensure that any DNS settings are correct under each name server and to allow plenty of time for changes to be made.

Although the DNS service is of a resilient structure with at least three name servers available, this service is provided on an 'as is' basis unless specifically included in a written DNS SLA as part of a DNS monitoring plan specific to the domain name DNS records.

Relationship of parties under our reseller terms
The relationship between our selves and Reseller is that of vendor and vendee. They shall not be construed as being joint ventures, partnership, franchiser/franchisee, or employer/employee. This agreement is a commercial agreement between businesses, not a consumer agreement. Reseller has no authority, apparent or otherwise, to contract for or on behalf of host-it, or in any other way legally bind ourselves in any fashion, nor shall Reseller be authorized to make any representations about our company or its services other than to set forth host-it's responsibilities as outlined in this agreement.

Web sites must be accessed by the domain names supplied to us as the header addresses only. The practice of adding sub-directories for sites that are not directly linked to the default web sites business with domain pointing to these is strictly prohibited unless this has been agreed by Host-IT™ in writing.

We do not accept liability for any delay or failure to meet our obligations under the agreement that result from events beyond our reasonable control. This includes (but  not limited to) events that are within the control of third parties such as  suppliers, contractors and service suppliers.

All Sub-Networks, resellers and dedicated servers of Host-IT™ must adhere to the above policies.

All offers and  prices quoted on our web site are subject to confirmation.

Complaints Procedure
If you have cause for complaint regarding any of the services we provide please contact us in writing via the postal address listed on the contact page of our web site marking the correspondence for the attention of customer services.

Include as much information as possible and also include (if applicable) your account user name and domain name and also full contact details so that we can reach you if we need to.

Reporting Abuse
Please email abuse@host-it.co.uk if you wish to report Trademark/IP abuse, Copyright Infringement or Network abuse (DDOS/Port Scanning/Spam/Bot net). Please note that the Abuse Dept is not contactable by phone and all communication will be made via email or support ticket.

If you wish to report Child sexual abuse images/Criminally obscene adult content/ Non-photographic child sexual abuse images that you believe to be hosted on our servers then then please report this directly to the IWF at https://www.iwf.org.uk/report

Code of practice
Services that relate to a public electronics communication services (PECS) now require a code of practice dispute resolution. View document.

Assignment
Any aspect of our services or any sales agreement may be assigned by us to any person, firm, company, or 3rd party. Assignment by the customer is also possible but is subject to confirmation in writing from NUCO and also that  the existing customer agrees to act as guarantor of the new customer up to the end of any existing agreement term.

Failure to follow any term or condition will be grounds for immediate account deactivation.

References to Host-IT™ include all associated companies of nuco technologies ltd.