Web Hosting Terms of Service

PWS Hosting is a Service of Pickwhip Studios, LLC. (hereafter referred to solely as PWS Hosting). PWS Hosting's primary objective is to provide excellent service and support to our subscribers in all ways possible. Our management and staff will provide the highest level of attention and dedication to the needs of our subscribers at all times.

In pursuit of our primary objective, PWS Hosting agrees to deliver to our subscribers the service(s) purchased, subject to the following Terms of Service (hereafter referred to as TOS).

In addition, the use of PWS Hosting's service(s) by subscriber constitutes an unconditional acceptance of and agreement to PWS Hosting's TOS. PWS Hosting reserves the right to change or modify the TOS at any time without notice.

I. Price-Freeze Guarantee:

PWS Hosting proudly offers to its subscribers a "Price-Freeze Guarantee." This guarantee allows subscriber to use PWS Hosting's services with full confidence and zero-risk. PWS Hosting guarantees that it will never increase monthly fees for existing subscribers of any service plans. This guarantee is effective upon the start of a subscription. Immediately after the order-process is completed, a price-lock will be established on the subscription and the price cannot increase for the existing subscription with the existing service plan.

Subscriber is aware that PWS Hosting may proactively change the specified rates and fees of our service plans from time to time, with any new rate or fee effecting only new subscribers or service plan changes. Subscriber is aware that rates, fees, and offers can change upon service plan modification or new account subscription and may (or may not) be available for purchase at any time in the future. Subscriber is also aware that add-on service offerings, rates, and fees are subject to change without notice and that add-on services are considered separate from the base service plan. However, base service plan subscriptions will establish a price-lock upon sign-up and will not be affected by changed pricing, fees, or offers.

II. 99.9% Uptime Guarantee:

PWS Hosting guarantees that your website will be up and running at least 99.9% of the time during any 12-month period. This guarantee includes network uptime, server uptime, web server, and service uptime. It does not cover any areas where PWS Hosting has no direct influence, such as backbone provider failures, fibre-optic main line cuts, DNS or Registrar issues with subscriber's domain name, routing issues between subscriber location and PWS Hosting's data center. The uptime guarantee is also not applicable if the service interruption was caused by external issues such as Acts of God, Wars, or any other natural (or unnatural) events that PWS Hosting cannot directly influence.

IV. Prohibition of Adult Content:

Subscribers of PWS Hosting's services are prohibited from storing or posting adult content, or links to adult content, through the subscribed service. All material of pornographic nature is considered adult content. Online image galleries whose primary purpose is the public display of fine art or artistic mediums are not considered to be adult content.

V. "Fair-Use" Resource Assignment:

PWS Hosting offers certain "unlimited" or large amounts of resources, such as Bandwidth, Disk Space, E-mail Accounts, FTP Logins, and other various elements on selected plans. The intention of PWS Hosting is to provide a large amount of space and resources for our customer's convenience of not having to worry about disk usage or other resource allotments. These resource and disk space allotments are optimized and dedicated towards serving web documents and self-need E-mail / FTP services and are not to be used as offsite storage area for electronic files, or as a provisioning service for third party E-mail or FTP hosts. All your downloadable files or files stored on the server have to be available for download via an HTML document stored on the Internet in a publicly or privately accessible area. This policy only applies to web sites who are considered to be abusive in service, Bandwidth, Disk Space, or other resource consumption and where it is evident that the "fair-use" of resources among customers has been breached, particularly in regards to Bandwidth and Disk Space utilization. Web sites that are found to contain either/or no HTML documents, a large number of unlinked files are subject to warning, suspension, or cancellation at the sole discretion of PWS Hosting. If a "Fair-Use" breach occurs, PWS Hosting may have to remove files from the subscriber's account in order to restore full serviceability to other subscribers affected by the breach. In any case, the subscriber will be notified of any actions that PWS Hosting may have to take.

VI. SPAM and Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE):

PWS Hosting takes a zero tolerance approach to the sending of Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) or SPAM through our network and services. Customers of PWS Hosting may not use, or permit others to use, our network to partake in UCE distribution. Customers of PWS Hosting may not host or permit hosting of sites or information that is advertised by UCE from other networks.

Upon notification of an alleged violation of our SPAM policy, PWS Hosting will initiate an immediate investigation. During the investigation, PWS Hosting may restrict customer access to the network to prevent further violations. Subscriber will thereafter be advised of the situation. If a subscriber is found to be in violation of this TOS, PWS Hosting may, at its sole discretion, unilaterally restrict, suspend or terminate the violating customer's account. Further, PWS Hosting reserves the right to pursue civil remedies for any costs associated with the investigation of a substantiated policy violation. PWS Hosting will notify law enforcement officials if the violation is believed to be a criminal offense.

VII. Payment:

Establishment of this service is dependent upon receipt of payment of stated charges by PWS Hosting. Subsequent payments are due at (or up to seven days prior to) the end of subscribers current paid term (1, 3, 6, 12, or 18 months). Our billing system will automatically attempt to charge the credit card on file for subscribers account up to seven days prior to the due date. All accounts automatically renew for a term equal to the prior term length, unless cancelled by subscriber prior to account renewal. It is the sole responsibility of the subscriber to cancel the account prior to renewal if continuation of services is no longer desired.

VIII. Failure to Pay:

PWS Hosting may temporarily suspend or permanently terminate service upon the failure of the subscriber to pay the charges when due. Such suspension or termination of service will not relieve the subscriber of responsibility for the payment of all accrued charges and any collection fees. Accounts may be temporarily suspended if not paid in full on the listed due date. Additional fees may apply to restore service to suspended accounts. Account may be permanently terminated if more than one week past due. Once terminated, all site files, e-mail, database(s), settings, etc. are removed from our servers / network and cannot be retrieved. To restore service to a terminated account, the subscriber would need to place a new order and upload site content from their local system. It is the sole responsibility of the subscriber to make sure that valid billing and contact information is on file at all times.

IX. Account Cancellation:

Subscriber may cancel their account at any time online via the "Customer Account Center" (login our our home page). If requesting a cancellation, we ask that subscriber briefly explains the reasons for doing so, as well as any suggestions on how PWS Hosting could improve service. The cancellation will take effect immediately (or on the requested effective date). Once cancelled, all site files, e-mail, database(s), settings, etc. are removed from our servers / network and cannot be retrieved. To restore service after cancellation, the subscriber would need to place a new order and upload site content from their local system.

X. Subscriber Acknowledgement:

Subscriber acknowledges that the service provided is of such a nature that the service can be interrupted for many reasons other than the negligence of PWS Hosting and that damages resulting from any interruption of service are impossible to ascertain. Therefore, subscriber agrees that PWS Hosting shall not be liable for any damages arising from such causes beyond the direct and exclusive control of PWS Hosting. Subscriber further acknowledges that the PWS Hosting'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 PWS Hosting be liable for any special or consequential damages, loss, or injury.

XI. Change of Nameservers:

In cases of new hosting accounts or additions / modifications to hosted domain names or any other cases which involve the change of nameservers of a domain from other DNS servers to PWS Hosting's DNS servers, there may occasionally be a delay of several days, weeks, or longer, depending on the accessibility of control options at the respective registrar of the domain name registration. It is possible that if the registrar (or the entity having control over the domain registration) is not cooperative, the domain nameservers can not be changed at all. Due to the unpredictable nature of the nameserver change process, no guarantees are made regarding the amount of time a specific change may take. Upon customer request, and if the required authentication information is provided, nameserver change of domain names is done by PWS Hosting on behalf of the account holder. In such cases, a successful change of nameservers cannot be guaranteed in any way or fashion as it solely depends on the accessibility or cooperation by the domain name registration's registrar.

XII. Support Boundaries:

PWS Hosting provides technical support to its subscribers. We limit our technical support to our area of expertise. The following is our guideline when providing support: PWS Hosting provides support related to your service plan's features' physical functioning. PWS Hosting does not provide technical support for the subscriber's customers. Support options are available via the 'Contacts' link at the top of most pages of our site, as well as, via the Help / Trouble Ticket System within the control panel for your site.

XIII. Network:

A. IP Address Ownership
If PWS Hosting assigns subscriber an IP address for use with the subscription, the right to use that IP address shall belong only to PWS Hosting and the subscriber shall have no right to use that IP address except as permitted by PWS Hosting. PWS Hosting shall maintain and control ownership of all IP numbers and addresses that may be assigned to subscribers by PWS Hosting. PWS Hosting reserves the right to change or remove all such IP numbers and addresses in its sole and absolute discretion, at any time.

B. Bandwidth and Disk Usage
Subscriber agrees that bandwidth and disk usage shall not exceed the maximum number of megabytes per month for the service plan subscribed by the customer ("Agreed Usage"). PWS Hosting will monitor subscriber's bandwidth and disk usage. PWS Hosting shall have the right to take corrective action if subscriber's bandwidth or disk usage exceeds the Agreed Usage. Such corrective action may include the assessment of additional charges, disconnection or discontinuance of any and all services, or termination of this Agreement, which actions may be taken is in PWS Hosting's sole and absolute discretion, at any time deemed necessary by PWS Hosting. If PWS Hosting takes any corrective action under this section, subscriber shall be entitled to a pro-rated refund of any fees paid in advance, prior to such action. In any cause, subscriber will be warned of approaching or exceeded resource limits via e-mail by PWS Hosting's automated notification system.

C. System and Network Security
Subscribers or any network users are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of PWS Hosting's network or any and all components there in. Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. PWS Hosting will investigate occurrences which may involve such violations and may involve and cooperate with law enforcement authorities in prosecuting subscribers who are involved in such violations. These violations include, but are not limited to:

XIV. Notification of Violation:

PWS Hosting is under no obligation or duty to constantly view each subscriber's activities to determine if a violation of this TOS has occurred. Accordingly, we do not assume any responsibility through our TOS to monitor or police Internet-related activities. PWS Hosting will only investigate suspicious activities if they are deemed to violate this agreement or to harm any part of the services, network or other subscribers. If a subscriber is found to be in violation, the following steps are taken:

NOTE: PWS Hosting reserves the right to drop the section of IP space involved in SPAM or Denial-of-Service complaints if it is clear that the offending activity is causing great harm to parties on the Internet. In particular, if open relays are on your network or a customer's network or if denial of service attacks are originating from your network. In certain rare cases, we may have to do this before attempting to contacting the subscriber. PWS Hosting will contact the subscriber as soon as it is feasible.

XV. Suspension of Service or Cancellation:

PWS Hosting reserves the right to suspend network access to any subscriber if in the judgment of PWS Hosting, the subscriber‘s account is the source or target of a violation of any of the terms of the TOS, or for any other reason which PWS Hosting deems necessary.

If inappropriate activity is detected, all accounts of the subscriber in question will be deactivated until our investigation is complete. Prior notification to the subscriber is not assured. In extreme cases, law enforcement will be contacted regarding the activity. The subscriber may not be credited for the time the subscriber's machines were suspended if the subscriber is found to be at fault.

XVI. Miscellaneous Provisions:

Subscriber must provide PWS Hosting real and current contact information at all times. E-mail address, telephone and fax contacts are used, and in that order of preference.

XVII. Disclosure to Law Enforcement:

The TOS specifically prohibits the use of our service for illegal activities. Therefore, subscriber agrees that PWS Hosting may disclose any and all subscriber information including assigned IP numbers, account history, account use, etc. to any law enforcement agency that requests such information, provided they posses the proper court-approved warrant, without consent or notification to the subscriber.

XVIII. Indemnification:

Each party (the "Indemnifying Party") hereby indemnifies the other party (the "Indemnified Party"), its officers, directors, employees and agents, and agrees to defend and hold them harmless from and against any and all liability, damage, loss or expense (including reasonable attorneys fees) arising from any claim, demand, action or proceeding based upon the alleged breach or untruthfulness of any of the Indemnifying Party's representations or warranties, or incurred in the settlement or avoidance of any such claim, provided, however, that the Indemnified Party shall give prompt notice to the Indemnifying Party of the assertion of any such claims and provided further that Indemnifying Party shall have the right to select counsel and control the defense thereof, subject to right of the Indemnified Party to participate therein.

XIX. Serviceability:

If any provision of this TOS shall be held to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason, the remaining provisions shall continue to be valid and enforceable. If a court finds that any provision of this TOS is invalid or unenforceable, but that by limiting such provision it would become valid and enforceable, then such provision shall be deemed to be written, construed, and enforced as so limited.

XX. Applicable Law:

This TOS is subject to the governing laws of the State of North Carolina. Courts of competent jurisdiction in Raleigh, North Carolina shall hear and decide any disputes.