Terms of Service Policy
Surfside Web (“The Company”) agrees to furnish services to the Subscriber, subject to the following TOS (Terms of Service).
Use of Surfside Web Services constitutes acceptance and agreement to the Surfside Web AUP (for hosting services) as well as this Surfside Web TOS (Terms of Service).
All provisions of this service contract are subject to the TOS (Terms of Service) of Surfside Web and AUP (Acceptable Use Policy). The AUP may be changed from time to time at the discretion of The Company. Subscriber understands that change to the AUP by the Company 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 South Carolina, and the County of Horry applicable to contracts enforceable in that state. Venue will be Horry County, South Carolina
Disclosure to Law Enforcement:
The AUP specifically prohibits the use of our service for illegal activities. Therefore, Subscriber agrees that the Company 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 Surfside Web 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 the Company may prospectively change the specified rates and charges from time to time. The promotional offer is contingent upon Company achieving and maintaining its cost of service goals including but not limited to rates charged to company by its suppliers.
Surfside Web will never change your rates within a billing period. Your billing period is your contracted term. Often Surfside Web will maintain the same rate as long as you remain a subscriber in good standing and features of your package have not changed.
Payment:
Establishment of this service is dependent upon receipt by the Company of payment of stated charges. Subsequent payments are due on the anniversary date of the month (or other billing period) for that month’s (or other billing period’s) service. Billing is handled through our credit card processor, and may show up as Surfside Web or HCX. All billing is done automatically on the renewal date. Surfside Web is not responsible for overdraft or overlimit charges from your bank or credit card company due to the automated billing.
Payments and Fees:
Credit cards that are declined for any reason are subject to a $1.00 declination fee, at our discretion. Service will be interrupted on accounts that reach 10 days past due. Service interrupted for nonpayment is subject to a $25 reconnect charge. Accounts that are not collectable by Surfside Web may be turned over to an outside collection agency for collection. If your account is turned over for collection, you agree to pay the company a “Processing and Collection” Fee of not less than $50 nor more than $250. 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 Surfside Web are nonrefundable after a 30 day Trial Period. This includes all charges regardless of usage. Domain Registrations are always non-refundable. All overcharges or billing disputes must be reported within 45 days of the time the dispute occurred. If you dispute a charge to your credit card issuer that, in Surfside Web’s sole discretion is a valid charge under the provisions of the TOS and /or AUP, you agree to pay Surfside Web an “Administrative Fee” of not less than $50 and not more than $250. Charging back on your credit card without contacting Surfside Web to resolve billing issues is considered credit card fraud, and will result in your account being turned over to a collection agency and any law enforcement agencies that we deem necessary. If you wish to cancel your hosting, please contact us first.
Failure to Pay:
The Company 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:
Requests for canceling accounts must be made either in writing providing at least 15 days notice or by telephone. Written notice should be sent to Surfside Web Attn: Cancellations, 1013 Surf Pine Dr., Surfside Beach, SC, 29575, you may call the billing department for cancellation at 843-438-4099, or you can login to the Customer Care Center for cancellation by following the link at the top of our website. You must have all account information to cancel.
Liability:
Subscriber acknowledges that the service provided is of such a nature that service can be interrupted for many reasons other than the negligence of the company and that damages resulting from any interruption of service are difficult to ascertain. Therefore, subscriber agrees that the company shall not be liable for any damages arising from such causes beyond the direct and exclusive control of the company. Subscriber further acknowledges that the company’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 the company be liable for any special or consequential damages, loss or injury.
New Domain Accounts:
All new web hosting accounts involving new domains will be set up and entered into our DNS servers within 1 hour and should resolve and finish propagating worldwide within 48 hours. Due to unforeseen complications, however, this process may sometimes require up to 5 business days, though this is seldom seen.
Transfer of Domains:
New web hosting accounts which involve the transfer of a domain from another provider to Surfside Web will require a minimum of 4 hours to be set up and entered into our DNS servers. In some rare cases, such transfers may take up to 72 hours. 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 a problem domain is done by Surfside Web on behalf of the account holder a handling fee known as a VAS might be incurred. If the customer cancels service during the transfer period for any reason, all charges are considered earned.
Support Boundaries:
Surfside Web, provides 24 x 7 server monitoring for our subscribers. We limit our technical support to our area of expertise. The following is our guidelines when providing support: Surfside Web provides support related to your web hosting account physical functioning. Surfside Web is not responsible for tech support for application specific issues such as cgi programming, html or any other such issue. Though paid support options are available on our web site.
Furthermore, Surfside Web does not provide technical support for YOUR customers (if you are a reseller). If you are having troubles we recommend you create a trouble ticket by logging into Domain Control and clicking on “messages”. Lastly, the Help files in the program you are having difficulty with may have the answer to your question so please do investigate these resources before contacting tech support.
SPAM and Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE):
Surfside Web 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 Surfside Web may not use or permit others to use our network to transact any UCE. Customers of Surfside Web may not host, or permit hosting of, sites or information that is advertised by UCE from other networks. Violations of this policy carry severe penalties, including termination of service without refund.
Violation of the Surfside Web SPAM policy will result in severe penalties. Upon notification of an alleged violation of our SPAM policy, Surfside Web will initiate an immediate investigation (within 48 hours of notification). During the investigation, Surfside Web may restrict customer access to the network to prevent further violations. If a customer is found to be in violation of our SPAM policy, Surfside Web may, at its sole discretion, restrict, suspend or terminate customer’s account. Further, Surfside Web reserves the right to pursue civil remedies for any costs associated with the investigation of a substantiated policy violation. Surfside Web 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 $250 and your account will be reviewed for possible immediate termination. A second violation will result in an “Administrative Fee” of $500 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 Surfside Web personnel must spend to investigate the matter. PLEASE, DO NOT SPAM from your account.
As our Customers are ultimately responsible for the actions of their clients over the Surfside Web network (for reseller accounts), it is advisable that Customers develop a similar, or stricter, policy for their clients.
Network 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 (the “Agreed Usage”). Surfside Web will monitor Customer’s bandwidth and disk usage. Surfside Web shall have the right to take corrective action if Customer’s bandwidth or disk usage exceeds the Agreed Usage. Such corrective action will include the assessment of additional charges and the charges will be billed to the customer’s credit card without prior notice. If Surfside Web takes any corrective action under this section, Customer shall not be entitled to a refund of any fees paid in advance prior to such action. Overage charges for additional storage and bandwidth are:
$5 per Gigabyte of transfer $0.10 per Megabyte of storage
System and Network Security:
Users are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of Surfside Web’s Network.
Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. Surfside Web 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:
Surfside Web 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 Surfside Web 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 Surfside Web’s discretion to a temporary suspension pending a User’s agreement in writing, to refrain from any further violations.
Second Violation: Users that Surfside Web 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.
We reserve 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 contact you. If we do this, we will contact you as soon as is feasible.
Suspension of Service or Cancellation:
Surfside Web reserves the right to suspend network access to any customer if in the judgment of Surfside Web 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 Surfside Web 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.
Surfside Web reserves the right to amend its policies at any time. All Sub-Networks, resellers and managed servers of Surfside Web 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 the actions of your clients 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:
Surfside Web wishes to emphasize that in agreeing to the Surfside Web Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and Terms of Service (ToS), customer indemnifies Surfside Web for any violation of the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and Terms of Service (ToS) that results in loss to Surfside Web or the bringing of any claim against Surfside Web by any third-party. This means that if Surfside Web is sued because of a customer’s or a customer of a customer’s activity, the customer will pay any damages awarded against Surfside Web, plus all costs and attorney’s fees.
Miscellaneous Provisions:
a. 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.
b. A waiver by the Company 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.
c. Subscriber shall not transfer or assign this Agreement without the prior written consent of the Company. Company may assign Agreement at anytime without consent from or notice to Subscriber. Company reserves the right to cancel customers rights under this contract at anytime without further obligation.
d. Surfside Web takes no responsibility for any material input by others and not posted to the Surfside Web Network by Surfside Web. Surfside Web is not responsible for the content of any other websites linked to the Surfside Web Network; links are provided as Internet navigation tools only. Surfside Web 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.
e. Surfside Web is not responsible for any damages your business may suffer. Surfside Web does not make implied or written warranties for any of our services. Surfside Web 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 Surfside Web.
f. It is absolutely forbidden to host pornographic content or IRC servers on web hosting accounts. Web hosting accounts found hosting this material will be subject to immediate cancellation without refund.
Responsibility for Content:
You, as a Surfside Web customer, are solely responsible for the content stored on and served by your Surfside Web web hosting account. Liability does not reside with your hired web developer or another service. It is your responsibility to review your website thoroughly.
Uptime Guarantee:
Our 100% Uptime Guarantee (99.99999%) only applies to things that are within our control, specifically server hardware and software. This does not include “acts of god”. We will occasionally have planned outages (generally of only a couple minutes) for reboots due to software upgrades/patches. These small outages will not count against the Guaranteed Uptime. Additionally, we cannot be responsible for network issues, beyond our equipment, that are out of our control. These issues include, but are not limited to, router failures ‘out on the Internet’, routing problems between your ISP and the server and speed problems/outages caused by DDoS attacks. We are also not responsible for outages to your web site(s) caused by misconfiguration of, or exploitation of, any of your web pages.
Customer Responsibility: Your responsibility is to inform Surfside Web as soon as you notice an outage. Surfside Web will research the outage, and if it is found to have been the fault of Surfside Web software or servers, you will receive a refund as listed in the schedule below. If you do not report the outage, Surfside Web is under no obligation for a refund.
Refund Schedule: Surfside Web will refund one days service fee for every hour of downtime beyond the first hour. Should an outage ever last over 8 hours your full months service fee will be refunded. You the customer are given the choice as to whether a credit or refund is applied.