1. Definitions and Interpretations #

1.1 Parties Involved #

• 1.1.1 Hipposerve Digital Services Ltd: Herein referred to as “we”, “us”, and “our”, is a company registered in England, trading as Hipposerve with the company registration number 10288860.
• 1.1.2 Client: Referred to as “you” and “your”, encompasses any individual, company, or business entity that receives our Services, as detailed in the online customer order form. This includes any person who appears to act with your authority.

1.2 Key Terms #

• 1.2.1 Commencement Date: The date when we notify you of our acceptance of your order, as indicated in our account activation notice.
• 1.2.2 Contract: An agreement between you and us for the provision of Services, incorporating these terms and conditions.
• 1.2.3 Domain Names: Internet addresses registered on your behalf with central registration authorities.
• 1.2.4 Gigabyte: Defined as 1,073,741,824 bytes or characters of information.
• 1.2.5 Hosting: The service of making your Domain Name accessible on the Internet.
• 1.2.6 Internet: A global network of interconnected e-communications and computer systems linked by internet protocol numbers.
• 1.2.7 Megabyte: Defined as 1,048,576 bytes or characters of information.
• 1.2.8 Renewal Date: The day after the end of the initial billing period, as outlined in the online customer order form, and subsequently, the day after the end of each billing period.
• 1.2.9 Services: Internet services provided to you as specified in the online customer order form, along with any other services we agree to provide.
• 1.2.10 Upload: The action of transferring computer files to our system for Internet or World Wide Web publication.
• 1.2.11 Web Site: The specific area allocated to you on our computer system under this Contract.
• 1.2.12 WWW: The World Wide Web service available on the Internet.

2. General Provisions #

2.1 Law and Legislation #

• 2.1.1 A reference to a law includes its amendments, extensions, applications, or re-enactments, along with any subordinate legislation currently in effect under it.

2.2 Condition Headings #

• 2.2.1The headings used in these terms do not affect their interpretation.

2.3 Number and Gender #

• 2.3.1Words in the singular form include the plural and vice versa.

3. Application of Terms and Conditions #

3.1 Foundation of the Contract #

• 3.1.1 Primary Conditions: The Contract is based exclusively on these terms and conditions, superseding any other terms (including any you propose under any order or document) unless altered under conditions 3.2 or 3.3.

3.2 Modifications and Representations #

• 3.2.1 Variations: Changes to these terms or any service representations are only valid if written and signed by an authorized representative of ours. You acknowledge that your agreement is not based on any statements not included in this Contract. We are not liable for any misrepresentations unless fraudulent.
• 3.2.2 Notification of Changes: We may modify these terms by giving you fourteen days’ notice via email and posting the notice on our website. Should you reject the new terms, you must notify us within seven days by submitting a ticket here, or you will be considered to have accepted them.

3.3 Ordering Services #

• 3.3.1 Service Orders: Your order represents an offer to purchase Services under these terms, which becomes binding only when we issue an account activation notice.
• 3.3.2 Acceptance of Order: We must formally accept your order before it is considered valid.
• 3.3.3 Accuracy and Completeness: You are responsible for ensuring your order details are correct and complete.

3.4 Service Provision Estimates #

• 3.4.1 Estimation of Dates: Any proposed dates for Services by either party are estimates only, with no liability on us for any delays.

3.5 Ongoing Responsibility and Updates #

• 3.5.1 Duty to Review Terms: The responsibility to review and stay informed of these terms and conditions updates, as accessed through our website, falls on you. The latest version governs future website and Service use.

4. Contract Duration and Renewal #

4.1 Commencement and Initial Term #

4.1.1 The Contract commences on the Commencement Date. The Initial Term of the contract is determined by the billing period selected upon signing up, as recorded on the client’s online customer order form. Notably, for monthly plans that include a special offer for the first six months, an annual commitment (12 months) is required as the Initial Term.

4.1.2 Cancellation Policy: Clients may cancel their service at any point; however, for all plans, including those with an annual commitment due to a special offer, no refunds will be provided for any unused portion of the Initial Term. Specifically, for monthly plans under a special offer, the option to cancel the service via the Hippo Portal will be disabled during the first 12 months of the contract. Cancellation requests within this period must be processed manually through our support desk, and clients are required to fulfill the payment obligations for the remainder of the 12-month Initial Term, excluding any discounts from the special offer.

4.1.3 Cooling Off Period: All contracts, including those with an initial 12-month commitment due to a special offer, are entitled to a 14-day cooling-off period from the contract start date, as outlined in our Refunds Terms and Conditions.

4.2 Renewal and Modification #

4.2.1 Automatic Renewal: This Contract will automatically renew on the Renewal Date for a term equivalent to the initially chosen billing period, or another period agreed upon in writing, unless terminated according to conditions 9 and 10. For clients on monthly plans with a special offer that required an annual commitment, after completing the Initial Term of 12 months, the contract automatically transitions to a rolling monthly contract.

4.2.2 Modifications by the Client: After the Initial Term, clients wishing to change their billing cycle (for instance, from an annual commitment back to a standard monthly plan) must provide written notice before the end of the current contract period. Upon transitioning to a rolling monthly contract, the ability to cancel the service through the Hippo Portal will be reinstated, and clients can terminate their service at any time without penalty.

5. Client Obligations and Conduct #

5.1 Security of Credentials #

• 5.1.1 Protection of Access Details: You must safeguard your login credentials, as detailed in your online order form, and not disclose them to unauthorized persons. We are not liable for unauthorized use or any related extra charges.

5.2 Data Backup and Security #

• 5.2.1 Backup Obligations: Regular backups of your data and files are your responsibility. While we perform periodic backups for server maintenance, we are not liable for the loss of your data or files. If you subscribe to an additional backup service, your data will be encrypted and stored with a third-party provider (Amazon S3), for which Hipposerve disclaims any failure responsibility.

5.3 Prohibited Actions #

• 5.3.1 Server Performance: Do not undertake actions that degrade our server performance, affecting other users.
• 5.3.2 Viruses and Malicious Content: Uploading viruses or facilitating their spread through downloads from your webspace is prohibited.
• 5.3.3 Intellectual Property: Uploading material that infringes on others’ intellectual property rights is forbidden, and we are not liable for such actions.
• 5.3.4 Decency and Morality: Uploading material against public decency or morality, including pornographic or barbaric content, is not allowed. We reserve the right to inspect, report, and terminate contracts over unauthorized content.
• 5.3.5 Legal Compliance: Ensure your actions do not involve unauthorized access to information, disseminate defamatory material, or violate any laws of England and Wales.
• 5.3.6 Network Abuse: Using our servers or network for spam, unsolicited email, or actions detrimental to network performance, like streaming, is grounds for contract termination without refund.
• 5.3.7 Reputation: Avoid acts that could harm our reputation.
• 5.3.8 Take Down Notices: Compliance with legal “Take Down Notices” is mandatory, leading to immediate website removal without notice.

5.4 Website and Data Security #

• 5.4.1 Website Code Security: You are responsible for securing the code of your website. We are not liable for breaches due to insecure code, outdated plugins, CMSs, or programming/scripting languages.
• 5.4.2 Data Protection Compliance: You must secure your website’s data, adhering to GDPR and any relevant data protection laws in your jurisdiction.

6. High Resource Usage Policy #

6.1 Resource Management #

• 6.1.1 Bandwidth and Hosting Policy: While our shared hosting services do not implement a bandwidth capping policy, and we ensure a generous bandwidth allocation per website, there are instances where excessive usage by a single user may impact server performance and resource availability for others. In such cases, we reserve the right to recommend that you upgrade to a plan more suited to high usage scenarios.
• 6.1.2 Definition of Resources: For the purpose of this policy, resources include bandwidth, processor utilization, and disk space.
• 6.1.3 Right to Suspend or Terminate: Should your website’s resource consumption compromise server stability or the hosting experience of other users, we retain the authority to either suspend or terminate your service without prior notice. In such an event, we may offer alternative hosting solutions that may incur additional fees.

6.2 Overage Charges and Plan Selection #

• 6.2.1 Applicability to Specific Plans: Users subscribed to our Business One, Business Smart VPS, Hippo Reseller, Premium VPS, VPS Extreme, Windows VPS, Bespoke Solutions, Hippo Minecraft services  are subject to defined bandwidth limits. It is essential that you choose a plan that aligns with your bandwidth needs to avoid unnecessary overage charges.
  • a) Overage Fee: Exceeding the allocated bandwidth results in an overage charge of  £0.05 per GB of excess usage per month.
• 6.2.2 Managing Excessive Overage Charges: To mitigate the impact of significant overage charges, we may proactively suspend services that risk accruing additional costs. Following suspension, we will notify you of the situation and discuss suitable upgrade options to better meet your resource demands.

7. Limitation of Liability #

7.1 Scope of Liability #

• 7.1.1 Our complete financial liability to you (including liability for the actions or inactions of our employees, agents, and subcontractors) in relation to:
  • (a) Any breach of these terms;
  • (b) Your use of our Services;
  • (c) Content you place on our server;
  • (d) Operational issues or failures you experience with your website;
  • (e) Matters related to Domain Name registration, including application, receipt, non-receipt, registration, renewal, suspension, transfer, or failure to transfer;
  • (f) Any representations, statements, or acts of negligence arising under or in connection with the Contract.

7.2 Exclusions #

• 7.2.1 Except as expressly stated herein, all warranties, conditions, and other terms implied by statute or common law are excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law. This exclusion does not apply to consumers, whose rights are preserved.

7.3 Liability Not Excluded #

• 7.3.1 Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for:
  • (a) Death or personal injury caused by our negligence;
  • (b) Any illegal actions on our part to exclude or limit liability;
  • (c) Fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

7.4 Liability Limitations #

• 7.4.1 Subject to 7.2 and 7.3:
  • (a) Our total liability in connection with the Contract shall be limited to the greater of the amount initially paid for the Service or Domain Name registration or £200.
  • (b) We are not liable for:
    • (i) Pure economic loss;
    • (ii) Loss of profit;
    • (iii) Loss of business;
    • (iv) Loss of anticipated savings;
    • (v) Depletion of goodwill, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, or any claims for consequential compensation whatsoever arising from the Contract.
  • (c) If any service has an outstanding debt, whether resulting in suspension or not, our total liability is reduced to zero.

7.5 Separate Limitations #

• 7.5.1 Each clause of this section (7) operates as a separate limitation, remaining enforceable even if any provision is deemed inapplicable or unreasonable.

8. Indemnity #

8.1 Agreement to Indemnify #

• 8.1.1 You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless, without prejudice to our other rights or remedies, against all costs, claims, demands, liabilities, expenses, damages, losses, or expenses arising directly or indirectly from:
  • 8.1.2 Any breach of this Contract by you;
  • 8.1.3 Any third-party actions or threats of action against us resulting from our actions or omissions carried out in accordance with your instructions.

This indemnity covers any financial liabilities or other consequences we may face as a result of your actions or breaches of contract, ensuring protection against third-party claims and associated costs.

9. Termination of This Contract by Us #

9.1 Immediate Termination for Non-Payment or Breach #

• 9.1.1 If you fail to pay any charge when due or materially breach this Contract in any other way, we may terminate this Contract immediately without prior notice.

9.2 Outstanding Payments #

• 9.2.1 If any sum payable under this Contract remains outstanding for one or more days, we reserve the right to initiate the procedure outlined in our Billing and Charging Terms and Conditions.

9.3 Integrity Threats #

• 9.3.1 Should we reasonably consider you a threat to the integrity of our network, due to your actions, threats of such actions, hostility, or any other reason that, in our opinion, opposes our business interests, we may terminate this Contract immediately without prior notice.

9.4 Insolvency Events #

• 9.4.1 If you enter into liquidation, bankruptcy, make a voluntary arrangement, or have a receiver or administrator appointed, we may terminate this Contract immediately without prior notice.

9.5 Consequences of Termination #

• 9.5.1 Termination of this Contract by us will result in the retention of all monies received from you, with no entitlement to a refund of monies paid.

9.6 Liability for Charges #

• 9.6.1 Upon termination, you remain liable for all charges due or which would have become payable under this Contract.

9.7 Removal of Materials and Privileges #

• 9.7.1 On termination, we will remove all materials held on our systems related to your services and revoke all your system privileges.

9.8 Reconnection Conditions #

• 9.8.1 Subject to our discretion, if we agree to reconnect you to the service, such reconnection will incur an administration charge of £0.05, in addition to any outstanding charges due prior to reconnection. We are under no obligation to restore any data removed from our systems upon termination.

10. Termination of the Contract by You #

10.1 Conditions for Termination #

• 10.1.1 Early Termination (Within 14 Days Of Contract Commencement) : All contracts, including those with an initial 12-month commitment due to a special offer, are entitled to a 14-day cooling-off period from the contract start date, as outlined in our Refunds Terms and Conditions.
• 10.1.2 Termination After 14 Days: You may terminate this Contract at any time after the initial cooling off period. However, if termination notice is not provided in accordance with condition 11.2 (to be outlined next) before the upcoming Renewal Date, this Contract will automatically renew for the period specified in the renewal notice. Under these circumstances, no refund will be issued, and you will remain responsible for all charges through the end of the Contract period.

10.2 Notification of Termination #

• 10.2.1 To initiate termination, you must inform us by requesting a product cancellation. This is done on a per product basis. This can  completed via an online cancellation form within your Hippo Portal for the required product. For security we do not accept cancellation requests via Telephone, Email, Text or other messaging service.

This section ensures that you understand the conditions under which you can terminate the contract, the financial implications of doing so at different stages, and the proper procedure for notifying us of your decision to terminate.

11. Refunds #

Please consult our separate refunds policy here. #

12. Force Majeure #

12.1 Exemption of Liability #

• 12.1.1 We shall not be held liable for any failure to fulfill our obligations under this Contract if such failure is caused by circumstances beyond our reasonable control. These circumstances include, but are not limited to, acts of God, insurrection or civil disorder, war or military operations, terrorism, national or local emergency, protests, riot, civil commotion, acts or omissions of government or other competent authorities, compliance with any statutory obligation, industrial disputes of any kind (whether or not involving our employees), fire, lightning, explosion, flood, subsidence, severe weather conditions, acts or omissions of third parties for whom we are not responsible (notably other telecommunications service providers), or any other cause, whether similar or dissimilar, outside our reasonable control.

12.2 Right to Terminate after Extended Force Majeure #

• 12.2.1 If the force majeure event persists continuously for more than 90 days, you are entitled to terminate the Contract by providing us with written notice. This clause ensures that you are not indefinitely bound by a contract that cannot be fulfilled due to prolonged uncontrollable events.

13. Proper Law #

13.1 Governing Law and Jurisdiction #

• 13.1.1 This Contract shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. It is deemed to be made in England and Wales and will be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

14. Limitation on Assignment #

14.1 Restrictions on Your Assignment #

• 14.1.1 You are not permitted to assign the benefits of this Contract, either in whole or in part, without our explicit consent.

14.2 Our Right to Assign #

• 14.2.1 We reserve the right to assign the benefits of this Contract to another party, provided that we give you prior written notice of any such assignment.

14.3 Use of Service #

• 14.3.1 The Service may not be used by or on behalf of anyone other than you, or a third party explicitly specified in the application form, without our prior written consent. Furthermore, no condition of this Contract shall be enforceable by any third party under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act, except with our express permission.

15. Deprecated, Outdated, or End of Life Software #

15.1 Software Recommendations #

• 15.1.1 We recommend the use of supported and up-to-date software on our systems for optimal performance and security.

15.2 Risk of Using Outdated Software #

• 15.2.1 The use of deprecated, outdated, or end-of-life software is at your own risk.

15.3 Disclaimer of Responsibility #

• 15.3.1 We accept no responsibility for any data loss or downtime resulting from a server crash or security issues caused by the use of deprecated, outdated, or end-of-life software.

15.4 Right to Terminate Accounts #

• 15.4.1 We reserve the right to terminate accounts that utilize deprecated, outdated, or end-of-life software without notice if such use poses a security or performance risk to other tenants on our services.