Last Updated: 10/10/2023

  1. Definitions

1.1. “Customer” means the person or entity who ordered services provided by Hostverse.

1.2. “Customer Service” means the relationship between Hostverse staff and the Customer, with the purpose of assisting the Customer with a question they have asked.

1.3. “Ticket” refers to a secure electronic message sent by the Customer to Hostverse via Hostverse Portal for assistance or for any questions they may have with any Service(s) offered by Hostverse.

1.4. “Registry” refers to person(s) or entity(ies) responsible for providing registry services. These services include customer database administration, zone file publication, DNS and DNSSEC operation, marketing and policy determination in regards to a top level domain name. A Registry may outsource some, all, or none of these services. Different registries exist for different TLDs.

1.5. “Service”, “Service(s)” or “Services” means any product(s) or service(s) the Customer has signed up to use. This can include, but is not limited to, the provisioning of space on one of our servers and a connection to and from the internet for web, email hosting and/or FTP services to function at the level specified in the chosen service level, domain name registration or transfer or renewal, SSL, and VPS. These product(s) and service(s) are identified in full within the “sign up” and “service provision” emails Hostverse has sent after the Customer requests the service. The specific details of the Services can be found by logging in to the portal or on our website.

1.7. “Hostverse”, “Company” or “Business” means Hostverse trading as Hostverse and its Related Body Corporate.

1.8. “Portal” refers to Hostverse’s customer account, billing and management portal, available online at hostverse.au.

1.9. “We”, “our” or “us” refers to Hostverse trading as Hostverse (ABN 92 134 659 217).

1.10. “You” or “your” refers to the person or entity who ordered services provided by Hostverse. 

 

  1. Acceptance

2.1. The Customer signified acceptance of our Terms of Service, as well as our Acceptable Use Policy, Privacy Policy, Customer Service Policy and any applicable Registrant Agreement, when they submitted their order to Hostverse for Services, and that order was accepted.

2.2. The Customer acknowledges that they are solely responsible for ensuring that all Service(s) are in full compliance with this policy, and that they are solely responsible for the files and applications that have been uploaded and executed.

 

  1. Communication

3.1. The Customer agrees to receive emails and/or SMS messages directly relating to the Service(s) provided, as well as marketing and promotional emails and/or SMS messages from Hostverse to the email address and/or telephone number registered to their account. The Customer can unsubscribe from marketing and promotional emails and/or SMS messages only.

3.2. The Customer may opt-in to receive email and SMS notifications from our Service Status system in relation to their Service(s). This subscription can be modified at any time by the Customer through Hostverse Portal and is disabled by default.

3.3. Customers with eligible services may receive service specific notifications (including, but not limited to suspension notices) via SMS to their mobile device if a mobile number is present in Hostverse Portal. 

3.4. If the Customer does not want to receive these mandatory service-specific emails and/or SMS messages (where applicable), they are required to cancel all active Services and close their Account, in accordance with Section 11 of this policy. The Customer may, however, opt-out from receiving marketing and promotional emails and/or SMS at any time by disabling them in Hostverse Portal.

 

  1. Availability of Services

4.1. While Hostverse will endeavour to provide continuous availability of all Service(s) to the Customer, Hostverse will not be liable for any Service interruptions or downtime that is not covered by a Service Level Agreement (where applicable).

4.2. Scheduled maintenance will be performed at a time which is deemed suitable by Hostverse, and should it require any Services to be offline for greater than thirty (30) minutes, Hostverse will post details of the scheduled maintenance at least two (2) days prior.

4.3. Unscheduled maintenance will be performed as required by Hostverse , and should any Service(s) be offline for greater than thirty (30) minutes, Hostverse will post details of the maintenance and any updates until it has been completed.

 

  1. Customer General Warranties and Undertaking

6.1. The Customer warrants that any information supplied to Hostverse is true and correct and will be kept current and up to date via the portal.

6.2. The Customer warrants that they will keep all passwords and sensitive information in a secure location and this information is not shared with any other party.

6.3. The Customer warrants that at the time of entering into this agreement they are not relying on any representation made by Hostverse, its staff, agents or affiliates, which has not been expressly stated in this agreement.

6.4. The Customer agrees that they are solely responsible for dealing with cases of unauthorised third parties accessing their Account and/or Service(s). These matters should be referred to the Australian Federal Police for investigation as soon as possible.

 

  1. Hostverse General Warranties and Undertaking

7.1. Hostverse shall not be liable to the Customer for harm caused by or related to the Customer’s Service(s) or inability to utilise the Service(s) unless caused by gross negligence or wilful misconduct.

7.2.Hostverse shall not be liable to the Customer for lost profits, direct or indirect, special or incidental, consequential or punitive; or damages of any kind whether or not they were known or should have been known.

7.3. Notwithstanding anything else in this agreement, the maximum aggregate liability that Hostverse, any of its employees, agents or affiliates, under any theory of law, shall not exceed a payment in excess of the amount paid by the Customer for the Service in question for the six months prior to the occurrence of the event(s) giving rise to the claim.

7.4. Hostverse does not warrant that:

  1. Any Service(s) provided will be uninterrupted or error free;
  2. The Service(s) will meet your requirements, other than as expressly set out in this agreement;
  3. The Service(s) will not be subjected to external hacking attempts, viruses, worms, denial of service attacks, or other persons gaining unauthorised access to the Service(s) or any Hostverse system.

7.5. Hostverse does not make or give any express or implied warranties including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, or arising from a course of dealing, usage or trade practice, with respect to any goods or services provided under or incidental to this agreement.

7.6. In no event will Hostverse be liable to the Customer for any loss of business, contracts, profits or anticipated savings or for any other indirect or consequential or economic loss whatsoever.

7.7. Third party services engaged by the client through cPanel including but not limited to SEO and web design tools are done so at the Customer(s) own undertaking. Hostverse does not provide any express or implied warranty on the quality of their product(s) nor the outcomes expected and is under no obligation to extend support for externally managed or purchased products.

 

  1. Accounts and Billing

8.1. The Customer agrees to a month to month contract term for Service(s) unless otherwise stated in the Service offering (eg. domain names, SSL certificates, special Service(s) with an agreed term), or otherwise agreed in writing. The month to month contract for Service(s) is automatically renewed each month in perpetuity subject to cancellation by the Customer.

8.2. Monthly Service(s) are established as part thereof, signifying the beginning of a new month denotes commitment till the end of that monthly period.

8.3. In relation to fees for Service(s):

  1. Fees for Service(s) ordered by the Customer shall begin on the date of the initial order and the chosen billing cycle in advance. This may be monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually, biennially or triennially.
  2. The order date of any Service(s) will serve as the anniversary date for all future billings including one time fees, upgrades, additional services, cancellations and service credits, unless the Service(s) only allows annual or biennial billing cycles (eg. domain name registrations, SSL certificates, et cetera) for that particular Service.
  3. Unless stated otherwise, fees are due in advance of the billing cycle and will be invoiced to the Customer ten (10) days prior to the due date by default. If a credit card is stored in the Account it will be charged three (3) days prior to the due date to allow sufficient time for any potential issues (such as insufficient funds, expired cards, et cetera) to be rectified before the due date.
  4. Fees for domain names with automatic renewals enabled are due immediately and any stored credit card will be charged prior to processing the renewal at the registry.

8.4. In relation to fees for upgrades to Service(s):

  1. Upgrades ordered by the Customer on the billing anniversary date will be billed for a full cycle and will continue each cycle on the anniversary date, unless the Service(s) only allows annual or biennial billing cycles (eg. domain name registrations, et cetera).
  2. Upgrades ordered by the Customer after the billing anniversary date will be prorated to the next anniversary date at the full monthly cost. Future fees will appear as the new plan from your existing anniversary billing date.
  3. Fees for upgrades will be payable within seven (7) days of the upgrade taking place. If a credit card is stored in the Account it will be charged three (3) days prior to the due date to allow sufficient time for any potential issues (such as insufficient funds, expired cards, et cetera) to be rectified before the due date.
  4. Additional fees may be payable for upgrades where manual work is required by Hostverse to process the upgrade request.

8.5. In relation to fees for downgrades to Service(s):

  1. Downgrades will be processed when the request is received from the Customer, unless otherwise specified in the request.
  2. An Account credit will be issued to the Customer’s Account for the difference of any prorated prepaid amount minus the cost of the new plan prorated on the chosen cycle.
  3. Additional fees may be payable for downgrades where manual work is required by Hostverse to process the downgrade request.

8.6. Fees for one-off Service(s) including, but not limited to, dedicated IP addresses, SSL certificates, instant data blocks and instant disk blocks, are due within seven (7) days of the invoice being issued.

8.7. All published prices are inclusive of any government taxes and charges unless otherwise noted

8.8. Any unpaid invoices in the Customer’s Account must be paid in full before new Service(s) will be provisioned.

8.9. Failure to pay any fees may result in the account being referred to an external collection agency, which may include interest (calculated daily) and collection/legal costs.

8.10. Service(s) with unpaid invoices that are more than seven (7) days past the due date will be automatically suspended, with full payment for all outstanding invoices required before the Service(s) can be reactivated.

8.11. Services with unpaid invoices that are not paid in full within fourteen (14) days of the due date will be automatically terminated. Restoration of terminated Service(s) is subject to Hostverse’s Terms of Service.

8.12. In the event that any invoice remains unpaid after the due date, a late payment fee of $20 will be added to the outstanding balance daily until the full payment is made. This fee is intended to cover the administrative costs incurred by delayed payments and is non-refundable. The accumulation of late payment fees will continue daily until either the total outstanding balance is settled or the service is terminated according to the terms specified in Sections 8.10 and 8.11.

8.13.For any work required by our staff that falls outside the scope of our free support services or website management packages, we will charge a rate of $75 per hour. This rate applies to tasks such as custom development, extensive data recovery, and special configuration requests, among others.

Final charges will be calculated based on the actual hours spent, and any additional fees associated with the service, such as suspension or reactivation of services, will also be applied.

Invoices for these services will be issued upon completion of the work and are due immediately upon receipt. Failure to settle these invoices in a timely manner will subject the account to the standard late payment terms as detailed in Section 8.12.

8.14. If you are subscribed to either of our website management plans and your website experiences downtime, you grant us full authorization to investigate and resolve the issue to restore your website’s functionality. If the required work falls outside the scope of your website management plan, we will proceed with the necessary fixes without prior consultation regarding fees. This authorization is based on the understanding that prompt issue resolution is a critical aspect of the service you expect from us.

An invoice detailing the work completed and any associated charges will be issued upon the restoration of your website. The charges will be based on our standard rate of $75 per hour, along with any additional costs incurred. By subscribing to our website management plans, you acknowledge and accept these terms, recognizing that our priority is to maintain the continuous operation of your website.

8.15. If any invoice remains unpaid or if your account has been suspended or terminated, Hostverse reserves the right to withhold access to your website, domain, and email accounts until all outstanding payments are fully settled. This includes preventing access to website files, databases, and email services. Additionally, Hostverse employs advanced security measures to block any attempts to transfer the website or domain to another provider, as well as to prevent any unauthorised or unethical attempts to gain access to website files. These measures will remain in place until full payment is received and the account is in good standing.

 

  1. Payments by Credit Card

9.1. In the event a new Service is ordered by the Customer with payment via credit card, this credit card information may be stored against on the Customer’s Account and may be used for future automatic invoice payments.

9.2. Where a credit card number is stored on the Customer’s Account, this may be automatically used for the payment of due invoices. In such cases, payments will typically be taken three (3) days prior to the due date of the invoice.

 

  1. Refunds

10.1. The following Service(s) are not eligible for a refund if the Service has been successfully provisioned by one of Hostverse’s suppliers:

  1. Domain names;
  2. SSL certificates;
  3. Google Workspace; and
  4. Software licences.

10.2. A full refund will be provided to either account credit or returned to the original payment method, if the order was placed within forty-five (45) days of the date that the refund was requested for any of the following Service(s):

  1. Any shared cPanel web hosting Service;
  2. Any shared WHM (Reseller) web hosting Service;
  3. Any dedicated email hosting Service; and
  4. Any VPS hosting Service.

10.3. A pro rata refund will be provided to account credit only if the refund request was made more than forty-five (45) days after the order was placed for any of the following Service(s):

  1. Any shared cPanel web hosting Service;
  2. Any shared WHM (Reseller) web hosting Service;
  3. Any dedicated email hosting Service; and
  4. Any VPS hosting Service.

10.4. The Customer will not be entitled to a refund if any of Hostverse’s Terms, Policies and Agreements have been breached by the Customer.

10.5. All other refunds will be processed at the sole discretion of Hostverse, in-line with the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s published policies and guidelines. More information can be found at http://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/consumer-rights-guarantees.

 

  1. Cancellation

11.1. The Customer can request cancellation of their Account or any Service(s) for any reason by logging in to the portal and submitting a cancellation request. For security reasons, we will not accept cancellation requests by any other method.

11.2. Any prepaid fees for Service(s) past the current billing month will be refunded in accordance with the Refunds subsection of this agreement once a refund request has been made by the Customer. This can only be done by submitting a ticket through the portal.

11.3. The Customer agrees to pay any outstanding invoices upon cancellation of their Service(s).

11.4. If the Customer requests cancellation of a Service after the invoice for the renewal of the Service has been paid, a refund will be issued in accordance with the Refunds subsection of this agreement.

 

  1. Suspension and Termination of Service(s)

12.1. Hostverse may suspend or terminate Service(s) if:

  1. The Customer is found to be in breach of any policy including but not limited to the Terms of Services, Acceptable Use Policy, Customer Service Policy or any applicable Registrant Agreement;
  2. The Customer has become insolvent or bankrupt;
  3. The Customer has unpaid invoices.

12.2. Hostverse may decide at its sole discretion to advise a Customer that their Account and/or Service(s) will be terminated by giving fourteen (14) days written notice, and any applicable refunds will be processed as per the Refunds subsection of this agreement.

12.3. If a Customer’s Account is closed for any reason, or any Service(s) suspended or terminated, the Customer must pay all outstanding invoices by the due dates.

12.4. If a web hosting, dedicated email hosting or VPS Service is suspended or terminated for any reason,Hostverse is under no obligation to provide the Customer with a copy of any data associated with the Service(s). Hostverse may provide the customer with a backup of the data, if it is available, for a fee of $199.95.

 

  1. Data Management

13.1. It is the Customer’s sole responsibility to maintain regular offsite backups of their data. The Customer will not hold Hostverse liable for incomplete, out of date or corrupt data recovered from backups and archives.

13.2. For shared cPanel web hosting, shared WHM (Reseller) web hosting and dedicated email hosting Service(s), Hostverse makes every reasonable effort to backup and archive the Customer’s data on a regular basis for the sole purpose of disaster recovery. Hostverse does not take automated system backups of Virtual Private Server (VPS) Service(s) or any other Service(s) unless explicitly stated.

13.3. In the event of hard disk failure or data corruption of a shared cPanel web hosting or dedicated email hosting server, Hostverse will restore data from the last known verified archive. If backup and archived data appears to be corrupt, the Customer should be prepared to upload all of their data to their Service(s) from their own copy or an off-site backup; and re-create all mailboxes, databases, FTP accounts, et cetera.

13.4. If the Customer requires Hostverse  to supply a backup of their data for an active shared cPanel web hosting, shared WHM (Reseller) web hosting or dedicated email hosting Service, for any reason or purpose that is not the direct fault of Hostverse, a fee of $49.95 per Service will be payable by the Customer before the data will be made available. Services in a suspended, cancelled or terminated state within the portal are not considered an active Service.

13.5. Hostverse is under no obligation to maintain a backup of the Customer’s data following the suspension or cancellation of the Service for any reason.

13.6. Hostverse holds no responsibility for any issues which arise during the use of third party services including but is not limited to Acronis, Softaculous and Installatron. Issues which occur as a result of failed upgrade attempts by the Customer are outside the control of Hostverse.

 

  1. Use of Identity

14.1. The Customer agrees that the use of any Hostverse logo or company information is within approved marketing guidelines.

14.2. Hostverse agrees not to use a Customer name, logos or information without prior written consent of the Customer.

 

  1. Governing Law

15.1. The Customer agrees to abide by all local, state and federal laws pursuant to the Service(s) delivered by Hostverse.

15.2. The Customer agrees that these and all Hostverse Terms, Policies and Agreements are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia, and agrees to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of that state.

 

  1. Changes

16.1. Hostverse may amend our Terms of Service at any time. Changes to this agreement will become effective upon their publication to our website.

16.2. Continued use of the Service(s) constitutes acceptance of the amended terms. If you do not wish to accept the amended terms, you may request cancellation of your Services) in-line with our cancellation policy found within our Terms of Service.

 

If you have any questions about this agreement please contact our Legal team via email at legal@hostverse.au.6