Terms of Service
This policy represents the Internet Ministries Terms of Service ("TOS") in its entirety and supersedes any other written or oral policy. This policy defines the terms of service all customers agree to when they sign-up for hosting services with Internet Ministries. Internet Ministries reserves the exclusive right to revise, change or amend any portion of this Policy at any time, without advance notification to customers.
Customers using any services offered by Internet Ministries consent to be bound by and must comply with all policies in this TOS. At the sole discretion of Internet Ministries, any violators of this TOS may have their services canceled without refund.
In consideration for Internet Ministries maintaining one or more accounts (each "Account"), you agree to the following terms of service.
Definitions
"We" "Us" or "Provider" Internet Ministries.
Internet Ministries - A USA Based Business
"You" "Your" "Client" " Church" "Ministry" "Customer" or "Member."
Each church, ministry, person, or entity who applies for Internet service or is a designate of any one who applies for Internet service.
Disclaimer of Warranty
The Internet is a complex network of equipment, services and providers of information; thus the Service may not be available to you at all times. However, Internet Ministries offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee. This is valid for only the connection. Internet Ministries will pursue all resources and channels available to maintain maximum uptime, however, Internet Ministries is not responsible for any down time caused by client's error. Internet Ministries MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR USE) WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICES IT PROVIDES. Neither Internet Ministries nor any one else involved in the provision of Service is liable to you or any third-party for direct or indirect damages resulting from the use, non-use of services provided herein, whether or not such damages resulted from the negligence of Internet Ministries, even if Internet Ministries has been advised to the possibility of such damages.
Services provided by Internet Ministries
Internet Ministries will provide internet server rental ("the Service") to its members for the express purpose of allowing customers to provide http internet content to the general public. The Service allows Internet Ministries members to maintain internet websites, receive and maintain e-mail accounts and access web space via FTP to upload files for their websites. Internet Ministries members will use the provided services in a manner consistent with any and all applicable US Federal laws. Internet Ministries provides the Services exclusively and makes no effort to edit, control, monitor or restrict the content of data other than as necessary to provide such Services. Internet Ministries reserves the right to refuse customers from utilization of its services, without notification. If any of the below activities are committed, Internet Ministries can terminate client's account without notification.
a. Client Content: Client agrees that webpages and files uploaded to servers will not violate any state, federal, or foreign laws or regulations; infringe on any intellectual property rights of Internet Ministries or any third party; be defamatory, slanderous or trade libelous; be threatening or harassing; be discriminatory based on gender, race, age; promote hate; or contain viruses or other computer programming defects which result in damage to Internet Ministries or any third party. Customers may not run IRC, bots or clients. Unacceptable uses also include: Bulk unsolicited emailing, unsolicited emailings, newsgroup spamming, child porn or links to such sites, cgi/php proxy scripts, copyrighted MP3, storing personal backups and/or cPanel backup files, illegal content, copyright infringement, trademark infringement, warez, cracks, software serial numbers. Internet Ministries will be the sole and final arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this policy.
b. Bandwidth Usage: Internet Ministries offers a generous amount of data transfer per month. This rule only comes into play when you use excess server processing power that negatively impacts the performance of the server and provides a bad customer experience in that server community. Minimizing the impact on an individual servers processing power is key to the overall performance of that server. In the vast majority of cases, if you use the web hosting service appropriately, visitors to your website will be able to view, download, and add as much content from your site as they wish. However, in certain circumstances, our server processing power, server memory, or anti-abuse controls could limit downloads or access from your site. Violators to the above rule will not be tolerated. You can upload all the content that you require each month subject to the rules as outlined above.
c. Excessive Resource User Policy: Resources are defined as bandwidth, memory and/or processor utilization. A website is considered using "Excessive amounts of resources" when it monopolies the resources available using 10% or more of system resources for longer than 60 seconds. There are numerous problems that could cause such problems, this includes but not limited to: cgi scripts, FTP, HTTP, etc. A site that consumes over the account limit of bandwidth is also considered "excessive resources". This policy is only implemented in extreme circumstances and is intended to prevent the misuse of our servers. The client whom is using "excessive resources" will be asked to upgrade his/her package to one of our semi-dedicated or dedicated server packages. Internet Ministries will be the sole and final arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this policy. Suspensions will only occur if client violates above restrictions.
d. No "Spam": UCE/UBE or "Spam" originating from a server located on our network or associated with a Internet Ministries server is not tolerated. This includes any e-mail that promotes web sites hosted on a server located on the Internet Ministries network but is sent from an e-mail address not associated with that Internet Ministries account. Client shall not use their Internet Ministries services for chain letters, junk mail, bulk-email, or any use of distribution lists to any person who has not given specific permission to be included in such a process. Internet Ministries reserves the right to deactivate or terminate any account(s) upon any indication of such activity without notice.
e. False Information: Client agrees not to post false or inaccurate information to news groups in violation of the news groups’ rules and regulations. If any news groups or service provider contact Internet Ministries concerning unethical, false or unlawful activities by you, Internet Ministries reserve the right to terminate your service without notice.
f. Licensed Software Only: Client agrees to use only properly licensed third party software in connection with Client's use of the Services. We do NOT allow any type of NULLED software. Customers using any nulled scripts/plugins/themes or related software will have their account suspended immediately. The accounts will not be reinstated unless fully destroyed and re-created with the customer consenting to only use legitimate software with appropriate licenses.
g. Back-Up Files: Internet Ministries offers a Premium Backup Service to all of our customers. The backup service can be purchased as an addon service to any active hosting account. It is the responsibility of the customer to keep up-to-date archives of their backed up data. Customers can use FTP, cPanel and PHPMyAdmin to make their own backups at any given time. Internet Ministries is not responsible for any lost data.
h. Domain Names: When you first register a new domain, ICANN requires all registrars to verify your contact details. You will receive an email from us requesting you to review and verify these details. Failure to do so will eventually lead to the suspension of your domain. This suspension is enforced by ICANN and is not the responsibility of the hosting provider. Should your domain be suspended, your website and email account will be taken offline until the issue is resolved. Once a domain has been suspended you will need to click the link in the original email they sent in order for the domain to come back online. If you need the email to be resent please open a support ticket and we will be happy to resend it.
Payment, Renewal, Cancellations
a. Payment Obligations: Full payment is required in advance before hosting service is established. Internet Ministries sends out invoices that are due every pay period. You are given fifteen (15) days to fully pay the invoice. You warrant and represent that the information you supply in the Order Form (or other information that Internet Ministries may require) is accurate and truthful. All payment-due notices will be sent by e-mail. No bills or invoices will be sent by postal mail or fax. If payment was not received by the due date, your account will be suspended. To have your account re-established, you will need to pay the monthly fees, plus any late fee's. All fees mentioned are in U.S (USD) funds.
b. Renewals: Your account will be automatically renewed under the same billing cycle unless you give written notice to Internet Ministries thirty (30) days before the renewal date that you do not wish to renew or make changes to such account. Once a renewal payment has been processed and paid there are absolutely no refunds issued. Coupons and promotions are available to New Customers only and apply to the 'Initial Term'. All web hosting plans renew at our regular rates.
c. Cancellation & Refunds: Should you become unsatisfied with our services within the first 30 days of your account activation (new customers only), Internet Ministries will refund your hosting fee (less domain name registration fee of $19.95) subject to the money back guarantee terms listed in this agreement. You will need to contact customer service 30 days before your renewal date and verify information before cancellation takes place. You will be charged in full for the entire month in which you canceled your account. Accounts which have negative balances will be terminated, including domain registrations. Customers wishing to switch their domain name to another registrar or cancel their service are subject to a $35.00 domain name release fee. Refunds are never available for website design fees, domain name registration fees, control panel license (cPanel, Plesk, etc) setup fees, account addons, renewals of any other services.
Refunds are NOT given for any account upgrades or add-ons, only the hosting portion is refunded (less domain name registration fee of $19.95). There are no exceptions and no refund(s) will be awarded for upgrades at any point after your first 30 days of initial signup.
If you've purchased web hosting services from Internet Ministries in the past and signed up again you are not eligible for the 30 day money back guarantee. The 30 day money back guarantee is strictly for new customers purchasing services for the first time. Existing customers who purchase additional hosting plans are NOT eligible for the 30 day money back guarantee. The 30 day money back guarantee is only for new customers that have never used our services.
99.9% Service Level Agreement "SLA"
Internet Ministries offers its clients a 99.9% network uptime guarantee for customer satisfaction purposes and also to ensure that your church website is running problem free. Internet Ministries will try to maintain maximum uptime. Internet Ministries is not responsible for any downtime caused by the client.
Third Party Script Assistance
Internet Ministries retains the right not to assist clients with third party applications. This includes any script uploaded by the client, installed using cPanel, it's scripts library or any installer within. Any assistance, support, or troubleshooting provided by Internet Ministries for ANY third party script or application will be subject to a $35 to $50 service fee.