At CertHost.net we take the business of Web Hosting very seriously.  We set high standards for the services we provide, back them with our Total Support commitment for highly responsive support services and offer some of the most aggressive service guarantees in the industry.  Experience Total Support – you’ll love it!

And we have little tolerance for those who violate our policies, particularly with respect to spamming. We will not jeopardize the integrity of our network and service for the sake of retaining a single customer. Our current customers appreciate this business philosophy and we know you will too.  It’s all part of our Total Support commitment.

·  Service Level Agreement (SLA) guarantees for network uptime and hardware resolution

Hardware:
CertHost.net uses high quality components for all hardware leases. 100% of all hardware components leased to the client, as described in the Server Lease Agreement, are guaranteed against failure. In the event any component fails, CertHost.net guarantees to replace or repair the faulty component and bring the server back online within two (2) hours from the time the faulty component is identified. If CertHost.net fails to bring the server back online within two (2) hours of identification of the failure, credit will be issued to the customer for twenty five (25) times the actual downtime. Credit will be calculated based on the customer's current monthly lease rate and will not exceed one (1) full month of credit using the formula: total minutes outage, divided by the total monthly lease rate (in cost per minute), times twenty five (25). Co-location customers are ineligible for the hardware clause of this SLA.

Software:
Please be advised that any 3rd party applications which are installed on Managed Servers, may require 3rd party support. This may be in the form of "per incident support" or a "support contract". Any additional cost to support 3rd party applications will be the responsibility of you, the client.

Network:
The CertHost.net network is engineered to deliver the highest level of network uptime and availability. CertHost.net guarantees a network uptime of 100%. Network downtime is defined as 100% packet loss occurring in the transmission of data (packets) from the customers leased server(s), hosted on-site in the CertHost.net Data Center, to the Internet backbone. In the event network uptime is not 100%, credit will be issued to the customer for twenty five (25) times the actual downtime exceeding the allowance. Credit will be calculated based on the customer's current monthly lease rate, and will not exceed one (1) full month of credit, using the formula: total minutes outage, divided by the total monthly lease rate (in cost per minute), times twenty five (25). Any suspected downtime must be reported to a CertHost.net via email and must be verified by at least two (2) trace routes from independent locations. Downtime will be measured from the time the outage is reported to a CertHost.net technician, to the time the server is able to transmit and receive data again.

Managed Hosting (Additional Services Uptime Guarantee):
CertHost.net Managed Hosting customers are eligible for accelerated support and response times as defined below:

Definition:
Service outages include the availability of HTTP, POP3, SMTP, FTP, SSL, and DNS as currently configured for the customer. Downtime is defined as a primary service outage with a minimum duration of ten (10) minutes. The service must be inaccessible by the client via standard Internet utilities attempting to access the CertHost.net network through the internet backbone and the service must be in a non-operable state on the server.

Response:
Primary services (as defined above) are guaranteed to be returned to an available state within one (1) hour of identification and confirmation of the outage by a CertHost.net technician.

Credit:
In the event of a service outage exceeding one (1) hour, upon request by customer to , credit will be issued to the customer for twenty five (25) times the actual downtime exceeding the allowance. Credit will be calculated based on the customer's current monthly lease rate, and will not exceed one (1) full month of credit per calendar month using the following formula: total minutes outage, divided by the total monthly lease rate (in cost per minute), times twenty five (25). Credits are provided at months ends unless otherwise approved by management.

Backup:
Customer understands that if Network Backup Service is not purchased or included, CertHost.net assumes no responsibility for the data which resides on any server. In addition, the data will not be backed up at all by CertHost.net and could potentially be lost if there is a hardware or similar type of failure. In no event shall CertHost.net be liable for damages resulting from loss of data, profits or for any incidental or consequential damages, even if advised of the possibility of such damage.

Limitations:
Only CertHost.net Managed Hosting customers will qualify for the 'Managed Hosting Services Uptime Guarantee' as defined above. This guarantee does not apply to inaccessibility of services due to any network hardware, services, or other Internet utilities outside of the CertHost.net network, including those utilities or network services used by the customer to access the internet. Third party monitoring systems will not be considered as valid proof of an outage without supporting confirmation by the CertHost.net technical staff. This guarantee does not include incidents involving the malicious activities of third parties not bound by the Server Lease Agreement. In the event of a hardware failure the response time may be extended by an additional one (1) hour which will allow adequate time for hardware replacement or repair. Any suspected service outage must be reported to a CertHost.net technician and verified by at least two (2) trace routes from independent locations. Downtime will be measured from the time the service outage is reported to a CertHost.net technician, to the time the service is responsive again. Customers must notify CertHost.net within five (5) business days of the service outage. Delinquent customers are not eligible for any provisions contained within this SLA. Any client who chooses not to have their server monitored by our monitoring system or limits our monitoring systems ability to connect to their server will not be eligible for any of the provisions contained within the Network section of the CertHost.net SLA. Customers must notify CertHost.net within five (5) business days of the outage.

·  Acceptable Usage Policy for restrictions on spamming, illegal content, IRC, and more


Overview
By using our web hosting services, you agree to comply with our policies. You are expected to use the Internet with respect, courtesy, and responsibility, giving due regard to the rights of other Internet users. We expect you to have a basic knowledge of how the Internet functions, the types of uses which are generally acceptable and the types of uses which are to be avoided. Common sense is the best guide as to what is considered acceptable use. The following are unacceptable uses: Illegality in any form, including but not limited to activities such as unauthorized distribution or copying of copyrighted software, harassment, fraud, drug dealing, IRC, spam and other illegal activities.

Interpretation
The provisions of this Policy are intended as guidelines and are not meant to be exhaustive. Generally, conduct that violates law, regulation, or the accepted norms of the Internet community, whether or not expressly mentioned in this Policy, is prohibited. CertHost.net reserves the right at all times to prohibit activities that damage its commercial reputation and goodwill.

Illegal Use
CertHost.net servers may be used only for lawful purposes. Transmission, distribution or storage of any material in violation of any applicable law or regulation is prohibited.

System and Network Security
Violations of system or network security are prohibited, and may result in criminal and civil liability. Examples include, but are not limited to the following: unauthorized access, use, probe, or scan of a systems security or authentication measures, data or traffic. Interference with service to any user, host or network including, without limitation, mail bombing, flooding, deliberate attempts to overload a system and broadcast attacks. Forging of any TCP-IP packet header or any part of the header information in an e-mail or a newsgroup posting. Consequently, CertHost.net has implemented a "zero tolerance" policy regarding Denial of Service Attacks. CertHost.net reserves the right to terminate, without notice, any Managed, Dedicated, Shared or Co-Location account which has been the target of a Denial of Service or similar type attack.

Spamming
Directly or indirectly transmitting or supporting the transmission of unsolicited mail messages, including, without limitation, commercial advertising and informational announcements, is expressly prohibited. A user shall not use another site's mail server to relay mail without the express permission of the site. It is contrary to CertHost.net policy for customers to use our servers to effect or participate in any of the following activities:

To post to any Usenet or other newsgroup, forum, e-mail mailing list or other similar group or list articles which are off-topic according to the charter or other owner-published FAQ or description of the group or list;
To transmit or support the transmission of unsolicited mass e-mailings, whether such unsolicited e-mailings provoke complaints from the recipients or not;
To engage in any of the foregoing activities using the service of another provider, but channeling such activities through a CertHost.net provided server, or using a CertHost.net provided server as a mail drop for responses;
To falsify user information provided to CertHost.net or to other users of the service in connection with use of a CertHost.net service.

Consequences of Violation
When CertHost.net becomes aware of an alleged violation of its Acceptable Use Policy, CertHost.net will initiate an investigation. During the investigation CertHost.net may restrict Customer's access in order to prevent further possible unauthorized activity. Depending on the severity of the violation, CertHost.net may, at its sole discretion, restrict, suspend or terminate Customer's account and/or pursue other civil remedies. If such violation is a criminal offense, CertHost.net will notify the appropriate law enforcement agencies of such violation. CertHost.net does not issue service credits for any outages incurred through service disablement resulting from Policy violations.

Modification
CertHost.net reserves the right to add, delete, or modify any provision of this Policy at any time, without notice.

Reporting Network Abuse
Any party seeking to report any violations CertHost.net's policy may contact via e-mail: abuse@certhost.net

·  Billing policies regarding payment options, billing cycles and more

Overview
The following terms of use constitute CertHost.net's Billing Policy and apply to all customers of CertHost.net:

Forms of Payment

Check (Initial orders only; Credit Card or Automatic Withdrawals required for recurring payments)
Money Order (Initial orders only; Credit Card or Automatic Withdrawals required for recurring payments)
Credit Card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover)

ACH Credits
Bank Wire Transfer (Domestic Free / International $20.00)
PayPal; a 5% fee will be assessed for all payments and quarterly (3 months) advance payment is required throughout the entire term of service.

Payments are due on or before the Due Date. By providing CertHost.net with your credit card information, you authorize CertHost.net to automatically charge your credit or debit card for all recurring and one time fees which apply to your account. Recurring fees will be charged to your credit card until you formally cancel your account in accordance with CertHost.net cancellation policy (see Cancellation Policy below). You are responsible for updating or notifying CertHost.net of any changes to your credit card such as card number, expiration date, billing address or any other change.

Customers not paying by credit card agree to make payment of their balance due within no more than five (5) days of their due date.

Accounts that are five (5) days past due will be automatically suspended. All past due and unpaid balances are subject to collection. In the event of collection, you will be liable for the costs of collection including collection agency fees, attorney's fees, court costs and any related fees.

Automatic Payment Requirement
As part of an ongoing effort to decrease our collection costs, we are no longer accepting checks as a form of payment. For accounts currently paying by check, payment must be received on or before your due date. If your payment is late at any given month, CertHost.net reserves the right to demand that your account be setup on automatic payment schedule via Credit Card or ACH. You will receive a notice of our intent to change your payment method. If you fail to respond to our notice within two (2) business days, and you do not voluntarily change your payment method, your accounts will be SUSPENDED and may be subject to a reactivation fee.

Account Renewals
In order to insure uninterrupted service to your website, all Hosting plans will automatically renew at the end of the Hosting plan's Billing Cycle. Hosting plans will automatically renew until a Hosting plan is formally cancelled. You may elect to change your billing cycle at any time. That change will take effect at the start of your next Hosting plan renewal.

Changes and Updates
For security reasons, any change or update done to your account must originate from the email account we have on file. If you request changes via telephone, you will be required to provide private account information with which we will verify your identity prior to performing changes.

Statements

CertHost.net only mails paper invoices or statements to accounts paying by check. Invoices or statements may be emailed at your request.

Other Fees
Bank Wire Payments:

CertHost.net does NOT charge fees for accepting payment via bank wire, however, international wire transfers will be assessed a $20.00 USD processing fee. In addition, your issuing bank may also charge a fee for sending the wire. Please add these fees to the amount that you are sending to CertHost.net or the amount credited to your account will be less than your intended payment.

Returned (NSF) Checks:

CertHost.net charges a $25.00 fee for returned (NSF) checks. Customers that issue an NSF check could be required to submit future payments with a certified check or money order.

Credit Card Chargeback's:

A $25.00 non-refundable chargeback fee will be assessed for each credit card chargeback request which is received by CertHost.net.

Reactivations:

Customers who wish to reactivate a closed account will be assessed a $35.00 reactivation fee. A $99.00 fee will be assessed if CertHost.net restores your data files to your reactivated account.

Hosting Plan Changes:

Customers electing to change to a lower priced hosting plan on the same platform will be charged a $10.00 downgrade fee for Shared and $25.00 downgrade fee for Dedicated. There is no fee for upgrading to a higher priced plan.

Platform Change:

Customers who elect to change plans to a different operating system platform will be charged a $50.00 platform change fee.

Cancellation Policy
In order to cancel your service, you must send an email to . CertHost.net's Billing Department's representatives will then complete the cancellation process during normal business hours. Billing Department hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 PM CST.

Cancellation requests must be received by CertHost.net a minimum of seven (7) days prior to the end of your Billing Cycle for all services. Cancellations submitted later than this time may result in automatic renewal of your hosting plan. Cancellations become effective at the end of your next billing cycle.

CertHost.net does not monitor, and will not automatically cancel accounts for issues related to non-usage, domain name transfers, your ISP, Internic, or any other issues not directly related to CertHost.net services. Cancellation of services does not relieve the customer from paying any outstanding balance owed. CertHost.net reserves the right to cancel any account, without notice.

Responsibility of Data upon Cancellation:
Upon cancellation of your account, CertHost.net is no longer responsible for maintaining a copy of your data. Please ensure that you secured a copy of your data prior to canceling your account.

Credit:
In the event of a service outage exceeding one (1) hour, credit will be issued to the customer for twenty five (25) times the actual downtime exceeding the allowance. Credit will be applied to the customer's account. Credit will be calculated based on the customer's current monthly lease rate, and will not exceed one (1) full month of credit per calendar month using the following formula: total minutes outage, divided by the total monthly lease rate (in cost per minute), times twenty five (25).

Transfer of Account Ownership:
In the event that you transfer the ownership of any or all of your accounts at CertHost.net over to a different person or Company, any and all outstanding balances on the account are the responsibility of the original account owner. If there are no outstanding balances on the account, the new account owner will be responsible for all future one time and recurring charges. No prorating of charges will be allowed during the transfer process.

Credit Card Disputes or Charge-backs
CertHost.net has a zero tolerance policy for charge-backs. Any customer who disputes a credit card payment is subject to a fine, suspension and account termination at CertHost.net's discretion. A fee of $25.00 per chargeback will be assessed to all accounts that receive a chargeback. By using our services, you agree to pay until your service is formally cancelled. To dispute a charge, you must contact CertHost.net's Billing Department and or your credit card provider within 90 days from the date of the charge. Any disputes after 90 days, will not be accepted.

Right to Refuse Service
CertHost.net reserves the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason. Client will have (72) hours from the date of the termination notice to retrieve and safeguard their data. All data will be deleted from CertHost.net servers (72) hours after notice is given. Upon your request, CertHost.net will make a backup of the data. The cost of this service $50 per CD of data and includes the cost of mailing. Multiple CD's may be required depending on the amount of client data.

Sale Policy
Occasionally, CertHost.net may offer temporary promotional prices on products and/or services to attract new clients. These promotional prices are limited to new purchases only. Existing clients may not purchase these new products and/or services at the promotional prices for the sole purpose of replacing comparable products and/or services which they had previously purchased, within 90-days of the date of the promotion. Existing clients may not request a reduction in price for existing products and/or services to the promotional sale price.

Billing/Price Changes
CertHost.net's policies and prices are subject to change without notice.

Refund Policy
No refunds are provided for any prepaid services or setup fees. Refunds are not provided for domain registrations.

***For your protection, your e-mail notification to us must be sent from the contact e-mail address that we have on file for your account. If you fax your notification to us, your fax must be on letterhead.


·  Abuse Policies and Procedures


Introduction

Purpose
CertHost.net is dedicated to maintaining the operational, legal, and ethical integrities of its network, systems, and customer base. The Abuse Policies and Procedures illustrate the way we handle abuse complaints received from legal authorities, third parties, and our clients. We maintain an Acceptable Uses Policy (AUP) on our website which outlines activities which are and are not acceptable on our network. All abuse decisions are made according to this AUP. These policies and procedures are subject to change at anytime without notice.

Scope
The Abuse Policies and Procedures outlines the entire complaint process including: filing abuse complaints, handling of complaints, notification procedures, and obtaining information pertaining to a specific incident. The Abuse Policies and Procedures do not cover the specific activities that are not acceptable on our network. For information on those activities please see our AUP.

Filing Abuse Complaints

Communicating With the Abuse Department
All communications with the Abuse department are done through email and our ticketing system for documentation purposes. The abuse department will only contact someone by phone to verify email addresses and ask for responses to those email addresses. The abuse department can be reached at . All emails will generate a ticket and an auto-reply will be sent back to the sender verifying we have received the complaint. For most complaints, this will be the only email sent to the person filing the complaint.

What to Include in Complaints
All complaints sent to the abuse department must include an IP address, a valid reply-to email address, log entries and/or the complete headers and message body for SPAM email complaints, or any evidence of AUP violation. Log entries, message headers, and evidence must include timestamps less than 48 hours old. We reserve the right to reject any abuse complaints not containing this information.

How Complaints are Handled
All abuse complaints are handled within 24 hours by our abuse team. Complaints are individually analyzed for validity and then matched up with the account responsible for that IP address in the complaint. If the complaint is invalid due to a lack of information, it could be rejected. We make a best effort to determine the cause of complaints before forwarding them to our clients. Complaints are handled in order of severity and need for immediate resolution. No complaints are ever rejected blindly.

Complaint Types

Below is a list of complaint types and the time of response we expect responses from our customers. This list is not complete. Response times vary depending on the severity and number of complaints received on the issue.

Complaint Type Required response time
Copyright Infringement 24 Hours
SPAM/SPAMvertisement 24 Hours
Network/Port scanning 8 Hours
Hacking 4 Hours
Phishing/Scams 4 Hours
Viruses 4 Hours
Legal Issues 2 Hours
Open SMTP Relay/Open Proxy 2 Hours
Child Pornography 2 Hours
DoS/DDoS 2 Hours

AUP Violation Warnings

First Warning
AUP violation warnings are generated in response to complaints filed by third parties and from internal investigations. All AUP violation warnings are sent to the primary email contact listed for the account. Initial complaints on an issue that have been determined to be valid result in the abuse department issuing a first warning. A first warning is not an accusation of guilt, but a notification of a possible issue and a request for information regarding the issue. The time required to respond is indicated in email and evidence of the issue shall be included. In order to satisfy a first warning, our customers must provide acknowledgement of the warning, an explanation of the cause for the complaint, and what plan of action they will take to prevent further complaints. Additional requirements may be explicitly requested as well. Depending on the circumstances surrounding a first warning, they may remain active on an account for two weeks to one year.

Second Warning
A second warning is issued when we receive no response to a first warning within a designated timeframe, further complaints are filed, or the problem intensifies. If a large number of complaints are received, or the severity of the issue increases, the required response time will be reduced or a notification of downtime will sent. In order to satisfy a second warning, all of the required information requested in the warning must be provided in the time frame specified. second warnings are never removed from an account.

Notification of Downtime
A notification of down time is issued when we receive no response to a second warning, further complaints are filed after a second warning, the problem intensifies, or we receive no response to a severe first warning. All notifications of downtime are sent after attempts have been made to contact the customer, this will include a phone call to ensure the customer has received our warning emails. In order to satisfy a downtime notification the customer must provide all information requested in previous warnings, acknowledge that further complaints similar issues may result in account termination, and agree to resolve the issue within two hours of being returned to online status. Notifications of downtime are never removed from an account.

Notification of Account or Service Termination
A notification of account or service termination is issued when a response is not received for notifications of downtime or when a complaint is filed after a severe issue that was purportedly resolved. All efforts are made to contact our customers before this extreme measure is taken; including a phone call to insure the customer has received all of our notifications. Once the notice has been sent the service is taken offline and access to the service or its data will not be granted under any circumstances. Accounts or services terminated for Abuse issues are not eligible for refunds or credit.

For most issues, account termination is a last resort measure. For legal issues, such as child pornography or fraud, only one chance is given to our customers to resolve the issue. Another violation of our AUP for similar issues will result in immediate termination. These circumstances will be clearly communicated the first time and the customer will be required to agree to those terms.

Obtaining Information About Abuse Issues

We respect the rights of our client¿s privacy. We do not provide information regarding specific abuse issues unless the requester is authorized by the account holder or a verified legal authority. Investigations are strictly confidential and information about specific incidents will not be shared with non-affected third parties. Legal authorities seeking information should call our office and we will release requested information after verifying the validity of the request.

Conclusion

Our AUP and our Abuse Policies and Procedures are developed to ensure the operational, legal, and ethical integrity of our network. CertHost.net does not tolerate nor condone activities which would compromise the quality of service we provide our customers or the quality of service of other networks. We appreciate all help in identifying and addressing issues on our network.

This Agreement shall be interpreted under and pursuant to the laws of the state of NJ.