Website Hosting Terms of Service
By purchasing any hosting or additional service or product from Fastrack Group Pty Ltd (Fastrack Digital), you (The Customer) are entering into an agreement with Fastrack Digital that is bound by the Terms of Service (“TOS”) outlined in this document. This Agreement shall be construed in all respects in accordance with the laws of the state of QLD, Australia applicable to contracts enforceable in that state. By completing the ordering process, you agree to have read, understood, and be bound by these Terms of Service.
1. DEFINITIONS
1.1 Hosting service – Any shared, reseller, virtual, or dedicated service used to store and deliver web-based content.
1.2 Additional services – Any product or service that is considered an “addon” to a primary hosting service, or which covers one-off charges for additional work carried out by a Fastrack Digital staff member.
1.3 Resource usage – Any and all allocated resources provided to the customer to allow for the storage and delivery of the web-based content within a hosting service. This includes but is not limited to disk space, Memory, CPU, Bandwidth
1.4 Subscription – The term (monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually, biennially, triennially) applicable to the purchased service.
2. FEES
2.1 Payment – Establishment of any hosting or additional service is dependent upon receipt by Fastrack Digital of payment of stated charges as outlined in a Fastrack Digital pricing structure or any other documentation or custom quote provided to The Customer. Subsequent payments are due on the anniversary date of the subscription term in advance for the following subscription term’s service. All service fees are disclosed within a product description or will be disclosed to the customer prior to payment being required for any custom quotations or services ordered via phone.
2.2 Setup Fee – The Customer agrees to pay in advance and in full any amount of a non-recurring nature required for the initial deployment of the purchased hosting service. Any such fees are listed as setup fees in the service description or will be disclosed in any custom quotations prior to any server provisioning, equipment acquisition or installation by Fastrack Digital.
2.3 Recurring fee – All subscriptions for hosting services provided by Fastrack Digital are recurring by nature and the Customer agrees to pay any recurring fees listed in the Service description in advance each anniversary date until such time as The Customer submits a cancellation request in accordance with these Terms of Service.
2.4 Non-Refundable Fees – Certain fees paid to Fastrack Digital are considered non-refundable due to the nature of the product or service purchased and this includes but is not limited to the following:
2.4.1 Third Party Products – Products supplied by Fastrack Digital where Fastrack Digital acts as a reseller for another provider (e.g. domain registrations, SSL certificates, third party product licenses) are provided as non-refundable products and refunds cannot be provided once the product has been activated on an account.
2.4.2 Advanced Administration Time – Services where additional labour is to be carried out by Fastrack Digital staff are non-refundable once the additional labour has been carried out.
2.5 Additional Resource Usage Fees – Should a Customer exceed the total amount of included hosting resource utilization as described in Service Definitions the customer agrees that overage fees will apply and be due immediately. Current pricing for additional resource utilisation is available by emailing support@fastrackdigital.com.
2.6 Invoices and Statements – invoices are provided to The Customer by email using the contact email address assigned to the Customer or any additional billing contacts within the Fastrack Digital billing system. Invoices cannot be sent via postal mail or any other courier style service.
2.7 Statements – Fastrack Digital does not provide written or printed statements. However, an account’s invoice history may be requested by emailing accounts@fastrackdigital.com
2.8 Failure to Pay – Fastrack Digital may temporarily deny service or terminate this Agreement upon the failure of The Customer to pay a subscriptions applicable recurring fees where the fees reach 7 days past due. Such termination or denial will not relieve The Customer of responsibility for the payment of all accrued charges, plus reasonable interest and any collection fees. Accounts that are not collectable by Fastrack Digital may be turned over to an outside collection agency for collection which may result in additional fees or fines being payable.
3. REFUNDS, DISPUTES AND CANCELLATIONS
3.1 Refunds – All payments to Fastrack Digital are non-refundable, in some circumstances a credit note may be provided at our sole discretion.
3.2 Disputes – All overcharges or billing disputes must be reported within 30 days of the time the dispute occurred. If you dispute a charge to your credit card issuer that, in Fastrack Digital’s sole discretion is deemed a valid charge under the provisions of these Terms of Service, you agree to pay Fastrack Digital an “Administrative Fee” of not less than $50 and not more than $150.
3.3 Service Cancellation by The Customer – Fastrack Digital provides an ongoing recurring service which will remain active until such time as The Customer submits a cancellation request by email. Requests for cancelling accounts must be submitted 30 business days prior to the next due date to ensure no further fees are payable. Cancellation requests are to be emailed to support@fastrackdigital.com
3.3.1 No Cancellation Fee – Fastrack Digital does not charge a cancellation fee and does not refund prepaid fees except where the Money Back Guarantee is applicable.
3.3.2 No Access to Account – If The Customer wishes to cancel a service and is unable to access the Fastrack Digital Control Panel for any reason, The Customer must make contact with Fastrack Digital via phone or support@fastrackdigital.com to obtain necessary login information or instructions to proceed with the cancellation request.
3.3.3 Customer Data – Upon successful cancellation of a hosting service, all data stored within the cancelled service will be securely destroyed. Fastrack Digital does not provide any guarantees that The Customer’s data will be retrievable once the cancellation process has been completed.
3.4 Service Cancellation by Fastrack Digital – Fastrack Digital may cancel The Customer’s hosting service for any breach of these Terms of Service or the AUP without prior notification. Fastrack Digital does not provide any guarantees that The Customer’s data will be retrievable once the cancellation process has been completed.
4. ACCOUNT OWNERSHIP
4.1 Account Owner – The highest authority of a single Fastrack Digital Control Panel Account is considered the Account Owner. Individual hosting or additional services that are associated with an account, are controlled by the Account Owner and modifications and updates to an account’s information can only be actioned by the Account Owner or their Authorised Additional Contact. The Account Owner is established at the time the account is created. The details of an Account Owner must be that of a real person. It is not permitted to use fictitious or “fake” names for the details of an Account Owner. Accounts containing fictitious or “fake” names, and contact details that do not reflect the details of a real person may be suspended or terminated without notice.
4.2. Account Information – The Customer warrants that all information provided to Fastrack Digital is truthful and correct and accurate and up to date and that the person designated a the Account Owner is of or above 18 years of age and is legally empowered to act and enter into this contract as The Customer or on behalf of The Customer as indicated on the relevant application form.
4.2.1 Maintaining Account Information – The Customer is responsible for maintaining the contact information stored within their account and failure to maintain up to date contact information does not warrant the waiving of any fees, overdue fees, or warnings issued by Fastrack Digital.
4.3 Authorised Additional Contact – The Account Owner may add and authorise an additional contact person or persons to act on their behalf. The Account Owner is limited to adding one additional billing contact and a maximum of three additional technical contacts and accounts found to have more than the allowed maximum additional contacts will be requested to remove the excess to ensure adherence to the limits.
For any additional contact added to an account to be able to request account modifications, the Authorised Additional Contact must be configured as a sub-contact with their own login information and have appropriate permissions set. If the Authorised Additional Contact is not activated as a sub-account, the contact will only have limited permissions to support for a service and will not be able to request configuration changes to the hosting or DNS.
4.4 Account Transfer – The Account Owner role can be transferred to another Authorised Additional Contact or Fastrack Digital Customer by contacting our billing support team by emailing support@fastrackdigital.com
4.5 Account Closure – An account will be automatically deactivated when no active hosting or additional services are being operated under the account.
5. DOMAIN REGISTRATIONS, TRANSFERS AND RENEWALS
5.1 Domain Registrations – successful domain registrations that have completed the registration process and are considered active by the Domain Registrar are final and cannot be cancelled or refunded. Some domain extensions may require additional information to complete the registration and Fastrack Digital provides no guarantees that an ordered domain registration will be successful. It is The Customer’s sole responsibility to ascertain what information is required to register a particular domain prior to placing any domain registration orders.
5.2 Domain Transfers – Domain transfers typically take 5-7 days to complete once final authorisation has been received by the Domain Registrar, with the exception of .au domains which take 48 hours once final authorisation has been actioned. Fastrack Digital has no authority to speed up a domain transfer and cannot place any guarantees on how long a transfer will take to complete. The Customer must ensure all contact information is updated with current Domain Registrar and the appropriated transfer codes have been obtained prior to placing a domain transfer order with Fastrack Digital.
5.3 Domain Renewal – Domains must be renewed prior to their expiration date to avoid the domain becoming inactive. Multiple notifications are sent to The Customer advising them of upcoming domain renewals starting from 30 days prior to the listed expiry date. Fastrack Digital has no control over keeping the domain active once it has reached its expiry and does not take responsibility for a website becoming inaccessible due to The Customer not renewing their domain.
6. GENERAL TERMS AND SUPPORT BOUNDARIES
6.1 Support Boundaries – Fastrack Digital provides technical support to its direct customers only and does so in accordance within defined support boundaries. Fastrack Digital’s support is designed to assist customers with the use of and connections to the hosting service and does not extend to diagnosing or fixing issues that relate to the coding of a website or web application hosted within The Customer hosting service. Full details of Fastrack Digital’s support boundaries are provided in the following documents: Support Boundaries and may be requested by emailing support@fastrackdigital.com
6.1.1 Support to Customers of The Customer – Fastrack Digital does not provide direct technical support to customers of The Customer. Resellers, Affiliates, Dedicated and VPS customers, and customers who have multiple individual hosting accounts under a single Fastrack Digital Control Panel account must not advise their customers to contact Fastrack Digital directly and should instead contact Fastrack Digital on their customer’s behalf. Fastrack Digital is happy to assist with all support issues that fall within the scope of our support boundaries when contacted by The Customer.
6.2 Advanced Support – Where Fastrack Digital can and agrees to provide advanced support to The Customer, additional service fees are required for the provision of the advanced support. Fees for advanced support are payable in advance based on the time estimated by Fastrack Digital for the additional task to be carried out. Fastrack Digital provides no guarantees that an issue or task will be resolved within the estimated time, and if further time is required, additional advanced support time will need to be paid for prior to any further labour being carried out.
6.3 Responsibility for Content and Account Activity – The Customer is solely responsible for the content stored on and served by the hosting service purchased and the activity of any scripts or email services created under the hosting service. The Customer must maintain the security of all account passwords and applications or scripts and ensure all scripts under the hosting service are free from malicious content that may harm any part of the Fastrack Digital infrastructure, other client accounts hosted by Fastrack Digital, or the external systems of visitors viewing the hosted content.
6.3.1 Acceptable Usage – The Customer must ensure at all times they comply with Fastrack Digital’s Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP) and must not host any content or allow any account activity that breaches the AUP. Breaches to the AUP are governed by the following conditions:
6.3.1.1 First Violation – When Fastrack Digital determines a hosting service has violated any element of the AUP, The Customer shall receive an email warning advising of the violation. The hosting service may at Fastrack Digital’s discretion be subject to a temporary suspension until the customer to agrees to cease any violations, at which point Fastrack Digital will unsuspend the service.
6.3.1.2 Second Violation – When Fastrack Digital determines a hosting service has committed a second violation of any element of the AUP, the hosting service shall be subject to immediate suspension or termination without further notice.
6.3.1.3 Suspension of Service or Cancellation – Fastrack Digital reserves the right to suspend access to The Customer’s hosting service if in the judgment of Fastrack Digital The Customer’s service is the source or target of the violation of any of the terms of the AUP or these terms of service. 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 and in extreme cases, law enforcement will be contacted regarding the activity. The Customer will not be credited for the time the hosting service is suspended.
6.3.2 Web Applications – The Customer must ensure all web applications utilised on the hosting service are kept secure, patched and up to date. Open source applications are vulnerable to attacks via exploits in the software, and the developer’s of the software generally provide updates when vulnerabilities have been detected. It is The Customer’s responsibility to install any and all updates/patches to maintain the application’s security. If The Customer does not have the required skill to perform the updates, The Customer will need to employ the services of a Web Developer who is able to assist.
6.3.3 Maintaining Compatibility – The nature of shared hosting environments and server applications such as Apache, PHP and MySQL is that they are constantly being updated to maintain stability, performance and security. Keeping web based applications patched and up to date ensures both a secure website and data, and is also essential to maintain compatibility with changes in server applications. Fastrack Digital incrementally updates all server applications on a regular basis and it is the responsibility of The Customer to maintain installed web applications to ensure compatibility with the latest stable and supported releases of all server applications.
6.4 Resource Usage – All hosting services purchased have a variety of resource limitations applied in accordance to the applicable plan associated with the service. It is The Customer’s responsibility to ensure their hosting service does not exceed the resources allocated and to upgrade their service if it is determined more resources are required to continue the smooth operation of a hosting service.
6.4.1 Resource Usage Abuse (excludes Dedicated Server Customers) – Fastrack Digital implements per account resource restrictions on all Shared, Reseller and VPS hosting services which will vary from plan to plan. In addition to these, customers must not:
Use excessive VPS Resources due to misconfiguration. Where a customer has a self-managed or managed VPS we may make minor configuration changes without notice if that server’s configuration is negatively affecting other VPS Servers on the same host node.
Store files in the cPanel trash folder. When files are deleted using the File Manager in cPanel they are temporarily stored in the cPanel Trash Folder. This folder containing deleted files will be automatically cleared every 30 days.
6.4.2 Inodes – Every file hosted on Fastrack Digital servers uses 1 inode and accounts considered to be using an excessive number of inodes on shared or reseller servers will be required to upgrade their hosting service or remove some of the files from their hosting service. For shared and reseller hosting services an inode count of 250,000 or more is considered excessive and is generally the result of issues within a web application or a web application configuration that is not appropriate for a shared hosting environment. We recommend maintaining less than 100,000 inodes per account for optimal performance. For VPS hosting an inode count of 4,000,000 or more is considered excessive.
6.4.3 Bandwidth / Data Transfer Monitoring – Bandwidth / Data Transfer is monitored in a variety of ways across our range of services as outlined below:
Shared Business and Reseller hosting plans that include “Unlimited” bandwidth are only monitored for high usage. This is done to ensure services using large amounts of bandwidth are doing so in accordance with our Terms of Service.
All bandwidth is monitored on a calendar month cycle and may not correspond to the exact billing cycle of the service.
Customer alerts are sent to the registered contact email address on file prior to any fixed bandwidth quota being reached. It is the customer’s responsibility to contact Fastrack Digital to apply a suitable upgrade or add-on for the affected service to cover any extra usage beyond the fixed plan quota.
For Shared hosting plans with fixed bandwidth quotas, exceeding the assigned quota will result in overage charges being applied. To avoid the higher overage charges, the service needs to be upgraded to the next plan that provides sufficient bandwidth to meet the customer’s requirements.
For Reseller hosting plans with fixed bandwidth quotas, exceeding the assigned quota will result in the Reseller service and all sub-accounts being suspended until the plan is upgraded with additional bandwidth. to purchase additional bandwidth, the service needs to be upgraded to the next plan that provides sufficient bandwidth to meet the Reseller’s requirements.
For VPS plans with fixed bandwidth quotas, exceeding the assigned quota will result in overage charges. To avoid the higher overage charges, the service needs to be upgraded to the next plan that provides sufficient bandwidth to meet the service’s requirements.
For Dedicated and Virtual Dedicated Server plans with fixed bandwidth quotas, exceeding the assigned quota will result in overage charges. To avoid the higher overage charges, the service needs to be upgraded to the next plan that provides sufficient bandwidth to meet the service’s requirements.
6.4.4 Bandwidth Abuse – Fastrack Digital reserves the right to shape, suspend, or terminate the service of any customer that is causing issues or performance problems for other customers on the Fastrack Digital network. Fastrack Digital reserves the right in a situation where a customer’s traffic is causing unviable costs to its business to either charge the customer at a rate that is viable (change plan/rate) or suspend/terminate the service.
6.5 Gaming Servers – Fastrack Digital does not allow gaming servers on any part of our network. Services that are found to be in breach of this clause face immediate suspension without prior notification.
6.6 Media Streaming – Fastrack Digital does not allow media streaming on Web Hosting, Reseller Hosting, Blaze or VPS plans. Customers wishing to deliver media-streaming services should use Dedicated Server Plans. Services that are found to be in breach of this clause face immediate suspension without prior notification.
7., THIRD PARTY TOOLS, APPLICATIONS AND LICENSES
7.1 Third Party Applications and Licenses – Fastrack Digital may provide access to additional third party software and/or services (“Third Party Products “) through reseller or other commercial agreements Fastrack Digital has established with certain vendors (“Third Party Vendors”). Unless otherwise stated, The Customer understands that product support for Third Party Products is provided by Fastrack Digital and not by the Third Party Vendor. Neither Fastrack Digital nor any Third Party Vendor makes any representations or warranties, express or implied, regarding any Third Party Products. The Customer expressly acknowledges and agrees that use of Third Party Products is at The Customer’s sole risk and such third party products are provided “as is” and without representation or warranty of any kind from Fastrack Digital or any Third Party Vendor, including without limitation, any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy or completeness of responses or results, correspondence to description, or non-infringement of third party rights. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, neither Fastrack Digital nor any third party vendor will be legally responsible for any damages, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising from the use or inability to use any third party product. The Customer agrees to observe the terms of any license and/or applicable end user subscriber agreement for Third Party Products and The Customer shall be fully liable to Third Party Vendors and/or Fastrack Digital with respect to any improper use of such Third Party Products or violation of license agreements with them and/or applicable end user subscriber agreements.
7.2 Microsoft Licensing – Where licensing for Microsoft software has been purchased through Fastrack Digital, the customer agrees to abide by the Microsoft Licensing terms, and were user licenses are being purchased, it is the customer’s responsibility to ensure they accurately report and obtain the appropriate level of user licenses for their uses as outlined in Microsoft’s licensing terms.
7.3 Feature Availability – Fastrack Digital provides no guarantees that any or all of the features available within a Third Party Product will be supported or made available to The Customer. It is at the sole discretion of Fastrack Digital to determine which features are enabled and whether Fastrack Digital will provide support for the use of enabled features.
8. ADDITIONAL LEGAL INFORMATION
8.1 Disclosure to Law Enforcement – Fastrack Digital’s AUP specifically prohibits the use of our service for illegal activities and The Customer agrees that Fastrack Digital may disclose any and all customer 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 Customer. Fastrack Digital reserves the right to immediately terminate any hosting service found to be hosting content and performing activities of an illegal nature.
8.2 System and Network Security – Users are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of the Fastrack Digital Network. Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. Fastrack Digital 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:
8.3 Disclaimer – Whilst every effort is made to ensure the information provided on the Fastrack Digital website and by Fastrack Digital staff is accurate and free from errors, Fastrack Digital provides no warranties, either express or implied, including but not limited to the service’s fitness for a particular purpose, except where to not offer any such warranties would be deemed unlawful as defined by the Trade Practices Act 1974(Cth).
8.4 Limitation of Liability – Fastrack Digital provides no guarantees that any hosting or additional service provided will be free from errors or interruptions. Fastrack Digital will not accept liability for any costs or losses incurred by The Customer that result from:
8.5 Indemnification – The customer agrees to indemnify Fastrack Digital from any and all demands, liabilities, losses, costs and claims, including reasonable legal fees asserted against Fastrack Digital, that may arise or result from the use of any product or service Fastrack Digital provides.
8.6 Modification to these Terms – Fastrack Digital reserves the right, at any time and from time to time, to amend or to modify these Terms of Service without prior notice to you, provided that if any such alterations constitute a material change to these Terms of Service, Fastrack Digital will notify you by posting an announcement on the Website. Amendments and modifications shall take effect immediately when posted on the Website. By continuing to access or use the Services after any such amendments or modifications, you agree to be bound by such amended or modified Terms of Service. For this reason, we encourage you to review the Terms of Service whenever you use the Services. If you do not agree to any change to these Terms of Services, then you must immediately stop using the Services.