Safe & Secure Website Server Hosting
Website Server Hosting Payment Terms & Conditions
This policy is presented by Scarborough Website Design
A UK-based Web Design and Hosting Provider.
Scarborough Website Design outlines on this page our Terms of Payment for web services such as domain name registrations, web hosting, and any related web hosting products, such as software or CMS. We can accept payment(s) via Bank transfers, or by cheques.
The easiest way to make payments is by using online banking. If you have used online banking before then you will find it reasonably simple to set up a one-off payment to be sent for the payment(s) due.
PAYMENT BY BACS (Faster Payments) - The BACS process is electronic, done directly via your Bank Account, and there are no surcharges for using this payment method. Payment is made within usually a matter of a few hours. You and we can track the payment having been made, and this is the preferred method of payment. To pay by FASTER PAYMENTS login to your bank account and make a payment using the details that we have provided you with.
PAYMENT by CHEQUE - This payment method is free and has no surcharges. To make payments by cheque please use the postal address as it appears on your invoice. If paying by cheque then any services may be delayed until the cheque payment clears. Because cheques would be posted using traditional postal services, then this can add time to getting your services activated.
Making your payments on time - Payment terms are as follows:
Domain Name Registrations - Domain names must be paid for in full before domain names are purchased or renewed by us. At our discretion, we may choose to automatically renew domain names and issue an invoice to you for these services. Until paid in full the domain name(s) although registered to you are still liable for payment if the domain has been renewed by us at our own expense.
Web Hosting Services - Web Hosting services are renewable annually at the prescribed rates as they appear on our web hosting overview page. We therefore request that all payments be made as soon as you receive an invoice from us. If payments are not made within 7 days of the invoice date this may lead to disruptions on your services. If payments are made late, this may incur a late payment fee and other charges to cover costs.
Billing and Payments
All charges payable by you for the Services shall be in accordance with the scale of charges and rates published from time to time by us on our website and shall be due and payable in advance of the provision of the Services. We reserve the right to change pricing at any time although all pricing is guaranteed for the period of pre-payment. Payment is due each anniversary year following the date the Services were established until closure notice is given in writing. Scarborough Website Design operates a mainly paperless billing system, whereby invoices are sent as generated PDFs, as attachments to any communications sent from us to you. It is your responsibility to ensure that we have the correct email address for you at all times that we can contact you, and if your email address should change, it is your sole responsibility to update this information in writing to us.
Your hosting services account may be suspended if you fail to pay any invoice on time. Invoices are raised 14 to 28 days before your account renewals, including hosting, domain names, etc. You should ensure that payments are made promptly to avoid any disruptions to your services we provide for you, and if for some reason you have not paid any charges due at least 7 days before domain renewals, we may at our sole discretion, not renew the domain name. If you do not make payments within 7 days of the due date of any service expiry date, we reserve the right to suspend your services without warning, and we may at our discretion, remove any files, or data, or stop any services as being provided still at that time, on your hosting account.
IMPORTANT: Once the domain name has expired services relating to this domain will stop working. If payments have lapsed and the account goes into suspension, then any files that are removed from the servers may be lost, and we are not liable in any way for data loss in any circumstances whatsoever.
Billing - Suspended Accounts
If your account is suspended due to a billing issue then we reserve the right to charge you an administration fee of up to £75.00 to reinstate your account. This fee does not cover any domain name fees or legal fees that we may have to pay to recover an unpaid debt.
Billing - Returned Payments
If any payments are returned to us as "unpaid" then we reserve the right to charge you an administration fee of up to £30.00, plus any additional bank charges as may have been incurred by us.
If your web hosting is not paid for before the renewal date
If your web hosting package is not paid for before the renewal date, then we fully reserve the rights to either:
1. At our discretion we may choose to automatically renew the web hosting package and issue an invoice to you for these services. Until paid in full the web hosting services after this point will be considered temporary until payment is made in FULL. You are still liable for payment if the web hosting has been renewed by us at our own expense and we believe that we are acting in *good faith on your behalf;
1.2 "Good Faith" for the avoidance of any doubt is defined as acting in the best interest of the client. The domain name and/or services that the client has paid for in the past, or frequency of contact in emails, phone calls or letters, may indicate to us that their lack of response for a renewal request was down to circumstances beyond their control at that time. As a responsible business offering these services, we would like to think of ourselves as being caring enough to deal with each specific renewal on a case-by-case basis. If your domain name and/or services have been renewed automatically by us, then we have taken this course of action to protect YOUR INTERESTS and therefore we would deem you legally liable to reimburse the charges you have been invoiced for.
2. Put your hosting package into a state of "Paused" which will mean that any websites or domain names on that package may cease to function until the payment is made in full;
3. Stop your web hosting package without any further notice to yourselves, and make immediate demand for any payments due. Any associated websites, email accounts, or databases connected to the domain name(s) that have NOT been paid for by yourself, will cease to function on, or just after the expiry date of the domain name renewal date. We are NOT obliged to make any website backup(s) unless you have instructed otherwise. Please remember to remove any email accounts from your email software program to prevent error messages.
Late payments
Nobody likes to be kept waiting for payment. You would not expect to take your car to a garage, have work done, and then pay for it a few months later! So we usually ask all clients to make payments promptly, when requested to do so. This helps keep everything in balance. If payments are not made on time, or within an agreed time limit, then the following conditions will apply:
1. Invoice(s) are sent out usually in advance of web hosting, domain name, or SSL renewals. As each invoice is raised, it will show an "Issue Date". We would expect to have cleared payment within 7 days of the invoice being sent out to you. If payment is not made within 7 days then condition 2 applies.
2. We will remind you that a payment is due for the invoice raised. Normally clients would then pay the amount outstanding at this point, and keep their account with us in order. However, if payment is not received by us then condition 3 applies
3. Further reminders are sent requesting payment be brought up to date (reminders may be sent by email, post, or in telephone conversations with the client) and the client is extended a grace period of up to 30 days from the "Issue Date" of the invoice in which to make their payment. After the 30 days has expired, then accounts or invoices that remain unpaid thirty (30) days after the date of the invoice will be assessed a service charge in the amount of the higher of three and one-half percent (3.5%) or £30.00 per month of the total amount due (whichever is greater). In the meanwhile, any further updates and/or changes to the website will be declined until payment is made in full, and the account is brought up to date.
Additionally, if an account does fall into arrears, and payment is then made late, it may mean that future web hosting, domain name, or SSL renewals would be charged in "advance" by us.
4. Interest on late commercial payments - After 60 days from the date the invoice was raised or issued, then we reserve the right to charge in addition to section 3 of Late Payments, "statutory interest" at eight percent (8.0%) plus the Bank of England base rate.
Applicable UK VAT rates
We are NOT registered for VAT, therefore all invoice amounts are currently exempt from VAT charges (currently 20% at the time of writing), and therefore are fully inclusive.
Review of this Policy
Scarborough Website Design reserves the right to add, delete, or modify any provision of this ' Web Hosting Payments Policy' at any time without notice. Failure to receive notification of a change does not make those changes invalid.
We keep this Policy under regular review. This Policy was last updated on the 11th of December 2023.
This policy represents your web hosting agreement with Scarborough Website Design, in addition to all emails exchanged between us and you. Please retain your emails for future reference in the unlikely event of any dispute.
