© 2014-2024 The ScopeHost Operating Company ~ A division of Cubic Systems
Investments (Pty) Ltd. | Reg. No. R7/52039 ● All rights reserved.

Terms of Service

The following is the entire Acceptable User Policy (“AUP”) agreement between The ScopeHost Operating Company (“www.scopehost.net”) and the personal or corporate account holder (“USER/YOU/YOUR/Customer”). ScopeHost provides World Wide Web Hosting, Marketing, and Development. ScopeHost has certain legal and ethical responsibilities consisting of the use of its servers and equipment involved in these services. ScopeHost’s general policy is to act as a provider of Internet presence. ScopeHost reserves the right to suspend or cancel a customer’s access to any or all services provided by ScopeHost when we decide that the account has been inappropriately used.

We have simplified our terms of service in sections for easy understanding and readability

What Is Appropriate Usage?

ScopeHost accept the use of its services to support large enterprises or internationally based businesses. By using ScopeHost services you agree to be at least 16 years of age (at least a high school student), the services are intended solely for users who are sixteen years of age or older. If you use the service on behalf of another party you agree that you are authorized to bind such other party to this Agreement.

Disk Space

If you use your services consistently with the Terms of Service and these paragraphs, your site can grow as large as necessary to meet your small business needs but to ensure a great experience for all, we will place some constraints on how fast you can grow. The vast majority of our customers’ sites grow at rates well within our rules, but our abuse controls may cause a brief delay while we evaluate if expansion is appropriate.

Data Transfer (Bandwidth)

In most cases, if you use our services consistently with the Terms of Service and these paragraphs, visitors to your website will be able to download and view as much content from your site as they like. However, in certain circumstances, our server processing power, server memory, or abuse controls could limit downloads from your site. You can also upload as much content as you like each month, subject only to the Terms of Service and the rules that control how fast your site can grow (see above).

Email Storage

You do not have to worry about hitting a storage limit if you use our services consistently with the Terms of Service and these paragraphs. ScopeHost will increase your space along with your appropriate small business needs, but our abuse controls may impact the rate of growth or your folder size, and there may be a short delay while we assess your usage. In some cases, creating additional folders or subfolders will help ensure that the system works well for everyone.

Server Abuse

Any attempt to undermine or cause harm to a server or customer of ScopeHost is strictly prohibited. ScopeHost will strongly react to any use or attempted use of an Internet account or computer without the owner’s authorization. Such attempts include “Internet scamming” (tricking other people into releasing their passwords), password theft, security hole scanning, etc. Any unauthorized use of accounts or computers by YOU (“USER, YOU, Customer”), whether or not the attacked account or computer belongs to ScopeHost, will result in action against YOU (“USER, YOU, Customer”). Possible actions include warnings, account suspension or cancelation, as well as civil or criminal legal action, depending on the seriousness of the attack.

Important Note

ScopeHost has the right to discontinue service or deny access to anyone who violates our policies or the terms and conditions shown below WITHOUT WARNING or PRIOR NOTICE. No refunds of fees paid will be made if account termination is due to a violation of the terms outlined below. YOU may not run IRC, bots, or clients on shared servers. Unacceptable uses also include, but are NOT limited to: Bulk emailing, unsolicited emailing, newsgroup spamming, pornographic content, illegal content, copyright infringement, trademark infringement, warez sites (including links to/from), cracks, software serial numbers, proxy-relaying, link farming (the act of or by use of scripts), link grinding, link-only sites, spamdexing, FFA (Free-For-All) and/or anything else determined by ScopeHost to be unacceptable use of our services including abuse of server resources.

Web Applications & Accessible Scripts

All web applications that are out-of-date and actively being exploited will be shut down immediately without prior notice. YOU are responsible for and should evaluate YOUR web-based applications and scripts on a regular basis to ensure their security and orderliness. Shared hosting accounts may also be terminated if it includes the following content or has links to the following content: Providing material that is grossly offensive to the Web community including blatant expressions of bigotry, racism, hatred, or profanity; promoting or providing instructional information about illegal activities; promoting physical harm or injury against any group or individual; displaying material containing obscene nudity or pornographic material (not applicable to managed dedicated servers); displaying material that exploits children under 16-years of age; acts of copyright infringement including offering pirated computer programs or links to such programs; information used to circumvent manufacturer-installed copy-protect devices, including serial or registration numbers for software programs, or any type of cracker utilities.

Chat Rooms

We do not allow YOU to install YOUR own chat rooms within a shared hosting account, without approving it with ScopeHost. This includes, but is not limited to, chat applications written in PHP, Perl, CGI, Python, Ruby, etc. Any web application that provides ‘real-time’ chat is also not permitted. Most chat rooms tend to be large system hogs and we cannot allow it as an account option. However, web-based forums such as vBulletin, phpBB, or similar forum scripts are acceptable and other CMS (Content Management Systems) like WordPress, Joomla, etc.

Storage Space Usage

ScopeHost will not tolerate any form of storage space abuse. At least 90% of YOUR web pages (“HTML, PHP”) must be ‘linked’ with files (GIF, JPEG, etc.) stored on ScopeHost servers. On a website that is found to contain either/or no (“HTML, PHP”) documents, a large number of unlinked files are subject to files deletion or account cancelation at the discretion of ScopeHost Management (“OUR MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT”), with or without prior notice. If YOU do not qualify for the free service, disk space will go unmonitored until YOU reach the amount allocated to YOUR specific web hosting plan (“PLAN”).

Thereafter, website data storage costs R5.00/1MB/month will be billed to YOUR account. If you want to pre-pay for disk space overages, you will be billed R5.00/1MB/month. YOU will have 3 days to pay for your overages. Failure to do so will result in YOUR website being disabled within 3 days of YOUR first notice. This does not apply to co-location clients. Co-location clients will be billed for the overages based on switch reports. Co-location clients must pay for the overages IMMEDIATELY once billing or ScopeHost has the sole decision to deactivate any and all servers.

Bandwidth Usage

The intention of ScopeHost is to provide a large bandwidth to transfer web documents, and not an offsite storage area for electronic files. If YOU violate this condition, YOU will be notified and given 48 hours to remedy the problem. Failure to do so will result in YOU being billed for the overages. If YOU do not qualify for the free service, traffic will go unmonitored until YOU reach the amount of quota allocated to YOUR specific PLAN.

Thereafter, the normal data transfer cost of R15.00/1GB/month will be billed to YOUR account. If YOU want to pre-pay for bandwidth overages, YOU will be billed R15.00/1GB/month. YOU will have 3 days to pay for your overages. Failure to do so will result in YOUR website being disabled within 3 days of YOUR first notice. This does not apply to co-location clients. Co-location clients will be billed for the overages based on switch reports. Co-location clients must pay for the overages IMMEDIATELY once billing or ScopeHost has the sole decision to deactivate any and all servers.

99.9% Uptime Guarantee

(1.) COVERAGE – This 99.99% uptime guarantee applies to any Customer in good financial standing with ScopeHost at the time of a service outage. (2.) SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT (“SLA”) & SPECIFICATIONS – ScopeHost endeavours to have the content of YOUR website available for HTTP access by any party in the world 99.99% of the time. Network downtime (“unavailability”) is defined as 100% packet loss from ScopeHost to its backbone providers. Downtime is measured past 10 minutes after notification of network failure via ScopeHost’s online ticketing system.

If the ticketing system itself is unreachable, the ticket must be started by calling the ScopeHost Customer Support. Administrators will determine the end of the downtime by a traceroute to our machine from outside the ScopeHost network. (3a.) SHARED HOSTING CREDITS – In the event that YOUR website is unavailable for less than 99.9%, ScopeHost will credit the following month’s service fee as follows. YOUR credit shall be retroactive and measured 24 hours a day of a calendar month, with the maximum credit not exceeding 50% of the monthly service charge for the affected month.

  • 95% to 99.9% of YOUR account will be credited 5% of your monthly hosting fee.
  • 90% to 94.9% of YOUR account will be credited 15% of your monthly hosting fee.
  • 89.9% or below YOUR account will be credited 40% of your monthly hosting fee.

In order for YOU to receive a credit on YOUR account, YOU must request such credit within seven (7) days after YOU experienced the downtime. You must request credit by sending an e-mail message to [email protected]. For security, the body of this message must contain YOUR account details, the dates and times of the unavailability of YOUR website, and such other customer identification requested by ScopeHost. Credits will usually be applied within Twenty (20) days of YOUR credit request. Credit to YOUR account shall be YOUR sole and exclusive remedy in the event of an outage. (4.) RESTRICTIONS – Credit shall not be provided to YOU in the event that you have any outage resulting from:

  • Scheduled maintenance as posted from time to time at ScopeHost website and Client Area or by email and SMS,
  • Your behavior or the performance or failure of your equipment, facilities, or applications,
  • Circumstances beyond ScopeHost’s reasonable control, including, without limitation, acts of any governmental body, war, insurrection, sabotage, embargo, fire, flood, strike or other labor disturbance, interruption of or delay in transportation, unavailability of interruption or delay in telecommunications or third-party services, including DNS propagation, domain name registration/transfer, failure of third party software or hardware or inability to obtain raw materials, supplies, or power used in or equipment needed for the provision of your web site, YOU are breaking any agreement policy in ScopeHost’s “Terms & Conditions and AUP” causing the server to fail as a result.

Technical Support Boundaries

ScopeHost provides technical support for YOU that encompasses within our area of expertise only. Such expertise includes assistance, troubleshooting, and debugging of our cPanel (control panel) interface, servers within our immediate responsibility, and any other hosting-related issues. However, in under no circumstances is ScopeHost neither obligated to help YOU in the installations of new application modules, templates, and/or programming languages, in providing assistance for any errors produced by any applications that have been modified by YOU previously. We will only provide assistance in making sure any Easy Apps applications that are installed through the cPanel control panel interface are installed as directed.

Privacy Statement

ScopeHost follows the strict guidelines of the customer privacy statements. Please make sure you understand this statement fully.

Payment Policies

All accounts are set up on a pre-pay basis. If your account has a set-up fee charged as well as major account changes and is non-refundable. All pricing is guaranteed for the term of pre-payment. ScopeHost reserves the right to change prices at any time, unless other terms have been agreed upon. Any account not brought current within a week (7 days) of e-mail notice or exceeding this time frame in any way is subject to suspension. YOU are responsible for all fees owed on the account from the time it was established to the time that YOU notify ScopeHost to request for termination of services.

Payments are currently accepted in ZAR (South African Rand) and SZL (Swazi Lilangeni) currencies. ScopeHost will bill each client R500 per returned check, per wire transfer received, and per credit card chargeback received. All ScopeHost accounts are set up on preferred billing cycles. Our particular billing cycle corresponds to the contract length that was initially chosen at account set-up. Your account will automatically renew at this length. There is no fee to change to a shorter billing cycle at the end of the current cycle. However, if you wish to change to a shorter billing cycle during the current cycle, there will be an R50.00 fee. Please contact the billing department at billing[at]scopehost.net should you wish to change your current billing cycle.

Having Currency Issues?

Please note that we are using only ZAR & SZL currencies in our pricing. If your country uses a different currency please use your preferred currency converter to check how much you need to pay e.g. USD/ZAR. During the ordering process, you can switch the currency between ZAR, and SZL, however, our final processing currency for Credit/Debit card payments is ZAR (South African Rand) as accepted by our trusted processors PayFast.co.za and Yoco.

Domain Name Registrations

YOU agree to pay ScopeHost prior to the effectiveness of the desired domain name registration, the then-current amount set forth in the ScopeHost price schedule for the initial registration of the domain name, and, should YOU choose to renew the registration, subsequent renewals of the registration. All fees are non-refundable, in whole or in part, even if YOUR domain name registration is suspended, canceled, or transferred prior to the end of YOUR then current registration term. ScopeHost reserves the right to change fees, surcharges, renewal fees or to institute new fees at any time, for any reason, at its sole discretion. YOUR requested domain name will not be registered unless and until we receive actual payment of the registration fee, and have confirmed YOUR registration in an email from ScopeHost to the email address indicated in YOUR registration application.

In the event of a charge-back by a credit card company (or similar action by another payment provider allowed by ScopeHost) in connection with the payments of the registration fee for YOUR domain name registration, YOU agree and acknowledge that the domain name registration shall be transferred to ScopeHost as the paying entity for that registration to the registry and that we reserve all rights regarding such domain name including, without limitation, the right to make the domain name available to other parties for purchase. ScopeHost will reinstate YOUR domain name registration solely at ScopeHost’s discretion, and subject to our receipt of the initial registration or renewal fee and our then-current reinstatement fee.

Domain Registrant Education And Domain Name Registrant Rights

  • For more information about Registrant Education please visit Registration Education to read more the educational information.
  • For more information about Domain Name Registration Rights please visit the Registration Rights and learn more.

Transfer A Domain To ScopeHost

YOU agree to pay ScopeHost prior to the effectiveness of the desired domain name transfer request, the then-current amount set forth in the ScopeHost price schedule for the initial transfer request of the domain name. YOU agree and acknowledge that the domain name transfer will fail, and all fees are non-refundable, for the following reasons, but not limited to:

  • No response from the Registered Name Holder or Administrative Contact,
  • The domain name in Registrar Lock Status,
  • Domain name registration period time expires or other constraints, other than during the first 60 days of initial registration or during the first 60 days after a registrar transfer.

ScopeHost reserves the right to change fees, surcharges, renewal fees or to institute new fees at any time, for any reason, at its sole discretion. YOUR requested domain name will not be registered unless and until we receive actual payment of the registration fee, and have confirmed YOUR registration in an email from ScopeHost to the email address indicated in YOUR registration application and in the event of a charge-back by a credit card company (or similar action by another payment provider allowed by ScopeHost) in connection with the payments of the registration fee for YOUR domain name registration.

Transfer Domain Away From ScopeHost

ScopeHost reserves all rights, without limitation, to reject the domain name transfer request for the following reasons, but are not limited to:

  • No response from the Registered Name Holder or Administrative Contact,
  • The domain name is in Registrar Lock Status and there is no request from the Registered Name Holder or Administrative Contact for the status change
  • The domain name in Registrar Lock Status and there is no request from Registered Name Holder or Administrative Contact for the status change

YOU agree and acknowledge that the failure or success of a domain name transfer will be YOUR sole responsibility, and ScopeHost will not be held liable for the failure of a domain name transfer for any reason.

Cancellation Of Service

ScopeHost reserves the right to cancel a service at any time. All fees paid in advance of cancellation will be pro-rated and paid by ScopeHost if we institute our right of cancellation. Any violation of policies that results in extra costs billed to YOU (i.e. transfer, space, etc.). All of ScopeHost’s PLANS are backed by a 45-day money-back guarantee. If YOU are not completely satisfied with our services or support within the first 45 days from service activation, YOU will be given a full refund of the service amount excluding set-up fees, add-on/upgrade fees, and overage. Set-up fees are refundable only if the account order is canceled prior to account activation.

If YOU cancel, the full-service amount less any set-up fees and overage will be refunded if ScopeHost is notified within the first 45 days following activation. This policy does not apply to any additional services such as overage, referrer logs, real audio/video, additional disk space, additional pop accounts, domain registration fees, etc. For credit card payments, refunds will be made to a PayPal account made available by the Customer after the 10th day. A refund policy will not be made available to Customers using wire transfers and Customers purchased only domains (domain name fees are non-refundable). All account cancellations must be done via our cancellation form at YOUR Client Area. Phone or email requests will not constitute acceptance of any cancellation.

Promotional Rates & Special Offers

ScopeHost may offer subsequent promotional rates or special offers, the terms of which may or may not be more favorable than the terms and conditions for our Services. Any such promotions or modifications shall not affect YOUR obligations under this Agreement. Promotional fees may be subject to additional terms and conditions which, to the extent they conflict with the terms of this Agreement, shall govern. Different promotional fees and special offers may not be combined together.

Intellectual Property Rights

Material accessible to you through ScopeHost’s services may be subject to protection under the US or other copyright laws, or laws protecting trademarks, trade secrets, and proprietary information. Except when expressly permitted by the owner of such rights, YOU must not use ScopeHost or its servers and network in a manner that would infringe, violate, dilute or misappropriate any such rights, with respect to any material that you access or receive through the ScopeHost network. If YOU use a domain name in connection with ScopeHost or a similar service, YOU must not use that domain name in violation of any trademark, service mark, or similar rights of any third party.

Electronic Commerce

YOU will be solely responsible for the development, operation, and maintenance of YOUR online store and products along with all content and materials appearing online or on YOUR products, including without limitation:

  • The accuracy and appropriateness of content and materials appearing within the store or related to YOUR products,
  • Ensuring that the content and materials appearing within the store or related to YOUR products do not violate or infringe upon the rights of any third party, and
  • Ensuring that the content and materials appearing within the store or related to YOUR products are not libelous or otherwise illegal. YOU will be solely responsible for the final calculation and application of shipping and sales tax. YOU will also be solely responsible for accepting, processing, and filling any customer orders, and for handling any customer inquiries or complaints arising therefrom. YOU are also responsible for the security of any customer credit card numbers and related customer information YOU may access as a result of conducting electronic commerce transactions through YOUR website. YOU will keep all such information confidential and will use the same degree of care and security as YOU use with your confidential information.

Lawful Purpose

ScopeHost reserves the right to refuse service to anyone. YOU may only use the ScopeHost server for lawful purposes and our services may not be used for illegal purposes or in support of illegal activities. We reserve the right to cooperate with legal authorities and/or injured third parties in the investigation of any suspected crime or civil wrongdoing. Transmission, distribution, or storage of any material in violation of any applicable law or regulation is prohibited. This includes but does not limit material protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret, or other intellectual property right used without proper authorization, and material that is obscene, defamatory, constitutes an illegal threat, or violates export control laws.

Examples of non-acceptable content or links: are “Pirated Warez”, OGG, AVI, MPEG, ISO, “Hacker programs or archives”, “Copyrighted Digital Movie Copies (DIVX)” and “Unlicensed MP3”. The designation of any materials as described above is left entirely to the discretion of ScopeHost management. If illegal content or usage is found, the account will be suspended and/or terminated. YOU agree that ScopeHost may disclose any and all YOUR 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.

Disclaimer

SCOPEHOST WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES YOUR BUSINESS MAY SUFFER. SCOPEHOST MAKES NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED FOR SERVICES WE PROVIDE. SCOPEHOST DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY OR MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THIS INCLUDES LOSS OF DATA RESULTING FROM DELAYS, NON-DELIVERIES, WRONG DELIVERY, AND ANY OR ALL SERVICE INTERRUPTIONS CAUSED BY SCOPEHOST AND ITS EMPLOYEES. SCOPEHOST RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REVISE ITS POLICIES AT ANY TIME. ALL SUB-NETWORKS, RESELLERS, AND DEDICATED SERVERS OF SCOPEHOST MUST ADHERE TO THE ABOVE POLICIES. FAILURE TO FOLLOW ANY TERM OR CONDITION WILL BE GROUNDS FOR IMMEDIATE ACCOUNT CANCELATION.

Report Abuse

ScopeHost follows the strict guidelines of our customer’s rights and treats customers the same. Please report any abuse to abuse[at]scopehost.net and give us full information about the abuse.

Last modified – 06-July-2023