Overview
Sheepdog.Digital provides web hosting to a significant number of clients. We have a responsibility to protect each client and provide the best services available. The following guidelines have been established to ensure this intent is met.
Use of services from Sheepdog.digital, hereafter referred to as “Sheepdog Digital” constitutes acceptance and agreement to these terms. From herewith in this terms of service (“TOS”), the usage of “us”, “we”, “our”, “ours” shall constitute reference to Sheepdog.Digital, the usage of “you”, “your”, “they”, “them” shall refer to the client / customer of Sheepdog.digital. All clients, servers, traffic, and equipment of Sheepdog Digital are subject to terms herein.
Contact & Billing Information
You must provide us with, and keep current, accurate contact information for you. This includes but is not limited to E-mail addresses not based on the main domain of your account and telephone contacts. Maintaining accurate and updated information with us is required. It is your responsibility to ensure the email address on file is current or up to date at all times. We are not responsible for any claim, damages, fees, or otherwise as a result of accounts terminated or suspended due to inaccurate or unusable contact information. Providing false contact information of any kind may result in the termination of your account. You can update this information at any time in your client dashboard, email, or by telephone.
Account Setup
While we maintain the highest standards and try for near instant account activations this is not always possible. At times additional fraud checks or information may be needed, and the client agrees to provide said information in a timely manner. We make no guarantees in regards to the speed in which an order is completed. Accounts will only enter the setup queue once we have received payment and screened the order for fraud. Accounts are then setup in the order they are paid, received, and screened. In certain cases, like high risk transactions, it may be necessary to provide government issued identification and a scan of the credit card used. If you fail to meet any requirements, the order may be cancelled without notice.
Account Transfers
In certain cases where requested by the client we will transfer your data from the previous provider to our servers. This will be done with our best efforts, however, we do not guarantee the transfer process. This courtesy service is done on an as requested and as available on a case-by-case basis. Each provider may use different software, configurations, and/or other variables which complicate or in some cases prevent a smooth transfer. We will provide free transfers when possible as long as the new environment and control panel are the same as the old host/server. We will advise you if your free move is not possible and what the rate will be if you wish us to proceed at that point. We do not guarantee the transfers will be successful, complete, or done in a certain period of time.
IP Ownership
If we assign a Customer an Internet Protocol address for Customer’s use, the right to use that Internet Protocol address shall belong only to us, and Customer shall have no right to use that Internet Protocol address except as permitted by us at our sole discretion in connection with the Services, during the term of this Agreement. We shall maintain and control ownership of all Internet Protocol numbers and addresses that may be assigned to Customer by us, and we reserve the right to change or remove any and all such Internet Protocol numbers and addresses, in its sole and absolute discretion. Our allocation of IP addresses is limited by ARIN’s new policies.
Service Plans
Shared accounts may not resell hosting. Clients may not use this space for anything other than active hosting files, i.e., files needed for their actual website. It is not to be used to store other data, backups, or archive files of any kind. Files must be publicly accessible and linked on your site. Sheepdog Digital reserves the right to reset the password if the password on file does not work if we are being directed by law enforcement or to perform security audits. Clients must ensure the email, phone number, and passwords on file are current at all times. Sheepdog Digital reserves the right to audit servers to ensure a secure and safe network. Please contact sales[a]Sheepdog.digital or call us to discuss your options.
Resellers are responsible for supporting their clients. Sheepdog Digital does not provide support to our Reseller’s Clients. If a reseller’s client contacts us, we reserve the right to place the client account on hold until the reseller can assume their responsibility for their client. All support requests must be made by the reseller on their clients’ behalf for security purposes. Resellers are also responsible for all content stored or transmitted under their reseller account and the actions of their clients’. Sheepdog Digital will hold any reseller responsible for any of their clients actions that violate the law or the terms of service.
Domain Registrations
You are also requesting us to register your site for you when selecting “new domain” in the order form of our site. Sheepdog Digital will register such services for you on your behalf but it is your responsibility to ensure the correct name servers are set for your domain. All domain registrations are NON-REFUNDABLE. For free domain offers we will transfer domains only after the money back guarantee period has ended. You, as the registrant of the new domain, are required to ensure correct whois information is maintained at all times. We reserve the right to hold any domain registered for client if said client cancels, requests refunds, and/or files any money back dispute with any third party provider and/or payment processor.
Pricing
Sheepdog Digital reserves the right to change pricing terms on any accounts and services at anytime. While we have little control over third party licensing where prices can go up outside of our control, we will never increase an existing clients web hosting account plan price. However, addons such as domains, whmcs, control panels, ip’s, etc. are licensed from third parties and therefore are subject to change including any items currently provided free. New accounts for current customers are subject to the current fees at the time the new account is opened.
Billing & Payments
You agree to pay Sheepdog Digital in advance for the services to be rendered. Subsequent payments are due on the anniversary date of your plans term. You agree that until and unless you notify us using the proper cancellation form for all services received, those services are considered active, billable, and will be billed on a recurring basis. Client agrees to all annual and longer term recurring charges that are not canceled at least 30 days before the next renewal date. It is your responsibility to ensure that your payment information is up to date, and that all invoices are paid on time. Sheepdog Digital reserves the right to bill your credit card or information on file. We are not responsible for any fees accessed on the client by their bank as a result of the client’s account being invoiced. Sheepdog Digital provides a 7 day grace period from the time invoices are generated, however invoices not paid by due date are subject to a late fee of 1.5%(one and a half percent) of invoice amount. Service will be interrupted on accounts that are 2 days past due. Service interrupted for nonpayment will remain disconnected until the account balance or contract term is paid in full. Unpaid accounts older than 10 days will be terminated and all data erased. Sheepdog Digital is not responsible for any data loss due to failure of non-payment. Invoices that are paid more than once or any other over-payments can only be added as credit towards the account and can not be refunded. Any dispute to a credit card charge aka chargeback, wrongful or intentional, will result in a $50 administrative fee in addition to the disputed charge before service can be restored. We may request payment in cashiers check or money order before restoring service. All billing disputes must be reported within 30 days of the time the dispute occurred. Sheepdog Digital may temporarily deny service or terminate this Agreement upon the failure of client to pay charges when due. Such termination or denial will not relieve client of responsibility for the payment of all accrued charges, plus reasonable interest and any collection fees.
Cancellation
All cancellations must be sent using the ticketing support system in the client’s portal. Cancellations are effective the date the form is submitted unless otherwise requested. While there are no cancellation fees, you must cancel prior to your next billing cycle. Payments made up to your cancellation date are not refundable. Any due or past-due balance on your account must be paid in full to cancel. This does not include any added support or service fees you have contracted us to provide. Until an account is officially cancelled via ticketing support system you are obligated to pay for your account even if you do not use it. It costs us on an ongoing basis to provision space, power, and bandwidth for services of our clients. We continue to provision those services for your use until you cancel with us therefore we can not know if you are not using the space after we have provisioned it. Because we have provisioned services and provided you with details you have the ability to use your account. An unused account still uses system resources that could be used for other customers. If our internal collection efforts fail, Sheepdog Digital reserves the right to turn the account over to a 3rd-party (either collections agency or attorney) for further action at clients expense. We reserve the right to report your unpaid balance to credit reporting agencies. Unpaid invoices may affect your credit rating. We place our highest priority on current clients as such cancellations are the lowest priority and may take up to 30 days to process. Cancellations will however be effective as per the effective date of the cancellation form as entered by the client. Our system will prevent future billings.
Refunds
Only first-time accounts are eligible for a refund. Refunds only apply to the money back guarantee. There are no refunds on domain name registrations, service addons, software licenses, administrative fees, support or install fees. Account renewals and recurring payments after the money back guarantee are non-refundable. We will not refund accounts that do not cancel before their next due date. Meaning, while canceling, your last payment made prior to canceling will not be refunded. Client may request a cancellation date that matches the service end date.
Staff & Personal Abuse
While we all try to get along, sometimes that’s a challenge. Please treat our staff and personnel as you would like to be treated yourself. While we are tolerant and understanding we too are human, please treat us as such. You agree to refrain from abusive and profane language on our systems, interfaces, public, and private communications. Abuse of our staff in any medium or form will result in the suspension or termination of your services.
Content
You are responsible for any and all content in and under your site or account at all times. All services provided by us may be used for lawful purposes only. Transmission, storage, or presentation of any information, data or material in violation of any United States Federal, State or City law is prohibited. Use of our services to infringe upon any copyright or trademark is prohibited. We do not permit any adult content on ANY accounts. All other services not listed here are also forbidden to store, serve, or contain any adult materials. We reserve the right to determine the definition of “adult content” as it pertains to our services. Any material that, in our judgment, is obscene or threatening is prohibited and will be removed from our servers with or without notice. This includes but is not limited to unauthorized copying of movies, music, books, photographs, or any other copyrighted work. We do not allow any content that may be construed as offensive or illegal including, but not limited to pirated software, bit torrents, IRC, Proxies, hacker programs/archives, copyrighted MP3’s, Warez, copyrighted material, trademarks, child pornography or content perceived to be child pornography, or material protected by trade secrets and other statutes. Any site found to host perceived child pornography or linking to child pornography will be suspended immediately without notice and reported to authorities. This is also true for sites that promote any illegal activity or content that may be damaging to our servers or any other server on the Internet. Links to such materials are prohibited.
Threats & unlawful conduct
You may not use our service to transmit any material (by e-mail, uploading, posting or otherwise) that threatens or encourages bodily harm or destruction of property. Use of our services to transmit any material (by e-mail, uploading, posting or otherwise) that harasses another company or individual will result in immediate and permanent termination of your account(s).
Fraud
Use of our service to make fraudulent offers to sell or buy products, items, or services, or to advance any type of financial scam such as “pyramid schemes,” “ponzi schemes,” and “chain letters.” Adding, removing or modifying identifying network header information in an effort to deceive or mislead is prohibited. Attempting to impersonate any person by using forged headers or other identifying information is prohibited. The use of anonymous re-mailers or nicknames does not constitute impersonation. Impersonation involves a knowing misrepresentation or misleading statement, writing or activity made with the intent that the person receiving it will act upon it.
Attacks & Exploits
Any activity which affects the ability of other people or systems to use any services or other Internet services. This includes “denial of service” (DOS) attacks against another network host or individual user. Interference with or disruption of other network users, services or equipment is prohibited. It is the client’s responsibility to ensure that their website is configured in a secure manner. A client may not, through action or inaction, allow others to use their account for illegal or inappropriate actions. Unauthorized entry and/or use of another company and/or individual’s computer system will result in immediate account termination. We will not tolerate any subscriber attempting to access the accounts of others, or penetrate security measures of other systems.
Commercial Advertising Email aka (SPAM)
Sheepdog Digital maintains a zero tolerance spam policy and we adhere to it strictly. Spamming, or the sending of unsolicited email, from one of our servers or using an email address that is maintained by us is STRICTLY prohibited and will qualify your site for immediate deactivation with no refund. Sites advertised via SPAM (Spamvertised) are not permitted on our network. This includes, but is not limited to SPAM sent via fax, email, instant messaging, or usenet/newsgroups. Any account which results in our IP space being blacklisted will be immediately terminated. We will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this provision. Additionally claims investigated by us about spam from any of our users or users of theirs, will be billed for such work. The clean up fee for such an instance will be determined by Sheepdog Digital and usually no less than $500 per incident.
Programs/Daemons
We do not allow programs to run continually in the background on shared hosting servers. This is to minimize system resources used and operational maintenance needed. IRC: We DO NOT allow IRC or IRC bots on our network. Proxy: We DO NOT allow proxy services on our network.
Server abuse
Any attempts to undermine or cause harm to any Company server or customer of ours is strictly prohibited. We hold no responsibility for the use of our clients’ accounts. Any account that abuses resources and actions are not taken to desist, calls for immediate deactivation without any refund of payments made thus far. Any site using what we deem to be using excessive cpu cycles or any resources that cause strain to other sites may also be offered new terms. Use of our service to access, or to attempt to access, the accounts of others, or to penetrate, or attempt to penetrate, security measures of our or another entity’s computer software or hardware, electronic communications system, or telecommunications system.
Security
You are responsible for any misuse of your account, even if the inappropriate activity was committed by a friend, family member, guest or employee. Therefore, you must take steps to ensure that others do not gain unauthorized access to your account. In addition, you may not use your account to breach security of another account or attempt to gain unauthorized access to another network or server. Sharing your password and account access with unauthorized users is prohibited and you will be held responsible for such use. Attempting to obtain another user’s account password is strictly prohibited, and may result in termination of service. You may not attempt to circumvent user authentication or security of any host, network or account. Users who violate systems or network security may incur criminal or civil liability. We will cooperate fully with investigations of violations of systems or network security at other sites, including cooperating with law enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected criminal violations.
Resource Usage
If our system administrators determine that a customer’s account is utilizing an unacceptable amount of system resources, we may temporarily deactivate the account in question to preserve server integrity for other users. We may contact the client to offer alternative solutions for their accounts and make our best attempt to keep their account active without degradation to other clients’ services. Sheepdog Digital is the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this provision. Clients will not use more than 30% of a systems resource for longer than 1 minute or more than 150,000 inodes on any single account. Every file on a server is 1 inode. Clients reaching or exceeding this limit will be contacted so we can evaluate their needs and if necessary make other arrangements. You may not use your shared accounts for file storage of other accounts, backups, storing backups of dvd’s, mp3’s, or any files larger than 150MB. Large and plentiful files used in this manner on an active system can cause file system corruption and lead to not just your own data loss but that of others. You may not send more than 500 emails per hour on your shared accounts. Any emails over that limit will be discarded. You may batch the emails to stay within limits.
Bandwidth Usage
Your account is provisioned with a monthly bandwidth allowance that varies depending on the hosting plan you order. If your account exceeds the allocated amount we reserve the right to suspend the account until the start of the next month, until you upgrade to a higher plan, or until you purchase more bandwidth. If you terminate the account you are still responsible and liable for any current usage and associated fees for the overages. Bandwidth limits on shared plans are divided into daily equal limits that reset each night. I.e., 300 GB month / 30 days = 10 GB day.
Back-ups & Data Loss
Clients use our services at their own risk. Our server software does create backups on select days of the week but are not guaranteed. Backups, when available, are available to customers for account restoration. We have sole access to this file but it is for your own use should you need to use it. We perform frequent backups on all of our servers to ensure critical files are never lost. We provide this costly service free, with no warranty and only as a courtesy. We will not restore a file any user has accidentally deleted or modified. The back-up restoration is for emergency procedures only. You are advised to backup all of your own files to your local drive or additional backup service. If we do have backups available for your files that you need restored, and if we have the ability and time to restore the file(s), there will be a $25 fee for restoring the files. We are not responsible for lost data, time, income or any other resource due to faulty backups or non-existent back-ups. Backup restoration is NOT a fast process. Due to the volume of data being stored, compression, and network file transfers, decompression, restoration, integrity checks, and other variables, the restoration process of large nodes can sometimes take several days. We highly encourage everyone to purchase their own separate managed backups if your site or data is critical to your business or livelihood.
Refusal of Service
We reserve the right to refuse, cancel, suspend, or terminate service at our sole discretion.
Indemnification
Customer agrees that it shall defend, indemnify, save and hold Sheepdog Digital harmless from any and all demands, liabilities, losses, costs and claims, including reasonable attorney’s fees asserted against Sheepdog Digital, its agents, its customers, officers and employees, that may arise or result from any service provided or performed or agreed to be performed or any product sold by customer, its agents, employees or assigns. Customer agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Sheepdog Digital against liabilities arising out of; (1) any injury to person or property caused by any products sold or otherwise distributed in connection with Sheepdog Digital; (2) any material supplied by customer infringing or allegedly infringing on the proprietary rights of a third party; (3) copyright infringement and (4) any defective products sold to customers from Sheepdog Digital’s server.
Governing Law
By using any Sheepdog Digital services, you agree to submit to binding arbitration. The Federal Arbitration Act, and not any state arbitration law, governs all arbitration under this Arbitration Clause. Each party agrees that any action arising out of or in connection with this Agreement shall be handled by an arbitrator of Sheepdog Digital’s choice. The arbitrator’s award is final and binding on all parties. You, the client, are also responsible for any and all costs related to such arbitration. The language of this Agreement shall be deemed to be the result of negotiation among the parties and their respective counsel and shall not be construed strictly for or against any party. Each party agrees that, whenever a party is requested to execute one or more documents evidencing such consent, it shall do so immediately.
Disclosure
Sheepdog Digital will cooperate with law enforcement agencies. We will only disclose subscriber information including assigned IP numbers, account history, account use, etc. to a law enforcement agent or official that provides an authentic subpoena or lawful request.
Disclaimer
We are not responsible for any claims resulting from the use of our service. We are not responsible for any damages your business may suffer. We make no warranties of any kind, expressed or implied for any services. This includes loss of data resulting from delays, non-deliveries, wrong delivery, and any and all service interruptions regardless of cause. The client acknowledges that the service provided is of such a nature that service can be interrupted for many reasons. Therefore, client agrees that Sheepdog Digital nor it’s employees shall not be liable for any damages, loss, or injury.
Modifications
We reserve the right to revise, amend, or modify these terms and our other policies at any time and in any manner without notice. If any terms or conditions are failed to be followed the account in question will be automatically deactivated. All users are always subject to the newest terms posted here at all times. It is the end users responsibility to be aware of the latest terms of service and other policies at all time. All clients understand that a change in these terms by Sheepdog Digital shall not be grounds for early contract termination or non-payment.
last reviewed and/or modified: 09/29/2021