Web Hosting Terms and Conditions

Last updated on: September 24, 2025.

Introduction

All web hosting plans are provided by Collaboration Enterprises LLC d/b/a S.MICHAEL Creative Branding (“S.MICHAEL Creative Branding”). Hosting services are provisioned through key partnerships with major global providers. Each plan is designed to be a business-grade solution that is fast, reliable, and scalable.

These hosting plans were developed after building many websites and addressing common needs such as WordPress version updates, cybersecurity protection, and performance optimization, with convenience features like periodic maintenance updates.

Plan Limitations

  1. Routine updates. Routine periodic updates of WordPress core, plugins, and themes are included. Updates are deemed “routine” when they are minor and do not disrupt the appearance or functionality of the site. Updates that break or materially affect appearance or functionality are “non-routine” and require the Client’s advance approval of additional fees.
  2. Exclusions from routine updates. Routine periodic updates are limited to back-end code updates. They do not include visible design or content changes, new features, or other client-requested modifications. All client-requested changes are subject to advance approval of fees and S.MICHAEL Creative Branding’s availability. S.MICHAEL Creative Branding reserves the right to decline such requests.
  3. Email and domains. Email setup/management is not included. Domain registration and renewal are not included. Unless otherwise contracted, the Client is solely responsible for maintaining and renewing domain registrations.

Plan Tiers

  • Tier 1 (“Basic Plan”): 2 GB local storage, 10,000 monthly visitors, 100 GB data transfer. Additional visits: $2.50 per thousand. Extra storage: $5.00 per GB/month (up to an additional 10 GB).
  • Tier 2 (“Premium Plan”): 5 GB local storage, 50,000 monthly visitors, 1 TB data transfer. Additional storage and bandwidth are available under a custom-negotiated plan.
  • Tier 3 (“Custom Solutions”): Fully customized hosting tailored to client requirements. Storage, visitor capacity, and data transfer are negotiated on a case-by-case basis with S.MICHAEL Creative Branding.

General Disclaimers

  1. Uptime. 100% uptime cannot be guaranteed. Even large global providers experience downtime. S.MICHAEL Creative Branding monitors uptime and acts promptly to restore services when interruptions occur. Historically, uptime across hosted sites has exceeded 99.99% over five years.
  2. Support scope. Support and maintenance are limited to the periodic updates described above. All other requests are considered new billable work and may be declined at S.MICHAEL Creative Branding’s discretion.
  3. Cybersecurity. Plans include firewall protections; however, no system is hack-proof. Clients must use strong passwords and restrict access. The Client accepts sole liability for breaches, misuse, or illicit activity arising from weak credentials, negligent access control, or client-controlled access.
  4. Data backups and cancellation. The Client is solely responsible for backing up, migrating, or moving data upon cancellation. Hosting data will be permanently deleted upon cancellation or non-payment (more than 30 days past due). Deleted data is unrecoverable. Migration typically requires approximately 10 billable hours from a qualified developer. S.MICHAEL Creative Branding may quote migration on request but is not obligated to perform it.
  5. White-glove hosting model. S.MICHAEL Creative Branding manages servers and retains exclusive access/control to back-end systems, control panels, SSH/SFTP/FTP/phpMyAdmin, and related interfaces. Clients retain ownership of their domain names. Clients must provide all technical specifications for third-party systems or applications connected to the domain and are responsible for impacts of DNS changes. S.MICHAEL Creative Branding is not liable for disruptions or data loss caused by missing or incomplete client-provided information.

IMPORTANT CANCELLATION NOTICE: CANCELLATION OF YOUR WEB HOSTING PLAN RESULTS IN IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF SERVICE AND PERMANENT DELETION OF YOUR WEBSITE AND ALL ASSOCIATED DATA. UNLESS YOU INDEPENDENTLY MIGRATE YOUR WEBSITE AND/OR CREATE BACKUPS BEFORE CANCELLATION, YOUR WEBSITE AND DATA WILL BE LOST AND WILL NOT BE RECOVERABLE.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Uptime Guarantee

S.MICHAEL Creative Branding provides a 99.9% uptime guarantee for the essential hosting infrastructure required for Client Websites to be accessible over HTTP. This uptime guarantee does not apply to systems, websites, or services external to S.MICHAEL Creative Branding, including but not limited to SFTP access, email systems, or any ancillary service not strictly necessary for HTTP accessibility.

Remedy

If actual uptime falls below 99.9% in a given calendar month, and the Client provides written notice within ten (10) days of discovery, S.MICHAEL Creative Branding may issue a pro rata service credit equal to the portion of the monthly hosting fee that corresponds to the verified downtime. Service credits are the Client’s sole and exclusive remedy for any breach of this SLA or for any outages, downtime, or service interruptions. No cash refunds will be provided. In no event shall the total credit for a given billing cycle exceed the amount paid by the Client for that billing cycle.

Exclusions

Downtime caused by any of the following circumstances, as determined in S.MICHAEL Creative Branding’s sole discretion, is not eligible for SLA credit:

  • Routine or scheduled maintenance performed at any time,
  • Emergency maintenance performed at any time,
  • Scheduled outages,
  • Force majeure events, including but not limited to acts of nature (fire, flood, earthquake, storm, or other natural disaster), acts of war (invasion, hostilities, rebellion, revolution, insurrection, terrorist activities, or other hostile activities), actions of governments (sanctions, blockages, embargoes, or other governmental action), labor disputes (strike, lockout, or similar), failure of power sources, outages caused by external service providers, and any other event which cannot reasonably be anticipated, prevented, controlled, or avoided,
  • Traffic to a Client Website that exceeds the capabilities of the Client Website, the Client’s Hosting Plan, or Hosting Service,
  • Client breach of these Terms of Service or any other applicable policies, terms, or agreements,
  • Client machine or access problems,
  • Client-authored code,
  • Changes to the Service by parties other than S.MICHAEL Creative Branding.

Liability Cap

To the maximum extent permitted by law, S.MICHAEL Creative Branding’s total aggregate liability for any and all claims arising out of or related to the hosting services, the SLA, or these Terms (whether in contract, tort, or otherwise) shall not exceed the total fees paid by the Client to S.MICHAEL Creative Branding for hosting services in the one (1) month immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

General Terms

  1. Billing. Unless otherwise agreed in a separate written agreement, all hosting plans are provided month-to-month. The monthly renewal date is based on the original signup date. Each payment covers service through the day before the same day of the following month at 11:59 pm Eastern Time. All payments are non-refundable. No pro rata refunds are issued for mid-month cancellations.
  2. Termination. Plans may be cancelled at any time by written request. Plans are automatically cancelled if payment is overdue by more than thirty (30) calendar days. Cancellation results in immediate suspension and permanent deletion of hosted data.
  3. Conflict of terms. If these Terms conflict with a separate written contract between the Client and S.MICHAEL Creative Branding, the separate written contract controls.
  4. Governing law and venue. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina. Any disputes shall be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Wake County, North Carolina.