Terms and Conditions

1. Information about us

We are Coleswood Media Ltd ("we", "us", "our"), registered in England and Wales with company number 05331756. Our registered office is First Floor Office, Sentinel House, London, NW4 2EP.

These terms and conditions apply only to our web hosting services (including related add-ons such as domains, SSL, email, etc.). By ordering or using our Services, you agree to be bound by these terms. If you do not accept them, you may not order or use the Services.

"Material" means all content, files, code, data, websites, emails and other information that you or anyone using your account uploads, stores, transmits or makes available using the Services.

2. Your status

By placing an order, you warrant that:

• You are legally capable of entering binding contracts;
• You are at least 18 years old;
• If acting for a company or business, you have authority to bind that entity.

3. Becoming a customer

1. You must register an accurate customer account before ordering Services.
2. We may block access if we reasonably believe your information is inaccurate or false.
3. You must keep your username and password confidential and notify us immediately if compromised.
4. You may register a payment method (via Stripe or PayPal) for automatic recurring payments.
5. We will email order confirmation, service details, and invoice to your registered email.
6. You can view invoices and purchase history in your account dashboard.

4. Our contract

Your order is an offer. The contract forms only when we send an Acceptance Confirmation email (which may include service activation). We may decline any order and will refund payments if so. The contract covers only Services confirmed in the Acceptance Confirmation.

5. Consumer rights (if you are a consumer, not a business)

6. Cancellation by you

To cancel, notify us in writing via email or our contact form. Non-cancellable Services include (but are not limited to) dedicated servers, domain registrations/renewals, SSL certificates, and certain add-ons.

7. Price and payment

1. Prices are as quoted on our website (except obvious errors).
2. Total cost is shown in your basket before checkout.
3. We may change prices; continued use after notice constitutes acceptance. Cancel if you disagree.
4. If we discover a pricing error, we may contact you, reject the order, or charge the correct price (if obvious mispricing, we are not bound by the lower price even after Acceptance).
5. Payment is taken immediately or shortly after Acceptance via your registered method.
6. We may recover unpaid amounts via debt recovery agents (you pay additional fees if applicable) or suspend/terminate Services.
7. Payment is only received when cleared funds are in our account.

8. Quality and warranties

We provide Services with reasonable care and skill. We are not liable for breaches unless you notify us in writing and allow reasonable examination time. No liability if issues arise from your misuse, unauthorised changes, or failure to follow instructions.

Our sole remedy for breach is to remedy the issue or refund pro-rata. We do not warrant uninterrupted or error-free service. We may modify Services without notice if no adverse impact; adverse changes get 30 days' notice.

9. Access and your responsibilities

You are responsible for your internet access and for ensuring that anyone using your account or accessing the Services through your account or connection complies with these terms (including our Acceptable Use Policy). You are responsible for all activity on your account, whether or not authorised by you, except to the extent caused by our breach of these terms.

10. Service levels and backups

We use reasonable endeavours to achieve 99% server uptime per month and minimise downtime (with advance notice where possible). No service credits are provided for downtime.

Backups are the client's responsibility. You must maintain your own current, complete, and independent backups of all Material at all times. We accept no liability for the loss, corruption, incompleteness, or failure of any backup, whether held by us or otherwise.

Our server backups are maintained solely for our own operational recovery purposes. In the event of server loss or failure, we will use reasonable endeavours to restore from our latest backup, but we make no warranty as to the completeness, currency, or integrity of any such backup. Restoration from our backup is your sole remedy in respect of server loss, and we shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising from any failure to restore, partial restoration, or restoration of outdated data.

11. Hosting usage limits and Acceptable Use Policy

Our shared hosting plans are designed for standard websites, related email functions, and normal traffic levels. All plans (including those advertised as "unlimited") are subject to fair and reasonable usage to ensure stable performance for all customers on shared servers.

Reasonable / Fair Usage

Resources such as CPU, RAM, disk I/O, processes, connections, and bandwidth must be used reasonably and in line with typical web hosting needs for your plan. Different hosting packages have varying allowances based on their tier (e.g., entry-level vs. higher plans). Excessive or sustained use that negatively impacts server performance, other users, or overall stability is not permitted. This includes (but is not limited to) prolonged high CPU/RAM consumption, excessive database queries, or large-scale file serving/processing. Whether usage is reasonable is determined at our reasonable discretion.

If your usage is deemed unreasonable, we may:

• Issue a warning and request reduction;
• Temporarily throttle or limit resources;
• Require an upgrade to a higher plan or VPS/dedicated server;
• Suspend or terminate the account (with or without notice).

Server-Level Performance and Optimisation

To maintain the stability, speed, and reliability of our shared hosting infrastructure for all customers, we reserve the right to implement server-level performance, caching, and optimisation technologies across our platform. These may include, but are not limited to, static page caching, Apache and Nginx module-level optimisations, .htaccess processing enhancements, and automated WordPress performance tools such as AccelerateWP and MAx Cache.

These measures operate entirely at the server infrastructure level and do not modify, overwrite, or interfere with your website files, database, or content. They are applied to improve resource efficiency and reduce unnecessary server load caused by unoptimised or poorly maintained websites, which can otherwise negatively impact all customers on a shared server.

Where a server-level optimisation is incompatible with a specific site's configuration or requirements, you may request an exemption by contacting our support team. We will make reasonable efforts to accommodate such requests where technically feasible and where, in our reasonable discretion, doing so does not adversely affect server stability for other customers.

Prohibited Activities and Content

The following are strictly prohibited on all shared hosting plans (upgrade to VPS/dedicated may be required for some uses):

• Resource-heavy or abusive scripts/applications: Crypto mining software; persistent web crawlers/bots; automated high-volume mailing scripts; real-time chat/game servers; poorly optimised cron jobs; large-scale image/video processing; custom analytics with heavy database load.
• Storage/backup misuse: Using hosting as offsite backups, personal file storage/archives, email forwarding for archiving, security camera storage, or large personal data repositories. Material must primarily support active, linked web pages.
• Proxies and anonymisation: Anonymous proxies, VPN services, open proxies, or any proxy software.
• Network abuse: Denial of Service (DoS/DDoS) attacks or tools; port scanning; spoofing/impersonation; black-hat SEO/spamdexing/scraper sites; running search engines/indexing services.
• Spam and unsolicited communications: Sending unsolicited email (spam), relaying spam, advertising via spam, phishing, harvesting personal data without consent.
• Illegal or harmful content/activities: Any unlawful purpose (under UK/EU or applicable law); child exploitation material; copyrighted content without rights; hacking tools/discussion sites; malware distribution; investment scams (e.g., FOREX/egold schemes without proper authorisation).
• Other restricted uses: IRC bots/bouncers; BitTorrent clients/trackers; firmware distribution, system image hosting, binary payload delivery, automated device updates, or machine-to-machine file distribution (e.g., via FTP/SFTP/SSH); adult thumbnail galleries/banner exchanges; excessive file mirrors or repositories.

Where we suspect a breach of this policy, we may suspend some or all of the Services immediately and without notice while we investigate, regardless of whether the breach is ultimately confirmed. Confirmed breach of this policy may result in immediate suspension or termination without refund. We may also report illegal activities to authorities.

12. Support

Contact us via our support page. We provide hosting support but not programming/debugging. We aim to respond promptly but offer no guaranteed SLA times.

13. Domain names

We endeavour to register requested domains but are not liable if refused/suspended by registries. You must comply with registry terms. Renewal is your responsibility; we send reminders but accept no liability for non-renewal. We may lock domains for security.

On termination or expiry of your hosting account, any domain registered through us is unaffected unless the domain registration itself has also ended or expired; you remain responsible for renewing and managing any domain separately from your hosting Services.

14. Intellectual property

You retain IP in your Material but grant us a licence to host/publish it. You warrant no third-party infringement and indemnify us against claims arising from your Material or your breach of this warranty.

15. Indemnity

In addition to clause 14, you agree to indemnify us against all reasonable costs, claims, damages or demands incurred by us or brought against us by a third party arising out of: your Material; your breach of these terms or our Acceptable Use Policy; or your misuse of the Services. This clause survives termination of the contract.

16. Data protection

We each agree to comply with our respective obligations under UK data protection law, including the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Details of how we collect, use, store and protect personal data are set out in our Privacy Policy and GDPR pages, which form part of these terms.

17. Legal and law enforcement requests

We may disclose information about you or your account, or take down or restrict access to Material, where required to do so by a court order, statutory notice, or other valid request from a law enforcement or regulatory body, or where we reasonably believe this is necessary to protect the safety of any person or to prevent or stop illegal activity. Further detail is set out in our Privacy Policy.

18. Our liability

We are not liable for your Material/content or privacy breaches over the internet. Nothing excludes liability for death/injury (negligence), fraud, or illegal exclusions.

This liability cap does not apply to, and we may recover our losses in full for, any loss or damage we suffer as a result of your breach of our Acceptable Use Policy or misuse of the Services, including (but not limited to) costs incurred from third-party blacklisting, abuse remediation, or claims brought against us as a result.

19. Duration and termination

Services continue for the Minimum Term (as stated on site/confirmation), then month-to-month (or equivalent renewal period) until cancelled or terminated.

1. You may cancel with 30 days' written notice (via contact form/email). No refunds mid-period.
2. We may terminate with 30 days' advance notice or immediately for breach of these terms, Acceptable Use Policy, abusive behaviour, or non-payment. Save as set out below, Material is deleted on cancellation, expiry, or termination.
3. Upon termination or expiry, any prepaid unused fees for the unexpired portion of the current term will be refunded on a pro-rata basis (except for non-refundable items like domains or setup fees).
4. Non-Renewal by us: We reserve the right not to renew any Services (including hosting) at the end of the current term or renewal period, at our sole discretion. Where practicable, we will provide at least 30 days' advance notice to your registered email address. If we elect not to renew, we will refund any prepaid unused fees for the unexpired portion of the term on a pro-rata basis. We are under no obligation to provide reasons for non-renewal and accept no liability for any losses arising from such decision. This does not affect your right to cancel at any time in accordance with these terms.
5. Data export on termination: Where practicable, and except where we terminate immediately for serious breach, illegal activity, or non-payment, we will provide at least 7 days' notice before permanently deleting your Material following cancellation, expiry or termination, during which you may request an export of your Material. We accept no liability for Material deleted after this point, and remind you that, as set out in clause 10, maintaining your own independent backups remains your responsibility at all times.

20. Communications and general

Communications are mainly electronic (valid for legal purposes). Notices via contact form/email. No third-party rights. We may assign the contract; you may not without consent.

Force majeure excuses non-performance. No waiver unless written. Severability applies. These terms, together with our Privacy Policy and GDPR page, are the entire agreement.

21. Variations

We may update these terms to reflect market/law changes. You are bound by terms at order time unless law requires retrospective change or we notify you pre-acceptance.

22. Law and jurisdiction

Governed by English law. Exclusive jurisdiction of England and Wales courts. English is the contract language.