Billing Policy

By requesting services from SouthernWebSpace.com, you agree to abide by the billing policies outlined below. If you have questions about these policies, please contact billing(at)SouthernWebSpace.com.

Payment Methods:

We prefer payment by credit card through our online billing system. We currently accept Visa, Master Card, American Express, Discover Card, and derivatives of those brands. We do not accept paper checks, money orders, cash, wire transfers or other forms of payment without prior authorization from SouthernWebSpace.com. If you need to make alternative arrangements, please notify billing@SouthernWebSpace.com prior to ordering services. Credit card statements will show the charge as SouthernWebSpace.com .

Though we prefer payment by credit card, we also accept PayPal payments. PayPal payments must be in the form of a PayPal cash transfer. Other PayPal funding methods such as credit card, echeck or wire transfer are not accepted without prior approval.
Payments by check must be pre-approved. Please inform SouthernWebSpace.com before services begin, that you will be paying by check. Only established clients may use a paper check as a form of payment. Your check must be received within 10 days to avoid late payment charges. If your check is returned for insufficient funds, closed account, or any other reason, you will be charged a $25.00 processing fee per failed transaction. SouthernWebSpace.com reserves the right to refuse acceptance of checks from any client at any time.

Invoices:

SouthernWebSpace.com uses an electronic invoicing system. You will receive your invoice by email, email as a text message, html message, or by email with a link to our online billing system on or 1-7 days before the anniversary date that your account was opened. It is your responsibility to know when your account is due to be renewed whether that be monthly, quarterly, semi-anally or yearly and not SouthernWebSpace.com’s responsibility.

You should notify SouthernWebSpace.com immediately if you fail to receive an invoice and have been informed that services are complete. Our billing systems use email tracking to confirm that an invoice has been delivered. We are notified upon successful delivery and viewing of the invoice. Upon request, SouthernWebSpace.com will re-mail a copy of your invoice or you may log into your billing account to view your invoice. Your payment terms will be noted on the invoice along with all the charges.

Keeping Your Billing Account Up-To-Date:

It is the responsibility of each and every client to make sure that their billing address, credit card number and especially the contact email address is up-to-date at all times. Invoices that are mailed automatically to invalid email addresses is not an acceptable excuse to say you were not notified or that you didn't know your invoice was due for payment. While we make every attempt to contact a client when emails bounce, it is still the responsibility of the client to make sure he / she is receiving proper communications and knows about their anniversary date of the next payment due.

Payment Terms:

ALL INVOICES ARE DUE IN FULL UPON RECEIPT without exception.
Invoices are sent by email upon completion of our services. Unless other terms have been pre-approved, your invoice is due in full upon receipt. Failure to pay outstanding invoices may result in late payment penalties, collection action and or suspension or termination of your services.

SouthernWebSpace.com provides a three (3) days grace period to pay your invoice. This means that when we invoice your account 1-7 days prior to the anniversary date, you are still expected to pay the invoice by the 3rd day. Invoices must be paid on or by the third (3rd) day after the date of the invoice or your account will be suspended for non-payment. Accounts that are suspended and not paid in full by the 7th day after invoice generation may be terminated without notice.

Suspended Accounts:

Regular Hosting Accounts: Accounts that are suspended for non-payment after the 3 days grace period, will incur a reconnection fee equal to $5 per account and added to your account balance. The $5, including your outstanding balance, will need to be paid in full before reconnection of your account. Accounts still unpaid after 7 days will be terminated with or without notice of intent to terminate.

Reseller Accounts: Accounts are suspended for non-payment after the 3 days grace period, will incur a reconnection fee equal to $3 per customer site including a $5 fee for the Reseller's main account and added to your account balance. These fee's, depending on the number of client sites hosted under your reseller account, including your own reseller account, will be added to your outstanding balance and will need to be paid in full before reconnection of your account. Reseller accounts still unpaid after 7 days will be terminated with or without notice of intent to terminate.

Terminated Accounts:

Termination means, all sites will be completely removed from our servers. All site content, email and everything else that existed in the virtual account will be completely removed from disk. Please note, once we terminate an account there is no possible way to retrieve this data. All fees paid for service to the point of termination are non refundable, without exception.

Recurring Services:

 
All hosting on SouthernWebSpace.com is purchased under "Recurring Services". SouthernWebSpace.com does not bill clients on a pro rated basis. This means that when you sign-up for hosting, regular hosting or Reseller hosting, you will be automatically invoiced 1-3 days prior to your anniversary date then billed anywhere from 1-3 days after the invoice was generated. Generally, we will attempt to bill clients on the date the invoice was generated but sometimes we collect funds as many as 3 days after the invoice was generated.

It is important to make sure that you are aware of when your next invoice is due and that your credit card on file is valid and billable. If for example, we decided to bill you on the 3rd day after your invoice is due, and the transaction declines, your account could be suspended due to the fact that the 3 days grace period for all hosting accounts has been exceeded.

Clients who enroll in recurring services will be automatically charged upon the renewal date of their account. Account renewals periods will be established at the time of subscription and may be monthly, quarterly semi-annually or annually. The charge will appear on your credit card statement and identified as SouthernWebSpace.com . If for any reason you need a receipt, you may request one by sending an email to sales(at)SouthernWebSpace.com.

Declination Of Charges:

If your credit card declines when we attempt to collect funds on the first attempt, there will be NO declination charge added to your balance, however, any subsequent attempts to collection funds that decline will incur a $2 declination fee, per collection attempt. Please review our TOS, Item 4. Payments And Fees. NOTE: We will attempt to collect funds every 24hrs after the first decline. It is your responsibility to correct this issue promptly by logging into your billing account and updating your credit card information when you are notified, by email, that your credit card has declined. 24hrs after the first decline notification should be adequate time to make sure that your billing information is update-to-date and collectable. Please be prompt in updating your credit card information to prevent declination charges being added to your balance. Clients who refuse to to pay decline charges may have their accounts suspended due to non payment.

Credit cards that are declined for any reason, other than payment gateway errors, are subject to a $2.00 declination fee and will be added to your Invoice total. If your credit card declines, you will be notified by email. There will be NO CHARGE for declined transactions on the first attempt to collect funds however, subsequent attempts to collect on your account leading to additional declines on your credit card will incur a $2.00 declination fee, per declined transaction and will be added to your Invoice. It is the your responsibility to promptly correct your billing record, in our billing system, when you are notified that your credit card has declined to prevent a declination charge the next time we attempt to collect funds. Clients who refuse to pay declined charges on their accounts may have their accounts suspended for non-payment. If the account is declined for reasons of error due to our Payment gateway or SouthernWebSpace.coms the declination charge will be waived after a full investigation. Please make sure that you billing address in your SouthernWebSpace.com account matches the billing address of the credit card. This is normally the number one reason why credit cards are declined by the bank.

Cancellation Of Accounts:

Requests for canceling accounts may be made, in writing, with at least 30 days notice but not more than 60 days prior written notice. All request for cancellation must be submitted via our on-line form addressed to BILLING. All fees paid for service to the point of cancellation are non refundable.

No other avenues of cancellation will be accepted. Clients who do inform SouthernWebSpace.com with their intent to cancel, may be billed for an additional month of service. If your service was purchased at a discount, the additional month of service billed will be the full purchase price of plan currently available for that month.

Money Back Guarantee:

Cancellations made within 30 days of beginning service are subject to SouthernWebSpace.com's money back guarantee provided the client has purchased the normal regular price of hosting or Reseller hosting from our web site. Promotions, specials and discounted hosting plans, including Reseller hosting plans, sold at a discounts, are exempt from our 30 day money back guarantee and are bound by the guarantee advertised at the time of purchase. Web Templates and Domain Names are non-refundable.

The following section outlines our billing policy regarding contractual work offered by SouthernWebSpace.com technicians to outside sources (Vendors). All SouthernWebSpace.com hosting and Resellers users may stop reading here.

Contract Services:

Prepayment / Retainer Fees: SouthernWebSpace.com reserves the right to request pre-payment or retainer fees for any services. For work request exceeding $500.00, we may require signed work order agreement. For work request exceeding $1000, SouthernWebSpace.com may require a retainer fee of 30-50% depending upon your past billing history and/or credit history. If past billing or credit history does not meet our approval criteria, we reserve the right to require that all services be paid for in advance.

Pre-payment (New Clients): SouthernWebSpace.com reserves the right to request pre-payment from any client for any reason. Typically, SouthernWebSpace.com will simply invoice you upon completion of our services; however, if you are a new client, we may require pre-payment. Generally, prepayment by new clients is required if services requested are expected to exceed a total of $250.00 or include emergency support, security incident investigations or disaster recovery services. In addition, SouthernWebSpace.com may request pre-payment or credit card authorization if you card is not issued by a US Bank.

Extended Payment Terms:

Preferred clients can arrange Net 15 and Net 30 day terms upon request. To qualify, you must have been in business for a minimum of three years, have completed three prior transactions with SouthernWebSpace.com with no delinquency, have used SouthernWebSpace.com for more than three months, and have estimated annual expenditures exceeding $2400.00. SouthernWebSpace.com reserves the right to reject a request for Net 15 and Net 30 day terms for any reason. If SouthernWebSpace.com approves you for extended payment terms, such changes will be noted on each invoice. Extended payment terms can be revoke at our discretion at any time. Failure to remit invoices on time may result in suspension of your extended payment terms. Extension of more than $500.00 of credit requires telephone and mailing address confirmation.

Other Payment Options:

Under special circumstances longer terms, payment plans and other payment arrangements can be provided upon request. All such agreements will be established in writing and may incur additional interest, processing or other fees as established in the plan. Acceptance of an alternate payment method or plan is solely the discretion of SouthernWebSpace.com.

Recurring Services:

SouthernWebSpace.com offers a number of recurring services that are automatically billed each month. These include items such as server backup, monthly system administration, server monitoring and other agreements.

Clients who enroll in recurring services will be automatically charged upon the renewal date of their account. Account renewals periods will be established at the time of subscription and may be monthly, quarterly or annually. The charge will appear on your credit card statement and identified as SouthernWebSpace.com. Generally, but not always, recurring services are billed on the 1st and 15th of each month. If you need a receipt, you may request one sending an email to sales(at)SouthernWebSpace.com.com.

 To cancel service, you must contact SouthernWebSpace.com five (5) business days in advance of your next billing date. You will need to provide the name of the service to cancel, the name of the credit card holder, and the last four digits of the card we have on file. We will not cancel services if you do not have this information. Refunds will not be granted if you do not notify SouthernWebSpace.com within five (5) business days of your billing date.

If your credit card is declined or has expired, you will receive an email noticed stating so. You will then have 15 days to provide updated information before your account will be suspended. If you account is suspended due to non-payment, there may be a reinstatement fee of $30.00. If you are paying by credit card please ensure we have updated credit card information. Please use our secure credit card update form if you need to send us new information.

Pricing Policy:

SouthernWebSpace.com offers a number of fixed priced services, recurring services, and hourly support options. We also provide support by email, telephone and online chat. Please review the information for additional details on our pricing guidelines.

Fixed Priced Services:

SouthernWebSpace.com provides fixed-prices for a variety of services. These prices will be honored provided that the client, knowingly or unknowingly, does not misrepresent or omit details about the server, software or other issues relating to the service to be performed. If SouthernWebSpace.com discovers that a server is not as described, we reserve the right to not honor the fixed fee and provide alternative pricing arrangement. Please fully describe all server modifications, updates, errors or other information that may impact our ability to complete the requested services. Common issues included non-standard third party software on your system, upgrading components independently of the vendor's authorized updates, server security hardening, interface customization and other updates/modifications that alter a base system. Please advise SouthernWebSpace.com to these changes prior to ordering service. In many occasions such modifications will not impact our fixed price services, but you should notify us in advance to make sure that your server meets our fixed price service guidelines.

Hourly Support:

Many of our services are performed based on the stated hourly rate. Support will be billed in quarter hourly (15 minute) increments at the prevailing rate for the specified level of support. Unless otherwise noted, all custom support requests have a one (1) hour minimum fee regardless of actual time worked. For most tasks, we will provide an estimate and ask that you pre-authorize a specific amount of time at the stated rate. Once service has started all communications via online chat, telephone, and email may be considered hourly support and will be billed accordingly.

Online Chat Support:

We may need to chat with you online about your service request. Generally, any online chat sessions relating to a support request will be treated as billable time and billed as hourly support. These sessions do not include general pre-sale inquiries, questions relating to billed amounts, or as part of our follow-up policy.

Telephone Support:

We may need to speak with you about your service request. Generally, any telephone calls relating to a support request will be treated as billable time and billed as hourly support. These telephone calls do not include general pre-sale inquiries, questions relating to billed amounts, or as part of our follow-up policy.

Email Support:

We may need to exchange emails several times about your service request. Email support is difficult to manage and some jobs may require dozens of emails to resolve. In terms of billable support, we generally include a limited amount of email support built into the hourly support rates. If email support requests exceed the allotted amount, we will notify you in advance if additional charges apply. Please limit emails to the current support request and use appropriate channels to request new support, follow-up on prior service, or obtain billing information.

Estimates:

For hourly support, SouthernWebSpace.com will provide you with an estimate by email. Estimates are non-binding and will generally include a range of time. While we try to honor our estimated fees, there are several conditions under which charges may exceed the estimated amount. Unforeseen, unknown or new issues may arise that require additional time. Also note that the estimates are based upon the information provided by you at the time of the estimate. If critical information is misrepresented or omitted, then services may require longer than estimated. For common issues, we derive estimates from completed service requests, thus providing a good level of accuracy. For estimates exceeding $500, a written proposal can be provided.

If for some reason, we suspect that costs may exceed the initial estimate by the lesser of one half hour service fee or 10% of the initial estimate, then we will notify you as soon as possible to discuss the pricing. Typically, we can identify whether or not our initial estimate is correct within a few minutes of working on your system.

In our experience, our estimates are within 10% of stated amounts more than 94% of the time. Exceptions have included primarily instances where secondary problems were discovered or the initial problem was not properly represented.

Refund Policy:

SouthernWebSpace.com reserves the right to refuse refunds for any reason. Generally, refunds are granted only for billing errors.

Billing Errors:

If you discover an error on your invoice, please notify SouthernWebSpace.com as soon as possible. For billing errors, please submit your refund request to SouthernWebSpace.com within 60 days from the date of the invoice. If more than 60 days have elapsed, SouthernWebSpace.com may issue only a partial refund or decline the refund request. Please allow 3-10 days to process your refund request.

Other Reasons:

Refunds for reasons other than billing errors typically are not granted unless there are clear omissions on the part of our service technicians. If you feel an error or problem with your server is due to errors made by SouthernWebSpace.com, please notify us immediately. We will review your system to determine what actions may have caused the error. Note that updating and upgrading software may introduce new errors caused by older scripts, software or other systems not directly modified by SouthernWebSpace.com. The latter is not the fault of SouthernWebSpace.com but the applications vendor and is not the basis for a refund. Example errors include installation of a version of a program other than requested, failure to install a requested program component, and other clear omissions on the part of the technician.

To request a refund due to errors or omissions, please do so within fifteen days (15) of your invoice date. Refunds requested after 15 days will not be granted. Many companies have an issue with clients requesting refunds directly from their credit card companies. Before requesting such a refund, please contact SouthernWebSpace.com about your issue. We will make every effort to resolve the issue in a fair matter.

Credit History:

SouthernWebSpace.com may request a credit history for you and/or your company. Such information will only be used by SouthernWebSpace.com and not disclosed to third parties unless require by law. Poor credit history may result in cancellation of services or strict payment terms.

Delinquent Accounts:

The terms of your account are noted on your invoice. You must pay the amount in full by the due date. If you cannot make payment by the due date, please notify SouthernWebSpace.com as soon as possible. Once an account is more than 8 days past due it is considered delinquent. You will be sent payment reminders until your account is paid in full. If within the past twelve (12) months, your account has entered delinquency SouthernWebSpace.com may refuse to provide services or request pre-payment for all services.

Clients with delinquent accounts must pay outstanding balances before requesting new services. Clients whom also subscribe to recurring services may have those services terminated if their account becomes delinquent. If your account becomes 15 days past due, SouthernWebSpace.com may suspend your services. For subscription-based services, a $30.00 re-instatement fee may be applied to your account. If your account becomes 30 days past due, late fees will be accessed.

Late Fees:

SouthernWebSpace.com reserves the right to charge a late fee for any account that is 30 days or more past due. If your account is 30 days past due, SouthernWebSpace.com will charge late fee of the greater of 1.5% of the balance due or $5.00/month. Late fees are accessed every 30 days until the outstanding balance is paid in full.

Collection Action:

If your account becomes 60 days past due, SouthernWebSpace.com may begin collection procedures. SouthernWebSpace.com uses a third party collection agency. To avoid collection, please pay your invoices in a timely manner. If your account goes to collection, you will be responsible for all collection fees, which will be added to your outstanding balance. If you account is not settled after the third collection attempt, we will notify our collection agency to file a non-payment report with the major credit agencies.

Policy Changes:

SouthernWebSpace.com reserves the right to change this billing policy at any time for any reason whatsoever. Should changes directly impact your account, we will notify you by email. Please review this policy from time to time to note changes.
 

Last Revision: 06/01/2006