Elmnet Terms of Service

Web Hosting

• All Elmnet websites hosted on our own dedicated server will be backed up regularly by us on your behalf. Database backups will be taken daily with a retention period of one month, and files backups will be taken weekly with a retention period of four months. Backups will be stored on a separate backup server, and can be restored at any time if required, on request. We'll attempt to action any requests on the same day.
• Our server has a dedicated hardware firewall, but in addition it is required that your website runs the Wordfence software firewall. We will set up and configure this on your site for no charge.
• We take server security very seriously. In the unlikely event that your site is hacked, we'll restore it for you to it's last working state for no charge.
• We do not provide FTP access to our server, or access to your server web hosting account. This is solely managed for you by Elmnet for security reasons. We manage the entire server environment on your behalf.
• We aim to provide a 100% uptime for our server. We may on occasions schedule a server reboot to install security updates. A reboot may result in your site being unavailable for up to five minutes, but we'll endeavour to carry out all reboots during quiet times, such as the early hours of the morning or over a weekend.
• We update our server operating systems regularly in order to keep all websites as secure as possible. If your site is running an old theme which is incompatible with current software versions then we reserve the right to remove it from our dedicated server and host it on our shared platform instead. This platform has options to run legacy versions of the operating system software, but is not as powerful or reliable as our dedicated server. Should you find yourself in this position we would always recommend an upgrade to a more modern theme. We will contact you to discuss this before taking action.

Email Accounts

• Elmnet recommend that for business critical email our customers subscribe to Microsoft 365.
• If required, we can provide IMAP email accounts with a UK based shared hosting provider.
• Though we'll endeavour to provide support wherever possible for these email accounts, we cannot accept responsibility for any downtime, or loss of emails which occur because of any downtime.
• Elmnet is not responsible for backing up any email accounts - customers should include them in their own backup routine and ask their business IT service provider for assistance with this if necessary.

Wordpress Core, Themes & Plugins

• Your site has been built on Wordpress, which is free, open source software. Elmnet is not responsible for the code of the Wordpress platform, or of any themes or plugins used. Sometimes, though quite rarely, a theme or plugin may break after a Wordpress update. Usually these issues are resolved by the theme or plugin authors relatively quickly, but we will contact you to advise what will need to be done to resolve the situation. If the issue cannot be resolved quickly we will roll the site back to the last working version and make an assessment.
• We will update all Wordpress core files, themes and plugins for you at least once per week. A large proportion of the plugins we use are free, but sometimes we'll use 'paid for' ones if we need something to carry out a specific task. We'll purchase these on your behalf, but the initial cost and ongoing annual licence is your responsibility and will be charged for. We'll let you know if we use any such plugins for your site.
• If the annual licence of a plugin or theme is not renewed then your site should still continue working as usual (though we can't guarantee this). You will though no longer receive security, compatibility and feature updates from the theme authors. If after a Wordpress update an old theme or plugin begins to cause problems then you will be responsible for any costs incurred in the renewal and installation required to resolve the issue.
• If a theme used on your site becomes obselete and no longer supported then it will eventually need to be replaced by a more modern one. This may require a site rebuild, depending on the framework used. If so then our hourly rate will be charged, or alternatively a quote prepared for the project as a whole.
• If you wish to transfer your site to another designer then you may need to purchase your own licence for your website theme. We purchase some of our themes under an annual developer licence. You would need to set up your own subscription with the theme provider at your own cost.
• You will be provided with a Wordpress 'Admin' login. With this you will be able to add new users to the site. You are solely responsible for protecting your user names and passwords and for all website activity that happens under your account. You are also responsible for ensuring that you use a strong unique password. 

Content, Updates and Revisions 

• All content can be managed through the Wordpress dashboard. You may either add or edit your own content, or ask us to do it for you, where hourly rates will apply.
• You will be allocated a fixed amount of disk space appropriate to your needs. It's unlikely that you'll need to increase this, but if you do then we can raise your disk quota. Additional storage charges will apply.
• Once a website has been completed and signed off, any updates carried out will be charged at the current hourly rate. 

Domain Name Renewals

• If your domain name is managed by Elmnet and is approaching expiry, we will send you a renewal invoice at least four weeks prior to the expiry date, and then an additional reminder two weeks after that. If payment has not been received by the expiry date we will assume that the domain name is no longer required.
• If you allow your domain name to expire then you risk your website and email services stopping working, and depending on the kind of domain name you have you may incur additional charges from the registrars. Provided payment is made, Elmnet will take responsibility for your domain renewal and ensure that the process goes through smoothly.
• Please ensure that we have up to date contact details for you. In the event of an unpaid invoice we will endeavour to contact you via other channels, but Elmnet cannot accept responsibility for expired domain names as the result of unpaid invoices.

Copyright & Exclusion of Liability 

• Elmnet does not allow any content on it's server which violates any intellectual property rights, or breaches any copyright legislation. By uploading any content to your site, or submitting content to us to upload for you, you're confirming that you either own or control the rights to that content, or have purchased a licence for it's use. You accept that you indemnify Elmnet from any copyright breach claims that may arise from the use of copyright protected material.
• In the event of a claim being made we will investigate and if necessary we will remove the content from your website.
• Elmnet shall not be liable for any loss or damage that may result to you or a third party as a result of use of your website.