Service level agreement
This SLA may be amended at any time by Budget Servers. Copies of the SLA shall be made available on our website and upon request.
1. Definitions
1.1. Normal Order – an order for a dedicated server or cloud service that is offered on the website and that has not been customized when ordering and which require no physical change or special configurations. Any configurations from the website that are customized will be considered a custom order.
1.2. Custom Order – an order for a customized service outside the scope of a normal order. Customized service and defining of a customized service is the full discretion of Budget Servers.
1.2.1. Examples of Custom orders are:
1.2.1.1. Physical changes to an existing order i.e. to downgrade or upgrade an existing order
1.2.1.2. Custom installation of a private cloud and/or Clustering and/or Load balancing
1.2.1.3. Any custom network configuration
1.2.1.4. Solutions from our team manager
1.2.1.5. Data migration from one system to another
1.2.1.6. Custom software installation
1.2.2. For Custom Orders, including custom hardware configurations, hardware upgrades, complex configurations and similar, Budget Servers will work with the Customer to implement the services based on mutually agreed upon timelines. Budget Servers may provide an estimated completion timeframe for installing services under a custom order. Customer hereinafter agrees that the estimated timeframe is an estimate and not a guarantee of timeframe completion. This timeframe is offered as a convenience for the customer and Budget Servers is not held accountable for not meeting an estimated deadline in this context.
1.3. Uptime
1.3.1. Network Downtime – Network downtime is a failure of our equipment and a packet loss higher than 90%. The measurements of packet loss are in the sole discretion of Budget Servers.
1.3.2. Power Outage – A power outage and outage to the backup system whereby the outage renders the customer offline.
1.3.3. Maintenance – Emergency maintenance and schedule maintenance, which are referred to in our existing Terms of Service.
1.3.4. Standard Hardware Replacement – The replacement of any server hardware component such as, but not limited to, hard drives, memory or processors substantially affecting the performance of the Services, after having been determined by Budget Servers in its reasonable discretion to require replacement. Timeframes under this portion of the SLA do not pertain to Custom Orders.
1.3.5. Major Force – Without limiting the extent of the limitations of liability already stated herein, Budget Servers hereby explicitly makes known to the Customer that Budget Servers does not undertake to remedy, indemnify or repair any injury or damage resulting from Force Majeure.
1.3.6. Verified Outage – This means a claimed outage for a particular Service that has been verified by a Budget Servers representative.
1.3.7. Services – This means a service ordered by the customer and provided by Budget Servers as outlined by or Terms of Service.
1.3.8. Claimed Outage – This means the period of time (measured in minutes at the discretion of Budget Servers) during which the customer claims a loss of service within the specific measurement period.
1.3.9. Time Guarantee
1.3.9.1. First Response to Support Ticket – A response from Budget Servers that acts as an acknowledgment of receipt of the support ticket. This is only valid if the support ticket is sent to the proper department account. If the client opens multiple support tickets for the same incident, the initial ticket response time is taken into account and not the latter.
1.3.9.2. Service Level Agreement Credit (“SLA Credit”) – A credit to the customers account that is received for a breach of SLA. The credit may be utilized for present and future services subject to the Terms of Service Policy and the SLA.
2. General Terms of Service as it pertains to the SLA – To be understood in conjunction with our existing policies.
2.1. For an SLA credit to be granted and applied, the customer must submit a request for credit within 10 days of the incident. Budget Servers is not responsible for applying credit without customer notice.
2.2. The request for credit must detail the exact nature of the incident so that Budget Servers can rectify the incident accordingly. In the event that the sufficient information is not provided, Budget Servers cannot be held responsible for excessive delays in rectifying the incident. Sufficient information is a discretionary in nature and subject to Budget Servers interpretation.
2.3. SLA Credit is limited to the monthly value of the service that has incident or if the SLA has been breached. The value of the SLA Credit will be evaluated on a monthly basis. No further costs related to the interruption of services will apply nor will SLA Credits be granted for anything other than the service interrupted. For SLA Credits to be applied, the Customer account must be up to date. Failure to maintain an updated account will render SLA Credits inapplicable.
2.4. In the case of breach of SLA or our Terms of Service Agreement, SLA Credits will not exceed one-hundred percent (100%) of the service in question.
2.5. SLA Credits are only applicable to current or future costs. SLA Credits do not have a cash surrender value.
2.6. Although our services are ongoing, SLA Credits are applicable only for the month in which the incident occurred. To that point, only one SLA Credit is available for each incident.
2.7. The customer has a maximum of one year, from the issuance of the SLA Credit, to apply the credit to their account.
2.8. SLA breaches and credits are applicable only to the affected services. Credit shall not apply to existing or different services associated with the customer account.
2.9. Customers become ineligible for SLA Credits if they are:
2.9.1. Not up to date on the payment obligations for the service being provided and the time of the report of the claimed outage; or
2.9.2. Have not paid their fees when due for the services twice (2 times) when due in the previous 12 calendar months.
2.10. Exclusions:
2.10.1. SLA Credits will not be applied for periods in which a service provided is not available for any of the following reasons:
2.10.1.1. Budget Servers is performing system upgrades, enhancements or routine maintenance which is pre-empted by an message or announcement on the customers portal.
2.10.1.2. The customers use of the service is in violation of any of Budget Servers and Customer agreements which includes but is not limited to: Terms of Service Agreement, Acceptable Use Policy, the Privacy Policy etc.
2.10.1.3. Downtime related to the Customers content;
2.10.1.4. Internet issues relating to the customers access;
2.10.1.5. Downtime related to a DDoS (Denial of Service Attack) or similar;
2.10.1.6. Commands or file transfers initiated by or on the customers behalf;
2.10.1.7. Suspension of service for violation of any other Budget Servers agreement;
2.10.1.8. Violation of the Acceptable Use Policy
2.10.1.9. Issues related to hardware provided by the customer to Budget Servers.
3. SLA Definitions and penalties
3.1. 100% Network Uptime – This defines the downtime of the service. It is Budget Servers discretion to define the terms and timing of the downtime.
3.1.1. Penalty – SLA Credits are granted on the following scale – 0% Credit for 100% uptime, 5% Credit for 99% uptime, 10% Credit for 98% uptime, 25% Credit for 97% uptime, 50% Credit for 95% uptime, 100% Credit for 90% uptime
3.2. 100% Power Uptime – This defines the downtime of the service as it relates to the ability to power your infrastructure – In the event that the service being utilized is on the customer end, this SLA does not apply
3.2.1. Penalty – SLA Credits are granted on the following scale – 0% Credit for 100% uptime, 5% Credit for 99% uptime, 10% Credit for 98% uptime, 25% Credit for 97% uptime, 50% Credit for 95% uptime, 100% Credit for 90% uptime
3.3. 90 Seconds Cloud Server Delivery – The initial delivery of a cloud server (standard delivery) will be 90 seconds for the VM to be active. OS with longer boot time such as Windows Server are excluded. If there is a problem with the delivery of cloud server, the portal will indicate as such with an “Error” message. This will also apply if the affected server is assigned to a specific account.
3.3.1. Penalty – 10% Credit will be applied in this occurrence on the total value within a month of that cloud service
3.4. Fast Dedicated Server Delivery – The initial delivery of a dedicated (Standard delivery) will be delivered in 4 hours or less. Custom orders do not apply here. The time account from one command must be confirmed by Budget Servers and all the security and verification of payment must be compelted in accordance with our Terms of Service Agreement.
3.4.1. Penalty – 10% Credit will be applied in this occurrence on the server value for that initial month.
3.5. Hardware Replacement one (1) hour or less – This is measured from when Budget Servers confirms to the customer that they are aware of the problem. This is completed by our troubleshoot team. This requires sufficient cooperation from the customer. If proper cooperation is not provided, at the discretion of Budget Servers, the customer will not be entitled to SLA Credits.
3.5.1. Penalty – 10% Credit will be applied in this occurrence for that server total value for that month.
3.6. First Response to Support Tickets Within 15 minutes – Measured by when the system assigns a customer request to an agent. Only support tickets are covered under this SLA.
3.6.1. Penalty – 5% Credit will be applied in this occurrence per support ticket. This will require a proven support request.