Terms of Service

1. About 4UAssist

4UAssist is a trading name of Drayton Digital Limited, a company registered in England and Wales.

Company number: 04609887
VAT number: GB827751114

Unless agreed otherwise in writing, all services are provided by Drayton Digital Limited trading as 4UAssist.

2. Scope of Services

4UAssist provides practical support for independent web hosts and related businesses. Services may include, but are not limited to:

• white-label ticket support;
• customer support within your helpdesk;
• cPanel and WHM support;
• DNS, email and mail routing troubleshooting;
• SPF, DKIM, DMARC and anti-spam assistance;
• hosting account migrations and restores;
• technical escalations;
• server administration and troubleshooting;
• security-related investigation and support;
• general hosting infrastructure assistance.

The exact scope of work will depend on the ticket block, hourly work, written agreement, or support arrangement purchased by you.

We may refuse or decline work that falls outside the agreed scope, requires specialist third-party access, creates an unacceptable risk, or is not suitable for the service purchased.

3. White-Label Support

Where agreed, 4UAssist may work inside your helpdesk or support system and respond to your customers under your brand.

You remain responsible for:

• your contractual relationship with your own customers;
• the services you sell to them;
• your pricing, policies and service level commitments;
• any promises or guarantees you have made to them;
• the accuracy of information provided to us;
• deciding what authority we have when dealing with your customers.

Unless agreed otherwise, 4UAssist does not contract directly with your customers and does not accept liability to them.

4. Ticket Blocks

Ticket blocks are prepaid support capacity for standard hosting support requests.

A “ticket” means a standard hosting support request that can reasonably be handled as part of normal support activity. Examples may include email setup questions, DNS queries, cPanel support, basic website hosting issues, simple restore questions, customer guidance, or routine troubleshooting.

A ticket may fall outside the ticket block where it requires extended investigation, server administration, migration work, security clean-up, code debugging, custom development, complex application support, or other deeper technical work.

Where a request falls outside standard ticket support, we may:

• ask for approval before continuing;
• quote or charge at our hourly rate;
• recommend that the work is handled separately;
• decline the work if it is unsuitable.

Ticket blocks are intended to provide practical support capacity. They are not a guarantee that every issue can be resolved within a single ticket or without further charge.

5. Hourly Work

Server administration, migrations, extended troubleshooting, complex escalations and deeper technical work may be billed separately at the hourly rate shown on our website or otherwise agreed in writing.

Hourly work may include, but is not limited to:

• investigating server faults;
• reviewing logs;
• recreating issues;
• checking configuration;
• researching unusual problems;
• testing possible fixes;
• carrying out migrations or restores;
• resolving security or deliverability issues;
• liaising with you about technical findings.

Time spent investigating, diagnosing, researching, testing and documenting work is billable unless agreed otherwise in writing.

6. No Guaranteed Outcome

We will provide services with reasonable care and skill.

However, hosting and server support often depends on third-party software, hosting platforms, DNS propagation, control panels, upstream providers, customer behaviour, backups, network conditions, previous configuration changes and the condition of the affected system.

For that reason, we cannot guarantee:

• that every issue can be resolved;
• that data can always be recovered;
• that a hacked or compromised website can always be cleaned fully;
• that email deliverability can always be restored;
• that a migration will be free from errors;
• that a server will remain secure after work is completed;
• that a fix will not later be affected by changes made by you, your customer, another administrator, software updates, or third-party providers.

You agree that charges may still apply for time spent investigating or attempting to resolve an issue, even where the desired outcome is not achieved.

7. Your Responsibilities

You agree to:

• provide accurate and complete information;
• give us the access needed to perform the agreed work;
• ensure you have permission to give us access to any system, server, helpdesk, account, data or customer environment;
• maintain appropriate backups;
• tell us about any relevant risks, known faults, unusual configurations or previous changes;
• ensure that your own customers are properly informed where necessary;
• obtain any consents required from your customers, staff or suppliers;
• keep your login credentials secure;
• remove or rotate access credentials after the work has been completed where appropriate;
• comply with all applicable laws and regulations.

We are not responsible for delays, failed work or additional costs caused by missing information, incorrect information, restricted access, unavailable systems, third-party outages, lack of backups, or delays in your response.

8. Access to Systems

You may provide access by means such as helpdesk accounts, SSH, WHM, cPanel, control panel access, VPN, password manager sharing, temporary credentials, API keys or other agreed methods.

You are responsible for ensuring that access is lawful and properly authorised.

We may refuse to use insecure access methods or request a safer alternative.

You should remove, disable or rotate credentials once our work is complete unless there is an ongoing support arrangement requiring continued access.

9. Backups and Data Loss

You are responsible for maintaining suitable, tested and recent backups of your own systems and your customers’ systems.

We may assist with backup configuration, backup checks, restores or migration-related copies where agreed, but we do not guarantee that any backup exists, is complete, is current, or is suitable for a particular restore.

Before asking us to make material changes to a server, website, DNS zone, mailbox, database, hosting account or application, you should ensure that an appropriate backup exists.

We are not liable for data loss where no suitable backup was available, where a backup was defective, where third-party systems failed, or where the loss was caused by pre-existing faults, compromise, corruption, misconfiguration or unauthorised access.

10. Acceptable Use

We will only provide services for lawful purposes.

We may refuse, suspend or terminate work where a service, system, website, account, customer or request appears to involve:

• unlawful content or activity;
• phishing, malware, botnets or credential theft;
• spam or abusive email activity;
• unauthorised access to systems;
• denial-of-service activity;
• copyright infringement or software piracy;
• hacking tools or exploit distribution;
• fraud, scams or deceptive activity;
• illegal drugs, weapons or regulated goods;
• harassment, threats or abusive behaviour;
• any activity that may harm our reputation, systems, suppliers, or other clients.

We may also refuse work where we believe you do not have proper authority to request access, changes, investigation or support.

Where necessary, we may report unlawful activity to the relevant provider, registrar, network operator, regulator or law enforcement body.

11. Security and Compromised Systems

If we are asked to work on a compromised server, mailbox, website or account, we will take reasonable steps within the agreed scope.

However, security work is inherently uncertain. A system may have multiple causes of compromise, hidden backdoors, outdated software, weak passwords, vulnerable plugins, exposed services, or third-party weaknesses.

Unless agreed in writing, security support does not include a full forensic investigation, full compliance audit, ongoing monitoring, penetration test, or guarantee that the issue will not return.

You remain responsible for maintaining security after our work, including applying updates, removing unused accounts, enforcing strong passwords, reviewing access, keeping software maintained and monitoring for future compromise.

12. Migrations and Restores

Migration and restore work is subject to the limitations of the source system, destination system, control panel, software versions, network connectivity, available backups and third-party tools.

Unless agreed otherwise, migration work does not include:

• custom code changes;
• fixing broken websites caused by version differences;
• resolving application incompatibilities;
• rewriting hard-coded paths;
• DNS changes at external registrars;
• email client reconfiguration for end users;
• correcting pre-existing faults;
• performance tuning after migration;
• full post-migration testing of every website, mailbox or application.

Additional work may be charged separately.

13. Service Availability and Working Hours

Unless agreed otherwise in writing, 4UAssist provides support during UK working hours.

We do not provide 24/7 support unless a separate written agreement is in place.

Any response times, availability windows or target handling times are estimates only unless expressly agreed in writing as a service level agreement.

We may be unavailable due to illness, holiday, emergency, internet outage, supplier failure or other circumstances beyond our reasonable control. We will act reasonably to manage work and communication during such periods.

14. Fees and Payment

Fees are payable in advance unless agreed otherwise.

Ticket blocks must be paid for before work begins. Hourly work may be billed in advance, in stages, or after completion, at our discretion or as agreed with you.

You agree to pay all invoices by the due date shown on the invoice.

Prices are normally quoted in pounds sterling unless stated otherwise. Where prices are shown in another currency, they may be estimates and the sterling price will prevail unless agreed otherwise.

VAT will be charged where applicable.

15. Late Payment and Suspension

If payment is overdue, we may suspend services until all outstanding sums are paid.

We may also charge interest and reasonable debt recovery costs in accordance with applicable UK late payment legislation where permitted.

Suspension of services does not remove your obligation to pay outstanding invoices.

We are not liable for loss, delay, interruption or customer impact caused by suspension due to non-payment.

16. Refunds and Unused Ticket Blocks

Ticket blocks are prepaid support capacity.

Unless stated otherwise at the time of purchase, unused tickets are not refundable once a ticket block has been purchased, except where required by law or where we agree otherwise in writing.

We may, at our discretion, review refund requests where there has been a genuine service issue. Any refund will be assessed fairly, taking account of the work already completed, tickets used, time spent, and any costs incurred.

You should raise any billing or service quality concern promptly and, in any event, within 30 days of the relevant invoice or issue.

17. Changes to Prices and Services

We may change our prices, packages, ticket definitions or services from time to time.

Changes will not normally affect work already paid for, unless the change is required because of third-party cost increases, tax changes, legal requirements, supplier changes or a material change in scope.

Where a change affects an ongoing arrangement, we will give reasonable notice where practical.

18. Third-Party Services

Our work may involve third-party services such as hosting providers, control panels, registrars, DNS providers, email platforms, cloud providers, licence vendors, software vendors or payment processors.

You agree that third-party services are subject to their own terms, limitations, pricing, availability and support processes.

We are not responsible for failures, delays, bugs, restrictions, price changes, outages or decisions made by third-party providers.

Where we assist with a third-party service, we do so using the access and authority you provide.

19. Intellectual Property

Each party retains ownership of its own intellectual property.

You retain ownership of your systems, data, customer information, branding, website content and materials supplied to us.

We retain ownership of our methods, know-how, processes, templates, internal notes, scripts, documentation, diagnostic approaches and materials developed independently of your business.

Unless agreed otherwise, any written summary or technical explanation we provide is for your internal use only and may not be published, resold or presented as your own work without our consent.

20. Confidentiality

Both parties agree to keep confidential information secure and to use it only for the purposes of providing or receiving the services.

Confidential information includes business information, technical information, login details, customer information, pricing, internal processes, server details, security issues, commercial arrangements and any information that would reasonably be considered confidential.

Confidentiality does not apply to information that:

• is already public;
• was lawfully known before disclosure;
• is received lawfully from a third party;
• is independently developed without using confidential information;
• must be disclosed by law, regulation, court order or lawful authority.

These confidentiality obligations continue after the services end.

21. Data Protection

Both parties agree to comply with applicable UK data protection law.

Depending on the work, you may be the data controller and we may act as your data processor when handling personal data on your behalf. The ICO explains that controllers decide the purposes and means of processing, while processors handle personal data on behalf of controllers.

Where we process personal data on your behalf, we will:

• process it only for the purpose of providing the agreed services;
• take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect it;
• restrict access to those who need it for the work;
• notify you of relevant security concerns where appropriate;
• assist reasonably with data protection obligations where required;
• delete or return personal data where reasonably requested, subject to legal, accounting, security and legitimate business retention requirements.

You are responsible for ensuring that you have the lawful basis, notices, permissions and customer agreements needed to allow us to access or process personal data as part of the services.

Where a formal Data Processing Agreement is required, the parties will enter into one separately.

22. Limitation of Liability

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability where it would be unlawful to do so, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or fraudulent misrepresentation.

Subject to that, we are not liable for:

• loss of profits;
• loss of revenue;
• loss of business;
• loss of goodwill;
• loss of anticipated savings;
• loss or corruption of data;
• business interruption;
• indirect or consequential loss;
• claims made against you by your own customers;
• losses caused by third-party providers;
• losses caused by lack of backups;
• losses caused by inaccurate information or unauthorised access provided by you.

Our total liability for any claim arising from the services is limited to the amount paid by you for the specific service giving rise to the claim, or the amount paid by you in the three months before the claim, whichever is lower.

23. Professional Standard

We will provide the services with reasonable care and skill. UK consumer law uses this standard for services, although most 4UAssist work appears to be business-to-business.

The services are provided on a practical support basis. We do not warrant that the services will be uninterrupted, error-free, completely secure, or suitable for every possible system, customer, configuration or business need.

24. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless 4UAssist, Drayton Digital Limited, its directors, employees, contractors and agents from claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs and expenses arising from:

• your breach of these Terms;
• your misuse of the services;
• unlawful or unauthorised instructions given to us;
• your failure to obtain necessary permissions;
• claims made by your customers;
• content, systems, software or data supplied by you;
• your breach of third-party terms;
• your failure to maintain backups;
• your failure to secure systems after our work is complete.

25. Suspension or Termination

We may suspend or terminate services immediately if:

• you fail to pay on time;
• you breach these Terms;
• you misuse the services;
• you provide false or misleading information;
• we believe the work is unlawful or unauthorised;
• continuing the work may create security, legal, reputational or commercial risk;
• you or your customer behaves abusively or unreasonably;
• we are unable to obtain the access or information needed to continue.

Either party may end an ongoing arrangement by giving written notice, unless a separate agreement states otherwise.

Termination does not affect any rights, obligations or liabilities that have already arisen, including payment obligations.

26. Force Majeure

We are not liable for delay or failure to perform caused by events beyond our reasonable control.

This may include internet outages, hosting provider outages, cloud platform failures, power failure, illness, acts of God, war, terrorism, cyberattack, strikes, government action, pandemic, supplier failure, network failure or other events outside our reasonable control.

27. Notices

Notices should be sent by email or any other agreed written method.

Notices to 4UAssist should be sent to the contact email shown on our website or client portal, unless we have provided another address for legal notices.

You are responsible for keeping your contact details up to date.

28. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time.

The version published on our website will apply to new purchases and new service requests from the date it is posted.

For ongoing arrangements, material changes will apply after reasonable notice unless the change is required sooner for legal, security, tax, supplier or operational reasons.

Continued use of the services after updated Terms take effect will be treated as acceptance of the updated Terms.

29. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms and any dispute or claim arising from them are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

The courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction, unless applicable law requires otherwise.

30. Acceptance

By purchasing, requesting, accessing or using the services, you confirm that you have read, understood and agreed to these Terms.

If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not use the services.