Terms of Service

1. Agreement to these terms

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your use of the services provided by ARA (“we”, “us”, “our”). By ordering, accessing or using our services, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the services.

If you are entering into these Terms on behalf of a company, you confirm you have authority to bind it. Our Privacy Policy and the Acceptable Use section below form part of these Terms.

2. The service

We provide unmanaged virtual private servers, dedicated and GPU servers, and WordPress hosting, delivered on infrastructure located in the European Union.

“Unmanaged” means we provide and maintain the underlying platform — hardware, network, power and provisioning — and you are responsible for the operating system, software and everything you run on your server. We may add, change or withdraw features from time to time.

3. Your account

To use our services you must register an account and provide accurate, complete and current information. You are responsible for keeping your login credentials secure and for all activity under your account, and you must tell us promptly of any unauthorised use.

You must be at least 18 years old, or the age of majority where you live, to open an account.

4. Unmanaged service & your responsibilities

Because our services are unmanaged, you have full root or administrator access and full control of your server. You are solely responsible for:

• installing, configuring, updating and securing your operating system and applications;
• taking and testing your own backups of your data;
• monitoring your server and its performance;
• the content, data and traffic on your server, and its compliance with the law;
• any users you allow to access your server.

We do not manage, patch, back up or monitor the contents of your server, and we are not responsible for problems arising from how you configure or use it.

5. Acceptable use

You must not use our services to host, transmit or facilitate anything illegal or harmful. This includes, without limitation:

• illegal content, or content that infringes others’ intellectual property or privacy;
• spam, bulk unsolicited email, or phishing;
• malware, botnets, or tools designed to gain unauthorised access to systems;
• attacks on other networks or systems (such as DoS/DDoS), port scanning or intrusion attempts;
• child sexual abuse material, or content that exploits or endangers minors;
• activity that harms, overloads or endangers our platform or other customers.

We may investigate suspected violations and take action, including removing content or suspending services. [Add or adjust any prohibited uses specific to your business.]

6. Fees, billing & renewals

Fees are shown at the point of order and billed in advance, monthly or annually as selected. Unless you cancel, services renew automatically for further terms at the same price you signed up at, and you authorise us to charge your payment method for each renewal.

Prices are exclusive of VAT unless stated; applicable taxes will be added. If a payment fails, we may retry it and, after a grace period, suspend or terminate the service.

7. Cancellation & refunds

You may cancel at any time before your next renewal date from your client area; your service remains active until the end of the period you have already paid for.

Because services are billed in advance with no long-term commitment, fees already paid are generally non-refundable and we do not refund partial periods, except where required by law. [Set out any money-back guarantee or specific refund terms you offer.]

8. Support

Our support covers provisioning, billing and the underlying network and hardware. It does not extend to the operating system, applications or other software on your server, which are your responsibility under the unmanaged model.

We aim to respond to support requests during business hours but do not guarantee response or resolution times.

9. Service availability

We work to keep our platform reliable but do not guarantee that the services will be uninterrupted or error-free, and we do not offer a service level agreement (SLA) or uptime guarantee.

We may carry out maintenance, and will try to give notice of planned maintenance likely to cause disruption. We are not liable for downtime caused by factors outside our reasonable control, including issues within your own server.

10. Backups & data loss

You are responsible for maintaining your own backups of any data on your server. We do not guarantee that we hold backups of your data, and you should not rely on us for data recovery.

To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any loss of data. We strongly recommend keeping independent, off-server backups.

11. Suspension & termination

We may suspend or terminate your services if you breach these Terms or the Acceptable Use section, fail to pay, or where required by law or to protect our platform or others. We may also terminate for convenience by giving reasonable notice.

On termination, your right to use the services ends and your server and its data may be deleted after a short retention window — export anything you need beforehand.

12. Your content & data

You retain ownership of the content and data you place on your server. You are responsible for ensuring you have the rights to it and that it complies with the law.

For personal data you process on your server you act as the data controller; our role and your responsibilities are described in our Privacy Policy. You grant us the limited access to your account and server necessary to provide, secure and — where you request it — support the services.

13. Intellectual property

Our website, branding and the materials we provide are owned by us or our licensors and protected by intellectual property laws. You may not copy, resell or reuse them except as permitted. Nothing in these Terms transfers our intellectual property to you, or yours to us.

14. Third-party infrastructure & services

Our services rely on third-party infrastructure and providers (for example, data-centre and payment providers), and your use may also be subject to those providers’ terms. We are not responsible for third-party services outside our control, and we may change providers where needed to deliver the service.

15. Disclaimers

The services are provided “as is” and “as available”. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, whether express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and any warranty regarding uptime, security or data.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain disclaimers, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

16. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, or for loss of profits, revenue, data or goodwill, arising from your use of the services.

Our total liability to you for any claim relating to the services is limited to the amount you paid us for the service in the [three] months before the event giving rise to the claim. Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded by law. [Have this clause reviewed — liability caps are heavily regulated.]

17. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from claims, losses and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your use of the services, your content, or your breach of these Terms or the law.

18. Changes to the service & these terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will post the updated version with a new “last updated” date, and where changes are material we will give reasonable notice. Continuing to use the services after changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms.

19. Governing law & disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of Germany, and the courts of [your place of jurisdiction, e.g. Bochum] have jurisdiction, unless mandatory law in your country of residence provides otherwise.

If you are a consumer, this does not deprive you of the protection of mandatory consumer-protection law where you live. [Confirm governing law and jurisdiction with a qualified professional.]