Terms of Service
Pin Oak Web Hosting

The use of services from Pin Oak Web Hosting [hereafter referred to as "Pin Oak"] constitutes agreement to these terms.

  • Account Setup
    • Pin Oak Hosting is responsible for providing the hosting service(s) listed in your purchased Hosted Package.
    • After receipt of payment or approval from payment partner, Pin Oak Hosting is responsible for setting your account on the server.
    • Pin Oak Hosting is responsible for providing technical support, in a timely manner, for issues related to the server for the Hosted Package that you purchased.
  • Email On File
    • It is your responsibility to provide us with an email address which is not at the domain(s) that you are signing up under. If there is ever an abuse issue or we need to contact you, the primary email address on file will be used for this purpose. It is your responsibility to ensure the email address on file is current or up to date at all times. Providing false contact information of any kind may result in the termination of your account.  If you fail to meet these requirements, the order may be considered fraudulent in nature and be denied.
  • Transfers
    • After receipt of payment or approval from payment partner, Pin Oak is responsible for setting your account on the server.
    • Pin Oak is not responsible for transferring your website to our server or setting up email accounts. We can do this, but additional charges may be incurred.
  • Content
    • All services provided by Pin Oak may only be used for lawful purposes. The laws of the State of Missouri and the United States of America apply.
    • The customer agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Pin Oak from any claims resulting from the use of our services.
    • Use of our services to infringe upon any copyright or trademark is prohibited. This includes but is not limited to unauthorized copying of music, books, photographs, or any other copyrighted work. The offer of sale of any counterfeit merchandise of a trademark holder will result in the immediate termination of your account. If you believe that your copyright or trademark is being infringed upon, please contact us.
    • Examples of unacceptable material include:
      IRC Bots, Proxy Scripts / Anonymizers, Pirated Software / Warez, ".img" / image hosting only sites that do not host an actual domain name, Escrow, High-Yield Interest Programs(HYIP) or related sites, Investment sites (FOREX, egold exchange), AutoSurf sites, Bank Debentures, Bank Debenture Trading Programs, Prime Banks Programs, lottery sites, muds / rpg's, hate sites, hacker focused sites/archives/programs, or sites promoting illegal activities

      We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. Any material that, in our judgment, is obscene or threatening is prohibited and will be removed from our servers with or without notice.

      Failure to respond to email from our abuse department within 48 hours may result in the suspension or termination of your services. All abuse issues must be dealt with via email and will have a response within 48 hours.

      If in doubt regarding the acceptability of your site or service, please contact us and we will be happy to assist you.
    • Potential harm to minors is strictly forbidden, including but not limited to child pornography or content perceived to be child pornography (Lolita). Any site found to host child pornography or linking to child pornography will be suspended immediately without notice.

      Direct customers: Your services will be terminated with or without notice.

      Violations will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
  • Scripts
    • Pin Oak is not responsible for scripts that run on your site.
    • Pin Oak is not responsible for script programs listed in the Control Panel. These free scripts are in there as a courtesy. Use at your own risk.
    • If you decide to use the scripts in the Control Panel and you need assistance, you will need to refer to the website address listed in the scripts documentation.
    • It is your responsibility to ensure that scripts/programs installed under your account are secure and permissions of directories are set properly, regardless of installation method. When at all possible, set permissions on most directories to 755 or as restrictive as possible. Users are ultimately responsible for all actions taken under their account. This includes the compromise of credentials such as username and password.
  • Passwords
    • It is required that you use a secure password. If a weak password is used, your account may be suspended until you agree to use a more secure password. Audits may be done to prevent weak passwords from being used. If an audit is performed, and your password is found to be weak, we will notify you and allow time for you to change/update your password.
  • Zero Tolerance Spam Policy
    • We take a zero tolerance stance against sending of unsolicited e-mail, bulk emailing, and spam. "Safe lists" and "double opt-in" will be treated as spam. Any user who sends out spam will have their account terminated with or without notice.
    • Sites advertised via SPAM (Spamvertised) may not be hosted on our servers. This provision includes, but is not limited to SPAM sent via fax, email, instant messaging, or usenet/newsgroups. No organization or entity listed in the ROKSO may be hosted on our servers. Any account which results in our IP space being blacklisted will be immediately suspended and/or terminated.
    • Pin Oak reserves the right to require changes or disable as necessary any web site, account, database, or other component that does not comply with its established policies, or to make any such modifications in an emergency at its sole discretion (other fees may be charged)
    • Pin Oak reserves the right to charge the holder of the account used to send any unsolicited e-mail a clean up fee. This cost of the clean up fee is entirely at the discretion of Pin Oak Web Hosting
  • Payment Information
    • You agree to supply appropriate payment for the services received from Pin Oak Web Hosting, in advance of the time period during which such services are provided. You agree that until and unless you notify Pin Oak of your desire to cancel any or all services received, those services will be billed on a recurring basis. Cancellations must be done via contact us form or telephone at 417-886-6666.
    • Pin Oak reserves the right to change the fees and any other charges at any time without advanced notice.
  • Fees/Payment Plans
    • Annually Paid Fees
      • The hosting fee is not prorated. The annual fee paid covers one year from the date of payment.
      • If charges are incurred on your account during that period, they will be applied to your account and billed out at the end of the month. Terms are Net 30. If these charges are not paid within the 30 days, your account will be subject to disconnect.
    • Overage Fees
      • If overage fees are incurred, those fees will be 1) invoiced the next month or 2) charged to account if paid annually.
  • Backups and Data Loss
    Your use of the service is at your sole risk. Pin Oak is not responsible for files and/or data residing on your account. You agree to take full responsibility for files and data transferred and to maintain all appropriate backup of files and data stored on Pin Oak servers.
  • Cancellations and Refunds
    • Pin Oak reserves the right to cancel the account at any time with or without notice.
      Any abuse of our staff in any medium or format will result in the suspension or termination of your services.
    • No refunds are given for any reason.
  • Violations of the Terms of Service will result in possible account de-activation.
  • Resource Usage
    • User may not:
      • Use 25% or more of system resources for longer then 90 seconds. There are numerous activities that could cause such problems; these include: CGI scripts, FTP, PHP, HTTP, etc.
      • Run any type of interactive real-time chat applications that require server resources. Remotely-hosted services are fully allowed.
      • Run stand-alone, unattended server-side processes at any point in time on the server. This includes any and all daemons, such as IRCD.
      • Run any software that interfaces with an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) network.
      • Run any bit torrent application, tracker, or client.
      • Participate in any file-sharing/peer-to-peer activities
      • Run any gaming servers such as counter-strike, half-life, battlefield1492, etc
      • Run cron entries with intervals of less than 15 minutes
    • When using PHP include functions for including a local file, include the local file rather than the URL. Instead of include("http://yourdomain.com/include.php") use include("include.php")
  • Bandwidth Usage
    You are allocated a monthly bandwidth allowance. This allowance varies depending on the hosting package you purchase. Should your account pass the allocated amount we reserve the right to suspend the account until the start of the next allocation, suspend the account until more bandwidth is purchased at an additional fee, suspend the account until you upgrade to a higher level of package, terminate the account and/or charge you an additional fee for the overages. Unused transfer in one month cannot be carried over to the next month.
  • Price Change
    We reserve the right to change prices listed on www.pinoakwebhosting.com, and the right to increase the amount of resources given to plans at any time. The annual fee you pay will not be affected until the next renewal time.
  • Indemnification
    Customer agrees that it shall defend, indemnify, save and hold Pin Oak harmless from any and all demands, liabilities, losses, costs and claims, including reasonable attorney's fees asserted against Pin Oak Web Hosting, its agents, its customers, officers and employees, that may arise or result from any service provided or performed or agreed to be performed or any product sold by customer, its agents, employees or assigns. Customer agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Pin Oak against liabilities arising out of; (1) any injury to person or property caused by any products sold or otherwise distributed in connection with Pin Oak Web Hosting; (2) any material supplied by customer infringing or allegedly infringing on the proprietary rights of a third party; (3) copyright infringement and (4) any defective products sold to customers from Pin Oak Web Hosting's server.
  • Arbitration
    By using any Pin Oak services, you agree to binding arbitration. If any disputes or claims arise against Pin Oak or its subsidiaries, such disputes will be handled by an arbitrator of Pin Oak Web Hosting's choice. All decisions rendered by that arbitrator will be binding and final. You are also responsible for any and all costs related to such arbitration.
  • Disclaimer
    Pin Oak shall not be responsible for any damages your business may suffer. Pin Oak makes no warranties of any kind, expressed or implied for services we provide. Pin Oak disclaims any warranty or merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This includes loss of data resulting from delays, no deliveries, wrong delivery, and any and all service interruptions caused by Pin Oak and its employees.
  • Disclosure to law enforcement
    Pin Oak may disclose any subscriber information to law enforcement agencies without further consent or notification to the subscriber upon lawful request from such agencies.
    We will cooperate fully with law enforcement agencies.
  • Changes to the TOS
    Pin Oak reserves the right to revise its policies at any time without notice.
  • Contact Pin Oak:
    Pin Oak Web Hosting
    A Division of Pin Oak Web Designs, Inc.
    P O Box 14667
    Springfield, MO 65814
    417-886-6666
    www.pinoakwebhosting.com