Terms and Conditions

  1. Monthly fees and costs

User agrees to pay the monthly fees and/or administration fees, as stipulated in the relevant application form. User understands that Equation Business Solutions may vary its fees from time to time provided that the user shall be given no less than one month’s calendar notice thereof in the event of user’s membership being a monthly one, or, in the event of the user’s membership being for any period in excess of one month, provided that notification of such variation shall be given on no less than one calendar month’s prior to the termination of such period. Notification in each case may be given to the user at any address provided by the user including user’s e-mail address.

Administration fees include, but are not limited to, account debit rejects, interest, postal fees, or any accounting related costs.

All payments are due seven days after invoice. Invoices for monthly hosting or dialup/ADSL fees are normally dated the 1st of each month and is therefore payable by the 7th of the same month. Any hosting or dialup/ADSL accounts that are not paid up by the 7th of the month will be suspended without notice and will only be unsuspended when full outstanding payment is received and Equation Business Solutions have access to proof of such payment.

Equation Business Solutions reserves the right to increase or alter any service price or fee with thirty days notice sent by email to the subscribers main dialup or hosting email address.

  1. Notice periods / Cancellations

The user agrees that all analogue dialup services are subject to a one calendar month notice period. Cancellation of a subscription does not release the account holder from paying any and all amounts due to Equation Business Solutions at the time of cancellation. All notices to be given on the first of the current month or by the last day of the previous month to be effective on the first of the current month. Cancellation from user must be sent via fax to (021) 464-4401. Emailed/verbal cancellations are not accepted.

In the event of an account being cancelled by Equation Business Solutions due to any reason whatsoever, the user agrees to settle all outstanding fees and/or admin fees, including any pro-rata amounts due.

  1. Email viruses

Whilst every effort is made to ensure that email received or transmitted is virus-free, no guarantee can be made that any email will be virus-free. Equation Business Solutions under no circumstances accepts any liability, whether for the sender or recipient, for any loss of information, loss of income, or damage to computer systems or information or any other effect of computer viruses, whether directly or indirectly, or whether from any anti-virus system auto-disinfect action, whatsoever.

It is the client’s sole responsibility to install appropriate anti-virus software on his/her personal computer or server and to ensure that such software is regularly updated with the latest anti-virus signatures.

Equation Business Solutions reserves the right to deactivate virus scanning without prior notice to perform routine upgrades and/or testing.

  1. Responsibility for others using Account

If a user allows others to use their account, regardless of the method, the user is responsible for the actions of these other people.

  1. Adult Materials

A user publishing information from their Equation Business Solutions account that might be considered mature content agrees to register their site with appropriate organisations and/or companies that produce products to block access by children to adult material. User also agrees to monitor legislative changes and immediately remove any materials that become illegal due to such changes.

If adult materials or pornography is hosted by any user on any server on Equation Business Solutions network, Equation Business Solutions reserves the right to move the user’s account to a server that allows materials of an adult or pornographic nature.

Hosting of child pornography as described by the laws of the country any specific server resides in, is strictly forbidden.

  1. Web Hosting Logs and Statistics

Equation Business Solutions reserves the right to periodically clear (ie, truncate) without prior warning or notification the web server HTTP access and error log files for all hosted websites. The subscriber accepts that this will imply the clearing of the online website statistics.

  1. Website hosting costs

Monthly payment is in advance, and a pro-rata monthly fee will be charged if hosting is not to commence at the start of a particular month.

  1. Telkom Costs

All Telkom and associated or related telecommunications costs are for the client’s account. This includes, but is not limited to, analogue line rental, call usage and installation, ISDN line rental, call usage and installation and diginet line rental, usage and/or installation. It is the client’s responsibility to confirm whether the radial distance from their Telkom exchange is within 50km of the relevant Equation Business Solutions dialin node by contacting Telkom and obtaining the exact fee.

  1. Non Payment of Accounts / Blacklisting

Equation Business Solutions reserves the right to:

  1.  refuse development, programming, technical support and/or to remove any hosted website from the internet.
  2. replace a website with a “Suspended due to non-payment” notice in the case of non-payment by the client or in the case of fees due for payment. An account that is behind payment for more than seven days will be considered in arrears and action may be taken as required. Suspension will take place without notice to the client and the account will only be unsuspended when full outstanding payment is received and Equation Business Solutions have access to proof of such payment.
  3. withhold access for overdue accounts, while the client shall continue to be liable for the service until the conditions of notice of termination are fulfilled.
  4. not transfer ownership of any domain or not pay the relevant domain registration authority for registration of a domain if any fees are due or outstanding.

Equation Business Solutions reserves the right to lock and/or suspend any or all services and to charge a reconnection and admin fee if payment unpaid for whatever reason. The reconnection fee is the equivalent of one calendar month of the reconnected service for each individual service/item. The admin fee is determined at Equation Business Solutions’s sole discretion.

  1. WebMail Service

Equation Business Solutions reserves the right to attach a brief footnote on all outgoing email messages sent via the free-of-charge WebMail service at http://webmail.eqweb.co.za. Further, Equation Business Solutions reserves the right to place banner or text advertisements on the Webmail pages.

Equation Business Solutions provides the Webmail service to its clients as an additional service and this is not meant to replace normal use of a user’s mailboxes by means of an offline mail reader.

  1. Technical Support Hours

Telephonic support for all client services (web, domain, server, etc) is during office hours only (weekdays: 8am-5pm). Public holidays: closed. Equation Business Solutions reserves the right to not provide telephonic or other technical support on occasion for internal staff training. Clients are urged to rather submit support queries via e-mail to support@equation.co.za. Equation Business Solutions will endeavour to answer support related email sent to support@equation.co.za within 24 business hours (mon-fri).

  1. Service Disruption/Maintenance

Equation Business Solutions reserves the right to temporarily bring telecommunications equipment and/or servers or software systems offline for maintenance and/or upgrades without prior warning. In the event of software systems being offline for extended periods of time for testing and/or implementation, Equation Business Solutions will ensure that alternate mechanisms are available.

The subscriber acknowledges that from time to time there may be a suspension in services due to causes beyond the control of Equation Business Solutions. For the purpose of this agreement such causes include, but is not limited to acts of God, civil commotion, rights, insurrection, theft, fire, explosion, governmental embargoes, war, sabotage, national emergency, martial law, lightning, flood, landslide, storm or other adverse weather conditions, explosion, power shortage, epidemic, quarantine, radiation or radio active contamination, action or inaction of any government or other competent authority including expropriation, restraint, prohibition, intervention, requisition, requirement, direction or embargo by legislation, regulation, decree or other legally enforceable order (including any order of Court), and breakdown of plant, machinery or equipment, externally caused transmission interference or satellite failure or satellite malfunction, or satellite downtime for any reason whatsoever or any failure of any dedicated permanent digital line connection used by Equation Business Solutions or shortage of labour, transportation, fuel, power or plant, machinery, equipment or material.

Because of the need to conduct maintenance, repair and/or improvement work from time to time on the technical infrastructure by means of which the service is provided, the provision of the service may be suspended from time to time without notice by Equation Business Solutions.  All liability on the part of Equation Business Solutions of any loss or damage (whether directly or consequential) thereby incurred or for any costs, claims or demands of any nature arising there from is excluded.

  1. Domain (DNS) Transfer and Domain Registrations

Transferring of client domains to Equation Business Solutions servers does not include website content migration. It is the client’s responsibility to ensure any and all website contents are transferred from the old server at whichever ISP it may be. Furthermore, the client accepts that due to the nature of the internet in general and DNS in particular, whether for .co.za, .com or any other domains, that domain transfers may be delayed due to circumstances beyond Equation Business Solutions control.

Equation Business Solutions reserves the right to block and/or decline any domain transfer ticket if determined that the client has not provided the appropriate written notice or if any outstanding fees are payable by the client.

Equation Business Solutions reserves the right to register (or transfer to Equation Business Solutions) a client domain in the name of Equation Business Solutions and to transfer ownership to the client only once all outstanding fees have been paid in full. Payment to the relevant domain registration authority to be performed at a date determined by Equation Business Solutions.

  1. Liability

This clause specifies the entire liability of Equation Business Solutions, including liability for negligence and, in particular (but without limitation) all other statutory, express, implied or collateral terms, conditions or warranties are excluded.

With the exception of such liability as may be imposed upon Equation Business Solutions by law for its acts or omissions, Equation Business Solutions does not accept any liability towards the client or any other person or entity or any nature, or from any cause whatsoever, nor does it undertake to indemnify the client against claims made against it of any nature whatsoever, by any person or entity whatsoever, arising from any termination of or suspension of or defect in the service provided by Equation Business Solutions, or from any acts, errors or omissions on the part of Equation Business Solutions or its employees. Without derogating from the generality thereof, Equation Business Solutions does not accept liability for any damages caused by loss of income, loss of profits, loss of goodwill, breaches of contract, or any form of consequential loss.

Any product or service is provided on an “as-is” basis and Equation Business Solutions makes no express or implied warranties or representations of whatsoever nature with respect to any such product or service.

The client shall and hereby does indemnify Equation Business Solutions-

  1. against any damage, loss or liability arising from the provision of services or products to the client, its employees, directors, agents and/or representatives;
  2. against any damage, loss of service, service degradation, loss or liability of whatsoever nature arising from a breach of Equation Business Solutions security measures, probing, scanning, denial of service attack, or breach/compromise, probing/scanning of client’s computer or network from the internet or Equation Business Solutions network, any misuse of Equation Business Solutions facilities or services and/or any act or omission of any other client of Equation Business Solutions;
  3. from any claim by any third party arising directly or indirectly out of or related to the client’s access to or use of services rendered or products provided by Equation Business Solutions or any information or data obtained through such access or use;
  4. and its affiliates and subsidiaries, for all loss, damage, cost or liability that may be incurred by any one or more of them in the event that the client’s use of the service and/or the products supplied hereunder –
  1. constitutes a violation of any law, regulation or tariff;
  2. is defamatory, fraudulent or deceptive;
  3. is intended to threaten, harass or intimidate; or
  4. interferes with the use or enjoyment of other clients of the services and products provided by Equation Business Solutions.

Under no circumstances whatsoever will Equation Business Solutions liability, if any and whether in contract or otherwise, exceed the aggregate of the amounts actually paid by the client to Equation Business Solutions.

It is the client’s responsibility to ensure –

  1. adequate insurance for co-located servers and/or server/website/database contents is provided for against theft, fire, lightning damage, water damage, equipment failure, electrical/static surges or spikes, acts of God and/or any other incident beyond Equation Business Solutions control.
  2. all software programs in use on co-located servers are up to date with the latest versions to protect against vulnerabilities and program bugs and/or malfunctions, etc.
  1. Use Limitations 
  1. that the client is aware and will stay aware of and shall at all times comply with all statutory or other regulatory provisions and rules applicable to the provision and use of the services from time to time;
  2. that the client shall make use of the services in a responsible, prudent, lawful and honest manner;
  3. that the client shall comply with any directions, instructions and limitations issued or notified by Equation Business Solutions from time to time in connection with the services;
  4. that the client shall not use any service in a manner which –
  1. constitutes a violation of any law, regulation or tariff that may be in force in South Africa or  elsewhere. In particular the client undertakes to familiarise the client and ensure that the client is kept continuously appraised of all such laws, regulations and tariffs in force from time to time which may have any bearing on the services rendered and products provided by Equation Business Solutions and/or the client’s access to or use thereof;
  2. constitutes an act or omission that is generally unacceptable or offensive to internet users in general, to the public at large or as same may be determined by Equation Business Solutions from time to time in its sole and absolute discretion,  specifically including (but not limited to) the hosting of pornographic material, spamming, hacking, unsolicited mailing etc.;
  3. contravenes any Equation Business Solutions policy, as such document may be published, updated and amended by Equation Business Solutions from time to time;
  4. is defamatory, fraudulent or deceptive;
  5. is intended to threaten, harass, nuke or intimidate;
  6. tends to damage the name or reputation of Equation Business Solutions, its holding company, affiliates and subsidiaries; or
  7. interferes with the use and enjoyment of Internet related services of clients of Equation Business Solutions
  1. that the services to be rendered to the client shall be as defined and subject to such limitations as may be notified from time to time by Equation Business Solutions;
  2. that the client is aware of the limitations of all relevant services and that service quality and coverage available shall be limited to that supported by the infrastructure of Equation Business Solutions, its network providers and Telkom and that service may from time to time be adversely affected by a number of different causes;
  3. the client shall not commit any act or omission which may have an adverse technical effect on the integrity or functionality of the network infrastructure of Equation Business Solutions or that provided or made available to the client by or through Equation Business Solutions. If any act or omission of the client has such an adverse technical effect the client shall, on receiving notification to that effect from Equation Business Solutions, forthwith take such steps as may be necessary to rectify the situation at his own cost and expense, failing which Equation Business Solutions shall be entitled, without prejudice to its other rights in terms hereof or at law, to forthwith suspend the service and terminate this agreement;
  4. unless otherwise agreed by Equation Business Solutions in writing, the client shall not resell or make available to third parties, in any manner whatsoever and whether directly or indirectly, the services provided to the client by Equation Business Solutions; and
  5. the client shall take whatever steps may be necessary to ensure the safekeeping and confidentiality of all identification codes and passwords furnished by Equation Business Solutions for use by the client and shall specifically not disclose same to any third party without Equation Business Solutions prior written consent.
  1. Excusable Events

Equation Business Solutions shall not be liable to the client for any breach of this agreement or failure on its part to perform any obligation as a result of any circumstances outside Equation Business Solutions reasonable control, including without limitation, of technical problems relating to the networks of Equation Business Solutions, software, Telkom or any network provider of Equation Business Solutions, or any one or more of them, acts of God, government control, restrictions or prohibitions or any government act or omission, whether local, national or international, act or default of any supplier, agent or sub-contractor, industrial disputes of any kind or any other cause.

  1. Alteration

Equation Business Solutions reserves the right and shall be entitled to alter any name, code or number allocated by Equation Business Solutions for use in connection with the services and the client hereby indemnifies Equation Business Solutions against any cost to the client, loss or liability arising from such alteration.

  1. Legal Costs

The client shall be liable to Equation Business Solutions for the payment of Legal Costs on the Attorney and Own Client Scale including collection commission, where such costs are incurred by it in order to enforce any right or claim it shall have against the client, whether or not legal proceedings are instituted in a Court of Law in order to do so.

In the event that any of these terms are found to be invalid, unlawful or unenforceable, such terms will be severable from the remaining terms, which will continue to be valid and enforceable.

Any terms and conditions not expressed herein are reserved by Equation Business Solutions.

Equation Business Solutions reserves the right to terminate a user’s account without notice for violation of this policy or any term or condition contained in this document.

Dialup accounts are limited to a single simultaneous session per dialup username.

Equation Business Solutions reserves the right to sell any client equipment in it’s possession to defray service costs and/or fees owing by client; Equation Business Solutions furthermore reserves the right to retain client equipment in it’s possession if any fees are owing by the client or if the client is in breach of contract, and to sell such equipment to recover fees unless such fees are not settled within 30 (thirty) days from date of demand.

  1. Change in Ownership of Customer or of Customer’s Business

The customer confirms that it is aware that changes in the shareholding or membership of a Company or Close Corporation will not affect the contractual relationship between Equation Business Solutions and the Customer, which will continue until it is terminated in the manner set forth herein or in such other manner as the law may prescribe. Similarly, disposal by the customer of its business to a third party will also not terminate or affect the contractual relationship between Equation Business Solutions and the customer.

In the event that the existing owner(s) / shareholder(s) or member(s) have agreed to dispose of their interests in the business in any manner or in the corporation or company which owns same under circumstances where the new owners or shareholders or members will continue to make use of Equation Business Solutions services, it will be necessary for the customer and the new owner of the business or of the entity trading as such to make arrangements with Equation Business Solutions for the termination of the existing contract and for the conclusion of another contract with the new persons or entity.

Kindly note that Equation Business Solutions reserves all of its rights in this regard and that it retains the right to elect whether to agree to the termination of an existing contract before its normal termination date, and also to determine the conditions upon which it may do so.

  1. Email disclaimer and confidentiality note 

The following clause pertains to email sent by any Equation Business Solutions representative: everything in this e-mail and any attachments relating to the official business of Equation Business Solutions is proprietary to Equation Business Solutions. It is confidential, legally privileged and protected by law. Equation Business Solutions does not own and endorse any other content. Views and opinions are those of the sender unless clearly stated as being that of Equation Business Solutions. The person addressed in the e-mail is the sole authorised recipient. Please notify the sender immediately if it has unintentionally reached you and do not read, disclose or use the content in any way. Equation Business Solutions can not assure that the integrity of this communication has been maintained nor that it is free of errors, virus, interception or interference.

  1. Liability for client equipment 

Equation Business Solutions does not accept liability for damage, malfunction, theft or loss of any computer, modem, printer, monitor or any other computer or related hardware, documentation or software, left at Equation Business Solutions premises or left in the possession of any Equation Business Solutions representative for purposes of repair, installation, consultation or related service.

  1. Breach
22.1 Subject to the provisions of clause 22.2 to the contrary, if either party hereto –

22.1.1 either party hereto breaches any of the terms or conditions hereof or of any other agreement and fails to remedy such breach or pay such amount, as the case may be, within 7 (seven) days after the receipt of written notice from the other party;
22.1.2 commits any act of insolvency;
22.1.3 endeavours to compromise generally with its creditors or does or cause anything to be done which may prejudice the other party’s right hereunder or at all;
22.1.4 allows any judgement against it to remain unsettled for more than 10 (ten) days without taking immediate steps to have it rescinded and successfully prosecuting the application for rescission to its final end;
22.1.5 is placed in liquidation or under judicial management (in either case, whether provisionally or finally) or, being an individual, his estate is sequestrated or voluntarily surrendered,

 
22.2 either party shall have the right, without prejudice to any other right which it may have against the other, to –

22.2.1 treat as immediately due and payable all outstanding amounts which would otherwise become due and payable over the unexplored period of the agreement and to claim such amounts as well as any other amounts in arrears including interest and to cease performance of its obligations hereunder as well as under any other contract with the subscriber until the subscriber has remedied the breach; or
22.2.2 cancel this agreement;
22.2.3 in either event without prejudice to the other party’s right to claim damages.

 
22.3 In the event of any expiration, termination or cancellation of this agreement, provisions hereof which are intended to continue and survive shall so continue and survive.
22.4 The subscriber shall be liable for all costs incurred by Equation Business Solutions in the recovery of any amounts or the enforcement of any rights which it has hereunder, including collection charges and costs on an attorney and own client scale whether incurred prior to or during the institution of legal proceedings or if judgement has been granted, in connection with the satisfaction or enforcement of such judgement.