Terms & conditions.

About us

Netchameleon is a sole trader located in the north east of England. Our address is Saxondale, High Escomb, Escomb, Bishop Auckland, Co Durham, DL14 7ST.

In these terms, "we", "us" and "our" mean Netchameleon, and "you" means the person or business buying from us. You can contact us through our contact page or by email at sales@netchameleon.co.uk.

These terms

These terms apply to everything you buy from us through netchameleon.co.uk, including:

• Hosting: web hosting and WordPress hosting plans (the "Hosting Service").
• Domain names: registering, renewing and transferring domain names (the "Domain Service").
• Software: our WordPress plugins and licences, and listing packages for our classified-ads software.
• Creative services: logo and brand design, website design, printing, branded clothing, video, whiteboard animation and social media work (the "Creative Services").

The following documents also form part of our agreement with you: our Acceptable Use Policy, our Data Processing Agreement, and any extra terms for a particular offer that we show you when you order. Our Privacy Policy explains how we use your personal data.

Some parts of these terms apply differently depending on whether you are a consumer (buying mainly for personal use, outside your trade or business) or a business customer. Where that matters, we say so.

Your account

To order from us, you need an account. You must give us accurate, complete information and keep it up to date, particularly your email address, because that is how we will contact you about your services, renewals and billing.

Keep your password private and tell us straight away if you think someone else has used your account. You are responsible for anything done through your account unless it was caused by our failure.

You must be at least 18 to order. If you order on behalf of a business, you confirm you have authority to bind that business to these terms.

Ordering and our contract

Before you place an order, our checkout shows you a summary of what you are buying, how often you will be charged and the total price, and lets you correct any mistakes.

When you place an order, we will email you to confirm we have received it. The contract between us is formed when we accept your order, which is when we send that confirmation or when we start providing the service, whichever is sooner. We may decline an order, for example if a domain name is unavailable, if we cannot verify your payment, or if we reasonably suspect fraud or misuse. If we decline an order after taking payment, we will refund you in full.

For Creative Services, we will usually give you a written quote first. The contract is formed when you accept the quote in writing (email is fine).

Prices and payment

• Prices are in pounds sterling and are shown on our website or in your quote. We are not currently VAT registered, so no VAT is added.
• We take payment by credit or debit card through our payment provider, Square. When you buy a subscription (such as hosting or a domain renewal), you authorise us to charge the card saved to your account at the start of each billing period until you cancel. Square stores your card details securely; we never see or store your full card number.
• If a payment fails, we will let you know and try again. If we still cannot take payment, we may suspend the service until the amount is paid, and if it remains unpaid, end the service. We will give you notice before we do either.
• If we change the price of a subscription you already have, we will email you at least 30 days before the new price applies. If you do not want to pay the new price, you can cancel before it takes effect.
• If we make an obvious pricing mistake, we will contact you before accepting your order. We do not have to supply at a price that was clearly wrong.
• Discount codes and promotional offers are subject to the conditions shown with them. At the moment, discount codes cannot be used on hosting plans.

Hosting

Billing periods and renewal

Hosting plans are billed monthly or annually, in advance, depending on what you chose at checkout. Your plan renews automatically at the end of each billing period until you cancel it.

What your plan includes

Each hosting plan is a separate hosting account. The features and limits of your plan, such as the number of websites, storage and email accounts, are as described on our website when you ordered. You can upgrade at any time. If you need more than your plan allows, we will talk to you about a plan that fits.

Fair use

Your use of our hosting must follow our Acceptable Use Policy. Our hosting runs on shared infrastructure provided by our hosting partner, 20i, so we may limit or suspend a website that is using enough resources to affect other customers. Where possible, we will contact you first.

Backups

We take regular backups of our hosting platform to help us recover from technical problems. You are still responsible for keeping your own copies of your website, databases and emails, especially before making changes or cancelling.

Domain names

Registration

We register domain names through our upstream registrar on your behalf. A domain is only yours once registration has been completed with the relevant registry. Until then, we cannot guarantee it, as someone else may register it first. If we cannot register a domain you paid for, we will refund you in full.

Each domain ending (such as .co.uk or .com) is run by a registry with its own rules, which you agree to follow. You can find links to the main registry policies on our Legal page. The details you give for registration must be accurate, and some of them may be published or shared with the registry as the registry's rules require.

You must have the right to use the domain name you register. We may refuse or cancel a registration that we reasonably believe infringes someone else's rights or breaks the law.

Renewals

Domain names are registered for one year at a time and renew automatically each year at the price shown on our website, charged to your saved card, until you cancel. We will remind you by email before a domain renews. If a renewal payment fails and the domain expires, the registry may charge a fee to restore it, and it may become available for others to register.

Included domains with hosting

Some hosting plans include a domain name at no extra cost. Unless the offer says otherwise:

• One included domain is available per qualifying hosting plan.
• Any hosting plan billed annually qualifies. Hosting plans billed monthly qualify if the plan's monthly price is £10.99 or more.
• The included domain must normally cost £9.99 a year or less. More expensive domains, and any additional domains, are charged at our standard price.
• The domain stays free for as long as the qualifying hosting plan stays active. If you cancel or downgrade the hosting, you can keep the domain by paying its standard renewal price when it next renews. Otherwise it will not be renewed.

Transfers

You can transfer a domain to another provider at any time, subject to the registry's rules. We will provide the authorisation code or change the tag you need, unless the domain is within a period the registry locks against transfer, or there is an unpaid balance for it. Fees already paid for the current registration period are not refundable when you transfer away.

Software and plugins

When you buy one of our WordPress plugins or software licences, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use it on the number of websites stated for the licence you bought. Licences with a renewal period include updates and support while the licence is active, and renew automatically until you cancel.

You may not resell, sublicense or redistribute our software, or remove its licensing, except where the software's own licence allows it. Third-party software is provided under its own licence terms.

Creative services

Creative Services (design, websites, printing, clothing, video, animation and social media work) are made to your requirements. For these:

• Your quote sets out what is included, the price, any deposit and how payment is staged.
• We will share drafts or proofs for you to approve. Please check them carefully. Once you approve a proof for printing or production, we are not responsible for errors in it that you approved.
• You must have the right to use any logos, images, text or other material you send us, and you are responsible for that material.
• Once you have paid in full, you own the final approved artwork, logo or video we create for you. We keep ownership of any working files, unused concepts, templates and tools unless we agree otherwise. Third-party elements, such as stock images, fonts or music, are licensed to you on their own terms.
• Delivery times in quotes are estimates. We will keep you informed if anything changes.

Switch & Save offer

Our Switch & Save offer is for customers moving hosting to us from another provider. These terms apply to it, alongside the rest of these terms.

• Your current price. To qualify, send us a current invoice or renewal quote from your existing provider for the hosting you want to move. We may ask for more information to confirm it.
• Beat by 10%. We will offer you an equivalent Netchameleon hosting plan at a price at least 10% lower than the renewal price on your invoice or quote. If we do not have an equivalent plan, we will tell you and suggest the closest option.
• 5-year price freeze. The hosting price we agree will not increase for 5 years from the start of your plan, as long as the plan stays active, is paid on time and you stay on the same plan. Domain names, extra services and upgrades are charged at our normal prices.
• First month free. Your first month of hosting is free of charge. After that, you pay the agreed price.
• Free website migration. We will move your website files, databases and email accounts from your current host at no charge. Please keep your old hosting active until we confirm the move is complete.
• Domain transfers. Transferring a .uk domain (including .co.uk, .org.uk and .me.uk) to us is free. Transfers of all other domain endings are charged at our normal transfer fee, as shown on our domain transfer page.
• General. The offer is for new hosting customers switching from another provider, and one Switch & Save offer applies per hosting plan. It cannot be combined with other offers. We may change or end the offer for new switches at any time, but this will not affect a Switch & Save price we have already agreed with you.

Free website design offer

Our free website design offer lets you see a website designed for your business before you pay anything. These terms apply to it, alongside the rest of these terms.

• What is free. We will design a website of up to 5 pages for your business and show it to you on a private preview link, at no charge. Extra pages, online shops and other features beyond this are quoted separately, and we will tell you the price before doing any extra work.
• Going live. To publish your website, you need a Netchameleon hosting plan, charged at the price shown when you order. If you decide not to go ahead, you owe us nothing.
• Your content. You must have the right to use any text, logos and photos you send us. We may use AI tools to help design pages and draft text; a person reviews every page, and nothing goes live without your approval. Please check all wording, especially facts and prices, before you approve it.
• Plugins. We may recommend our own Netchameleon Suite plugins or other plugins that suit your business. Some have paid versions; we will always tell you about any cost before you decide.
• Ownership. Once your website is live on a paid hosting plan, the content and design we created for it are yours to use. Until then, the preview design remains ours. Third-party themes, plugins, fonts and images are licensed to you on their own terms.
• Previews. We keep your preview available for a reasonable time while you decide, and may remove it if we have not heard from you.
• General. One free design per business. We may change or end this offer for new requests at any time, without affecting designs we have already agreed to create.

Your right to cancel (consumers)

If you are a consumer, you normally have the right to cancel a contract with us within 14 days without giving a reason, under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. The 14 days start the day after the contract is formed.

• Services that start straight away. If you ask us to start a service (such as hosting) within the 14 days and then cancel, we will refund you minus a proportionate amount for the service already provided up to the point you told us you were cancelling.
• Domain names. Registering a domain is completed with the registry as soon as you order and cannot be undone. When you order a domain, you ask us to register it immediately. Once it has been registered, the registration fee cannot be refunded.
• Digital content and software. You lose the right to cancel once you have downloaded the software or received a licence key, provided you agreed to this when ordering.
• Personalised and made-to-order work. The right to cancel does not apply to goods made to your specifications or clearly personalised, such as printed items, branded clothing or a logo created for you, once production has started.

To cancel, tell us clearly that you want to cancel, either through our contact page or by email to sales@netchameleon.co.uk. We will refund you within 14 days to the card you paid with.

Cancelling a subscription

You can cancel a hosting plan at any time from My account › My hosting. To cancel a domain renewal or a software licence, or if you need help cancelling anything, contact us.

• When you cancel, your service continues until the end of the billing period you have already paid for, then ends. You will not be charged again.
• We do not give refunds for the unused part of a billing period, except during the 14-day cancellation period above or where the law requires it.
• When a hosting plan ends, your website files, databases and email accounts on that plan are permanently deleted. Please download anything you want to keep before your service ends.
• Cancelling a hosting plan does not cancel separately paid domain names. They keep renewing until you cancel them too.

Our service and support

We will provide our services with reasonable care and skill. We work hard to keep hosting available and secure, but like any internet service, we cannot promise it will be uninterrupted or error-free. We may need to carry out maintenance, which we will try to schedule to keep disruption to a minimum.

For help, contact us through our contact page or by email. Our support covers our services and their setup. It does not include writing or fixing code for your website unless we have agreed to do that as a Creative Service.

Suspension and ending services

We may suspend or end a service if:

• payment is overdue and remains unpaid after we have contacted you;
• you seriously or repeatedly break these terms or our Acceptable Use Policy;
• we are required to by law, a court, a regulator or a domain registry; or
• your service is a security risk to our platform or other customers, for example if a website has been hacked.

Where it is reasonable, we will warn you first and give you a chance to put things right. In an emergency, we may act immediately and tell you afterwards.

We may also stop offering a service altogether. If so, we will give you at least 30 days' notice and refund any amount you have paid for the period after the service ends.

Your content and data

You keep ownership of everything you put on our services. You give us permission to store, copy and serve it only as needed to provide the services to you.

You are responsible for your content and for making sure it is lawful. Where your website or email holds other people's personal data, you are the controller of that data and we process it for you under our Data Processing Agreement.

If you are a business customer, you agree to cover our reasonable losses and costs arising from any claim that your content infringes someone else's rights or breaks the law.

Our liability

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot legally be limited or excluded.

If you are a consumer

We are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of us breaking these terms or failing to use reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for loss that was not foreseeable. Our services are for domestic and private use. If you use them for a business, we are not liable to you for loss of profit, business, business interruption or business opportunity. Your legal rights, including under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, are not affected. Citizens Advice can explain them.

If you are a business customer

We are not liable for loss of profit, revenue, business, contracts, goodwill, anticipated savings or data, or for any indirect or consequential loss. Our total liability to you for everything arising under or in connection with our contract in any 12-month period is limited to the amount you paid us during that period. All terms implied by law, other than those that cannot be excluded, are excluded. We recommend you hold suitable business interruption insurance.

Events outside our control

We are not responsible for delays or failures caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as a failure of a supplier's network or data centre, a cyber attack, power cut, fire, flood, pandemic or government action. If this happens, we will tell you as soon as we can and do what we reasonably can to limit the effect. If the problem lasts for more than 30 days, either of us may end the affected service, and we will refund anything you have paid for the period after it ends.

Complaints

If you are not happy with our service, please tell us using our complaint form or by email to sales@netchameleon.co.uk. We will look into it and respond as quickly as we can. If you have a concern about how we handle personal data, see our Privacy Policy.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms, for example to reflect changes to our services or the law. The version in force when you place an order applies to that order. For ongoing subscriptions, we will email you at least 30 days before any change that affects you materially takes effect. If you do not agree to it, you can cancel before it applies.

General

• Communication. We will mainly contact you by email at the address on your account, and you agree that we may provide notices and information electronically.
• Transferring the contract. We may transfer our rights and obligations to another organisation, and will tell you if we do. If you are a consumer, this will not reduce your rights. You may not transfer yours without our written agreement.
• Third parties. No one other than you and us has any right to enforce these terms.
• Severability. If a court finds part of these terms invalid, the rest will still apply.
• No waiver. If we delay enforcing these terms, we can still enforce them later.
• Entire agreement (business customers). These terms and the documents they refer to are the whole agreement between us and replace anything said before.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction. If you are a consumer living in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can also bring proceedings in your local courts, and you keep the protection of any mandatory consumer laws where you live.