Terms of Service

These Terms of Service are an agreement between Alphacore Pty Ltd (ABN 20 668 068 022) ("Alphacore", "we", "our", "us") and the person or organisation using our services ("you", "your", "client"). Please read them carefully. They apply to every service we provide, together with any quote, proposal or service schedule we issue to you.

1. Agreement to Terms

1.1 By accepting a quote or proposal, paying an invoice, or using any of our services, you agree to these Terms of Service. If you do not agree, you must not use our services.

1.2 If you accept these terms on behalf of a business or other organisation, you confirm that you are authorised to bind it. Where the client is a sole trader or partnership, the individual or partners are personally responsible for amounts owing.

1.3 If there is any inconsistency, the following order applies: (a) a signed or accepted quote, proposal or service agreement; (b) these Terms of Service; (c) any other published policy.

2. Definitions

• Services means any service we supply to you, including those listed in clause 3.
• Recurring Services means services billed on a regular cycle, such as hosting, server management, licences, domains, VoIP and managed services.
• Project Work means one-off work such as web development, migrations, installations and hardware supply.
• Time-Based Work means work billed by the hour, including remote, onsite, phone, administrative and web development work.
• Third-Party Services means products and services supplied by another provider that we resell, arrange or manage for you, including software licences, cloud platforms, domain registries, carriers and hardware manufacturers.
• Written notice includes notice by email to the address we hold for you, or a reply through our support ticket system.

3. Our Services

3.1 Alphacore provides business IT services including, but not limited to:

• Server management (Linux, cPanel/WHM, dedicated and VPS servers) and server migrations
• Web hosting, email hosting and offsite backups
• Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace licensing and administration
• Domain name registration, renewal and DNS management
• VoIP telephony, phone numbers and internet services
• Managed IT and end-user support (remote, phone and onsite)
• Cyber security services, including email and phishing protection
• Networking, cabling and hardware supply
• Web and application development, and WordPress repair and tuning

3.2 The specific services, scope and pricing for your engagement are set out in your quote, proposal, service agreement or invoices. Work outside that scope is additional work and is charged under clause 6.

3.3 We may change how a service is delivered (for example, the underlying provider, platform or server) provided the service you receive is not materially reduced.

4. Quotes and Orders

4.1 Quotes do not carry an expiry date. Pricing and stock availability are reconfirmed when the order is placed, and totals are subject to change based on market prices at the time of execution. If the price changes materially, we will confirm with you before ordering.

4.2 A quote is accepted when you accept it through our client portal, confirm it in writing, or instruct us to proceed. Once a quote is accepted and goods are ordered from a supplier, the order cannot be cancelled without your agreement to pay any costs we cannot recover from the supplier.

4.3 Estimates of time for Project Work are estimates only. Time-Based Work is charged on the time actually spent, subject to clause 6.

5. Payment Terms

Invoices are issued monthly in advance for recurring services and upon completion for project-based work, unless otherwise specified. Payment is due within 14 days of invoice date. A late fee of $15 may be charged on each invoice that remains unpaid 14 days after its due date. The late fee applies regardless of payment method.

5.1 Suspension for non-payment. If any invoice remains unpaid more than 30 days after its due date, we may suspend some or all services on 7 days' written notice until the account is paid in full. Recurring charges continue to accrue during a suspension.

5.2 Recovery of overdue amounts. If an overdue amount remains unpaid after a final written notice, we may, at our sole discretion, choose the means of recovery, including referral to a debt collection agency or lodging a claim with the Magistrates Court of Western Australia (including a minor case claim) or any other court of competent jurisdiction. To the extent permitted by law, you must pay all reasonable costs we incur in recovering overdue amounts, including debt collection agency fees and commission, legal costs, court filing and service fees, and enforcement costs, in addition to the outstanding balance and any late fees.

5.3 Ongoing liability. Suspension or termination of services does not reduce or remove your obligation to pay amounts already invoiced or accrued, including charges for any notice period.

5.4 GST. Prices are shown inclusive of GST unless stated otherwise. Tax invoices are issued for all charges.

5.5 How to pay. Each invoice should be paid individually using its invoice number as the reference, through our client portal or the payment details on the invoice. Because invoice amounts can change from month to month (for example, when licence counts or vendor prices change), please do not set up fixed recurring bank transfers.

5.6 Price changes. Our prices, including prices for Recurring Services, may change from time to time. Prices for Third-Party Services generally follow the vendor's pricing and may change when the vendor changes its pricing. Updated prices apply from the next invoice issued after the change.

5.7 Pro-rata charges. When a Recurring Service starts part way through a billing cycle, the first invoice may include a pro-rata charge for the part period.

5.8 Annual billing. Where a Recurring Service is billed annually, the annual amount is payable in advance and is not refundable if the service is cancelled before the end of the year, except where required by law.

5.9 Disputed invoices. If you dispute part of an invoice, you must notify us in writing with reasons before the due date and pay the undisputed portion by the due date.

6. Time-Based Work and Rates

6.1 Time-Based Work is charged at our rates current at the time the work is performed. Different rates apply to remote, onsite, phone, administrative and web development work, and to urgent or discounted arrangements agreed with you.

6.2 Time-Based Work is charged in whole hours, with a minimum charge of one hour per session. Work longer than one hour is rounded up to the next whole hour.

6.3 Fixed administrative fees may apply to standard tasks such as creating or removing user accounts, and are charged per task.

6.4 Onsite visits are booked in advance and are scheduled from 10:30am on business days. Same-day bookings are not offered.

6.5 Work requested outside our normal scope, or performed in a scheduled maintenance window outside business hours at your request, may be charged at an urgent or premium rate. We will tell you before the work starts if a premium rate applies.

7. Client Responsibilities

As a client, you agree to:

• Provide accurate and complete information, and keep your contact and billing details up to date
• Give us the access we reasonably need to deliver the services, including administrative access to systems we manage
• Maintain the security of any account credentials provided to you, and use multi-factor authentication where we recommend it
• Promptly notify us of any unauthorised access, suspected compromise or security concern
• Make sure your staff and users comply with these terms and with the terms of any Third-Party Services
• Hold valid licences for any software you ask us to install or support
• Keep your own copies of data that is important to you, in addition to any backup service we provide
• Comply with all applicable laws and regulations in your use of our services
• Pay all invoices by the due date

We are not responsible for delays or failures caused by information, access or approvals you have not provided.

8. Support Requests and Remote Access

8.1 Support requests should be raised through our support ticket system at tickets.alphacore.com.au or by email to support@alphacore.com.au, so they are recorded and tracked.

8.2 To deliver support, we may install remote access, monitoring and security software on devices we manage. You consent to us accessing those devices remotely to perform requested or necessary work. You must not remove this software from managed devices without telling us.

8.3 Where your service agreement includes response targets, they are targets only, measured during business hours unless agreed otherwise.

9. Hosting and Server Management

9.1 Scope. For hosting and server management, we are responsible for the server: availability, resources, operating system and web stack, server security, backups, mail and DNS. Website-level work, including updating plugins, themes and website software, repairing or cleaning individual websites, and website licensing, is your responsibility (or your developer's) unless you ask us to do it. Website-level work we perform is chargeable as Time-Based Work.

9.2 Resource use. Hosting plans include fair resource limits. If an account uses resources in a way that affects other clients or server stability, we may limit, suspend or move it, and will contact you about upgrading if needed.

9.3 Compromised or unsafe accounts. If a website or account is compromised, sends spam, hosts malware or phishing, or otherwise endangers our systems or other clients, we may suspend or restrict it immediately without prior notice. Cleaning and restoring a compromised website is chargeable.

9.4 Backups. Where backups are included, they are taken on a schedule and retained for a limited rolling period. Backups are provided as a safeguard and are not guaranteed to capture every change. Restores are performed from the most recent available backup, and restore work requested by you may be chargeable.

9.5 Email sending. Email services must not be used to send unsolicited bulk email. We may apply sending limits and filtering to protect mail delivery for all clients.

10. Acceptable Use

You must not use our services to:

• Break any law, or infringe anyone's intellectual property, privacy or other rights
• Send spam, phishing or other unsolicited or deceptive messages
• Store or distribute malware, or attempt to gain unauthorised access to any system
• Host or transmit material that is unlawful, defamatory, or objectionable
• Interfere with, overload or disrupt our systems or other clients' services

We may suspend or terminate any service used in breach of this clause, and you are responsible for any costs we incur as a result.

11. Licences, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace

11.1 Software licences and cloud subscriptions are Third-Party Services, and your use of them is also subject to the vendor's own terms (for example, the Microsoft Customer Agreement or the Google Workspace terms).

11.2 Licences are supplied on a month-to-month commitment term unless agreed otherwise. Licence quantities can be increased at any time.

11.3 Vendors only allow licence reductions and cancellations within a short window at the start of each subscription term. A request to reduce or cancel licences takes effect at the next available point allowed by the vendor, and charges continue until then.

11.4 Licences are assigned to your organisation under our partner account and are not transferable to another provider. If you move to another provider, licences are cancelled at the next available point and you will need to purchase new licences through your new provider. Your data and user accounts remain yours and can be transferred.

12. Domain Names

12.1 Domain names are registered in your name (or your organisation's name) as registrant, subject to the rules of the relevant registry, including auDA for .au domains. You are responsible for meeting any eligibility requirements and for providing accurate registrant details.

12.2 Domain registration and renewal fees are paid by us to the registry in advance for the full registration period. Where you pay for a domain in monthly instalments, cancelling the domain or transferring it to another provider before its expiry date requires you to pay out the remaining instalments up to the expiry date.

12.3 Domains are set to renew automatically while your account is in good standing. If renewal fees are unpaid, the domain may lapse and may become available for registration by others. We are not responsible for loss of a domain caused by non-payment or by inaccurate registrant details.

12.4 On request, and once your account is paid in full, we will provide the authorisation code needed to transfer a domain to another provider.

13. VoIP, Phone Numbers and Internet Services

13.1 Emergency calls. VoIP services depend on power and an internet connection. Calls to emergency services (000 or 112) may not be possible during a power or internet outage, and the emergency services may not be able to identify your location automatically. You must keep your service address up to date and have an alternative way to contact emergency services, such as a mobile phone.

13.2 Number porting. Porting numbers to or from our services is subject to carrier processes and timeframes, which we do not control. You must be authorised to port the numbers you request.

13.3 Call charges and misuse. You are responsible for all calls and charges made through your services, including calls made through unauthorised use of your phones, extensions or credentials. You must keep phone system passwords secure.

13.4 Internet services. Internet and NBN services are supplied over third-party networks. Speeds are not guaranteed and may vary, and outages on those networks are outside our control.

14. Web Development

14.1 Web development is quoted per project or charged as Time-Based Work at our web development rate.

14.2 You are responsible for supplying content, images, logins and approvals in a timely way. Delays in supplying them may delay delivery and do not reduce charges for work already done.

14.3 A website or deliverable is accepted on the earliest of: your written approval; the website going live; or 14 days after we notify you that it is ready for review, if you have not given us a written list of defects in that time. Changes requested after acceptance are additional work.

14.4 Websites may use third-party themes, plugins and services, which are subject to their own licences and may carry their own fees.

14.5 Unless you have a hosting or maintenance arrangement with us, ongoing updates and security of a website after acceptance are your responsibility.

15. Hardware and Equipment

15.1 Hardware is supplied subject to the manufacturer's warranty. Warranty claims are handled under the manufacturer's or supplier's warranty process. Labour to diagnose, remove, return or reinstall equipment under warranty is chargeable as Time-Based Work.

15.2 Ownership of hardware passes to you when it is paid for in full. Risk passes to you on delivery or collection.

15.3 Returns of goods that are not faulty are at our discretion and subject to the supplier's return policy, and may incur restocking or freight costs.

16. Cyber Security

16.1 We take reasonable steps to protect the systems we manage, including security software, email filtering and monitoring. No security measure can prevent every threat, and we do not guarantee that your systems or accounts will be free from compromise.

16.2 Our email and phishing protection may move, quarantine or remove messages that it identifies as malicious or suspicious. We are not liable for legitimate messages that are filtered, delayed or removed in good faith.

16.3 You are responsible for the actions of your staff and users, including clicking links, opening attachments, approving sign-in requests and sharing credentials. Responding to and recovering from a security incident is chargeable as Time-Based Work, unless it was caused by our breach of these terms.

17. Third-Party Services

17.1 Many of our services rely on Third-Party Services. We are not responsible for outages, changes, price increases or failures of Third-Party Services, or for a vendor's decision to discontinue a product.

17.2 Where a vendor changes or withdraws a product, we may move you to a reasonable equivalent, and will tell you about any change in price.

18. Credentials and Access

18.1 We hold administrative credentials for systems we manage on your behalf and store them securely. We share credentials with you through secure links, not in plain email.

18.2 When services end or you request administrative access, we will hand over the relevant credentials and administrative roles. From that point, you are solely responsible for the security and configuration of those systems, and we are not responsible for lockouts, breaches, data loss or other issues that arise after handover.

19. Your Data and Privacy

19.1 You own your data. We access your data only as needed to deliver the services, maintain security, or comply with the law.

19.2 We handle personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy and the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

19.3 After a service ends, data held on our systems for that service (including hosting accounts, mailboxes and backups) may be permanently deleted 30 days after termination. You are responsible for exporting or transferring any data you need before then.

19.4 We may record the delivery and opening of invoices and notices we send you, to confirm they were received.

20. Intellectual Property

All intellectual property created by Alphacore specifically for a client as part of a paid engagement (such as custom code, configurations, or documentation) becomes the property of the client upon full payment. Alphacore retains ownership of pre-existing tools, frameworks, templates, and methodologies, and grants you a licence to use any of them included in your deliverables.

21. Confidentiality

Both parties agree to maintain the confidentiality of all proprietary and sensitive information disclosed during the course of the engagement. This does not apply to information that is public, or that must be disclosed by law. This obligation survives termination of the service agreement.

22. Consumer Guarantees

Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any guarantee, right or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot lawfully be excluded. Where we are permitted to limit our liability for a failure to comply with a consumer guarantee, our liability is limited, at our option, to supplying the services again or paying the cost of having them supplied again, or for goods, repairing or replacing them or paying the cost of doing so.

23. Limitation of Liability

23.1 To the maximum extent permitted by Australian law, Alphacore's total liability for any claims arising from or related to our services shall not exceed the total fees paid by the client in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim.

23.2 We are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages, including lost profits, lost revenue, business interruption or data loss.

23.3 We are not liable for any loss caused by Third-Party Services, by your or your users' acts or omissions, or by events described in clause 26.

24. Indemnity

You indemnify Alphacore against any loss, cost or claim arising from your breach of these terms, your breach of the law, or content, data or material you or your users store or transmit using our services, except to the extent caused by our own negligence.

25. Suspension and Termination

25.1 Cancellation by you. You may cancel a service, or request a change such as a plan downgrade or porting a number away, by giving 30 days' written notice, unless your service agreement says otherwise. Charges continue during the notice period. Clauses 11.3 (licences), 12.2 (domains) and 5.8 (annual billing) also apply.

25.2 Termination by us. We may terminate a service by giving 30 days' written notice.

25.3 Transition. Upon termination, we will provide reasonable assistance in transitioning services to another provider, including credential handover and data export. Further transition work is chargeable at our standard rates.

25.4 Termination for non-payment. If any invoice remains unpaid more than 60 days after its due date, we may terminate some or all services by giving 14 days' written notice (a final notice). If the overdue balance is not paid within that period, termination takes effect and the overdue balance may be recovered under clause 5.2.

25.5 Transition after termination for non-payment. Where services are terminated for non-payment, transition assistance beyond credential handover and data export (including preparation of an offboarding package or the transfer of services to you or another provider) is provided only once all outstanding amounts are paid in full, and is chargeable at our standard rates.

25.6 Immediate suspension or termination. We may suspend or terminate a service immediately, without notice, if it is used in breach of clause 10, if it poses a security risk to our systems or other clients, or if we are required to do so by law or by a vendor.

25.7 Termination does not affect rights and obligations that arose before termination. Clauses 5, 19, 20, 21, 23 and 24 survive termination.

26. Force Majeure

Neither party shall be liable for failure to perform obligations where such failure results from circumstances beyond reasonable control, including natural disasters, pandemics, government actions, utility or network failures, failures of Third-Party Services, or cyber attacks affecting third-party infrastructure. This clause does not excuse an obligation to pay.

27. Dispute Resolution

Any disputes arising from these terms or our services shall be resolved first through good-faith negotiation. If unresolved within 30 days, disputes shall be referred to mediation in Perth, Western Australia. These terms are governed by the laws of Western Australia, and the parties submit to the courts of Western Australia.

The negotiation and mediation steps in this clause do not apply to the recovery of undisputed unpaid invoices, which we may pursue under clause 5.2 without first referring the matter to mediation. A dispute about an invoice must be raised in writing, with reasons, before the invoice due date or within 14 days of a final notice.

28. Notices and Communications

28.1 Notices under these terms may be given by email. A notice sent by email to the address we hold for you is treated as received when it is sent, unless we receive an automated message that it was not delivered.

28.2 You must keep your nominated email address current. Invoices, statements and notices sent to that address are treated as received by you.

29. General

29.1 These terms, together with any quote, proposal or service agreement, are the entire agreement between us about the services.

29.2 If any part of these terms is invalid or unenforceable, it is severed and the rest of the terms continue to apply.

29.3 A failure or delay by either party to exercise a right is not a waiver of that right.

29.4 You may not assign or transfer your rights under these terms without our written consent. We may use subcontractors to deliver services, and remain responsible for their work.

30. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms of Service from time to time. Updated terms are published on this page and take effect from the date shown at the top of this page. Continued use of our services after that date constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.

31. Contact Us

For questions about these Terms of Service:

Alphacore Pty Ltd (ABN 20 668 068 022)
Email: support@alphacore.com.au
Phone: 08 6244 3350
Address: Perth, Western Australia