This document was last modified on October 22, 2024.

As a domain registrant, it's important to be aware of your rights and responsibilities under ICANN's policies. Together with the community, ICANN has developed a comprehensive set of Registrants' Rights and Responsibilities that outlines the key principles and guidelines protecting you as a domain name holder. We encourage you to review this document to ensure you are informed and confident in your domain registration.

1. Registration and Usage Terms

The registration and use of domain names is subject to acceptance of the present Domain Names Policy as well as the general Domain Registration Agreement, available here: https://whc.ca/legal/domains/domain-registration-agreement

Depending on the domain type (also referred to as TLD) requested, WHC Online Solutions Inc (WHC) may, at its own discretion, either register the domain directly as its sponsoring Registrar, or execute the registration through another duly authorized sponsoring Registrar. You can determine which Sponsoring Registrar was used to register your domain by performing a WHOIS verification on your domain name following its registration.

2. Availability and Registration

WHC can only register on your behalf domain names that have not already been registered and thus are deemed to be available. You can verify any domain’s availability on the WHC web site, using the Domain Names Search Tool. WHC makes no guarantee as to the accuracy of the results provided by the Domain Name Search tool. Once a domain has been found to be available, it can be reserved by completing the online order form on the WHC web site. Payment of a domain name registration does not immediately guarantee the registration of that domain. You will be sent a domain registration confirmation once WHC has confirmed your registration, normally within 24 hours of your order. In the unlikely event that WHC was unable to register a purchased domain, WHC's support team may assist you in finding an alternate available domain name, or refund your purchase.

3. Renewals

You are responsible for renewing your domain names with WHC before their expiration date. WHC will issue renewal notices and renewal invoices by email prior to your domain’s expiry date in order to facilitate the renewal process, and will attempt to renew domains on your behalf following receipt of payment. WHC will send you a confirmation email if the domain has been successfully renewed.

WHC will generate renewal invoices automatically for all your active domains at least 40 days prior to their expiration date. When we generate a new invoice, we'll send you an email with a copy of the invoice and will also make the invoice available in your Client Area.

Unless otherwise requested, WHC will attempt to charge the payment method on file 5 days prior to your invoice's due date. In the event that you do not wish to renew a domain, you can turn off that domain's auto-renewal from the Client Area at least 10 days prior to your service’s renewal date in order to avoid being charged for its renewal. Once executed, domain renewals are non-refundable.

You must maintain an active email address on file with WHC at all times in order to receive important account information, including invoices and expiry notices, and to comply with the Domain Registration Agreement.

By making any purchase by credit card or by adding a valid credit card to your account, you authorize WHC to automatically use this credit card for any due invoices on your account, until otherwise requested. You may manage your credit card information on file from your Client Area at any time.

In most cases, expired domain names can be renewed for up to 30 days following their expiration at the regular renewal rate; however, due to varying conditions based on the type of domain purchased (also known as Top-Level Domain, or “TLD”), WHC cannot guarantee the successful renewal of an expired domain name. WHC will make all reasonable efforts to secure a domain’s renewal once payment is received, but cannot guarantee any specific results. In the event that a paid renewal cannot be completed, paid renewal fees will be refunded.

Most domains that expire beyond a certain number of days can enter a special state called a “Redemption Period” in which they may not be transferred or renewed. The Client may reactivate a domain name in its Redemption Period at an additional cost, by contacting WHC or renewing the domain in the client area.

Details for the domain registration and renewal fees are displayed on our website at the time of registration. Details for Redemption periods and applicable fees are available on our website on the pages for each TLD. These can be found from our Domain Name Search page by clicking on “Show all domains” and selecting the TLD.

4. Domain Agent Authorization

By having your domain registered with Web Hosting Canada as of December 1, 2016, you are authorizing WHC to act as your Designated Agent and to authorize registrant contact information changes on your behalf, from your secure Client Area.

5. Refunds

Once registered, transferred or renewed successfully, domain names are non-refundable and are not eligible for refund. Paid domain name registrations, transfers, or renewals that could not be completed can be refunded following a written request submitted through the Client Area within 30 days of initial payment.

6. Limitation of Liability

WHC is not responsible for any losses caused directly or indirectly by errors resulting from incorrect configuration or handling of the domain name, beyond the initial registration, transfer, or renewal fees paid at the time of registration, transfer, or renewal.

7. DNS Records Modifications

You may configure your domain's DNS records (globally known as DNS Records, but often also referred to as CNAME, A, MX or PTR Record changes) using WHC's courtesy DNS Manager service through your secure Client Area. Incorrect configuration of your domain name's DNS Records may result in an inaccessible web site or email service. As such, you agree to make these changes or use this interface at your own risk.

8. Dispute Resolution Policy

Please refer to ICANN’s Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) for the official policies with respect to a complaint about the registration or phrasing of a domain name that may be infringing trademarks. In the case of .CA domains, please refer to CIRA’s CDRP Process. As a domain registrar, Web Hosting Canada cannot and will not directly intervene or pass judgement in domain disputes.

9. Registry-Specific Registration Policies

Each domain type (or TLD) is managed by a specific registry, which sets out its own terms and conditions of use. By registering your domain through WHC, you agree to abide by your TLD registry's rules and regulations.

TLDs are divided into 2 categories: general TLDs (or gTLD) that are available worldwide, such as .com, .net, and .org, and country-code TLDs (or ccTLD) such as .ca, .fr and .us, that are specific to a country and might have additional presence requirements

gTLD Domain Registration Policies (including .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .name, .mobi and .tv Domains)

gTLD Specific Policies are available at https://www.1api.net/legal/gtld-domain-registration-policy

.CA Domains

.CA domains must comply with CIRA’s terms and conditions: cira.ca/policy/rules-and-procedures/general-registration-rules.

Those wishing to register a .CA domain must comply with Canadian presence requirements, as described here: https://cira.ca/canadian-presence-requirements-registrants

For .CA domains registered by individuals, personal information is automatically hidden from the public WHOIS database, at no extra charge. If registering a .CA domain as a non-individual (such as a corporation or organization), personal information will be made available on the WHOIS database.

ccTLD Domain Registration Policies (including .fr, .us, eu, .be domains)

ccTLD Specific Policies are available at https://www.1api.net/legal/cctld-domain-registration-policy

10. Language

A French version of this document is available at https://whc.ca/mentions-legales/domaines.

11. Questions and Concerns

If you would like more information about WHC’s Domain Names Policy, please contact WHC via our helpdesk. We will deploy our best efforts to assist you.

This document was last modified on October 1, 2020.

1. General

Web Hosting Canada (hereinafter “WHC“) employs an Acceptable Use Policy (hereinafter “AUP“) to maintain the integrity and performance of its computer equipment. In a shared web hosting environment, several clients must share limited infrastructure resources. As such, it is important not to use your hosting account in a way that may negatively affect other WHC clients. Our AUP describes what is and is not allowed on our servers. By using any of our services, you agree to comply with our AUP. Failure to comply with the AUP may result in account suspension or termination without prior notice. WHC will remain the sole arbiter in what constitutes a breach of our AUP.

2. Illegal Activities

You may not use any of WHC’s services for illegal purposes. You agree to comply with any applicable local, provincial, federal and international laws, government rules or requirements. You agree you will not be entitled to a refund of any fees paid to WHC if, for any reason, WHC takes corrective action with respect to your improper or illegal use of its services.

WHC reserves the right at all times to disclose any information as WHC deems necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, or to edit, refuse to post or to remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, in WHC’s sole discretion. For our complete privacy policy, please consult at https://whc.ca/legal/privacy-policy.

3. Spam Policy

WHC has a zero-tolerance spam policy. It is forbidden to send unsolicited mail from or to our servers under any circumstance. Penalties amounting to a minimum of 150.00$, plus taxes, can be charged for a first offence, and penalties double for repeat offenders.

4. Email Delivery

(a) Shared Web Hosting

Shared web hosting or reseller accounts are not designed to be used to send out large quantities of emails simultaneously. There is a limit of how many emails you can send per hour, per account. The number of emails per hour varies based on the plan you select, as described on the WHC website. Emails sent beyond the authorized limit will not be delivered. Mailing lists can have a maximum of 500 recipients. If you do send more than 25 emails at any given time, you must activate a “throttling” feature in your mailing application when sending, so that every delivery is delayed by a minimum of 10 seconds so as not to overcharge the server. You may not attempt to circumvent this limit by linking multiple hosting accounts together. If you would like to send larger quantities of legitimate commercial emails, please inquire with our sales team about our commercial Email Marketing service.

You may not send emails with attachments greater than 20 MB from Shared hosting accounts. If you need to share larger files, you are encouraged to upload your files on your hosting account and email a hyperlink (“URL”) to the file.

Each mail box must not exceed 2GB in total size. Clients are encouraged to download or archive their emails on a regular basis using software such as Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, or Thunderbird using the POP3 protocol, and deleting read emails from the server.

(b) Dedicated Servers and VPS

There is no fixed email delivery limit; however, a $150 administrative fee will be charged to your account if your public IP address gets listed in a public “blacklist” and we need to actively intervene in order to get it de-listed.

5. Backups

(a) Shared Web Hosting

Shared web hosting accounts may not use their disk space for backup storage, or storage of any files not directly linked from their web sites. You may store a maximum of 1 backup of your web hosting account on the server at any given time, and for a period not exceeding 24 hours. Please do not make backup copies of your backups.

If needed, backup copies can be generated by the Client during off-peak hours, from midnight to 5AM EST. It is strictly forbidden to generate backups of your account between 5AM and 11:59PM EST, as this can seriously degrade the system’s performance. This applies to backups generated from the cPanel, or any other type of automated backup such as those performed by third-party services and automated plugins.

WHC regularly backs up most Shared hosting accounts on its servers, as described on the WHC Web Site. Due to the resource-intensive nature of the backup process, WHC cannot guarantee the regular and consistent back up and/or restore of accounts that exceed 20 giga-bytes (“GB”) of total data or more than 200,000 files (including emails, databases, regular files, statistics, and configuration files). Accounts that store more than 20 GB of data or more than 200,000 files risk no longer being backed up automatically. Manual backups will still be possible in most situations. To re-activate automatic backups, the Client must bring the total amount of data stored on their account to less than 20 GB of data and less than 200,000 files and contact our support department. Files exceeding 1 GB will not be included in the regular backups.

(b) Dedicated Servers and VPS

Dedicated server clients are responsible for backing up their own data. Upon request, a managed backup service can be provided at additional cost.

6. Resource Usage

(a) Shared Web Hosting

In order to guarantee reliable service, Shared Hosting Accounts may not use more resources than what would be required by a regular web site in the course of its regular activities. Accounts may not use more than 5% of the total WHC system resources for a period longer than 60 seconds. This includes CPU cycles, RAM usage, disk space, and bandwidth. Accounts found to be exceeding the allowed resource usage may be suspended without prior notice in order to prevent serious service degradation. WHC will attempt to notify the client whenever possible and work with them to resolve any resource usage problem. Often, these types of problems may be resolved by repairing a faulty script, disabling a resource-intensive application, or banning malicious IP addresses from your account. Clients consistently using excessive resources may be required to transfer their account on a separate dedicated or private server, where resource usage limits are not imposed.

WHC server resources cannot be used for any other purpose than to serve data from your web sites. Under no circumstance can the server resources be resold, or used for data processing outside of the context of serving web pages or other web-accessible content to your site’s visitors.

Please note that a shared hosting environment is not intended for extremely resource-intensive sites. In these cases, custom dedicated server solutions or virtual private servers are recommended.

(b) Dedicated Servers and VPS

Dedicated servers are permitted to use the full resources available on their machine.

7. Disk Space Usage

(a) Shared Web Hosting

While we don't impose fixed disk space limits, in order to protect our clients from users consuming an excessive amount of resources, we have established the following rules concerning the use of disk space on Shared Hosting accounts:

• You may not use your web hosting space to store files that are not directly related to your web site, and that are not linked to directly from at least one section of your web site.
• You may not store more than 5,000 immediate files in any given folder (or directory), or more than the total files (inodes) allowed by your hosting account, as follows:
  • Starter web hosting: 150,000 inodes
  • Pro web hosting: 300,000 inodes
  • Enterprise web hosting: 450,000 inodes
• You may not sell or offer free disk storage on our servers to third parties, outside of the context of our Reseller services.
• You may not increase your actual disk space usage by more than 10 GB in a 24-hour period without prior written notice.

(b) Dedicated Servers

Clients are permitted to use the full hard drive space available on their machine.

(c) Cloud Servers

Cloud servers can not contain more than 1,000,000 inodes in order to ensure system stability and performance. If you require more than 1,000,000 inodes, please consider purchasing a Dedicated Server by contacting WHC.

8. Processes

(a) Shared Web Hosting

All processes invoked by the web server, cron, shell or other should not exceed the following limits:

• Open more than 64 files simultaneously;
• Create core dumps;
• Be executed continuously as a background process;
• Execute more than 5 threads or sub-processes simultaneously;
• Execute more than 5 consecutive URL rewrite rules.
• Be executed for a period longer than 60 consecutive seconds

(b) Dedicated Servers

Dedicated are not limited by the number of simultaneous processes they can run.

(c) Cloud Servers

May not use more than 30% of total system resources for longer than 60 continuous seconds to avoid serious service degradation.

9. Databases

(a) Shared Web Hosting

• Database users are limited to 30 simultaneous connections.
• Databases are limited to a maximum size of 1 GB and 1,000,000 records each.
• The total number of database requests should not exceed 5,000 per hour.
• Remote database access is only allowed for administrative purposes. It is forbidden to use databases hosted on WHC servers in conjunction with scripts hosted elsewhere.

(b) Dedicated Servers and VPS

There are no database limitations on Dedicated and VPS clients.

10. Allowed Software and Scripts

All software and scripts installed on your account must be free of vulnerabilities, viruses, and malware. Any software having vulnerabilities documented on the Internet is strictly forbidden on our servers. It is your responsibility to update all the installed software with the latest security patches in a timely manner. On Shared Web Hosting servers, WHC provides automatic installation tools that can also handle automatic software updates shortly after updates are released by the vendors. However, it is ultimately solely your responsibility to maintain up-to-date versions of your software on your account.

Popular web applications such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, phpBB, along with their plug-ins, modules, and add-ons, are particularly vulnerable to exploits due to their popularity, so additional vigilance must be used to ensure the software is safe and up-to-date.

Insecure scripts and software may be disabled by WHC at any time without prior notice to prevent issues with the server’s security.

11. Unlawful Conduct or Improper Use

You agree not to use WHC systems for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by this AUP, and you agree to comply with any applicable local, provincial, federal and international laws, government rules or requirements.

WHC reserves the right to terminate services, in its sole discretion, if you are using the services, in association with spam or morally objectionable activities including, but not limited to:

1. Activities designed to defame, embarrass, harm, abuse, threaten, slander or harass third parties;
2. Transmission, distribution or storage of any material in violation of any applicable law or regulation, including Warez and any pirated content or tools;
3. Transmission, distribution or storage of any material protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property right without proper authorization, and material that is obscene, defamatory, an invasion of privacy or constitutes an illegal threat, or is otherwise illegal;
4. Misrepresenting or fraudulently representing products/services;
5. Impersonating the identity of a third party;
6. Illegal access to other computers or network (i.e. hacking) and distribution of Internet viruses or similar destructive activities;
7. Violating Canadian or American export control laws for software or technical information;
8. Facilitating, aiding, or encouraging any of the above activities, whether using WHC’s network or service by itself or via a third party’s network or service;
9. Interference with a third party’s use of WHC’s network or service, or ability to connect to the Internet or provide services to Internet users.

The following uses of our servers are strictly forbidden:

1. Proxy servers;
2. Auto-surf sites;
3. IRC Servers.

12. Adult Content

Explicit or pornographic content is strictly forbidden from Shared Hosting Accounts. Legal adult content is permitted on Dedicated or VPS servers.

13. Shell Access

Shell access is disabled by default on Shared Hosting Accounts, but may be enabled by submitting a request via our helpdesk. The “find” Unix command may not be used on a directory having more than 5 levels of sub-directories.

Dedicated Servers are granted complete Shell Access.

14. Downloads

You may not offer downloads of third-party software (i.e. software, games, or tools that were not directly created by you or for which you do not have an exclusive distribution agreement) from your hosting account. These are commonly referred to as “mirror” download sites. Instead, you are encouraged to link to the vendor’s original download site.

15. Chat Software

Due to the resource-intensive nature of these programs, you may not install and use real-time chat software on Shared Hosting Accounts, unless this software was provided by us.

16. Cron Jobs

Shared Hosting Accounts: Cron jobs must not be scheduled more often than once every 10 minutes. Two or more separate Cron jobs may not be executed at the same time; a minimum of 5 minutes should separate two scheduled executions. You may not schedule a total of more than 5 cron jobs on any hosting account.

There are no cron job limitations on Dedicated Server and VPS.

17. Violation

WHC will, at its own discretion, determine what action will be taken in case of a violation of the AUP. WHC reserves the right to suspend or terminate any account found to be violating the AUP without notice and without refund of any pre-paid fees. Violation of this AUP could also subject you to criminal or civil liability.

18. Rights reserve

WHC reserves the right to modify this AUP at any time without providing prior notice. You are responsible for all use of the WHC services by yourself, your employees, agents, contractors, invitees and customers, whether such use is with or without your consent.

19. Questions and Concerns

If you would like more information about WHC’s Acceptable Use Policy, please contact us via our helpdesk. We will deploy our best efforts to assist you.

20. How to Report Abuse

Please contact [email protected] or open a ticket in our helpdesk. Please ensure you include as much information as you can to assist our investigations. Complaints will be assigned a unique ticket ID and investigated within 24 hours. We may follow up to obtain additional information. Unless we require additional information, you will not receive a reply or update from us.

21. Language

A French version of this document is available at https://whc.ca/mentions-legales/pua.

22. Severability

Should any provision of these Terms and Conditions be contrary to law, void, enforceable or illegal for any reason, such provision shall be deemed severable from the Terms and Conditions and shall not affect the validity or the enforceability of the remaining provisions.

23. Applicable Law and Jurisdiction

This Agreement and its interpretation are subject to the laws of the province of Quebec and the laws of Canada applicable therein, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of laws. The Parties must irrevocably submit all disputes arising out of this Agreement to the courts of the District of Montreal, Province of Quebec, including disputes regarding the Agreement’s interpretation and its effects.

Web Hosting Canada and https://whc.ca and https://clients.whc.ca (hereinafter “WHC Web Site“), are operated by WHC Online Solutions Inc (hereinafter “WHC“). These Terms and Conditions of Service (hereinafter “Terms and Conditions“) are applicable to your access of the WHC Web Site, and to your use of the services offered through the WHC Web Site. By using any of the services or products provided or serviced by WHC, either directly or through a reseller, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by our Terms and Conditions.

The present Terms and Conditions have last been modified on May 18, 2023 and apply to all users.

1. Terms and Conditions

You must read and accept the present Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy and Acceptable Use Policy and other policies applicable to other services, found at https://whc.ca/legal before you can use the WHC Web Site or any WHC services. By accessing and continuing to use any WHC services, you confirm your agreement to be subject to the Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree to these Terms and Conditions, please do not access or use any WHC services.

WHC may need to modify these Terms and Conditions from time to time, to adapt to changing technologies, laws and/or regulations. WHC may choose to provide the Client with a prior written notice if the changes significantly impact the Client’s services, but WHC will do this solely at its own discretion and is in no way obligated to provide notice. Any changes to the Terms and Conditions shall enter into force within thirty (30) days of their publication on the WHC Web Site.

1.1. Eligibility Criteria of WHC Services

The services offered through the WHC Web Site are available only to persons who have the legal capacity to contract, among others, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, our services are available only to persons aged 18 and over. If you are under the age of 18, you can use the WHC Web Site only with the permission and under the supervision of your parents or legal guardian. WHC also reserves the right to restrict the use of the Site to members who have been temporarily or permanently suspended. If your registration is made on behalf of a corporation, you certify that you are a duly authorized representative of that corporation.

2. Account Creation, Maintenance, Modification and Cancellation

2.1. Account Creation

You can create an account by filling in the form provided on the WHC web site. Fees associated with our services can also be found on our web site at https://whc.ca.

2.2. Accurate Information

You agree to maintain accurate information in your Client Area profile at https://clients.whc.ca while you are using WHC services. This includes your full name, current billing address, phone number and a working email address. You agree to update your information in your Client Area within ten days of any change.

You agree that WHC may use and rely on any such information provided by you for all purposes in connection with your services, subject to WHC’s Privacy Policy (https://whc.ca/legal/privacy-policy). Should you provide any information that is inaccurate, misleading or incomplete, or if WHC has reasonable grounds to suspect that your information is inaccurate, misleading or incomplete, WHC has the right, in its sole discretion, to suspend or terminate its services and/or close your account.

2.3. Account Maintenance and Security

You agree to use your account solely for lawful purposes and agree that you are fully responsible for all content and data on your account.

You agree that you are fully responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your customer and login information, password, credit card number (collectively the “Account Access Information”). You agree that you are entirely responsible for any and all activities that occur under your account. You agree to notify WHC immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or of any other breach of security. You agree WHC will not be liable for any loss that you may incur as a result of someone else using your Account Access Information, either with or without your knowledge. You also agree that you could be held liable for losses incurred by WHC or another party due to someone else using your Account Access Information. WHC advises you keep your Account Access information in a secure location and take precautions to prevent others from gaining access and/or using your Account Access Information. You may not, under any circumstance, compromise the security of your account or of the WHC infrastructure in any way.

While WHC has several measures in place to increase the availability and reliability of the data stored on its servers, you agree to maintain your own backup copies of all data stored on our servers and not to hold WHC liable for any errors or interruption of services, whether within or outside of WHC’s reasonable control.

2.4. Responsibility for Content

You agree that you are solely responsible for the content stored on and served on your WHC account(s). You further agree that you are responsible for all activity in your account, whether initiated by you, by others on your behalf, or by any other means. WHC disclaims liability for any activity in your account, whether authorized by you or not. For details on unauthorized activities, please consult our Acceptable Use Policy, available at https://whc.ca/legal/aup

2.5. Account Suspension and Cancellation

WHC can suspend or terminate without prior notice any accounts that do not comply with these Terms and Services in order to maintain a safe and secure environment for our clients.

WHC will attempt to notify you in case of account suspensions or cancellations. In some circumstances, WHC may suspend an account without prior warning to avoid serious harm or service degradation.

You may cancel your account and prevent an automatic renewal by requesting a cancellation through the Client Area at least 10 days prior to your service’s expiry date. The cancellation request must include all the necessary details to allow a WHC agent to properly identify the account in question, including your full domain name and hosting account type.

2.6. Backups

For certain services, WHC provides courtesy backups to help protect your data.

However, backups can occasionally fail. Under no circumstance will WHC be held responsible for any loss resulting from incomplete or incorrect backups. By using WHC services, you agree to maintain complete backups on your own computers of all data stored on WHC servers.

Backups for: Web Hosting, Reseller Hosting, WordPress Hosting & Email Hosting

WHC performs regular courtesy backups of data stored on certain types of services, including web hosting and reseller hosting accounts. Backups are offered as a courtesy service and while they are generally very effective, they cannot be guaranteed. Accounts using more than 10 Gigabytes of disk space or using more than 100,000 files may have their backup service automatically disabled in order to maintain system performance. On these accounts, courtesy backups may be reactivated by freeing up additional disk space and then contacting our Customer Service team.

Backups for: Cloud & Dedicated Servers

On Cloud or Dedicated servers, backups are available through the External Backups option. You may order External Backup from your Client Area at any time or during your original order. WHC will activate the backup service for you and will enable automatic backups of your data using specialized backup software. You must ensure that the data on your server does not exceed the capacity of your backup storage. If your server's data exceeds the backup storage capacity, your data may not be backed up until you upgrade your backup storage from your Client Area.

WHC relies on specialized third-party backup software to manage the automatic backup process from your account or server onto the backup storage. Technical errors or problems can occasionally prevent the successful completion of a backup run. As such, you are strongly encouraged to regularly test the backup restoration process on your server and report any issues to WHC's support team.

3. Privacy Policy

WHC is committed to your privacy, and does not sell, trade or give out your personal information unless required as part of your service contract or by law. For our complete privacy policy, please consult https://whc.ca/legal/privacy-policy.

4. Other Related Policies

4.1. Acceptable Use Policy

In a shared web hosting environment, several clients must share server resources. As such, it is important not to use your hosting account in any way that may negatively affect other WHC clients. Our Acceptable Use Policy (hereinafter “AUP”) describes what is and what is not allowed on our servers, and is available at https://whc.ca/legal/aup.

4.2. Artificial Intelligence Policy

WHC offers certain AI-powered services, such as Site Builder tools and domain suggestion tools. By using these services, you agree to our Artificial Intelligence Policy, available at: https://whc.ca/legal/ai. This policy sets forth additional terms and conditions related to the use of WHC’s AI-powered services, including your responsibilities regarding user inputs and the use of AI outputs.

5. Domain Names

Domain name registrations, renewals, and transfers must respect our Domain Names Policy, which can be found at https://whc.ca/legal/domains.

6. Domain Privacy Protection Service

If purchased in conjunction with certain types of domain names, the Privacy Protection service (also referred to as ID Protect) is intended to shield the customer’s personal information from the public domain name information database, called the « WHOIS » database, by replacing the customer’s information with those of a confidentiality services provider. The Privacy Protection service cannot prevent information from being published by third parties, nor does it remove any public « WHOIS » information that may have been saved and published by other parties prior to the purchase and activation of the protection. The Privacy Protection service is not available for all domain types.

The Privacy Protection service is non-refundable and is not covered by our money-back guarantee. The Client must always maintain accurate contact information in their private WHC profile, as stipulated by ICANN's rules and regulations.

7. SSL Certificates

The use and installation of COMODO or Sectigo SSL Certificates offered by WHC are subject to the terms and conditions of COMODO and Sectigo. Following an SSL purchase, a WHC technician will request a certificate on your behalf and attempt to complete its installation on your account. If you have requested a Dedicated IP address during your SSL order, your Web Site may experience up to 12 hours of downtime during the SSL installation process, due to a process called DNS Propagation.

Unless otherwise requested prior to the installation, an SSL certificate will be installed and will work exclusively on the domain name or subdomain that was requested during your order. SSL Certificates are non-transferable. The installation of an SSL certificate does not guarantee the use of encrypted https protocol throughout your website. Additional website configuration changes are recommended to fully make use of your certificate's data encryption, as described in our Help Center.

8. Webmaster Help Service

The Webmaster Help Service is a paid service offered by WHC in order to provide you with technical assistance relating to your web sites, outside of the scope of our standard technical support. The Webmaster Help Service is billed in 30 minute-increments, at an hourly rate established on WHC’S Web Site or through written communications prior to the start of work. If a phone consultation is required, a WHC agent can call you at an agreed-upon time and provide assistance for a duration that does not exceed a maximum of 50 minutes per billable hour.

WHC cannot guarantee any specific results with their Webmaster Help Service. While our team will attempt to complete any task in the time they have available, the results will depend entirely on the complexity of the project and the available time-frame. If we're unable to complete the required work in the allotted time slot, we'll let you know and provide you with options.

The Webmaster Help Service is non-refundable once the requested work has been completed. The first hour of Webmaster Help fees must be paid prior to the start of the work, and additional hours incurred must be paid in full within five (5) days of the work being performed.

9. Dedicated IP Address

All dedicated IP addresses assigned to you must be maintained by you in a manner that confirms to the norms and regulations set forth by ARIN (https://www.arin.net/policy/nrpm.html).

If you ordered multiple IP addresses with a Cloud, Dedicated or Reseller service, they must be used at 80% within 30 days of being assigned.

At the outset, for Web Hosting, Reseller Hosting or WordPress Hosting accounts, you will be assigned a shared IP address. You may request one (1) dedicated IP address per hosting account, at additional cost. WHC reserves the right to evaluate the pertinence of any dedicated IP address request and deny such requests if they do not comply with ARIN regulations. WHC retains full control and rights to the IP addresses assigned to you at all times and reserves the right to modify or remove assigned addresses with prior notice.

A dedicated IP address change may incur an unavailability of your web site lasting up to 24 hours, due to DNS propagation.

10. Site Transfers

In most cases, WHC can help move your website from any other compatible web hosting provider (also called a website migration). However, transfers are provided as a courtesy service, and WHC can not make guarantees regarding the availability, accuracy, possibility, or time required to complete such a transfer. Each hosting company is different, and some hosting platforms save data in an incompatible or proprietary format, which may make it difficult or impossible to migrate some or all account data. We will try our best, but in some cases we may be unable to assist you in a transfer of data from an old host.

A free site transfer service request can be made within 30 days of a new web hosting, reseller hosting, Cloud or Dedicated server order by opening a Support ticket from your Client Area which includes all necessary information to allow us to connect to your other provider's account and retrieve all your data. Unless otherwise confirmed in writing, free website transfers are limited to a maximum of 10GB of data, 5 email accounts, and one database. More complex migrations should be discussed with our support team prior to being requested.

Site transfer requests placed after the initial 30-day period are subject to our standard Webmaster Help service rates.

11. Affiliate Program

The affiliate program provides you with financial incentives for referring new clients to WHC.

The terms and conditions of the affiliate program can be found at https://whc.ca/legal/affiliates.

12. Reselling

You may, through the purchase of specific Reseller hosting services, resell to your customers the use of WHC’s hosting environment, as described on the Reseller Hosting service page. You must ensure and enforce that all your customers that use any of our servers or services abide by our Terms and Conditions.

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless WHC, its officers, directors and employees, from any and all liabilities, costs and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, related to or arising from any act or omission of any such the customer that would be a breach of these Terms and Conditions if committed by you.

You also agree to directly provide timely support to clients for which you provide resold services, and understand that WHC will deny support to your clients if they contact us directly.

In the event that you do not provide support to your resold clients within a reasonable timeframe of 72 hours or less and that these clients reach out to WHC for assistance, WHC reserves the right to provide the requested services directly to the client, including assisting with an internal migration of their resold account into their own account directly with WHC.

13. Search Engine Listing

WHC is not directly associated with any search engines and is not responsible for the ranking of your web site in search results. However, WHC does offer certain Search Engine Optimization services that may assist you in obtaining favorable search engine rankings with specific search engines, using specific keywords. WHC cannot guarantee specific results beyond what is described or guaranteed on the WHC Web Site.

14. Service Guarantees

14.1. Money-back guarantee

WHC is fully committed to your satisfaction and offers the following money-back guarantee: if you are not 100% satisfied for the service obtained within 30 days of your purchase, WHC will refund your hosting costs.

The money-back guarantee applies exclusively to eligible services as described in paragraph 17 of the present Terms and Conditions.

14.2. Guaranteed technical support in 24 hours or less

WHC guarantees a response to technical support questions received through our Client Area Help system within a maximum of 24 hours (although we normally reply much faster than that!). This guarantee does not apply to incomplete support requests, requests that do not reach us (due to inappropriate use of the helpdesk support system), requests not directly linked to the services provided by us or that fall outside the scope of our service support, requests that have been responded to but require additional resolution time, or requests that cannot be answered due to causes outside of our direct control.

If a technical request is not answered within this timeframe, WHC can issue an account credit equivalent to 25% of your pre-tax monthly fees per incident, up to a maximum of 100% of your monthly hosting fees, following your written request from our Client Area. Account credit can be applied to any services with WHC.

14.3. 99.9% Guaranteed Server Availability

WHC understands the importance of having a continuously available web site and guarantees a server availability (or “uptime”) of 99.9%, calculated monthly. Our services are considered available if they respond to external PING requests from at least two different external monitoring services.

Any scheduled maintenance outage will not be considered when computing monthly uptime. Sporadic or localized outages due to Internet network conditions outside of our control will also not be considered when computing monthly uptime, nor will incorrect DNS or account manipulations by the Client, including programming errors or script errors.

In the rare case that an unscheduled outage causes a service to be unavailable for more than 0.1% of a calendar month (or 43 minutes), you will be eligible for an account credit equivalent to 5% of your pre-tax monthly fees for every additional hour of unscheduled downtime, up to 100% of your monthly hosting fees. You can request a service credit following an outage by contacting us through our Client Area. Service credits can only be issued once per month, at the end of a calendar month. Domain names are not eligible for account credits.

15. Renewals

WHC will generate renewal invoices automatically for all your active services at least 15 days prior to their expiration date. When we generate a new invoice, we'll send you an email with a copy of the invoice and will also make the invoice available in your Client Area.

Unless otherwise requested, WHC will attempt to charge the payment method on file 5 days prior to your invoice's due date. If you do not wish to renew a service, please submit a service cancellation request or update your domain's auto-renewal settings through the Client Area at least 10 days prior to your service’s renewal date in order to avoid being charged for its renewal. Once charged, renewals are non-refundable.

By making any purchase by credit card or by adding a valid credit card to your Client Area, you authorize WHC to automatically attempt to charge this credit card for any upcoming or overdue invoices on your account, until otherwise requested. You may manage and remove your credit card information on file from your Client Area at any time.

Expired services can be suspended if left unpaid by their due date and may be permanently deleted, at WHC's sole discretion. Reactivating suspended services may incur additional fees.

You must maintain an active email address on file with us at all times in order to receive important account information, including invoices and expiry notices. Services not paid on their due date risk being suspended, and may be terminated permanently shortly after, at WHC’s sole discretion. Should you wish to reactivate your services after they have been suspended, a reactivation fee may apply.

16. Payments

WHC accepts payments by Visa, Mastercard and Paypal (which includes American Express). For amount exceeding C$50.00, WHC also accepts non-automated payments by check, Email Interac transfer, wire/bank transfer and direct deposits at a CIBC branch.

All payments must be made in Canadian dollars, unless stated otherwise. A first payment is required prior to the activation of a service, and all following invoices must be paid in full prior to their due date. Any overdue invoice with carry an interest of 2%, compounded monthly (corresponding to a yearly interest rate of 26.86%). Chargebacks or bounced checks due to insufficient funds will incur additional fees of C$50.00, plus taxes.

All non-automated payments (checks, wire transfers, money orders, or Interac e-transfers) must be made for a minimum total amount of C$50.00. Any amount paid exceeding the invoiced amount will be added to your account in the form of account credit to be used for future payments. Non-automated payments of less than C$50.00 are subject to a C$20.00 administrative fee, plus applicable taxes.

Account credit is not automatically applied to new or open invoices. In order to manually apply your account credit on an existing unpaid invoice, please visit the invoice page in your Client Area.

Occasionally, special promotions may be offered when ordering new services or account upgrades. Unless stated otherwise, promotional prices apply only to the initial payment cycle. Services renew at their regular rates, as shown on your invoice or in your product or service details in your Client Area. Special pricing promotions cannot be applied to renewals unless stated otherwise. WHC reserves the right to cancel any promotional pricing for any user that attempts to circumvent its intended use or limitations, at WHC's sole discretion.

17. Refund Policy

You can request a refund within the context of WHC’s money-back guarantee by sending a written request through the WHC Client Area.

Refunds are only available during your service's eligible refund period.

Refunds can only be issued using the same payment method for payments made by credit card or Paypal. Payments made by check, money order, wire transfer, or Interac Email Payments can only be refunded as credit on your WHC account.

Pre-paid funds cannot be refunded after the initial money-back guarantee period.

Refunds will generally be issued by WHC within 7 days following the reception of your refund request, but some banks or credit card providers may incur additional delays before making those funds available to you again.

The following products and services are non-refundable: domain name registrations and renewals (including ID Protection services), dedicated servers (including associated control panel and Operating System licensing fees) and Webmaster Help. Renewals and setup fees are non-refundable.

If a domain name or other service that is non-refundable was offered at a discounted rate with the purchase of a hosting product, the original full value of said service will be withheld from any refunded amount.

WHC will not issue refunds for the same type of product more than once per account.

Billing errors can be refunded for a maximum retroactive period of 3 months. In the unlikely event that a billing error comes to your attention, you are encouraged to contact WHC as quickly as possible to correct the error.

18. Chargebacks and Reversals

In the event you issue a chargeback or reversal of charges with your banking institution you will be responsible for a $50.00 chargeback fee, plus the full amount of your original transaction, plus applicable taxes.

Bounced checks returned by WHC’s banking institution due to insufficient funds will incur a penalty of 35.00$, plus the full amount of the original transaction, plus applicable taxes.

All services on your account may be suspended and domain names ownership may be transferred to WHC until the chargeback fee is settled in full.

19. Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability

19.1. SUBJECT TO THE WARRANTIES SPECIFICALLY PROVIDED IN THIS AGREEMENT, WHC DOESN’T (i) MAKE ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, OF ANY KIND, REGARDING THE SERVICES OR PRODUCTS PROVIDED OR SERVICED BY WHC, EITHER DIRECTLY OR THROUGH A RESELLER, AND THE WHC WEB SITE, ITS CONTENT AND THE SERVICES AND (ii) ASSUME ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, OF COMPLIANCE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. FURTHERMORE, SUBJECT TO THE WARRANTIES SPECIFICALLY PROVIDED IN THIS AGREEMENT. WHEN USING OR WHEN SEEKING TO USE THE WHC WEB SITE, THE USER EXPRESSLY AGREES THAT WHC MAKES NO WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE SERVICES OR PRODUCTS PROVIDED OR SERVICED BY WHC, EITHER DIRECTLY OR THROUGH A RESELLER AND THE WHC WEB SITE’S CONTENT: (i) NO WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION IS MADE WITH REGARD TO THE CONTENT OF THE WHC WEB SITE AND WITH REGARD TO ITS UP-TO-DATENESS, ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS; AND (ii) AS A SERVICE TO USERS OF THE WHC WEB SITE, WHC INCLUDES LINKS TO OTHER WEB SITES FOR WHICH WHC HAS NO CONTROL. WHC DOES NOT ENDORSE OR REPRESENT, IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER, THE PRODUCTS, SERVICES, CONTENT OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT FOUND ON SUCH WEB SITES AND USERS IRREVOCABLY WAVE BY THE PRESENT AGREEMENT ANY CLAIM AGAINST WHC IN CONNECTION WITH SUCH WEB SITES; AND (iii), WHC MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT ITS SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR FREE, OR THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED. WHC DOES NOT WARRANT, NOR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE, OR RESULTS OF, ANY OF THE SERVICES IT PROVIDES, IN TERMS OF THEIR CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY OR OTHERWISE.

19.2. WHC WILL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE REGARDING THE WHC WEB SITE OR ANY OTHER RELATED WEB SITE, WITH RESPECT TO ANY PARTY OR FOR ANY DAMAGE OR HARM ATTRIBUTABLE TO (INCLUDING AND WITHOUT LIMITATION) A BREACH OF CONTRACT, ERROR, OMISSION, OR FOR DAMAGE OR OTHER DAMAGES THEREFORE, DIRECT OR INDIRECT, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF PROGRAMS OR OTHER DATA ON YOUR SYSTEM OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT, LOSS OR DAMAGE TO PROPERTY AND CLAIMS OF THIRD PARTIES AND THAT, EVEN IF WHC IS EXPRESSLY ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

19.3. ALTHOUGH WHC ENDEAVOURS TO MAINTAIN THE ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION, ERRORS CAN BE PRESENT. IN THE EVENT WHC NOTICES AN ERROR, IT WILL BE CORRECTED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, AND THE CUSTOMERS CONCERNED WILL BE ADVISED ACCORDINGLY.

20. Entire Agreement

This Agreement, related policies found at https://whc.ca/legal and any Service Orders signed by the parties constitute the entire agreement between the parties regarding the subject matter hereof and supersede all proposals and prior discussions and writings between the parties with respect thereto. EXCEPT AS SPECIFICALLY PROVIDED IN THIS AGREEMENT, WHC MAKES NO REPRESENTATION, WARRANTY OR CONDITION, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AND EXPRESSLY EXCLUDES ALL IMPLIED OR STATUTORY WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, MERCHANTABLE QUALITY, DURABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR TITLE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT AND THOSE ARISING BY STATUTE OR OTHERWISE IN LAW OR FROM A COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. In case of any dispute or inconsistency regarding this main agreement, any attachments, and/or any Service Order, the Service Order will take first priority and these Terms and Conditions will take second priority in interpreting the parties’ rights and obligations.

21. Force Majeure

WHC will make every effort to keep its web site and services operational. However, certain technical difficulties and other factors outside of its control may, from time to time, result in temporary service interruptions. You agree not to hold WHC liable for any of the consequences of such interruptions.

22. Trademarks and Copyrights

The names Web Hosting Canada, Hébergement Web Canada, WHC, whc.ca, hebergement-canada.net, nCube Solutions, and whc.ca, as well as the logos associated with these names are trademarks owned by WHC. Any use of these trademarks is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent of WHC. In addition, all names and trademarks belonging to third parties and appearing on the WHC Web Site are the property of their respective owners and may be used only with the consent of their respective owners. The WHC Web Site, along with its contents, including text, images and the selection and arrangement of its data, are protected by copyright © 2010, WHC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You can view and download the information contained on the WHC Web Site for your personal use and not for commercial purposes. Any other use, modification or copying of the Site, in whole or in part, without WHC’s prior written consent is prohibited.

23. Questions and Concerns

If you would like more information about WHC’s Terms and Conditions, please contact WHC via our helpdesk. Please contact us with your questions and concerns and we will deploy our best efforts to assist you.

24. Complaints

Complaints or policy violations must be reported to [email protected] or by mail at Web Hosting Canada, 7250 Clark Street #301, Montreal, Quebec H2R 2Y3 Canada.

25. Language

A French version of this document is available at: https://whc.ca/mentions-legales.

26. Severability and Survival

Should any provision of these Terms and Conditions be contrary to law, void, enforceable or illegal for any reason, such provision shall be deemed severable from the Terms and Conditions and shall not affect the validity or the enforceability of the remaining provisions.

The following provisions will survive termination of these Terms and Conditions (including termination of any service thereunder) or any related policies: (a) any obligation of you to pay for services used or services rendered before termination; (b) provisions relating to disclaimers, limitation of liability, or indemnification; and (c) any other provision that must survive to fulfill its essential purpose.

27. Applicable Law and Jurisdiction

This Agreement and its interpretation are subject to the laws of the province of Quebec and the laws of Canada applicable therein, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of laws. The Parties must irrevocably submit all disputes arising out of this Agreement to the courts of the District of Montreal, Province of Quebec, including disputes regarding the Agreement’s interpretation and its effects.

28. Non-Solicitation of Employees

During the time you are a client with us and for 12 months following you are not permitted to:

a. Encourage or solicit an Employee to complete work for you outside of the Company;

b. Recruit or attempt to recruit an Employee of the Company;

c. Hire or engage an Employee or former Employee whose employment agreement will have ended less than one year prior to the date of recruitment.

29. Respectful Communications

We strictly prohibit any form of verbal abuse either from or towards our team members and clients. This includes but is not limited to, offensive, threatening, or discriminatory language, profanity, personal attacks, intimidation, or any form of harassment.

30. Refer-a-Friend program

You must have an active WHC hosting account to participate in the Refer-a-Friend Program. You earn three free months of web hosting when your referred friend signs up for a yearly prepaid hosting plan at WHC and keeps their hosting account active for at least 45 days. For the referred friend, the free months automatically apply at checkout. For you, the referrer, the free months are added to your subscription period after the 45 days, extending the current hosting period and delaying the next due date by three months. Purchase must be made through the unique link provided in the referrer’s WHC Client Area. By sharing your unique link, you allow WHC to share your first name with your friend on the landing page. WHC reserves the right to modify or terminate the Refer-a-Friend Program without prior notice.

Who We Are

WHC Online Solutions Inc., which trades under the name Web Hosting Canada (together with its agents, representatives, consultants, employees, officers, and directors — collectively, “WHC”, “we”, or “us”) provides web hosting, domain name, website creation, website security, and online marketing services. We are a Canadian corporation based in Montreal, Canada.

How This Policy Applies

This Privacy Policy describes the information we collect from you, how we use that information, and our legal basis for doing so. It also covers whether and how that information may be shared and your rights and choices regarding the information you provide to us.

Your Consent

By using our website, products, or services, you’re acknowledging that you have agreed to our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy, that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy, and that you consent to your information being used for the purposes and for the manner described in this Privacy Policy. For children under the age of 16 to order or use our products or services, a parent or legal guardian must provide the above-mentioned consents on their behalf.

You may withdraw your consent to our management of your personal information, at any time, subject to legal and contractual restrictions, upon reasonable notice. However, such a withdrawal may reduce our ability to provide you with certain products and services. For more information on the implications of withdrawing your consent or to notify us of the withdrawal of your consent, please contact our Data Protection Team.

What We Collect and Receive

For you to use our website, products, and services, we need to collect and process certain information. Depending on your use of our website, products, and services, this may include the following types of information.

General personal information

• Information you provide by completing forms on our website — your name, company name, email and mailing addresses, telephone number, login, and password details. We may ask you for this information if you register for an account on our website, order our products or services, subscribe to our newsletter, login to our online “Client Area”, upload or submit content through our website (including the “Client Area”), or if you contact us.
• Information you provide for identity verification purposes when contacting us or for the purposes of processing your payment. In some cases, our payment processor will request that you provide additional personal information to confirm your identity before payment can be processed.
• For certain domain name products and services, we may request your residency status or whether you are a member of certain organisations. This information is required by certain domain name registries (e.g., Canadian Internet Registration Authority) for the purposes of registering your chosen domain name(s) with the registry.

Payment information

• Details of any transactions you make through our website, products, or services. As part of a transaction, we may collect payment information, including credit card or bank account details (as applicable), expiration date, and country, which we require for payment processing, tax, and regulatory purposes.
• We partner with other companies (such as PayPal) for payment processing, and the payment information you submit is processed by them in accordance with their privacy policies.

Statistical and cookie information

• Statistical information about the way visitors and users interact with our website, products, and services, in the form of website traffic analytics (i.e., Google Analytics). The analytics engine passively gathers visitor and user information, including your IP address; the type of device, operating system, and browser you use; and your activity on our website. This information helps us to improve our website, products, and services, allowing us to provide you with a more friendly and secure user experience. You can opt out of having your data used by Google Analytics here.
• Cookies are small data files that are issued to your device when you visit a website and that store information about your use of the website. URL query strings are small amounts of data transmitted as part of a URL (e.g., website address) when you click on a hyperlink or submit a form in an internet browser.
• We use cookies and other technologies (e.g., URL query strings) to help recognize you as a repeat visitor, to process items in your shopping cart, to recognize affiliates, to save your preferences for future visits to our website, and to compile aggregate statistical data about website traffic and interactions (see above), allowing us to provide you with a more friendly and secure user experience.
• Cookies are stored in your device memory either over the long-term (e.g., to retain your website preferences from visit-to-visit) or as a temporary file which will be cleared from your device memory when you close your internet browser. You may choose to turn off the use of cookies via your internet browser preferences; however, our website, products, and services may no longer function properly if you choose to turn off the use of cookies. You may still place orders over the telephone or by otherwise contacting Customer Service.

Communication history information

• Communications you send to us (e.g., technical support tickets, questions, or feedback).

Sensitive personal information

• We ask that you do not send or disclose to us any sensitive personal information, including social insurance or social security numbers, information related to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or other beliefs, health, criminal background, or trade union membership.

User content

• User content uploaded, collected, stored, used, transferred, or disclosed in connection with our website, products, or services. Such content includes website and email content in connection with our web hosting, website creation, website security, email solutions and marketing products and services.

Career opportunities

• If you use our career opportunities feature to apply for a job posted on our website or send us your application via email, we may collect your name, email address and any other information you provide, including your employment history.

How We Use This Information

We use the information we collect from you for the following purposes:

• To enable us to provide you with our website, products, and services.
• To process transactions in connection with our website, products, and services. After a transaction, your personal information (e.g., credit card or financial information) may be kept on file in order to facilitate automated renewals. You may request that your credit card or financial information be deleted from our system and files at any point by contacting us.
• To create and administer your account, contact you, and customise your experience on our website or while using our products or services.
• To keep your account secure and protect our website, products, and services (including to prevent fraud and abuse).
• To restore your account or data where it was accidentally or maliciously deleted, corrupted, or otherwise damaged.
• To improve customer service by helping us to more effectively respond to your customer service requests and support needs.
• To help promote our website, products, and services, if you've voluntarily provided a testimonial or review.
• To send you periodic emails concerning order information, product or service information, company news, promotions, and legal information.
• To track and analyse use of our website, products, and services so we can improve them and provide you with the best experience possible.
• To evaluate and respond to an application to a job posting.
• To meet regulatory requirements (e.g., tax laws).

European Union Users

Data protection law in Europe requires a “lawful basis” for collecting and retaining personal information from citizens or residents of the European Union. Our lawful bases include:

• Performing the contract we have with you: We need your personal information to comply with our contractual obligation to deliver you our products or services.
• Legal compliance: Sometimes the law says we need to collect and use your data. For example, tax laws require us to retain records of payments made for our products and services.
• Legitimate interests: This is a technical term in data protection law which essentially means we have a good and fair reason to use your data and we do so in ways which do not hurt your interests and rights. We sometimes require your data to pursue our legitimate interests in a way that might reasonably be expected as part of running our business and that does not materially impact your rights, freedom, or interests. For example, we may use identity, device, and location information to prevent fraud and abuse and to keep our website, products, and services secure. We may also send you promotional communications about our products or services, subject to your right to control whether we do so.
• We analyse how users interact with our website, products, and services so we can better understand which elements of the design are working well and which are not working so well. This allows us to develop and improve the quality of the online experience we offer to all our users.

How Your Information Is Shared

We respect your privacy. We do not disclose, sell, trade, or otherwise transfer your personal information to third-parties without your prior consent, except as described below.

Information that is shared publicly

We will not publicly display or reveal to other users your personally identifiable information without your explicit consent, except as described in this Privacy Policy. When you register for a domain name, we are obligated to transmit certain personal contact information (e.g., your name, address, telephone number, and email address) to the applicable domain name registrar for publication in the publicly accessible WHOIS database. Domain name registrants are required to provide and maintain accurate contact information in the WHOIS database. Unfortunately, as the WHOIS database is publicly accessible, it is a target for data harvesting by persons or organisations engaged in spam, fraud, and identity theft. Consequently, we offer you a Privacy Protection service that will shield your personal information by making us your WHOIS trustee and by listing the contact information of our privacy team instead of your own in the WHOIS database. The Privacy Protection service is available with most domain types during registration or transfer orders, but you may opt out by unselecting the service during the order process. We highly recommend against opting out, but should you do so or should you register a domain type that does not support Privacy Protection, you accept that your personal contact information will be publicly disclosed in the WHOIS database. We may use certain personal information for promotional purposes (e.g., testimonials on our website). When submitting testimonials through our website or our social media pages you agree that your name, testimonial and website address may be used without additional consent. We will not publicly disclose any of your sensitive information, including your account information, payment information, or personal contact information, without your explicit consent. Non-personally identifiable visitor and user information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, analytics, or similar purposes.

Information that is shared with trusted third-party services

We may share your information with certain trusted third-party services to help us provide, improve, promote, or protect our website, products, and services. When we share data with third-party services that support our delivery of our products and services, we require that they use your information only for the purposes we have authorised. We may also share information that is aggregated and anonymized in a way that it does not directly identify you.

Our trusted third-party partners include:

• Datacenter and data hosting providers.
• Domain name registrars and registries (e.g., Canadian Internet Registration Authority).
• Payment processors (e.g., PayPal).
• Server Software providers (e.g., cPanel).
• Customer support service providers.
• Website builder and search engine optimization service providers (e.g., Weebly).
• SSL certificate and website protection service providers.
• Email distribution and marketing service providers.
• Analytics processors (e.g., Google Analytics).

Information shared in the context of a transaction

We may also disclose your information as part of a business transaction, in connection with the proposed or actual financing, securitization, insuring, sale, assignment or other disposition in whole or in part of WHC, or its business or assets, for the purposes of evaluating and/or executing the proposed transaction. Assignees or successors of WHC, or its business or assets, may use and disclose your personal information for purposes similar to those described in this Privacy Policy.

Information that is shared to protect WHC and comply with the law

We reserve the right to disclose personal information when we believe that doing so is reasonably necessary to comply with the law or law enforcement, to prevent fraud or abuse, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of WHC, its employees, users, or others.

Links to other websites and services

Our website, products, or services may include links to other websites, products, or services (“External Websites”) whose privacy practices may differ from our own. When you use a link to an External Website, the privacy policy and data processing disclosures for that External Website govern. We assume no responsibility or liability for the interaction with and activities of an External Website. We seek to protect the integrity of our website, products, and services, and the safety of our users. We welcome any feedback that would help us do so, including feedback about External Websites.

Retention

We will retain your information as long as your account is active, as is necessary to provide you with our products or services, or as otherwise set forth in this Privacy Policy. We will also retain and use your information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, and protect our legal rights.

We may retain backups of your hosting account content for up to 9 months after your hosting service is cancelled or terminated. Backups may be used to restore your data or account in case the data or account is accidentally or maliciously deleted, corrupted, or otherwise damaged. If you wish your information to be deleted prior to the end of the above mentioned period, please contact our Data Protection Team.

We also collect and maintain aggregated, anonymized, or pseudonymized information which we may retain indefinitely to protect the safety and security of our website, products, and services, improve them, or comply with legal obligations.

Data Transfers

Your personal information will be collected and stored in Canada, except as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy. However, we work with trusted third-party service providers (e.g., domain name registrars and registries) around the world to provide you with our products and services. Consequently, some of your personal information may be transferred to other countries for processing. We conform to industry standards to help ensure that your privacy is protected and that any transfers of personal information are safeguarded during transit and at the recipient processor.

These third-party countries have their own laws governing data protection and government access to information. The rules that protect your personal information under these laws may be different than in your home country. We ensure that our service providers comply with all applicable privacy laws, and implement contractual clauses imposing obligations on them. For more information about our data processing abroad, please contact our Data Protection Team.

If you choose to use our website, products, or services, you must agree to our Terms of Service, which set out the contract between WHC and you. Further, you consent to having the necessary personal information transferred to trusted third-party service providers, located in Canada and other countries, for processing to provide you with the products and services for which you have contracted us.

Your Rights

Users residing in certain countries, including Canada and European Union member states, are afforded certain rights regarding their personal information. Except where an exception or exemption applies, these rights include your ability to access, correct, and request deletion of your personal information. While these rights are not applicable globally, all users of our products or services can manage and revise their personal information in the “Client Area” on our website or by contacting Customer Service. We may request that you provide us with personal information to verify your identity before we can disclose, change, or delete any personal information related to your account.

To modify or delete the personal information you have provided to us, or to manage your marketing email preferences, please log in to the “Client Area” and update your profile or contact Customer Service.

To request an electronic copy of your personal information, please contact Customer Service at https://whc.ca/contact-us.

To delete your account, please contact Customer Service at https://whc.ca/contact-us. We may retain certain information as required by law or as necessary for our legitimate business purposes.

Residents of Canada and of European Union member states have the right to restrict or object to the processing of their personal information under certain circumstances (e.g., to contest the accuracy of the data). They have the right to object to processing of their personal information for direct marketing purposes. To exercise any of these rights, please contact our Data Protection Team.

Residents of European Union member states and Canada have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (e.g., privacy office) in the jurisdiction where they reside, or where an alleged infringement took place, if they consider that the processing of their personal information has infringed European Union or Canadian privacy law.

Email Notifications

We may send you email regarding your order information, product or service information, company news, promotions, and legal information.

We want to communicate with you only if you want to hear from us. We try to keep emails to a minimum and give you the ability to opt in to any marketing communications we send. You may opt out of receiving marketing email communications by following unsubscribe links located at the bottom of each email, by updating your marketing preferences from your Client Area at https://clients.whc.ca or by contacting Customer Service at https://whc.ca/contact-us.

From time to time, we may provide you with necessary information (e.g., service-related announcements or legal information) to which you will not be able to opt out.

Security

We take security seriously, and the security of your personal information is important to us. We employ a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you place an order with us or access your personal information.

• Your personal information is stored on secure servers or in secure file storage.
• All sensitive/credit information supplied via our website is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and then encrypted into our database, only to be accessed by authorized personnel.
No method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee its absolute security. Your account information is protected by a password, which you should choose carefully and keep secure. If you disclose your password to a third-party, you may lose considerable control over your personal information and you may risk that legally binding actions be taken on your behalf. If the security of your password has been compromised, for whatever reason, you should change it immediately.

We encourage the responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities of our website, products, or services by contacting our Data Protection Team.

Children

You must be 13 years of age or older to register with us. We will not knowingly collect any personal information from children under the age of 13. However, if we are made aware that a child under the age of 13 provides us with personal information, we will delete this information from our files, unless we have required to retain the information by law.

If you are under the age of 16, before you may order or use our products or services, your parent or legal guardian must provide written consent on your behalf to our Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, and this Privacy Policy. In particular, your parent or legal guardian must consent to your information being used for the purposes and for the manner described in this Privacy Policy.

Privacy Officer & Data Protection Team

If you have any questions regarding our privacy practices or wish to make a complaint, you may contact our Privacy Officer and our Data Protection Team by email at [email protected], or by mail at:

Privacy Officer
WHC Online Solutions Inc.
7250 Clark Street #301
Montreal, Quebec
H2R 2Y3 Canada

Changes to the Privacy Policy

We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time to adapt it to our company, products and services, and legal requirements. We will notify you of any material changes either by displaying a notification on our website or by sending you an email. Any continued use of our website, products, or services after any changes are made to our Privacy Policy will mean that you accept the updated Privacy Policy.

Effective: October 11, 2023

The following terms and policies dictate the conditions of use of services and products provided by Web Hosting Canada.