Terms of Service

Effective Date: October 15, 2025

All services and/or products provided by Fat Cat Design (“Fat Cat Design”, “we”, “us”, “our”) to the client/customer/subscriber (“subscriber”, “you”, “your”) are subject to, and bound by, the following Terms of Service.

1. Service Agreement and Acceptance

By engaging with Fat Cat Design with regard to any and all services or products, including but not limited to website hosting, website maintenance, and Client Care Plans, subscribers automatically agree to and are bound by these Terms of Service. Upon requesting activation of, subscribing to, or renewal of, an account or project, you are required to accept, and are automatically bound by, these policies, guidelines, terms, conditions, and disclaimers.

Transfer of Ownership: Should subscriber transfer ownership of subscriber’s company, entity, or organization to any other entity (such as transferring, selling, renaming its business or property, or otherwise changing or altering its business/company identity, whether it be LLC, corporation, DBA, sole proprietor, individual, or any other entity that has engaged in any services with Fat Cat Design), the new entity assumes all binding agreements within this Terms of Service, regardless of when the initial subscriber first engaged in services with Fat Cat Design, and regardless of when the subscriber transfer occurred.

2. Acceptable Use Policy

All services provided by Fat Cat Design may be used for lawful purposes only. Transmission, storage, or presentation of any information, data, or material in violation of any United States federal, state, or city law is prohibited.

2.1 Prohibited Content and Activities

The following are strictly prohibited and will result in immediate account termination:

Illegal Activity: Sites that promote any illegal activity or present content that may be damaging to Fat Cat Design’s servers or any other server on the Internet
Pirated Software: Hacker programs, archives, or warez sites
Adult-Oriented Content: Fat Cat Design does not allow adult content
Child Pornography or Obscene Materials: Using Fat Cat Design’s network to advertise, transmit, store, post, display, or otherwise make available child pornography or obscene speech or material
Defamatory or Abusive Language: Transmitting, posting, or publishing negative, defamatory, harassing, abusive, or threatening language
Spamming: Sending unsolicited bulk and/or commercial information over the Internet or maintaining an open SMTP relay
Forging Headers: Forging or misrepresenting message headers to mask the originator of a message
Hacking: Illegally or without authorization accessing computers, accounts, or networks belonging to another party
Malware Distribution: Distributing information regarding the creation of and sending Internet viruses, worms, Trojan horses, pinging, flooding, mail bombing, or denial of service attacks
Export Control Violations: Exporting encryption software over the Internet or otherwise to points outside the United States
Other Illegal Activities: Including but not limited to ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, fraudulently charging credit cards, and pirating software

NOTICE: IF YOUR ACCOUNT IS FOUND TO CONTAIN ILLEGAL ACTIVITY, ILLEGAL AUDIO FILES, ILLEGAL VIDEO FILES, PIRATED SOFTWARE, HACKER PROGRAMS, WAREZ PROGRAMS, OR ANY OTHER ILLEGAL FILES, YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE TERMINATED IMMEDIATELY, WITHOUT NOTICE, AND A $1,000.00 CANCELLATION FEE WILL APPLY. ADDITIONALLY, FAT CAT DESIGN WILL NOTIFY THE PROPER AUTHORITIES.

2.2 Large File Policy

Fat Cat Design is not for file hosting and distribution. Customers may not host any files larger than 50MB in size. Such files include but are not limited to .ISO, audio/video files, image files, PDF files, downloads, etc. If you are unsure whether your file is against this policy, please email admin@fcdesign.net.

2.3 IRC Policy

We currently do not allow IRC or IRC bots to be operated on our servers.

2.4 Spam Policy and Penalties

When a complaint is received, Fat Cat Design will investigate and shut down the account that is spamming. A $3,000 charge for violating this policy will be charged to the individual initiating the spam. Furthermore, Fat Cat Design reserves the right to legally prosecute for this violation. A $20.00 charge will be assessed PER EMAIL sent should Fat Cat Design choose to pursue and prosecute.

3. Client Care Plans

3.1 Care Plan Services and Hosting Requirements

Hosting Included: Fully managed hosting is included with all Client Care Plans.

Hosting Requirement: Our current policy requires that Care Plan clients be hosted through Fat Cat Design. This policy protects and benefits you in two ways:

We have carefully vetted our hosting providers to ensure they meet our clients’ needs from a security and support standpoint, and support our clients’ ongoing care plan needs
Together, your Fat Cat Design hosting services + your Fat Cat Design Care Plan services = a seamlessly integrated solution to protect and maintain your website

Self-Maintenance Notice: If you choose not to subscribe to one of our website hosting and Client Care Plans, you will be responsible for your website’s backups, restoration, uptime monitoring, security scans, malware removal, software updates (theme, plugins, WordPress core), and performance monitoring. Performing services that are unfamiliar to you can have disastrous consequences, and it may be more costly to hire someone to fix a broken site than it would be to subscribe to a Care Plan.

3.2 Care Plan Renewals and Cancellations

Plans: Plans auto-renew and auto-invoice on each plan basis (monthly or annually).

Cancellation Policy: Fat Cat Design requires a minimum of 30 days’ cancellation request notice prior to any renewal date for service cancellations. You may email your cancellation request to admin@fcdesign.net.

Site Migration Requirement: Prior to your hosting and maintenance plan termination date, you MUST move your site to a new hosting provider. On the termination date, your site will be removed from our hosting servers and Care Plan services, and your site and its content will be lost.

Post-Cancellation Services: Once your website hosting and Care Plan services have been terminated, any tasks, corrective work, or site restoration after the cancellation of your Care Plan will require a prepaid consult fee outside of the cost of the requested work.

3.3 Care Plan Modifications and Customization

Upgrades: You can upgrade your plan at any time. Requests for upgrades may be sent to Fat Cat Design at admin@fcdesign.net.

Package Recommendations: If your website has features or functionality that are not covered in one of our packages, Fat Cat Design will recommend a different tier. For example, if your site has blog or Custom Post Type functionality, we would recommend an appropriate Care Plan tier appropriately.

Custom Packages: Fat Cat Design may create custom packages with add-on services at its discretion. Contact admin@fcdesign.net with any specific needs you are seeking.

3.4 Content Updates and Consultation Time

Content Update Process: For a streamlined process, subscribers must provide content changes for the current month all at one time in the format requested (i.e., Word doc) and upload the content to a location specified (i.e., Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.).

No Rollover: Any unused content update or consultation time does not roll over to the following month. Subscribers are encouraged to utilize those services regularly to keep site content fresh.

Overage Charges: If updates or consultation time exceeds what is included in the plan, the extra time will be invoiced separately. Unused time cannot be rolled over or applied to current overages.

3.5 Third-Party Modifications

Third-Party Updates: If anyone other than Fat Cat Design or its subcontractors updates or modifies the website and/or website files, and said updates result in damages to the design, features, or functionality, or impairs the ability for the web pages to display or function properly, the time to repair the web pages will require a prepaid consult fee outside of the cost of the specific work required.

Credential Security: Subscribers must not share website login credentials with any third parties. Login credentials must be protected and not shared with unauthorized individuals.

4. Billing, Payment, and Fees

4.1 Payment Terms

By the Account Activation Date of each billing cycle, Fat Cat Design shall either:

Auto-charge the customer’s debit or credit card; or
Request online payment via Fat Cat Design’s online payment portal; or
IN PRE-APPROVED CIRCUMSTANCES ONLY, allow for subscriber payment via check

Any and all invoice(s) delivered to the subscriber shall be paid to Fat Cat Design no later than the specified payment due date.

4.2 Late Fees and Finance Charges

Late fees and finance charges are automatically accrued for late payments or non-payments. Subscriber agrees to pay late fees, finance charges, or any other fees assessed by Fat Cat Design. Failure to do so by subscriber will result in legal action(s), with additional legal costs incurred payable by subscriber.

4.3 Insufficient Funds

In the event that there are insufficient credit or funds from a subscriber’s payment, Fat Cat Design will send email notification to the subscriber, at which point re-payment and full payment, including any late fees, finance charges, or any other assessed fees, must be made within 24 hours. Failure to receive payment from said subscriber within 24 hours will result in suspension of all the accounts and services for said subscriber.

4.4 Unpaid Invoices and Suspension

In the event of unpaid invoices, missed payments, late payments, or payments resulting in insufficient funds, Fat Cat Design reserves the right to publish notification of suspension due to non-payment, and/or suspend products/services, at its sole discretion.

4.5 Outstanding Fees

Should subscriber terminate any services or agreement with Fat Cat Design, subscriber shall be responsible for any and all outstanding fees owed to Fat Cat Design and agrees to pay any and all fees incurred, regardless of when subscriber provides notice of termination.

4.6 Account Reactivation Fee

Any account deactivated due to non-payment will require a reactivation fee at our discretion prior to reactivation.

5. Refund Policy

Fat Cat Design does not grant refunds of any kind, under any circumstances, whether partial or in full, unless otherwise specified and authorized by Fat Cat Design.

6. Traffic Usage and Overage Charges

All account plans come with a predetermined amount of traffic allowance. We monitor all accounts and bill $1.00 for each gigabyte of traffic exceeded. This amount is not prorated, meaning that 1 MB – 1 GB will be treated and billed the same.

7. Data Retention and Backup Responsibility

7.1 File Retention

Upon termination of subscriber services, all files stored on Fat Cat Design servers of any kind (website files, content, credentials, etc.) will be deleted.

7.2 Subscriber Responsibility

Subscriber is responsible for maintaining a copy at all times of any and all data, including files, content, credentials, etc. Fat Cat Design is not responsible for maintaining or storing said content on behalf of subscriber.

8. Service Termination Rights

8.1 Immediate Termination

Fat Cat Design shall be entitled to immediately terminate any and all services for any subscriber’s failure to make timely payments or for violations of these Terms of Service.

8.2 Refusal of Service

Fat Cat Design reserves the right to refuse, cancel, suspend, or terminate service, at its sole discretion, at any time, without refund.

9. Limitation of Liability

Fat Cat Design shall not be responsible for any claimed damages, including incidental and consequential damages, which may arise from Fat Cat Design servers going offline or being unavailable for any reason whatsoever. Furthermore, Fat Cat Design shall not be responsible for any claimed damages, including incidental or consequential damages, resulting from the corruption, deletion, or other failure to maintain or uphold the integrity of any website, files, designs, or data from Fat Cat Design’s servers, client files, or any other sources.

Fat Cat Design cannot be held liable for system downtime, crashes, or data loss. We cannot be held liable for any predicated estimate of profits which a client would have gained if their site was functioning. Certain services provided by Fat Cat Design are resold. Thus, certain equipment, routing, software, and programming used by Fat Cat Design are not directly owned or written by Fat Cat Design.

10. Subscriber Indemnification

The subscriber agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Fat Cat Design from any claims resulting from the use of service which damages the subscriber or any other party. Should subscriber become delinquent or otherwise non-compliant with Fat Cat Design Terms of Service and/or Terms of Conditions, subscriber is bound to indemnification; as in, is responsible for, and agrees to, compensating Fat Cat Design for any and all losses, damages, financial or otherwise.

By engaging with Fat Cat Design with regard to any and all products and/or services, subscribers agree to Fat Cat Design’s policy resulting in loss to Fat Cat Design or the bringing of any claim against Fat Cat Design by any third party. This means that if Fat Cat Design is sued because of a subscriber’s or customer of a subscriber’s activity, the subscriber will be responsible for payment of any damages awarded against Fat Cat Design, plus costs and attorney’s fees.

11. Monitoring and Disclosure

Fat Cat Design will not, as an ordinary practice, monitor the communications of its subscribers to ensure that the subscriber complies with Fat Cat Design policies or applicable law. However, when Fat Cat Design becomes aware of harmful activities, it may take any action to stop the harmful activity, including, but not limited to, removal of information, shutting down a website, implementing screening software or applications to block offending transmissions, denying access to Fat Cat Design servers, or any other action deemed appropriate by Fat Cat Design.

Fat Cat Design reserves the right to monitor activity and services electronically to determine that its facilities are operating satisfactorily and in compliance with all Terms and Conditions.

Fat Cat Design may disclose information, including, but not limited to, information concerning a subscriber, a transmission made using our network, or a website, in order to comply with a court order, subpoena, summons, discovery request, warrant, statute, regulation, or governmental request. Fat Cat Design assumes no obligation to inform the subscriber that subscriber information has been provided and, in some cases, may be prohibited by law from giving such notice.

Fat Cat Design may disclose subscriber information or information transmitted over its network where necessary to protect Fat Cat Design and others from harm, or where such disclosure is necessary to the proper operation of the system.

12. Privacy Policy

Fat Cat Design maintains a firm commitment to privacy. We use your IP address to help manage and administer our server. Fat Cat Design will never sell information to other services or outside companies.

Fat Cat Design expects and requires that its subscribers, and subscribers that provide Internet services to others, will comply fully with all applicable laws concerning the privacy of online communications. A subscriber’s failure to comply with those laws will violate Fat Cat Design policy.

13. Content Responsibility and Liability

Fat Cat Design does not review, edit, censor, or take responsibility for any information its subscribers may create. When users place information on the Internet, they have the same liability as other authors for copyright infringement, defamation, and other harmful speech.

When subscribers obtain information through the Internet, they must keep in mind that Fat Cat Design cannot monitor, verify, warrant, or vouch for the accuracy and quality of the information they acquire. For this reason, the subscriber must exercise their best judgment in relying on information obtained from the Internet, and also should be aware that some material posted to the Internet may be sexually explicit or otherwise offensive.

Fat Cat Design holds no responsibility for the use of our clients’ accounts. Failure to comply with any terms or conditions will result in the automatic deactivation of the account in question.

14. Violations and Reporting

Violations of these Acceptable Use Policies should be referred to admin@fcdesign.net. All complaints will be investigated promptly. Failure to follow any term or condition will be grounds for immediate account deactivation.

15. Amendments and Modifications

Fat Cat Design reserves the right to amend any or all of the above policies, guidelines, terms, conditions, and disclaimers without notification. We also retain the right to increase any pricing and make changes to our account plans without notification.

16. Dispute Resolution and Arbitration

Any controversy, dispute, or claim arising out of or relating to these Terms of Service, or the breach thereof, shall be settled by binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association in accordance with its Commercial Arbitration Rules. The arbitration shall take place in Haywood County, Tennessee, or another mutually agreed upon location.

The parties agree that arbitration shall be the sole and exclusive forum and remedy for any and all disputes and claims relating to these Terms of Service. Each party shall bear its own attorney’s fees and costs in arbitration unless the arbitrator awards such fees to the prevailing party.

By agreeing to these Terms, you waive your right to participate in a class action lawsuit or class-wide arbitration.

17. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms of Service shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Tennessee, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

Any legal action or proceeding arising under these Terms shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Haywood County, Tennessee, and the parties hereby consent to the personal jurisdiction and venue of such courts.

18. Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Unless explicitly stated in a separate written Service Level Agreement signed by both parties, Fat Cat Design does not guarantee:

Any specific uptime percentage
Any specific response time for support requests
Any specific resolution time for issues
Uninterrupted or error-free service

While we strive to provide reliable and quality services, no warranty of service availability is provided or implied under these Terms of Service. Fat Cat Design makes commercially reasonable efforts to maintain service availability but cannot guarantee uninterrupted access.

19. Force Majeure

Fat Cat Design shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performing its obligations under these Terms of Service to the extent that such failure or delay is caused by circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including but not limited to:

Acts of God (earthquakes, floods, fires, storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, or other natural disasters)
War, invasion, hostilities, terrorist acts, riot, or other civil unrest
Government orders, laws, regulations, or actions
Embargoes or blockades
National or regional emergency
Strikes, labor stoppages, or slowdowns (whether of our employees or third parties)
Telecommunications, network, or power failures
Internet service provider failures or disruptions
Denial of service attacks, hacking attempts, or other malicious attacks on infrastructure
Failures, outages, or security breaches of third-party hosting providers, data centers, or cloud services
Epidemics or pandemics
Shortages of materials, supplies, or transportation

During any such force majeure event, Fat Cat Design’s obligations shall be suspended for the duration of the event. Fat Cat Design will make reasonable efforts to mitigate the effects of any force majeure event and resume normal operations as quickly as possible.

If a force majeure event continues for more than thirty (30) days, either party may terminate the affected services upon written notice, with no liability to the other party except for payment of fees for services already rendered.

20. Third-Party Services and Providers

Fat Cat Design utilizes third-party infrastructure, hosting providers, content delivery networks, and other services to deliver our products and services to subscribers. While we carefully vet and select reputable providers based on security, reliability, and performance standards, Fat Cat Design cannot be held responsible for:

Actions, failures, errors, or omissions of third-party providers
Security breaches, data loss, or unauthorized access caused by third-party services
Service interruptions, outages, or degraded performance caused by third-party infrastructure
Changes to third-party terms of service, pricing, features, or availability
Discontinuation of third-party services or products
Third-party provider bankruptcy, acquisition, or business closure

Our liability is expressly limited to our direct actions and the services we directly provide. Any claims arising from third-party provider failures, breaches, or actions must be directed to those providers in accordance with their respective terms of service.

Subscriber acknowledges that Fat Cat Design’s services depend in part on third-party providers and that such dependencies may affect service delivery. Fat Cat Design reserves the right to change third-party providers at any time without notice to maintain or improve service quality.

21. Contact Information

If you have any questions about these Terms of Service, the practices of this site, or your dealings with Fat Cat Design, you can contact:

Email: admin@fcdesign.net

22. Severability

If any provision of these Terms of Service is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that the Terms of Service will otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable.

By engaging with Fat Cat Design services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms of Service.