Policy
Refund & Cancellation Policy
This policy covers everything you buy from MeerkatHost at meerkathost.com: website hosting, email hosting, SSL certificates and domain names. Payments are processed by our secure online payment processor. All amounts are in South African rand (ZAR).
The short version
- Hosting plans (which include email hosting and SSL) are monthly subscriptions. You can cancel at any time before your next billing date.
- After you cancel, your service keeps running until the end of the month you have already paid for. We do not charge you again.
- Your first hosting payment can be refunded in full if you cancel within 7 days.
- If we could not set up what you paid for, or you were charged twice or in error, we refund you in full.
- Payment processing fees (2% to 3.1% of the amount paid, plus R1.00 on card payments) are non-refundable. Other refunds are the amount you paid minus that fee.
- Domain registrations, renewals and transfers cannot be refunded once we have submitted them to the registry.
1. Hosting, email and SSL subscriptions
- Our hosting plans (Basic to Ultimate) are billed monthly in advance. Every plan includes website hosting, email hosting and an SSL certificate.
- Yearly billing covers exactly 12 months of service from your start date. The 2-month saving is already included in the yearly price; no extra months are added.
- You can cancel at any time before your next billing date. Once cancelled, no further charges are made.
- Your service stays active until the end of the period you have already paid for, then it is switched off.
- We do not give refunds or credits for part of a month, or for a month in which the service was available but not used, except as set out in sections 2 and 3.
- Please download any website files and email you want to keep before your paid period ends. After it ends, your account and its data may be deleted.
2. 7-day cooling-off on your first hosting payment
If you are ordering a hosting plan from us for the first time, you may cancel within 7 days of your first payment and get that first payment back in full. This is in line with the cooling-off right in section 44 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002.
- It applies to the first payment on a new hosting plan only, not to later monthly payments or plan upgrades.
- It does not apply to domain names. Domain fees are covered by section 5.
- Your hosting account is closed when the refund is made.
3. When we refund you in full
- We could not deliver. If we cannot set up the hosting, email, SSL or domain you paid for, we refund what you paid for that item.
- Duplicate or wrong charges. If you were charged twice for the same order, or charged an amount you did not agree to, we refund the extra or incorrect amount.
Approved refunds are paid back to the original payment method through our payment processor. They usually reach you within 5 to 10 business days after we approve them. The exact time depends on your bank or card issuer.
4. Payment processing fees
- Every payment you make to us is handled by our payment processor, which charges a fee on each transaction. We don't get this fee back when a payment is refunded, so it is non-refundable. The fees are:
- Local card payments: 2.9% of the amount paid, plus R1.00 (plus VAT)
- Local EFT payments: 2% of the amount paid
- International card payments: 3.1% of the amount paid, plus R1.00 (plus VAT)
- Except where sections 2 and 3 give you a full refund, any refund we approve is the amount you paid minus the non-refundable processing fee for that payment.
5. Domain names
- Domain registrations, renewals and transfers are billed yearly.
- Once we have submitted a registration, renewal or transfer to the domain registry, it cannot be refunded or cancelled. We pay the registry fee on your behalf as soon as the request is submitted.
- If we could not submit your domain request (for example, the name was no longer available), you get a full refund for that domain under section 3.
- If you do not want a domain to renew, tell us before its renewal date and we will turn off auto-renew. The domain then stays yours until its expiry date.
6. How to cancel or request a refund
Email support@meerkathost.com and include:
- the name and email address on your account;
- your order number or payment receipt, and the domain name involved;
- whether you want to cancel, request a refund, or both, and the reason for a refund.
We reply within 2 business days. Cancelling a hosting plan stops the next charge; you keep the service until the end of the period already paid.
7. Your other rights
Nothing in this policy takes away any right you have under South African consumer law, including the Consumer Protection Act, 2008 and the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002.