General Terms of Service
DreamHost changed the currency for several flat fees in its Terms of Service from US dollars to euros, while keeping the same numeric amount. This affects the chargeback fee and three dedicated-server labor/upgrade fees. No other substantive terms changed.
Fees switched from dollars to euros, quietly raising the real cost for US customers
DreamHost changed several flat fees (the chargeback fee, and dedicated-server labor and hardware upgrade fees) from US dollar amounts to euro amounts, keeping the same number (e.g., 50, 100, 200). Since a euro is typically worth more than a dollar, this is effectively a price increase for customers who pay in dollars, even though it isn't described as one.
“Each rejected charge will incur a €50 fee on the account which must be paid before any Services may be reactivated.”
What you can do — If you're a dedicated server customer or ever incur a chargeback, check DreamHost's current billing page to see what these fees cost in your local currency before assuming they're unchanged.
BILLING & RENEWAL
| 43 | 43 | The "30-Day Money-Back Guarantee" offer is only applicable to credit card and PayPal payments for DreamHost Website Hosting Services, excluding Email Service, Dedicated Server, VPS, Remixer, and DreamCompute products. Other forms of payment are non-refundable. Refunds are not available for the value of any trial periods of any services. Domain registrations (including the value of any used domain registration credits included with the plan) are not refundable under any circumstances. SSL certificates are non-refundable. Remixer subscription fees, and Remixer Credits are non-refundable. The value of any AdWords credit or other third-party add-ons is non-refundable. |
| 44 | 44 | |
| 45 | 45 | Violations of DreamHost's Terms may, at DreamHost's discretion, result in immediate and permanent disablement without refund. |
| 46 | 46 | |
| 47 | 47 | DreamHost reserves the right to disable or suspend without refund any account or service at any time should it feel, in its sole discretion, that there is a reasonable suspicion that it is being used in violation of any agreed upon terms. |
| 48 | 48 | |
| 49 | Disputed charges ("chargebacks") associated with any DreamHost account, at DreamHost's discretion, may result in immediate and potentially permanent disablement of Services or the full account. Each rejected charge will incur a $50 fee on the account which must be paid before any Services may be reactivated. | |
| 49 | Disputed charges ("chargebacks") associated with any DreamHost account, at DreamHost's discretion, may result in immediate and potentially permanent disablement of Services or the full account. Each rejected charge will incur a €50 fee on the account which must be paid before any Services may be reactivated. | |
± CHANGEDChargeback fee now charged in euros instead of dollars If you dispute a charge on your account (a chargeback), DreamHost charges a fee before it will reactivate your services. That fee is now listed as €50 instead of $50. | ||
| 50 | 50 | |
| 51 | 51 | DreamHost reserves the right to modify service plans, fees, and applicable charges. If Customer's Services include software, configurations, or features that are end-of-life, outdated, or unsupported ("Unsupported Software"), DreamHost may require Customer to enroll in an additional maintenance plan or pay additional maintenance fees ("Unsupported Software Maintenance Fees") to continue providing the Services. Unsupported Software Maintenance Fees may be tiered based on the number of Customer websites, applications, instances, or environments (each, a "Site") that require Unsupported Software maintenance during a billing period. DreamHost will determine the applicable tier based on the count of Sites daily, and will apply the applicable tier to the next billing period. If Customer's applicable tier would change due to an increase or decrease in the number of Sites requiring Unsupported Software maintenance, DreamHost will notify Customer of the new tier and the effective date. Increases will take effect on the next billing date following the notice period above; decreases will take effect on the next billing date after DreamHost's verification. |
| 52 | 52 | |
| 53 | 53 | Before charging Unsupported Software Maintenance Fees, DreamHost will provide Customer advance notice describing: (i) the reason for the fee, (ii) the applicable tier and fee amount, (iii) the effective date, and (iv) methods to avoid or prevent the fee. DreamHost will provide such notice at least fourteen (14) days before the effective date, and may provide additional notices as a courtesy. If Customer does not agree to the Unsupported Software Maintenance Fees, Customer may cancel the affected Services before the effective date without incurring additional change fees. No refunds will be payable for fees previously assessed or for partial billing periods. |
| 54 | 54 | |
| 55 | 55 | DreamHost will use commercially reasonable efforts to make DreamObjects available 99.9% of the time during each monthly billing cycle. If DreamHost is unable to meet this service level, you will be eligible to receive a credit to apply to future DreamObjects billing cycles based upon the Unavailability for that month. |
| 124 | 124 | |
| 125 | 125 | Customer agrees that dedicated server payments are NONREFUNDABLE. For example, if Customer submits payment for twelve (12) months of service, service will be provided for twelve (12) months and will not be refunded if Customer chooses to discontinue service with DreamHost mid-way through the term. DreamCompute services will be billed on a monthly basis; existing DreamCompute customers may remain on a pre-paid billing plan, but new customer accounts will be subject to a usage-billing plan. Termination or upgrades of DreamCompute services will result in the following refund and billing procedures: |
| 126 | 126 | |
| 127 | 127 | 1. Pre-Paid Billing DreamCompute Plan: Any termination or upgrade will result in a refund of the prorated value of the plan for the last billing period. |
| 128 | 128 | 2. Usage-Billing DreamCompute Plan: Any termination will result in the customer being billed for usage, rounded up to the nearest hour. |
| 129 | 129 | |
| 130 | Hardware upgrades to an existing 'platform' (platform defined as a motherboard/chassis combination) will be performed by DreamHost and shall incur an additional one-time labor fee of $100 as well as an increase to Customer's standard monthly rate. | |
| 130 | Hardware upgrades to an existing 'platform' (platform defined as a motherboard/chassis combination) will be performed by DreamHost and shall incur an additional one-time labor fee of €100 as well as an increase to Customer's standard monthly rate. | |
± CHANGEDDedicated server hardware upgrade labor fee now in euros The one-time labor fee for hardware upgrades to an existing dedicated server platform changed from $100 to €100. | ||
| 131 | 131 | |
| 132 | 132 | You acknowledge that the privileges associated with creating and utilizing an Admin User grant significant control over a Dedicated Server, and that improper or incorrect use of these privileges may substantially damage a server's configuration. You further acknowledge that if such damage occurs due to your actions, DreamHost Technical Support may be unable to rectify the issue. In such cases, the server's configuration may need to be reset, or the operating system may need to be re-installed. |
| 133 | 133 | |
| 134 | Any hands-on labor necessitated by the customer (including, but not limited to, re-installing the operating system on the server) shall be performed by DreamHost and shall incur an additional one-time labor fee of $100 for each incident. | |
| 134 | Any hands-on labor necessitated by the customer (including, but not limited to, re-installing the operating system on the server) shall be performed by DreamHost and shall incur an additional one-time labor fee of €100 for each incident. | |
± CHANGEDCustomer-requested hands-on labor fee now in euros The one-time fee for hands-on labor you request (such as reinstalling your server's operating system) changed from $100 to €100 per incident. | ||
| 135 | 135 | |
| 136 | DreamHost reserves the right to alter the dedicated server packages advertised on its website at its discretion. DreamHost is not required to upgrade Customers' hardware or bandwidth allocation as a result of a pricing or service package change. There will be an additional charge of $200 associated with any such hardware upgrade requested by Customer. Customer will not be required to upgrade hardware as a result of a pricing change. | |
| 136 | DreamHost reserves the right to alter the dedicated server packages advertised on its website at its discretion. DreamHost is not required to upgrade Customers' hardware or bandwidth allocation as a result of a pricing or service package change. There will be an additional charge of €200 associated with any such hardware upgrade requested by Customer. Customer will not be required to upgrade hardware as a result of a pricing change. | |
± CHANGEDDedicated server hardware upgrade charge now in euros The additional charge for a hardware upgrade you request on a dedicated server changed from $200 to €200. | ||
| 137 | 137 | |
| 138 | 138 | For managed servers, DreamHost is responsible for the security of the network, the kernel, and the base operating system (defined as the standard set of debian packages that come installed with the server). DreamHost may take any steps it deems necessary at any time to protect the security of your server (this generally includes applying security patches as well as upgrading the entire operating system). |
| 139 | 139 | |
| 140 | 140 | For unmanaged servers not using a "DreamCatcher" monitoring option, Customer is responsible for keeping the security of their system up to date. This includes but is not limited to the following requirements: |
| 141 | 141 | |
| 142 | 142 | 1. The kernel will be patched within 7 days of any announced security hole relating to the kernel |