Effective date: 7 September 2026
1. Purpose and scope
This policy explains when HostAbby hosting, domain and related service charges may be refunded and how cancellations are handled. It forms part of the HostAbby Terms and Conditions.
We apply mandatory South African consumer rights to customers protected by the CPA and mandatory local consumer law to international consumers where that law applies. Contractual rights may be more generous than statutory minimum rights.
2. 15-day new-customer hosting guarantee
New customers may cancel an eligible standard shared or reseller hosting service within 15 calendar days from the initial service activation/contract date and request a refund of the core hosting fee.
The 15-day guarantee applies to the first purchase of an eligible hosting service by that customer, not to renewals, repeated sign-ups, domain charges, licences, third-party products, custom work, dedicated resources, cloud consumption, migration work already performed or other non-recoverable costs.
If a domain was bundled or discounted with hosting, the completed domain registration or renewal cost is deducted from any hosting refund and the domain remains registered to the customer, subject to normal registry rules.
3. Domains are normally non-refundable
Domain registration, renewal and transfer fees are normally non-refundable after the registry/registrar transaction has been submitted or completed. This is because domain transactions are generally final and HostAbby cannot simply reverse them.
This position follows common hosting-industry practice and the rules of the relevant registrar/registry. Generic domains are subject to applicable ICANN/registry rules and South African domains to the relevant .za registrar/registry framework.
If HostAbby failed to register the requested domain, materially processed the transaction incorrectly, or mandatory law requires a remedy, we will apply the lawful remedy. Cancelling hosting does not remove your right to transfer an eligible domain to another provider.
4. Month-to-month hosting cancellation
Standard month-to-month hosting may be cancelled at any time. To prevent the next renewal charge, submit the cancellation request before renewal is processed.
If you ask for cancellation to take effect immediately during a prepaid monthly period, we may calculate any warranted refund pro rata from the effective cancellation date, less the value of hosting already supplied, setup or migration work already completed, chargebacks, usage-based costs and lawful non-refundable third-party charges.
If you choose to keep the service active until the end of the already-paid billing period, no unused-period refund arises because the service remains available through that paid period.
5. South African fixed-term consumers
Where CPA section 14 applies to a South African natural-person consumer in a fixed-term agreement, the consumer may cancel before expiry on 20 business days' written or other recorded notice.
HostAbby may recover amounts owing up to the effective cancellation date and may charge only a reasonable cancellation penalty permitted by the CPA and its regulations, taking into account factors required by law. We do not claim the full unpaid balance merely because a protected consumer cancels early.
The CPA section 14 fixed-term rules do not apply to transactions between juristic persons. Business and organisational fixed-term contracts are governed by their signed terms and other applicable law.
6. International and business fixed-term agreements
Unless mandatory local law or a signed agreement provides otherwise, annual, multi-year, biannual or other fixed/long-term business arrangements require 30 calendar days' written notice of cancellation.
Any early-cancellation refund, credit or penalty will be calculated according to the signed agreement, actual Services used, committed infrastructure or licence costs, recoverable third-party charges and applicable law. We will not impose a penalty that applicable law prohibits.
7. Service quality and SLA refunds
If HostAbby fails to perform a Service to the standard required by applicable law or an expressly agreed SLA, contact us promptly with dates, evidence and the affected service details so we can investigate and remedy the problem.
For South African consumers protected by CPA section 54, an inadequate service may entitle the consumer to require the defect to be remedied or to receive a reasonable portion of the price back, having regard to the extent of the failure.
Where an eligible plan expressly guarantees 99.9% uptime, verified SLA failure may qualify for a service credit or refund under the SLA. If a verified material 99.9% uptime failure occurs during a new customer's first 30 days and the SLA or applicable law warrants it, HostAbby may refund the full affected core hosting fee. Domain and completed third-party charges remain excluded unless law requires otherwise.
8. Exclusions and abuse
Refunds are not normally provided for downtime or loss caused by customer code, unsupported software, compromised customer credentials, customer DNS changes, resource exhaustion caused by customer workloads, unlawful use, AUP breaches, scheduled maintenance, force-majeure events, or third-party failures outside the scope of the applicable SLA.
We may refuse the voluntary 15-day guarantee where it is being abused through repeated sign-ups, fraud, chargebacks, prohibited use or deliberate resource abuse. Mandatory statutory rights are not affected.
9. Cancellation process
Send cancellation requests to billing@hostabby.com or submit them through the HostAbby client area. Include the account holder name, service/domain, requested effective date and enough information for us to verify authority over the account.
We will confirm the effective cancellation date and identify any refundable amount, outstanding balance, domain impact and data-retention deadline.
10. Data retention and migration grace
Hosting access may end on the effective termination date. Customers should download or migrate websites, email and databases before cancellation.
HostAbby ordinarily keeps a recoverable cPanel/account copy for up to 14 days after termination as a no-charge transition grace period, subject to technical feasibility, legal obligations, security and abuse considerations.
If you require more time, contact support before deletion. Where feasible, we may extend retention up to 30 days at no additional charge if the extension is requested and confirmed. After the applicable retention period, data may be permanently deleted.
11. Refund method and timing
Approved refunds are returned, where reasonably possible, to the original payment method. Processing time depends on the payment gateway, bank and card network.
Refund calculations may deduct lawful amounts already consumed or irreversibly paid to third parties. We will provide a reasonable explanation of any deduction on request.
12. No credit-provider relationship
Purchasing hosting in advance does not by itself make HostAbby a credit provider or create a credit agreement. HostAbby supplies prepaid technology Services. If a separate arrangement is regulated by the National Credit Act or another credit law, that arrangement will be dealt with under the applicable law and separate terms.
