Terms of Service

By subscribing to services provided by Aro Digital ("Provider"), the Client ("You") agrees to be bound by the following terms and conditions.

1. Service Definitions & Scope

A. Aro One™ (Subscription)

This service acts as your "Digital Operating System," consolidating your hosting, maintenance, and design infrastructure.

• Included Infrastructure: Managed hosting, domain registration/renewals, SSL security, and Hosted Professional Email (see Section 4).
• Growth Partner Updates: As outlined in our portfolio offer, we act as a partner in your growth. We include standard website expansion (e.g., creating a new "Services" page, adding a "Team" section, or updating text/images) at no additional cost.
• Work Schedule: To maintain high quality for all members, updates are executed in weekly work blocks. Requests are consolidated and prioritized in the order received.
• Excluded (Billable): While standard growth is included, complex custom development is billable. This includes building custom e-commerce engines, database applications, API integrations, or writing original copy. These projects will always be quoted for approval before work begins.
• Domain Responsibility on Cancellation: Domain names registered or managed by Aro Digital on behalf of the Client remain the Client's property. Upon cancellation of services, the Client is solely responsible for initiating and covering all costs associated with domain transfers, including transfer fees, registrar costs, and any technical migration required. Provider will cooperate in good faith with the transfer process but is not obligated to continue paying for domain renewals or hosting beyond the final billing period.

B. SEO Boost (Add-On)

• Included: Monthly on-page optimization (e.g., metadata, header hierarchy, alt-text, internal linking) and quarterly technical health audits.
• Excluded: Off-page strategies (such as link building, PR, or social media management) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).

Disclaimer: Provider uses industry best practices but does not control search engine algorithms (e.g., Google). Therefore, specific rankings, traffic numbers, or sales results cannot be guaranteed.

2. Custom Software Development

• Delivery Standard: Aro Digital is committed to delivering high-quality, well-built software. All custom software is delivered on a best-effort basis and is provided "as-is" upon project completion or deployment.
• 7-Day Acceptance Period: Upon delivery or deployment of custom software, the Client has seven (7) calendar days to review the deliverable and report any bugs or issues where the software does not function as defined in the approved project scope (the "Acceptance Period"). After the Acceptance Period, the software is deemed accepted by the Client. Any changes, feature requests, or bug reports submitted after the Acceptance Period are considered separate work and will be handled under the Ongoing Software Maintenance agreement (Section 3) or quoted as a new project.
• No Guaranteed Timelines: While we work within reasonable timeframes and communicate progress regularly, Provider does not guarantee specific delivery dates, launch timelines, or development milestones. Timelines discussed during project scoping are estimates only and are subject to change based on project complexity and scope.
• No Guaranteed Results: Provider does not guarantee specific business outcomes, revenue generation, customer acquisition, conversion rates, or any other performance metric resulting from the use of custom software. Software is a tool — results depend on many factors outside of Provider's control.
• Third-Party Integrations: Custom projects may integrate with third-party services including but not limited to payment processors (e.g., Stripe), APIs, databases, and cloud services. Provider is not responsible for the availability, uptime, pricing changes, policy changes, or failures of any third-party service. The Client is solely responsible for maintaining their own accounts with third-party providers, including compliance with those providers' terms of service.
• Payment Processing Disclaimer: Where custom software includes payment processing functionality (e.g., Stripe), Provider is not responsible for failed transactions, chargebacks, disputes, processing errors, holds on funds, or any financial loss arising from the payment processor's actions or inactions. All payment processing fees charged by third-party providers are the sole responsibility of the Client.
• Bug Fixes & Corrections: Provider will use commercially reasonable efforts to address software bugs and defects brought to its attention in a timely manner. However, this does not constitute a warranty or service-level agreement (SLA), and resolution timelines are not guaranteed.

3. Ongoing Software Maintenance

• Scope-Based Pricing: Monthly maintenance fees are custom-quoted based on the scope of the project, the number and complexity of features requiring ongoing support, and mission-critical assessments. Pricing is determined during or after the initial project engagement and is subject to adjustment if the scope of maintained features changes significantly.
• What Maintenance Covers: Ongoing maintenance typically includes monitoring, minor bug fixes, security patches, dependency updates, and minor feature adjustments as agreed upon in the maintenance scope. Major new features, redesigns, or significant functional changes are considered separate custom development projects and will be quoted accordingly.
• Best-Effort Support: Maintenance support is provided on a best-effort basis within reasonable timeframes. Provider does not guarantee specific response times, uptime percentages, or resolution windows unless a separate, written Service Level Agreement (SLA) has been executed between Provider and Client.
• No Liability for Downtime: Provider is not liable for any revenue loss, business interruption, or damages resulting from software downtime, whether caused by bugs, server issues, third-party service outages, or scheduled maintenance.
• Cancellation of Maintenance: Maintenance agreements may be cancelled by either party with 30 days' written notice. Upon cancellation of maintenance, Provider is no longer obligated to provide bug fixes, updates, or support for the custom software unless a new agreement is reached.

4. Email Acceptable Use Policy

• Standard Use Only: Email accounts are strictly for transactional and person-to-person business communication.
• No Bulk Marketing: The use of Aro Digital hosted accounts for bulk marketing, cold email campaigns, or mass newsletters is strictly prohibited.
• Violation: If you wish to send marketing blasts, you must use a dedicated third-party service (e.g., Mailchimp, ConvertKit). Sending spam or bulk mail from an Aro Digital inbox puts our server reputation at risk and may result in immediate suspension of your email services.
• Immediate Suspension: Provider reserves the right to suspend email services without prior notice if automated spam filters or third-party blacklist services flag the account, or if sending patterns exceed thresholds that risk the deliverability of other Aro Digital clients. Restoration of service is at Provider's sole discretion and may require evidence of compliance before reactivation.

5. Payments & Cancellation

• Automatic Billing: Services are billed on a recurring monthly basis via Stripe.
• Failed Payments: Failure to process payment may result in a temporary suspension of services until the balance is cleared.
• Cancellation: You may cancel services at any time. To prevent the next scheduled charge, cancellation requests must be received in writing (email is acceptable) at least 3 business days prior to your renewal date. There are no refunds for partial months.

6. Intellectual Property & Licensing

• Your Content: You own all unique text, images, and branding assets you provide.
• Our Code: Aro Digital retains ownership of the underlying source code, design themes, reusable libraries, and the "Aro Digital" infrastructure used to power the website and any custom software.
• Custom Software License: Custom-built software is licensed, not sold. Upon full payment of the project invoice, you are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the custom software for your business operations. Aro Digital retains the right to reuse non-proprietary code patterns, frameworks, and architectural approaches in future projects.
• Subscription License: Upon payment, you are granted a limited, non-exclusive, revocable license to use the website code solely while your subscription is active and in good standing. If the subscription is cancelled or terminated for non-payment, this license is revoked.

What Happens When You Leave

• Your Content Export: Upon cancellation, Aro Digital will provide a static export of the Client's content (text, images, and media assets) within 30 days of the final billing period at no additional charge. The Client owns this content and may use it freely.
• Code Buyout Option: If the Client wishes to retain the custom source code (website or custom software) after cancellation, a one-time code buyout fee may be negotiated and agreed upon in writing. Until a buyout is completed, the code remains the exclusive property of Aro Digital.
• Proprietary Platforms: Access to Aro Digital's proprietary infrastructure, CRM platforms (e.g., AroDrive), multi-tenant systems, and any SaaS-based tools built and operated by Aro Digital is terminated upon cancellation. These systems are not transferable and cannot be self-hosted by the Client.

7. Limitation of Liability

• Liability Cap: Provider's total aggregate liability for any and all claims arising from or related to any service — whether subscription, custom development, or maintenance — shall not exceed the total amount paid by the Client to Provider in the one (1) month immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.
• No Liability for Lost Revenue: Under no circumstances shall Provider be liable for any lost revenue, lost profits, lost business opportunities, loss of data, loss of goodwill, or any other indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, regardless of the cause of action or theory of liability, even if Provider has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
• Third-Party Services: Provider is not liable for any damages, losses, or disruptions caused by the failure, unavailability, or malfunction of third-party services, including but not limited to payment processors (e.g., Stripe), hosting providers, APIs, domain registrars, or cloud platforms.
• Business Decisions: Provider is not responsible for any business decisions made by the Client based on the functionality, output, or data provided by custom software. The Client assumes full responsibility for verifying the accuracy and suitability of any software-generated data before acting on it.

Warranty Disclaimer

Client Indemnification

• Client's Responsibility: The Client agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Aro Digital, its owners, employees, and contractors from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees) arising out of or related to: (a) content, images, trademarks, or materials provided by the Client that infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any third party; (b) the Client's use of custom software in a manner not contemplated by the original project scope; (c) the Client's violation of any applicable law, regulation, or third-party terms of service; or (d) any disputes between the Client and their own customers or end users.
• Content Compliance: The Client represents and warrants that all text, images, logos, and media provided to Aro Digital for use in websites or software are either owned by the Client, properly licensed, or otherwise authorized for use. Provider assumes no responsibility for verifying the ownership or licensing status of Client-provided content.

8. Data Security & Backups

• Regular Backups: Provider performs regular backups of hosted websites, databases, and custom software as part of standard infrastructure management. However, Provider does not guarantee that backups will capture every change in real time or that all data will be recoverable in every scenario.
• Client Responsibility: The Client is strongly encouraged to maintain their own independent records, data exports, and backups of all business-critical information. Provider is not responsible for data loss beyond commercially reasonable recovery efforts.
• Security Measures: Provider implements commercially reasonable security measures to protect hosted data. However, Provider does not warrant that systems will be immune to unauthorized access, cyberattacks, or data breaches. In the event of a security incident, Provider will notify affected clients within a commercially reasonable timeframe and cooperate in good faith with remediation efforts.
• Data Retention on Cancellation: Upon cancellation of services, Provider will retain Client data for thirty (30) days, during which the Client may request an export. After 30 days, Provider reserves the right to permanently delete all Client data from its systems without further notice.

9. Governing Law

These terms shall be governed by the laws of the State of South Carolina. Any legal action or proceeding related to this Agreement shall be brought exclusively in the federal or state courts located in South Carolina.