Service Level Agreement

In this Service Level Agreement, the following definitions apply in addition to those set out in the Terms of Service:

"SLA"

means this Service Level Agreement, which governs the service levels, support response times, and remedies applicable to the Service.

"Uptime"

means the percentage of time during a calendar month that the Service is available and operational, as measured by our monitoring systems, excluding Scheduled Maintenance and Excluded Downtime.

"Downtime"

means any period during which the Service is materially unavailable or materially degraded, as determined solely by our monitoring systems.

"Scheduled Maintenance"

means planned maintenance windows that are notified to users in advance, during which the Service may be temporarily unavailable.

"Incident"

means any unplanned interruption to, or degradation of, the Service that affects normal operation.

"Service Credit"

means a credit applied to your account as the sole and exclusive remedy for failure to meet the Uptime Target, as described in Section 11.

"Business Hours"

means Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00 GMT/BST (excluding public holidays in England and Wales).

"Response Time"

means the period between our receipt of a support request and our first substantive acknowledgement of that request (not an automated reply).

"Resolution Time"

means the target period for resolving or providing a workaround for a reported Incident; resolution times are targets, not guarantees.

"Customer Data"

means all data, documents, records, and content submitted to, uploaded to, or generated through the Service by or on behalf of the Customer.

This SLA applies exclusively to paid subscription plans of QWTN - Waste Notes & Compliance (QWTN). Free-tier accounts receive no service level commitments, no Uptime guarantee, and no entitlement to Service Credits or priority support.

This SLA covers the core web application and API endpoints hosted at qwtn.co.uk and its subdomains. It does not apply to:

• Third-party integrations, services, or APIs (including but not limited to the Environment Agency carrier register, Companies House, payment processors, or email delivery providers);
• Custom or bespoke development work;
• Beta, preview, or experimental features clearly labelled as such;
• Client-side browser performance or local network conditions;
• Mobile device compatibility issues unrelated to the Service itself.

We target a monthly Uptime of 99.5% for the Service ("Uptime Target"). This equates to a maximum of approximately 3 hours and 39 minutes of unplanned Downtime per calendar month.

Uptime is calculated as follows:

The Uptime Target is a target, not a guarantee. Failure to meet the Uptime Target entitles you solely to the Service Credits described in Section 11 and does not constitute a breach of contract, negligence, or any other actionable claim.

We perform Scheduled Maintenance to keep the Service secure, updated, and performing optimally. Scheduled Maintenance windows are as follows:

• Standard maintenance: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 02:00 - 06:00 GMT/BST;
• Extended maintenance: Up to once per month, with at least 48 hours' prior notice via in-app notification or email;
• Emergency maintenance: At any time without prior notice, where required to address critical security vulnerabilities, data integrity issues, or regulatory compliance requirements.

Scheduled Maintenance (including emergency maintenance) is excluded from the Uptime calculation. We will use reasonable efforts to minimise disruption during maintenance windows but accept no liability for any Downtime caused by maintenance activities.

The following events are excluded from the Uptime calculation and do not count as Downtime for SLA purposes:

• Scheduled Maintenance (including emergency maintenance);
• Force Majeure events as defined in Section 18;
• Downtime caused by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, cyberattacks, or other malicious activity directed at the Service or its infrastructure;
• Failures or degradation of third-party services, hosting providers, DNS providers, content delivery networks, or internet service providers;
• Issues arising from your equipment, software, network configuration, or internet connection;
• Downtime caused by your breach of the Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, or this SLA;
• Downtime caused by your exceeding published rate limits, storage quotas, or API usage limits;
• Downtime resulting from actions taken by us at your request (e.g. account migration, data export);
• Browser-specific rendering issues or client-side JavaScript errors;
• Regional internet outages or UK government-mandated internet restrictions;
• Any period during which your account is suspended for non-payment or violation of Terms.

We provide support for the Service as follows:

Support is limited to issues directly related to the functionality and operation of the Service. We do not provide:

• Legal, regulatory, or compliance advice of any kind;
• Health and safety consultancy;
• Waste management operational guidance;
• Custom development, integration support, or bespoke configuration;
• Support for third-party software, hardware, or services;
• Training beyond published documentation and knowledge base articles.

Incidents are classified by severity. Response and resolution times are targets only and do not constitute guarantees. Failure to meet target response or resolution times does not give rise to any claim, liability, or remedy beyond Service Credits where applicable.

We reserve the sole and absolute right to classify and reclassify Incident severity at any time. Our classification is final and not subject to dispute.

Resolution may include a fix, patch, workaround, configuration change, or a determination that the reported issue is not a defect in the Service. We are not obligated to deliver any specific fix or feature to resolve an Incident.

If you believe an Incident has not been adequately addressed within the target response time, you may escalate as follows:

• Level 1: Reply to your existing support ticket with "ESCALATE" in the subject line;
• Level 2: Email legal@qwtn.co.uk with reference to the original ticket number;
• Level 3: Written notice to the Company's registered address, marked "SLA Escalation".

Escalation does not guarantee a faster resolution, alter the severity classification, or create any additional entitlement to remedies beyond those stated in this SLA. We will use reasonable efforts to acknowledge escalations within 1 Business Day.

We implement industry-standard technical and organisational measures to protect Customer Data, including:

• Encryption of data in transit (TLS 1.2 or higher);
• Encryption of data at rest;
• Role-based access controls and principle of least privilege;
• Regular security assessments and monitoring;
• Hosting within reputable, ISO 27001-certified data centre providers.

You acknowledge that:

• You are solely responsible for the accuracy, legality, and completeness of all Customer Data;
• You are solely responsible for maintaining your own independent backups of critical business data;
• We may access Customer Data as necessary to provide the Service, resolve support requests, enforce our Terms, or comply with legal obligations;
• Data processing is governed by our Privacy Policy and, where applicable, any Data Processing Agreement in place.

We perform automated backups of the Service database on the following schedule:

• Point-in-time recovery: Available for the preceding 7 days;
• Daily snapshots: Retained for 30 days;
• Weekly snapshots: Retained for 90 days.

These backups are for disaster recovery purposes only and are not a substitute for your own data management practices.

Data recovery requests are handled at our sole discretion and may be subject to a reasonable administrative fee. We are not obligated to restore data deleted by you or by authorised users on your account.

If the Service fails to meet the Uptime Target in a given calendar month, eligible paid subscribers may request Service Credits as follows:

Conditions for Service Credits:

• You must request Service Credits in writing within 14 days of the end of the affected calendar month;
• Requests must be sent to support@qwtn.co.uk with evidence of the Downtime experienced;
• We will verify claims against our own monitoring data; our monitoring data is the sole and authoritative source for Uptime calculations;
• Service Credits are applied as a credit to your next billing cycle and are not redeemable for cash, refunds, or transfers;
• The maximum aggregate Service Credit in any calendar month shall not exceed 25% of the monthly subscription fee for that month;
• Service Credits are not cumulative across months;
• Accounts with outstanding balances or payment disputes are not eligible for Service Credits;
• Free-tier accounts are not eligible for Service Credits under any circumstances.

To receive the service levels described in this SLA, you must:

• Maintain a current, paid subscription in good standing with no outstanding invoices;
• Use a supported, up-to-date web browser (latest two major versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge);
• Provide accurate and complete information when reporting Incidents, including steps to reproduce, screenshots, and affected URLs;
• Cooperate with our support team in a timely manner during Incident investigation and resolution;
• Not attempt to circumvent, disable, or interfere with security features, rate limits, or access controls;
• Comply with all applicable Terms of Service, Acceptable Use policies, and this SLA;
• Maintain your own independent backup of critical business data;
• Ensure that all users on your account comply with these obligations.

Failure to meet any of the above obligations may result in the suspension or voiding of SLA commitments, at our sole discretion, without liability.

The Service is designed for normal business use by waste management professionals, carriers, brokers, and related businesses. You agree not to:

• Use the Service in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair the Service or interfere with any other party's use;
• Use automated scripts, bots, or tools to access the Service beyond published API limits;
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Service, other accounts, or our systems;
• Use the Service to store or transmit malicious code, malware, or any content that is illegal, harmful, or in breach of third-party rights;
• Resell, redistribute, or sublicense access to the Service without our prior written consent;
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble any part of the Service;
• Use the Service to process data that you do not have lawful authority to process.

We reserve the right to throttle, suspend, or terminate your access if we determine, in our sole discretion, that your usage pattern constitutes abuse or exceeds fair usage thresholds. We are not obligated to provide advance notice of such action.

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to:

• Modify, update, or discontinue any feature of the Service at any time;
• Change the underlying technology, hosting infrastructure, or architecture of the Service;
• Update the Uptime Target, support response times, or any other SLA metric with 30 days' written notice;
• Modify pricing, subscription plans, or feature availability;
• Introduce usage limits, rate limits, or storage quotas.

We will use reasonable efforts to provide advance notice of material changes, but we are not obligated to do so where changes are required for security, legal, or operational reasons.

Continued use of the Service after a modification constitutes your acceptance of the modified terms. Your sole remedy if you disagree with a modification is to terminate your subscription.

To the maximum extent permitted by Applicable Law:

• Our total aggregate liability under this SLA shall not exceed the lesser of (a) the total fees paid by you in the 3 months immediately preceding the claim, or (b) five hundred pounds sterling (£500);
• We shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, punitive, or exemplary damages, including but not limited to loss of profits, revenue, business, data, goodwill, anticipated savings, or opportunity, regardless of whether we were advised of the possibility of such damages;
• We shall not be liable for any loss arising from your failure to maintain independent backups of your data;
• We shall not be liable for any regulatory fines, penalties, enforcement actions, or prosecution arising from your use of or reliance on the Service;
• We shall not be liable for any loss arising from Downtime attributable to Excluded Downtime, Scheduled Maintenance, or Force Majeure events;
• We shall not be liable for any claim brought more than 12 months after the event giving rise to the claim.

Nothing in this SLA excludes or limits liability for (a) death or personal injury caused by negligence, (b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or (c) any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under Applicable Law.

Each party agrees to keep confidential all non-public information received from the other party that is designated as confidential or that reasonably should be understood to be confidential ("Confidential Information").

Confidential Information does not include information that:

• Is or becomes publicly available through no fault of the receiving party;
• Was known to the receiving party prior to disclosure;
• Is independently developed by the receiving party without use of the disclosing party's Confidential Information;
• Is disclosed by the disclosing party to a third party without restriction.

We may disclose Confidential Information where required by law, regulation, court order, or governmental authority, provided we give you reasonable notice where legally permitted.

Our support staff, contractors, and sub-processors may access Customer Data as necessary to provide the Service. All such personnel are bound by confidentiality obligations no less restrictive than those in this SLA.

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless WhealBit, its directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, and affiliates from and against any and all claims, demands, liabilities, losses, damages, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in connection with:

• Your use of or inability to use the Service;
• Your breach of this SLA, the Terms of Service, or any applicable law or regulation;
• Any content, data, or information you submit to or generate through the Service;
• Your reliance on any output, document, or record generated by the Service as a substitute for professional advice;
• Any claim by a third party arising from your use of the Service, including but not limited to claims from your clients, employees, contractors, regulators, or other parties;
• Any regulatory fine, enforcement action, prosecution, or penalty imposed on you or any third party in connection with your use of the Service;
• Any dispute between you and your clients, employees, contractors, or other users of your account;
• Your failure to maintain independent backups of critical business data.

This indemnification obligation survives the termination of your account and this SLA.

Neither party shall be liable for any delay or failure to perform its obligations under this SLA where such delay or failure results from circumstances beyond the affected party's reasonable control ("Force Majeure Event"), including but not limited to:

• Acts of God, natural disasters, epidemics, or pandemics;
• War, terrorism, civil unrest, or armed conflict;
• Government action, sanctions, embargoes, or regulatory changes;
• Industrial disputes, strikes, or labour shortages;
• Power failures, telecommunications failures, or internet outages;
• Cyberattacks, DDoS attacks, ransomware, or other malicious activity;
• Failure or unavailability of third-party services on which the Service depends;
• Fire, flood, earthquake, or severe weather events.

During a Force Majeure Event, all SLA commitments (including Uptime Targets, response times, and Service Credits) are suspended without liability. We will use reasonable efforts to mitigate the impact and resume normal service as soon as practicable.

This SLA is effective from the date you subscribe to a paid plan and continues for the duration of your paid subscription.

This SLA terminates automatically upon:

• Cancellation or expiry of your paid subscription;
• Downgrade to a free-tier account;
• Suspension or termination of your account for any reason;
• Discontinuation of the Service.

Upon termination of this SLA:

• All SLA commitments, Uptime Targets, and support obligations cease immediately;
• Any accrued but unused Service Credits are forfeited and non-refundable;
• Sections 15 (Limitation of Remedies), 16 (Confidentiality), 17 (Indemnification), 20 (Governing Law), and 21 (Entire Agreement) survive termination;
• We have no obligation to retain, export, or migrate your data after termination.

We may modify or replace this SLA at any time with 30 days' written notice. Your continued use of the Service after such notice constitutes acceptance of the modified SLA.

This SLA, and any dispute or claim (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with it, are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

You irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales for the resolution of any dispute arising under or in connection with this SLA.

Mandatory Pre-Litigation Resolution. Before initiating any legal proceedings relating to this SLA, you must:

• Notify us in writing at legal@qwtn.co.uk with full details of the dispute;
• Allow a minimum of 60 days for informal resolution;
• Participate in good faith in any mediation or alternative dispute resolution process we propose.

Legal proceedings commenced without following this procedure may be stayed by the court pending compliance.

This SLA, together with the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, constitutes the entire agreement between you and WhealBit with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous communications, representations, or agreements, whether written or oral.

If any provision of this SLA is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, unlawful, or unenforceable, that provision shall be severed from this SLA and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect. The invalid provision shall be replaced by a valid provision that most closely achieves the intended commercial effect.

No waiver of any term of this SLA shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or any other term. Our failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

Headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation. References to "including" mean "including without limitation".

If you have questions about this Service Level Agreement, please contact us: