This Service Level Agreement ("SLA") establishes Vikalink's formal commitments to service availability, support response times, and performance standards for all customers with active service subscriptions in good standing. This SLA is effective as of 1 June 2025.
Our goal is to provide the most reliable, responsive hosting service in the West African market. While 100% availability is our aspiration, this SLA reflects realistic targets based on industry standards, infrastructure realities, and operational best practices.
SLA Eligibility: This agreement applies to accounts in good standing—meaning current on payments, active services, and compliant with our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy. Service Level Credits are the exclusive remedy for SLA breaches.
Vikalink guarantees 99.95% monthly uptime for all production Web Hosting and Domain Services. This commitment covers:
- Web server HTTP/HTTPS availability and response
- DNS query resolution and propagation
- Database server connectivity and queries
- Email services (IMAP, POP3, SMTP protocols)
- FTP and SFTP file transfer access
- cPanel control panel functionality
Uptime Measurement Standards
| Uptime % | Monthly Downtime Allowed | Service Credit |
|---|---|---|
| 99.95% (SLA Target) | 21.6 minutes | No credit required |
| 99.5% — 99.94% | 21.6 — 43.2 minutes | 5% credit |
| 99.0% — 99.49% | 43.2 — 86.4 minutes | 10% credit |
| 98.0% — 98.99% | 86.4 — 129.6 minutes | 25% credit |
| Below 98% | 129.6+ minutes | 50% credit |
How Uptime Is Monitored
Vikalink uses automated external monitoring from 8 geographically distributed probe locations (EU, UK, USA) that test your services every 60 seconds. A service is considered "down" only when:
- It fails to respond to HTTP/HTTPS requests for 60+ consecutive seconds
- It returns consistent 5xx server error codes across all probes
- DNS resolution fails from multiple independent locations
Brief transient issues lasting less than 60 seconds are not counted as downtime and do not affect your SLA compliance.
Our award-winning support team is available 24/7/365 to help you. Response times are measured from ticket/inquiry submission to initial response (not resolution):
Response Time Commitments by Severity
| Severity Level | Definition | Initial Response | Target Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRITICAL | Service completely unavailable; major revenue impact | 15 minutes | 4 hours |
| HIGH | Service degraded; significant functionality affected | 1 hour | 8 hours |
| MEDIUM | Minor issues; workaround available | 4 hours | 24 hours |
| LOW | General questions, feature requests, feedback | 24 hours | 72 hours |
Support Contact Channels
Premium Support Available: Upgrade to Premium or Enterprise plans for priority handling and faster resolution times. Premium customers receive 25% faster response SLOs.
Vikalink performs proactive maintenance to keep infrastructure secure, performant, and reliable. Maintenance downtime does not count toward SLA calculations.
Scheduled Maintenance Windows
Emergency Maintenance
In rare cases of critical security vulnerabilities or infrastructure failures, we may perform emergency maintenance with reduced notice:
- Critical Security: 4 hours' notice for emergency security patches
- Infrastructure Failure: Immediate action with notification within 1 hour
- Emergency Credits: Downtime exceeding 4 hours outside scheduled windows qualifies for automatic credit
If monthly uptime falls below our 99.95% guarantee, eligible customers automatically receive service credits applied to their next invoice. No manual claiming required—we track everything for you.
Service Credit Schedule
Credits are calculated based on your monthly service fee:
| Uptime % | Credit Amount | Example (GHS 500/month) |
|---|---|---|
| 99.5% — 99.94% | 5% of monthly fee | GHS 25 |
| 99.0% — 99.49% | 10% of monthly fee | GHS 50 |
| 98.0% — 98.99% | 25% of monthly fee | GHS 125 |
| Below 98% | 50% of monthly fee | GHS 250 |
Eligibility & Requirements
- Account must be current on all payments with no service suspension
- Account must comply with Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy
- Downtime must be caused by Vikalink infrastructure (not client-side issues, DDoS attacks, or third-party services)
- Maximum monthly credit: 50% of your monthly service fee
- Credits are non-refundable and apply automatically to next invoice
The following scenarios are not covered by this SLA:
Not Covered by SLA
- Client-Caused Issues: Misconfigured applications, problematic custom code, compromised account credentials
- Third-Party Failures: Upstream ISP outages, external DNS failures, payment processor issues, CDN problems
- DDoS Attacks: Distributed attacks exceeding 50 Gbps or 500,000 requests/second
- Force Majeure: Natural disasters, wars, terrorism, government actions, pandemics—events beyond our reasonable control
- Scheduled Maintenance: Announced maintenance with 14+ days' advance notice
- Service Suspension: Accounts suspended for Terms of Service violations (illegal content, abuse, spam)
- Resource Limits: Exceeding CPU, bandwidth, or database limits on shared hosting plans
- Free/Trial Services: Services marked as beta, experimental, or free trials
Your Responsibilities
To maintain SLA eligibility, you must:
- Keep account credentials secure and enable two-factor authentication
- Maintain current payment methods and address billing issues promptly
- Comply with our Acceptable Use Policy and Terms of Service
- Implement recommended security practices (strong passwords, regular backups)
- Monitor your application performance and resource usage
Important Limitation: SLA does not apply to Free or promotional trial accounts. Only paid, active service accounts qualify for service level guarantees.
Service Level Credits are your sole and exclusive remedy for SLA breaches. Vikalink is not liable for indirect, consequential, or punitive damages including lost profits, lost revenues, or business interruption.
How to Claim Service Credits
| Step | Action | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Log into Vikalink Dashboard | Anytime |
| 2 | Navigate to Billing → SLA Claims | Anytime |
| 3 | Select affected month and submit claim | Within 30 days of month-end |
| 4 | Vikalink reviews and processes | 10 business days |
| 5 | Credit automatically applied to next invoice | Upon approval |
Dispute Resolution Process
If you dispute an SLA claim decision:
- Email support@vikalink.com with your claim reference and detailed explanation
- Include supporting evidence (monitoring logs, screenshots, detailed timeline)
- Vikalink responds within 15 business days with a determination
- Further disputes are handled per the arbitration clause in our Terms of Service
Severity Levels (Support)
- Critical: Service completely unavailable; no workaround available; significant revenue impact
- High: Service significantly degraded; partial functionality; workaround possible but cumbersome
- Medium: Minor service issues; reduced performance; adequate workaround available
- Low: General inquiries, feature requests, documentation questions, cosmetic issues
Have Questions?
Our support team is here to help. Reach out anytime, day or night.
Email Support Call +233 594 709 323Vikalink reserves the right to update this SLA with 30 days' notice. Updates supersede all previous versions. Check back regularly for the latest commitments.