Terms of Service

1. Who we are and who can use BuildVic

BuildVic is operated by Vic Eats Inc., based in British Columbia, Canada (“BuildVic”, “we”, “us”). These Terms govern our website creation and hosting service for personal and business use. Contact us at [email protected] for support, cancellation, billing or legal notices. Address privacy requests to our Privacy Officer at the same email address.

You must be at least the age of majority where you live and able to enter a binding contract. If you accept for a business or other organization, you confirm that you have authority to bind it; “you” then means that organization.

Your legal rights come first. Nothing in these Terms removes a consumer, privacy or other right or remedy that the law does not allow you to waive. Any more favourable mandatory rule applies despite a conflicting provision here.

Your purchase also includes the plan description, price, billing interval and other purchase details presented when you order. A separate agreement for work we build for you should identify its scope, price, milestones, revisions and handoff. It changes these Terms only where it expressly says so and the law permits.

2. Accounts and access

Give us accurate account information, keep your email address current, and protect your sign-in credentials. You are responsible for people you authorize to use your account. Tell us promptly if you suspect unauthorized access; this does not make you responsible for a security failure caused by us.

Sharing a project does not transfer ownership. Use our verified ownership-transfer process. Access to another person’s project does not authorize you to act for their account or make purchases for them.

3. Creating and publishing your website

BuildVic helps you create and edit websites through AI chat and direct edits. Review the result, including facts, links, accessibility, permissions and any legal notices your site needs.

• Drafts and Live. Editing or saving a draft does not publish it. Publication requires your explicit approval. A later draft does not replace the published version until you approve another publication.
• AI limitations. Generated text, images and code can be inaccurate, incomplete, insecure or unsuitable. We do not guarantee a particular design, search ranking, business result or number of edits. AI output is not professional legal, medical or financial advice.
• Availability. Maintenance, faults and provider outages may interrupt the service. We do not promise uninterrupted operation or a particular recovery time unless we expressly agree to it. This does not limit remedies for our failure to supply what you purchased.
• Domains and outside services. You are responsible for domains you register and outside services you choose to connect. Those services may have their own fees and terms. We remain responsible for our obligations when we use providers to deliver BuildVic.

4. Prices, AI credits and subscriptions

Prices are in Canadian dollars. Applicable taxes and the total payable are shown before purchase. Payments are processed through Stripe. We grant purchased access and credits after payment is verified.

• One-time purchases. Starter credits and credit top-ups are single purchases, not subscriptions.
• Monthly plans. Hosting plans apply to individual websites; AI plans apply to your account. Monthly plans renew and charge automatically each month until cancelled. The amount and billing interval are disclosed before you buy. A paid-through date alone does not tell you whether renewal is still enabled; check your subscription in Billing.
• Credits. Credits are shared across your projects and do not expire while your account remains open. Cancelling a subscription does not remove credits already granted. Credits are not transferable or redeemable for cash except for the refunds described below or required by law.
• Usage. Credits pay for AI processing, not a guaranteed finished result. Processing can consume credits even if you stop a request, a request fails, or you do not use its output. Direct text edits do not themselves use AI credits. Contact us if you believe a charge or balance is wrong; this does not waive remedies for a service failure.
• Plan changes. Review the price, proration and effective date before confirming a plan change. Changes to included AI allowances take effect at renewal. A failed or reversed payment may affect access, subject to section 9 and your legal rights.

5. Cancellation and refunds

Cancel a subscription at any time, before or after a renewal, without a cancellation fee or penalty. In Billing, use Manage hosting or Manage AI plans to open Stripe’s controls. You can also email [email protected]; you do not have to use Stripe to exercise a legal cancellation right. Give enough information to identify your account and the subscription. A statutory notice takes effect when the applicable law says it does, not when we acknowledge it.

For an ordinary monthly cancellation, renewal stops and access continues through the paid period. The unused part of that month is not refunded unless these Terms or the law entitle you to a refund. If a renewal charge is taken after a timely cancellation, we will correct it. When hosting expires, the website stops being served; cancelling hosting does not itself close your account or delete its draft. Cancelling an AI plan stops future monthly credit grants.

Close your account by emailing us. Tell us if you want closure immediately or at the end of your paid period. Closure ends account access and hosting, so request any material you need first as described in section 10. Ordinary voluntary closure does not entitle you to a refund of unused credits or time, except as set out here or required by law. We will stop future subscription charges as part of closure.

When we owe a refund. For termination without cause under section 9, including permanent commercial withdrawal of a paid service without an agreed replacement, we refund the unused portion of the affected prepaid service. If that action closes your account or withdraws your ability to use its credits, we also refund its remaining one-time purchased credits. We honour any additional cancellation, refund or compensation rights provided by law, including rights arising from missing disclosures, non-delivery or an improper contract change. You do not need our permission to exercise those rights.

How contractual refunds are calculated. Unused subscription time is prorated by the unused days of the paid period. For credit refunds, we match the remaining account credit balance to your one-time credit purchases, newest first, up to the number of credits in each purchase. Each matched credit is refunded at that purchase’s actual price per credit. The refund cannot exceed what you paid for those purchases after previous refunds. Any remaining subscription-included or complimentary credits have no separate refund value; the unused subscription time is handled as above. This calculation does not reduce any refund required by law.

We issue refunds we owe under these Terms within 15 days of the cancellation or withdrawal giving rise to them, including applicable tax adjustments, normally to the original payment method. A shorter legal deadline takes priority. Payment-provider processing may affect when the refund appears in your account. We do not charge an administration fee for these refunds.

6. Hosting capacity and fair use

Standard hosting is intended for personal and small-business websites, including portfolios, information pages, enquiries and modest backend/database use. It is not an unlimited file-storage, streaming, bulk-email or general-purpose computing service. Any numerical allowances or restrictions attached to your plan must be disclosed before you purchase it; we do not impose undisclosed automatic overage charges.

We may review unusually high traffic, bandwidth, stored media, form volume, database storage or operations, and compute usage. If your needs exceed your agreed plan or materially affect other customers, we will explain the issue and, where reasonably practical, offer options before ending service, such as reducing usage or agreeing to a custom plan. A custom price requires your agreement.

If we end service because we cannot agree on a suitable plan, the notice and refund provisions for termination without cause in section 9 apply. Urgent protective restrictions remain available under that section. We treat this as termination without cause, apply the refunds in section 5 and offer content retrieval under section 10. We do not treat an isolated traffic spike or an attack against your site as misconduct by you.

7. Your content, generated output and permitted use

You retain the rights you already have in your uploads, text, photos, logos and other material. You must have permission for material you ask us to use; a publicly available image is not necessarily free to copy.

As between you and Vic Eats Inc., to the extent we own transferable intellectual-property rights in output created specifically for your project through BuildVic, we assign those rights to you. This does not transfer ownership of BuildVic’s platform, pre-existing tools or third-party material. Open-source software, fonts, stock assets and other third-party components remain subject to their own licences. We do not promise that AI output is unique, eligible for copyright protection or free of third-party rights.

If our own reusable components are included in site source we deliver to you, we grant you a worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual licence to use, copy, modify and distribute those components as part of your site. This licence does not include access to the hosted BuildVic service.

You grant us a non-exclusive licence to store, copy, process, adapt and display your material to carry out your instructions and provide, secure and support the service, including through our service providers. Publication authorizes public display of the published material. This licence does not authorize us to sell your content or use it in advertising, and is not blanket consent to train AI models on it. After closure, it continues only as needed for lawful retention, limited backups and resolving outstanding matters.

You must not use BuildVic for unlawful, fraudulent, abusive or malicious activities, or in ways that materially threaten the rights, safety, privacy or security of others or the integrity or availability of any service. The following are examples of prohibited uses, not an exhaustive list:

• Break the law or infringe intellectual-property, privacy or other rights.
• Run scams, phishing, fraudulent impersonation, malware or unsolicited bulk messaging.
• Publish content that sexually exploits children, promotes violence, or unlawfully threatens, harasses or discriminates against others.
• Access systems or other customers’ data without authorization, bypass project isolation, evade security or resource limits, or deliberately overload or disrupt BuildVic, its providers or other users. Security testing of the BuildVic platform or another customer’s project requires our prior written authorization.
• Build or operate an app designed to carry out or facilitate these prohibited activities, whether it is published or remains a draft.
• Threaten or harass our staff or other users.
• Collect personal information without the authority, notices and safeguards required for your use.
• Sell access to BuildVic itself without our written agreement. This does not prohibit you from using your own website commercially.

8. Personal information and website forms

We handle account information, project instructions, uploads and other personal information to operate the service. AI requests may send relevant prompts, project content and selected images to AI service providers. Hosting, storage, AI, payment and email providers may process information outside Canada. Do not assume that a private draft stays solely on a Canadian server.

We must explain our information practices and any additional uses requiring consent, and meet our own privacy and security obligations. Your agreement to these Terms does not waive privacy rights or authorize unrelated uses of personal information. Contact our Privacy Officer at [email protected] with access, correction, deletion or consent questions or complaints.

For your website’s visitors, you decide what information to collect and why. You are responsible for the notices and permissions required for your activities. We process hosted form submissions to provide the service on your behalf and remain responsible for our own legal obligations. We use service providers as necessary for storage and delivery; you do not become responsible for our misconduct by accepting these Terms.

Forms are intended for ordinary enquiries, not payment-card numbers, passwords, government identification, medical records or other highly sensitive information. Do not ask visitors to submit those details through BuildVic forms or place them in AI chat without a separate written arrangement establishing suitable safeguards. Form email notifications can be delayed or fail; do not use them for emergencies or as the only record of a time-sensitive transaction.

9. Suspension and termination

Problems that can be fixed. For an ordinary breach, we explain the issue and give at least 14 days to resolve it before terminating for that breach. Paid hosting may expire at the disclosed end of its paid period if renewal is not paid; that does not by itself forfeit your remaining credits.

Protective suspension. Where we have reasonable grounds to believe there is serious abuse, a security threat, unlawful content, fraud or a legal requirement, we may immediately disable affected content, tools, hosting or account access while we investigate or address the risk. We limit restrictions to what is reasonably necessary and restore access when the grounds for them no longer apply. We explain the grounds as soon as lawful and safe, and you may ask us to review the decision by emailing [email protected].

Termination for cause. We may terminate affected services or your account immediately if we reasonably determine that you have committed a serious or deliberate material breach of these Terms, including the permitted-use obligations in section 7. Our ability to act is not limited to the examples listed there. We may also terminate for repeated material breaches after a prior warning, or a material breach not resolved within the notice period above. We do not have to keep a harmful app running or give a malicious actor an opportunity to continue the abuse. We explain the decision where lawful and safe and allow you to request review. We may also terminate immediately when required by law.

Termination without cause. For other commercial or operational reasons, including discontinuing the service or being unable to agree on a suitable hosting plan, we give at least 30 days’ advance notice before ending the affected services or your account. We provide the refunds in section 5 and content retrieval in section 10. Urgent protective restrictions and legally required termination remain available as described above. If we permanently end service for a legal or security reason without a proven material breach by you, the without-cause refunds in section 5 apply. We exercise our rights honestly and in good faith and will not describe a commercial decision as misconduct to avoid notice or refunds.

Termination for a proven material breach does not create a contractual refund entitlement, but we still honour mandatory rights and refunds otherwise owed. We stop future recurring charges for any service we terminate, including all subscriptions when we terminate an account. Suspension alone does not authorize charges for a permanently withdrawn service.

10. Getting your material and leaving the service

Keep copies of your original uploads and important records. If you choose to close your account, request any material you need beforehand. If we end your hosting or account, our termination notice will offer a way to obtain your site content through support at [email protected], even if account access has been disabled. On a verified request, we will provide the available source, uploaded media and stored form data for your own affected projects without an export fee, subject to the restrictions below. We explain the format and any third-party licence restrictions. This is a support process, not an automated export feature. An export does not include BuildVic’s platform or a guarantee that hosted features will run unchanged elsewhere.

When we end your hosting or account, you have at least 30 days from the later of termination and our termination notice to request that material. We retain it for that request period and, if you request it in time, until we have fulfilled the request and given you a reasonable opportunity to download it. We supply it within a reasonable time after verifying your authority. This does not require us to keep your site publicly hosted or restore account access. Legal requirements, security risks associated with releasing particular material, or others’ rights may limit what can be supplied or retained; we explain any restriction where lawful and safe.

After closure, you lose account access and your sites stop being served. We may delete project content after 30 days following closure, but not before the applicable request and download opportunities above have ended, subject to legal requirements. Some information may remain in backups until their normal expiry or in records needed for tax, security, dispute resolution or other lawful purposes. We do not promise indefinite storage or recovery of deleted material. Privacy-law requests remain available independently of this retrieval process.

11. Responsibility if something goes wrong

We will provide the service with reasonable care and skill. Subject to the non-waivable rights described in section 1, we do not give additional implied warranties or guarantee that the service or AI output will meet every particular purpose.

Consumers. If you use BuildVic primarily for personal, family or household purposes, the business liability limits and indemnity below do not apply to you. Your rights and remedies are determined by these Terms and applicable law.

Business customers. To the extent permitted by law, neither party is liable to the other for indirect or consequential loss, or lost profits or revenue. Each party’s total liability arising from the service is limited to the greater of CAD $100 and the fees you paid us in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim. These exclusions and the cap do not apply to fraud, wilful misconduct, gross negligence, obligations to pay agreed fees or refunds, or liability the law does not allow to be limited.

Business third-party claims. If you are a business customer, you will reimburse our reasonable defence costs and damages finally awarded or settled with your consent for a third-party claim caused by your unlawful uploads, deliberate misuse of the service or material breach of these Terms. This does not cover a claim to the extent caused by us, or merely because our AI generated defective output. We must notify you promptly, allow you reasonable control of the defence, cooperate at your expense and not settle at your expense without your consent. You may not settle in a way that admits fault or imposes non-monetary obligations on us without our consent. This obligation is subject to the business liability cap above.

12. Changes, notices and disputes

Changes require agreement. Publishing a new version of these Terms does not change your existing contract. We will seek your express agreement to changes affecting that contract, including an increase to your recurring price or a reduction in your paid service. Silence or continued use alone is not acceptance. Until you agree, your existing terms continue unless the contract lawfully ends under section 9. New purchases may be offered on different terms that you review and accept before buying. We do not reduce the value of credits already granted through a change to these Terms.

We may maintain and improve the service without reducing what we have agreed to supply. If urgent security work or a legal requirement affects a paid feature, we explain the impact as soon as reasonably possible and preserve your applicable cancellation and refund rights. We do not use this provision to bypass the agreement requirement above.

Notices. Send notices to [email protected]. We use your account email for important notices and may also display them in your account. Where the law requires a particular notice, delivery method or proof of receipt, we follow that requirement. These Terms do not restrict another legally valid way to give notice.

Law and disputes. British Columbia law and applicable federal Canadian law govern these Terms, subject to mandatory protections that apply where you live. Courts and tribunals with lawful jurisdiction remain available. You may contact us to try to resolve a problem, but this is not a prerequisite to a complaint or claim and does not shorten a legal deadline. We do not require arbitration, waive class proceedings or restrict honest reviews.

If a provision cannot be enforced, the remaining provisions continue to the extent possible. A failure to enforce a provision once is not a waiver of it. Provisions intended to address outstanding payments, refunds, ownership, lawful retention and disputes continue as appropriate after termination.