Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Last Updated: November 14, 2025

Effective Date: November 14, 2025

1. Introduction

This Service Level Agreement ("SLA") describes the uptime and support commitments that Guard.ch provides to customers for our virtual machine management services. This SLA is incorporated into and forms part of the Guard.ch Terms of Service.

Important: This SLA applies to paid subscription customers only. Free tier or trial users are not covered by service level commitments but receive best-effort support.

2. Scope

2.1 Covered Services

This SLA applies to:

• Guard.ch API (api.guard.ch)
• Guard.ch web interface (guard.ch)
• Virtual machine provisioning and management services
• VM proxy (RDP access via Guacamole)

2.2 Excluded from SLA

The following are not covered by this SLA:

• Third-party services (Stripe, Google, Microsoft OAuth, etc.)
• Internet connectivity issues beyond Guard.ch's control
• Customer's own VMs and applications running within VMs
• Beta, experimental, or preview features
• Scheduled maintenance windows (with advance notice)
• Issues caused by customer misconfiguration or acceptable use policy violations
• Force majeure events (natural disasters, war, terrorism, pandemics, etc.)

3. Service Level Commitments

3.1 Uptime Commitment

Monthly Uptime Percentage: 99.5%

Guard.ch commits to maintaining at least 99.5% uptime for our core services each calendar month.

Uptime Calculation:

Monthly Uptime % = (Total Minutes in Month - Downtime Minutes) / Total Minutes in Month × 100

What Counts as Downtime:

• Guard.ch API unavailable or returning errors for > 50% of requests
• Web interface inaccessible
• Unable to provision new VMs
• Unable to access existing running VMs via RDP proxy

What Does NOT Count as Downtime:

• Scheduled maintenance (with ≥ 48 hours notice)
• Outages caused by third-party services beyond our control
• Issues affecting only a single VM (not platform-wide)
• Degraded performance that doesn't prevent service usage
• Outages caused by customer actions or acceptable use policy violations
• Outages during beta/experimental features

3.2 Uptime Targets by Service

3.3 Service Credits

If Guard.ch fails to meet the 99.5% monthly uptime commitment, eligible customers may request service credits:

Service Credit Terms:

• Service credits are calculated as a percentage of your monthly subscription fee for the affected month
• Service credits are your sole remedy for service unavailability
• Service credits are applied to future invoices (not refunds)
• Service credits must be requested within 30 days of the end of the affected month
• Service credits do not apply to usage-based charges, only subscription fees
• Maximum service credit per month: 50% of monthly subscription fee

How to Request Service Credits: Email support@guard.ch within 30 days with:

• Account email address
• Month for which credit is requested
• Description of the outage experienced
• Supporting evidence (screenshots, error messages, timestamps)

We will review the request and respond within 15 business days.

4. Support Commitments

4.1 Support Channels

Guard.ch provides support through the following channels:

Email Support: support@guard.ch

• Available 24/7 for ticket submission
• Responses during business hours (Monday-Friday, 9:00-17:00 CET)

Documentation: docs.guard.ch (planned)

• Self-service knowledge base
• API documentation
• Troubleshooting guides

4.2 Support Response Times

Response times are based on ticket severity:

Response Time means the time from when you submit a support ticket until our first substantive response (not including automated acknowledgments).

Business Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00-17:00 Central European Time (CET/CEST), excluding Swiss public holidays.

4.3 Severity Level Criteria

Critical (P1):

• Entire Guard.ch platform is unavailable
• All VMs are inaccessible
• Critical security vulnerability or active breach
• Data loss incident

High (P2):

• Unable to provision new VMs
• Multiple VMs experiencing connectivity issues
• API returning errors for critical operations
• Payment or billing system failure

Medium (P3):

• Single VM connectivity issue
• Non-critical feature not working as expected
• Performance degradation (but service is usable)
• Account or billing questions

Low (P4):

• General questions about service
• Feature requests or suggestions
• Documentation clarification
• Minor UI bugs

4.4 Support Exclusions

Guard.ch support does not include:

• Support for software or applications running inside your VMs (Windows OS support, application troubleshooting, etc.)
• Consulting or training services
• Custom development or integration work
• Recovery of data you have deleted
• Support for issues caused by acceptable use policy violations
• Support for third-party services (Stripe, OAuth providers, etc.)

For Windows OS support or application issues within VMs, please contact Microsoft or the respective software vendor.

4.5 Enterprise Support (Future)

Guard.ch may offer enhanced enterprise support plans in the future, including:

• Dedicated account manager
• 24/7 phone support
• Faster response times (e.g., 30-minute P1 response)
• Slack or Teams integration
• Proactive monitoring and health checks

Contact sales@guard.ch for information about enterprise support options.

5. Maintenance and Scheduled Downtime

5.1 Scheduled Maintenance

Guard.ch may perform scheduled maintenance to improve services, apply security updates, or upgrade infrastructure.

Maintenance Windows:

• Scheduled maintenance typically occurs during low-usage periods
• Preferred window: Tuesdays, 2:00-6:00 AM CET
• Maximum duration: 4 hours per maintenance window

Advance Notice:

• Minimum 48 hours notice for disruptive maintenance
• Notification via email to account email addresses
• Notification banner on Guard.ch dashboard

Scheduled Maintenance Exclusion: Scheduled maintenance (with proper notice) is excluded from uptime calculations and does not qualify for service credits.

5.2 Emergency Maintenance

In case of critical security vulnerabilities or urgent infrastructure issues, Guard.ch may perform emergency maintenance with reduced notice:

• Best effort to provide advance notice (may be < 48 hours)
• Email notification and platform banner
• Emergency maintenance duration: typically < 2 hours

Emergency maintenance may count toward downtime for SLA calculations, depending on the cause.

6. Monitoring and Reporting

6.1 Status Page

Guard.ch operates a status page (status.guard.ch - planned) providing:

• Real-time service status
• Incident history
• Scheduled maintenance announcements
• Historical uptime data

Subscribe to status updates via email or RSS feed.

6.2 Uptime Monitoring

Guard.ch monitors service availability using:

• Automated health checks every 60 seconds
• Monitoring from multiple geographic locations
• Alerts for service degradation or outages
• Logging and analysis via Axiom

6.3 Transparency Reports

Guard.ch may publish quarterly or annual transparency reports including:

• Uptime statistics
• Incident summaries
• Security incident disclosures (as appropriate)
• Service improvements

7. Incident Management

7.1 Incident Response Process

When an outage or incident occurs:

Detection:

• Automated monitoring alerts
• Customer reports
• Internal discovery

Communication:

• Initial notification within 30 minutes of detection (for P1 incidents)
• Regular status updates during incident (at least every hour for P1)
• Post-incident report within 5 business days

Resolution:

• Immediate triage and investigation
• Implement temporary workarounds if possible
• Root cause analysis and permanent fix
• Prevention measures to avoid recurrence

7.2 Incident Communication Channels

During incidents, Guard.ch communicates via:

• Email to affected customers
• Status page updates (status.guard.ch)
• Platform notification banner
• Social media (for major incidents)

7.3 Post-Incident Reports

For significant outages (> 1 hour or affecting > 10% of customers), Guard.ch will publish a post-incident report including:

• Incident timeline
• Root cause analysis
• Impact assessment (affected customers, downtime duration)
• Resolution steps taken
• Preventive measures to avoid future occurrences

8. Customer Responsibilities

To benefit from this SLA, customers must:

8.1 Reporting Issues

• Report service issues promptly via support@guard.ch
• Provide sufficient detail (error messages, timestamps, affected VMs, account info)
• Cooperate with Guard.ch in troubleshooting and investigation
• Provide access to logs or diagnostics if requested

8.2 Service Credits

• Request service credits within 30 days of the end of the affected month
• Provide supporting evidence of the outage
• Maintain an active, paid subscription in good standing

8.3 Compliance

• Comply with Guard.ch Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy
• Ensure account and billing information is current
• Use services in accordance with documentation and best practices

9. Limitations and Disclaimers

9.1 Best Effort for Free Tier

Free tier and trial users receive best-effort service with no SLA guarantees:

• No uptime commitments
• No service credits
• Support response times may be longer
• Service may be suspended without notice for abuse

9.2 Third-Party Dependencies

Guard.ch relies on third-party services (Hetzner, OVH, Cloudflare, Stripe, etc.). While we select reliable providers, we cannot guarantee their availability:

• Third-party outages may affect Guard.ch services
• Guard.ch is not liable for third-party service failures
• We will work to minimize impact and communicate issues

9.3 Sole Remedy

Service credits as described in this SLA are your sole and exclusive remedy for service availability failures. Guard.ch is not liable for:

• Consequential damages (lost profits, lost business, etc.)
• Indirect or incidental damages
• Damages beyond service credits specified in this SLA

Subject to the limitations in the Terms of Service.

9.4 No Guarantee of VM Content Availability

Guard.ch provides infrastructure for VMs but does not guarantee:

• Data integrity within your VMs
• Protection against data loss caused by your actions
• Recovery of deleted VMs or data
• Availability of specific VM configurations or resources

You are responsible for backing up data within your VMs.

10. Changes to This SLA

Guard.ch may update this SLA to reflect:

• Changes in service capabilities
• Infrastructure improvements
• Industry best practices
• Customer feedback

Notification: Material changes will be communicated via email at least 30 days in advance. Continued use of Guard.ch services after changes take effect constitutes acceptance.

Downward Changes: If we reduce SLA commitments (e.g., lower uptime target), affected customers may terminate their subscription within 30 days and receive a pro-rated refund.

11. Definitions

Downtime: Period during which Guard.ch core services are unavailable or return errors for > 50% of requests.

Monthly Uptime Percentage: The percentage of time in a calendar month that Guard.ch services were available.

Business Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00-17:00 Central European Time (CET/CEST), excluding Swiss public holidays.

Service Credits: Credits applied to future invoices as compensation for SLA violations.

Force Majeure: Events beyond Guard.ch's reasonable control, including natural disasters, war, terrorism, pandemics, government actions, strikes, internet backbone failures, etc.

12. Contact Information

For SLA-related questions, uptime inquiries, or service credit requests:

Email: support@guard.ch

Postal Address: See our Imprint for full contact details.

Effective Date: This Service Level Agreement is effective as of November 14, 2025 and applies to all paid subscription customers.

This SLA demonstrates Guard.ch's commitment to reliable, high-quality service. For more information, see our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Support Documentation.