ARK Care Service Terms

1. About ARK Care

ARK Care is a trading style of ARK Computer Repair Limited (company number 12870739, VAT 383 0384 94), Unit 13 Palmerston Business Park, Palmerston Drive, Fareham, PO14 1DJ. You can contact us at support@arkcare.uk or 01329 623 555.

These terms apply alongside the ARK Computer Repair Master Trading Terms and the exact plan and extras description shown to you when you subscribe. Nothing here removes your statutory rights as a consumer.

2. Plans and covered computers

ARK Care is normally supplied per covered computer. Your exact benefits depend on the plan and extras you select, and we keep a record of the plan version that applies to your subscription.

Core management supports compatible Windows, Mac and Linux computers. Some features are platform-specific; the separately sold managed antivirus extra is currently Windows only.

We may refuse activation on an unsupported, end-of-life, incompatible or unsafe computer. If we cannot provide a newly purchased service because the computer is unsuitable, we will explain the refund or alternative available to you.

3. Start and setup

Your subscription starts when checkout completes, whether you install it yourself straight away or book technician-assisted setup for later.

Self-installation files and instructions may be supplied immediately. Technician-assisted setup is available at the price shown at checkout — currently free with annual subscriptions and £30 with monthly subscriptions. An administrator of the computer must authorise installation.

4. Billing and automatic renewal

Plans are billed monthly or annually in advance and renew automatically until cancelled. Prices are in pounds sterling and include VAT where applicable.

You may cancel your subscription at any time. Cancellation stops your subscription from renewing again. Unless we agree otherwise, after the initial cancellation period your ARK Care services continue until the end of the subscription period you have already paid for. For monthly subscriptions, this means the end of the current paid month. For annual subscriptions, this means the end of the current paid year. The current paid period is not normally refunded unless the law requires it or we agree otherwise.

5. Initial 14-day cancellation

Where you are a consumer and the law gives you an initial 14-day cancellation period, you can cancel without giving a reason.

ARK Care's current policy is to refund your ARK Care subscription payment in full if you cancel during that initial 14-day period, even if you asked us to begin providing the service immediately.

Where required, checkout separately asks you to expressly request immediate service. Our full-refund policy does not reduce any statutory rights.

6. Annual reminders and price changes

We send annual subscribers an advance renewal reminder showing the renewal date, the amount, the current plan and how to cancel.

If we increase your recurring price we give at least 30 days' advance notice. Annual prepaid prices normally change only at the next annual renewal.

7. Monitoring and maintenance

ARK Care management software may report technical information needed to provide the service, including hardware and serial details, operating system and software inventory, storage and memory usage and health, update status, security alerts, logs, backup status, IP and network information, and logged-in-user information where the platform makes it available.

Our tools may run background maintenance, scripts, policies, patching and automated remediation intended to keep the computer healthy and secure, and we may improve these processes over time.

Installing ARK Care does not mean a technician can simply open your screen whenever they want. Interactive support is normally provided through a booked or customer-initiated Zoho Assist session.

8. Updates and restarts

Updates depend on the computer being online, having enough resources, and vendors supplying compatible updates. We cannot guarantee that every update installs immediately or that third-party updates are free of defects.

Where a restart is required, our normal approach is to prompt you rather than force a restart unexpectedly while the computer is in use.

9. Security

Security services reduce risk but cannot guarantee that a device, account or data will never be compromised, infected, encrypted, defrauded or lost.

Depending on your plan, extras and platform, services may use Bitdefender GravityZone, Bitdefender EDR and Emsisoft. We may replace an underlying product with a suitable alternative where reasonably necessary, without silently reducing a material paid benefit.

10. Backup

Where backup is included or purchased, you choose the storage allowance. We may initially configure standard user folders and you can customise the backup set.

If the allowance is reached, further backup may be unable to complete. We will not automatically increase your storage and charge you more. We will invite you to remove data or agree an upgrade.

We monitor the backup success and failure status reported by the platform. We do not currently promise routine test restores. A successful status does not guarantee that every file you wanted was selected, is uncorrupted, or can always be restored.

Backup data is stored in the UK. When paid backup ends, backup data is normally retained for 7 days and then deleted. We will tell you the expected deletion date.

11. Unlimited remote support

Where included, unlimited remote support means there is no per-session remote-support charge for reasonable support requests about covered devices during our normal support hours.

It excludes on-site visits, hardware and parts, data recovery, major project work, third-party licences, out-of-hours support and computers that are not covered. Frequent legitimate use is not automatically a breach of fair use.

12. Workshop benefits

Current standard benefits, subject to the plan snapshot you purchased:

• Shield: 10% off eligible workshop repair labour.
• Plus: 20% off eligible workshop repair labour, included remote support and included Priority workshop booking.
• Pro: 30% off eligible workshop repair labour, included remote support and included Urgent workshop booking.

Parts are not included or discounted unless expressly advertised, and discounts do not stack.

Priority and Urgent relate to the advertised assessment timescale. These timescales are dynamic and depend on workshop workload; the timescale shown when your computer is accepted is recorded against the repair ticket.

13. Health checks

Shield and Plus may include automated background health checks. Pro currently includes a technician-led tidy-up and check every three months; we send a reminder so you can book it.

14. VPN

Where included or purchased, ARK VPN uses a third-party VPN service. Performance and availability depend on that provider and on your internet connection. A VPN does not make internet use completely anonymous.

15. Your responsibilities

Keep your account details secure and accurate; keep covered computers online often enough for services to run; tell us about important changes to what you need backed up; use the service lawfully; and only install it on computers you own or are authorised to manage.

If you choose not to install ARK Care software, or you deliberately remove or disable it, the affected monitoring and protection cannot operate even though the subscription remains active.

We may check equipment serial numbers against an appropriate stolen-equipment register and refuse service where authority to hold the equipment is reasonably in doubt.

16. Failed payments

If a payment fails we will let you know. Our current policy provides a 7-day grace period before affected services may be suspended or deactivated. Where practicable, we warn you before managed security, monitoring, VPN or backup stops.

17. Ending the subscription

At the paid-through date, monitoring and management, managed security licensing, included support and repair benefits and VPN entitlement end as applicable. Backup then enters the 7-day retention period described above.

18. Third parties

Our current service providers include SuperOps, Comet, Bitdefender, Emsisoft, Zoho Assist, Stripe and a third-party VPN provider. Supplier outages or limitations can affect the service. ARK remains responsible for providing its own service with reasonable care and skill.

19. Conduct and lawful use

We may stop or refuse support in cases of threats, harassment, fraud, unlawful activity, unauthorised access, malware deployment or serious misuse. Complaining, disagreeing with us or making frequent legitimate support requests is not itself abuse.

20. Liability and statutory rights

We provide our services with reasonable care and skill. Nothing in these terms excludes liability or consumer remedies where excluding them would be unlawful. Security and backup services reduce risk but are not absolute guarantees.

21. Privacy and law

Personal data is handled in line with our current Privacy Policy. These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, without removing any mandatory consumer jurisdiction rights.