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Master Services Agreement

The IT Dept Pty Ltd · ABN 12 665 405 505 · v1.0 · 10 June 2026

This agreement is written in plain English on purpose. It is still a contract. "I", "me" and "The IT Dept" mean The IT Dept Pty Ltd (ABN 12 665 405 505); "you" means the customer named on the order.

1. Structure

Your agreement consists of: this MSA; the Service Schedule for each service you take; the Critical Information Summary for your plan (where one applies); the Acceptable Use Policy; and your order. If they conflict, the Service Schedule beats this MSA for that service, and nothing beats the law.

2. Term and cancellation

Everything here is month-to-month unless your order says otherwise. Either of us can end a service with 30 days' written notice. There are no early termination fees, exit penalties, or retention departments — there is no retention department to transfer you to.

3. The services

I will supply the services described in your order with due care and skill, and keep you informed of planned maintenance. This is a deliberately small operation run by one person: support is direct and competent, but it is not a 24/7 NOC, and the Service Schedules say honestly what service levels you can expect for each product.

4. Billing and payment

• Charges are billed monthly in advance, in Australian dollars, inclusive of GST. Invoices are payable within 14 days.
• There are no late payment fees. If you're having trouble paying, tell me — the Payment Assistance Policy exists and I'd genuinely rather use it than disconnect you.
• If an invoice remains unpaid 30 days after a reminder and you haven't been in touch, I may suspend the service after giving you at least 5 working days' notice, and cancel it after a further 30 days. I will follow the Financial Hardship Standard and the DFV Standard before taking any credit management action.

5. Your obligations

• Use the services lawfully and in line with the Acceptable Use Policy.
• Keep your contact details current — I can't help you if I can't reach you.
• You're responsible for your own equipment, software, configurations, and backups, except where a Service Schedule says otherwise.
• Don't resell a service to third parties unless your order or Service Schedule expressly allows it.

6. IP addresses, ASNs and numbers

IP addresses I allocate to you are licensed for use with the service, not sold; they return to me when the service ends. Where you announce your own prefixes via BGP, you warrant that you hold the rights to them and will maintain accurate registry records and ROAs. Routing policy and filtering requirements are in the relevant Service Schedule.

7. Suspension

I may suspend a service immediately if it is being used unlawfully, is the source of abuse or a security incident, or its continued operation endangers the network or other customers. For anything less urgent, you get notice and a reasonable chance to fix it first. Suspension is a last resort, not a revenue strategy.

8. Consumer guarantees and liability

Nothing in this agreement excludes, restricts, or modifies any rights or guarantees you have under the Australian Consumer Law or any other law that cannot be excluded — including the consumer guarantees that services be provided with due care and skill and be fit for purpose. Where the law permits me to limit liability for breach of a non-excludable guarantee, my liability is limited to resupplying the service or paying the cost of resupply.

For everything else: to the extent permitted by law, my total aggregate liability under this agreement is capped at the amounts you paid me in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, and neither of us is liable to the other for indirect or consequential loss. You're dealing with a one-man company, and the pricing reflects that allocation of risk. If your use case needs contractual SLAs and liability cover, tell me before you order and we'll either write a bespoke schedule or agree this isn't the right home for it.

9. Privacy and data

Personal information is handled per the Privacy Policy, including the mandatory data retention obligations that apply to carriage service providers. Your data on my systems remains yours.

10. Changes

If I change these terms or your pricing in a way that's detrimental to you, I'll give you at least 30 days' notice, and you can exit without penalty before the change takes effect. No silent re-pricing, no "we've updated our terms" ambushes.

11. General

Neither of us is liable for failure caused by events genuinely beyond our control (including nbn co, upstream carrier, or data centre failures — though I'll always work the problem). Notices may be given by email. This agreement is governed by the laws of New South Wales, and we both submit to the jurisdiction of its courts. If part of this agreement is unenforceable, the rest survives.