BēCN Technologies, LLC (d/b/a BēCN Pets)
Effective Date: [DATE] Version: 1.0 Applies to: Paid subscription customers and Business Partners
How this document is structured
| Section | What it covers |
|---|---|
| 1–3 | Scope, definitions, and who this applies to |
| 4–6 | Availability commitment, measurement, and credits |
| 7 | Support response targets |
| 8 | Critical service limitations — read this first |
| 9–12 | Maintenance, reporting, backup, and changes |
| 13–16 | Term, exclusions, escalation, and general terms |
1. Purpose and scope
1.1 Purpose. This Service Level Agreement ("SLA") describes the service levels the Company targets for the BēCN Pets platform, and the remedies available when those targets are not met.
1.2 Relationship to the Terms. This SLA forms part of and is incorporated into the Company's Terms and Conditions. It does not replace them. Where this SLA and the Terms conflict on liability, the Terms control.
1.3 Who this applies to. This SLA applies to:
- Paid subscription customers — consumers with an active paid subscription
- Business Partners — shelters, rescues, breeders, sitters, and other organizations under a partner agreement
- Enterprise customers — organizations with a signed order that incorporates this SLA
1.4 Who this does not apply to. This SLA does not apply to free-tier users, who receive the service on an as-is basis without service level commitments.
1.5 Hierarchy. Where a signed order or partner agreement contains different service levels, that document controls for that customer.
2. Definitions
2.1 "Core Services" means the tag resolution service, the web application, the mobile application, and the lost-pet alert service.
2.2 "Availability" means the percentage of total minutes in a calendar month during which Core Services are operational and reachable, measured as described in Section 5.
2.3 "Downtime" means the number of minutes in a calendar month during which Core Services are unavailable, excluding Excluded Events.
2.4 "Excluded Events" means the circumstances listed in Section 5.3.
2.5 "Scheduled Maintenance" means maintenance announced at least [FORTY-EIGHT (48)] hours in advance.
2.6 "Emergency Maintenance" means maintenance required to address an immediate risk to security, data integrity, or service stability, which may be performed with shorter notice.
2.7 "Severity Level" means the classification of an incident or support request under Section 7.2.
2.8 "Business Partner" means an organization participating under the Master Partner Agreement.
2.9 "Alert Event" means a lost-pet alert raised by a Pet Owner through the platform.
3. Service description
3.1 Services covered. The Company will provide:
| Service | Description |
|---|---|
| Tag resolution | Resolving a scanned tag identifier to the associated pet record |
| Web application | The owner-facing and finder-facing web experience |
| Mobile application | The owner-facing mobile application |
| Lost-pet alerting | Distributing an alert to the Company's community and to the owner's designated contacts |
| Pet record storage | Storing and serving pet profiles and associated data |
| Partner Portal | Tag provisioning and partner administration for Business Partners |
3.2 Services not covered. The following are provided without service level commitment:
- Community features, forums, and messaging
- Reporting and analytics dashboards
- Third-party integrations
- Free-tier access
- Email, SMS, and push notification delivery, which depends on third-party carriers (the Company commits only to submitting notifications — see Section 8.3)
3.3 Dependent services. Availability depends on third-party infrastructure providers, carriers, and the customer's own internet connectivity. See Section 5.3.
4. Availability commitment
4.1 Monthly availability target.
| Service | Target | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| Tag resolution | [99.9%] | Calendar month |
| Web application | [99.5%] | Calendar month |
| Mobile application | [99.5%] | Calendar month |
| Lost-pet alerting (submission) | [99.5%] | Calendar month |
| Pet record read access | [99.9%] | Calendar month |
4.2 What 99.5% means in practice. Approximately 3 hours 39 minutes of permitted downtime per month. Approximately 43 minutes per month for 99.9%.
4.3 Aggregate measurement. Availability is measured per service, not as a single blended figure. An outage affecting only the mobile application does not consume the tag resolution allowance. This is deliberate: it prevents a minor outage in one area from being masked by strong performance elsewhere.
4.4 Availability does not guarantee safety outcomes. See Section 8.
5. Measurement and exclusions
5.1 How availability is measured. By external synthetic monitoring from at least [TWO (2)] independent geographic locations, at intervals of no more than [FIVE (5)] minutes, plus internal health telemetry. Synthetic checks simulate a real tag scan and a real pet record read.
5.2 Measurement basis. A service is considered unavailable when:
- A synthetic scan of a valid tag fails to return a pet record, or
- The application returns a server error, or
- Response time exceeds [TEN (10)] seconds for tag resolution
5.3 Excluded Events. The following do not count as Downtime:
| # | Excluded Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | Scheduled Maintenance announced under Section 9 |
| 2 | Emergency Maintenance |
| 3 | Force majeure events |
| 4 | Failures of third-party infrastructure, carriers, or DNS outside the Company's control |
| 5 | Failures of the customer's own systems, connectivity, or devices |
| 6 | Suspension or termination for breach of the Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy |
| 7 | Customer-requested configuration changes |
| 8 | Beta, preview, or early-access features, which are expressly excluded from all service levels |
| 9 | Email, SMS, and push notification carrier delays after the Company submits the notification |
| 10 | Acts or omissions of the customer |
5.4 Reporting a suspected outage. A customer may report an outage to [support@becnpets.com]. The Company will confirm whether the period qualifies as Downtime.
5.5 Records. The Company maintains availability records for [TWELVE (12)] months and will provide a summary on request.
6. Service credits
6.1 Credit entitlement. If monthly Availability falls below the target, the customer is entitled to a service credit as follows:
| Monthly Availability | Service credit |
|---|---|
| Below 99.5% but at or above 99.0% | [10%] of that month's subscription fee |
| Below 99.0% but at or above 98.0% | [25%] of that month's subscription fee |
| Below 98.0% | [50%] of that month's subscription fee |
6.2 How to claim. The customer must request a credit within [THIRTY (30)] days of the end of the affected month, to [support@becnpets.com], identifying the affected period. Credits are not applied automatically.
6.3 Form of credit. Credits are applied to future subscription fees. They are not paid in cash and are not transferable.
6.4 Cap. Total credits in any [TWELVE (12)]-month period will not exceed [THIRTY PERCENT (30%)] of the fees paid in that period.
6.5 Sole remedy. Service credits are the customer's sole and exclusive remedy for any failure to meet the service levels in this SLA. This does not limit either party's rights for a breach of the Terms independent of service levels.
6.6 No credit for excluded events. No credit is available for any period attributable to an Excluded Event.
6.7 Safety incidents. Where an outage occurs during an active Alert Event, Section 8.4 applies in addition to this section.
7. Support and response targets
7.1 Support channels.
| Channel | Availability | For |
|---|---|---|
| Email — [support@becnpets.com] | Monitored [24/7] | All customers |
| In-app support | Business hours | All customers |
| Partner escalation | Business hours | Business Partners |
7.2 Severity levels.
| Severity | Definition | Initial response | Update cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1 — Critical | Core Services unavailable for all users; or active Alert Event is not delivering; or confirmed data breach | [1 hour], 24/7 | Every [2] hours |
| S2 — High | Core Services degraded; a significant function is unavailable; or a workaround is unavailable for a Partner | [4 business hours] | Every [8] business hours |
| S3 — Medium | A function is impaired with a workaround available | [1 business day] | Every [3] business days |
| S4 — Low | Question, cosmetic issue, or feature request | [3 business days] | As available |
7.3 What "initial response" means. A human acknowledgment with an initial assessment. It is not a resolution commitment.
7.4 Escalation. If a request is not receiving the response required by its severity, the customer may escalate to [ESCALATION CONTACT / EMAIL]. The Company will acknowledge escalation within [FOUR (4)] business hours.
7.5 Partner priority. Business Partners may designate a severity for their requests, subject to the Company's reasonable agreement.
8. CRITICAL SERVICE LIMITATIONS — READ THIS SECTION
This section limits the SLA. It exists because the platform includes a lost-pet alert feature, and an availability commitment on that feature could be misread as a safety guarantee. It is not one, and this section says so plainly.
8.1 Not an emergency service. The platform is not an emergency service. It does not dispatch responders, summon veterinarians or animal control, or monitor any pet continuously. Anyone who has lost a pet should contact local animal control, veterinarians, and shelters directly and should not rely on the platform alone.
8.2 No guarantee of alert receipt or action. The Company commits to submitting an alert. It does not and cannot guarantee that any alert will be received, seen, read, understood, or acted upon by any person. Alert delivery depends on third-party carriers, on recipients' devices and settings, and on human behavior — none of which the Company controls.
8.3 Submission, not delivery. The service level for lost-pet alerting applies to the Company's submission of the alert to its delivery providers, not to final delivery to a recipient's device. Carrier delays, spam filtering, opt-outs, disabled notifications, and network conditions are Excluded Events.
8.4 Outage during an active alert. Where an outage occurs during an active Alert Event, the Company will, in addition to any credit under Section 6:
- (a) notify affected owners as soon as practicable;
- (b) where practical, extend the alert period at no charge;
- (c) provide a written account of the incident on request.
This is an operational remedy. It is not compensation for a lost or unrecovered pet, and it does not create any liability for the outcome of an Alert Event.
8.5 No recovery guarantee. The platform helps identify a pet and reach its owner. It does not promise that any pet will be found or recovered. No availability figure, response time, or credit in this SLA relates to the outcome of any Alert Event.
8.6 No health or safety monitoring. The platform does not monitor a pet's health, location, or safety. It is not a tracking device. The tag contains no battery and no transmitter. See the Terms and Conditions §4.3.
8.7 Acknowledgement. By using the platform, the customer acknowledges that they have read and understood this section.
9. Maintenance
9.1 Scheduled Maintenance. The Company will provide at least [FORTY-EIGHT (48)] hours' notice by email and in-app notice. The Company will use reasonable efforts to schedule maintenance during [LOW-TRAFFIC WINDOW, e.g., 02:00–05:00 Eastern].
9.2 Maintenance window allowance. Up to [FOUR (4)] hours of Scheduled Maintenance per month is permitted without counting as Downtime.
9.3 Emergency Maintenance. The Company may perform Emergency Maintenance with such notice as is practicable. Emergency Maintenance is an Excluded Event but will be documented in the monthly report.
9.4 Partner coordination. Where maintenance materially affects a Business Partner's operations, the Company will coordinate timing with the Partner where practicable.
10. Reporting
10.1 Monthly report. On request, the Company will provide a monthly availability report showing:
- Availability by service
- Total Downtime and its causes
- Any incident exceeding [SIXTY (60)] minutes
- Scheduled and Emergency Maintenance performed
- Credits issued
10.2 Incident notification. The Company will notify affected customers of a confirmed incident within [TWENTY-FOUR (24)] hours of confirmation, and will provide a post-incident summary within [FIVE (5)] business days for any S1 incident.
10.3 Security incidents. Security incidents are handled under the Company's Incident Response Plan and applicable law, which may require different notification timing than this section.
11. Data protection and recovery
11.1 Backup. The Company backs up pet records and account data [DAILY], with backups retained for [THIRTY (30)] days.
11.2 Recovery objectives.
| Objective | Target |
|---|---|
| Recovery Point Objective (RPO) — maximum data loss | [24 hours] |
| Recovery Time Objective (RTO) — maximum restoration time | [24 hours] |
11.3 Scope. These objectives apply to pet records and account data. They do not apply to community content or transient session data.
11.4 Testing. Recovery procedures are tested at least [ANNUALLY], and the results are documented.
11.5 Data portability. On request, the Company will export a Business Partner's tag and registration data in a structured format.
12. Change management
12.1 Notice of material change. The Company will provide at least [THIRTY (30)] days' notice before a change that materially reduces functionality or requires customer action.
12.2 API changes. Where the Company provides an API, it will provide [NINETY (90)] days' notice before a breaking change, and will support the prior version for that period.
12.3 This SLA. The Company may update this SLA at any time. Material reductions in service levels require [THIRTY (30)] days' notice, and the customer may terminate within that period without penalty.
13. Term
13.1 This SLA applies while the customer holds an active subscription or partner agreement.
13.2 It terminates automatically on termination of the underlying agreement.
13.3 The Company may suspend service levels during any period in which the customer's account is suspended for non-payment or breach.
14. Exclusions and limitations
14.1 The Company is not responsible for failures caused by the customer's equipment, software, network, or use of the platform contrary to the Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy.
14.2 The Company is not responsible for third-party services, including carriers, hosting infrastructure, and integrations, except as expressly stated.
14.3 Liability under this SLA is subject to the limitations in the Terms and Conditions, including the exclusion of indirect damages and the aggregate liability cap.
14.4 The Company does not warrant that the platform will be error-free or uninterrupted.
15. Escalation and review
15.1 Operational escalations go to [ESCALATION CONTACT].
15.2 Business Partners may request a quarterly service review. The Company will provide availability data and discuss open issues.
15.3 Enterprise customers may request an annual review of service levels and, where agreed, a negotiated schedule.
16. General
16.1 Governing law. This SLA is governed by the laws of the State of Ohio. Disputes are subject to the Terms and Conditions.
16.2 Notices. As provided in the Terms.
16.3 Severability. If a provision is unenforceable, the remainder continues in effect.
16.4 Entire agreement. This SLA, together with the Terms and any signed order, is the entire agreement on service levels.