Web hosting ripoff

[cantra]

I got taken for a ride from a web hosting company. I was to pay $200 for a full year of hosting and domain fees. The first month they charged me $225, $25 more than I was supposed to be. I e-mailed them a couple times about the extra $25 but they never got back to me so I wrote it off. The next month they again charged me $225 even though I was supposed to be paid in full for a year. I e-mailed them and finally got a responce after about a week, constant calling and sending e-mails to every address listed on their site. They said I would be refunded shortly, I waited over a week and still wasn't refunded so I e-mailed them again. They responded with telling me to send them my original credit card statements through the mail, I refused but sent them scanned copies via e-mail. I e-mailed them again and it became a huge run around they acted like I never sent them copies and they wouldn't even discuss it until I sent them my originals. Finally after about a week of bugging them they said they'd refund me again. Well I waited over a week and they still didn't refund me. I e-mailed them and an hour later I got an e-mail from them not saying when or if I'd be refunded but that I'd be charged an additional $1000 for over use of their server. I'm supposed to get 25 gigs of transfer a month and 500 megs of space, I've only used about 300 megs of transfer in 2 months and 12 megs of space according to their own stats, I told them this and they came up with an answer that the stats doesn't show the files that are causing all of the extra bandwidth. To top it off they claim the extra charge is because of the agreement I checked when I signed up.

The only thing on the agreement states for people who sign up with an unlimited account will be charged $1 per kbps sustained traffic after 10 gigs of transfer. I DID NOT go with the unlimited account and from what I thought purchased 25 gigs of transfer outright. To top it off they claim that my usage was only .8 kbps susteained so even if they could use this which I don't think they could, plus I didn't even use a fraction of resources I paid for would = 80 cents not $1000.

Also the agreement states in order to cancel you simply have to cancel on their page and then send them a signed paper simply to verify who you are. They do not offer a view of this paper and make no reference to there being anymore on the paper than verifying who you are. Now that I have cancelled my service I finally got to see it, it basically makes it illegal for you to even try and dispute anything they bill you no matter what. They even have a condition that you will be charged extra fees for even starting a charge back.

Lastly I haven't gotten what I paid for in the beginning, the service was always down and when it's up it is so slow a turtle could get the info to people quicker. The state that the hosting company is in is Minnesota, I live in Wisconsin. This same company has done this to countless others I found out today, several reviews I have scene from people have ended up in peoples credit cards basically becoming a play ground for these con artists, people being charged $5000 or more when they only agreed to pay a couple of hundred.

Any suggestions? This company needs to be stopped.

Thanks
Travis

 

[ALawyer]

Did you think of dealing with your credit card company - or cancelling the card so they can't put new charges thru?

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This is intended as general information only and NOT LEGAL ADVICE. You are not my client, and I have no obligation of any kind to you. To retain a lawyer, go to http://AttorneyPages.com

 

[cantra]

Yep already done that, submitting the credit card dispute tomorrow and cancelled the card today.

Do you think a credit card dispute will resolve this totally? I am a merchant myself and this seams to be a bit bigger than a normal charge back situation that is normally dealt with, I'll be very glad if the chargeback itself takes care of it but from the way it sounds even if I win the chargeback this guy is still going to try and get the money one way or another even though he is not entitled to it.

He also refuses to cancel my account because I wont send him the cancellation form that is nothing more than another contract that waives my rights to dispute charges made by him, this was supposed to be a simple verification letter according to the original agreement and not a contract.

If you'd have a minute to see what I mean please see https://ssl.pagecreators.net/pagecreators.net/secure/output_cancel.shtml this is the form they do not show you until you cancel, the form that is supposed to simply verify your identity. According to the way it looks to me plus what the owner has said I have to sign this and send it to them for me to cancel, if I do this is pretty much lose all rights to contest the charges, if I do I have to pay extra fees. I personally don't think this is following mastercards own rules of credit card transactions, didn't think any merchant had a right to do this.

Maybe I'm just panicking for nothing and this guy is just blowing steam, I just want to make sure that this crook does not take me for everything he has tried to.

thanks for the help, I realy appreciate any you can provide.
travis

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

I hope the following can be of assistance to you.
________________________

New web site created to fight online fraud

Addressing the needs of consumers who have fallen prey to scams on the Internet, the U.S. government has created a Web site and center to provide a place where individuals can report incidents of online fraud.

The U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center launched the Internet Fraud Complaint Center in May. The center provides support services to state and local law enforcement for the prevention, investigation and prosecution of high-tech and economic crime. Located in Arlington, West Virginia, the center is staffed by 12 FBI agents and 25 representatives of the National White Collar Crime Center.

"The Internet Fraud Complaint Center allows consumers who suspect Internet fraud to share that information with law enforcement quickly and efficiently," says U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.

Last year Americans filed 18,000 reports of Internet fraud. The Fraud Center disseminates the information to the appropriate local, state or federal authorities. The center also analyzes complaints and suggests methods of dealing with criminals whose tool of choice is a computer.

Along with providing a place where consumers can voice their complaints the, site also gives law enforcement agencies a place to look up pending cases, get statistics on Internet fraud and find information on fraud patterns and trends.

More than 100 Better Business Bureaus have agreed to provide complaint information along with consumer complaints from the Mail Fraud Complaint System, which addresses mail fraud. Additionally, all 50 state attorneys general have signed on as members of the new system.

To report a case of Internet fraud or to learn more about the Center, visit www.ifccfbi.gov or http://www.fraud.org/internet/intinfo.htm

Good luck.

IAAL

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By reading the “Response” to your question or comment, you agree that: The opinions expressed herein by "I AM ALWAYS LIABLE" are designed to provide educational information only and are not intended to, nor do they, offer legal advice. Opinions expressed to you in this site are not intended to, nor does it, create an attorney-client relationship, nor does it constitute legal advice to any person reviewing such information. No electronic communication with "I AM ALWAYS LIABLE," on its own, will generate an attorney-client relationship, nor will it be considered an attorney-client privileged communication. You further agree that you will obtain your own attorney's advice and counsel for your questions responded to herein by "I AM ALWAYS LIABLE."



[This message has been edited by I AM ALWAYS LIABLE (edited July 06, 2000).]