I need a place to vent :angry:

I've got 2 very scary webhosts to warn folks about -- 1 big, 1 small, both with identical problems.

First off, HostingCP (aka LowestAccountHosting, aka HostingAccountService). They offer very cheap hosting but, as mentioned in this forum time and again, you get what you pay for. I had several accounts with them last year, and even recommended people to them. When their SMTP server got slammed and shut down by anti-spam subsription services (ie, my mail, which was never spam, was refused by MSN, AOL, VERIZON, etc); they didn't care and suggested I setup an SMTP server on my home machine.

I cancelled all my accounts with them in December.

A couple of months ago, they apparently had a systems crash. When they rebuilt their accounts, they rebuilt ALL their accounts. Suddenly, I was getting 2Checkout bills again. I went through 2Checkout's online service, but was still having problems.

I'm happy to say that after speaking with Customer Service Rep Cassandra at 2Checkout, my problems with HostingCP seem to be resolved.

PART II

I had a small account for my daughter setup at 1DollarHosting, owned and operated by WebCountry. I cancelled that account in January of this year. It took several weeks for them to figure out that I cancelled my account, and on Feb 27, I got an email confirming that the account was closed.

Today I got an email saying htat the account was past due!

I called customer service. They asked me to forward them the email confirmation that they sent me -- they had no record of it!

So I sent them the message and waited on the phone. They got my email and agreed to cancel the account. A supervisor then got on the line to tell me that I would still get notices that the account was past due, but to "just ignore them". WTF?!

I asked for an email verifying that I could just ignore them. He said he was too busy. We spent 5 minutes on the phone arguing about this. It would take 30 seconds to send an email absolving me of any payments which the system showed were due, but he wouldn't do it.

I asked why I would still recieve letters, he said it would take half an hour to take me out of the system and that they're too busy to do that. He still claimed all I had to do was "just ignore" the emails!!

I've contacted the Better Business Bureau on these guys, but I don't expect much help. The BBB report on them begins with:

We rate this company as having an unsatisfactory business performance record based on a pattern of complaints that cause us concern. You can read the rest for yourself here (http://www.labbb.org/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=wsbroker1/C%3A/Inetpub/wwwroot/SouthlandReport/default.htm?hCompID=13139946&hAKAID=3&hAddrID=1).

ARGGHHH!!! :angry:

Anywho, thanks all for letting me vent. And remember that you truly do get what you pay for -- in these cases, nothing but headaches!

Also, be sure to always keep archived every email you send to and receive from your host. In the case of Webcountry, it still doesn't matter, but most level-headed people (including trial judges if it ever comes to that), will appreciate the documentation.

Mistakes get made. Good customer service will rectify them so that everyone's happy.

I've since consolidated my accounts into one web reseller account, and the service and performance has been great.

That's rough. Sorry to hear about your troubles.

Thanks for the warning and when they say "you get what you pay for" they're not lying.

Which web host did you get your resellers account from?

Sounds like alot of trouble bud. Really sorry to hear what happened. Best of luck with your next host! :)

Thanks for the sympathy guys. It's been one hell of a week and it's only monday!

The thing that really worries me is the WebCountry crap. You would think that they would want to get me off their back and a simple email would suffice. When they refuse to send even that, you wonder what it is that they're afraid of.

Just a legal word of warning to people -- you should never ever "just ignore" requests for payment. WebCountry (in this case) could decide to come after me a year from now, claiming that they sent me frequent requests for payment. If my reponse was "they told me on the phone just to ignore it," who do you think the credit agencies would believe?

I mean, WebCountry is basically calling me a liar, even though I produce an email from them verifying the account closure! What happens a month from now when I tell the next supervisor this story? He's probably going to claim "We would never say something like that."

Anyway...

Rossman, I transferred everything over to UnitedHosting (http://www.unitedhosting.co.uk) back in February and they have been fantastic. Superb tech support and service that exceeds what is advertised. If only I had found them 2 years ago..!

UnitedHosting.co.uk is great I will agree. Glad to see things have worked out and that you are happy now with your host.

Originally posted by CrazyTech
UnitedHosting.co.uk is great I will agree. Glad to see things have worked out and that you are happy now with your host.

Stole the words right out of my mouth, UH is indeed awesome. Good choice.

I was searching here on our company name and this topic was thrown up - I was scared for a few seconds :)

Glad your enjoying our services.

While we're at it, Matt you owe me... $5,332 US for... um... yes.

Sorry to startle you Matt! ;)

Unfortunately nothing is soo free..

Buy more expensive/reasonable cost hosting service - You are most likely to get very good service.

Be cheap - Now you just wasted your time dealing with all this drama.

-hc

Webcountry.net/1dollarhosting.com is a scam. I would like to know if those on this list could help me by contacting the LA district attorney's office to lodge a complaint if you have had trouble with this webhosting company. I can give the address if anyone is interested in helping. I have already contacted them and they are looking into the company's business practices. However, if they had many people giving their stories, it would carry more weight than if it is just me.

The scam works like this: They offer $1/mo hosting and a one time start up fee. I had them for five years and kept all email receipts for the yearly payments. When I tried to cancel they claim I haven't paid anything for five years. They try and get the customer to pay back fees going back several years. So any help here would be helpful in bringing an end to such a group.

Thanks

Clif

had a similar experience with hostdime.com. Much better hosting now.

Good luck

Thanks. Hopefully, if enough people lodge complaints with the DA office, we could shut down this companies who are ripping the public off.

Clif

They got hijacked this weekend, as did many of the sites they host. My wifes page is still down and after reading all these posts, i need to leave there but get my backup etc before mentioning it.

i gues somebody didnt like them.but why mess with others sites as well??

Webcountry engages in unfair business practices and has a history of making up charges on closed accounts and sending them to collections. DO NOT GET SCARED BY A COLLECTION AGENCY INTO PAYING ANY FRAUDULENT CHARGES. Remain calm, do some research, and don't sweat it.

First some history about Webcountry:
1) Webcountry has a BBB rating of "F" (
2) Webcountry is currently "Suspended" according to the California Secretary of State's website. That means that Webcountry's business entity's powers, rights and privileges were suspended in California.

Now the Basic Gameplan once a collection agency contacts you:
Step 1: If you get a call from a collection agency, inform them that all correspondence should be done by mail. Also say that it is inconvenient for them to call at any time. I recorded their call and filed it. The collection agency must follow the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) and failure to do so results in you being able to sue them for ~$1000 per infraction.

Step 2: You will get a letter in the mail from the collection agency. Respond with a letter sent via certified mail saying that you dispute the debt and tell them to validate it. Basically you are telling them to prove that you owe the debt. If the letter from the collection agency was their first contact, you might also include that it is inconvenient for them to call you at any time.

Step 3: Send a copy of your debt validation letter to the Credit Reporting Agencies (Experian, Transunion, and Equifax)

Equifax
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
1-800-685-1111

Experian
P.O. Box 2104
Allen, TX 75013-0949
1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742)

Trans Union
P.O. Box 1000
Chester, PA 19022
1-800-916-8800

Step 4: Since the debt is fabricated by Webcountry, they will not be able to validate the debt. Most likely you will be sent some old invoices which basically show they know your name, phone number, address, credit card number, website name, etc. This is NOT validation of the debt and they certainly won't be able to produce a signed agreement unless they forge your signature (easy $$$ for a violation so you should hope they do). You will need to send another letter via certified mail to the collection agency that what they provided is not validation and that you consider the matter to be disputed. They might continue to send you some bs validations, so you could go back and forth a bit. They won't take you to court cause they don't have a leg to stand on.

Step 5: IF the collection agency failed to follow the FDCPA and committed violations (which you kept track of because you recorded all phone conversations and kept all mailings), consider turning the tables on the collection agency. Write them a letter detailing their violations of the FDCPA and offer them a settlement. Maybe offer them $600 per violation to settle with you. You can always take them to small claims court (up to $7500) for the violations. Even if it's only 1 violation, it is probably still worth it because I don't know many people that make $1000 per day.


Sorry for the long post, but Webcountry is bascially a scam company and people should not be bullied by them and their tactics.

I had to check out this site and the first thing I noticed was the pirate flag on the top right. That's horrible.

$1 for 20mb is not really and the other plans seem somewhat comparable....but still your backups and find a better company on here.

@RickT11. You got it right. Several years ago after having used webcountry for some time, I decided to cancel. I think they were raising the rates on me. The most amazing thing was that I had saved all my emails from them (the receipts they send out indicating payment received) for the entire 3 years I had been with them. However, when I called to cancel the woman who answered said she was looking at my records and saw that I owed them for the past year. She was claiming I had not paid.

I told her that they must have very poor bookkeeping considering that I had copies of all the receipts the company had sent me. She asked if I would forward them to her, which I did. But I also contacted the deputy district attorney in LA county and lodged a complaint against the company. I discovered as I did some searching on the internet that this was one of their scams to get more money out of people.

Even with the evidence they still tried to get me to pay until the DA tried to set up a three way call between him, me and webcountry. The day came and they wouldn't answer their phone. Haven't heard from them since. I wish more people could know about this scam to keep them from joining.

Glad you got out.

If you do end up suing or being sued, here is a little more useful information regarding the "terms and conditions". They have likely changed since the time you first signed up for an account, but the collection agency will likely cite the current "terms and conditions" on 1dollarhosting.com. You can see what the "terms and conditions" used to look like by using websites like: wayback.archive.org/web/ You are not bound by the changed "terms and conditions" unless you have been notified (which 1dollarhosting did not do) and agreed to them. Furthermore, all "terms and conditions" can be considered void if they claim they can be changed at any time. This is supported by the following cases:

1) On April 15, 2009, a Texas federal district court held that an arbitration provision in Blockbuster’s online terms of service was “illusory” and unenforceable because Blockbuster had reserved the right to change the terms of service at any time. Harris v. Blockbuster Inc., No. 3:09-cv-217-M (N.D. Tex. April 15, 2009).

2) I also found another case that says a company cannot change "terms of service" without notification. Douglas v. Talk America No. 06-75424 (July 18, 2007), service providers should not be able to change their terms of service arbitrarily without notifying their registered users, according to the judges in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

I asked for an email verifying that I could just ignore them. He said he was too busy. We spent 5 minutes on the phone arguing about this. It would take 30 seconds to send an email absolving me of any payments which the system showed were due, but he wouldn't do it.

I asked why I would still recieve letters, he said it would take half an hour to take me out of the system and that they're too busy to do that. He still claimed all I had to do was "just ignore" the emails!!



Geez. He probably spent more time on the phone going back and forth with you than it would have taken to just email you what you wanted, or better yet fix your problem in the system.

Lazy and missing a lightbulb, not a good combination.

Half an hour to take you out of the system? Unbelievably poor customer support there.