Hope for help from someone on this forum: we were with hostpro for 6months and then prepaid for one year (never again) which was up as of 1/11/00.
We notified them via email three times, but they refused to respond. We changed to another host on 10/1/00 even though we'd prepaid for that month just to be off hostpro.
On nov 6 hostpro got in touch about our "overdue" bill. I wrote again about our cancellation. Someone wrote back (email) that they were cancelling our contract at its termination date.

We were with that host until June, another until now, and a third as of this month. All have been paid in full and the dns addresses changed.

Now we're being dunned by a collection agency demanding payment for a year's service by Hostpro which apparently sold this nonexistent debt to them.

We tried to explain but the collection agency, of course, is not interested .

Can someone help us with info: anyone else run into this problem? Please.

and thank for helping.


j4est

I help run a collection agency.

Hosting is my side job.

I spent several years as a collector, so I
know what a agency can and can't do.

Ask for "Verification of the debt"

They have to provide it from their client.

They need to provide something that has your
signature that says you owe the bill and agreed to
renew your contract with them.

If they can't you don't owe it. If the agency bothers
you, do this.

Write a certified letter telling them "That you dispute the debt and to stop ALL contact in any way shape or form with you or anyone else."

Make sure you put the account number from the agency.

They have to mark your credit bureau disputed and they can not contact you at all. This called a cease. The FDCPA (Federal Fair Debt Collections Practices Act) states that if the debtor does this they can not contact you ever again about the debt.

Then if it hits your credit report, contact the credit bureau's and dispute the debt with them. They will contact the agency asking for signed verification that you agreed to pay this.
There are of course forms that need to be filled out.

Here is a list of the major bureau on our web site:
http://www.mermed.com/bureaus/


I know it is lengthy, but if the Host or the agency don't budge then you do have other options.

Many thanks. We sent a short letter yesterday disputing the bill's existence along with a copy of hostpro's notice that the account had been cancelled at our request, and not renewed.

We also had a later bill (in Dec.) from another person which was returned to them with a cover letter stating that we had already cancelled the account and had no business associations with them whatsoever, and to cease sending any bills, etc

Should we follow up yesterday's letter with one as you outlined or wait?

thanks again.

Originally posted by j4est
<snip>

Should we follow up yesterday's letter with one as you outlined or wait?

thanks again.

I would not wait. Putting it off makes them think that
it is valid, esp if you let the 30 period lapse.

In the first 30 days a agency has to send you proof that
you owe the debt, if they don't they can not collect the
debt from you. I would send a certified letter asking for
"Verification of the Debt" this way you have proof that you
asked for it in the first 30 days. Keep your first notice as well as
the envelope it came in to show that you were in your 30
day time frame.

If you don't dispute it in the first thirty days they can assume it
is valid under law.

I would act ASAP

THought I should post the final results here for any future victims of HOStPRO (we called them "host-no")

We did as suggested and followed up with the call to find out which credit reporting agencies had been notified.

We were told that none had; and that when these "bills" were shown to be invalid, they were simply returned to hostpro.

It seems as if they thought if they could scare up (literally) some money with these fraudulent past due billing practices, all well and good. But if the bill was shown to be invalid (it was), it is simply dropped and sent back to hostpro. No credit agencies are reported to.

And many thanks for the expert help. Saved us a lot of trouble for a little bit of work on this end.

Find another host! (We are on #4 now)

We have also had BIG problems with HostPro (now Interland). Their technical support is the worst and resulted in our site launch being delayed 3 weeks. It has been one thing after another. Needless to say we have moved to another hosting provider in Dialtone. We hope all goes well with them. Just curious where you are hosting now?

Aloha
well they have overbilled me over $150 so far adn have been fighting them I got back $107 so far but took 6 months now I have to fight for the rest of it
arghhhh
they are going down hill faster and faster

Originally posted by j4est
Hope for help from someone on this forum: we were with hostpro for 6months and then prepaid for one year (never again) which was up as of 1/11/00.
We notified them via email three times, but they refused to respond. We changed to another host on 10/1/00 even though we'd prepaid for that month just to be off hostpro.
On nov 6 hostpro got in touch about our "overdue" bill. I wrote again about our cancellation. Someone wrote back (email) that they were cancelling our contract at its termination date.

We were with that host until June, another until now, and a third as of this month. All have been paid in full and the dns addresses changed.

Now we're being dunned by a collection agency demanding payment for a year's service by Hostpro which apparently sold this nonexistent debt to them.

We tried to explain but the collection agency, of course, is not interested .

Can someone help us with info: anyone else run into this problem? Please.

and thank for helping.


j4est always ask for the collection agency's documents, they may help you see where the real fraud is and then you have it doctumented. Get a copy of your letter or other written communications documented at your bank for free, they will certify your complaint with one of their agents, then go any send it after making a copy.

Interland just told us that they will no longer support our account/server and will not add any VH's to our account even though we had a contract with Vservers which was transferred from company to company when they merged. So we informed them that we're leaving them at the end of the month.

Here's the stupid part...
According to their billing terms - which are buried within the service agreement that you see when you first login to their management system. It basically said that by clicking OK on the form (the only way to access their support site), we unconditionally agree to all the terms --- including the fact that you agree to lock-in with them for a 1 year term! My client was freaking out when he saw this as he would have owed thousands of dollars for services that we'd never use.

So my client faxed over the service agreement and our old contracts/correspondance informing them (the CEO, Legal dept, Customer Relations Rep.) that they were in breach of our contract and we would not voluntarily agree to 1 year of service rather than month-to-month as originally signed.

Hours later, they called back basically begging to get our business back - saying that they made a mistake and would up our support level and virtual host cap to whatever we wanted. We said no and went to Rackspace for a bit more per month on a dedicated system.

We didn't want to leave them as we were loyal to Vservers and early HostPro but when your a small business, you can only tolerate so much.

So ya, just giving a heads up to everyone who was forced into Interland's problems.