I was a reasonably happy Primemaster customer for about two years. I had nearly 600mb and was using up to 60g (100+ video clips) bandwidth. For 9.95 a month - unlimited everything. Infinology absorbed Primemaster, and changed everything. I know I was getting a deal, but Infinology sprung the fees on me without any notice. First, I deleted 100mb to get under the new 500mb limit. Then they said I only had 1g bandwidth and owed for excess traffic. I paid $40 for excess traffic and told them to cancel me. I also shut down the site to avoid racking up any more charges. Well, now they say I owe another $40, and have a "Domain Account Suspended" at my URL. I really feel that Infinology failed to use proper procedure, and I don't think I owe them the other $40. I pulled my credit card info from my profile, as I think they would just continue to rack up the charges. Is there any agency that will arbitrate something like this? Also, any guidance as to an inexpensive solution for my hosting needs would be appreciated.

In situations like these, as long as the new company is a reputable one, logic usually prevails (or it should). If I were in your shoes, I would write a long letter explaining the history, and your reasons for having to leave them. I would explain chronologically and in great detail exactly what has gone on and why you believe you are being wronged. If that doesn't get you anywhere, then I would try the same thing via telephone. Make sure you talk to a manager, and not just a customer service rep if it escalates beyond email. What might be happening is your emails are being answered by different people each time, and they may not know the entire history.

I hope that helps! Let me know how you make out.

Rob.

I followed your advice, and tried to write a reasonable letter explaining my point of view. We'll see what happens.

Is there a way, perhaps through my registrar, for me to regain control of my domain, without first retaining a new web host? I have not heard from Infinology since writing to them suggesting we work out our differences about the billing.

If you own the domain name, all you have to do is return to the registrar where you registered it and change the DNS settings and make it point to a different web host. You do not have to do that through you rexisting or previous web host, unless that's where you registered your domain name. Either way, if you are the registrant, there should be no problem. Many registrars provide you with a username nad password to use if you want to do this, and they would have provided these when you registered it. If you cannot find them, then they should have some other means (i.e. email verification method) of letting you make the change. Basically, they just have to make sure you are who you say you are (the registrant).

You always have *control* of your domain name, if you are the registrant.

I hope that helps! Good luck.

Regards,
Rob.

This issue reminds me of another hosting "company" ... what was its name again :rolleyes: ?
Oh yeah: HOSTONCE.com (the name says it all :D )
The kept my domain after I left them too. :(

thats pretty damn funny.. i had a problem with linuxwebhost.com a while ago once..
they used bulkregister to register my domain, and i had to bitch at them for 4 months to change my name servers.

I have a similar but worse-yet story involving PrimeMaster and Infinology... same problems... PrimeMaster was fine, then when Infinology took over they cancelled some of my services without notification... my sites were each down for days during their migration... I lost business email completely for a week... when I'd call in they refused to talk to me saying they no longer gave phone support for PrimeMaster accounts. One account was totally screwed up - they never got the email to work - I couldn't use their control panels... they kept giving me new usernames to "try"... it was a nightmare.

I strongly caution ANYONE against using Infinology... period. I agree - their business tactics are questionable, so is their competence,.... and they basically don't care.