Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : No Refund?

[EGS]

Hi,

I'm having some problems with a host that I have just started at the end of last month. I have had continuous problems with the host, and support was horrendous. I now have gotten fed up with all the VPS crashes and errors that the host has been providing me to deal with.

It also took about 4 days just to get a Plesk license so I could start getting what I paid for, and I never did get what I paid for.

I paid for a VPS at $34.95/month, and have seriously had nothing but problems. The VPS would crash and passwords would change automatically. I also had many internal errors within Plesk.

I now contacted my host for a refund, and they are saying that they do not give out refunds towards middle of the billing cycle.

In fact, it's still the beginning and I have NOT got what I paid for. I am furious at this host because they won't give a refund to me. They're support is horrible, and they reply very slow. I request a refund 2-3 days ago and just now get a reply.

I have warned them that if they do not give me my refund, I will leave negative feedback and warn all others about this host, and also contact PayPal because that is how I paid.

I'm not going to say the name yet, but I would like to know what you think on this.

Thanks.

[SniperDevil]

Perhaps this should be in the "Web Hosting" forum, rather than the Lounge, which is a place for all web hosting unrelated discussion.

I do, however, understand your problems, as I have had similar experiences. Luckily, though, I could issue a chargeback with one of the hosts, so I got my money back.

[Barti1987]

Charge back...

whats the name of the host, dont tell me its 5gbhosting :p

Peace,

[Kimmikat]

It has been moved.

Anyway what hosting company is it?

Originally posted by SniperDevil
Perhaps this should be in the "Web Hosting" forum, rather than the Lounge, which is a place for all web hosting unrelated discussion.

I do, however, understand your problems, as I have had similar experiences. Luckily, though, I could issue a chargeback with one of the hosts, so I got my money back.

[maniakaz]

I'm not sure about the host - but please read your agreement carefully. When I searched for my future host, I asked one company (if I remember wellm, it was Site5) about refund. They told me this is available ONLY for some time and if I dislike their service later, I won't be able to get my $ back.
Read your agreement carefully: does it say anything about crashes from host's side? What about refund? Complaints from user side?
I advise to read it and the write an exhaustive email to the host demanding refund.

[LBX]

What is the host? Chargeback.

[GWDGuy]

Sorry to hear you are having issues with your host. First thing is check to see what their Posted refund policy is and then check to see when you signed up and when you officially requested to cancel. Was it within this time frame? If so you should bring this to their attention and see if they plan on refunding you your money.

Now if it is over their stated refund period you might mention to them that you will file a charge back since you only canceled because the service was poor and you did not get the product you paid for. If you simply had buyers remorse you should not do a charge back nor should you do one if they plan on paying you back but just taking longer than you think they should.

Are they saying that they do not refund in the middle of the billing period mean that they only refund all accounts once per month or are they saying that you are past your refund time.

A charge back should only be done in an extreme case. Yes you have not gotten the service you expected but maybe there is a reason (not to defend anyone not answering an email within a max of 8-12 hours). If all else fails to get what you paid for or fail to get a refund then a charge back is in order and should be done.

It is sad that a host has an issue and can't provide what they promise and they don't just give the money back with a "I'm sorry we screwed up" or "we don;t offer this service, sorry for the confusion" or whatever. We have done this many times, someone will signup and then ask for the CPanel log in which we don't run and they ask to cancel.. Done, Simple, Not an issue... A customer signs up and then has an issue on whatever.. whether it is something under our control or something they are just clueless about, if they ask for a refund it is processed the moment the request comes (within the refund term) and if we are actually having issues that causes downtime for the client and they request a refund I don't care if it is 9 months into the term they get a refund. Losing $5/month is not worth the hassles of getting a bad reputation in the hosting community or trying to earn money by being a hard@ss on these types of things.

My 2 cents.


Robert

[EGS]

Thank you guys for all of your suggestions.

I have taken the necessary actions to gather up proof if I do actually need to issue a chargeback with PayPal. I really don't want to do this, and I'm sure the host doesn't want to have to bear with this embarassement. A refund should be as easy to give as me paying them in the first place.

They have to realize that the customer has to come first. I have taken screenshots of their web pages and will be pointing out gauarantees and stuff like that as proof. :-)

I luckily found that the it says after sign up "Instant Activation" as when I stated before it took over 4 days! This is a significent find IMO. I have found many others, but will not say what they are.

Thank you for your replies. You may keep them coming. :-)

[GWDGuy]

A refund should be as easy to give as me paying them in the first place.

Very true, when a refund should be issued it should be that easy you are very correct.




Robert

[EGS]

On 6/6/05, Lance <EMAIL EDITED> wrote:
> If you read our terms and agreement we do not provide refunds. We have
> dealt with Paypal and know these terms will hold up.
> I personally went above and beyond trying to help you. Every problem you
> listed was addressed in a timely manner and handled correctly. You
> certainly got what you paid for and we did not mislead you in anyway.
> Our emails and the logs from your VPS prove that you received the
> product as advertise and utilized it for 13 days. The only errors
> associate with the site are ones you created by going over your RAM
> limits. I'm sorry that you did not read our terms they are very clear
> on these matters. Feel free to look them over
> http://www.hostaway.net/terms.html. Leaving 'bad feedback' on your part
> would be slander and defamation of character. Doing so will result in
> use using every legal channel available to use to retrieve any financial
> loses you cause us. I am forwarding this email to our legal department
> as proof of your ill intentions.
>
> We have offered you a partial refund for the half of this month you did
> not use. This is the fairest solution for all of us. You utilized our
> time and resources for 13 days and this is why we will not issue a full
> refund.

He's not giving me a refund, and because I stated that I will post negative feedback, he is threatening legal action. This is an impossible method because I am simply posting a review.

DO NOT EVER GO WITH HOSTAWAY.NET.

Can somebody please give me some information of how to contact PayPal?

Thanks.

[GWDGuy]

WOW they have No refund/money back guarantee at all??

Well you will need to prove your case to paypal if you do charge back. Now there is a chance you will not get your money back so you have two choices here. 1. Take the loss and learn and move on or 2. spend the time and fight to get your $$ back.

I would like to hear their side of the story since all issues have two sides but it does sound like they are going to stick to their side saying you got what you paid for.

Good luck on this, sounds like a very ugly ordeal.


>>> Edit >>> just log into your paypal account and there should be a link on the payment you made to them to file a charge back if you go this route.


Robert

[EGS]

Hey,

Just thought I'd post a screenshot of what they did not give me; I highlighted misleaded gaurantees in red:

http://www.ho5t.us/uploads/b02cbd8bda.gif

#1: My account was not instantly set up/activated...it took over 3 days.
#2: I was not given full RAM on my own VPS, thus causing VPS crashes several times.
#3: Server crashed at least 3 times a day, although came back online, this did not meet their UPTIME GAURANTEE.

[EGS]

Please do not mind this post but thirdly...

Because I paid by PayPal, I did not have an option to agree to any TOS. Their payment system only supported credit cards and I paid to their email address right out of my PayPal funds.

[GWDGuy]

The proof that you did not get what you paid for will fall on you if you do a charge back. I do not know if you can file a charge back based on instant activation not happening, the host could say they notified you of this and why it took longer?? You need to cover all your bases and make sure you have proof of the down-time and when you ordered and when the server was set up. I am not that familiar with VPS so I can not help on the Ram issue and what to say on this part.

Now on the Terms of Service and you did not agree to it that could be a problem for the host since you signed up and did not agree to the terms so if you did something wrong and they are standing by their TOS I do not know if they could use their TOS to refuse to refund.

Your in a tough spot.


Robert

[LBX]

I see nothing in their TOS that states they will not issue a refund under any circumstances. They have not held up to their agreement if you didn't get instant activation. If it was me, I would do a chargeback with PayPal first, 99.9% of the time PayPal DOES go with the customer. I have never in my entire life seen PayPal not issue the money back.
If you don't want to do that though then perhaps you can use the BBB. But unless they are registered in another state besides Washington they don't even appear to be a registered company.