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  1. #1

    Quiet change to affordableHOST's Terms of Service

    Has anyone else noticed that in the last two weeks the following paragraph has disappeared from the AffordableHOST terms of service:

    You may cancel your hosting account at anytime. Refunds for accounts cancelled after the first 30 days will be granted less the dollar amount for 1/12 the annual hosting account price, times the number of full and partial months the account was active. Any bandwidth overage will be deducted before refund is granted. In other words, AffordableHOST, Inc. will refund you ONLY for the full months that you have not used.
    It was there on the evening of Saturday 4th June 2005, and now today it isn't. My contact details on the billing system is uptodate and working, but I've not received any emails notifying me of a major change to the Terms and Conditions. Does anyone know when these new terms and conditions will come into effect?

    I'm extremely worried now, since I'm strongly considering cancelling my accounts, but I have over 18 months to go before. I renewed for two years a few weeks before dotCanada took over.

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Isofarro,

    Very interesting since their TOS also says:

    This Terms of Service may be amended, at any time, at the discretion of AffordableHOST, Inc. All accounts are required to comply with any changes made to these policies. Notification of any major changes to the policies will be emailed to the email addresses we have on file for all account holders.
    Changing TOS without notice is not uncommon in web hosting since most put the clause that they have the right to do so. Most, however, don't put a clause in stating they will notify the customers via e-mail when they make major TOS changes - which I strongly believe that customers should be notified of changes.

    Have you contacted them to ask about it?
    Rich
    Husband, Father, Retired Marine, Geek

  3. #3
    Have you contacted them to ask about it?
    Yes, I've opened up two tickets, one asking them why I haven't been notified about this major change of service, asking when all clients will be informed of this change and establish a future-dated grace period before this new terms of services can be enforced. The second ticket asking how do I close my account and get a refund for the unused months.

    So far no response - both tickets marked as urgent, and submitted about 2 hours ago.

  4. #4
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    Re: Quiet change to affordableHOST's Terms of Service

    Originally posted by Isofarro
    . . . Does anyone know when these new terms and conditions will come into effect?
    I would say any changes to their TOS would come into effect immediently. This would include the removal of parts of their TOS.
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  5. #5
    Looks like they've breached their own TOS. Not good.

  6. #6
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    Originally posted by CAP-Brian
    Looks like they've breached their own TOS. Not good.
    Or they possibly thought it wasn't a "major change" to the TOS, therefore they didn't email their client base about it? Or they could have just forgotten to email them. These things happen from time to time.
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  7. #7
    Join Date
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    Affordablehost.com isn't AffordableHOST, Inc.. Affordablehost.com is owned by the same people who own dotCanada.com - and they have been asked repeatedly to remove all instances of the name AffordableHOST, Inc. from the affordablehost.com website.

    Further, they've been asked to make a public statement clarifying the fact that we (formerly AffordableHOST, Inc., now AxisHOST, Inc.) are not affiliated with them in any way - except as their colocation provider. I would say, the way the ToS is currently worded on the affordablehost.com website...most of it is completely invalid, since it incorrectly says those rules apply to AffordableHOST, Inc. customers.

    --Tina
    ||| 99.999% Uptime SLA!!!
    Plenty of space and bandwidth to fit your needs!
    www.AEIandYou.com - - (WP Friendly - Premium Reseller Hosting and Cheap Dedicated Servers)

  8. #8
    Originally posted by AH-Tina
    [B]Affordablehost.com isn't AffordableHOST, Inc.. Affordablehost.com is owned by the same people who own dotCanada.com - and they have been asked repeatedly to remove all instances of the name AffordableHOST, Inc. from the affordablehost.com website.
    Woops, sorry Tina. My mistake. I do mean Affordablehost.com - the one now owned by dotCanada, and apparently according to their phone answering message, also calling themselves "Reliable Hosting", and googling that number (415-869-8667), a whole host of other web hosting websites.

    I would say, the way the ToS is currently worded on the affordablehost.com website...most of it is completely invalid, since it incorrectly says those rules apply to AffordableHOST, Inc. customers.
    Thanks Tina, that is a useful bit of info to know! I'm expecting to be having some rather loud conversations with the owners of affordablehost.com today. Transatlantic conversations at that. :-(

  9. #9
    Join Date
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    I think Reliable Hosting is actually AffordablehostING.com - another company altogether. dotCanada's parent company, I believe, is actually Light Speed Technologies.

    --Tina
    ||| 99.999% Uptime SLA!!!
    Plenty of space and bandwidth to fit your needs!
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  10. #10
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    Jun 2005
    Location
    Westminster, CO
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    I wanted to put in my two cents about Affordable Host the way it is now (dotCanada). I was an extremely happy AH customer for years but since the change it's been a disaster. I have a few clients hosted on a few of their servers and I have multiple tickets open for each one. As soon as I find a decent reseller account I'm moving the whole bunch of us.

    It would be nice to be able to send mail again and have my site up periodically.

    I don't think they're responding to tickets anymore.

    HI TINA! We sure miss you! Drop me an email if you're up to it, I'd love to catch up.

    Monica

  11. #11
    Originally posted by Glowball
    I don't think they're responding to tickets anymore.
    It does look that way. I've submitted my "close my account and issue a refund for the unused months" ticket on the 20th June, so far nothing.

    The ticket submitted questioning their TOS was submitted on the 19th June, someone called Richard promptly asked what terms of service I was referring to, so I posted a link to their terms of service on affordablehost.com, and now nothing.

    Some bright spark did actually combine about four of my help desk tickets into one huge ticket, all except one (the FTP problem) still unresolved.

    If their policy is to wait me out until the end of the contract, I guess it will be somewhere around April 2007 before I can expect it to be closed.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Posts
    61
    hometownhosting was much better.. im gona call them up and complain to affordable. Also i remember that part in the tos.


    also ive had the same problem. they wont close my account. Btw did u notice there "live chat" has been down for over 6months?


    and they dont respond to tickets.


    the axis hosting is up. Im pissed at them.
    Last edited by frostbite; 06-25-2005 at 05:56 PM.

  13. #13
    Don't bother asking for a pro-rated refund. I already tried:
    http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...hreadid=413724

  14. #14
    Join Date
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    Originally posted by frostbite
    hometownhosting was much better.. im gona call them up and complain to affordable. Also i remember that part in the tos.


    also ive had the same problem. they wont close my account. Btw did u notice there "live chat" has been down for over 6months?


    and they dont respond to tickets.


    the axis hosting is up. Im pissed at them.

    We sold Affordablehost.com and the budget hosting customers in April to dotCanada. Chat before that was not down for months...and it was up during the time of the sale and since. We are NOT affiliated with Affordablehost.com anymore - complaining to us, or coming to *our* chatroom and "screaming" profanities is not going to solve your issue with Affordablehost.com.

    --Tina
    ||| 99.999% Uptime SLA!!!
    Plenty of space and bandwidth to fit your needs!
    www.AEIandYou.com - - (WP Friendly - Premium Reseller Hosting and Cheap Dedicated Servers)

  15. #15
    Join Date
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    just my two cents but i think customers affected by this sale should consider some type of legal action against both dotcanada and Tina.

    Tina has as much responsibility in the sale and seems to me she just dumped (you) the customer and started up a new venue.
    Bay Colocation - The Bays Premier Colocation Provider
    Providing both Linux servers and Colocation - Hurricane Electric Reseller. Email us for a custom quote!

  16. #16
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    Originally posted by BayColocation
    just my two cents but i think customers affected by this sale should consider some type of legal action against both dotcanada and Tina.

    Tina has as much responsibility in the sale and seems to me she just dumped (you) the customer and started up a new venue.
    I"m not sure of any legal grounds that Tina could be sued. She sold a part of her business to another hosting company, and continued with her current other business, Axishost.com, which she acquired ~18mths previous.
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  17. #17
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    Originally posted by Aussie Bob
    I"m not sure of any legal grounds that Tina could be sued. She sold a part of her business to another hosting company, and continued with her current other business, Axishost.com, which she acquired ~18mths previous.
    Yes and as far as I know the condition that the business was sold in was very good, many people here praised their good work. DotCanada was the one that for a lack of a better word, screwed things over.
    - 7de5igns

  18. #18
    Hmm that doesn't look too good...

  19. #19
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    Originally posted by The Hostland.com
    Hmm that doesn't look too good...
    Welcome to WHT.

    Care to elaborate on that? Not good for who?
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  20. #20
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    Originally posted by BayColocation
    just my two cents but i think customers affected by this sale should consider some type of legal action against both dotcanada and Tina.

    Tina has as much responsibility in the sale and seems to me she just dumped (you) the customer and started up a new venue.
    No, I didn't just "dump" the customers. I spent months researching potential buyers and I didn't take the highest offer...I took the one from the company who, after face-to-face meetings, gave me all the right answers and seemed like a very good match. Background research turned up absolutely nothing that would indicate any kind of pending problems.

    Further, I didn't "just" start up a new venue - we've been running under this brand for a very long time as well. For a long time, before the sale, my signature included both affordablehost.com as well as the current one. Affordablehost.com has always been low-cost/budget accounts...my current one has always focused on another market.

    As I said before, I put 8 years into affordablehost.com - and I've come to know alot of the customers on more than just a vendor/customer basis...seeing these complaints now is truly heart-wrenching to me.



    --Tina
    ||| 99.999% Uptime SLA!!!
    Plenty of space and bandwidth to fit your needs!
    www.AEIandYou.com - - (WP Friendly - Premium Reseller Hosting and Cheap Dedicated Servers)

  21. #21
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    Sep 2004
    Posts
    49
    Originally posted by AH-Tina
    Affordablehost.com isn't AffordableHOST, Inc.. Affordablehost.com is owned by the same people who own dotCanada.com - and they have been asked repeatedly to remove all instances of the name AffordableHOST, Inc. from the affordablehost.com website.

    Further, they've been asked to make a public statement clarifying the fact that we (formerly AffordableHOST, Inc., now AxisHOST, Inc.) are not affiliated with them in any way - except as their colocation provider. I would say, the way the ToS is currently worded on the affordablehost.com website...most of it is completely invalid, since it incorrectly says those rules apply to AffordableHOST, Inc. customers.

    --Tina
    To this point, I would say dotCanada intentionally keep using "AffordableHOST, Inc." in their communications with customers. The following is the email send to customers, dated June 17, 2005.

    Dear Affordablehost.com Customer,

    In an effort to provide better service and maintain our low costs, we will be implementing several changes to our billing process. These changes are effective immediately unless otherwise specified.

    1 - Invoices will be generated 15 days in advanced.
    2 - Any package that becomes 48 hours overdue will automatically be suspended by our billing center system. This gives you 17 days to pay your invoice.
    3 - Accounts will only be unsuspended Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m, by our billing team.
    4 - Accounts that are suspended will be subject to a $15.00 reactivation fee. Annual Customers will have this reactivation fee waived. This reactivation fee will become effective July 17, 2005.

    To prevent your account from being suspended, we recommend any of the following :

    1 - Request your account be changed to CCBatch. This will allow us to automatically process your credit card. It is very important that you have the exact billing information on the credit card in your billing center profile. This option is not available with American Express or Discovery.
    2 - When you receive your next invoice, create a Paypal Subscription. Subscriptions are automatically processed every month.
    3 - Change your hosting billing to quarterly or annually. As an incentive for existing monthly customers, if you change your monthly billing to quarterly, we will extend you 1 month free. If you change your monthly billing to annually, we will extend you 4 months free. To request a billing cycle change, please send your request to billing@affordablehost.com.
    4 - Please ensure your billing center profile email address is current. Without that information, you cannot receive invoices.

    Regards,


    Affordablehost.com Billing
    (AffordableHOST, Inc)
    This is confusing everyone. Which is which?

    Tina, are you sure you have exclusive right to request for removal? On one hand you changed the name of your company to AxisHOST, Inc. On the other hand, I'm not sure who owns the trademark AffordableHOST. So dotCanada may misrepresent what they have, but you may not have any ground to ask them to stop. If you have solid legal ground, your lawyer should send them a cease and desist letter and look for an order from the court to stop the violation.

    As long as dotCanada keep referring themselves as AffordableHOST, Inc. and AxisHOST, Inc. telling people it's formerly AffordableHOST, Inc., some people will blame Tina for what dotCanada has done.

    P.S. We do not receive any other email regarding the change of TOS.

  22. #22
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    They absolutely do NOT have the right to use our legal business name of AffordableHOST, Inc. and have been requested to remove all traces of that from their affordablehost.com website.

    We are legally AffordableHOST, Inc. - they are not. Over the upcoming months, we will be transferring all assets from our AffordableHOST, Inc. corporation to our AxisHOST, Inc. one - which is merely a matter of scads of paperwork.

    They are absolutely NOT supposed to be using our legal name or implying that they purchased our company in various press releases...and they have been sent paperwork reminding them of this fact.

    --Tina
    ||| 99.999% Uptime SLA!!!
    Plenty of space and bandwidth to fit your needs!
    www.AEIandYou.com - - (WP Friendly - Premium Reseller Hosting and Cheap Dedicated Servers)

  23. #23
    Originally posted by AH-Tina
    As I said before, I put 8 years into affordablehost.com - and I've come to know alot of the customers on more than just a vendor/customer basis...seeing these complaints now is truly heart-wrenching to me.
    This is not your fault. You did your homework, you made a decision that was, in your estimation, the best one for your customers. There is no way you could predict these problems happening.

    I'm royally pissed at dotCanada for screwing me in this way. I'm essentially being held against my will.

    The main reason for prepaying upfront for two years back in April was because of your excellent track-record and it was a sign of trust which was backed up by an obligation a refund if I was not happy.

    Now dotCanada seem intent on holding me against my wishes and relieving themselves of their obligations to me - without any notice.

    This is not your fault, Tina.

  24. #24
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    Maybe Affordablehost should've been sold to someone else besides Dot Canada. But you know when things go down hill.
    73's, Kim
    Everything happens for a reason I make up.

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Posts
    49
    Originally posted by AH-Tina
    They absolutely do NOT have the right to use our legal business name of AffordableHOST, Inc. and have been requested to remove all traces of that from their affordablehost.com website.

    We are legally AffordableHOST, Inc. - they are not. Over the upcoming months, we will be transferring all assets from our AffordableHOST, Inc. corporation to our AxisHOST, Inc. one - which is merely a matter of scads of paperwork.

    They are absolutely NOT supposed to be using our legal name or implying that they purchased our company in various press releases...and they have been sent paperwork reminding them of this fact.

    --Tina
    I guess "reminding" isn't that effective.

    It's a lesson for everyone: it would be better off by keeping the domain name with the company.

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