Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Do not use Midphase

[dunnma]

I had been with Midphase for over a year. Then starting in about February I was transfered twice to different servers because each one of them crashed. I called and was offered 2 free months. I told them that I was more interested in space. The guy told me that if I renewed 5 months early they would give me 2 free months and double my space.

Starting in May I realized that my website was continously taking several seconds to load. I have over time, had to repeatedly e-mail support because cPanel was indicating server load was in red (I was informed that this was normal).

Anyways, since I was running simple queries that the server couldn't handle, I moved my site to my corporate servers (which the pages load in under half a second). I requested a refund and was informed I would not receive one.

Now that everyone knows my story, let me explain why you should not do business with Midphase. They offer you a 14 day money back guarantee. This means that if you become unhappy (anytime after the initial 14 days) with their less than satisfactory service, you cannot get any of your money back. In addition, if you forget to cancel your automatic renewal, and do it the day after, you will not get your money back.

One funny thing is that when I let them know that I wanted to leave, I received an e-mail from Dan asking me what he could do to keep me. If he had no intention of refunding my money, why would he offer me more to keep me. The other funny thing is that Zak could tell me to the penny how much I should be refunded "if we did refunds".

The BBB and Illinois Attorney General are looking into their "business" practices to make sure everything is Kosher.

I would like to see how many others have been put into this situation.

[cnv]

Sucks to hear that happened, might want to start looking into other hosts, well good luck with your problem

[David]

dunnma,

You'll most likely receive some word from zak or dan here shortly.
Just another case of badministration and billing departments!

[dunnma]

I know. They will give their version, and I will give mine, but ultimately it comes down to knowing their practices. Had someone made it known that after 14 days there was virtually no recourse, then I would not have gotten involved in the beginning.

The problem is that most Web Hosting Review Sites are probably on the take, i.e. when you click on a link to a web host from the review site you will see a "tracking" code so they can be "rewarded". Even if this is not the case, the reviews are usually months old and are not reflective of the true times.

I would much rather pay more money for an ethical company than for Midphase.

[DediZoneSales]

It's a shame that this has happened to you dunnma, good luck in moving your sites to a better host!

Take care!

[Lev]

People need to start reading the terms of service, you know, that thing you agree to when you sign up?

[dunnma]

I did read the TOS, and at the time it was cancel anytime (others have even stated the same thing). I have even found some Hosting Review sites that still state this (one of the reasons I mentioned above in that they do not update their reviews).

Reading is not the problem. Even if you read one thing, if you do not have a physical copy of it and it changes, there is nothing you can do. In addition, Midphase doesn't have to notify users if they change their policy (or if they say they do, there is no guarantee that they attempted, or that it reached the users).

Do you have a copy of the TOS for all of your electronic accounts? Probably not.

This is the main reason that I want to put a forum out there. I hope that users looking to host at Midphase come across this and think twice before jumping into a "good" deal.

[zakboca]

Here's a question for the hosting companies posting in here- what purpose does your money back guarantee period serve, if you don't follow it?

Now, the fun part about these forums is that you don't have the customers details, so if I cross anything such as dates with someone else, please let me know. I'm going off memory from our conversation I believe on Monday?

First off, when I told you what your refund would be, if you were to receive one- I was telling you this in response to "How much unused service do I have?."

From what I recall, and again, let me know if this is off, but you cancelled your account sometime in February, after you were moved from a server that crashed. As I said, servers crash, and when they do, we do our best to get them resolved ASAP. Additionally, we offer a credit to customers for that month IF we go under our uptime guarantee. We not only made good on that with you, but we doubled it, and gave you two months!

So, you're calling nearly 4 months after cancelling saying that you should receive a refund, because your site was slow. From my conversation with you, my first impression was that it just became convenient to have your company host your site.

As I told you, we have a 14-day money back day guarantee, and i assure you for a reason. We otherwise wouldn't be able to offer the rates that we do, have 24/7 support (phone and other methods), and be in a top-notch facility with top of the line hardware. I have no doubt that your "database query" runs faster on a server where it's likely the only account doing a query at that time, and for obvious reasons.

As I explained to you on the phone, I'm very confident in feeling that we did the right thing with your account. We doubled your space, and doubled the credit that a customer would normally receive. In the end though, we do have to protect ourselves in having a money-back guarantee, but it's also a bonus to new customers.

Zak

[dunnma]

Unfortunatley Zak your facts are off (Understandable as you try to save face).

Let's recap:

February 2005 - 2 server crashes
Current TOS states that compensation will be given only if asked for. However, at the time I believe one of your service techs in another country told me to call billing.

Whoever I spoke with (could have been you or Dan) said they would give me 2 months free. So I would go from (I think) July 2005 to September 2005 for a renewal date.

I said that I did not really care about the free months and that what I had more of a need for was disk space. I was put on hold, and when the guy came back he said, "If you renew your account early, we will double your disk space from 1500MB to 3000MB and give you the 2 months free." So if I renew 5 months early, I would get 3000MB and my new renewal date would be September 2006.

Jump forward to now. Sometime early in June I was having problems with the load time of my pages. Since I have not had very good luck with your support (they claim that cPanel showing red warnings is normal and there is nothing to worry about), I decided to look elsewhere. Before I did my search, I approached my CEO about hosting it on our corporate servers and he agreed.

You are right that it did become convenient. Had I not been able to host it at my company, I would have found a more reliable host. No matter what I was leaving Midphase.

I made the switch, and after 2 weeks of testing to make sure that I had all data needed and there were no problems, I cancelled my account. I did not cancel in February, I cancelled last Friday (maybe Saturday). I am obviously not someone that jumps from host to host to take advantage of free offers. I had been with you for almost a year.

In addition, the amount you quoted me is incorrect now that I think about it. The money I paid in February doesn't actually kick in until this July to carry me through 2006; and since I cancelled my account prior to my official renewal date and I never used any of the "upgrades" that you offered me (no 2 free months, and I never went over 1000MB of the original 1500MB), you owe me the full amount.

[zakboca]

Originally posted by dunnma


The BBB and Illinois Attorney General are looking into their "business" practices to make sure everything is Kosher.

Yes they are. We were just accepted as a BBB member. For the record, the BBB's purpose is to look into businesses.

Zak

[dunnma]

Good. It will make it easier to identify who to talk to since I might not have the most accurate information.

It will also make it easier for other customers who are, or have been in the same situation to post complaints against you.

[Lev]

Originally posted by dunnma
Current TOS states that compensation will be given only if asked for. However, at the time I believe one of your service techs in another country told me to call billing.

Seems like the tech was telling you to ask billing for compensation. And I don't see any problem with that policy, if every company refunded/gave compensation to every customer, without the customer asking, most would be out of business.

Originally posted by dunnma
In addition, the amount you quoted me is incorrect now that I think about it. The money I paid in February doesn't actually kick in until this July to carry me through 2006; and since I cancelled my account prior to my official renewal date and I never used any of the "upgrades" that you offered me (no 2 free months, and I never went over 1000MB of the original 1500MB), you owe me the full amount.

You already paid, you have been with the company more than 15 days, they don't own you a refund.

[Torith]

If they state that they only offer a 14 day money back deal then that is all. You really expect to get one way longer then 14 days?

[zakboca]

Or they can call our number listed on our website.

I remember pulling up your account, and was unable to find any tickets submitted regarding the speed of your website. If there had been, we would have made arrangements, after confirming that it was indeed slow, to move your website.

Feel free to give us a call during business hours if I'm missing anything. Just wanted to stop by and put our side into the story.

Zak

[dunnma]

Let me explain this so you can understand it. When I created my account it was a cancel anytime, no questions asked. Midphase changed their TOS to the 14 days after that.

I agreed to the TOS when I created my account. I did not agree to the updated TOS (nor was I made aware of the changes). What would have happened if I did not agree to the new TOS? Would I have been given my money back?

How would you like it if you had an account, and the TOS was changed so they could bill you $100 everyday for a year? You never agreed to it, but that is now the binding TOS. Wouldn't that make you mad.

Whether I get my money back is not the ultimate goal. It is to make sure that others know to look at the practices of Midphase and take into account that if you pay for a year, you will never see your money again if you leave for any reason (after the 14 days).