Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : IPage stole $45 from me

[btalex1990]

I have paid for a web host on September 13th 2009 and I paid via paypal echeck and that took a few days and then once it was processed and cleared I was ready to start my web site really happy and ready to bring out my website only to find the domain name had not been reserved and the account hasn't even been activated so I contacted them about this and this was the email they sent me:

Hello,

I am writing this email in response to your inquiry on support ticket #------. We are sorry but at this time our site is not quite ready to accept new customers. Our engineering team is working on this and we apologize for any confusion. Could you please forward us a link to where you signed up? Also since you said you made a PayPal payment. Can you please forward a copy of the PayPal receipt so we can investigate that further as well? We will work on getting this taken care of as quickly as we can once we hear back from you.

If you have any further questions, please update the Support Console.

Sincerely,

Sabina Perry
Billing Specialist

and I am frustrated and kept calling and chatting with them and eventually she was working on getting my account activated and then at around 13 days since the account was purchased she tells me over the phone that there is no record of payment and that they were investigating it to see if I really paid for their account which I did. That frustrated me even more that now they claim they received no record of payment and they were working on the issue as always and so I decided to want my money back and all the sudden she said it will take 7 to 12 business days which would give them plenty of time to escape with all the money they stole from their customers. So now I am opening a dispute with paypal about this but IPage has to authorize the refund which I know they will never authorize so I am planning on contacting the FBI since these people are total con artists.

[TheServerExperts]

Hi,

Sorry to hear about your bad experience, open a dispute and provide paypal with all the proof you can get and hope for the best, since paypal has a rule about digital services.

Best of luck.

[btalex1990]

Originally Posted by TheServerExperts

Hi,

Sorry to hear about your bad experience, open a dispute and provide paypal with all the proof you can get and hope for the best, since paypal has a rule about digital services.

Best of luck.

I won't get my money back because I know they won't accept the dispute. I have already planned to call the FBI on them if they don't send me my refund and I told them that and they don't want to talk to me now. If theres no protection against online scams except have a dispute with a company that is trying to rip me off and give me nothing in return for the value of money paid then it seems like paypal has very weak protections.

I kept telling them before the FBI threats and they say the same thing over and over again that they will look into the issue and this is what they also told me which makes them such a scammer.

Chad Smith: The account is not yet activated.

Chad Smith: We have not yet received the payment.

So hes claiming that I sent them no money yet the payment was cleared. I also had a copy of this sent to my email so that it can be used as evidence. I told him I wanted a refund now and I'm tired of the waiting game but he refused to answer to anything I said even when I gave him the transaction ID, and other stuff he told me to submit then he went back to they will work on the issue and contact me shortly.

Now I know I won't get any money back especially with http://www.ripoffreport.com/Web-Host...-299-54md3.htm and he paid $300 and so I sent them an email telling that if they refuse to send me a refund by tonight I would call the FBI on them.

After the FBI call I told him in the chat room he wanted to shut off the chat and he ended up ending the chat. I'm afraid they are going to run off with our money and others money as well.

[stablehost]

What's the URL?

[btalex1990]

Originally Posted by nerdie

What's the URL?

I found out about their host around this area of their website:

http://www.ipage.com/ipage/hosting.bml

and heres their front page:

http://www.ipage.com/

I had a special where it was going to pay for 12 months of hosting but then they put their prices up after, if I would have known what all they would have pulled I would have went for a bit more expensive and more credible host.

[stablehost]

It says their website is 'coming soon', and they are owned by EIG which is a very huge hosting company.

I hardly doubt they are trying to scam you, but if you want to waste the fbi's time, go ahead.

[MikeDVB]

Originally Posted by btalex1990

I won't get my money back because I know they won't accept the dispute.

Unfortunately you're right.

Originally Posted by btalex1990

I have already planned to call the FBI on them if they don't send me my refund

I'm sorry but the FBI has bigger fish to fry and I can assure you they aren't going to do anything over $45 (if they did, they would have an endless list of cases and would never get anything done at all). Your only option would really be to file in small claims court if you really wanted to go through the trouble and I don't know if you can even do that for only $45.

Originally Posted by btalex1990

and I told them that and they don't want to talk to me now.

It's a good idea for them to cease communications with you once you begin making threats (legal or otherwise) so I can't say that I blame them.

Originally Posted by btalex1990

If theres no protection against online scams except have a dispute with a company that is trying to rip me off and give me nothing in return for the value of money paid then it seems like paypal has very weak protections.

PayPal has *no* protections for the buyer for virtual services and intangible goods - you need to make sure you research any company you go with thoroughly before you sign up.

Originally Posted by btalex1990

I kept telling them before the FBI threats and they say the same thing over and over again that they will look into the issue and this is what they also told me which makes them such a scammer.

How long did you give them to look into it? I sincerely hope that you didn't expect threatening them would make them work faster.

Originally Posted by btalex1990

Chad Smith: The account is not yet activated.
Chad Smith: We have not yet received the payment.

So hes claiming that I sent them no money yet the payment was cleared. I also had a copy of this sent to my email so that it can be used as evidence. I told him I wanted a refund now and I'm tired of the waiting game but he refused to answer to anything I said even when I gave him the transaction ID, and other stuff he told me to submit then he went back to they will work on the issue and contact me shortly.

I'm sorry, but there's not much you can do about it at this point except chalk it up to a learning experience and move on with your life. I've seen others lose quite a bit more money than $45 in the past to similar situations so you should consider yourself lucky. I would have just kept bugging them periodically without making any threats because if they eventually get around to it - it's better than not getting around to it at all.

Originally Posted by btalex1990

Now I know I won't get any money back especially with http://www.ripoffreport.com/Web-Host...-299-54md3.htm and he paid $300 and so I sent them an email telling that if they refuse to send me a refund by tonight I would call the FBI on them.

Had you conducted the appropriate research *before* signing up chances are you would have found this and never lost your $45 to begin with. Just to make your life easier here is the best way to get contact information for the FBI:
http://www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm

Do make sure to let us know how the FBI decides to handle your case.

Originally Posted by btalex1990

After the FBI call I told him in the chat room he wanted to shut off the chat and he ended up ending the chat. I'm afraid they are going to run off with our money and others money as well.

So you've already called them or are you still just threatening? If you did call the FBI, what out of curiosity did they tell you? Beyond that, they probably will run off with your money.

Lessons learned:
1) Research a company before you sign up
2) Don't rely on PayPal buyer protection for virtual services
3) The FBI isn't going to help you on a $45 case (if they do, you're *really* lucky or the provider has ripped off hundreds or thousands of people.)

I'm sorry for your bad luck, do let us all know how it turns out for you.

[stablehost]

Silly Michael, not reading who owns that company before posting

[MikeDVB]

Originally Posted by nerdie

Silly Michael, not reading who owns that company before posting

I saw that, but I still don't see how that's going to change anything - so IPage billing/support sucks and the OP threatened the FBI on them - it's not going to get the OP anywhere any faster than it would have to not threaten and to just wait. IPage will either return the funds or not and there's not much anybody but IPage can do about that.

It's unfortunate - EIG is a huge conglomerate and I doubt that they will care much about the complaints of one individual but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[stablehost]

Originally Posted by MikeDVB

I saw that, but I still don't see how that's going to change anything - so IPage billing/support sucks and the OP threatened the FBI on them - it's not going to get the OP anywhere any faster than it would have to not threaten and to just wait. IPage will either return the funds or not and there's not much anybody but IPage can do about that.

It's unfortunate - EIG is a huge conglomerate and I doubt that they will care much about the complaints of one individual but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I'm trying to prove they aren't out to "scam" the customer. If it's a mistake, it's a mistake and they will get around to fixing it, I'm sure they are slow.. But they aren't a one-man-show that is scamming people, therefore making threats to go to the FBI (or even contacting them) is a waste of time.

[MikeDVB]

Originally Posted by nerdie

I'm trying to prove they aren't out to "scam" the customer. If it's a mistake, it's a mistake and they will get around to fixing it, I'm sure they are slow.. But they aren't a one-man-show that is scamming people, therefore making threats to go to the FBI (or even contacting them) is a waste of time.

Yeah, it's like I said in my first response - they should have just been patient and given the provider time to work it out (if not simply for the fact that there isn't anything else the OP could do that would increase their chances of success).

I am guessing IPage will eventually get it sorted out for the OP but only time will tell.

[bizzwizz]

Contacting the FBI over $45 is an effort in futility, I agree. They do have much bigger fish to fry, such as worldwide terrorist groups who are focusing on the U.S. and dangerous criminals who have eluded capture, such as Osama Bin Laden.

[Acheron]

Originally Posted by btalex1990

I have already planned to call the FBI on them if they don't send me my refund and I told them that and they don't want to talk to me now.

Good luck with that. The FBI will do nothing. First, this is a civil matter. Second, this is not what the FBI does. Third, even if they did, they aren't going to devote manpower to recover your $45 - as Mike already stated.

[SiberForum]

I have already planned to call the FBI on them if they don't send me my refund and I told them that and they don't want to talk to me now.

I suppose they do have more important things to do them returning you $45. That is sad but it is truth.