I've had decent service from fsckvps for a year or so. When I signed up they promised to charge my credit card every month. This is important to me, and until this month that's what they have done. In fact, on April 23rd they promised to charge my credit card this month too:
Quote:
Subject: Customer Invoice
From: VAServe <billing@vaserv.com>
To: Kenneth Grome <kengrome@gmail.com>
Date: 23-Apr 10:48 am
Attachments: 219803.pdf
Dear Kenneth Grome (Kenneth Grome),
This is a notice that an invoice has been generated on 23/04/2010.
Your payment method is: Credit / Debit Card
Invoice #219803
Amount Due: $11.94 USD
Due Date: 07/05/2010
Invoice Items
512Mb Plan - Atlanta - (07/05/2010 - 06/06/2010) $11.94 USD
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Sub Total: $11.94 USD
Credit: $0.00 USD
Total: $11.94 USD
------------------------------------------------------
Payment will be taken automatically on 07/05/2010 from your credit card on record with us.
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After receiving this email (which is typical of the email I get from them every month before they charge my credit card) I had every reason to believe that they would charge my card again this month.
But I got a surprise this morning when I checked my email after being offline for a few days:
Quote:
Subject: Invoice Payment Reminder
From: VAServe <billing@vaserv.com>
To: Kenneth Grome <kengrome@gmail.com>
Date: 06-May 10:48 am
This is a notice to remind you that you have an invoice due on 07/05/2010. We tried to bill you automatically but were unable to because we don't have your credit card details on file.
Invoice Date: 23/04/2010
Invoice #219803
Amount Due: $11.94 USD
Due Date: 07/05/2010
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When I read this email I couldn't help wondering how they lost my credit card details. Then I noticed yet another email from them in my inbox this morning, dated today at 10:48 am, and here's what the second email said:
Quote:
Subject: First Invoice Overdue Notice
From: VAServe <billing@vaserv.com>
To: Kenneth Grome <kengrome@gmail.com>
Date: 10-May 10:48 am
This is a billing notice that your invoice no. 219803 which was generated on 23/04/2010 is now overdue. Please make payment within 24 hours to avoid possible service interuption.
Your payment method is: Credit / Debit Card
Invoice: 219803
Amount Due: $11.94 USD
Due Date: 07/05/2010
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After reading this I got online so I could check to see what's going on with their failure to charge my credit card like they promised. But before logging into my VPS control panel I checked my websites ... and they were all offline!
That's when I sent them an email asking them to explain why they had not charged my credit card like they promised ... and why my VPS and websites are offline?
Here's what they said in reply:
Quote:
Subject: [#GVG-677010]: Re: First Invoice Overdue Notice
From: "VAServ Billing" <billing@vaserv.com>
To: kengrome@gmail.com
Date: 10-May 12:07 pm
You need to log into your Client Area and manually pay any outstanding invoices. We no longer keep credit card information on file, due to PCI compliance regulations. Let me know if you need anything else. Thanks!
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After reading this it became apparent to me that they no longer provide the service of charging my credit card automatically every month like they used to. Unfortunately they never told me about this change in their services, and I would never have learned about it if I had not asked at this time.
In fact, they actually told me they WOULD charge my credit card this month (see the first email quoted above).
But they also failed to answer my question about why my websites and VPS were offline so I asked them again, and this is the response I received:
Quote:
Subject: [#GVG-677010]: Re: First Invoice Overdue Notice
From: "VAServ Billing" <billing@vaserv.com>
To: kengrome@gmail.com
Date: 10-May 01:50 pm
It would appear that you have an overdue invoice that would cause your VPS to be suspended.
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I thought this was a rather disturbing reply because it was their fault for not charging my card in the first place, and that's why my payment was late.
But what's worse is that they promised to give me 24 hours to pay, yet they shut off my service less than two hours after they sent me their "First Invoice Overdue Notice".
Personally I think it is a rather unfriendly and inconsiderate of a company to turn off a customer's VPS less than 2 hours after they send their first payment notice, ESPECIALLY when it was their own fault for making my payment late!
Since fsckvps has shown such disregard for the importance of my websites, I feel that I can no longer trust them. After all, if they are going to "pull the plug" after they fail to live up to their own promises, how can I trust them?
The most disturbing email I received from them is yet to come. I emailed them and told them it was their fault for making my payment late, but instead of apologizing and/or correcting their mistake (or turning my service on immediately and then giving me more time to pay manually) they simply said this:
Quote:
Subject: [#GVG-677010]: Re: First Invoice Overdue Notice
From: "VAServ Billing" <billing@vaserv.com>
To: kengrome@gmail.com
Date: 10-May 03:06 pm
Hello,
To cancel your account with us, please login to billing over at https://secure.fsckvps.com/
Then, click "My Products & Services".
Find the plan you want to cancel and click the green arrow on the right hand side of the screen.
Click "Request Cancellation".
Fill out the details then press "Request Cancellation".
Please remember that you have agreed to our Terms of Service. Our terms state that all cancellations must be received at least 1 (one) days prior to your next package billing renewal date. If your cancellation request is submitted less than 1 (one) days before this date, the monthly fees/invoice will be considered due and must be paid before we can accept cancellation.
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As you can see, this email attempts to enforce their "terms of service" by making me pay for yet another month of service -- AFTER they cut off my service because THEY failed to perform as promised!
I cannot believe that any company in this day and age would stoop to such unethical practices as turning off a customer's VPS less than two hours after giving him a 24-hour notice.
But I find it far more disturbing that they are trying to extract another $12.00 from me after cutting me off.
It seems there are all kinds of companies in the world these days, and this is not a company I would recommend any longer. You may want to steer clear of their related companies too (of which there are several) because if they are all managed by the same people they more than likely all treat their customers like this.
This company used to be trustworthy and ethical. I don't know what happened to them. Maybe it's just a big "misunderstanding" but nothing changes the fact that:
1- They stopped their automatic credit card charging without informing me in advance, and I think they had an ethical (if not legal) responsibility to inform me of this change at least a month in advance.
2- They lied about giving me 24 hours to pay my bill and instead they cut off my service less than 2 hours after their email. Or maybe they cut off my service days ago for all I know.
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