Streamline web hosting. Unfair procedure?

ITtim

I've been using a company called streamline.net to host a website that I have. Its costs approx £40 per year.

When i took out the subscription i agreed (apparently) that this fee would be taken annually until i decided i wanted it to stop.

Now i no longer have any real need for this account and had generally forgotten about it until i noticed the £40 had been taken from my credit card.

Soon as i noticed i contacted them to tell them i no longer needed it and that i'd like it cancelled and a refund made.

They are refusing and insist that because i agreed to let the money be taken annually there is nothing they can do.

I have argued that since they made no attempt to notify me that this was due for renewall that the process is unfair.

this was their response...

"Our hosting packages are scheduled to automatically renew as per our terms of service. I am afraid that you are not eligible for a refund of your renewal charge as per our terms of service because the closure process was not completed prior to the renewal date. We are very sorry to hear you want to cancel your hosting account with us. For cancellations please contact our customer care team on 0844 941 2000 between 09:00 - 17:00 Mon - Fri. Please note that we are unable to refund any renewal charges as per our terms of service."

Do i have any come back on this?

i appreciate any help

ITtim

thanks for the helpfull post.

Halloway

I had a similar experience with Streamline, although my experience differed insofar that I actually told them prior to the renewal date that I did not want to renew. They went ahead and renewed anyway and refused to refund. As I paid by credit card I simply got my CC to do a chargeback.

As you did not cancel until after the renewal you might not be in such a good position to claim the chargeback. If you paid by credit card then you might try asking the CC company for a chargeback; it won't hurt.

I can certainly tell you that pursuing Streamline will be a waste of time as they will simply not respond. Suffice it to say that I recommend that nobody uses their service.

ITtim

this is why i'm trying to cancel. they did it to me last year but i gave up and decided that seeing as i'd paid for the hosting i was going to use it. (saves the hassle of moving my site and domain) i should have set myself a reminder but obviously forgot to do it.

i don't buy into their 'we can't offer you a refund' as far as i'm concered these are their dirty tactics which enable them to screw their customers over.

any other service i've ever subscribed to that have rolling contracts like this will warn you when its due.

if i try to get the money back from my cc company will i encounter any complications from streamline?

Halloway

ITtim wrote: »

if i try to get the money back from my cc company will i encounter any complications from streamline?

I didn't. I had a domain with them. Once the chargeback went through I left a discreet gap of a few weeks then got them to transfer to domain out without any problems. I would imagine that they are used to dealing with chargebacks.

ITtim

i assume they would just remove my site etc. well i can certainly deal with that. think i might give it a go.

Halloway

ITtim wrote: »

i assume they would just remove my site etc. well i can certainly deal with that. think i might give it a go.

Oh yes, they'll do that straight away!