Web Hosting Company Not Refunding My Money

kash_5

easyhost wrote: »

well my TOS were checked by my local trading standards before i published these and this is something they told me i had to do. trouble is that the hosting industry is self regulating as their is no official body to regulate what goes on, so you do get these companies that are rogues and give the industry a bad name.
for any such payment (monthly, annual etc.) an invoice should be generated a min. of 7 days before the payment is due. I give 14 days also TOS also state that they must have a valid/active email address as all invoices etc are emailed to the address on file. it is up to the client to read his emails. even with my time frame you will still be amazed at how many invoices are paid late

So trading standards said you must send out a letter invoice to the customer when their renewal is due?

kash_5

easyhost wrote: »

Hi as a webhost that has run my business for the last 10yrs + just calling them or sending an email to cancel will be no good as most hosts use WHMCS or Clientexec etc which are automated systems, so you need to follow cancellation processed correctly so the system will cancel the hosting and any invoices due, without doing this the system will automatically renew the hosting and if you have a CC on the system will bill this as if you want to continue.

a MBG guarantee starts from day 1 so if you did not follow their cancellation process then you may find it hard to get a refund. although a good host would refund if it was a genuine mistake, but may take a fee for doing this as it was partly your fault for not following the correct procedure

it looks like they are well know for their practices

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=973872
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1038859
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=973540

Thanks for this just shows what kind of company they are!

easyhost

kash_5 wrote: »

So trading standards said you must send out a letter invoice to the customer when their renewal is due?

my local TS office told me that if someone is committing to a regular payment (as they do with hosting) then an invoice must be sent to them at least 7 days before the due date. also each paid invoice is a new contract, so TOS can be changed and as soon as the next invoice is paid they are accepting the new TOS

kash_5

easyhost wrote: »

my local TS office told me that if someone is committing to a regular payment (as they do with hosting) then an invoice must be sent to them at least 7 days before the due date. also each paid invoice is a new contract, so TOS can be changed and as soon as the next invoice is paid they are accepting the new TOS

Hmmmm.... So am I right in thinking this mean that the web hosting company are in breach of trading standards by not sending me an invoice 7 days before by letter or email?

PZH

kash_5 wrote: »

Hmmmm.... So am I right in thinking this mean that the web hosting company are in breach of trading standards by not sending me an invoice 7 days before by letter or email?

But, according to post #14, you did receive notification (invoice/instructions/notification - call it what you like) which includes a full breakdown of the service contract - detailing the full amount and the date when it was due. It also details how to view the invoices online and how to manage the acount.

You also received clear instructions on how to cancel by the Customer Support chap, and you were given more than enough time to action this.

Personally, whilst I appreciate how annoying this is for you, I don't think the service provider has done anything wrong.

easyhost

kash_5 wrote: »

Hmmmm.... So am I right in thinking this mean that the web hosting company are in breach of trading standards by not sending me an invoice 7 days before by letter or email?

not just Trading Standards, HMRC as no invoice how are they accounting for the funds, if they dont sent invoice before payment suggests they are not keeping legal books

you ask any host and they will all send an invoice before any payment, even if my clients have a credit in the account and the credit is used to pay an invoice, the invoice is still sent to the client showing it paid and the funds taken from their credit funds.

but as you showed in post #14, this is an invoice generated i assume by their billing system

I also received an AUTO-generated email on the 1st May 2011 saying the website name was expiring but did not say anything about the bulk hosting package.

this would be true as domains are separate to hosting plans

kash_5

So basically there is nothing I can do with this?

easyhost

kash_5 wrote: »

So basically there is nothing I can do with this?

true, they issued a invoice before the due date and they TOS explains their cancellation procedure along with the rep you called.

you should always read and TOS before agreeing to anything, also with hosting check for reviews and even check a whois of the IP and domain as the host could be just someone with a cheap £1 a month reseller account from someone off ebay and can soon vanish (their are many out their).
find a reliable host a good start is http://www.webhostingtalk.com and look at their offers section

PZH

phoodless wrote: »

I think the best you can hope for is to try and negotiate with them and to reduce the term of service and gain a partial refund.

Maybe you could write them a nice letter and explain that you did not realise that you hadn't cancelled and see if they can reduce the service to 3 - 6 months and offer a partial refund ?

kash_5 wrote: »

So basically there is nothing I can do with this?

Have you tried speaking to them and asking if they could possibly reduce the term/payment ? The below from their T&C's would indicate that they sometimes allow this ?

4. Refunds

4.1 Charges due on a pre-pay basis (together with account set-up fees, where applicable), are non-refundable.

4.2 In the event that Streamline.Net cancels Your Service for reasons other than Your breach of contract, You will be entitled to a pro rata refund based upon the remaining period of Your current contract term.

4.3 If You contravene Your Agreement with Streamline.Net, a refund will not be issued in the event of a cancellation.

easyhost

phoodless wrote: »

Have you tried speaking to them and asking if they could possibly reduce the term/payment ? The below from their T&C's would indicate that they sometimes allow this ?

4.2 In the event that Streamline.Net cancels Your Service for reasons other than Your breach of contract, You will be entitled to a pro rata refund based upon the remaining period of Your current contract term.

the OP told the agent to cancel his service, they did this but never cancelleed the billing as he failed to follow their correct procedure, so the above statement means nothing