Web Hosting Refund

imorgan

Hello everyone.

Would web hosting come under the 7day cool off period for purchasing goods online?

I've recently bought some web hosting space and found a nice looking host that was offering free domains and a decent price etc. During the setup process it seemed that I was asked to choose a domain which I did and from the information presented to me at setup that is what the domain would be once it was activated. The price of the hosting also skyrocketed with the added extras that become obvious would be essential to actual set the website up with them, but it was still competitive so I continued.

Once I had paid for activation it became clear that the domain was not what I had be lead to believe and instead had the hosts web address tagged on the end... which didn't look professional. I then tried to find out how to change this and found their website very confusing and ultimately it seemed to me that it was setup i such a way as to discourage people from making complaints and mislead people into having to buy additional services.

So within 30 minutes of trying to use their utterly bamboozling web site I decided I wanted to have my account with them cancelled and I have asked for a full refund (they do a 30 day money back guarantee).

The process of doing this is very convoluted and requires me to go through their support team, who have been very good but they are obviously trying their best to retain me as customer rather then cancelling my subscription and give me my refund, I assumed this is company policy... stall and redirect.

My last contact with them they directed me to the terms and conditions of the refund, which states that "money-back guarantee is valid for credit-card payments only. Due to the costs associated with processing payments made by other methods, we are not able to offer the thirty (30) day money-back guarantee for other payment methods." Sadly I used paypal to make the payment so I feel like I may be stuck in a lengthy battle with these people to get my money back. If the 7 day cool off period is valid in this instance then I would like to use it as my trump card if they try to block the refund.

As stated in the beginning of the post, does the 7 day cool off period cover web hosting?

Has, any one here had a similar problem and how did it get resolved?

Cheers

imorgan

wealdroam

imorgan wrote: »

Would web hosting come under the 7day cool off period for purchasing goods online?

To answer your question... no.
No goods are involved. They are providing a service.

If by using the term seven day cooling off period you are refering to Distance Selling Regulations, then again the answer is no.
Once you have agreed that they can start supplying a service, the cooling off period ends.
I bet in that documentation that you ahve agreed for them to start supplying the service.

Their 30 day guarantee is in addition to your statutory rights.
As such, they can have whatever conditions they like... such as only applicable to services paid for by credit card.

Paypal sadly will not be of much help either. As I understand it, a Paypal dispute will fail as no tangible goods are involved (but I am happy to be corrected on this point).

Sorry.

unholyangel

Its also important that they have informed you that them beginning the work will mean you lose the right to cancel.

However, that is ofc providing that it is a company in the UK and governed by UK law.

imorgan

Thanks for your help guys. Looks like I will have take the hit. This whole episode has annoyed me greatly, I feel like I've been ripped off in broad daylight and I've got no recourse.

imorgan

I've been back on their website and looked at their "money back guarantee" advert; it does not state that the guarantee only applies to one specific method of payment, or that there are particular terms and conditions associated with the guarantee other than it doesn’t cover third party services. I’ve also check in the registration part of the website, if you select the “pay pal” option it doesn’t warn you that this will invalidate the “money back guarantee”. Would this constitute misleading advertising?

unholyangel

Have you found out what law the site/company is governed by?