Hello to all and good day to you. I am a newbie in web hosting and i would like to ask the experts regarding my problem with my First web hosting vendor, canhost.us from which i've acquired services last december 9, 2008. I've already asked for a refund and it's been 2 long months now and they are ignoring me. I just want to ask if it is legal for them not to give a refund. First of all, i am not starting a fight here, i am just asking for the legality of this issue and if i have the right to get my money back. Here's the story: 1) With the help of DP, i found this post http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1137258&highlight=canhost and signed up for a christmas promo ($64 for 1 year). After i signed up, the whole website disappeared, no support, no website, not even a phone number to call. Being a newbie i was scared and thought i was scammed, feared that i will loose my hard earned money in an instant. Knowing that they have a 30-day RISK FREE money back guarantee (http://canhost.us/whyus/guarantees.php), i asked for cancellation, fill up their cancellation form, and asked for refund. 2) I received an email stating that i will received a pro rated refund after 21 business days, which i agree, knowing that they did setup my account it is fair for them to deduct a small fee for their services. After which i waited till January. 3) I then again sent an email asking for refund, I was told to request a payment via paypal which I did, amounting to $61 instead of $64. I agreed to this which is actually fair IMHO. 4) After sending requests for almost a week, they are now ignoring me. No replies, even tried to chat with their live chat but they are closing it, ignoring my requests. 5) I then turned to magicworld11 (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/member.php?u=189912) a DP user here from which i saw the post where i acquired the services. I asked him to follow up my refund. 6) Today he replied with this: I was not atall aware that ur christmas offer customer. Moneyback warranty clearly state that refund only for month when downtime goes below 99.5%. The page is also cached in google. If we presue legally, you will be trouble. So better try getting service from the site ppl rather then wasting ur time in dieing every minute Code (markup): 7) He mentioned that if i pursue legally, i will be in trouble, or something like that. 8) I replied back with this: I am not a native english speaker, but i do understand what it says below. Based on my interpretation, that canhost.us will provide a satisfaction guarantee (which includes 99.9% uptime), ON TOP of that, you have a NO QUESTIONS ASKED 30-DAY money back guarantee, if I wish to cancel then you will deduct costs that have been incurred by canhost.us such as domain name registration, domain transfers, and any setups fees. All of which i agreed (which is why i only asked for a refund of only $61 instead of $64). And that the %99.9 uptime rate that you are talking about is regarding the 1 month additional credit to be added to the existing account incase you do not meet that uptime guarantee. Am i wrong? Please provide link showing a different TOS / money back guarantee page. Here is what is in your website: The Ideal Hosting From our very first day of business we have been creating an ideal hosting experience and hosting packages to match. Our goal has always been to maintain a reliable and secure network. Based upon historical data our uptime will never drop below 99.9%*. A guarantee based upon a dream, matched by performance. Service Guarantee We guarantee that we'll provide quality service: * 99.9% Uptime Guarantee * 24/7/365 Phone & Email Support * Your satisfaction or your money back. 30-Day RISK FREE Money Back Guarantee In addition to our uptime policy, CanHost maintains a no-questions asked money back guarantee policy. However, if you wish to cancel costs that have been incurred by us such as domain name registration, domain transfers, and any setups fees, these will be deducted from the total refund. *If CanHost fails to provide 99.9% uptime, we will credit your account one month of hosting. Scheduled upgradations are not counted as downtime. Please see our terms and conditions for more information. Code (markup): Question, Do i still have the right to get my money back? I only used that service for a day... barely because they were down for more than 16 hours.? I cancelled for the service, but i was not informed that i will not get my money back. I even got a reply that they will send my refund. Now they are telling me that i have no right? PLEASE HELP. I just want my $61 back. Or even $60. Thank you!
The only way you can make them give you your money back is if you seek legal action. Which will run WAY more than the money they owe you in attorney fees. I would recommend you try filing a paypal dispute and post in all the forums you can about their "money back guarantee" they did to you. EDIT: PayPal does not really do much for you for hosting services, but it may be enough to scare them into paying. You could also issue a chargeback through your credit card company if it was paid that way.
thanks for your feedback hostlonestar, but on the legality, am i right? i mean i do have the right for my refund, yes???
just do a simple chargeback with your credit card company or bank like hostlonestar said they will get you your money back no matter what.
Yes, as their ToS states they will provide a 30 day money back guarantee, and it says nothing about not giving it back for the coupon code users, than legally you could take them to a court and get your money back. However, this host strikes me as a teenager, judging from the message you received from them and the way they are acting. They don't seem like they are an actual business, but rather an attempt to gain some decent money quickly then dip out from everyone leaving their clients stranded. Web Hosting is a business that is just like every other business. It takes money, and a lot of time, to get a hosting business going. Unfortunately there are a lot of these guys, and a big thing is they get the super alpha master reseller accounts or whatever their called, from an unreliable provider (as no provider that is any decent would offer that on a shared environment). I can say there is one exception to that and he is on here. He actually monitors his servers and purchases new ones when they get about 70% full.
hostlonestart, wibblet, thank you all for your reply. I'll be doing a charge back later and file a complaint with paypal. Also just to give an update, i just logged back in the trouble ticket system of canhost.us and to my surprise, my ticket was gone!!! imagine that! Closed without solution, oh my mistake, it was NOT closed, it was GONE! To the canhost.us staff... here's a copy: http://rapidshare.com/files/196159864/canhost_for_upload.jpg Ohh and i made several copies of that screenshot, incase you are "wondering". Be sure to google about canhost.us after a few days as i will be making a lot of reviews and "testimonials" about their "professional" services. I will dedicate all my free time making that review.
Kudos to you taking that screen shot. And judging by the paypal account (which is not even set to an email from their hosting "company") I am reinforced with the belief they are a high school aged host with a parents paypal account.
huh said to hear that but this should not happen if they have slp and tos to refund they should refund you !!! if u do with paypal charge back if CC then also u can charge back up to 2 years according to rules of CC banks !!
@funning17, first thank you for your reply and suggestion. I used my debit card from my hard earned paycheck to pay via paypal. I'm not sure if there is any charge back for that. Would have to double check with my bank.
Yes darkzhadow, chekc with your bank. Also, google internet crime commission. First result should be what your looking for. File a complaint with them.
well next time don't trust those kind of companies, and I believe if you open a paypal dispute you'll get your money back $64, kind of scammer company next time be sure that you are working with a reputable comapany, which gives real support & real refund.. you should open a dispute asap because there is a limitation, I think maximum 45 or 60 days after the payment.
PayPal will not protect you for digital exchanges. So unless the company gives it back voluntarily, it won't be forced by PayPal. Maximum time is 45 days from transaction. You can open the dispute to have it down. If there are enough, PayPal will freeze their account.
That's a good news! Congrats! You should be skeptic next time and you may also use Scam Search to avoid such fraud.
funning17 What the best way to get in contact with you ? I tried you india phone number but it 500 a minute for me to call ...
funning17 seem with your hosting lost and me losing my DB for my blog very very upset !!! You should refund us all ...
Legally, there is nothing that would get you into trouble if you brought this to court. I don't know what country you or they are in, but in the US, this would be brought to small claims court, with which it wouldn't cost much. If anything, you might loose out after getting your money back ( which I am sure you will be awarded ), but on a positive side you can bring them into seriously negative light with it. I would file complaints at any consumerist blog / site you can find, any host review, Google's comments / reviews and finally you could try the better business bureu.
funning17 (name Sudeep) Since he in india call his number 919836925753 and text him 5 times . While the phone call he answered by I only speak english and Sudeep did not seem to .