Do NOT use HostPapa for your website!
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
Canada
February 14, 2011 1:02pm CST
Just over a year ago, my husband decided to use HostPapa to host a website for a business he was starting up. It wasn't as successful as he hoped, and we could not afford to keep working on it, so we decided to let the domain name expire.
Guess what I discovered?
On Feb 4, HostPapa CHARGED my mastercard for another full year of their service, without my permission or authorization!
On Feb 2, my husband received an email from them saying that if he did not renew his service, he would likely lose his domain name. But if he renewed before the 17th, when it expired, he would keep everything. Doesn't that sound like exactly what we wanted, and the opposite of what happened?
When I called HostPapa, they said automatic renewal was part of their TOS. Nope. Hubby kept the email they sent him with the terms he agreed to. It said NOTHING about automatic renewal. But, they said they would do nothing, because it was in the TOS so I "must have agreed to it" (I would never!) and I would have to open a support ticket online.
Well, I will be opening a dispute with Mastercard, and if I don't get the money back, I'll be calling the Toronto Sun, who often runs articles about the "little guy" getting screw3d over by big businesses, which often shames the business into making things right. I have also tweeted about it, asking people to please retweet it, because I know sometimes that shames companies into fixing things.
Have you even been treated in this way? A company ILLEGALLY retains your credit card information and makes unauthorized charges? How did you deal with it?
1 person likes this
5 responses
@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
14 Feb 11
Yes, I have and I have fought tooth and nail to get the money back on principle. I hate to be cheated, no matter what the $ value. I will not back down. Right is right and wrong is wrong. My sense of justice is pretty strong. I even successfully argued against the tax department because I was right. Don't mess with me!
I hope you are successful in getting you money back. But if you agreed to automatic renewal which you may not have noticed in all the mambo jumbo you may not win.
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
16 Feb 11
Well I always read every single line of TOS and fine print whenever my credit card is involved. When I first got my own cell phone at the age of 18, the saleswoman looked at me like I was an idiot after she said "sign here" and I started reading the contract instead of signing right away! She repeated "sign here" in this voice like I was too stupid to follow directions. I gave her an icy glare and said "I read things before I sign them, thanks." LOL
1 person likes this
@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
16 Feb 11
Then you should have no problem getting your money back. But online companies don't easily return money. You will have to fight for it. Let us know what happens. Good success!
1 person likes this
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
27 Mar 11
Update: I meant to share this awhile ago, but I called back and was VERY insistent. I used a lot of legal terms, which I think intimidated the person on the phone, because we got a full refund! He told me he couldn't do anything, because he was only a night-phone guy with no privileges to reverse charges, but that he would leave info for the right department and I should call back during business hours...but I never had to because all the money was put right back where it belonged!
1 person likes this
@SilentArk (4)
• United States
15 Feb 11
Wow, Im glad that I have never been in that situation, I have no idea what would I would do.
@kris182_2000 (5444)
• Canada
14 Feb 11
Do yourself a favor and go to CityTv, CTV and Global news as well. Do a search to find who deals with these issues and tell them what happened. More than likely, one of them will pick this up as well and possibly air it as a segment on the local news.
Your agreement is binding and cannot be changed unless you agree to the changes and sign a new one. Anyone would tell you that.
I've never heard of Hostpapa before, but they sound like a bunch of crooks to me.
If you're on Facebook, post it there too. File your dispute, but also open the support ticket. If you haven't opened the support ticket with Hostpapa, wait until you have contacted the Sun and tv media, and then put in your support ticket a copy of what you have sent the media outlets.
That might scare them into refunding your money, or it might make them run and hide. But until they are publicly humiliated, they wont scare that easily and it will be hard to get what's rightfully yours.
Good luck with this.
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
16 Feb 11
Thanks for the advice. I think I will have to do this to get my money back, sadly.
@naokokensaku (529)
• Malaysia
15 Feb 11
In my experience, unless you have specifically told the company that you are not renewing the domain name, they will charge your credit card for it (if you have a card/bank account attached to the domain). Using a webhost is like using a monthly subscription; they won't stop unless you tell them to.
Still the timeline's far too sketchy. I do agree that you should take the matter up with your consumer's tribunal as well, and wish you good luck.
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
16 Feb 11
Well, based on the email they sent my husband, which basically threatened him with losing his site if he didn't renew, it didn't seem a stretch to assume that he would, well, lose his website if he didn't renew! LOL. Not that they would charge the credit card more than a week before the year was up, and then not notify him until 2 days later that they did so. The whole situation is just annoying. I don't have so much extra time to spend on the phone trying to make this right.
@tonyllenium (6252)
• Italy
14 Feb 11
in reality i never heard this host company btu anyway i wll remember the name and i will stay away from there!!n reality i think is not legal the fact happened to you but uncluckly in some cases if some companies of hosting or other goods are not really honest it can happen a fact like that!!!May be is always better having a debit card in this way if there are some strange requests they can act only on a limited amount of money and not linked with your bank account..
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
16 Feb 11
Mastercard is usually pretty good at going after people who charge your card without permission, so I hope it will be ok.
1 person likes this
