Around a year ago, I signed up with InfoLink, aka ServerPronto.com. They provide internet hosting services on a month-to-month basis.
Signup was a breeze and everything seemed fine, just another service like phone and cable. You don't think about it until it stops working.
Six months ago, my website mysteriously went offline, with no response from the company. After trying for 30 days to get an answer from them, I gave up and decided to cancel. Little did I know that they make this impossible unless you are willing to expose yourself to identity theft.
I asked them to cancel, and they told me they'd be happy to cancel my account, once I sent over copies of my passport, driving license, and some bills showing my name and address.
Needless to say, none of this was required to sign up. Like any sane person, I refused, for several reasons:
1) its an identity thief's dream come true. Copies of enough documentation to do almost anything, and if they forged copies, all the ID numbers would match up to me perfectly.
2) they never asked for a copy of the front & back of the card. If they truly wanted to check I was the cardholder, this would prove I possessed the card and so must be the rightful owner of the account.
3) none of this identification was required when I signed up, so it would be impossible for them to match all this identification against anything other than my name and address.
When they refused my online cancellation request, I sent a physical letter, and gave them 4 weeks to respond. They didn't respond at all. Not even to refuse.
Next, I contacted the BBB, and a few weeks later the BBB reported that the company would not respond to them, and had a history of complaints against it.
Finally, I contacted my bank and asked them to stop payments. Unfortunately I had used my debit card, and so a normal chargeback couldn't be performed.
Luckily, my card expired recently and so I simply refused to give them a new card. After 15 days of emailing each morning to notify me they couldn't charge my card, they sent me an email on Feb 10th notifying me that unless I paid by Jan 1st 2007 (more than a month prior to the date of the email), I would be charged late fees.
Then, 48 hours later they sent a further letter, explaining they would be reporting me to experian and equifax (credit rating agencys).
At this point I have few options left. Pay them the $30 monthly fee forever or dont pay and have my future loans cost more because of a bad item on my credit.
William
crewe
United Kingdom
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