I reckon I have been ripped-off big time by GISOL. Here is my story:
On a photographer's forum someone was asking about a good ISP/Host where they could purchase hosting for their website. Someone replied saying that they were with GISOL and found them to be good with reasonable prices.
I was also looking to purchase hosting so I signed up with GISOL for a BEST ANNUAL account at $95.40 per year. This account could only host a single domain but that was fine by me as I only had one website.
Two months later I built another website and purchased another BEST ANNUAL account for $95.40 per year.
Then I suddenly had a lot of clients and I discovered GISOL's PRO account that could host multiple domains multiple databases so I purchased a PRO account for $119.40 per year. I had toyed with the idea of canceling the first two accounts and moving the domains and databases into the PRO account to save money on the annual renewal of the 2 BEST ANNUAL accounts. However I decided that these 2 accounts were for my personal sites and I preferred to keep them separate from my PRO account which hosted client's websites.
Apart from some serious problems with the server hosting my PRO account (fixed by moving it to another server), I had good service from GISOL.
Then the troubles started. On July 2 I got rudely awaken at about 3am (I am in Brisbane, Australia) by a telephone call from GISOL. Because it was from the USA and from GISOL I tried to wake up and listen. The man on the phone said that he could save me money by 'combining' my three accounts into a single 'unlimited' account at $24.95 per month which was less than what I was paying per month for three accounts. I said I had already paid in advance for the three accounts and he said that the money from the original accounts would offset the cost of the new account. Well, if it was going to save me money and make life easy by not having to log in to three Control Panels, I asked a few questions and the answers seemed satisfactory so I agreed. He said that he would do all the work and 'combine' the accounts. Okay so lets say the accounts were A, B, and C. He said he would make a new accounts called 'A1'.
The next day I got the email in respect of account 'A1' and it was an Unlimited Upgrade (24.95) for 36 months. Yes, that's right, I was billed for $898.20 which was taken from my credit card. There was no mention of 36 months during the phone call. There was also no rebate or the remaining un-used monies from the three original accounts. I queried this by email and the following morning at 3am I got another phone call and the man said that if I wasn't happy they would cancel all my accounts. Of course, I couldn't allow that because my clients websites would have gone down.
Okay, now it gets worse. On December 28 I raised a Support Ticket to have one of the domain names renewed and my credit card got charged the usual $9.95 on the same day (I have done this often without complications). However, on January 3 I got a telephone call from GISOL (the man called himself 'Steve') and he said that he noticed I had a few accounts and he recommended that I 'combine' them into one account. I informed him that they had already been combined into one account back in July. He said that there were still 4 accounts (e.G. A, B, C, and A1). However, he said that by combining them all into a new unlimited account I could get a rate of $3.57 per month instead of the current rate of $24.95 per month. He said that the account was actually worth $49.95 per month BUT he could give it to me at $3.57 per month for 36 months. I said that I had paid in advance for 3 years for account 'A1' and he said that the remaining un-used money would be used to offset the new account. I said that the remaining un-used money exceeded the new charge and I asked if a refund would be given to me. He assured me that I would get a 'rebate'. My quick calculation estimated that I would get a refund of $600 - $700 and he said it would be refunded to my credit card account.
Well, I thought my lucky day had come. Here I was being offered a continuation of the same service at a much lower rate AND that I would be refunded a nice sum of money. Anyway, on January 3 GISOL created a new account (let's call it 'A2') BUT the next day my credit card was hit wih a charge of $1,789.20 ($49.95 x 36). I had been expecting a refund of $600 or more, not a huge charge like that.
I started sending emails to [email protected] and [email protected] as well as raising Support Tickets. The reply to the support tickets was that I should email [email protected] which of course I have been doing every day since January 04 and have yet to get a single reply. I managed to telephone GISOL's help line and asked to speak to 'Steve'. The man who answered the phone ('Adam' he called himself) said that 8,000 people work there and he doesn't know who Steve is. Anyway, he said that a letter had been posted to me and that it contained a code.
I was supposed to phone back with the code in order to claim 12 months worth of rebate (the difference between $49.95 and $3.57 x 12 months). I said that I neded 36 months worth of rebate but he said I could only claim a portion each year or the next three years. I said that in actual fact I should be getting a refund and should have to pay nothing because the remaining un-used money on account A1 was worth more then the new fee of $3.57 x 36. He then said that refunds are never given for cancelled accounts. Okay so I just lost $600 - $700 and I guess I have lost the remaining un-used monies rom accounts A, B, and C. I didn't cancel the accounts. GISOL recommended 'combining' them into one new account. I have lost a lot of money. How bad is that!
Okay now it gets worse. Remember the request to have a domain name renewed. Well I noticed that it had not been renewed and only had 6 days left until expiry. I raised a Support Ticket asking for confirmation that the domain name had been renewed. I got a silly reply. I got onto the Live Chat window and the agent said that there was no record in my billing statement and that was why the domain name had not been renewed.
I explained that it was in the billing statement of account A1 and not the new A2. He said that all I needed to do was raise a new Ticket asking for renewal and that they would charge my credit card and then they would see the charge in the billing statement and renew the domain. I am still trying to resolve this issue - my emails go unanswered, the Live Chat agents can't help because there is no billing info in the same account as the domain (A2). I will have to pay again and lose the previous $9.95 because it is in an account where no refunds are given.
There's more. The other day I got a charge on my credit card for $95.40 for hosting renewal of one of the original accounts that was supposed to have been 'combined' into account A1. When I queried it, I was told that I had to cancel the account. I said that there wasn't an account to cancel because they had been 'combined' into a new account (not at my request but at GISOL's recommendation). Okay, so have you tried to cancel an account at GISOL. They hit you with a fee of $250 (or was it $500, I can't remember) for 'breach of contract' because you are ending a contract. I just can't believe it!
Then I had a domain name that expired even though they are supposed to send reminders. They told me it had gone into redemption and because it was a client's website I had to pay $474.95 to have it redeemed. Since that time I have discovered that it had only gone into the period of grace and it would have been simple to renew it. GISOL tricked me by saying it had gone into redemption.
Okay, so in summary, I have paid a few thousand dollars to GISOL for a lot of pain and suffering and far in excess of what I have in the way of hosting. They have stolen money by saying it would offset the new account charges and yet they don't give refunds of canceled accounts. I have canceled nothing - the accounts were combined into one. However, I still get billed for the old accounts and will have to pay a large cancelation fee. The whole thing stinks of a scam.
It looks like I am stuck with them for another three years because they also say that they own the domain names. The old control panel allowed you to enter the owner's name or each domain name but the new control panel has one area for the owner of the domains but they register it with either AllInDomain or TuCows under their own name.
They should be investigated by whoever in the USA does scam investigations and Fair trading investigations.
Xposure
Brisbane
Australia
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