Imagine this scenario!
After tracking down a web hosting plan that suits your budget - for approximately $20.00 a month, let's say - you proceed to explore the control panel at the new server to ready yourself for the painstaking task of designing, building, and publishing your web site.
When you stumble on the option to set alerts on the account, you input a request that a notice be sent out in the event you go over your monthly usage, to ultimately ensure that your remain within your budget for the project online.
At the suggestion of the web hosting company - in this instance, Earthlink - you agree to input your debit card information in their data base so that the monthly fee of may be deducted from your acccount without the necessity of writing and mailing in a check each month.
Afer a few months, the site is pretty well-developed, attracting traffic, and everything looks hunky-dorey.
Each month you've been billed the sum due without incident.
Then, out-of-the-blue one day, Earthlink informs you by snail mail that a charge in the sum of approximately $968.00 (and some change) has been returned from the bank unpaid.
Say what?
Obviously Earthlink has not only made a serious error, but acted illegally, for having tried to debit a charge in an excessive sum (1) without notice; (2) for a sum that was not due; (3) in violation of the terms of agreement (no notice was given that any surcharges were tacked on due to overlimit usage either).
Was it all a silly mistake, a typo perhaps?
In response, the account-holder mails out a letter objecting to the charge, on the grounds that no alert was sent.
In particular, the customer expresses their outrage about the illegal attempt to debit an excessive sum of approximately $969.00 from their bank account without legal notice or authority to charge the sum in question.
Earthlink fails to respond, so the customer assumes that the error was corrected.
Not so fast!
Two weeks later, in spite of the fact Earthlink has not addressed the original complaint, the larcenous web hosting company fires off a second billing notice alleging that the sum of approximately $1600.00 is now due.
Huh?
How is it possible for a monthly bill of $19.99 to jump to $969.00 in two short weeks, then to the outrageous astronomical sum of $1600.00 ten days later?
And, don't forget that alert!
There was no record of any alerts being e-mailed out as requested, or any proof of any Earthlink response to the allegations of breach of agreement, attempted embezzlement of funds, false advertising, and deceitful business practices.
Notwithstanding the failure to respond, address the issues - and so forth and so on - Earthlink once again attempted to debit without notice or legal authority to do so for the staggering sum of $2200.00.
Fortunately, the customer kept low-ball sums in the checking account, to prevent embezzlement of funds.
In addition to the headaches surrounding the dishonest illegal conduct of Earthlink, there is a second issue the web client must now contend with.
After months of developing the sight with thousands of man hours devoted to the cause, the individual must now relocate the site at considerabe effort (and additional costs), to another web hoster to escape the deceitful and dishonest clutches of the earthlink bank thieves.
In addition to the foregoing, it should be noted for the record, that the service provided was not even that professional or reliable.
Several times a week, the customer was forced to spend a hour or so with customer support online, to sort out problems that continued ad nauseam.
For example, oftentimes the customer and visitors to the site, were not able to access the web homepage, which according to an error message (a denial of access code) stated the site was not available due to a password requirement (???), site publishing errors, whatever.
Also, on dozens of ocasions, images failed to load properly on the web pages, which resulted in ugly gaping holes on the posts (which looked shoddy, unprofessional, and downright amateurish).
After six weeks, Earthlink continued to add surcharges, but as of this date has never met their burden to establish by virtue of accounting and proper documentation how the figures were tabulated.
In the end scenario, the customer was forced to close his bank account (after all, when he attempted to delete the credit card info from the web site data base, his efforts were blocked by dishonest Earthlink employees who obviously intended to keep trying debits with that card automatically until they hit pay dirt by a fluke).
And, get this, when the customer tried to transfer their domain name (which they owned) to another web host plan - Earthlink also blocked the ID code from releasing the site - even though they did not have the authority or legal right to do so.
Talk about scumbags!
Avoid these a**holes and their web hosting plans like the plague!!
CEO rip-off thief at Earthlink!
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