False Advertising on www.gisol.com

I’d like to lodge a complaint against Global Internet Solutions trading as www.gisol.com. Today I found their website through Google and decided to try their web hosting service. I checked out the many webpages they provide on their website starting with http://www.gisol.com/hosting/ . This page advertises website for $5.95 per month with Anytime Money Back guarantee. I clicked on the button for Windows hosting which takes you to http://www.gisol.com/hosting/index-nt.php . That page advertises three different web hosting plans. I chose the plan called “Pro NT” which shows a reduced price from $24.95 to $9.95 per month. If you scroll down and read the list of features, you’ll see that at the bottom it says in red letters, “No Hidden Charges”. I clicked the button to “order now” and followed through the different screens to sign up. These screens ask for domain name, personal information and provide a picklist to choose which payment plan you want. The choices were “2 Years Prepaid $9.95/month (6 months FREE + FREE Domain Name + FREE Setup)”, “1 Year Prepaid $9.95/month (FREE Domain Name + FREE Setup)”, “3 Months Prepaid $12.95/month ($19.95 Setup Fee)”, and “1 month prepaid $15.95 ($19.95 Setup Fee)”. I chose the 1 year Prepaid $9.95/month plan.

Before you finalize your order, you are instructed to read their policies and check a checkbox that you’ve read them. I clicked the link to the policies page, read and printed it, and checked the checkbox as instructed. You receive a summary page before the order is placed which summarizes all of the information you’ve entered and the cost of your webhosting. As stated in my plan selection, it showed that I would be charged $119.40 which represents 12 months at $9.95 per month.

All of that is very clear and there’s no mistake in seeing that information as you go through the sign up process. You are clearly told that there is no hidden fees, you’re clearly told that the cost is $9.95 per month for 12 months. What you are not told whatsoever is that in 30 days, they are going to charge you for an additional 6 months at the rate of $24.95 per month. You’re not told this anywhere on their website whatsoever, at least I could not find any such page that told you this. You learn about this when they give you a “courtesy call” and try to sell you more services. The person who called me told me that I should consider the 2 year package because that gives me an additional 6 months free and I would be locked into that rate. Then he informed me that if I didn’t sign up for the 2 year plan, I’d be charged for an additional 6 months in 30 days at $24.95 per month and from then on out I’d pay for 18 months at a time at the rate of $24.95 per month. I told the man to forget it, I didn’t want the plan PERIOD and then he got nasty and told me I couldn’t terminate the contract, I would be charged regardless and was in effect, stuck with it.

I called my credit card company and lodged a complaint for false advertising. To cancel, you HAVE to go to a special webpage and log in with a username and password. They won’t accept a cancellation any other way and they state that to receive any refund, it requires a managerial approval which leads you to believe that you may not receive any refund whatsoever. I’m also disturbed that they state you’ll be charged $9.95 (which is stated in their policies) if you terminate for any partial month you have used. Even though I canceled within 2 hours after signing up, they claim that they will be deducting $9.95 from the charge they placed against my credit card even though I never used the account, even though I instructed the man who called to cancel my order.

They have sent me a nasty email that rambles on in one long paragraph about their policies quoting this and that from their policy notice. The email sounded rather irate to say the least. Gone are the days when “the customer is always right”. If one would like to challenge them in a court of law, I would venture to say that their contract would hold up and you’d be stuck losing your money even if you canceled as I did within 2 hours after signing up.

Had they clearly stated on their website that I would be charged and additional $149.70 in just 30 days, I doubt I would have even considered doing business with them. When you read the statement “No hidden fees” it certainly leads you to believe that you will not pay any more than $119.40 for a package that is $9.95 per month for 12 months and I guess if you wanted to get real technical, (and you were them) you could argue that the additional $149.70 isn’t a hidden fee. But then I have to argue that if you don’t tell your customers the truth about what they are going to pay for your services, you aren’t really advertising your product in a truthful manner.

I have no idea what their hosting services are like. I just know that if I knew what I was going to be getting into ahead of time, I doubt I would have even considered fooling with this company. Especially now that I’ve been talked down to and received a rather abusive and demanding email that has no sensitivity to my situation. It clearly shows me that once you start doing business with this company, you’d better be ready to stick with them for a very, very long time because they will not let you go once they’ve sucked you in. And the abusive nature of their email certainly gives me reservations as to what kind of future customer service anyone might get from these people.

The fact that they state in their email to me that when you sign up, you sign up for a “prepaid 30 months” is also false advertising in that it’s simply not stated anywhere whatsoever when you sign up. Let’s face it folks, the lack of such information on their website is intentional because not many people would sign up if they knew that. You be the judge. Go check out their website and read this email they sent me.

Robert E. Hunt

>From Gisol.com received 11/10/06

We just recently spoke with the Order Processing Center regarding this incident where the "ORDER PROCESSING AGENT" attempted to explain the cancellation procedure to you. No sales person ever contacted you, it was simply a courtesy call from one of the agents who wanted to explain our policies since you obviously have not read through them. There was no false advertising whatsoever as you did not sign up for the special which was advertised!!! The special which is advertised includes 6 months free, PERIOD. When you selected the package and term, you opted not to get the package with 6 months free which is OBVIOUSLY the special. The agent simply attempted to explain what you did wrong and offer you a recurring 6 months free every time you renew a package which is prepaid for 30 months and in which the price is guaranteed and your money is always pro-rated upon request of a refund so there is not risk. It's simple, a package which does not contain the special benefits "ADVERTISED" is not the special therefore does not contain a price freeze guarantee meaning the price of the package fluctuates. Your package, however, was setup the instant that you digitally agreed and signed the terms and polices. Although you made a mistake, we attempted to give you a chance to correct it if you wanted. Either way, your account was setup prior to the conversation as per the email you received right after signing up stating that your account is setup instantly. The agent attempted to give you your username and password so that you could use or cancel the account, instead, you hung up on him in this attempt. When you refuse to accept the instructions given to you by a OP SPECIALIST, there is nothing we may do. He attempted to give you information on how to cancel right before you hung up on him, you didn't want to hear it. A chargeback would violate our policies therefore I would suggest that you do this with extreme caution as you did sign and click "I AGREE" to the TOS and POLICIES of our company and proof will be provided to the bank along with copies of emails. A printout of our site and term selection page offering only 1 Biennial term on special with 6 months free with no other terms offering 6 months will also be provided to show your error in judgment. When the bank decides the chargeback in our favor, no refund requests will be accepted. We take these matters very seriously as you were not denied service, rather, provided with it and explained to about the price going up in hopes that we could do you some good and save you money. We will pursue this matter to the fullest extent as we do not appreciate our customers screaming and hanging up on our employees, especially members of the OP Dept who try to help them save money if possible or correct a mistake they made before it's too late.

To sign-up for one of our award-winning 24 month web hosting packages currently on special with an extra 6 months absolutely free and an anytime money back guarantee, please visit http://www.gisol.com/hosting/.

Sincerely,

Global Internet Solutions

A Gisol, Inc. Company

http://www.gisol.com