I've had my account with Webfusion for approx 5 months, and after looking into upgrading my account to be able to use MySQL, without knowing it I accidentally upgraded to a Fusion Pro Linux! I didn't want to actually upgrade, but see the option of paying monthly instead of yearly. When I looked at their website the price was approx £87, but when I went through the process and got an invoice, it came out at £123!!

 

I was told that because I upgraded through my control panel, it was an automated invoice which they could not cancel, but if I had upgraded through the website then they could cancel it! What a load of rubbish! I've spoken to Customer Services and Accounts and sent a letter to cancel this, and the only response I received was an email saying, and very badly written with no contact name:

 

"Thank you for your letter received 3rd March 2009

 

I can confirm there will be no refund on this upgrade has the upgrade systems promtley asks you to confirm the purchase.

 

please do not reply to this email. to contact us you can visit our support site on webfusion-support.co.uk"

 

I think a monkey could write a better letter as I wasn't asking for a refund, just to cancel the invoice and keep my account as it was!

 

After speaking to customer services again, I told them that no pop up message appeared (but since the accidental upgrade, the site has been redone too!) and I was waiting for them to come back to me with an answer. That was on the 6th and as a consequence of not paying the invoice, my site has been pulled!

 

What can I do now, can I host my site elsewhere? I bought my domain from 123-reg (Webfusion's sister company, both part of the GX Network and Pipex )

Get in touch with wesh, they're a great company and will surely be able to help sort this little mess out.

 

Do you still have access to the domain, can you transfer it, or alter the dns settings? If so get a new host and transfer/point the domain to your new website.

I've had my account with Webfusion for approx 5 months, and after looking into upgrading my account to be able to use MySQL, without knowing it I accidentally upgraded to a Fusion Pro Linux! I didn't want to actually upgrade, but see the option of paying monthly instead of yearly. When I looked at their website the price was approx £87, but when I went through the process and got an invoice, it came out at £123!!

 

I was told that because I upgraded through my control panel, it was an automated invoice which they could not cancel, but if I had upgraded through the website then they could cancel it! What a load of rubbish! I've spoken to Customer Services and Accounts and sent a letter to cancel this, and the only response I received was an email saying, and very badly written with no contact name:

 

"Thank you for your letter received 3rd March 2009

 

I can confirm there will be no refund on this upgrade has the upgrade systems promtley asks you to confirm the purchase.

 

please do not reply to this email. to contact us you can visit our support site on webfusion-support.co.uk"

 

I think a monkey could write a better letter as I wasn't asking for a refund, just to cancel the invoice and keep my account as it was!

 

After speaking to customer services again, I told them that no pop up message appeared (but since the accidental upgrade, the site has been redone too!) and I was waiting for them to come back to me with an answer. That was on the 6th and as a consequence of not paying the invoice, my site has been pulled!

 

What can I do now, can I host my site elsewhere? I bought my domain from 123-reg (Webfusion's sister company, both part of the GX Network and Pipex )

 

Sounds quite typical I'm afraid.

 

You can host your site anywhere, all you need is to change the nameservers for your domain at 123-reg to your new hosts and your set.

Sounds quite typical I'm afraid.

 

You can host your site anywhere, all you need is to change the nameservers for your domain at 123-reg to your new hosts and your set.

 

Yep I've access to the domain at 123 still, so I'll most prob be setting this up elsewhere. If, as 123 and Webfusion are part of the same group, I can't transfer the domain, what then?

Yep I've access to the domain at 123 still, so I'll most prob be setting this up elsewhere. If, as 123 and Webfusion are part of the same group, I can't transfer the domain, what then?

 

Well you don't need to transfer it in order to continue using it, just change the nameservers to point to your new host.

 

That said, if you want to transfer it to a new registrar then if you have paid for it and are the registrant (owner) then they legally must transfer it once the 60 day hold period has passed (60 days from the day of registration).

 

If it's a .co.uk then it's very simple you can request they just change the TAG to your new registrar.

Well you don't need to transfer it in order to continue using it, just change the nameservers to point to your new host.

 

That said, if you want to transfer it to a new registrar then if you have paid for it and are the registrant (owner) then they legally must transfer it once the 60 day hold period has passed (60 days from the day of registration).

 

If it's a .co.uk then it's very simple you can request they just change the TAG to your new registrar.

 

Thanks Tim, I'll be on to this first thing in the morning to sort it out as I need space to upload my customers sites at least, and will be needing a host that can supply me with CMS (Joomla for example)

I know most hosts include fantastico deluxe as well which provides a one click install of Joomla and a few other CMS's.

I know most hosts include fantastico deluxe as well which provides a one click install of Joomla and a few other CMS's.

 

Even better, i'll be on the look out for one of those hosts!

well got no where with Webfusion. They say that they can't downgrade my account and the only way to sort it is to buy another Starter account and they will give the difference on the invoice sent to settle that!

 

tbh I don't want to stay with them so I've just signed up to Wesh UK after speaking to them and getting some very clear and helpful information and looking forward to using their services and support.

"Thank you for your letter received 3rd March 2009

 

I can confirm there will be no refund on this upgrade has the upgrade systems promtley asks you to confirm the purchase.

 

please do not reply to this email. to contact us you can visit our support site on webfusion-support.co.uk"

 

I think a monkey could write a better letter as I wasn't asking for a refund, just to cancel the invoice and keep my account as it was!

 

That is truly an appalling email - it shows such dismal initiative and word skills - maybe it was a Monkey? Between feeding the fella bananas, they could at least train him up on using a spell checker. One of my pet hates is badly written emails - and my Staff know it.

 

That's the problem with trying to compete with this mass-market, commodity hosting businesses like Web Fusion, 1&1, Fasthosts, Streamline - yep i know the last three are all the same firm. All they're interested in is land-grab. Get as many people to sign up at whatever cost, in the hope that X% renew and they can then turn a later profit. The actual margins on the plans are so low that they really cannot afford to pay for decent staff or train them and rely on people calling their paid-for support lines to turn any sort of profit.

 

They also lock people into over-complex transfer processes. Reckon of all the hosting companies we migrate customers from, 1&1 is the worst for this.

 

I think these web hosting firms are a rights of passage so to speak. You give them a go, realise they're really no good for hosting a business website and then look for a more suitable host when you know what you need.

 

With developments like Cloud computing, physical infrastructure will become even less important. Leaving customer service as a true indicator of what makes a good hosting business.

 

<!--End rant ;-) -->

well even more news:

I've transferred my hosting now to Wesh and more than happy with them but still getting hassle from Webfusion who have now issued a letter stating that the details have been passed onto a dept collection agency!

Called again and been told that to cancel the account I have to be issued a cancellation notice to print off and return, when I could've been told this when I first wanted to cancel the account in February!!

These large companies really get on my tits, they don't deserve any custom whatsoever.

I've registered my domain with Fasthosts but I think i'm going to have to give Wesh a try for the hosting, since Bocaj recommends them.

These large companies really get on my tits, they don't deserve any custom whatsoever.

I've registered my domain with Fasthosts but I think i'm going to have to give Wesh a try for the hosting, since Bocaj recommends them.

 

I to would recommend Wesh, great service.

 

Oh and to follow up on the problems with Webfusion, I eventually, after a lot of stress, got them to cancel the agreement after checking the small print on their website and finding out in the terms:

 

"12.4 Clients that have purchased the Services as Consumers have the right to cancel the Agreement within 7 days at no additional cost from either ( a ) the date the contract is formed; or ( b ) the date that the Client receives confirmation that the contract is formed from Webfusion or whichever is the later. For the purposes of this clause, the date the contract is formed shall be the date that the Client presses the "Order" button thereby granting consent that the Service commences."

 

I found out that all businesses have to go by these terms if they are trading online, and it even states this under the Trading Standards, so they had no leg to stand on!

Jolly good, throw that at the arseholes, see how they like it