I gave up on Hostgator a while ago, and I thought I’d cancelled my account until I noticed they were still charging me monthly (yeah, I should pay more attention to what’s on my CC bill). When I contacted them about it they claimed I never fully cancelled. Here’s a copy of the form I submitted:
HGSales #GSW-[[private]] October 3, 2005 8:10:40 PM EDT Subject: CANCELLATION Department: Hostgator Sales Request Details: Your Email: : [[private]] Domain name: : MaisonBisson.com Your sites username: : [[private]] Your sites password: : [[private]] Why do you wish to cancel? : Poor service. Do you give us permission to terminate your entire account as soon as you submit this form? : Yes
Hostgator’s complaint was that they then responded to that with an email asking me to confirm that I wanted to close the account. Here’s the text of that message:
Greetings. Was there anything we could assist you with to maintain your account today?
I ignored the message, as everybody involved knew there was nothing at that point they could do to keep my business. What I didn’t realize was that they were going to hold this over me a few months later when I realized they were still charging me the monthly hosting fees — even though I had checked the box clearly labeled “terminate [my] entire account!”
After being rebuffed by Hostgator, I contacted the Southeast Florida Better Business Bureau about the matter. I’m not exactly sure how these things work, but once the BBB interceded, Hostgator claimed they’d refund the hosting fees (though I have yet to see the refund).
Thing is, based on the comments I get on the original story, and the stuff I just read at Hostgator-sucks.com, I’m not the only one who feels screwed by Hostgator. And instead of fixing their hosting problems and shaping up their shady customer service, they’re trying to C&D the hostgator-sucks.com site.
