Webhostingboy.com Anyone Else got screwed?

Shadowess · #1 (**permalink**) 05-10-2004, 02:01 AM

Hiya!
I'm new to this forum *waves hello*

Anyways, I signed up for a year with Webhostingboy.com (part of the Matrix-Studios company)
I was with them for 2 months and suddenly they went out of business, with no warning.
They then told all their customers that if they wanted to retrieve lost data to call the server the company was with. So I called the server and the man on the phone told me that they had nothing to do with retrieving lost data and that I would have to ask my host if they had a backup.
So I asked webhostingboy.com if they had backups, and they didn't. So I lost all my backups, now I've learned to do weekly backups *grumbles*

I contacted webhostingboy.com about a refund of my money and I was promised a full refund within 2 weeks. It has now been over a month and I haven't seen any money returned to me. I've sent a dozen emails and I've even tracked down their new service (webdesignboy.com) and I've sent emails to that contact email address and I haven't received any replies.

Has anyone else who was hosted with them get their money back? Or if not then did you contact them in some way to receive your refund?

Also any suggestions would be great!

I'm planning on calling the contact phone number for the new company since it's run by the same person.

Again any help would be great

fishfreek · #2 (**permalink**) 05-10-2004, 06:17 AM

Thats awful to hear. Im sorry you lost your data and its experences like this that I hear about all to often.

You could contact the BBB and file a complaint but Im not sure how much they will be able to help you given that business no longer exists.

leech · #3 (**permalink**) 06-20-2004, 12:16 AM

I'm knew here, as of now. And actually I got directed to this forum for this thread alone.

Sorry for resurecting a dead thread, I just wanted to say that you weren't alone in getting screwed. I lost all my data, and got nothing as far as a refund as well. I went further to try and get a refund actually, by PMing the president of a company that knew the guy who ran WHB personally.

He told me that he hasn't even seen him since the demise of WHB, and odds are that if you have not gotten your refund yet, you were not going to. It sucks I know, but that's the brutal truth.

From what I can tell though... Webdesignboy is dead too... meaning, there are bound to be allot of people who got screwed on a whole new level. On the bright side for you though, you lost only 1 year... I lost my money for three, and that makes me believe that no one got a refund. Two weeks was sure long enough to disappear without a trace eh?

-Leech

vickyjones · #4 (**permalink**) 07-12-2004, 01:54 PM

The reason companies don't give you your money back, even when they promised they would, is that they know that most people can't do anything about it. Who can afford to hire a lawyer for $200 an hour? I invite you to check out PrePaid Legal Services, which is to legal expenses what HMOs are to doctor expenses -- pay one low fee a month and get access to a top-rated, full-service law firm. (As low as $16 a month.)

I bought a PPL membership myself because I, too, had been screwed by a company that had promised to give me my money back and then reneged. My intention was to use the lawyer to get my money back and then cancel my membership -- you can cancel at any time -- but it's amazing all the things you can use a lawyer for when you can afford it. I get contracts reviewed, get my questions answered, get help with deadbeats who owe me money....

Sound too good to be true? It's worth looking into. Go here: http://www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/victoriajones

And good luck.

Vicky Jones

ash · #5 (**permalink**) 07-12-2004, 10:26 PM

I find Hosting companies that deal with customers like that are absolutely despicable. It gives the rest of the industry a bad name.

Jonathan VanSchaack · #6 (**permalink**) 07-13-2004, 06:04 PM

Of course they do. I would recommend that everyone does there research before ever choosing a host. "Whois" the web hosted URL, if you see that the name server is not a domain owned by them, they are most likly a reseller, Stay away since they could go out of business at anytime. Though resellers can get there own name servers so don't rely on this.

Another way is too search up popular hosting review sites, like
hostdetective.net, and others.
Read the reviews. Another great way is to look for ads on sites, like webmaster resources hosting directories, ect.. Alot of fly by night companies are people looking for a quick buck, so they would not dare to spend money on advertising.

lcrhosting · #7 (**permalink**) 07-15-2004, 11:39 AM

Another reason to not pay yearly no matter how well you knwo the host.

thebassman · #8 (**permalink**) 07-16-2004, 04:46 PM

I pay yearly... I wouldn't do it any other way... I trust my host...

Jonathan VanSchaack · #9 (**permalink**) 07-16-2004, 05:41 PM

trust is key

thechinks · #10 (**permalink**) 08-11-2004, 04:12 PM

I have webhostingboy's address, it was on his site before it went down...anyone want revenge? he lives in mountain view, ca, btw, that is near fremont/san jose/sf bay area.

Pinyo · #11 (**permalink**) 08-11-2004, 04:51 PM

Haha funny. I think Remcom gave good advice. There are so many hosting companies out there that it is hard to determine who is good and who is not.

As for the hosting review sites, some of them are only in for the affiliate or AdSense money so I would trust them much either. If you use review site, make sure that it has visitor's review (which can still be fake).

If the top 10 sites are from CJ list of web hosting, then it's a good chance the review site list them by how much he get comped and not how good the host really is.

Jonathan VanSchaack · #12 (**permalink**) 08-11-2004, 05:40 PM

When don't I give good advice

, j/k

zn3zman · #13 (**permalink**) 11-12-2004, 04:00 AM

Sorry for necro-posting.

shaikh adeel
823 San Veron Avenue
Mountain View, CA 94043
U.S.A.
Tel: 866-311-5332

I was with him for about three months before it disappeared. There are a bunch of people complaining about it. The funny thing is that this isn't the first time.

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...complex+logics

He still has his web design business up. http://www.webdesignboy.com/

Ashish · #14 (**permalink**) 11-16-2004, 08:09 PM

wow. that is bad..... unfortunately that is what happens if the web hosting you use is not reliable....... its always better to find out about them through different forums/search engines.. read up about them.. find out how long they have been around (although that is just a general observation.. a lot of new companies that have been established for less then a year are VERY good

)

the best thing could be to find ot if you can take any legal action against them.... and really do some research befroe you join another hosting provider...... set out a criteria and try to match that against the host that you chose... grade them...... some stuff you shoudl be looknig out for should be support,longevity, reputation, bandwidth, domains etc.....

unlimited/unmetered anything (domains, space etc.) is actually a pretty shady concept... its always better to find out more about these terms in relation to your hosting company..

zn3zman · #15 (**permalink**) 11-17-2004, 01:11 AM

Update: I found his PayPal email address and sent him a bill. He said he would pay me via money order. Hmm. If I don't get it that way, I'll file a complaint with PayPal.

Adeel · #16 (**permalink**) 11-30-2004, 01:23 AM

Hello,

I would just like to clear this up please.

It is not, has not been, and will never be my intention to screw anyone.

My web hosting service did go under several months back on account of some vendors, namely 2checkout.com, my third party credit card processing company at the time, who violated our agreement to settle payments every 30 days and did not settle the payments and ev1servers.net who did not cooperate and these companies don't really care about their customers, just about making new sales. I apologize that this happened, if there was anything I could do to avoid this, I would have. It was beyond my control because 2checkout.com did not settle my account with them on time and ev1servers.net just unplugged my servers at the time and were not willing to work with me. If it was not for these two vendors, there would have been no problem.

I issued FULL REFUNDS to all the clients who I had information for at the time, including all the months of hosting that they had already used. I did not want there to be any bad feelings about this. I did the best I could to serve the clients and also save our service at the time, so I issued full refunds to all the clients I had info for, that includes everything I had made from the client.

If there is anyone that I missed, I apologize; I did my best to refund all of the clients. Please contact me directly at Adeel@WebDesignBoy.com and I will do my best to resolve this matter for you and give a full refund if you haven't received one already.

And as my old clients will remember, I always did my best to make sure that you received quality service, always made sure that you were satisfied, and always did what ever I could to help out without charging extra or anything. If someone needed some extra bandwidth at the end of the month because they were about to exceed their quota, I increased their quota at no additional charge and whatever other favors the client needed, I was always flexible so naturally it hurts me to see that someone would write something like this about me that I screwed them over. Please contact me directly if there are any issues and I will work with you as always to resolve the matter.

Thank you.

With Best Regards,

Adeel Shaikh

zn3zman · #17 (**permalink**) 11-30-2004, 02:36 AM

I would like to offer my sincerest apologies to Mr. Shaikh for my prior posts if they smeared your name. That was not my intention.

Adeel · #18 (**permalink**) 11-30-2004, 05:30 AM

Hello,

No problem zn3zman. I enjoyed serving you while you a client of mine and of course it is my intention to set things right for you and any other prior client of mine. Please accept my appologies for any inconveneinces and be please rest assured that I will assist any client of mine that I may have missed and who did not receive a full refund.

Also it is a pleasure to hear from past clientele and I will be happy to assist in any way that I can.

Thank you.

With Best Regards,

Adeel Shaikh

shallowprofile · #19 (**permalink**) 12-07-2004, 08:05 AM

adeel owes me 200 usd as well... from like a year ago. paid him 200 in advance for services which he never set up at all. sent him an email lets see if he pays up like he says he will.

christa2miller · #20 (**permalink**) 05-03-2005, 04:06 PM

This message is to inform you that that yes, I got screwed too! I paid webdesignboy.com in advance for services and after 4 1/2 months they have yet to deliver. I have requested a full refund and to date have not recieved anything. They have been promising me a refund for the last 6 weeks. They took my project in January 05' and only registered a domain and created a logo not much else done.

I am very unhappy with their service, work ethic, quality of work and professionals and response time. I would not recommend their services to anyone for any reason at all. I have an attorney, have reported them to them to paypal, local police and IFCC.

I will update you once I get my money back or a response from them.