WebHostingPad SCAM

After I wrote my WebHostingPad review, I received many feedback from my visitors. While the reason I don't recommend them is because I don't think they are able to provide good service at $1.99/month, my visitors are telling me that they are actually a SCAM host!

This is a serious issue because we are not talking about poor customer support or poor server quality. We are talking about WebHostingPad keep charging the customer credit card even they have canceled their account. We are talking about WebHostingPad not honoring their money back guarantee. We are talking about MONEY being cheated. The worst web host we can have is a dishonest web host that want to steal our money.

Here is the email from Terry.

Beware of Web Hosting Pad. I signed up for their service because of the price and the promises that they make. Boy was that a huge mistake. So I ask for a refund per there policy in 3 days and was told in the email below that it was cancelled as well as refunded. Well its been 9 days and no refund. I disputed the charge with the Credit card company and then called them. Andrew told me that since I filed a dispute with the credit card company he was not going to issue a refund. The Credit Card company in turn told me that they would take care of it.

I am also filing a complaint with the BBB as well as the Attorney General. Until this all goes thru I just wanted to warn anyone who may be thinking about doing business to beware.

Here is a copy of the credit which they never gave!!!

Hello,

This is to inform you that your account has been canceled and that you have been issued a full refund. Please allow up to 5 business days for the refund to appear on your credit card account.

Andrew
Technical Support / Billing Manager
www.webhostingpad.com

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: WUG-693508
Department: Cancellation
Priority: High

WebHostingPad Money Scamming Tricks

 "Free" Add-ons And Trials That Will Be Billed

When you sign up, they will provide you free add-ons and trials for 30 days. These add-ons include something like spam filtering, advanced web stat, premium backup service, directory listing, SSH, etc.

But they make it difficult (or impossible) for you to cancel them so they can bill you after 30 days (for 1 whole year of service!). Many customers have canceled the "free" trial but WebHostingPad still charge them later.

Here is a reply from WebHostingPad when a customer asked for an explanation after he has canceled the free trials.

These were addon services that you checked at signup. They were free for the first 30 days and then you were to be billed if you didn't cancel the services.

Unfortunately there are no refunds on this addon packages, I can only cancel renewal for next year. If you would like us to cancel these packages please get back to us.

Please refer to our terms of service here : http://www.webhostingpad.com/billing_policy.html

Add-on Features and Services

The business directory listing is free for the first 30 days. After that, it is $12.00/year billed to your account unless canceled during the free trial period.

Advanced spam filtering and advanced website stat tracking are free for the first 30 days. After that, they are $12.00/year each billed to your account unless canceled during the free trial period.

Preferred restore service: All backup restrictions terms and conditions still apply. 30 minute restore guarantee applies to starting the backup restore. Actual time needed to complete restore will depend on size and content of the backup.

All Add-ons are non refundable once the 30 day free trial period has elapsed.

Alex
Technical Support
www.webhostingpad.com
877-998-4678

Hidden Refund Charges

Their full money back guarantee is not full because they will charge you $25 to process your refund! So once you pay them and ask for a refund, they will deduct $25 from you!

What I don't understand is the hidden costs of the refund. They said I'd have to pay for the domain. So since I paid $61.59 and the domain costs $14.59$, I would have gotten a $47 refund, I thought.

Now they also state that there's a $25 charged for refunds, whether checks or credit cards were used and that it will take 7-10 days to complete a cancellation, while the purchase and set up took less than 1 day.

Suspend Your Account After 30 Days

Since money back guarantee last for 30 days, there are incidents where customer account are suspended after 30 days by accusing the customer of violation of their terms and conditions (usually using too many resources, ahem, "unlimited" hosting?). Since they intentionally do it after 30 days, there will be no refund.

Worst still, they will not notify you after they suspend your account and you will have to find it out yourself!

Charge Your Credit Card Again Even After You Have Canceled!

Shawn wrote me an email.

Webhostingpad.com is the worst web host scam in the world� Two years ago, I made the mistake of signing up for two years of hosting through Webhostingpad.com. Three months later, I cancelled my account (lost all of my money I paid for two years)� and I went to a much better web host.

Then, I just discovered Webhostingpad.com illegally billed my credit card again for another two years without my permission! I emailed Webhostingpad.com about this, and they responded in their typical fashion- rude and ugly. I reported this fraud to my credit card company and had the charge removed. I have filed a complaint with the IC3 and the FBI. I also filed a report with the Secret Service, and am working on a report with the Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau.

Better Business Bureau Rate Them 'F'!

There are 79 complaints filed towards them and 27 of them are related to billing, 3 related to contract and 14 regarding refunds. That means half of the issues are regarding to money scams.

A grade of "F" is awarded to them on the scale of A+ to F (the lowest grade!).

Stick With Reputable Hosts!

I can forgive a web host with poor customer support. I can forgive a web host with slow server. But I cannot forgive a web host that is cheating our money. Stay away from them! Stick with the best web hosts, especially Blue Host and Host Gator. If you have some scary story to share, leave me a comment below.