Catalog.com (my hosting provider) sucks
Well, I really regret that when I do get back to post something, it has to be another â??sucksâ? post.
Catalog.com (also known as Dallas.net and Webhero.com) really, really sucks.
I called in advance of my hosting expiration (and precisely 4 minutes after receiving my invoice) to cancel my hosting and some completely bum-fucked charge they call a â??hosting clubâ? (I call it a completely random line item to take $40 more out of your pocket)
Why did I want to cancel my service even before they screwed me out of $130?
- Their servers are slow
- Their servers have been down 3 times in the last month alone
- Calling support is an absolute minimum 30 minute wait
- Calling support, once you DO get through, is an exercise in frustration
- Security breaches have put user accounts (although not billing information) at risk
So, with that thought in mind, I called to cancel my service.
â??We’ve already billed you. No refunds.â?
Wait, I just got the invoice 30 minutes ago, and all of that time, I’ve been on hold.
â??That wasn’t an invoice, that was a receipt.â?
Then why is it (and I copy and paste, to eliminate the possibilities of typos) SUBJECT: â??CATALOG.COM, Inc. Invoiceâ? and shows an outstanding balance?
â??Uh…. that’s a good question. I can’t help you with that.â?
Exactly what CAN you help me with? Let me talk to someone who CAN help me.
â??There is no escalation procedure for billing inquiries.â?
What the FUCK?!?! I assume that means â??If we absolutely refuse to talk to you, eventually you will give up.â? I realize that I am only 1 of about a billion customers that they have… but:
- How can they have that many customers when their level of service is SO low… in such a competitive industry?
- The least I can do is be one very loud, very pissed off customer
Bob Crull (President, CEO, or some other self-important title of Catalog.com. He’s the guy I get a lot of rather annoying e-mail from about how their service is improving. No, Bob, it’s not.) if you are reading this, I hope you realize that I’m going to post this crap everywhere I can find a forum to accept it. It would be cheaper to give my my $130 back. I also host at least 10 client accounts with Catalog.com. Trust me, Bob… they’re moving.
Well, although I seriously doubt I will be successful (they are hiding behind some rather ridiculous Terms of Service that says they can auto-renew your account, pretty much whether or not you have authorized it… in effect â??we can charge your card whenever the hell we want toâ?), I have contested the charge with American Express already (whose service, as always, was outstanding), and have changed my billing information in Catalog’s database to something bogus, so the next time they decide to arbitrarily charge my card without my authorization, it won’t be as easy for them.
So, in the meantime, Catalog.com gets to host this page that details how much they suck, how unhappy I am, and they can host this advertisement for their competition. If you want a hosting provider with better support, cheaper prices, better product (they host Ruby on Rails, unlike Catalog), and FAR better reliability, try http://www.a2hosting.com