Beware of ServersINseconds (web hosting company) - if you accepted their offer, you should check your bank balance

phobaphobic on 07/11/2013 - 14:03

They appear to either be scammers, or just really really disorganised.

I went with their special introductory offer last year from their post on OzBargain, and it served me well, but after a year I no longer needed hosting, so I let it lapse. This was permitted by the offer, and by the terms and conditions of the site, and seemed to be confirmed by the suspension of automatic payments from my Paypal account (which I didn't even know about)

Is my hosting acount renewed at the end of the year automatically?
No. Because we use an established third-party payment processing company, we don't even have your credit card details on record.

Anyway, skip ahead a month, and all of a sudden my card is being declined. I look at my bank account, and PayPal has taken out an odd sum of $61. Investigating further, it seems that ServersINSeconds had re-enabled this phantom recurring payment, and was now charging me $61.

I wanted to log onto the site, but I had forgotten my password, since I hadn't logged on for a year. I clicked 'forgotten password', it sent me an email, I followed the link …and… nothing. no email with new password sent.

So I sent them a ticket and "Brad" informed me in an email a day later that they had

escalated your issue to the sales management department. You will be updated soon. Please hold on.

Holding on for a week, no answer, all posts on their Facebook page are being ignored.

I am disputing the transaction with Paypal, and if that falls through I am going to contact the ACCC and the Ombudsman.

Since I can no longer access my account, the $61 will be recurring every year. Nice.

Internet

Related Stores

ServersINseconds
ServersINseconds

Comments

  • yk300 on 07/11/2013 - 14:14

    I got onboard with the introductory offer as well. You can disable the payment from your paypal account; it is just a pre-approved payment.

    I was expecting more in terms of service and support from serversinseconds. I will be bringing my business somewhere else in the future.

    • Store RepServersINseconds @ ServersINseconds on 24/02/2014 - 16:34

      Hi yhakong. As you say, it's a subscription. The deal was $0.50 for the first full year, then $48 ($4/m) after that.

      Good luck with your new host.

      Matt Goodwin
      ServersINseconds

  • phobaphobic on 07/11/2013 - 14:37

    My point is there shouldn't have been a pre-approved payment - and the payment was cancelled by ServersINseconds, and then mysteriously re-enabled.

    The fact that they aren't answering and haven't answered any correspondence for a week makes the whole think look pretty dodgy.

    • Store RepServersINseconds @ ServersINseconds on 24/02/2014 - 16:37

      Hi phobaphonic.

      We use PayPal, like a lot of hosts. Once a subscription has been cancelled, there's no way to enable it again - you need to create a whole new subscription.

      It was just minutes ago I was directed to this thread. Our phone number, and emails are always there for you, and we check Facebook and Twitter occasionally should something unusual happen like you getting locked out by a firewall.

      Matt Goodwin
      ServersINseconds

  • scotty on 07/11/2013 - 16:29
    +2

    I thought that's just how PayPal subscription works? Anyway work hosting companies, to cancel an account you should always

    1. Go into their control panel to request cancellation.
    2. If using PayPal, make sure subscriptions are cancelled as well.

    Can't just assume that the service will expire automatically.

    • Store RepServersINseconds @ ServersINseconds on 24/02/2014 - 16:40

      Hi Scotty.

      That's how our, and many other subscriptions work.

      The customer needs to cancel their subscription, they can't just forget they're using resources on a business' server, and we'd be crucified if we took a site down because we thought they weren't using it.

      Matt Goodwin
      ServersINseconds

  • goosegog on 07/11/2013 - 20:36

    Can understand that you have done this through Paypal - but must have gone through your credit card ? You won't get anywhere with Paypal after 45 days of transaction. Refer back to your credit card ( hopefully)who will then take it up as a fraud case - reimburse you during their investigations & inform on the outcome. Meanwhile CANCEL any payments to this account!! VERY IMPORTANT. Good luck & keep all of us informed of the outcome. Do not give up!

  • Moots on 08/11/2013 - 15:18
    Important Update

    I can now announce that ServersInSeconds has been hacked. Check your websites, servers, and make sure everything is normal. I have a simple site hosted (I MUST STRESS, THIS IS NOT USB On-The-Go Australia as it runs off a completely different server, Bluehost.com) and the site is completely hacked with messages.

    This is the 2nd time SIS has been hacked, I just parked that domain, it doesn't have any other information on that particular server but it's been hacked.

    • scotty on 08/11/2013 - 15:37

      Got any link to confirm the hack? For reference here are some links when they were first hacked:

      • scotty on 08/11/2013 - 16:34

        Thanks. I've unpublished your comment as requested. You can use ViewDNS.info and see that there are around 226 domains hosted on that server (not even including yours). I've manually checked some of the domains — some were indeed hacked by an Indonesian group. Deface HTML was created on the server on 27 Oct. Interesting…

        • Blockey on 12/11/2013 - 08:56

          SiS just don't seem to have their sites under control. I know they are cheap but you get what you pay for.

          Thankfully it only looks like defacing and not something more malicious, though we don't know about their backend…

        • subywagon on 03/12/2013 - 21:19

          Yeah both my sites were hacked by them on SIS servers. They uploaded their own favicon, index page saying You were hacked by Indonesian Cyber Army and to upgrade your security along with some crap music…

          I assumed it was because I had no security plug-ins installed on my Wordpress site, but my html site got hacked too…

          I was told by SIS to check my own security settings and given a whole lot of links etc to educate me… Then a day or two later I had an email from Matt (the manager) stating that they had a back up of my site if I wanted them to restore it; I had already repaired the site by then with my own back up though…

    • Store RepServersINseconds @ ServersINseconds on 24/02/2014 - 16:47

      We were originally attacked by a group that did a check for all domains on the server, then systematically searched for Wordpress sites, and exploited them if they were out of date.

      The list of domains was then posted on a beginner hacking forum, and received more attacks.

      We've since migrated most of the sites off that server, to one behind CloudFlare, DDOS protection, a Juniper firewall, and CloudLinux.

      While I acknowledge this has been a pain, clients are now receiving a massively boosted hosting environment, and in some cases paid just $0.50 for the full year.

      We offer a heap for the price we do, and although not perfect, I would have thought we deserved more slack than we get on OzBargain.

      Matt Goodwin
      ServersINseconds

  • yk300 on 08/11/2013 - 19:59

    wow… that is news… my website is fine, although there's nothing much onto it. will definitely change hosting now.

  • subywagon on 03/12/2013 - 21:28

    I'm not sure what is going on over there at SIS, but I used to get great service from them, fast responses even to my must be frustrating n00b questions, but now I'm waiting for a few days straight to hear back regarding a simple question. Meanwhile my client is waiting on me, so it's making me look bad. So much for "a sub-one hour guaranteed response time."

  • scotty on 03/12/2013 - 23:00

    Between September 2012 and July 2013 they posted 27 deals on OzBargain — yeah a bit excessive for a hosting company. Then they disappeared — rep hasn't posted an offer over the last 5 months. Just think it's a bit suss with all these sales to drum up number of subscribers. Matt sold ServerGrade back in 2010. Maybe he is trying to replicate it again with SiS?

    • Store RepServersINseconds @ ServersINseconds on 24/02/2014 - 16:51

      Thanks for your input scotty, but now I've been directed here.

      I never did check the forums.

      Like ServerGrade (which I ran for 10 years), ServersINseconds is a long term business.

      Matt Goodwin
      ServersINseconds

  • kenmizuki on 13/03/2014 - 03:02

    same situation on me..

    received a email from Paypal.

    "You sent an automatic payment of $48.00 AUD‏"

    I have used Paypal for 6 years, didn't know what's subscription.

    lost $48AUD, I think that's why it was 0.50AUD for one year

    Beware guys, cancel your subscription

    I use Crazy Domains as well, but they dont set up a subscription.
    I agree it's a scammer

  • doctorwatson on 26/03/2014 - 18:33

    Same thing happened to me, I got charged $48 from paypal, contacted serversinseconds for refund as i didnt even use their service. Its more than three weeks and still no refunds.I opened a case in paypal.

    • kenmizuki on 01/04/2014 - 00:43

      another victim

  • subywagon on 21/04/2014 - 20:28

    Be careful guys, everyone that signed up for the Network Solutions 50c deal better check their Paypal subscription payments. I just had one go through automatically 2 months before it was due! $42 for a years .com domain registration (NO HOSTING!) sucks….

  • krunchymoses on 18/12/2014 - 23:45

    This guy is still operating and just deleted our website because we missed a payment ($14 last year - somehow got past the AUTOMATIC PAYPAL!) and instead of emailing, calling or texting, he just deleted the account. Deleted the webpage. Should sue for damages, really, but this scumbag knows that nobody has time for that. Christmas time too. Amazing. He should be banned.

    • Store RepServersINseconds @ ServersINseconds on 19/12/2014 - 00:43

      You didn't miss one payment, you didn't pay for 18 months! Don't let that stop you ranting though.

      • krunchymoses on 23/12/2014 - 10:15

        Where was the polite request for a tiny sum of money before shutting down the page. If you think that grown adults are actually evading $4 bills (or $14 with late fees, who really cares at this point) on their web hosting then you really do have issues of paranoid delusions.

        Just as a thing for next time, when a customer misses a payment, send them a friendly reminder. Don't wait 18 months and then terminate their account.

        PRO TIP - ESPECIALLY DON'T DO IT IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOU HAVE HAD FIVE DAYS DOWNTIME AND BROKEN YOUR SLA APART.

        Seriously, just avoid this mob. Please. For your own sanity.

  • krunchymoses on 23/12/2014 - 10:17

    I would pretty much suggest that Servers in Seconds be banned from OzBargain. This is where I found them and I seriously wish I just went with crazy domains from the start, what a shyster! http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2295300

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join