it is that simple – they are the bermuda triangle of customer care – they have no intention of providing a refund and it is unethical of them to offer one given their actual system of organization

1 hour into a two year agreement I sent in my request for a refund. It disappeared into their support system and I have to suggest that that was no accident. There is no ‘billing@thinkhost.com’ email and this is where I was told by their customer care rep to up level my request for a refund.

thinkhost is a PONZI scheme and it is that simple

Did you ever get your money back, either from thinkhost or your credit card company? Did you ever file a BBB or legal complaint of some form?

Like most people I signed up my client with thinkhost because I valued their socially-conscious low carbon footprint web hosting. If I had known the problems that would ensue, I never would have paid them any money. My story is really quite simple. Due to some technical issue, I never received a welcome email detailing how I could access the control panel, and Dns transfer fields, etc. I sent them a support ticket, which was my first clue that trouble was brewing. At that time I also noticed a small message saying “sorry for the technical problems while we migrate our servers.” (yikes, if I’d only seen that before!) Also, a comment on support-ticket systems; when a company does not provide any email or phone contact information, it is usually because they want a barrier between them and their customers behind which to hide. I’m not kidding about this, I recommend you Never do business with a company that uses only support-ticket systems for technical support. Anyway, I explained that my client couldn’t wait for them to sort out their problems, and wanted to cancel the account. This was completely in accordance with their advertised money-back guarantee. After filling out the necessary online forms, I received an email saying that my account had been cancelled, sorry to see me go, etc. I could feel that something was wrong, so I kept track of my credit card statement online, and what do you know? They had cancelled my account without refunding my credit card. Keep in mind, I had never used their service for even a second, had quickly followed up in asking for a refund, had been polite, etc, etc. All this is moot anyway because they advertise a money-back guarantee. So again I sent another support-ticket, asking, quite assertively, for my credit card to be refunded. The email I received was the most bullying legalese I have ever experienced. They claimed that by paying them I had agreed to their contract (true), and that they would not refund my money at all. However the contract I had agreed to also stated a money-back guarantee. If you’ve ever been ripped off by a company like this before, you know the feeling. It’s tantamount to be robbed on the street. You feel powerless and angry. This is how I feel now. Why would you want to risk doing business with this company? Why will they treat you any differently? A company which creates conflicting policies offering money-back guarantees in one paragraph and reserving the right to reject claims in another, is not a company dedicated to customer service, or social change.

I’m certainly willing to let people see the negative comments, as I’ve obviously allowed them to be here. But what I’d love to hear is instead of just “xyz webhost sucks” is “use abc webhost instead”. What’s your alternative choice for a green host? Found one you like better? Share it with us.

So far in Part 1 of 4 on the blog, I grouped the ones we found into two categories: Those that generate their own energy from a renewable source (mostly solar panels) and those that purchase renewable energy credits.

Part 2 of 4 provides the detailed specs of each of the providers we looked at, including price, storage, bandwidth and other features, in order from least to most expensive.

Part 3 of 4 (scheduled for Sun 7/6) lists just those from among the larger list that have affiliate programs, with info on each of the affiliate programs’ commissions.

Part 4 of 4 (next week) will go into detail on why we selected HostPapa as our hosting provider.

I can tell you that we have had our service with HostPapa for about 3 weeks and so far are very happy. We found them on several websites’ Top 10 lists (that listed both conventional and green options) and that, in particular, we really liked their reviews for uptime. Our Joomla-based site also loads much faster than it did on GoDaddy (our previous host).

Does that help for now? (and you can check the blog for more details next Sunday) *wink*
-Nikkole

I am sharing the info we found and my experiences on my blog. After having put a lot of time into it, I decided it was wasted time if I didn’t share that experience with others and save them their time (sort of contributing to the collective community of those who are trying to lighten their step on the planet).