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state
relax, it's only pandemonium
Premium,Mod
join:2002-02-08
Hampton, VA
clubs: 
 ·1and1
·personalsites.org
 ·Cox HSI
Host:
Webhosting
Sonic.net
UK Broadband
Washington DC/Balt..
UK Chat
|  My experience with personalsites.org -- STAY AWAY
First off, a link to the host: »personalsites.org/
And more importantly, my review: »Review of personalsites.org by state
I began hosting with an outfit by the name of personalsites.org a few years back. Things were good, server was fast and everyone was happy. The package I selected was the “reseller standard” which was about $29.00/month (when paid in full for a year it was about $300 dollars in all). I didn’t jump to this decision to pay in full, it was after some time and positive experiences.
I had no complaints, no gripes until November 11th 2005 when the server that my sites were hosted on went down unexpectedly. This outage lasted five days and was (rightfully) blamed on an outage at the Sagonet datacenter. After I was sure that all my data had been restored and I had copies of all the databases on that box I went shopping for a new host. Two days later on November 18th 2005 I cancelled my account.
Out of sight, out of mind I suppose. I had completely forgotten about the refund of a little over $150 that was owed. On April 15th I received an automated invoice from personalsites.org. I emailed Adam Stewart, the sole proprietor of that outfit and received this reply:
said by Adam Stewart or Personalsites.org :
I don't show any cancellation on file for your account. Do you have a ticket number for the cancellation? I replied with the ticket number and a mailing address for the check to be sent to on April 20th 2006.
May 5th 2006 I email Adam Stewart for an update with no response.
May 9th 2006 I email Adam Stewart again for an update with still no response.
May 12th 2006, yet another email message that has gone unanswered. Phone messages were not returned either..
On June 23rd I received an invoice from personalsites.org for $299.50 for my next year of service. Needless to say I was livid. I opened a new ticket and received this message:
said by Adam Stewart :
The invoice has been cancelled. I apologize for the troubles with that.
I do show that a check for the refund due was mailed to (my address), which is the address we have on file for you. Have you not received it? No, I did not…
said by Adam Stewart :
It looks like it was mailed out on May 18th, 2006. If you haven't received it by now, then you most likely will not. We can send another one 60 days from May 18th (which is when that check expires). Alright, I can play along. I think you should have cancelled the check and sent a new one immediately, but I’ll wait patiently for the time to expire.
It did.
On July 19th 2006 I emailed Adam Stewart of personalsites.org again stating that the 60-days had passed and asked him to send the check. No response.
August 12th 2006 a follow-up email was sent, no reply. No check. Same day I sent an email to the alternate contact (personalsites@gmail.com) and sent a message to them via Google Talk (while he was online) with no response.
I decided to post my question about how to contact him in their support forums in a thread simply entitled Where is Adam which was left over from the last time he disappeared only to see a day later that my posting title had been changed to “Non PS.org Member” and my access to post in those forums was revoked. This of course means that he saw my post and decided to silence me there to avoid further questions or detract future suckers.
So, that’s where I stand today. If anyone has any suggestions on how to squeeze money out of a non-responsive host please chime in. The lack of response from this guy amazes me. At this point it's not really about the money, it's the principle of the thing (although $150 isn't something to just forget).
I would like to officially nominate this host for »Webhosting FAQ »Hosting hall of shame | |
removed
I'm the bobblehead
Premium,VIP
join:2002-02-08
Houston, TX
clubs:
| Although there are 3 sides to each story, what you've posted seems shameful. Have you considered filing against them in small claims court, or filing a complaint with BBB?
If word gets out about personalsites.org's shady management, the owner may think more before giving people the runaround like this.
--
irc.removed.us - #dslr | DSLR Phishtracker | Morning Glory Comics | Email: removed@dslr.net | Phone: 718-606-4100 | |
twizlar
I dont think so.
Premium
join:2003-12-24
Brantford, ON
·Mountain Cable
 ·TekSavvy Solutions..
| reply to state
Especially since these reports show up in google.
»www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=per···ch&meta=
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AMD Athlon64 4000+ @ 2723mhz - mountaincable.net wireless Intarweb |Ipods SUCK | |
state
relax, it's only pandemonium
Premium,Mod
join:2002-02-08
Hampton, VA
clubs:
·1and1
·personalsites.org
·Cox HSI
Host:
Webhosting
Sonic.net
UK Broadband
Washington DC/Balt..
UK Chat
| reply to state
Just a quick update.
Over the last two days I've left about five voicemail messages on the support line (1-814-248-3609) and sent several emails to service@personalsitessupport.org which in turn generated a few new service tickets that went unanswered.
The only IM chat client that I have is Google Talk, each attempt to contact him when he was listed as "online" resulted in...well...nothing. Shortly after that, he was listed as away.
I used the contact information on his personal website to email him (adam@youreverydayadam.net) and called his personal number (814-248-3071), courtesy of his online resume.
I don't have any plans to stop making calls anytime soon, I'm sure that my emails are going into the trash and my voicemails are being deleted as soon as they're received.
I've included the email addresses and phone numbers in the event that he deletes them from his site(s) so that if others experiencing similar problems wander in from a google search they don't have to do any legwork for contact information. | |
state
relax, it's only pandemonium
Premium,Mod
join:2002-02-08
Hampton, VA
clubs:
·1and1
·personalsites.org
·Cox HSI
Host:
Webhosting
Sonic.net
UK Broadband
Washington DC/Balt..
UK Chat
| reply to state
Progress has been made!
I found that Adam was a member of the WHT forums and posted there also ( Problems with a webhost - personalsites.org ).
Relevant text:
said by state  :Yesterday (Friday) at 4pm I got this email message from Adam: I too have been trying to reach you for your refund. Unfortunately, I am traveling at the moment and can't answer my phone. Anyway, do you have a paypal address I can just send the monies owed to you? I think this will be simplest considering the trouble we've had in getting you a check.I'm not sure how he's been trying to reach me, In all my emails and dozens of voicemails I have left two email addresses and my cellphone number. No missed calls, no emails. I replied back at 5:24pm with a paypal address that he can refund my money to. Since then I have not recieved any email or phone response. No transfer of funds. In that timeframe he did find the time (at 9:51pm) to post some deals on this forum, but not respond to me: » www.webhostingtalk.com/showthrea···nalsites said by state :Well, I spoke with the bank today and as I suspected too much time has passed for a charge-back. Their policy is 60 days, and at that time I was still an active customer and had no idea I'd be in this situation. My campaign of voicemails, emails and tickets continued today. Now that I have a couple of posts behind me I have also used this site's PM and email features to send him a message asking for a response and linking to this thread.  I'm happy to report that a refund was made this evening via paypal.
The explanation given by Adam in an email message tonight was that he was on travel for the last week or so due to a death in the family (great grandfather) and has had limited access to the internet.
Several things about that statement strike me as a simple excuse:
•This has been going on longer than a week or so
•Had the time to ban me from his forums
•Had the time to post his latest hosting deals Friday evening
•Had the time to login to the WHT forums this morning around 0030hrs
•Had the time to change his personal voicemail message before this afternoon -- which means that he had the ability to listen to his messages....he could have dropped me a line or sent an email to let me know what the deal was.
At any rate, draw your own conclusions. I'm glad this is over with and that the money has been transferred. A little persistence goes a long way. | |
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