Robbing Your Customers?
By Amy Armitage
Dreamhost has had a billing glitch and has billed hundreds of customers for as much as 2 years in advance, with debits/charges up to $9000 in some cases.
Last year DreamHost wrote this post on their blog:
It’s something we like to do every day!
Yep, the secret to our crazy low prices and amazing ferraris, finally revealed:
We take your billing address and go to your homes at night to steal your jewelry, plasma TVs, and all valuable toiletries!
Not to mention all the credit card numbers we get fund our wild vegas benders (roulette is a great way to launder money) and illicit basketball leagues!
(Damn PayPal and Google Checkout, not sharing the credit card info with us!)
Yeah, overall it’s a pretty sweet scheme we’ve had these past 10 years; and now that we’ve gone into hiding you’ll never catch us, coppers!
–
WOW …. /shakes head @ DreamHost
At the time, we remained silent and didn’t play their sleazy games, yet today on Digg we heard about their latest fiasco…
For all DH webmasters looking for an escape, Lunarpages has created a coupon code just for you! Use code DHRefugees to receive $40 off hosting with Lunarpages and we will also buy out the remainder of your contract with DreamHost! (Up to 9 months!) If you have several months left on your contract with DH, sign up for Lunarpages and email us your billing receipt (not the triple billing ones.. lol) and we will add that extra time to your account with us!
A Renown Web Development Technician and Software Development Lead (who has never worked for Dreamhost – then again, who would??) told me that this kind of “glitch” could have a drastic effect on Dreamhost customers for the next several YEARS. He basically told me, “It’s not something that can be fixed overnight, as it’s a complicated system error – if their technicians made the mistake of pushing this change live without waiting to check a simple date stamp, then there’s most likely other glitches that are going unnoticed.” He told me to let everyone know to beware of false status messages stating things are OK, because this isn’t the kind of thing that can be fixed within a few hours – he said he wouldn’t be surprised if their systems crashed due to some of the fatal errors in their portal infrastructure, so if you’re still uploading files to Dreamhost, I’d be very careful they’re not sensitive client information or any files you want to actually keep!!
Wanna play ball now DH? ;)
January 15th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Lunarpages thank you! I will be taking you up on this kick @ss offer!
January 15th, 2008 at 11:21 am
I’m an EX DH customer. They are unprofessional young boys who run a stupid blog and only seem to focus on entertaining themselves, the latest new stuff they have purchased and their image. I’ll never go back. Thanks LP for giving us a new home. Plus you offer a LOT more than DH and you have phone support!
January 15th, 2008 at 11:21 am
[...] Robbing Your Customers? By Amy Armitage Dreamhost has had a billing glitch and has billed hundreds of customers for as much as 2 years in advance, with debits/charges up to $400 in some cases. Last year DreamHost wrote this post on their blog: It’s something we like to do every day! Yep, the secret to our crazy low prices and amazing ferraris, […] [...]
January 15th, 2008 at 11:22 am
I knew there was a reason I left that place for good. I have been with Lunarpages for a few months now and I can tell you it is like going from a trailer park to a mansion!
January 15th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Some DH customers were charged up to $9000!!! There is NO excuse for this. I’m coming home Lunarpages :D
January 15th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Actually I was contacted today by a DH customer who has written confirmation their account was canceled and their card was charged overnight.. not cool
January 15th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Yeah. Time to move from JerkHost over to Lunarpages. You guys have a sweet offer and I’m so excited to start over with someone who actually cares!!!
As soon as I get this $500 charge off my friggin credit card (PLUS the multiple overdraft charges that I’m sure Dreamhost isn’t going to pay), I’ll be coming over.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:35 am
I’m glad I left this unprofessional company before this happened… With all the constant downtime they have, I’m glad I left. The last straw for me was when they had deleted all the DNS zones for my sites as well as thousands of other customers. Thanks LP for posting this, so that everyone else can see them for what they are! A very unprofessional and slacker ran hosting company.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Last month when Dreamhost had all their DNS issues (and were blaming customers apparently until they realized it was their own damn fault) I didn’t fault them. A year earlier when they “accidentally” deleted several files in my sites I let it slide. They’re nice guys I thought – what’s the harm??
Now I get it – they’re just idiots who are trying to run a hosting company. Thanks guys – I really love the MULTIPLE $150 charges on my bill. It was a real treat to wake up to that this morning.
At least this story has a happy ending – thanks Lunar! I’m moving my files over today…as soon as Dreamhost lets me login to my control panel anyway. :(
January 15th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Oh gosh thank you SO SO SO much Lunarpages!!! You have no idea how much this helps!!
January 15th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Thanks Lunarpages! I am now going to be moving all of my sites to you because of this….!!!!!!
January 15th, 2008 at 11:51 am
They got me 4 times for over $500. Now I can’t pay my rent. I can’t get hold of them on the phone because they have NO PHONES. How can an established so called “progressive” company not offer phone support and make such an abysmal mistake like this???? LP you’ve got me, just as soon as I get a refund.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:56 am
DreamHost excessively billed my credit card and now I’m going to have to call them to dispute and explain the charges. Way to go me on wasting a whole work day for this.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
thank god I left when our accounts were hacked… too bad im already with you or else id use this coupon. wait, can you apply it to my account anyway? :P
January 15th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
From DreamHost’s blog in their own words:
“If your next web hosting bill from us is mysteriously tripled, now you know why.
.. you thought it was a joke!
Ha, the joke is on you!”
Their flippant, uncaring attitude is what irks me most and the sole reason I’m leaving and coming to you guys. I really appreciate your down to earth, kind personal and techs. I just called LP and they’ve been very helpful.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I was looking for a new host after I heard this happened today. Awesome deal and I’m going with you guys!
January 15th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
[...] was just alerted to this post over at the Lunarpages Blog, regarding Dreamhost’s blatant attempts to charge thousands of their customers with renewal [...]
January 15th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
[...] LunarPages have stepped in with an unbelievable offer for DreamHost customers that have been affected, and [...]
January 15th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
As it is, I was tired of the downtime and now THIS?!!?!? This fiasco is ridiculous and I will be contacting the BBB about their business practices. I am now gonna use your coupon and switch my sites over. I was just looking for a really good reason and now I found it.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
cant get thru to their support, cant contact them via email, cant post on their forums – wtf is going on??? thnx Lunerpages – im excited to try ur awesome plans out w $40 coupons :D
January 15th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Happy to see Lunarpages finally standing up and fighting back against these guys. This whole mess is just horrible and on their web site they treat it like a joke? I am so mad about this all right now.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
When I read the post on the DH blog about LP a few months back, what upset me the most was the vulgar customer comments about LP staff and the fact that DH executives allowed those comments to remain on their page.
I feel bad for DH but at the same time 7.5 million in credit card charges in error cannot be forgiven. I’m not a fickle person and I consider myself very loyal however in this case when my card is now overdrawn and I cannot afford the basic things my children need I am fuming mad not only because of this ‘error’ but because of the casual and inappropriate way Josh Jones responded to his customers like it was a joke to him.
Josh, its not always hilarious and the sooner you all start acting like businessmen rather than pubescent teenagers the sooner you will have some credibility in the web hosting world.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
[...] “only” having $238 or so taken from me; there are multiple accounts of users facing upwards of $9,000 in erroneous charges, leading to overdrawn bank accounts, late mortgage payments and bounced utility checks (and the [...]
January 15th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
As far as I am concerned Dreamhost got their “just deserts” and I am just sorry to see it came to the expense of their customers. $9,000 is a lot of dough to misplace all at once. Shame on them.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
The worst part is their blog post. It’s just such a crappy thing to say “oh whoops we charged you money hahaha!”
Guess what Dreamhost, it’s NOT FUNNY. And seeing the way you treat us after a crappy deal like this is all the more reason to move to Lunarpages. STFU and grow up.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
SUMMARY OF PAYMENT
Amount: $xxxx.x
Credit card: *xxx (ex xx/xx)
Payment code: xxxxxxx
They got me for $1200
BYE DREAMHOST!!
January 15th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Actually it was 7.5 million in over bills and they are laughing about it. I agree with you Amy…
WOW
WOW
WOW
Wonder what kind of interest payments they earned on an extra 7.5 million overnight?
January 15th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
January 15th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
[...] out this blog post over at Lunarpages Web Hosting. Dreamhost basically steals their customers’ money, over $7.5 [...]
January 15th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
[...] story has already hit Digg’s front page, Blaugh made a fool out of DreamHost and Lunarpages took the opportunity to get revenge over [...]
January 15th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
[...] Lunarpages is taking advantage of the problem by offering a $40 off hosting package and they will also pay for the remainder of your contract (up to 9 months) by using the code DHRefugees. Out of 30 comments, 98-100% of them stated they were dissatisfied with their service, despite being lenient with their downtime problems, and were now looking to switch to a more professional service. [...]
January 15th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
@Ex DH Dude….
They will receive 0 interest. It takes several days for them to receive the funds from the credit card merchants.. They will have voided/credited all the charges before receiving the funds.
Wyatt
January 15th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
[...] is also interesting how other hosts react. Lunarpages has already blogged about their competitor’s billing fiasco, and offered a special coupon code for DreamHost refugees, possibly in response to [...]
January 16th, 2008 at 12:31 am
Yeah…I bet they made an assload of interest overnight…what with all the transaction fees they incur refunding the payments. Not to mention, the lost business, goodwill credit, and any other incidentals. I’m sure the “interest” made on these payments far outweighs those costs. Oh, and don’t forget…the 7.5mil is the overbilling, not how much was collected. Brilliant analysis though!
January 16th, 2008 at 12:44 am
[...] blog comments. There’s talk about class-action lawsuits and fraud investigations. Other hosts, like LunarPages, are stating to pounce by offering $40 discounts to Dreamhost refugees. So, thoughts? While I [...]
January 16th, 2008 at 12:44 am
I’m a new dreamhost customer (maybe few months old) and I’m -quite-happy- with them (of course I had already my share of downtime), but that’s a thing that comes with share/cheap hosting. and…
BTW: I didn’t get ANY EXTRA BILLs, since I am using Google Checkout! (way to go bro’! :-))
I got 2 emails from DH saying that they will charge me, but to this day nothing reached my CC
Some advice (I have) for the-average-joe webmaster:
0. don’t EVER link you bank account with paypal (or other site for that matter)!
1. as soon as your yearly bill on shared hosting reaches $400, you should go dedicated hosting
2. if you go dedicated, maintain a small scale shared hosting (maybe under $140/y); you never know when your shinny new dedicated goes on hiding (especially if it’s in the cheap dedicated niche, or some smart-ass DDoS you or your provider); then you could still use the shared hosting to start new projects and as soon as they are mature move them to the dedicated server
*. USE Google CheckOut, don’t save your CC in every stupid website you run into
-. if Google CheckOut is not available, you can go and *hugh* paypal (or others)
Cheers,
January 16th, 2008 at 1:42 am
Josh would like me to pass along to you that we gladly accept your challenge to basketball (finally).
Just tell us when/where and we’ll be there in FORCE.
:D
January 16th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Give me unlimited Add-on Domains and I’d swap today! 10 just won’t cut it.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:24 am
I got this email from DH:
Ack. Through a COMPLETE bumbling on our part, we’ve accidentally attempted to charge you for the ENTIRE year of 2008 (and probably 2009!) ALREADY (it was all due to a fat finger)!
We’re really really realllly embarassed about this, but you have nothing to worry about. Please ignore any confusing billing messages you may have received recently; we’ve already removed all those bum future charges on your account (#xxxxxx) and already refunded the $xxxx.x charge on your credit card.
You should get the money back on almost immediately, within a day or two max, and there’s no need to contact your credit card company or bank for the refund.
Thank you very very much for your patience with this.. we PROMISE this won’t happen again. There’s no need to reply to this message unless of course you have any other questions at all!
Sincerely,
The Foolish DreamHost Billing Team!
They should be more embarrassed about this email. When does the joking stop?
January 16th, 2008 at 10:57 am
[...] 作为 DreamHost 竞争对手并被其阴过一次的 LunarPages 简直乐翻了，马上“以彼之道，还施彼身”： [...]
January 16th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
[...] been on Digg, and it’s been on LunarPages blog . The comments on DreamHost offical blog are worth reading — those who had been overcharged [...]
January 16th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
[...] ones) had up to $9,000 charged by credit card. But this is not the point, while everyone at Lunar Pages, Digg, and DH’s blog are having a rant at their slightly buggy billing script, I see a great [...]
January 16th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
@JeremyK
I appreciate Josh’s excitement at the chance to sport some bruises from LP staff, But I really think you would be better off maybe posting some updates to your customers?
Ya think?
Hope things get worked out for you over there at DH.
P.S. We would really be all for meeting you guys in a parking lot with a hoop somewhere and calling it a “game”.
January 16th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Josh would like me to pass along to you that we gladly accept your challenge to basketball (finally).
Just tell us when/where and we’ll be there in FORCE.
:D
@ JeremyK
Dreamhost have been silent all day and NONE of us are seeing our money or ANY response from DH and you are busy representing Dreamhost in a basketball challenge?
COME ON PEOPLE WAKE UP!!!!!!!
January 16th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
F**k you Josh.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Shut up and play ball with DreamHost :)
January 16th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I just signed up and I’m awaiting account activation so I can switch everything over.
I’ve always appreciated Dreamhost for being up front with customers about problems, even really nasty ones like this. But the consistent downtime and other issues were already taking their toll. This pushed me over the edge.
I know it was a mistake and I know they will do what they can to fix it. But if all of this is from one mistyped character, what other problems are there to look forward to?
I’m giving Lunarpages a chance to prove they’re more reliable.
January 17th, 2008 at 7:36 am
@ Are You Serious
I’m sure the reason why people aren’t seeing their money yet is that most refunds take a few days to process (depending on your bank). Even at retail chains (Target, Best Buy, etc..) a refund will take a few days to process.
Basketball game, huh? I would love to watch that ;D
January 17th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I feel very bad for the situation and customers of the dream host and wish them best to get money back soon.
January 17th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I’m picturing more of a UFC/Hoop type of event.
you know, like a cage with a basketball in it?
January 18th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Mmm, caged basketball…
When and where
February 6th, 2008 at 6:38 am
I had a very bad experience of hosting with Dream Host. Simply to say, its only a “dream”!
:D
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:30 pm
To preface this, I don’t host all my sites with Dreamhost because they do have a large number of problems (or, at least, things I’d like to see done differently). I’ve been with them almost ten years (maybe it has been ten years now?) and they’re really not any better or worst than anyone else. I’ve been with other hosts who have had just as many problems. I can’t say anything about Lunar Pages because I haven’t tried them yet, but in my experience there is no perfection when dealing with people and technology. Mistakes happen. Servers go down. Things get screwed up. It happens with everybody. Dreamhost has nonetheless done right by every mishap they’ve been responsible for (and even some where they have not). They paid the overage charges for those that incurred them, in this situation. They did the right thing.
I’m not saying this to keep people at Dreamhost or defend their mistakes specifically, but in hopes people will realize that there is no panacea of a web hosting company. People tend to remember the blunders over the good service every other day. The reason I host my e-mail with Google rather than Dreamhost is because the every day e-mail service is not reliable enough for me. The reason I moved a few web sites over from Dreamhost to Media Temple, or another host, is either due to upload speeds slowing down (significantly) or the need to use another technology Dreamhost can’t/won’t provide (ColdFusion, in one case). These are reasons to switch. Well, these and the very clever offer Lunar Pages has put forth.
I would bet money, though, that Lunar Pages will have other kinds of “major” problems from time to time as well, just as Media Temple has. Amazon AWS went down last month. Limelight and Vitalstream, both major CDNs, have serious trouble from time to time (much more than Dreamhost or any of the shared hosts I’ve used). It’s technology and it happens. My feeling is to let it go. Of course, if you don’t have much to transfer and you’re looking to save some money, I can certainly understand Lunar Page’s deal being very attractive. I just hope that is (or several other every day problems are) the reason for switching from Dreamhost, or another host, and not a properly corrected though very significant billing issue. It’s just bound to be a set up for disappointment.