My 3 Year Ordeal With WebHost4Life

The Background

Several years ago, my wife, Laura, was a photographer, and I was an amateur web-designer. In order to help her set up a photography business and market it on the Inter-webs, I enlisted the services of a website hosting company called WebHost4Life (actually, I think it was some other company that was eventually bought by WebHost4Life, but I digress).

In early 2007, Laura transferred her photo business website to another, specialty service, and we canceled the WH4L account. Of course, because I had paid up front for a year of service, and WH4L wasn't about to refund the money, the account remained active until the end of the year even though we didn't use it. I had filled out all the requisite forms required of me to close the account, and was assured by WH4L's crack service team that the account would terminate once the year was over.

Of course, in November of 2007, I was informed that my credit card could not be billed for the upcoming 2008 year of service on the account. When I called the billing department, the geniuses there told me to ignore the robo-mail, as the account would terminate after the billing cycle.

In November 2008, we repeated the above scenario. This time, however, the MENSA candidates at WH4L assured me there was no amount due, that the emails were an artifact of a conversion to a new system, and that I should ignore them. Of course, in November of 2009, we again repeated the 2008 scenario.

Last month (November 2010), I received yet another notification of a past due account. I called billing support, and went through the process of speaking with two or three people who, at various different times, could be heard clicking computer keys to ostensibly enter information into the super fantastic WH4L account management system. Once again, I was informed that it was all set, and I would not have to deal with the matter again.

Fast forward to last Tuesday. I received this email:

Stephen, there is a problem with your account

WebHost4Life ✆ to steve

show details Dec 3 (6 days ago)

Dear Stephen,

Thank you for choosing WebHost4Life; we appreciate your business.

We wanted to let you know that we have been unable to process
the payment for your "lauraperx" account. As of today,
your account is past due for a total of 286.80; we
have not been able to bill your card because your bank has
declined the transaction.

In order to avoid an interruption of service to your website,
please take a moment to review your billing status and update
your account information at:
http://www.webhost4life.com/member/BillingConsole/billingConsole.bml

Your billing information needs to be corrected as soon as
possible to maintain service to your website.

Please remember to update your billing name, address, zip code,
card number and your primary email address before pressing
the "Bill All Past Dues" button.

Please note: we recommend you visit DomainCentral in your control
panel to be sure that all domains associated with this account are
currently active. As our hosting and domain renewals are separate
payments, it is important to verify the status of your domain(s), and
renew accordingly.

If you are unable to process your transaction successfully,
please contact your bank to find out why your card was declined.

If you have any questions or would like to pay by check or
Western Union, please reply to this email or contact us at
888-306-3780.

Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,
The WebHost4Life Team


318cc1(10.08.09)

I ignored it, of course.

Then, this morning, I got this email:

Stephen, Your Account Is Past Due

WebHost4Life ✆ to steve

show details 3:06 AM (7 hours ago)

Dear Stephen,

We still have not been able to process a credit card payment for
your lauraperx account. After last week's notification, we
tried again to process the past due payment of 286.80,
but were not able to do so.

To ensure uninterrupted service, you will need to update your
credit card information in our Billing Console. Please log in
today to update your information:
http://www.webhost4life.com/member/BillingConsole/billingConsole.bml

Once you have updated your information, please press the "Bill
All Past Dues" button.

Please note: we recommend you visit DomainCentral in your control
panel to be sure that all domains associated with this account are
currently active. As our hosting and domain renewals are separate
payments, it is important to verify the status of your domain(s), and
renew accordingly.

If you are unable to process a payment, please contact our
Support team by replying to this email or by contacting
888-306-3780.

Please do not delay! We are keeping your site online to allow
you time to resolve this issue. However, your site will be taken
off line within the week if we do not receive your payment.

Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,
The WebHost4Life Team



319cc2(10.08.09)

This was my response:

Stephen Perkins ✆ to WebHost4Life

show details 9:54 AM (30 minutes ago)

Dear Webhost4Life Team:

It's not surprising that you could not process payment for the "lauraperx" account, given that it has been defunct for 3 years. I have had to deal with this issue with you every November and December for the last two years. I was hopeful (after my most recent discussion with your billing support a month ago) that this issue had at long last been resolved. Sadly, I see that my optimism was (yet again) premature.

I wonder if your systems and departments are at all capable of talking to one another? Is it typical that customers are burdened with a 3+ year account termination process? Please help me understand how this can continue to be an issue year after year.

I will not be going to my Billing Console to update my credit card information, as I have no intention of paying for services that were terminated three years ago. Please accept (yet again) my notification that this account is no longer active. Please remove the account from your records, and by all means, please DO interrupt my service.

Talk to you next year.

Steve Perkins

As has occurred in the past 3 years, subsequent emails indicate the account has been canceled. I guess we'll find out next year.