Webhosting Issues

This is me that it happened to and the entire story is beyond ridiculous, to be honest. Since your comment in Google Reader implies you are sticking up for them, I think that it's important you hear the whole story from me, not just Martin's recap.

I was on vacation when my dad called me - his website was down. (I had created a WP blog on Dreamhost for him where all my sites were located). I checked his site and mine and all of them were down. I logged into the control panel and I saw I no longer had access to anything and it said my account was disabled. I checked to see if I had missed a payment and there was a charge of $71.90 - way too high for a normal monthly payment, which was concerning. Still, I tried to pay it, but because my account was disabled, I was not able to. I scoured through my email to find any sort of communication from them - I knew I had been paying my invoices, but I wanted to be sure. As it turns out, the day before I had received this email:

"Dear Sarah,

We have received a notice that there was a chargeback made by the
cardholder on your account. Please understand that disputed payments
(whether intentional or not) are a serious issue that negatively affect
our relationship with credit card processors. Disputed payments are in
violation of our Terms of Service and it is our policy to immediately
and permanently disable all accounts with disputed charges, and for this
reason you will need to take your business elsewhere. Please note there
are no exceptions to the chargeback policy.

If you would like to transfer domains you have registered with
DreamHost, we will need your full cooperation.

***Please read the following very carefully***

1. You will need to pay any fees related to the chargeback ($25.00 for each
dispute), the charges for any prorated used hosting, and for any domain
registrations used that remain unpaid as a result of the chargeback.
Additionally, you will need to pay for any free domain registrations
that came with hosting as a result of early termination of your hosting
account at the cost of $9.95.

2. The only method of payment that will be accepted is check or money
order in US Dollars. (Credit Card, Rewards, Gift Certificate, PayPal or
wire transfer will not be accepted.)

i. Check or money order should be made out to "DreamHost Web Hosting".
ii. Payment amount should be $10.95.
iii. Write "Account #354899" on the check or money order.
iv. Mail approved payment to:
DreamHost
PMB #257
417 Associated Rd.
Brea, CA 92821
USA.

* Please note that this address does accept overnight/expedited delivery
services, however since deliveries go to an off-site location they will
not be delivered to us immediately since we get mail deliveries twice a
week.

Note: Check payments are non-refundable!

3. When we receive your check, we will send you an automated email
telling you that your payment has been credited to your account. At this
point, you must send in a ticket alerting us that your payment has been
received so we can temporarily re-enable your account so you can
transfer your domains."

Now I knew for a FACT that I had done no such thing. I don't think I've ever had to "dispute charges" on anything in my life. But to be sure, I checked with my husband, Joel. Nope, he had not either. Having no idea why they would think that, I assumed there must be a mistake. As the day progressed, I put in 4 separate support tickets with no response. Meanwhile, all the websites were down. Increasingly upset and worried over what I assumed was just a misunderstanding, I searched for a phone number so I could call them. Guess what? They don't list one! No phone number! But I googled it and found some enterprising blogger had posted it for me.

I called the number but it's only a recording that directs you to their website. The end of the recording states that "voicemails left here will not be returned." Since they are my registrar too, not only are my sites down - I can't even access the domain names to point them elsewhere - like to a new webhost for example.

Since I had no other choice, I posted a money order to be sent to their PO Box. I overnighted it, which is as fast as postal mail can go. However, like their email says - they only check their postal mail twice per week, so I have no way of knowing when they will receive it.

The following day after putting in my 4 tickets and posting the money order, I finally receive a response to one of my support tickets. All it says is the exact same thing as the email said. I respond via email in case there is a human on the other side. I explain that I did not dispute any charges - there must be a mistake. I do get a response later on that day. After a few back and forths, I have the last 4 digits of the credit card and what it was used to purchase: My dad's domain name.

I called my dad. Yes, he did this. He forgot that he had given me the card and had recently been the victim of some scam that had a company deducting small amounts from his bank account. So he disputed the charges. I explained to him what was going on and he was obviously really upset. He said he would call Merchant Services again, explain it was a mistake on his part and would request that Dreamhost get their money. I had to tell him that it was too late, mistake or not, the damage is done and Dreamhost had ended our business relationship.

Today, the sites (4 of importance, including one business site my dad uses to sell his new book) have been down for days. Even though my tracking info confirms my money has arrived at their address, I still have to wait until they go to their PO Box to check their mail - only 2 x per week and no idea what days that will be. I then will receive an email at which point I can put in another support ticket and request my account to be temporarily re-enabled. I then have to backup all my data and move my domains to a new registrar. There is no way to speed up the process.

Now, just because Dreamhost has provided you with good tech support via email in the past, you cannot seriously tell me that this is a good way to run a company! If this had been your business's website, you would be dying!! I highly recommend you reconsider your relationship with a company that doesn't allow you to EVER under any circumstances speak to a human being on the phone and has a ONE STRIKE and you're out rule with no exceptions.