Thursday, June 28, 2007

Anywherehost is quite possibly the worst domain registrar / reseller to ever exist.

I received this e-mail from Anywherehost's "Support Department" this eve.


YOU LISTEN AND LISTEN CAREFULLY. STOP HARRASSING US. WE OWN THE DOMAIN NAME. YOU DO NOT. YOU ARE NOT ENTITLED TO ANYTHING FOR FREE. GET IT? THREATENING MY COMPANY WITH THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU WILL GET YOU SUED. TRY ME. GET IT NOW? YOU DO NOT GET TO DEMAND ANYTHING. IT IS NOT UNETHICAL FOR US TO DEMAND THAT THE PREVIOUS ACCOUNT HOLDER INSIST THAT HER EMPLOYEES OR CONTRACTORS STOP HARRASSING US. GET IT? GET IT CLEAR BECAUSE AS THE OWNER I AM FED UP WITH THIS NONSENSE. WE OWN THE NAME. WE HAVE FOR THREE YEARS. IT WAS NEVER OWNED BY SOPHIA AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS TO IT UNTIL IT IS PURCHASED FROM US. FOR THREE YEARS WE HAVE COOPERATED AND KEPT IT ACTIVE AS A COURTESY AND NOW YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO DEMAND THAT WE GIVE TO YOU WHAT WE OWN? HOW SILLY DOES THAT SOUND? AS A COURTESY I CHANGED THE NAMESERVERS TO KEEP THE SITE RUNNING AND YOU HAVE THE ABSOLUTE NERVE TO THREATEN ME? IT WILL NOW BE TURNED OFF UNTIL PAID FOR AND THE ADMINISTRATIVE TRANSFER FEE PAID BY CHECK ONLY. YOU DO NOT GET TO DEMAND AND PUSH AROUND UNTIL YOU GET YOUR WAY. ONE PEEP OUT OF YOU WITH THE BBB AND I WILL SUE FOR DEFAMATION. TRY ME. YOU HAVE HARASSED AND THREATENED US FOR THE LAST TIME. IF SOPHIA DOESN’T LIKE WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE COMMUNICATED FOR HER. YOU OVER-STEPPED YOUR AUTHORITY AND WE WILL HOLD HER ACCOUNTABLE FOR YOUR THREATS. MAYBE NADIA SHOULDN’T HAVE THREATENED US. WHAT DO YOU THINK? YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE.

DUE TO YOUR ARROGANCE, THREATS, AND DEMANDS, YOUR WEB SITE IS NOW OFFLINE:


Yes, the original appeared in my mailbox in all caps. Unbelievable? Unscrupulus? Unethical? Unprofessional?

Let me just start by saying that the only thing I was trying to achieve was the changing of the administrative e-mail (contact) address to transfer the domain name to GoDaddy. I really had no idea what I was in for. The owner of Anywherehost, whom apparently operates under a multitude of guises to create the illusion of a large company, incited a panic amongst the clients I work for by placing a telephone call to one of the company's partners. Not only did he threaten her with legal action, but he proceeded to berate and belittle her. This astounds me. Irregardless of what a customer has said to you, it is simply UNETHICAL and INAPPROPRIATE to telephone someone and treat them this way. I think the e-mail message above speaks volumes of the lack of professionalism and ostensible lack of scruples the owner of this company has.

The situation has been exacerbated by the company owner's continual threats to sue us for "defamation" if we report him to be Better Business Bureau, or even regurgitate his own words either in public forum or to eNom, the company for which he is a reseller.

I will be following this post up with cut / pastes of the e-mails we receive from Anywherehost as they are received.

Anywherehost is truly a nightmare, folks. Buyer beware.

8 comments:

sticky3d said...

Gee, you really love complaining. You should get a job as a whinner. I've been a customer for nearly three years with no complaints. Perhaps it's because I believe in paying for service and don't expect something for nothing in return.

Unknown said...

Yeah, I bet the Sharon is actually Bob Ricci posting to try and safe his company from going down the tubes. He is a crook.

Unknown said...

That really doesn't sound like them. I've been with anywherehost for 6 years and have not had a single problem with them. I'm in contact with Bob all the time and hes a really great guy and has helped me with every single problem i've ever had with my domain.

susuna said...

This person, Bob, is a master cheater. he should be banned from doing business.

This guy is BAD news.

don't walk away...RUN

RadarBoxUser said...

Be careful where you host your website.
You really have to be careful before choosing a cheap hosting site
They use many domains name! They try to hide from bad reviews.
Look up reviews from the older domain names.

Christian Hosting Solutions - www.christian-hosting-solutions.com

AnyWhereHost - www.anywherehost.com
Lots of bad reviews for AnywhereHost.com
http://www.webhostingstuff.com/review/AnywhereHostcom.html

Vegas Hosting Solutions - www.vegas-hosting.com
Alpha one Hosting - www.alpha1hosting.com
Ham Radio Hosting - www.HAMRADIOHOSTING.NET
Intermicro, LLC

The owner name is Robert W. Ricci (Bob Ricci)
or other names he uses online.

Unknown said...

Sylvia made me angry one day during the hardest time of my life as we our home was surrounded by two forest fires and my 5 year old was diagnosed with brain cancer. I own the fact that I got angry and snapped back. You won't see the ticket history of all of their demands of GoDaddy and Enom that we be forced to give them a domain name that they didn't own. You wouldn't pay the $9 invoice. $9 and this web site wouldn't even be here!!!

NO WEB HOST will surrender a domain name to just anyone that calls. Sylvia was just the one making all the noise and trying to bully us. What Sylvia hasn't told you is that the owner of the web site, not the domain, moved to another host that had special features for her. As a courtesy we paid to renew her domain name for three years and kept telling her to pay for a transfer and we'd release it. The third year Sylvia jumped in and demanded that we give it to her under threat of negative reviews and complaints to anyone that would listen. THERE'S THE TRUTH.

RadarBoxUser or is it Jeff? Why are you running from one fake review site to another saying the same thing but using different names? What is YOUR motive? If you want credibility use your real name and web site address and not a personal web site belonging to me. We're an LLC and you list our corporate name; so? We're a legal, registered business. We have one address and one set of phone numbers that are the same on each site that we own. If you read press releases you'd find that Anywherehost has bought a lot of smaller companies and kept their names and back links but all the sites look the same and are online. Hardly a good way of hiding.

ALL web hosts get complaints. Nearly all web hosts has someone start a web site called ***sucks.com. Why? Because they can in complete anonymity and with impunity. They may say anything and never be held accountable. Happy customers seldom come to fake "review sites" and leave happy-grams. Only the ones with an axe to grind do and if the other side were known by a business owner you might find that you agree with us.

Read any of our negative reviews and fake "review sites" and look at their Top 10. Then go to http://cj.com and see how much those Top 10 companies pay per signed customer. Then go back and see if you can find negative reviews on the Top 10. Finally, go to Google and type XYZ Sucks and wonder why they don't have bad reviews in spite of the Google results. Because they pay $150 a customer on fake "review sites" and we refuse to be dishonest. We do not pay for positive reviews! Don't believe me? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8PidNJLrek

Here's another truth about us: if you don't pay your bill we WILL send you to collections. If we provided your domain name at our expense and you didn't pay your bill and were sent to collections you aren't leaving with a domain name that we paid for. "My account expired in June but they left it running until December and then sent me to collections. They should have known that I didn't want to keep the web site." EVERY web host has an automatic site renewal. You have to take the steps to cancel. Why? What if YOUR eCommerce site making $10k a day were turned off on the anniversary date because you didn't sign-up again? Or your credit card had expired? Or you were out of town? Man oh man would you be pissed! But just like the cable TV company that you didn't tell for 90 days that you had moved isn't going to cancel their 90 days of a bill after the fact, we aren't either. Web hosting is a business.

This is the most candid I have ever been in a reply and let me tell you this -- if you want the entire truth to be told post your complaint and I'll back it up with facts. I'm tired of staying quiet while some of you, like Jeff, have nothing better to do than troll "review sites" just to leave a negative and without being held accountable.

Thank you, Sylvia, for creating a forum for mutual exchange.

Jackson said...

Seriously Mr. Ricci: Chill.

You seem to get angry at every opportunity. And beyond that, you express it to others.

I realize that you've had a lot of stress in your life, but taking it out in an all caps email on a customer?? You should give them the domain for free just as an apology...

I'm sorry if people on the internet don't always respect you, that's wrong. But it can't be reasonable denied (though it seems likely that you will try) that you're behavior is anything but adult, and certainly not professional, on many occasions.

I say that knowing that I've made countless thoughtless emails, and incendiary posts myself. The most glaring and embarrassing instance in my mind is still a stupid support ticket I sent you several years ago (as Jackson, friend of Jacki C. with freedom836.com) But I apologized, and have changed.

God Bless,
Kyle Johnston
KyleJohnston.net | GJXHosting.com

Unknown said...

[Bob Ricci Wrote on April 2, 2012]
With all due respect Mr. Johnston this matter is not your concern. And, this is not the place to voice what you feel are your concerns. Your friends account is past due and if I chose to release any of the emails that went back and forth on the issues new people reading this post would clearly see. It would not be ethical of me to do so.

You see, that's the problem and I have no clue why you have decided to concern yourself with an issue that doesn't concern you. Suggesting that I give the domain name freedom386.com to your friend as an apology is ridiculous. You admit that you sent me numerous emails pretending to be Jackson in order to get your way which only confirms that you have ulterior motives now. If you feel that by coming here to complain without stating any facts will get you anywhere you are mistaken.

We host 10's of thousands of web sites. Most pay their bills. Most are friendly and rave about us. Many major hosting companies have begun using collection agencies just like we do. I would say that we're a major host yet, but we're significant and sick and tired of "friendly fraud." Oh how easy it is for you to come here and complain without impunity or accountability. We can justify our actions. In fact, you can't even state that you know that we sent a message in all caps to the original poster. We just have to suck it up.

So what is it that you are really after coming to a post to a message started 5 years ago? If a customer doesn't pay their bill s/he will not reward them with a free domain name just to quiet them down. We will shut your site down and send you to collections -- just like the cable company or the water company. Web hosts are businesses with thousands invested in hardware and marketing. We are a business. Perhaps if people would suddenly stop trying to pull a fast one this wouldn't even be an issue. You've made it an issue.

On behalf of the many, many reputable web hosting businesses we'd like you to treat us with the respect we deserve.

"Dude. You haven't lost anything. You should just like give me the domain name." We've only had to pay the electric bill, server upgrades, etc.

Or my favorite, "In the name of God I command you to give me one year of free web hosting!"

Ecclesiastes 5:5
It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.