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January 16, 2008 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Web hosting provider Dreamhost (dreamhost.com) experienced a billing error late Monday night, causing the company to unknowingly charge almost every one of its customers an extra year's worth of service.
The billing occurred when a Dreamhost employee accidentally ran the company's automatic billing system for outstanding charges as of December 31, 2008, instead of 2007, says Dreamhost's blog (blog.dreamhost.com/2008/01/15/um-whoops/).
The company has received hundreds of emails and blog comments from upset customers, including customers who are facing overdraft charges after the overcharged fees were made on their already overdrawn bank accounts.
Dreamhost has apologized profusely to customers for the billing error, both in emails and blog updates, and says it is currently working to resolve the problem. The Web host says customers need not contact their credit card company or bank concerning the billing error. However, it is recommended otherwise for those customers who are facing overdraft charges.
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Comment by Anonymous on Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Did you actually read the apology? It was hardly profuse. The apology has annoyed many people as much as the original error.
Comment by Anonymous on Friday, January 18, 2008
We read the apology. It was lengthy, detailed and (in my opinion) heartfelt. It was not, however, very professional. I just made a post in my blog with a more personal take on tone they chose to use, if you're interested in reading something more analytical than a news post on the matter:
http://www.thewhir.com/blogs/liam-eagle/
Comment by Anonymous on Saturday, January 19, 2008
As a previous employee of DreamHost and shift manager of their Graveyard Team I can advise you that billing errors within the company are nothing out of the ordinary, suffice to say I was not very shocked when I read there was a 7.5 million dollar billing error. The DreamHost billing system is far from "robust and stable" as Josh Jones proclaimed on the companies web blog, the only thing that could be counted on is the constant issues that have plagued DreamHost for the past few years. Billing issues are quite common with their company and the "fat fingers" he refers to having have led to countless mishaps causing customers downtime and other costly consequences.