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(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- In early November, the WHIR reported on a FOX LA news story focusing on California-based web hosting provider Global Internet Solutions (www.gisol.com) and accusations that it was "hijacking" its customers' websites, among other unethical business practices.
Specifically, the hosting provider was accused of overcharging customers, in some cases 20 times more than what its hosting plans were supposed to cost, as well as blocking clients from their websites after they had complained about the pricing discrepancy.
Later in the month, Gisol appeared in the mainstream media again when FOX Atlanta reported on a company practice of re-claiming customer domain names prior to the termination of their contracts.
Although the news reports only focused on a handful of former Gisol customers, a quick Google search reveals that Gisol has been at odds with certain of its customers for much longer than the past month.
The search pulls up customer complaint sites like Gisolclassaction.com (www.gisolclassaction.com), which features a group of previous customers trying to file a class action lawsuit against Gisol, while the less-eloquent GisolSucks.com (www.gisolsucks.com) seems to exist to warn potential new clients against the hosting provider.
Another such site is Report-Gisol.com (www.report-gisol.com), a self-described "anti-Gisol" website launched in March 2008 by Mike Smith, a former customer, after being "ripped off by the fraudulent company."
According to the website's front page, Smith set up a "one-stop-shop" resource with testimonials from previous customers, news reports, and links to the Better Business Bureau, LA authorities and even the FBI's Internet Crime Complain Center to help "past, present, but hopefully not future victims of Global Internet Solutions" sort our their domain and legal problems with the company.
The WHIR spoke to Detective Gary Kaplan from the LA County Sheriff's department and although he couldn't disclose how far into the investigation authorities are, he confirmed that he had been receiving calls and copies of billing transcripts from former customers all over the US, Europe and Asia since January and that the LA district attorney's office was currently investigating the complaints against the hosting provider's business practices.
In an email conversation with the WHIR, Smith levels some accusations against GISOL and offers some suggestions on steps customers can take if they believe they've been wronged by the controversial hosting provider.
WHIR: What motivated you to create this group in the first place?
Mike Smith: To cut a very long story short, I was a customer of Gisol's for just over a year. I registered my business domain name through them, but after 13 months of very poor hosting interrupted by frequent downtime, my website totally disappeared. Gisol told me it was in the redemption period because I hadn't renewed (I thought I had done so through their website) and it would cost $42 to upgrade my account.
After giving them my debit card details and signing a service agreement contract online they suddenly hung up and I found I had been charged $718. Gisol would not answer my calls, emails or trouble tickets and my domain was not returned. I had to wait for it to go through the redemption and delete process and luckily managed to get it back myself.
I disputed the charge with my bank and Gisol sent a forged billing receipt with my signature on it. I had never seen it before - they had copied and pasted my signature onto it. According to my bank, they had tried charging higher amounts first.
During this time, I found thousands of complaints on the Internet and also found dedicated anti-Gisol websites. Although these existed, I couldn't believe that Gisol were still getting away with what they were doing, so decided to set up www.report-gisol.com as a one-stop-shop where victims of this scam could get together and help each other.
How is this site different from other consumer complaint sites like IhateDell.net or Microsoftsucks.org?
MS: To be honest, I hadn't heard of these websites before, but having a quick look through them, it seems they are there to expose problems and to let people vent their frustration about the companies in question.
My site is exposing a company that is knowingly and deliberately defrauding their customers of money, holding domain names hostage, and although is a web hosting company of sorts, it is a front for a scam. The fact that Gisol's web hosting is of a very poor standard, their support is virtually useless, and they are not contactable by phone is not very important to Gisol's victims.
Could you break down the accusations against GISOL for me?
MS: They have conned people into signing up to their web hosting using low prices, false and misleading advertising (including a special offer countdown timer that reset itself every day for years, money back and satisfaction guarantees and "prices will never go up" statements they don't stick to), pressurized sales techniques (including calling people in the middle of the night), and complicated and contradicting ever-changing contracts. This can be verified using the Internet archive "Wayback Machine."
They have quoted their customers low prices (less than $100), but then charged them many times that amount (usually $1,800), either after a year or more of hosting, or on first contact (bait and switch, and unauthorized charges). They have charged people sometimes after they had cancelled their contract with Gisol.
They have copied and pasted (and sometimes totally forged) their customers' signatures onto forged billing receipts, and used them to fight bank and credit card disputes and chargebacks. (forgery) They have lied to credit cards, banks, the Better Business Bureau, various Attorneys General, and other law enforcement agencies. They have held domain names hostage. They have threatened people with Credit Bureaus.
We believe they may be trying to sell back their customers' domains, pretending to be other people. The cost of buying back their own domains is usually around $1,800 - the same as Gisol rip people off for.
What kind of success have you seen so far with the victims you've been able to help out? What's the process one has to go through to get his domain or money back?
MS: I would rather not go into detail how we do this at this time, due to the fact Gisol may be able to counter some of our processes if they know about them. We have been able to get people's money or domains back. Every case is different, so we have to tailor our advice to suit each situation.
The main problem that we see is the fact that many disputes and chargebacks are unsuccessful due to banks and credit cards siding with the merchant (Gisol). We believe that the banks and credit card companies are aiding the fraud if they do find in Gisol's favor, and we hold them responsible for making a profit on those fraudulent transactions.
American Express on the other hand, has allegedly placed Gisol on their "Automatic Chargeback Program," which means that all chargebacks are automatically granted.
What's the overall goal you hope to achieve with this organization? What would satisfy you as a resolution?
MS: That's easy. We want to: 1. Raise awareness so new people don't get suckered in and existing customers don't get conned. 2. Get people's money and domains back. 3. Shut Gisol down.4. Our ultimate goal has to be seeing the owners of Gisol in jail.
There cannot be any other resolution.
If someone thinks he's been wronged by Gisol, what are his options?
MS: I can only implore your readers if they have been a victim of Gisol, that they report them to as many places as possible. Report Gisol to Detective Gary Kaplan of the LA County Sheriff's Dept, the LA District Attorney's Consumer Protection Division, the CA Attorney General, their own Attorney General, the FBI IC3, the Better Business Bureau, and the Federal Trade commission. All contact details can be found on my website. The authorities are well aware of the problem and are actively investigating Gisol.
Read Back Issues of WHIR Magazine
October 2009 - Web Hosting's All Star Team
This has been, for us, one of the most interesting, exciting and challenging build-ups to an issue of the magazine yet, Web Hosting's All Star Team. The balloting process was our first experiment with a kind of user participation we're planning to do a lot more with in the months to come. We had thousands of ballots submitted, with hundreds of write-in suggestions and a demonstration of user engagement that has us feeling super positive about the project.
About This Issue | Read Digital Edition
July 2009 - What am I Worth?
One of the interesting luxuries of working on a project like the printed WHIR magazine is that it allows us to play with things like our point of view from one issue to the next. In recent months we've been giving added attention to the kind of practical and applicable advice aimed at smaller hosts and resellers. This issue carries on with that point of view, asking, in our cover story, "what am I worth?" It's a complicated question without a clear-cut answer.
About This Issue | Read Digital Edition
May 2009 - The Blueprint for a Small Web Host
I was a little surprised by how difficult it became to see this idea through. We set out to assemble a blueprint for a small hosting business, but butted up pretty quickly against the general impossibility of covering all the territory that was out there to be covered. The basic constraints of a printed magazine, and the less-than-infinite amount of time we had available forced us to face the fact that we could never produce an exhaustive guide to starting a hosting company.
About This Issue | Read Digital Edition
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Comment by Anonymous on Friday, December 12, 2008
Congratulations on your expose yet of GISOL's crime spree. I'm a Victim, a member of a large international group. Two vital things Mike didn't say: First, all goes well until a renewal date. GISOL transfers one's domain name into its operation under its own name. One never receives a renewal bill for the domain, only for the web site. Then the domain expires under hteir watch and is sold under their supervision. Most of us are not aware of the huge black market for active web domains, or the lack of an ample grace period to redeem domains. Perhaps you could cover that in another article.
I don't have room for the other vital info...I'll write again.
The other thing Mike didn't mention that is of supreme importance is that u
Comment by Anonymous on Friday, December 12, 2008
Another thing of vital importance to all past GISOL victims is DO NOT WALK AWAY! GET OUT!!! That scavenger contract they change at will allows them the option to charge you at the end of the 3-year billing period they foisted on us unknowingly. Changing your credit card numbers is a pain, and even that's not enough! As one GISOL victim discovered, stopping payment will not work. They will go to the credit bureaus and freeze your credit cards and bank accounts. Be sure you wrestle them to the mat and have written proof your canceled contract. Otherwise, regardless of which signature is yours and which is forged, even though you never agreed to the terms of their "contract", you could end up paying in money or blood!
Comment by Anonymous on Tuesday, November 10, 2009
GISOL is a very unrepeatable ISP and has conducted very Unscrupulous Business Practices. After offering a long term service plan with payment up front they continually tried to break my service contract using various unscrupulous techniques. First they said some one cancelled my contract and that it must have been done by myself and that even thought I had at least 1 year of pre-paid service credits that I would have to sign up for a new plan and loose my service credits. After I refused and offered to report them they reluctantly restored my credits and continued my service. A few months after that they , again disabled my service and told me that my account had been compromised by someone in Turkey and that if I wanted to resume my service , I would have to pay $399 to restore. I spoke with a man name Rich, he did not give his last name . When I said I wanted my service restored with out a fee or get a refund of unused service credit, I was told that would not be possible and that my service would be discontinued. He then hung up from our telephone conversation. He offered no proof that there really was compromised security breach. Basically, I felt that this type of approach of continued threats to discontinue my paid service agreement was unprofessional and was a scam. I wonder how many other GISOL customers had the same experience. I definitely do not recommend GISOL and feel they are unscrupulous in their Business practices if not Illegally operate their business , by breach of contract.