ChicagoVPS New Wave Netconnect LLC, Chris Fabozzi,, ChicagoVPS Chris Fabozzi, New Wave Netconnect LLC, ChicagoVPS Buffalo NY, Clarence Center New York Chicagovps refuse to refund an unauthorised transaction on my credit card New York Buffalo

I was thinking about how to publicize my experience with ChicagoVPS when I discovered someone else's rip-off report here:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/New-Wave-Netconnect-LLC/Clarence-Center-New-York-14032/New-Wave-Netconnect-LLC-Chris-Fabozzi-123Systems-Solutions-ChicagoVPS-Chris-Fabozzi-Ne-1172744

Seems I am not alone in my experience.

I signed up for webhosting with chicagovps.net over a year ago.  They promised 99% uptime but did not deliver.  I paid yearly in advance for the VPS servers, but monthly for additional IPs.

I cancelled my service on the 30th August, BEFORE the next payment for the IPs was due (on the 4th September 2014), but ChicagoVPS took the payment anyway. 

I opened a support ticket on September 10th requestina refund of the September4th payment for the IPs - note that I did not bother to request any refund in respect of the yearly charge for 4 VPS servers that was paid in JulyVPS, although given that they fell well short of the uptime commitment I would have felt justified in doing so.  They closed the support ticket without responding.

I reopened the support ticket September the 18th and added that I had flagged the matter to my credit card company.  The same day I received the reply:

"We do not offer refunds, account credit or continued use of service are the only two options
(James Burkowitz, Support Guru)

I then pointed out that I should not have been charged and the money taken was not authorised. This service was cancelled before the invoice was due.

Chris Fabozzi replied:

"We will be charging your card another $25 administration fee for the chargeback."

Obviously I again objected and this time got a response from Chris Fabozzi saying:

"In our ToS, it states that chargebacks will result in a fee charged. We would have refunded the money but you took it into your own hands without letting us resolve the issue."

I have responded pointing out that I HAD attempted to resolve the issue directly with my initial support ticket.  (Of course this is irrelevant when funds are taken without permission, but I am beginning to think they are just having a laugh at my expense.) 

My credit card company have been fantastic.  They understood immediately that I had been charged for a service that had been cancelled and that the transaction was therefore unauthorised.  They refunded me immediately and have also flagged that any further attempts to take money will be fraudulent.

If I had used Paypal I would not have had the same protection.  Paypal will not usually uphold a dispute if the goods are 'non-physical' - ie, that you can prove that you did not physically take delivery, or that the goods once delivered were significantly not as described.

I think that Chris Fabozzi and ChicagoVPS work on the assumption that many disgruntled clients will not bother to pursue them.  Hopefully anyone reading this who has experienced similar problems will file a rip-off report of their own.  People need to know about this.