web.com - unethical practice and ripoff. Got charged for something not purchased for!

 I purchased a domain name to test out a new website idea and contact their web.com design service.   I told its website design service staff CLEARLY that I do not want to host it on anywhere else but my own web server which I have used for over 7+ years.  After over 20 minutes of discussion,  I found they cannot provide the level of design suitable for me.  I gave up and whole deal was off.  I even called the web design service multiple times to ensure nothing will be charged to my account.

But web hosting charge of $40+ showed up in my CC account. I  did not realize it until 4 months later.  Called them to remove it. They refused to.

To put more insult to the injury.  The web.com billing support guy kept telling me I must claim the ownership of the unwanted hosting service first before they could cancel the continous billing.   What kind of backward logic it is. They must think customer is the stupid one.  So, they would charge me even when I did not claim to own the account.  Scandalous practice!   

If they did not ever get my permission for the web hosting service, why on earth they would have  charged me for over $40 a month then!?  What a scam! If that's how they run their business, it is totally unethical. 

I, of course, have never claimed the ownership of the web hosting service; because I never asked for one.  Thus, they never consulted me first but went ahead to charge me just because I purchased the domain name. 

I have never got an email from them about the webhosting.  The only email confirmation I got from them was only the $5.90 for the domain name. They claimed I did by simply selecting it online.  But, there was no sign of that!  No email confirmation, what so ever.   I did not sign up for web hosting with them!   As a matter of fact, I ABSOLUTELY , CLEARLY recall to emphasize that to the web.com customer service lady  that I would not want to host the new test website on another hosting business. She then transfered me to their web design service; and I repeated to emphasize that I want the new test website on my current hosting service, NOT from web.com.

Then, he moved on claiming that it was because I selected  self-design. What!?  I called up their web design department, and they were supposed to design it for me.  I have sent out mutliple emails about the whole deal was off as they could not provide the service that I needed. I gave them benefit off doubt that their web design service department might have set that up because they were supposed to do web design for me. They might have left it open by mistake, despite of the fact that the whole deal was off. 

Unfortunately, the billing guy insisted again that no matter what, I must approve and claim the ownership of the hosting service first!  I was left speechless that a business does not find it shameful for even suggesting such backward logic.  Shameful!   

- small business owner  - EM