Globat rebate ripoff Fraudulant advertising, poor customer service, and difficult refund process Los Angeles California

Very few companies have angered me as much as this fraudulent one.

I manage several websites and I wanted to find another hosting company for us to use. I ran across a promotional offer at globat.com for one free year of web hosting after a rebate. They advertised with a printable rebate link on their website and offered many free add-ons for new customers. They charged a $20 setup fee as a part of that promotion.

I ended up purchasing one year of webhosting service from them. The rebate form requires a 10-digit confirmation number that was supposed to be sent in a confirmation email (watch out for their rebates). I transferred all my files and then proceeded to change the DNS settings to their company.

The short version of my story is that they NEVER, I repeat, NEVER were able to get my email working. Each day was the same routine. I called customer support and each day and they told me the same canned answer about technical difficulties and that they probably would have it working by the end of the business day. That went on for over a week! One week without email because of their incompetence.

I finally researched and found a few phone numbers and email addresses for senior staff. The Better Business Bureau (yes, these guys are actually members of that organization!) listed one of their VPs as the contact person. That name has changed within the last couple of months -- no surprise. The current contact person is Lou Rio, Director of Customer Service lrio@globat.com.

I requested that my website get moved to a server that is actually working so that my email could finally be used. Apparently, they think all of their customers are completely ignorant of technical matters because they told me that my request was impossible. After pressing one or two with questions, they just made up additional excuses why they wouldn't get my account working.

During this period, I called various extensions to get my rebate resolved. I was told that my rebate request would NOT BE HONORED because I didn't click through in the right sequence or something along those lines. Despite sending the staff at Globat a link to the rebate on their own website, one without any special provisions or exclusions (http://www.globat.com/rebates/forms/05-04200425.pdf), they told me that they will not honor the advertised special. Most people call that FRAUD.

If you need to call Globat.com to complain or cancel, these are some email addresses that I dug up: mreno@globat.com, bizdev@globat.com, support@globat.com, prdept@globat.com.

Richard Gubitosa (rgubitosa@globat.com) is a serious weasel. He hid behind snide email messages attempting to explain why they would not honor my rebate request. His email indicates that he is in the QA department. I'm not sure they know what QA is.

BTW, Globat will not return your phone calls. I received a few cowardly emails from supposedly senior staff rather than a courtesy call after I left two daily voicemail messages at the following phone extensions: 229, 234, and 237. None of the gentlemen at these extensions had the guts to actually call me back. This is what made me come to believe that this company's MO is actually setting up enough hurdles so that customers don't go through the hassle to get all of their money back within the 30 day period. This is a class action lawsuit waiting to happen!

Finally, after about 10 days of that nonsense, I called them up and requested a cancellation of services. The initial person and two others told me that they will not refund the $20 setup fee. I went ballistic at this point and filed complaints with the BBB of Los Angeles (http://www.labbb.org/) and with the Secretary of State of California via a college friend of mine. I filed three complaints with the BBB for fraudulent advertising (regarding the rebate), failure to meet their service guarantee (regarding no email service for 10 days), and failure to provide a full refund (regarding the setup fee). The company seems to RESPOND TO BBB complaints because they responded to my complaints much faster than my phone calls.

After I cancelled, a courageous staff person called me and asked me for my reasons for canceling (I did admire him). He acknowledged the technical challenges but defended their position on not honoring the rebate offer. He told me that the annual service fee would be refunded but not the setup fee. I told him that I will dispute the setup fee with my credit card company immediately. He responded by threatening to send my account TO COLLECTIONS! In the end, they responded directly to my BBB complaints and provided a full refund.

The bottom line is that you should avoid this company like the plague! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding my experience or for further details.

Mark
Winston Salem, North Carolina
U.S.A.

STOP! ..before you think about using the Better Business Bureau (BBB)... CLICK HERE to see how other consumers were victimized by the BBB's false or misleading information. Don't be fooled! It has been reported, when there are thousands of complaints and other investigations underway by authorities, the BBB has no choice but to finally give an UNsatisfactory rating to a BBB member business that is paying the BBB big membership fees every year. When a business is reported that is NOT a BBB member, BBB files WILL more likely show an UNsatisfactory rating, then reportedly shake down that company to become a member of the BBB. One positive thing about the BBB is, either way, if a business has an unsatisfactory rating with the BBB, you can be sure, the business is bad. But what about all those BBB member businesses that had complaints filed against them? Consumers never get to hear about them. What about the BBB advertising to the public? Is this a false and misleading perception they are giving about consumer confidence when dealing with a business? Click here to understand more of what consumers and business alike are saying about the BBB. You decide. ..Remember. The BBB membership is not earned, it's paid for!

Click here to read The *EDitorial: The Marketing Rebate Rip Off ...Manufactures invent reasons why not to pay the consumer