By stgaffney on

I setup an account at SiteGround to try out Drupal for a client. I signed up for a monthly account, with the intention of cancelling at the end of the period. I cancelled through the control panel on 8/6/2009, but their system neglected to send me the email requiring me to confirm. When I logged in - the cancellation portion stated a cancellation was pending. I emailed them on the renewal date after my card was charged to alert them to the issue. They refused to refund the full amount, they have a $24.95 cancellation charge + a partial month charge - we are talking hours at the most. Very unhelpful - poor customer service. I definitely would steer clear of SiteGround.

Comments

paj_mccarthy’s picture

paj_mccarthy commented

Unfortunately a lot of hosts are seemingly great on price until you get stung by hidden extras.

One of our clients tried to transfer some domains across to us and got hit by a £10 transfer for each domain - he had 37 domains!

We offer a 30 day full money back guarantee if you have a similar project in the future - krystal.co.uk

I know other hosts offer the same kind of deal too, but you just have to read the small print.

drmtree’s picture

drmtree commented

Be careful when you use Siteground. They don't refund your money within even 30days. It is nonsense these days. It is true that they noted it, but they are not competitive than others in terms of cancellation policy. In addition, they do not provide tech chat, but they provide sales chat. To get a quick answer, I had to use the sales chat. They hid their menus for asking question, meaning it is very difficult to navigate to a place that I really want. Why should I learn and memorize their menus?

You can see other issues in the following dialogue between myself and a sales rep when I attempted to cancel my account.

---------------------
Sales Rep: Hello
Customer: Hello,
Sales Rep: Could you please allow me a second to check your account
Customer: Okay.
Sales Rep: I see that you are not happy with our services. May i ask you if you have contacted our techs to help you with the issues that you are experiencing?
Customer: Yes, I chatted with one of your sales reps.
Customer: And I tried to used addon function, but the site mentioned that $30 per one addon domain.
Sales Rep: Yes, as it is mentioned that it is an extra feature for the account. I understand that there may have been a misunderstanding, and I can cancel the account ,but I have to note that the promotional accounts are non refundable
Sales Rep: I would recommend to use the account that you have paid for
Customer: Why the account is not refundable?
Sales Rep: It is a promotional limited time offer. We have a partial refund policy for the regular, $9.95 per month accounts, however the $20.10 offer is available for the same service, with more than 60% discount, and with it, all sales are final
Customer: Did you clearly mention that when I singed up?
Customer: It is absolutely opposite to other leading services.
Sales Rep: It is mentioned in the terms of service, and you are required to agree to them before signing up
Customer: Then, that's my fault, however, this is absolutely nonsense.
Customer: can I get rid of ~sitename?
Customer: for example www.sitename.com/~sitename
Customer: In addition, could you give me the link of the terms of service?
Customer: I would like to share this with other people through drupal and webhosting community.
Customer: It is totally nonsense.
Sales Rep: Yes, you can have the domain name open only the account, and you are welcome to contact our techs about
Customer: I talked with one of your sales reps, and the person already answered that it is impossible.
Customer: I asked more than three times.
Customer: Please cancel my account.
Customer: Are you sure that I cannot get a full refund?
Sales Rep: It is possible to have it for the primary domain of your account, for any additional domains, it will not be possible
Sales Rep: And the promotional accounts are non refundable
Customer: Give me the terms of services.
Customer: If I cannot get the refund, I will post my complaints on websites.
Sales Rep: Here is the link to the Terms of Service: www.siteground.com/tos_popup.htm?id=58
Sales Rep: You have agreed to those terms, and they are the contract between the two parties
Customer: I understand that, but potential customers will not like that.
Customer: If I knew the fact, I wouldn't have signed up.
Customer: I would like to warn people.
Sales Rep: Well, we have a 224/7 live chat, and you are welcome to ask any presales question you wish, for any doubts you have about our service
Customer: That's critical factor when someone begins to use a new service.
Customer: Sales Rep, let's do not waist our time.
Sales Rep: I want to note that you can cancel the account at expiration date, so you can use your prepaid time with us
Sales Rep: It is currently set on immediate cancellation, where you would not be able to use it anymore
Customer: I don't want to continue using your site any more.
Customer: You should learn from these sites.
Customer: http://www.top-10-web-hosting.com/
Sales Rep: In this case, I will cancel the account for you immediately
Customer: Yes. Thanks.
Customer: How can this cannot be refund? I cannot believe it.
Customer: Are you sure that I cannot get refund?
Sales Rep: I have canceled the account for you.
Sales Rep: As mentioned several times before, the account is non refundable
Sales Rep: I would like to welcome you here to our livechat anytime, if you have any further questions. Goodbye for now.

The operator has left the chat

aamin’s picture

aamin commented

I registered with siteground today for a FREE trial. They goofed up in the first step and when I asked them to sort it out they gave me a list of 10 different steps to get it done. I refused to do it and since it was supposed to be a FREE trial asked them to cancel my account. They gave me a link for cancellation and on canceling the account it said it would charge $24.95 for set up ( It was only 15 mins after setting up the account). After fighting with them I got them to waive the set up fee and cancel the account. Very bad service and the chat agents leave the chat midway before you can complete what you wanna say.

I am glad I only signed up for a trial. Please do yourself a favor and stay away from them.

Mbutkus’s picture

Mbutkus commented

1: They are in Costa Rica... only Costa Rica laws apply. See their TOS
2: The TOS is a "catch 22" The terms are so vague (The terms "excessive" and "wasteful" are defined by our experience) they can call anything abuse. If you "abuse" you're gone. Being "to popular" is abuse...so we close your account and keep your money. Oh, you are popular, try our $120 a month plan.
3: They are in Costa Rica.. if you pay, your CC will charge you a surcharge for payments out of the country. So their prices are not really accurate !
4: You can pay up to two years in advance... see #1, #2, #3...

I was with them for 4 years.
So they have my money, I can't do anything with them as, they have my money.
July 2011.

pauldarr’s picture

pauldarr commented

I transfered a site to a customer and removed the auto renewel. Siteground.com later auto renewed under my financial information while I was deployed in Afghanistan.

I contacted Siteground and the contacted the present site owner. The new owner paid for the site renewel from Siteground and all was well between the customer and Siteground. I had disputed the charges at my bank and it seemed I was going to get the money back. Siteground disputed the chargeback and is DOUBLE CHARGING for the site! What crooks! They aren't happy enough charging one person they have to rip off a second. Sitegrounds billing service is complete scam in it's set up.