Shame on me for having loyalty, and then not reading and recording the automatic renewal on our T-1 contract with Host.net. We have been a customer of theirs (including time from WebUnited) for over 10 years and had to vacate one of our offices early due to the economic times. We have been running redundant systems all year due to the fact that I missed the automatic renewal. Since we were still at the location it was not an issue as we were also using the T-1.
We only have three months left on the contract for approximately $1,500 and I made a request for early termination as a favor for a long term customer since we moved out of the office and weren’t going to be using them at all. Contractually, I am bound and I know it. Our landlord worked it out with us and so have other customer service friendly vendors who understand the times and what it means to work together.
I originally made the request to our account rep, Kay Alexander who has been with WebUnited, us and Host.net since acquisition and has been very helpful throughout the years. It is very obvious even with her actions the different management styles of the two companies. She replied she couldn’t help me, thanks for being a client all these years and that I could only write to billing@host.net. I requested a name and number and she said sorry the email was all she could give. I get a response from the email denying my request and it is signed “Billing Dept.” Again, no name but a phone number! I call and speak to Slyvia and she is nice and says I can’t speak to her supervisor either. I have to send an email, so I do. Declined again.
Well, I tried one more time to get some customer service. I sent a bunch of emails to a few names associated with www.host.net from press releases on the net and I did get a very cold email back from Jeffrey Davis, President and CEO indicating he had received my numerous emails (they are willing to talk to each other but not me I guess because I really only sent one to him), indicating they were unable to allow any early termination and he hope I understood. Did I get a thanks for being a loyal customer? Nope 
Hey, at least I got a response.
Want to know part of the problems with business today? Big corporate entities and no (or small) customer service!! You may not always be able to reach me at Eboatloans, but I assure you, you can always get someone on the phone and better yet, customer service, within seconds (during hours of course).
My advice to all: Beware of automatic renewal provisions in your agreements. Most likely they will haunt you in the end and don’t rely on getting help and personal service with host.net even if you have had a 10 year + relationship. Thanks for listening.
Tags: Host.net, Jeffrey Davis, WebUnited
