Fibernet (Orem, Utah) has been charging departing HIT (heritage web solutions) customers extreme hidden fees not found in their contracts.
As many know, HIT design went out of business a few weeks ago and left their customers with limited options for their website hosting. Fibernet was partnered with HIT to provide server space, but did not have any ownership or contractual rights to HIT clients. Once HIT closed its doors, customers had the option to host their site wherever they would like, but Fibernet is trying to make that a difficult thing to do.
During this time Fibernet has stepped in and has offered HIT customers a hosting option, but for those who would like to go elsewhere, Fibernet has been charging huge fees for information that rightfully belongs to the customer.
One more important thing to note is that some former HIT customers who mentioned that they planned on leaving the company had their site automatically shut down and were not allowed access to their files unless they signed back up for hosting services with
Fibernet.
Here is a breakdown of extra charges that can be charged to departing HIT clients:
- Information needed to transfer domain names - $50
- To obtain a backup copy of your files - $50 +
- If your site has been taken down, signing up for a month of services to get your files - $10 - $20
The main issue seen with
Fibernet is that they are not being upfront and honest with their new HIT customers. They simply shut down sites if they catch word that customers are leaving and don't let you know that you can't access your information once that happens.
The main goal of this report is to simply have Fibernet realize that they need to change their business practices, because adding hidden costs and withholding information is a terrible way to work with customers.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
FibernetHostmaster
Orem,Utah,
USA
HIT/Heritage Design and Fibernet Fees
#2UPDATE Employee
Thu, April 21, 2011
As you stated, Heritage/Hit Design went out of business on March 8th, 2011. At that time they directed all of their customers to call Fibernet with any complaints or concerns. Heritage was a customer of Fiber.net and was not bought out by Fiber.net.
Since Heritage went out of business, Fiber.net has had to hire additional staff and expand their customer service and support hours to help cover the needs of all the ex-Heritage customers. At the same time, Fibernet has continued to host the websites of those customers for free for the last 6+ weeks.
Customers who wish to sign up to continue their hosting, even for as little as a month can download a backup of their files, or have any modifications made to their domain registration (including transfers) for free.
Customers of Heritage who do not wish to sign up for services with Fiber.net/Nethosting.com are not required to do so. There is no cost to have us shut down your site you had hosted with Heritage but if you want us to provide you with a copy of your files on disk or perform the work to transfer a domain name from Heritage to you, we do have to charge a fee for those kinds of things since they require time and labor by our employees. I'm sure you understand that we cannot possibly continue to provide free services to customers indefinitely especially with tens of thousands of Heritage customers all wanting us to fix the problems that Heritage left up in the air.
We are trying to make this transition process as transparent as possible. Heritage's sudden shutdown left us scrambling to help customers who were left without much recourse. We are updating our Fiber.net website with any new information as it is available.
Please give us a chance to make things right for you and help you enjoy the services we can provide. It is not our intention to withhold anything or make things difficult for any customers. We just need to make sure these situations are resolved properly and that can take time and effort.