Complaint Review: HIT Web Design

I purchased a website from Heritage Web Solutions more than 4 years ago.  Back then, service was ok.  You could usually get a live person on the line when you needed help, and work was done within a reasonable time frame.

This level of service dramatically changed once Heritage Web Solutions became Hit Web Design. Let me enumerate the mulitude of difficulties I encountered:

1) Work I was promised back in September of 2009 is still not done.

2) I paid for several months' worth for a service they called "Web Traffic Director," which was supposed to produce a guaranteed number of clicks.  Well, it did nothing.  After 2 months, and hours spent on the helpline, I was told that it hadn't even been installed.  Asked why I was charged the full fee when it wasn't installed, they replied "that was the installation fee...it always takes a while."  I waited a while longer, and nothing happened.  Finally, I cancelled that service after 6 months.  Traffic to my account did not change with or without that "feature" (which, really, never was installed).

3) I purchased a number of domain names through this company.  Their terms of service (article 27) stipulate that ownership will be transferred back to you when you choose a different web service (at least after having paid for 1 year of hosting). I'm still waiting.  Curiously, when I asked for written confirmation of the domain names I purchased, I only got an invoice that listed "Domain Name" five times, together with the price I paid.  No confirmation of the exact names I purchased was ever issued to me.

4) Today was my final day of hosting through them.  For the past weeks, I've attempted to reach a live person to help me with domain name transfer.  It was impossible to reach a single live person--except through Sales and Accounting.  Every time I called, Sales/Accounting tried to get me off the phone as quickly as possible when they heard my concern, then transferred me back to customer service/technical support (a dead end).

5) I just happened to have cancelled my credit card for unrelated reasons.  To HIT Web Design, this was of no consequence as I prepaid for a whole year of hosting.  Given what I read from other consumers, there is absolutely no way I would give them my credit card information again.  Yesterday, when I (again) talked to a sales rep, I was actually offered another month of service for only $10 (plus, of course, my credit card info--which I would not give them under any circumstances). 

If you're considering a web design/hosting service, I recommend you listen to the very high number of dissatisfied consumers out there.  Do NOT purchase a website from HIT Web Design--unless you actually enjoy being ripped off and/or frustrated.