Complaint Review: Premadewebtemplates.com

On 1/8/05, I purchased a membership from premadewebtemplates.com. The company advertises that you get access to "...over 4,000 templates." I paid $9.95 for the membership. I soon started downloading the templates. The templates were zipped archives.

After I downloaded the first page of templates (templates were presented as links on a page), I started unzipping them. As I looked at the packages, I noticed a lot of them were the same exact templates. I wrote to them via their form. Using the online form is the only way to contact them. There is no contact information on the website. If you do a WHO IS on the domain premadewebtemplates.com, you get the info for Domains By Proxy. I should have checked this first before I paid for it. Any company that hides their real info has to be up to no good.

The first response to my complaint of all the packages have a large number of "exact" templates was:

"The 4,000 mark is an approximation. We have not been able to go through every package to see exactly how many there are as we have been busy adding more software to the site lately."

This tells me that the person running this site does not even know what they have. If they have not gone through it, then why do they use the sales gimmick of giving access to "...over 4,000 templates"?

I then requested a refund. What they done is considered misrepresentation and deceptive trade practices. Their response was:

"I apologize for the inconvenience, but we do not offer refunds after items have been admittedly downloaded. Not to mention it was only 9.95 and that is a steal for any small portion of the templates and software."

Indeed, it is a steal. They stole my money. They then responded the following:

"You have admittedly downloaded items from our website. Not to mention that you have obviously downloaded a lot since you found the few duplicates in some of the packages that have slight variations.

Asking for a refund now is like asking for your money back after eating a meal you ate at a restaurant a week ago.

Do what you feel is necessary. Our policy is not to issue refunds once files have been downloaded from our member's area. Otherwise scammers would be downloading from our site and requesting refunds all day long."

Well, if you tell someone that they are buying a steak, blindfold them, and then serve them a pork chop. Yes, they will want a refund for the meal after they realize it is a pork chop. Another matter is that I did not wait a week to bring this matter to their attention. I contacted them the same day I gained access to the site (1/8/2005). On the note of people would be requesting refunds all day, yeap again. When you say you are giving them access to "over 4,000" templates and then they find out they are not getting access to 4,000 unique templates, they yes, many will request a refund.

I typed up an investigative report about this company on my website. I sent them an e-mail letting them know of it and that they may post a rebuttal. Initially, they did send me a rebuttal, but they stated that if I did not put a link to their rebuttal at the top of the post, then they would not respond further.

I notified them that I would not post a link to a rebuttal before the article. It makes no sense. They then got mad and threw a hissy fit and complained to me about how I was quoting them on my website. That's odd, they were notifed of the investigative report, they read it (and had seen the quotes), then they sent me a rebuttal to post. However, once told they would not get their way, they contact my host in regards to the matter. They even sent me an e-mail just to say that they had contacted my host. Currently my website account is "suspended" because of them.

This company is a "perfect" example of a company that deceives, rips people off, and then tries to get the truth hidden. I did warn them that I would be posting to ripoffreport.com. I have sent a certified letter to Domains By Proxy to obtain their real information. I plan to file a complaint with the BBB, Attorney General of their State and depending on the results a possible suit in small claims court.

I did notice one thing. For "customer support", no one ever signed their name. It was always signed "customer support." The only lead I have is that it seems to be run by one person. What supports that is that the e-mail headers trace to a sprint.net customer in Florida. Furthermore, the e-mail address to reply to is always the same: robertm@premadewebtemplates.com

It is times like this when I am glad there is a site like ripoffreport.com where I can warn others of dishonest businesses. Depending on the results of this matter, I might be looking for a host that cares more about the truth than money. I have been a client of my host for at least three years and they suspended the account without even contacting me. Truly sad!

I have just received a response from my host. They said that I have to remove the e-mail address from my website. They stated that the URL to the company is enough. I also have to remove the quote because I have violating the company's rights (but seems no concern for my or other's rights).

My host has stated the following:

"We need to have assurance that the content on your website will be immediatly removed IF and WHEN the account is unsuspended and that under no circumstances will this content or any other content similar to this be placed on your site again."

In other words, I will be deleting my site and looking for a new host. It is an example of how dishonest businesses can file one complaint to ensure that the truth is not known. The purpose of my site was to investigate shady businesses and post my findings. My host is basically telling me that I cannot do that.

I will be making a donation to ripoffreport.com because sites like this need to stay up.

Nicholas
Morgan City, Louisiana
U.S.A.