Complaint Review: UnimWeb - Boca Raton Florida

In March I was invited to attend a webhosting seminar sponsored by Unimweb. I was told with the Unimweb Website Builder you could promote your own business on the Internet or upgrade at an additional cost to one of their "Turn-Key" Internet WebStores and work to get your own piece of the Internet Revolution!

It all sounded great and exciting but later turned out to be a deceptive nightmare. When signing with Unim one had to agree to sign a contract with Axin Financial services who financed the site so that they could see that I would be the respective owner of the site. Other company's services were also required to make the website workable, i.e.Innovative Gateway to provide the merchant and credit card transaction. None of these extra costs were ever fully explained by Unim. It turned out that instead of paying $29.95 a month for the hosting for two turn-key websites, I was paying $39.95 to Axin, $39.95 to Irvine WebWorks - the hosting company and $20.00 to Innovative Gateway for a total of $99.90 per month to host two websites - a Super Mall and an Art Gallery.

A couple of weeks later I was contacted by CMG who offered me 8 weeks mentoring and a guaranteed 2000 qualified visitors to my site. Another rip-off that cost me $3300.00. It ended up that I was teaching the mentor more than he ever taught me!

Unimweb were the worst company I have ever tried to communicate with. Getting the sites up wasn't as simple as they had announced. Their templates were terrible. And when you needed to contact them it could only be by email. Their response took weeks to come and was often short which meant that I had to ask other questions again all through email. All of this delayed getting my sites up and running but I was still being billed on a monthly basis.

It got to the point that I realised I had made one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I had wasted thousands of dollars on the surmise that I could have a couple of profitable sites up and running within days and making me money. That wasn't to be. All of the promises weren't forthcoming and after four months of continued frustration and anxiety I decide to cut my loss and cancel the account.

All parties were informed, but to this day I haven't heard from Unim which doesn't surprise me as they never responded to any other communication. Several days after informing Axin of my decision I received a phone call from their office. The male person I spoke to tried to tear me to shreds about my obligation. How I had got what I had paid for, etc. However, when I confronted him about his obligation to me, he slammed down the phone. I expect that I will get a letter in the mail demanding that I pay them outstanding dues, but if need be, I will submit everything to my Attorney General.

Axin financed Irvine Webworks to host my site yet both charged me $39.95 a month - something I can't understand. If anything, the responsibility lies with Irvine Web Works and Unimweb for not providing the service that I was told to expect.

I went into this Internet business very naive but I have come out of it well educated. There are many more webhosting companies that can provide excellent services with no hidden extras for $15.95 - $29.95. Certainly not the $99.90 I got conned into paying for two inept websites.

I won't have any hesitation in a class action against Axin or Unimweb especially after the pompous and arrogant attitude they portray.

Roy

Tarpon Springs, Florida
U.S.A.