Refund on 3yr contract

[Morgain]

My webhost Siteground has warned that my database is too big.

This is partly a Vbulletin problem because this particular site is VB - attachments are stored in the database. Once I get it switched to XF the attachments are not stored in the DB but I can't switch until a specific addon has been coded for me. That'll be about July.

Anyway Ive arranged to transfer this and my other site on Siteground to a new host.

Problem is that I paid a 3 year contract to Siteground and I have a year to run on it.
SG claim they cannot refund me because of "bank regulations." They say a payment made more than 6 months ago cannot be refunded.

This seems weird to me as they advertise 3 year contracts at a discount.

Can anyone who knows American regulations help please?
I am UK based so I don't know about American banking regulations.

 

[Rho Delta]

You could try doing a chargeback if you paid with a credit card. A company can refund your money at their discretion, there is no government regulation that puts a time limit on refunds. These guys are giving you the runaround.

 

[ENF]

My webhost Siteground has warned that my database is too big.

This is a Vbulletin problem because this particular site is VB - attachments are stored in the database. Once I get it switched to XF the attachments are not stored in the DB but I can't switch until a specific addon has been coded for me.

Not to sound silly, but you do know vB can store attachments in the file system, yes? They don't have to be in the DB. (and it's easy to switch from DB to file system or vice versa)

 

[ragtek]

Hm, you could move the attachments to the file system in vB

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https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/content.php/536-Moving-Attachments-to-File-System

 

[LPH]

You could try doing a chargeback if you paid with a credit card. A company can refund your money at their discretion, there is no government regulation that puts a time limit on refunds. These guys are giving you the runaround.

As a former business owner, a charge back is overused and misused by customers. The bank / credit card company may require documents as evidence that an attempt at resolution through the company was made first. Also, the company may have a no- refund policy making it illegal to charge back - because that is just theft.

In terms of a run around, always ask "who makes the decisions?" The decision maker can handle discounting the service. But ask politely.

 

[Morgain]

Thanks guys - I didn't know about the VB database option.

Siteground told me in a written help ticket that they are subject to "bank regulations" on how they make a refund.
Bank regulations say, they claim, that they cannot make a refund after 6 months of the contract has elapsed. I think this is bull and totally unfair on a 3 year contract.
I also have another site with them, the one with XF. Since this has blown up I want both off them. Their own policy page says refunds only apply to 3o days after the "initial" payment is made. Well my initial payment was made years ago and I renewed it last month. So they'll stick me to hold on to 11 months payment!

 

[Russ]

I've worked in banking for going on 7 years and from my knowledge that's a lie. The bank doesn't control refunds given to customers through the account, the bank is there to simply house their finances.
You should keep working with them to give them the refund. It's like them saying the bank only allows us to give so much of a discount on our products... what in the world does it have to do with the bank.

 

[Slavik]

To play devils advocate.

You signed a 3 year contract, surely at that time you must have read the terms and conditions of hosting.

If you break those terms and conditions (ie your database is too large) it is still your duty to obligate the 3 year contract regardless of if your site has "outgrown" the current hosting unless the company is willing to do a deal with you.

 

[Sadik B]

My advice would be move the attachments to filesystem in VB. and see the host through till your hosting period runs out and then move out. No hassle for you running around from pillar to post...

 

[Reeve of Shinra]

My advice would be move the attachments to filesystem in VB. and see the host through till your hosting period runs out and then move out. No hassle for you running around from pillar to post...

That would be my first suggestion.

Second, just to play devils advocate, they could issue you a partial credit -- but, since you are ending the term early, re-rate the prior prior months at the 1 year rate and charge you the difference which would eat the value of the credit and possibly leave you owing them more.

 

[MagnusB]

I would check the ToS and specifically how refunds / cancellations are handled. If you ask, they will try to give you a run around, if you can point to a specific point in the contract that specifies you are eligible for a refund, you are more likely to succeed. Most have a 30 day refund policy, after that you are pretty much stuck with them. I have the same issue with my old host, I am not eligible for a refund for the prepaid package, thus now I only pre pay 1 year in advance, that way my losses are smaller.

 

[LPH]

So they'll stick me to hold on to 11 months payment!

Maybe. Maybe not. Find the decision maker. Good businesses want to keep people happy and will negotiate. But ... I do not know the company. Some simply stink. Some are awesome.

I think others in this thread have given good advice so I'll go back to lurking. Best of luck.

 

[Morgain]

I appreciate that because this problem originated with a VB database it might look like a VB support query. But this is not the main thing although I'm grateful for the advice on how to handle that type of database better.
Unfortunately I have to keep it on VB for another 3 months until a specialist XF addon is done for me which is a complex one so will take a long time to do. Once I have that I can move this last site off VBso I'm completely XF.

The bigger problem is that the VB database issue has triggered a dispute with the host so this involves both the old VB site and another independent XF site. To move them both to another better hosting arrangement I'm facing large penalties of a year's advance payment for both.

I think I will take both parts of your excellent advice - alter the current database so it's not an issue to allow breathing space; plus I have asked my credit card company to help me get my money back. The XF site I only renewed the licence last month for a year so that should be OK.

THanks again for all your solid help. Very grateful.

I'll post in if anything useful happens might help others with fighting bad host companies.

 

[Zimply]

Siteground provides mediocre services and spends a lot of money in marketing and generating false positive reviews on review sites. I am a victim of their TOS fine print, I am used to getting a pro-rated refund when I cancel early but I when I tried to cancel Siteground VPS within the second month of signing up and renewing for 6 months, I was told I will not get any refund from them for cloud VPS accounts, which do cost a lot considering 5 months of unused hosting services. Unfortunately, the TOS are on their site and customers have no option.

All I can say is, if you are trying out a new host, talk to pre-sales associated and get all information about refund policies specific to your hosting plan before shelling out money in expensive renewals which you might not use.

I do not recommend anyone to use Siteground anymore, not just for their refund policies but really mediocre services with intermittent downtime, DNS issues and their prices are not really competitive for their level of services. I am not sure about the shared hosting or dedicated servers.