They "registered my domain for me" using AllInDomains. Despite having my credit card info and permission, they wouldn't renew the domain--waiting of course for me to pay them a big redemption fee OR bigger money yet to purchase my domain from them or lose a year of work on my site.

I let the registration expire. The domain is currently not registered or available, yet it links to all kinds of scams.

Criminal.

I wrote a review back in January and have tried to put the bad experience with Gisol out of my mind since then. I came across this site again and read some of the other reviews. We have a very good case against Gisol because so many of the stories sound like the same con was pulled. We just need a high profile consumer rights attorney to pursue it. I think this could be an important and newsworthy class action lawsuit.

I am a victim of an internet crime perpetrated by Global Internet Solutions (GISOL).

GISOL had been hosting my website for a couple of years. Since availability of the site seemed OK, I never asked for support so I was not aware of any problems until March 25, 2008 when my site suddenly became unavailable.

I contacted GISOL tech support the same day via their website’s support ticket feature and was told that “Your domain is expired its in a redemption period you need to wait till the redemption period gets over …and also you need to e-mail this issue to admin@gisol.com”.

I checked my records and found that GISOL had billed my PayPal account for a pre-authorized annual subscription renewal $71.40 on February 8, 2008. However, GISOL neglected to advise me that they had allowed my site's domain name to expire on the same day.

I also found that my domain was registered to GISOL, not in my name as I was led to believe when I signed up for their service. As a result, GISOL has a lock on my domain name so I cannot simply move my site to another host and GISOL is completely unresponsive to my requests for assistance.

I have sent numerous emails to GISOL admin with no response. I have called all the phone numbers on their website plus others that I found on the web but the numbers are either disconnected, never answered or connect me to an outsourced technical support representative that claims to know nothing. I have generated additional tech support tickets only to receive the same advice to wait for GISOL admin to get back to me.

The BBB gives GISOL an F rating per the following review: “Complaints allege unauthorized credit card charges, dissatisfaction with services, and difficulty implementing cancellation and refund policies. Most complainants are unsatisfied with the company’s response and most complaints go unanswered.”

Most of the complaints against GISOL go far beyond dissatisfaction with their services. In my case GISOL committed fraud by accepting payment to host my website even though they had allowed my domain to expire thereby making their offer an empty promise.

I guess I am lucky as many other GISOL customers (and there are literally hundreds of similar reports on the web) have been defrauded of thousands of dollars via a calculated scheme to extort money from customers with "valuable" domain names to insure that GISOL keeps them current.

Others. (like myself) without a valuable domain name (and protected by PayPal) are simply ripped off and then dispatched with the expectation that we will go away to make room for more lucrative “customers”.

It is depressing to have learned that Global Internet Solutions has been committing such fraud on unwary consumers for several years. While my immediate monetary losses are relatively small, I have spent hours attempting to contact GISOL.

Later, when I finally realized that my attempts were futile and that my domain name was not going to be restored, I was forced to register my site under a different name and move it to a new host which cost me additional time and money.

However, my out of pocket losses pale in comparison to the goodwill losses suffered because my customers can no longer reach me under my old domain name, links on other sites referring to my site are now broken and my former search position has been forfeited.

If you need additional evidence I strongly advise you to simply search the internet for "GISOL". You will be surprised at the number of complaints that this search term reveals and the extent of GISOL's fraudulent conduct.

Jesse Lerma

A complete review of GISOL can be found at: http://mokenman.wordpress.com/

Every time I called GISOL for support, I ended up having to spend more MONEY. In addition to that, I always seemed to talk to the same guy on the phone; I had an upgraded package where I didn't have to talk to anyone from India so I got a guy out in California.

After a horrid experience with them, I finally canceled my service, but they would not give me a refund. The gave me company credit instead. Now get this...When I called them back to make use of my credit...yeah I know, bad idea...they told me I would have to pay over $900 dollars up front and then I would be reimbursed with my credit. Needless to say I told them what they could do with my credit.

GISOL screwed me out of almost $1000 during my time with them. I would not recommend them to anyone, not even my worst enemy.

I've been that upset the way Gisol are trading still, I've set up an anti-gisol website so we can share our experiences, and add to the existing websites out there to spread the word.
www.report-gisol.com
Hope you'll come and post your experiences there too.

Paid for 36 month last year. Got e-mail from them that they are submitted my account to collection agency. 'no-respond' email went to junk mail folder and was able to see just by accident. It's impossible to get in contact with them phone numbers are not listed and they would not respond to emails. Absolutely the worst business experience I have ever had.

On January 24 th 2008 I placed an order online for another hosting product offered by Gisol. I have had some outages over the year but since I have several domains on several different hosting plans I didn't think much of it.
When they call to verify Credit Card information on a $30.21 I made the mistake of giving the info they said they needed.

After the transaction was done I checked my account online and discovered someone had transfered all the money from one of my checking accounts into my visa account so they could charge $712.20 instead of the $30.21 I owed.

I have an attorney on retainer so I contacted him and I have real Id Theft insurance so I contaced them also.

This goes beyoud most of the reviews I've read here in that it constitutes alleged fraud.

The investigation is now going forward and I can promise you that I don't care what it cost me I will find out who is doing these fraudulant practices.

Be careful kids. It is not 1965 anymore.

My story:
1) I subscribed online at 7/07 for GISOL Webhosting 8.25$ per month during the period of 18 months and paid the full amount by PayPal.
2) A couple days later I got a call from their sell manager Adam who explained that I did not reach their requirements for this rate because I already had contract with them two years ago. He told me that because of the contract conditions they cannot return my money back, so I lose them unless I sign up for an unlimited plan of $24.95 per month. He told me that I can cancel my new contracts in 6 month if I am not satisfied and get a refund for the full amount. They confirmed last 4 digits of my credit card number (they had it since the time I became their customer three years ago) and promised to send contract details.
3) Few days later I figure out they charge my credit card for 3 years contract. I waited, but never got my contract details.
4) In a six month I canceled online my service for Webhosting with GISOL and requested refund.
5) Guess what? I never got any of my money back.
6) They told me that I broke my contract, because it was not 6 month but 8 month condition in that contract, so I cannot get my money back and I cannot get service anymore because I have already canceled it. When I was talking with Adam again he told me that my contract details were sent to me but delivered to the wrong place, so some other guy signed up for a delivery.
7) After everything that happened I found GISOL policies online: http://www.gisol.com/policies/current.html. It says (11.h): “…you may cancel rendered hosting services at any time past 8 (eight) months of use and receive a Pro-Rated GISOL Company Credit (referred to as: GCC) which may be used for services within the GISOL Network.” It means I never had a chance to get my money back.

Does this sound like a real fraud for you? They pushed me to get the service I did not need for 3 years, then made me cancel it in 6 month and kept all the money.

I reckon I have been ripped-off big time by GISOL. Here is my story:

On a photographer's forum someone was asking about a good ISP/Host where they could purchase hosting for their website. Someone replied saying that they were with GISOL and found them to be good with reasonable prices.

I was also looking to purchase hosting so I signed up with GISOL for a BEST ANNUAL account at $95.40 per year. This account could only host a single domain but that was fine by me as I only had one website.

Two months later I built another website and purchased another BEST ANNUAL account for $95.40 per year.

Then I suddenly had a lot of clients and I discovered GISOL's PRO account that could host multiple domains multiple databases so I purchased a PRO account for $119.40 per year. I had toyed with the idea of canceling the first two accounts and moving the domains and databases into the PRO account to save money on the annual renewal of the 2 BEST ANNUAL accounts. However I decided that these 2 accounts were for my personal sites and I preferred to keep them seperate from my PRO account which hosted client's websites.

Apart from some serious problems with the server hosting my PRO account (fixed by moving it to another server), I had good service from GISOL.

Then the troubles started. On July 2, 2007 I got rudely awaken at about 3am (I am in Brisbane, Australia) by a telephone call from GISOL. Because it was from the USA and from GISOL I tried to wake up and listen. The man on the phone said that he could save me money by 'combining' my three accounts into a single 'unlimited' account at $24.95 per month which was less than what I was paying per month for three accounts. I said I had already paid in advance for the three accounts and he said that the money from the original accounts would offset the cost of the new account. Well, if it was going to save me money and make life easy by not having to log in to three Control Panels, I asked a few questions and the answers seemed satisfactory so I agreed. He said that he would do all the work and 'combine' the accounts. Okay so lets say the accounts were A, B, and C. He said he would make a new accounts called 'A1'.

The next day I got the email in respect of account 'A1' and it was an Unlimited Upgrade (24.95) for 36 months. Yes, that's right, I was billed for $898.20 which was taken from my credit card. There was no mention of 36 months during the phone call. There was also no rebate or the remaining un-used monies from the three original accounts. I queried this by email and the following morning at 3am I got another phone call and the man said that if I wasn't happy they would cancel all my accounts. Of course, I couldn't allow that because my clients websites would have gone down.

Okay, now it gets worse. On December 28, 2007 I raised a Support Ticket to have one of the domain names renewed and my credit card got charged the usual $9.95 on the same day (I have done this often without complications). However, on January 3, 2008 I got a telephone call from GISOL (the man called himself 'Steve') and he said that he noticed I had a few accounts and he recommended that I 'combine' them into one account. I informed him that they had already been combined into one account back in July 2007. He said that there were still 4 accounts (e.g. A, B, C, and A1). However, he said that by combining them all into a new unlimited account I could get a rate of $3.57 per month instead of the current rate of $24.95 per month. He said that the account was actually worth $49.95 per month BUT he could give it to me at $3.57 per month for 36 months. I said that I had paid in advance for 3 years for account 'A1' and he said that the remaining un-used money would be used to offset the new account. I said that the remaining un-used money exceeded the new charge and I asked if a refund would be given to me. He assured me that I would get a 'rebate'. My quick calculation estimated that I would get a refund of $600 - $700 and he said it would be refunded to my credit card account.

Well, I thought my lucky day had come. Here I was being offered a continuation of the same service at a much lower rate AND that I would be refunded a nice sum of money. Anyway, on January 3, 2008 GISOL created a new account (let's call it 'A2') BUT the next day my credit card was hit wih a charge of $1,789.20 ($49.95 x 36). I had been expecting a refund of $600 or more, not a huge charge like that.

I started sending emails to admin@gisol.com and sales@gisol.com as well as raising Support Tickets. The reply to the support tickets was that I should email admin@gisol.com which of course I have been doing every day since January 04, 2008 and have yet to get a single reply. I managed to telephone GISOL's help line and asked to speak to 'Steve'. The man who answered the phone ('Adam' he called himself) said that 8,000 people work there and he doesn't know who Steve is. Anyway, he said that a letter had been posted to me and that it contained a code. I was supposed to phone back with the code in order to claim 12 months worth of rebate (the difference between $49.95 and $3.57 x 12 months). I said that I neded 36 months worth of rebate but he said I could only claim a portion each year or the next three years. I said that in actual fact I should be getting a refund and should have to pay nothing because the remaining un-used money on account A1 was worth more then the new fee of $3.57 x 36. He then said that refunds are never given for cancelled accounts. Okay so I just lost $600 - $700 and I guess I have lost the remaining un-used monies rom accounts A, B, and C. I didn't cancel the accounts. GISOL recommended 'combining' them into one new account. I have lost a lot of money. How bad is that!

Okay now it gets worse. Remember the request to have a domain name renewed. Well I noticed that it had not been renewed and only had 6 days left until expiry. I raised a Support Ticket asking for confirmation that the domain name had been renewed. I got a silly reply. I got onto the Live Chat window and the agent said that there was no record in my billing statement and that was why the domain name had not been renewed. I explained that it was in the billing statement of account A1 and not the new A2. He said that all I needed to do was raise a new Ticket asking for renewal and that they would charge my credit card and then they would see the charge in the billing statement and renew the domain. I am still trying to resolve this issue - my emails go unanswered, the Live Chat agents can't help because there is no billing info in the same account as the domain (A2). I will have to pay again and lose the previous $9.95 because it is in an account where no refunds are given.

There's more. The other day I got a charge on my credit card for $95.40 for hosting renewal of one of the original accounts that was supposed to have been 'combined' into account A1. When I queried it, I was told that I had to cancel the account. I said that there wasn't an account to cancel because they had been 'combined' into a new account (not at my request but at GISOL's recommendation). Okay, so have you tried to cancel an account at GISOL. They hit you with a fee of $250 (or was it $500, I can't remember) for 'breach of contract' because you are ending a contract. I just can't believe it!

Then I had a domain name that expired even though they are supposed to send reminders. They told me it had gone into redemption and because it was a client's website I had to pay $474.95 to have it redeemed. Since that time I have discovered that it had only gone into the period of grace and it would have been simple to renew it. GISOL tricked me by saying it had gone into redemption.

Okay, so in summary, I have paid a few thousand dollars to GISOL for a lot of pain and suffering and far in excess of what I have in the way of hosting. they have stolen money by saying it would offset the new account charges and yet they don't give refunds of canceled accounts. I have canceled nothing - the accounts were combined into one. However, I still get billed for the old accounts and will have to pay a large cancelation fee. The whole thing stinks of a scam. It looks like I am stuck with them for another three years because they also say that they own the domain names. The old control panel allowed you to enter the owner's name or each domain name but the new control panel has one area for the owner of the domains but they register it with either AllInDomain or TuCows under their own name.

They should be investigated by whoever in the USA does scam investigations and Fair trading investigations.