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.

they lied about the price,they told me they will charge $46 for the year,but after I gave them my card they charged $1798 with out my authorization.they lie speacialy shawn anderson .He kept telling me we only have 5 minutes so hurry give me your card number.Iwill sue them for sure

Will not transfer domains.

Gisol suspended my site when there was still one month of service left. To get my site back I had to agree to another year at 42.84 which sounded strange because it was half what I had been paying per year for the last 5 years. Instead of the agreed upon 42.84 they charged 1078.20 ! I was able to stop the charge in time since it was on a debit card. I also cancelled the new 3 year contract they had tricked me into signing. They have a 17 page contract with a hidden sentence that changes the terms and amount that the sales rep quoted and the rep gives you no time to read even the first page. Also I found out later that the sales reps attempted to charge my account the day before I even gave them the account number. I know that unauthorized credit card use is illegal activity and I have contacted the Calif. Attorney General's office. And I plan to file suit under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

My company is now handling this domain issue and this is the problem as I see it. You sold my client 2 years of hosting and one year of domain registration (smart for you). You then registered my clients domain name putting yourselves as ALL the contacts. When my client went to transfer the domain to godaddy (he has the receipt), you did not respond to the email to go ahead with the transfer or even bother to notify him.

If you would have done things the right way, he would have been the contact for the domain and received the email himself. So now he has to pay $99.00 to have it back.
Pretty slick. How much do you guys make off the deal?

I am not happy. This is a tasteless way of doing business and I intend to see that the practice is eliminated.

James L. Diaz
Director
Marketing Communications Productions, Inc.
www.jdesignhouse.com


Below is a re-print of an article on the subject.

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What Do You Mean I Don't Own My Domain!

How can an unscrupulous hosting company steal your domain name? It's easy. When you ask a hosting company to register your domain name, they put themselves down as the "Registrant" of the domain. You might never know it unless you review the registration information, which most people don't do. Domain name registration requires various contacts.

In theory, all four of the contacts can be the same person. They usually are not. You will always find that the technical contact is a representative of the hosting company or of the company performing DNS for the hosting company.

The billing contact needs to be the person who will pay for the registration, and the administrative contact is the individual that InterNIC will communicate with when modifying the registration.

Make sure that the registration is put in your name if you don’t register the domain name yourself.
Don't Get Caught In This Trap!
Mouse TrapSome hosting companies are so bad the only way they can try to hold on to their customers is to make it difficult to transfer your domain name. Say for example you are hosted by one of these types of companies and you just cannot tolerate their service any longer. You register your domain with our company and we promptly file for a domain name transfer only to find out that the original hosting company has listed themselves as the administrative and technical contact.

The domain registration company will automatically send confirmation e-mail to both of these contacts and expect a reply from at least one of them. But since the old hosting company is listed as the contact on both the administrative and technical contact, they just ignore the transfer or worse yet, reject it.

Give the man back his domain!

I am using GISOL services on several web sites, although the quality and the bandwidth reliability can be improved they have offered perfect assistance for my very demanding perl scripts and php pages which have not been working elsewhere.

don't ever use it .just get into this website http://www.comeacross.info/2006/06/04/caveat-emptor-global-internet-solutions-gisol/ to know or at least have an idea how horrible GISOL is

I've been a customer for over 2 years (I purchased the 2-year prepaid plan and got 6 months free), then I registered a new account for my client on saturday, sept 29th. (I was lucky it was a transfer and not a new domain registration). I was waiting for the confirmation call (by the way, I live in Mexico, so English is not my mother tongue).

They called me on monday, oct 1st. It was a man named Steve. He told me that since I had registered another domain with them and I already had one, I had to upgrade to an unlimited plan paying 29.90 (which according to him was a special price) a month and I had to pay 3 years in advance. I said: "Why would I want to do that if I'm paying 5.95 per month?" He said it was stated in the terms and conditions, but I said I didn't request any additional service for my existing account, that I had only purchased a new, independent one from outside my session and under a different name (helping my client with the technical issues). The only thing in common was the credit card, as I wouldn't ask my client for his credit card information (for security purposes... I don't even receive credit card payments, anyway).

He kept interrupting me every single time I tried to explain the situation, and I refused to pay that money. I even said: "do whatever you want, but if you charge my credit card I will call my bank to tell them I don't recognize that charge and I didn't authorize it" (I don't know in other countries, but Mexican banks tend to support clients in that kind of situation).

He said if I did such thing, they would take some kind of action (I didn't understand very well as English is not my first language) which they win 97.5% of the times (or something like that) and I would be banned (I don't know what did he mean, exactly). Then they said he would call to his supervisor. They returned saying, as I'm a mexican customer (what does it have to do, anyway?) they would give me an special discount and I would "only" pay 19.90 per month, as an "international appreciation" (honestly, I felt offended, I'm not that stupid to buy such a statement).

I realized they just try to take advantage and try to charge as much as you will allow. They told me the only way I wouldn't be charged was getting my client's credit card information and he'd be charged instead (Of course I didn't). So I called my bank to tell them the situation and they said the only way to avoid a charge is to report my credit card as lost or stolen, which I did. They charged it anyway, but I requested the cancellation and I'm just waiting for my bank's procedure.

Oh, I almost forgot. As soon I finished the call I checked my domain and it was suspended. Then they reactivated but with out some services like ftp or email. I was really mad as I still had 3 months of paid service.

Bottomline: They're liars and they are thieves