Giga-International reviews

Stay away/ Worst nightmare and disaster imaginable.

This is a webhosting service that hosts (oh God!) two of my websites - a bizneskniga.com, a trade directory and konyr.com, a free classified ads service on which tens of thousands of people rely and use on a daily and some on hourly basis. I paid those German “people” years in advance by wire transfers because the deal they offered on dedicated hosting was unbeatable - or so I thought. Giga International advertised heavily in international markets and keeps advertising even today. The company had lower than average reliability and provided no customer support whatsoever, but what the heck – the monthly price was good and we were developing the sites and working through test stages. Because the hosting was prepaid there was no incentive to move anywhere else. When the prepaid period expired but I did not yet find alternative I merely paid by PayPal for one month- the Giga International allows its clients (its victims) to make payments only on a single month by month basis. After one month's prepayment they shut down my website on a pretext that I did not pay for another month. I forgot though did not miss the payment. I paid them on the due date. Here is what happened. They sent me a notice that the amount I have to pay for monthly hosting is now due. They did so one day before the amount became due (and I received it AFTER the service was shut down). I paid the amount in full immediately but because the payment by credit card was made 10 minutes or so after the amount became due (this is frankly unbelievable) they shut down the server anyway. Then with the server down and me held hostage, they demanded that I pay them reactivation fee (that's pretty much amounts to paying a mugger at virtual gunpoint) but as I had no choice I paid that reactivation fee immediately. Then I paid them once again. Just run the same payment twice just to make sure. Then they told me that as punishment for late payment (the payment was 10 or so minutes late on the date due date) or rather because they’ll be the weekend and the some German holiday after that, they will keep the server down for FIVE DAYS, in essence liquidating my online business and causing devastating, irreparable damage. Customer service at Giga International is not just non-existent, I guess the term is inapplicable or can only be applied facetiously, like if some part of activities of thieves and racketeers could be referred to as customer support. This is way worse than disaster. Giga International is callous, irresponsive and criminal – what they do is beyond reproach or understanding. We have a malicious outfit, which activities border on racketeering and extortion. Highlights
- customer prepays for year in advance
- low reliability, no customer service, however low monthly cost
- after prepaid period expires, the customer pays monthly – the service provider only allows monthly payments. One month is paid for.
- On the due date for the second month the service is shut down with no advance notice (it is my responsibility to keep all due dates but people forget).
- The customer pays on the due date but is still some 10 minutes late past due date with his electronic payment
- The service provider shuts down the server and destroys customer’s business
- The service provider demands that payment is made to get the service up
- The customer pays
- The service provider demands that reactivation fee is now paid (I guess the whole exercise was about getting those extra 30 euros or 40 dollars. Unbelievably mean and maliciously).
- To make sure that the service provider is satisfied the customer pays twice, in fact overpays by 100%
- The web server is kept deliberately down.
- The service provider sends a message that they will not reactivate the service for five days because they decided they need a long weekend and there is a holiday to celebrate

In my entire life, no matter what you sell or deal with, be it socks or electricity, aside from obvious and undisguised frauds, I have not yet encountered a business so malicious, with such low business ethnics standards and from client’s standpoint so dangerous to be associated with. This is worse than catastrophe. This is the end. Stay away from those nasty creatures.

Biggest Pro: none
Biggest Con: malicious, low business ethics/no ethics, destructive, worst nightmare came true