GISOL reviews

Breach of Contract, Extortion, Theft

Like so many stories. In the middle of my multi-year contract GISOL turned off my websites. The reason: I was exceeding my bandwidth. This is unrealistic as the plan was Unlimited storage space and unlimited bandwidth. The only option I was presented was to upgrade my account to a new hosting plan - here again, I am already in the middle of a multi-year contract. The enormous increase in monthly costs and outrageous upfront cost (pay it all) were just rediculous - so I opted to take my business to a more reputable company. I requested access to my data so I may take it with me. They refused saying it had moved to another system and could not be accessed unless I upgraded my account. When I would not pay and decided to simply rebuild my data they demanded $1800 each for my domain names. I had 2. Fortunatly, I self registered one. I lost the other, along with that current data in a theft. A theft by GISOL.com. They still owe me a refund for not honoring the contract. There is nothing honerable about GISOL.

Do NOT use GISOL

It took me almost 3 years to get over the sting of GISOLs corrupt business practices but since they are apparently still in business, I have decided to post my experience in case anyone is considering using GISOL for web hosting.

I signed up for GISOLs personal web hosting service since February 2003 to host my personal website. I paid an average of $8 per month since 2003. My problems with GISOL started in March 2008.

From March 8, 2008 to April 3, 2008, I submitted one online request, three trouble tickets and one email to GISOL attempting to renew my domain name with no resolution.

On April 3, 2008 at 12:10 PM MST,I received an email from no-reply@gisol.com stating that my account has been suspended.

On April 3, 2008 at approximately 2:30 PM MST, I called GISOL (323-924-1109) at their request. I spoke to Brian. This phone conversation lasted about 10-15 minutes. The following are the bullet points from this conversation:
• Brian told me that my account was in redemption because my domain name had expired.
• Brian said that he had to close my account and open a new account.
• Brian said that this was the only way I would be allowed to continue using the domain name my domain name and not be charged the approximately $500 normally charged when a domain name expires.
• Brian said that GISOL was offering a special on their unlimited web hosting package that would cost me less than my current package. Brian offered me the Windows Web Hosting Unlimited for $7.95 / month with a free domain name, 6 months free and free step up for one year for the new account. I was told the total cost would be ~$40 ($7.95 * 12 = 95.40 - $59.70 = $35.70) for one year. This included renewing my domain name and the new domain name that he would set up for me in the interim. I was told that I would receive rebate paperwork in the mail and an email with my new account information.
• After confirming that the commitment was only one year, I agreed to purchase this personal web hosting package. I did not fill out any order forms online. Brian took all the information he needed to process the order over the phone (although most of my information was already on file since I was an existing customer).
• While still on the phone with Brian, he gave me a web address to enter into a browser window. This web address took me directly to GISOL’s Service Contract. The Service Contract was the only thing on the web page. The website address was www.gisol.com/policies/sign with an encrypted key following the word sign (most likely identifying me as the customer). At the bottom of this Service Contract, there was a signature panel. I entered my name, email address and signed the contract using my mouse.
• I signed this Service Contract as it related to the personal web hosting package I agreed to purchase while on the phone with Bryan. This is the first time I was asked to sign a Service Contract with GISOL.
• I did not sign anything that showed the web hosting package I agreed to purchase or cost.

On April 3, 2008 at 2:35 PM MST, I received an email from no-reply@gisol.com stating that they received and processed my payment of $1,798.20 for a 36 month package for the new account.

On April 4, 2008 at 12:18 AM MST, I received an email from no-reply@gisol.com stating that my account had been resumed.

Again, I never agreed to purchase business web hosting for $1798.20; GISOL charged my credit card for a service I did not order. GISOL claimed that on the Service Contract I signed “Directly above the signature panel, it reads: By Signing Below, I Agree to Pay$1798.20 to GISOL Inc. and abide by the Terms and Conditions set forth by this Service Contract”. IT DID NOT SAY THIS.

I made several attempts to get this resolved with GISOL directly but GISOL would not return any of my phone calls or emails. Once I received the email from GISOL saying that my credit card was charged $1798.20 on April 3, 2008, I emailed GISOL seven times. I submitted two separate trouble tickets. I called numerous times but was never able to be connected with the billing department. On April 9, 2008, I sent a certified letter which GISOL received April 14, 2008 at 10:10 am. On April 16, 2008, I submitted a complaint to the Better Business Bureau. On July 7, 2008, I sent a certified letter which GISOL received July 10, 2008 at 9:55 AM. GISOL never once responded to get this resolved or even to explain the charge.

On April 4, 2008, I contacted VISA to attempt to cancel the charge but was told that I needed to wait until the transaction posted and then dispute the charge. I put my account on hold at this time. I was able to start the dispute process on April 13, 2008.

GISOL did respond to the VISA dispute making several false claims:

1. GISOL claimed that I was contacted my GISOL’s Order Verification Department after my phone call with Brian at GISOL. In this alleged phone call, GISOL claims
• The agent explained that he could not process this new order for a Personal Web Hosting Package because A) I was a current customer with 2 previous accounts and B) I was not using hosting services for personal use as defined in section 16 and 19 of GISOL’s Policies/Service Contract.
• The agent explained that if I wanted to continue hosting with GISOL under the correct package I would need to go to www.gisol.com and click on the HOSTING tab, select Business Hosting, choose the platform I needed and fill out the order form.
• The letter claimed that after the call was terminated, I went online and filled out the Business Package order.
• The letter than claimed that while speaking with the agent, I agreed to the rate and the agent directed me to gisol.com > Business Hosting to place an order (while still on the phone with GISOL).
• The letter claims I completed the full order process for Business Web Hosting online (while still on the phone with GISOL).
• The new account was then immediately created (while still on the phone with GISOL).
I was never contacted by GISOL’s Order Verification Department. This alleged phone call would have to have taken place between April 3, 2008 at 12:10 PM and April 3, 2008 at 2:35 PM because this was when I was first notified that my account was suspended and when I received email notification of the $1798.20 charge. My phone records show no incoming calls from California in April 2008 and GISOL would not provided (a) phone records indicating the date and time of this call, (b) a recording of the conversation, (c) a name of the GISOL employee that called, nor (d) the phone number that GISOL called to contact me.

2. GISOL claimed that I violated my Service Contract with GISOL by having two accounts open at the same time and because I was not using the site for personal use.

I was told by GISOL that I must close my old account and open a new account; This was the only way I would be allowed to continue to use my domain name. I was not given any other options. This was GISOL’s policy. I did not request to open two accounts and according to my conversations with Brian, the one account should have been closed as soon as the new account was opened.
In regards to my domain name not being used for personal use, the site included pictures of my daughter and pictures of a pumpkin carving contest my husband and I have each fall. GISOL stated that “the customer is promoting pumpkin-carving events and GISOL defines that as a Business as per our policies.” To be absolutely clear, GISOL said that because I have pictures of my friends carving pumpkins at my house I am promoting pumpkin carving and this makes my site a business website.

3. GISOL claimed that I filled out any order forms for business web hosting online.
I did not fill out any forms online. I had been a customer since 2003 so GISOL has most of my information on file already. Any additional information that was needed to process the April 3, 2008 purchase of personal web hosting was taken over the phone by Brian.
Because providing tangible evidence that I did or did not fill out forms online is impossible, I was able to show that GISOL’s online order process does not include signing a Service Contract or a Billing Statement as they claim and therefore, I could not have signed the Service Contract or a Billing Statement during the online order process thereby discrediting GISOL’s entire claim that I filled out forms online.
In their dispute, GISOL outlines the following as the steps to order Business Hosting:
(a) Gisol.com > Business Hosting
(b) Picked the Service Platform
(c) Chose the *3 year prepaid $49.95
(d) Next page was provided with an Order Summary
(e) Filled out the rest of the information
(f) Checked the I Accepted checkbox acknowledging that I have read through,
agrees to and accepts our Policies
(g) Viewed the Billing Statement that read “By signing Below, I Agree to Pay
$1798.20 to GISOL
(h) Clicked Next to continue with the process
i. Directed to a Service Contract/Policies
ii. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where I was required to fill in … Name, Email Address and provide a Signature accepting and agreeing to the Billing Statement and the Service Contract/Policies Directly above the signature panel, it reads: By Signing Below, I Agree to Pay $1798.20 to GISOL Inc. and abide by the Terms and Conditions set forth by this Service Contract”.
This text is taken directly from GISOLs dispute letter. However, I went to www.gisol.com on June 21, 2008 at 11:15 pm and again on August 18, 2008 at 9:20 pm and followed the prompts to order a Business Web Hosting package. I used fake information so that I could go through the process to see if it was the same as GISOL claims. It is not. The most noticeable differences were:
a. There is no Billing Statement that reads “By signing Below, I Agree to Pay $1798.20 to GISOL. In fact, there is no Billing Statement at all. There is a line that reads $1798.20 will be billed to the MasterCard card for XXXX. However, there is nothing to sign at all and there is nothing even remotely like the Billing Statement GISOL provided as evidence that I agree to pay the $1798.20.
b. There is no I Accept checkbox. There is a line that says “By submitting this form you agree to and have read our Terms of Service.” The Terms of Service link opens http://www.gisol.com/policies/current.html. This contains the Service Contract. This is a different web address than the example of a signature on a Service Contract in the original dispute (http://www.gisol.com/policies/sign......).
c. The Service Contract cannot be signed. There is no section at the bottom of the page to fill in … Name, Email Address and provide a Signature accepting and agreeing to the Billing Statement and the Service Contract/Policies. There is no signature panel so there is no line above it that reads: By Signing Below, I Agree to Pay $1798.20 to GISOL Inc. and abide by the Terms and Conditions set forth by this Service Contract”.
d. There is only a Process Order button available on this page. Clicking Process Order will complete the order per the website.

In addition, GISOL forged my signature on the Billing Statement they provided as proof that I agreed to pay $1798.20. The first time I ever saw the Billing Statement was when I received a copy with the VISA Dispute letter. I did not sign this Billing Statement, I did not agree to its terms and I did not authorize GISOL to copy my signature. The signature on the Billing Statement is a copy of the signature on the Service Contract. These signatures are identical. GISOL explained this by stating that “GISOL’s system automatically printed the signature on each document.” GISOL claims that the Billing Statement and Service Contract are “click through” and that is what allows them to copy my signature. This is not the case. Their website does not even include a Billing Statement.
GISOL committed forgery as defined by the California Penal Code Section 470-483.5.
The California Penal Code Section 470-483.5 reads
(d) Every person who, with the intent to defraud, falsely makes, alters, forges, or counterfeits, utters, publishes, passes or attempts or offers to pass, as true and genuine, any of the following items, knowing the same to be false, altered, forged, or counterfeited, is guilty of forgery: any check, bond, bank bill, or note, cashier's check, traveler's check, money order, post note, draft, any controller's warrant for the payment of money at the treasury, county order or warrant, or request for the payment of money, receipt for money or goods, bill of exchange, promissory note, order, or any assignment of any bond, writing obligatory, or other contract for money or other property, contract, due bill for payment of money or property, receipt for money or property, passage ticket, lottery ticket or share purporting to be issued under the California State Lottery Act of 1984, trading stamp, power of attorney, certificate of ownership or other document evidencing ownership of a vehicle or undocumented vessel, or any certificate of any share, right, or interest in the stock of any corporation or association, or the delivery of goods or chattels of any kind, or for the delivery of any instrument of writing, or acquaintance, release or discharge of any debt, account, suit, action, demand, or any other thing, real or personal, or any transfer or assurance of money, certificate of shares of stock, goods, chattels, or other property whatever, or any letter of attorney, or other power to receive money, or to receive or transfer certificates of shares of stock or annuities, or to let, lease, dispose of, alien, or convey any goods, chattels, lands, or tenements, or other estate, real or personal, or falsifies the acknowledgment of any notary public, or any notary public who issues an acknowledgment knowing it to be false; or any matter described in subdivision (b).
Source: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cacodes/pen/470-483.5.html

It is also important to note that an electronic signature must be logically associated with a contract in order to be in compliance with the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act:

Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA). Section 2.8 states "Electronic signature" means an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.

The Billing Statement and Service Contract are not logically associated. The Billing Statement is not part of the order process at all and the Service Contract does not reference the Billing Statement.

On September 30, 2008, VISA agreed with me that this was fraudulent charge and I was not required to pay GISOL the $1798.20.

In addition to filing this dispute with VISA, I submitted a complaint to the Los Angeles Better Business Bureau on April 16, 2008. I also filed a complaint with the Denver Police Department on July 17, 2008. The case number is 08-5008926. On August 21, 2008, I filed a complaint with Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

This was not a simple miscommunication between GISOL and me; GISOL has a history of cheating Customers out of money. There are numerous links to consumer complaint websites documenting such behavior. What GISOL is doing is illegal, end of story.

STAY AWAY!!!!!! Even their site doesn't work.

On a rating scale of 1-10. This company is a minus 55.

After 2 years of a 3 year contract they suspended my account. Claimed my account had been hijacked. After many, many, many calls And communications reached a person who stated is if wanted to reactivate, I would need to close the first account and pay them another $1,800.00 to open another 3 year contract.
I tried to cancel my account and was told I could but no refund would be allowed.
Only cancellations can be done at the time of renewal. I still wanted to cancel the account and lose the money. They stated cancelations can only be done through their web site. I tried several attempts and the page where you cancel doesn’t work. It just drops you down a black-hole.

Now, I have waited another year to cancel and they state it can only be done through their web site. The cancellation page still doesn’t work.
They have informed me the 3 year contract is on an auto-renewal even though the account has been suspended for a year. I have sent letters to cancel, closed my credit card account, and sent many emails to stop this.
So, now they claim they will turn me over to collections and sue me for the amount of a new 3 year renewal on this closed account. Another $1,800.00.

Whatever you do………………….stay away from this business. It is a SCAM.

Biggest Pro: Nothing

Gisol got me for $6300.00

I've been with GISOL for over five years. There were a few outages put they had an easy to used contact interface and those problems were quickly solved. Last year things began to change. They shut down my website and demanded that I pay $59 a month because I was using to much bandwidth. Of course i had to pay three years Suddenly several months later they shut down my website again. It is a business site and we derive part of our revenue from the site. Gisol know this and knew they had us over a barrel. This second shutdown was caused, again, by using to much bandwidth. Of course this was just a big lie but I had to pay them $4,000 to get the site back up and for three years of "unlimited" hosting. I now knew that the site would be shut down again and I would be extorted in a few months for more money. Of course they owned my domain name, we all know that story, and I decided that I must buy it from them. I called and they quoted me a price of $1500 plus 15% plus another $300 they said they had to pay to their registering company (this $300 was a total lie as I found out later they had to pay them 0). A total of almost $2300. I agree. They said I could not use a credit card (wonder why) and I had to go to their bank and wire the money into their account. They told me the domain name would be transferred in 5 days. Guess what, it was not transferred. Through a series of fortunate phone calls and emails I was lucky to get a sympathetic person at their registry to contact them. After seven weeks they transferred part of the domain into my name. PLEASE READ THIS: There are three parts to a whois domain name listing. The registrant, the admin and the tech contact. All they transferred was the registrant not the other two which meant they still controlled by domain name and I could not move it from their server and still had to pay them. A bunch of dirty rotten crooks. Please be warned about buying your domain name. Through another series of fortunate incidents I was able to go around them and have everything put into my name. I am convinced if I had asked them to put me in as the admin and tech they would have asked for another $2300. The domain is mine now and I have moved the website to a company where I get the same unlimited package for $9.00 a month versus the $159 that Gisol extorted me for. Please be warned. I lost $6300 from them. I looked them up and they have lost over 700 clients since Jan 2010. Their policy, since they are not getting new business (suckers) is to extort money from their existing clients whose domain names they own. My nightmare with Gisol is over and I've learned a valuable lesson. I'm just lucky I got my domain name from these crooks and liars.

These people are crooks!

We've been using GISOL for several years now. Then when it was time for renewal they said that we needed to upgrade because a lot of people were accessing the site and the bandwidth is over what we originally contracted for. It's a small website for a community organization! So we pay the extra $2000 in order to keep the site with a guarantee that if we keep it for at least 8 months, we can then discontinue the service. Now that I am calling to discontinue, they are telling me there are no refunds - and though they can find the payment, they don't know who I spoke to!?! Such crooks!!!!!!

Gisol.com told to get lost!

After one year of a three year contract with this web host I was informed by Email that my website had been suspended. This occurred without any previous warning! My reply email to ask the reason simply said that I should contact the admin office by phone which I did. The person answering the phone gave the reason that I had exceeded my bandwidth limit.
He then offered me the chance to start a new three year contract and restore the visibility of my websites immediately if I paid the sum of 1400 British Pounds. I asked if monthly payments were availablle but this was declined. He told me that if I did not pay this amount then he would terminate my contract (which still had two years to run) and that he would not release any of the domain names for me to host them elsewhere.
As the package I purchased from them ($898) offered an unlimited number of websites to be hosted I had six websites hosted by this supplier.All of these now show a notice "Account Suspended".
As I knew (and of course Gisol.com knew) that I would soon be receiving complaints from my customers of these websites I felt as though a gun was being held to my head to pay up.
I decided not to submit to this pressure and told Gisol to get lost!

This was ... AWFUL

Imagine, i had 3 website in 1 account that i payed for 3 years (UNLIMITED)
Never had problems
then last year in september they just cancelled my account for non payment (had no warning of this)
So i had to pay in 3 days to be able to transfer my website from 1 username to a new one (1000 euro for 3 websites for another 3 years)

And then the BEST is now in april 2010 after 6 months of paying 1000 euro ... they suspend my account for BANDWITH EXCEEDING !!!!
How the hell can you have that to an unlimited account?

And then i call them and VERY RUDE AND IMPOLITE they tell me that there is unlimited disk space, emails, but not bandwith.On the website says unlimited DATA TRANSFER but they tell me this offer wasnt like that back in september.

Its impossible !!!

And then THE WORST is that they ask me 900 dollars for the exceeding data transfer. I only have 2 websites, one of a little club in Brussels and one of a restaurant in Romania on it.
so how the **** to make 900 dollars worth traffic with that?

And then again i live in belgium ... they are in the us ... i cant even sue them for 1000 euro :( i would lose more to do it.

Its awful ! I cant believe it

I dont know where i should complain, what I should do but this is really really ripping off and cheating people.

But its a good lesson ! I would NEVER get any products from that stupid US. There might be good things out there, but i cant believe they can let such a crap company make so much money by cheating the people.

SO STAY WELL AWAY FROM THIS CRAPY COMPANY

White collar crooks

I don't want to continue with you. I am already facing problems because of your stupid decision.

You are charging 10 times more than any other provider and not even giving 10% of service.

You have taken more than $1700 for unlimited space and domains for three years (Valid upto April, 2011). And now you stupid people blackmailing me for hundreds of dollars for one domain name renewal. If one domain name is expiring in next 30 days, suspending total account is totally a mad thing.

Theives are better than you people.

Today I read reviews on your company in google. What a horrible company you are having. You people are just white collar crooks.

Good bye to stupid crooks.

DON NOT SIGN UP!!! WORST COMPANY EVER!!!

I LOST $1800 !!!! THEY ARE CRIMINAL!!! THEY GOT YOUR MONEY, GIVE YOU FALSE INFORMATION ON THE PHONE BEFORE TO GET YOU SIGN UP THEN THEY DON'T PROVIDE THE SERVICE!!

THEY DON'T REFUND ANYTHING!!!! and tell you it's ALL YOUR FAULT!!!

THEY DROVE ME CREAZY!!!! THEY SUSPENDED MY 3 YEARS PAID ACCOUNT AND DON'T WANT TO ACTIVATE IT ANYMORE!!!! I LOST ALL MY MONEY $1800!!!!

MAN THEY ARE CRIMINAL!!!! I TRIED TO GET A CHARGE BACK!!! BUT THEN THEY CHARGED ME AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SO FRUSTATED AND LOST SO MUCH!!!!

Gisol scam

GISOL criminals should be prosecuted and punished for terorizing and blackmailng their clients. DNS Spoofing (Malicious Cache Poisoning) is criminal activity.

The investigation showed solid evidence of DNS cache poisoning.

Using cache poisoning to divert internet traffic is a serious federal offense.