After I moved this blog and my other blogs under my reseller account that are previously hosted by a local webhost , I immediately asked the customer support whether I will be refunded since I already paid them a 1 year webhosting subscription which officially started on March 6, 2009.

On the support ticket that I posted, I wrote this message:

Hello po,

For example, I will cancel my account on June 6, 2009, is there a refund na matatanggap ako from my 1 year payment for this year?

Thanks po,

SELBOY

The customer support did not answer me. So, on the next day, I wrote another message:

Hi!

I am planning po kasi to merge my blogs under my ****host Reseller Account to my other account in other webhost. Medyo mas malaki po kasi expenses ko don kaya napag-isipisip ko na tipunin na don ang mga blogs ko to cut few expenses, and to help your server as well.

My Reseller Account has been renewed last March 6, 2009 and I already paid 40,255PhP (35,940 + VAT).

If I will cancel my Reseller Account effective June 6, 2009 (3 months), may matatanggap po ba akong refund?

Sana po ay mabigyan po ako ng kasagutan.

Regards,

SELBOY

The customer support replied but it’s not the direct answer to my query. So I again posted a message:

Hello po,

just want to inform you na nag-abandon na po ako sa aking reseller acount “SELAPLANA.NET”.

I will be thankful po kung meron akong matatanggap na refund kahit ibabawas na ang March 6, 2009 to June 6, 2009 na subscription.

Pero kung sakali wala pong refund, just inform me po.

SELBOY

But after two days, there was no reply on that message, so I posted new message again:

Hello po,

Actually, gusto ko lang po malaman kung meron po bang matatanggap akong refund o wala. Hindi naman po ako magpupumilit kung wala e. Pero mas mabuti po sana kung masagot po ang aking katanungan.

Thanks po.

SELBOY

I again waited. And finally, after two days, the customer support replied:

Yes, you will get a refund for the months that was not used.

It took 11 days for the customer support of my previous webhost  to directly answer my query. It seems that they’re not interested to answer a query like this. That’s the reason why I am still doubting if I will receive the refund. And that doubt has made me decide to give this article the title, “How I Lost $642 to a Webhost?”

Why $642?

I have several accounts created with that particular local webhost: A Reseller Account and a couple of single-shared Accounts.

It’s the reseller account that I was paying for more or less $856.49 a year (if at PhP47.00/$1 exchange rate) or  PhP40,255 (to be exact). And there were several websites or blogs that were hosted under that reseller account.

And just like what I already mentioned above, this reseller account was renewed last March 6, 2009 and I already paid the whole year subscription.

However, the downtimes that experienced by that account since November 2008 up to December 2008 made me decide to upgrade that reseller account into a VPS.

I tried to contact them, asking them the price of their VPS. I also decided to stay with them as long as they can offer me services that I need whatever the price because I considered them as my beloved “SUKI”. But they did not respond immediately to my message. So, I was thinking that maybe they didn’t have any available VPS.

On the late March 2009, I noticed that the server hosting that reseller account experienced again downtimes almost every day. While waiting for their respond regarding my query about their VPS, I was already considering an option to transfer to other webhost. And that was the time that I remember my shared webhosting account in a US-based webhost which is hosting few of my other blogs.

That said foreign webhost offers a VPS which is just an addon of a shared hosting account.

While researching information about the VPS of that foreign webhost, the local webhost contacted me and offered me a semi-dedicated server for my reseller account. They transferred all my blogs under my reseller into that semi-dedicated server but it ended up to a mess and my blogs experienced longer downtimes.

That experience has made me decide to upgrade my shared account in a foreign webhost into a VPS. After that, I transferred my blogs from my reseller account of that local webhost to the newly set-up VPS of the foreign webhost. And by the midst of April 2009, I successfully abandoned my reseller account.

In other words, I only consumed at least two months of my 1 year subscription. However, if they will really give me the refund, they can simply deduct the charges from March 6, 2009 to June 6, 2009. So, I will be expecting PhP30,191.25 ($642.37 at PhP47/$1 exchage rate).

But I am not yet sure of it.

I will be very much thankful if they will really refund me. But if not, I will just consider it a lesson to learn.