Is there a Money Back Guarantee for everyone ?

I have been trying to find information about the policy DreamHost has on refunding money for the Hosting fee paid in advance.
On the DreamHost website it is stated "97-day Money-Back Guarantee - Sign up for a shared hosting account with us today and If you decide - within the first 97 days of your time with us - that DreamHost isn't for you, we will gladly close your account and refund any payments you've made to us within those first 97 days."

I have been paying for my DreamHost Account on an Annual basis (rather than month to month) for the past 2 years.
I just paid for another year of Hosting a few weeks ago and now I decided I do not want it.
It is paid up through June 5 2008

Is that "97-day Money-Back Guarantee" ONLY for new sign ups ?
Does anyone know if I can get a Refund for the unused portion and how do I go about getting it?

In reply to:
Is that "97-day Money-Back Guarantee" ONLY for new sign ups ?

I believe so; if you have been here for more than that time the 97 days has already passed.

In reply to:

Does anyone know if I can get a Refund for the unused portion and how do I go about getting it?

This is only a customer-to-customer forum, so you are unlikely to get *official* answers here. I suggest you should submit that question directly to DreamHost via a Support Request, and see what they say.

They may give you a "pro-rated" refund for time un-used on a prepaid plan, and then again they may not - you should ask them.

I *do* know they will not refund prepaid amounts if a plan is terminated for TOS or Anti-Spam policy violations, but do not know about routine account terminations instigated by the customer.

--rlparker

Thanks for the reply....
I realize this is a "customer-to-customer forum" and not the place to get an "official" answer.
I was just trying to see if "maybe" someone had seen the policy stated more clearly on the DH website
As far as contacting Support. That is impossible and the major reason I no longer want to use DH.

If any new person is reading this message board. Take a word of advise and NEVER pay for a year in advance.
If I was paying on a month to month basis, then I would not lose near as much as I will be losing this way.
Oh,.. well... LIVE AND LEARN (education never comes cheap, does it)

Why is contacting support impossible?
I always get prompt answers from support, and my support requests are almost always marked as "Not very important".

I don't get it...

In reply to:
As far as contacting Support. That is impossible and the major reason I no longer want to use DH.

I'm curious as to why it is *impossible* for you to contact support? I've hosted here for almost 9 years now, and have *never* had any difficulty in reaching them. If there is significant "unused time" for which you may be able to get a refund, I'd think it is at least worth the effort to try to contact them wink .

Are you unable to use the Control Panel for some reason? If you would like, I'd be happy to forward your request from my account. wink

In reply to:
Take a word of advise and NEVER pay for a year in advance.

Paying for service a "year in advance" *does* have some degree of risk, I suppose .. but it also has it's advantages. It has actually worked out *very nicely* for me. Like most such things, however, YMMV.

--rlparker

In reply to:
Paying for service a "year in advance" *does* have some degree of risk, I suppose .. but it also has it's advantages.

Yes, I agree. For instance, when initially signing up, you avoid the $50 setup fee and also get the max discount from the $97 off promo codes.

And if you sign up for two years in advance, you get the 20% discount, which works out even if you take into account the time value of money.

He says that he is not getting his support replies via email and has to look them up in the support interface. I checked his support history and the tech did track down that the support replies are getting handed off to his outside email server via the mail logs.

Support is still willing to help more, maybe some assistance from here at the forum can help too?

I posted to simply find out if anyone knew if it is stated somewhere on the DH site about refunding a Hosting fee??

I did NOT come here to bad-mouth anyone.
And I do NOT care to go into the problems I have been having with Support (meaning one particular person in Support)

I have already wasted 4 days of trying to go back and forth with him. I simply do not have the time to play little games. What’s the point?
If I'm an unhappy customer, it is my choice to move on.

YES.... I agree with all of you.... I too, have had good response with Support (up until this incident) or I would NOT have paid to renew my hosting plan a few weeks ago.
But this go-round has been a Hugh break-down of communication. Things I try to explain have been
misunderstood, misinterputed and ignored. I have spent way too much of my valuable time trying to re-word my messages and then waiting for replies.
Furthermore,...it's not just this recent run-in I have had with this one particular person in Support. It's been an accumulation of small things that I have ignored because of the Good Customer Support. CS has always been very important to me and I was willing to put up with the other little things (like down time)
But that has changed, so I want to move on....

I really do not want to waste anymore of my time going into it here on this message board. But since Mike choose to expose it (and give his little view point) I guess there's not much I can co about that.

As far as the post from "michael (DreamHost Honcho)"
Since you took your time to post a reply to my post then WHY didn't you just answer my question: Is
the "97-day Money-Back Guarantee for everyone" ? insted of flaunting and exposing a problem that I choose NOT to mention. I'm sure everyone realizes there is always two sides to a story. And I certainly have mine.

As a DreamHost Support employee, you know the answer to my question so how about posting it right here and now for everyone else can see what the policy is.

And by the way Mike..... in addition to misunderstanding and misinterputing, you also assume way too much. Look at how you begin your post...... "he says...etc.."
For your information .... It's "she" not "he"

Er, uh.. wow. I can tell you are pretty frustrated! frown

In reply to:
... But this go-round has been a Hugh break-down of communication ... it's not just this recent run-in I have had with this one particular person in Support.

I guess I have just been fortunate to never have had to deal with "Hugh" - all the other DreamHost support folks I have dealt with have been great. wink

In reply to:

As far as the post from "michael (DreamHost Honcho)"
Since you took your time to post a reply to my post then WHY didn't you just answer my question: Is
the "97-day Money-Back Guarantee for everyone" ?

This makes me think that part of the communication problem(s) you describe having with DreamHost tech support just *might* have something to do with the difficulty you have with your basic understanding of English usage. I most certianly can't speak for Michael, but I'm suspecting that he didn't see the question as being at all relevant to your situation.

I was trying to be "nice", and helpful, when I responded to your first post (even though you asked a pretty ignorant question that, on the face of it, has little or nothing to do with your situation). Since you have obviously been here well over 97 days, your question wasn't really relevant to your situation. Any "97 Day Money-Back Guarantee" , irrespective of any limitations or conditions, couldn't possibly be expected to apply to someone who has hosted here as long as you have by anyone who can read and understand English. I just assumed you wanted to know whether you could get a refund for your unused time, so I responded "nicely" and suggested you ask the question of those that could answer you. smile

In reply to:
As a DreamHost Support employee, you know the answer to my question so how about posting it right here and now for everyone else can see what the policy is.

Well, okay then, here you go ... . I think that is pretty clear, but just in case you are confused:

1) Credit card and Google Checkout payments only. (I think this means that if you did not pay via a credit card or Google Checkout, the guarantee doesn't apply to you) wink

2) Refunds not guaranteed for accounts found to be in violation of DreamHost's Terms of Service or Anti-Spam policies. (I suspect this means you might not get your money back if you break the rules.)

note: Though not related to your question about *who* the Guarantee applies to, there *are* restrictions on what payments are able to be "refunded" under the guarantee:

"Excludes domain registration fees, bandwidth overage charges, and dedicated server payments."

All that said, then, I guess the answer to your question is obviously, "No, it doesn't apply to *everyone*, as is clearly stated in the guarantee itself" Doh!

Why in the world would you think the "97 Day Money-Back Guarantee" would have anything at all to do with any refund request you might have, after hosting here for almost 2 years; do you think somehow that the phrase, "If you decide - within the first 97 days of your time with us - that DreamHost isn't for you, we will gladly close your account and refund any payments you've made to us within those first 97 days," in some way would allow for you to be eligible a couple of years after signing up?

As for you being able to get some type of pro-rated refund, I suggested a way for you to investigate that. DreamHost has publicly stated in the past "You are welcome to a refund if you would prefer to move to another host, as it seems that you have some that you like. We have no intention of holding you here against your will."

Given that statement, I would think, even if your definition of "impossible", as it relates to contacting support, is quite different than any dictionary definition I've ever seen (there's that pesky "English" thing again!), you might reasonably expect some consideration if you contact support.

I understand that may not be as personally satisfying as venting on the forums, but would probably be more effective for getting some kind of refund. wink

BTW: My offer still stands in case you want to have me contact tech support for you; maybe I could serve as a "translator" (assuming, of course, that I don't get connected to the infamous "Hugh" - in which case, I may have no better luck that you did!) wink

--rlparker

BTW, I think it's unlikely (though not impossible) that you're going to find someone on these forums who has successfully gotten a refund of their pre-payment outside of the initial 97 day money-back guarantee period.

For one, I don't think it is policy for them to do this.

Secondly, even if there were someone who had miraculously gotten a refund of the unused portion of their prepaid hosting, they would be unlikely to be here reading this forum and trying to help existing or prospective customers.

I could be wrong on this, but this is just my assessment of the readership of this forum. I think the readership consists primarily of existing customers and prospective customers.

BTW, you shouldn't think your crazy for asking. I once bought an extended service contract for a washing machine because the store guarantee said that if you didn't have to use it, you could get a refund of the entire service contract fee at the end of the contract. It sounds too good to be true, so deals like that do exist.

In reply to:
I think it's unlikely (though not impossible) that you're going to find someone on these forums who has successfully gotten a refund of their pre-payment outside of the initial 97 day money-back guarantee period.

I think you may well be correct on that point (particularly because of the second of your reasons indicated). I was just trying to point out to her that DreamHost has publicly stated that such a thing *can* happen wink .

In reply to:
For one, I don't think it is policy for them to do this.

Again I agree to a point, but there is the published "policy", that describes certain situations where refunds will not be given, and there is DreamHost's general policy of dealing with customers in a fair and business-like manner. I don't think any of us assume that DreamHost lacks internal policies regarding customer satisfaction that they have not published wink .

IIRC, DreamHost has only said that refunds would not be given *in certain situations* ("97 Day guarantee" without CC or GC payment, TOS and Anti-spam violations, etc.), and they *have* stated that they are willing to give refunds in certain other situations (see the link I included in my response to the original poster.)

This leads me to believe that they will look at any case not specifically covered by their stated refund exclusions on a case-by-case basis, as do most reputable business, and evaluate whether or not, in their opinion, a refund is appropriate and fair. I *could* be completely wrong on this, but the evidence suggests otherwise.

That said, the real point I was trying to make in the whole discussion was that it never hurts to ask, as you might receive the consideration you are looking for. What I can't see helping at all is trying to use a public discussion of the scope and validity of a "97 Day Money-Back Guarantee", and a completely irrelevant discussion of who made avail themselves of its benefit, as a vehicle to obtain that consideration after you have hosted here for two years. That is clearly not what is at issue in this poster's case, and can only be viewed as disingenuous, at the very best. wink

--rlparker

Is there a Money Back Guarantee for everyone ?