15 Apr 08 GISOL Terms of Service

As a trusting sort of guy, I rarely read EULA’s or Terms of Service (TOS). Well, I should have reviewed GISOL’s before I signed up with them as it makes for interesting but depressing reading. While I’m not a lawyer, it seems that GISOL may be operating in accordance with its TOS with regard to the ownership of domain names, so called upgrades and its cancellation policy.

That is not to say that GISOL is not guilty of fraud in the manner in which it applies the TOS, its strong arm tactics, forged signatures and run arounds are clearly illegal but the ultimate goal of putting these guys behind bars will depend on documented evidence of these illegal acts, not simply the loss of a domain name.

In the meantime, we can make them pay economically by continuing to expose their unethical and duplicitous behavior throughout the Internet. Toward this end, I not only post here on Report-Gisol but also on other related Internet venues and encourage others to do the same. Each posting on the web exposing how GISOL does business increases the number of anti-GISOL search hits and that is bound to have an effect on their ability to attract more “customers”.

To provide additional background, I’ve excepted a few relevant paragraphs from the GISOL TOS as well as the notice on their cancellation page and invite any legal professionals that may have been similarly injured to provide their insight.

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GISOL TERMS OF SERVICE

Customers and Upgrades

b. Any existing Customer must obtain an Upgrade/Consolidation Package if they have, are entering in or had any relation, affiliation or involvement with one (1) or more account within the GISOL Network.

c. Upgrade/Consolidation Packages are priced at US $49.95 per month and prepaid for 36 months while providing the customer with the ability to consolidate up to 3 current accounts into 1 package. This package contains Unlimited disk space, bandwidth and allows hosting of unlimited domain names not currently hosted within the GISOL Network. The package will also include free Private Registration, U.S Based Technical Support and 1 (one) free PromoPack per month for the full term of the aforementioned agreement. Upgrade/Consolidation Packages may be obtained at a significantly lower price during any special offer period. In order to obtain the special offer price, Customer must fill out a new order form which will automatically serve as acknowledgement of this clause.

d. Customer may not consolidate domain names or transfer/move domain names between any accounts within the GISOL Network. Any such attempt will be considered an AUP violation and will contain a fee as appropriate for the severity of the violation. Customer must contact GISOL at 323-924-5915 and request for this service to be completed on the Customers behalf. This service will entail the automatic agreement to the “Customers and Upgrades” Term and the automated purchase request for the Upgrade/Consolidation Package at the currently offered price or special offer, whichever is most suitably priced.

Personal Use Limitations and Statutes

a. PERSONAL USE . Personal use is limited to content meant solely for the use and viewing pleasure of the Account Holder/Customer. Content furthermore shall be limited to: Personal Images (pictures of person or persons of particular relation to the Customer), Personal Blogs (blogs regarding activities, daily life, adventures or happenings directly related to the Customer), Personal Diaries, Personal Forums (personal forums are strictly prohibited from any association with goods, services, propaganda or political insight). Web content may not contain any sale, promotion, reference, link or advertisement, promoting, assimilating to, introducing, offering or suggesting any product, service, concept, hobby, belief, religion, faith, theory, instruction or method.

b. BUSINESS USE . Business use constitutes the allowance of web content such as; Business forums, blogs, pictures, paintings, art, promotion of a product, promotion of a service, promotion of a belief, sales, offers and etc. Customer may incorporate links, advertisements, assimilations and references to all legal content which may be utilized for any personal or business purpose. Customer is liable to act in good faith at all times and must follow both federal and state laws and regulations to ensure legitimate use of GISOL and all of its services.

Online Hosting Specials

a. Any and all “Special Offers” located on http://www.gisol.com/hosting are for the exclusive purpose of “Personal Use” and follow the strict guidelines and regulations of the “Personal Use Limitations and Statutes” section of the GISOL Policies. Online specials pertain only to the 2 (two) year term, furthermore, are the sole bearers of the “Price Freeze Guarantee” and the “Credit Back Guarantee/GCC”. Regular priced packages may contain the same features as any “Special Offer”, however, “Personal Use” Guidelines and Regulations still apply. Availability of items such as the E-Commerce Package and Shopping Cart feature within any given “Special Offer” allows Customer to sell their personal property, limited by the intent of the sale. Intent may not contain any business purpose or financial gain; moreover, any sale must constitute an even trade of funds in exchange for personal products/belongings of Customer.

b. Business Packages start at $49.95 per month and are prepaid for 36 months, however, during any special offer period, the business package may be purchased at $29.95 per month prepaid for 36 months. Any package with 1 or more websites hosting any business related content or any information from the customer suggesting the intent to utilize an account for business will automatically receive an upgrade to the Business Package. If it is discovered by GISOL that Customer is planning to utilize hosting services for Business, it is automatically presumed that our policies have been reviewed and that the customer acknowledges the automatic upgrade to the Business Package. All business packages will include identical benefits to the Unlimited Package, additionally; Customer will receive Private Registration, U.S Technical Support and one PromoPack feature per month.

Billing and Payment.

h. Satisfaction Guarantee: All of our virtual Web Hosting Packages come with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee during the 8th month of use with no cancellation or administrative fees charged. This also means that 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. Promotional fees, if any, will be deducted from the amount of your Pro-Rated GCC. This Satisfaction Guarantee exists solely for and is limited to Web Hosting packages. Any features purchased from GISOL will be considered as rendered upon dispatch from GISOL’s mail servers. Any features such as PromoPack(s), Private Registration(s), U.S. Based Technical Support and/or Etc., do not qualify for any GCC. If a cancellation request is submitted prior to 8 months of use, no credit will be issued to Customer.

Duration of Agreement, Continuity, and Cancellation Policy.

i. All sales are final including the acceptance of all policies after the Customers order has been submitted and prior to contact from GISOL’s Verification Department. Any setup fees, fees for additional services, as well as fees paid for the lease of the domain name are always non-refundable. Any promotional domain lease options will be billed at US $29.95 per domain and subtracted from any prepaid hosting fees before any Credit is processed. Customer acknowledges and agrees that following the instructions provided at http://cancel.GISOL.com is the ONLY ACCEPTABLE METHOD TO CANCEL a Web hosting account with GISOL to avoid occurrences such as an automatic renewal. Any cancellation requests sent to or directed to GISOL by telephone, email and/or regular mail shall be null and void. Customer also agrees that any request for a credit shall be forfeited, if the instructions provided at http://cancel.GISOL.com have not been followed to cancel a Web hosting account.

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Notice on GISOL cancellation page

PLEASE NOTE: Effective March 15, 2003, the form within is THE ONLY WAY to cancel your account with us. No calls or emails to any department will preserve any deadlines according to our Terms of Service. Global Internet Solutions does not issue refunds for its services once services have been rendered and an account was created for your use on the server. However, if you are terminating your account well in advance of your next billing date, you may be entitled to a partial refund with managerial approval based on the number of months of service used. Any refunds will be issued within 14 days after approval. See our Terms of Service for details.

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15 Apr 08 I was extorted by Gisol

I was extorted by GISOL. Given 1 hour before they shut me down. They said I would have to pay for a 3 year contract because they upgraded their server panels and I was such an old customer I would have to upgrade or would loose my email – web site and domain name. I have been in dispute for a year and today I got an email from someone trying to sell me my original domain name GISOL had. Fed up and totally frustrated but I will not give up. This is extortion in its true form and there does not seem to be any justice.

Thanks for putting together a web site to expose these criminals.

15 Apr 08 Another complaint sent to the CA AGO about Gisol, Inc.

Here is a copy of my complaint to the California AGO:

I would like to inform you of serious fraudulent activity in the State of California, being perpetrated by a web hosting company called Gisol, Inc. They are freely operating and scamming money from unsuspecting customers around the world. They use very deceptive advertising on their website to get their customers. Their policy seems to be to charge as much money to their customers credit cards as possible. This is either done on first contact, or after a year or two of very poor service. They also register your domain name in their name, and hold it hostage to get you to sign up for further services, that you already have. They have recently been forging signatures on receipts, either cutting and pasting existing signatures, or just simply making them up.
I have personally been charged $718.20 (on 01/22/08) after 1 year of hosting, when Gisol quoted me $42.84 over the phone. I disputed the charge on my visa card, and Gisol returned a sales receipt with my signature on. This is fraud. I did not sign the sales receipt. I signed a service contract, and they have copied my signature. My bank has refunded me the money as they agreed that it was a forged document. I have copies of both documents which I can forward to you.
I urge you to please do a search on the internet for “Gisol Fraud”, and you will see the extent of their activities. There are literally hundreds of complaints from ex-customers, with very similar stories to mine. The LA Better Business Bureau has 448 complaints on their files in the past 36 months alone. I also urge you to request those complaints from them, which they will readily release to you.
I cannot understand how a company in the US is allowed to operate above the law for so long. They are literally scamming people on a daily basis for hundreds of thousands of dollars in total.
Please stop them.
For your information, I have filed complaints with the FBI IC3 (passed on to the FTC) and the LA BBB. I am located in the UK.