Gisol Renewal Emails

Though my Gisol account was useless, I never formally cancelled.  Surprisingly, about a month ago I began to receive the following email message daily on two email addresses that I had evidently registered with them.

______________________

Dear xxxx xxxx

We have recently changed our renewal process such that web hosting accounts are no longer automatically renewed at the end of their term. Instead, you must notify us by your next billing date whether you would like to renew your account for another term or not. If we do not hear from you by 2009-02-08, your account will be automatically suspended.

Please visit the following URL where you will be presented with the option to renew or close your account:  https://order.gisol.com/svc/renewal/choices.pl?k=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  Username: xxxxx

If you need to update your account information before renewing your account, please make the necessary changes from your account control panel.

If you require more information or would like to discuss your account, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,

Billing Department
Global Internet Solutions

http://www.gisol.com/

________________________

Upon clicking on the hotlink I was taken to a webpage which displayed the following.

________________________

Account Renewal Options

Username:	xxxx
Renewal date:	2009-02-08 (in 4 days)
Account status:	ACTIVE

Current selection: UNDECIDED
Account will be suspended right before the renewal date if a decision is not made.

Please renew my account. I understand that my credit card on file will be billed the same amount as the original charge and renewed for the same term.
Please close my account. I understand that any files contained within will be irrevocably deleted.

_______________________

I didn’t go any further as I certainly had no intention of renewing and didn’t want to extend them the courtesy of formally closing my account.

Despite the fact that I was receiving emails daily, I thought that would be the end of it until  my answering machine recorded a call from a female named “Ella” last week on behalf of Gisol.  Ella spoke with an accent (perhaps eastern European)  and left the following message.

___________________

“Hello..my name is Ella from Global Internet Solutions.  This message is for Mr. xxxx xxxx.  Mr. xxxx, you have a web hosting account with us.  Your user name is xxxx.  If you’d like to renew, it’s time…do it by February 8th.  Please call 323-924-1109 .. 10 am – 5 pm pst.”

___________________

I called the number and after being on hold for 5 minutes (I was on  speakerphone so I didn’t dedicate this time solely to Gisol) a man (also with an accent) answered.  I told him about the call from “Ella” and was told rather brusquely that she would call me back next Monday.  Well, Monday came and went and no call from “Ella”.

I don’t know about you but I find this behavior exceedingly strange.  Perhaps they are somehow trying to protect themselves by acting as if they are a real business or maybe they are becoming desperate and hoping to swindle their customers twice over.

I would be interested to learn if anyone else is getting similar emails and phone calls!

Jesse

• 1

  Mike | 06 Feb 2009 4:07 pmHi Jesse,

  It is very strange. I’ve not heard of this before.

  They tend to use every sneaky, dirty, underhanded trick in the book…

• 2

  Jesse | 11 Feb 2009 6:42 amJust a short follow up to my post of Feb 5. On Feb. 7 I received the following email telling me that my account had been suspended.
  ______________

  Dear xxxx xxxx,

  This email is to inform you that your account Login:xxxxx, Account ID:xxxxxx_0 has been suspended.

  To view your invoice, log in to your Control Panel at https://cp.gisol.com/ and select billing profile.

  Please send an email to ADMIN[at]GISOL[dot]COM to discuss the suspension of your account.

  Please note that if you dont contact us with in the next 5 business days your account may be terminated. If that is the case all of your data and account settings will be lost.

  Sincerely,

  Global Internet Solutions
  A GISOL, Inc. Company

  http://www.gisol.com/

  ____________________

  What is really weird is that I am still recieiving the same renewal reminder emails daily as in my post of Feb 5 even after my account has been suspended! I guess this should be no surprise as this type of incompetence is to be expected from Gisol or maybe this is a sign that they are finally falling apart!