Globat Web Hosting - Automatic Upgrade - Automatic Charges

Hey guys

Internet marketing truly rocks! You can do and sell almost anything right under the nose of the law without being bothered by any law enforcement. 

Web hosting seems to be the market leader in dubiosity! (If that is a word). And globat.com seems to be the flagship. I just received an e-mail this morning from a customer who, unfortunately, still has an account on Globat. he had forwarded me the text of the newest Bonny and Clyde story.

the mail tells the client that by May 1st 2008 his account will automatically be upgraded ( i don't even want to talk about the silly upgrade, i wrote the whole globat story down in detail on my blog) and that he will be charged 49.95$ per year from hereon ever after..... if, and i quote the end of the message:


So, if you do not click on the link I've sent you within the next 10 days, the Ferrari is yours to pay!

Have you ever heard something like that? Ain't that something? Wait, the best part is still to come; most users will never find this e-mail in time since the sender address is noreply@localhost.com and the mail will take the way it is supposed to take, ...right into the junk mail folder.

Now what say you? "You can pull that stunt once and walk away with some cash and probably loose some customers". Wrong! Missed by a mile! Globat.com pulls that of since years, again and again and again. Without any consequences or anybody saying Stop!

And you know what; 100'000 websites hosted at globat multiplied by 50 bucks has a nice sound to my ears too, even lousy 10% of it must be worth sending out a single e-mail and push some buttons if someone accidentally finds the mail.  :-[

mass email usually goes straight to the junk mail folder, as they intend it to, so it wont be found on time or not at all.

I just wonder how legal this is. I'mean, what if i send you an e-mail that says :

"If you don't reply to this mail within 10 days, the Ferrari in front of your house belongs to you and you have to pay for it"

If Globat is legal here the Ferrari is too. But even tough it is as obvious as the sun in the sky, nobody seems to care. Maybe after May 1st, when the credit card statements roll in. but you know what; I'm certain that Globat still makes millions on this coup.

The webhosting package is still tiny and now the cost of more the 11 bucks make it rather expensive too.

When I started reading this post, I thought you were going to say this is a scam, pulled off by someone else using the company's name. Like the emails you get that are supposedly from Ebay or Paypal. I can't believe, it's a legitimate company.

And they are doing it over and over again and no one seems to care too much. It hard to believe but it's a true story and on some websites you can even find Globat as leading hosting company in the charts! Top 10 webhosting and such sites.

I know many marketing tricks that a company can use to maximize earnings, but this looks like a scam.

But it is probably legal as most companies state in their terms that they can change their prices with a notice of X days (or without notice at all).

The fact that you will never receive their email is not their problem. At least I think that this would not stand in a court.

I suppose people who see practices like that should change their hosting company because it may be legal but for sure it is not correct....

I personally moved out from Globat about 4 Years ago when they first started this scam... or when i first noticed it. Since than thousands of people have been charged for useless upgrades. the latest one, the upgrade tp GloMobile makes sure that users can see your website on their cellphone and u-pods. I never heard from any other web hosting company anything like it! did you?

In my case they upgraded all accounts from a so called T1 package to a T2 package for 19.95. They didn't even bother to look who or what they are upgrading. At the time i already had a T2 package but my account got charged anyway!

The Globat Scam has taken dimensions that at least some law enforcement in the US should have gotten wind off. Lots of users are talking about a class action suit against Globat.com but Lou Rio seems to be in the position where he doesn't care because nothing ever happens. .... and i wonder...

I have someone on my blog who is looking for other people to finally get something going against Globat.
http://makehowto.info/2008/04/24/globat-web-hosting-fraud-automatic-upgrade/