Host holding my sites hostage for money!

angeljs
Contributor
Contributor
I signed up with a VPS host on the 28th December. Their website promises a 30-day money back guarantee. Their service is so abysmal, that I've decided to move to another host. My current host found out about this and took my server offline and refused to give me access to any of my sites for transfer unless I pay them for another month. Here is the email I received from them:

hi angela
right what i m willing to do is unsuspend and release your accounts so you can move then to where ever you wish .
on the payment of the lastest invoice . for the vps server you ordered and now canceling ...
this can then be set off against the 400 pounds we ve paid out to setup your vps server .....
onces invoice paid i will unsuspend all your accounts for you so you can move them ......
the 40.00 is to cover our wasted time moveing your accounts over and toward the whole server cost

I have now opened a Paypal dispute to claim back the £40 I had to pay to gain access to my sites. Now he has issued me with an invoice for several hundred pounds, threatening all kinds of legal action unless I drop the dispute:
we make up invoice for you for the 40.00 pounds youve claimed back
if it not paid in 7 days we ll take it to county court and sue you

right it will be 25.00 plus v.a.t each account moved 26 x 25.00 = 650.00 plus 20 % vat
total 780.00 pound we get the invoice sent to you ok
have a nice day
your d buik owner / director

 

According to their website, there is no indication that they are VAT registered. He also talks about breach of contract, but I only signed up for a month, and didn't even get that!


What can I do about this? Extorting money is illegal, as is charging VAT when you are not VAT registered.

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1 REPLY 1

classy-diva
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

Sounds like someone is trying to scam you.

 

Unfortunately payments for intangibles are not covered by PayPal so any dispute you open will be closed upon escalation.

 

Ask the company for their VAT number and check it on the HMRC Website.

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