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Back in february I decided to start my own business and got everything in order from february through march. April came around and I said okay, well I got everything except my website. I knew I couldn't do it myself no had the time so I researched the web and up came this advertisement for heritage web solutions with an eye-catching offer of $199 and up.
I contacted them, and locked into a packed of two payments of $279 with $60 a month hosting fees. I felt that the hosting fees compare to other companies were expensive but the package deal seem good and after one year you have the option to choose another hosting company.
Well people, it is now may 7th, and to date I have $1000 + taken out of my account with absolutely nothing to show for it. Nothing! No web design, no logo, no responses when you leave messages for these in charge account managers for like a week or more. It's frightening to know people who claim to be professional designers can do this. If I had diligently research this company like I do everything else, I would have never went with these people.
As I wait on the phone and listen to the prompts and I know there may be new customers calling in on other lines I wish I had the power to reach out and save them the difficult frustration! Please people, if you are serious about your business and customers do not use heritage web solutions. Your time as a business owner is precious and vital. Your monies would be put to better use with a company that puts you and your priorities first.
This company never fails to take monies from you account but can't seem to produce the works. I really, really don't know who gave these people licenses to work with consumers and why the hell are they still in business!
Look at this bull America! Are work is awesome they say, starting at $199.00 they say. A SET OF DAMN THIEVES AND RIP OFF WE SAY! Do you really what to do business with a company like this? They say they have built a website for me. Well HERITAGE, WHERE THE HELL IS IT?!
OH I'm sorry, I'm the only disgruntled unhappy ### right?! WELL, I don't think so. Why all those complaints about your company HERITAGE? WHY you so concerned about me contacting the BBB and persons of interest. YOU SCARED?!
WELL YOUR ASSESS BETTER BE! Keep on emailing me AMERICA and I will keep on telling you the God given truth about this company. Why should you pay these jokers your hard earn money for them to send you a bull ### letter like this?
They say they are professionals but as I tell America, DOES IT TAKE PROFESSIONALS FROM APRIL 1ST TO JUNE 25TH TO NOT HAVE A (OH I'M SORRY A 4-5 WKS TURN AROUND TIME AS HERITAGE CLAIMS) AND STILL HAVE ZIP, ZERO TO SHOW!
RUN [censored] RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN, DON'T LET HERITAGE CATCH YOU THEIR THE DRAIN YOUR BANK ACCOUNTS MAN! Check this letter out I received from them today:
Dear Ms.
Heritage has communicated to you our decision on the refund. We have essentially built your entire site and there is no basis for a refund. However, in the interest of good will, Heritage will offer a 25% refund on the condition that you sign a Settlement Agreement.
Otherwise, you are free to contact an attorney or the BBB, or to pursue any other legal means. However, in the event you do such, this offer is off the table.
Respectfully,
Operations Management
Heritage Web Solutions
For the countless people like myself who has been offered a valued package deal by heritage web solutions and was never delivered must less in 4-6 weeks do yourselves a favor and carefully read their tos statement. This is the only defense that heritage will offer your at the end after they have completely sucked you dry is look at our tos statement, if we did some work for you... Oh well web site completed or not, like it or not, you are not entitled to a refund.
You have your vision of a business, you pursue that vision. You apply for the necessary paperwork, license, permit etc so you feel all the hard work has been done on your behalf. You have your suppliers/distributors lined up. You reaching the home stretch and did all the research their is to be done. You google a web designer and you are bombarded with heritage web solutions at least in the first page even into the second. You research heritage web solutions, you see their advertisement of #1 ranking in the country/nation (whatever) you look at their testimonials and you believe that they must be good. You researched them on the bbb and you find that they have a satisfactory record. You call and they promised you a up and running web site with a turn around time of 4-6 weeks. You wish you could have it sooner but you know the type of professionalism your looking for you say to yourself maybe this is a reasonable time for excellent quality. You pay your monies down and they tell you when the second half will be taken out and then state, oh, in order for us to build your web you must host with us for one year.
You submit your content as they instructed you. And then you wait, and email, and phone, and wait, and email and phone... Then a panic overwhelms you, is this company legitimate? You do some more research and you found a site called /link removed/ or the complaint board that you are now reading. What the hell is going on you say, why didn't i see this before?! You type in heritage web solutions and your mouth begins to drop. Oh my god! This can not be happening to me. Please god this can't be real!
For all you victims that check back here to see if their are any new victims, don't forget about the upcoming potential victims of heritage web solutions. Please, please, use whatever energy you have left to report your story to [redacted].com, this complaint board, ic3.gov (internet crime complaint), utah district attorney, local law enforcement in provo, utah, dr. Phil (stopping this company publicly may be more successful in reaching a larger audience), research who their local news people are and usually they will have an investigative department that will take complaints of abusive companies/services in their community.
This company must be held accountable for what they have done and continue to do. We are now victims and we should not walk away and just let this company tactics to continue. Each of us must, must do our part to bring this company to a complete stop. This is not the way we do business in america. We are a land of opportunity. And my opportunity was taken away from me. Two years of planning and goals. All i wanted was the best that web design had to offer at an affordable price. Victim, after victim after victim. This company spend a lot of our non refunded money and monies that they continue to take from existing customers to keep the complaint board and /link removed/ from showing consumers who google in web design. And that is exactly why some of us victims were not able to find these complaints initially.
They often say that companies like walmart and other companies have problems and complaints but the difference is between a company that rectifies the situation to please the customer and a company that just takes money from the customer and you can't make a u-turn after the monies are in their hands.
I can no longer tell you that I have any confidence in this company. I have paid them about $1,200 plus 2-3 months of hosting fees. This is what they would do. At the initial sales call they sound really professional and all that and make you think that they would complete your web in 4-6 weeks. But be VERY, VERY CAREFUL! Go to their web page, go to the bottom and READ their TOS statement. They contradict themselves with what they tell you over the phone (4-6 weeks) then they tell you in their TOS statement on the bottom of their web page that they can't guarantee a finished custom design web.
America / Business Owners such as myself. I wish I knew about them from the beginning. After my first initial complaint on this board, that was when I received a phone call all of a sudden stating that my information has gone to a web designer and she will get in contact with me. Look at the date of my initial complaint on this board (Roxanne). They first took monies out of my account May1st, and at the date of my first initial complaint was when my web was built.
But get this, I was contact by one of their account managers and was told that my complaint on the complaint board was a violation of terms with heritage web and I need to remove it. My freedom of speech?! I don't think so. In the mean time they played the game really well. My web designer finished the web and you know like when you have changes to make and such and you resubmit it for the changes you want made. The designer told me she can't make anymore changes until I take the complaint down and this is what she was told by I know who.
I submitted my content from April okay, and was never contacted that I was submitting anything incorrect as far as format or the way I sent it. After the designer is finished you would think that they just upload the information on your site because after all you are the ones that have to do all the damn work because they would charge you I think $2.75 per entry. They had me send them an email stating that I have in fact submitted all my content so we could move on to the next stage. I confirm the email and sent it back. Their the ones suppose to be running the show and so if you send any additional content after that if they have a problem with that you would think they would say hey, we already started on your product entry and anything sent after your initial confirmation of content email would be inputed by you. Nothing of the sort.
Anyway I have only 103 products in my store and about 33 of those items I tried to input myself although I paid them an extra $297. to input up to 5000 products in my store. If they had any interest in finishing my product entry in a timely manner, they would have completed most of my categories. It 's like they say if you submit content after an initial email they can't start anything. If that were true then they would have told me not to sent anything and never started in the first place. They are full of it. Even if I submitted content why didn't they start on what was previously submitted?
Anyway, information that they inputed ALL, AND I MEAN ALL was basically wrong. They're suppose to have a product entry department but yet the supervisor of my account manager is the one inputting my information? A supervisor? I don't think so! I have two kids I told this same person I would help her but resubmitting my baby shower content to help her out I did that in exactly one and a half days and it was because I was dealing with my kids in between. So if you have a product entry person doing product entry all day why have my items been on stand still for days in and out. ALL of my baby shower items had NO pictures and even when I resubmitted it the way she asked me to, they still weren't done. This one lady on /link removed/ said it took the 18 MONTHS to finish her website and all this time, they would but up a bull ### welcome site talking about you are now live. I said to the supervisor that was supposedly working on my product entry "so when is all of this going to be finished by Christmas" she said " yes, I should be finished by then." I told her okay, that was a joke but she tried to smooth it over. What kind of ### company is this.
Website has gone live my ###! They charge you $59.99 a month while they move at a slow snails paste doing ###. Even the product entry that I tried inputting myself was doing nonsense. For example I inputted several time that one of the cake pans were $18.99 several times and it always came back as $0.00. This company is ### America and if you don't want to waste your TIME and VALUABLE MONIES. PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE DO your research and stay away from this company. What a damn DISASTER, DISASTER! Anyone who has had problems or continue to have problems with this company, I urge you to contact their District Attorney Office in Provo, Utah and now telling our story to Dr. Phil so that he can expose these people nationally for what they are! FRAUDS!
I am in the process of finishing up with HWS. It has taken about a year to design my site and what started out at under $1000 has turned into $2500-$3000. I went through what I wanted in the beginning before the site was being built and once the site was being built, things that I originally wanted did not work and I had to make changes and was charged for each change. It has gotten ridiculous. What I am most upset at was how much this web design depended on me and who do I charge fo rmy time doing their work. I had to provide all the info and since it is my business I guess I am the best person to do that. Having said that, other companies that charge $3000 for a site do all their research. I originally had a great designer that designed my banner and then he left. They gave me a designer that had no design talent. To solve this I went on front page and designed my own site and forwarded it to HWS for them to tweak it and add the flash element and some PHP programmimg that I paid for and couldn't do myself. I can't stand most of the people I worked with becasue they just lasck the design aspect of web design. The PHP programmer i have is great to work with.
I think the problem with HWS is that they are operting a web design company like a production line and have people doing specialized jobs. The banner designer only designs with Adobe, the PHP person only does PHP etc even though these people know how to do everything. I found that everytime I was switiched to someone else, the next person did not get what I wanted and it took forever to get the point across and sometimes it never got across. They operate in a way that makes a lot of money but is not customer focussed. In the long run, bad news spreads fast and this company will suffer. In order to save themselevs now they need to have experienced designers who also have a gift for design not just knowing how to program and they need to have a main person working on the site and integrating the work of other professionals. There is too much division and concepts get very lost. Teh account managers are essentially sales people with the goal of selling you something everytime you speak to them. This company is out of control.
In summary I am very stressed with my experience. I have another 2 sites to design and i will not use HWS. This was a horrible experience. When my one year hosting is up which is soon, I am switiching companies so that I do not have to deal with this company again. The last thing I have to say is use a local company that you can go see - do not use an online company far fromyou that you have no direct access to.
I had the same thing happen to me and when I disputed the charges with American Express they sent them their TOS and an IP address that they claimed was mine proving acceptance I looked up the IP address and found it was theirs not mine. It has been 4 months still no website and still disputing monthly charges near $4000.00 in total. You can review my reports on www.pornafia.org.
Shellee Hale.
People cut your losses with these losers and move on. It is hard to find reliable trustworthy people but Heritage is a bunch of low life losers. I swear I would they would never live to see any of the money that they steal. I do wish they would all be cursed and damn to hell!
Dear MK:
I would be glad to resolve your issues. Contact me directly at ceo@hwsinet.com.
Warmest Regards,
Brad Stone/CEO
Heritage Web Solutions
Heritage Web Solutions is a totally Mess. I beg you, plead with you to not use them. Run do not walk to another company that will stand behind their integrity.
Heritage Web Solutions Problems:
Lack of Integrity
No Follow UP
NO good customer assistance
Pricing too high for little and poor service
Custom Web Sites..What a joke. They use templates found in any Best Buy!
They will lie to you, take your credit card info, bill you, then give you the opportunity to bend over and take it in the behind!
Heritage Web Solutions values all of its customers, especially those who have voiced complaints. It is in our best interest to work with these customers to reach a reasonable and fair resolution. In most cases Heritage tries to go beyond what is fair for the company and errors on the side of the upset customer.
Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for some customers who, no matter what we do, are never truly satisfied. This is especially disheartening, as Heritage has the solid reputation of providing excellent customer service.
Some customers, as illustrated on this complaint website, have resorted to airing their grievances on the public Internet, in hopes of resolving their particular complaint. We do all that we can to help meet a fair resolution to their satisfaction.
However what becomes unfair to us, are those customers who we feel have received everything they have asked for, and more, but then take it upon themselves to have an ongoing vindication against Heritage. To us, there is nothing more we can do to satisfy them. They are who they are. Vindictive and angry people do more harm to themselves than they think they are doing against a company. It is sad but true.
Heritage Web Solutions, with a customer base of over 10,000, receives less than one half of one percent in complaints. That is an impressively low number compared to the standards of today. We certainly would like to have zero complaints, but that is just not realistically possible. There will always be those people who cry foul, no matter what.
What you don’t see on this complaint website are all the positive emails and letters we receive daily from customers who are extremely happy with the service and work we have provided for them.
Heritage Web Solutions is a good, solid custom web design and hosting company that has an excellent rating with the Better Business Bureau and the Utah State Department of Commerce. We are ranked in the top 1% of web hosting companies in the United States and have recently been recognized by Inc 500.
If you feel that Heritage Web Solutions is not taking care of you, I would invite you to contact me at my personal email address at ceo@hwsinet.com, and I will personally follow up on your issue.
Warmest Regards,
Brad Stone
CEO/Heritage Web Solutions
Still today sep 6/ 2007 - never got my refund they charge 250.00 for a total of 500 web page that never made, they charge extra 100 for logos, extra for noting. I toll them my refund they toll me only 50 pct off 250.00 that they charge ask why they don't ask before not refunds when starting conversations. They never deliver a service and was willing to send more money but I was worried by salesman from they own company, he was send email offering other services from other companies besides heritage web solutions.
Never that company was doing service only collecting money from many people like me, hope they refund the money to all.
Lily:
Please contact me personally at ceo@hwsinet.com and I would like to resolve your issue.
Warmest Regards,
Brad Stone/CEO
Heritage Web Solutions
Heritage Web Solutions values all of its customers, especially those who have voiced complaints. It is in our best interest to work with these customers to reach a reasonable and fair resolution. In most cases Heritage tries to go beyond what is fair for the company and errors on the side of the upset customer.
Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for some customers who, no matter what we do, are never truly satisfied. This is especially disheartening, as Heritage has the solid reputation of providing excellent customer service.
Some customers, as illustrated on this complaint website, have resorted to airing their grievances on the public Internet, in hopes of resolving their particular complaint. We do all that we can to help meet a fair resolution to their satisfaction.
However what becomes unfair to us, are those customers who we feel have received everything they have asked for, and more, but then take it upon themselves to have an ongoing vindication against Heritage. To us, there is nothing more we can do to satisfy them. They are who they are. Vindictive and angry people do more harm to themselves than they think they are doing against a company. It is sad but true.
Heritage Web Solutions, with a customer base of over 10,000, receives less than one half of one percent in complaints. That is an impressively low number compared to the standards of today. We certainly would like to have zero complaints, but that is just not realistically possible. There will always be those people who cry foul, no matter what.
What you don’t see on this complaint website are all the positive emails and letters we receive daily from customers who are extremely happy with the service and work we have provided for them.
Heritage Web Solutions is a good, solid custom web design and hosting company that has an excellent rating with the Better Business Bureau and the Utah State Department of Commerce. We are ranked in the top 1% of web hosting companies in the United States and have recently been recognized by Inc 500.
If you feel that Heritage Web Solutions is not taking care of you, I would invite you to contact me at my personal email address at ceo@hwsinet.com, and I will personally follow up on your issue.
Warmest Regards,
Brad Stone
CEO/Heritage Web Solutions.
Like many others on this board I too fell prey to this company. They promised a custom designed web-site within 4-6 and it took them 2 months. One that would be to my satisfaction and that I would be able to review, instead they completed it and the first I saw the design it was already live on the internet. I never gave my approval.
They ripped me off $400 in addition to two monthly hosting fee's of $29.99. I didn't get remotely close to what I was expecting and when I contacted them to express my opinion and concerns, I was blown off by both the designer and the account manager. I was unhappy with both, but was too afraid to ask for someone else fearing that this would happen and it did anyway.
My content information, which they claimed to their writers first included the instructions I had provided for them as to where things were to go on the page and they published wrong pages and I never received the audio I paid for. It is a complete disaster and I am writing letters to everyone I can think of.
I can't get a call back from anyone there and their customer department laughed at me when I called them to fix the problem. I only wish I had found this web-site sooner!
Thanks-
Ivette
Heritage Web Solutions values all of its customers, especially those who have voiced complaints. It is in our best interest to work with these customers to reach a reasonable and fair resolution. In most cases Heritage tries to go beyond what is fair for the company and errors on the side of the upset customer.
Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for some customers who, no matter what we do, are never truly satisfied. This is especially disheartening, as Heritage has the solid reputation of providing excellent customer service.
Some customers, as illustrated on this complaint website, have resorted to airing their grievances on the public Internet, in hopes of resolving their particular complaint. We do all that we can to help meet a fair resolution to their satisfaction.
However what becomes unfair to us, are those customers who we feel have received everything they have asked for, and more, but then take it upon themselves to have an ongoing vindication against Heritage. To us, there is nothing more we can do to satisfy them. They are who they are. Vindictive and angry people do more harm to themselves than they think they are doing against a company. It is sad but true.
Heritage Web Solutions, with a customer base of over 10,000, receives less than one half of one percent in complaints. That is an impressively low number compared to the standards of today. We certainly would like to have zero complaints, but that is just not realistically possible. There will always be those people who cry foul, no matter what.
What you don’t see on this complaint website are all the positive emails and letters we receive daily from customers who are extremely happy with the service and work we have provided for them.
Heritage Web Solutions is a good, solid custom web design and hosting company that has an excellent rating with the Better Business Bureau and the Utah State Department of Commerce. We are ranked in the top 1% of web hosting companies in the United States and have recently been recognized by Inc 500.
If you feel that Heritage Web Solutions is not taking care of you, I would invite you to contact me at my personal email address at ceo@hwsinet.com, and I will personally follow up on your issue.
Warmest Regards,
Brad Stone
CEO/Heritage Web Solutions.
Heritage Web Solutions values all of its customers, especially those who have voiced complaints. It is in our best interest to work with these customers to reach a reasonable and fair resolution. In most cases Heritage tries to go beyond what is fair for the company and errors on the side of the upset customer.
Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for some customers who, no matter what we do, are never truly satisfied. This is especially disheartening, as Heritage has the solid reputation of providing excellent customer service.
Some customers, as illustrated on this complaint website, have resorted to airing their grievances on the public Internet, in hopes of resolving their particular complaint. We do all that we can to help meet a fair resolution to their satisfaction.
However what becomes unfair to us, are those customers who we feel have received everything they have asked for, and more, but then take it upon themselves to have an ongoing vindication against Heritage. To us, there is nothing more we can do to satisfy them. They are who they are. Vindictive and angry people do more harm to themselves than they think they are doing against a company. It is sad but true.
Heritage Web Solutions, with a customer base of over 10,000, receives less than one half of one percent in complaints. That is an impressively low number compared to the standards of today. We certainly would like to have zero complaints, but that is just not realistically possible. There will always be those people who cry foul, no matter what.
What you don’t see on this complaint website are all the positive emails and letters we receive daily from customers who are extremely happy with the service and work we have provided for them.
Heritage Web Solutions is a good, solid custom web design and hosting company that has an excellent rating with the Better Business Bureau and the Utah State Department of Commerce. We are ranked in the top 1% of web hosting companies in the United States and have recently been recognized by Inc 500.
If you feel that Heritage Web Solutions is not taking care of you, I would invite you to contact me at my personal email address at ceo@hwsinet.com, and I will personally follow up on your issue.
Warmest Regards,
Brad Stone
CEO/Heritage Web Solutions
Heritage Web Solutions values all of its customers, especially those who have voiced complaints. It is in our best interest to work with these customers to reach a reasonable and fair resolution. In most cases Heritage tries to go beyond what is fair for the company and errors on the side of the upset customer.
Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for some customers who, no matter what we do, are never truly satisfied. This is especially disheartening, as Heritage has the solid reputation of providing excellent customer service.
Some customers, as illustrated on this complaint website, have resorted to airing their grievances on the public Internet, in hopes of resolving their particular complaint. We do all that we can to help meet a fair resolution to their satisfaction.
However what becomes unfair to us, are those customers who we feel have received everything they have asked for, and more, but then take it upon themselves to have an ongoing vindication against Heritage. To us, there is nothing more we can do to satisfy them. They are who they are. Vindictive and angry people do more harm to themselves than they think they are doing against a company. It is sad but true.
Heritage Web Solutions, with a customer base of over 10,000, receives less than one half of one percent in complaints. That is an impressively low number compared to the standards of today. We certainly would like to have zero complaints, but that is just not realistically possible. There will always be those people who cry foul, no matter what.
What you don’t see on this complaint website are all the positive emails and letters we receive daily from customers who are extremely happy with the service and work we have provided for them.
Heritage Web Solutions is a good, solid custom web design and hosting company that has an excellent rating with the Better Business Bureau and the Utah State Department of Commerce. We are ranked in the top 1% of web hosting companies in the United States and have recently been recognized by Inc 500.
If you feel that Heritage Web Solutions is not taking care of you, I would invite you to contact me at my personal email address at ceo@hwsinet.com, and I will personally follow up on your issue.
Warmest Regards,
Brad Stone
CEO/Heritage Web Solutions
Heritage Web Solutions values all of its customers, especially those who have voiced complaints. It is in our best interest to work with these customers to reach a reasonable and fair resolution. In most cases Heritage tries to go beyond what is fair for the company and errors on the side of the upset customer.
Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for some customers who, no matter what we do, are never truly satisfied. This is especially disheartening, as Heritage has the solid reputation of providing excellent customer service.
Some customers, as illustrated on this complaint website, have resorted to airing their grievances on the public Internet, in hopes of resolving their particular complaint. We do all that we can to help meet a fair resolution to their satisfaction.
However what becomes unfair to us, are those customers who we feel have received everything they have asked for, and more, but then take it upon themselves to have an ongoing vindication against Heritage. To us, there is nothing more we can do to satisfy them. They are who they are. Vindictive and angry people do more harm to themselves than they think they are doing against a company. It is sad but true.
Heritage Web Solutions, with a customer base of over 10,000, receives less than one half of one percent in complaints. That is an impressively low number compared to the standards of today. We certainly would like to have zero complaints, but that is just not realistically possible. There will always be those people who cry foul, no matter what.
What you don’t see on this complaint website are all the positive emails and letters we receive daily from customers who are extremely happy with the service and work we have provided for them.
Heritage Web Solutions is a good, solid custom web design and hosting company that has an excellent rating with the Better Business Bureau and the Utah State Department of Commerce. We are ranked in the top 1% of web hosting companies in the United States and have recently been recognized by Inc 500.
If you feel that Heritage Web Solutions is not taking care of you, I would invite you to contact me at my personal email address at ceo@hwsinet.com, and I will personally follow up on your issue.
Warmest Regards,
Brad Stone
CEO/Heritage Web Solutions
Not to go into to much detail, because I will be here all night! I wish I looked into Heritage Web before working with them. Every complaint that I've read on this site is true, its happened and happening to me. I made the mistake going with a cheap company and now i am paying double.
I too am very upset with Heritage Web Solutions! I am in shock that they are still in business and not behind bars!
My nightmare began May 9th when I hired Heritage Web Solutions to design my new internet business. Unfortunately, I did not search for complaints against Heritage Web Solutions on the internet. Being the optimistic type, I was only searching for professional web designers and hosting companies that seemed reliable, trained, and professional. My final decision to hire this company was based on their extensive and impressive internet advertisements.
These ads have them sounding great, but little did I know, but soon learned, they had no intentions of helping me build a marketable web business that would produce income. I was only money to them! They did NOT live up to their advertisements and promises. which has cost me a lot of money, valuable time, and unnecessary stress! It got so bad that I could not sleep, and all I did was cry. I am a hardworking, self sufficient, single Mom who, is counting on this business for extra income to pay for my daughter's college tuition next year!
Just dealing with them for two weeks, it became apparent that I had made a huge mistake in putting all of my confidence and money into Heritage Web Solutions. The first week consisted of me talking to an account manager, discussing my business plans, what I need for my site in appearance and functionality, and submitting my content, ideas, color preferences, etc. I was then told that everything would be turned over to a designer and I would hear from him within the next four business days. I was so excited when the evening finally came for me to see his creation; that was until I viewed the design. Now keep in mind , I hired professionals to get a custom built, professional looking website. A website that would appeal to my visitors, and one that I could be proud to put my name on, but all I got was a fast 15 to 20 minute web design! T hey had also talked me into letting them design my logo for an additional $300.00. I was told specifically that I would not be billed until they designed something to my satisfaction, however, my credit card was billed the very the next day! I do not know which was more pathetic, the cheap looking web design, or the cheap looking logo all of which did not state my company's name as instructed, but the name of webpage name instead, and I specifically told them on several occasions that the website was owned by my new company. After I had seen the design and talked to the web designer, I knew he was not going to be able to accomplish the style and layout I needed in order for my business to be successful, so I sent an email to account manager telling her to find me another designer. She said she would get right on it, but a few days later, the same designer called wanting to show me and design he had completed. He was also very snooty acting, like he was doing me a big favor! At the time I asked him if he had spoken to the account manager and he said no, but I knew better, I realized then, that the account manager did not care and could not be trusted with the future of my business, she did not have my best interest at heart. This time I demanded another designer and another account manager. Even my account manager's manager, openly lied to me twice!
By the third week, I had figured out all of their scheming business tactics. In essence, I paid them $700.00 for a website design, and shopping cart to be setup. I paid them another $300.00 for a logo, but after two bad attempts of getting a cheap and ugly logo, I told them, to forget it, but they would not refund my money. They said that according to their contract, if they did any work at all, my money would not be refunded. The account manager assured me that I would not have to pay for it until they designed something I liked, but my card was billed the very next day.
That same day, I also purchased 4 dibs (scroll boxes) for a total of $200.00 to go on the first page, but that never happened as planned, because of the wrong layout they chose (note: I said they chose), would not incorporate this function, so they put one dip on first page that caused the whole page to scroll, instead the whole plan was to have them accent the individual topics so they could be seen at first glance. The entire left side of the design was useless and the right side was just a plain long page.
After I told several people this wasn't what I wanted, they tried to make it work, by putting each topic one after the other, therefore; no one could see what was available unless they took the time to keep scrolling way down the page! I also paid them 125.00 for a calendar; however no work was ever even started in regards to the forum and the calendar, because I did not approve the useless layout of the design. The more they worked the more chopped up it became. However, they refuse to even refund me for these items.
This would never have happened, if they had listened to what I needed and wanted in the first place. this would not have been so stressful or time consuming for anyone, if they had taken the time necessary from the start. I entered all the information required of me, my content, my business plan ideas, links to websites I liked, even my color choices, but no one at Heritage ever took anything at face value. I even have several emails that I sent to at least 3 different people of what I wanted my website to look like, what I needed it to do, etc. Turns out, my opinion did not matter to them. It ended up taking them a total of 7 weeks just to get the colors right!
Did anyone ever take anything I stated into consideration? No! They did exactly what they wanted to do, and tried to get me to approve a website with two home pages, slowly loading full pages and half pages, all done with the wrong layout! The entire left side of the design was useless and bare and my store was so sad, it did not accentuate my products at all. Like everything else, these ran down the page.
To make a long story short, they were not qualified to produce the results they advertise on the internet. They also do not live up to what they tell you on the phone. They will act sweet and tell you what they think you want hear, but it all turns out to be more lies. Since they couldn't design the right website within the 4 week time frame they promised, I was billed $49.99 for June hosting.
All in all, I paid them a total of $1,524.99 and I am still not in business, because I refuse to accept anything less than I paid for; I will not accept a website not capable of supporting my businesses needs. I refuse to change my business to accomadate their lack of skill and knowledge. Needless to say, after being disgusted for over 4 weeks, I finally sent email to the owner and his reply is below.
Dear Ms. ******
I will bring your concern to the attention of the V.P. of design and ask him to look into it. If the work is shoddy, then Heritage will remedy it. If we are 'chasing a ghost', then our best efforts have to be sufficient.
Jeremy, will you please review this account and see that we communicate with Ms. Story.
Respectfully,
Mark ******
Heritage Web Solutions
Please note, the use of Mr. Strong' s words, I took his email to sound arrogant. The email confirmed the fact that I was correct in my observation of their sleazy and uncaring business practices. It also confirmed by biggest fear . . . the deception goes straight to the top of the corporate ladder! Again, they had no intentions to do a good job. They were also not 'chasing a ghost.' What I wanted, paid for, and expected, was not impossible by any means! They take and keep people's money by hiding behind their terms of agreement. As far as I am concerned, the minute they billed my credit card, they 'accepted my terms of agreement' meaning that would to live up to their promises and what they advertised to get my business in the first place.
In the email I sent to Mr. Strong, I forwarded one letter that I had sent to a supervisor. In the email, I went into great detail about everything I had been through to date and again had to waste more time in explaining how I wanted each page to look and what I needed each page of my site to do. Week before last, I got tired of sounding like a broken record, and of being stressed to the max, so I sent an another email to Mr. Strong explaining that I no longer wanted their services and did want anyelse to do with his company, and I ask for a refund.
He did respond, stating that I could not be refunded any money due to the fact that I agreed to their terms of service. How can I be responsible for agreeing to something, that they did not produce? The contract is one sided, and when I agreed to the terms, I genuinely believed they were an honest company and would do a great job in building my website. Why should I settle for less than what I paid for and they promised? In other words, why should I have to be bound to this contract, when they did not produce the services and results they advertised and promised?
Revelation: Do you know why Mr. Strong wants his designers to complete a web design in 30 minutes? The answer to this question became very apparent to me quite soon. The terms of their agreement states the following:
29. Cancellation Fee and Refund Policy
WEBSITE DESIGN/DEVELOPMENT - Refunds of the fees paid for development of the website may be issued on accounts canceled within 90 days of the initial sale and prior to the completion of the website according to the following schedule:
A) A minimum of a 50% cancellation fee will be retained by HWS on canceled accounts even if no work has been started and no content yet submitted by the Client.
B) A minimum of a 75% cancellation fee will be retained by HWS on canceled accounts if work has been presented to the Client; or HWS has made multiple attempts to work with the Client, and Client has not responded to those attempts.
C) A 100% cancellation fee will be retained by HWS and NO REFUND issued if any changes and/or modifications requested by the Client have been completed by HWS. No Refund will be issued on any website cancelled after services have been rendered, including but not limited to, the design work having been completed and/or the website taken live.
D) 100% cancellation fee will be retained and NO REFUND will be issued by HWS if Client cancels after 90 days from the initial sale.
MINIMUM CANCELLATION FEE – Client agrees that a minimum cancellation fee of 50% will be retained by HWS on all canceled accounts even if no work has been started. The cancellation fee is charged to compensate HWS for up-front expenses and services rendered, including but not limited to, costs incurred for the purchase of domain name(s) for developing the website, securing server space, creating the temporary website or space saver, employee expenses, marketing, and overhead costs.
ENHANCEMENT SALES - A 100% cancellation fee will be retained by HWS and NO REFUND will be issued once work has begun on any enhancements purchased, including, but not limited to, databases, programming, logos, flash, galleries, rollovers, e-commerce stores etc. Client agrees that a minimum cancellation fee of 50% will be retained by HWS on all canceled enhancement purchases if canceled within 90 days of the enhancement sale and if work has not yet begun. NO REFUND will be issued by HWS if client cancels after 90 days from the enhancement sale. Enhancements or additional services purchased after the initial sale are separate purchases and are in addition to and separate from the original sale. If a client cancels an enhancement the original sale is not canceled.
(Note: Please pay attention to Sections A & B. In other words, they hurry to get in ole website ready, as this quickly gives them the right to not refund a customer's money. Therefore, they do not ever have to produce likable or workable results. Now this is shady and fraudulent business practices, and in my book, it is also stealing!)
I will not go into all the details of everything; it would take all night to write it all! I just want to warn as many people as possible before they believe in this company and end up being scammed! Please investigate, check out, and get references before hiring a company that advertises on the internet.
At present I have hired another company to build my website, and so far things are going great. I am very impressed with this new company. It may take me a lifetime to get my money back from HWS, but that is not the most important thing in this conquest. The most important thing is to warn others before they get ripped off too! So if anyone is in the process of suing HWS, etc. Please let me know and I will help you in anyway I can.
This evening the owner, sent me an email saying that, as per their terms of agreement, I was not entitled to any refund. He went on to state that they would work me until I was satisfied. As for that, I don't have another 8 weeks to waste. After 8 weeks, I am tired of hearing this same promise, and after 8 weeks of being nervous and stressed over all the delays and uncaring staff at his company, I have decided, I will not allow myself to be a victim of their shady business practices any longer. I will not allow them to continue to destroy my mental health and my business! I will do whatever it takes to see that justice is done in my favor in due time! I am not stupid, so why would I allow myself to continue give away money to a cold, ruthless company? Lastly, they must be stopped! Again, if I can be of help to anyone else, let me know.
Signed,
Justice in the Making.
Try registering your complaint with the IC3 internet crime complaint center (a division of the FBI'S white collar internet crimes). They have received many such complaints and the more the better and further the investigation will go. This company is a bunch of scammers and needs to be shut down.
Same problem as Roxanne's complaint. Took the money, only $550.00. Be sure to dispute your charges with your credit card people,and by all means, FILE A COMPLAINT ON THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU'S SITE. They sent me forms to provide them w/info for my ecom site, but I wasn't able to open the attachments. They had a very inexperienced account person who rarely was at work, didn't respond to emails, and never returned my phone calls until after I disputed my charges on my credit card. They fed me a line of bs that didn't match their hot air story in Entrepenauer Magazine. They do 500 websites a month? I got a voice mail recording for the receptionist on most of my calls. Very poorly ran company! I asked to speak to "King, Mrk Strong," one of the owners, and he refused all calls. Funny, though, he responded to my complaint to the Better Business Bureau! They credited my account back 75% of the $550.00, and kept $25% of my money for doing absolutely no work! I wish I could get paid and not do any work for my clients! Wouldn't that be a perfect world! I told them that I will give them 25% worth of the best advertisement I can give them! I have told all of my business associates, and will continue to do so until they refund my 25% back into my account. Keep on them. They are frauds! I will be emailing Entrepenauer Magazine this website, and tell them they should investigate before they write glowing comments about companies! Buyer beware! The best advice I can give you after my extensive research of graphic designers, is look to people who free lance and work out of their home! Google wham graphic designers- They are talented, extremely knowledgeable, and great about communicating with you! My site just went live today, so I will be having products added soon-check it out in a week or two... I sell cheer, dance and imprinted apparel! The site cost me a fraction of the price, and I felt I was dealing with a very honest and reputable designer! Good luck...
Don't fall for Heritage Web Solutions!