I’ve been using Fasthosts for Exchange hosting for a few years.
I’m basically satisfied.
But only basically.
I like the point-and-click setup. It’s always been rather smart. I like the fact that it *just works*.
But I’m being billed over-and-over for stuff that I am not using. I couldn’t find out how to close some of my accounts. Not all of them, I still retain a few accounts, but I’ve got a lot I just don’t use.
I scanned their reasonably good online control panel. There is NO ‘close’ or ‘remove’ option.
There’s no ‘stop billing me for this bit’, no cancel button.
Eventually, after a few months, I decided to contact support and ask them to stop some accounts.
Nope.
No can do.
Here’s the email I got back from them:
Dear Ewan,
Thanks for you email,
To close your packages you will need to call our customer care team on 01452 561858,
Please call them between 9am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday.
They will be able to talk you through the closure procedures.
If you wish to make sure your domain does not renew, please set the domain to expire using the guide below:
http://www.fasthosts.co.uk/knowledge-base/?article_id=193
Regards
[name removed]
Customer Support
Fasthosts Internet Ltd.
Absolute bollocks.
If I can start a billing relationship with you in just a few clicks, you should let me terminate the relationship too.
But no.
I have to waste more time phoning up. And there appear to be ‘closure procedures’.
CLOSURE procedures?
Isn’t it just a click?
WHY isn’t it just a click?
And why do I have to abide by your business operating hours? Ridiculous.
Rubbish.
What a mistake I made. I should have just signed up with some other Exchange provider who understands that making it EASY for me to do business with them is right thing to do.
Speaking of which, who do you recommend?
Who should I swap to for my existing accounts?
I've been using SimplyMailSolutions.com for a few years now and they are absolutely fantastic… not only do they do Exchange but they also Zimbra, which is like exchange but IMHO better.
I used these guys for hosted Exchange while I had a WinMo device:
http://myhosting.com/Exchange/
They seemed pretty good although the service used to be cheaper. It's in Canadian dollars, at least 😉
I had the same problem with my web hosts. When I phoned them, they even asked me to fax through the cancellation forms, absolute nightmare. Canceling my direct debit to them helped to get the message across.
Dropped Exchange for Google apps, and never going back! (If you must, I used https://www.dslextreme.com/Services/EmailHostin… and was pretty happy with them)
Sometimes things can be TOO easy to shut down, especially in the case of a single disgruntalled employee or a competitor that key sniffs your passwords. There are real continuity of business issues for some clients in these instances, so I can certainly believe that they require a live conversation with you, which is probably recorded. You look at it as bad service design, I just see a nice layer of extra security…
Sometimes things can be TOO easy to shut down, especially in the case of a single disgruntalled employee or a competitor that key sniffs your passwords. There are real continuity of business issues for some clients in these instances, so I can certainly believe that they require a live conversation with you, which is probably recorded. You look at it as bad service design, I just see a nice layer of extra security…