➡ Updated 11/4/2008: See FOX News expose GISOL for the crooks they really are, and watch the two people behind the scam literally run from the camera. Watch the video on YouTube or below, and read the post, as well as the numerous comments here or on this post (over 300 comments in total). My thanks go to Mike of Report-Gisol.com for doing the legwork to get these criminals on TV.
These same crooks have been calling me from private phone numbers, harassing me, and trying to intimidate me into letting them post responses on my website. They’ve tried repeatedly to post comments on this post and on my other post about them, and I refuse to let their lies go through to the live site. They need to be in jail.
This is one web hosting company you should not touch, not even with a 10-foot pole!
I signed up with them back in January of 2006, because I was attracted by their many features and low price. They were offering over 35GB of space, and unlimited bandwidth. While that last hook should have had me turning away, I fell for it. I anticipated increasing traffic to my sites, and was worried about bandwidth fees. Their many features blinded me. See the attached PDFs for the details of the hosting packages (Gisol Windows Hosting, Gisol Linux Hosting). 
Sure, there were signs this was a shady operation right from the start, but I ignored them. The cheesy site design should have clued me in, as well as the script, which is still running, and says there are so many more hours left until the “blowout sale” expires… As of the date of this post, that script’s been running for at least 6 months (January to June 2006).
I took the bait, and signed up. That’s when my problems started. I knew I should leave right away, but I was hooked on their Control Panel, which let me do everything easily. They were, and they still might be using the H-Sphere Control Panel, which lets one do just about everything (add/manage domains, sub-domains, DSNs, MIME types, databases, etc.) You name it, the control panel can do it. Unfortunately, that’s the ONLY thing that Gisol has which works well. Everything else is broken in one way or another.
Let me give you a few examples:
Their web servers always go down! By always, I mean always. It could be daily, it could be a few times a day. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, your sites will stay up for a few days, which is nothing short of a miracle when it comes to GISol. The funny thing is, they advertise 99.999% uptime on their site – look at the plan specs, linked above, or this beauty: Gisol Uptime Guarantee. I’m still not sure how they compute the percentage they list in the plan specs, but I think their formula automatically eliminates the downtime to the third decimal point…
Their web servers don’t store session variables. Yes, you heard me correctly! I used session variables for logins on one of my clients’ sites, including a couple of my own. I’d log in, and the site would kick me out, because I had the web pages look for the variables, and they couldn’t be found anywhere. I had to argue with their tech support for days, and finally appealed to management. They kept accusing me of being at fault, when their pathetic servers wouldn’t work right. Finally, they switched me to another one, and wonder of wonders, no more session variable problems… but of course, other problems awaited.
Their tech support is outsourced to India. Normally, I don’t really care where the tech support is located, as long as they can do their job, but when they can’t speak English, are obviously reading packaged phrases off some sheet, are rude to me, don’t solve my problems, and lay the blame on me when they’re at fault, I tend to get a little upset, and I think you would, too.
False advertising: they say they have millions of customers on their site. I doubt it. I think their real number of customers is somewhere between a few hundred and a few thousand. Why do I say that? Because:
- They only had 1 mySQL server. Seriously. I’m not kidding. The name of that server was was mysql1, and they couldn’t move me to a new one when I asked.
- I signed up for a Windows Hosting account, and my server’s name was win2k8. When I had problems with that, they moved me to win2k9, then win2k10.
- I also signed up for a Linux Hosting account, and my server’s name was web16.
- When I called Tech Support, I kept speaking to the same 3-4 technicians all the time.
I had numerous – and when I say numerous, I mean plentiful, as in plethora – database connection problems. Just about every time I tried writing to one of the mySQL databases, I’d get timeouts or connection problems, and they simply couldn’t solve them.
The user testimonials on their site are false. They have to be. I can’t imagine I’m the only one who’s had problems with them. Besides, the problems are so blatant that anyone but a blithely unaware novice would know they’ve got serious problems.
I made the mistake of buying a domain through them. When I wanted to switch to another web hosting provider, they held the domain hostage. It took several emails and phone calls to get them to release it. I kept getting bounced from one “department” to another. Welcome to Indian-style bureaucracy, right here in the States!
I cancelled my web hosting plans. On their site, they say they offer refunds any time, for any reason. That’s the biggest crock of crap I’ve ever seen. It’s now three weeks since I requested a refund, and I’ve still to get it. I spoke with their Billing “department” – and I use the term loosely. They passed me off to the Refund “department”, and told me I could call them at certain phone numbers – one was a toll-free number, and the other was a long-distance number. I called the first number, only to be disconnected right away. Then I called the second number, only to have it ring endlessly, then get disconnected. No, not even an answering machine. Finally, I wrote to their email address (refund@gisol.com). I’m still waiting for an answer. I’ve already started fraud proceedings with my credit card company.
All in all, I think I don’t exaggerate when I say you should beware of Global Internet Solutions (aka GISol). If you value your sanity and your wallet, stay far away from them!
Raoul Pop 
Pingback: Gisol – The Video | Report-Gisol.com
I am surprised that despite Fox News Expose, Gisol still exists! I think Indian BPO should also be booked for shielding Gisol (as it doesn’t seem to be there for providing technical support). Do you know the company that handles the support for Gisol. I am sure it may have a headquarter in US
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It’s been two and a half years coming, but today I received confirmation that my credit card company will refund me the $1798.20 that gisol.com stole.
So, not a result in that I’ve affected gisol.com in any way, rather that I used the consumer credit act to insist my VISA company protect me against such fraud, and refund the amount.
I live in the UK and used the government Financial Ombudsman Service to complain against my VISA card provider, Capital One, for not protecting me against fraud as per section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 see: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/31/creditcards-31.htm
Good luck to the rest of gisol’s victims.
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I’ve been with GISOL for over five years. There were a few outages but they had an easy to used contact interface and those problems were quickly solved. Last year things began to change. They shut down my website and demanded that I pay $59 a month because I was using to much bandwidth. Of course i had to pay for three years up front. Suddenly several months later they shut down my website again. It is a business site and we derive part of our revenue from the site. Gisol knew this and knew they had us over a barrel. This second shutdown was caused, again, by using to much bandwidth. Of course this was just a big lie but I had to pay them $4,000 to get the site back up and for three years of “unlimited” hosting. I now knew that the site would be shut down again and I would be extorted in a few months for more money. Of course they owned my domain name, we all know that story, and I decided that I must buy it from them. I called and they quoted me a price of $1500 plus 15% plus another $300 they said they had to pay to their registering company (this $300 was a total lie as I found out later they had to pay them 0). A total of almost $2300. I agree. They said I could not use a credit card (wonder why) and I had to go to their bank and wire the money into their account. They told me the domain name would be transferred in 5 days. Guess what, it was not transferred. Through a series of fortunate phone calls and emails I was lucky to get a sympathetic person at their registry to contact them. After seven weeks they transferred part of the domain into my name. PLEASE READ THIS: There are three parts to a whois domain name listing. The registrant, the admin and the tech contact. All they transferred was the registrant not the other two which meant they still controlled by domain name and I could not move it from their server and still had to pay them. A bunch of dirty rotten crooks. Please be warned about buying your domain name. Through another series of fortunate incidents I was able to go around them and have everything put into my name. I am convinced if I had asked them to put me in as the admin and tech they would have asked for another $2300. The domain is mine now and I have moved the website to a company where I get the same unlimited package for $9.00 a month versus the $159 that Gisol extorted me for. Please be warned. I lost $6300 from them. I looked them up and they have lost over 700 clients since Jan 2010. Their policy, since they are not getting new business (suckers) is to extort money from their existing clients whose domain names they own. My nightmare with Gisol is over and I’ve learned a valuable lesson. I’m just lucky I got my domain name from these crooks and liars.
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Why aren’t those Gisol bastards in prison yet?
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Pingback: Beware of GISOL - Raoul Pop
lol David you said “may GISOL get what’s coming to them soon”
Do you mean our money? MORE MONEY? Oh no…
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I can’t believe what I am reading here. I posted (#34, 37 and others) back in July 07. What I find most irritating is they are still getting away with this. Is there no justice?
I was able to get my money back, but some of these stories are heart breaking. Good luck to you all and may GISOL get what’s coming to them soon.
David
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Hi Mike J.!
Would love to compare notes. Your info’s same as mine, but I have more.
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Johnathan is Brian Spivak.
P.S. Raoul Thank You for your help and support!
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Thank you for the info MJ BUT who is Johnathan? He is the one I talk with when ever I have talked to someone there. He is the one I trusted to set up my account and also pretended to be a mediator for an outside company to give me back what money was left after their legal expenses.
I had a lawyer look at the contract and he said it was convoluted. I just gave up after that, to much heart ache, and I wouldn’t settle with a thief! I don’t know if I will ever pursue this matter ever again. But it will come in hand if I decide to do so. Thank Toni
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Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
It took me a very long time to complete this research, and now I am sharing it with all of you.
Gisol Inc President: Jack Spivak
Gisol Inc Manager: Brian Spivak (son of Jack Spivak)
Gisol Inc Phone Numbers: 13239241109, 13234821340, 13239245915
Gisol Inc contact emails: admin@gisol.com, sales@gisol.com, domains@gisol.com
Gisol Inc Location: 7336 Santa Monica blvd #30, West Hollywood CA 90046
Gisol Inc Office: 809 N Gardner Street, Los Angeles CA 90046
Jack Spivak Phone: 13238648118
Brian Spivak Phone: 13238648117, 13234222222
Jack Spivak Location: 807 N Gardner Street, Los Angeles CA 90046
Brian Spivak Location: unknown
Jack Spivak Email: gisolinc@777biz.com
Brian Spivak Email: brianspivak@gisol.com
Your Hero,
M. J.
Yes, it took me 0ver 6 years to collect all of this information.
Gisol ass holes own me 2 years of service!
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Awesome work, Mike!
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Feel free to contact Gisol Inc president at “gisolinc@777biz.com”
Good Luck!
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I have almost the exact same experience as the post above. My account was suspended and I was asked to call their sales team. I was told that my account had been hacked by someone in TURKEY and they had loaded tons of stuff online and they were twigged by it because my limit had been exceeded. When I pointed out I had an unlimited account and asked how it could be exceeded, I was told that they loaded it with porn and they had to close my account. So…they said it could be fixed by creating another account. Okay I said, what’s the catch? That they only created accounts on 36 month terms. I was half way through my 3 years contract term, which I was forced into via the same means that many other people have written about here. I asked why they just couldn’t create a new account and I could see out the term I had paid for…I was told that was not possible, but they would credit me with what I had paid for. In the end they wanted a further $1,042 from me!!! (I, of course, have refused. I have gone to another server.)
I told him I wanted proof of the hack and he said they had dumped everything and there was none. I told him stright to his face that I knew about gisol and their scams. I asked how I get out of gisol and he said he could cancel it on the phone…which I knew was a lie because I already read contracts can only be canceled via the online termination form. I told him so. He told me seeing I didn’t have a valid account, because it had been hacked, I could not use that form. I asked what written proof they would give me of termination of my account if I canceled by phone and he said, ‘none’….not even an email. He said I could send a registered letter of cancelation to the head office and that would be proof to me that I had canceled. I told him, a) you say online that letters can not be used to cancel and b) that is only proof I have sent you a letter, not what’s in the letter.
I would dearly love to get these people. I will look into joining some class action as soon as I can. Right now I’m in the throws of trying to restore the business they tried to ruin and get my site up and running. Thank god I had my domain registered elsewhere.
Surely there must be some way of stopping these people. this is out and out theft and extortion.
SueW.
P.S. I’m from Australia
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GISOL is a very unrepeatable ISP and has conducted very Unscrupulous Business Practices. After offering a long term service plan with payment up front they continually tried to break my service contract using various unscrupulous techniques. First they said some one cancelled my contract and that it must have been done by myself and that even thought I had at least 1 year of pre-paid service credits that I would have to sign up for a new plan and loose my service credits. After I refused and offered to report them they reluctantly restored my credits and continued my service. A few months after that they , again disabled my service and told me that my account had been compromised by someone in Turkey and that if I wanted to resume my service , I would have to pay $399 to restore. I spoke with a man name Rich, he did not give his last name . When I said I wanted my service restored with out a fee or get a refund of unused service credit, I was told that would not be possible and that my service would be discontinued. He then hung up from our telephone conversation. He offered no proof that there really was compromised security breach. Basically, I felt that this type of approach of continued threats to discontinue my paid service agreement was unprofessional and was a scam. I wonder how many other GISOL customers had the same experience. I definitely do not recommend GISOL and feel they are unscrupulous in their Business practices if not Illegally operate their business , by breach of contract.
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Hi everybody. Here you can read Episode One of my story with GISOl:
http://gisol.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=11
Regards to all.
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Thanks JohnC for your comment. Everybody’s experience with GISOL will save thousands of potential victims.
I’m also grateful to Raoul, as well as to others who have devoted web sites to people who have had similar experiences, or who wish to give advice to others on such issues.
I believe that the more web sites, blogs or forums become available, the more we can do fight such internet fraud and bring such criminals of GISOL to justice.
I’d like to invite everyone not only to join my newly created forum but also to join every possible blog or forum on the internet that are devoted to discussions about GISOL.
Our cause is just, and together we can put an end to the GISOL’s mafia.
Please join my forum as well: http://gisol.info/forum/
Regards to All
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Mohamed A.A.
I have had dealings with this company as well I am sure glad I am rid of them. I lost a domain name but the important thing was I successfully fought them on their practices and had all of the monies paid to them returned as a charge-back from my debit card. My bank supported me fully in this, As I presented enough evidence to prove fraud to them. Any help or questions please feel free to contact me at this forum.
It took me almost 3 months to get this all straightened out but was worth the fight.
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Thanks 4one4all for your reply. I’m working hard to finalize the form and content of my web site. Your knowledge and experience as well the support of every other victim of GISOL, will be of great value to me and will be highly appreciated. I also have the full support of many authorities (which I can’t reveal at this point).
GISOL will never get away with it while I’m still alive.
Regards
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Hi Mohamed A.A.!
I went to your new web site, but I couldn’t see a way to reach you. There is other information that you might need or be interested in to be most effective. I’d be happy to share some knowledge and experiences. I’ve been fighting against them for a LONG time.
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My last story with GISOL (which took place on Oct. 23rd, 2009) is very similar to Charlie Dalton’s above story; but I also have several other stories with them, which will be published in web a site I have dedicated for those criminals: http://www.gisol.info
I have a reason to believe that my experience with GISOL.com is the worst I ever had because it involves loss of many years of work on my sites, loss of popular domain names, loss of databases, loss of money and above all the worst treatment I ever had with a gang that masters the art of provocation and blackmailing.
At the moment, I’m considering every possible legal action against the so-called GISOL (which probably stands for Get Instant Stealing Online) .
Regards
Mohamed A.A.
Cairo, Egypt
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October 25th,2009
I have a small business where I sell land in Nova Scotia Canada via the internet only.
I would like to tell everyone about my experience with GISOL business practice this week.
My relationship with GISOL lasted about 4 years. I initially sign up for a thirty month plan (approximately $6./month) Since I was please with their service, I sign up for a second 30 month period at approximately $9/month about a year ago. Hence, I had approximately 18 months of prepaid service to go.
At 5:21 pm on tuesday October 20th, I got a call for the first time from GISOL saying that I have exceeded my plan and that I needed to upgrade to another three-year plan ($27./month) by 7:00 pm or they would delete all my data from their servers. GISOL gave a prepaid, satisfied customer 1 hour and 39 minutes to accept a new plan at triple the cost or they would put me out of business.
This GISOL claim about exceeeding my plan made no sense since I did not publish anything new to my website in four months and my web hits have drop 70% since renewing my GISOL plan. They said they would not give me any credit for the prepaid 18 months towards this new plan and they would not refund any of my money.
Since I found GISOL business practices shady and unprofessional, I move my website to GoDaddy.com.
Yours Truly
Charlie Dalton
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada
PS: I am so happy that my domain name was not registered with GISOL.
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Update…
I think we can safely assume that it was Gisol that hired the hackers… gisolsucks.com has been hacked in exactly the same way…
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Hi all,
The fight is still continuing… People are still contacting my website, complaining they’ve been ripped off by these crooks, and we are continuing to help.
Our site was compromised by some hackers in Saudi Arabia this week, and may still be subject to some warnings about security, safety and viruses etc., especially by Google. Please be aware that everything has been cleaned up and made safe. Whether it was due to our lovely friends at Gisol, no-one will ever know for sure, but we certainly have our suspicions. Myself and Raoul have both been subject to attacks of varying degrees over the last couple of years, and I would definitely not put it past them to do such things.
Keep up the fight. We will win eventually.
Best Regards,
Mike.
http://www.report-gisol.com
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FYI … The two businesses that GISOL is operating under as you mentioned above are registered domain names the WHOIS database shows them to be registered as being owned by DomiansByProxy.com In an effort to keep the real owners of these domian names away from the whois database … One look at the service agreement and you know who really owns the domain names…Our Friends and crooks at GISOL
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All,
Gisol have started 2 new businesses. Please read my post about Bizways and Dserver.
Thanks all, and I hope you’re still trying to get your money back. I’ve just heard from one victim whose bank was successful in their chargeback due to Gisol not bothering to dispute it. It may be worth another try if you have failed previously.
If anyone actually filled in Gisol’s form after their expose on FOX, please let us know what happened, either way. If you want it kept confidential, don’t worry – I will.
Mike.
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Edny
Contact your credit card company and file for a charge back mention that you did not receive the services paid for breach of contract.
also if debit card contact your bank and pursue fraudulent charges to your debit card
John
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Hi edny,
Contact Detective Gary Kaplan:
Tel: (++1) 310 855-8850
Fax: (++1) 323 415-4281
LA County Sheriffs
West Hollywood Station
Attention Gary Kaplan
780 N San Vicente Blvd
West Hollywood CA, 90069
Contact me using my website, and we may be able to help with your bank situation.
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Hy tony
I dont know if any of you has in advive for me cause , my credit card company said there is noyhing they could do about it ,these guys the got my money (1078 dollars) make my account negative and the worse thing I dont have no website, since the day that I Paid I never had the website , like they were telling me over the phone you will get website within 10 , I dont know if you guys gonna give up ,but me I am not , I am paying for a service that I dont have I guess I can take them to court for that. if any of you has any adress That I could write my complaint to the police in LA cause I am in PA is not that easy for me.
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I don’t know how to begin , cause after reading all these there is nothing new I am gonna write about GISOl AKA ( GLOBAL INTERNET SOLUTIOn BUT ALSO KNOWN AS GROUP OF INFERMO SCAMBAGS, Here is my story
I am an artist , two years ago I did a website that’s where mysery started with those scambags and filthy thieves Called themselfs GLOBAL INTERNET SOLUTION , pricisely GROUP INFERMO SCAMBAGS. these guys offered a year hosting for $ 95, 40 this is the message that I recieved from these suckers when my NIGHMARE started after I gave them my debit card Info
Dear *******
Thank you for choosing Global Internet Solutions for your Web hosting needs. We look forward to working with you to make sure you get the most of your account, and we wish you success with your online venture.
We have received and processed your payment of $95.40.
This payment covers your setup fee and the first
12 MONTHs.
Please understand that it can take 24-72 hours before DNS servers across the world are updated with the new name servers.
In the meantime, your website can be accessed with the following URL:
http://d1562787.u70.mygisol.com
To access your account with the Control Panel, use the following information:
URL: https://cp.gisol.com/
Login: ********
To access your account by FTP, use:
Host Name: win2k6.mygisol.com
Login: ********
Thank you for your business,
Global Internet Solutions
there was no such thing as contract from my understanding that I had to sign,no need to say Signaturelink that was it , it was for me ok when I stated having problem loading pictures and other complications that you guys went through . That was the first year October 24 2005 to 0ctober 2006 So the following year which october 2006 to 2007 they just took the 95,40 from the same debit card , never recieved any mail said Gisol renew your account or whatsoever , here is , what I recieved from them afer they took the money which (95,40)
Dear Edny M,
This letter informs you of how much was accrued/charged for the following operations:
Login: ednyart
Account ID: 1562768
Plan: Start-Up 2005-05-16 S05 (Win)
Order: #1562768-2357605-1
Annual fee for Start-Up 2005-05-16 S05 (Win) plan (10/24/06 – 10/24/07) $95.40
Charge to Credit Card VISA # xxxxxxxxxxxx8236 Exp. 12/2007 $95.40
TOTAL: $95.40
YOUR CURRENT BALANCE: $0.00
If you have any questions on the above, please contact us at:
From to 2007 to 2008 never recieved nothing they just took the money like they did before, like I said I went through all these nighmares with the chatting tech like NEO and so on every other month I had some kind problems .Then suddenly late in Septemebr 2008 my wensite just desapeared , I did not call them cause I never knew the number , like always went to the chat thing try to find a solution like the said They are solution , SOLUTION MY ASS, at this point of time I could go tio control panel, and found NEO , he told me to call this 323 94-1109 , said alright and I called and I spoke to one of these MF**** may SAM but I dont know cause they all sound alike it seems one person with defferent voices, so , he said your account has been suspended , I said for what ,he said well they sent you an email to renew your account you did not answer I said never recieve any email , he said you got a problem with yahoo, he said well I got a better deal for you , I said what is that , he said we got 49.95 for 3 years , said what 49.95 never mentioned anything else like 3. 57 0r something else those filthy bastards and I said ok then let’s do it , I was not aware trhey were scambags , cause I have been with them since 2005 I did not see the problem to go with them again , he told me in other to do that you have to give me a CC info I said you guys already a CC in file and you took money several time without noticing me. he said this is expired bla, bla bla, I said ok then I gave him My Discorver Card info that was october 24 2008 the following which is I looked my statement I saw that I am over my limite cause I did not have lot of money left on that CC for those Scambags took 1078.20, called discover card found out what ‘s going on they asked me did you buy something for 1078,20 , I said heck no , that’s when I realized that GISOL charged me 1078.20 , guess what I never had service since september, and I started calling them and I finnaly found SAM and transfered me to THAT FILTHY M F**** THIEF Shawn , that which is november 18 2008 I almost got myself into an accident by talking , he drove me nuts , this M****F**** need to be behind bars , and burn in hell , I spent more than 3 hours talking to bastard try to tell me that website is working fine I just dont spell it right that why I cant see it , he praticly told me that I dont know to spell my last , cause my domain name is my last name , that day was the worse day of my life those MFS need to pay for those crimanal acts. I thought I was by myself when next day I found on those posted complain about Gisol I was desprate I did not know what to do , I kept searching on the net until I found you guys , I was so happy when saw those messages I said this is it I ll take those suckers to court, I did file out that BBB complaint no answer yet and discorver card go in dispute for me .
for what I see , we have more than enough proof agains these crimanals , its time for us to strike now before they desapear .
Thank you for all
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And now it’s on the web too…
http://www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/110608_Web_Host_Accused_of_Hijacking_Sites.cfm
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This is great! I can’t stop laughing. I’ve been saying for a long time that they will get theirs. All I can say is FINALLY!!! These crooks have been at it way too long.
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Tee hee… I got up early in Berlin (7.00am) to watch this and just as the Obamarama got boring, I popped to the kitchen to make a coffee and missed most of of the gisol item! Thanks for posting the link!
Th’MoPhos scammed me too… classic! – offering $49.95 to put me back on-line in 2 minutes after taking 14 domains down. Next day – Bam $1798.20 on my VISA
My bank covered their own arse and not mine, eternally claiming it was ‘my word against theirs’ – wankers!
However, matey boy informed me of the ‘UK section 75 of the 1974 Consumer Credit Act’ where your bank is liable if you are scammed by ‘deception’ or ‘misrepresentation’- for which gisol are obviously culpable, and surely this video is brilliant extra substantiation of my complaint against my bank (for not even considering it to be fraud in the first place).
For those in the UK, the Financial Ombudsman Service are the body through which Section 75 of the 1974 Consumer Credit Act can be applied. http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/
I’ve closed my VISA account withholding the $1798.20 by way of compensation, yet those jokers, my bank, call it ‘suspended’ and I continue to accrue interest and late fees and get calls from India from very polite debt collectors ‘just doing their job’! I spoke to ‘Mr.Anderson’ at my bank and he said they would ‘sell the debt on’ by end of November – whatever that means! Ha ha he he (smiley)…
Good luck to Ya’ll gisol victims and here’s hoping you not only get you dosh back, but that we see ceratin gisol staff get toasted!
Greggg
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Pingback: Gisol - THE VIDEO | Report-Gisol.com
It did run last night:
http://www.myfoxla.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7784649&version=4&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Enjoy seeing these creeps exposed for what they are.
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Hi all,
Things are starting to catch up with Gisol.
For anyone interested in seeing the Global Internet Solutions scam being exposed, and the Spivaks running (literally) away from TV cameras, take a look at this post on my site for more details.
It’s due to be on air this Monday 3rd November 2008, and you can watch live online from anywhere in the world!
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Hello! I too am a GISOL victim. I’ve got a brand new blog at http://4one4all.report-gisol.com where I talk a little about my experience and a few of GISOL’s tricks. Some of you may not realize that beside cheating you out of your money and possibly your web site, in many cases GISOL has stolen or tried to steal your pride, your self-confidence, and that part of your personality that would help you to fight back. You may have experienced some of these tactics.
In one case a man interrupted a conversation I was having with Customer Care and proceeded to diagnose psychological problems that obviously had kept me from dealing effectively with life, including their hosting program of course.
GISOL wants to be sure that you understand that it is you who have a problem. You’re less likely to complain if you are aware that you, not they, made an error or misunderstood. I want you to know that you did not! I’ve been there, we all have, and the only way we’re going to see these crooks brought to justice is if we all band together to combine our experiences. Somewhere, sometime, they’ve slipped up… maybe with you. Maybe they mailed a document that was fraudulent or forged instead of emailing or faxing it. Under federal law, that might just be a criminal offense all by itself. Was your signature forged? Every instance of forgery is a separate crime. (My personal goal is to see that they’re charged with 1000 counts of forgery so that the significance of this global scam will be appreciated by the jury who sentences these people.)
So if you haven’t yet signed on here or at http://www.report-gisol.com to tell your experience or just be counted, please do contact us. Come on over to my blog; see if you recognize yourself in what happened to me. Sign up while you’re at it. Things will get better, and you’ll want to be around when they do!
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Hi David
I have hired a $300 an hour lawyer to work it out with my bank. He says the bank should have never paid them. But he is dragging his feet, I’m not important enough I guess. I met with him 2 months ago and he just got around to sending Wachovia a letter. So I wait.
I did do my part in talking to the powers that be, that can help stop these people.
Hugs Toni
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Hi Toni, I think it was you I was thinking of. I can only hope that justice is served and you get your money back.
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Yipes, I just found this article. Scroll down to the chosing a web host.
http://sortinstechnologies.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/building-customer-trust-with-secure-e-commerce/
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Hi David
I don’t know who it was that lost $5000, but I toped it with the $7192.80 plus over draft charges. What gets me is the bank knew I didn’t have the money and they paid them anyway.
I feel so very dumb that I allowed this to happen to me.
August 26th is the date that I’m supposed to get my rebate. Since I was using my debit card and the bank has closed the account I doubt I will receive a rebate. I made GISOL mad and they took down my web sites because I told what they did to me on the site.
I have a lawyer working on it so who knows!
Moving on with my life Toni
http://grandyscupboard.blogspot.com/
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I have to say that I’ve been watching this with great interest. I posted my experience in the past (post # 34, 37, 42, 53, 65) and I cannot believe these guys are still on the loose. The heart breaker was the one for $5000+ by far.
It is good to read that there are law enforcement people taking a look at this. I think once they do the math, they will realize that these guys have no business accepting credit cards from anyone. I can’t believe their CC processor keeps their account open.
As I’ve written before, I think they will be shut down. The only good thing I can find about it taking so long is that the list of charges will be very long and they will spend many years in jail. If they ever do get out, they will have a very hard time getting a new merchant account.
I am willing to testify and cooperate. I was able to have their fraudulent charges removed from my Visa by remaining diligent and replying to every communication from the processor. I continued my efforts to explain that their sales tactics were fraudulent and that I never authorized the charges. Fortunately for me, I could tell what they were doing and was able to contact my bank the day of the fraudulent charge. They also sent me a certified letter — which I did not sign — but they used the unsigned receipt as proof of delivery anyway. That worked to my advantage as I pointed out the deception to the fraud department and that was one more demonstration — in a list of them — of their willingness to lie, cheat and steal their way into my bank account.
To top it off — they never released the domain name I registered and even sent me a renewal notice. After I stopped laughing, I simply deleted the email. I was tempted to take it to law enforcement to let them see for themselves how deceptive their tactics are; but frankly, I have no time nor desire to play their games.
I do hope that everyone gets their money back. I’m not sure that suing them for damages would result in anything other than an empty victory. They are broke – their desperation is evident by their conduct. They must be hunted down – shut down – imprisoned and made to pay for their conduct. I’m sure their shower buddy in the pen will ensure they suffer thoroughly. (grin)
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I actually spoke to Gary Kaplan when I called the LA Sheriff’s office. He said he was getting calls regularly and that the DA was looking into who had jurisdiction. I say we all need to keep the pressure going from as many angles as possible.
When we notified GISOL that WE were terminating our relationship with them and requested the release of our domain name, we were advised by GISOL that we were not eligible for a refund of the two remaining years on the contract…OH BIG SURPRISE. The bigger problem has been trying to recover from the suspension of what should have been our domain name. This is painful and will absolutely make you crazy angry.
We have also contacted local news media outlets who are interested in consumers being ripped off to see if we can get any traction with that…we’ll see.
I think from my research GISOL is a reseller of another webhosting software. I called HSphere who has the control panel that pops up advising your website has been suspended has never even heard of GISOL, so there again they are probably buying that through someone else. Very slippery.
Let’s all keep up the pressure, otherwise they continue to win.
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greg i know its an international call, but call CA district attorney Robert Jackson at + 1 213-580-3324
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Pingback: Please contact LA County District Attorney | Report-Gisol.com
For UK customers who’ve been ‘had’ by gisol.com
I’m currently persuing refund of $1798.20 via my credit card company who should have protected me using Section 75 of the 1974 Consumer Credit Act which says ‘misrepresentation’ are grounds for a claim. Gisol certainly misrepresented when an agreed $49.95 charge escalated x 36 to $1798.20
I have witheld payment and closed my account and it’s now being referred to the ‘Financial Ombudsman’. I’m tolerating their request for payment and charges for late fees AND their debt collection agency’s calls three times a week from India!
‘Will let you know the result! The Ombudsman keeps it open for six months.
Personally, I can’t imagine how thieving liars like Brian Spivak can sleep at night!
‘best,
Gregg
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Oh and one more thing the next bullet under section 12 is K. your satisfaction is our number one priority. We will strive to provide the best possible service for our customers.
I got a good laugh out of that one but at the same time it made me very angry.
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Im not sure if this has been posted or not but GISOL has made several noteable changes to their homepage and service agreement. Of course these changes take a turn for the worse against future victims. For starters the front page’s 100% Satisfaction Garauntee has turned into “Your Satisfaction is our Priority” and in the service agreements under the cancellation policy the Satisfaction Garauntee clause about the 8th month of service has been removed completely and it now states under Section 12 there new policies regarding refunds and credits. I. Refund Policy: No refunds shall be issued to customer. J. Credit Policy: No credit shall be issued to customer. This just screams scam to anyone who reads it and should help when speaking with the CA DA.
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Thanks Jim, Great information I’ll do that.
Still got no reply from Robert Jackson but I will forward him all my documents and notes tonight.. thanks
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as well as calling the CA district attorney Robert Jackson at 213-580-3324 to deal with GISOL, I would also suggest contacting the Office of the Comptroller of Currency, and let your bank know you intend to if they will not help you any further. Your credit card is required by the Fair Billing Credit Act to charge back the disputed item until they determine it is valid. i dont think in any case here that your credit card companies could be said to have in good faith determined the charges to be valid. their internal agreements with VISA/MC or whatever card you are using do not override the Fair Billing Credit Act.
So chase GISOL through criminal charges but dont back down from your credit companies who have an obligation to protect you and cannot legally hold you for more than $50 of damage.
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I called Robert Jackson as well today to relate my experience with GISOL hopefully If everyone that had a problem with Them calls him they may soon take action on this scam. Although I did not talk to him I did leave a message to call me back. My interest in this is to prevent or help to prevent other people from being scammed by this company and If calling him helps in this end. I will be very happy that my input has removed a company that preys on its customers.
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good, if his phone is ringing off the hook with complaints, i am sure they will want to make it a priority
*please call the CA district attorney Robert Jackson at 213-580-3324*
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Yes it was only a short while ago – maybe he was out. I did say in the message what it was about and left a number he could contact me. Maybe I’ll try him again in an hour or so.
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i actually spoke to robert jackson a while back, he was very receptive, maybe i got lucky and he was in the office, did u tell him why you were calling?
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I am also trying to report them where ever I can. Since I last posted I have also received a registered letter from Gisol (which I refused) – this will be because they have nothing on file for me and need a copy of ‘something’. I did report to Gary Kaplin via telephone (also sent copy of my police report) however he did not return my call.
Having just seen the above post I also called Robert Jackson and again had to leave a message. Does anyone have a email for him?
I am also still disputing with Visa to try to get my money back and seeking legal advice.
Seems like nobody wants to know or is willing to do anything – it makes me so mad.
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If you have been scammed by GISOL please call the CA district attorney Robert Jackson at 213-580-3324. Robert told me that because GISOL has been using several addresses that they were having trouble finding jurisdiction on the matter. One DA needs as many complaints as we can get him. Please call and tell him your information.
Thanks
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I am definitely glad to be rid of them, but it’s going to take us a while to recover from the damage done by them holding our web domain hostage. It took us a lot of hard work and bootstrap marketing to get recognition in our marketplace and recovering during our peak season is not likely.
I’m with you that GISOL’s principals need to be in jail. I just hope that all of us who’ve been scammed will file formal complaints and shut them down – SOON!
We learned a very costly lesson! Check out any web hosting service thoroughly. Look for website complaints and check them out with the local BBB before you buy. I wish we had. It doesn’t take a lot to put up a slick website to draw people in…BUYER BEWARE of GISOL.
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Lynn
There are better webhosting providers other than GISOL Be very thankful that your bank suspected fraud and acted appropriately. Some of the people who have posted on here have been ripped off and have yet to recover from it.
I was taken by them too, but fought back one of the reasons I was suceesful was that I discovered it early enough and I kept very detailed logs of every converstion and copies of all e-mails kept copies of everything including their acknowledgement from their website as to what I was to pay.
And also referred my bank to this web site as well.
my opinion of GISOL is that they are a frad and thier only purpose is to defraud unsuspecting people.
Hopefully someday their fraudulent practices will catch up to them and that they will end up in jail (this is where they belong). There are many good providers out there research them first and call on the phone to ask questions usually the good ones answer prompltly and have a person you can talk too. Unlike Gisol …they never answer their phone or when they do you get the shuffle, and never a straight answer. They don’t even respond to e-mails
So be very thankful you are thru dealing with them. You are much better off.
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Add another victim to the GISOL list! We were luckier than some in that our Bank refused the transactions because they suspected fraud. We did lose use of our website and two years of the contract. Like all of you this is very hard on our small business.
We have contacted the LA Sheriff’s office, Detective Gary Kaplan. They are very familiar with the folks at GISOL. I also registered a complaint with the LA BBB to further enhance their “F” rating. We also filed with our local sheriff’s office who will forward complaint to LA.
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After threatening me on the phone, saying I had agreed to their terms and the conversation had been recorded so they could prove it, Gisol has not only not provided said recording but they also wrote to the attorney general claiming that the recording was for internal purposes only. Obviously because the recording would support my version of events, not theirs. So you’re right, I’m sure they will not send you one if you ask.
PLEASE EVERYBODY report them to your local police (and then forward it to the LA sherrif’s dept), the L.A. D.A., the California A.G. I don’t want Gisol to have too much info (they read these posts too) but just know our voices are being heard.
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I have reported to the California BBB, Attorney Generals Office and http://www.ic3.gov
I am trying to get Visa to remove the charge but I am having difficulty.
Does anyone know how I get get a copy of the reporded telephone conversation that originally took place.?
I am sure they will not send me one if I ask
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Make sure you contact the BBB, Attorney General’s Office of both your State and the State of California. Of course, you will get “crap” answers, but enough of this the AGO should file charges.
REPORT THEM.
Try small claims with your State. Not sure where you live, but some State’s allow you to file where the agreement was reached, which, via internet, would be your State. They will not show, but you will have a court ruling against them.
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Is there NOTHING that we can do….? I have had the same thing happen. I have been charge $1798.20 to my Vista – with what was supposed to be a domain name renewal. Phone calls do nothing – I cant even speak to anyone who has any authority to do anything.
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I have been disputing though my bank since Feb of this year only to lose. From what I gather, the CC company is not concerned if they are overcharging customers. All GISOL has to do is prove that you placed an order of some kind with them. The amount you ordered for and the amount they charged you is of no concern to the CC company. If they can verify that you authorized use of your card, even if they overcharge you by 1,700, then they will not grant a refund based on an unauthorized transaction dispute. Fraud protection is a myth to make you comfortable with using your card to make purchases.
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I have a terrible experience with GISOL and it is clear to me that everything in this company is deigned to rip the customer off but with some legal protection from service agreements most people dont’ even know they exist.
I wonder if there is a credit card fraud department people can complaint to. If enough number of people complain they might put this scam of a company out of their scaming business.
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I have a simular story as others here. My site only had a screen stating needing to contact GISOL due to payment. When I call and tell them I paid until April 2008 I get “your control pannel is on an old system and we need you to sign a new agreement.”
LONG STORY SHORT… I signed the agreement but under the understanding that this was for my current control panel until April 2008. Later that night I get an e-mail stating “Thankyou for your purchase of $1798.20”. Needless to say I was unable to contact anyone and got the run around. I e-mailed, I called, I posted through my control panel, I sent certified letters and called some more.
Finally I contacted my credit card, but they are telling me that I have to take it legally….
I am so pissed off, I never received any services from them and I owe the money to the credit card company now.
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I just found this web site today. I have the similiar experience as Toni. My story has been published on http://www.report-gisol.com.
I was charged $1798.20 on my credit card on February by GISOL without my authorization. I filed dispute with the bank and GISOL forged the billing document and copied my signature from the document which I signed on signaturelink.com as the proof that I did give them the authorization.
My bank used those as the proof to recharge the money on my CC account. They claimed that they can’t tell the signature is forged or not and they are not FBI. I think the bank’s job is to collect the money to avoid the loss.
My cc is going to due tomorrow, I have to pay the money although I knew that I was ripped off by GISOL.
So it cost me $1798.20 to learn the following lessons and I’d like to share them with you – the victims of GISOL:
Lesson 1 – read the service contract carefully before signing it.
Lesson 2 – Never sign your signature online.
Lesson 3 – Before using an online service, better check BBB for its ratng report.
Lesson 4 – Terminate your credit card account to prevent GISOL from ripping you off further.
Lesson 5 – Once GISOL charged your cc account, they will not refund you. You are wasting your precious time to deal with them.
Lesson 6 – Report BBB, GAO etc. to warn the others to be the victims of GISOL.
Lesson 7 – Join the class action lawsuit to bring them down.
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I Dont think it would be illegal…unethical yes..since they havent changed thier website in over a year…It said 10th anniversary when I made the blunder to sign with them. But I think thier website is more or less designed to sucker you in.
Once you find out what there all about you will also notice that thier countdown thing restarts every time it hits time left 0 it just starts over again…to sucker more people in.
I have subscribed to Cavet Emptor. So that I can keep abreast of what GISOL is doing, To give moral support to those that have been scammed and to one day hopefully soon Find that A class action suit has been started against them. I have made it a priority even though I was successful in presenting my case to my bank and recovering fully all money they fraudulently stole I have yet to be compensated for the hours of stress I was put thru because of thier Fraud and the loss of use of a bank account.
So there might still be punitive damages that I may recover from them.
A parting comment Don’t give in…keep contesting it with your bank if necessay. If your bank doesn’t support you, You may want to consider naming them as an accomplice to Fraud with the agencies that regulate the Banks. And I wish all those that are still fighting this company a speedy resolution
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Well I have lost my second round of disputing which is an outrage. Despite the fact that GISOL claimed they only recieved 6 pages of the over 100 pages I sent them, VISA still ruled in their favor despite that my evidence was supposedly never seen. I am still fighting this and will not give up until I win.
Just a side note. If anyone has been to the GISOL website lately they are still advertising their “10th year anniversary sale” which I would think would be considered unethical or perhaps illegal considering that according to the BBB their business start date was on 1/1/1997 which would mean their 10th year anniversary was well over a year ago. Thoughts?
Thanks,
Josh
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Hi! GISOL turned my $71.40 bill into an $1870 debt. Ridiculous.I would like to be included if a Class Action proceeds.
Thanks,
Leigh
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WAHOO John Congrats on your victory.
I have gotten a lawyer, he is writing a letter to the bank. He said when I went to the bank they should have stopped payment. So I am hoping this is what will change things for me.
Congrats again John!
Toni
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Just a short note that I did win the chargeback against them because I Called it what it was FRAUD I presented copies of all my e-mails and posted page reciept when I originally signed with them showing $94.50 as the amount. At least Some banks do protect their customers. I did close the account with the bank however because they would not issue a debit card for that account because of this. I do have another account with them and one with another bank. Although it was not the banks fault this occured I can understand their reasoning (as they may have paid GISOL and let it drop) As I understand it now gisol has a signature page to go to. This was not the case when I originally placed my order for their services. They tried to use my signature from a certified letter reciept form on a contract saying I had signed it. To which I pointed out to my bank was mail fraud as I kept a photocopy of the return reciept I signed. The contents of the cerified letter contained just an invoice for the amount I did not authorize $1078.20. In their letter to my states AGO they stated that it was a copy of contract that they stated I signed(never recieved a contract to sign or copy therof) At any rate my advise is stick to your guns hound them everyday if need be but do not give in. They are thieves con-artists and some day they will be called to answer for their misdeeds.
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Hi All
Mine was not a credit card case, but a debit card same as cash. I don’t see how this can help me.
The AGO of North Carolina has sent my case to the California AGO. I don’t know if that will do any good.
I now have a collection agency call me for the debit I owe the bank.
Toni
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All,
We have a new contributor on my site who is sure of his method to WIN chargebacks against Gisol. He is also willing to help you on an individual basis.
Please read his story.
Good luck, and if you use his method, please leave your results as a comment on his page.
Many thanks.
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The LA BBB rating has gone back down to ‘F’ today.
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Anyone else notice GISOL’s new “D” Rating as they have responded to all complaints?? The response I received was actually a no response.
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I have an attorney looking at my paperwork today. PLEASE register at report-gisol so we have more names to give him should he take the case!!!
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On Jan.11, 2008 A Shaun Anderson refused service and shut down the WoodburyOber.com site because I would not cancel the existing site and begin another one. The site was paid for three years in June of 2007. I have lodged complaints with the BBB as well as the CA AG Office who did recieve a response (of sorts, all lies) from GISOL. Point is, the WoodburyOber.com site is now back up??? Do not know for how long or what cost, but I still want these guys out of business, they are con artists.
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I received a letter from my bank yesterday stating again that I signed the contract and they can’t help me because I did. So my last attempt to show them my signature was copied and pasted did me no good. I wish I could crawl in to a hole and hide from the world.
Toni
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Tony,
Do you mean my “Contact Form”? At the moment, we’re just collecting names/contact details of victims willing to be involved in a class action, as evidence to show the lawyers. They will then contact you if/when they take on the case to take your evidence/testimony etc. The contact form is simply a way of getting the details to us.
With the sheer number of people that have been ripped off lately, there’s more of a chance that they will take notice.
I really do think this time the Class Action will take off. We have some very determined people this time.
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I am currently contacting attorneys for a potential class action, as Mike stated above. PLEASE register with him so we can all be in this together — strength in numbers. At this point I’m pretty sure my bank is siding with me, but I still want to get these horrible people “off the street” so to speak.
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That contact form doesn’t look like it’s capturing evidence to be presented to a legal outfit. It’s pretty trivial to create a proper form. Why not post the firm’s details? I’m seen a few “class action” claims turn out to be nothing more than pissed off ex-customers venting online. The main difference is the amount people are being stung.
Some of these costs are crazy. Are they all for rubbish shared hosting? My dedicated box costs about $240/month and my VPS is only $30.
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I am a victim of GISOL famous cons. GISOL scammed $1,748.20 from me and my credit card company is unable to obtain chargeback from GISOL’s bank. The document of evidence for GISOL misconduct that I forwarded to LA DA and CA AG is 1/2â€? thick. GISOL posted on BBB website stating my complaint extremely outlandish and that I am to stop making up fraudulent stories to make myself look like a victim. The only “outlandishâ€? party here is GISOL. I am livid and I am ready to take any legal action against GISOL. Please feel free to contact me.
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Toni,
No problem. I understand totally. I am very weary what I tell people. If anyone doesn’t want to give details, just leave whatever info you wish. At this stage, it’s just info for the attorneys. As long as you leave some form of contact info so they can get hold of you, it’ll be fine.
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I desire to be apart of a class action suit. But!!!
You are asking me for personal info. So I’m stuck wondering can’t you do with out my address for now, I don’t mind giving my phone number, that can be changed if I had to. Sorry I have become overly cautious since the scam.
Thanks Toni
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IMPORTANT!
One of the contributors to my site is currently approaching recommended lawyers in the LA area for a possible Classaction Lawsuit against Global Internet Solutions. To help convince the attorneys that they have a case, the more names and details we have at the initial meetings, the better.
Using my contact form, please send me:
* Name
* Address
* Tel Number
* Amount charged by Gisol
* Date of charge
* If you got your money back and how
* Small history of problems
This is what we’ve all been waiting for… Lets do it!
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I would still suggest everyone sending their forged documents to LA DA and CA AG.
Gisol relies on these documents to prove their case, and in individual cases I’m sure it would look convincing.
If they suddenly start getting a flood of documents from Gisol customers around the world, they will have to act on it.
Toni,
I would still suggest writing to the CEO and CFO of Wachovia (names/address above). It is a well documented method of getting things done when all else has failed. The head honchos sometimes don’t know what exactly is going on in their companies, and have the power to act. It only costs the price of postage.
Paul,
Why don’t you try this with Discover Card also? Explain the whole situation and send the forged documents as YOUR evidence proving your case, not Gisol proving theirs.
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I filed with the LA AG and they sent my complaint to GIOSL. GISOL responded to the AG with the same forged documentation that they sent Discover.
AG says it’s a difference of opinion and has closed the case.
This is why these A%^H$%# are getting away with what their doing to people.
Discover won’t help.
Now what?
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In response to the many complaints here; from what I understand, the BBB is not an agency of enforcement, rather, a third party meant to simply assist in settling disputes between a business and a customer.
People, as in, everyone here, really need to start approaching the department of consumer affairs in Los Angeles with what has happened to them.
http://dca.lacounty.gov/contact.htm
You can call the general number, write to them, and also call the specific Consumer Services Unit, as well as the Dispute Settlement Services.
I highly suggest everyone here, contact the appropriate departments there – ASAP. I wish you all the best of luck.
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The Bank closed my account because I refused to sign papers to pay them back the money.
I had already changed to a credit union that promised to protect me.
Good Luck Josh and Thank you for your help.
Toni
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Toni,
It amazes me to see the lengths that banks will go to avoid a little extra work in protecting their customers. I would definately find a new bank after this, but who is to say that there is a bank out there that would stand up for its customers. Everyone seems to be going out of their way to take up for the business. Seems to me like bank fraud protection promises are there only to provide customers with a false sense of security so that they will not hesitate to buy using thier cards. You and I are many years apart in age but the monetary situation is pretty close to the same. I am a college student with loans to pay and can really not afford having a company such as GISOL trying to place another two thousand dollar burden on me. I hope having the AG speak to the bank on your behalf can help you in some way, I am surprised that providing proof of forgery did nothing to further your cause and makes me more nervouse about my situation.
Josh
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Hi Again
I have taken every step I can possible take with this bank.
I live out side the city limits, so I had to go to the sheriff’s office. They couldn’t help me because it is out of state, even if I took the proof with me they still wouldn’t help because it is out of state.
The AG’s office sent a letter to Wachovia’s head office stating I had been a victim of Fraud. They still didn’t help me.
Copying a signature from one document to another must not be against the law in North Carolina! I guess Bank policy supersedes the Laws!
Thanks Toni
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Copying a signature from one document to another to prove a charge on a credit card that the customer did not authorise can only be fraud! Please ask Wachovia how they see this. It has been mentioned (I can’t remember where) when one Gisol victim reported it to his local police dept that it is ‘Forgery in the 2nd Degree’. Mention that to Wachovia. You also DID NOT give Gisol permission to charge you over $7000!
Have you tried a dispute and Wachovia has sided with Gisol, or have they not helped you at all?
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Wachovia say ” Because you signed, it is not fraud you gave them the information and permission”.
What more can I do if their policies don’t cover me!
This is becoming so painful emotionally
Thank Toni
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Hi there…just wanted to let you know that i was awarded a chargeback from JP Morgan Chase for my Fraudulent charges from GISOL…
GISOL may you rot in hell for the pain you inflict on innocent people..your days are numbered
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Attorney General’s Office
California Department of Justice
Attn: M. Scott
Public Inquiry Unit
P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550
District Attorney’s Office
County of Los Angeles
210 West Temple Street, Suite 18000
Los Angeles, CA 90012-3210
Toni,
I find Wachovia’s attitude absolutely appauling. I found the following on their website. It may be worth quoting it to them. Gisol are committing fraud!
Write letters marked ‘Private and Confidential’ to both:
G. Kennedy Thompson, President and CEO &
Thomas J. Wurtz, Chief Financial Officer
Wachovia Corporation
301 South College Street Suite 4000
One Wachovia Center
Charlotte, North Carolina 28288-0013
Just because you have done business with Gisol in the past, it doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t protect you from the fraud that has happened to you. If you need help writing a letter, I’m sure between us, we can help.
Please ring them again and firmly tell them you have been a victim of fraud and you want to speak to a “Loss Management Specialist” or a supervisor. This is not a dispute. IT IS FORGERY AND FRAUD!
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The the power that be at Wachovia said because I signed, it don’t matter what it was or that they copied and pasted, they can not reverse the charges.
I owe the bank $5940.60. I’m 62 years old and live on my widows benifits. It will take me years to pay them back.
Toni
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Hi All
I finally have some real hope, Wachovia has a fraud department. I was told the bank manager should have contacted them immediately. Well maybe they will get my money back. I’ve almost lost hope.
I’m willing to send my evidence to the Ca. AGO and DA.
Can someone post the address?
Thanks Toni
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ALL,
A contibutor to my site has thought of a great idea to get the CA AGO’s and LA DA’s attention:
Send your forged signature proof to them!
Instead of letters from (as they probably see it) a bunch of ‘disgruntled customers’ disputing the amount of money charged, they will actually be seeing EVIDENCE of FORGERY and FRAUD. If they get enough, they will HAVE TO TAKE ACTION!
I can only urge EVERYONE who has such proof to SEND IT ASAP.
It may be enough to start the ball rolling to get these guys sent to jail. LET’S DO IT!
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Toni,
I hope the information I gave is helpful. After sending off my documentation I recently recieved notice of my account being suspended. I am hoping there is no further action that can be taken against me.
Josh
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Just looked at your survey Mike. I’m old school with the cancel account == no refund despite what they advertise. I lost less than $200, but look at the poor sods getting stung now!
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Tony,
I agree with you about the involvement with the police. They should be reported. Have you reported them to the police?
I don’t agree with you about the CA AGO. Yes, they haven’t done anything yet, but I’m sure that they will if they get enough complaints. KEEP REPORTING GISOL!
I also think that even the BBB have now realised that Gisol are a scam, due to the fact that they have re-instated the number of complaints they took off earlier (after receiving the standard form letter). This is probably due to Kris’s letter (comment #221).
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Like many of you, I have been cheated $1078.20 by Gisol early this year. Don’t give up. We, the victims, must demand LA Attorney’s Office to issue criminal warrant against Gisol and its frontman Adam Johnson. Don’t give up; someday the justice will be served.
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Wow, it’s been a while since this company scammed me. It certainly looks like they’re trying to make a killing before disappearing. I’m wondering why these several thousand dollar scams aren’t resulting in crime reports. Surely the police should be involved at this point, and not relying on help from banks who don’t really give a shit. It’s clear the CA A.G. will not be investigating this company, and we know the BBB are toothless, plus GISOL know that sending them a standard form letter will nullify our complaints.
This usage of signature images should be an immediate call to the police.
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Well I took the contract to the bank and showed them that my name was pasted to the contract or visa versa. Now I’m being handed off to different department.
GISOL has now suspended my accounts! Not suprised
Toni
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I have been watching this with great interest. I notice that the “Unanswered” complaints have decreased to 99 verses the 167 it used to be. These complaints have been moved to the “Agree to provide service according to contract” column; listing the 462 complaints total.I would think that the BBB would be “concerned” about the deceptive business practices and the number of complaints they are receiving; to the degree that they would do something besides keep record of complaints.
They have the evidence, according to their “F” Rating they have to know that this company is commiting fraud, in my opinion they are as guilty as GISOL for each incident perpetrated by GISOL.
I have the e-mail address to Priscilla Muniz with the California BBB who does respond to e-mails. If you think we should all send an e-mail to her stating our belief that they know GISOL is a fraudulent company and they are as responsible as GISOL for Toni loosing over $5,000 I will be glad to post the address.
Maybe they are not legally bound to prosecute, or to contact the AGO office as she stated, but why have a BBB if they do nothing????
Kris
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Has anyone noticed that the BBB website is now showing 465 complaints again?
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Hi Josh
I took the contract with the signature to the my bank pointing out the fact that my signature was pasted to the contract. there is a color difference between the contract and my signature. The contract is gray and my signature is on white background. This shows one of them was pasted. I’m waiting to hear from the bank. As I’m the person they scammed out of over $7000. I really need Wachovia to help me. They wouldn’t because I signed a contract, I’m hoping this will be what they need to get my money back.
Thanks for the info, I will let you know what the bank says.
Thanks Toni
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For any who are interested,
I have found the most likely way that GISOL is forging customer signatures to the “Billing Statement”. For those of you who had to submit an online signature when ordering(those who ordered recently), then GISOL sent you an email containing a signaturelink.com address as a receipt for your signature. When you click on this link it takes you to a signaturelink.com address that displays the GISOL customer service agreement in full on the page. At the bottom of the customer service agreement is your signature. Here is the outrageous part. All anyone with access to this reciept page has to do to get your signature is right-click on the signature itself and click save picture as. The image will then be saved to your computer as a GIF image titled something along the lines of Agreement_Image.gif. You can then open the GIF image with any picture viewer and see your signature plain as day, which can easily be pasted into any document using a word processor such as MS Word. So for those of you who have recieved a “Billing Statement” which says something like “By signing below I agree to pay GISOL $1,798.20”, make this known to your bank in your dispute and also point out that the URL listed on the “Billing statement” is not a signaturelink.com address but is in fact a gisol.com address. It would also be a good idea to point out that both signatures are EXACTLY the same and that since the signature was signed using a mouse point that it would be nearly impossible to sign the EXACT same way twice. The fact that the customer service agreement receipt is from signaturelink.com should be sufficient proof as to which document contains the authentic signature.
Any thoughts about what I have stated here?
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Toni,
I am taking my case to the bank tomorrow and have found additional evidence to support my case. My original account with GISOL was shared with a friend of mine and he registered the free domain name with them. Since I posted no website when I ordered they went into the records and found the only website I have had with them that was still active and took a screen shot and submitted to the chargeback department as evidence of my use of their service. The owner of this website is a friend of mine who has documentation proving his ownership and also proving that it is no longer being hosted by GISOL. In fact, the website they submitted even has my friends name at the top of the browser. Along with this and my signaturelink receipt that shows me as only signing the terms of service I think GISOL made a critical error in submitting my friend’s website as evidence against me as they believe the site to be mine.
Josh
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Greetings. I’ve shared some strategies in messages #163, #171, #177, and #185 above. I have a couple new developments to report.
I’ve observed that GISOL will fight a bank chargeback, citing the terms of a contract, hoping to have the victim’s money returned to GISOL.
In the one case I followed closely, the bank did give back the victim’s money to GISOL. The victim, however, immediately responded to the bank by asserting that the terms of whatever contract they presented have nothing to do with GISOL falsifying a credit charge; that GISOL was now victimizing the bank customer a second time; and that the bank itself was also falling victim to GISOL.
The victim resubmitted evidence given earlier, and requested that the bank join in a larger effort to report this matter to the FBI and FDIC.
Within a day or so, the bank returned the money to the victim.
The FDIC may be another tool to use — at least until a major lawsuit is filed against GISOL or until they are indicted.
The online FDIC complaint form, which is intended for complaints against the bank itself, is located at:
https://www4.fdic.gov/STARSMAIL/index.asp
You would want to show how the bank is not protecting your interests, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that you have provided the bank of GISOL’s fraudulent activities.
GISOL’s Escalating Scams
The entire thread here, over the period of years, shows that GISOL has steadily increased the size of their scams. The typical amount used to be about $400. In recent months this has gone up to $1,800 per person. And then in the latest posts we’re seeing victims defrauded of $5,000 or more. The figure is approaching the $10,000 mark, which would put GISOL on the national radar. But I believe that GISOL may not go that far, and instead will mount a final blowout — ripping off as many victims for as much as possible, before disappearing. The frequency of the latest large scams is telling me that this blowout may be starting now. On the other hand, the large backlog of prospective new scam victims may be too tempting to GISOL and they may want to keep harvesting a little while longer out of sheer greed.
This is why I urge you to take action immediately, before GISOL slips away. Their systematic and relentless pursuit of victims is a talent they will no doubt use in other enterprises, if they aren’t already.
I am encouraged by many of the posts above showing contact being made with the AGs in various states. Also, the small claims court case shows that GISOL is unlikely to show up in court. This tells me to go full force on this front, and even start filing cases in a higher court against them. To save money, nothing prevents you from filing “Pro Se,” or on your own behalf without a lawyer, for the purpose of smoking them out and getting them to reveal their whereabouts. You always retain the option of bringing in a lawyer later, and believe me, if you manage to get GISOL in your sights, a dozen people or more from this thread alone would jump at the chance to be by your side.
Game Over
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Josh
I didn’t realize they were transferring the signature. When I signed on line it was an E-Mail that then linked me to the contract. Which surprised me.
Toni
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Toni
I am in the process of doing just that. I noticed in the documentation that they sent that they have copied my electronic signature over to document stating that I agree to pay them in the amount of $1,798.20. This is huge abuse of the online signature and an unlawful use of my signature on false documentation. I have a scanner and would be more than happy to show you the document that was sent to me.
Josh
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Hi Josh
Besides working with your bank you need to file a complaint against GISOL Inc. with the Attorney Generals Office. If everyone that gets scammed by these people would flood them with complaints it would bring a law suit by the AGO.
Toni
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They are also challenging my chargeback. They sent a letter stating that I went to the hosting page and selected the business hosting options(an option that is not even on the site) and that I agreed to pay $1,798.20. How should I proceed from here? I am going to reopen the dispute with my bank tomorrow but any help would be appreciated. I bank with Arvest bank.
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Hi Tony,
At the point when google searched your site, it must have been suspended. For some strange reason Gisol must have re-instated your site.
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Well thats funny when I Google I get the above messages, but to link in directly I get the site. Sorry my mistake. I don’t know why the difference, Why would Google show it as suspended?
Toni
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Well you were right if you go to http://www.grandyscupboard.net it says “Account has been suspended – H-Sphere”
And
http://www.grandyscraftcupboard.com says “Welcome to grandyscraftcupboard.com. Your account has been created. You can access your Web site right away using d3018017.u68.mygisol.com. …
grandyscraftcupboard.com/ – 5k – Cached – Similar pages”
Because I put up that warning. You can still click on the links and the my page comes up.
What nerve, it’s my site I can put what ever I want on it. LOL!
Toni
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Chris [response 208] well I can’t confirm that the address you posted for their merchant bank is correct but I can confirm that the address I listed above as their merchant bank is incorrect. I sent a letter to that address and it was returned as undeliverable. The address I had also came from a letter the con artists at GISOL sent to my bank. It seems they are falsifying the address of their merchant bank on their letters in order to prevent me from contacting their merchant bank directly. (They have probably been dropped from other banks previously from consumers complaining to them.)
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I received this reply from the BBB concerning GISOL:
“Priscilla Muniz”
[Add to Address Book]
To:
Subject:RE: Complaint against Global Internet Solutions
Date:Tuesday, April 29, 2008 4:56:16 PM
[View Source]
Mr. Ormond,
The decrease in reflected complaints is because the company has begun responding to unanswered complaints. As the complaints are responded, they are reopened and pending a reply from the consumer, therefore they will not reflect on the company’s file again until they close. Thank you, Priscilla
——————————————————————————–
From: ckormond@comcast.net [mailto:ckormond@comcast.net]
Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2008 7:37 PM
To: Priscilla Muniz
Subject: RE: Complaint against Global Internet Solutions
Hello Priscilla;
I am wondering how it is that GISOL.com is shown with 375 complaints on your BBB site, when last week it was stated that there were 452. I realize that the complaints are only kept on file for 36 months but this seems like a huge adjustment to have been made in one week, particularly in the “unanswered” column, from 165 to 87. Are they trying to respond to old complaints?? I received a response from them through the Attorney General’s Office which is not at all a true reflection of the situation. I am responding to the Attorney General’s Office of California as well as the State of Utah. This is a deceptive company as there are chargebacks from banks stating that the charges were reversed because the circumstances were fraud.
Thank you,
Kris
I have not yet received a response to my complaint concerning FISOL from the BBB. The response I received from the AGO is like those received by many of you, full of lies and misconceptions. However, someone is getting through to them to make them consider responding.
Kris
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Hi Toni,
I’m really upset Gisol has made you feel this way. I haven’t heard of anyone being ripped off for more money than you. I hope you get your money back.
There really are people out there on the internet that truly amaze me in their generosity and kindness. I know it’s hard to fight back sometimes and I understand, but please don’t give up. Don’t let one company, or a few heartless souls make you let go of something you love or enjoy.
I did a “whois” search on grandyscupboard.net and found that it’s owned by and hosted by Gisol. Don’t be surprised if your site disappears very quickly. Gisol monitors these sites on a daily basis, so I’m sure they won’t want to host a site that is against them.
I know this sounds like an advert, but if you or anyone else reading this gets the time, please leave a comment on my website as well. The more places this fraud gets published on, the more chance we’ve got of getting these criminals shut down and sent down.
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Until now I have refused to use my web site because I have been so depress, but now I am using it to link here to Caveat Emptor. I had sold my art and craft printables to crafter, Card makers and scrapbookers. I didn’t make allot of money I did it to keep busy.
This all started last December when I lost my site name grandyscupboard.com now it is http://www.grandyscupboard.net/
Thanks for listening Hugs Toni aka Grandy
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I got this reply from GISOL from my Comment on the LABBB.
As Per Section 15 of the GISOL Policies, he was required to obtain an Upgrade/Consolidation Package. GISOL was able to provide him with a special rate of $7.96 per month prepaid for 36 months. Eric declined this offer and simply charged back both of his accounts through his bank for which he paid $95.40 and $71.40. This account included a free domain name which was leased to him so it would be obvious that the ownership to this domain name would not be surrendered. Eric did not request a refund instead charging back the full amount for both of his accounts, threrefore, this issue is considered settled to the customers satisfaction.
Funny thing is they Left out alot of important information like when I signed up The domain WAS mine and under my name it didnt change untill last year. Also they tried to charge me 580 dollars for 36 months of service under a Friends and Family plan they wanted to give me for feeling bad about getting told something different.
The issue was I was told when I called into Customer Service that I had to upgrade my account there was nothing I can do but upgrade. At which time I asked if there was any charge and they told me no there would be no extra charge for this and it was a lie. The next day My account was charged 100 dollars and website was taken down. After that I get a call from Brian telling me that I have to upgrade else my account will be susspended till I upgrade, so I would still get charged just not get any services. I had till 5pm to give an answer else my domain and account will be lost for ever.
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I filed a complaint with the AGO against Wachovia and GISOL.
I hoped that GISOL was one of the companies Wachovia was helping. My mistake, it isn’t. The bank will have to change the way they are doing business.
It was my desire to be free of this that I grabbed onto any sign of hope. O-well
The AGO is going to pursue the bank on my behalf. It wasn’t bad enough that GISOL got $1798.20 they set me up with 4 total accounts totaling $7192.80. So I owe the bank over $5000.00.
Totally obvious if I’m over drawn that much money there is something wrong and who needs 4 web sites?
The powers that be at Wachovia won’t protect their customers.
I hold Wachovia as guilty as GISOL for not protecting me from a predator. Only God can deliver me out of the hands of the ruthless creditor, which is now the bank, they want me to sign papers promising to pay them back. NO! They shouldn’t have paid GISOL.
Toni
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To Kris (message 214),
Apparently, they have decided to address the complaints with a boiler plate reply. The trick is, the complainant only has 7 days to counter reply or the issue is considered resolved. To make matters worse, my notification from LABBB came from an address I didn’t recognize and found it in my junk mail folder.
I am assuming that the lower un-resolved number is related to their efforts to work the system and offer a blanket reply to all complaints in hopes people won’t take the time to find their login information (at labbb), login and keep the issue unresolved.
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I posted previously, #86, and have been fighting with my credit card company – Wachovia VISA — and have lost 4 times the chargeback issue. They tell me it is a matter for the courts. I filed a report back then with the BBB and I have also filed a report with the County of Los Angeles, Dept. of Consumer Affairs.
Today I received a letter from them dated Feb. 15, 2008 and RE: Global Internet Solutions; Case No. CA07-2658. The letter states: “This department has received a response to your complaint. The business’ reply, howwever, indicates that they are unwilling to take the action you have requested. Any written response we may have received from the business is enclosed for your reference. Your complaint will remain on file with this department and will be reviewed for formal action should additional complaints be received. To pursue your complaint, you may wish to consider using the Small Claims Court, or seek legal assistance. Information concerning the Small Claims Court Advisor Program is enclosed. Thank you for bringing your complaint to our attention. Sincerely, Pastor Herrera, Jr., Director and (signed by) Ariel De Guzman, Investigator.”
So . . please file a complaint with this Department.
The documentation letter from GISOL reads as follows:
“To Whom It may Concern: We have been informed that Marsha
Savage has submitted a complaint form against GISOL, Inc.
GISOL, Inc. and Marsha Savage initially entered into a contract on or around 2002-11-29. Under the terms of this agreement, GISOL, Inc. would render certain internet hosting services to Marsha Savage including hosting for their online businesses: southeasternpastel.com & marshasavage.com. We have included the supporting documentation necessary to remedy this complaint. Since 2002 Marsha Savage has been a customer of GISOL, Inc. and on 2007-06-21 Marsha Savage received a courtesy call from a GISOL agent regarding a mandatory upgrade to a new network, at which point Marsh Savage decided to get our Unlimited Package which offers the customer hosting for as many websites for free as they wish. This package combined both of her old accounts into this new package with unlimited disk space, bandwidth and all other hosting features. This package is offered at $49.95 per month which is prepaid for 36 months, but because Marsha Savage has been a customer of GISOL, Inc. for 5 years the agent offered Marsha a discounted rate of $24.95 per month which is prepaid for 36 months. Marsha Savage states that she agreed to a $24.95 per month package for one year, but GISOL does not have nor has ever offered such a package. Per GISOL Policies (section 12, b), which Marsha Savage acknowledged and agreed to, the agreement may be terminated by the Customer before the renewal/anniversary date by giving GISOL notice at least 30 days prior to the renewal/anniversary date of the Term by following the instructions provided at http://cancel.GISOL.com in order to effectively terminate services. Upon submitting a cancellation request via cancel.gisol.com the customer receives a pro-rated GISOL Company Credit for purchases within the GISOL Network. The cancellation procedure is identified within the policies and is the only way to cancel an active account. From the account documentation, Marsha Savage never submitted any cancellation request nor was there any attempt in doing so including no emails, telephone calls or any other form of contact showing any interest in canceling. In case Marsha Savage did not read through the policies, any form of contact from her regarding any issue would have been documented as any time an account is accessed the agent is required to leave a memo of the reason for accessing the account. Instead, Marsha Savage disputed the initial charge in hopes of getting a full return of funds from GISOL and free services which have already been rendered. Per GISOL Policies (Section 12, g: any account affiliated with a Chargeback Dispute may be suspended without any prior notice), Marsha Savage’s account was suspended. In good faith GISOL submitted a cancellation request on behalf of the customer so that Marsha Savage would be eligible for a pro-rated credit (GCC). GISOL reviewed the chargeback and responded with all the documentation necessary to remedy the chargeback. Based on the documentation GISOL provided, VISA reversed the charge back to the cardholder’s bank and credited GISOL’s account with the funds as per their findings in that GISOL had done everything in accordance with regulations and Marsha Savage had not.
If you have any questions or require any additional information please let us know and we will provide it upon your request.”
(–it was signed Global Internet Solutions — no name was there)
So . . . my sending a certified return receipt requested letter through the Postal Service mail is not an attempt? Free services of what? — we were paid through Nov. and Dec. And, I never received anything about a cancellation request on my behalf. I will write a reply to this restating the issues they have lied about.
I have been to see an attorney for the arts (I am a barely self-supporting artist) here in the Atlanta area, and she was on the phone with a supposed attorney and they say they have a recorded phone call that says I agreed to three years. I did not hear anyone say that it was for three years. And the phone call dropped during the initial conversation, so he could have said anything during that time before they called me back.
I will look at the other site that has been mentioned above and add my account to that. I have paid my VISA bill, but will try to write a letter to someone at Wachovia about the inability of the persons reviewing the chargeback to understand the real issue in this.
Thanks for this site!
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Any ideas on the BBB website concerning complaints against Global Internet Solutions, GISOL.com??
Last week there were 452 complaints posted against GISOL with 164 being unanswered. Today, there are 357 complaints with 87 being unanswered.
I realize that complaints are kept on file for three years, but this is a very substantial decrease in unanswered complaints, as well as complaints overall. The worse it looks on the BBB site, the better it is for our case against them.
I have written the BBB concerning the change, suggest others do also.
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I, as well as my wife, have been scammed by GISOL. My account was suspended due to failure to renew the domain despite being told by GISOL (in a response to support tickets) that my status was OK and the domain expiration date was 2009-02-29. In the same email, it showed my update on 2008-02-28! This confirmation followed several emails related to domain registeration as I was suspect.
Now I’m told that my domain is in Redemption and there’s nothing I or them can do resolve the situation. Numerous emails on my part to GISOL were responded with the following: please contact admin@gisol.com. I did so and have yet rec’d a response of sorts.
Now part II of my saga. While out of town last week, my (at home) received a telephone call from GISOL. During a discussion (in which she told GISOL’s “Sean” that she knew nothing about the web or computers)….she was told that she had 12 minutes to salvage my account…again, she said she nothing, his response was “you have only 10 minutes left”….Then my son spoke to the representative…he was told, “don’t you want to help your dad” you only have 8 minutes left to save the site. In the confusion, she agreed. Through intimation and misleading information my wife has been charged $1,789.20 ($49.95 per mo x 36 months).
Following many many telephone calls, I was able to contact a rep from the billing office. I explained the situation, he told me to go to cancel.gisso.com and cancel the account then follow with an email to refund@gisol.com. He also said there should be no problem. Well he was wrong. Again, I made many many telephone calls to GISOL to discuss both issues. Finally, I made contact with “Adam”. He was rude and indifferent…did not want to discuss the problem. He promptly told me that I could not cancel the account and the person I spoke with was from out of the country and not part of the company(?). He told me that if I wanted to sue GISOL (no mention of that action on my part) then he would see me in court. After being placed on hold several times and a telephone call of about 40 minutes, I spoke with some one else who is supposed to call be today. As of yet, no call, am I surprised?
BTW, now my wife new accout(?) is suspended…although, no action other than an attempt to cancel was ever initiated.
I have a major headache from dealing with GISOL, but it seems that part of their ploy in dealing with consumer complaints.
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Hi Toni,
So how does Gisol fit in to this? Were they one of the fraudulent companies the case was all about, or was your case of Gisol fraud a side issue or seperate?
By the way, I got my money reimbursed by my bank. I wrote to the CA AGO to report them.
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Hi Again
I’m sorry to hear that the AGO can’t help you. I feel so very bad for you as I know how it feels to lose your money from these scammers.
I have victory, I’m going to get my money back. Here is what I found at GMA website. I am a customer of Wachovia, the AGO put my name in the suit when I first contacted them, they couldn’t tell me what why they were suing them Wachovia.
Here is the page on the out come of the suit. Funny when I talk to the bank on Friday there was no mention of the reimbursement.
LOL I’m taking a copy of this page to the manager on Monday.
GISOL still has to be stopped and the AGO can do it if everyone will contact them in each state.
Thanks for listening Toni
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4725536&page=1
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Hi Toni,
I wrote a post on my site asking for a Pro Bono Attorney. I’ve had quite a few law firms look at the site, although no contact as yet. Perhaps it may be a good idea for us all to start contacting them individually? Do a search for Pro Bono lawyers/attorneys in LA?
I had a reply from the CA AGO, but it was just a standard response. Maybe it’s because I’m not in the US, but they didn’t send a letter to Gisol about it, like they have other people. I guess it’ll still help to flag up Gisol’s activities if they get enough letters/emails etc.
Keep it up all! Report Gisol!
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Hi All
Can we get together and file a class action suit against this company?
I know if everyone who was scammed by this company would file a complaint with the Attorney Generals office they would bring a suit against them. Not enough of you have done this. We need to act together to see results.
Google Attorney Generals Office for your state get their phone number and call, you can print the complaint from an online page and make a statement of what happened to you.
There is power in numbers.
Thank Toni
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Michael, where did you get that info? I am pretty sure their merchant processor is http://ipaycs.com/contact.asp
I’m not sure which of the contact numbers/addresses you should use, but I did see this one on a document they sent to my bank.
Pay By Touch Processing
Chargeback Department
5451 E. Williams Blvd #201
Tucson, AZ 85711-8402
Tel: (520) 547-5200
Fax: (520) 547-5273
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I believe that
Cardsystems
6390 E. Broadway Blvd
Tucson, AZ 85710
Is the address of GISOL’s VISA merchant bank. I am writing a letter to them describing their fraudulent activities and asking them to add GISOL to the terminated merchant file (this will prevent them from ever gaining another VISA merchant account.) In order to protect other consumers from GISOLs fraudulent activities I recommend you all do the same.
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This is their contact information according to the LA BBB
7336 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 815 Los Angeles, CA 90046
Contact: Adam Johnson
Phone: (866) 244-7925
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Now this is almost funny. I received an email from the LA BBB stating the GISOL had replied to my complaint (from last year July 07) They of course, misrepresented the facts and it simply compounds their deceitful tactics.
I made myself clear (within the 1200 characters allowed) and provided a link to this website. I sure hope someone reads that and visits this site. They will see clearly that GISOL are criminals and need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
FYI: My issue with them was resolved by my credit card company. They reversed the charge and credited my account. The status still states “fraud” on the transaction which I was happy with since it applies to their overall merchant account risk score.
I will be happy to join any lawsuit and even travel to California to testify.
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See my website on these idiots.
http://www.scoremx.com/testimony.cfm
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Hi Tony,
The only addresses I know of are:
807 N. Gardner Street,
Los Angeles, CA 90046
This is an (unoccupied) house.
or
7336 Santa Monica Blvd.
Suite #30
Los Angeles, CA 90046
This seems to be a rented room or PO Box.
Obviously you can look these up on Google Maps or Live Maps.
You could also try to find the home address of Jack D Spivak, or Brian Spivak on the internet. The info is readily available, although you will have to pay a fee.
By the way, please publish the info in as many places as you can if you get it. It will help other victims.
Mike. http://www.report-gisol.com
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I have filed a complaint with the attorney generals office here in North Carolina. They are having a problem finding the main office for GISOL.
If anyone has that address please let me know. I was scammed
out of over $7000. They lied and manipulated me and I used my Visa Debit card and the Visa people won’t help me get my money back or my bank even though I told them I was scammed. I guess I should file with the FBI as well.
Thanks Toni
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Unfortunately, gisolclassaction doesn’t seem to be up and running any longer. I tried registering in January but didn’t get a confirmation email. There also doesn’t seem to be many posts either.
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I assume all of you who have been defrauded by GISol have communicated with each other via http://www.gisolclassaction.com/, which is attempting to pull victims together?
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That’s brilliant Julie. Please leave more info, like what reply you got from the judge/case number/court etc so people can quote your case in future claims.
Gregg – Please leave your story on my site as well, leaving a few more details, and we may be able to help you.
Mike.
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That’s great Julie, we’d be interested in the details if you care to share.
Thanks for the info on small claims, I hope I can do this also.
Did you also file a complaint with the AGO of California?? Your win in small claims would go a long way to convince them that GISOL is a deceptive company.
The response I received from GISOL through the Attorney General’s Office was such a farce, I am currently responding and waiting to see wha the AGO or GISOL does next, if anything.
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Whoo whooo! I won the case. Now the fun part…trying to collect.
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I have similar situations, some guy name Brian , try extend my domain for $50.00 . I give him 3 credit cards, hi claim its decline, when I found 15 minutes later calling my banks he charge my 3 cards for over $5.000.00, I agree GISOL its total scam, only my concern its how they are in business???
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Calling all people who have been scammed using their discover cards. Maybe if we can get together we can convince Discover to give us our money back.
Please contact me at flaxman333@yahoo.com
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Kris, in small claims court you are not allowed to be represented by an attorney, you must represent yourself. I believe it may be done over the phone, but I’m not 100%. I had to go to small claims at the Beverly Hills Court House. Here is the small claims division number (310) 288-1308. Here is the court house web page http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/Locations/BeverlyHills.aspx
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Post 189
Many of us would consider small claims but live too far away to pursue this course of action. Is it possible to file without being present?? Hiring an Attorney to do this is not an affordable option.
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If you have not done so already, please file your GISOL experience with the California Attorney General’s Office. Many are doing so. STRENGTH IN NUMBERS; many complaints, coupled with the BBB “F” Rating may convince the AGO to finally prosecute these guys. The BBB number is now 452. Seems they are adding new victims daily.
The objective is to prove that GISOL is a deceptive Company, this will allow the AGO to prosecute under FTC Code. Keep any and all documentation to support your case, especially helpful is any written communication from banks or credit card companies who reverse charges because of fraudulent activity.
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If you call AMEX merchant services at 800-528-5200, navigate through the system and get to an agent, and then ask for the chargeback department, they can tell you more about the automatic chargeback program.
Many non-reputable internet businesses are on the program just by virtue of the industry type because they are classified as high risk, but companies that prove themselves to be reliable (low chargeback percentage) get removed, while those that aren’t on the program and receive many chargebacks get blacklisted. It’s pretty clear that with their current business practices, GISOL isn’t ever getting removed.
My earlier statement about how easy it is for a customer to get their money back was an oversimplification meant to make a point, but the process is considerably easier and faster for the customer than it is with other credit cards. After an automatic chargeback is initiated, the money is returned to the customer first, then the company has a chance to make a rebuttal, not the other way around. The company is held to a higher burden of proof that they actually provided a service and GISOL’s tactics of falsifying such evidence wouldn’t work.
If any GISOL ex-customers who used AMEX when it was accepted are reading, have you not received 100% of your money back through AMEX? What were the circumstances?
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Pingback: Unofficial American Express Policy regarding Gisol? | Report-Gisol.com
After I couldn’t get my money back through the credit card company, I received an email from GISOl saying my account (that I officially closed) has been re-opened. I emailed them and said they have no right to re-open my account. I am also unable to login. One of the websites is up when it should not be and I do not have access to delete it. Because, the domain unfortunately does not belong to me and I officially canceled my account through their online form, I consider it theft of intellectual property. I had deleted everything of mine from their server before I canceled the account. GISOL does not answer any of my phone calls or emails. Their deception never fails to surprise me.
I went to small claims court and no one from GISOL showed up. I still had to present my case. It was very difficult to explain my situation. The judge didn’t understand what web hosting is. Anyways, she took all my info to review and I should know by mail. I wish everyone that has been scammed by GISOL would take them to court…at least small claims court. Complaining online isn’t enough.
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AMEX Info:
How do you know this information? Have you got any proof. You can share privately if you wish. I’ve set up a temporary email address which will only last till spam starts arriving.
You can can email me at 080411temp@report-gisol.com
Thanks,
Mike.
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That’s not entirely correct. AMEX will do business with GISOL, but due to the number of received complaints, GISOL has been placed on a blacklist of sorts internally known as the Automatic Chargeback Program. This means that if GISOL charges a customer’s AMEX card and the customer wishes to dispute that charge, all he has to do is call AMEX and mention GISOL. The money is then instantly returned to the customer without need for a lengthy battle as is the case with Visa/MC/Discover right now. For this reason, GISOL no longer accepts AMEX cards since for them it does not make financial sense to spend time defrauding the customer if the customer wins every time.
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It has been stated that American Express will not do business with GISOL. Does anyone have documentation to this effect?? or know how we can get it??
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Please, everybody. Stop being so soft on GISOL!
I got an email from somebody clear across the country who followed my suggestions in messages #163, #171, and #177 and as a result got all the money back ($1700+) through the bank without delay.
Advice to #181:
Your narrative is good. However, delete the following sentences:
“They told me that I couldn’t cancel my account because I didn’t give them 30 days notice before the renewal date (which was on their service agreement). Okay, I can understand that, so I was willing to be stuck with them for one more year.”
“I thought ‘why not save money while I’m stuck with this company’.”
“(Looking back, I realize how stupid I was).”
“At that point I realized something might be fishy.”
“If losing $1800 wasn’t back enough they are trying to also try charging me the original $71.40 (which should have been the only charge in the first place) and I may have to deal with disputing my credit rating. This company has made my life miserable. I think I was so easily scammed because this has never happened to me before and I had a pretty outlook on life. I’m a changed person now.”
—–
If you remove these sentences and correct a few typos in what’s left, you will have an excellent affidavit to give to your bank in order to have them reverse the charges.
Don’t turn this into a customer service problem. You were defrauded, like so many others before you.
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Here is another new site with complaints against GISOL.
http://mokenman.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/global-internet-solutions-review/
Kris
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Hi Koren,
They are listed as a “Featured Site” with webhostdir.com. You will not find them listed as GISOL.com or Global Internet Solutions. You will find them as $5.95/mo – 6 months free and it does look they approve of this company, though they are not listed in the top three awards section.
Looking at GISOL’s website it states they are “Award Winners” and this let’s webhost know how deceptive they truly are.
As you say “Ridiculous” so hopefully webhost will stop this. Can’t hurt to try.
Kris
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Kris-
I found that webhostdir.com link last week when I was taking a look at the awards that GISOL claims to have won. The only one I could find was webhostdir and GISOL seems to have purchased ad space with them to become the “site sponsor.” Ridiculous.
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Hello,
I also got scammed by GISOL. I was with them for 2 years and decided to go with a different hosting company. They emailed me and told me to call them so I did. They told me that I couldn’t cancel my account because I didn’t give them 30 days notice before the renewal date (which was on their service agreement). Okay, I can understand that, so I was willing to be stuck with them for one more year. Then he tell me over the phone that I could pay less by taking advantage of their special offer for the business plan that will cost $42.84 (3.57/month for 1 year) instead of the original $71.40 I was paying for the personal plan. I thought “why not save money while I’m stuck with this company”. I talks me through this procedure over the phone and has me go to a website with a very long service agreement. He immediatly tells me to scroll to the bottom of the page to the signature part. (Looking back, I realize how stupid I was). He has me sign the electronic signature using my mouse. Then, he mumbles something about a rebate really quickly and gets off the phone with me. At that point I realized something might be fishy. I checked my email and found that they sent an email saying they charged me $1798.20 for a 3 year plan ($49.95/month). That put me at a negative balance in my bank account.
I tried calling them on the phone, I got the same person who put me on the new account, but he claimed to be someone else. He was not very willing to help and tells me that there is a rebate of $1755 and if they give me money back, I would be screwing them by taking the rebate and getting my money back. He didn’t know anything about the rebate and said it was done through a third party. He said that he could not contact the third party to stop the rebate. After researching this company online, I found out that this is a scam done to other people, so immediately I canceled my debit card and ordered a new one. I find out later that GISOL tried to also charge me the $71.40 for my original account in addition to the $1798.20 they already charged me. Now I keep on getting emails of threatened suspension and saying they will report me to a third party collection agency if I don’t give them my billing information. When I called them on the phone to ask them about that, he told me to just ignore those emails because they are automated and they were not also trying to charge me $71.40. So he lied to me because the bank told me that they tried to charge me $71.40 after I canceled that debit card number. If losing $1800 wasn’t back enough they are trying to also try charging me the original $71.40 (which should have been the only charge in the first place) and I may have to deal with disputing my credit rating. This company has made my life miserable. I think I was so easily scammed because this has never happened to me before and I had a pretty outlook on life. I’m a changed person now.
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Sorry, I failed to post the link to their recommendation of GISOL.com. See it here.
http://www.webhostdir.com/
Please send your comments concerning this fraudulent Company.
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https://members.webhostdir.com/default.aspx?page=advertising
This Company is recommending GISOL.com. I have contacted them concerning the unethical and deceitful business practices employed by these thieves. Please do the same. Just another way to get at them.
Kris
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i was taken by GISOL for $1, 078.00 BEWARE EVERYONE~~
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As I mentioned in messages 163 and 171, this is fraud and not a customer service mistake. The bank will listen to every word you say, just waiting for you to say the magic word so they can get rid of you.
Messages as recent as #173 are painful to read. Don’t let the banks or credit card companies repackage your complaint. In their minds they are not in the business of giving up their transaction fees.
Simplify your complaint on paper. You were defrauded. GISOL’s charge was unauthorized. They stole your money. You immediately reported it. There is a long list of identical reports from other victims. There is a public warning in the most severe language against GISOL at the LA BBB.
Take your complaint to the local FBI office, submit it to the BBB, Attorney General, your state representative. Fill out the fraud forms.
So if the bank says, “you may have to take some kind of legal action,” stop them in their tracks. Tell them, “I have taken action. Criminal action. FBI. Attorney General’s office. And here’s a time-stamped copy showing their receipt of my statement. And here is a copy of the LA BBB report on file, along with their explanation of what an ‘F’ means.”
When in doubt, keep saying the same thing over and over. Unauthorized charge. Fraud. Theft. Disappeared. Unauthorized charge. Fraud. Theft. Disappeared. The banks and credit card companies will try to tease out the conversation with you, only because they want you to STRAY from your position.
You may think that in order to come across as more credible you should make an effort to be fair and balanced, and add some details about Internet service. As soon as you do that, they got you.
It’s what they’ve been waiting for. It’s not their problem.
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Koren:
Go through the dispute. When Gisol sends back fraudulent documents, go through the fraud dept.
All:
Do not stop. Keep up the good work.
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I was with Meriwest Credit Union but went through the Visa Fraud devision. Trust me they sent me all this certifed mail and all this other junk but it got sorted out after time. Trust me you need to point out what they did to you. Took me a bit of time to finaly get everything done and get the bank to understand this company took my money but it was reversed.
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I am wondering what has happened with gisolclassaction.com? I registered and received an e-mail that my submission would be considered and I would be notified. I have heard nothing. Any info on what happened with this one??
Again, contact the California BBB and the Attorney General of California as listed on post #161. You will not receive an answer from GISOL through the BBB, but it will add to the documentation against GISOL, and assist the Attorney General in understanding that this is not just a few unhappy customers.
Kris
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GISOL took the $1078.20 from me. My bank is refusing to file a chargeback dispute because it isn’t “fraud.” They define fraud as an unauthorized transaction, not a disputed amount. Since I authorized GISOL to charge my card $3.57/month, the transaction itself is legitimate and they suggested I call GISOL to correct the billing discrepancy. Are they for real?! I’ll continue to work with them to see what they can do for me.
In response to Eric’s question about the signature page, I don’t think it was there from the beginning. I didn’t sign one when I first got my GISOL account in 2005. In fact, their terms have changed dramatically. When I signed up, they actually offered a money-back guarantee.
http://lonelanternsociety.org/gsa-4-25-2004.htm
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They do tape the phone calls no they dont tell you, how do I know this? well when I started my charge back they had placed phone records of what I had said to them and they said and somethings they added into it. Just stay on top of it and point out the fact all the other people including me that you where ripped off and they took the money with OUT your concent.
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What you have with GISOL is not a customer service issue. It is a criminal issue. It is not even a contractual issue. The patterns shown here and elsewhere demonstrate that GISOL fraudulently charges your card, and when questioned, points to the Service Contract.
So you must treat this with your bank or credit card company from the outset as a fraud. The moment you start talking about frustrations about GISOL not following through on customer care, you are giving the bank an out. They will just send you back to GISOL’s customer service department.
And the moment you start talking about GISOL’s contract, as if it were something you overlooked reading (I know, most people don’t read the fine print concerning a common online service that only costs a few dollars a month), then the simplest way for your bank or credit card company to handle your problem is to send you off to civil court.
You must be unwavering from the outset. GISOL stole your money and all of their operations and paperwork are part of their scheme to systematically defraud new victims month after month.
As for their statement that they recorded your phone conversation, be aware and be careful.
According to Cal. Penal Code §§ 631, 632, it is a crime in California to intercept or eavesdrop upon any confidential communication, including a telephone call or wire communication, without the consent of all parties.
Here’s my source, along with a state-by-state guide so you can check the law on your end of the line as well:
http://www.rcfp.org/taping/
By all means stay on the case, and good luck. Well get these criminals and put them away.
Game Over
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Okay, so it’s been a little bit more than 24 hours since I have been scammed by GISOL for $1798.20 as I mentioned in #162. I was able to get in touch with someone at GISOL with the phone number: 323-924-1109. The person who answered sounded just like the original person I talked to that scammed me, but of course he claimed that it was not the same person. I told him that this was a huge mistake and I would have never given him my debit card information if I knew that I would be charged $1798.20. I don’t think anyone in their right mind would make the mistake of authorizing a charge for $1798.20 if they only have $600 in the bank. I’m kind of surprised that my bank didn’t deny this pending charge since it will make me have a negative 1200 balance in my bank, that seems a little extreme. The charge is still pending as I write this, so I can’t dispute the charge with my bank yet.
So when I talked to the representative at GISOL hoping I can convince him to void the charge before it goes through, he did not seem sympathetic. He said that the rebate has already been processed and if he voids the charge, I could make a profit by not being charged and also getting the rebate. Granted, I set my scammed account up at 6pm on Monday and he told me this at 10am on Tuesday. So I guess his claim is that they set this rebate up sometime between those times, although if they did then they were definitely away from the phone most of the time because I called them back many times beginning at 6:30pm and no one ever answered until 10am the next day. I then asked him to cancel the rebate and void the charge and he said that the rebate was done through a third party so he doesn’t have the information to do that. I did ask him when I would get my rebate and he said that he didn’t know since it was through the third party, but I did notice that in other posts on this site that they were told in exact date when they would get their rebate, so I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
I then told him that I will dispute this claim with my bank if the charge goes through, and he said that the original conversation was taped so they have evidence that I accepted this. If they did tape the phone conversation, I’m not too worried because I think that it would be clear that they did not make it clear that I would be charged $1798.20 (although I wonder if they would edit the taped phone conversation to make it look like I was aware of this). Besides, isn’t there a law that we have to be told if the phone conversation is being taped? I have a feeling that he is bluffing and did not tape the phone conversation.
The main thing I’m worried about is the SignatureLink signature I did on the service agreement. In the phone conversation, it is clear that he lied to me about what the service agreement said, but I believed him at the time and didn’t bother reading it before signing it, which I’m kicking myself for doing that now. I’m going to try contacting SignatureLink as well.
Also I cancelled my account with them using the website cancel.gisol.com at about 16 hours after setting up this scammed acount. I got an email saying that my website is suspended, which I’m assuming is in response to me requesting the account cancellation. But I don’t know if that means I’m officially cancelled. So they have not provide any service to me since I started this scammed account. I also started the process of changing my debit card number, so I shouldn’t get charged anymore from them.
I’m so glad that this and other anti-GISOL websites are up. This has made me feel so much better that other people are fighting this and I really appreciate the information that this website has provided me. I’m so glad I’m not alone in fighting them. Feel free to contact me if you want to combine our efforts or talk of a class-action lawsuit. I haven’t done it yet, but I will definitely follow the advice of contacting the BBB, Attorney General and other places about my complaints. Good luck to you all!
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My bank took 2 months to get the issue with GISOL resolved but I did get my money back the next day. The cool thing was my bank had looked when I told them about this About the issue and Reversed all the way back to Day 1 with their service. Now I didnt get the Domain back, but I ended up getting all my money I spent on them back, was worth it also due to the fact that they had deleted all my data on the servers.
They also had reported to my Bank a image of my site from Google Cache and I pointed that out and the bank reported them as fraud and I one the Dispute.
Also how long have they had this Signature thing going on I dont remember ever signing one them ever.
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Re: SignatureLink / Discover
I sent SignatureLink an email weeks ago about them, asking them not do business with a company like Gisol who are using the signatures for fraudulent reasons. I didn’t hear anything back. They have heard about Gisol before because I sent them an email!
I had exactly the same “evidence” back from Gisol. My bank didn’t even question it and the money was back in my account within 24 hours of me telling them what they had done. I didn’t even have to send them any proof! All I had to do was sign a form saying the evidence Gisol had sent back was fraud.
If I were you Edge, I would be getting in contact with Discover again, and ask to speak to someone more senior. For a credit card company or bank to say they haven’t got a fraud dept is absolutely rediculous. They have to have one! The merchant is NOT their customer. Sure, they get a % of the amount which comes from the merchant, but YOU are their customer. They make most of their money from interest from you. You would have used their card services again and again. How many transactions would they get with Gisol? And anyway, if you couldn’t have done business with Gisol, you would have gone to another host. It doesn’t make sense at all. If you don’t get any luck from contacting someone else more senior, get the head honcho or CEO of Discover’s name, and send a letter and/or email marked “Private and Confidential” addressed to him/her by name detailing your case and your dissapointment in their company. This often gets thing rolling very quickly. It’s a well known technique.
I wish you all luck, and keep fighting!
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Regarding comment #165, that is a great idea to contact Signature Link. I haven’t thought to do that. If they have enough of us contact them, they could revoke Gisol’s account, removing this tool from their use preventing them from obtaining signatures when they are duping others. This signature is probably key to their chargeback disputes.
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I signed up for a year’s service in March of ’07 with Gisol for $73 per year. My website was disabled in November of ’07 and when I called, I didn’t realize that I already had paid for service through March, but I was told that my account had expired and my credit card was expired. I gave them my updated credit card information, signed the “terms of service” contract. I then had the same experience as most of you and was charged 1,798.20 to my Discover card after clearly being told that I would be charged less than what I was paying now. I disputed with my credit card and Gisol sent them a bunch of fraudulent documentation. The kicker was that they took my signature from the “terms of service” agreement and cut and paste it into a receipt document saying that I authorized them to charge 1,798.20. The signatures clearly look exactly the same. They didn’t even bother to change the time-stamp indicating that I had signed both documents at the exact same second! I sent a well-documented package to Discover clearly detailing this fact, citing web pages that show how Gisol has done this to others, copies of a few testimonies similar to mine and copies of my BBB and IC3 complaints. I recieved word back that I provided no new information, this was a “he said, she said” dispute and they always rule in favor of the merchant in these cases. They suggested I take legal avenues to get my money back. They said they don’t have a fraud department, just a dispute department, and this department seems to be a total joke. If any of you have Discover, get rid of them. They clearly don’t stand up for their customers, citing, “The merchant is our customer too.”. Go with proven companies such as American Express who stand up for their customers. I will be contacting California’s Attorney General’s office but I’m not very hopeful. If these crooks are ever brought to justice, I will be happy to testify and do whatever it takes to bring them down.
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I just wanted to give an update since my first post (#156). Since I found out that this was all a scam, I canceled my new account with GISOL immediately before they could “provide any services.” To my surprise, they actually did cancel it. That $1000+ authorization on my check card expired and they never took my money.
I got an email from them the next day about my reactivated original account. Here is an excerpt:
“As per our service contract if you wish to discontinue your services with us you must cancel your account (3) weeks in advance of your renewal/expiration date. As this was not done your account was renewed under the same terms and conditions.
If you do not wish for the collection agency to report your outstanding debt to the credit burros you must log into your control panel and update your credit card information. At that point if you wish to discontinue your services you may, and our cancellation department will process your credit.”
I don’t remember such a policy from 30 months ago. In fact, I signed up by phone, so I didn’t sign anything. From what I’ve read above, they threaten with talk of collection agencies and “credit burros.” It doesn’t sound like anyone has actually been contacted by a collection agency, nor has anybody received a negative credit report.
The Post Office tried to deliver a certified letter from GISOL which nobody accepted. From what I’ve read above, victims generally sign for a ‘receipt’ for their payment. In my case, I never paid anything, so I’m wondering if it would be beneficial to have that receipt in case I am contacted by a collection agency. At this point, I think I’m just going to avoid any contact with them and do what I can to prevent future fraud to other victims.
I intend to contact the IC3, attorney general and better business bureau. I also want to find out who their credit card processor is to see if I can get their merchant account revoked. I’ve already contacted signaturelink.com, the company that displays their contract and collects our signatures. The representative said that nobody has ever contacted them before about GISOL. He forwarded my letter to his COO. I’d like to contact the company that actually registers the domains for them and let them know what’s going on. We should totally contact all of their vendors and cut them off. I doubt we’ll be able to actually shut them down completely, but we can sure make things difficult for them.
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Pingback: Breaking News! Attorney General of CA contact! | Report-Gisol.com
GISOL must be described only in terms of fraud. Their entire operation centers around the fraud of charging your credit card without your authorization, then falsely claiming that you bought a package of services. Newly registered customers will be defrauded in their time, about 1 year later. Customers who signed up about 1 year ago are being defrauded today.
GISOL needs to stay in business in order to defraud next year its current list of new customers. However, a growing group of fraud victims threatens their ability to stay in business as more and more complaints reach law enforcement agencies and consumer advocates, and more and more banks investigate their fraudulent credit card charges.
The potential gains from next year’s fraud victims are so great, however, that GISOL continues to respond to official and consumer complaints by referring to its Service Contract. If this response is allowed to stand, one complaint after another will be closed without any action taken.
Therefore, I would like to make some suggestions to this group to bring GISOL to justice.
1. Put aside any complaints about quality of service. These are matters that are completely incidental to the fraud scheme that drives all of GISOL’s operations.
2. Also put aside any disputes over any breach of GISOL’s Service Contract. That contract is merely part of their fraud. It does not protect them from criminal prosecution.
3. Focus on the fact that GISOL has charged your credit card without your authorization, and that you did not agree to purchase or prepay for the services they claim.
4. Make note of your good faith efforts to correct their “error” and to have your funds returned. Make note of GISOL’s responses, excuses, dodges, and phone manner, including your suspicions about their suddenly pretending to be someone else.
5. Prepare a short affidavit about how you were defrauded. You cannot waffle here. You were defrauded, and you can reconstruct your conversation with GISOL that led up to their crime of stealing your money. Don’t be chatty and don’t be afraid to look stupid because you were duped. You were defrauded. Don’t use adjectives. In short sentences recount what GISOL said and did to you.
6. Review and edit your affidavit to make it as tight and forceful as it can be. Don’t waffle. Don’t give GISOL any wiggle room. Don’t editorialize. Just describe the crime.
7. Add to the beginning of your affidavit a summary of exactly how you were harmed by GISOL’s fraud. This includes not only the money they stole from you, but the loss of your Internet branding (i.e., your domain name), your Internet business, your copyrighted content, the cost of building your website, the cost of weeks of disruption, and the hours spent in seeking a remedy.
8. As a group, the contributors to this website should build a collection of affidavits that can be used by new fraud victims to have their banks or credit card companies return their funds as soon as they become aware of the fraud.
9. Members of this group should agree to meet at the offices of the Attorney General in Los Angeles, or at any local office of the FBI, or other agencies. In-person visits by multiple fraud victims are more effective than calling or emailing.
10. The group should also use its collective intelligence to dig up background details about GISOL, their suppliers, vendors, customers, and past complaints. Find out if any lawsuits have been filed against them for any reason, and contact the plaintiffs’ attorneys. Almost always, they will share with you what they know. You should share with them what you know, and if they have scheduled any depositions with GISOL you can suggest what kinds of questions they should ask them.
11. If you have a meeting with the Attorney General’s office, FBI, State Troopers, etc., always say you will be available to testify before a grand jury.
12. Be prepared to turn over copies of your emails to and from GISOL. You will be asked to turn these over with full email headers, which will give law enforcement valuable information about where the GISOL perpetrators are located and how to evaluate the data from GISOL’s computers when the troopers seize them. Find out how to make these full email headers visible. It’s simply a matter of choosing the right setting.
13. If you receive any threats from GISOL, carefully document their threats, including how those threats made you feel, and what you were made to fear if you did not follow their wishes. Immediately call these threats into your law enforcement contacts. Again, don’t waffle. They threatened you. If you felt they used extortion or witness intimidation, you must clearly state this in the narrowest possible terms, and back it up with your notes. This will guarantee immediate action by the agents.
14. Don’t expect too much from the media, unless a local network affiliate conducts an investigation. One effective way to make this happen is to have several members of this group go visit a state representative and explain how serious a matter this is. Bring a bulleted fact sheet about GISOL’s fraud and their victims. Some state representatives are extremely well-connected with local broadcast media. For this kind of crime, FOX News coverage would be especially tough on GISOL.
Some words of encouragement: First, your chances of getting your money back through your bank or credit card company are getting better and better. A personal visit with a strong affidavit and printouts of similar complaints from this website would be most effective.
Second, your chances of getting your domain name back are good if you immediately place a backorder for it through services like GoDaddy and SnapNames. GISOL has no financial interest in paying the redemption period penalties, and if they try to renew your name out from under you, that would be further evidence of their fraudulent intent.
Third, if GISOL suspended your web hosting account before you had a chance to back it up, you can retrieve much of your website by using Google cache. Go to Google.com, type in site:yourdomain.com, then for each search result, click “cache” and copy the source code. Graphics will not show up, but the names of the image files should still be in the code. (This should help those who only had simple sites on GISOL. Complex, database-driven sites may not benefit from this technique.)
And fourth, your patience will be rewarded in the end. The wheels of justice turn very slowly it seems, but don’t lose your cool with your law enforcement contacts. I assure you that eventually you will be in awe of what they can do. Some of you will see first hand just how thorough they can be. That magic day will come when you’re waiting at the courthouse to testify before the grand jury and you look around at all the other witnesses the prosecuting attorney’s team has pulled together.
Good luck to all of you. And to GISOL, I have only 2 words.
Game Over
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I’m afraid that I may have been scammed in a similar way. I am very distraught over it as well. I cancelled my account with Gisol with the intention of transferring my web hosting to GoDaddy. They called me on the phone and told me that I’m already set to have my account renewed and will be charged no matter what because I did not give them 30 days notice before the automatic renewal. So I was convinced to stay with the for 1 more year and they convinced me to do the business plan instead of the personal plan I had originally signed up for, by saying that it would be $49.95 per year with unlimited space. I went for it and gave them my credit card information. They said my credit card was denied, so I gave them my debit card information, thinking it was only going to be $49.95. I find out that I’m being charged $49.95 per month for 36 months with a total of $1798.20. I don’t even have that much money, so now I’m about negative $1200. The person I talked to on the phone did not elude to this charge at all.
This all comes at a bad time because I just recently found out that my mother is very sick and may not have much longer to live, and I’m only 27 years old! I want to fly home to Oklahoma as much as possible so I can see her before she dies, and so I can’t afford to just lose about $1800 all of a sudden. I can’t even sleep tonight because I can’t stop thinking about this loss. I contacted my bank and they said that it is still pending, so maybe I can convince Gisol to not go though with the charge. But after reading some of these posts, that doesn’t look hopeful. How could I be so stupid. Does anyone else have Bank of America and have had any luck blocking such a ridiculous charge?
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Just received a letter from the Attorney General’s Office in California stating they are contacting GISOL. If you have not already done so, I urge you all to contact the AG Office. There are now 431 complaints against GISOL at the BBB.
You can file a complaint on-line at:
http://ag.ca.gov/contact/index.php
I have asked the BBB for copies of all complaints against GISOL and was told that the Attorney General’s Office would have to ask for them. Please mention the “F” rating for deceptive business practices as stated by the Better Business Bureau and the number of complaints they have received.
Thank you,
Kris
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Pingback: Report-Gisol.com
We’ve now got a questionnaire/poll to fill in. Any more questions you think should be asked, please leave a comment at the bottom of the page. Thanks again.
http://www.report-gisol.com/polls/
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Pingback: GISOL went from bad to worse while I was a customer | Report-Gisol.com
Koren:
I think you meant $42.84 per year was a good deal! They did exactly the same to me. I wasn’t able to stop the transaction at my bank. I had to wait for it to be transferred out of my account, before I could dispute it, then do a chargeback.
Please don’t forget to leave your experiences at http://www.report-gisol.com as well. We’re also trying to sort out a database of chargeback evidence as well so future chargebacks will have more evidence. If you use the contact form on my site to tell me your Bank/Credit Card Issuer, Country, Chargeback reference number (if any) and status of chargeback (ie if successful etc.) I’ll post all of them in a password protected area of the site. I DON’T want your bank details or address or even your real name if you don’t want! I won’t post your name or email anyway! WE are here to help, not rip you off unlike some people we know!
Thanks in advance, and Raoul and all, keep up the good work.
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I’ve been using GISOL as my webhost for 3 years. Although they didn’t live up to their 99.999% uptime guaranty, the service was good for the most part. I registered my domains through godaddy, so I still retain control of them. Within only 3 days of receiving my renewal letter from GISOL, they suspended my account. The customer service rep in India was unable to help me and gave me the 323-924-1109 to call for more assistance. After several busy signals and 20 minutes on hold, I finally got through to Brian. For some reason, he offered me an incredible deal. $3.57 per month for the UNLIMITED BUSINESS hosting. Wow.. only $42.84 per month. How could I pass that up? I gave him my credit card information. He insisted that he needed a CREDIT card and not a bank check card with a VISA logo. I assured him my check card would work and signed his online contract and ended my conversation with him pretty happy with my deal. He even offered to restore all of my deleted websites for free and move them to one of the faster newer servers.
An hour later, I got a call from my bank’s fraud department asking me if I authorized a charge from Global Internet Solutions. Unfortunately, I told her yes. I didn’t realize that it was for $1078.20. When I checked my bank account online, I noticed several $1 authorizations. I’m positive that they attempted the larger $1798.20 amount before he reduced it to an amount my bank account contained.
At this point the $1078.20 is just an authorization. I will contact my bank’s loss-prevention department first thing tomorrow to stop that transaction before the money is transfered. I know that if I don’t, it will be a bitch to get it back. I will also have them cancel that check card and issue a new one to me.
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MY TOP 5 UNPROFESSIONAL-GISOL INTERACTIONS IN THE LAST YEAR:
1. After being disconnected by Adam-Jack-whoever one day, I call back. Same voice answers, I start to re-explain my situation, and the guy alters his voice and says he is “just security” and can’t help me. (those of you who have talked to him know he’s pretty easy to recognize – whiny and somewhat nasal)
2. People at Gisol giving me fake phone numbers, to call other gisol “offices”.
3. Gisol calls me at 4:58 and pressures a decision out of me because “the office closes at 5” and I must decide today or I lose my domain. (Now I know – since Ive had the time to check – that his pressures were total lies to get me to submit to the decisions, charges, and subsequent screw-job)
4. Being told that someone from X office will contact me. Waiting weeks, never hearing back. Ditto with emails.
5. Not providing the services paid for.
I reversed the 300-some dollars of services-not-rendered charges at Citibank, but Gisol threatened to send a collection agency after me (and Citibank cant do anything about that). I don’t want my good credit ruined. So I paid the scoundrels. Now I’m trying to cancel before my next year of hosting NOTHING starts. It would be worth the lost 300 dollars to never EVER deal with this company again.
I filed with BBB last year, and (no surprise) they weren’t able to contact them (fake phone #s perhaps?), so the case finally closed. I feel helpless! Im really hoping I don’t see any more BS charges as I try to sever ties with this company…..
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Simply asking, not stating. It seems Global Internet Solutions has other companies it operates as well as GISOL.
http://www.lacorporateattorney.com/CM/PracticeAreaDescriptions/InternetLaw.asp
I was looking for an Internet Law Attorney to contact and found Peter Bornstein Law Office. I have not yet had a response from them.
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Petrena – you can try contacting kshowers@da.lacounty.gov at the DA’s office like David above suggests. She is the head deputy of The High Technology Crime Division, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. http://da.co.la.ca.us/htcu.htm I emailed her but I haven’t gotten a response, I will write her a letter by mail this weekend. If enough people contact her she may do something or possibly the DA’s office will. These con artists should be in prison.
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Kris, you should substantiate your claim that Globat.com is an affiliate of GISol. Why do you think that? Have you tried contacting that law firm or Globat to find out more?
I’d rather not have this article’s focus start to spread thin because people are pointing fingers at other companies. This article is about GISol and GISol alone. They’re the ones that are engaging in financial crimes. They’re the ones that need to get investigated and stopped.
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Is Globat.com also an affiliate of Global Internet Solutions?
If so, this Company is represented by the Law Firm of Peter Bronstein, Los Angeles, CA.
Kris
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I wish I had seen this information before I signed up last week. I just wanted a personal web site for one year for $105. When the sales guy called, he said I had to be moved up to a business account for three years, for $49.95 a month, but that they had a sale for $3.95 a month that I could apply for. I immediately smelled a rat and said repeatedly that I didn’t want that account and that he should not charge my account. He basically told me I was stupid for not seeing it was cheaper to get the business account. Of course, he charged my account. I have just begun disputing the charge, but Visa made me wait until the charge was no longer pending, then told me to call the GISOL customer service number before Visa would start proceedings. of course, I did not get through to anybody but the switchboard operator, who told me she couldn’t transfer me or do anything–and that I should e-mail sales and billing. I did that; it has been 48 hours wioth no response; and I am ready to send in my written dispute form.
I am so livid there are no words….
i would be glad to be a part of any movement to put these people out of business.
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An update to my previous posting. I was able to get the money put back into my account through my bank. I live in Arkansas and use Arvest bank. They were very cooperative and I had the money back in my account the next day. The bank is currently disputing the charge with GISOL but I doubt I’ll ever recieve any information with the results.
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I spoke too soon. The money came out today. I’ll start a dispute as soon as my bank opens. I feel sick right now. I’ll post more when this is resolved.
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I see that I join the ranks of one of the recent scams, the bait and switch where you think you are signing up for $3.57/month, but are billed for 3 years @ $49.95/month to the tune of an unexpected $1798.20. My experience is similar to others. Gisol was evasive and tricky on the phone. Looking back, with that oh so 20/20 hindsight vision… They used about every trick in the book on me. This happened last Tuesday night (2/26/08). The following morning I realized my mistake and immediately took action at my bank and started the frustrating task of calling and emailing Gisol numbers. I was given the runaround, but when I could get a person on the phone, I pleaded my case over and over (after reading these posts I was probably pleading to the same people over and over). The transaction showed as pending on my card Wed, Thurs, and Fri. My bank said I had to wait until the charge posted to dispute it. When I checked on Saturday to see if it had posted, it was gone. I keep checking with my bank and am reluctant to declare a victory, but signs look good.
I can’t believe a company can operate like this for so long! They are deceiving people and making money from it. I plan on complaining to all the channels listed here and to my bank’s fraud department. Consumers need to complain enough to at least get Visa and Mastercard to follow suit with American Express and stop doing business with these crooks.
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Sounds like a great idea.
I’ve just set up yet another anti-Gisol website:
http://www.report-gisol.com
It’s still in it’s early stages at the moment. I’ve never used WordPress before, so please bear with me.
Please feel free to post your experiences. Don’t worry if you’re just cutting and pasting previous postings on other sites.
I’m hoping it can become a central site, so all these sorts of topics can be covered. ie: statements, bank chargebacks, lists of reporting sites etc.
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I’ve been thinking that it might help our charge disputes with our credit card companies if we exchanged statements claiming that we have been defrauded by gisol. It is difficult to prove to a credit card company that we were verbally promised one thing when gisol claims the opposite. However if we share statements claiming that we have been defrauded by them in the same way that will lend weight to our claim. What I’m thinking is this, what if we each printed and signed (with our address and phone # information) a statement like the following.
To whom it may concern:
I ______ was recently defrauded by Gisol. When I spoke with the Gisol sales representative they promised to provide me with services at a rate of $3.57 per month instead they have charged $1798.20 to my credit card and have refused to refund the amount. They claim I agreed to a three year contract at $49.95 per month which is not what I was promised. I believe they intentionally mislead me about the terms of their contract in order to defraud me.
Sincerely,
So if anyone would like to exchange letters like this to help with our individual claims with our credit card companies send me an email at my new email fightgisol@yahoo.com and we can exchange statements.
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Excellent thanks Mike!
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It is The Cooperative Bank in the UK.
http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk.
Glad to help!
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Mike, which is your bank, be interested to know as reference for my bank …
Thanks!
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UPDATE!!
My bank’s fraud dept has successfully charged back the full amount! They were going to leave it at that, but I have asked them to investigate, and they are passing the details to the police.
Keep trying everyone. We will get them!
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Re: Comment 127 – Paul
Your domain has been highjacked by a cybersquatter. They buy up domains that have been deleted, then try to sell them back to the original owner, or get revenue from the traffic your site should be getting, or if it’s a “good” name, they’ll try to make a profit by selling it to the highest bidder usually at auction.
I managed to get mine back by doing a “backorder” at snapnames. I was lucky as no cybersquatters had also put in a backorder, otherwise it would have gone into an auction there.
It might be worth contacting them again and either putting in an offer, or asking how much they want. I would be nice to them and don’t sound too keen. Maybe get a friend to do it for you so they don’t know you owned it previously.
There is also the possibility that someone related to Gisol may have registered the domain for the same reasons, in which case I would give up. Can’t imagine someone from such a reputable company would do that though would you?
It’s worth a go though. He might have bought it for a few dollars and want $100 for a quick profit. Good luck.
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I’ve been a victim too.
In Dec 2006, I signed up for a 36 month hosting package for around $200 with “free” domain name with “free whois privacy”.
In Dec 2007, I received an email from Gisol saying my card had expired and my domain needed renewing. I tried updating the expiry date, and adding a new card, but it still said expired. I emailed them, so they sent me a link to a page on gisol.com to pay for the renewal. All looked OK as after inputting my details it went to a page saying thanks for your payment. I realised that I didn’t get a confirmation email for the transaction, so emailed them. I didn’t receive a reply.
In mid Jan 2008 my website disappeared. I emailed them to ask why. At 0130am UK time I received a call from “Aaron”, saying that my domain had gone into redemption and my account had been shutdown. After a lot of obviously frustrated talk, I agreed to opening a new account which would cost me $42 for 3 years. HE confirmed several times that $42 in total would be all my card would be charged. He also said afterwards that I would receive a refund of $87 for the original contract.
He directed me to a page where I could sign the new contract. This is very difficult using a mouse or a touchpad. Anyway after about 4 attempts, which he said was because Visa wasn’t accepting it, he said it was ok, then put the phone down!
I got an email immediately saying thank you for my payment of $718.20!
I rang my bank immediately after the phone call. They were very sympathetic, but said they couldn’t treat it as a fraud case as I had done business with them in the past and supplied my card details to them. A dispute was filed with Visa International. What Gisol replied with to them and my bank is total and utter FRAUD! I also, like another person above, have proof to prove that it is fraud. I thought that they were pretty watertight, the way they have everything covered, with contracts and verbal agreements etc, but I believe they are getting a bit desperate about the amount of chargebacks they are getting and haven’t really thought through what they are doing this time. It’s NOW going through the Fraud Dept of my bank and Visa International. I hope the evidence is stacking up and they get sent down very soon. It can only be a matter of time.
I did the usual like emailing, ringing, trouble tickets etc but of course no help/reply. My domain didn’t come out of redemption as they said they would, and of course it was owned by them, not me. I’ve managed to get it back now which is a relief, as I have paying clients advertising on there. I temporarily ran my .co.uk version, but it wasn’t ideal as search engines listed my .com version. It’s been down for about 6 weeks while the redemption/deleting process went through. I managed to get snapnames.com to get it back for me the instant it became available.
I can only urge everyone affected to dispute/chargeback the charges, report them to as many agencies (LA Attorney, California Attorney, FBI IC3, Federal Trade Commission, BBB, local police, press, TV etc etc etc) as you can.
Don’t be scared. Let’s do it and get them sent down!!!
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I have also been victim to this companies fraudulent activities. I just recently signed up and since I was a returning customer they put me on the upgrade/consolidation package as per their customer service agreement. The GISOL rep I spoke to, Brian, told me that the package was worth $49.95 per month but the current promotional rate for return customers was for $3.95 per month with 36 month pre-paid subscription. The following week I recieved my statement with a bill of $1,798.20 meaning that they in fact billed me for $49.95 per month. Despite numerous inquires about the rebate information they have failed to send me any documentation about it and have only told me to “wait until September 30, 2008 and call to enter my transaction ID number to recieve my rebate”. So I am currently beginning to take steps with my bank to have these charges refunded. Anyone know of anyother steps I should take?
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The Attorney General’s Office in Minnesota did actually “shut down” a business similar to this.
I have contacted the BBB, waste of time, other than to document the number of complaints, which could be used against GISOL, so I suggest filing with the California Better Business Burea.
Contact the Attorney General’s Office. I wonder if there is someway to combine all complaints and send to them?
With the original company refusing to do business with them, as well as American Express, should add validity to the fraudulent nature of this company.
I have had no luck with investigative reporters, though several expressed an interest, they have not responded since. I believe it is because it is a California based company, I’m in Utah.
The link to Minnesota Attorney General’s Office is:
http://www.ftc.gov/os/2001/04/pagecmp.htm
The BBB does not contact the AGO in California. The BBB now has 420 complaints against GISOL, and looks like they are not receiving any responses to their letters at this point.
Kris
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I’m an IT consultant and one of my clients complained that their email isn’t working. The domain expired and is in the redemption period. Sure enough the client purchased this through gisol, which I had never heard of before. I spoke to ALLINDOMAINS and they were very nice and helpful. Basically they don’t do business with GISOL anymore because of GISOL’s business practices. And of course the only authorized contact on the clients domain is GISOL so ALLINDOMAINS can’t make any changes/transfers without GISOLS authorization or a court order.
I called GISOL and spoke to support which sounds like it is based in India and was informed since the domain was in redemption I had to call another number and when I called that no one answered and no voice mail.
I have no idea if GISOL ran up the companys credit card, I will have to have them check. One thing that is strange/confusing that I am reading here is GISOL claiming they own the domains and you are leasing them. This terminology is somewhat normal. No one owns domains, they are always leased, this why you pay a yearly fee for it seperate from hosting. Them registering a domain you pay your yearly fee to and then they claim it is their domain sounds like fraud. That is standard practice except the domain is suppose to be in your control.
I was poking around their website and when signing up for an account I came across this: “With our 24×7 technical support via ticketing system, fax or email, it’s no wonder why we are chosen time and time again as one of the worlds leading hosting companies.” At the end of this line it says “Once you sign up the price will NEVER go up!” but I can’t copy and paste it because it is an image. Here is the page: http://gisol.com/hosting/index-unix.php?adin= and here is the image: http://gisol.com/images/nevergoupblink.gif
When signing up after choosing your domain they offer the standard $9.95 private registration but why would you want this if they are registering it in their name? That is as far as I went with the order process.
This clients just wants to transfer their domain, they dont want anything to do with GISOL. If I have any update I’ll post here.
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I have been scammed too by Gisol, their rep gave me the false impression that the hosting plan was $3.57 and 12 months would cost $42.84. I received a bill of $1798.20 like so many of you Gisol customers. I am disputing my bill right now with my credit card company. I also spoke to Steve who claimed Gisol will send me a rebate of $1755 on Oct 13, 2008. I feel cheated and very disgusted.
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Yep … happened to us as well … US$1798.20 instead of $49!!
Now trying to have the charges revoked through my CC. According to my CC issuer: “it is their word against yours, probably not much that can be done!” HOWEVER, IF we can prove that this is a scam GISOL operates (or has been operating for years it seems), then maybe GISOL will have to prove that they legitimately sold us the US$1800 package, rather than vice versa.
So, it would be HUGELY HELPFUL If any of you injured parties could give me the NAMES OF YOUR CREDIT CARD ISSUERS OR BANKS! I reckon that would be the best reference for my CC issuer (MBNA EUROPE) and should help convince the bank of the truth of the matter from our point of view!
Thanks … another one!
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I purchased internet host services from GISOL online for $5.95 per month as advertised with my American Express Card. I selected a two year offer. I called there support and was told it would take a couple of days until the service order was completed.
I waited a couple of days and then called GISOL to check on the status of my order. I initially called and spoke with Anna at GISOL who told me that my internet transaction never went through because they were no longer accepting American Express CC even though she acknowledged that the cite advertised AmerEx.
She asked my if I wanted to pay with another card and I told her yes and provide my Mastercard. I then told her that I wanted to go through with the transaction thinking I was paying $5.95 charge per month and selected the 2 year plan. Anna never told me the price would be any different than what I had signed up for online. Within minutes after I gave her my CC info I received a notification via email that I had been billed 1,798.20
I called back within minutes and spoke with Anna again and told her not to process my order because there was a misunderstanding as to price and I want to cancel. I never agreed to the 1,798.20 plus charge. She told me that the card had, “not been settled yet” and that there was, “nothing she could do”. I told her if it wasn’t settled she could cancel the transaction by contacting the credit card company. She wouldn’t do it. I then spoke to her supervisor, “Steve Saunders” who told me that I was stuck with the purchase and he would not reverse the order. I explained to him that I purchased the service over the internet for $5.95 cents per month and never agreed to purchase anything for 1798.20. I then immediately called my credit card company within minutes of my conversation with GISOL and asked to challenge the charges.
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My site was a Genealogy site, personal use, so in loosing $1078, that is the extent of my financial loss.
Have you put a dollar amount on your loss?
Kris
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GISOL has not provided any hosting service since they took $1078.20 from me, and they went to a step further by deleted or removed my website from their hosting. So all my website data have been lost!! I really want to go after these criminals at GISOL and I’m thinking to go to Los Angles to catch either Jack Spivak or Brian Spvak or Adam Johnson. Do or does anyone want to go to Los Angles to face up with Jack Spivak and Brian Spivak?
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Comment 125 refers to an Investigative Report. I have had several responses from those who would like to share their story. Jut to keep you updated, I have not heard back since the initial contact that there was interest in this story. I did send them a lot to review and was told they would contact me soon. I will pursue this the first of next week if I still have had no response.
Anyone had experience with small claims court?? Do you have to go to court in Los Angeles?? This is difficult for those of us who do not live in the area.
I have filed with:
Internet Crime 3
Federal Trade Commission
National Consumer’s Fraud
Considering the Attorney General Office and Small Claims, appreciate input if any of you have used these resources.
GISOL now has 417 complaints, the list just keeps growing.
Kris
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I had the same experience as post 117. I was renewing a small hosting package which has run me ~150/yr which I use simply for a personal website. My domain had “expired” and gone into redemption and they said they would have to open a new account with a new domain name and try to get my old domain out of redemption.
The rep said on the phone that it was going to be $1798.20 and I nearly choked. I proceeded to explain that I didnt need a business account and that this was for personal use and I just wanted the 7.95 plan. He told me then it wouldn’t cost me $1798.20. Lo and behold two days later I get a certified letter in the mail with a receipt for $1798.20.
Of course, I immediately called back but the main office said they wont change or reverse the charge. When I asked to speak to a supervisor I was told I was speaking to the supervisor. When I asked for the name and address of the owner of the company they said they dont know who I should write to.
I would be curious if anyone has attempted also reporting them to the IRS? If they really have “millions of customers” as they claim and are charging them 1-2 thousand dollars then they should have revenues in the billions of dollars. Do you think the IRS is getting that reported?
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Sorry when I posted the in reply to: and references: addresses above it didnt post on the site. I have those though if anyone wants to email me for them.
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Add me to the class action please! psworld2k2(at)hotmail.(com)
They jacked my domain also. Showed it paid til december 08. I was told it was on autopay. No emails. No contact. No warning. No site interuption. No grace period. No nothing! Then my site goes down. I contact tech support 3 times they tell me that it shows the domain is locked in the accounting dept and they try to overide it but cant. I contact accounting they say they dont even have the domain any longer! Someone might call me and try to sell it back to me for 15k! I send an email to the now bogus search page that once was my site and has a contact owner of site link on it .. I ask that they contact me and I get a smartass email reply that says “As requested I am contacting you concerning ******.com. Thank you” which traces back to plano texas sent thru yahoo… not the vancouver washington address listed as the NEW REGISTRANT OF MY DOMAIN.
anyone have a contact in yahoo who can get the IP from this?
In-Reply-To:
References:
either way .. if it goes class action .. dont forget me! I’m in!
I do have multiple domains fortunately so now my only choice is to start merging some things under different domains to maintain my business and work around the situation best I can. I would have been totally screwed had I only had the one domain. I think they gamble thats the case hoping you will offer large $$$ to get your site back! As I told them in an email .. in not so pretty terms.. dont spend the money just yet cuz there isnt a way in hell Im paying you again for something I already paid for.
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Kris, that’s a great idea! I encourage anyone interested to contact Kris at the email address he listed in his previous comment (ckormond@comcast.net) and to offer to speak to the reporter.
If there are particular people whose comments the reporter finds interesting or insightful, and he or she would like to speak with them directly, I can provide their email address. Not sure if they’ll respond or if they’re still interested, but since they’ve commented here, I assume they are.
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I have an investigative reporter interested in this story so if you would like to share your story, please send your name, address, and telephone number with your story in brief.
Not sure this will get any money back, but negative TV exposure will certainly not help them.
The more the better. I will refer the reporter to this site, however, e-mails are not listed.
Kris
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These guys now have 414 complaints through the BBB, and unfortunately for me, I am one of them. Charged $1078 for the three year plan, which as you know carried a 100% satisfaction guarantee and was promised by Shawn that I would receive a refund, money back in my bank, if not satisfied after 8 months. That’s all very funny. They have suspended my site for nonpayment, claiming I am a second party payor, and the primary party needs to send them $1078, and they will refund my $1078. Shawn refused to send an agreement to that effect, not that I would ever agree to anything like that. Better to walk away from $1078 than add an additional $1078 and probably a site that still will not be up because of another silly reason.
Anyway, if any of you want to contact me at ckormond@comcast.net I am interested in a class action suite as stated by many of you.
Kris
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Jan 2008 been robbed by Gisol for a lot of money will come back on it. Be sure your credit card is not saved at Gisol. You’re warned!!!
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To put my story very short, I got cheated by gisol: they got my $1078.20 from my credit card and gisol deleted our website from their hosting for more than 3-months now. As a result, I was forced to close my business, too. I WANT to go after criminals Spivak’s . Please let me know where I can find a local attorney to suit them so I can recover portion of my losses! Please help! Kevin
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Global Internet Solutions
GISOL, Inc. (also known as Global Internet Solutions) is a webhosting company based in Los Angeles, California run by Mr. Jack D Spivak. GISOL has been around since the turn of the millenium, and in that time has gained a reputation for it’s incredibly dishonest business dealings. With more than 360 negative reviews in 36 months at the Los Angeles Better Business Bureau’s website, as well as countless complaints spread well across the internet; they continue to gain more and more complaints from customers around the world. Such poor business practices include a misleading “special promotion” counter that only resets when it ends, unbelievably un-reliable customer service, and an agreement policy that includes such incredible claims that customer’s own ideas become the intellectual property of GISOL. Other such bizarre terms of agreement include 100% Satisfaction Guarantee that is actually less credit back only for the service the customer didn’t want, and only after the 8th month.
Such extraordinary claims have been made by countless customers that GISOL has charged their credit cards without their authorization for more than $1,000.00 when they agreed to less than $100.00. This company is also well known for “bait and switch” tactics unlike any previously seen on such a large scale. The larger portion of their customer service is outsourced to Katalyst Partner Pvt Ltd. of India, who are not often aware of the actions of their American counterparts, further adding fuel to the fire for disgruntled customers who cannot be assisted by the customer service who actually don’t fully know what the big picture is. Oftentimes, one of their only American-based customer service reps, many who think is Brian A Spivak, will pose as several different individuals (Shaun, Adam, Chris, Brian, etc), calling customers at random and forcing them to upgrade their account or threaten further punishment (usually charging credit cards, suspending accounts, deleting data, or sending collections agencies). With many complaints already filed against them, and more and more anti-gisol websites forming on the internet, it seems like only a matter of time before GISOL will either face criminal prosecution or be shut down by the AG’s office in my opinion
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You doint want to waste time with BBB- you want to file a criminal complaint- if you need assistance email me
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http://www.katalystbd.com/content.php?id=22&pid=16
this is the INDIAN company that provided/s support- they are an outside vendor- and are totaly useless
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DBA: Global Internet Solutions
Other DBAs: Global Internet Solutions
Best Internet Services
G I S
GISOL, Inc.
Address: 7336 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 815
Los Angeles, CA 90046 Other Addresses: 7336 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 815
Los Angeles, CA 90046
Primary Phone: (866) 244-7925 Other Phone Numbers: (866) 244-7925
Primary Fax: (323) 653-6232 Other Fax Numbers: (323) 653-6232
Primary Contact: Adam Johnson
VP of Operations Other Contacts: Adam Johnson
VP of Operation
Website: http://www.gisol.com Other Websites: http://www.gisol.com
Company ID: 13133176
Business Start Date: 1/1/1997
BBB Created Record on: 4/17/2000
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Please email me if anyone has had issues with gisol.. I too have been promised a refund Monday Jan 28, 2007. I could not buy my medication today becsue they took $1m800 from my debit account. I oreder the $7.95 plan only to find out that price was based upon 1 yer prepayment. Then I find they hit me for $1800. I immediately called upon resources to assit. Those resources are indeed ready to pounce but that wont get me my money back. They may get them shut down so others do not become unsuspected and victims of the “Small print shell game of -GISOL POLICY” game. HAS anyone here recieved a copy of the GISOL VOID authorization to your Credit Card and still waited for the funds. In the event I donot get my refunds Tuesday I will repost and provide the resopurces to bring this sham to a halt. In the interim please contact gerald@globalmarketinggroupinc.com
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Hello, people. After my cry of rage in #92, I faxed a great deal of documentation to my bank (my CC issuer). The Retail Disputes Dept. must be satisfied with my arguments because it has decided to refund to me the difference between $1,798.20 and $142.80, even before contacting GISOL’s bank. It will be interesting to see if GISOL tries to put up any sort of fight and I will of course let people here know the outcome, whatever it is. I hope all the other people here who’ve been swindled out of money protest to their card companies with similar results. A long stream of complaints to their bank could result in GISOL being blacklisted by MasterCard International and Visa International, just as apparently they have been by AMEX. That would surely finish these guys. How could they continue to trade? If, additionally, some people follow Michael’s lead (#115) and go after them in the small claims court, they’ll really be hurting.
I’m fairly sure that this is the best way to deal with this company. I have a suspicion that the reason no criminal case has been brought against them is that the law is actually on their side. What explanations I’ve been given seem to indicate that international credit card law is concerned almost entirely with the protection of the merchant. The consumer is no longer King. Does anyone have any idea where we can actually find this law and examine it? It must be somewhere in the public domain.
Of course, this doesn’t solve everyone’s problems. My heart goes out to those of you who’ve lost control of your domains. Only people who have a site can appreciate the work that is invested in it. I don’t have any bright ideas to offer but I’m fairly sure someone here will.
Michael, the Los Angeles White Pages gives Jack Spivak’s address as 807 N Gardner St., Los Angeles, CA 90046-7405. The address for GISOL, Inc. given on the gisol.com site is 7336 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite #30, Los Angeles, CA 90046. Google Maps shows that this is conveniently just around the corner from his N Gardner St. house. Also a search for ‘Jack Spivak’ in California on intelius.com tells us that his full name is Jack David Spivak, that he’s 59 years old, and also gives a list of his relatives, which includes Brian Spivak(!). This is our man, I’m certain.
Since he’s listed as the Agent for Service of Process on http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/corpdata/ShowList, I suppose you should have the papers served to him personally at his home address. Good luck with your suit and please keep us informed. I’m sure a lot of people here will be very interested in how it works out.
Thanks again for the support here and the fantastic research (esp. #67, Jon C!!!). Thank you too, Raoul, for creating this page in the first place.
As for me, I’m just going to write off the $142.80 and look for another decent hosting company. (Any suggestions?) The thought of having anything further to do with GISOL is grotesque.
Jan
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Woo hoo, I’ve also been defrauded. The bastards got me for $1800. I want to sue them in small claims court but I need an address so I can “serve” them my claim (“http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/smallclaims/serve.htm”) This probably means I’m going to have to hire a legal service agency in LA to serve them the papers – but first I need an address where they can be found so I can have the papers served. (They need face to face contact to serve the papers.) Does anyone know where these guys reside? Their address in Santa Monica is a PO box so they can’t be served there. Does anyone know if the address they have listed with the California Secretary of State is valid? Address is:
JACK D SPIVAK
807 N GARDNER ST
LOS ANGELES, CA 90046
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Hey David and Raoul,
I did file a dispute at my credit card company.
I add all items I had with the dispute:
– The screenshot of the confirmation page
– All the mails I’ve sent to sales, without any answer
– The support ticket with the reply that I need to mail to sales.
– 2 live chat support logs, of the same person who clames the first time he’s from the billing dept, the next time he clames he’s a tech.
– Statements from other peoles on the web, like on this website and others.
I haven’t heard anything yet, but I’ll keep you updated.
Thanks
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Tim,
Contact your credit card company and file a dispute. Some will take the charge off of your account immediately pending challenge. GISOL will challenge the dispute and if history repeats, they will send your credit card company false information. Stay calm and reply with your side of the story. Copy this web page and add your screenshot then replay to the challenge.
After watching this for a few months, I’m thinking they are getting everything they can before they get shut down. They used to “steal” $400 at a time, now they are up to $1,700+ per victim. Either they know their days are numbered or they are just greedy. In either case, I feel confident that justice will be served and they will be stopped, arrested and a bunk mate of a large fellow criminal.
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Tim, I think you and those like you that have documentation about what the charge should have been and what it actually ended up being can easily dispute the charges with your credit card companies. This is clearly fraud, and any worthwhile credit card company will cancel those charges.
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I had the same problem!!!!
I bought the unlimited linuxhosting of $7,95/month for 1 year.
I even took a screenshot of the confirmationpage, which said the total ammount would be $95,40.
The day after I recieved an email with the confirmation of my account, and that I recieved the Unlimited Upgrade (49.95) 2007-11-19 FBS (Unix) and the ammount of $1,798.20 was processed.
I mailed them like 3 times in 2 days, added a support ticket for sales and did the live chat 3 times with sales.
I never got a reply at the mails. In the reply of the ticket they said I needed to mail at sales, as well on the chats.
Does anybody got a solution to get my money back???
Please!!!
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I reckon I have been ripped-off big time by GISOL. Here is my story:
On a photographer’s forum someone was asking about a good ISP/Host where they could purchase hosting for their website. Someone replied saying that they were with GISOL and found them to be good with reasonable prices.
I was also looking to purchase hosting so I signed up with GISOL for a BEST ANNUAL account at $95.40 per year. This account could only host a single domain but that was fine by me as I only had one website.
Two months later I built another website and purchased another BEST ANNUAL account for $95.40 per year.
Then I suddenly had a lot of clients and I discovered GISOL’s PRO account that could host multiple domains multiple databases so I purchased a PRO account for $119.40 per year. I had toyed with the idea of canceling the first two accounts and moving the domains and databases into the PRO account to save money on the annual renewal of the 2 BEST ANNUAL accounts. However I decided that these 2 accounts were for my personal sites and I preferred to keep them seperate from my PRO account which hosted client’s websites.
Apart from some serious problems with the server hosting my PRO account (fixed by moving it to another server), I had good service from GISOL.
Then the troubles started. On July 2, 2007 I got rudely awaken at about 3am (I am in Brisbane, Australia) by a telephone call from GISOL. Because it was from the USA and from GISOL I tried to wake up and listen. The man on the phone said that he could save me money by ‘combining’ my three accounts into a single ‘unlimited’ account at $24.95 per month which was less than what I was paying per month for three accounts. I said I had already paid in advance for the three accounts and he said that the money from the original accounts would offset the cost of the new account. Well, if it was going to save me money and make life easy by not having to log in to three Control Panels, I asked a few questions and the answers seemed satisfactory so I agreed. He said that he would do all the work and ‘combine’ the accounts. Okay so lets say the accounts were A, B, and C. He said he would make a new accounts called ‘A1’.
The next day I got the email in respect of account ‘A1’ and it was an Unlimited Upgrade (24.95) for 36 months. Yes, that’s right, I was billed for $898.20 which was taken from my credit card. There was no mention of 36 months during the phone call. There was also no rebate or the remaining un-used monies from the three original accounts. I queried this by email and the following morning at 3am I got another phone call and the man said that if I wasn’t happy they would cancel all my accounts. Of course, I couldn’t allow that because my clients websites would have gone down.
Okay, now it gets worse. On December 28, 2007 I raised a Support Ticket to have one of the domain names renewed and my credit card got charged the usual $9.95 on the same day (I have done this often without complications). However, on January 3, 2008 I got a telephone call from GISOL (the man called himself ‘Steve’) and he said that he noticed I had a few accounts and he recommended that I ‘combine’ them into one account. I informed him that they had already been combined into one account back in July 2007. He said that there were still 4 accounts (e.g. A, B, C, and A1). However, he said that by combining them all into a new unlimited account I could get a rate of $3.57 per month instead of the current rate of $24.95 per month. He said that the account was actually worth $49.95 per month BUT he could give it to me at $3.57 per month for 36 months. I said that I had paid in advance for 3 years for account ‘A1’ and he said that the remaining un-used money would be used to offset the new account. I said that the remaining un-used money exceeded the new charge and I asked if a refund would be given to me. He assured me that I would get a ‘rebate’. My quick calculation estimated that I would get a refund of $600 – $700 and he said it would be refunded to my credit card account.
Well, I thought my lucky day had come. Here I was being offered a continuation of the same service at a much lower rate AND that I would be refunded a nice sum of money. Anyway, on January 3, 2008 GISOL created a new account (let’s call it ‘A2’) BUT the next day my credit card was hit wih a charge of $1,789.20 ($49.95 x 36). I had been expecting a refund of $600 or more, not a huge charge like that.
I started sending emails to admin@gisol.com and sales@gisol.com as well as raising Support Tickets. The reply to the support tickets was that I should email admin@gisol.com which of course I have been doing every day since January 04, 2008 and have yet to get a single reply. I managed to telephone GISOL’s help line and asked to speak to ‘Steve’. The man who answered the phone (‘Adam’ he called himself) said that 8,000 people work there and he doesn’t know who Steve is. Anyway, he said that a letter had been posted to me and that it contained a code. I was supposed to phone back with the code in order to claim 12 months worth of rebate (the difference between $49.95 and $3.57 x 12 months). I said that I neded 36 months worth of rebate but he said I could only claim a portion each year or the next three years. I said that in actual fact I should be getting a refund and should have to pay nothing because the remaining un-used money on account A1 was worth more then the new fee of $3.57 x 36. He then said that refunds are never given for cancelled accounts. Okay so I just lost $600 – $700 and I guess I have lost the remaining un-used monies rom accounts A, B, and C. I didn’t cancel the accounts. GISOL recommended ‘combining’ them into one new account. I have lost a lot of money. How bad is that!
Okay now it gets worse. Remember the request to have a domain name renewed. Well I noticed that it had not been renewed and only had 6 days left until expiry. I raised a Support Ticket asking for confirmation that the domain name had been renewed. I got a silly reply. I got onto the Live Chat window and the agent said that there was no record in my billing statement and that was why the domain name had not been renewed. I explained that it was in the billing statement of account A1 and not the new A2. He said that all I needed to do was raise a new Ticket asking for renewal and that they would charge my credit card and then they would see the charge in the billing statement and renew the domain. I am still trying to resolve this issue – my emails go unanswered, the Live Chat agents can’t help because there is no billing info in the same account as the domain (A2). I will have to pay again and lose the previous $9.95 because it is in an account where no refunds are given.
There’s more. The other day I got a charge on my credit card for $95.40 for hosting renewal of one of the original accounts that was supposed to have been ‘combined’ into account A1. When I queried it, I was told that I had to cancel the account. I said that there wasn’t an account to cancel because they had been ‘combined’ into a new account (not at my request but at GISOL’s recommendation). Okay, so have you tried to cancel an account at GISOL. They hit you with a fee of $250 (or was it $500, I can’t remember) for ‘breach of contract’ because you are ending a contract. I just can’t believe it!
Then I had a domain name that expired even though they are supposed to send reminders. They told me it had gone into redemption and because it was a client’s website I had to pay $474.95 to have it redeemed. Since that time I have discovered that it had only gone into the period of grace and it would have been simple to renew it. GISOL tricked me by saying it had gone into redemption.
Okay, so in summary, I have paid a few thousand dollars to GISOL for a lot of pain and suffering and far in excess of what I have in the way of hosting. they have stolen money by saying it would offset the new account charges and yet they don’t give refunds of canceled accounts. I have canceled nothing – the accounts were combined into one. However, I still get billed for the old accounts and will have to pay a large cancelation fee. The whole thing stinks of a scam. It looks like I am stuck with them for another three years because they also say that they own the domain names. The old control panel allowed you to enter the owner’s name or each domain name but the new control panel has one area for the owner of the domains but they register it with either AllInDomain or TuCows under their own name.
They should be investigated by whoever in the USA does scam investigations and Fair trading investigations.
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Signed up for GSIOL this week before doing any research. Charge was supposed to be 200.75 for two years.
They charged my card two times, one for 1808.15 and one for 1798.20. I don’t care if they hold my domain hostage and I have contacted my CC company to dispute the charge. I think the CC company won’t pay them because they are usually pretty good about disputes. But these guys are crooked through and through. In my younger days I would have like to find this guy and kick his ass.
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The thieves at GISOL just charged my credit card for $1,798 for a $9.95 domain renewal. This is plain and simple fraud.
Never, never deal with GISOL – no way, no how.
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Well Just got a letter back from the attorney General from my state, They sent me a copy of the letter that GISOL sent them. Their reply to PA AG office was so full of lies and false information. It was hilarious to read.
I do expect I will be hearing from a collection agency soon. My Debit card company agreed with me after I sent them all the documentation I had on my dealings with them.
My Advice to anyone who is going to sign up with them …
…..DO YOURSELF A FAVOR….DONT…. NEVER… NO MATTER WHAT THEY TELL YOU…Be FOREWARNED..They are as crooked as a dogs hind leg…lol
They Are Liars, Thieves, and the worst hosting company on the planet.
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Hi,
I wish I have seen that earlier. I have an account with gisol since 2003. They were cheap and good enough for my web site. The nightmare started a year ago, when I tried to buy a new account. A salesperson called and told me that I can’t buy two separate accounts on my name and that this is against some new law which sounds very stupid to me. He said that the best offer he can give me is $12 per month if I sign for 3 years. I said that I don’t want to do that, and that I want to own my domain name which was free with the account. I already have a good rating and I don’t want to lose my domain. SOme manager came and told me that if I don’t agree to buy a 3 year plan he will shut down my web site this same minute and that I can’t buy off my domain because he doesn’t want to give it to me. He was yelling on the phone and even though I said I need to make a backup first he said that he doesn’t care and he will shut down my domain in less then a minute. I had to agree because I have many files there which I didn’t want to lose. They said that they have to move my files to a new server, they did and since then most of the database stuff stopped working. I asked if I can buy off my domain name, as the people I spoke with when I purchased my account told me I can buy it for $20. He kept yelling and asked me if I have anything on paper, if I don’t – I should better not waste his time. He didn’t care anyways cause some other company took over all the gisol accounts. They had to refund me for the amount remaining from my account, they never did. They always tell me to send an email to refund@gisol.com, but this email I guess doesn’t work at all. Their tech support is probably the worst I’ve ever heard of. I don’t mind people from India but these ones not only have the worst English, but they are clueless. My web site is down several times a day, so are all the web sites in my account. They are just terrible. My statistics get reset several times a year and I lose them all the time. The service is terrible – I have never seen such ignorant people in the US.
I just have no idea how to get back my domain name from them – this is all I need. Too many people know it and I don’t want to give it up. I have no idea what I can do, I don’t have an idea what happened to these people so that they are so rude and unprofessional. Terrible company!
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Hi Jim,
I was ok for a couple years as well. That was until, I asked how to change the dns of one of the domain names. Then they started telling me that I had to change accounts, quoting one price, but charging another. They even asked me to void a check once of which they’d charge the full amount to that check. They refused to give the full amount, the operator said he wasn’t authorized. The bill was around $700.00. I was lucky they didn’t charge more than they did. I sucked it up because I was backed into a corner. I needed to change the dns for a former client. All this was before the recent debacle of charging $1078.20. They quoted me about $95.00 over the phone and said I was getting an instant rebate.
Their server was fine for me until I went to a flash website, then I realized how slow it was. Everytime they moved my website they’d mess something up to where the site couldn’t be accessed. I’d also find my websites down for 2-3 days at a time.
I would definitely not renew with them. Shop around for the best rated hosting companies.
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Angry Gisol Customer,
My card is terminated. So far, I do not receive any charge yet.
I think my credit card company will continue to dispute it
I am worry now is that will Gisol ask Collection Company to charge me?
If looking for a Lawyer, will that cost even much more than $1078?
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shiau wu Wang I did close the card, but that doesn’t make a difference. The charge was already pending. So, I had to dispute it. The credit card company said they couldn’t do anything if the company doesn’t agree with the chargeback. I am still looking for a lawyer. I would be interested in a Class Action Suit, but I wouldn’t know who to contact.
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Good Day ALL!!
I did review your comments on Host review about GOSIL company and i guess we agree on that the company is a big fraud … this company charged our debit card over $1100 without us knowing for a BS service… few days after they deleted our site… I am hurt and i lost soooo much potential business because of there action..
I am seeking your help and I would be gladly to join a class action suit to get them…Lets build a strong case to keep them off the NET…how can we do that??
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I have had Gisol for almost 2 years now and have not had a problem with them, servers have been running very good and any tech issues I had were resolved. My plan is paid through July ’08 and after reading all of these comments, not just on this site, but other sites as well, I will not renew with them and I will hold my breath that my service will continue to run until it expires, In the mean time I do have a back up with another provider.
One more thing about domain names, a rule of thumb is to register your domain names on your own with a registry, that way you have 100% control over them. There are other webhosting providers that will also keep your domain “hostage” if you registered it through them.
I hope that those of you that are trying to get compensation from Gisol the best and I thank all of you for speaking out, like I said, I have never had a problem with them, but when I read complaints from hundreds if not thousands of “victims” it tells me either that the complaints are valid or many people are lying about the same thing. I of course believe that the complaints must be valid.
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Luis;
If you have the name and contact info of the NJ DAG you have reported this to i will foloow up for us both.
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To Angry GISOL Customer
You said
but the charge went back on my card
Why you did not close(terminate) that credit card?
How much need to pay to a lawyer? Is it less than 1078?
Shiau Wu
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Well, I disputed the 1,078, but the charge went back on my card. They owe me about $1,800 and five domain names. I will be looking for a lawyer next week.
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Biggest scam ever, and I can’t believe it’s still up there. Isn’t the government going to do something about it?….
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Replt to 92. — Jan
I met the same problem as yours.
….
Has anyone else been scammed for $49.95 per month for 30 months – $1,798.20 in total – or am I the biggest sucker to date?
….
I already reported to credit card company
What I can do for next step?
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Jan,
You should try printing this web page along with the reviews you can find by googling and send it to your bank, explaining that the company is essentially committing fraud. Go to labbb.org, look up gisol, and print out the page where they have a big red F for a rating. Send that as well.
Also, I visited your web site and noticed it took almost 20 seconds to load the main page. I looked up the domain and see you’re still hosting it with gisol. It makes me sad they’re charging you $1798 for this kind of “service” and seem to be getting away with it. You really need to fight this.
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Jan, and all of you here:
I failed under the same scheme. They quoted me $152.75 and charged me 1,798.20.
My bank told me to dispute the charges after they become effective. I know it is Federal law. However, I have tried to convince that blocking the charge would be more effective, but they can’t do it.
I have filed complaints with the FTC, the IC3 and the BBB in addition to the Attorney General in New Jersey.
I have downloaded this blog in a Pdf format to possibly send it to my bank as partial proof that Gisol is just a criminal organization.
I am glad all of you posted here. I saved me a lot of time and may help me get my money back.
Like many of you, I canceled my account almost minutes after opening it once I realized the charge differential.
And like all of you I could not find a person to resolve the problem.
There is no question in mind that they are a criminal organization.
This should be an easy case for a young lawyer to promote within the ranks of public office or an FBI eager agent to get a promotion. The evidence has accumulated for almost 6 years.
My one concern is that the important people do not reside in the US and only their ponds are here.
But it would be important to shut them out for good and may be liquidate their assets.
Wishful thinking??
Do we need a different administration??
Good luck everyone!!
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Sorry for the typo – 36 months, not 30.
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Hi.
I’ve just been reading this with interest – and despair!!!
Has anyone else been scammed for $49.95 per month for 30 months – $1,798.20 in total – or am I the biggest sucker to date?
It does look like my English bank may not protect me. They say that if you give your credit card details to anyone, they can use it more or less as they see fit – provided that they can provide adequate ‘legal’ documentation to cover themselves. In this case, we’re talking about the almost incomprehensible Terms and Conditions. The lady at my bank seemed almost to admire this scam – “clever legal work, combined with clever marketing”.
So, even though I can provide screenshots of my original order (totalling $142.80), it looks like my bank is probably not prepared to protect me at all, even though all natural justice IS on my side. ‘Caveat emptor’ all the way, apparently and it’s all my fault that I didn’t ‘research’ the company before placing the order. I said to the lady that they should explain this to customers in LARGE LETTERS when they try to sell them credit cards, but she declined to reply. Apparently miraculous transformations of $142.80 into $1,798.20 are just – what? – par for the course?
“Thank you for your business – we really appreciate it”, say GISOL.
Yeah, I bet they do.
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This is nuts! I just read that article linked above at u-magazine. I then noticed the date… 2001? When is law enforcement ever going to close these guys down? I’m just amazed that they are able to continue cheating people day after day.
If anyone knows of an active investigation, please post the investigators information. I would be eager to share my story, documentation and testimony.
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Make my store short:
I was cheated by one of GISOL frontman Shawn (?) on 10/11/07, and as a result, I got a charge of $1078.20 from GISOL, Inc. They have submitted my credit card company a set of made up, false, and misleading documents attempting to re-instate the charge. Now, I’m a victim of the fraud committed by GISOL, Inc.
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Here’s my story and I am up for any class action or movement of any kind. This domain expired Sep 28, 2007. I renewed it on the last day of the grace period Oct 28, 2007 and have been charged. On Nov 11 I awoke to find that my domain was with another registrar entirely. On the umanage Gisol site it says 30 days redemption period after the grace period which would take me to Nov 28. I got a call from Brian at Gisol to tell me my account was canceled. The reason is that the domain attached to the account was no longer mine. So they took my domain then cut off all my websites. I have 5 or so there. Then they tell me that they have to give me a new account on a new server. So now all my domains have a different DNS and those that are not registered through GISOL will need to have the DNS updated. They didnt tell me that. Also, all the emails were deleted too. They just cut it all off and Brian didn’t indicate what the impact was. I have spent 2 years developing my site and was getting 20,000 visits per month and small income from it (no I didn’t ask for donations) Let me step back. I registered the domain through GISOL’s service where GISOL became the registered entity with Alldomains.com on my behalf. This was the start of the end. I better take a look at my credit card. According to the receiving registrar it was purchased by someone through a domain auction site on 10-Nov-2007. I have to escalate the dispute to ICANN and a lawyer I cant just let this go. This site is personal to me. Can anyone recommend a lawyer to help me submit me dispute to ICANN?
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posted on my website a warning about them
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Over Charged $980.00 to my debit card
Invoice said $94.50 for one year was charged $1078.20 for 3 years was not what I ordered
Misleading and deceptive web site
Filed an affadavit with my bank disputing the amount charged to my debit card
Filing complaints of credit card fraud with all legal entities
Filed a complaint with the FTC regarding credit card fraud across state lines
Closed my debit card account.
I am in the process of filing compliants with all legal agencies that have anything to do with this type of fraud
Cancelled my web site account with them
what ever you do DO NOT USE THEIR HOSTING SERVICES
I would be glad to join a class action suit with any interested parties
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Well, I have just received the “3rd” denial of my request to the VISA company to reverse the charges of $898.20 for a three year renewal of my personal domain name and my pastel society domain name and websites. They tell me it is no longer in their hands as I did not “cancel” my account in the way that GISOL requires. Of course, if you do so, you give up your rights. I would not do that anyway. But, I did not even know about the “cancel” button — as said above many times it is buried deep in their service agreement. And, I am not really sure that when I signed up that it was in their service agreement. I believe the have changed it many times as each new dispute is brought to them.
And, now I have just received a new e-mail from them telling me they will be charging my credit card for the automatic renewal of the pastel society web site for $95. and some change — even though it was in the previous $898.20 for 3-year renewal, which I never agreed to. I did agree to a 1-year renewal of $24.95 for both web sites. Not what I was charged for.
I am at my wit’s end on this — I have filed a complaint with the BBB and see above that nothing is being done through them. I need to know what IC3 is that is mentioned above. I and my president of the society are trying to set up a meeting with the Lawyers Advocacy for Arts in the state of Georgia — but we are having trouble getting an appointment because they only meet for this type purpose on Thursday and only once each month. I have a previous unchangeable appointment on this month’s date. So, it will be December before we can meet with them hopefully.
I would like to know how some of you did receive a favorable dispute with your credit card company. I spoke to mine many times, and we did three different disputes – trying to get the correct wording to get them to understand that I never received services for the amount billed. I don’t understand!
Thanks for all the help so far — but so far nothing has really done any good.
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Has anyone won back their domain name lately? Bank chargebacks are great but I will be trying to save my purchased domain name. Any advice would be appreciated.
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Hello David and SK,
Same thing Also the best part for mine was what they did for me when they tried to dispute it with me and my bank asked me if their reply was for real or joking. They Went to Google’s Cached websites for my domain to show it was “Still” Working and running…..So I attached what it shows at the time I made the Rebuttle and I got my money back from that.
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You’re welcome, David! Let’s make these GISOL thieves pay for their crimes!
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Hello SK,
Same scenario for me. They tried to use the certified letter receipt as proof of delivery. What was most telling is they didn’t include the signature receipt because I never signed it. I used that lie of omission as well as a number of other “inaccurate” claims in the documents they sent to the CC company to prove their intent to deceive not only me, but the merchant bank as well. It took great effort and many hours to resolve but the issue stands on record at the bank as fraud by GISOL. I smile a little when I think about the time and money they spent trying to create false evidence.
I wonder… does that constitute mail fraud? Isn’t that a federal offense just like wire fraud and bank fraud? Should I contact my local postal inspector? I think so.
Man these guys are just piling on the possible charges they will receive when they are finally arrested.
Oh Raoul! Thanks for this website. I was able to use the complaints here to bolster my case with the bank. I’m sure it helped.
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Hi Angry GISOL Customer
if you get in contact with a Lawyer could you tell me because I would like to talk to your him as I am in Brazil and need to know if there is any possibility of representing me in the US.I have contacted my credit card to say I haven’t recognized the fraudulent bill. I am still trying to contact Gisol.I need a lawyer if somebody in this forum knows one ,let me know please. Thanks again. It is a relief to see more people are going to take GISOL to the Court.
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Hi SK,
I’m glad you reported GISOL to IC3 and the BBB. I just reported them to IC3 as well. I hope everyone else who has been victimized does the same thing. I also plan to contact a lawyer. It is horrible what they are doing. In this whole process I’ve lost 5 domain names. One, which I paid for 10 years of registration. I’ve also dissapointed a couple of clients that I purchased names and designed websites for. I’m doing what I can to make it up to them, even though it isn’t my fault.
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Wow, that is alot of complaints and the pattern seems to have picked up lately. Thanks Phil M for your advice. For those who don’t know, I went through the exact same thing as Phil M. GISOL people later sent me a receipt for $ 409.95 printed on a plain piece of paper but sent it through certified mail. They think everyone out here is stupid, receiving a certified mail envelope does not mean you are acknowledging receiving any service as until you receive and open the envelope you do not know the contents. Anyway recently they tried to use that receipt and a bunch load of other prints of screenshots of my website to challenge my chargeback with their bank. I have already sent an answer to my bank, explaining how they have used old prints and especially the fact that the chargeback was for the amount that they had fraudulently charged for domain redemption and ICANN charges. Interestingly I do not own the domain and ICANN does not charge anyone anything. To top it all off, Steve, Adam, Shawn, Paul, all are names of the same person, I have a good ear to recognize people by their voice. I’ve also launched complaints with IC3 and BBB, don’t know about IC3 but GISOL never responded to BBB query and the complaint has been marked unresolved but closed. Since they are not BBB members, BBB can only send a query but can’t take any action. Interestingly as far as web hosting service is concerned they still owe me money since back in march of 2006 I paid them for two years to get the 6 free months under the promotion. The hosting has been suspended for a long time now, so they technically owe me a refund for hosting service as well. what creeps?
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Hi Monica, I plan to do the same thing. Your situation sounds just like mine. By the way Shawn has several different names. One day he was Chris and another day he was Adam. I talked to “Adam” one day. The next day Shawn answered the phone and said he talked to me the day before. I said, but your name was Adam yesterday.
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I have reported them to IC3, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, and I encourage others to do the same if GISOL has cheated you. While a class action lawsuit is a great idea, I believe it may be wisest to let law enforcement officials deal with this first. If the government establishes and proves a criminal case, perhaps a civil lawsuit will be easier to pursue.
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Well Monica, what’s stopping you from taking this to a lawyer? I’m amazed every time I hear of new GISOL stories. You’d think with all the information available on the internet, including my site, no one would fall prey to their outright thievery. But people still do. And plenty complain about it, but no one seems to do anything. Take it to a lawyer, people! Take them to small claims court, where you don’t have to pay for a lawyer! Complain to your congressmen! It’s easy enough.
Thankfully, my bank stood up for my rights, and I recovered the money paid to GISOL. If you’re not as fortunate as me, fight back! Don’t just complain.
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I AM REALLY DESPERATE NOW.
I was able to contact GISOL BY PHONE and one of the employees of GISOL called SHAWN said he was going to solve my problem. I said my account, WHICH WAS all paid for, was suspended and I would like to know why. He said he could not activate the account again because it was associated with an email which was no longer in use.(the automatic email was not sent in order to renew it). He said the only way to solve it ,was create a new account and transfer my credits into it ,so I could be able to use my new domain- TABAOXOSSI.COM. He said he was going to make an account of 36 months and it was going to be even cheaper than my old one ,because the old was US$119,00 A YEAR and the new one was U$ 95.40 each year.And the credit would be put into my new account. But, when I logged in on the new account to check the billing statement, to my surprise, there was a bill of U$1,078.20!
I tried to get in contact again and I was informed by the General Manager that no one could do nothing and the guy, Mr Shawn, who spoke to me, was on leave. I said I just wanted to cancel it and the general manager said, you can read on the website that none of the accounts can be canceled for 8 months! I was already charged for SOMETHING I DIDN’T ASK FOR.
So what I believe we have a dispute here. We have tried everything to solve our problems and nobody gives a solution. Maybe if we put it in a lawyer’s hand, no one else would go through the hassle and suffer all the damage we are suffering.
All the best.
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Here is my cancellation request to GISOL. I have too many problems with them to name. It would take me several pages.
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I am posting the following comment for one of my readers, Chris, who tried to post it himself but couldn’t. It looks like there’s some sort of limit on the comment length for people other than the site admins in WordPress. Sorry about the trouble, Chris, and thank you for taking the time to write this!
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I beg to differ, Sharon. Because many people have shared their testimonies about crooked GISOL really is, we’ve not only managed to inform others of their crimes, but we’ve also accumulated a veritable mountain of evidence that can be used against them in case someone ever goes to court. I doubt they can talk about “isolated incidents” when the overwhelming evidence lies on the side of the plaintiffs.
I for one know they’ll get what they deserve. Everyone does, sooner or later. It’ll be a bitter end for them, that you can be sure of.
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LOL! Gisol have won. Despite all the ranting and raving, none of us have made an impact on their dodgy ways. We lose, they’ve won.
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I just received a bill from them for over a thousand dollars that I did not authorize. I was told they had a deal going on with master card and the price would be half of what I was charged. They don’t just have poor service, it is an elaborate scam.
When I signed up I never realized I wouldn’t actually own my domain, they own the name, I lease it. Every person I talk to sounds the same as the last, but they have a different name…hmmm. They also owe me over $700.00 for the last 36 mos. account I closed. I registered a couple names through them for 10 years ($250.00), but when I look up the WHOIS information, they are only registered for 2. But that doesn’t matter apparently I don’t own them anyways.
It’s funny that everytime I need to change something, the only solution is to close that account (not receive an immediate refund) and open a new one which costs more than the last. Or in this case was supposed to be less than the previous, but was charged twice as much as quoted.
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Bravo!!!
Their days are numbered… I expect that they will soon close because they will no longer be able to accept credit cards. I am also optimistic that they will each receive a free set of shiny new bracelets. 😉
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Jon, that’s some amazing research, THANK YOU!
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GISOL tried to screw me too, but luckily I had an account back when they accepted AMEX, which is where I called after realizing my mistake or not reading reviews before signing up. The rep was very understanding. As soon as I mentioned GISOL, I had my money back. Apparently they’re on some kind of blacklist with AMEX.
I did some research on the “company”, hopefully this will help others.
GISOL is indeed a basement operation. Look up their 807 N Gardner St, Los Angeles address on Google Maps (satellite view) and you’ll see it’s a residence.
This scam is operated by 2, at most 3 people, who are listed here:
http://gisolclassaction.com/forum/index.php?action=recent
JACK SPIVAK, aka YAKOV SPIVAK (DOB 04/15/1948) (confirmed)
BRIAN SPIVAK (DOB: 02/22/1983) (confirmed)
SAID PARSI (DOB: 1960) (unconfirmed)
Brian, “Adam”, “Eric”, “Robert”, and likely other aliases are all the same person. He’s quite possibly Jack’s son. Oh, and badge ID 75832 or 22283, if that even means anything. Probably just made up numbers.
There are also reports of a Steve (ID 3416)
GISOL also goes by GHSOL at ghsol.net (global hosting solutions) and dserver.com. Same scam, different name.
Some contact info from http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=435307
Jack Spivak
807 N Gardner St
Los Angeles, CA 90046-7405
(323) 852-9059
Info look familiar?
A quick google search for “gisol resume” (without quotes) revealed this gem:
http://linuxadministrator.freerecruiting.com/Resumes/Files/22741/OriginalResume
Apparently it’s a resume of one of the outsourced tech support reps who worked for Katalyst Partners who provide tech support for GISOL from India. http://www.katalystpartners.com/tech.htm
I called GISOL’s 866 number and asked about katalyst. They do indeed provide support for GISOL.
Quoted from resume:
Prashant N. Shivmath
Katalyst Partner Pvt Ltd. (Web Hosting Company)
1st May 2005 to December 2005 Linux System Administrator
Katalyst Partner Managing the Servers of USA Gisol Web Based Hosting Company and as well as Other USA Client Based Servers.
Job Responsibility: Managing the 30 Red hat Linux of All Version and 20 Free BSD Servers with Web Servers, Firewall Server, DNS Server, Mail Server, MYSQL Server. Worked with Web Based Control Panel Like H-Panel, and C-Panel. Worked with Monitoring tools like Nagios. Continuosly Monitoring the servers for Hackers, Dos Attack. Check the package for vulnerability and security update. Updating the Kernel, Package if necessary.
Solving the Different kind of web hosting client problem. Almost 7000 Domain registered with the Gisol web hosting Company. Also we need to manage other USA Linux Based Client Server running Apache web server, MySql server, Radius Server, as well as worked with Client control panel to manage the DNS and solving their Server Problem.
—–
He claims to have managed about 50 servers, but it’s not clear. The number is probably closer to 30. What is clear is that GISOL was hosting about 7000 domains as of May 2005. Seems about right, the current numbers are about 8900 according to ipwalk:
http://www.ipwalk.com/webhost/total_domains/webhost_name/gisol.com
Looks like the domain number is falling steadily since the end of August 2007. Perhaps their customers are waking up.
Another fun read:
http://www.u-magazine.com/magazine/articles.php?articleid=102
GISOL retroactively changed their “unlimited bandwidth” policies and charged some poor guy $16,243.
Some more reviews:
http://www.webhostingreviews.com/gisol.shtml
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After I put a warning on my website “not to host on Gisol” my website has been attacked!!! “Someone” generated a lot of visitors to my website until it was down!!!! Gisol has scammed me to so that is why I put the warning on my site.
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The saga continues.
Apparently, the “people” at GiSol have decided to contest my charge back and have provided the credit card company blatantly false (fraudulent) information to continue their deceit. And yes, I do have the information necessary to prove the falsehoods.
(I just removed a large post with the details… I will post the rest after this is resolved.)
Keep up the fight! Enough evidence of their conduct will prevent them from doing business as well as bolster any criminal and/or civil proceedings.
More to come…
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Hello All, I would like to join you all on the bandwagon to seeing GISOL go to hell.
My husband looked into this company for domain names and decided to use them. Obviously he didn’t look very hard. Anyway, he agreed to the 9$ per month charge and bought a year’s worth of service. About less than 24 hours later he realized that something wasn’t right and decided to cancel the account. He called them up spoke to someone named “adam” who said that everything was taken care of and the account was canceled.
Then I guess my husband called to release the domain name and they said that they could do it. No problem.
Tonight, about three weeks later, I got the credit card bill. We were charged 898.20 from them. I called them, and of course, got someone from India, and they said that the account was still active and the only way you can possibly cancel an account is to do it through their site. I also called my cc company and they said that they would take the charges off and dispute it with their bank. The lady from the credit card company even googled and yahoo’d the company name and she was outraged with what was going on. She said that they would get on top of this.
But, unfortunately, to the outsider, like the CC company, it looks like we didn’t cancel our account until tonight, when in reality we canceled it on the 8th of this month.
I am extremely interested in going in on a class action law suit against these criminals. When I spoke with someone from their “customer service” site, they gave me a long distance number to call for their billing. I told them that they were lying. He told me that there wouldn’t be anyone there right now that I would have to call back during regular business hours. When I called the 1-800 number listed on my credit card bill it was disconnected.
I am extremely mad at my husband for not doing an investigation into this company before buying or giving them our CC number and now I am more pissed than before because there doesn’t look like they will give back our money.
I AM GOING TO PRESS CHARGES.
I don’t care what it takes, criminals will pay for their actions.
Please contact me at cicily@ryanjanus.com if you are interested in filing charges too.
These people are a scam, they need to be stopped.
NOW!
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I find it rather difficult to believe they have 4 million customers. Just think of the cash flow. They’d need a real business, with named staff in real departments. Not anonymous people behind their silly refund@gisol.com games, or bbb@gisol.com.
They’d have the resources to address problems, and not try to rip-off people with their domain name shit. They’d issue refunds as soon as the accounts were closed – automatically. After all, they’d have $20 million per month coming in!
The very size of just this blog entry, and the many other gisol complaints suggests a lot of people are unhappy about this outfit. And it’s not their crap service people are complaining about, it’s the fact the are taking money and won’t issue refunds, despite their claims on their home page.
I cannot wait for the court cases. What are the odds the owner is going to do time?
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hey wow – i actually got a phonecall from gisol yesterday, completely out of the blue. it was in response to an email i sent asking them to release one of my domain names. the usual ‘we rent the domain name to you’ explanation was given (and that they had control of the domain names for six years) and then he asked me to upgrade to a more expensive plan so that i could park that domain with them but host separately. he wanted me to pay for 36 months up front. he said that if i wanted to opt out, i could after 8 months and i would get the rest of my money refunded. i pointed out that i’d like to get the rest of my money refunded on my current plan, but he said that because my current plan was an old plan they couldn’t refund on that one – only the new one… i said i was feeling a bit nervous about paying for any more services with them because since experiencing problems (they let my main domain name expire) i had seen a lot of negative comments on the internet about them. he was very apologetic about this and said that they had lots of satisfied customers (4 million customers in total he said) and that people only voice their opinions when they are unhappy – he said it was impossible to keep everyone satisfied.
in the end, he said that they had notified me that my domain name was expiring and that i hadn’t taken any action so my account had been suspended, and thus it ends. today i am actioning proceedings with my bank to ensure that they can’t charge my credit card ever again.
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When you go to maps.google.com and search for Gisol at the region of Los Angeles you can click on there google-banner and rate them and write comments about this company..This can warn new customers who search for companies via maps.google…
If we all do this…. 🙂
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I have been client since 2003 at GISOL, I needed an extra web hosting so I registered a new one at Gisol, I shouldn’t have done this I know. Directly after I had approved for a premium hosting they suspended my old website without warning. They didn’t answered my e-mails concerning this abuse. Then suddenly they called me telling me I needed to pay more than 800 euros to give me back my old hosting. They also charged me $94 for the old hosting. Luckily I paid via Paypal so I could start a claim at Paypal. Via Paypal they where forced to refund my money. When Paypal receives more complaints about GISOL, Paypal promised me to shut down there services to GISOL.
So guys go ahead, order at GISOL via Paypal, wait until GISOL scams you then put through a claim to Paypal….
Or anybody can rent a hosting at GISOL and fill their web servers full of garbage….. we should all fill up their web servers with Gigabits of data… let’s see if they can make their promise come true… “Unlimited Space!” Let’s stuff their web servers to hell!!!!!
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i was alerted to problems with gisol (after a couple of years) when my website was suddenly offline recently – the domain name had expired even though i had paid my annual renewal fee to them. the worst thing about that was that my web address had been published in print media the weekend before, so i have no idea how many visitors i’ve lost through this. however, i ended up emailing the registrar of the domain names (ALLINDOMAINS, LLC, which is actually dotster). they got back to me very quickly. i don’t know if anyone else has had this response from dotster, but it is interesting info to add to the discussion:
Hi,
The GISOL account with us was closed recently b/c of inconsistancies with domain info and renewal. Unfortunately, you must contact GISOL directly. We are not allowed to make changes, move domains, send auth codes etc to GISOL customers.
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More background information at classactionnow.org
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Yet another victim of GISOL’s scam. They locked my accounts down after I tried to create a new site, and claimed that the old hosting package I was signed up for didn’t exist anymore. I had no access to any of my data (know, I know…back your data up!) and had to shell out $720 to get my sites restored. That was on July 13. It’s been a month, and they still haven’t given me a password for my “new” account since taking my money.
I’ve since left them and found a different hosting company, but I’m still contesting the charges on my credit card. That is a slow process, but for $720, I’ll gladly keep fighting it. If there is any info on a class action suit, count me in. These guys are crooks and deserve some time in PMITA prison.
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Anderson, Shaun
3172 Larga Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90039
323-906-3896
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David, the BBB removes old complaints after a set period. I think I read is was three years, but I could be wrong.
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I was tricked into reveling my 3 digit cvs number on the back of my credit card and was told that additional charges would be made on my behalf of which I had no knowledge of and would not knowingly authorized. By this web hosting service by the name of GISOL – Global Internet Solutions.
Hope is finally on the Horizon with all the long hours and days I put into researching GISOL business practices statistics, based on data collected along with the staggering numbers of complaints from consumers over the internet. GISOL has finally got the justice department and the CA state attorney general office attention. I would ask the victims of gisol scams to not let money be a driving factor with this company. only that you focus on getting these guys in front of a judge for prosecution and with any luck prison time. I am no longer wonting to recover moneys or services that was stolen frome me that is why I made great progress with this issues. I will putting together a online document shortly in the future and posting for you to add to what has happen to you and for your contact information for possible interview by agents if needed. Again time is on the consumer side the case is building but not as quick as I would like but that is with most fraudulent cases on corrupted companies. Just remember hope is on the way.
One more thing you can contact the justice department and the CA attorney Gen. office also the FBI, thay do have a intenet devision also to let them know what is going on aswell the more the consumers the bigger the case.
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Apparently, they made another move. I wonder what could have caused them to change vendors so abruptly?
They were at “ThePlanet” in Dallas Tx not long ago, now they are hosted here.
IP Information for 72.44.69.233 (as of 05 AUG 07)
OrgName: MULTACOM CORPORATION
OrgID: MULTA
Address: 16654 Soledad Canyon Rd #150
City: Canyon Country
StateProv: CA
PostalCode: 91387
Country: US
ReferralServer: rwhois://rwhois.multacom.com:4321/
NetRange: 72.44.64.0 – 72.44.79.255
CIDR: 72.44.64.0/20
NetName: MULTA-NET5
NetHandle: NET-72-44-64-0-1
Parent: NET-72-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
NameServer: NS1.MULTACOM.COM
NameServer: NS2.MULTACOM.COM
Comment:
RegDate: 2006-10-30
Updated: 2006-10-30
RAbuseHandle: ABUSE898-ARIN
RAbuseName: Abuse Department
RAbusePhone: +1-661-554-0287
Don’t let up! Keep the pressure on! They are up to 330 complaints at the BBB, frankly I thought there would be more.
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Well guess they treat churches the same way too. My Pastor wanted me to make a church website. I thought GISOL sounded great so went for the 7.95 a month for one year and used my own CC. Then in a year if the church liked it would renew. First suprise no instant acces hade to wait on them to call me for more info. After I gave them the info they ran my CC for 95.40. Then said the one year deal did not garentee the price and it was going up to 30 a month so they would run my CC agean. I said no just cancel refund my CC. Was told the 7.95 a year was not garented money back so I would loose my money. Then I finally talked to a Sup who tried to set me up with a 895.20 deal which I said no but he tried to get it to go through on my CC anyway but it was rejected because of my C limit. Then he said oh a church is none profet I will do a 12.95 month for 36 months which cost 466.20. I said I no dont think my CC hade that much limit. To my suprise he said oh I already ran it through and its aproved and set up. I figguered best to stop the call hade a meeting to be at in around 5 minutes.
Called back the nexst day. He must have reconized my voice he said wait a minute and went through calling QULITY ASSURANS online then they both went through the motions of giving there ID numbers to each other. QA said he was just there to monoter. I was told I could not canceal & if I tried I would have to pay 8000.00 fee. Then QA got online telling me all kind of legal mombo jumbo. I then got hot and heavy about why my CC comp reported GISOL ttried charging 895.20 on my CC with out my aprovail & was told that was legail for them to do just like he chareged 466.20 with out prier auth. I then said I would take it to court & was told I didnt evean have enouth on my CC to pay the 895.20 much les take them to court.
I plan on dusputing the charges on my CC when they open tommorrow. Will keep you informed on how it goes. I also sent them a certified letter canceling & demanding my CC receave my money back. Dont cancel on there online site you have to click on By submitting this cancellation request, I affirm that no chargeback was/will be activated with my credit card company and I am asking Global Internet Solutions to process this cancellation request as soon as they can. I understand that activating a chargeback will only delay the cancellation process and/or prevent my domain name from being released.
The bad thing is I have to find a new web hosting place and scared to trust any sites now plus lost my doman name. Any ideas?
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Hey “Scammed In Jersey” – they fed me the same BULLSH-T about registering MY DOMAINS for themselves, and leasing it back to me “like a car” (according to him). I told him it sounded like he was ripping me off. He told me, “It’s not a scam, it’s all in the terms and conditions”. Stupid M-TH-R-F-CK-RS, that is all I can say. At first, I thought I was a victim of failing to read the fine print. But when I went back and scoured their user agreements, I found that language of that sort was nowhere to be found. So it wasn’t even a fine print issue. They are just LIARS, CROOKS, COWARDS. I would respect a mugger in the street more than these pick-pocket, closeted nerds. Hey GISOL, next time you want my 720 bucks, and MY creative work, why don’t you try looking at me in the eye? No, I didn’t think so. You wouldn’t sound so tough if you weren’t hiding in your electronic treehouse.
Again, THANK YOU to all of the posters on this board – you saved me a continuing nightmare. It was too late to save the four domains I had, but luckily I did not aggressively market those domains as yet. I consider myself lucky and I hope nobody else falls into their web of deception.
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Thanks Raoul.. I’m sure you’re right that have have grown more brazen. My attorney says that even if I were to win a judgment there is little to compell them to transfer ownership. In fact, GISOL is telling me that they bought the domain name themselves and only leased it to me!! I am making my own early inquiries to the lA County DA office. Good luck everyone.
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I didn’t back down at all when I saw that they were starting to give me guff. I told them they’d better not keep my domains hostage and release them to me, or they’d hear from my lawyer. It took about a month, but I got them back. I think it was still pretty early in the game when that happened, and they weren’t as brazenly criminal as they are now. I’m really sorry to hear about all these people losing their domain names to them. All I can say is that you need to press on, fight them, and get them back somehow. If need be, get a lawyer involved, or join the class action lawsuit that’s currently in the works.
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I read that Raoul actually got GISOL to release his domain name. How?
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GISOL has put me through hell, and for it, they deserve what’s coming to them. Only cowards sitting behind phone lines to nowhere would attempt to speak to people in the way they do. They STOLE my DOMAINS, DELETED four of my websites, and tried to charge me $720 at the same time (I cancelled all my credit cards just in time). THESE CRIMINALS NEED TO PAY. Now I have registered an entirely new name with a proper registrar for a web enterprise I am building. But the bitter taste in my mouth is still there – WHY DO I NEED A NEW NAME? BECAUSE THESE CRIMINALS STOLE MY DOMAIN. Still, I feel lucky that you guys posted your stories – I found out they were CRIMINALS before it was really too late, because of you. For that I thank you all. But still – GISOL CRIMINALS NEED TO PAY FOR THEIR CRIMINAL ACTIONS.
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the same story with me – hostage of my domain name.
many letters – nothing back but the email from admin asking to give hime the secret code of my credit card.
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Pingback: AltmanTC • Blog
: 162 Agreeing to perform according to their contract
That’s the scary one. That’s gisol getting the benefit of the doubt. I know the BBB consider me in that pot purely on gisol’s lying, claiming that I had issued a credit card charge back.
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GISOL is holding my domain name hostage as well. I want to transfer but the Whois record says GISOL is the admin contact. When I log into the control panel to update the Whois info, it says my domain name is expired. The actual Whois record says it is good until 2008. I emailed tech support and called (866) 244-7925, they both say to email sales@gisol.com. Problem is we are going on 40 days with no response from multiple emails to sales. I also reported this to BBB, but it doesn’t look like it will do much good.
Then I found a page in GISOL’s knowledge base that says:
{quote}
If you want to change or update any information that appears in your domain’s WHOIS, please contact us by filling out a support ticket at http://ticket.gisol.com/.
{/quote}
URL: http://knowledge.gisol.com/display/2n/kb/article.asp?aid=24325
You can also get to the knowledge base from the contact page at gisol.com.
Filling out such a support ticket is the same as emailing tech support which I have done 3 or 4 times about this issue. They just tell me to email sales.
I am glad to have found this forum, I hope these jerks get what’s coming to them.
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keep it up
I would ask that everyone continue posting your comments here. I personally agree with Tony that it seems law enforcement needs to get involved. Comments here and on other websites just might inspire an official investigation. From what I can tell, there have been 315 complaints to the BBB in the past 36 months.
http://www.labbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReportPage_Expository.aspx?CompanyID=13133176
{quote}
Complaint Closing Statistics
The following grid displays the number and responses to complaints over the last 36 months:
No. of Cmpl Type of Response
36 Making a full refund, as the consumer requested
36 Making a partial refund
162 Agreeing to perform according to their contract
2 Refusing to make an adjustment
49 Refuse to adjust, relying on terms of agreement
30 Unanswered
0 Unassigned
315 Total
{/ end quote}
You might also consider emailing kshowers@da.lacounty.gov who is the head deputy of The High Technology Crime Division, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. http://da.co.la.ca.us/htcu.htm
I am considering a number of options myself but as my magazine goes to press in a few days, my time is limited until next week. I continue to gather stories from people who feel they have been victimized by Global Internet Solutions (GiSol.com). I’m not sure what I will do with the information just yet but the more I learn, the more angry I become.
I’m not comfortable giving out my personal information just yet. I want to talk with a close friend of mine who is a corporate attorney and member of my states legislature.
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Eric, I don’t believe there is an HQ for this lot. They wreak of a bedroom/garage outfit.
With these high priced packages, people should consider VPS services. I gave up with shared hosting and now have a dedicated server for business and a personal VPS account. Have full control of the environment is much more pleasant!
Checkout the likes of rimuhosting if you’re looking to pay ~$30/month for hosting.
And never use a hosting company to register your domain, do it yourself and keep control of it!
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I am having the same issue with the company infact I have disputed the clames but they have Returned back saying that they are wanting the money back and placed in here that my account is not cancelled and is operational. Thing is when you go to the website it says Suspended and when you log into it says Cancel. This all because they tried to charge me 600 bucks to Sign up for a upgrade and I said no and they where at the point it was to far to stop the upgrade. I spoke to a Adam, Brian, and Robert all at the HQ for GISOL. Wish me luck I am trying to find where to go along with going to Small Claims court about this issue. They also put in here that they think I am trying to HARM their company by requesting the charge backs.
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David, the BBB is toothless. All they do is contact the company and forward your complaint to them. They have no power or authority to start legal proceedings or investigations by the law. The BBB then receives a professional looking response declaring refunds are not due as per the contract, or in my case, they lie claiming a chargeback was issued. The BBB give more weight to their generic response than any amount of information and proof you can provide. They then close the case as there’s nothing more they can do.
Furthermore, the BBB complaints get removed after time. So we only see part of the picture. Yet they still have a “F”, although gisol tried to fix this and managed to get their rating up to “C” IIRC.
Your experiences suggest they have gone from being pathetic reseller services and refund scammers, to a blatant disregard for the law. Let’s not forget they’ve been doing this all the way back in 2000 too! They have gotten away with it after all this time, I’d be very surprised if anyone can stop them.
If the law won’t open a case on them, nothing can be done.
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Sorry about that, David! The anti-spam software for my blog inadvertently caught your comments. I think the situation’s resolved now. Thanks for letting me know about it!
What I do when I write long comments is that I will copy the text of the comment before I submit it. Then I check to make sure it went through. If it didn’t, I still have it in memory and can paste it in a text document so I can try submitting it later.
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I just spent 45 minutes writing out a long explanation and update only to lose it when I pressed submit. Perhaps it was too long; I will try again.
1st, to answer Tony. No case number was assigned. I talked to the lawyer of the day at the LA DA’s office. He seemed to have a knowledge of the company and explained that the proper procedure was to file a complaint with the local Better Business Bureau. I did so online on Wednesday Jully 11th. The DA lawyer explained that by filing this complaint with the BBB, it would start or enforce any investigation necessary.
File your complaints online at http://www.labbb.org/ (Note: a great resource for taking action can be found at http://www.gisolsucks.com/takeaction/default.htm)
This all took place on the day before I was to go on a short trip to San Antonio TX; so once I talked to my credit card company, filed my complaints with local authorities and made some notes to myself, I shut down my computer and went on my trip.
Two days into my trip, I received a call on my cell phone from “Private Caller.” It turned out to be “Eric” from Global Internet Solutions. He was calling to discuss my cancelation and I made it clear that there was nothing to cancel because I never placed an order. He firmly corrected me and said that filling out the online form was the order. I corrected him and stated that when the “confirmation of order” phone call was made to me, I made it clear that I did not want to place the order.
“Eric” continued and asked about my credit card. He asked, “did you know your credit card is not active?” To which I replied, “Yes, had turned it off within minutes of my dealings with Global Internet Solutions because I had a feeling it would be fraudulently charged.” He said that he received notice of the charge back request and was able to provide my bank with a recording of the confirmation phone call as well as a signed receipt of the order. Since I had no way to check in a hotel room, I simply listened and didn’t argue. I felt he was not telling the truth because my bank told me they would call me first to get my side of the story. I was right.
Eric asked me who I spoke with and I told him that Sean Anderson explained that my card would be charged for the entire year for services I was not interested in. I told him that once it was explained that the service included a monthly set up fee which would raise the price to $32 per month instead of the $7.95 per month advertised, I said I was not interested in the service and please cancel my order. I was put on hold and then told that my card had been charged for $404.75 because I was under contract for a service that I never signed up for. I told Eric that during the order confirmation process, I refused the service yet was charged more than 50 times the amount offered on their website.
You can’t imagine how mad I was when the guy simply laughed and said, “well we just charged your card anyway, too bad.”
Eric said that since I turned off my card, he could not refund my money. I know this to be in error but standing in a hotel room, didn’t feel like arguing. I did get him to state clearly that he was willing to cancel my order and refund my money. He confirmed this but insisted he could not because the card was turned off. I told him I would take care of it.
I asked for his phone number and full name, he only gave Eric and a phone number and then somehow our call was disconnected. In all fairness, I was on a cell phone so it could have been a technical difficulty.
I did my best to blot this from my mind and enjoy my trip.
Upon my return to the office I checked my credit card account and could see nothing. No charge attempt nor a charge back nor the alleged transfer of funds as implied by Eric. I’m checking it every day but since I talked with my bank prior to the charge and that it is flagged by them as fraudulent, I rest easy that my money is safe.
On the same note though, there was an “attempt” made by GiSol to charge my card for $404.75. This is a good thing because it offers some evidence of their intent to charge me for services I neither accepted nor received.
As I mentioned, they charged me more than I agreed to and for 12 months for services I never received. I didn’t receive a password, instruction nor did I ever access the account, mainly because I never received one. Low and behold, my e-mail box had several messages from GiSol, first setting up the account and then suspending it. Perhaps this is their answer to the charge on my card and me not receiving anything in return. Fact is, the e-mail are all dated late Friday afternoon and I suspect after they received the complaint from the BBB, and after I spoke with “Eric.”
Part of the service they offered was a free registration of a domain name “for me.”. I entered a domain in the form and they evidently registered it on Wednesday. Interestingly enough, they didn’t register it for me, they registered it for themselves and now they own it and I do not.
Registrant:
GISOL, Inc.
807 N. Gardner St.
Los Angeles, CA 90046
US
13238529059
13236551151
I find this mildly irritating but not sure how far I want to take it. Bottom line, I requested the domain from them on the 10th, they registered it on the 11th and this will show an arbitration panel that the domain name was mine. Since the domain name includes a trademark I own, it’s likely I can get the domain name back… the only question now is, do I press for legal fees and potential lost revenue now? Or do I wait several months to allow more time and expense? (grin, I will likely wait a year and see if they renew.)
Another complain I will file is to their service provider. A little sleuthing reveals that their root IP resolves to Theplanet.com Internet Services Inc in Dallas Tx. http://whois.domaintools.com/70.84.96.171 I intend to share my experience with their client as well as express my opinion of their poor business conduct. I will also include links to this website as well as a couple of others like http://www.gisolsucks.com & http://www.gisol.ca.
I do feel what they have done to me is criminal. I feel the local authorities as well as state and federal should review possible infractions such as wire fraud, theft, misrepresentation and laws under the truth in advertising. I was told that GiSol, Inc was the largest web hosting company in the country and their policies of not really refunding the money as their “money back guarantee” states is part of the large corporate policy. To actually attempt to charge my card for 12 months for a service I neither agreed to nor received has to be criminal… don’t you think?
Fact is, I don’t have time for all of this. I publish a monthly magazine, own a travel agency and have been a web developer for many years. I should have known better and done more research before signing up. I can only blame the pre-vacation rush as well as the concept, “it’s only 8 bucks, let’s give it a try.” Well, I had no idea that $7.95 could turn into $404.75 so quickly.
From the words of Forest Gump; “Stupid is as stupid does.” Well, I did stupid by signing up with Global Internet Solutions. I didn’t conduct any due diligence, not even a Google search. I thought I could waste 8 bucks to give them a try. Boy was that dumb.
I’ve been hosting my own websites as well as those for clients since 1995. I’m tired of changing providers every 3 or 4 years because hosting companies become complacent. I’m very tempted to open my own data center and offer services that I would expect as a small business and web developer. I’ve run the numbers and it can be done fairly inexpensively, it’s just with so much on my plate right now, it’s hard to consider a whole new effort.
I wish you all luck in your efforts to recover your losses and other remedies. I would not be surprised to read that the principals of GiSol.com have been indicted on criminal charges. Actually, I would be more than happy to testify should the grand jury be interested.
Stay away from these people!!! If you are a customer, move now. I suspect they will be closed soon. If you are considering being a customer after reading this… please refer to Mr. Gump mentioned 3 paragraphs above.
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I have also had the same thing happen with the domain name as Phil M.
unfortunately being a student I couldnt afford the us$400 GISol was trying to charge me and instead thought I would wait until the domain became available to all so I could buy it.
I have checked at whois twice daily for the last Month and now I find that its been purchased by somone who turned it into a tacky search page with all items irrellevant to the domain name.
Im gutted.
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David, who did you speak to exactly? Do you have officer names, case# etc?
These people have gone from pathetic service to outrageous theft! They must be very desperate. Everyone should watch their credit card statements VERY closely if they’re pulling stunts like this.
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Well, I never even got service! Nope, not even a password.
I signed up for the $7.95 per month account and was called and told there was a monthly set up charge bringing the monthly total to $32. I asked to cancel my order, they put me on hold and changed my credit card $404.75.
Yep… just happened and I’m not happy. I felt what they had done was a crime and is why I contacted the fraud division of the LA District Attorney’s office. Having spoken with the investigator, as well as my bank… I’m not concerned about my money. I do suspect these people will get a new set of bracelets soon though.
Good luck to all of you forming the lawsuit. I will testify if called, but by the end of the week, I should have all of my money back through due process.
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Read This. http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff225880.htm
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A possible Class Action Lawsuit against GISOL is beginning to come into formation. Help join in to defeat a true evil in our time!
MUST NOT SLEEP, MUST WARN OTHERS!
CLASSACTIONNOW.ORG
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I just spoke to a lady at States Attorney Generals office
in LA when I told her the number of complaints on-line she immediately connected me to the following address.
All complaints must be submitted in writing. Please pass this around.
The United States Attorney’s Office
Citizen’s Complaint Report
312 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213)894-2434
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Jo, it sounds like you’re doing all the right things so far. I think the class action suit will come, naturally. The more people these scumbags at GISOL defraud, the more likely it is they’ll get a lawsuit. When they do, I hope they get some jail time as well.
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Is there a way to file a class action complaint against Gisol with LA
prosecutors office?
We bought services for 135.00 from Gisol on Saturday, and have two printed recites and screen shots of our transaction. A salesman Steve called and said what you ordered “really want” costs $574.75 cents. He was yelling and argumentative and charged our account. The call center in India told us there are only two guys at the LA office, Steve and Bryan.
I have also filed a complaint with IC3, FBI. (given them this link as well)
I am also writing to my States Attorney General of Kansas and States Attorney General of California.
Is there anything else we can do?
JO
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To SK…
Dispute your VISA card charge !!! I did, and it was immediatly recredited to my account ! Now they have six month to redispute it and reclaim the amount, but as they didn’t provided the service they certainly won’t as I was informed by my bank. Also I was able to prove to my bank in the first place, exactly what happened, because most of the exchanges I had with GISOL were in writting by email, and in the last one, they specifically wrote ” we decided NOT to provide you the service”, so at that poit they lost! In the other hand, they hijacked my domain and I won’t get it back. I do not believe the amounts are small : $410 per victims, about 20 victims a day = $8000/ day of illegal incomes.
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Let’s face it, GISOL scumbags have been conning and scamming people for years and years, you can find all sorts of complaints about them online. Sites that were set up by angry web devs have come and gone, they’ve been doing it that long!
To fight these bastards we need a central gathering place where we can share ideas and information. Law enforcement simple isn’t going to give a damn, because the monetary amounts are pretty small for them. And I suspect gisol know this.
If we could create a comprehensive file documenting their scams and lies (and fake awards?), we could all present it to our c/card companies to back up our claims, and pass it to the various law enforcement agencies. I suspect a profession breakdown of their activities signed by multiple people will carry more weight than individual complaints.
Let’s not forget, gisol have been doing this for a long time, they probably know how to skirt around the law, and can run rings around the BBB. They also try and set credit agencies on to you should you make a successful charge-back.
This page seems to be picking up a number of recently conned people, and I’m surprised at the increasing size of money being lost. It looks like there’s enough knowledge to go after them. Where to start?
When you’re feeling low, look at gisol.ca. It always makes me chuckle!
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I just went through the exact same ordeal as Phil M. Just got off the phone with the GISOL Person and they are completely refusing to pay me back. I was stupid to give them a VISA number yesterday which at the end of the conversation we even agreed they won’t charge as I wanted nothing to do with my domain or the company anymore but they still went ahead and took a $ 409.90 authorization on the card. Today when I called to confront them, they clearly said to take it up with my card company. And stupid me, now I know why they don’t except american express for such purposes, where as for everything else they do, since VISA only lets you dispute the charge after the actual charge is made and amex would have immediately blocked the authorization. I will pursue this matter as long as I have too 400 bucks is not a joke.
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I just filed a complaint with the IC3 (which is the FBI related unit regarding internet crime) as well as the National fraud Bureau, the office of the attorney general of California and the district attorney of Los Angeles, because this company must to be shut down !!! more people file, more weight we will have and the autorities will investigate them . I believe it is a one man operated company, they move a lot, the adress where the company is registered is a private residence where a Mr. Lee is living and he never had anything to do with this company. The adress listed on their website (on Santa Monica Bvd) is a virtual office where they only retrieve their mail. All the phone number of this company are unlisted and caller id blocked. I managed to trace few of them with adresses attached to them but, some are disconnected, some have an answering machine on, and some have Madonna music on… The company is hiding and moving from one adress to another one so nobody can trace them (I should say “him”, as every single phone contact I had was always with the same person who changes his name everyday to make believe there are 800 employees in the company… Voice recorded proved me it was the same person!!!) They only have 2 server and I believe they are from a very small size. so to keep the flow of money coming in, they eliminate already paid customer to make space for other future victim ! They have a “F” with the BBB , because they have close to 300 complaint against them. when you live outside the country, like myself also, you are more at risk to be their victim. However Here is what happen to me :
13 month ago I sign up for a 30 month package which include a “free domain” and a 1 year automatic domain renewal option. Last month I suddenly couldn’t log into my website. I contacted them by email and they responded that my account was into redemtion and that the sales department was going to contact me. Which they did, by phone , the same day. The Gentleman who call me on my foreign cell phone certainly never expected my caller id picking up his number (as it is unlisted and caller id blocked..) but the number came on my screen. He told me that they made sevearl attempt to contact me to inform me that my domain was going to fall in redemtion (which is false, I checked with my email provider and none of GISOL email went throught their system..) and now I will have to pay $399.95 redemtion release fee and $9.95 to renew the domain. I questioned the fee, he told me that GISOL didn’t get one penney of tis money and that it goes all to….ICANN !!! I needed my website as it was my professional tool so I call back the next day the number who was on my cell phone to pay. The guy was extremely surprise when he pick up the phone, he was the same than the one I spoke with the day before. He told me that my credit card will reflect two charges : one of $99.95 to the order of allindomain and on of $309.95 to the order of GISOL… and he hung up ! I contacted ICANN to have some explaination, was answered that my domain was registered with allindomain and that their fee was certainly $90 to release and $9.95 to renew, so I assume that GISOL just screewed me from $309.95. I sent an email to sales and admin, to question the fact I was billed that kind of money and the fact that I had a 1 year automatic domain renewal option and that they didn’t respected it and let my domain go in redemtion. Their answer was just unprofessional, agressive and threatening: “WE TOLD YOU THAT WE DON”T GET ONE CENTS OF THAT MONEY !!! Do you want us to cancel your account ? Sales departement”
I told them to do not cancel my account, that they didn’t responded to my question, therefor I was filing a complaint with the BBB. Next email from them was : “Your account has been suspended. Please contact the admin departement to discuss your suspension” I call the number, the guy made believe he never spoke with me and he didn’t knew me, he told me that their system was in upgrading so he couldn’t have access to the file, and to call back after 5pm pacific time. I did… their office was closed. I call back the next day, when the guy pick up he reconized my voice , he hung up! itried again it was of the hook, then tried again he hung up again, tried again had an answering machine, thired again few hour later : number has been disconnected. I contacted them,asking to reactivate immediatly and they send me another email saying :”we are whiling to continue working with you if you contact the BBB and tell them tha our issues have been resolved”. I did it, I knew I shouldn’t had but I really needed my site to work, so I send them the proof of it asking them to reactivate. They answered one week later :” decision have been made by our management to do not provide you service. We strongly recommend you to govern yourself accordingly and to use the service of a lawyer for future correspondance with us.” I cannot transfer my domain as I found out they never registered it under my name on the first palce but under their name and that “they were renting it to me”(dixto).End of the story !!! I am disputing the charges on my credit card, as I paid for a service they choose to do not provide less than 24 hour after payment, and I filled complaint to the IC3 (which is the FBI related unit regarding internet crime) as well as the National fraud Bureau, the office of the attorney general of California and the district attorney of Los Angeles, the NFIC, webassure, econsumer,and FTC.
I strongly recommend to anyone who’s having problem with this company to do the same, as I said above, more there will be people filing, more the authorities will look into and investigate them.
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Pingback: ComeAcross » Beware of GISOL
Holy cow! Hope you guys get some resolution. I don’t have a Digg account, but will link to this from my site.
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Kristen, this is unbelievable. Those thieving bastards should be tarred, feathered, and run out of the US for good.
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I am definately up for a class action lawsuit. Listen to this sad sad story below, and beware!
I’ve been with Gisol since before 2003. As a poor graduate student at the time, they seemed to have the best deal and my trusted and well-respected Web Professor had been the one to recommend them. I in turn became a Professor and have recommended them to my poor students as a first web host. I feel awful to have exposed them to such a scam.
I’ve had server issues with them in the past but nothing like what I went through recently in May/June 2007.
I tried to renew one of my web accounts online via their control panel back in March. Their control panel had a glitch and the payment apparently never went through. In May, my site was offline with no notice. I contacted their tech support and spoke with “Shaun.” He told me that I should move that site into my current hosting plan via their control panel. I did as he said, paid $53 to add the second domain name, and all was fixed. The next day my account was supended and ALL my websites were offline, including a non-profit site I run for needy children, my personal website, and all my class websites I use to teach my University students.
I learned that Gisol said that this action THEIR tech support walked me through was not allowed and that they’d be charging me a $499 violation fee! On top of this, I learned that because I “let” my other account expire, payment was due and a Collection Agency was going to try to collect an additional $399 for that.
After an angry outburst, I nearly dissolved into tears with tech support over the phone. I live in Italy so just calling them costs me money. Amazingly THEY CALLED ME back in one hour. It was “Senior Tech, Shawn Alexander.” He said that the only thing I could do was upgrade to a prepaid plan for over $700. Plus there was a $95 “upgrade fee.” He threatened that I could either do this, or pay the violation charges, risk my good credit rating with their Collection Agency, and remain with suspended accounts even though the primary one had already been paid for until May 2008. He told me I’d pay upfront now, but since the violation fees appeared not to be my fault, he’d give me 7 months free and in January I can get a refund. Because I had violation fees against me, this was “already in the system and he could not undo them.” According to Shawn Alexander, his plan for web hosting salvation via an unwanted 3 year prepaid account was the only way…
I asked if I could think about it because I knew of their increasingly poor reputation and recent F rating at the BBB. (The last time i had checked 6 months or so before it was a B.) He told me I had to decide NOW because “they charge violation fees on Fridays and if I waited, the Collection Agency would be after me.” He said that since I live outside the US, they would then have to go after my husband who is living in the US. Also, “The Collection Agency can’t be paid with credit cards so therefore my checking account details were needed.”
I KNEW I shouldn’t have given them this info over the phone but Shawn Alexander tried to placate my fears by giving me his badge number, his personal phone # (which is the same tech support number you can find on their website) and personal email (admin@gisol.com) that no one ever answers. He said that I’d only be charged once and that to abuse this information “(laughs) would be illegal!” Furthermore he stated, “This call is being recorded and a transcript will be available in my control panel. (Of course it never was…) The reason we have an F with the BBB is because we decided not to become a member.”
Argh. I knew I was being bamboozled, but they used my tired mind (in my timezone it was nearly midnight), scare tactics of a collection agency, and a lack of time to think it over all to hook me in.
They did provide the service and as I have transferred now all my domains to GoDaddy and set up hosting with them, I am using their crappy service as backup. I plan to eventually cancel. I’m sure that if I try to get the supposedly promised refund in January it will never happen. In other news, one of my domain names is being held hostage by them. They will let me have it if I pay $500. I won’t pay! Thank goodness my other two more important domains were registered with other companys.
I plan to change my checking account info and eventually cancel. I’m trying to look at this as some kind of annoying unexpected car payment…but I am angry. How many other people are they scamming?
Class action! Class action! Class action! Please let me know if one is being formed against Gisol.
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I am definately up for a class action lawsuit. It’s actually physically painful for me to write my experience (again) with these crooks, so I’m just going to copy and paste from an email to my lawyer friend in California:
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Hello,
I am another in what looks to be a long line of people given a hard time in settling their billing/service disputes with gisol.com.
I am realizing that my case as well will probably involve legal counsel at some point.
I just signed up for service with gisol.com on 05/16/2007 and am already trying to cancel services and be re-imbursed for 36 months of charges I did not agree to in the first place as of 05/21/2007.
For anyone already involved in a legal case please forward my contact information on to your legal representatives in hopes we can get a class action lawsuit going.
For anyone just getting started yourselves please contact me should you be up for a class action lawsuit if our cases can be aligned to do so.
Tony Lopez
Tony@professionalfriends.com (not hosted on gisol.com)
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Everyone, I encourage you to pursue refunds through whatever channels are available to you: bank/CC company, BBB, or even in court. Do not let GISOL off the hook.
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Wow.
GISOL took my site down this weekend without notice. This despite my ‘prepaying’ them for 12 mos. service in March 07. They said they “don’t offer that plan anymore” and were retiring that server.
GISOL said they would not refund any money and that their contract allows them to change terms of the agreement at will.
I’ve got to go to small claims court for this. Unbelievable. Steve (ID 3416) in their billing department and Adam (ID 75832) his boss were my contacts at GISOL for this unbelievable conversation.
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Wow…. I wish I had seen this sooner….
I have been trying to get a refund from them now for about a month. Mine was due to them charging both my credit card and paypal for my annual service. They acknowledge the credit but refuse to refund it. I have since asked to close my account and have been given nothing but a run-around. refund@gisol.com must go right to a cyber shredder… .because they do not reply.
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As of the writing of this comment my site is down and is hosted on gisol. Same problem with the domain, they said is leased. How can I fight for my domain, I even had to pay for redemption period because the domain expired and they never told me anything. Any advice.
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That stinks, Tony, I’m sorry. If I were you, I’d ask the credit card company to change my account, or cancel that card altogether if they’re not willing to work with you to get rid of the GISOL charges.
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Sorry, I should add “another charge several months after the account was closed”.
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Everyone should check their credit card statements! Despite all the trouble and zero refund from GISOL, I have just discovered they have made a charge against my credit card!
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I’m relieved to find this forum!
Like Rebecca, I’ve been told we’ve been only leasing the domain name from them for all these years. We have a cached whois report from april 06′ stating that we were the registrants… then at some point this summer gisol became the registrants!
With some effort, I was able yesterday to have a conversation with Adam and then with Brian at gisol.
They explained that the company was restructured this past summer, and they were part of the new team. They apologized, but said there was simply nothing that could be done, other than us “buying out” of the lease for $499.00 or staying put.
Brian spent a lot of time trying to convince me to stay. He said the problems that I’d been having were due to the fact that I had been a customer since 2002, and therefore on an old server. If I re-up, I’d be put on a great new server and I’d be very happy. I doubt it.
I got a sypathetic ear from dotster.com where gisol now keeps it’s registered account
I will contact the bbb. I hope we can get out from under these rascals!
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Hey Rebecca. Your problems are typical when it comes to Gisol. You’ll need to keep pressing them, and speak to real people on the phone when you can, don’t leave messages. And also file a case with the local Better Business Bureau and follow up with the BBB to make sure it gets resolved somehow. Also contact your credit card company and tell them Gisol is committing fraud. Feel free to print out this post and send it to your bank as proof that you’re not the only one with Gisol problems. I am shocked that these thieves are still allowed to be in business. If they are registered in the US as a company, they should be banned from doing business here, permanently.
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I knew there had to be other people who have been scammed by this awful “company”. I have been driven to the brink by them and ready to jump. I have waited for my refund since sept, 2006. the last email was returned stating there is no such email address. What else can be done? They also are holding my domain name hostage and lied saying i was only “renting” the domain name from them. Who in their right mind would “rent” a domain name and be forever tied to a bunch of assholes like that?
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I don’t know how they’re doing it, but their BBB rating has been reduced to a D from F! In my case, they lied to the BBB stating I had initiated a charge back, and therefore they canceled the refund process as per their terms. There has been no charge back, and I suggested the BBB demand physical proof before accepting their words at face value. A copy of such a document would be of great interest to the law.
I’m sure a number of complaints have been removed from the BBB records recently too, and they’re definitely having problems with their data. My case doesn’t show up, yet I received a letter from them stating the cannot communicate with the company so they have closed the case. So it looks like that’s the end of it and the company gets away with another scam.
I’ve seen a few references to making a class action suit against them, has anyone further information?
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Thanks for sharing your experience, Tony!
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Just adding to the voice of the crowd, very slow server responses, lots of timeouts, tech support was a waste of time. Phone and “live chat” felt outsourced, and as for refunds, they came up with a figure they’d refund, would not state how they arrived at it, and as as weeks after canceling the service they have yet to make the refund.
I set up an automated email process to remind their refund@ address, over 1600 have gone out, not one reply!
My credit card company will not entertain a charge back on the grounds that I have received some service. They tried calling gisol and got a message that the number was no longer in use.
Don’t forget to report your experiences to the BBB. I find it incredible that this company is allowed to operate. I have found the same complaints about them going back to 2000!
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Ihaven’t experianced too much downtime on the web servers, but definite problems with the email servers.
Like mentioned by other no knowledgable customer service.
POOR, POOR POOR
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Cortney, I’m in the same boat. I’m working with my bank to get the charges refunded to me. I recommend you do the same. Beware, it’ll be a long process. Gisol cronies even had the nerve to write to my bank demanding that the charges be reinstated, since they “are still providing service for me”, which is an outright lie. I honestly think these criminals are defrauding tens, if not hundreds of customers, in a similar fashion, and a class action lawsuit would serve them well. However, I haven’t got the time for something like that, but I sure wish someone did.
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I am at a 2 month wait for my refund. I cancelled my account within hours of them deducting the money from my account. They said they had to take 1 month’s fees. I have yet to see the rest of the money. Any suggestions. I have called both numbers and emailed the refunds, admin and troubletickets @ gisol.com
I was told in July via email that my refund will be processed shortly.
Any suggestions of what I can do?
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Thank you for your comments, Marie. I doubted I was an isolated case when it came to GISOL’s execrable service and non-existent reliability.
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Raoul,
Well, you have to give credit to those guys at GISOL. At least they are consistent. I think I’m getting closer to the end of this NIGHTMARE!! The service from these guys was absolutely unbelievable. Everything you described happened to me and this experience is also developing into an unfortunate dislike for help led by people who don’t know how to speak the English language. This is unfortunate but true. I have little patience for bad service. I have no tolerance for the possiblity that my dollars are going to a company overseas who could give a damn whether their incompetence ruins my business. What’s worse, there isn’t any oversight in this country of this kind of abuse. I’ve submitted a complaint to the BBB, I’ve called the California Attorney General Office and its like the complaints just evaporate into the place where my lost emails are sitting.
You have to wonder if this is the result of having a ‘global’ economy where there is little or no recourse for horrid, international service. Basically, you have a terrible American company hiding behind a terrible Indian company. I can’t describe the amount of stress and anxiety this experience has introduced into my life. I wasted COUNTLESS hours with these idiots only to either get yet another trouble ticket, their ‘senior technicians’ are working on the problem or hung up on after I FINALLY talked with a human.
bad, bad news…
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