Cochinoman tech, sushi, poker
Once again, more hell from globat. This time, I get the following email from out of nowhere:
On Monday of this week, we sent you an e-mail with our new GloVault(tm) product upgrade offer that also included 3 free months of Web hosting and a price-freeze guarantee all for just $49.95. There is nothing you have to do to participate in this upgrade. It is all being done automatically! You will receive notification when you can use the wonderful new features of GloVault and your account on file is charged the one-time $49.95 upgrade fee.
If, by any chance, you have decided NOT to take advantage of this upgrade offer and the 3 free months of Web hosting, please click on the link below before midnight on August 16, 2007:
https://www.globat.com/optout_gv.php[actual link redacted]
(If link does not work, please copy and paste the entire link into your browser)
Thank you again for being a loyal customer.
Best regards,
Lou Rio
Vice President of Operations
Globat.com
(877) 245-6228 for US Customers
(323) 874-9000 for International Customers
This business practice of having an opt-out upgrade is so wrong on so many levels, I don’t even know where to start. But let me start by saying that I didn’t get an email on Monday, or Sunday, or Tuesday for that matter. I love the part in the email where it says, “It is being all done automatically!”, with the exclaimation, as if this is a great thing. What a joke.
Since I didn’t get the supposed email on Monday, I didn’t even know what this GloVault was to see if maybe I really did want it, and that it really was a good deal for me. Like any normal customer, I looked on their website. I looked, and looked, and couldn’t find anything.
So, I called their customer support number, which was included in the email from good ole’ Lou. I pushed “2” for customer service and waited on hold like usual. When the guy answered, I simply asked him what this GloVault was. He said, go to “Products” then click on “Add-on” on their website. I was already in front of my screen with the globat website open so I followed his instructions and told him it wasn’t there.
The customer service guy tells me that GloVault allows for “very large special files” to be saved and it was too technical for him to explain to me. He also reminds me that if I had bothered to read my terms of service, I would know that there will be opt-out upgrade offers. Hmmm. Thanks for reminding me that I’m a stupid dumbass for signing up with globat.
Now, I asked how I could get more information on this wonderful GloVault and he tells me to call the sales department because “they come up with these ideas.”
Okay. “Please transfer me,” I say to the guy. “Sorry, but you’ll have to hang up and push 3.” he replies. Oh great. They want me to wait on hold again. Nice customer service. I literally say to the guy, “Thanks for your help,” in the most sarcastic way that I know how, and hang up the phone.
Now, I call globat again and press “3” for sales this time. I only have to wait on hold for a short time and get a sales guy. I ask him what the GloVault is and he tells me that it’s just more disk space for my hosting account. I tell him that I use less than 1 percent of my space right now, and he tells me that I don’t need it so just decline the offer.
So globat again wastes my valuable time with stupid opt-out upgrade offers that their own customer service reps don’t even know what it is.
It’s absolutely amazing that with so much competition for web hosting, globat continues to treat their customers like trash. I have to put the fault all the way to the top. Whoever the CEO is, does not know what the words “customer service” means. This type of bad service comes down from the top.
I was stupid enough to continue my service for another year a few months ago. What a mistake that was. Luckily, this blog is on godaddy.
Update:
After posting this complaint, I had to laugh when I saw the Globat CEO’s blog about customer service:
http://www.benneumann.com/archives/2007/05/customer_servic_1.html
I have to admit, the sales department did pick up the phone pretty quick. Now, if Ben would just realize that automatic upgrades that you have to opt-out of is not something that people want, he might actually figure out what customer service really is.
Update August 2016:
If you try to go to Ben Neumann’s blog, this is what you get:
How appropriate.
More rants: Globat nightmare, Globat nightmare part 3
Sales lines always pick up quickly. Sometimes, when I get tired of waiting for customer service, I call the sales line of a business. Sometimes, you can fake them out by saying, I wanted to buy some more of your product, but I’ve been having this problem, and I won’t buy any more until the problem is resolved. Sales people are so hungry for that commission, sometimes they will help you fix a problem. I can also say, “I wanted to recommend that a friend who is in the market buy your product, but I’m having this problem and he thinks your product is not as good as Brand Y.” It’s great if you are telling the truth… sales people will sometimes go a long way to help you. Customer Service people, on the other hand, are graded on the call volume they handle, so it is to their benefit to get you off the phone as quickly as possible.
Another trick is to get the name of the person helping you. Then, when they don’t fix your issue, hang up, then call back and ask to speak to a manager. The rep will always ask you why. Say, “I spoke with Joe 5 minutes ago, and he couldn’t help me.” If Joe is the person’s friend, they will help you so he doesn’t get in trouble. If they hate Joe, they will escalate you to the highest-ranking person on shift. Either way, problem resolved. <wink>
I found your site via Google search — I got this very same email, and found it so unbelievable that I was wondering if it wasn’t even some sort of phishing scheme, i.e. not really from Globat. I too never got the “earlier email”.
So it really was from them. What wankers. I’ve only been with them a couple of weeks now, and already I feel stupid for my choice.
Interesting that you too didn’t get the “earlier” email either. Very fishy. These guys seem sleazier by the minute.
Ugh, I’m having the same nightmare — times two. I not only hosted myself with Globat, I recommended it to my web design clients. (This was before the opt-out offers began.) My less-tech-savvy clients have already fallen prey to their schemes, mostly by ignoring *all* Globat emails out of habit.
I even emailed their customer service in August and asked to be removed from their opt-out offers lists. A customer service rep stated that I had been removed from their database. Apparently not, since today I received yet another opt-out offer.
This time it’s over… I’ve made arrangements to move to another provider (Dreamhost) and I’ll do the same for my clients when their contracts expire. (Dreamhost also supports sftp, something I’ve been asking for at Globat for YEARS.)
THESE BUNCH OF LA BASED MAFIOSI NEED TO BE REPORTED TO THE FBI – MASSIVE CREDIT CARD FRAUD.
I USED TO BE A CUSTOMER OVER A YEAR AGO AND QUICKLY TERMINATED THE RELATIONSHIP.
OVER 1 YEAR LATER THEY ARE CHARGING MY CARD FOR DOMAINS I AM HOSTING ELSEWHERE.
THEY NEED TO BE OUTFITTED WITH CONCRETE SHOES FROM THE CHEIF CROOK NEUMMAN ON DOWN.
LET’S ROLL!!!