Hit Web Design review: a complete disaster! 178

Same problem as Roxanne's complaint. Took the money, only $550.00. Be sure to dispute your charges with your credit card people,and by all means, FILE A COMPLAINT ON THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU'S SITE. They sent me forms to provide them w/info for my ecom site, but I wasn't able to open the attachments. They had a very inexperienced account person who rarely was at work, didn't respond to emails, and never returned my phone calls until after I disputed my charges on my credit card. They fed me a line of bs that didn't match their hot air story in Entrepenauer Magazine. They do 500 websites a month? I got a voice mail recording for the receptionist on most of my calls. Very poorly ran company! I asked to speak to "King, Mrk Strong," one of the owners, and he refused all calls. Funny, though, he responded to my complaint to the Better Business Bureau! They credited my account back 75% of the $550.00, and kept $25% of my money for doing absolutely no work! I wish I could get paid and not do any work for my clients! Wouldn't that be a perfect world! I told them that I will give them 25% worth of the best advertisement I can give them! I have told all of my business associates, and will continue to do so until they refund my 25% back into my account. Keep on them. They are frauds! I will be emailing Entrepenauer Magazine this website, and tell them they should investigate before they write glowing comments about companies! Buyer beware! The best advice I can give you after my extensive research of graphic designers, is look to people who free lance and work out of their home! Google wham graphic designers- They are talented, extremely knowledgeable, and great about communicating with you! My site just went live today, so I will be having products added soon-check it out in a week or two... I sell cheer, dance and imprinted apparel! The site cost me a fraction of the price, and I felt I was dealing with a very honest and reputable designer! Good luck...

Don't fall for Heritage Web Solutions!

Try registering your complaint with the IC3 internet crime complaint center (a division of the FBI'S white collar internet crimes). They have received many such complaints and the more the better and further the investigation will go. This company is a bunch of scammers and needs to be shut down.

Heritgage Web Solutions is a solution that their Utah District Attorney's Office need to rectify. These people at Heritage are a bunch of [censored] TO HELL LIARS! They tell you bull each and everyday until they get at LEAST $1200 and up from consumers.

Heritage Days MUST BE NUMBERED! Everybody is talking about contacting their Utah,Provo District Attorney's Office, the FBI White Collar Crime and the BBB in their area.

VOICE whatever issues you had with this company on [redacted].com Please take the time to do it so that no one will have to go through what you did.

They ripped me OFF as well and for three months I dealt with lies and bull. My bank luckily repaid my refund to me and WILL BE UP THEIR ### IN A LITTLE BIT FOR THEIR REFUND BACK!

Their FALSE advertising tactics of $199.00 is what drew me to this company but mother always say: if it's too good to be true...

DON'T waste your efforts and hard earn money. Checking with the BBB these days may not be enough due to the fact that they may be using the same tactics as the Credit Bureaus due such as not updating information accurately and in a timely manner which also may cause a lot of consumers like myself to fall PREY to companies like HERITAGE WEB SOLUTIONS!

I too am very upset with Heritage Web Solutions! I am in shock that they are still in business and not behind bars!

My nightmare began May 9th when I hired Heritage Web Solutions to design my new internet business. Unfortunately, I did not search for complaints against Heritage Web Solutions on the internet. Being the optimistic type, I was only searching for professional web designers and hosting companies that seemed reliable, trained, and professional. My final decision to hire this company was based on their extensive and impressive internet advertisements.

These ads have them sounding great, but little did I know, but soon learned, they had no intentions of helping me build a marketable web business that would produce income. I was only money to them! They did NOT live up to their advertisements and promises. which has cost me a lot of money, valuable time, and unnecessary stress! It got so bad that I could not sleep, and all I did was cry. I am a hardworking, self sufficient, single Mom who, is counting on this business for extra income to pay for my daughter's college tuition next year!

Just dealing with them for two weeks, it became apparent that I had made a huge mistake in putting all of my confidence and money into Heritage Web Solutions. The first week consisted of me talking to an account manager, discussing my business plans, what I need for my site in appearance and functionality, and submitting my content, ideas, color preferences, etc. I was then told that everything would be turned over to a designer and I would hear from him within the next four business days. I was so excited when the evening finally came for me to see his creation; that was until I viewed the design. Now keep in mind , I hired professionals to get a custom built, professional looking website. A website that would appeal to my visitors, and one that I could be proud to put my name on, but all I got was a fast 15 to 20 minute web design! T hey had also talked me into letting them design my logo for an additional $300.00. I was told specifically that I would not be billed until they designed something to my satisfaction, however, my credit card was billed the very the next day! I do not know which was more pathetic, the cheap looking web design, or the cheap looking logo all of which did not state my company's name as instructed, but the name of webpage name instead, and I specifically told them on several occasions that the website was owned by my new company. After I had seen the design and talked to the web designer, I knew he was not going to be able to accomplish the style and layout I needed in order for my business to be successful, so I sent an email to account manager telling her to find me another designer. She said she would get right on it, but a few days later, the same designer called wanting to show me and design he had completed. He was also very snooty acting, like he was doing me a big favor! At the time I asked him if he had spoken to the account manager and he said no, but I knew better, I realized then, that the account manager did not care and could not be trusted with the future of my business, she did not have my best interest at heart. This time I demanded another designer and another account manager. Even my account manager's manager, openly lied to me twice!

By the third week, I had figured out all of their scheming business tactics. In essence, I paid them $700.00 for a website design, and shopping cart to be setup. I paid them another $300.00 for a logo, but after two bad attempts of getting a cheap and ugly logo, I told them, to forget it, but they would not refund my money. They said that according to their contract, if they did any work at all, my money would not be refunded. The account manager assured me that I would not have to pay for it until they designed something I liked, but my card was billed the very next day.

That same day, I also purchased 4 dibs (scroll boxes) for a total of $200.00 to go on the first page, but that never happened as planned, because of the wrong layout they chose (note: I said they chose), would not incorporate this function, so they put one dip on first page that caused the whole page to scroll, instead the whole plan was to have them accent the individual topics so they could be seen at first glance. The entire left side of the design was useless and the right side was just a plain long page.

After I told several people this wasn't what I wanted, they tried to make it work, by putting each topic one after the other, therefore; no one could see what was available unless they took the time to keep scrolling way down the page! I also paid them 125.00 for a calendar; however no work was ever even started in regards to the forum and the calendar, because I did not approve the useless layout of the design. The more they worked the more chopped up it became. However, they refuse to even refund me for these items.

This would never have happened, if they had listened to what I needed and wanted in the first place. this would not have been so stressful or time consuming for anyone, if they had taken the time necessary from the start. I entered all the information required of me, my content, my business plan ideas, links to websites I liked, even my color choices, but no one at Heritage ever took anything at face value. I even have several emails that I sent to at least 3 different people of what I wanted my website to look like, what I needed it to do, etc. Turns out, my opinion did not matter to them. It ended up taking them a total of 7 weeks just to get the colors right!

Did anyone ever take anything I stated into consideration? No! They did exactly what they wanted to do, and tried to get me to approve a website with two home pages, slowly loading full pages and half pages, all done with the wrong layout! The entire left side of the design was useless and bare and my store was so sad, it did not accentuate my products at all. Like everything else, these ran down the page.

To make a long story short, they were not qualified to produce the results they advertise on the internet. They also do not live up to what they tell you on the phone. They will act sweet and tell you what they think you want hear, but it all turns out to be more lies. Since they couldn't design the right website within the 4 week time frame they promised, I was billed $49.99 for June hosting.

All in all, I paid them a total of $1,524.99 and I am still not in business, because I refuse to accept anything less than I paid for; I will not accept a website not capable of supporting my businesses needs. I refuse to change my business to accomadate their lack of skill and knowledge. Needless to say, after being disgusted for over 4 weeks, I finally sent email to the owner and his reply is below.

Dear Ms. ******

I will bring your concern to the attention of the V.P. of design and ask him to look into it. If the work is shoddy, then Heritage will remedy it. If we are 'chasing a ghost', then our best efforts have to be sufficient.

Jeremy, will you please review this account and see that we communicate with Ms. Story.

Respectfully,

Mark ******

Heritage Web Solutions

Please note, the use of Mr. Strong' s words, I took his email to sound arrogant. The email confirmed the fact that I was correct in my observation of their sleazy and uncaring business practices. It also confirmed by biggest fear . . . the deception goes straight to the top of the corporate ladder! Again, they had no intentions to do a good job. They were also not 'chasing a ghost.' What I wanted, paid for, and expected, was not impossible by any means! They take and keep people's money by hiding behind their terms of agreement. As far as I am concerned, the minute they billed my credit card, they 'accepted my terms of agreement' meaning that would to live up to their promises and what they advertised to get my business in the first place.

In the email I sent to Mr. Strong, I forwarded one letter that I had sent to a supervisor. In the email, I went into great detail about everything I had been through to date and again had to waste more time in explaining how I wanted each page to look and what I needed each page of my site to do. Week before last, I got tired of sounding like a broken record, and of being stressed to the max, so I sent an another email to Mr. Strong explaining that I no longer wanted their services and did want anyelse to do with his company, and I ask for a refund.

He did respond, stating that I could not be refunded any money due to the fact that I agreed to their terms of service. How can I be responsible for agreeing to something, that they did not produce? The contract is one sided, and when I agreed to the terms, I genuinely believed they were an honest company and would do a great job in building my website. Why should I settle for less than what I paid for and they promised? In other words, why should I have to be bound to this contract, when they did not produce the services and results they advertised and promised?

Revelation: Do you know why Mr. Strong wants his designers to complete a web design in 30 minutes? The answer to this question became very apparent to me quite soon. The terms of their agreement states the following:

29. Cancellation Fee and Refund Policy
WEBSITE DESIGN/DEVELOPMENT - Refunds of the fees paid for development of the website may be issued on accounts canceled within 90 days of the initial sale and prior to the completion of the website according to the following schedule:

A) A minimum of a 50% cancellation fee will be retained by HWS on canceled accounts even if no work has been started and no content yet submitted by the Client.

B) A minimum of a 75% cancellation fee will be retained by HWS on canceled accounts if work has been presented to the Client; or HWS has made multiple attempts to work with the Client, and Client has not responded to those attempts.

C) A 100% cancellation fee will be retained by HWS and NO REFUND issued if any changes and/or modifications requested by the Client have been completed by HWS. No Refund will be issued on any website cancelled after services have been rendered, including but not limited to, the design work having been completed and/or the website taken live.

D) 100% cancellation fee will be retained and NO REFUND will be issued by HWS if Client cancels after 90 days from the initial sale.

MINIMUM CANCELLATION FEE – Client agrees that a minimum cancellation fee of 50% will be retained by HWS on all canceled accounts even if no work has been started. The cancellation fee is charged to compensate HWS for up-front expenses and services rendered, including but not limited to, costs incurred for the purchase of domain name(s) for developing the website, securing server space, creating the temporary website or space saver, employee expenses, marketing, and overhead costs.

ENHANCEMENT SALES - A 100% cancellation fee will be retained by HWS and NO REFUND will be issued once work has begun on any enhancements purchased, including, but not limited to, databases, programming, logos, flash, galleries, rollovers, e-commerce stores etc. Client agrees that a minimum cancellation fee of 50% will be retained by HWS on all canceled enhancement purchases if canceled within 90 days of the enhancement sale and if work has not yet begun. NO REFUND will be issued by HWS if client cancels after 90 days from the enhancement sale. Enhancements or additional services purchased after the initial sale are separate purchases and are in addition to and separate from the original sale. If a client cancels an enhancement the original sale is not canceled.

(Note: Please pay attention to Sections A & B. In other words, they hurry to get in ole website ready, as this quickly gives them the right to not refund a customer's money. Therefore, they do not ever have to produce likable or workable results. Now this is shady and fraudulent business practices, and in my book, it is also stealing!)

I will not go into all the details of everything; it would take all night to write it all! I just want to warn as many people as possible before they believe in this company and end up being scammed! Please investigate, check out, and get references before hiring a company that advertises on the internet.

At present I have hired another company to build my website, and so far things are going great. I am very impressed with this new company. It may take me a lifetime to get my money back from HWS, but that is not the most important thing in this conquest. The most important thing is to warn others before they get ripped off too! So if anyone is in the process of suing HWS, etc. Please let me know and I will help you in anyway I can.

This evening the owner, sent me an email saying that, as per their terms of agreement, I was not entitled to any refund. He went on to state that they would work me until I was satisfied. As for that, I don't have another 8 weeks to waste. After 8 weeks, I am tired of hearing this same promise, and after 8 weeks of being nervous and stressed over all the delays and uncaring staff at his company, I have decided, I will not allow myself to be a victim of their shady business practices any longer. I will not allow them to continue to destroy my mental health and my business! I will do whatever it takes to see that justice is done in my favor in due time! I am not stupid, so why would I allow myself to continue give away money to a cold, ruthless company? Lastly, they must be stopped! Again, if I can be of help to anyone else, let me know.

Signed,
Justice in the Making.

Not to go into to much detail, because I will be here all night! I wish I looked into Heritage Web before working with them. Every complaint that I've read on this site is true, its happened and happening to me. I made the mistake going with a cheap company and now i am paying double.

Heritage Web Solutions values all of its customers, especially those who have voiced complaints. It is in our best interest to work with these customers to reach a reasonable and fair resolution. In most cases Heritage tries to go beyond what is fair for the company and errors on the side of the upset customer.

Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for some customers who, no matter what we do, are never truly satisfied. This is especially disheartening, as Heritage has the solid reputation of providing excellent customer service.

Some customers, as illustrated on this complaint website, have resorted to airing their grievances on the public Internet, in hopes of resolving their particular complaint. We do all that we can to help meet a fair resolution to their satisfaction.

However what becomes unfair to us, are those customers who we feel have received everything they have asked for, and more, but then take it upon themselves to have an ongoing vindication against Heritage. To us, there is nothing more we can do to satisfy them. They are who they are. Vindictive and angry people do more harm to themselves than they think they are doing against a company. It is sad but true.

Heritage Web Solutions, with a customer base of over 10,000, receives less than one half of one percent in complaints. That is an impressively low number compared to the standards of today. We certainly would like to have zero complaints, but that is just not realistically possible. There will always be those people who cry foul, no matter what.

What you don’t see on this complaint website are all the positive emails and letters we receive daily from customers who are extremely happy with the service and work we have provided for them.

Heritage Web Solutions is a good, solid custom web design and hosting company that has an excellent rating with the Better Business Bureau and the Utah State Department of Commerce. We are ranked in the top 1% of web hosting companies in the United States and have recently been recognized by Inc 500.

If you feel that Heritage Web Solutions is not taking care of you, I would invite you to contact me at my personal email address at ceo@hwsinet.com, and I will personally follow up on your issue.

Warmest Regards,

Brad Stone
CEO/Heritage Web Solutions

Heritage Web Solutions values all of its customers, especially those who have voiced complaints. It is in our best interest to work with these customers to reach a reasonable and fair resolution. In most cases Heritage tries to go beyond what is fair for the company and errors on the side of the upset customer.

Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for some customers who, no matter what we do, are never truly satisfied. This is especially disheartening, as Heritage has the solid reputation of providing excellent customer service.

Some customers, as illustrated on this complaint website, have resorted to airing their grievances on the public Internet, in hopes of resolving their particular complaint. We do all that we can to help meet a fair resolution to their satisfaction.

However what becomes unfair to us, are those customers who we feel have received everything they have asked for, and more, but then take it upon themselves to have an ongoing vindication against Heritage. To us, there is nothing more we can do to satisfy them. They are who they are. Vindictive and angry people do more harm to themselves than they think they are doing against a company. It is sad but true.

Heritage Web Solutions, with a customer base of over 10,000, receives less than one half of one percent in complaints. That is an impressively low number compared to the standards of today. We certainly would like to have zero complaints, but that is just not realistically possible. There will always be those people who cry foul, no matter what.

What you don’t see on this complaint website are all the positive emails and letters we receive daily from customers who are extremely happy with the service and work we have provided for them.

Heritage Web Solutions is a good, solid custom web design and hosting company that has an excellent rating with the Better Business Bureau and the Utah State Department of Commerce. We are ranked in the top 1% of web hosting companies in the United States and have recently been recognized by Inc 500.

If you feel that Heritage Web Solutions is not taking care of you, I would invite you to contact me at my personal email address at ceo@hwsinet.com, and I will personally follow up on your issue.

Warmest Regards,

Brad Stone
CEO/Heritage Web Solutions

Heritage Web Solutions values all of its customers, especially those who have voiced complaints. It is in our best interest to work with these customers to reach a reasonable and fair resolution. In most cases Heritage tries to go beyond what is fair for the company and errors on the side of the upset customer.

Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for some customers who, no matter what we do, are never truly satisfied. This is especially disheartening, as Heritage has the solid reputation of providing excellent customer service.

Some customers, as illustrated on this complaint website, have resorted to airing their grievances on the public Internet, in hopes of resolving their particular complaint. We do all that we can to help meet a fair resolution to their satisfaction.

However what becomes unfair to us, are those customers who we feel have received everything they have asked for, and more, but then take it upon themselves to have an ongoing vindication against Heritage. To us, there is nothing more we can do to satisfy them. They are who they are. Vindictive and angry people do more harm to themselves than they think they are doing against a company. It is sad but true.

Heritage Web Solutions, with a customer base of over 10,000, receives less than one half of one percent in complaints. That is an impressively low number compared to the standards of today. We certainly would like to have zero complaints, but that is just not realistically possible. There will always be those people who cry foul, no matter what.

What you don’t see on this complaint website are all the positive emails and letters we receive daily from customers who are extremely happy with the service and work we have provided for them.

Heritage Web Solutions is a good, solid custom web design and hosting company that has an excellent rating with the Better Business Bureau and the Utah State Department of Commerce. We are ranked in the top 1% of web hosting companies in the United States and have recently been recognized by Inc 500.

If you feel that Heritage Web Solutions is not taking care of you, I would invite you to contact me at my personal email address at ceo@hwsinet.com, and I will personally follow up on your issue.

Warmest Regards,

Brad Stone
CEO/Heritage Web Solutions

Heritage Web Solutions values all of its customers, especially those who have voiced complaints. It is in our best interest to work with these customers to reach a reasonable and fair resolution. In most cases Heritage tries to go beyond what is fair for the company and errors on the side of the upset customer.

Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for some customers who, no matter what we do, are never truly satisfied. This is especially disheartening, as Heritage has the solid reputation of providing excellent customer service.

Some customers, as illustrated on this complaint website, have resorted to airing their grievances on the public Internet, in hopes of resolving their particular complaint. We do all that we can to help meet a fair resolution to their satisfaction.

However what becomes unfair to us, are those customers who we feel have received everything they have asked for, and more, but then take it upon themselves to have an ongoing vindication against Heritage. To us, there is nothing more we can do to satisfy them. They are who they are. Vindictive and angry people do more harm to themselves than they think they are doing against a company. It is sad but true.

Heritage Web Solutions, with a customer base of over 10,000, receives less than one half of one percent in complaints. That is an impressively low number compared to the standards of today. We certainly would like to have zero complaints, but that is just not realistically possible. There will always be those people who cry foul, no matter what.

What you don’t see on this complaint website are all the positive emails and letters we receive daily from customers who are extremely happy with the service and work we have provided for them.

Heritage Web Solutions is a good, solid custom web design and hosting company that has an excellent rating with the Better Business Bureau and the Utah State Department of Commerce. We are ranked in the top 1% of web hosting companies in the United States and have recently been recognized by Inc 500.

If you feel that Heritage Web Solutions is not taking care of you, I would invite you to contact me at my personal email address at ceo@hwsinet.com, and I will personally follow up on your issue.

Warmest Regards,

Brad Stone
CEO/Heritage Web Solutions.

Like many others on this board I too fell prey to this company. They promised a custom designed web-site within 4-6 and it took them 2 months. One that would be to my satisfaction and that I would be able to review, instead they completed it and the first I saw the design it was already live on the internet. I never gave my approval.

They ripped me off $400 in addition to two monthly hosting fee's of $29.99. I didn't get remotely close to what I was expecting and when I contacted them to express my opinion and concerns, I was blown off by both the designer and the account manager. I was unhappy with both, but was too afraid to ask for someone else fearing that this would happen and it did anyway.

My content information, which they claimed to their writers first included the instructions I had provided for them as to where things were to go on the page and they published wrong pages and I never received the audio I paid for. It is a complete disaster and I am writing letters to everyone I can think of.

I can't get a call back from anyone there and their customer department laughed at me when I called them to fix the problem. I only wish I had found this web-site sooner!

Thanks-
Ivette

Heritage Web Solutions values all of its customers, especially those who have voiced complaints. It is in our best interest to work with these customers to reach a reasonable and fair resolution. In most cases Heritage tries to go beyond what is fair for the company and errors on the side of the upset customer.

Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for some customers who, no matter what we do, are never truly satisfied. This is especially disheartening, as Heritage has the solid reputation of providing excellent customer service.

Some customers, as illustrated on this complaint website, have resorted to airing their grievances on the public Internet, in hopes of resolving their particular complaint. We do all that we can to help meet a fair resolution to their satisfaction.

However what becomes unfair to us, are those customers who we feel have received everything they have asked for, and more, but then take it upon themselves to have an ongoing vindication against Heritage. To us, there is nothing more we can do to satisfy them. They are who they are. Vindictive and angry people do more harm to themselves than they think they are doing against a company. It is sad but true.

Heritage Web Solutions, with a customer base of over 10,000, receives less than one half of one percent in complaints. That is an impressively low number compared to the standards of today. We certainly would like to have zero complaints, but that is just not realistically possible. There will always be those people who cry foul, no matter what.

What you don’t see on this complaint website are all the positive emails and letters we receive daily from customers who are extremely happy with the service and work we have provided for them.

Heritage Web Solutions is a good, solid custom web design and hosting company that has an excellent rating with the Better Business Bureau and the Utah State Department of Commerce. We are ranked in the top 1% of web hosting companies in the United States and have recently been recognized by Inc 500.

If you feel that Heritage Web Solutions is not taking care of you, I would invite you to contact me at my personal email address at ceo@hwsinet.com, and I will personally follow up on your issue.

Warmest Regards,

Brad Stone
CEO/Heritage Web Solutions.

Lily:

Please contact me personally at ceo@hwsinet.com and I would like to resolve your issue.

Warmest Regards,

Brad Stone/CEO
Heritage Web Solutions

It does seem as though if you submit content to Heritage Web even before you have electronically signed your TOS, you have already agreed that by submitting your content to your account manager previously, you are committed and binded to their TOS agreement.

I think the TOS is just to cover their ### later down the line if you try to request a refund in anyway they would say that you signed their TOS. But, they already trapped you by asking you to submit your content to have your web designed and then send you an email stating that if you submitted content you accepted our TOS.

Have you EVER heard of a crazy company like this?! For those up and coming victims of Heritage it is our obligation to let them know about this dreadful TOS (Terms of Service) agreement. I know I will.

Hey Utah District Attorney, why don't you do something about these people. They are scamming the people out of their hard earn money and feel as though they can hide behind their TOS statements. Make an example of them by having them display their TOS before any content is submitted or as a matter of fact before you agree to even hire them.

If they had any honor or class, they would want to protect their client as well not just themselves. This in itself shows you that this company is down right unethical!

I hope that the same measure that they have shown to people God is the same measure that will be given back to them in their personal lives because when it's all said and done, He (God) has the last say about the actions we befall on others. So, if their path is Hell, well God will definitely see it so.

Still today sep 6/ 2007 - never got my refund they charge 250.00 for a total of 500 web page that never made, they charge extra 100 for logos, extra for noting. I toll them my refund they toll me only 50 pct off 250.00 that they charge ask why they don't ask before not refunds when starting conversations. They never deliver a service and was willing to send more money but I was worried by salesman from they own company, he was send email offering other services from other companies besides heritage web solutions.

Never that company was doing service only collecting money from many people like me, hope they refund the money to all.

Business owners, if you really really really value your MONEY and TIME: Stay AWAY from these LIARS!

Heritage Web Solutions is the ### of the earth and all deserve to be in JAIL!

I can tell you that I have been through it and everything that is said about this company is true. I will never recommend these people to anyone. Not even my worst enemy.

I signed with HWS in November of 2006. I Have paid nearly 2,000.00 to date for my site and hosting fees. I submitted my content in Feb of this year. Weeks went by; then months. I had made many calls regarding the status of the site. In May I spoke with James Gilmore. He said that for what I required I would need a database built. This was an additional 300.00 and an nearly an additional month of waiting.

Upon the June completion of the design I noted that it was an awful design and the site was very user unfriendly. I had a lot of changes to make. I told the designer this and began emailing some of the changes. I was told by Chris Witchurch one of my many designers at HWS to just accept the design and I could make any changes later at no extra cost. I was sceptical that the later changes would be free but I trusted him and Heritage at their word. This later proved to be a huge mistake.

Heritage neglected to inform me that some of these changes would be extra money...At lot of extra money. At this point I know something was wrong. One morning I did a search for my page on the net. It didn't come up at all. This is more than a month after the site went 'live'. I brought this to HW attention. They said I has only just been picked up by google? and they would take care of it. They sure did... now you have to type in all the words life advice for you exactly in the search block to bring up the site. I brought this up and was told for an additional 65.00 a month I could get it fixed.

At my wits end I asked for my money back and Mr. James Gilmore said that he would 'put my refund request in the system'. I waited for another week. I was given a new designer and account manager Melissa Gunnel. This was never documented because each time I called the system still showed my account manager as James Gilmore. I received 1 email from Melissa and nothing more.

I requested a refund another time. This time I spoke with another account manager. He said he was sorry for any inconvenience. and that he would get a new designer on it. I was assigned Mathew Stubs. I talked with him and discussed the changes I wanted make back in June. I said I wanted to slim down the pages and get a better home page. I was told this would cost 600.00. I told him I couln't afford to pay any more and that I really just wanted to get what I spent back. This is when I finally heard that HWS does not authorized any refunds of any kind.

After 3 months of asking for my money back and getting ran around. Of coarse I tried to get things resolved and tried to let them fix the site. But enough is enough! Nothing is getting done. I requested changes on August 1. I did not receive a confirmation email from Mathew until the 8th. Does it take a week to read email? This email said only that he would get to work on my requests. Nothing has changed to date. Meanwhile I still pay 50.00 a month for a site that looks unprofessional.

I can't count the unanswered emails, the unreturned phone calls, the hours I have spent on hold waiting to talk to a person. I have had more account reps and designers than I can count. I have had enough. I have filed complaints with IC3, my local authorities, this website, Foxnews, The Provo Herald, the and Utah Tribune. I am a very very resourceful and dedicated individual and I have a lot of friends. I will not stop until this is resolved.

I will be writing my congressmen in the morning, and taking additional steps to get this matter resolved. I have emailed the company with my intentions. I have not heard anything. Learning a 2,000.00 lesson like this may not be a hard one for a big company or for people that have alot of money. For me it has been devastating. This is so very disappointing.

HWS is the most unamerican company I have ever dealt with. They take advantage of legal loop holes and innocent hard working people, they are greedy and unethical. Shame on you HWS. SHAME!

Jessika
Navarre, Florida
U.S.A.

My experience with this company was almost exactly as other describe. It took Heritage 18 months to complete my website. When it was finally 'live' I did not immediately check to see if it could be googled. Customers called me to complain they could not find my site. To my disgust, I found Heritage had failed to make my site available to search engines.

I found out from my friend's husband (he builds websites) that my site did not contain a page containing metatags. The tags enable search engines like google to find and list your websites presence on the web.

I contacted Heritage and asked them to correct the problem. They told me they did not 'promote' websites. I explained I only wanted what they had agreed to provide in the beginning - a presence on the web with search engines able to find me. I had talked about this frequently as the site was being built. They had assured me they would provide that service. Why they don't is puzzling since their site can be googled.

When I complained they shut down my site without my agreement. They refused to refund the $700 I paid for the site. This has cost me a lot in business. The web address is in the phone book and when customers go there it is shut down. Very embarrassing. They don't call me. My income has dropped as a result.

This company advertises that optimization is a very important part of your website, however, after you purchase you then find out as I did that unless you pay thousands more they only do a minimum optimization - not what they claim as advertised or lead you to believe when speaking to them. You can not access this area to do this yourself.

All the instructions for updating/editing your site are incomplete and after I bought this program I was informed that I had asked for too much to be done and they only provide so many hours of free work so I will have to pay them $60 an hour to do anything beyond that. The gimmick here is they never tell you how many hours it will take them to do anything. The bill could run into hundreds of dollars.

It is true I did not buy the biggest package from them, however, I would think I should be able to edit my entire site within reason. They have set it up so that adding an outside link to your page is often impossible or it comes out looking weird.

Often when they did the initial set up I would have to have them go back to do what they should have done to begin with - their incomplete work.

You never know who is working on what part of your site when you do the set up and it took a very long time to complete it. Phone contact with the techs is impossible at times so one has to wait for e mail communication - that was not really made clear at the onset.

I now have a site that I cannot finish without paying more for them to do the correct optimization needed for search engines like google. I also have very little support time each month.

I would not recommend this company even though they brag that they are in the 1% of the top designers now. I suppose that is for the large corporations that can pay thousands of dollars.

Margaret
Cottonwood, Arizona
U.S.A.

Heritage Web Solutions:

I am at a loss for words to describe the horrible experience of finding out that your server crashed and that you did not have a back up more recent than July 8.

When the server went back online, our site AFFPS.COM had some old files, some missing files, a disabled shopping cart, a subsite (Decatur Market) that was completely lost.

I cannot access the shopping cart from AFFPS.COM/CART/ADMIN.

Our merchant account with Authorize.net has received scrambled data and some orders (with multiple names assigned to the same invoice) that never went through the shopping cart. Authorize.net is also holding some unprocessed orders that were sent from our shopping cart which cannot be processed. I have repeatedly asked for this problem to be fixed, but NO ONE has responded.

Our business is crippled due to the complete disregard for customer service by Heritage Web Solutions. I have called many times today, but never get a call back.

The only person who has demonstrated interest in the success of our site is Kristina Roberts, and she has been reassigned to other areas within your company. I know that she would be very sad to know that the site she helped design has been treated with little or no regard by others.

We promoted Labor Day reservations (purchases on our site) by spending a lot of money. Now we are losing thousands of dollars each hour since we cannot receive or access customer orders.

Our phones are ringing off the hook and I'm handling them as best I can, working late hours. I cannot imagine that your company would just LEAVE work for the day without any interest in helping your clients, but that is what happened. I finally got a hold of one tech person by phone at 5:30 p.m. who told me he was aware of the problems but that no one was working on it. He said he would try to reach his manager, but again that yielded no response.

What will you do to rebuild our site's missing files? Will you take any preventative measures? How can you operate in this manner?

I have learned a hard lesson with Heritage Web Solutions. IF our site becomes operational again, I will only use it until I have established a new contract with a new provider.

AFFPS
Atlanta, Georgia
U.S.A.

They stood behind of their Terms of agreement about how I sign and agreed to it but what about our right? Don't we have the right to ask for our monies back because you have broken your own agreement!

Be very, very careful with these people because they only cover themselves and not you the consumer. They will rope you in quickly with their sales dept.

But, don't let that fool you because once you get roped in, the game has only now just begun with these people.

This company could not save a computer bug if they had too. They scammed me out of my money and didn't even completed anything. They call themselves the #1 whatever but you always learn from your mistakes and using this company surely was one.

Warning, please take caution, I do not recommend this company.

If you want your business to fail before it gets off the ground then Heritage Web Solution LOOSERS is for you!

A complete package of heachache, liars and incomplete work. Yes we can charge that... $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Anymore questions!?

I too have had all the complaints of every one else
32 weeks and still no site after they promised it would take 4 weeks. The desighners are useless i sent 10 examples of sites i liked they did the opposite of my requests - they lost my photos told me i should take more and upload them myself - what did i pay them $1000 for they also had the audacity to charge hosting fees for a site that was never done.
I have retained an attorney and my law suit has begun - these crooks need to be stopped.
Has anyone contacted the news station / paper in utah to expose them - if not i will.

Heritage Web Solutions values all of its customers, especially those who have voiced complaints. It is in our best interest to work with these customers to reach a reasonable and fair resolution. In most cases Heritage tries to go beyond what is fair for the company and errors on the side of the upset customer.

Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for some customers who, no matter what we do, are never truly satisfied. This is especially disheartening, as Heritage has the solid reputation of providing excellent customer service.

Some customers, as illustrated on this complaint website, have resorted to airing their grievances on the public Internet, in hopes of resolving their particular complaint. We do all that we can to help meet a fair resolution to their satisfaction.

However what becomes unfair to us, are those customers who we feel have received everything they have asked for, and more, but then take it upon themselves to have an ongoing vindication against Heritage. To us, there is nothing more we can do to satisfy them. They are who they are. Vindictive and angry people do more harm to themselves than they think they are doing against a company. It is sad but true.

Heritage Web Solutions, with a customer base of over 10,000, receives less than one half of one percent in complaints. That is an impressively low number compared to the standards of today. We certainly would like to have zero complaints, but that is just not realistically possible. There will always be those people who cry foul, no matter what.

What you don’t see on this complaint website are all the positive emails and letters we receive daily from customers who are extremely happy with the service and work we have provided for them.

Heritage Web Solutions is a good, solid custom web design and hosting company that has an excellent rating with the Better Business Bureau and the Utah State Department of Commerce. We are ranked in the top 1% of web hosting companies in the United States and have recently been recognized by Inc 500.

If you feel that Heritage Web Solutions is not taking care of you, I would invite you to contact me at my personal email address at ceo@hwsinet.com, and I will personally follow up on your issue.

Warmest Regards,

Brad Stone
CEO/Heritage Web Solutions

Heritage Web Solutions is a totally Mess. I beg you, plead with you to not use them. Run do not walk to another company that will stand behind their integrity.

Heritage Web Solutions Problems:

Lack of Integrity

No Follow UP

NO good customer assistance

Pricing too high for little and poor service

Custom Web Sites..What a joke. They use templates found in any Best Buy!

They will lie to you, take your credit card info, bill you, then give you the opportunity to bend over and take it in the behind!

Dear MK:

I would be glad to resolve your issues. Contact me directly at ceo@hwsinet.com.

Warmest Regards,

Brad Stone/CEO
Heritage Web Solutions

People cut your losses with these losers and move on. It is hard to find reliable trustworthy people but Heritage is a bunch of low life losers. I swear I would they would never live to see any of the money that they steal. I do wish they would all be cursed and damn to hell!

I had the same thing happen to me and when I disputed the charges with American Express they sent them their TOS and an IP address that they claimed was mine proving acceptance I looked up the IP address and found it was theirs not mine. It has been 4 months still no website and still disputing monthly charges near $4000.00 in total. You can review my reports on www.pornafia.org.

Shellee Hale.

I am in the process of finishing up with HWS. It has taken about a year to design my site and what started out at under $1000 has turned into $2500-$3000. I went through what I wanted in the beginning before the site was being built and once the site was being built, things that I originally wanted did not work and I had to make changes and was charged for each change. It has gotten ridiculous. What I am most upset at was how much this web design depended on me and who do I charge fo rmy time doing their work. I had to provide all the info and since it is my business I guess I am the best person to do that. Having said that, other companies that charge $3000 for a site do all their research. I originally had a great designer that designed my banner and then he left. They gave me a designer that had no design talent. To solve this I went on front page and designed my own site and forwarded it to HWS for them to tweak it and add the flash element and some PHP programmimg that I paid for and couldn't do myself. I can't stand most of the people I worked with becasue they just lasck the design aspect of web design. The PHP programmer i have is great to work with.

I think the problem with HWS is that they are operting a web design company like a production line and have people doing specialized jobs. The banner designer only designs with Adobe, the PHP person only does PHP etc even though these people know how to do everything. I found that everytime I was switiched to someone else, the next person did not get what I wanted and it took forever to get the point across and sometimes it never got across. They operate in a way that makes a lot of money but is not customer focussed. In the long run, bad news spreads fast and this company will suffer. In order to save themselevs now they need to have experienced designers who also have a gift for design not just knowing how to program and they need to have a main person working on the site and integrating the work of other professionals. There is too much division and concepts get very lost. Teh account managers are essentially sales people with the goal of selling you something everytime you speak to them. This company is out of control.

In summary I am very stressed with my experience. I have another 2 sites to design and i will not use HWS. This was a horrible experience. When my one year hosting is up which is soon, I am switiching companies so that I do not have to deal with this company again. The last thing I have to say is use a local company that you can go see - do not use an online company far fromyou that you have no direct access to.

I'm a victim of Heritage Web Solutions as well. I normally search for customers review before I buy anything, but I made a mistake not doing it about Heritage and read this blog and many other blogs about Heritage reputation before.
First of all, take a look on example of websites they show on their portifolio, most of them are not longer with Heritage.
Second before you give them your credit card number to close any deal with them, ask them to send a copy of their TERM OF SERVICE, it's a document protecting them to take your money, and they know what they are doing.
Here is some lines of their TERMS OF SERVICE.

HERITAGE WEB SOLUTIONS ( part of their terms of service to protect them, and give them the right to take our money)

LINE-29

29. Cancellation Fee and Refund Policy
WEBSITE DESIGN/DEVELOPMENT - Refunds of the fees paid for development of the website may be issued on accounts cancelled within 90 days of the initial sale and prior to the completion of the website according to the following schedule:

A) A minimum of a 50% cancellation fee will be retained by HWS on cancelled accounts even if no work has been started and no content yet submitted by the Client.

B) A minimum of a 75% cancellation fee will be retained by HWS on cancelled accounts if work has been presented to the Client; or HWS has made multiple attempts to work with the Client, and Client has not responded to those attempts.

C) A 100% cancellation fee will be retained by HWS and NO REFUND issued if any changes and/or modifications requested by the Client have been completed by HWS. No Refund will be issued on any website cancelled after services have been rendered, including but not limited to, the design work having been completed and/or the website taken live.

D) 100% cancellation fee will be retained and NO REFUND will be issued by HWS if Client cancels after 90 days from the initial sale.

MINIMUM CANCELLATION FEE – Client agrees that a minimum cancellation fee of 50% will be retained by HWS on all cancelled accounts even if no work has been started. The cancellation fee is charged to compensate HWS for up-front expenses and services rendered, including but not limited to, costs incurred for the purchase of domain name(s) for developing the website, securing server space, creating the temporary website or space saver, employee expenses, marketing, and overhead costs.

ENHANCEMENT SALES - A 100% cancellation fee will be retained by HWS and NO REFUND will be issued once work has begun on any enhancements purchased, including, but not limited to, databases, programming, logos, flash, galleries, rollovers, e-commerce stores etc. Client agrees that a minimum cancellation fee of 50% will be retained by HWS on all cancelled enhancement purchases if cancelled within 90 days of the enhancement sale and if work has not yet begun. NO REFUND will be issued by HWS if client cancels after 90 days from the enhancement sale. Enhancements or additional services purchased after the initial sale are separate purchases and are in addition to and separate from the original sale. If a client cancels an enhancement the original sale is not cancelled.

Take a look and see, how well they try protect themself.

LINE-41

41. Negative Comments/Slander
Client specifically agrees not to engage in negative comments or slander regarding HWS, including but not limited to publishing, or causing to be published, complaints or derogatory comments regarding HWS in any format, including but not limited to, print, newspaper, television, radio or on internet complaint sites, blogs or other public internet forums. Should there be a breach of this condition HWS will be entitled to liquidated damages in the amount of $2,500.00 for each publishing or posting. If said breach occurs on an internet complaint site each hit to that website will be considered an individual breach of this condition, and subject to additional liquidated damages of $100 per occurrence. Further, HWS shall be entitled to litigate this matter, and obtain the money damages together with injunctive relief. The prevailing party to that litigation shall be entitled to an award of attorney’s fees.

Do you want to read the whole Heritage TERMS OF SERVICE?
Here it is, I found the link for it: http://www.heritagewebdesign.com/tos.html

By the way, they sell a shopping cart which is distribuited for free ZEN CART ™, and the enhancements (modules ) for the cart is available all over the internet.
They charge monthly $45.00 +, to host your Website, which you can find the same or better hosting service out there from $5.00 - $7.00 month, if you get a wesite with them, you have to use their hosting service for at least ONE YEAR, so they will take antoher $600.00 from your pocket guaranted !
If you still want to go with them, it is up to you, but I wish I could have read these blogs before.

Took 5 months to get site working. Very poor callback service. Would leave messages and would take 3-4 days for a returned call. They charged me $60.00 a month for hosting and the site was not even up and working. Poor service, poor site. go somewhere else for your web site needs.

I have had the same problems as described by so many other people out there. Heritage Web Solutions never did complete or even begin a design on my "package deal" and then continue to charge my credit card for hosting fees after I paid to have the domain released over 4 months ago. I wish I had checked the Utah BBB and then I would have known before hand that this company has a HORRIBLE record to put it mildly.

Companies such as these simply take advantage not so savvy consumers and get away with it everyday. I learned my lesson and also lost about $800.00 to boot with absolutely nothing to show for it other than a domain name. I say, STAY AWAY unless you have money to burn.

I am surprised at the comments I have read against Heritage Web Solutions. I have dealt with them for a year now. They delivered what they promised, and, everytime I called for technical support, I had no problem going through and getting a solution to my problem. I have no complaint against this company.

Dr.Andrew Veronis

Large corporations (as does anyone who values his/her hard-earned bucks) hire web designers to design their websites. If you asked around and every single designer told you that that your work would cost you around $1500, what kind of reasoning did you use to convince yourself that somebody can do the same work for $150.

You're asking a plumber to give you a quote for a tea party your are setting up for your friends and business associates. Of course the plumber will be happy to serve tea at your party - as soon as he's done unclogging your toilet. What is that strange taste, I wonder?

You got what you deserved. If you are not an expert, hire one. If you don't have the money - go earn it first or get a loan. Nothing is free. And that includes high quality business websites. Oh, and if you did ask people for quotes and they were kind enough to waste their time on you, don't forget to at least thank them for trying to help you.

And yes, HWS is a good company if you want a website that nobody is going to visit, but it's "affordable", right?

People, did you even go through their website before you made their "business" decision?

This is the payscale they offer to freelancers working for them http://www.hitfreelance.com/index.html
and here is how much they pay their "technical" staff http://www.hwsinet.com/careers/

If your website is the cornerstone of your business, do you want it to be built by someone who doesn't mind earning $13-17/hour doing a job which requires a great deal of knowledge and expertise? Is that how much your car mechanic, doctor, lawyer and accountant charge you? Is that how much you charge your customers? Would you like to experience a $17/hour root canal. That will give you something to complain about.

And $20 dollars per page if you are a freelancer working for them? It takes at least 4 to 10 hours to design and build a single page layout if you know what you are doing. You can do it much faster if you are clueless. Which is what you get for $20 per page (or $2 to $5/hour, in case you need it spelled out).

Do the math and do your homework. Then open up your phonebook and call your local professional designer.

I have been able to resolve most of the customer's complaints from this website. There are those customers that never are completely satisfied no matter how much we tried.

So, If you have a complaint, please communicate directly with me at: CEO@hwsinet.com

My personal commitment is to make sure that we are totally fair and equitable with you.

Warm Regards,

Brad Stone
CEO/Heritage Web Solutions

They are absolute thieves all these complaints are right. I contacted the FBI INTERNET SCAMS. The FBI will follow up if there is a big enough case so please contact the FBI in Utah. These people need to be exposed for stealing innocent victims money.

I have read through all these complaints and I have to offer a little advice for people seeking web development services.

1) You will not get a solid website properly coded, designed and delivered to your specifications for $199...or even starting at $199. This is equivalent to purchasing a brand new car for $999. Please research out going prices and rates and you will realizing you are dealing with a web design chop shop.

2) Look at the company's portfolio and decide for yourself. The level and quality of design will reflect on whether or not the company even bothers to keep up with industry trends, standards and technologies.

3) Look at company's own design and source code of their pages. If their coding style is sloppy, messy, buggy and their own company's design looks like it was from 1995...than that is what you will receive from your final product.

4) Ask other folks who have used their services and see how their experiences went. If you are company seeking to hire a consultancy service, find a company that you feel you can build a long term relationship with. Web chop shops are the ### of the web industry and you will not find a good relationship with them.

5) Do some research on what kind of services you need. If it seems like they use a ton of buzzwords, research out these terms.

6) Again...web design and development services simply do not start at $199! I can't emphasize that enough. You'd be wary of a brand new HD TV that went for $300 now would you?

How did you make out, I'm now having the same problems.