Hit Web Design review: take the money and run! 36

Wow, I wish I had seen this site before I agreed to the Heritage Web Solutions agreement. I have been charged in full, and am paying monthly hosting fees for a website that does NOT work, I have NO Logo or Banner, and I BEGGED them to make it go live so that I could go in to fix all of the content they screwed up. I am shocked they are still in business. I cancelled my service and to add insult to injury they emailed me to say I'm responsible for a year's hosting and I'm only a couple of weeks live.

This is unbelievable...how can they get away with this? I feel it is extortion! They say they'll do something, but I have dozens of emails and made dozens of calls without return. I actually feel as though they do all of this on purpose just to get the year of fees. Can anyone help us?

Is there a District Attorney in Utah that has the guts to look into their practices. I've NEVER had to a point where I was this outraged and actually write something like this. Can anyone help or make a suggestion about my rights? Thank you! Janet

First of all, let me say that this Gianna person is a liar. She is not being truthful at all. She has a 'score' to settle and I do not wish to be part of it whatsoever.

I manage the board she is mentioning. First of all, we respect freedom of speech. We do not respect those however who post OTHER PEOPLES EMAILS. I told her to notify the people who emailed her and notify them that they were completely welcome to login and post on their own. We have no issues with people complaining about others. However, she has gone totally overboard and simply did not have her normal post, she had 6 separate posts all full of other peoples emails to 'her'.

She has also been shut down on WordPress for the same exact thing. Posting your opinion is one thing, but she has abused our board and who knows how many others for her own personal vengeance. To be honest, she should use this rage to do something positive with her life. She has completely lost it.

She has abused our system and also threatened us legally.

I believe she has a vengeance to get Heritage. I do not know if they did a good or bad job for her. However, I do know she is filled with some sort of rage I've not encountered before and want no part of.

Furthermore, Heritage is NOT a sponsor on our site and this is a complete LIE told by GIANNA. We gave her a warning and she disregarded it and threatened us. Her abusive actions have led to us shutting down the complaints section on our site. She is furthermore not welcomed as she has lied about us.

In addition we will be pursuing a defamation lawsuit against her if these baseless accusations do not stop.

They are garbage, i am on the phone with them again trying to get my money back. Promised site, never delivered. Wouldn't give me the site we agreed on without more charges. Charged me 2 months without even having a site. Wouldn't give 100% refund either. Steer clear. Garbage.

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

Additional Comment:

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

I got ripped off too. Mr. Strong said contact the BBB they will tell you what a great company they are.

Well I did, filed a complaint. Am suing them for damages. I will not stop till they shut this crook down. I am contacting their local media as well. Stop these crooks. They took 1000 from me and I got nothing. Gave them 5 months to put up my site, which my new person did within hours.

Help SHUT them Down!

I paid Heritage Web Solutions $6000 to design a website for me. Before I paid them they were very nice and assured me that they could handle the assignment I was proposing. After I paid things changed. A project that in my opinion should have taken 1 month took 4. My "project manager" often took 3-4 days to respond to e-mails. In the end I had a site that looked o.k. but DID NOT WORK AT ALL.

Note: This is not a complaint. In order for Heritage Web Solutions to give me the FTP that I needed, they made me sign a document stating that I would not complain about their company. So this is NOT a complaint. I am simply stating that I paid them $6000 to design a website for me. What I think should have taken 1 month took 4. And in the end the site DID NOT WORK and I had to start from scratch with another company.

These are not "compaints" -- these are facts.

THIS COMPANY IS HORRIBLE DO NOT USE HERITAGE THEY WILL JUST TAKE YOUR MONEY AND RUN. FOR EVERYONE THAT GOT SCREWED BY THIS COMPANY I AM SURE THAT YOU SIGNED THERE TOS AWHILE AGO. WELL THEY JUST CHANGED IT BECAUSE SOMEONE FOUND A LOOPHOLE IN IT THAT YOU CAN POST ABOUT THEM ANYWHERE BUT THE INTERNET BECAUSE AS YOU KNOW IF YOU SIGNED THERE TOS YOU CANT TYPE BAD ABOUT THEM OR THEY SUE YOU. THEY DON'T WANT THE PUBLIC TO KNOW HOW BAD THEY S*CK. IT NEVER SAID YOU COULDN'T GO TO OTHER SOURCES OF MEDIA AND DO IT SO I URGE EVERYONE THAT GOT SCREWED TO GO AND LET HTE PUBLIC KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THIS HORRIBLE PIECE OF CRAP COMPANY OUT THERE. THERE ARE A LOT BETTER COMPANIES OUT THERE THAT WILL DO BETTER WORK SO DON'T BE A VICTIM AND GO WITH THIS ONE DO YOUR RESEARCH.

I have had many of the same experiences as many who have written on tis thread, can anyone tell me a good source of finding a new company to manage and care for my website that I can trust?

I would like to say that I was having many of the same experiences as many of you on this thread. I was very frustrated and began searching for answers and alternatives when I found this website. I read the entire thread and to my surprise I read the comments of Brad Stone.

I was pessimistic at first thinking it was just someone from the company writing a fluff piece but I decided to try the email address in hopes that it really was Brad Stone and he really was interested in helping any customer that really was feeling like me.

I wrote to Brad on Saturday and included my experiences that had led me to be so frustrated and by Monday morning my website was being worked on at the pace i expected and by afternoon I had a personal email from Brad apologizing for my experience and personally assuring that my website issues were being resolved.

This entry into the email string is two fold, one to tell everyone to trust that Brad Stone really does care and will resolve your issues if you let him have to chance to do so and two is to thank him for helping me and restoring my faith that Heritage will take care of my website.

Thanks Brad, you have proven to be a stand up guy and an asset to Heritage.

Sincerely,

Jim Campbell

For Jim Campbell;

Yes it really is Brad Stone's email. I wrote him early this morning and got a response later this same morning. Without going into gory details I have had a web site under construction by Heritage since mid September with no clear end in site. I wrote Brad to tell him I was canceling my account. His rapid response was that he was getting someone on it ASAP and he would personally monitor my account which i believe is true since that person called me later this morning.

Unfortunately this response was a bit late as I have found a large public company that will do the work and hosting for much less. I still am waiting for a response to my second email again canceling my account and requesting a refund for work not yet completed. As of 2:36 P. M. Pacific time there has been no response from Brad. I will keep you all posted when I get a response from Brad.

Good companies that are struggling deserve a break shysters need to be drawn and quartered. The jury is still out on Heritage Web Solutions with me at the moment.

Best wishes to all,
Gary Kopp.

I too have reached "the end of the line" with this Company, I have had too many issues with them to go into... my main ones are that it took 14 weeks to get my partly finished site up and running,their blurb states four weeks! I really believe that they are a Sales Motivated Company and once they have your money they do not care... I have been trying to resolve issues for months, my approach has always been respectful but the final straw came last week when I received 2 really offensive emails from two of their employee's. They have no Customer Service and no continuity as they have a large turnover of staff. I have now gone to another company at further expense to put this site right!

Sheila Clarke.

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

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

There are no words to express my disappointment with being tossed aside by this company. I now understand that the contract gives them the right to totally ignore you, which includes not supplying a web site after being paid to build one. It's basically in the contract.

I was almost ready to sign with these guys when I decided to do a search first. Thank God I found this complaint board. Thanks everyone for posting your experiences with Heritage Web Solutions. I'm sure my $1000+ will be well spent somewhere else! Does anyone know of a reputable company that does design and hosting? Thanks again!

Yes, I do know of a reputable company. If you follow these suggestions, you'll find one very much like it.

Price matters, to a point. As others have pointed out, it is unrealistic to expect a professional website done for $200. Think - you want a website to present the totally on-top-of-it image you'd expect if YOU were out shopping for your merchandise or service. Be prepared to spend a little something on it, and be prepared to be involved in the process if you want your site to reflect your look and feel. A good web designer will do much more than put a site up. S/he will code cleanly and well so that updates are easily accomplished, will incorporate good principles of search engine optimization so that people actually find you, and will not try to nickel and dime you into simple page elements that cost them nothing and take 5 mins to implement.

A coder is not a designer. Don't go to your buddy because he "knows php." My 18-year-old knows enough php to run his own social network website, complete with a forum and polls. But no one needs to find the site in a search engine, he doesn't care about look and feel, no one is shopping off of his site, he doesn't deal with affiliate programs or ad placement - you get the drift. YOU are after more than coding here.

If the answer to your question of "How much?" is "What is your budget?", run.

This is a different question though, than when you approach a web designer and say "I have a $2000/$5000/$10000 budget and I need to accomplish the following things - what do you suggest?" Ask that question of several web designers.

Examine their portfolios carefully. Make sure that the clients they claim really are their clients, and if they are no longer, ask the designer AND client why. It may not be for a bad reason. Or it may... Don't just click through from the designer's portfolio, and don't just type the URL into the browser. Google the company.

When checking out a site, does the site work well? Can you find what you need? Does everything load quickly? Does it appear to be through-designed, and not cobbled together with a widget from here and a snip of code from there? Of course, it WILL be written that way, but how well can the designer integrate those pieces so that the site itself is seamless?

Is the copy clean and free of spelling and usage errors? Do all the links work? Can you get to places you're not supposed to be by manipulating the URLs? Do you EVER see a generic error page (like a 404), or Apache server error page, or any kind of an error page that spits out SQL? Do you see "This area under construction"? You should never see any of those things.

In your initial communications with the designer, are your communications answered or returned promptly? If they're flaky about getting back to you before the sale... well, it won't get better after you're already committed.

Provide and own your own domain name. If coming up with a good domain name is part of what you want help with, fine, but when that's been accomplished, you should own it. Many (but by no means all) web designers sell web hosting services, but I don't know a single reputable firm that locks you into a hosting plan unless you specifically want a hosting plan.

Don't be bullied by waves and waves of scary acronyms. A good web designer will be familiar with most web technologies, even though they probably work chiefly with only a few. Obviously, if your website requires a specific technology, find a developer who specializes in it. But s/he should be knowledgeable in others too.

Google your designer's name, and if applicable their company's name. Google it with "scam" or "ripoff" in the search.

See if you can find your designer in the appropriate development forums, and/or Sourceforge. Not everyone is active there, but those people who are active in the developer community have good networks of people from whom to draw inspiration and occasionally answers - no one person has ALL the answers. Have they ever given to the community? An example would be "Hey - I wrote this little widget in Java and it's really useful - here's the code." People who go the extra mile and give to the developer community are more likely to go the extra mile for you, and not nickel and dime you to death.

FInally, get a good maintenance contract in place that clearly spells out what sorts of things the developer will fix for free, what the developer may charge for, and what you can do to keep those costs down. Typically bug fixes are free - errors in coding do happen to even the best, and that risk should be borne by the developer. Who refreshes content? If you're going to have a lot of content changes, make sure you have the tools included in your project that will allow you to do as much as possible yourself.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

PS - I am not a web designer. I came across this page because I was out researching Heritage Web Solutions for a friend of a friend who is more of a coder than a designer, and was looking for some extra work.

Heritage is a rip off. The are simply horrible. Do not do business with them. They cannot be trusted.

This company is the truest of crooks... PLEASE SAVE YOUR SELFS. There is no lower ### then a company that feeds and steels from new small business owners. Heritage Web Solutions specializes in getting your money and frustrating you until you leave. I have hundreds of emails and documents and over 200 hours of wasted time to end up out $1, 300 to Mark Strong who has stolen tens of thousands of dollars from people like you and me. He will simply send a copy of his terms of service. HERITAGE WEB SOLUTIONS TERMS OF SERVICE is over 50 paragraphs of your out of luck. It even says they don’t have to finish the site at all if they don’t want to. I am not kidding. AND BE CAREFUL! THEY SLIP IT BY WHEN YOU DESCRIBE WHAT YOU WANT FOR A WEBSITE... AFTER THAT YOUR OUT AT LEAST $59 PER MONTH FOR 12 MONTHS IN HOSTING FEES PERIOD!

I will paste a letter he sent me below that says if you want to go to small claims court you need to come to Utah. You See he knows its not worth the trip and bam he keeps on steeling! This ### offered me and my business partner $200 because the other $1, 100 should be his for having to email me?

AGAIN SAVE YOURSELFS FROM PURE HELL AND ###!

SEE LETTER FROM CEO MARK STRONG BELOW.

Mark Strong Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 4:04 PM
To: michael rose
Reply | Reply to all | Forward | Print | Delete | Show original
Dear Mr. Rose,

When you accepted Heritage's Terms of Service http://www.heritagewebdesign.com/tos.html on April 2, 2008 you accepted the essence of the third (3rd) paragraph in the Account Termination Agreement. See Section 41.

The purpose of the Account Termination Agreement is simply to put in concise terms the provisions of unwinding our relationship. Heritage doesn't need an additional signed Account Termination Agreement. It is as much for your protection as Heritage's.

It is now your call as to what you want to do. Our position has already been stated: $200 refund and release of Heritage's work to you. If this is not acceptable, then have your attorney communicate with Heritage at:

Heritage Web Solutions
1460 N. Moonriver Drive
Provo, Utah 84604

Attn: Legal Department

As a professional courtesy, please make your attorney aware of Section 43 of the TOS. It establishes the courts in the State of Utah as the courts having jurisdiction in all legal matters. It states:

43. Jurisdiction.

This agreement shall be governed exclusively by the laws of the State of Utah, USA, without regard to any conflicts of laws provisions thereof, as a contract entered into and performed entirely within the State of Utah. The parties herby expressly disclaim the application of the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods. Any disputes between the parties relating to the subject of this agreement shall be submitted exclusively to the jurisdiction of the state or federal courts located in the State of Utah, Counties of Utah or Salt Lake, and the parties expressly consent to personal jurisdiction and venue therein and waive any objection based on forum non convenient or otherwise.

Should you decide to litigate in any other jurisdiction, HWS will engage legal counsel in that jurisdiction. However, HWS will not litigate the merits of the case. Our legal counsel will have the jurisdiction referred to Utah. This “Jurisdiction” provision has been challenged in the courts before and the courts have consistently upheld this provision.

It is hoped that we can terminate this relationship amicably and promptly.

Please advise.
Respectfully,
Mark Strong
Chief Quality Officer
Heritage Web Solutions.

I have a very different experience with Heritage Web Solutions. I found them to be really helpful from the beginning to the end. The Website Designers were really great, answering my questions and helping me find the best design possible for my site. The Tech Support team was wonderful! Everyone I've talked to at Heritage has been helpful and friendly. I love my website and would have them design anything for me.

I am one of the many people that have been skrewed over by this company. I sent emails to the CEO Brad just like what he says to do and it doesn't change anything he is a lier just like the rest of the people that work fo him. He has taught them well. It is time we organized a classaction lawsuit against this company I am sure we can find mor than enough people for that.

Many times, potential customers do not know what quality they will be receiving. That is why our company, Avanix Web, offers free draft designs.

Please visit www.avanixweb.com and fill out our simple form if you are interested. We have created many websites for small businesses and we start from $299. Unfortunately, we cannot match Heritage's rock bottom $199 ;)

We have gotten many calls and emails from individuals complaining about other web developers and their practices. The following article may help anyone seeking web page development. It is entitled "Choosing a Web Developer".

http://blog.calabrix.com/?m=200904

Heritage web solutions took me for $397.50 and when i tried to cancelled the next day, they said it was 50% of the fee and they had the right to keep my money. They are a ripp off company and will say whatever it takes to get your money. They will do a bait and switch on you when they get your money. Do not trust them for a second. I'm contacting the ftc, attorney general and better business bureau about getting my money back from them.

I wish I too did more research before hiring Heritage Web Solutions (AKA Hit Web Design). It is now two years since the process began. I just got my website up and running this month. However, there are things on it that still don't work. I too paid a year's worth of hosting without being live. I complained enough to get them to freeze the account until the work was complete. My site was suppose to go live in April so I started paying hosting fees again but it took till August 5th to go live. They nickle and dime you for everything. The latest complaint I have is that they want to charge me $30 to restore the Adore picture gallery (which I paid $450) that never worked in the first place. A tech support person walked me through Adore (only after trying to charge me for a first time walk through of an added program I paid $450) and unfortunately I hung up before the files were finished loading. Well it never worked. I called back the next day which lasted 45 minutes (mostly on hold) just to be told to email a supervisor. How is this great customer service? They could not give a time frame as to when the problem would be fixed. I am assuming a year since they don't seem to want to finish things you have already paid for. I can't wait for another year of constant calling and bugging/demanding them to finish. Words of advise: Run Run Run! Don't fustrate yourself dealing with Heritage Web Solutions or Hit Web Design. I'm sure the name change is because of too many complaints.

At HIT Web Design, we are committed to maintaining the highest levels of honesty and integrity. We have been able to resolve most of the customer’s complaints from this website. However, there is no such thing as a complaint free company. Research any large company and you will find they have complaints posted about them on the internet, whether justified or not. There are simply a handful of individuals who, regardless of the merits of the issues, post slanderous and/or negative comments. Let me assure all who read this that those few who complain are less than 1% of our total volume of business. Heritage has been able to satisfy every complaint posted, given that customer gives us the opportunity to do so.

I appreciate the comment by "Hayley". HIT has worked hard to advance in the market as well as we have. We also recognize the limitations we have and continue to create and innovate new ways to improve our product and customer service. Regardless of our efforts, and no matter how many people we try to please, some people don't like it.

If you have a specific complaint or concern, please communicate directly with me at QCA@hitwebdesign.com or CEO@hitwebdesign.com.
My personal promise to you is that HIT Wed Design will be completely fair and equitable with you.
Warmest Regards,
Quality Control Administrator

Has anyone noticed that all the responses posted by Hit Management are identical? They have one or two form letters that they slightly modify to fit whatever complaint they are addressing at a particular time... One starts "it is in our best interest to work with customers..." and the other one starts "At Hit Web Design we are committed"... Just check the messages s/he has sent and you'll see!

This is yet another proof that they couldn't care less about the customer... Not even for this they take the time to really dig into what's going on...

Anyone for a civil suit?

I encourage everyone to contact Mr. Matt Nelson (mnelson@hitwebdesign.com) to try and resolve your disputes. This is what I did and we were able to reach an agreement.

I paid almost $3000 for custom programming, they keep on saying they have people work on it, after half years nothing was ever done, and they are charging hosting fee everything month. we cant wait for any longer for our website to go live, business has to run. we called to cancel the service and get money back for the works which not finish, but they said THEY DONT HAVE TIME LIMITE TO FINISH THE WORK ON THE CONTRACT, AND THEY HAVE RIGHT NOT TO ISSUE REFUND, and they said they will cancel our website, we need to look for other company to host it. we cant file dispute with credit card company after 3 month, WTF we lost $3000 for nothing. We are looking an atterney to sue this company, I can join you guys if anybody else want to sue this company, please contact me johnli7777@hotmail.com

I have a client that uses Heritage Web design. This is the very worst company I have ever witness on the web. From the lies, to the totally inept staff and designers. They must be hiring only college interns with no web experience. I am amazed that a web designer had never heard of optimizing an image. These guys are crooks. They prey on the inexperienced retail business person. They are terrible to deal with, terrible customer service and totally inept staff.

STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY!

Again STAY AWAY from these people they will ruin your web experience and make your business look foolish.

People with complaints with Hit Web Design should check out, and comment on this thread HIT Web Design/ Heritage Web Solutions — bad business to work with/for! abc4 news utah will expose!

A lot of ex-employees and people in the know are writing on there and sharing their insight and experience with Hit Web Design and Heritage Web Solutions there.

Doing business with a fraudulent company like Heritage, is like being robbed, and having the thief tell you that if you call the police...he'll sue you for "defamation of character." This has to be the worst business in the United States.

Beware of HIT Web Design, this company advertises a website built for $199 on the website, BUT NO ONE CAN BUY A WEBSITE FOR THIS ADVERTISED PRICE. This is a violation of Deceptive Trade Practices - Consumer Protection Act.

Any consumer that purchases this advertised website will be billed to pay an additional 12 months of internet hosting with this company, with or without your knowledge.

The terms of service document referred to in the communication below was not presented prior to payment and never explained by any agent of HIT Web Design.

The Communication

Consumer: Are the my account manager for my account? If so I have 5 hours of design time that I would like to use to design a new site, and update my logo.

HIT web Design: your account is in collections for one month of hosting or $9.99. If you call our accounting department then you can get that cleared and we can move forward.

The design time that you are referring to is used to make changes on the account for no cost. So yes, you can submit an update request and make changes to your site and logo.

However, update time is not sufficient when you are designing a new site. This would take a redesign package and is an additional cost which doesn't use update time.

Consumer: Your company is not hosting my site so I should not be in your collections department. Please call asap to resolve the matter.

HIT Web Design: Your website is indeed on our server so yes you are hosting with us. I am not an account manager.

I am a cancellation specialist and again your account is in collections for one month hosting and will stop everything on the account until you speak with our accounting department.

Me speaking with you would not help until after you speak with accounting.
If you need further help in this matter just call customer service ext. XXXX

Consumer: 9.99 has been paid, please please release my website information so I can move to another vendor.

HIT Web Design: After reviewing the account for the release of information, we found out that you have only paid for 3 months of hosting.

You had purchased a year of hosting but had it canceled and refunded back to you shortly after. After that we didn't resume the hosting fee of $9.99 each month because of an unfortunate billing error in our system. Along with the $9.99 that you paid today, you have only paid for 3 months and per our Terms of Service (TOS) we require 12 months of hosting paid before we can release any information.

This would be a remaining balance of $90 if you want to do that right now. You can also wait for 9 months or buyout the hosting at anytime in the future.

I cannot release any information to you.

Consumer: Please see attached invoice that shows the paid hosting, also I have never purchased 12 months of hosting from your company although an account rep with HIT Web Design did charge my credit card without my authorization, is this the cancelation you are referring? Also, I would like to talk to your manager about my account asap.

HIT Web Design: The invoice shows the year of hosting that was canceled. That is the hosting that I was talking about in the previous email. This was reviewed by our accounting department and is does show that the year of hosting was canceled. As for speaking with a manager, I report to a board of managers.

I am the highest person you can speak with concerning this because it is the job of my department and this is in accordance to the TOS that you signed agreeing to these terms.

Consumer: When I purchased my website. The terms and conditions were not represented to include a year of hosting to “own” my site. HIT has been nothing but a headache to deal with and I’m tired of dealing with a story that keeps changing depending on who I talk to, I am going to offer you one more chance to solve this issue.

Please have someone at your company who has the authority to resolve this issue contact me asap.

HIT Web Design: You will have to pay the 9 months if you would like the website files.

Consumer: When I purchased my website the HIT representative told me that I would own my site and it could be moved to any hosting provider at my discretion, also I was explained to me that I could use the design time at my discretion.

HIT Web Design: It is true that you can do what you would like with the files after you pay 12 months of hosting and complete that requirement per the TOS. It states this in our TOS very clearly.

Consumer: Attached is an Bill of Sale which details the purchase details of my account, the billing invoice which includes all items purchased & terms of service does not indicate that I am required to purchase 12 months of internet hosting.

Also, where exactly in the TOS you keep referring does it specifically state that I am required to purchase hosting with HIT for 12 months in additional to the package I purchased to own my website?

HIT Web Design: This invoice does not help me. And yes, it states it twice within the TOS. Sections 24 and 25.If you want the files than you must pay for 9 months of hosting ($90)

Consumer: I never agreed to the terms of service that you keep referring, in fact I did not receive any information regarding the terms of service until after my purchase was made and payment issued. The sales agents I worked with did not ever mention or review these terms of service or provide any details of the terms of service in written from prior to my payment.

The terms I agreed to are include in my invoice of payment, the invoice indicates 2 webpages, server set up and 3 months of hosting which has all been paid in full.

HIT Web Design: We have your acceptance here on record with your IP address so you did accept it. The TOS that you accepted are not sent in an email.

If you have paid for the site in full than that is great. But TOS states you need to have 12 months paid to have anything released.

Consumer: Show me...

HIT Web Design: I can't show you the exact place you accepted it because it only comes up when a new customer goes into the web center for the first time before going into the Online Design Packet (ODP). I have given you the link to view the TOS and we have documentation showing that you did indeed accept it. 9 months need to be paid

Consumer: Please stop telling that I accepted these terms because I know what I agreed to and what I did not, 12 months of hosting to own my site was never discussed.

Are telling me that additional fees are assumed by any customer with or without their knowledge is your business practice, which is proving to be my experience. When I ask for proof that I accepted these terms of service you cannot provide evidence to support your claim.

Are all HIT clients required to host for 12 months with your company regardless if they understand the terms or agree to the terms?

HIT Web Design: I do not need to discuss this further. Here is your proof:

IP address: XX.XXX.XXX.XX

This is a unique number that you have and is received through our TOS acceptance for future use for cases just like this. This is all we need as proof in any system.

Any customer who accepts the terms are obliged to this and it is their responsibility to read the TOS just like in every other terms of service in any company or organization.

I have told you what you need to do to get your files so you can do so or not.

Consumer: I will be filing a formal complaint to the Utah Division of Consumer Protection, and The Provo Chapter of the Better Business Bureau, and the Provo Chamber of Commerce regarding HIT business practices specifically sales misrepresentation of product pricing and services offered to consumers.

I agree. I paid HIT (formerly Heritage Web Design) in full web all requirements, content, and descriptions. Once they received my funds follow up ended, responses ended, everyone blamed everyone else and no one took ownership. THEY ARE A RIPPED OFF. I will be reporting them to the BBB. It has been 5 months after my payments. Customers be aware of the SCAM...

Utah County, State of Utah is one of the leading places nationwide in white collar crimes that go un-prosecuted due to a lack of funding and allocated resources.

The Utah County Attorney cannot or will not investigate nor prosecute a crime without a police report. Once they receive a report, they must choose which cases to pursue. NSF checks payable to employees or consumers are low on the list. They refer the lack of payment of wages to the Utah Labor Commission. They refer the NSF check to customers to their local police department. The local police department refers the victim to the police department where the business does business, which in this case is Provo Police Department.

Consumers must file a police report before the County Attorney can even consider the case regarding the taking of funds from account without authorization, the promise to deliver services and the keep of funds paid even though the services are never delivered or delivered satisfactorily.

The Utah County, Provo Police Department discourages the filing of police reports, claiming that the victim has to prove intent. They have also informed individuals that they can take the report, but that the County Attorney will just send it back to them and do nothing.

The Attorney Generals office gives out this response:

“Thank you for writing to the Utah Attorney General's Office. The Attorney General’s Office is counsel to the state agencies. A case would have to be referred by a state agency in order for this office to get involved as we can only advise our client agencies. The Labor Commission is a state agency and they would have to refer a case to our office in order for us to get involved and we would represent them in court.

I trust you will find this helpful.”

The BBB take reports, it does not resolve them nor does it possess any authority to do anything about the complaints. It has been under investigation for buy outs for improved ratings, though this company has the lowest rating it can get. Filing a complaint with the BBB make the complaints available to anyone using the BBB as a reference, however the marking of the complaint as resolved does not necessary mean to the satisfaction of the Consumer.

EMPLOYEES WHO HAVE NOT BEEN PAID:

You can continue to work for the company and file a wage claim. If you have not been paid, we encourage you to really think about why you work for free. The claim that you will not get paid any faster if you file a wage claim is simply not true. In addition to your wages, you will also be entitled to receive ½ of the 5% daily penalty. You can contact the division of labor at [protected] if you have any questions. You can fax it for $0.98 at http://www.gotfreefax.com/. Even if you work outside he state of Utah, you should file your wage claim with the Utah Division of Labor as the company is within its legal jurisdiction. Other rules may apply to your state, we suggest that you contact your states labor division for any questions.

If you live in Utah you can file for unemployment benefits for just cause of non-payment of wages. A partial wage is not a full wage and therefore qualifies as non-payment of wages. Contact the Utah Unemployment Services at [protected] or Apply on line at https://jobs.utah.gov/ui/InitialClaims . You will need to register for work through the Department of Workforce Services at https://jobs.utah.gov/sso/login.aspx?application=UWORKS&returnurl=%2Fjsp%2Futahjobs%2Flogin.do

The unemployment office will tell you that they need to review your case before making a decision to see if you qualify. You should be aware that the unemployment claims of those who have left this company for Non-sufficient fund payroll checks and/or, non payment of payroll have been approved. There is usually a 1 week delay before benefits begin. The amount of benefits that you may receive is determined on a case by case basis. You may speak with a representative of the Utah Unemployment Services to help you determine the amount of benefits you will receive.

Many employees who have left the company have found new jobs and are much happier due to the elimination of the stress of not know if or when they will be paid.

CONSUMERS THAT HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE PRODUCT or ARE DISSATISFIED WITH THE SERVICE:

You may file a civil suite for failure to deliver services/product in a timely and workmanlike manner with the Utah County Justice Court. The small claims court address is:

310 West Center Street
Provo, UT 84601

Main Telephone: [protected]
Main Fax: [protected]

Forms are available at

http://www.utcourts.gov/howto/smallclaims/

Filing Fees

Small Claims
$2, 000 or less (1)(c)(i) 60.00
Greater than $2, 000 and less than $7, 500 100.00
Greater than $7, 500 and less than $10, 000 185.00

Amounts over $10, 000.00 are filed through a civil proceeding in the Utah County District Court, located in Provo Utah.

If you live out of state or cannot travel to appear in court, contact the court and request to appear telephonically. You must appear either in person or over the phone. If you fail to appear the your case may be dismissed.

Contact your credit card company and file a claim for reimbursement of non-deliver of a product. Ask for a new credit card to prevent any further payments for being debited.

If you used a debit card, contact your financial institution and request a stop payment on any transaction from this company. Request that your account number be changed due to unauthorized debits.

Keep in mind that this company will use the contract against refunding any payments.

The (TOS) Terms of service that states

7. Intellectual Property Policy

Domain names purchased by HIT and website designs, databases, stores, or programs created by HIT are the property of HIT until Client has paid all fees including one full year of monthly hosting. (See Domain Names Purchase/Hosting Agreement

11. Completion Timeframes
Client understands, agrees and acknowledges that HIT does not guarantee a time frame for completion of ANY website.

34. Cancellation Fee and Refund Policy

MINIMUM CANCELLATION FEE – Client agrees that a minimum cancellation fee of 50% will be retained by HIT on all cancelled accounts even if no work has been started.

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

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.

Beware of any contract that states:
• cancellation fee of 50%.
• does not guarantee a time frame for completion.
• no refund after 90 day of initial sale.

Such a company is not under any pressure to perform, they postpone the work as long as they like and then claim that it is past the 90 days and you are not entitled to a refund. There are plenty of developers out there that will not have you sign a contract such a contract. An ethical company would provide a full refund, if services are not rendered, they would also deliver a product to the full satisfaction of the purchaser.

Be advised that this company does not own the web servers that the sites are hosted on. At present they lease the server space through Fibernet, they use freeware OS and server software. Their contract locks you into payment of one year of web hosting through them or you do not own your site.

This contract is too one sided and not for mutual benefit of all the parties. Stay away from it.

OTHER INFORMATION:

This company owes more than 8.5 million in taxes running back to 2006. They owe approximately $340, 000.00 in back wages with a bimonthly payroll of $120, 000.00 or $240, 000.00 per month. Plus they have a judgment against them for $44, 000.00 from Aetna Health. They have no assets and lease a run down bowling alley.

They receive an estimated $600, 000.00 in monthly merchant transactions.

The inside set up resembles a boiler room. It does not presently look like the pictures on its site. It is fairly dark inside because most of the lights are off. Carpet is torn and unclean. The treatment of its employees has been described like a sweat shop. Several employees have lost everything and have become homeless due to the non-payment of wages.