Globat Web Hosting Fraud - Automatic Upgrade

The Automatic Upgrade Ripoff of Globat.com

One of my customers has just forwarded the e-mail below. He asked me if I’ve ever heard something like this before. and indeed I have. It was Globat.com again, several years ago when Lou Rio suddenly had the brilliant idea to upgrade all user accounts to a so called T2 package. The automatic upgrade then, was ‘only’ 19.95$ per year. At this time i had several websites hosted at Globat.com myself and despite the fact that i already had a T2 package, my account was upgraded and charged anyway. I never got the e-mail though. Since it came from a very suspicious e-mail address it had landed in the junk mail where it was supposed to land.

When I found out about the automatic upgrade, I immediately called Globat to reverse the process. It took many e-mails, calls and month until the 19.95$ where back on my account. Even though my Globat account had many month to go and transferring websites sure isn’t one of my most favored jobs to do, I moved out almost instantly. I packed my bundle and went to Blue Host, a reliable and affordable web host, that gets better and better every year. Even though I never had a problem since and the support on my new web host has always been great, I could not convince all of my customers to move out there. By now, only one of my customers still has a Globat account, or should i say had?

Several years have passed by since i moved out and I never thought of Globat again until I got the e-mail from my customer this morning. The e-mail was sent from: Received:(from nobody@localhost)so it for sure would land in the junk mail. For good reason. If you have a Globat account and you are not lucky enough to find this mail in your junk mail box, your account will automatically be charged 49.95$ from hereon after, year after year. And for what? For that people can watch your website on there cell phones and i-pods; like they couldn’t without this upgrade…

I mean FULLY AUTOMATICALLY! If you don’t say explicitly NO, the Ferrari is yours! you bought it, you pay for it! Even though you actually got a Mazda instead.

I thought i let the world now what’s going on as soon as possible. If you have your web site hosted on Globat.com, beware! 49.95 will be charged from your credit card by May 1st 2008, if you don’t click the specially provided link in the specially prepared ‘ to become junk ‘ e-mail below. Another way to have as little rejections as possible. Think of it, Globat claims to host over 100′000 websites, multiply this with the automatic upgrade of 49.95 and you got 5 Million Dollars for sending out a single e-mail and hoping that no one finds it! Wouhhw That’s taking Internet Marketing to a complete new dimension. If we go down that road, beware of car dealers, real estate agents and the rest of the world. Suddenly you own a House and a Ferrari and a Lear Jet, just because you didn’t explicitly say No, I don’t want to buy that!

I’ve just checked back on Globat.com hosting accounts. I compared the account volume to my Blue Host account and had a laugh more. They offer 500 GB less web space, 14′000 GB less Bandwidth/month - yes that’s right 14 Terra bite less! - only 10 domains on one account instead of unlimited, the free domain name is free for the first year only, 3 MySql databases instead of the 50 at Blue Host and so on, the list would get too long here. All this for the exactly same price as my own account. 6.95/month. BUT, remember the automatic upgrade! As soon as you signup, you’ll be upgraded automatically and out of the 6.95 we get 11.10$/month for a not very big package i have to say. In the future we will all work with video on our websites and we WILL need large bandwith packages today, otherwise we’ll end up paying extra bandwith soon.

For details of what you get at Blue Host read this, the list is slightly longer than the one you’ll find at globat.com.

Here the original automatic update mail from Globat.com

Dear xxxxx,

Every day, more and more people are relying on mobile devices to stay connected. No longer used by just business travelers, mobile devices are now used by everyone from teenagers to CEO’s. Plus, with many cell phones now offering the ability to browse the Web, a large amount of consumers are now viewing Web sites on mobile devices.

Are you missing out on these visitors? The unique nature of mobile devices means that your Web site must be coded correctly to show up on these smaller screens and with faster loading times. With our new tool, GloMobile(tm), you can do just that with no programming knowledge at all. In 10 days from this date, we will upgrade you to this powerful tool for just the low access fee of $49.95 per year. GloMobile will ensure that you don’t miss out on the millions on users browsing the Internet on their cell phones and other mobile devices.

Here’s what GloMobile will do for you:

? Generate a version of your Web site easily accessible cell phones and other mobile devices
? Your Web site will be easier to read and navigate for mobile device users
? The correct version of your Web site will load depending on the device accessing it (mobile version vs standard version)

GloMobile is very easy to use and will bring your site to a new, professional level. For more information about GloMobile, please visit the following link:

xxx://www.globat.com/learnmore_glomobile.htm
(If link does not work, please copy and paste the entire link into your browser.)

= = = Important: This Is an Automatic Upgrade = = =

Since we began our upgrade program, we have received lots of feedback from our customers who only heard about these upgrade promotions too late or through a friend. Many customers then suggested that we utilize an automatic upgrade process along with some form of an additional incentive to initiate these upgrades. Well, we have listened to your feedback and we are acting on it!

As one of our most valued customers and based on our customer feedback, we are absolutely certain that you want to take advantage of this opportunity. For years, our customers have been looking for something like this, and we’re excited to finally be able to offer it. You do not want to miss out on this opportunity.

For that reason, we will automatically upgrade your current hosting package by adding GloMobile and charging the $49.95 access fee to your account on file on Thursday, May 1, 2008, unless you specifically tell us not to upgrade you by clicking on the link at the end of this e-mail.

Last but not least, your upgraded account will also qualify for 3 free months of hosting once the upgrade is complete and you are fully satisfied with it. I know that this sounds too good to pass up, but if you for any reason do NOT wish to take advantage of this incredible upgrade promotion, you will need to tell us so by clicking on the link at the end of this e-mail.

If you are still not convinced that this is a tremendous opportunity and you are positive that you do not want to participate, you need to tell us not to upgrade your account by clicking on the link below. (If you do not click this link, your account will automatically be upgraded and you will be charged the $49.95 access fee per year.):

NO, I DO NOT WANT this upgrade and hereby decline my 3 free months (click below):
xxxx://www.globat.com/optout_glomobile.php?xxxxxx
(If link does not work, please copy and paste the entire link into your browser.)

Thank you for your continued trust! If you have any additional questions about this new package, please contact us anytime at tbupgrade1@globat.com, or call us at 1-877-245-6228.

Best regards,

Globat.com - Sales and Marketing Team
(877) 245-6228 for US Customers
(323) 874-9000 for International Customers

Some similar experience must have been made by thousands of people. Searching at Google for globat automatic upgrade though reveals less than 400 results. What does that say to you? Most people won’t even realize that they’ve been charged, and most disturbing I find the fact that not thousands of people would at least complain about these very suspicious practices. Have we all gotten used to be cheated on?

Similar stories about Globat.com:

• http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/179884/consumer_watch_globatcoms_questionable.html
• http://blog.lifebeyondcode.com/2008/02/11/from-globat-with-love-automatic-upgrade/
• http://www.jasonslater.co.uk/2008/02/26/globat-automatic-charges-what-are-you-doing/