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Marie says:

Raoul,

Well, you have to give credit to those guys at GISOL. At least they are consistent. I think I’m getting closer to the end of this NIGHTMARE!! The service from these guys was absolutely unbelievable. Everything you described happened to me and this experience is also developing into an unfortunate dislike for help led by people who don’t know how to speak the English language. This is unfortunate but true. I have little patience for bad service. I have no tolerance for the possiblity that my dollars are going to a company overseas who could give a damn whether their incompetence ruins my business. What’s worse, there isn’t any oversight in this country of this kind of abuse. I’ve submitted a complaint to the BBB, I’ve called the California Attorney General Office and its like the complaints just evaporate into the place where my lost emails are sitting.

You have to wonder if this is the result of having a ‘global’ economy where there is little or no recourse for horrid, international service. Basically, you have a terrible American company hiding behind a terrible Indian company. I can’t describe the amount of stress and anxiety this experience has introduced into my life. I wasted COUNTLESS hours with these idiots only to either get yet another trouble ticket, their ’senior technicians’ are working on the problem or hung up on after I FINALLY talked with a human.

bad, bad news…

Comment — July 10, 2006 @ 10:29 pm



Raoul says:

Thank you for your comments, Marie. I doubted I was an isolated case when it came to GISOL’s execrable service and non-existent reliability.

Comment — July 11, 2006 @ 6:44 am



Cortney says:

I am at a 2 month wait for my refund. I cancelled my account within hours of them deducting the money from my account. They said they had to take 1 month’s fees. I have yet to see the rest of the money. Any suggestions. I have called both numbers and emailed the refunds, admin and troubletickets @ gisol.com

I was told in July via email that my refund will be processed shortly.

Any suggestions of what I can do?

Comment — August 30, 2006 @ 10:43 am



Raoul says:

Cortney, I’m in the same boat. I’m working with my bank to get the charges refunded to me. I recommend you do the same. Beware, it’ll be a long process. Gisol cronies even had the nerve to write to my bank demanding that the charges be reinstated, since they “are still providing service for me”, which is an outright lie. I honestly think these criminals are defrauding tens, if not hundreds of customers, in a similar fashion, and a class action lawsuit would serve them well. However, I haven’t got the time for something like that, but I sure wish someone did.

Comment — August 30, 2006 @ 11:02 am



Brent says:

Ihaven’t experianced too much downtime on the web servers, but definite problems with the email servers.
Like mentioned by other no knowledgable customer service.
POOR, POOR POOR

Comment — October 2, 2006 @ 12:50 pm



Tony says:

Just adding to the voice of the crowd, very slow server responses, lots of timeouts, tech support was a waste of time. Phone and “live chat” felt outsourced, and as for refunds, they came up with a figure they’d refund, would not state how they arrived at it, and as as weeks after canceling the service they have yet to make the refund.

I set up an automated email process to remind their refund@ address, over 1600 have gone out, not one reply!

My credit card company will not entertain a charge back on the grounds that I have received some service. They tried calling gisol and got a message that the number was no longer in use.

Don’t forget to report your experiences to the BBB. I find it incredible that this company is allowed to operate. I have found the same complaints about them going back to 2000!

Comment — October 11, 2006 @ 2:17 pm



Raoul says:

Thanks for sharing your experience, Tony!

Comment — October 11, 2006 @ 2:21 pm



Tony says:

I don’t know how they’re doing it, but their BBB rating has been reduced to a D from F! In my case, they lied to the BBB stating I had initiated a charge back, and therefore they canceled the refund process as per their terms. There has been no charge back, and I suggested the BBB demand physical proof before accepting their words at face value. A copy of such a document would be of great interest to the law.

I’m sure a number of complaints have been removed from the BBB records recently too, and they’re definitely having problems with their data. My case doesn’t show up, yet I received a letter from them stating the cannot communicate with the company so they have closed the case. So it looks like that’s the end of it and the company gets away with another scam.

I’ve seen a few references to making a class action suit against them, has anyone further information?

Comment — December 12, 2006 @ 11:44 am



Rebecca Foster says:

I knew there had to be other people who have been scammed by this awful “company”. I have been driven to the brink by them and ready to jump. I have waited for my refund since sept, 2006. the last email was returned stating there is no such email address. What else can be done? They also are holding my domain name hostage and lied saying i was only “renting” the domain name from them. Who in their right mind would “rent” a domain name and be forever tied to a bunch of assholes like that?

Comment — January 1, 2007 @ 6:51 pm



Raoul says:

Hey Rebecca. Your problems are typical when it comes to Gisol. You’ll need to keep pressing them, and speak to real people on the phone when you can, don’t leave messages. And also file a case with the local Better Business Bureau and follow up with the BBB to make sure it gets resolved somehow. Also contact your credit card company and tell them Gisol is committing fraud. Feel free to print out this post and send it to your bank as proof that you’re not the only one with Gisol problems. I am shocked that these thieves are still allowed to be in business. If they are registered in the US as a company, they should be banned from doing business here, permanently.

Comment — January 1, 2007 @ 7:13 pm



Grant says:

I’m relieved to find this forum!

Like Rebecca, I’ve been told we’ve been only leasing the domain name from them for all these years. We have a cached whois report from april 06′ stating that we were the registrants… then at some point this summer gisol became the registrants!

With some effort, I was able yesterday to have a conversation with Adam and then with Brian at gisol.
They explained that the company was restructured this past summer, and they were part of the new team. They apologized, but said there was simply nothing that could be done, other than us “buying out” of the lease for $499.00 or staying put.

Brian spent a lot of time trying to convince me to stay. He said the problems that I’d been having were due to the fact that I had been a customer since 2002, and therefore on an old server. If I re-up, I’d be put on a great new server and I’d be very happy. I doubt it.

I got a sypathetic ear from dotster.com where gisol now keeps it’s registered account

I will contact the bbb. I hope we can get out from under these rascals!

Comment — January 9, 2007 @ 9:14 am



Tony says:

Everyone should check their credit card statements! Despite all the trouble and zero refund from GISOL, I have just discovered they have made a charge against my credit card!

Comment — February 1, 2007 @ 7:08 pm



Tony says:

Sorry, I should add “another charge several months after the account was closed”.

Comment — February 1, 2007 @ 7:14 pm



Raoul says:

That stinks, Tony, I’m sorry. If I were you, I’d ask the credit card company to change my account, or cancel that card altogether if they’re not willing to work with you to get rid of the GISOL charges.

Comment — February 1, 2007 @ 7:16 pm



Wilson Velez says:

As of the writing of this comment my site is down and is hosted on gisol. Same problem with the domain, they said is leased. How can I fight for my domain, I even had to pay for redemption period because the domain expired and they never told me anything. Any advice.

Comment — April 4, 2007 @ 10:18 am



ck_ says:

Wow…. I wish I had seen this sooner….

I have been trying to get a refund from them now for about a month. Mine was due to them charging both my credit card and paypal for my annual service. They acknowledge the credit but refuse to refund it. I have since asked to close my account and have been given nothing but a run-around. refund@gisol.com must go right to a cyber shredder… .because they do not reply.

Comment — May 8, 2007 @ 5:00 pm



chris says:

Wow.
GISOL took my site down this weekend without notice. This despite my ‘prepaying’ them for 12 mos. service in March 07. They said they “don’t offer that plan anymore” and were retiring that server.

GISOL said they would not refund any money and that their contract allows them to change terms of the agreement at will.

I’ve got to go to small claims court for this. Unbelievable. Steve (ID 3416) in their billing department and Adam (ID 75832) his boss were my contacts at GISOL for this unbelievable conversation.

Comment — May 21, 2007 @ 2:22 pm



Raoul says:

Everyone, I encourage you to pursue refunds through whatever channels are available to you: bank/CC company, BBB, or even in court. Do not let GISOL off the hook.

Comment — May 21, 2007 @ 2:29 pm



Tony Lopez says:

Hello,

I am another in what looks to be a long line of people given a hard time in settling their billing/service disputes with gisol.com.

I am realizing that my case as well will probably involve legal counsel at some point.

I just signed up for service with gisol.com on 05/16/2007 and am already trying to cancel services and be re-imbursed for 36 months of charges I did not agree to in the first place as of 05/21/2007.

For anyone already involved in a legal case please forward my contact information on to your legal representatives in hopes we can get a class action lawsuit going.

For anyone just getting started yourselves please contact me should you be up for a class action lawsuit if our cases can be aligned to do so.

Tony Lopez
Tony@professionalfriends.com (not hosted on gisol.com)

Comment — May 21, 2007 @ 9:35 pm



Kristen says:

I am definately up for a class action lawsuit. It’s actually physically painful for me to write my experience (again) with these crooks, so I’m just going to copy and paste from an email to my lawyer friend in California:

Comment — June 14, 2007 @ 10:51 am



Kristen says:

I am definately up for a class action lawsuit. Listen to this sad sad story below, and beware!

I’ve been with Gisol since before 2003. As a poor graduate student at the time, they seemed to have the best deal and my trusted and well-respected Web Professor had been the one to recommend them. I in turn became a Professor and have recommended them to my poor students as a first web host. I feel awful to have exposed them to such a scam.

I’ve had server issues with them in the past but nothing like what I went through recently in May/June 2007.

I tried to renew one of my web accounts online via their control panel back in March. Their control panel had a glitch and the payment apparently never went through. In May, my site was offline with no notice. I contacted their tech support and spoke with “Shaun.” He told me that I should move that site into my current hosting plan via their control panel. I did as he said, paid $53 to add the second domain name, and all was fixed. The next day my account was supended and ALL my websites were offline, including a non-profit site I run for needy children, my personal website, and all my class websites I use to teach my University students.

I learned that Gisol said that this action THEIR tech support walked me through was not allowed and that they’d be charging me a $499 violation fee! On top of this, I learned that because I “let” my other account expire, payment was due and a Collection Agency was going to try to collect an additional $399 for that.

After an angry outburst, I nearly dissolved into tears with tech support over the phone. I live in Italy so just calling them costs me money. Amazingly THEY CALLED ME back in one hour. It was “Senior Tech, Shawn Alexander.” He said that the only thing I could do was upgrade to a prepaid plan for over $700. Plus there was a $95 “upgrade fee.” He threatened that I could either do this, or pay the violation charges, risk my good credit rating with their Collection Agency, and remain with suspended accounts even though the primary one had already been paid for until May 2008. He told me I’d pay upfront now, but since the violation fees appeared not to be my fault, he’d give me 7 months free and in January I can get a refund. Because I had violation fees against me, this was “already in the system and he could not undo them.” According to Shawn Alexander, his plan for web hosting salvation via an unwanted 3 year prepaid account was the only way…

I asked if I could think about it because I knew of their increasingly poor reputation and recent F rating at the BBB. (The last time i had checked 6 months or so before it was a B.) He told me I had to decide NOW because “they charge violation fees on Fridays and if I waited, the Collection Agency would be after me.” He said that since I live outside the US, they would then have to go after my husband who is living in the US. Also, “The Collection Agency can’t be paid with credit cards so therefore my checking account details were needed.”

I KNEW I shouldn’t have given them this info over the phone but Shawn Alexander tried to placate my fears by giving me his badge number, his personal phone # (which is the same tech support number you can find on their website) and personal email (admin@gisol.com) that no one ever answers. He said that I’d only be charged once and that to abuse this information “(laughs) would be illegal!” Furthermore he stated, “This call is being recorded and a transcript will be available in my control panel. (Of course it never was…) The reason we have an F with the BBB is because we decided not to become a member.”

Argh. I knew I was being bamboozled, but they used my tired mind (in my timezone it was nearly midnight), scare tactics of a collection agency, and a lack of time to think it over all to hook me in.

They did provide the service and as I have transferred now all my domains to GoDaddy and set up hosting with them, I am using their crappy service as backup. I plan to eventually cancel. I’m sure that if I try to get the supposedly promised refund in January it will never happen. In other news, one of my domain names is being held hostage by them. They will let me have it if I pay $500. I won’t pay! Thank goodness my other two more important domains were registered with other companys.

I plan to change my checking account info and eventually cancel. I’m trying to look at this as some kind of annoying unexpected car payment…but I am angry. How many other people are they scamming?

Class action! Class action! Class action! Please let me know if one is being formed against Gisol.

Comment — June 14, 2007 @ 11:26 am



Raoul says:

Kristen, this is unbelievable. Those thieving bastards should be tarred, feathered, and run out of the US for good.

Comment — June 14, 2007 @ 11:30 am



Julie Barrett says:

Holy cow! Hope you guys get some resolution. I don’t have a Digg account, but will link to this from my site.

Comment — June 14, 2007 @ 12:35 pm



ComeAcross » Beware of GISOL says:

[...] I wrote a post over a year ago detailing my nightmare experience with GISOL, a supposed web hosting company whose performance was missing in action and whose promises were stuffed so full of lies they were busting at the seams. I encourage you to read about what I had to say, but more than that, to also read the comments. You see, my story struck a chord with other users who were lied to and swindled by the thieves at GISOL, and they left poignant comments detailing their plight. [...]

Pingback — June 14, 2007 @ 11:07 pm



Phil M. says:

I just filed a complaint with the IC3 (which is the FBI related unit regarding internet crime) as well as the National fraud Bureau, the office of the attorney general of California and the district attorney of Los Angeles, because this company must to be shut down !!! more people file, more weight we will have and the autorities will investigate them . I believe it is a one man operated company, they move a lot, the adress where the company is registered is a private residence where a Mr. Lee is living and he never had anything to do with this company. The adress listed on their website (on Santa Monica Bvd) is a virtual office where they only retrieve their mail. All the phone number of this company are unlisted and caller id blocked. I managed to trace few of them with adresses attached to them but, some are disconnected, some have an answering machine on, and some have Madonna music on… The company is hiding and moving from one adress to another one so nobody can trace them (I should say “him”, as every single phone contact I had was always with the same person who changes his name everyday to make believe there are 800 employees in the company… Voice recorded proved me it was the same person!!!) They only have 2 server and I believe they are from a very small size. so to keep the flow of money coming in, they eliminate already paid customer to make space for other future victim ! They have a “F” with the BBB , because they have close to 300 complaint against them. when you live outside the country, like myself also, you are more at risk to be their victim. However Here is what happen to me :

13 month ago I sign up for a 30 month package which include a “free domain” and a 1 year automatic domain renewal option. Last month I suddenly couldn’t log into my website. I contacted them by email and they responded that my account was into redemtion and that the sales department was going to contact me. Which they did, by phone , the same day. The Gentleman who call me on my foreign cell phone certainly never expected my caller id picking up his number (as it is unlisted and caller id blocked..) but the number came on my screen. He told me that they made sevearl attempt to contact me to inform me that my domain was going to fall in redemtion (which is false, I checked with my email provider and none of GISOL email went throught their system..) and now I will have to pay $399.95 redemtion release fee and $9.95 to renew the domain. I questioned the fee, he told me that GISOL didn’t get one penney of tis money and that it goes all to….ICANN !!! I needed my website as it was my professional tool so I call back the next day the number who was on my cell phone to pay. The guy was extremely surprise when he pick up the phone, he was the same than the one I spoke with the day before. He told me that my credit card will reflect two charges : one of $99.95 to the order of allindomain and on of $309.95 to the order of GISOL… and he hung up ! I contacted ICANN to have some explaination, was answered that my domain was registered with allindomain and that their fee was certainly $90 to release and $9.95 to renew, so I assume that GISOL just screewed me from $309.95. I sent an email to sales and admin, to question the fact I was billed that kind of money and the fact that I had a 1 year automatic domain renewal option and that they didn’t respected it and let my domain go in redemtion. Their answer was just unprofessional, agressive and threatening: “WE TOLD YOU THAT WE DON”T GET ONE CENTS OF THAT MONEY !!! Do you want us to cancel your account ? Sales departement”

I told them to do not cancel my account, that they didn’t responded to my question, therefor I was filing a complaint with the BBB. Next email from them was : “Your account has been suspended. Please contact the admin departement to discuss your suspension” I call the number, the guy made believe he never spoke with me and he didn’t knew me, he told me that their system was in upgrading so he couldn’t have access to the file, and to call back after 5pm pacific time. I did… their office was closed. I call back the next day, when the guy pick up he reconized my voice , he hung up! itried again it was of the hook, then tried again he hung up again, tried again had an answering machine, thired again few hour later : number has been disconnected. I contacted them,asking to reactivate immediatly and they send me another email saying :”we are whiling to continue working with you if you contact the BBB and tell them tha our issues have been resolved”. I did it, I knew I shouldn’t had but I really needed my site to work, so I send them the proof of it asking them to reactivate. They answered one week later :” decision have been made by our management to do not provide you service. We strongly recommend you to govern yourself accordingly and to use the service of a lawyer for future correspondance with us.” I cannot transfer my domain as I found out they never registered it under my name on the first palce but under their name and that “they were renting it to me”(dixto).End of the story !!! I am disputing the charges on my credit card, as I paid for a service they choose to do not provide less than 24 hour after payment, and I filled complaint to the IC3 (which is the FBI related unit regarding internet crime) as well as the National fraud Bureau, the office of the attorney general of California and the district attorney of Los Angeles, the NFIC, webassure, econsumer,and FTC.

I strongly recommend to anyone who’s having problem with this company to do the same, as I said above, more there will be people filing, more the authorities will look into and investigate them.

Comment — June 20, 2007 @ 10:35 am



SK says:

I just went through the exact same ordeal as Phil M. Just got off the phone with the GISOL Person and they are completely refusing to pay me back. I was stupid to give them a VISA number yesterday which at the end of the conversation we even agreed they won’t charge as I wanted nothing to do with my domain or the company anymore but they still went ahead and took a $ 409.90 authorization on the card. Today when I called to confront them, they clearly said to take it up with my card company. And stupid me, now I know why they don’t except american express for such purposes, where as for everything else they do, since VISA only lets you dispute the charge after the actual charge is made and amex would have immediately blocked the authorization. I will pursue this matter as long as I have too 400 bucks is not a joke.

Comment — June 22, 2007 @ 1:42 pm



Tony says:

Let’s face it, GISOL scumbags have been conning and scamming people for years and years, you can find all sorts of complaints about them online. Sites that were set up by angry web devs have come and gone, they’ve been doing it that long!

To fight these bastards we need a central gathering place where we can share ideas and information. Law enforcement simple isn’t going to give a damn, because the monetary amounts are pretty small for them. And I suspect gisol know this.

If we could create a comprehensive file documenting their scams and lies (and fake awards?), we could all present it to our c/card companies to back up our claims, and pass it to the various law enforcement agencies. I suspect a profession breakdown of their activities signed by multiple people will carry more weight than individual complaints.

Let’s not forget, gisol have been doing this for a long time, they probably know how to skirt around the law, and can run rings around the BBB. They also try and set credit agencies on to you should you make a successful charge-back.

This page seems to be picking up a number of recently conned people, and I’m surprised at the increasing size of money being lost. It looks like there’s enough knowledge to go after them. Where to start?

When you’re feeling low, look at gisol.ca. It always makes me chuckle!

Comment — June 22, 2007 @ 9:14 pm



Phil M. says:

To SK…
Dispute your VISA card charge !!! I did, and it was immediatly recredited to my account ! Now they have six month to redispute it and reclaim the amount, but as they didn’t provided the service they certainly won’t as I was informed by my bank. Also I was able to prove to my bank in the first place, exactly what happened, because most of the exchanges I had with GISOL were in writting by email, and in the last one, they specifically wrote ” we decided NOT to provide you the service”, so at that poit they lost! In the other hand, they hijacked my domain and I won’t get it back. I do not believe the amounts are small : $410 per victims, about 20 victims a day = $8000/ day of illegal incomes.

Comment — June 25, 2007 @ 4:04 pm



Jo says:

Is there a way to file a class action complaint against Gisol with LA
prosecutors office?

We bought services for 135.00 from Gisol on Saturday, and have two printed recites and screen shots of our transaction. A salesman Steve called and said what you ordered “really want” costs $574.75 cents. He was yelling and argumentative and charged our account. The call center in India told us there are only two guys at the LA office, Steve and Bryan.

I have also filed a complaint with IC3, FBI. (given them this link as well)
I am also writing to my States Attorney General of Kansas and States Attorney General of California.
Is there anything else we can do?
JO

Comment — June 27, 2007 @ 12:48 pm



Raoul says:

Jo, it sounds like you’re doing all the right things so far. I think the class action suit will come, naturally. The more people these scumbags at GISOL defraud, the more likely it is they’ll get a lawsuit. When they do, I hope they get some jail time as well.

Comment — June 27, 2007 @ 12:58 pm



Jo says:

I just spoke to a lady at States Attorney Generals office
in LA when I told her the number of complaints on-line she immediately connected me to the following address.
All complaints must be submitted in writing. Please pass this around.
The United States Attorney’s Office
Citizen’s Complaint Report
312 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213)894-2434

Comment — June 27, 2007 @ 1:01 pm



MNSMWO says:

A possible Class Action Lawsuit against GISOL is beginning to come into formation. Help join in to defeat a true evil in our time!

MUST NOT SLEEP, MUST WARN OTHERS!

CLASSACTIONNOW.ORG

Comment — June 27, 2007 @ 5:56 pm



JP says:

Read This. http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff225880.htm

Comment — July 8, 2007 @ 1:44 am



David says:

Well, I never even got service! Nope, not even a password.

I signed up for the $7.95 per month account and was called and told there was a monthly set up charge bringing the monthly total to $32. I asked to cancel my order, they put me on hold and changed my credit card $404.75.

Yep… just happened and I’m not happy. I felt what they had done was a crime and is why I contacted the fraud division of the LA District Attorney’s office. Having spoken with the investigator, as well as my bank… I’m not concerned about my money. I do suspect these people will get a new set of bracelets soon though.

Good luck to all of you forming the lawsuit. I will testify if called, but by the end of the week, I should have all of my money back through due process.

Comment — July 11, 2007 @ 3:55 pm



Tony says:

David, who did you speak to exactly? Do you have officer names, case# etc?

These people have gone from pathetic service to outrageous theft! They must be very desperate. Everyone should watch their credit card statements VERY closely if they’re pulling stunts like this.

Comment — July 11, 2007 @ 5:04 pm



Michelle says:

I have also had the same thing happen with the domain name as Phil M.
unfortunately being a student I couldnt afford the us$400 GISol was trying to charge me and instead thought I would wait until the domain became available to all so I could buy it.
I have checked at whois twice daily for the last Month and now I find that its been purchased by somone who turned it into a tacky search page with all items irrellevant to the domain name.
Im gutted.

Comment — July 13, 2007 @ 12:25 am



David says:

I just spent 45 minutes writing out a long explanation and update only to lose it when I pressed submit. Perhaps it was too long; I will try again.

1st, to answer Tony. No case number was assigned. I talked to the lawyer of the day at the LA DA’s office. He seemed to have a knowledge of the company and explained that the proper procedure was to file a complaint with the local Better Business Bureau. I did so online on Wednesday Jully 11th. The DA lawyer explained that by filing this complaint with the BBB, it would start or enforce any investigation necessary.

File your complaints online at http://www.labbb.org/ (Note: a great resource for taking action can be found at http://www.gisolsucks.com/takeaction/default.htm)

This all took place on the day before I was to go on a short trip to San Antonio TX; so once I talked to my credit card company, filed my complaints with local authorities and made some notes to myself, I shut down my computer and went on my trip.

Two days into my trip, I received a call on my cell phone from “Private Caller.” It turned out to be “Eric” from Global Internet Solutions. He was calling to discuss my cancelation and I made it clear that there was nothing to cancel because I never placed an order. He firmly corrected me and said that filling out the online form was the order. I corrected him and stated that when the “confirmation of order” phone call was made to me, I made it clear that I did not want to place the order.

“Eric” continued and asked about my credit card. He asked, “did you know your credit card is not active?” To which I replied, “Yes, had turned it off within minutes of my dealings with Global Internet Solutions because I had a feeling it would be fraudulently charged.” He said that he received notice of the charge back request and was able to provide my bank with a recording of the confirmation phone call as well as a signed receipt of the order. Since I had no way to check in a hotel room, I simply listened and didn’t argue. I felt he was not telling the truth because my bank told me they would call me first to get my side of the story. I was right.

Eric asked me who I spoke with and I told him that Sean Anderson explained that my card would be charged for the entire year for services I was not interested in. I told him that once it was explained that the service included a monthly set up fee which would raise the price to $32 per month instead of the $7.95 per month advertised, I said I was not interested in the service and please cancel my order. I was put on hold and then told that my card had been charged for $404.75 because I was under contract for a service that I never signed up for. I told Eric that during the order confirmation process, I refused the service yet was charged more than 50 times the amount offered on their website.

You can’t imagine how mad I was when the guy simply laughed and said, “well we just charged your card anyway, too bad.”

Eric said that since I turned off my card, he could not refund my money. I know this to be in error but standing in a hotel room, didn’t feel like arguing. I did get him to state clearly that he was willing to cancel my order and refund my money. He confirmed this but insisted he could not because the card was turned off. I told him I would take care of it.

I asked for his phone number and full name, he only gave Eric and a phone number and then somehow our call was disconnected. In all fairness, I was on a cell phone so it could have been a technical difficulty.

I did my best to blot this from my mind and enjoy my trip.

Upon my return to the office I checked my credit card account and could see nothing. No charge attempt nor a charge back nor the alleged transfer of funds as implied by Eric. I’m checking it every day but since I talked with my bank prior to the charge and that it is flagged by them as fraudulent, I rest easy that my money is safe.

On the same note though, there was an “attempt” made by GiSol to charge my card for $404.75. This is a good thing because it offers some evidence of their intent to charge me for services I neither accepted nor received.

As I mentioned, they charged me more than I agreed to and for 12 months for services I never received. I didn’t receive a password, instruction nor did I ever access the account, mainly because I never received one. Low and behold, my e-mail box had several messages from GiSol, first setting up the account and then suspending it. Perhaps this is their answer to the charge on my card and me not receiving anything in return. Fact is, the e-mail are all dated late Friday afternoon and I suspect after they received the complaint from the BBB, and after I spoke with “Eric.”

Part of the service they offered was a free registration of a domain name “for me.”. I entered a domain in the form and they evidently registered it on Wednesday. Interestingly enough, they didn’t register it for me, they registered it for themselves and now they own it and I do not.

Registrant:
GISOL, Inc.
807 N. Gardner St.
Los Angeles, CA 90046
US
13238529059
13236551151

I find this mildly irritating but not sure how far I want to take it. Bottom line, I requested the domain from them on the 10th, they registered it on the 11th and this will show an arbitration panel that the domain name was mine. Since the domain name includes a trademark I own, it’s likely I can get the domain name back… the only question now is, do I press for legal fees and potential lost revenue now? Or do I wait several months to allow more time and expense? (grin, I will likely wait a year and see if they renew.)

Another complain I will file is to their service provider. A little sleuthing reveals that their root IP resolves to Theplanet.com Internet Services Inc in Dallas Tx. http://whois.domaintools.com/70.84.96.171 I intend to share my experience with their client as well as express my opinion of their poor business conduct. I will also include links to this website as well as a couple of others like www.gisolsucks.com & www.gisol.ca.

I do feel what they have done to me is criminal. I feel the local authorities as well as state and federal should review possible infractions such as wire fraud, theft, misrepresentation and laws under the truth in advertising. I was told that GiSol, Inc was the largest web hosting company in the country and their policies of not really refunding the money as their “money back guarantee” states is part of the large corporate policy. To actually attempt to charge my card for 12 months for a service I neither agreed to nor received has to be criminal… don’t you think?

Fact is, I don’t have time for all of this. I publish a monthly magazine, own a travel agency and have been a web developer for many years. I should have known better and done more research before signing up. I can only blame the pre-vacation rush as well as the concept, “it’s only 8 bucks, let’s give it a try.” Well, I had no idea that $7.95 could turn into $404.75 so quickly.

From the words of Forest Gump; “Stupid is as stupid does.” Well, I did stupid by signing up with Global Internet Solutions. I didn’t conduct any due diligence, not even a Google search. I thought I could waste 8 bucks to give them a try. Boy was that dumb.

I’ve been hosting my own websites as well as those for clients since 1995. I’m tired of changing providers every 3 or 4 years because hosting companies become complacent. I’m very tempted to open my own data center and offer services that I would expect as a small business and web developer. I’ve run the numbers and it can be done fairly inexpensively, it’s just with so much on my plate right now, it’s hard to consider a whole new effort.

I wish you all luck in your efforts to recover your losses and other remedies. I would not be surprised to read that the principals of GiSol.com have been indicted on criminal charges. Actually, I would be more than happy to testify should the grand jury be interested.

Stay away from these people!!! If you are a customer, move now. I suspect they will be closed soon. If you are considering being a customer after reading this… please refer to Mr. Gump mentioned 3 paragraphs above.

Comment — July 18, 2007 @ 1:20 pm



Raoul says:

Sorry about that, David! The anti-spam software for my blog inadvertently caught your comments. I think the situation’s resolved now. Thanks for letting me know about it!

What I do when I write long comments is that I will copy the text of the comment before I submit it. Then I check to make sure it went through. If it didn’t, I still have it in memory and can paste it in a text document so I can try submitting it later.

Comment — July 18, 2007 @ 2:24 pm



Tony says:

David, the BBB is toothless. All they do is contact the company and forward your complaint to them. They have no power or authority to start legal proceedings or investigations by the law. The BBB then receives a professional looking response declaring refunds are not due as per the contract, or in my case, they lie claiming a chargeback was issued. The BBB give more weight to their generic response than any amount of information and proof you can provide. They then close the case as there’s nothing more they can do.

Furthermore, the BBB complaints get removed after time. So we only see part of the picture. Yet they still have a “F”, although gisol tried to fix this and managed to get their rating up to “C” IIRC.

Your experiences suggest they have gone from being pathetic reseller services and refund scammers, to a blatant disregard for the law. Let’s not forget they’ve been doing this all the way back in 2000 too! They have gotten away with it after all this time, I’d be very surprised if anyone can stop them.

If the law won’t open a case on them, nothing can be done.

Comment — July 18, 2007 @ 3:05 pm



Eric says:

I am having the same issue with the company infact I have disputed the clames but they have Returned back saying that they are wanting the money back and placed in here that my account is not cancelled and is operational. Thing is when you go to the website it says Suspended and when you log into it says Cancel. This all because they tried to charge me 600 bucks to Sign up for a upgrade and I said no and they where at the point it was to far to stop the upgrade. I spoke to a Adam, Brian, and Robert all at the HQ for GISOL. Wish me luck I am trying to find where to go along with going to Small Claims court about this issue. They also put in here that they think I am trying to HARM their company by requesting the charge backs.

Comment — July 19, 2007 @ 4:10 pm



Tony says:

Eric, I don’t believe there is an HQ for this lot. They wreak of a bedroom/garage outfit.

With these high priced packages, people should consider VPS services. I gave up with shared hosting and now have a dedicated server for business and a personal VPS account. Have full control of the environment is much more pleasant!

Checkout the likes of rimuhosting if you’re looking to pay ~$30/month for hosting.

And never use a hosting company to register your domain, do it yourself and keep control of it!

Comment — July 20, 2007 @ 7:45 am



David says:

keep it up

I would ask that everyone continue posting your comments here. I personally agree with Tony that it seems law enforcement needs to get involved. Comments here and on other websites just might inspire an official investigation. From what I can tell, there have been 315 complaints to the BBB in the past 36 months.
http://www.labbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReportPage_Expository.aspx?CompanyID=13133176

{quote}
Complaint Closing Statistics
The following grid displays the number and responses to complaints over the last 36 months:

No. of Cmpl Type of Response
36 Making a full refund, as the consumer requested
36 Making a partial refund
162 Agreeing to perform according to their contract
2 Refusing to make an adjustment
49 Refuse to adjust, relying on terms of agreement
30 Unanswered
0 Unassigned
315 Total
{/ end quote}

You might also consider emailing kshowers@da.lacounty.gov who is the head deputy of The High Technology Crime Division, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. http://da.co.la.ca.us/htcu.htm

I am considering a number of options myself but as my magazine goes to press in a few days, my time is limited until next week. I continue to gather stories from people who feel they have been victimized by Global Internet Solutions (GiSol.com). I’m not sure what I will do with the information just yet but the more I learn, the more angry I become.

I’m not comfortable giving out my personal information just yet. I want to talk with a close friend of mine who is a corporate attorney and member of my states legislature.

Comment — July 20, 2007 @ 8:54 am



Jim says:

GISOL is holding my domain name hostage as well. I want to transfer but the Whois record says GISOL is the admin contact. When I log into the control panel to update the Whois info, it says my domain name is expired. The actual Whois record says it is good until 2008. I emailed tech support and called (866) 244-7925, they both say to email sales@gisol.com. Problem is we are going on 40 days with no response from multiple emails to sales. I also reported this to BBB, but it doesn’t look like it will do much good.
Then I found a page in GISOL’s knowledge base that says:
{quote}
If you want to change or update any information that appears in your domain’s WHOIS, please contact us by filling out a support ticket at http://ticket.gisol.com/.
{/quote}
URL: http://knowledge.gisol.com/display/2n/kb/article.asp?aid=24325
You can also get to the knowledge base from the contact page at gisol.com.

Filling out such a support ticket is the same as emailing tech support which I have done 3 or 4 times about this issue. They just tell me to email sales.

I am glad to have found this forum, I hope these jerks get what’s coming to them.

Comment — July 21, 2007 @ 6:43 pm



Tony says:

: 162 Agreeing to perform according to their contract

That’s the scary one. That’s gisol getting the benefit of the doubt. I know the BBB consider me in that pot purely on gisol’s lying, claiming that I had issued a credit card charge back.

Comment — July 23, 2007 @ 1:11 pm



AltmanTC • Blog says:

[...] Caveat Emptor: Global Internet Solutions (GISol) [...]

Pingback — July 25, 2007 @ 6:23 pm



Alexey Voytsekhovskiy says:

the same story with me - hostage of my domain name.

many letters - nothing back but the email from admin asking to give hime the secret code of my credit card.

Comment — July 25, 2007 @ 11:22 pm



GISOL SHOULD BURN IN HELL says:

GISOL has put me through hell, and for it, they deserve what’s coming to them. Only cowards sitting behind phone lines to nowhere would attempt to speak to people in the way they do. They STOLE my DOMAINS, DELETED four of my websites, and tried to charge me $720 at the same time (I cancelled all my credit cards just in time). THESE CRIMINALS NEED TO PAY. Now I have registered an entirely new name with a proper registrar for a web enterprise I am building. But the bitter taste in my mouth is still there - WHY DO I NEED A NEW NAME? BECAUSE THESE CRIMINALS STOLE MY DOMAIN. Still, I feel lucky that you guys posted your stories - I found out they were CRIMINALS before it was really too late, because of you. For that I thank you all. But still - GISOL CRIMINALS NEED TO PAY FOR THEIR CRIMINAL ACTIONS.

Comment — July 27, 2007 @ 3:14 pm



Scammed by GISOL in NJ says:

I read that Raoul actually got GISOL to release his domain name. How?

Comment — July 29, 2007 @ 5:06 pm



Raoul says:

I didn’t back down at all when I saw that they were starting to give me guff. I told them they’d better not keep my domains hostage and release them to me, or they’d hear from my lawyer. It took about a month, but I got them back. I think it was still pretty early in the game when that happened, and they weren’t as brazenly criminal as they are now. I’m really sorry to hear about all these people losing their domain names to them. All I can say is that you need to press on, fight them, and get them back somehow. If need be, get a lawyer involved, or join the class action lawsuit that’s currently in the works.

Comment — July 29, 2007 @ 5:27 pm



Scammed by GISOL in NJ says:

Thanks Raoul.. I’m sure you’re right that have have grown more brazen. My attorney says that even if I were to win a judgment there is little to compell them to transfer ownership. In fact, GISOL is telling me that they bought the domain name themselves and only leased it to me!! I am making my own early inquiries to the lA County DA office. Good luck everyone.

Comment — July 30, 2007 @ 2:49 pm



GISOL SHOULD BURN IN HELL says:

Hey “Scammed In Jersey” - they fed me the same BULLSH-T about registering MY DOMAINS for themselves, and leasing it back to me “like a car” (according to him). I told him it sounded like he was ripping me off. He told me, “It’s not a scam, it’s all in the terms and conditions”. Stupid M-TH-R-F-CK-RS, that is all I can say. At first, I thought I was a victim of failing to read the fine print. But when I went back and scoured their user agreements, I found that language of that sort was nowhere to be found. So it wasn’t even a fine print issue. They are just LIARS, CROOKS, COWARDS. I would respect a mugger in the street more than these pick-pocket, closeted nerds. Hey GISOL, next time you want my 720 bucks, and MY creative work, why don’t you try looking at me in the eye? No, I didn’t think so. You wouldn’t sound so tough if you weren’t hiding in your electronic treehouse.

Again, THANK YOU to all of the posters on this board - you saved me a continuing nightmare. It was too late to save the four domains I had, but luckily I did not aggressively market those domains as yet. I consider myself lucky and I hope nobody else falls into their web of deception.

Comment — July 30, 2007 @ 5:12 pm



Ronnie says:

Well guess they treat churches the same way too. My Pastor wanted me to make a church website. I thought GISOL sounded great so went for the 7.95 a month for one year and used my own CC. Then in a year if the church liked it would renew. First suprise no instant acces hade to wait on them to call me for more info. After I gave them the info they ran my CC for 95.40. Then said the one year deal did not garentee the price and it was going up to 30 a month so they would run my CC agean. I said no just cancel refund my CC. Was told the 7.95 a year was not garented money back so I would loose my money. Then I finally talked to a Sup who tried to set me up with a 895.20 deal which I said no but he tried to get it to go through on my CC anyway but it was rejected because of my C limit. Then he said oh a church is none profet I will do a 12.95 month for 36 months which cost 466.20. I said I no dont think my CC hade that much limit. To my suprise he said oh I already ran it through and its aproved and set up. I figguered best to stop the call hade a meeting to be at in around 5 minutes.

Called back the nexst day. He must have reconized my voice he said wait a minute and went through calling QULITY ASSURANS online then they both went through the motions of giving there ID numbers to each other. QA said he was just there to monoter. I was told I could not canceal & if I tried I would have to pay 8000.00 fee. Then QA got online telling me all kind of legal mombo jumbo. I then got hot and heavy about why my CC comp reported GISOL ttried charging 895.20 on my CC with out my aprovail & was told that was legail for them to do just like he chareged 466.20 with out prier auth. I then said I would take it to court & was told I didnt evean have enouth on my CC to pay the 895.20 much les take them to court.

I plan on dusputing the charges on my CC when they open tommorrow. Will keep you informed on how it goes. I also sent them a certified letter canceling & demanding my CC receave my money back. Dont cancel on there online site you have to click on By submitting this cancellation request, I affirm that no chargeback was/will be activated with my credit card company and I am asking Global Internet Solutions to process this cancellation request as soon as they can. I understand that activating a chargeback will only delay the cancellation process and/or prevent my domain name from being released.

The bad thing is I have to find a new web hosting place and scared to trust any sites now plus lost my doman name. Any ideas?

Comment — August 5, 2007 @ 2:35 pm



David says:

Apparently, they made another move. I wonder what could have caused them to change vendors so abruptly?

They were at “ThePlanet” in Dallas Tx not long ago, now they are hosted here.

IP Information for 72.44.69.233 (as of 05 AUG 07)

OrgName: MULTACOM CORPORATION
OrgID: MULTA
Address: 16654 Soledad Canyon Rd #150
City: Canyon Country
StateProv: CA
PostalCode: 91387
Country: US

ReferralServer: rwhois://rwhois.multacom.com:4321/

NetRange: 72.44.64.0 - 72.44.79.255
CIDR: 72.44.64.0/20
NetName: MULTA-NET5
NetHandle: NET-72-44-64-0-1
Parent: NET-72-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
NameServer: NS1.MULTACOM.COM
NameServer: NS2.MULTACOM.COM
Comment:
RegDate: 2006-10-30
Updated: 2006-10-30

RAbuseHandle: ABUSE898-ARIN
RAbuseName: Abuse Department
RAbusePhone: +1-661-554-0287

Don’t let up! Keep the pressure on! They are up to 330 complaints at the BBB, frankly I thought there would be more.

Comment — August 5, 2007 @ 4:05 pm



Jack Anderson says:

I was tricked into reveling my 3 digit cvs number on the back of my credit card and was told that additional charges would be made on my behalf of which I had no knowledge of and would not knowingly authorized. By this web hosting service by the name of GISOL - Global Internet Solutions.

Hope is finally on the Horizon with all the long hours and days I put into researching GISOL business practices statistics, based on data collected along with the staggering numbers of complaints from consumers over the internet. GISOL has finally got the justice department and the CA state attorney general office attention. I would ask the victims of gisol scams to not let money be a driving factor with this company. only that you focus on getting these guys in front of a judge for prosecution and with any luck prison time. I am no longer wonting to recover moneys or services that was stolen frome me that is why I made great progress with this issues. I will putting together a online document shortly in the future and posting for you to add to what has happen to you and for your contact information for possible interview by agents if needed. Again time is on the consumer side the case is building but not as quick as I would like but that is with most fraudulent cases on corrupted companies. Just remember hope is on the way.

One more thing you can contact the justice department and the CA attorney Gen. office also the FBI, thay do have a intenet devision also to let them know what is going on aswell the more the consumers the bigger the case.

Comment — August 7, 2007 @ 4:03 pm



Tony says:

David, the BBB removes old complaints after a set period. I think I read is was three years, but I could be wrong.

Comment — August 8, 2007 @ 1:26 pm



gisol blows says:

Anderson, Shaun
3172 Larga Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90039
323-906-3896

Comment — August 15, 2007 @ 2:48 am



Sean K. says:

Yet another victim of GISOL’s scam. They locked my accounts down after I tried to create a new site, and claimed that the old hosting package I was signed up for didn’t exist anymore. I had no access to any of my data (know, I know…back your data up!) and had to shell out $720 to get my sites restored. That was on July 13. It’s been a month, and they still haven’t given me a password for my “new” account since taking my money.

I’ve since left them and found a different hosting company, but I’m still contesting the charges on my credit card. That is a slow process, but for $720, I’ll gladly keep fighting it. If there is any info on a class action suit, count me in. These guys are crooks and deserve some time in PMITA prison.

Comment — August 15, 2007 @ 11:14 am



MNSMWO says:

More background information at classactionnow.org

Comment — August 16, 2007 @ 1:46 am



andrew says:

i was alerted to problems with gisol (after a couple of years) when my website was suddenly offline recently - the domain name had expired even though i had paid my annual renewal fee to them. the worst thing about that was that my web address had been published in print media the weekend before, so i have no idea how many visitors i’ve lost through this. however, i ended up emailing the registrar of the domain names (ALLINDOMAINS, LLC, which is actually dotster). they got back to me very quickly. i don’t know if anyone else has had this response from dotster, but it is interesting info to add to the discussion:

Hi,

The GISOL account with us was closed recently b/c of inconsistancies with domain info and renewal. Unfortunately, you must contact GISOL directly. We are not allowed to make changes, move domains, send auth codes etc to GISOL customers.

Comment — August 17, 2007 @ 8:56 pm



Van Bogaert Johnny says:

I have been client since 2003 at GISOL, I needed an extra web hosting so I registered a new one at Gisol, I shouldn’t have done this I know. Directly after I had approved for a premium hosting they suspended my old website without warning. They didn’t answered my e-mails concerning this abuse. Then suddenly they called me telling me I needed to pay more than 800 euros to give me back my old hosting. They also charged me $94 for the old hosting. Luckily I paid via Paypal so I could start a claim at Paypal. Via Paypal they where forced to refund my money. When Paypal receives more complaints about GISOL, Paypal promised me to shut down there services to GISOL.

So guys go ahead, order at GISOL via Paypal, wait until GISOL scams you then put through a claim to Paypal….

Or anybody can rent a hosting at GISOL and fill their web servers full of garbage….. we should all fill up their web servers with Gigabits of data… let’s see if they can make their promise come true… “Unlimited Space!” Let’s stuff their web servers to hell!!!!!

Comment — August 21, 2007 @ 10:24 am



Jimmy Ford says:

When you go to maps.google.com and search for Gisol at the region of Los Angeles you can click on there google-banner and rate them and write comments about this company..This can warn new customers who search for companies via maps.google…

If we all do this….

Comment — August 21, 2007 @ 10:38 am



andrew says:

hey wow - i actually got a phonecall from gisol yesterday, completely out of the blue. it was in response to an email i sent asking them to release one of my domain names. the usual ‘we rent the domain name to you’ explanation was given (and that they had control of the domain names for six years) and then he asked me to upgrade to a more expensive plan so that i could park that domain with them but host separately. he wanted me to pay for 36 months up front. he said that if i wanted to opt out, i could after 8 months and i would get the rest of my money refunded. i pointed out that i’d like to get the rest of my money refunded on my current plan, but he said that because my current plan was an old plan they couldn’t refund on that one - only the new one… i said i was feeling a bit nervous about paying for any more services with them because since experiencing problems (they let my main domain name expire) i had seen a lot of negative comments on the internet about them. he was very apologetic about this and said that they had lots of satisfied customers (4 million customers in total he said) and that people only voice their opinions when they are unhappy - he said it was impossible to keep everyone satisfied.

in the end, he said that they had notified me that my domain name was expiring and that i hadn’t taken any action so my account had been suspended, and thus it ends. today i am actioning proceedings with my bank to ensure that they can’t charge my credit card ever again.

Comment — August 21, 2007 @ 6:42 pm



Tony says:

I find it rather difficult to believe they have 4 million customers. Just think of the cash flow. They’d need a real business, with named staff in real departments. Not anonymous people behind their silly refund@gisol.com games, or bbb@gisol.com.

They’d have the resources to address problems, and not try to rip-off people with their domain name shit. They’d issue refunds as soon as the accounts were closed - automatically. After all, they’d have $20 million per month coming in!

The very size of just this blog entry, and the many other gisol complaints suggests a lot of people are unhappy about this outfit. And it’s not their crap service people are complaining about, it’s the fact the are taking money and won’t issue refunds, despite their claims on their home page.

I cannot wait for the court cases. What are the odds the owner is going to do time?

Comment — August 22, 2007 @ 7:00 am



Cicily Janus says:

Hello All, I would like to join you all on the bandwagon to seeing GISOL go to hell.

My husband looked into this company for domain names and decided to use them. Obviously he didn’t look very hard. Anyway, he agreed to the 9$ per month charge and bought a year’s worth of service. About less than 24 hours later he realized that something wasn’t right and decided to cancel the account. He called them up spoke to someone named “adam” who said that everything was taken care of and the account was canceled.

Then I guess my husband called to release the domain name and they said that they could do it. No problem.

Tonight, about three weeks later, I got the credit card bill. We were charged 898.20 from them. I called them, and of course, got someone from India, and they said that the account was still active and the only way you can possibly cancel an account is to do it through their site. I also called my cc company and they said that they would take the charges off and dispute it with their bank. The lady from the credit card company even googled and yahoo’d the company name and she was outraged with what was going on. She said that they would get on top of this.

But, unfortunately, to the outsider, like the CC company, it looks like we didn’t cancel our account until tonight, when in reality we canceled it on the 8th of this month.

I am extremely interested in going in on a class action law suit against these criminals. When I spoke with someone from their “customer service” site, they gave me a long distance number to call for their billing. I told them that they were lying. He told me that there wouldn’t be anyone there right now that I would have to call back during regular business hours. When I called the 1-800 number listed on my credit card bill it was disconnected.

I am extremely mad at my husband for not doing an investigation into this company before buying or giving them our CC number and now I am more pissed than before because there doesn’t look like they will give back our money.

I AM GOING TO PRESS CHARGES.

I don’t care what it takes, criminals will pay for their actions.

Please contact me at cicily@ryanjanus.com if you are interested in filing charges too.

These people are a scam, they need to be stopped.

NOW!

Comment — September 1, 2007 @ 3:07 am



David says:

The saga continues.

Apparently, the “people” at GiSol have decided to contest my charge back and have provided the credit card company blatantly false (fraudulent) information to continue their deceit. And yes, I do have the information necessary to prove the falsehoods.

(I just removed a large post with the details… I will post the rest after this is resolved.)

Keep up the fight! Enough evidence of their conduct will prevent them from doing business as well as bolster any criminal and/or civil proceedings.

More to come…

Comment — September 5, 2007 @ 11:02 am



Jammer says:

After I put a warning on my website “not to host on Gisol” my website has been attacked!!! “Someone” generated a lot of visitors to my website until it was down!!!! Gisol has scammed me to so that is why I put the warning on my site.

Comment — September 13, 2007 @ 3:38 am



Jon C says:

GISOL tried to screw me too, but luckily I had an account back when they accepted AMEX, which is where I called after realizing my mistake or not reading reviews before signing up. The rep was very understanding. As soon as I mentioned GISOL, I had my money back. Apparently they’re on some kind of blacklist with AMEX.

I did some research on the “company”, hopefully this will help others.

GISOL is indeed a basement operation. Look up their 807 N Gardner St, Los Angeles address on Google Maps (satellite view) and you’ll see it’s a residence.

This scam is operated by 2, at most 3 people, who are listed here:
http://gisolclassaction.com/forum/index.php?action=recent

JACK SPIVAK, aka YAKOV SPIVAK (DOB 04/15/1948) (confirmed)
BRIAN SPIVAK (DOB: 02/22/1983) (confirmed)
SAID PARSI (DOB: 1960) (unconfirmed)

Brian, “Adam”, “Eric”, “Robert”, and likely other aliases are all the same person. He’s quite possibly Jack’s son. Oh, and badge ID 75832 or 22283, if that even means anything. Probably just made up numbers.

There are also reports of a Steve (ID 3416)

GISOL also goes by GHSOL at ghsol.net (global hosting solutions) and dserver.com. Same scam, different name.

Some contact info from http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=435307

Jack Spivak
807 N Gardner St
Los Angeles, CA 90046-7405
(323) 852-9059

Info look familiar?

A quick google search for “gisol resume” (without quotes) revealed this gem:

http://linuxadministrator.freerecruiting.com/Resumes/Files/22741/OriginalResume

Apparently it’s a resume of one of the outsourced tech support reps who worked for Katalyst Partners who provide tech support for GISOL from India. http://www.katalystpartners.com/tech.htm
I called GISOL’s 866 number and asked about katalyst. They do indeed provide support for GISOL.

Quoted from resume:

Prashant N. Shivmath
Katalyst Partner Pvt Ltd. (Web Hosting Company)
1st May 2005 to December 2005 Linux System Administrator

Katalyst Partner Managing the Servers of USA Gisol Web Based Hosting Company and as well as Other USA Client Based Servers.

Job Responsibility: Managing the 30 Red hat Linux of All Version and 20 Free BSD Servers with Web Servers, Firewall Server, DNS Server, Mail Server, MYSQL Server. Worked with Web Based Control Panel Like H-Panel, and C-Panel. Worked with Monitoring tools like Nagios. Continuosly Monitoring the servers for Hackers, Dos Attack. Check the package for vulnerability and security update. Updating the Kernel, Package if necessary.

Solving the Different kind of web hosting client problem. Almost 7000 Domain registered with the Gisol web hosting Company. Also we need to manage other USA Linux Based Client Server running Apache web server, MySql server, Radius Server, as well as worked with Client control panel to manage the DNS and solving their Server Problem.

—–

He claims to have managed about 50 servers, but it’s not clear. The number is probably closer to 30. What is clear is that GISOL was hosting about 7000 domains as of May 2005. Seems about right, the current numbers are about 8900 according to ipwalk:
http://www.ipwalk.com/webhost/total_domains/webhost_name/gisol.com
Looks like the domain number is falling steadily since the end of August 2007. Perhaps their customers are waking up.

Another fun read:
http://www.u-magazine.com/magazine/articles.php?articleid=102
GISOL retroactively changed their “unlimited bandwidth” policies and charged some poor guy $16,243.

Some more reviews:
http://www.webhostingreviews.com/gisol.shtml

Comment — October 1, 2007 @ 5:50 am



Raoul says:

Jon, that’s some amazing research, THANK YOU!

Comment — October 1, 2007 @ 7:00 am



Friday says:

Bravo!!!

Their days are numbered… I expect that they will soon close because they will no longer be able to accept credit cards. I am also optimistic that they will each receive a free set of shiny new bracelets.

Comment — October 3, 2007 @ 2:21 pm



Angry GISOL Customer says:

I just received a bill from them for over a thousand dollars that I did not authorize. I was told they had a deal going on with master card and the price would be half of what I was charged. They don’t just have poor service, it is an elaborate scam.

When I signed up I never realized I wouldn’t actually own my domain, they own the name, I lease it. Every person I talk to sounds the same as the last, but they have a different name…hmmm. They also owe me over $700.00