Notice the highlighted area in the image above, verification
of the location at AIT Web hosting. This is but one of dozens of scams, spoofs
and fraudulent practices engaged by the unscrupulous, dishonest, anal retentive,
money grubbing, wieners at AIT Advanced Internet Technologies, located in
Fayetteville , North Carolina.
We made the un-fortunate mistake of moving our
sites there on August 7 of 2003, believing that they would provide the service
they indicate on their web site, for the price that they list in their web site.
Boy, were we ever WRONG. What was advertised to have cost $120.00 to
$135.00 for all of our domains cost us in excess of $700.00, our reputation, and
several of our clients.
Day one; August 7, 2003
In order to "set-up the Accounts" we had to sign a
"Letter of Acceptance", stating that the work had been completed to our
satisfaction, Prior to AIT Ever starting. Without the signed "Letter of
Acceptance" they would not be able to start. The Stated $100.00, was One
charge on my card, followed immediately by another charge of $595.60, and
and a bill from AIT for an additional $400.00 that "would not clear on my
debit card".
At this point I noticed that the domains were, one by
one, dying, all the FrontPage elements were ceasing to function, navigation,
themes, forms, borders etc. Since I had supplied AIT with the FrontPage
usernames and passcodes for each and every domain, so the domains could be
properly published from the old location to the new AIT location. I called
to find out what the problem was. The technician informed me that he had
decided to use his WS_FTP tool to make the transfers, since FrontPage would
take so long. At this point he also informed me that "he was now four hours
into the transfer", expected to take between 60 to 80 minutes publishing
with FrontPage, and "should be done in three or four more hours. We could
make the few corrections pretty soon".
The transfer time I had calculated a few days earlier
by personally publishing each and every domain to a Back-up server in
Jacksonville, North Carolina, via "Road-Runner". Total transfer time for a
full copy of every file, in every domain published with FrontPage took a
total of 75 Minutes. It should have been quicker at AIT since they claimed
to be on a fiber optic link. I would think a fiber optic line would be
somewhat faster that any cable system, including road-runner, which was only
supplying a 256 k link.
Attempts to access the new locations with FrontPage
were unsuccessful and technical support was a joke. Phone calls to support
informed me that in order to resolve the issue I "would have to file a
'Trouble Ticket' via the 'Ticket system' available in my control panel
before they would be able to look into the problem". Filing these "Trouble
Tickets" proved to be a complete and total waste of time and effort. My
"Emergency Service" request for my sites not functioning, not having access
to them with FrontPage and the Server Extensions not functioning, only
resulted in a three day wait to be informed that my "Trouble Ticket has been
Escalated to management for resolution." I wonder how long it would take to
get a reply for "Routine Issues" and just what the resolution for them might
be, since my "Emergency Service" took three days to be sloughed off on
another department.
Day Two; August 8, 2003
The second day, August 8, 2003, into this "Fiasco" was no less
frustrating than the first, and the "Money Back Guarantee" turned out to be
as big of a joke as the technical support. I spent over an hour on the phone
requesting my money be returned, my order cancelled, and any of my data they
did have to be deleted. Repeated requests were ignored, when I would ask for
my order to be cancelled and my money returned, I would be asked "What is
the problem?". Well, #1. My sites Did Not Work, #2. I can Not Access Them
with FrontPage, #3. support Did Not Respond, #4. I was vastly Overcharged,
#5. I was not getting the system I was supposed to be getting, Windows
Server 2003 & IIS 6, I was getting Windows 2000 & IIS 5, #6. My information
was transferred and trounced with an FTP tool #7 AIT was attempting to
withdrawal even More Money from my bank, they already had five times,
$695.60, what they were authorized to get, $100.00 for the transfer, and they wanted another
$400.00.
After repeatedly calling, support, billing, sales and
the representative of AIT who we spoke with initially, and telling each and
every one of them to "Cancel our order, Return our money, and delete our
data from their servers", all we could get was shuffled from one department
to the other until we would be disconnected. During some of the
conversations, that we occurred between my wife and the billing department,
she would have to repeat things over and over and over, due to the
individual at AIT billing department requesting she "repeat that, I was
talking to someone else while you were saying that."! Six hours into the
second day, the VP of Customer Service, Beau Garcia called, wanting to know
"What our problem was, and what could he do to fix it?" I
specifically told him to "Return my money to my bank, Cancel my order and
delete any data belonging to us from AIT's servers, period.", to which he
replied that the problem "Could be worked out, he would personally
fix our problems with the domains, finish the transfers, and refund the
overages". None of which ever occurred.
Day Three; August 9, 2003
It Never Ends; March 26, 2004
Even after having left AIT the 30th of January
they are still calling and attempting to collect for 100% Bogus charges.
On the 27th of March, 2004, the billing department called to collect for
February and March 2004. Seems my last payment was listed to my account
on January 13th, although AIT withdrew the funds from my bank on the
second of January, without permission or authorization! We even had to
go as far as reporting our card "Stolen", on the advice of our bank, to
prevent the continued unauthorized access to our bank account by AIT!!
