Bad ISPs Again

Bad ISPs are again in the forefront. The problem with bad ISPs is that they never seem to get any better because they fail to learn from their mistakes.

One of my ISPs took a week to correct a fault which prevented an email redirect address from working.

Another bad ISP of mine (I certainly collect them) has had an ongoing issue with excess bandwidth usage. They have charged me around £1500 for excess bandwidth usage, for which I have refused to pay. The reason I refuse to pay is that they have a faulty bandwidth alert system, which is actually disabled when a bandwidth overuse issue becomes apparent.

Yes, that's right. When their system identifies that a website has potential bandwidth excess problems it disables the bandwidth alert! Then presents the website owner with a large bill at the beginning of the next month. But the website owner has no idea that excess bandwidth has been incurred. S/he knows that if there is a problem an email will be sent out so that the problem can be rectified. But there is no email. Just an unexpected invoice and a threat of shutting the website down.

So is this "feature" of their system a fault, or is it something which has been set in place by design? That is what my ISP (which will remain nameless for the time being) is not happy to tell me. I asked it two days ago if it acknowledged that the problem existed, or alternatively they realised that the problem did exist and so they were quite happy about it. So far they have not replied. Taking legal advice, I imagine.

I have a nice little ebook to illustrate their alert disablement process. I don't think they want me to show it to anyone (and so far I haven't). Watch this space for developments.