Billing Issues
We are currently aware of some billing inaccuracies which we will be resolving later today. All of these issues will be resolved, and any billing errors corrected. We sincerely apologize for any hassle this has created.
- UPDATE Wed Jan 16 17:03:44 PST 2008 -
Most of you have been refunded at this time, but we have seen some cases where the refund did not go through properly. We will be looking at those as soon as we can.
There’s more information on the official blog.
- UPDATE Tue Jan 15 15:11:17 PST 2008 -
We have gone through all accounts and refunded back money for last night’s billing mistake. We have also automatically re-activated any accounts that were erroneously suspended. We are now going through the support requests remaining to check for any remaining problems. If you are still having problems, please submit a support request so we can check on it for you.
- UPDATE Tue Jan 15 04:13:17 PST 2008 -
The problem has been found and corrected. We are currently going through all erroneously charged accounts and refunding money. Stay tuned for further updates.
- UPDATE Tue Jan 15 07:25:16 PST 2008 -
Scripts are still running to correct the original problem. Last night, this guy ran a standard billing cycle to clean up stragglers from 2007. Unfortunately, the biller was run for 2008 (December 31st, 2008 to be exact). This caused everyone to be billed as if today was 2008-12-31, wreaking the havoc that we are so sorry you had to be put through.
We’re going through and fixing everything right now, but it may take several hours before all affected accounts are corrected. You will receive an email when yours is fixed, and if your credit card was charged, the charge will be refunded automatically.
We’re very very very sorry about this! There is a blog.dreamhost.com post explaining in more detail how this happened..
Also, you needn’t contact us or your credit card company/bank about this.. we’re fixing it right as you read this (and maybe already have for your account)! The best move for you is to just sit back and pretend you never got those weird billing email(s) talking about owing lots of money!
This post will be marked as resolved once (we believe) we’ve fixed everybody’s account.
Once again, we are all *extremely* sorry for the mishap. Thank you for your continued patience while we clean up our mess.
.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:07 am
YOU DIPSH*TS NEED TO
*CREDIT*
ALL THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE AMOUNT YOU MISTAKENLY BILLED.
IF YOU RESCIND THE CHARGE, IT TAKES *SEVEN DAYS* OR MORE
TO DROP OFF THE BOOKS OF THE BANK.
CREDIT MY ACCOUNT OR MY BOUNCED-CHECK FEES ARE GOING
TO ADD TO YOUR HEADACHE.
New Dreamhost slogan #2:
Dreamhost ~ Our billing system: 3 retarded monkeys, 1 broken typewriter, 30 minutes.
?!?!?!
January 15th, 2008 at 3:09 am
I recommended DH to a friend a couple weeks ago and today we both received those erroneous bills, luckily I saw it before her and could calm her nerves, she was freaking out!
Sad day for everyone that trusted the automatic paying mechanism…
January 15th, 2008 at 3:09 am
yikes, I figured rates went up or something, so I clicked the link in the email to close my account… it wouldn’t let me close until I paid the “balance.” Good thing I went to contact support before going all the way through.
You guys almost just lost a customer, and I would have been devastated, you are my favorites!
January 15th, 2008 at 3:12 am
April’s Fools!!! (4 months ahead of time!)
January 15th, 2008 at 3:19 am
It claims I will be charged on the 27th of the month, even though I paid for a year. It claims (on the billing page no less, as well as the email) that my billing cycle is 2007-12-27 thru 2008-01-26 and then bellow it claims STARTED - 2007-11-27 CHARGE THRU (End Date) - 2009-11-26. Now I trust this will be resolved (as I really cannot take an overdraft as this will cause me) but how do I switch my account to manual billing? I’d rather have my account expire when I reach the end of my ACTUAL BILLING CYCLE than have it automatically rebill me.
This is a giant error, possibly the worst I have heard of within a hosting company, and that it seems to have caused some of your customers to unexpetidly go overdrawn is even worse.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:21 am
Note date on DH bill is DECEMBER 29 2008. Obviously DH billing server tripped to the future. Therefore all bills due within 2008 are now overdue! Imaging what is happening with they bank accounts now…. This is so f…ked up.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:21 am
absolutely shocking - like may others i can dismiss downtime and other quirks because its cheap, and i dont use it for anything mission critical, but messing up the billing? come on! so unacceptable. My account is due for renewal at the end of this month, and barring something spectacular, it looks like i’m taking my business elsewhere.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:30 am
Although I had an expired card on record, I’m closing my dreamhost account the moment I’ve sorted out an alternative. This is an appalling error that warrants more than a few words apologising for “the hassle”. I imagine some peoples’ finances have been severally impacted by this error and they are in a difficult situation now, awaiting the chargeback. What a complete shambles this company is.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:32 am
You know, there are certain mistakes that can be made and be forgiven for. Mistakes that take a single server offline, mistakes that bring downtime by accident… this is not one of those types of forgivable mistakes.
My account was immediately suspended when the accounting system went haywire. I have yet to see it come unsuspended. I’m lucky that I wasn’t one of those who had set up for automated billing or I would be pissed off to the very max of what a human is capable of.
Dreamhost… I’m honestly more dissapointed then I can even put into words. This type of breach of trust is worse than almost any I have ever had with any company I have ever worked with before. Unless you do something drastic fast, I forsee you loosing many customers over this breach of trust.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:33 am
I’m just glad my CC information is wrong in the auto-billing. This just reinforces my decision to move my business at the end of my billing cycle.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:34 am
How upsetting. DreamHost just charged our credit cards on file? This is the kind of thing that deserves a full explanation of what happened. Was is a technical problem? Was it a hacker? Was it a rogue employee? What is being done to better protect our cc info and avoid such illegal charges in the future? Etc. I expect a full accounting of what happened here.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:37 am
You’d think they’d get this bit right…
January 15th, 2008 at 3:38 am
If I ever needed an excuse not to turn on auto-pay, THIS would be it - thank goodness I have an old card on my account and auto-pay turned off. I hope DH is prepared to pay for any overdraft/CC charges caused by this error.
I don’t mind the odd bit of downtime, but this is very disappointing.
I understand that mistakes happen, but… eek!
January 15th, 2008 at 3:38 am
Phew. Had a feeling something would be up when I was told that I owed money dating back to the 15th December 2008. LOL.
Now to go check my bank account and make sure I still have money on it @_@
January 15th, 2008 at 3:39 am
Good Grief… Not a very good thing to wake up too… Time to fire someone!!!
January 15th, 2008 at 3:40 am
About the only way I stay is if they leave my account extended the year they renewed it and refund the full amount charged..
SUMMARY OF PAYMENT
Amount: $3564.00
Talk about an overdraft..
January 15th, 2008 at 3:43 am
Yes, this is bad, but it is still only 3:40am local time with Dreamhost.
I’d urge all those calling for urgent action (myself included) to give Dreamhost until 12:00 local time - that’s eight hours from now - to assemble their senior management team, work out a sensible immediate plan of action, and communicate it to us the customers.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:47 am
MICHAEL G - when they start charging people for hosting for the future - up to $3000 in maniacs case, i think it’d be in the best interests for the management team to get the hell out of bed and sort it out?
January 15th, 2008 at 3:49 am
well, I wondered how they were going to pay for their new offices and Xmas party (check out their video of that)! Nice. And now, you’ll notice, all emails sent to them do not get a confirmation of receipt email, like 16 year old kids trying to hide a wild party from their folks just back from holiday. It would be nice if one of them could get on this blog and let us know what happened, instead of hiding. Iceberg? What iceberg?
January 15th, 2008 at 3:49 am
It’s 12:50 CET! 8 hours from now banks will be closed.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:55 am
There probably isn’t a hell of a lot they can do, even if they have been woken up. It’s not like their bank managers will be up, and I expect they’ll need senior help from their bank (or billing provider) to sort this out properly.
I think everyone should cool their heels for a while, give DH a chance to make this right. If they fail, then maybe you can start throwing your threats around (or better yet, shut your yap and vote with your wallet).
Suggesting that someone get fired is not a solution. Proposing a class action is not a solution. Calling people names is not a solution.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:56 am
Actually, proposing class action is a pretty appropriate solution.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:58 am
This is a big mistake. A lot of people can have a lot of problems with their banks/accounts/credit cards if they doesn’t know anything about this charge. I hope Dreamhost can resolve it soon as they can, and compensate their users for this.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:58 am
“It would be nice if one of them could get on this blog and let us know what happened, instead of hiding.”
@David: This status post is precisely what that is intended to do. No one is hiding. There was an error in the billing system, and it is being addressed. When further updates are available, they will be posted. We do fully realize the gravity of the situation, and it will be dealt with appropriately. Again, our apologies…
January 15th, 2008 at 3:58 am
I’m shocked. I have been overbilled - and those that I have referred to your service have just called screaming at me for recommending you. They are business associates, friends and family. You’ve put me in a really nasty position with all of them.
I expect compensation and a sincere DIRECT apology or I will be taking this up with VISA and have your processes audited.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:59 am
I have to be honest, I’m furious about this. I don’t remember signing up to any automatic payment scheme and even if I did, this is totally unacceptable. This is a screw up of the highest order, I’m a poor student with rent due and now I’m $150 out of pocket. Not good enough DH.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:59 am
Damn, I’m minus 450 dollars and my bank is gonna charge me overdraft fee of 50 bucks!
January 15th, 2008 at 4:00 am
Luckily my credit card is full, ha! Honestly though, that was pretty shitty. I figure you’re going to be giving out some free months or some shit.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:07 am
As happy as I am with dreamhost, this was very unpleasant. My bank has already charged my $45AUD for being overdrawn and I have no way of fixing that until I get paid on Friday. I could deal with this if I didn’t need to buy food and fuel before then. But I do. So now I will have to borrow from friends to simply eat and get to work tomorrow.
Thanks Dreamhost.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:11 am
Some of you are seriously overreacting, relax.. Billing mistakes happen and DH will obviously get them corrected - during normal business hours.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:12 am
This is awful!! I’ve just been charged three times for services starting in Novemeber 2008, $358!! Dreamhost you’ve completely done me over here.
I expect a full and immediate reimbursement of these false charges lest I be forced to contact my banks fraudulent transactions department.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:13 am
behooves??? And by the way, I wasn’t casting calumny, I just think they could have had one of their people post a few explanations and reassurances on this blog, and then people wouldn’t be panicking. Je suis tres raisonnable, mon pote!
January 15th, 2008 at 4:15 am
Well, my private site was not billed ’cause it was in a monthly pay scheme and it was under 9 usd… The problem was with another account that I got to my employee… It is on a year plan so I had my Credit Card… Well, you all know what happened…
Hey, I want to believe that this kind of things happen sometimes. And I want to believe that it will be taken care of until the end of the day (even if I cant imagine how). I also want to believe that it will not happen again…
Will it happen again Happy Dreamhost Team?
January 15th, 2008 at 4:16 am
I am VERY angry about this billing matter. Manic - your comments are less helpful. Many of us work really hard to make a living and when we are billed in advance (in my case TWO YEARS in advance of when the bill was due) then that’s stretching the friendship. I feel very sorry for those whose bank accounts have been impacted by this disgraceful matter, and expect that DH will be making HUGE efforts to compensate those who have received extra DEBITS by their banks. Fortunately my credit card expired a month ago and I have a new number, so DH’s system failed to access my funds. This is shocking behavior on the part of DH.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:17 am
Our sincerest apologies! I completely understand that when dealing with money, panic is quick to set in. I definitely understand the frustration. The problem has been found and fixed. Erroneous charges are in the process of being refunded now. I’m very sorry for any and all problems this has caused.
Please check back soon for a full accounting of what happened.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:17 am
After reading the letter 10 times over I started to realize something went wrong. Good DH put a warning box at the contact form, otherwise I would have sended the issue.
But what will happen now? Will DH send us back a notify the previous bill was for real or fake, or should we fish out our selves :S. Just don’t want to lose my account :?.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:19 am
Dreamhost is the best host I ever had. Period.
But todays (or yesterdays by now?) fuck-up is truly of astronomical proportions. It’s an eye opener, one should consider his credit card to be in jeopardy at all times and secure it accordingly.
As GT above says, some clients will try to take advantage and ask for a period of free hosting as compensation - well, rightly so, they deserve it.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:21 am
Well, DH can consider my account closed … just as soon as the ‘close my account’ option STOPS asking me to pay $300+ for a bill that isn’t due until 2010. Not worth the trouble staying with DH if this is how they treat their customers.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:22 am
As a (until now) happy customer of dreamhost this mistake is extreme anger inducing. I have been charged for a full year right before my mortgage payment for the month cleared… making my mortgage payment check bounce.
lets see:
$119.40 yearly hosting fee
$50 bounced check fee
$100 missed mortgage payment fee
30 day late on my credit record (which kills my refinancing hopes for this year)
WAY TO GO DREAMHOST!
January 15th, 2008 at 4:22 am
And what about additional costs incurred with overdrawn charges? I don’t want 6 months ‘free’ hosting, I need that money.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:23 am
Well, I just canceled my plan with Dreamhost because of this. My bank account went south just as many others’ did. I just can’t have this. This completely broke my trust. I will be moving on to somewhere else now. I don’t hope they cover overdraft charge issues. They will have to. It may be a mistake, but it’s a serious one. It is their responsibility to take care of the issues that have ensued due to their mistake. This has not only panicked me, but also, may have messed up my finances for a month or two. I don’t make that much money.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:23 am
There better be a really bloody good reason for this. It will take something damn special to stop me switching hosts at the end of my billing cycle.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:24 am
Dimitri: the date in the future is the date of the end of the cycle for the plan that was being charged (that makes sense: you pay in november 2007 for a hosting plan that will go until november 2008).
The charge was in the past and the date was right, but on my case it looks like the billing system thought it was charged twice.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:25 am
@Jason - Being angry doesn’t help, just like those overreacting and calling for a class action lawsuit doesn’t help.. With maybe $100 in my bank account my debit card got charged over $3500 by the billing error..
January 15th, 2008 at 4:25 am
thank god my automatic visa withdrawal bounced for some reason!
January 15th, 2008 at 4:25 am
That’s why I prefer to pay using PayPal or GoogleCheckout and allow payments one by one.
Anyway, yes, you should do something to fix this problem (like they say, free hosting or similar…).
January 15th, 2008 at 4:26 am
Calm down guys. Mistakes happen to anyone. Leaving Dreamhost will not solve your problem, as this can happen tomorrow with any other company. And Dreamhost will be more careful, that’s for sure.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:27 am
I’m in the same boat as Justin (1st post) this charge has overdrawn my account and now it is causing a domino effect of overdraft charges. THANKS DREAMHOST! I really hope you make good on this… :X
January 15th, 2008 at 4:28 am
Wow, brutal. I’ve been laid-back about the DH reliability dramas, but this is kind of a different thing — how many of DH’s customers are self-employed folks whose business cash flow is affected by big random charges like these? I think people can deal with a bounced email or three, but when your mistakes hit them in the wallet, you have to get serious and figure out how to make amends. Looking forward to some high-quality communication and transparency from DH management (without the jokey newsletter tone) and some kind of small token of thanks/apology for those trusting enough of DH to have enabled automatic rebill, who bore the full brunt of this screw-up (along with the DH customer support team who is on call at the moment — poor things).
My account is now showing a credit balance, which is a change in the right direction, but I don’t want a credit with DH right now, I want the charge on my CC to disappear, obviously.
DH should be overjoyed that their overseas clients were noisy enough to draw their attention to this disaster, so that they have an opportunity to drag everyone out of bed and fix it and formulate their plan to address their customers before their much bigger US market wakes up and flips out. If they don’t take the opportunity to do that, well, ’selber Schuld’ as we say ’round these parts.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:29 am
Charles - you say it could happen at any time with any company. Well the fact is IT DID happen with Dreamhost. Why should we stay with a company that is so flippant and irresponsible with its customers credit card details?