I received my first invoice from Hostway on September 8, 2010 for $33.01. I wrote Hostway a check in a reasonable amount of time as I have always done for many, many years. I cut the check on September 16, 2010 and mailed it the next day. I typically sit down and cut checks twice a month. Once at the beginning of the month and once in the middle of the month.

Just 2 days after on the 18th, I receive an insulting and threatening email from Hostway, stating my account is past due, requesting the payment immediately and threatening to interrupt my services. How rude and unprofessional.

I replied to that email stating my account was not past due and that I had put a check in the mail and they needed to allow enough time for it to be delivered. It was at that time I notified them that I would be filing a BBB complaint for their improper and unprofessional billing practices.

Four days after that on September 22, I received an even more insulting, threatening and unprofessional email in red type stating - "Please pay your past due balance of $ 33.01 immediately or your account will be suspended. An account suspension will interrupt your service and make your Web site unavailable to the internet community."

This was the last straw with this rude company and it reminded me that I had to file this complaint. I have not and will not, ever except this type of behavior from a vendor. This is a reminder of who they work for. They work for the customer and must treat and will treat the customer professionally and with the utmost respect; with a sense of thanks and gratitude for their patronage. And if Hostway finds it impossible to comply, then they must be penalized for their violations.

I always pay my bills on time. Vendors line up for the chance to do business with me and my 4 companies; and they treat me with the respect a successful businessman is due. That is the only acceptable "due" in my life; and it has nothing to do with the "past".

This is the timeline:

Received hostway invoice - 9/8/10

Cut check on 9/16/10

Mailed check (proof is postmark) - 9/17/10

Threatening interruption past due notice - 9/18/10

Received check at Hostway 9/22/10

Threatening suspension past due notice - 9/22/10

Threatening suspension past due notice - 9/26/10

Threatening suspension past due notice - 9/30/10

Hostway deposited check 9/30/10

Threatening past due notice - 9/30/10

Threatening suspension past due notice - 10/03/10

Another Hostway invoice sent (1:38am)- 10/08/10

NOTICE OF SUSPENSION and threatening to close my account "This is your eighth notice of your past due balance" (5:58pm)- 10/08/10

Another Hostway invoice sent (8:10pm)- 10/08/10

My email reply to the continued and relentless Hostway harassment - "Go f*ck yourself" - 10/08/10

Hostway advised me "that any further abusive language will not be tolerated." - 10/11/10

My reply "...and i would like to advise you that you cashed my check weeks ago; and it is you who are abusive." I attached the canceled check - 10/11/10

10/23/10 I received this email after paying my invoice in full more than one month ago and Hostway depositing my check more than 3 weeks ago:

"This is your final notice of your past due balance before we officially close your account. Your account is currently suspended."

This is as abusive as any hitting, punching, kicking, gay bashing, racial slurs, and any other form of verbal and physical abuse. Hostway is the worst internet hosting company anywhere.

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!

Hostway has not completed my web design. I hired them to create my website in 2006. Every time I try to contact my web designer i get no response. I paid them in advance and now I'm stuck with a useless website. My advice look somewhere else. Good luck.

I was with them for 3 years. I sent them a mail telling them I wanted to terminate my account and to let me know when the last day would be and they cut me off within the hour despite the fact I had paid for several more days. I was left without email or a web site for 48 hours while I frantically arranged swapping to another provider. Their billing department were responsible and offered no apology with pigeon english one line replies to my emails. I have two other friends with problems using them, I would never recommend them.