Had a late paying client who owed money. I understand that we are all in a tough spot economically, and I try to work with late payers and respect their humanity as long as they respect mine. A late deposit(s) before Veteran's day cleared a day after the last billing attempt and the Planet cut me off cold. I begged them to understand what happened, but they coldly through out at me their "policy". No amount of explaining the situation could help. With my site cut off and email cut off - I was in panic mode. I was in a position to actually lose business from this. It was a busy client interactive/deal week. We scrambled and got up again with a local friend who hosts, but lost information and valuable time. I received a quick disconnect email from The Planet as well. When the checks all cleared, The Planet took its cash by auto debit. I asked for a refund, but they said to "officially" cancel the account first. I said that they sent a disconnect notice. They said that should not be misconstrued as a cancellation. I then canceled while on the call and asked for a prorated refund to the official cancellation date. They told me to get lost. I now will file a useless "dispute" to the bank about this charge. The cash will be gone for good. And by the way, most banks are just as bad and worse anyway. I will eventually host the site with another hosting provider shortly. It will absolutely not be The Planet or any other company with an "old economy, rip-off-whomever-you-like-attitude/policy" like The Planet. There are others. Some are certainly local-enough. Support them instead.

My company has policies in place as all companies must, but I know that real people are behind these policies. My issue is that I'm cutting it tight to stay in afloat as many are, and it is working. I'm bending over backwards to let clients keep their services up. There is a logical business limit to this, but hiding behind my company policy is not something I will ever do. DON'T HOST WITH THE PLANET.