I have a website and it's billed twice yearly.
My last payment for the site was due early December 2006, but because of a situation beyond my control that involved maxed out Blue Cross benefits and a lazy doctor not filling out medical forms for me, I found myself in a really bad financial situation and could not afford to make the payment on my website.
As a result of my not being able to make the payment, my host, 1and1, locked my website after a 14 day grace period.
Locking the website did not delete the contents of the website on their server, but when anyone clicked on my website link they got a 404 Error (page not found) which looked like the website had been deleted.
The only thing I had access to with 1and1 after my account was locked, was the billing area of my host account. I could not "see" my website on the internet. None of the features such as email etc worked. And I had no access to anything but my billing information in my Account area of their website.
At the end of January of this year things improved again financially. My Blue Cross kicked back in and I no longer had to pay out $250.00 per month for my medications, and my doctor finally submitted the medical form and my payments restarted again.
As a result I was able to make my payment on my website. The payment I made was for a 6 month period.
After my website being "offline" for 6 or 7 weeks, 1and1 reinstated my website and all of it's features the first week of February 2007. So once again my website was accessable through the URL and also through my Account page at 1and1's website.
Today I just got a bill from 1and1 for another 6 month period.
Now here is where I need opinions.
Had I been able to make that payment in early December 2006, the payment would have been due again now.
However in my mind my next 6 month payment should be due towards the end of July and not now because I wasn't able to make my payment until the end of January 2007. And while they hadn't cancelled my account and domain, my website was unavailable to me or anyone else for a period of 6 or 7 weeks.
I think they are billing me too early.
What do you think? Should my billing period still be the same as it was before even though they turned off my account for 6 or 7 weeks, or should my billing date be adjusted and moved forward reflective of the date I made my payment and once again had access to my account/website?
My last payment for the site was due early December 2006, but because of a situation beyond my control that involved maxed out Blue Cross benefits and a lazy doctor not filling out medical forms for me, I found myself in a really bad financial situation and could not afford to make the payment on my website.
As a result of my not being able to make the payment, my host, 1and1, locked my website after a 14 day grace period.
Locking the website did not delete the contents of the website on their server, but when anyone clicked on my website link they got a 404 Error (page not found) which looked like the website had been deleted.
The only thing I had access to with 1and1 after my account was locked, was the billing area of my host account. I could not "see" my website on the internet. None of the features such as email etc worked. And I had no access to anything but my billing information in my Account area of their website.
At the end of January of this year things improved again financially. My Blue Cross kicked back in and I no longer had to pay out $250.00 per month for my medications, and my doctor finally submitted the medical form and my payments restarted again.
As a result I was able to make my payment on my website. The payment I made was for a 6 month period.
After my website being "offline" for 6 or 7 weeks, 1and1 reinstated my website and all of it's features the first week of February 2007. So once again my website was accessable through the URL and also through my Account page at 1and1's website.
Today I just got a bill from 1and1 for another 6 month period.
Now here is where I need opinions.
Had I been able to make that payment in early December 2006, the payment would have been due again now.
However in my mind my next 6 month payment should be due towards the end of July and not now because I wasn't able to make my payment until the end of January 2007. And while they hadn't cancelled my account and domain, my website was unavailable to me or anyone else for a period of 6 or 7 weeks.
I think they are billing me too early.
What do you think? Should my billing period still be the same as it was before even though they turned off my account for 6 or 7 weeks, or should my billing date be adjusted and moved forward reflective of the date I made my payment and once again had access to my account/website?