“Just because our prices are cheaper than other New Zealand companies doesn’t mean our services are budget,” claims the 24/7 Hosting NZ website, rather ironically.
Billed as ‘100% Kiwi Web Hosting’, the company appears to have fallen off the tech radar, with angry Kiwis unable to establish contact for up to a month.
Operating out of two offices in New Zealand, the company’s main office is in Christchurch, with another office in Auckland.
“We don’t hide behind the screens so feel free to pop in to either of our offices and have a coffee with one of our friendly team,” the company website claims, again rather ironically.
Yet while today’s revelations will shock many within the New Zealand tech space, for 24/7 Hosting NZ’s loyal customer base, this is nothing new.
“Absolutely useless support,” wrote Andrew Stephen, on the company’s official Facebook page three months ago.
“They expired my domain 9 months before it was due then won't respond to my open support ticket, my repeated phone calls, email or via Facebook or twitter.
“When I logged the original call their site said 27 minutes to respond, it's been over 4 hours and I've heard nothing.”
Refusing to hold back was Tony Duffy, who two months ago also posted about the struggling company via social media, scathing:
“BEWARE SCAM! These guys are scammers. Taken our clubs money and never reply to emails or calls. You've already been on fair go in 2011 and still up to your old tricks.”
Echoing Duffy’s comments, Kylie Vernon wrote: “Horrific customer service - have tried to get in touch 7 TIMES via email and facebook and absolutely NO replies. All I wanted to do was start re using your service.”
For a company which has over 2,500 likes on Facebook, the last official post by 24/7 Hosting NZ came on February 18, when the company wrote: “Wow it's 33.3c here in Christchurch and not far behind in Auckland, YAY for Air Con!!”
Yet as Kiwis fight for refunds and clarity on the situation, the company is nowhere to be seen, or heard.
According to a damning TVNZ Fair Go report in July 2011, 24/7 Hosting NZ has had a history of ripping off the public, with the investigation claiming the company was guilty of ripping off an American hosting website.
“And there's something very odd about the 247Hosting website design,” speculated reporter Gordon Harcourt at the time.
“It's astonishingly similar to that of TMDHosting.com, a company based in Delaware USA. I contacted them and they say their design has been "stolen”.”
While it must be reported that the man in question, believed to be a Mr Caleb Finlay/Carrington, was quick to deny the accusations at the time, telling TVNZ via his lawyer: “The "stolen" website design was done without his knowledge, and he's pursuing a website designer for costs, and is happy to discuss the matter with TMDHosting.com.”
At present, TechDay has tried calling both 24/7 Hosting NZ’s company number, and the registered number for Caleb Finlay/Carrington, but both numbers appear disconnected.
Do you know Caleb Finlay/Carrington? What are your experiences of working with 24/7 Hosting NZ?