Refund policy - is this normal business practice from NFO?

[cmontesi06]

So, I purchased a server with payments for 2 months in advance.
But i only used it for the less than a week and i saw a declined in performance. Another company came abouts and gave me a deal for the lack of good performance(not saying the service was better or worst because customer service for nfo was good).
However, upon emailing and informing one of your staff about cancellation and asking for a partial refund, i was told to suck it and that they will retain the money and keep the server up and running for the 2 months. Later, after the cancellation was done, your staff said they were "sorry" for not giving me a partial refund but there's nothing they can do about it and cancelled the server within the first month and still kept the money for ALL 2 MONTHS.
Is this how you guys do business?

The purchasers were myself and someone else who does not speak english very well. I did not know about this situation until i came back to the States and found out through him.

These are the details on MY END, which i paid $64.09 to support@nfoservers.com as a donation to complete the purchase.
Unique Transaction ID #2B444872P86854336 on June 2nd, 2012.

You can look it up on your paypal account and transaction. I not only demand a refund since the server's cost for a Counter-Strike 1.6 with 32slots was in the $140's but I also want this to become a public manner since during those email exchanges, you guys keep saying you are "sorry but you will not give us any refunds".

[Edge100x]

Yes, having a no-refund policy past the first few days is standard for this business. We actually had an official no-refund policy (in general, regardless of the timeframe) for 10 full years before starting to allow them in a very specific circumstance just recently -- specifically, when a refund is requested within 24 hours of an automatic payment.

Not allowing refunds keeps costs down for all our customers and gives more predictability to allow us to make hardware purchases without needing to worry that the customer who triggered the purchase will cancel and we will be stuck with a bill that we can't afford. (Our combination of low prices and very high performance mean that we rarely make much of a profit as it is.)

It's important to note that we will never renege on our commitment to provide what you ordered. If you order a 32-slot CS 1.6 server for 2 months, we will provide exactly that. We also provide a discount for longer-term rentals; in exchange for this, you guarantee to us that you will continue to rent for that period of time.

In addition to our exclusive 100% SLA, we have a full performance guarantee, that nobody else can touch: https://www.nfoservers.com/performanceguarantee.php. It is quite comprehensive and we will want to investigate whatever performance complaint you might have about your service. We monitor our systems very carefully and perform load-balancing as needed (another NFO exclusive, as far as we know). The performance of our servers does not degrade over time, but it's possible that you are experiencing a temporary routing problem (Comcast has been having issues around Chicago for the last few days, for instance) or that the person who customized your server installed a plugin or addon that would cause a performance issue.

If an employee told you to "suck it," escalate that to me right away so that he or she can be disciplined and retrained. That is completely unacceptable behavior.

You should also always be wary of fly-by-night companies that join a server and offer a deal if you switch to them. We've rarely heard such deals work out.

[cmontesi06]

You have got to be kidding me.
Translation for what you just said:
I don't care if our servers are bad and our performance is horrible, We know our servers are top notch. But You signed for 2 months and we're taking your money away. Although, you have been asking us about it in the first week of rental but we do not care. We will take your money regardless.

Is this how you treat all unhappy customers? Is this a way to do business?

This is the first time i've heard of such policy. I've been with [two competitors] as well as nuclear fallout. In fact, we're not even NEW customers. We are returning customers.
I am not asking for a full refund. I have been asking to refund me $64.09 out of the $140 that we initially paid, for the remaining month since the first week of owning the server and taking a loss of more than one month. You guys are really are getting 65%. Is this really too much to ask?
The server wasn't even active for a full month.
The IP was: 74.91.112.34:27015

[Edge100x]

[You] don't care if [your] servers are bad and [your] performance is horrible

That is absolutely not the case, and you don't have to just take my word for it. As I said, we have a full, specific performance guarantee and a full SLA (no other GSP does). If you have a performance complaint, we will want to investigate it with you and find the root cause. That will be necessary before a credit can be given.

You should never hesitate to report what you believe to be a performance shortcoming. We take our quality level very seriously, and performance complaints very seriously. I am personally and deeply involved in this small business and respond to concerns myself, as you can see by my posts on this board.

Please respond in the support request with more specifics on the performance concern, and escalate it to me, and we can go from there.

[Elochai]

One thing you should always do is read the agreement to anything before saying you agree to it.

it very understandable to not offer a refund. No shop in the world as far as I know has to offer a refund poilcy to there customers.

At least here NFO will sometimes work out a deal where you can use the money left over for other services.

As for anything else, you shouldn't of jump ship so soon without trying to get your issue fixed. When I first came to NFO I was having some issues with RO2 and my CPU eating a whole core. I contacted support and they including John work by my side every step of the way.

NFO wants to make sure your happy with your server and will do everything they can for you. (which is by far more then any other server provider as I been with a few in my life time)

Now I can understand why your upset, you jump the gun after agreeing to a 2 month contract for another deal and now need the cash. But you should of tried to work out your server issues first. You can claim you didn't know you where in a contract or that NFO doesn't do a refund. It all in the agreement, along with the 2 days to cancel before being billed when you 1st sign up.

All I can really say is, try to work it out, if it still not in your best interest then think of it this way, you got a server for another month that your friends can use and you can add messages on, to tell your friends your new server address.

[Hot Carl]

I've been with NFO on and off for ~8 years and have never had somebody from their staff say "suck it" or anything close to that.

This is the first time i've heard of such policy. I've been with [two competitors] as well as nuclear fallout. In fact, we're not even NEW customers. We are returning customers.
I am not asking for a full refund. I have been asking to refund me $64.09 out of the $140 that we initially paid, for the remaining month since the first week of owning the server and taking a loss of more than one month. You guys are really are getting 65%. Is this really too much to ask?
The server wasn't even active for a full month.
The IP was: 74.91.112.34:27015

If you aren't a new customer you should know that they don't give refunds, but will work with you if need be.

What other game providers will offer refunds because out of the blue you decide you don't want their service?

How much time do you have managing CS:S servers, because I would be willing to bet its less time than John. That guy is more than willing to help anybody that is having issues. At one time I thought he was a robot due to him responding too quickly and working all hours of the night.

Final thought, NFO is a great provider. I have been to several others thinking the grass was greener on the side, come to find out its not.

Carl

[Edge100x]

I referenced a Comcast problem above, which affected some customers in Michican. That problem has now been resolved, thanks to a very helpful contact of ours in Comcast.