60days till the expiration of www.nairabytes dot com – update5

2

December 31, 2009 by Administrator

I’m pasting this for posterity. I copied and pasted this (quote-below) from the Web4Africa.net blog. I will give a reply in the next update: update-6.

title: Libel by NairaBytes.com

It has become imperative for me to respond to some misinformation via this medium, from the owner of nairabytes.com, who is libelling my person using his blog hosted at wordpress.com

Before dealing with the issue directly, it is necessary to highlight a few principles:

1. Security

Web4Africa runs multiple web servers spread across 4 world-class data centres in diverse geographical locations, with each server configured to offer the best level of performance and security. In the interest of security, unused functionalities are disabled on the servers as these are usually targeted by hackers to perpetrate their evil trade. It is under this same principle that programs like Apache, PHP etc are hardened on the servers, to drastically reduce any chance of server compromise. Consequently, it is possible that some few web scripts would not function correctly. Where this happens, we encourage our clients to contact us, and we work together to identify the conflict, and do our best to accommodate their specific requirements.

2. Warranty

There are tens of thousands of scripts (web software) that can be installed on a typical web hosting server and these scripts can make use of any of the thousands of functionalities offered by programming languages like PHP, ASP.NET, ColdFusion, Ruby on Rails etc. Adding the power of modules, it is even possible to extend the functionalities of the traditional programming languages. In essence, various proprietary or open-source software, programming languages, database systems, email software etc have to be installed on a typical web hosting server in a commercial shared web hosting environment. Several 3rd-party party web applications can be installed by web hosting clients to meet their respective needs. These include content management systems like: WordPress, Drupal, Joomla etc. Partly due to the high number of various conditions required for tens-of-thousands of 3rd-party applications to function correctly, it is impractical for a web hosting company to offer warranty over the innumerable 3rd party applications.

3. Refund

Web4Africa’s Refund policy, as retrieved from the Terms of Service (TOS) document, today 29th December 2009:

30 Day Money Back Guarantee
Web4Africa offers an unconditional 30 day guarantee that covers cancellations of a web hosting account made during the first 30 days of service, due to the inability to deliver satisfactory services. As a part of our strive to achieve industry leading customer satisfaction, the customer will be refunded all hosting charges made to their credit card minus any setup fees which are non-refundable. The guarantee does not apply to accounts with non-use, misuse, or abuse. Domain names are also non-refundable.

Any questions regarding the 30 day money back guarantee should be forwarded through our contact page.

This document was last updated on 3rd December 2008.

To the specific case of nairabytes.com, the owner installed WordPress (a blog publishing software offered for free by wordpress.org) on his web hosting account, and attempted to publish to his blog using desktop publishing software like BlogJet, BlogDesk, WLWrite. He later complained that his publications to the blog via the desktop blogging software were not properly formatted. The first response sent to him on this issue was clear and unequivocal:

Hello Tokunbo,
1. We do not offer support for scripts installed on our server. May I suggest that you consult WordPress for more help.
[…]

This response is based on the principle of warranty explained above. Despite this, we spent time trying to identify the needed functionality and several advised him to consult WordPress and the publishers of the desktop software as they would be in the best position to point out the needed functionality which we would enable to make his desktop blog publishing work. At no point did he ever state the specific functionality, but chose to respond with insults and innuendoes.

In the course of several exchanges, he was made to understand that what we offer is web hosting and cannot be liable for the functionality or otherwise, of 3rd-party applications like WordPress. This case is even more ludicrous as there is a 4th party application. BlogDesk is a 4th party application because it relies on WordPress (and the like). Thus, he was sent the following message in clear terms when he asked if he was being billed for the hosting:

[…]
The billing starts from the day your hosting was created Sir.
[…]

Despite these, he proceeded to ask for a refund months after the domain name registration and web hosting account he ordered and paid for, were activated, claiming we have not offered him a service. Needless to say that his application for a refund was denied as none of the criteria by which we could possibly issue a refund was met. The fact that we offer a Money back Guarantee does not imply that every client is welcome to whimsically apply for a refund. Each application needs to be carefully scrutinized and where they have merit, a refund is issued.

He demanded a refund over 3rd party applications despite being unable to specify the functionality we needed to enable for his software.
His refund application was way beyond the 30 days refund policy we offer as clearly stated in our Terms of Service.
At several points has he been made to understand that a refund is not possible in this very circumstance but he chose to reply in very unfriendly terms with very insulting language, seeking to threaten my person and scare Web4Africa staff. His recent resort has been to publish insulting and libellous statements via a blog located at wordpress.com seeking to defame my person despite the fact that there is nothing personal about this issue. These only worsen the situation. From our TOS:

Abusive behavior against staff: We believe in professional communication, no matter what the issue is. We will not tolerate any abusive behaviour, abusive language or threats against any Web4Africa staff member(s). By violating this policy, we reserve the right to permanently suspend or terminate your account(s) without prior notice and without any refund. Web4Africa reserves the right to require changes or disable as necessary any web site, account, database, or other component that does not comply with this policy, at its sole discretion and without notice. Web4Africa also reserves the right to make any such modifications in an emergency at our sole discretion.

Not all server functionalities are enabled by default. The functionality in this issue was later identified to be libxml2. This was enabled and we confirmed that the blog desktop software formatting issues had been fixed. He was duly notified but this only elicited more insults from him despite the fact that we clearly explained that we are not liable for 3rd-party web applications several months before then. Seeking to offer technical support in a bid to assist him does impose any such liability on Web4Africa.

source: click here

Tags: www.nairabytes.com