My nightmare began May 9th when I hired Heritage Web Solutions to design my new internet business. Unfortunately, I did not search for complaints against Heritage Web Solutions on the internet. Being the optimistic type, I was only searching for professional web designers and hosting companies that seemed reliable, trained, and professional. My final decision to hire this company was based on their extensive and impressive internet advertisements.

They sounded great, but little did I know at the time, that they had no intentions of helping me build a marketable web business that would produce income. I was only money to them! They did not live up to their promises, and it has cost me a lot of money, valuable time, and unnecessary stress! I was so upset that I could not sleep and all I did was cry. I am a hardworking, self sufficient, single Mom who is counting on this business for extra income to pay for my daughter's college tuition next year!

However, after dealing with them for two weeks it became apparent that I had made a huge mistake in putting all of my confidence and money into Heritage Web Solutions. By the third week, I had figured out all of their scheming business tactics. They are so good at lying and deceiving people, they probably conduct mandatory 'scam training classes' for all of their employees.

In essence, I paid them $850.00 for a website and shopping cart to be setup. I paid them another $300.00 for a logo (which was a couple of pieces of clip art stuck together, and they didn't even use my company name as instructed.)

After two bad attempts of getting a cheap and ugly logo, I told them, to forget it, but they would not refund my money because according to their contract, if they did any work at all, my money would not be refunded. The account manager assured me that I would not have to pay for it until they designed something I liked, but my card was billed the very next day.

That same day, I also purchased 4 dibs (scroll boxes) for a total of $200.00 to go on the first page, but that never happened as planned, because the totally wrong layout they chose, would not incorporate it, so they put one dip on first page and that caused the whole page to scroll, instead the whole plan was to have them accent the individual topics so they could be seen right away.

Then they just put each topic one after the other, at the bottom of the page , therefore; no one could see what was available unless they took the time to keep scrolling way down the page!! I added a $300.00 forum, and a $125.00 calendar, which no work was ever done at all concerning these two items, because I did not approve the useless layout of the design. The more they worked the more chopped up it became.

This would never have happened, if they had listened to what I needed and wanted in the first place. I have several emails of what I wanted my website to look like, what I needed it to do, and what I wanted, and my color choices. They asked me for all of this information in the beginning, stating they could not start work without it, but they apparently did not look over and read any of it.

Did anyone ever take anything I stated into consideration? No! They did exactly what they wanted to do, and tried to get me to approve a website with two home pages, slowly loading full pages and half pages, all done with the wrong layout! The entire left side of the design was useless and bare.

To make a long story short, they are not qualified to produce the results they advertise. They also do not live up to what they tell you on the phone. They would call me and talk a good game, but then still not produce or listen to my important input. Since they couldn't design the right website within the 4 week time frame they promised, I was billed $49.00 for June hosting too.

All in all, I paid them a total of $1,524.99 and I am still not in business, because I will not accept a website that is not built to support my business. I would be ashamed for anyone to visit that site.
Anyway, I ended up sending an email to the owner and this is his reply below: (for privacy purposes I have deleted my last name)

Dear Ms. ******

I will bring your concern to the attention of the V.P. of design and ask him to look into it. If the work is shoddy, then Heritage will remedy it. If we are 'chasing a ghost', then our best efforts have to be sufficient.

Jeremy, will you please review this account and see that we communicate with Ms. Story.

Respectfully,

Mark Strong
Heritage Web Solutions

Please note, the use of Mr. Strongs his arrogant words. The email confirmed that I was correct in my observation of their sleazy and uncaring business practices, and compounded by biggest fear that the deception goes straight to the top of the corporate ladder! Again, they had no intentions to do a good job. They were also not 'chasing a ghost.' What I wanted, paid for, and expected, was not impossible by any means! They take and keep people's money by hiding behind their terms of agreement. As far as I am concerned, the minute they billed my credit card, they 'accepted my terms of agreement' meaning that would to live up to their promises and what they advertised to get my business.

In the email I sent to Mr. Strong, I forwarded one letter that I had sent to a supervisor. In the email, I went into great detail about everything I had been through to date and again had to waste more time in explaining how I wanted each page to look and what I needed each page of my site to do. Week before last, I got tired of sounding like a broken record, and going being stressed to the max, so I sent an another email to Mr. Strong explaining that I no longer wanted their services or wanted to ever have to deal with their company again, and asked for a refund.

He did respond by stating that I could not be refunded any money due to the fact that I agreed to their terms of service. As for that, I abided by the contract in paying them for a custom website, it was them that did live up to the terms of agreement, so why should I settle for less than what I paid for and they promised?

At present I have hired another company to build my website, but I am in no way going to allow them to get away with what they did to me, and hopefully be able to make sure this does not happen to anyone else. So if anyone is in the process of suing them, etc. Please let me know and I will help you in anyway I can win your case too.

I will not go into all the details of everything; it would take all night to write it all! I just want to warn as many people as possible before they believe in this company and end up being scammed! Please investigate, check out, and get references before hiring a company that advertises on the internet.

This evening Mr. Strong sent me an email saying that, as per their terms of agreement, I was not entitled to any refund. He went on to state that they would work me until I was satisfied. After 10 weeks, I am tired of hearing this same promise, and after 10 weeks of being nervous and stressed over all the delays and uncaring staff at his company, I have decided, I will not allow myself to be a victim of their shady business practices any longer. I will not allow them to continue to destroy my mental health and my business! I will do whatever it takes to see that justice is done in my favor! I will no longer continue to give away money to a cold, ruthless, man! Again, if I can be of help to anyone else, let me know.

My experience with this company was almost exactly as other describe. It took Heritage 18 months to complete my website. When it was finally 'live' I did not immediately check to see if it could be googled. Customers called me to complain they could not find my site. To my disgust, I found Heritage had failed to make my site available to search engines.

I found out from my friend's husband (he builds websites) that my site did not contain a page containing metatags. The tags enable search engines like google to find and list your websites presence on the web.

I contacted Heritage and asked them to correct the problem. They told me they did not 'promote' websites. I explained I only wanted what they had agreed to provide in the beginning - a presence on the web with search engines able to find me. I had talked about this frequently as the site was being built. They had assured me they would provide that service. Why they don't is puzzling since their site can be googled.

When I complained they shut down my site without my agreement. They refused to refund the $700 I paid for the site. This has cost me a lot in business. The web address is in the phone book and when customers go there it is shut down. Very embarrassing. They don't call me. My income has dropped as a result.

I have been through alot with Hertiage and it is my position that they ABSOLUTELY care nothing about YOUR WEBSITE, must lest your FEELINGS about what your going through with them or have gone through.

We got your money and they keep your money.

Anyway enough of the drama with HERITAGE WEB because these people are LIARS, and THEFTS and so if you really want to get somewhere you may consider not wasting anymore time with these people. Because even if perhaps months, and months, and months and months later they finally complete your website, they make no guarantees that it will even work.

They expect that they can just input what they want, not correct it or not complete it at all, send you some bullshit email "your web is now live" as if you or a family member and potential customers can actually go on your so called "live web" and order products.

PLEASE !!!

These people are such scam artist that I pray that the complaint board can actually move up to the first page on the search engine so that potential customers may read this comments. Because I never bother to go the the next page on the search engine I didn't see this complaintboard.com

We as you may figure out by now they pay for a whole page on the search engine into the second page so that "WE" can't see any complaints about them.

If anyone out their knows about who governs their business tactics we can perhaps get them to change the way they do things. People need not to be tricked by submitting information to them and then once you submit information, without knowing you have already accepted their TOS (Terms of Service) without evening knowing about it unless you initially read it on their home page. Why, because you don't get to see their TOS until you are about to pick out your information for your web designer.

It is at that point that they present their TOS for you to agree to before you submit your information to your web designer about what color and theme that you want for your web.

Aren't they REALLY smart?!!

Anyway, I moved right on for I have no more time for LIES!! I was emailed by one of their previous clients who told me she used a company called calabrix to design her website. She recommend them and they seem to be straight forward and all about making your vision come true. You work one on one with your designer to get the job done.

By the way they DO not protect themselves only in their contract. They protect their client as well and encourages you to READ their contract, take your time, before signing it. And one thing I can say they do have decent conditions for refunding your money. I have never came to a point where I'm not satisfied and don't foresee that it will come to that point either. Everything is going well .

So if you guys need a designer, check out calabrix.com and see what you think. It works for me!

You contact Heritage Web Solutions and the sales department is really nice and let you know that you will have a web design in about 4-6 weeks BUT this is how they really get away with MURDER!!

After you are told about the price agreement and hosting fees that they want you to pay at least for one year before you can even transfer to another hosting site. But hey, of course they try to give you a little courtesy by telling you that in order to do that transfer you must pay them ONE YEAR HOSTING FEES!!!

Everything will seem fine at the beginning and they tell you that your account manager will be contacting you soon and they do but hold up... this is what gets better.

Your account manager is trained to encourage you to go ahead and submit your information/content to them. You start submitting your content and you get some information where you must choose your design colors etc. but of course before that information can be submitted, you must electronically sign the TOS (Terms of Service Agreement).

Get this in their terms of Agreement, it states that once content have been submitted, you have already been bind as far as agreeing that they will be working on your website as your web designers so, you are already backed up against the wall.

They 1. Get you to submit content

2. Tell you to pick out your color scheme for your web etc.

3. Have you sign their Terms of Agreement (Sorry theirs nothing that
protects YOU as their client)!!!

4. Whether you like it or not you already submitted content to your
account manager and was therefore bind to their agreement in their
TOS statement.

5. As their client they state that you have no rights to complain about
them.

6. They make you not get to worried about charging you for hosting
fees because they place a little temporary website their just in
case you ask too many questions.

7. They have no guarantee that their website will work once
completed.

8. They state that you hire them AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

9. They expect YOU as a client to test your own technical part of
the web before go live. MMM... wonder how you do
that as a client???!!!

10. Their sales person may say 4-6 weeks but they will be VERY
quick to promise you, HEY did you read or TOS we make
NO guarantees. That was only a time frame.

11- 100. CAN YOU SAY RIP OFF!!!

They GOTCHA!!

Oh PS: You really didn't expect to keep YOUR domain name if you only register it but not purchase it right, because if they purchased it, go ahead and FORGET it because they do have rights to that name for an ENTIRE year.

Your reading this right? Which means it happened to you too!! Go ahead and tell your story!! Hey, Don't forget the BBB.org (Better Business Bureau)!

For the countless people like myself who has been offered a valued package deal by heritage web solutions and was never delivered must less in 4-6 weeks do yourselves a favor and carefully read their tos statement. This is the only defense that heritage will offer your at the end after they have completely sucked you dry is look at our tos statement, if we did some work for you... Oh well web site completed or not, like it or not, you are not entitled to a refund.

You have your vision of a business, you pursue that vision. You apply for the necessary paperwork, license, permit etc so you feel all the hard work has been done on your behalf. You have your suppliers/distributors lined up. You reaching the home stretch and did all the research their is to be done. You google a web designer and you are bombarded with heritage web solutions at least in the first page even into the second. You research heritage web solutions, you see their advertisement of #1 ranking in the country/nation (whatever) you look at their testimonials and you believe that they must be good. You researched them on the bbb and you find that they have a satisfactory record. You call and they promised you a up and running web site with a turn around time of 4-6 weeks. You wish you could have it sooner but you know the type of professionalism your looking for you say to yourself maybe this is a reasonable time for excellent quality. You pay your monies down and they tell you when the second half will be taken out and then state, oh, in order for us to build your web you must host with us for one year.

You submit your content as they instructed you. And then you wait, and email, and phone, and wait, and email and phone... Then a panic overwhelms you, is this company legitimate? You do some more research and you found a site called ripoffreport.com or the complaint board that you are now reading. What the hell is going on you say, why didn't i see this before?!! You type in heritage web solutions and your mouth begins to drop. Oh my god!! This can not be happening to me. Please god this can't be real!!!

For all you victims that check back here to see if their are any new victims, don't forget about the upcoming potential victims of heritage web solutions. Please, please, use whatever energy you have left to report your story to rippoffreport.com, this complaint board, ic3.gov (internet crime complaint), utah district attorney, local law enforcement in provo, utah, dr. Phil (stopping this company publicly may be more successful in reaching a larger audience), research who their local news people are and usually they will have an investigative department that will take complaints of abusive companies/services in their community.

This company must be held accountable for what they have done and continue to do. We are now victims and we should not walk away and just let this company tactics to continue. Each of us must, must do our part to bring this company to a complete stop. This is not the way we do business in america. We are a land of opportunity. And my opportunity was taken away from me. Two years of planning and goals. All i wanted was the best that web design had to offer at an affordable price. Victim, after victim after victim. This company spend a lot of our non refunded money and monies that they continue to take from existing customers to keep the complaint board and ripoffreport.com from showing consumers who google in web design. And that is exactly why some of us victims were not able to find these complaints initially.

They often say that companies like walmart and other companies have problems and complaints but the difference is between a company that rectifies the situation to please the customer and a company that just takes money from the customer and you can't make a u-turn after the monies are in their hands.