Hi all (just registered to air my case on DCH),
Placed an order with DCH on 26th July for a £49.99/month dedicated server. On the auto-reply e-mail it said that I would receive my details within 24 hours of payment being accepted.
A few days pass after payment was accepted...
So on 29th July, I sent an e-mail asking what the status of my order was, and apparently someone was supposed to contact me with details, but apparently they were ill. Ok I thought, I'll give them a few extra days.
A few extra days pass...
I contact them again, and this time the excuse was they didn't have the parts for my server, but they would get them asap. (So they were selling me a service that at the time they couldn't provide...). Ok, so I'll give them another few days to get the parts, and the server will be up and running...
More time passes...
Yet again I am the one to start conversations, and now the response is that he doesn't have the server, and also seems that he won't be getting the parts to build up that server, at which point he offered me a choice of upgrading my non-existent server to another server (possibly even more non-existent to the last) at a discount.
I ask how much this other server will be, and the next day I get the response:
These are £100.00/Monthly machines you paid me £49.99 that leaves £50.01 left. I'll be able to accept £40.00 now and get it set up now if you wish? I can get the information sent over to you today.
Now this sentence is sneakily constructed, and he isn't actually offering me a discount; it's more like "I'll be ok with £89.99 now, but I'll still charge you the remaining £10.01 later on".
At which point I said that I can't do that price, and finally asked if there are any other servers available to choose from, to which the reponse was:
I'll see what is in stock and let you know right away.
This was received early evening today. If I don't hear anything from him by Sunday, I will cancel my account and will request a refund in accordance to the T's & C's on his site. If not, I'll file a PayPal dispute, and I'll quote some Trading Standards on the way for selling a service that they failed to provide within a suitable timeframe, and also trying to sell something that they said they had (stock indication was '1' for my server choice at the time of ordering) that they didn't actually have at all, and didn't seem to intend to get anyway.
(Wish I saw this site earlier before I went ahead with the purchase - would've saved a LOT of hassle.)