This money-back guarantee fell a little short
Network Solutions, one of the nation's biggest website hosting companies, settled charges the Federal Trade Commission filed accusing it of misleading customers about its money-back guarantee, the FTC said on Tuesday.
The company claimed it would give a full refund if a customer canceled within 30 days of signing up. "In reality, it withheld substantial cancellation fees from most refunds," the FTC said.
In advertising its "30 Day Money Back Guarantee," Network Solutions didn't properly let consumers know that up to 30% of what they paid to the company would be withheld if they canceled, the agency said. That practice had been in place since 2008.
The lack of clear disclosures that the "guarantee" included a fee was deceptive and a violation of federal consumer protection laws, the FTC said.
While neither admitting nor denying the allegations, Network Solutions agreed to resolve the FTC complaint by agreeing to clearly disclose -- before collecting billing information from a customer -- the terms of its guarantee. The settlement didn't include any financial penalty or restitution to consumers.
The FTC said it worked on the case with the Better Business Bureau serving Metro Washington D.C. and Eastern Pennsylvania. Typically, the BBB collects more complaints of this type from consumers than does a government agency like the FTC. The BBB's review of Network Solutions and complaint history were down on Tuesday, according to the group, because information was being updated.
