Billing issues in Dreamhost
Dreamhost is suffering one really serious problem regarding their billing system.
Since today at 0:00 PST (and I'll bet that due to an human mistake) many of their customers with 'auto-billing' option enabled are being incorrectly billed for one year in advance. Dreamhost is also sending emails like this:
You also have $294.55 past due (owed since 2008-11-10), and if by 2009-01-10 you do not pay at least the $294.55 part, your account will be automatically suspended until payment is received.
At this time, issue is being solved and they have added a post in their status website for tracking it:
http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2008/01/15/billing-issues/. However, the problem is still active and they are still billing to many customers, in which could be one of their worst mistakes ever.
I guess that this can cost them many more than a simple apologize and a refund, because in some cases could lead to an incorrect billing of more than $700. This can be a real trouble to those people with low funds in their accounts. If we sum the amount overbilled between all affected customers, this could be many many money.
Update (4:17h): It looks like cause has been found and are in the process of refunding all funds.
# Patrick Says:
Our sincerest apologies! I completely understand that when dealing with money, panic is quick to set in. I definitely understand the frustration. The problem has been found and fixed. Erroneous charges are in the process of being refunded now. I’m very sorry for any and all problems this has caused.
Please check back soon for a full accounting of what happened.