Fasthosts faces trading standards inquiry

ISP and web hosting provider Fasthosts is facing an investigation by trading standards officers following a flood of customer complaints.

According to a source close to the situation, a meeting between the two was due to take place last week, but did not materialise. The source said that trading standards officers are now reviewing the complaints it has received with a view to deciding what further action will take place.

Disputes such as this are normally handled by the local authority in the area where the company is based. Fasthosts is based in Southgate Street, Gloucester.

A spokesman from Gloucestershire County Council told silicon.com: "All we can say is that we are aware of them."

Andrew Michael, MD of Fasthosts, confirmed that Fasthosts' offices were visited by trading standards officers one year ago over the marketing of a product called Ukreg.co.uk.

"We were disgusted about the way that they came in. They completely misunderstood the way that our business works," he said.

Michael also confirmed that the company was written to "six months ago" by another trading standards officer, and agreed to a meeting on condition that the company's lawyer could be present.

He said: "It was something to do with terms and conditions, and a few specific incidents with a few specific customers." It did not result in any action being taken, he claimed.

He categorically denied, however, that he had been approached for a meeting by trading standards officers in the past month.

silicon.com first looked into Fasthosts late last year following complaints from its customers. At the time the company was involved in a major row after thousands of customer emails went missing.

Fasthosts customers regularly discuss the company online, with entire discussion groups devoted to their customer service issues.

However, Michael said: "Our direct competition wouldn't have any better customer service than we do." The volume of customer complaints on the web and in the silicon.com inbox was a result of the size of Fasthosts' customer base, he added.

"Some of our competitors host around 40,000 sites, we're hosting half a million. So you're bound to hear more complaints about us. The good customer stories you never hear."

Never? Well, sometimes. As one anonymous customer told silicon.com: "If we could find another ISP who could offer NT hosting with the ability to connect to an SQL server, we would use them. But no one else does it at sensible prices."