Legal Question in Consumer Law in California

What are my legal rights against unethical business practices?

I paid $227 to a webhosting company for one year of service. Their website states:

''*30-day Money-Back Guarantee: [...clipped...] Because of our Guarantee, you can feel comfortable trying us out as there is literally zero risk in not getting what is listed on our website.''

When I signed up, I agreed to their terms of service. After one week of frustrating interactions with their incompetant technical support, with two technical support issues remaining unresolved and the site still not operational, I requested my money refunded.

They have refused to refund any of my money and referred me to their Terms of Service which states:

''Reason for cancellation is mandatory in order to receive refund. Since Featureprice operates a conditional money-back guarantee, any given reason may not be classified as sufficent reason for a refund request. Featureprice will be to sole arbiter as to what is constituted a sufficient reason for a refund.''

They do not deem my dissatisfaction with their technical support as a ''sufficent[sic] reason for a refund request.''

Would a small claims court judge would view this as fraud? Do I have any legal grounds to take this to small claims court?


Asked on 3/09/02, 3:41 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Ken Koenen Koenen & Tokunaga, P.C.

Re: What are my legal rights against unethical business practices?

I doubt they would consider it to be fraud, but it is a breach of contract. You should win in small claims. The question is, where is the company located? You could have a collection issue if out of state.

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Answered on 3/09/02, 4:38 pm


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