NewsGroupDirect

The whole sign-up process is sketchy. The first time I entered my personal information and credit card number, it rejected it. I entered all my information again from my browser's auto-fill (no retyping) and it accepted it.

It then provided me with my username and password, but for the password it said "*** Your Existing Password" even though I never created one. Could not log on at all after signing up.

After dealing with support, I logged into my account page on their site and discovered I was billed two different amounts - $65 and a hidden feel $5. When I called them out on it, they insisted I did something to make them magically charge me that $5, even though nothing on their site costs that much. Extremely shady.

Their support is friendly, until you have a REAL problem, then they got hostile and accuse you of the most ludicrous things. And their responses get slow the more things you point out (like how they ADMITTED to me that the public does not have access to anything that costs $5, yet somehow I got their system to charge that extra money). Soon enough, they will just let you hang in the wind.

The deal sounds too good to be true. It is.

Support is poor. Account management is poor - they cancelled my account this week. Two days later, they billed me for another account. I don't have login details for the 'new' account, so they have billed me for an account I cannot use. It's been three days without a response from them.

So, I've cancelled the account and moved to another provider. The problem is that if they make a mistake and cancel your account, they don't seem to be in a hurry to respond and make things good.

A sure sign, they don't care.

Don't waste your time or money on them!

I'm very sorry if you've had a poor experience with NewsgroupDirect. We've recently opened up a new channel (via Twitter) to better communicate with our customers. You can find us there at http://twitter.com/newsgroupdirect.

If you have any questions or service issues that need addressed, please feel free to contact us there! (Our older contact methods are still available for those not on Twitter - http://newsgroupdirect.com/help/)

We intend on providing both the best Usenet access and best customer service in the industry. If we don't hear from you, we can't improve - thank you for taking the time to post here!

Shawn

NewsgroupDirect.com

Signed up with Newsgroupdirect.com in November, used one day by downloading headers, logged off. Came back later that same day, checked GB remaining, found out that headers counted towards downloads (not stated on site), emailed them, email bounced back, searched through site for an email form, filled it out, waited for 1 day for reply, then cancelled account, received email stating that they would cancel transaction, waited a week, no refund, emailed using web form again, they stated in repy that "cancelling a transaction means cancelling the login" not a refund.

Poor service, poor email, plays with words.

Find another news provider.

newsgroupdirect.com: I was trying various usenet services ("news servers") which I have used over the years and am fairly familiar with entering authentication information into newsreader software programs, etc. I tried a few different servers in this particular time period. I wanted to see newsgroups available, viability of connection to the server, pricing, etc.

I perused most of the websites and also some very good review sites and got as much preliminary information as I could. Some provided lists of newsgroups before signing up, and most were more than I wanted to pay monthly. I tried 3 or 4 that looked promising.

I signed up for them, tested them, and afterwards decided they weren't the one I wanted (or alternatively have kept them to review further); mostly no problems. Many had a free trial period and I canceled my account the same day or next day after signing up and received a prompt refund or no charge at all. I'm still using two and will probably decide on one of them soon. There was one exception:

newsgroupdirect.com: After signing up, they failed to send me an email with news server url and account information. Having had faced this maybe once or twice in the past, I looked around their website and support for a server url. I thought maybe I could just use the user-login I had request upon sign-up. After 15 minutes, I became frustrated and noticed their website was very disorganized and the "sticky" scripts made it almost impossible to navigate readily.

I had a series of email exchanges with them in which they still didn't provide the url or log-in information, were very sarcastic, seemed defensive about their website, and ultimately refused to give me a refund (I was charged after canceling my account immediately within 12 to 24 hours). They mentioned in their last email that they do not give refunds unless the user cannot connect to the server. I suppose them not providing the server address and log-in information dosn't count. And they added that thousands of users are happy with their website too. I got the distinct feeling I was talking to someone who had a hand in creating the website itself.

I'm pursuing a charge-back for services never received through my bank and VISA card.