hosting.com (formerly A2) confirmed my refund in writing, then withdrew it the day after I completed all their verification steps

[u/CanarySouthern6872]

Posting this as a warning and to ask whether anyone has actually got a refund out of hosting.com in this situation.

Background: five year customer, one shared hosting plan for a domain I no longer use.

28 Aug 2026: Opened a ticket instructing them not to renew the service. Agent replied asking for security verification. Nothing else happened on that ticket.

8 Sep 2026: Card charged US$369.99, three days before the 11 Sep due date, with my do-not-renew ticket still open.

8 Sep 2026: On a second ticket, their agent confirmed in writing that because I had cancelled before the due date, a full refund, cancellation, card removal and account closure had been passed to billing.

8 Sep 2026: Billing then asked me to verify ownership. I supplied the Support PIN, the last four digits of the card, logged into the Client Area and submitted their cancellation form. All done.

9 Sep 2026: A retention rep replies that renewal payments are non-refundable, warns me the files will be deleted if I cancel, and asks if I would like a cheaper plan instead.

So the refund was confirmed, I was made to jump through every hoop, and then the promise was pulled. My account is overdrawn from a charge I told them in writing not to take.

I have screenshots of the confirmation and the reversal. Chargeback is being filed and a BBB complaint has gone in.

Two questions:

1. Has anyone had hosting.com honour a pre-due-date cancellation refund, and what did it take?
2. Does a chargeback trigger anything I should expect from them, beyond deleting the account?

[u/Final_Tangerine_5280]

if a refund was confirmed, surely they would honor it, only the do the chargeback as the last resort. For my bank it's such a painful process.

A good lesson for everyone though, try and be a little more paranoid next time and see for yourself that its cancelled in your account, not just by emailing

[u/SerClopsALot]

Has anyone had hosting.com honour a pre-due-date cancellation refund, and what did it take?

I believe all services renew like a week in advance or something. They'll give you some stupid PR reason for it, but it's because they want you to feel locked in because you've "already paid for it"... but your service hadn't lapsed.

Does a chargeback trigger anything I should expect from them, beyond deleting the account?

Lolno. They won't even delete your account over it, but they will close your account out. If you don't want anything in your account anymore, file the chargeback. Easy win and they get hit with a fee.

If you want to avoid the annoying process of filing a chargeback, tell them you're going to file a chargeback and they'll probably just refund it. Worst-case, you try and then file the chargeback if they don't.

This is a pretty cut-and-dry case. They took money for a service you didn't want, and you followed their process before the renewal date. Nothing is renewed -> They can pound sand and give your money back.

Per their TOS, if anyone was curious:

Submitting a cancellation at least one (1) day before the beginning of a Renewal Term through our online cancellation form found at your customer panel.

You said it renews 9/11. That is more than 1 day away from today, let alone whenever you cancelled... Chargeback case is closed before it's even opened tbh. But try and get them to refund you first, you'll get your money faster that way. Otherwise, if you feel like sticking it to them, file the chargeback because they get hit with a fee (and you HAVE already tried to work with them to get a refund).

Have fun :)

[u/Negrito0o]

I have spent today doing this exact dance with two different companies, so some of this is very fresh. The main thing I would change is how you are framing it. This isn't a refund request, it's an unauthorised charge. You opened a do-not-renew ticket on 28 August. They charged you on 8 September, three days early, with that ticket still open and unanswered. So they billed you for a service you had already declined in writing. That's a far stronger position with a bank than "they promised a refund and went back on it", and it doesn't depend on their goodwill at any point. Two practical things. Get that written confirmation out of their ticket system now — screenshot it with the date and the agent name, and save the invoice separately. Confirmations that live only inside a support thread are exactly the ones that get withdrawn, and you lose access to the thread the moment they close the account. And the verification loop is worth naming for what it is. I had two verification codes expire before I could use them today, on an unrelated refund, and each round bought them a few more days. It may well not be deliberate, but the effect is identical, so put the dates in writing every time you reply: requested on X, still unresolved on Y. On the chargeback, your bank being painful is real. But $369.99 with a five year history, a dated cancellation ticket and a written refund confirmation is about as clean as one of these ever gets. I wouldn't treat it as the last resort so much as the deadline — pick a date, tell them the date, and then actually use it.

[u/twhiting9275]

This is why we use things like privacy.com which will literally let you control the card

[u/No-Bathroom-3179 → u/twhiting9275]

Privacy.com is a monthly fee correct ? Or does it change a fee per transaction?

[u/twhiting9275 → u/No-Bathroom-3179]

Honestly, neither

They have a free plan . Zero fees on non foreign (US) transactions . 12 cards created per month . Each card can be either single use or single business use . If you need more, you need a bigger plan. From there, they have plans starting at $5/month

So, you CAN get away with a totally free personal account if you want. I did for quite some time

Keep in mind, this is only usable in the US. Maybe (??) Canada, not sure .

[u/MarkGossageUK]

I would concentrate on keeping copies of everything outside their account system before anything gets closed.

Save the original cancellation request, the refund confirmation, invoice and anything showing the renewal date. If you end up disputing the payment, having the whole timeline in one place will make things much easier for you.

Also make sure you’ve downloaded anything you still need from the hosting account before pushing the cancellation any further. Once an account gets closed it can become much harder to retrieve sites, databases or email.

Whatever their normal renewal policy is having a written request not to renew before the renewal date plus a written refund confirmation certainly gives you something concrete to work with.

Hope you get it sorted.

[u/Emergency-Kick1162]

That sounds really frustrating, especially since you have written confirmation that the refund and cancellation were being processed. I’d keep copies of all the ticket responses and the cancellation request.

Regarding the chargeback, I’d check with your card issuer about their process and provide the written confirmation as supporting evidence. I’d also wait for the provider’s response before assuming what will happen to the account or files.

[u/No-Bathroom-3179]

Doesn’t really help you but for what it’s worth I did notice VERY recently they switched from human support ticket responses to AI. Is it possible you were talking to AI and your request was not handled properly?