ComplaintsforWP Engine, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  05/08/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This company makes it extremely difficult to cancel your service with them. You must log into your portal and request cancellation. I have done this numerous times and have yet to receive confirmation of my cancellation. I have spent way more time trying to cancel our account than the $300 per year we pay is worth. It shouldnt be this difficult to cancel service. I would not recommend this company.

  Business response

  05/29/2024

  Dear *******,

  We reviewed your account history and it appears the reason you had trouble canceling the account was because you were not listed as the account owner in the user portal.  To protect the integrity of the customer's account, only the account owner has the ability to actually cancel the account.

  Nonetheless, we are sorry you encountered frustration.  Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback.

  Sincerely,

  WP Engine

• Initial Complaint

  03/18/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  [WP Engine Support] Re: Ticket #******* the account is ***************** and the website is newsball.com I am trying to force this company to recover my news website that they destroyed. I am seeking executive escalations of WP Engine by filing this complaint.This is absolutely outrageous as apparently payment was due in October and I was not contacted, and you decided to destroy my 5+ year website with wpengine within a month of nonpayment?It is also outrageous I have to constantly keep track of when to pay again and again. It should be like domain renewals where I can pay for 10 years in Advance.I would have just paid you $4,000 for 10 years to leave me alone and leave my site alone. Instead, you destroyed my news business website.I am filing a better business bureau complaint today to force your backend team to recover my website and restore it and I of course will pay Nothing is deleted forever on the internet.I am asking you to escalate this to management immediately.They have caused me tens of thousands of dollars in advertising losses and counting.

  Business response

  04/04/2024

  We carefully reviewed your complaint and according to our investigation, your account was canceled on November 8, 2023 due to a prolonged period of non-payment.  Once your account was canceled, you had another 60 days to re-enable the account and retrieve a backup of your site content. On March 16, 2024, which was over four months after your account had been canceled, you contacted us to inquire about your account status. By this time all backups of your content had already been deleted in accordance with our data retention policy. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to restore your content.  Under the Terms of Service between you and WP Engine, it is your responsibility to independently maintain a complete and accurate copy of your site content so as to avoid situations like this. 
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  03/06/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I attempted to cancel the recurring subscription with flywheel because i no longer am using the website and can no longer afford the cost. When the vendor sent a reminder that i would be charged i tried to cancel account, now they are telling me i have to wait 30 days for a decision based on the agreement, then the renewal reminder should have been sent before 30 days. I shouldn't have to pay for a site i'm not using any longer.

  Business response

  03/20/2024

  Hello, we appreciate that you let us know of your issue.  You have been refunded the full $150.00 as of March 20, 2024.  Please let us know if you have any further questions. 

  Customer response

  03/20/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Regards,
  
  *******************

• Initial Complaint

  06/12/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Feb 10 contacted agent to scale back services. I received no response and because we had discussed this I accepted that they addressed the matter.Administrator left work in March. Not detected untll April that were still charging me. Attempted several times to contact no telephone communication possible.Eventually emailed in May and they said would cancel They continue to charge me

  Business response

  06/22/2023

  Hello, 

  Thank you for bringing this matter to WPEngine's attention. After investigation, the complainant's refund has been issued. 

  Thank you,

  WPEngine Legal 

  Customer response

  06/29/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************

• Initial Complaint

  03/16/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  WPengine is engaged in false advertising on their website under 15 U.S. Code 54. Their pricing page for their services have listed annual and monthly prices. However, those prices are only available for "new customers". Nowhere on the *************************************** page is there any documentation stating that the price advertised is only for new customers. If you are an existing customer and try to have them honor their advertised pricing, they will suddenly tell you a different set of pricing which is not stated on their pricing page.

  Business response

  04/05/2023

  WPEngine's current customers are able to see the product pricing applicable to them at any time via their account portal. The public-facing plans/pricing page on our website is targeted at new customers only. 

  Customer response

  04/13/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************

• Initial Complaint

  02/08/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I bought a Lifetime Pro Membership with this Business. Then when Wordpress updated their code, these people instead of updating the themes in the Pro Membership as this is a Lifetime Membership, decided to just stick me with old themes. They wanted me to pay more to get the themes that were updated to match the WordPress updates. Instead they don't mind me using the old themes to get attacked, have website break down and in short did not give me what they promised.My Lifetime Pro Membership has only 11 updated/supported themes but the Pro Membership for new people has 43 Themes but I do not have access to it. They need to ensure that I have the same functionality as any other Pro Member on the site. Just because I bought the Lifetime Pro Membership means that they need to honor the services that I signed up for, Lifetime not just for a year. Same thing with my *************************** Same thing with my *************** Palette Pro The customer service has the audacity to tell me to do manual updates as they will not give me the serial number to authenticate my copy. Instead they will allow me to suffer. When I bought the Pro Membership it was with the understanding that I will receive the same kind of service as any new customer who buys their Pro Membership. The fact that they are treating me as a second class citizen and asking me to shell out money again, for a serve I already paid for is bad business practice.

  Business response

  03/10/2023

  We reached out to inform the complainant that WPEngine made some changes related to StudioPress.
  We explained that we are no longer offering individual theme purchases through StudioPress and have archived all but the top 10 themes. With a Pro Plus membership, customers will continue to have access to and security for the themes in the Archived section, along with the top 10 themes we will continue to update. 
  We explained that block Collections is how we will offer design choices within the full site editing context (think child themes for FSE). Customers can also create their own Collections similar to creating a custom child theme.
  We informed the complainant that Pro Plus members have been given access to ****************** and ********************* Pro at no charge, which is where we will be concentrating on adding new blocks including new Collections.
  
  

  Customer response

  03/10/2023

  Complaint: 19363594
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  As a Pro Plus Lifetime member I should have access to the same themes that another new Pro Plus member has access to. Yet I am not given access to full collection of themes offered to Pro Plus members right now, only a measly 10 Themes while they have access to almost 30 themes. Why? They made old customer buy stating Lifetime Membership but now changed the model to requiring Annual Subscription from new members. So old members are penalized.

  Genesis Palette Pro had a lifetime membership, that is also not accessible now due to "requirements" now to keep buying it every year. It is an oxymoron to say Lifetime Membership and then require payment for Annual subscription.

  Genesis Blocks requires key, that is given to all people expect for old Pro Plus Lifetime members, they are asked to do manual updates. This is ridiculous. Why are you penalizing old customers. 

  Regards,

  **********

  
  
  Regards,
  
  *****************************************

• Initial Complaint

  01/31/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Well over a year ago, I contacted WP Engine via customer support live chat as I wanted to add 2 extra sites to my hosting.I asked how to do this and the costs involved.They gave me the information and assisted me with the changes. They told me the costs to add 2 extra sites would be $40/month extra. I have been paying $84 / month ever since.Recently, I discovered that WP Engine actually offers a plan that includes the three sites for considerably less than the $84 per month that I have been charged.After discussion with the company, and a phone call with management, they confirmed that I have been paying more and that this was due to the fact that a technician rather than billing manager gave me the information and that there was a lack of resources to properly give me the proper information.The company has refused to refund me the extra money I have paid for something I should not have paid due to their own mistakes.They have offered me $200 credit if I stay with them, however, I am leaving this service.

  Business response

  03/09/2023

  A member of WP Engine's **************************** team reached out to the complainant explaining that we reviewed his history of contacts and adjustments with the company and explained that we could not refund as he requested due to the following:
  1.     We found records of past interactions in which one of our representatives broke down the costs for the complainant via chat. In addition, in early 2021, one of our Support Managers reached out to the complainant after he expressed his dissatisfaction with the cost, in an attempt to better understand the complainant's situation and help guide him into the plan that best suits him. Unfortunately, we did not receive a reply.
  2.     Our operations are designed to be as user friendly and transparent as possible. Every invoice a customer receives has an itemized list of what constitutes the monthly bill. In addition, our website displays our available plans with side-by-side comparisons in an effort to make sure our customers have the best information when selecting one of our plans. Ultimately, we believe that every customer is responsible for the plan to which they're subscribing. We have thousands of customers, many of which have very individualized setups. In order to not interfere with these setups, and potentially disrupt the operations of their website, we believe any account changes should be initiated on the customer's side.
  

  Customer response

  03/16/2023

  Complaint: 18949916
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  For multiple reasons:
  
  1. Your customer support team member who called me, admitted that they lacked the resources to provide correct pricing information. They then confirmed that the issue with live chat giving out pricing and updating customer accounts had been rectified so that this would not happen again - however, I have proof in the form of a transcript that this did in fact happen again.
  
  2. I asked your live chat team member for a price to add 2 new sites to your service - they did, but gave me a price and applied a price that was much more than your listed price on the website. The proof is here in black and white.
  
  Again, I request a full refund of the amount I was overcharged. If this is rejected, I will be taking legal action against this company to recover this and use my evidence against the company.
  
  You have admitted I was overcharged and I simply requesting this to be repaid. It's a simple matter.
  
  
  Regards,
  
  *****************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩