Hosting service invoice dispute

We had almost the same problem as you with a well known hosting company, and two more before it. We paid for a dedicated server for one of our clients, and needed instant setup, but due to technical problems and their network being hacked some of the systems were not functional and so our server was not deployed until after 5 days, which was no good to us, so we went elsewhere, but we asked for a refund as we had no service.

They were clearly in the wrong and would not refund, which states something like we are only liable for the monthly service fee if the problem is the hosting providers fault or delay, so we started legal proceedings against them, firstly by actioning the fact that if they did not refund we would take it further. 3 days later of going around wasting my time we decided enough was enough, but as soon as we said we were going to take it to court and make a public thing about it, they refunded. So your call on this one, read the terms and conditions (which in a court of law do not always stand if you are in the right). It would cost them more if you said that they would have to pay all legal fees and embarrasment to boot! We now host our own dedicated servers in a co-location site as there is nothing like being in control of your own servers and support. Dont get me wrong, there are plenty of good small service providers and some larger ones out there who do not treat you as just a number. So don't be put off by them.

Generally setup fees for dedicated servers are indeed non-refundable and often there is a minimum term for the contract. This is why its so important to check the terms before ordering.

Of course if the server supplied was not as specified or not fit for purpose then that's different...