iMatrix Holds Doctors’ Websites Hostage, Makes It Difficult To Cancel Services; Doctors Should Always Insist On Owning Their Domain.
June 18, 2018 By Practice Growth Pras
iMatrix, a provider of websites and internet marketing services for doctors, has been receiving increased criticism regarding business practices that have been holding doctor’s offices hostage and unable to move on to new internet providers.
iMatrix takes advantage of doctors who do not understand the nuances of websites. iMatrix encourages new clients to transfer ownership of their domain name during the website build process. Unfortunately, this mistake haunts doctors when they attempt to end service or part ways with iMatrix.
When a doctor calls to cancel services with iMatrix, the company runs them through a series of required steps that are so difficult to complete that it equates to blackmail. First, doctors must call in to start the process. Then they are required to submit a survey and await an unscheduled call from iMatrix. If they miss this call, they are unable to proceed with the cancellation, and they are unable to initiate the call themselves. Doctors are rarely able to make scheduled calls, let alone unscheduled ones. And when they do answer the phone, doctors are forced to sit through a sales pitch as to why they should not cancel.
Even after this call, doctors must wait an unspecified amount of time to receive their domain transfer. During this waiting period, any number of issues can delay or stop the process.
iMatrix has been documented using the following techniques to prolong the cancellation process: hanging up during phone calls, intentionally placing clients on long holds in hopes they will have to go, stating that every member in their department is at a meeting and is unavailable, rejecting submissions because a doctor did not fill out a form exactly as described in unclear directions, denying that they hold a domain name (only to later admit that they had it all along), refusing to work with any managers at the business, and taking websites down before ever releasing the domain.
Doctors do not realize that transferring ownership of their domain allows iMatrix to hold doctors hostage when they attempt to cancel. iMatrix has received 21 negative reviews and complaints with the Better Business Bureau, most of which describe the difficulty with the cancellation process: https://www.bbb.org/sdoc/business-reviews/internet-marketing-services/imatrix-in-san-diego-ca-5001109/reviews-and-complaints?section=reviews
