May 22, 2003 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Florida-based ISP and Web hosting firm Atlantic.Net (atlantic.net) said yesterday it had purchased the assets of Feature Price, a Ft. Meyers, Fl.-based Web host that had recently experienced customer service issues and is currently under investigation by the Florida Attorney General's Office.

The company said it had acquired a customer base of 40,000 from Feature Price. Financial details of the purchase were not disclosed.

The status of Feature Price's business operations had been up in the air recently, with many customers complaining the company's sales and support departments had become inaccessible, though customer sites remained online and the company's network appeared operational.

Cameron Clayton, Atlantic.Net's Director of Sales and Marketing, told theWHIR that Feature Price's actions in recent months were part of the reason Atlantic.Net wanted to purchase the firm. He said the damage Feature Price caused "to the industry, the industry's reputation and the customers... wasn't right."

Clayton said that although he expected the Attorney General's Office would continue its investigation in to the owners of Feature Price, Altlantic.Net would not be part of the investigation. "We don't have an association with the Attorney General's office," he said. "None of [the investigation] has anything to do with Atlantic.Net." The Attorney General's Office is currently investigating Feature Price for deceptive advertising, failure to fulfill contracts and poor customer service.

As part of the customer transition process, Atlantic.Net said it would waive hosting fees for Feature Price customers for the next two months. "Feature Price is working with Atlantic.Net to ease the transition as much as possible," a statement to customers from Atlantic.Net read. "Feature Price will no longer have an administrative or support role with your account and will no longer be your point of contact for your Web hosting needs. Feature Price customers will eventually become customers of Atlantic.Net at the conclusion of the transition should you choose. At that point Feature Price will no longer exist."

Clayton said that Atlantic.Net's main concerns at this point would be to ensure that proper provisioning was in place to deal with the sudden influx of new customers, and to make sure clients understood that Atlantic.Net was a stable company. "We're really excited to help out a lot of these customers," he said, "and really show them what good service and good support is all about."

Founded in 1994, Atlantic.Net said it has close to 100 employees has doubled or tripled revenues annually, and has remained profitable every year since inception. The company has been named to the Inc 500 list of the nation's fastest growing privately held companies for three consecutive years.