Hetzner Bandwidth Policy - Misleading Or Interpreted Incorrectly

We brought a RootServer with Hetzner after being recommended them. We did research on the service and they seemed to get positive review and the fact we are ordering from New Zealand we do not have to pay VAT.

We ordered our EQ 4 Server on 16/09/2009 and it was provisioned on the same day.

We were billed on the 2nd week of October which was fine. In the 3rd week of October the server exceeded 2TB and therefore it was reduced to 10Mbit/s which is fine.

It's now November and we expected the server to return to 100Mbit/s as per the definition on their website stating the following:

Quote:

Traffic Usage is for free. We will restrict the connection speed to 10 MBit/s if more than 2000 GB/month are exceeded. Optional, a permanent 100 MBit/s-bandwidth will be charged 14,90 € (incl. VAT) per additional TB.

Well of course my monthly bandwidth was reset to 0MB on November 1st and therefore we have not exceeded our usage for the month.

We emailed Hetzner Technicial Support with the following:

Quote:

Our server EQ 4 #XXXXX exceeded 2TB by roughly 650GB last month and was restricted to 10mbit/s as per Hetzner's policy.

It is now November 2nd and our server still remains restricted to 10mbit/s.

Can Hetzner please have a look into why this is the case and resolve the issue?

We received the following reply from Hetzner

Quote:

Your network connection has been throttled. Please contact our product advice.
This will tell you everything about your options.

This was not the response I expected, therefore I emailed their Technical Product Advice team with the following:

Quote:

Our server EQ 4 #XXXXX should not be throttled as it is November now.

Your website states "Traffic Usage is for free. We will restrict the connection speed to 10 MBit/s if more than 2000 GB/month are exceeded."

The Hetzner Robot states our usage is 10GB for the current month. Therefore it should not be throttled as we have not exceeded 2000 GB for the current month.

In turn I received the following response which was very unexpected response by Hetzner

Quote:

if a server is reduced once it stays "for ever" on 10 mbps or you agree paying overusage over 2 TB for the future with 14.90 Euro/TB or you remove traffic intensive application from server.

I have read and screenshot all their terms and conditions and also system policies which does not state any where that I agreed to stay on 10mbps once going over the 2TB/month.

Since Hetzner Online AG operates out of Germany, And since Germany is a member state of the European Union. It is bound by the Consumer Protection Directives of the European Union.

My question is have I interprated what Hetzner are offering/selling incorrectly or they have mislead me?

If they have mislead me then some of following rights and responsibilities apply, these apply everywhere in the EU.

Quote:

If the item you bought does not look or function as it was advertised, or if it is not satisfactory, you have the right to have the item replaced at no extra cost or to get your money back if the replacement was not completed in a reasonable time.
If you buy goods that turn out to be faulty, manufacturers must compensate you for any personal injury or damage caused to property.
When you buy goods or services by post, telephone, fax or through the Internet from a professional trader, you have the same rights in relation to guarantees as if you had bought them in a shop.

If they have mislead me I will be asking for a full refund of my last invoice which included setup costs and have no additional charges added to my account as I will be terminating my service with them asap and start searching for a new provider.