Local Internet provider shuts down

WEST SENECA, N.Y. (WIVB) - A local Internet provider has shut down, and now subscribers want to know what happens to their accounts.

Mike Smith's website has been his Internet billboard to the world, bringing in new customers to check out his pen-and-ink artwork for years.

Then came the shock; his webhost, BuffNET is shutting down.

Smith said, "I tried calling them. I got no answer, sent them an e-mail, trying to get an explanation, and they said nothing."

Mike got an e-mail from BuffNET, saying all dial-up and DSL service is being discontinued immediately, with web hosting and e-mail to follow shortly. Now Mike is scrambling to find another hosting service.

Smith said, "When you are running a business, and you want to have your presence online, I had to scramble, and it was a fairly painless thing to transfer."

BuffNET has been one of western New York's Internet pioneers, connecting local cyber pilots to the information superhighway beginning in 1993.

Now calls to the company go unanswered, and at BuffNET's business address in West Seneca, the building owner told us, only their electronics equipment is still there.

BuffNET's two partners have been operating the business from home for weeks.

Smith said, "It is, I think, a bit unprofessional for them to just lock up doors and not give any indication of what is going on, but you see that with brick and mortar stores, too."

Our calls to BuffNET were not returned. In fact, the phone just rings.

If you have paid your subscription to BuffNET by credit or debit card, you should contact your carrier and ask for a "charge back."