The interesting point is that the difference between selling and tricky selling can be not obvious to hosting clients sometimes. If you have no or little experience you may even be not aware of the fact that you pay too much or that you are sold something you don’t really need.
But after all, from an experienced user’s point of view, the tricks that some hosts use can be called dirty for a reason. And I will share with you the tricks to help you get the experience so that you could save your money.
Also, there are very obviously bold tricks that hosts may use to take money out of your pocket. These tricks drive people crazy. Be aware of these tricks.
Before all, a decent host will not use dirty tricks because of its ethical strategy to acquire and retain the customer. A good hosting will give you a great value for your money.
A bad host (with bad ethics) will try to maximize the profit from each client within a shorter period of time. Bad hosts know that their client will understand the dirty game soon and that‘s why bad hosts are in hurry to take as much money as possible from you as soon as possible.
Here are some tricks that hosting companies have in their arsenal to get more money from you.
”Octopus” trick
Different hosts (brands) may belong to the same parent company or a group under the same management, but they try to conceal this fact. Thus, clients may just from one bad host to another without a clue that they actually jump from one brand to another of the same hosting company.
The most well-known and the biggest case is EIG. Its hosts are like octopus tentacles. Escaping from one tentacle you get caught by another one.
”Slow you down” trick
With unethical hosts you may get a noticeable performance degrade after the money-back period or after the first (greatly discounted) billing period. You can’t get your money back and has to cope with it.
In many ways this just happens naturally. While a server is not overloaded, your website’s performance is okay. But the more clients get filled onto the same server the worse the performance becomes. And then you contact hosting’s support they just offer you upgrading to a more powerful (expensive) plan.
via GIPHY In the beginning your website may run fast, but then it can merely drag on
”No issues” trick
Unethical hosts don’t invest in proper server management and fool the clients. When the clients report about slowness or current downtime, the hosting support simply waits for the issue to be gone and reports to the client that everything is fine. In other words, the support does not confirm the problem and does not solve it strategically. The slowness and downtimes become frequent. Thus, you get worse quality for your money compared to a more ethical host.
”Will not let you go” trick
If you decide to move from an unethical host during a money back period, it will do a lot to hold you. Here’s an example from my own experience.
”Domain hostage” trick
If you decide to move from an unethical host where you have your domain registered, it may take your domain hostage until you do something. And I’m not talking about sheer criminal actions. Everything happens more or less according to the hosting’s Terms of Service.
For example, you delegated the hosting to register the domain for you. And the domain was registered not to you, but to the company’s name.
Another scenario is that you registered your domain with a host less than two months ago and you bought hosting from that company. But then you decided to cancel the hosting and get refund. But you can’t move your domain elsewhere sooner than 2 months (according to ICANN rules). And in order to continue using your domain within these two months you have no other choice than continue using the hosting services. Otherwise you lose a lot of time at least.
Also, the company you registered your domain with may be simply sabotaging (could be purposefully or because of simply poor management) your attempts to move domain elsewhere. Here’s a real-life example (featuring EIG’s company by the way).
That’s why it’s recommended to keep your domain and hosing in different places.
”We have your credit card” trick
Unethical host may charge your credit card even when you already migrated from the host long time ago and insisted to delete your card information. Getting a chargeback turns into an exhausting case and losing money. Also this may happen if you use PayPal. But in case with PayPal it’s easier to disable pre-arranged payments.
”Promise anything” trick
Unethical host can sell you its services by promising something in a pre-sale chat you are asking about (here’s an example). But after you are sold and moved your website, there’s no option or feature you asked. Then you can be explained that it was a sale support’s mistake. But in fact the sale support is pushed to sell the hosting service by all means and such “mistakes” happen again and again with other clients. Many clients get disappointed but anyway stay with the hosting because it’s too late. So, the host gets your money!
”Charge for quitting” trick
Unethical host may retain some money (e.g. for a so-called “free” domain, or a setup fee) if you decide to quit the host during a money-back period. I advise to read hosting’s Terms of Service to be aware of such possible situations.
”Buy the overpriced thing you don’t need” trick
Unethical hosts may upsell you the stuff that you don’t really need or which cost much less that the hosting’s price. If you have no or little experience you may be fooled and pay too much for additional services (e.g. anti-spam software, anti-malware software).
”Virus alert” trick
Unethical host may put your website offline because your website is contaminated. And thus pushing you to buy its antivirus service. Although theoretically contamination can happen to any website, unethical hosts are interested in your website to be contaminated. Alternatively I suggest making a small research, comparing prices and choosing a better and often more affordable security solution like these ones.
”Hide the renewal prices” trick
Unethical host may put the information about the renewal prices as further from your attention as possible. On a sales page and even during a check-out process you are made to notice only the promotional prices which are valid only during the first billing period (e.g. a month, a year or a couple of years).
But after that period the price increases and it may be a bad surprise to you when you see your billing statement for the next billing period. Whereas a good practice is explicitly bring the information about the renewal prices before you make a purchase.
”Unrealistic server resources” trick
Unethical host may fool you by advertising you attractively more server resources than competitors. This is especially the case with shared hosting and VPS as you can’t control the server management. The shared resources with numbers such as number of vCPUs, RAM etc should not mislead you when you choose a hosting. You can’t actually compare these numbers among different hosts. Bigger numbers advertised on one host may result in actually worse performance compared to another host with less numbers.
”Take your money before closing” trick
Unethical host takes your money for next year renewal and then lets you know that the host is closing a few weeks later. The funny part is that the hosting may continue functioning then. You must fight to get a refund.
”Save a little and lose a lot” trick
It’s one of the indirect ways to lose money with unethical hosts. But one of the most catastrophic. Dealing with an unethical host may cost your business a lot of money because of continuous downtime and lack of support. Promised features (e.g. backups) may disappear one day which may be detrimental to your business.
The Conclusion
Simply avoid unethical hosts like these ones. Their slogan is “Lose your money and get a headache for free”.
There are many good alternatives. I recommend these alternatives.
P.S.:
More articles on how to distinguish good hosts from bad ones are here.
My monthly reports on the performance of selected hosts are here.
BTW, I respect your privacy, and of course I don't send spam, affiliate offers or trade your emails. What I send is information that I consider useful.
