How to Avoid Getting Scammed by a Web Host

Choosing a hosting solution is difficult at the best of times and confusing and aggravating at the worst. There are many types of services, different pricing models, add-ons, and situational factors involved. To make things worse there are some issues which you may not even know about that may occur during, or after the migration process. In this article, I’m going to break down some of the base points of choosing a web host to ensure that you aren’t getting ripped off or taken for a ride. There’s a few different hosting types out there, but either way, these points will help you avoid issues that may occur down the road.

BEWARE of “Set Up” Fees with No Real Value

Web hosts usually have “Set Up” fees that are attached to Monthly or Quarterly accounts. Depending on if you are purchasing shared hosting, a reseller account, or a full dedicated server, the amount of ‘labor’ that the web host has to put in varies from company to company. If you’re using a managed service provider, they will have to additionally work with your provider to set up the software and perform various tasks to make sure your systems are connected properly. In cases where you are purchasing a dedicated server, a technician may have to go directly on-site and install new hardware. If you use any other type of service, a setup fee is usually not justifiable, unless you’re asking the company to migrate your site or provide SSL Certificates, both of which are included with all of our hosting plans. If you ask nicely, we may even waive the setup fee for your account if you contact us directly!

Unlimited is NEVER Unlimited

Although you may find web hosts that promise that you will have unlimited space, bandwidth, or resources, it is not physically possible to provide this, nor does any business want to lose profit by taking a loss to make someone happy. Web Hosts will either put a cap on your or will simply bill you overage for everything over your ‘plan maximum’. We will soon be releasing what we call “Pay as you Go” Unlimited, which means that you can expand your account as large as you need to, and will only be billed overage in cases where you use up the minimum allotment for your plan. In addition, we will only offer this for clients who explicitly ask for it as most people don’t like to receive unexpected overage charges on their bill. This feature is in beta if you’d like to request it from our sales team.

Pay CLOSE Attention to Price & Renewal Fees

It’s an unfortunate practice that web hosts (especially hobbyists) will frequently offer the first cycle at a marginally lower rate than the rest. They will often put the pricing in small text for renewal, or charge higher rates on the already-approved subscription that is set up once they capture your payment information. FTG Hosting focuses on Rockstar support and operations transparency, that’s why we have basic pricing, and easy to understand billing, and clean documentation to ensure that you’re not signing up for something you aren’t comfortable with.

Look For Great Support

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just don’t find the right match the first time you make a choice. This can sometimes lead to poor experiences, most commonly caused by a refusal to refund transactions associated with dissatisfied purchases. Your goal is to ensure that you can hold your web host accountable and get help to keep your business online. Keeping an open line of contact will allow that to happen and make your experience better than a delicious piece of cake. Also, be sure that your host has a money back guarantee, and reach out to their support to ensure you can get ahold of someone. If you want to give our technical support a response time test, simply give us a call at 877-856-7870 Option 3 and you’ll be connected to a technician. Afterwards, they will be able to answer any questions or concerns you have. Additionally, you can reach our sales team via email as well.

VERIFY that you get what you paid for

Check your storage space – Verify your Database Counts – Itemize Your Invoices. Make sure that your web hosts aren’t pulling any wool over your eyes. I can’t believe how many people I stumble across that end up with $150/month bills. These are usually the result of features and services that they didn’t need, or unnecessary overage for improper configuration. In addition to this, it’s even more important to find a web host who will bill honestly. Even more so, they should be more than willing to refund a mistaken transaction as quickly as possible. Always ask to be refunded for any billing errors on their end, and consider reevaluating your web host if this becomes a continuous problem.