12 Dec '07
Choose hosting providers carefully
There are probably as many ways to judge how good a Web hosting provider is as there are providers. OK, I exaggerate. But there really are innumerable hosting companies out there. And there simply is not one set of guidelines that any of us can refer to with any degree of reliability.
That said, I’d like to give you one piece of advice. I would caution you if you came across Lunarpages. I do host with them — but only because I’m locked in for a year. I had two hosting accounts with them initially, and I was fortunate enough to have been able to cancel the second one and avail of the money-back guarantee. Thing is, they withheld a part of the total amount that I’d paid.
The people at Lunarpages brag that they are known for their customer service. Yeah sure, they look like they have a good system, but their accounting department certainly doesn’t seem to know their way around refunds.
I paid $67.40 for one-year hosting (just a basic plan). As with any hosting provider these days, the domain name comes free. I’ll say that again: free. It’s even on the invoice: $0.00. But when I decided to cancel the account, their customer service informed me that they would not be refunding me for the domain name. W-what??
But I didn’t pay for the domain name! I quoted them the invoice that they’d emailed me, and they quoted me back their Terms of Service, as if I didn’t have a valid concern. Their TOS says that any setup fees and domain names will not be refunded. Fine. But that is IF the client had paid for them, then it would be non-refundable. But the domain name was declared to be of $0.00 value, and that the amount of $67.40 was stated to be wholly for the hosting service.
I wonder why they didn’t withhold the setup fee, which was also declared to be free, as a promotional offer…
Then,without informing me, without even trying to resolve the issue, they proceeded to cancel my account and refund me $57.45. That’s Lunarpages customer service for you.
Since we’re on the subject of online services, check out YESPinoy. Send money to the Philippines online via their user-friendly and secure Web interface. By the looks of it, this service is perfect for families with OFW relatives in Hong Kong.
Thanks for the info on Lunarpages. Yup, customer service is really important. I’m just wondering why you decided to discontinue your hosting with them? So which hosting provider are you with now?
Just hopping from the bisayabloggers site.
I’m currently hosting at Dreamhost, so far so good. NO major problems except to some short downtimes (on a single server, not all DreamHost servers).
I only paid $22.40 (for a year) because of the $97.00 discount.