We would like to explain to you our experience with regards to some web hosting companies.

We have had a case where we have chosen a web host paying up to 250 US dollars. Everything went well until we started communicating with them for support. There was no good response! There was nil to be exact form the web hosting company.

They did not bother. When calls were made to the US, it always went to a machine that does not understand our frustration. Finally a month later we had to claim the money back from the credit card company / bank on the ground of “no support provided”. Fortunately for us, credit card Company’s investigation proved that the web hosting company is unresponsive as we claimed and we were refunded full money.

Another experience with a web host. 

There was one case in which there was only a combined cost for name and web hosting. We took it up for a not so important site; in a way also to experience such a service. Normally when you take a service, account is setup instantly and web hosting company send you the details using the registered e-mail address. Then you can immediately start uploading the site content to the host through a special temporary URL or IP address.

Some web hosts take some time but usually you get the account details at least within 24 hrs of signing up.

Auto reply and then sheer silence from a web host.

In this case what happened was that we received an e-mail immediately after signing up stating that an e-mail with the account details would be sent soon. Then for up to 48 hours there was complete silence.

We found no e-mail address to contact them on their site. We called the tel. no provided and got the machine asking us to wait indefinitely.

Threatening to write to web host review sites to elicit response.

Finally we found a fax number on their site. We sent a fax to the address stating that “if we did not receive account details within the next 4 hours, we will write to all web hosting review sites about our plight with them”.

Soon we received a reply with all the account information. We found the service to be quiet basic and from the initial experience it was clear that it’s tough to host with them. We promptly considered the money lost and left for another trusted host. We had another domain name in mind and that was registered and used for the site.

Machines don’t understand customer’s feelings.

In this age when every call is answered by a machine or an e-mail you don’t have much to do once your card is debited.

There are great web hosts too.

At the same time we have found from our experience that companies like tierranet.com, webhost4life.com, and lunarpages.com are exemplary in their commitment to tech support besides providing very reliable hosting.

Hence to avoid trouble, don’t look at the price too much, look at the commitment of the host mainly with regards to tech support if you are serious about your site. If you are casual about your site, anything goes. Unfortunately evaluating a web hosts support without signing up with them is near impossibility. You get the taste only when you eat!

Next: When your site is down