Two Negative Aspects of Hosting Which You Should Ignore at Your Peril

In all walks of life – be it online or offline – I’m sure that we have all heard of someone (be it yourself or your friend) who has been ripped off in some way. Of course, this does not mean that every shop and person selling you something is going to try and rip you off. Naturally the vast majority of shops and business people are good, honest people.

Hosting is exactly the same. There are many very good quality hosts out there, offering a good service. They may be run by just one person – or they may be a very large company with a board of directors – and they will provide a great service to their clients.

However the reverse is sadly also true. There are some hosts out there – large and small – who unfortunately provide bad (or even terrible) service to their clients. This article examines two of these horror stories, and gives advice on how you can avoid them.

1) ‘Kiddy’ Hosts

A ‘kiddy’ host is, as its name suggests, a host that is run by a teenager or child. Before continuing, I must state that there is nothing inherently wrong with a teenager or child running a host if they are dedicated to it and fully understand the risks involved.

Having said that, it’s usually true that the majority of teenagers and children who start hosts don’t fully think things through and just start a host since they think that it’s a “get rich quick” scheme.

And if you have ever tried making money online (or offline), you will know that it’s almost impossible to “get rich quick” without putting in a lot of time and effort!

A website host is like any other business out there – it requires a solid business plan, initial investment to get started, and then dedication for the long run.

The problem therefore with ‘kiddy’ hosts is that their owners usually start their business up all excited. However as time goes on (usually even within a matter of weeks or months!) they realize that it is not a “get rich scheme” like they thought.

Then they either leave the business hanging and not pay much attention to it (meaning that the service that you, the customer, gets is quite poor) or they simply stop paying the bills and then the worst possible thing happens:

You wake up one day to find that all your websites are gone.

Since your ‘host’ stopped paying their bills, their service providers will cut them off; cutting your websites off in the process. And since everything has been cut-off, there is no-way that you can contact your ‘host’ or even retrieve your files!

This is where keeping your own backups comes in handy. If you have got your own backups, then you would just need to find a new host and restore your backups there.

If you don’t keep your own backups, hopefully this will show you exactly why it’s worth making the extra effort and making your own.

2) Troublesome Clauses in the TOS

The TOS (Terms Of Service) is a very important document. When you sign-up with a host you will have to agree to the TOS and it becomes a legally binding contract for both your host and you (as their client).

It sets out the service you will be provided, and what you are expected to do (and not do) as a client of that host. It is a contract and therefore it is important that you read and understand it when you sign-up for a host. Many over-look the TOS (or don’t think it’s worth reading), but this is certainly not true.

Hence you must make sure that you are happy with all the terms in the Terms Of Service, before signing up to that host. Of course, there will probably be some standard terms in there to protect a host (for example “We reserve the right to refuse, cancel or suspend service, at our sole discretion.”) and so you shouldn’t worry about these terms (after all, many shops have automatic refusal of customers by law – this is standard enough and just to protect the host/shop).

However you may sometimes come across a small number of hosts with some clauses in their TOS which you cannot agree to for some reason – be it that they disallow the type of site you wish to host with them (even if it’s a perfectly legal website), or if there is a “small print” clause in the TOS that may (for example) end up costing you a lot of money if you use up too much disk-space or bandwidth.

Obviously there are many different possible “troublesome” clauses that can appear in a TOS, and so they obviously can’t all be listed here.

Hence the best way to ensure that the host you are looking to sign-up with has no “troublesome” clauses is simply to read their TOS! There will nearly always be a link to the Terms Of Service at the bottom of the page. If you can’t seem to find a link, then contact the host’s support desk and ask for a copy of their Terms Of Service.

If you are unsure about what a particular clause may mean, simply contact the host’s support desk (their Sales department would be best to contact, if they have different departments) and ask them to clarify any terms you find confusing or are unsure of.

Whilst it can be boring to read, you should always make sure you read it fully. It is a contract, and so you should pay close attention to it.

Christian Perry, Devoted Hosting High Quality Hosting

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