How to Avoid Being Taken in by Web Hosting Scams

Contributed by Claudette Foxcroft

Are some Web Hosting Companies Scamming You?

In life, most of the time when something looks too good to be true, it is, and the same is true for web hosting. Keep in mind that although some legitimate companies use some of the tricks listed below, if they make good on a promise and deliver, it's not a scam.

Tricks Some Web Hosting Companies Use to Rip You Off

Beware of companies that try to get you to pay a year or more in advance. This could hint that they really need the money to hang on for another month, or that their level of service is so bad they need to lock you in for the long run, so you don't bail out after a month.

If a company is offering unlimited bandwidth, know this simply can't be legitimately delivered. Why? Because the web hosting company itself is limited to a certain amount, so they definitely can't offer you what they don't have for themselves.

The company that offers no money-back guarantee. A web hosting company that offers one obviously isn't afraid many will dislike their service. They are confident about the product they're selling.

If there is no 24-hour support system in place, shy away from the web host. For example, if their system is crashing again and again at 3 a.m. with no one to take care of the problem, you're losing money for every hour your site is down. Beware, as well, of companies who keep 'losing' your site over and over. If your site isn't available on the web for large chunks of time, what are you really paying for?

Another tactic used to distract you from the down-time problem is for a web hosting company to require a log of reported down-times for your site from you. They aren't paying you to keep records, so don't do their work for them.

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