The WHIR is the voice of the web hosting industry. Over the weekend the WHIR turned 9. Happy Birthday!

The WHIR provides online up to date web hosting news, WHIR Blogs, WHIR TV as well as WHIR Magazine. Currently their magazine, published 5 times a year has a total per issue circulation of 25,000. Look out for us in the May 2009 issue! It’ll be circulating at a number of events:

Social Networking Conference
Search Engine Strategies
Affiliate Convention
AJAX World Conference & Expo 2009
SOAWorld Conference and Expo 2009
O’Reilly Velocity 2009
O’Reilly OSCON Open Source Convention

Digital versions of the magazine are available, backdating all the way back to June 2004. If you’re US based then you can subscribe to the hard copy free. If you’re interested in web hosting then don’t let the WHIR pass you by.

I came across a very sneaky condition in a competing host’s terms of service today, the condition refers to their money back guarantee.

“We will deduct flat 6% administrative fee before initiating the refund.”

9 times out of 10, the reason a customer decides to leave within the money back period is because they’ve had a bad experience. Let’s say the host did an awful job and caused you nothing but grief, the fact that they’ll profit is shocking.

If you find yourself in this situation, point out that the 6% ‘administrative fee’ is ridiculous, they’ll almost certainly back down.

Just to make clear, we don’t have a 6% ‘administrative fee’ and our money back guarantee is unconditional. If you decide to leave within 60 days, you’ll receive a full refund.

I don’t usually like pointing the finger, but DreamHost‘s general way of conducting business is gently swaying from jovial to unprofessional. I previously wrote a post, ‘Honest practice‘ talking primarily about how a number of web hosting companies advertise a certain price, when the actual cost is somewhat different. I used DreamHost as an example.

DreamHost doesn’t take itself too seriously, a lot of their marketing and pitching takes advantage of comedy. Which is great. The issue is, when problems occur, customers begin to feel as if they aren’t being taken seriously.

On Monday DreamHost posted a customer’s voicemail message. The clip features a DreamHost customer weeping over a stolen domain name and pleading for help. I listened to the clip for a few seconds before switching off. Liam Eagle at the WHIR deliberated over the post,

“But it would be tough to argue that the purpose of the post is really anything other than to laugh at the expense of the customer leaving the message. In case you don’t feel like downloading it and listening, it’s a two-minute clip of a man who sounds very timid and very upset begging for their help. It seems like the last minute is just the man gently sobbing. That’s just my guess, because after 15 seconds I couldn’t take any more.”

It just shows a complete lack of respect for their customers. Brett assured readers that they sent him a ‘huge bouquet of flowers’. Is this to console him regarding the stolen domain or his personal humiliation? The actions of a company that generated revenue of $13.1 million in 2006.

One commenter stated,

“It’s spectacularly bad form to post this.
And then you say you sent him flowers? Yikes.
I’m a DH customer of many years. And now so embarrassed that I recommended DH to my colleagues and friends.
What were you thinking?”

Another,

“Let me get this straight… Your customer support is horrible, so to “make up for it” you expose your customers to ridicule?”

Liam Eagle concludes,

“I have to imagine most hosting companies would avoid doing something like this. I don’t get the sense that this is a calculated move by DreamHost to appear “irreverent.” So it does add to the genuine feel of that approachability that characterizes the company. However, it might also make them seem a little less like the kind of company you’d want to approach.”

There is a fine line between playfulness with the truth/truth inflation and deception, is DreamHost crossing it? In 2006, DreamHost generated revenue of $13.1 million and has no doubt increased in recent years. Surely a company of this magnitude has a responsibility to avoid the sales trickery that they’re currently utilizing. Firstly you’ll notice the offer of unlimited everything, which is a matter in itself, but it isn’t that which has caught my attention. It’s the hidden costs and unreasonable numbers used. $5.95 is the monthly cost advertised on the homepage.

Navigating to the purchasing stage, you’ll find that you actually need to spend $714 for 10 years of web hosting to gain that stated homepage figure. If you wish to pay on a monthly basis then a setup charge of $49.95 is required, plus a monthly fee of $10.95. There is the argument that the asterisk stating, “depending on pre-payment” makes this completely acceptable practice, but it just feels wrong.

At PinchHost we don’t have any hidden costs or setup fees and the prices stated on the homepage are the most that you’ll pay. We’ll be the last web hosting company to move to unlimited plans, we just don’t believe in overselling and unattainable promises.

As a web host, we endeavour to communicate everything that is relevant and give a sense of who we are. Having personally put my faith into hosting companies and being disappointed I don’t want PinchHost to be a profit hungry unethical company. Our profit margins are actually relatively low as a new entrant into the market, we do understand why it might be tempting to exaggerate, but in all sincerity, we would rather be an honest company in a sometimes-misleading industry.