i was getting hosted by one host...then i find out that it was sold to another company...the plans are different and more expensive...so i was wondering if buying a companies customers NOT their actual franchise... if it is illegal or not.

Well, in my opinion "ethically" it's ok to buy customers so long as you agree to the terms which they signed up with their current host. Buying customers and then immediately raising the prices on them is shady, of course unless you are locked in by a contract you should be able to leave and choose another host.

Ryan

Greetings:

Most hosting contracts between the hosting provider and the hosting customer do allow for the sale of the hosting customer to another hosting provider.

While the new (the buyer) hosting provider has a legal obligation to honor all contracts in place at the time of the purchase, when the contract goes into is renewal period or is otherwise terminated, the new provider can alter what is being provided.

A buyer that is ethical, in my opinion, should notify the customers that were purchased of any changes with sufficient noticed. Sufficient notice may vary, but should be no less than two weeks, and no more than ninety days.

Personally, we have turned down buying customers from other hosting providers because either A) the customers were paying far higher than what we would charge, and didn’t feel justified keeping them at that higher rate (buying them would mean buying based on the rate paid rather than what we would charge) or B) the customers where paying a rate much less than we could support, and we would be forced to increase the rate.

In cases of B above, we felt we would soon lose those customers, and therefore did not go through with the acquisition.

Thank you.

Mergers and acquisitions are becoming so normal in the web hosting industry that we should all learn to live with it. Look at Interland. In the past 2-3 years, they have purchased at least 5 major hosting companies.

Before you decide on a hosting company, you might want to contact them and ask them about their financial stability.

Just my two cents.

Originally posted by iration
Mergers and acquisitions are becoming so normal in the web hosting industry that we should all learn to live with it. Look at Interland. In the past 2-3 years, they have purchased at least 5 major hosting companies.

Before you decide on a hosting company, you might want to contact them and ask them about their financial stability.

Just my two cents. Financial stability is perhaps not the only thing you want to look out for *shrug*. At least that's my impression after browsing this board for a few months ;-). Just my two Euro cents.

Asking a host a question with regards to its financial status will hardly guarantee a truethful responce ( in a lot of cases ). I think if a company is going to aquire another, they should consider the current pricing & contracts that were made with existing clients. HOWEVER, there is a reason the host went out of biz / sold out and perhaps that reason was because of their pricing? If that is the case and there is no financial gain for the company aquiring the bisiness, it may be in their best interest to raise the price in order to ensure they can still make a proffit and serve their new and existing clients as best they can.