This question might sound stupid but I'm pretty new to webhosting.

How can I be sure that if I pay for my hosting that I will actually recieve it?
And if I would pay annually, how will I be sure that the company doesn't throw me out after a month. Or worst, once they recieved the money?

Do I receive any proove that I paid or a bill?
Something that I could show and say, I paid and now you have to give me the service I paid for.

Thank you for your help.

Do your research!

Pay by the month

send some goons around :D

So I don't recieve any paper that prooves that I paid and will indeed reviece my hosting?

Well, you might from some hosts, but for most, no. The only thing you will have is your CC transaction.

Hello,

First of all find out if their online order is 128-bits Secure. You can get to know that by going to their order form and see whether on the right bottom of your web browser you are able to see a *lock* chart icon or not. If you see, that means it's secure and if you pay and in case they did not provide you with hosting services, you can ask your CC bank to make a charge back.

And if you didn't see the lock icon, I wouldn't recommend you to input your CC information.

Have a great day!

Originally posted by CrazyPixie
This question might sound stupid but I'm pretty new to webhosting.

How can I be sure that if I pay for my hosting that I will actually recieve it?
And if I would pay annually, how will I be sure that the company doesn't throw me out after a month. Or worst, once they recieved the money?

Do I receive any proove that I paid or a bill?
Something that I could show and say, I paid and now you have to give me the service I paid for.

Thank you for your help.

As for losing your money in case you pre-pay...check the company's Cancellation Policy and see what, if anything you'll get back. and always hang on to EVERY email they sendyou.

You should always get a reciept for your transaction and always sign up for a monthly in the begining. once you feel comfortable with the host then upgrade to a semi-annual account or yearly.

Mike

Frankly, I wouldn't ever pay a year in advance for a service I wasn't familiar with. Start monthly; most reputable businesses will let you switch to yearly later. After all, it's better to lose a month's hosting fees rather than a whole year.

Brian

I agree with the above comments, paying with a credit card ensures that you may file a charge back and it provides you with proof of payment. In addition, check to see how long the company has been in business (www.archive.org, www.samspade.org). In addition, you may want to check out http://www.hostingassured.findmyhosting.com/. Good luck in your search! ;)

WHT (this site) is a good place to search for comments pro and con on web host providers.

Also, you could check this thread which has a helpful code of conduct for web hosts, authored by yours truly:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=67097

I will just suggest to email your potential host BEFORE signing up to ease your concerns on any of those policies.
It depends to on "how you pay"
for instance paypal will send you a confirmation that youve paid a receipient, etc.
So many hosts use different providers for processing so its hard to say thats why I would suggest to just email them and ask.
Speaking from our procedure only, an Online Order Confirmation is sent, after approval, then the acct. setup occurs a few minutes later and the client receives their Welcome letter.
Good Luck

Most hosting companies will send you an invoice once you sign up, with details about how much was charged to your card, and who to contact if you need a refund, etc.

Originally posted by CrazyPixie
This question might sound stupid but I'm pretty new to webhosting.

How can I be sure that if I pay for my hosting that I will actually recieve it?
And if I would pay annually, how will I be sure that the company doesn't throw me out after a month. Or worst, once they recieved the money?

Do I receive any proove that I paid or a bill?
Something that I could show and say, I paid and now you have to give me the service I paid for.

Thank you for your help.

Look for a well known / popular for it`s quality + support web host.

Thank you for the information, I'll keep it in mind.

The problem today is that you can't be SURE since companies come and go. Also it's not always the best idea to pay per month since a lot of hosters offer cheap packages if you order a full year - the reason: If they sell monthly for 2,99 they pay every time a fee if they don't process the creditcard theirself...

Anyway the best way is to pay per creditcard because if something goes wrong you can get your money back within 30 days and this time is enough to see if a host is good or bad ... (the most times)


Barbara

Originally posted by CrazyPixie
How can I be sure that if I pay for my hosting that I will actually recieve it?

CrazyPixie, how can one be sure about anything we do?

The car we buy - is it a lemon?
The food we eat - is it contaminated?
The shagging partner - HIV infected? :smokin:

The list goes on and on.
But we must take the risks, to get that alive feeling.