Results 1 to 11 of 11
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06-19-2005, 02:32 PM #1Temporarily Suspended
- Join Date
- Jun 2005
- Location
- Brighton, UK
- Posts
- 5
Host with 100s of near identical sites
I was curious to receive a ICQ authorization request from someone called "real_hosting". As I run my own hosting services, I thought it would be interesting to play along and see what an ICQ hosting spammer does to get new clients. Perhaps he would shed some light on the "competition" that offer prices that are too low in the real world to bring any decent returns.
I discovered he supposedly works from Egypt, where the cost of living is low, and his servers are in the UK. He cannot give me any specifics on his hosting company or his clients, no testimonials or solid facts. He told me that he makes money by shifting lots of cheap hosting at a yearly subscription (he quotes monthly prices on his website - but does not offer monthly subscriptions). He didn't tell me whether he was a reseller or owned his own servers. After I said that "I prefer resellers as they offer better support", he replied that he was a reseller. All very confusing.
His website seemed pretty suspicious as it linked to other domains for support and, on clicking links at the top, a new window popped up with another website.
I did a Google search for his phone number (that required an "ID number") and discovered literally hundreds of near-identical websites. Surely, this is a scourge among the hosting community as multiple faces of any organisation simply reveal a lack of transparency between the company and the clients. If one of his "hosting services" gets any bad press or annoying customers, he can simply close it down and still operate on his remaining domains as if nothing has happened.
Have a look for yourself by entering his main phone number in Google: 1-800-574-0902 .
What do you think about such business practices?
What should I do now (I still have him in the dark on ICQ)?Last edited by Nahoo; 06-19-2005 at 02:41 PM.
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06-19-2005, 05:44 PM #2Web Hosting Master
- Join Date
- Jun 2004
- Posts
- 972
This is REALLY funny. Thanks for the post, now when I'm investigating I'll add the "google the #" to the list of things to do.
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06-19-2005, 06:17 PM #3Temporarily Suspended
- Join Date
- Jun 2005
- Location
- Brighton, UK
- Posts
- 5
I also checked out: http://www.dnsstuff.com/ which is a really good central place for checking out hosts on many different levels. Certainly recommended.
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06-19-2005, 07:34 PM #4Web Hosting Master
- Join Date
- Oct 2000
- Location
- Toronto
- Posts
- 1,110
Wow, it must be a task for 1 person to manage all those domains... If you accidently an e-mail from the wrong domain...
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06-20-2005, 02:02 PM #5Web Hosting Guru
- Join Date
- Mar 2005
- Location
- United States
- Posts
- 308
Dang... tons of hosting services under that number.
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06-20-2005, 03:36 PM #6Junior Guru Wannabe
- Join Date
- Nov 2004
- Location
- USA
- Posts
- 78
They are probably using an outsourced tech support provider to handle their telephone support. If you notice under their phone numbers they all provide a "Our ID #" which is probably used when someone calls in.
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06-20-2005, 06:41 PM #7Web Hosting Guru
- Join Date
- Dec 2004
- Posts
- 252
Those are all affiliates with reseller's panel. http://resellerpanel.com/
I signed up for an account there once and reconize the templates. They have 10 or 12 templates that you can use.
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06-20-2005, 06:47 PM #8Web Hosting Master
- Join Date
- Dec 2002
- Location
- Prince Edward Island
- Posts
- 2,289
Originally posted by xlogicgroup
They are probably using an outsourced tech support provider to handle their telephone support. If you notice under their phone numbers they all provide a "Our ID #" which is probably used when someone calls in.
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06-21-2005, 02:11 AM #9Webhosting Reseller
- Join Date
- Sep 2002
- Location
- Cebu
- Posts
- 1,054
Nahoo,
Please post the website url, and i'll have his site be reported to its mother host.He who hates correction will die. --Proverbs 15:10
Jeffrey's Cute Blog
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06-21-2005, 02:55 AM #10Nerf Herder
- Join Date
- May 2002
- Location
- Internet / Colorado
- Posts
- 1,660
Hah that is great, what a funny guy, wonder where he is at really
Like passive recurring revenue you can retire on?
You focus on building your brand, we handle all support, billing, and more.
Pressed.net - Start your own Managed WordPress Hosting Company
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06-21-2005, 03:07 AM #11WHT Addict
- Join Date
- Sep 2004
- Location
- singapore
- Posts
- 126
i cant really believe this.. the same phone number is being used by hundreds of hosting sites.....
MIght be the reseller panel telephone no.