Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Spamming emails on a trial account..tisk tisk

[MPDon]

Out of my own kindness, i opened up a trial account for some woman that wanted to try our services, even though I do not even offer trial accounts. I take an hour nap, and wake up to a spam alert, and her account automatically being suspended(thank god for my reseller's spam protection). Well, there goes my will to give out any more trial accounts.

I am actually curious if any other web hosts have experienced situations like this, to where it has forced you into not doing special favors for people(ex: providing SSH access or even trial accounts such as myself)

[markjut]

Yeah it happens, try and make sure you get the correct address details of the person first - that way you limit the chances of it being a fraud account

[Tina J]

Yeah, giving out fully functional trial accounts is just asking for trouble.

--Tina

[sirius]

Originally Posted by AH-Tina

Yeah, giving out fully functional trial accounts is just asking for trouble.

Yep - this used to not be such a problem, but not something I'd do anymore....

Sirius

[iHubNet-Matt]

May be need to do all the fraud check that we do while processing a new order. The number of fraud orders are getting really high day by day.

[bithost(NET)]

Free trial accounts are just the sort of thing that spammers hunt for.....

You know the saying, 'on the internet, nobody knows if you're a dog'... similarly, we don't know if we're dealing with a dog... spammers will go all-out to present themselves as legit and respectable. A host has to be really careful.

"Just say no" to free trial accounts, they are basically a spammer magnet. Way too high risk, and not worth risking your whole business for. (IMO)

Bailey

[dean1012]

Unless you happen to have a spare server around just for the purpose of a trial account (similiar to free hosting providers). I would never allow a trial/free account on the same server as a paid customer though.

Originally Posted by bithost(NET)

Free trial accounts are just the sort of thing that spammers hunt for.....

You know the saying, 'on the internet, nobody knows if you're a dog'... similarly, we don't know if we're dealing with a dog... spammers will go all-out to present themselves as legit and respectable. A host has to be really careful.

"Just say no" to free trial accounts, they are basically a spammer magnet. Way too high risk, and not worth risking your whole business for. (IMO)

Bailey

[ldcdc]

Unless you happen to have a spare server around just for the purpose of a trial account (similiar to free hosting providers).

A trouble with that is it might make the potential customer get the wrong idea of what hosting is like on the servers where real customers are hosted (where IP blacklistings and server abuse would not be the order of the day). The trial period should, ideally, be spotless.

[dean1012]

I do agree with you, however it is the closest I can think of doing a trial account "safely" without completely ruling it out.

I personally wouldn't offer trial accounts at all - in my opinion, that's what the money back guarantee is for.

[iHubNet-Matt]

Originally Posted by dean1012

I personally wouldn't offer trial accounts at all - in my opinion, that's what the money back guarantee is for.

I would second that. If it is a real customer who is really interested in checking his needs, he can make use of the money back guarantee option. Almost all reputable hosts are providing Money back guarantee for a limited period.

A big NO NO to trial accounts.