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Thread: What to do?

  1. #1

    What to do?

    I've been with godaddy since 2006; I originally signed up for "deluxe hosting with CGI" and I have been paying on a monthly basis.
    I just checked my billing history and it has increased from 9.95 up to 9.99 monthly during 2007; now there is no longer any 'deluxe hosting with CGI' plan. In fact the 'deluxe hosting' on their site now seems to offer CGI, leading me to believe there is no difference between that plan and the plan I currently have--except for the price, the 'deluxe hosting' plan costs 6.99 as opposed to 9.99

    I have the option to downgrade to "deluxe hosting" which costs 6.99$ per month.

    I have contacted customer service and asked them why I have been paying 3$ extra per month for no additional features and they are telling me I can downgrade to the 'deluxe hosting' if I want to and seem to be acting oblivious the fact that they have been charging me 3$ monthly for nothing, they haven't made clear the difference between the packages and their 12 hour+ email response time is getting frustrating.

    If they don't settle this problem then I am considering moving host. I have 3 domains registered with godaddy.

    I am looking at tektonic's VPS plans; their cheapest VPS plan surpasses my bandwidth and storage requirements by a large margin. My question is how difficult would it be to move all my files there and to setup mysql databases etc.
    If anyone else can recommend another VPS provider I'd be up for that too.

    Thanks

  2. #2
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    You see this more often over a long period of time that some customers are stuck with an old package which is basically payed to much for. It would be nice if they informed you about it, and even better if they adjusted you to an equal package (however most companies would upgrade your account and let you keep paying the same amount, basic business practice).

    I will not comment on the 12 hour+ email responses as it seem to be sales related questions and i have no clue if that would be the same for technical issues.

    What I found a bit strange in your post is that you want to go from a shared-hosting account to a VPS account ? are you aware that you need to manage a VPS yourself ? and if it is a VPS which is 'managed' this is often passive (re-active) managed; so waiting for you to start working on something ?

    One advise do not stare blind on large packages and promises, but do some good research and try to find what you need for a price you want to pay.

    Wishing you all the best in either continuing your hosting at your current provider or with your next.

  3. #3
    I think hosting provider should never increase price for package that is already in use by some users.

  4. #4
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    godaddy isn't known for their quick support so the 12+ hr isn't surprising - I get that with domains from time to time when I ask questions about them.

    as for moving to another vps - your new vps provider may be able to help you move if you ask them. but you would have to go around asking hosts.

    but if your sites are hosted on a control panel like cPanel, then it would be a lot easier to move and you'd probably be able to do it yourself.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by 040Hosting View Post
    You see this more often over a long period of time that some customers are stuck with an old package which is basically payed to much for. It would be nice if they informed you about it, and even better if they adjusted you to an equal package (however most companies would upgrade your account and let you keep paying the same amount, basic business practice).

    I will not comment on the 12 hour+ email responses as it seem to be sales related questions and i have no clue if that would be the same for technical issues.

    What I found a bit strange in your post is that you want to go from a shared-hosting account to a VPS account ? are you aware that you need to manage a VPS yourself ? and if it is a VPS which is 'managed' this is often passive (re-active) managed; so waiting for you to start working on something ?

    One advise do not stare blind on large packages and promises, but do some good research and try to find what you need for a price you want to pay.

    Wishing you all the best in either continuing your hosting at your current provider or with your next.

    Thank you for your reply,
    They did adjust the package to what the 'deluxe hosting' is now, however the left the cost practically the same (the increased it by 4 cents). In my eyes, if I'm a monthly paying customer, and my package becomes irrelevant because of newer packages I should be moved to a newer package, or at least informed of this. Godaddy has not informed me of any package changes throughout my experience with them and they have also upgraded my package--if they had left my package exactly the same as when I started, it'd be one thing, but they have adjusted both the features and cost of my package without informing me.

    I would like to move to a VPS for a few other reasons (such as web browsing, as where I live the internet is highly cached and has a few problems relating to that). I also have interest in running a dedicated server for some ancient games (like half life 1)
    I might be more interested in a managed service if I can find a decently priced one.

    The current plan I'm looking at is 15$ per month as opposed to the 9.99$ per month I've been paying; from my understanding VPS will mean a faster hosting service (I run a wordpress blog) which is something I may be concerned about in the near future.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by samuraisam View Post
    I would like to move to a VPS for a few other reasons (such as web browsing, as where I live the internet is highly cached and has a few problems relating to that). I also have interest in running a dedicated server for some ancient games (like half life 1)
    I might be more interested in a managed service if I can find a decently priced one.

    The current plan I'm looking at is 15$ per month as opposed to the 9.99$ per month I've been paying; from my understanding VPS will mean a faster hosting service (I run a wordpress blog) which is something I may be concerned about in the near future.
    Understandable a VPS might do; but a shared-hosting allowing proxy sites would work as well. Although for a VPS of $15 being faster as a good shared hosting account of $15, i think we can argue about Do not to quickly fall for the sales talk of the many trying to push VPS for any solution out there. Sure there are examples of where a VPS is a good solution, but frankly i doubt these would be $15 a month

    I would advise you to look a bit better in your needs and look for the solutions to these. As for the Browsing i would recommend you to look for VPN services which may not only be more secure they are better designed for this type of communication.

    As for hosting a wordpress site; a good shared-hosting environment can handle quite some busy blogs; although if you have a very popular blog you may look at VPS or Semi-Dedicated servers for that before moving to a dedicated environment.

    Hope this helps you to make a better decisions in what you really need and to stay within your budget while not sacrificing on reliability.

  7. #7
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    Personally I don't feel that they have done anything wrong - you signed up for a plan at a price that you felt was reasonable and you were happy with the plan until you learned that you could get it cheaper.

    I mean if you sign up for a plan with one provider and are there for a year and then find that you can get it cheaper at another host do you ask your host you were happy with for all that time to refund you the difference? It simply does not make sense.

    Now as for not contacting you about increasing the price (even $0.04) that I do personally have an issue with - it's likely that they didn't contact you so that you wouldn't look at why your price increased and discover that you could downgrade and get the same service cheaper.

    In the end, GoDaddy isn't going to refund you anything (although you can certainly fight for it).

    There are providers out there as 040Hosting said that offer shared proxy hosting but keep in mind that proxy accounts tend to cause extraordinarily high load compared to normal sites so depending on the provider you may not experience the utmost reliability.

    Good luck!
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  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by MikeDVB View Post
    Personally I don't feel that they have done anything wrong - you signed up for a plan at a price that you felt was reasonable and you were happy with the plan until you learned that you could get it cheaper.

    I mean if you sign up for a plan with one provider and are there for a year and then find that you can get it cheaper at another host do you ask your host you were happy with for all that time to refund you the difference? It simply does not make sense.

    Now as for not contacting you about increasing the price (even $0.04) that I do personally have an issue with - it's likely that they didn't contact you so that you wouldn't look at why your price increased and discover that you could downgrade and get the same service cheaper.

    In the end, GoDaddy isn't going to refund you anything (although you can certainly fight for it).

    There are providers out there as 040Hosting said that offer shared proxy hosting but keep in mind that proxy accounts tend to cause extraordinarily high load compared to normal sites so depending on the provider you may not experience the utmost reliability.

    Good luck!
    I'm not sure you have the situation understood properly, basically the whole problem is with godaddy. I am a monthly customer, and they have changed my plan in price/features over the years, the problem in all fact is this:

    (I'm not allowed to embed the image I want to so I have to link to it, but it explains the whole problem entirely)

    yfrog.com/9egodaddyj

    They have me on a plan that doesn't exist anymore! All that I would've had to have done to save around 60-70$ was move that check box up twice and I would:
    • be paying 3$ less each month
    • have the exact same features


    godaddy's reply to my email is as follows:
    "Since you purchased your hosting, we have come out with a few different plans. If you wish to move to our newer Deluxe hosting plan, you can do so from the upgrade/downgrade menu. Keep in mind that this will require your account to be migrated."
    They seem to have completely ignored my questioning of why I have been charged this 3$ extra and I have emailed them to ask it in a more direct way--hopefully they can give me a decent answer.

    So basically I went from my original plan all the way UP to exactly what the deluxe plan now offers, the only thing they didn't change for me was the price, they increased it by 4 cents!

    It's not even a case of downgrade/upgrade when the two plans have the EXACT same features (also keep in mind I have no yearly contract with them and I pay monthly, so it is impossible that I am somehow 'locked' into an older plan)

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by 040Hosting View Post
    Understandable a VPS might do; but a shared-hosting allowing proxy sites would work as well. Although for a VPS of $15 being faster as a good shared hosting account of $15, i think we can argue about Do not to quickly fall for the sales talk of the many trying to push VPS for any solution out there. Sure there are examples of where a VPS is a good solution, but frankly i doubt these would be $15 a month

    I would advise you to look a bit better in your needs and look for the solutions to these. As for the Browsing i would recommend you to look for VPN services which may not only be more secure they are better designed for this type of communication.

    As for hosting a wordpress site; a good shared-hosting environment can handle quite some busy blogs; although if you have a very popular blog you may look at VPS or Semi-Dedicated servers for that before moving to a dedicated environment.

    Hope this helps you to make a better decisions in what you really need and to stay within your budget while not sacrificing on reliability.
    My godaddy plan is technically 6.99 per month (if godaddy were honest with me), I'm planning on a VPS plan of 15 monthly, or possibly the 28$ monthly plan.

    I'm not actually being given any sales talk, I am however trying to get guidance from some friends--I'd much prefer to upgrade upwards rather than sideways (i.e. move from shared hosting up to VPS rather than from shared hosting>shared hosting if that makes any sense). My understanding is that VPS would be a better solution than shared hosting (in an ideal world)

  10. #10
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    They have me on a plan that doesn't exist anymore!
    That happens a lot with mobiles plans (at least where I live). The old plan that you bought is no longer offered, and all the current ones are better and cheaper. If you don't switch, you lose.

    I'm planning on a VPS plan of 15 monthly
    That sounds scary cheap. Given the overhead of a VPS, I'd compare that at best with a $10 shared hosting account, and I suppose it would be unmanaged too, which may be an issue for you if you're not a server admin. What are its specifications?
    Last edited by ldcdc; 07-18-2009 at 08:20 PM.

  11. #11
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    You would find these in their TOS ... I mean if you do read them there is bound to be some form of text stating of 'Price Changes' and or 'Changes to their TOS' about such changes.

    I mean they formally can do it, Just like a Supermarket.
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  12. #12
    Here's the latest from godaddy:

    "There is no difference between the two Deluxe hosting accounts. You are still on our older version of hosting which costs a different amount. If you would like to move to a newer plan, you may downgrade to our current Deluxe hosting. This would not have been done automatically, as there is the possibility of downtime during the migration."

    They seem to be completely ignoring my requests to know how long I have been on the 'older version' of the hosting.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by ldcdc View Post
    That happens a lot with mobiles plans (at least where I live). The old plan that you bought is no longer offered, and all the current ones are better and cheaper. If you don't switch, you lose.

    That sounds scary cheap. Given the overhead of a VPS, I'd compare that at best with a $10 shared hosting account, and I suppose it would be unmanaged too, which may be an issue for you if you're not a server admin. What are its specifications?
    IMHO it's perfectly normal when you're paying on a yearly contract, but if you're paying monthly and not on such a contract you are a.) free to move b.) should be moved if both your price and features have changed over time.

    Yes it is unmanaged, I have read reviews of the host and it comes recommended from a friend. I am not a server admin, but there's never a better time to start learning I suppose (I have a month to transition if that's any consolation)

  14. #14
    update:
    I have decided to go with dreamhosting shared hosting, hopefully they have better customer service and will be honest with me.

    Still waiting for a reply from godaddy (reply time average: 12 hours)

  15. #15
    godaddy are slow in response..and changing the amount isnt really fair

  16. #16
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    b.) should be moved if both your price and features have changed over time.
    I don't see why they "should", there is no requirement, you agreed to pay X for services Y. Now, it would be nice of them and probably good business too, to upgrade/"downgrade" customers to the better deals as soon they are offered, but there's no requirement.

    You can feel robbed, I would probably be uncomfortable with the situation too, but the only thing to do here is choose with your wallet.

    I have a month to transition if that's any consolation
    A profession typically takes way longer than 1 month to learn, especially when you do the learning only in your spare time.

    Good luck with Dreamhost!

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