We all hope when we sign up with a web hosting company that we’re going to get great service and support as well as a web site that is always accessible and runs fast. Sometimes this is the case. Sometimes a hosting company starts out great then for some reason fades in performance. And unfortunately, other times a web hosting company just sucks from the start and continues to annoy you.
The following is a list of items that I actually experienced at one time or another with some web hosting companies. If you also encounter any of these, you may want to consider switching web hosts when your renewal time is coming up—if not sooner!
1. Your web host immediately tries to upsell you on a bunch of other services the minute you sign up.
Yes, this actually did happen. I didn’t think this was a very good sign when it happened to me. Sure enough, this company turned out to be a joke.
2. No Live Chat Support available or is frequently not available.
Most of the hosting companies out there now have some type of live chat available. However, there still are a few that do not. Of course, just as bad or worse is a company that claims to have chat support but it frequently is down or not available.
3. Support person asks to put you on hold after every single question you ask.
Okay, I get that sometimes when there is an obscure or complex problem, a support tech may need to put you on hold for a while and do some research. However, this should not happen after every single question you ask–when the issue is something common and the information should be known by any competent support person.
4. Support takes longer than a few hours to get back to you on your problem.
Fortunately, this hasn’t happened very often to me. But there was one hosting company that took days to resolve an issue. I believe this was a company that could not handle the expansion and growth they were going through. It cost them a customer in my case.
5. Your web site is frequently down or runs very slowly.
Another one that fortunately hasn’t happened to me in recent times. These days, the better web hosting companies offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee. I’d certainly recommend you select one of these hosts.
6. Your web stats are not updated.
This was a very annoying issue I had with a certain hosting company. The problem would occur intermediately and I frequently had to request my server logs be updated manually.
7. They force you to have a credit card on file and they automatically bill you.
Some people might like auto renewals, but I don’t. I like to keep my options open and if I need to pay for a service with a business check, I think I should be allowed to do so. I also appreciate those hosting companies that allow me to view billing and payment information on my login account. This may or may not be an issue for you, but I think it speaks well for those companies that give you as much flexibility as possible.
If you’ve experienced any of these problems with your web hosting company, or if you’re just looking to make a change, check out our Top 10 list of web hosts on the left side of the page.
