Bluehost lies, WP.ORG should slap their wrist

  • demo tester

    (@zagarskas)


    10 years, 2 months ago

    Blue host boasts that they are the “top wordpress host”
    and theat they have no hidden fees, however on closer inspection it is clear that they DO have hidden fees.

    On their website they claim “4.95* per month”
    and then you go to check out and the price jumps to 178.20 and it is IMPOSSIBLE to get hosting for 4.95 per month.

    That is a hidden fee, That kind of marketing is called lying. They do not sell hosting per month, they sell it per YEAR. Plenty of hosting companies DO sell hosting per month and it’s a standard practice just like paying off a car.

    CRITICISM:
    Wordpress.org should not be promoting Bluehost and rewarding them for that kind of behavior nor should Bluehost be engaging in deceptive marketing.

    SOLUTION:
    Wordpress.org should make this CLEAR on the hosting page
    (http://wordpress.org/hosting/)
    It should say something like this with a nice custom WP_VAR
    CONTRACT: YES – Bluehost requires that users pay for hosting in yearly increments.
    MONTHLY: NO – Company does not offer monthly hosting.

    In fact to really BETTER this page and better serve your community as a whole all listings should have to state the increment and contract options. WordPress should also consider not rewarding companies like this for that kind of marketing behavior in the spirit of open source development and honesty.

    WHY:
    1- First off, its a lie, its not marketing,thats just plain lying and maybe like me you are sick of it.

    2- Because every month at least 1 client wastes a full hour of my life complaining to me, verbatim “Hey, wordpress says blue host is the best, no hidden fee’s and I went to their site and it says 4 dollars a month, how come your quote says hosting is 180 dollars? You are trying to rip me off” *sigh* and then I have to explain “go there and try to buy hosting for 4 dollars a month, then call me back”

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • catacaustic

    (@catacaustic)

    10 years, 2 months ago

    Well, first of all, I don’t think that they are “lying”. It’s their own marketing. you can get the hosting for that price, you just have to sign up for a three-year contract (which does work out at $4.95 a month over those three years). Because of that I don’t see where you’re getting any “hidden fees” from. They are charging the price that they’ve quoted, but you need a long-term commitment to get that price. They also have their discalimer after that price:

    *The promotional price is for the first term only and renews at the regular rate

    Just because they don’t offer hosting on a month-by-month basis for $4.95 doesn’t mean that they are lying. At best they are being slightly deceptive, but then they do still give you the option of what you want ot pay and what period you’re willing to sign up for. Check out other hosting companies. Most of the ones at this sort of price point offer the same deals, and none are that discounted on a month-by-month basis.

    If your clients are complaining about what you’re charging them, let them organise their own hosting accounts. Either that, or you can tell them that it is $4.95 amonth if they pay for three years. That’s the same deal as Bluehost anyway. If clients are complaining about your hosting prices it’s up to you to justify your prices by letting them know about your higher levels of support, ease of contact, etc. In reality it’s those that make hosting more expensive for most shared packages, not what you get on the server.

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    10 years, 2 months ago

    Per the Forum welcome, we close topics like this due to the amount of spam that they attract. The WordPress team has provided a list of a few recommended hosting providers. For more details and other recommendations, please search through the forums or via Google (or your preferred search engine).

    (Note: By closing this post I neither support nor condemn the use of the servers listed on the wordpress.org official hosting page, and encourage you to search around.)

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
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