An open letter to Brainhost.com

Hello, Corey of Brainhost.com,

I am not sure you understand the nature of blogs.  Generally, any blog that is ran with any common sense moderates the comments.  Only 2% of the comments I get are approved, as the other 98% of the comments, this blog gets are spam. Rest assured I will not stop you from posting your comments on this or any brainhost.com related post.  I have approved all of your comments, regardless if they are duplicates as I do not delete or modify a contact for a host’s comments.

However, I have pre-approved you for future comments.  Since I got your attention with the last 2 posts on Brainhost.com, I am doing this third one with questions.  I have emailed you the questions; here I will explain the questions in detail.

https://hosting-reviews-exposed.com/?p=2996

https://hosting-reviews-exposed.com/?p=2980

18 questions about Brainhost.com

The Basics of Brainhost.com:

I have friends that think I should ask some of the basics which would be questions 1 – 4

1. When did you purchase the domain Brainhost.com?
2. When did you actually start up Brainhost.com?
3. How many servers does Brainhost.com have?
4. What is the collective experience in the hosting industry of the Brainhost.com owners?

Not much to explain here, other than question 4.  As an example, I will give out a short history of my experience.

I started out as a web designer with work in databases over 3 years.  I meet another designer who also had a lot of experience in sales who with a programmer decided to start up a hosting company.  The first try ultimately failed as the programmer got paranoid and greedy and locked us out.  The second time was the charm which would give me 11 years working experience where I and other partners formed 4 companies.  Two years ago I would sell all my shares and get out of the hosting industry, in hopes going for what I wanted to do, as well as time to breath.

The Flippa.com/Brainhost.com partnership:

A partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.

It’s pretty clear what Braihost.com’s interests are, what are Flippa.com’s interests? I happen to be monitoring cookies when going from Flippa.com’s Trusted Partner page to Brainhost.com.  Which interestingly enough I get a cookie once I reach Brainhost.com called AffiliateId.

5. Why did Flippa.com choose Brainhost.com over hosting companies that have an established history like Hostgator.com?

As a Flippa Trusted Partner, we offer web hosting and free site transfer to Flippa customers who have less complex websites, like a simple WordPress site. We do offer dedicated hosting as well (http://www.Brainhost.com/dedicated-servers), but most Flippa customers who choose us do not need this level of service.

I don’t see any explanation as to why Flippa.com chooses you to be a partner.  No offense but I would not have chosen to partner with your company.  Your company has been running for around a year, a year does not give the definition of established. On top of that, the feedback from your customers is less than stellar.

6. Are you willing to sign an affidavit that Flippa does not receive any kind of compensation? Be it monetary or some other action that benefits them directly.

Anyone that sells on flippa.com understands that Flippa will create any gimmick that makes them money.  Something I plan to explore in my next post.  One example is a $50 fee that will put the sale on the first page, my experience is that this only lasts for an hour.  No surprise but just a quick glance at the other trusted partners I can see on a lot of the sites they offer an affiliate program.  I don’t even have to look at odesk as that is an ad I purposely put on my site.

Brainhost.com package questions

7. Does Brainhosting.com have only one “unlimited”/shared hosting plan?
8. If your hosting company only has one “unlimited” hosting plan, why is the $6.95 a month (2 years) not “The Best Value”?

From the chat I had last week, it seems the only variety you offer is Month to Month, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, and 4 years.  The package page gives the illusion that there is more than one package.  Not to mention wouldn’t a 2 – 4 years term be better than a 1 year?

9. Per your company’s terms of service, free accounts do not get the same features as paid plans, so what are the differences?

I am well aware that you changed your terms of service after I did my post. You have completely removed the section on free accounts not having the same features as a paid account.  I don’t have a problem with that, but the differences have to be noted, especially on a plan that offers a free year.  Honestly, I did a 3-month free hosting plan, and it was enough to make me want to tear my hair out.  Compared to the affiliate programs people were 80% likely to keep their accounts over a year.  Whereas 95% of the three free month accounts were closed by the end of the free period.

10. Why do you not offer dedicated to them, as well as have this “unlimited” service available through your site?

Regardless of your assumptions about what most Flippa customer’s needs, why do you not have the dedicated offer on the offers page for Flippa, or for that matter on your site?

Take it from someone that was in the business of selling dedicated servers, you can’t sell them unless they are out there for people to get to.  You point me to a link that I can’t seem to find a way navigate from the main page of Brainhost.com to.

Brainhost.com reviews and awards

11. Can you explain why most of the complaints out there complain about too much money being charged to an account?

A lot of the complaints I looked at are complaints in regards to charges and in some cases multiple charges.

Here is one site that serves as an example:

http://www.web-hosting-top.com/review/Brainhost.com

Now I think the explanation for unexpected charges could be sites like Brainhostreview.net offering $1 a month, but the order form that their site takes you to gives no such offer.  On the other hand, I really cannot guess as to why people are complaining about multiple charges.

12. Where did Brainhost.com get the award for 2012 web hosting top 10?
13. Where did Brainhost.com get the award for Most Reliable Web Host 2012?
14. Where did Brainhost.com get the User’s Choice Web hosting Award?
15. Where did Brainhost.com get the Rated #1 Web Host award?
16. Where did Brainhost.com get the awards showcased on http://Brainhostreview.net/about-us/

You should check out the review site Brainhostreview.net. What I find interesting is sites that try to tell you that you should host with a host like Brainhost.com. But like many of the review sites that I look at, they don’t host with who they promote.  Guess where Brainhostreview.net is hosted?

I can’t tell you how bad it looks when a review site that is dedicated to your Brainhost.com is hosted with Godaddy.  If they don’t host with Brainhost.com why should I?

The problem with a lot of the awards for Brainhost.com is I have no idea where you got them from.  There are 4 on your site, and then their 5 more on Brainhostreview.net.

17. What are the websites for the people that wrote you testimonials (i.e. John, Michael, and Anna).

The only place I can find any positive feedback for Brainhost.com is on Brainhost.com’s main page. The one thing that could add some viability to those reviews is putting some websites that are hosted on your service behind them.

The Brainhost.com/NSA Technologies Connection

18. What is you or your collogues relation to the company NSA Technologies?

During my review of feedback about brainhost.com, I find several comments that mention NSA Technologies. I am not going to go into the details; I will leave that up to you.

As I have stated through multiple posts, I have no problem with you being new in the industry. New hosts can be more inclined to work towards keeping a customer. The things that concern me about brainhost.com are that you offer an unlimited package, which there is no such thing.  Then there is the $175 payout that ultimately cuts into what could actually pay for service. I truly believe it’s easier to keep customers then it is to bring new ones in.

I look forward to a response to this Brainhost post.

19 COMMENTS

  1. Email was sent to Corey —–

    Hello Corey,

    I have wrote another post, this one has questions. Here is the short of what I asked. Greater detail can be found at: https://hostingreviewsexposed.mystagingwebsite.com/?p=3008

    1. When did you purchase the domain Brainhost.com?

    2. When did you actually start up Brainhost.com?

    3. How many servers does Brainhost.com have?

    4. What is the collective experience in the hosting industry of the Brainhost.com owners?

    5. Why did Flippa.com choose Brainhost.com over hosting companies that have an established history like Hostgator.com?

    6. Are you willing to sign an affidavit that Flippa does not receive any kind of compensation? Be it monetary or some other action that benefits them directly.

    7. Does Brainhosting.com have only one “unlimited”/shared hosting plan?

    8. If your hosting company only has one “unlimited” hosting plan, why is the $6.95 a month (2 years) not “The Best Value”?

    9. Per your company’s terms of service, free accounts do not get the same features as paid plans, so what are the differences?

    10. Why do you not offer dedicated to them, as well as have this service available through your site?

    11. Can you explain why most of the complaints out there complain about too much money being charged on an account?

    12. Where did you get the award for 2012 webhosting top 10?

    13. Where did you get the award for Most Reliable Web Host 2012?

    14. Where did you get the User’s Choice Web hosting Award?

    15. Where did you get the Rated #1 Web Host award?

    16. Where did you get the awards show cased on http://Brainhostreview.net/about-us/

    17. What are the web sites for the people that wrote you testimonials (i.e. John, Michael, and Anna)

    18. What is you or your colleagues relation to the company NSA Technologies?

    Please note that any communications I get by email will be posted to the above post. As a general rule I do not prohibit hosts from posting on posts about them, nor do I delete or modify. I will not delete even after a comment is placed so choose your words wisely. You have been per-approved to posed comments.

    Regards,

    Benjamin

  2. Hi Benjamin,

    Thanks for the opportunity to answer the questions you’ve provided, I’ll get answers for these. Could you give me your full name?

  4. Has BrainHost responded to you yet? I was going to host with them last week (saw their ad on Flippa) but there were just too many red flags.

  5. Hello Linda,

    Right now the ball is in Brainhost.com’s court. I am not expecting a immediate response as I gave 18 questions that require a lot of details. But the moment Corey posts them they will be available for anyone to see without my approval. Those questions actually took me a while to come up with, as I wanted to make sure I covered everything.

    But as far as the red flags go, there are two sides to every story. This is their chance to present their side of the story.

    Regards,

    Benjamin

  7. Hello Geoff,

    No, I have not heard anything since they asked for my last name. I might do a 4th post perhaps that will get their attention again.

    Regards,

    Benjamin

  8. I will NEVER NEVER will have brainhost to host for me again!! They took one of my best sites and took it away from me. they sent me a cancellation email to a email address which I don’t use. they have my correct email but didn’t send it to the right one. Given the fact that it cost over 10,000 in losses, guess what? I will get on the forum and compllain what a …… company they are and what they did to me.

  9. Hello Ron,

    I would appreciate getting the details with your problems with them. Such as how long you were with them. What site was effected, ect, ect.

    Regards,

    Benjamin

  10. I was about to purchase my package from the Brainhost, but I guess I have to delay this first. I indeed saw a lot of negative reviews about Brianhost. Ben, please get to the bottom of this because we don’t want to lost money for junks.

  11. Hello Bunny,

    There is not much I can do beyond these posts. If people want to sign up they should consider the questions I ask, and take them to brainhost.com. At first it seemed I had an eager rep within the company. But apparently they wanted my full name before they handled questions. I wrote my posts because the partnership that Brainhost.com and Flippa.com seemed a bit off.

    Regards,

    Benjamin

  12. Hi Ben,

    Have you heard from BrainHost? I wish I have read your posts before I purchased their package, which cost me about $650. I hope I could get my money back via their “30 day No-Question-Money Back” guarantee process.

    Kind regards,

    Sarah

  13. Hello Sarah,

    No I still have not heard back from them. I would like to hear about the details about paying $650. That seems rather steep for a unlimited hosting package.

    Regards,

    BEnjamin

  14. Hi Benjamin,

    I tried many times but I could not upload my post anymore. Try this short one to see if it works or not….

    Sarah

  15. Hi Benjamin,

    Thanks for the prompt reply.

    The whole thing was misleading.

    Initially, I was going to make some cash by doing survey online as I am going to lose my job in two months. I thought it will be good if I could make some cash online working from home.

    (to be continued…)

  17. Hi Benjamin,

    Thanks for the prompt reply.

    The whole thing was misleading.

    Initially, I was going to make some cash by doing survey online as I am going to lose my job in two months. I thought it will be good if I could make some cash online working from home.

    Anyway, I paid $37 to become the member for getcashforsurveys.com. When I first login to the site as a member, the first part of the screen ( actually 80% of the screen suggesting I do the STEP ONE first for FREE BONUS).

    As a results of the free bonus, I ended up paying Brain Hosting for $650 for the following services:

    Brain Host Unlimited Special Package – $143.4
    Automated Daily Backup – $ 9.95
    Web Lock Domain Security – $ 9.95
    Improve Your SEO – $ 99.95
    Hosting For Life – $ 197.00
    Core: viewmoneynow.com (domain) – $ 14.95
    Domain Privacy – $ 11.95
    (Regular) Website Traffic Package: 5k Hits (traffic) – $ 197.00
    Addon Domain – $ 9.95

    Most of them are yearly fees.

    I have no idea how I am going to make any cash out of the package. I don’t have enough skills.

    I just want to get my money back. Appreciate if you shed some lights on how I can get my money back.

    Thanks and regards,

    Sarah

  18. i have 2 sites hosted guess were with Unlimited Special Package and an addon domain but the good news is it up for renewal so unless the aforementioned company reply’s that will not be happening, I got the same package as Sarah but stopped at buying the upsells at the very start the sites were more down than up i would give them an 5 out of ten for effort not service

  19. Hello Tommy,

    Please keep me update on your cancellation, defiantly let me know if you have any problems.

    Regards,

    Benjamin

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