Second on the list is JustHost.com, I first mentioned this host when I brought up hostingsthatsuck.com.
Forgive me while I figure and fine tune the format. At the same time I had originally thought that I could spend part of my free time in a day and do a single review on each hosting company. There is a lot of information out there on just iPage.com and JustHost,com. Spending an hour to sum up as much information as I find is not really all that feasible. So I will try to get what I can get out, and revisit these hosts when I review other webhosting review websites to expose. But here is what I dug up:
Looking at the trace route for this site I get the following information:
Traceroute to justhost.com [67.225.149.185]…
61.d3.5446.static.theplanet.com
po101.dsr02.dllstx5.theplanet.com
po52.dsr02.dllstx3.theplanet.com
2d.ff.5746.static.theplanet.com
gigabitethernet7-3.ar2.dal2.gblx.net
giglinx.tengigabitethernet3-1.ar5.chi2.gblx.net
w-dc2-core3-te9-1.rtr.liquidweb.com
www.justhost.com
I see liquidweb.com, who appears to be on theplanet.com’s servers. Its starting to seem that all webhosts are on theplanet.com’s servers. Not a lot I can take from the trace route, but I like to look at where a hosts physical location might be.
A Rabid Advertising Campaign:
The bulk of my look at Justhost.com is that they seem to be on a rather aggressive advertising campaign. They seem to appear every where over night back in 2009. Which brings me to hostingsthatsuck.com. Hostingsthatsuck.com wants you to believe that there a great company with almost no negative feedback, despite the fact they did not suck. Atleast that is how it was at first, but later they changed it to they did suck so they had to recommend another host, but you had to scroll past the glowing review and affiliate link to see the disclaimer. But finale they changed the page and put this up:
“Firstly, maybe we can take the negative feedbacks about any web hosting with a pinch of salt. According to a study conducted by America’s premier customer services research firm, TARP, customers are more likely to speak about a company when things go wrong rather than when they go right. On average, customers are twice as likely to talk about a bad experience as they are to share a positive one. So we can safely say that for every negative comment about Justhost, there are two more good Justhost reviews we did not hear about.”
However their original review as well as their policy to say something sucks, but not really while applying what they call an “unbiased” seems to have a copy cat site where the original post was later re-posted:
http://reviews.azhan.com/web-hosting/17/not-one-of-those-just-host-reviews.html
The problem is suck is not the only negative meaning that would turn someone from buying (fraud, downtime, up-time, terrible, bad, incoherent, poor, nasty, lame, evil, stupid, cheat …………….) I figured while looking, why not see what I get when I search for “just host sucks”, and to the left of google is 2 sites that are using those terms for their adwords: 10-cheapwebhosting.com & webhostingdeals.org. Most of the sites on the first page of search engine results are affiliates. Hostingsthatsuck.com (that has no actual hosts that suck on it that I can see now), used complaints that did not seem valid to validate their “not” sucking. But I have found a lot of complaints in regards to orders not being set up, and issues with getting it up or getting a refund. Multiple complaints of downtime and deleted content. In some cases people were told that they deleted their own content. I supposed you can trust these affiliates that choose to market on the word sucks with just host. All of which try (or not) to sound like some unbiased site that want to convince you that justhost.com is the host for you. So where are they hosting?
Domain Name: 10-CHEAPWEBHOSTING.COM Name Server: NS2153.HOSTGATOR.COM Name Server: NS2154.HOSTGATOR.COM
Domain Name:WEBHOSTINGDEALS.ORG Name Server:NS.INMOTIONHOSTING.COM Name Server:NS2.INMOTIONHOSTING.COM
How about the sites that are using suck to determine if a host sucks (or really just trying to get you to buy Justhost hosting)?
Domain Name: HOSTINGSTHATSUCK.COM Name Server: NS553.WEBSITEWELCOME.COM Name Server: NS554.WEBSITEWELCOME.COM Websitewelcome.com is Hostgator.com
Domain Name: AZHAN.COM Name Server: NS1.NAME.COM Name Server: NS2.NAME.COM
None of the 4 sites that I have looked at, and for that matter no site that promotes justhost.com as the host to use, are hosting on justhost.com. After all if they are so good, why are they not using them?
So why are they everywhere in the search engines? JustHost.com seems to have two affilate programs. Both of which have rather heavy pay outs, enough to encourage anyone and their dog to do what ever it takes to get their site in the top of search engine results. Their own personally ran affiliate program can be found at:
http://www.justhost.com/affiliate-program
Also they use Commission Junction, their policy is:
We are a first class web hosting provider that offer free domains, unlimited space, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited email accounts and the ability to host unlimited domains. We are committed to making web hosting simple and understandable for every user. We have ensured our sign up process is as straightforward as possible to ensure customers have no problems setting up their account. Customers will usually receive their login details within 10 minutes of subscribing, making the process swift and efficient for both the customer and the affiliate.
Just Host’s affiliate program gives you the ability to make up to $200 per sale and an additional $100 if you convert over 10 sales in a month. We offer two plans each available for 6, 12, 24 and 36 months, a sale qualifies as a subscription to any of these plans. Please see our commission structure below:
- Just Plan & Premium Semi-Annual sign-up – $100
- Just Plan 12, 24 and 36 month sign-up – $100
- Just Premium 12, 24 and 36 month sign-up – $120
- Just Reseller sign-up – $200!
We also offer an incentive of $100 if an affiliate sends us over 10 sales in 1 month. Our cookie referral period is 30 days. Just Host has a variety of banners, skyscapers and buttons to suit all sites along with text and content links.
We are heavily promoting Just Host online and in print. This exposure will greatly increase our customer base and our conversion rate which is one of the highest in our industry will continue to grow with our customers.
The Just Host team has over 10 years experience in web hosting and are dedicated to providing customers with the most reliable web hosting service possible. We guarantee affordable price plans, secure servers, first class 24/7 tech support and a wide range of features.
Looking at both it seems clear the one to go with if you want a big payout, its commission junction and not JustHosts.com own affilate program. Both of which have rather insane payouts like iPage.com.
At the same time while they claim being 10 years old to their affiliates on commission junction, their domain registration says the domain was bought in 2002.
http://www.la.bbb.org/Business-Report/Just-Hostcom-100076574
They claim on the BBB site that they were founded in 2002. But I have serious doubts, as the oldest piece of information that I have seen is no latter then 2008. I suspect that justhost.com was just unused aged domain. I have many that I have never used some that are over 10 years old. I suspect this is the same case with justhost.com and they are blatantly lying about their start date.
I admit they are a fast growing operation, but I imagine this is nothing more then another arm of another hosting operation. Much like what iPage.com is to fatcow.com. Its not my concern what they tell their affiliates, but that’s going to be what the affiliates tell people when they try to refer people.
Onto the chat and phone call with Justhost.com
I thought I would chat and call them since I had read a lot of complaints about English problems. I can tell you that there was a lot of copying and pasting going on. I actually stumped the person on chat for a whole three minutes on how much it would cost to keep my domain. $20 is a bit much. From the chat I could not see a lot of problems with English use, but this was just sales and clearly a lot of copy and past to my answers, due to cases where text was pasted and sent soon after one another.
Chat start time Jun 13, 2010 5:23:09 PM EST
Chat end time Jun 13, 2010 5:30:55 PM EST
Duration (actual chatting time) 00:07:46
Operator Andrew
Chat Transcript
info: All our operators are currently assisting others customers. You are currently in position 1 Thank you for your patience. An operator will be with you shortly.
info: You are now chatting with ‘Andrew’
Andrew: Welcome to Live Chat support, how may I help you?
Benjamin: Hello Andrew, I just found your site had a few questions
Benjamin: If I change my mind how and decided to cancel, how much will my domain cost to keep?
Andrew: If you cancel your account we will provide you with a full refund for the remainder of your term, excluding any setup fees that were charged when you signed up, and excluding domain registration fees. (Even if you received your domain for free through one of our promotional plans)
Andrew: The domain registration fee we incur on each domain registration is $20.00. So all refunds are subject to a $20.00 registration fee charge, but you will own the domain name afterwards.
Benjamin: Your cost seems a bit high on the domain, I think I will go to another domain register for my domain. On the order form it only indicates buy new domain or transfer. Do you give me dns so I can change it with my domain register?
Andrew: So you want to signup hosting with your existing domain, right ?
Benjamin: a domain I am buying from godaddy
Benjamin: $20 is a bit much if I decided I do not like your company
Andrew: Ok… For this select the option ‘I already own my domain name’. In this case your domain will stay with your registrar and you can host it with us. Also, please note that we initiate the transfer of domain only if you place a request with us for the same.
Andrew: Our name servers are as below
Andrew: ns1.pipedns.com: 67.212.177.42
Andrew: ns2.pipedns.com: 99.198.106.66
Andrew: ns3.pipedns.com: 99.198.106.74
Benjamin: that will not try to transfer my domain?
Andrew: Right
Benjamin: ok
Benjamin: where are your servers located?
Andrew: Our Data Center is in Chicago US
Benjamin: are you located at that center?
Andrew: Yes
Benjamin: nice, many hosts don’t seem to staff their centers.
Benjamin: thanks I will order sometime tonight.
Andrew: You are most Welcome !!
Andrew: Is there anything else I can help you with?
Benjamin: nope have a good day
Andrew: Thank you for visiting Hosting Support. Should you have any queries or require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Andrew: We are pleased to bring to your attention the following offer.
Andrew: Let us take away any worries of accidental deletion or modification of your website or files by backing up your site on a daily basis. If you ever need a previous days backup, just let us know and we will happily restore or upload backups for you – $19.95 per year.
Andrew: Have a nice day!! Good Bye.
______________________
After I said “nope have a good day”, I got a barrage of sales copy and pastes, and the operator left before I could ask about the back up service. I figured I would try covering that with a phone call. After the automated system transferred me to sales I was stuck for 3 minutes of ringing. I hung up before trying to see if I could make it 4 minutes. You would figure they would have a answering machine to tell me that they are not open and when to call…… if they were not open.
Onto the JustHost.com complaints:
The BBB has 169 complaints at present, though not all are viewable, here is what the BBB states about those complaints:
“Complainants allege a variety of billing and refund related problems. Customers complain that previously undisclosed fees are added to billings, or that advertisements for service at $3.95 per month failed to disclose that in order to get the discounted rate, customers must agree to be billed two years in advance. Other complainants allege they were unable to send emails or were advised that they must upgrade their service in order for basic services to function properly. Many customers complain they are unable to communicate with the company to resolve problems due to the company’s email only policy, or that tech support does not resolve problems. Some complainants allege the services are not as represented, or that the company falsely advertises a 90% uptime rate. The company responds to complaints by issuing refunds or partial refunds and agreeing to close accounts along with apologies for any inconveniences. One or more complaints are unresolved meaning the company failed to properly address the complaint allegations or their response was inadequate.”
This is not the only organization that has multiple complaints:
http://amplicate.com/sucks/justhost
http://www.trustlink.org/BusinessProfile.aspx?ID=205976637
There are many more non-affiliated sites that are reporting multiple issues with Justhost.com.
The reasons I give to not buy from Justhost.com are as follows:
- Probable no more then a 2 year old company at best, and they are using an aged domain name. I can not find much information that shows they were in business prior to 2009. The BBB states they signed up with them in 2009. However I know BBB asks when you start, and don’t actually look for business licenses. Most complaints are in 2009, and I am having a hard time finding anything from 2008 or before then.
- Keeping your domain with them is a $20 charge, they claim that’s what it costs them. But there are tons of domain registration programs that cost most hosting companies $8 or less.
- Multiple complaints of accounts not being set up when ordered.
- Multiple complaints on getting a refund.
- Complaints of content being deleted
- Complaints of poor tech support, in many cases musical chairs between departments.
- Complaints of constant down time
- Heavy affiliate commission payouts that encourage false advertising just to make a sale.
