Are Greenvillehost.com and Webhostingpad.com the same company?

July 10, 2010

In May 2010 Greenvillehost.com was number 12 on webhostingstuff.com’s top 25 list. Now they are not on the list. That does not mean I forget. This is another so called green company. Their focus is on green energy credits, going paperless, furniture from renewable or recycled materials, and energy efficiency compliant technology. Though I am, suppose to take them at their word from this page with limit information to prove they are green.

http://www.greenvillehost.com/greenhosting.html

Plus a few well known green facts that seem more like fillers to make a full page then actual facts on what makes their company green. To me it seems they are using “green” as marketing gimmick. There is nothing in regards to recycling of old equipment or details in what makes their data center green. While many companies such as my bank don’t send paper statements, that does not stop them from sending marketing to my mail box, nor is it going to stop employees from bringing cans of soda to work. The one word that does not come into play is recycling. There are a lot of elements from the periodic table in computers. Some of which you don’t want to end up in a land fill.

Interestingly enough they bought their domain in 2008 and they have no problem with stating that. To forgo the problem of not using an aged domain they claim to be formed by “web hosting industry experts”. Which I assume would be webhostingpad.com. Webhostingpad shows up on the network whois, and when you go to webhostingpad.com you find a similar single unlimited package. No signs of the ability to resell on their network. I think the finale part that tips me off is the award(s). http://www.greenvillehost.com/awards.html

This link takes you to http://www.upperhost.com/webhostingpad_web_hosting_review.htm

Greenville hosting has no awards of its own. Not even the one from webhostingstuff.com on their site, though that might have to due with greenville no longer being on the top 25, no telling as I did not review the site before they were off the list. Webhostingpad has a bunch of awards from paid spots as well as their affiliates. If I was to choose who to be an affiliate for it would be greenville for a $100 per sign up, versus upperhost which is $75 per sign up.

But lets get in to my phone call and there terms of service. Clearly when any company tells you they are unlimited, their not being honest. Here is the dandy I found in their terms of service.

http://www.greenvillehost.com/terms.html

Server Resources
Any Web site that uses a high amount of server resources (such as, but not limited to, CPU time, memory usage, and network resources) will be given the option to reduce the resources used to an acceptable level, or upgrade its service to a VPS plan. Greenvillehost will be the sole arbiter of what is considered to be a high server usage level. Please see ourabuse terms for a detailed listing of our resources. Any Web Hosting account deemed to be adversely affecting server performance or network integrity will be shut down without prior.

And at http://www.greenvillehost.com/billing_policy.html

VPS Server Billing

VPS servers are billed on 1 month or 3 month cycles. Payments are made in advance based on the billing cycle selected. Accounts are automatically renewed at the end of each billing cycle for the next cycle to avoid interruption of service.

To cancel service, you must confirm the cancellation by completing our cancellation online cancellation form at
https://secure.greenvillehost.com/cancellation.htm

In the Reason field, please state”Canceling VPS service”. No refund is issued for cancellations or for termination of VPS account.

Here is the thing I find fasinating, while the terms of service mention VPS, there is no vps plans listed any where on their site. I called them because there were two things I wanted to find out . 1. How much it cost to keep the free domain if you planned on leaving (which is $14.95). 2. Specs and a page for the vps plan listed in greenvillehost.com. On number 2 I pretty much stumped the new sales person. It took 8 minutes to find out Greenvillehost does not offer a vps plan, or remedy should you go beyound the unwritten resource limit. I decided to go to webhostingpad.com and find that unlike greenvillehost.com they do offer chat. I did a screen shot of this rather slow chat. I was able to get a link to the vps plan but it did not cover quarterly billing.

http://www.webhostingpad.com/vps-package.html

I think the most disturbing thing is that when I click on the bbb link on the bottom I get the following screen:

Going to the BBB’s site I get an even less favorable view of webhostingpad.com:

http://www.bbb.org/chicago/business-reviews/internet-web-hosting/web-hosting-padcom-in-rolling-meadows-il-88274902

Looking for greenvillehost bbb I get this interesting link:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/archive/index.php/t-934275.html

I too have had a lot of trouble with the WebHostingPad affiliate program, I have not been very impressed with them in the past but recently they got a new affiliate manager. The new manager seems to respond a lot more quickly than the old one; however, I still think they have a lot of work to do.

What I find humorous is that alreadyhosting.com (in my sights) a company that works much like hostaz.com (Also owned by Micahel Low of webhostingstuff.com) a site that claims to be “AlreadyHosting.com is an independent web hosting review site.” is complaining about webhostingpad.com.

04-21-2010, 09:50 PM