IS WEBS.com just a murky GIMMICK?
by Jim H - Follow on twitter
If you’ve been ripped off by an online marketing or web design firm, take the next step and report it. Website for cross-border consumer complaints.
WEBS.com also formerly known as
Freewebs - a loop of deception?
Customers Speak Out "You've let us all down"
Customers Speak Out "You've let us all down"
Read before signing up for any "FREE" WEB HOSTING
First off, there is seldom anything that is ever free in this world.
How many times must we hear IT ? - If something is too good to be true, it usually (always) is.Countless business's and individuals who have started a website with Freewebs are reporting huge loses of thousands of dollars. Freewebs has since changed their name to webs.com. Customers who registered their domains and paid for hosting through webs.com. may be in for a real shock if they try to move their website to a different host.
The deeper our investigators dig, the more they are uncovering that webs.com lures small business's into building an entire online exposure while using a website builder that essentially LOCKS the entire website.
.
THCeeker News also found out through reliable sources that webs.com frantically edit their help forum before Google's spider-bots, and or webs.com newcomers pick up any bad publicity or bad vibes in the forums. Censorship at it's finest.
If you've been an international
victim please choose the following
Save your company's online image before you create any content using webs.com easy website builder. Think of it this way - As every hour you spend on your lifetime dream is wasted with webs.com, you can expect a minimum 10 hours of getting out of the black hole you have created under their guise of an honest, worthy host. Once you have spent too many hours, they seemingly own you because you can not go back.
Your entire customer base could also be effected if you change hosts. Think about that. Your entire online network could be lost. You would now be considered to webs.com a willing hostage.
When it comes time to renew your business's website, you could possibly receive a friendly email notification that the rates have just gone up a ridiculous amount of money. What do you do now? You pay it or lose everything.
Once you have paid money to them, it's pretty much game over as you have NO ACCESS to the index.html file. If you ever choose to change hosts, you NEED that file to transfer the website. That and the EPP code.
Typically bait and switch" operations are subject to legal issues. In the United States, courts have held that the purveyor using a bait-and-switch operation may be subject to a lawsuit by customers for false advertising.
Although webs.com borderlines with these practices, and when confronted someone in their "Help forum" will usually appear from out of nowhere and very protective of the webs.com staff, just to remind you (usually pretending to be a 3rd party hostile "happy" customer that says you should have read the extra fine print in the contract that you agreed to.
When not coerced legally to do otherwise, monopolies typically maximize their profit by producing fewer goods and selling them at higher prices than would be the case for perfect competition.
After your business's website is "out of order" for sometimes weeks, and just when you've thought you've lost everything......."To kick you when you are down, they will actually send a friendly email link to a 5 question survey when you are up and running again
If you don't fill it out, you can expect many many more emails pleading for you to take the survey. The first question in the survey well might read, how do you feel after being denied Vaseline before and after we just repeatedly ....?
Here are just a few of the hidden or unsuspected dangers and difficulties when signing up with webs.com
- NO CONTACT NUMBER "it's like sending your money to a ghost" What happens when you try to communicate with a ghost? Go ahead, right now, and conjure up your favorite spirit, and see if you get an answer. I almost guarantee you will get the same results as with the webs.com customer support team.
- You can not submit a robots.txt file to Google
- If you switch hosts YOU WILL LOOSE all of your work.
- You CAN NOT back up your website using webs.com
- Webs.com is under constant attack from hackers and many websites including their own main site, are left crippled for weeks at a time. In fact there are instructions readily available throughout the net on how to specifically hack webs.com. One thing is for certain, they seem to have acquired many enemies along their way to riches. The point is, you must ask yourself if you are willing to trust any one company or person (with no telephone) with your most secure files?
- If Webs.com were ever to dissolve as a company, over 40,000,000 websites worldwide would vanish because no backups exist and if they do, where are they? Any Webmaster NEEDS to physically view their index file.
- After your website is completed they undoubtedly hold your website "hostage" and could charge ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY. Need we say more? Oh but wait, there is more. A lot more.
- If anyone wanted their money back, they make it next to impossible because they deny all access to their website to anyone who stands up to them, and remember they have NO Phone number! Unreachable and very wealthy. Ask yourself why? Do it before you end up asking yourself, why me?
- Resell your website? Great Idea! But Wait! What are you selling exactly? Webs.com has all customers websites in a cage and locked up. No knowledgeable webmaster would ever want to buy it.
Nothing I am writing is false, and webs.com may defend these claims at any time in the comment box below this article.
- Actually when you do a Google search on them, (link may be deleted by webs.com), you can see posts in various forums. "Webs.com is the best thing ever"...I just can't survive without my webs.com!....and so on....one really has to see these posts for what they are, and nothing more than pure positive propaganda put in place by the companies employees.
"Webs you might read this you might not. I haven't a clue any
more. I've sat up all night waiting for a response of you guys which
never came. You said you'd keep us updated but you broke your word.
When I wake up tomorrow I will be looking at other website companies to
move my business to.
Its just a matter of time now until your sites break again. When they do I know, just like tonight you will leave me wondering if they will be fixed or not. When I'm looking at other sites I will remember tonight. I don't want to move to another website provider. I have spent so much time getting my sites right for business, and i have spent alot of money on advertising them Truth is though I don't want to waste any more time or money. I want to establish my business with a firm that I can stay long term with who value their customers and can give a great service too. I thought that was you. You've let me down. You've let us all down When I get up tomorrow I wont even know if my sites will be working. Its like this every day now. It just isn't good enough any more. Every customer is important to me. The low paying ones and the high paying ones. They all make it possible for me to work. One day when you have no customers. When everyone has had enough of being treated this way,you may realize that every one of your customers was important. By then though you will probably have none left. Thank you for ignoring my requests for an update I understand I wasn't important enough for you to respond. .I am very disappointed."
Its just a matter of time now until your sites break again. When they do I know, just like tonight you will leave me wondering if they will be fixed or not. When I'm looking at other sites I will remember tonight. I don't want to move to another website provider. I have spent so much time getting my sites right for business, and i have spent alot of money on advertising them Truth is though I don't want to waste any more time or money. I want to establish my business with a firm that I can stay long term with who value their customers and can give a great service too. I thought that was you. You've let me down. You've let us all down When I get up tomorrow I wont even know if my sites will be working. Its like this every day now. It just isn't good enough any more. Every customer is important to me. The low paying ones and the high paying ones. They all make it possible for me to work. One day when you have no customers. When everyone has had enough of being treated this way,you may realize that every one of your customers was important. By then though you will probably have none left. Thank you for ignoring my requests for an update I understand I wasn't important enough for you to respond. .I am very disappointed."
*Especially if you are a business.
If you are looking for a place to host your website,
it's very simple if you remember this easy rule.
NEVER TRUST A WEB HOST THAT
DOES NOT SUPPLY A CONTACT NUMBER
All website designers know that at some point they will ALWAYS need to speak with their hosts representatives one on one.
The
following is an article I dug up on a search engine, that in my opinion
really describes the company very accurately when it comes to my own
personal experience with dealing with webs.com, and I would really, really, really welcome any rebuttal on their part.
DOES NOT SUPPLY A CONTACT NUMBER
All website designers know that at some point they will ALWAYS need to speak with their hosts representatives one on one.
The
following is an article I dug up on a search engine, that in my opinion
really describes the company very accurately when it comes to my own
personal experience with dealing with webs.com, and I would really, really, really welcome any rebuttal on their part. Source: Rick speaking in a forum about webs.com
Webs.com is by far the worst hosting site on the net. Absolutely no customer support, I could not find a real person, a good phone number, nor anyone that actually runs the site. When asking for help on live chat they refer you to different departments and then that department refers you back to live chat, just a run around.
No help, no customer service, high prices after they get
you, they make it easy to use their site builder and then you cannot
move your site since the site builder belongs to them, so you get stuck
with their service or your site is locked. They will lock up your site of shut it down and then not tell you why. My site was shut down several times and then after countless emails and chats, a week or two later it would come back up with no explanation or reason for why it was down. WORST HOSTING EVER, you will be sorry if you use them.
I've tried my very best to convince people in the article that there is NOTHING FREE in this world. Beware of anything claiming to be free.
Recent Web-Hosting Articles
Leading security experts at McAfee express their concerns over free web
hosting that is currently being taken over by spammers. This warning
comes from the fact that spammers are taking advantage of the sub level
domains and are finding that use of third level domain names provides
them with a contact point that seems like a legitimate source to
outsiders.
These spammers are smart. They get set up with the free web hosts and do
look like any other actual business. It can be very confusing to
consumers. That is why it works so well for these scam artists. You can
get a nice website and a domain name with a free webhost. These look
good because they have been taken care of just like any other real
business website. This gives the spammers more time to be in business
because it takes longer to figure them out.
With these sites the spammers can actually send tons of messages. That
can add up to millions in a matter of hours. Because they do this so
quickly and efficiently they can actually scam thousands of people
before they are caught. It will only take them a few days for that
number of scammed people to grow to tens of thousands. Because the site
looks good and the web host has others in legitimate business, it takes a
little while to figure it out and shut them down.
McAfee warns against using free web hosts for legitimate business
websites and suggests that over time many free web hosts may have to be
shut down due to this growing spamming issue.
If you are looking for a web host for your new business then find one
that will cost at least a small amount. None of them are very expensive
and you can get top of the line service for less than $50 usually. You
have to check the service out before you sign up with them. Read all of
the fine print on the agreement so that you can be sure of the options
that you are getting. If you do have a legitimate business then you
should be able to pay around $50 a month to keep the site up. That
really isn't much.
HERE are a few TRUSTED HOSTS with
GREAT CUSTOMER PHONE SUPPORT 24/7
GREAT CUSTOMER PHONE SUPPORT 24/7
bluehost reviews
Time Hosted: 1 to 2 years
| Blue Host LK Rating |  |
| Blue Host LK Features | |
| Blue Host LK Cost |   |
| Blue Host LK Customer Relation | |
| Blue Host LK Control Panel | |
My experience with so called "site builders" incorporated into the purchase of any domain may look appealing to new webmasters, however could be very dangerous if you ever need to change your host. ALWAYS ASK and demand a clear answer before signing up.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE NOT LATER
Godaddy reviews
If you’ve been ripped off by an online marketing or web design firm, take the next step.
National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA)
An association of more than 1000 attorneys and consumer advocates who have a wide range of experience curbing abusive and predatory business practices.
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Most of their support reps actually edit and delete many of the support pleas for help in the forum as well. Their live chat most times is disabled Their servers are only hanging by a thread. It's too bad actually, because it could be a good concept with web hosting if they provided any kind of customer service. Their team spends ALL it's time and efforts on campaigning a crisp clear image while outright scamming money from their paying customers
ReplyDeletewebs.com very, very quickly became suspicious to me. Their structure, their "tools", their access to files and the site leaves more than a lot to be desired. I set up my site (knowing what I'm doing) based upon their $5/month advertised prices. Month two they submitted a bill for $30. Then they did not answer ANY support/tech requests. Then they shut my site down and only offered for me to call their support "team"... who informed me that I would simply lose my site. As I had registered my domain names with another (honest) registrar netfirms.com it was easy to switch to 000webhost.com easily. Free and their system meets my criteria. I will upgrade my account on www.000webhost.com without hesitation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you have said about webs.com, however I must disagree entirely with you on using the free hosting company that you provided.
ReplyDeleteI will quote (twice) from the article you have commented on. I have put them in priority specifically for you.
"there is NOTHING FREE in this world. Beware of anything claiming to be free."
"If you are looking for a web host for your new business then find one that will cost at least a small amount. None of them are very expensive and you can get top of the line service for less than $50 usually. You have to check the service out before you sign up with them. Read all of the fine print on the agreement so that you can be sure of the options that you are getting. If you do have a legitimate business then you should be able to pay around $50 a month to keep the site up. That really isn't much."
Thank you for Amazing Article. Really This Will Help me For while I am Selecting Hosting.
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