GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - Has your host ever overcharged you when you're a loyal customer?

raymor · 06-25-2010, 10:35 AM

I would absolutely expect that to be the case. I wouldn't call it "overcharging". "Overcharging"
would be if they charged you more than you had agreed to pay. The hosts themselves sign
a three year or sometimes a one year contract on space, power, bandwidth, etc. Hardware
gets cheaper over time, as does bandwidth generally, so yes a customer who signs up a
year or two later will pay less for a 1Ghz server than you paid when it was the hot new CPU.

That's the nature of a technology business and a major part of costs for some companies.
If they purchase ten servers today with 3 GHz processors and 2 TB drives, by the time they
sell the last one the value of it will have dropped in half because the 5 Ghz processors and
4 TB drives will have just come out. This effect costs the hosting company a lot more than it does you.
They are still making payments on that $10,000 optical router they leased two years ago,
which now sells for $5,000.

In fact, we have a service that we price so low that we don't even make any money on you
when you are a new customer. We pretty much give it away for the first year. However, if we keep you a happy customer and you stay for five years, during that time our costs will drop
and we'll earn our money starting the second year or so.

That said, I see no problem with talking to the host every two years or so and renegotiating.
Loyalty counts for something. What counts for even more, in the eyes of the web host, is that
the brand new $5,000 server you signed up is now an older machine worth $3,000, so they
can afford to keep you on it for a slightly lower price.

06-25-2010, 10:35 AM
raymor Confirmed User Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,745	I would absolutely expect that to be the case. I wouldn't call it "overcharging". "Overcharging" would be if they charged you more than you had agreed to pay. The hosts themselves sign a three year or sometimes a one year contract on space, power, bandwidth, etc. Hardware gets cheaper over time, as does bandwidth generally, so yes a customer who signs up a year or two later will pay less for a 1Ghz server than you paid when it was the hot new CPU. That's the nature of a technology business and a major part of costs for some companies. If they purchase ten servers today with 3 GHz processors and 2 TB drives, by the time they sell the last one the value of it will have dropped in half because the 5 Ghz processors and 4 TB drives will have just come out. This effect costs the hosting company a lot more than it does you. They are still making payments on that $10,000 optical router they leased two years ago, which now sells for $5,000. In fact, we have a service that we price so low that we don't even make any money on you when you are a new customer. We pretty much give it away for the first year. However, if we keep you a happy customer and you stay for five years, during that time our costs will drop and we'll earn our money starting the second year or so. That said, I see no problem with talking to the host every two years or so and renegotiating. Loyalty counts for something. What counts for even more, in the eyes of the web host, is that the brand new $5,000 server you signed up is now an older machine worth $3,000, so they can afford to keep you on it for a slightly lower price. __________________ For historical display only. This information is not current: support@bettercgi.com ICQ 7208627 Strongbox - The next generation in site security Throttlebox - The next generation in bandwidth control Clonebox - Backup and disaster recovery on steroids