Dude. Are you kidding or what? I’m sure that is a shared belief of every business person, but come on kid! You don’t actually come out and publicly state that you know YOUR OWN company is doing something deceptive, but it’s o.k. because it keeps you competitive. I just can’t believe that as the founder of a successful company, you would make the above remark. That is what they call Machiavellian business practices, and it is what killed companies like Enron and Worldcom. I’m sure they started out with just a few little “white lies” to their customers as well. But look What they graduated up to.

DON’T EVER make a statement like that again, as I’m sure you have already scared a few people off with this one comment alone. I know I was seriously considering going with your service, but not now. YIKES! Talk about getting your information from the horse’s mouth. The company’s founder comes on and reveals that he runs a dishonest business.

When i first dealt with hostgator, they had $9.95 written on order page.. This thing came in last two months or so. I think they adapted to the changing business environment.

They followed the very basic step of “Attract The Customer….Strike ‘em Hard”

Anyways…leave that apart. I do agree to you on this point that they should not write “No Hidden Charges and No Contract”. Because signing up for 36 months in advance definitely is a kinda contract. You’re then bound to use the service. On that part it’s wrong. Remove that sentence and i think they are being pretty fair in the prices.

you are flat out making an offer that you do not come through on - you are offering it at one price with no commitment them when someone wants to order it, you are making them commit to 3 years… That is the old bait and switch which IS actually illigal… At least in the US.

You are offering something that you don’t actually sell… That is hosting at 7.95/mo with no contract. You don’t actually sell that.

You bait visitors with it and switch them when ordering by either making them commit to three years or charging them 9.95….

Ethics in business does not get away with using the excuse of - well everyone else is doing it so we can be deceptive also.

If your competitors are doing it then call them out also - report them to the proper authorities. Get screen shots, save a online conversation with their sales staff to document it. Much like this post.

Brent you got caught. You got called out on it. Own up to it and do the right thing.

Also where it says the pricing on http://www.hostgator.com/shared.shtml
It has the price underlined and when you hover over it you get the break down. We also have the question mark to the left of it and if you click it you will see the pricing structure.

I do not feel what we are doing is much different then our competitors. Does it make it right? Of course not….
Do we have to do it in order to compete better? Absolutely!

This practice may not be the best but at the end of the day I feel hostgator is a very honest company that does the best possible job to provide outstanding service. I believe so much in it on our website it says “Our owner Brent Oxley is at your disposal for any problems you may have.” This may not seem like much but when your hosting a million websites my email box can get quite busy.