Had this really bad experience with HostGator recently so wanted to share it with others.
They have this policy that if you buy a shared hosting and the plan expires and you don't renew it for whatever reason and then renew after a certain period of time, you will not be charged from the date of renewal, instead of from the date of suspension.
in my case, my plan expired on the 20th of November and I did not renew it till 16th December because I didn't need it. but upon renewal on 16th December, It got expired and was suspended again on 20th in 4 days.
now there are a few issues with this policy:
1) when I buy a subscription, I get a list of resources/services
file storage,
database(SQL),
CPU/Processing time,
network usage,
CPanel/other web portals,
FTP account,
free SSL,
backups,
technical support
these are just what I can recall at moment but there are plenty of other services that I get to use with my active plan. however when my plan is expired and suspended. I do not use any of these except one(storage).
AND IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE TO CHARGE THE SAME AMOUNT FOR 10 OR 20 SERVICES AS JUST 1 SERVICE.
2)for almost no other utility you get this kind of policy
You buy a SIM subscription which comes with an expiry date, after that your calls stop working. if you do another recharge after let's say 2 months. you won't be charged from the date of expiration. reason? YOU DID NOT USE THEIR SERVICES FOR THAT DURATION.
another example. electricity. let's say you did not pay your bill and it got disconnected. and remained so for the next 6 months. and then you pay dues and start using again. next time when your bill comes it won't include charges for that 6 months period(maybe a very small amount but definitely not the same as active usage).
I talked with their customer support team on call and chat multiple times. and the calls lasted for hours. I tried to explain in whatever way I could but all that they had to say for my every explanation was "sir this is a policy we cannot do anything". to which I agree if this is policy and I agreed on this anyhow during the initial subscription then company is not responsible. and that's why this post is not a "Complaint". it is just an informative post for others regarding one of HostGator's seemingly unjust policy that is hidden somewhere in their long T&C document.
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