Afrihost hidden costs & lousy support

[OutOfTheBox]

I signed up with Afrihost last week and while their connection is fast their sales and support is a nightmare.

1. Free gifts that are not free, and billed on my CC.

2. Thirty One emails later they still had not sorted it out.

3. Hidden costs, like R35p/m just to point my co.za to my dot com.

I'm sorry but anyone running a web site with the same dot com name as their co.za name is running a SINGLE web site, and to charge R35 EXTRA on top of the R99 pm just to point the co.za to the dot com, is a rip off.

4. If you are doing business with them in Durban, and you don't fancy thirty emails per problem, then you will have to pay for the phone calls to JHB.

I am so pissed as it was only the FREE offer that prompted me to setup a web site, and now I am burdened with 2 domains that are parked off doing nothing and I am R300 poorer for the experience.

CHECK IN DETAIL BEFORE YOU DO BUSINESS EXACTLY WHAT YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR.

Here's a screen shot of their offer;

http://i768.photobucket.com/albums/xx324/outofthebox2010/AfrihostGift2.jpg

 

[Kaufies]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience.

Perhaps you should try to sort this out over the phone. If you're not willing to pay for the call, log a ticket through the client zone and request to be called back. I was once called back within ten minutes at 2am.

As for the hidden charges, I doubt they truly are hidden but since I know very little about hosting I can't really comment.

 

[OutOfTheBox]

I used the phone after the 31st email.

The support manager insisted that there would be a charge of R35 for the coza to point to the dot com.

BUT the other ISP's I have contacted state that a parked domain can point to another domain.

Free domain parking with other ISPs = Free
Free domain parking with Afrihost = R35


###Texco Web Hosting###

There is no charge to park the co.za domain on the .com (you can park as many domains as you want on the All-in-One hosting package)


###Hetzner Web Hosting###

3. A Parked domain is a domain name that points to the same website content as the domain on which it is ‘parked’.

For example, you can park ‘domainname.co.za’ on ‘domainname.com’. If someone browses to ‘domainname.co.za’ in a web browser, it will display the same website that ‘domainname.com’ does.

Parked domain: Free monthly (Domain registration/renewal costs apply)

 

[OutOfTheBox]

It seems as if I am not the first person to be offered something for free then billed for it;

http://www.hellopeter.com/afrihostcom-complaint-[342743]

Afrihost advertise website hosting for R65 per month. Today I get a bill for R780.00?
They gave me the domain for free, according to them. And whats more now I have to pay 30 notice for this. I only ordered the domain 4 days ago. Not been uploaded yet. Why cant there be honnest people with honnest advertisements out there.

 

[OutOfTheBox]

I would suggest anyone considering doing business with Afrihost, check the complaints on hellopeter, seems as if billing for items not received or that were advertised as free is a common problem.

 

[Necuno]

they've been good to me so far. thought i'm quite sure we get the point and no need to hammer away with as much as "dirt" as you can. sometimes it seems that a certain type of attitude attracts a certain type of result no matter where the complainant goes.

though i would complain too if i had bad service or related. however it's better practice to phone first then if you can't get through mail. find it a bit hard to believe that you send out 30 emails to them without a single answer.

i've so far found them to be quite human and wanting to accommodate the customer's needs where they have been asked. they certainly don't lack understanding where the customer has been quite clear with them about his or her needs.

###Hetzner Web Hosting###

3. A Parked domain is a domain name that points to the same website content as the domain on which it is ‘parked’.

For example, you can park ‘domainname.co.za’ on ‘domainname.com’. If someone browses to ‘domainname.co.za’ in a web browser, it will display the same website that ‘domainname.com’ does.

Parked domain: Free monthly (Domain registration/renewal costs apply)

not entirely true for hetzner. if the domains is not all with them you will also be charged. however if it is all with them you wont be charged.

Why the charge? Our network is designed for clients to ‘host’ their domains with us i.e. to make use of Hetzner’s website and email hosting services and not simply point their domain to services elsewhere. In order to make use of DNS pointing on a Multiple Domain, you would need to have a Basic hosting package or higher.

http://www.hetzner.co.za/helpcentre...t/category/domain_transfers/dns_pointing_511/

are both your .com and .co.za with afrihost or are they at different places. because if they are even hetzner will charge you.

 

[who.is.michael]

ASASA

 

[Wag]

Been with a few ISP's and Afrihost is the best of the lot, maybe I'm just lucky but I will stick with them

 

[Necuno]

ASASA

not going to prove effective if the OP has his domains with 2 different companies. would be better to lay complaint with ISPA rather since afrihost is part of them instead of going to long route via asasa.

and btw it's printed clearly on afrihost's page that they charge the R35 for domain pointing. it's not obscured or anything.

Domain Pointing and Forwarding
We will forward all visitors to your domain name to any website address of your choice.

Your URL (website address) that your new domain is being pointed to will be masked.
You can point your mouse at the "?" on the left for more detailed explanations.
Price per month (NO CONTRACTS) R 35.00
Domain DNS Control
Domain Pointing to your choice of website address
Easy Upgrade to Web Hosting
Domain Registration fee R 50.00
DNS Setup, Web Server Setup fee R 250.00
Domain Registered in your Name or Specified details
24/7 Priority 57 Minutes Support


http://www.afrihost.com/domain-pointing.php

anyone has the link for texco's website ?

 

[diabolus]

are both your .com and .co.za with afrihost or are they at different places. because if they are even hetzner will charge you.

I'm with GoDaddy.com and they don't charge diddly to forward domains. In fact you set the DNS stuff up yourself on godaddy (which are much easier than hosting companies make you believe).

I don't buy domains in any packaged hosting deal anymore, you generally end up losing the domain or have a big fight to get it transferred if you wish to move the website. All the hosting companies with their "free domain" offers can be rather scrupulous. Irony is, domains are cheap compared to the hosting . The .INFO domains are like $0.80 a year. So don't let that fool you or pick a hosting company over another because you get a "free domain" .

Anyhow, people must remember this thread is not really about ADSL ISP. I can see a few fanboys trying to downplay this, this particular complaint is all about the WEB HOSTING side of things, not the ADSL offering. Doesn't mean because your ADSL is running smootly @ R29 p/GB that their web hosting is any good .

The OP might want to add what service exactly he is using from Afrihost.

 

[Necuno]

I'm with GoDaddy.com and they don't charge diddly to forward domains. In fact you set the DNS stuff up yourself on godaddy.

Anyhow i don't buy domains in any packaged hosting deal anymore, you generally end up losing the domain or have a big fight to get it transferred if you wish to move the website. All the hosting companies with their "free domain" offers can be rather scrupulous. Irony is, domains are cheap compared to the hosting . The .INFO domains are like $0.80 a year.

even when the domains are with different companies ex GoDaddy forward to hertzner ?

Anyhow, people must remember this thread is not really about ADSL ISP. I can see a few fanboys trying to downplay this, this particular complaint is all about the WEB HOSTING side of things, not the ADSL offering. Doesn't mean because your ADSL is running smootly @ R29 p/GB that their web hosting is any good .

The OP might want to add what service exactly he is using from Afrihost.

and with the updated qoute from the reply. how is finding out all the information down playing it ?

a) it's clearly displayed on their website that they charge for pointing.
b) even hertzner does charge for same thing if the domains are with different companies.
c) seems like OP didn't read everything nor trying to really resolve issue before going all ape****.

 

[OutOfTheBox]

Anyhow, people must remember this thread is not really about ADSL ISP. I can see a few fanboys trying to downplay this, this particular complaint is all about the WEB HOSTING side of things, not the ADSL offering. Doesn't mean because your ADSL is running smootly @ R29 p/GB that their web hosting is any good .

The OP might want to add what service exactly he is using from Afrihost.

Sorry but the free domain was offered after signing up for their ADSL package, it is relevant.

Here's a screen shot of their offer;

After seeing this I decided to register both a dot com and the dot coza, I figured the dot coza would be free.

They charged me R300 to regsiter the coza and now claim no matter what I must pay the R35 per month for the coza to direct to the dot com.

 

[diabolus]

even when the domains are with different companies ex GoDaddy forward to hertzner ?

I have the following scenario just to make sure we're on the same page:

1. Domain bought via Godaddy
2. I then forward the EMAIL to my gmail. (i.e all mail going to [[email protected]] is going straight to gmail)
3. I then forward the domain itself to a free blog site like wordpress, so someone can get to the blog via http://whatever.wordpress.com OR www.mydomain.com.
4. I also get 1 free SMTP box for my domain, and i can use this with Gmail's "send mail as" facility to reply and send mails from gmail using my domain email adress (the "on behalf of" thing in gmail does not show, so no one can see it is actually coming from gmail).

All that is free services which i set up on Godaddy's control panel, i only pay for the domain itself.

So i don't quite see why you'd need to pay -per month- for this in any case, maybe once off for "setup", but per month?

 

[Necuno]

I have the following scenario just to make sure we're on the same page:

1. Domain bought via Godaddy
2. I then forward the EMAIL to my gmail. (i.e all mail going to [[email protected]] is going straight to gmail)
3. I then forward the domain itself to a free blog site like wordpress, so someone can get to the blog via http://whatever.wordpress.com OR www.mydomain.com.
4. I also get 1 free SMTP box for my domain, and i can use this with Gmail's "send mail as" facility to reply and send mails from gmail using my domain email adress (the "on behalf of" thing in gmail does not show, so no one can see it is actually coming from gmail).

All that is free services which i set up on Godaddy's control panel, i only pay for the domain itself.

that's what i'm trying to find out. so Godaddy would if i registered for example www.necuno.com with them and www.nemo.com with hertzner forward for free from www.necuno.com to www.nemo.com. as far as i understand hertzner's faq page they will charge a fee to go from www.nemo.com to www.necuno.com.

currently have a domain with www.yoursdomain.com. haven't even checked what they ask for domain parking and forwarding. maybe it's a good thing to do . good to know these these things since i only use my domain for emailing...

 

[Kaufies]

and btw it's printed clearly on afrihost's page that they charge the R35 for domain pointing. it's not obscured or anything.

Then there are no hidden costs. As for the support, you've been with them for a week. That's +/- 5 emails a day. Did you not get any response at all? Also, did you log a new ticket each time or did you escalate the same ticket?

 

[diabolus]

that's what i'm trying to find out. so Godaddy would if i registered for example www.necuno.com with them and www.nemo.com with hertzner forward for free from www.necuno.com to www.nemo.com. as far as i understand hertzner's faq page they will charge a fee to go from www.nemo.com to www.necuno.com.

Yes. I'll just quote from their site:

http://www.godaddy.com/domains/domain_offer.aspx?ci=14575

FREE extras with each Domain Purchase:

Domain Forwarding & Masking
Direct different WWW addresses to an existing site. When someone types your domain name into a browser, they will automatically be forwarded/redirected to whatever URL you choose. And with masking, users don't see the underlying address; only what they type.

Total DNS Control
Manage your domain name server (DNS) records, set your email, FTP, sub-domains, web site location, and more. Our Domain Control Center makes it easy.

100-Pack Email Forwarding
Set 100 variations on your basic "@domainname" email address. That means you can automatically redirect emails to an existing account, keeping your main email address private. A single mail box was never so flexible!

annnyway, that was bit of hijack, i guess back to Afrihost and the issues there

 

[diabolus]

They charged me R300 to regsiter the coza and now claim no matter what I must pay the R35 per month for the coza to direct to the dot com.

and btw it's printed clearly on afrihost's page that they charge the R35 for domain pointing. it's not obscured or anything.

I must add, even if it they said it upfront, asking PER MONTH for forwarding is rather crappy no matter how you look at it. What for? Isn't this a ONCE OFF setting?

I can understand if they charged a setup fee, but per month, forever? huh? Sounds like a new revenue stream SA companies are pulling, since everyone just host their sites overseas (its alot cheaper) but you can't buy .co.za domains overseas [i.e. cna't buy it at godaddy] you now need someone local to forward it. I wont be surprised if alot of companies simply just get a .com domain and stuff the .co.za domain (digichilli.com , saol.com ...)

 

[Necuno]

I must add, even if it they said it upfront, asking PER MONTH for forwarding is rather crappy no matter how you look at it. What for? Isn't this a ONCE OFF setting?

I can understand if they charged a setup fee, but per month, forever? huh? Sounds like a new revenue stream SA companies are pulling, since everyone just host their sites overseas (its a lot cheaper) but you can't buy .co.za domains overseas [i.e. can't buy it at godaddy] you now need someone local to forward it....

well if you sign up you agree to the TOS no matter how crap or non-crap it is. this is why if the OP has domains at two different places even one of the examples being hertzner is also going to charge just like afrihost would do normally. unless of course both are with hertzner which i doubt.

/spelling detected

 

[diabolus]

well if you sign up you agree to the TOS no matter how crap or non-crap it is. this is why if the OP has domains on two different places even one of the examples being hertzner is also going to charge just like afrihost would do normally. unless of course both are with hertzner which i doubt.

/spelling detected

Missed the real spelling error "it's" , but anyhow. Just because it is in the TOS, does not mean it is fair and that we all should shut up and not complain about it. That isn't exactly the first thing one look for when you look for a web hosting plan.

Either way, i'd suggest, get your hosting and .co.za at the same place and transfer your .com to something like godaddy (since .com is international) and forward that back to .co.za with masking (so users will still see .com as final site adress)

Domain Tranferring Steps : http://www.godaddy.com/domains/domain-transfer.aspx?ci=8992

 

[OutOfTheBox]

Afrihost's 'free' offer for signing up on ADSL;

http://i768.photobucket.com/albums/xx324/outofthebox2010/AfrihostGift2.jpg

Very clear R300 is FREE, R35pm is FREE

I will be posting the 31 support emails over the next weeks so you can see how;

1. First they denied there was a free gift, only silver package they said.
2. Then they decided to get back their loss by screwing me on the redirect to the dot com.
3. Played dumb hoping I would go away.