how _not_ to get me as a customer…

i have to find another host provider. one that isn’t sleazy and will continue to rip me off, one that will allow all of my domains and one which will give me the maximum amount of disk space, bandwidth and mySQL databases for the least amount of money. hostgator and hostmonster are out of the question, because they won’t take all of my domains – there’s this sticky phrase in both of their terms of service that says, essentially, if you post a web site that doesn’t agree with what we say about “gawd”, then we won’t allow you to host it here, which eliminates the church of tina right away. of course i could just drop the church site all together, but that is something that i simply refuse even to consider at this point.

here’s another example of dipshit tech support that doesn’t get me as a customer:

salamandir:
do you allow web sites to be hosted on your service that contain “profane” material, such as can be seen at http://www.ebeneezer.org/ ?
Scott Abrams:
i cannot find any active hosting account for the domain ebeneezer.org with us
salamandir:
i know… i’m in the process of doing my homework in preparation for switching host providers, because my current one won’t allow ebeneezer.org and didn’t tell me until after i already had the domain up and running…
Scott Abrams:
ok
salamandir:
i wantt o know if <REDACTED> will allow me to put up ebeneezer.org, or if i should look for a host somewhere else.
Scott Abrams:
for that please take an hosting account with us
Scott Abrams:
for that please contact our billing dept
Scott Abrams:
Please contact them by posting a ticket to BILLING dept by
https://<REDACTED>/

Or urgent needs, you can contact them over phone on billing hours.

1-<REDACTED>
10AM – 4PM EDT Monday – Friday
salamandir:
if i “take an hosting account” with you, and you decide that i can’t put up ebeneezer.org, then i will be in the same position i am now. what i want to know is if you will allow me to put up that site before i take a hosting account with you.
Scott Abrams:
please refer for more info related to hosting
Scott Abrams:
http://<REDACTED>/web-hosting-plans.html
salamandir:
that only tells me how much it will cost, not whether or not a web site with “profane” content will be allowed.
Scott Abrams:
please select any of the mentioned hosting plans
Scott Abrams:
after taking an hosting account with us
Scott Abrams:
we will restore your account with us
Scott Abrams:
and your domain will works fine from our server
salamandir:
i don’t have an account. i am wondering if i should get an account… do you speak and read english? i’m getting the impression that i should go somewhere else… 8/
Scott Abrams:
do you have any active hosting on ebeneezer.org?
salamandir:
what do you mean? it is currently a web site that is accessible by internet, and people hit it fairly regularly…
Scott Abrams:
ok
Scott Abrams:
do you want to transfer the hosting of ebeneezer.org with us?
salamandir:
that’s what i have been talking about all along…
Scott Abrams:
ok
Scott Abrams:
please contact our billing dept for a new hosting account
Scott Abrams:
Please contact them by posting a ticket to BILLING dept by
?https://<REDACTED>/
?
?Or urgent needs, you can contact them over phone on billing hours.
?
?1-<REDACTED>
?10AM – 4PM EDT Monday – Friday
salamandir:
not until i know wnether or not that domain will be allowed!
Scott Abrams:
or can email them at billing@<REDACTED>
Scott Abrams:
for more info please contact our billing dept

they don’t have a toll free phone number, they’re on the east coast, which means that by 1:00 pm they’re already closed, and they employ pathetic geek-wannabes like scott abrams to do tech support over “live chat” for them. i guess i’m not going to be hosting with <REDACTED>…

at this point i’m consdidering ANRHost (who replied almost immediately with a message that said “yes we will host all your sites”), i haven’t gotten a reply from DH2 dot net yet, and i’m looking at others, but the whole thing is really depressing. as bfly says, “<southern drawl>that freedom yew want is gonna cost ya’, boah.</southern drawl>”