Hostgator FAIL!

+1 on the fail.

I tried as soon as the deal started but everytime it went through to the ordering process, my connection "timmed out".

By the 5th refresh and retry the "Special Deal" was but a fleeting memory... which left me wondering if it wasn't all just a dream...

Rather dissapointed indeed.

I reached a point when it showed 80% off but when I clicked the link it went back to 50%.

Looks like some people have got it. One of the warriors have got it as far as I know and also my friend in twitter told me that he got it. It's just a marketing tactic I guess. They would have probably had 100 accounts and not more than that. Great ROI for them.

I'm sure the supply of these special 80% off accounts was very limited. This is the way Black Friday works here in America, during these sales at physical stores they might have a $150 laptop or $250 flat screen tv advertised, but your chances of getting one are very low because they typically only have 5 or less available at each store!

Paul

It is a trick!!!! Attracting customers for a 80% discount and limiting that offer to a very few. So the disappointed customers will at least buy for a a 50% discount.

Just clear the cash, cookies of your browser and get the fresh HotGator page without any affiliate IDs stored in your session cookies or cache then it may work sometimes!!!! - worked for my friend but did not work for me :-(

I went for the two year at 50%. probably what they wanted. I was going to get HG anyway, so it's a good deal. 80% would have been better.

I saw the 80% discount page but when I tried to continue for registration the hostgator payment site had gone down!!!! LOL! when it started working, the offer had turned back to 50%

Oh God! What a shocker!!

</sarcasm>

Actually I need one of their offers but had a bad feeling about this. I know a good host who put up a sale designed to pull in big bucks for long term orders. It has been going downhill ever since.

And a second problem, HG affiliate cookies don't seem be set today. I tried to get through to chat to make sure my favorite aff (mom ) would get the credit. Of course it's down like everything else, so here's the situation.

The affiliate info says that the aff gets a 60 day cookie. But when I check my HG cookies, none of them are even close to 60 days.

I have 6 HG cookies right now. The expiry is
today
end of session
2012
Aug 26, 2011
May 26, 2011
2016

For anyone else who wants to check in FF, click on tools > options > remove individual cookies. You will now have a list of cookie folders.

Scroll down to hostgator.com and open that folder. Click on any cookie to hilite it and you will have the cookie info at the bottom of that little window pane. The cookie expiry dates are just about the only parts in plain English.

Looks like they have successful black friday promotion that make their site affected and seem to be down sometimes, I'm sorry for the disappointed though.

Same thing here, did anyone bought with 80% discount? I'll give him rep!

Offering 80% off to get you in the store, but then selling you 50% off is what they used to call bait and switch in the brick & mortar days. When I finally gave up on the website and called in, my rep said the 80% off deals sold out in 7 minutes.

I had a few emails from my subscribers telling me the same thing, however they all seemed happy to still get in at 50% off and I was happy to take the commission

The day is still young too, so hopefully more commissions to come... Black Friday is great

Perhaps their servers were too busy and couldn't handle a lot of traffic, that's why most you of your guys were not able to proceed with the order. Anyway 50% off is also a good deal for those who didn't succeed to get 80% off.

I managed to sign-up but didn't pay anything, I was going to buy a full year but the discount only applied to the first month and the domain was $5 more expensive!! They lost, I am going with BlueHost instead.

I was going to buy another hosting account today on the black Friday deal, but found out that it only applies to "new" customers, really, wow, I was surprised at the slap down.

Sort of reminds me of those series of commercials where they show two kids and they show one kid sitting in a sand box playing while another kid shows up and they ask do you want some ice cream, of course the new kid says, sure, and the guy hands the kid an ice creme cone, while the other kid says, hey why don't I get any ice creme, and the guy says, because he is a new customer.

Sort of reminded me of that kid without the ice cream on this deal, so I am taking my business to another hosting company, anyone know of a good hosting deal out there, host gator just lost me as a customer.

wait, then try again!

i woke up at 4:45 and fell back asleep within 5 minutes... oh well, lol. will get 50% off for year

I think they never had the intention of giving 80% off.. I have been waiting for the 80% from 5 AM CST but have never seen that..

I talked with a host gator agent this morning, and they told me that none of the discount apply if you are already a customer, so no 50 percent off, no nothing, made me think gee perhaps I am not with the right hosting company if they think that little about my business.

It gets better:

Their chat.. in EST.

https: // skitch.com /thatroperdude/rny63/gatorchat

Sorry I have to add spaces, I still don't have enough posts to put in normal links.

This is exactly how you feel with hostgator,

They could not answer 2 VERY simple pre-sales questions. I felt like I was talking to GoDaddy's retarded (intellectually challenged?) brother. Even 80% (or 99%) off is not worth the hassle they would have been to deal with. Not sure they understand 'customer service' as a concept. Lol. Cheaper hosts with better support out there.

I'd say it's a HostGator WIN

They whipped up a storm of chatter over the past few days and many people took action to get in on these discounted prices and sure most people didn't get the 80% off deal but I wonder how many people converted on their 50% offer.

It's a clever marketing lure, it's works and a lot can be learnt from these tactics.

Lee

Talked to their live support and the %50 is only for the first month!, guess it's back to 1and1

Yea, I missed the 80% off myself as well.

Even 50% isn't a bad deal. True, it is only for a month if you sign up for the monthly plan but you can pay 3 years up front for that same monthly price.

Their servers were not geared to handle the load...that's teh power of the BLACK FRIDAY DEAL for you...you can still get it at 50 % which is not bad

The support let me know it was gone in minutes,
they limited the numbers. who wouldn't?

Caleb

Look here in Canada, we don't have Black Friday even,
but yet how did I end up buying a new computer, and
other stuff when I woke up this morning

Edit: the selection is so tiny.. tigerdirect canada has something.
Caleb

Do you not think that 50% off would have also generated a whole bunch of buzz.... and not pissed off so many?

I just wonder if it was worth the negativity to have such small limited 80% off numbers?

Your thoughts

The 80% promo never worked for me, kept getting error page.

Another thing, don't like hosts without quad servers for each site. Some hosts put every site on 4 servers. 2 on, 2 off. Load balance the 2 on, back-up and switch every 12 or 24 hours.

You never go down, if both on-line servers are hacked, a switch reinstates the last version with-in the past 24 hours of your site that is on the current back-up servers. Hacked servers are re-formatted and re-loaded with the sites on-line... takes under 30 minutes and everything is backed up again with out a limit on file numbers or size.

I know Hostclear and Powweb do that, few others do. Hostclear has c-panel, Powweb uses their own control panel so is a learning curve, but they always are using the latest servers.

Sooo many hosts... Soo many options... just need to decide what is important to you. After the debacale with HostGator, and I don't mean the 80%, I mean the fact that customer service couldn't even answer 2 very simple questions, I wonder how they got such a good rep? Maybe I just got the wrong CSR. Happens.

Lol

It's not surprising when people outside the US don't understand the way "black friday" sales work - but if you are complaining about "bait and switch" you need to get real.

Black Friday is a day when - FOR A FEW HOURS (sorry, hit the wrong button) - stores offer huge discounts for a few hours on a limited quantities.

The HG sale was over promoted with little mention of the restriction to new accounts - and some even suggested they might cancel their account and resign up under the sale. You only get to be a virgin once, folks.

Question is - will you remember this next year when HG has their annual sale?

kay

50% is not bad... otherwise, it still cheap for me.. for who want to get it, go ahead there are 15 hours before the offer is over...

Can you think of 10 better ways to spend the 10 minutes you lost?

1. visit the hunger site and feed someone (it won't cost you 10 cents or 10 minutes)
2. with the family (give back 10 minutes)
3. selling (10 minutes to earn $10.. can it be done?)
4. read a book to your children (only 10 minutes, so make it a short story)
5. deliver a turkey to a food shelter (guaranteed it will be gone in 10 minutes)
6. send an email with 10 PayPal dollars to the person in this thread that spelled HostGator.. HotGator (only if it made you register the domain name)
7. send a cigar to Allen (Al Giordino got em - The Cigar Saga)
8. grab a rug, knell down, and look west for 10 minutes (The Warrior Forum Logo will appear)
9. add 10 minutes to your next call with your mom (tell her HostGator made you do it)
10. thank a fellow Warriors for his or her last 10 posts that helped you help another Warrior (Paul Myers, I thank you kindly)

This would definitely be considered Devilish Marketing strategy. However I don't know why I'm not surprised from Hostgator doing this

I got in at the 80% discount, only to learn that they made the decision not to offer this deal to persons that already have an account.

They sent me a nice email asking to pay the remaining $230...

Well, at least no one got trampled or killed since it was a virtual sale.

Happy Black Friday, all. Time to think about your next promotion and how you can whip up a buzz and a frenzy while keeping all customers and prospects happy. It appears... almost impossible.

Cheers,
Becky

I really love Hostgator but I think they handled this wrong. Instead of giving just a few 80% they should have given a discount to everyone including existing customers. Instead they succeeded in getting some bad feelings from new customers who tried to get in but couldn't and negative feelings from existing customers.

I decided to focus on Hostgator affiliate sales since I couldn't get the deal and happily I had some to make up for the savings I could not get, but I had a few people email and tell me they tried to use my link and could not get through.

The whole thing should have been handled differently, but it wasn't so moving on....

I think the mark would have been in the 1000s for the 80% off customers, as soon as that finished, remember they work on a averages basis, e.g. they are hoping users use less than 5% capacity, otherwise a company like hostgator would not work! It does not actually have enough resources for what it offers!

Then when they are up, they knock it to 50%, as the other 30% which isnt lost will help pay for additional resources and to build their network to cope with the 80% off customers and any new customers.

Regards
Owen

Well I got the 50% off deal and am VERY glad I didn't rush to get up. Still I was thankful to get it, since I just decided on Wed that I needed to upgrade hosting and was going to pay full price.

Classic Marketing tactic, but still a good deal if you can get the 50% Discount. They could have done a lot better explaining the terms and conditions to existing customers.

The 80% Deal was advertised as "Almost Sold Out" the very second it launched, I attempted to order various packages and the site crashed on every ocassion.

And of the guys who did manage to get the 80% account a large chunk have been denied coz "technically" they are not new custmoers....even if they dont cancel or transfer domains from their old accounts.

This is totally ridiculous. Hostgator has lost a whole lot of sheen in my eyes..they probably dont care about a small player like me...but i would like to be heard.

There's a whole lot of fail in this thread... just sayin'

Tsnyder

Sucks that the 80% off accounts went so quick, but 50% off is still a damn good deal.

John

Purchased a vps at 50%.. i didn't even see anything about 80% .. and i didn't even know there was a sale so I just fluked out lol

I havent seen that anyone got 80% here, but doesnt matter. 50% is good enough, but I can understand them. Everything would be 80% off, even dedicated servers and more expensive packages. Can you image what loss they would have if they would allow 80% discount for 5h to thousands of people who were just waiting for it?
Would you provide your services to all those people with such huge discount? I dont think so, I wouldnt. It doesnt go better then this. Few people got lucky, thats it.
Forget about this, and rock on!

So... did you 'lose' 30% - or did you SAVE 50% ?

Pause to think about it, and you might do what I did...

Grab the 50% discount on a 2 year hosting account - and be happy about saving $300



All success
Dr.Mani

If the same paypal cannot be used, then you would have to use a different paypal account or credit card?

Simply use a different email then?

I actually got in on this 80% deal a couple years ago, that was advertised by a member here on the WF. Ended up getting 3 years of hosting for 75 bucks, so it has been legit in the past, it's just they smartened up this year and did a much better job marketing it. I was going to get another 3 years, but I hit the site 10 minutes after the 80% promo started and saw it was only 50%. Went back to bed and continued where I left off on that great dream I was having earlier. No big loss for me, just for HG.

Which led to this story:

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ery-wrong.html

I wouldn't say that this is an American custom. Just about every store running a Black Friday will limit the quantity of the items but they are also usually selling several dozens or even hundreds of items. I don't see what Hostgator did as being anywhere close to this. They advertised 80% off from 5AM - 9AM and then ran the sale for what some say was less than 6 minutes. Their customer service has said that they had no set amount to sell at that discount. And, no, I didn't expect them to run the discount for a solid 4 hours. Perhaps it should have been listed as "Starting at 5AM and ending when limits are reached". My guess is that they shut it down because their servers couldn't handle the traffic. And that's a real confidence builder, LOL.
It doesn't really matter to me, I am happy with my host and plan on getting a reseller account with them as well. I have no dog in this fight. It is an interesting marketing lesson, tho. Will Hostgator account holders seek new hosting or just vent and forget it?

Scott

You guys have to realize that if HostGator gave 80% off to their current customer base, they would be losing millions of dollars per month.

You're asking them to give away 80% of their current revenue forever...

Why would anyone want to do that?

I think it's fair they limited the sale to only new customers. I have 3 hostgator accounts, and am not even remotely pissed off.

They gave the 80% discount, it sold out, and now they offer 50% off. Quite whining, and either switch hosts or move on.

I'm sure all the time you spent complaining about this could have made you 10x the money if you did some actual work stuff...

I woulnd't complain, 50% off is a good deal. Too bad i'm an existing customer.

Black Friday is an American institution in retail selling, and limiting the amount of product is standard for Black Friday promotions.

It is an American thing, because it is the day after Thanksgiving -- an American holiday.

The structure of Black Friday promotions is that deep, deep discounts are available for up to 4 hours OR while supplies last.

I have participated in Black Friday shopping events where we went to the store at 1am, 4 hours before the store opened to get our place in line, and as soon as the store opens the doors, it is an absolute mad-house.

If you don't get that laptop within the first 3-5 minutes, you will probably lose out.

That is how we got 2 or our last 3 laptops -- Black Friday at Staples.

For those of you who are thinking of opening another account or another credit card...


(02:21:25 PM) Timothy Po: has entered the chat.
(02:21:31 PM) Timothy Po: Hello, welcome to HostGator Live Chat.
(02:21:32 PM) Timothy Po: I will be glad to assist you.
(02:21:47 PM) Timothy Po: I am sorry but unfortunately it is only available for new customers.
(02:21:53 PM) calfred: Erm...
(02:22:10 PM) calfred: But many others got it and extended their hosting accounts this way.
(02:23:13 PM) Timothy Po: Who is telling you this? Our sales team is verifying every account and once they are all verified anyone who abused the coupon will be rejected and the account will be deactivated.
(02:23:53 PM) calfred: Well... all over the forums.
(02:24:00 PM) calfred: On the Internet are doing it.
(02:24:30 PM) Timothy Po: They will get shut off.
(02:24:54 PM) Timothy Po: In a day or so they will be caught after we finish going through all of the orders.
(02:25:12 PM) calfred: Even if they use a different email and different credit cards / paypal accounts?
(02:25:30 PM) calfred: How do you differentiate a new member in this case?
(02:25:30 PM) Timothy Po: Yes, that is correct. We have other ways more effective of catching this.
(02:26:03 PM) Timothy Po: I am sorry, but this chat has drifted off the topic of web hosting related assistance. If you don't have any further questions related to web hosting, I will have to end this chat.
(02:26:28 PM) calfred: Uh huh.
(02:26:31 PM) calfred: I understand.
(02:26:52 PM) calfred: So I have to pay the full amount even if I want to extend...
Existing customers don't get discount... hm
(02:27:08 PM) Timothy Po: That is correct.
(02:27:51 PM) calfred: Many people must have asked you this question today huh?
(02:28:26 PM) Timothy Po: Actually nobody has asked me this questions.
(02:28:31 PM) Timothy Po: question*
(02:28:53 PM) calfred: Lol, ok. I read many kinds of responses on major IM forums.
(02:29:01 PM) calfred: I just wanted to confirm with you.
(02:29:32 PM) calfred: Cause some of them got rejected in their email and their discount was not eligible
(02:30:44 PM) Timothy Po: We have many ways of catching them. All accounts are human verified within 1-2 days.
(02:31:10 PM) calfred: I guess you guys use IP identification.
(02:31:56 PM) calfred: Anyway, how long can a Hatchling plan last for in the 50% discount? 3 years?
(02:32:41 PM) Timothy Po: We use a lot more than ip identification. And yes 3 years is the max.
(02:33:04 PM) calfred: Ok. I don't know anything about hacking though.
(02:33:16 PM) calfred: I initially thought I could upgrade to reseller.
(02:33:24 PM) calfred: And sell hosting to another client.
(02:33:49 PM) calfred: But, in this case... that particular client would have to register by themselves then.
(02:34:35 PM) calfred: You see, this leads to a problem.
(02:34:55 PM) Timothy Po: I am confused of what you are asking. You can use the 50% off on any service we offer.
(02:34:59 PM) calfred: What if web design companies who have new multiple clients.
(02:35:28 PM) calfred: ..
(02:36:07 PM) calfred: who want to register for a new site and hosting... logically the web design company (who is an existing user at HG) has to set up hosting for new clients
(02:36:37 PM) Timothy Po: They have to be a reseller.
(02:36:58 PM) calfred: Oh yeah.
(02:37:37 PM) calfred: I have a client who wants to register for a Hatchling plan tomorrow.
(02:37:47 PM) calfred: So I'll just have to ask him to register himself?
(02:38:05 PM) calfred: Considering I can't help him because I'm only having shared hosting myself.
(02:39:18 PM) Timothy Po: That is correct.
(02:39:49 PM) calfred: Ok then.
(02:39:54 PM) calfred: Thanks for your help.
(02:40:54 PM) Timothy Po: Your welcome.
(02:40:54 PM) calfred: You have to understand I'm not a blackhatter.
(02:40:57 PM) calfred: or anything...
(02:40:59 PM) Timothy Po: If there is anything else that I can help you with please let me know as I would be happy to help.
(02:41:01 PM) calfred: Thanks again.

You think your complaints are valid. Some folks disagree. It happens.

Get over it. Or don't.

This thread is close to pointless. There was a sale, with limitations on time and quantity. Some people didn't get the deal, and they're unhappy. It happens. Trying to turn that into an ethical issue is ill-considered.

Comments on the technical failure are on point, certainly. But the rest... Not so much.


Paul

There is a rather large difference between "This isn't a matter of ethics" and "Ethics don't matter." I suggested the first, not the second.

Your attempt to twist what I said into something it clearly was not meant to suggest is not going to work with anyone who's paying attention. Nice try, though.


Paul

I still feel existing customers who intended to buy a 2nd account(without transferring from or closing their old account) could be treated as new customers. In effect, they have held a discount offering with some rather unclear terms where they have said different things to different people in the run up to the sale. When it finally takes place, they fall back on these hazy rules to limit themselves to "brand new" customers, only the ones who hve migrated from other hosts.

Sigh! As an existing customer who is not taking away any old business but just putting more money into their pocket(I wanted to buy an additional reseller account in addition to my existing shared hosting acc), I find it wrong that we are not even allowed to buy the new stuff (even when we dont want to cancel or move out the old accounts)

Three pages and no one has mentioned the irony that a hosting company could not manage it's own website adequately to cope with a traffic surge - a predicted surge at that.

I wonder if they sent themselves an email saying that the site was using too many resources and that they should upgrade to the next plan or be shut down?

Don't get me wrong Hostgator has it's uses as a budget host, but's that what it is - a budget host for throwaway sites. You'd be crazy to host anything important with them.

Some further thoughts on this thread...

Deepak,

You may want to issue a public apology to Hostgator for suggesting the whole thing was a lie, since at least one Warrior got the 80% off deal.

That suggestion goes for every one of you who said it was a scam/lie/bait and switch. They said it would be 80% off for a limited time and quantity (with the clear implication of "whichever comes first") and then 50% off. They said "New customers only."

They did exactly what they said.

If affiliates didn't represent it correctly, that's a problem. Just not with Hostgator.

Something else to consider: If everyone who wanted 80% off had gotten it, there'd be people in here yelling that the quantity/time limitations were a scam.

As far as the "I had it in my shopping cart" thing... Anyone who's ever run a digital shopping cart knows that nothing matters until you hit the payment button. (People abandon shopping carts all the time.) Brick and mortar analogies don't apply in this circumstance.

Dark Matter, I don't believe that. Not for an instant.

The fact is, they stated the offer and upheld the terms. There is no ethical issue here. You're trying to invent one in order to punish them because you didn't get what you wanted.

If you don't like their marketing approach, use another host. That's a perfectly acceptable and reasonable response. Accusing them of things they didn't do is not, and a number of people here have done just that.


Paul

Since DarkMatter considers this a thorny issue, let's look at his argument in small steps:

Hostgator said "limited time, while quantities last."

People put things in digital (and physical) shopping carts all the time, and then abandon their orders. The fact that something is in a cart means nothing.

DM believes they should have honored every cart that had been filled.

So, let's say they tracked how many carts were set to order at the 80% price, and locked the offer. A few people abandon their carts, and Hostgator has a choice: Re-open the thing or sell a smaller quantity than they'd planned.

The second option leads to even faster sell-out of the offer. Almost nothing in this conversation changes except (possibly) the amount of time it was available.

The first means someone who ordered after the deal was closed would get a lower price than an earlier order. Let that be seen, and you have a REAL storm of protest.

The only practical way to measure sales is on exactly that: Sales. And, in this case, the sale isn't made until the bill is paid.

I am constantly amazed at the number of people who scream "FRAUD!" over things like this, apparently without thinking the actual process through. It's not like this is complicated stuff, folks.


Paul

Of course that's what it was. It lasted an entire 12 minutes, all of which I could not stop pages from timing out. I understand it's limited stock, but their estimation was "5-9AM CST or before we run out," which is giving us a bad estimation. Did they seriously think it'd take 4 hours to sell out? Haven't they done this before?

Didn't get in? lost nothing.

Read their company blog. Reads like 'a million reasons to not use HG'. Back-ups limited to small file numbers and sizes. No load balancing and worse. Operating in the stone ages (3-4 years ago, Lol). Don't understand why anyone would use them at any price after reading the company blog. Should have sold the company when he could. IMHO.

As to the 80% thing... business. Same off line as on. Car dealers have one car advertised at a loser and pick up the difference with the few extra cars they sell at a profit because the one car is sold or, what mostly happens is, no one wants it anyway after finding out all about it (no power windows, power steering, a/c, etc). HG is sort of like the car no one would want IF they knew all about it.

In my perspective, whatever their marketing goals were for thanksgiving/black friday has executed well.

In consumer's perspective, i see it as an 'ouch'

Never been a fan of HG anyways.

I missed out even though I tried to purchase on the dot of the 80% discount launch.

Whilst disappointed I was not annoyed that I had missed out on a limited offer. What annoyed me was that when I accessed the site the offer was still available but when I tried to actually purchase I got an error message so could not make a transaction.

If it had just been sold out that would be ok, but it was the fact that the offer was available but the site seemed to have locked us out which was annoying.

After all of the debates, missives, remonstrations, opinions and rants, the Beatles reunited to show those WF members who care how to handle the Hostgator 80% aftermath. I must say that it shocked me they would even address this issue but they did so eloquently.


Giles, the Crew Chief

OK so we sign up. It was that host gator reseller option at 50% off, and man was that a hassle even. Yeah, as in me calling the 800 number to clear things up. Well, it is finally up and running. We get 500 gigs per month of transfer and 50 gigs of storage space. Hope they are buying new servers. It shows 11% full in mine. HOST GATOR is gonna get swamp.

I can confirm they honored the 80% price and issued a refund for the difference.

It was a big mess for sure, but they seem to be doing their best to make it right, so that counts for something.

-Brett

HG thinks out of the BOX had a server crash for a few minutes and the coined it the rest of the day. I don't use HG as I am with wiredtree (they rock) but at least i got one sale as an affiliate and he also purchased 1 year hosting so i will get my commission so I made $50 WOW

guys and gals think .................

it is all about marketing

Those Hostgator coupons especially in the over 50% range have a very limited shelf life

Hello,

I want to let you know that Hostgator has honored the 80% off.

After reflecting on yesterdays frustration I went back to have a chat with them about some hosting details as the 50% was a good deal (I stated that in a previous post) and before that chat ended I had to voice my thoughts (again) on how things transpired earlier that day to the representative. I was told to forward an e-mail to another dept. with the details. Hostgator responded this morning in a very professional manner and addressed my concerns some of which are in this thread. They then setup an account for the exact product I had wanted earlier in the day and responded again with another very professional and personal response indicating the accounts had been setup. I would like to say thanks to them.

Regards,
DM

Sounds good, but just curious, is the sale not over by now?

seems like the old stand by customers, you know the ones that have been around for a while are just after thoughts, here in this entire thing, makes you feel like a red headed step child. LOL