Is this standard Hostgator policy?

Yes, it's more or less standard.

(We had a thread recently in which a few people commented this had happened. Hostgator actually called me, rather than sending me email asking me to call them, but if I'd been out when they called I imagine they might then have done exactly that. They want either to speak you with you on the phone or see some ID. I was slightly surprised but had no problem with it).

I don't think it's any kind of "phishing scam" or anything like that.

I doubt it's a scam, Val.

Many web hosts do this, from time-to-time, out of fraud and security concerns.

If it were a scam, it'd have to be a great co-incidence that she'd receive it almost immediately after signing up at HostGator, or else the scammers would have to be "harvesting" new customers' personal data direct from HostGator's order form (after hacking it).

I suspect a more realistic and straight-forward explanation as to why she was able to login to her account successfully before subsequently receiving this email, is because HostGator automatically and near-instantaneously activates new accounts immediately upon receiving an order. Therefore, the only opportunity they'd have is to send the email afterwards.

Definitely not a scam, and with the incoming rush of new orders after the Black Friday sale yesterday, I'd imagine that hostgator has additional security protocols in place to prevent fraud from occurring.

Thanks Alexa: (And Paulie888 and DireStraits) But what happens if she doesn't verify? Will her account automatically be cancelled and her payment refunded to Paypal, or will she have to do a charge-back on Paypal.

She's never had anything like this happen before and is mightily ticked off. I've never seen anything like this in all my years of hosting with different companies either.

You would think HG would put a notice on the registration page that this is standard procedure for new accounts. At least, I would think that!

Val

I have received a request like this before, as have others I know of, but what I would suggest is that your friend contacts Hostgator Support direct and asks if the confirmation request is genuine.

If so, then I personally don't see any problem with giving the necessary details . .

Hope it helps.

I get that almost always when I need them to help me fix something on my sites. Sometimes it is just too much a hassle and I do it on my own. I don't mind though, this is obviously for security reasons.

I'll pass this information on and see what happens. I'm sure once she knows its not a scam everything will be okay!

Thanks, everyone, for your prompt replies!

Well, it's not standard policy - that's just it.

They'll have an automated (or certainly a manual) fraud/risk-scoring system, I expect.

If something doesn't match up (credit card billing address to sign-up form address, or unverified PayPal account as Tina says) then they will request further documentation for proof of identity.

If you decline to provide (or act on) it, I'm almost certain they will terminate the contract, and if that's the case you'll definitely receive a refund.

(It's happened in a similar way to me before at another host, but I had no way to scan or photograph my card at the time, so I couldn't prove really nuthin', and they had to decline my order - also with a full refund).

If your friend can provide what they need, then I would suggest to her that she does it if she really wants/needs the account - even though I do agree it can be, and is, an inconvenience.

If she goes elsewhere and signs up in the same way, it's possible that that host would also make a similar request ... so I'd just go ahead and do what they ask.

To update this post: My friend decided to give in and call Hostgator to activate the new hosting account. She dialed the 1-800 number that was sent to her in the 'verify' email.

An answering service intercepted the call with a new number to dial. Oh, and by the way, the charge for accessing the number they gave her was $3.00.

My friend is livid - to say the least. She is not amused! Neither did she call Hostgator. She is cancelling the account she originally set up and moving on!

What I can't understand is why Hostgator would pull a stunt like this - the stunt being sending a potential customer a 1-800 number to call to verify and account they had already set up, then switching the number to a $3.00 chargeable number.

I'm feeling a bit sheepish because I prompted her to sign up for an account on Black Friday, which she did. It makes me look bad, now, too! Sigh. Lesson learned. Mind Your Own Business!

Chris: At least you got to enter the 1010 extension. My friend did not. She was redirected to a number that required her to pay $3.00 to access.

Nate: She wasn't offered the option to verify by email. It was either a phone call or send in some personal information via snail mail, if I remember correctly. She wanted to get this site up and running as quickly as possible.

But after getting over her initial hesitation and then being hit with an additional charge, albeit a small one, she got really ticked off with Hostgator and decided to go elsewhere. What a run-around just to set up a simple hosting account!

Did either of you log onto HG chat and ask about this? That's what I would have done as the phone number thingie makes no sense. Where is your friend located? I know verifications are stricter for some countries.

kay

Hi Kay: I don't understand what happened either, but it did, and my friend has moved on to another host and already has her new site underway.

I've always thought HG was a bunch of inconsistent freaks. Yet I continue to do business w/ them.

I did open a 2nd account on Black Friday. Received a call at 1:00 am - which I didn't answer. It was a live person who was just "confirming that I opened a new account" and said to "call if I didn't". weirdos.

I too would find it strange, and probably get ticked about it.

Mainly because in today's world of identity theft and other shenanigans going on, we as the consumer are being asked for more and ever more personal and confidential information. More hoops to jump through. And when you jump through one, there is another one right beyond it with a sign saying "Do it again".
Sure these companies may have a privacy policy, but what does that really mean? Not much in today's world. Corporate "fibbing" is a rampant business practice using the fine print to take back all the things they just said they wouldn't do with our information.

Someone please tell me you've never once wanted to demand the name, address, social security number, and 3 forms of ID of every employee in a company before you'll do business with them?

Hi val
I am using HG for the last one yr. I did not had any such issues with them. If I face any problem I do a online chat with and till now they had solved my problems.
parg

I did open an account with hostgator and got the following email

"{Hello,

Thank you for your order with HostGator.com!

In order for us to setup your account, we will need you to call in and verify your billing information.

If you are unable to call us, you can instead respond to this ticket with a scanned copy of a Photo ID such as a passport, or drivers license. In addition to a photo ID, please include a scanned copy of the credit card that was used in your account purchase (assuming you purchased a hosting account with a credit card). For security purposes you can mask off all the digits of the card number except for the last 4 digits.

Please provide us with the above requested information at your earliest convenience to ensure that your account with HostGator is setup as soon as possible.

Toll-free: 1-866-96-GATOR, extension 1010
International: 001-713-574-5287

We are available 24/7, so please feel free to call us at your convenience. We apologize for any inconveniences that may result from this process.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Thank you,
HostGator.com Sales Team"}

As i am outside US i called there international number and verified my account. It took me 5 minute or so.

I do have a bluehost account and they to did verify my account, but they did it a bit differently then hostgator.

Actually Bluehost guys called me on my phone number which i had enter when i had open the account. So as a customer i preferred verification of the bluehost rather then hostgator.

yes hostgator implemented this as early as sept this year... because I was running a live workshop teaching ppl how to set up their hosting and all of them can't get their wordpress blogs up during the workshop because of this restriction

I got he same email on Friday after I opened an account with them for the first time. I was concerned about sending personal documentation via email too and queried it here on the forum because I too, believed it was a phishing email. It turned out to be genuine, they are doing it for security reasons,mostly for new accounts and for those outside US.
I called them on the international line(I am outside US) and they asked me to verify my details and that was it - I did not have to email them any documents.
However, they did say that if you don't verify your account, they will cancel your account and automatically issue a refund.
I can relate to your friend not wanting to send her personal documents via email, so I would suggest she just phones them - nothing to worry about really.

Its definitely not a scam. I too signed up for HG this black friday. And got the same message.

I asked for a refund straight away. It took them over 20 hours to process it (had to exchange a few emails).

I then went ahead with stablehost.com - so far so good. They called me themselves (an automated call) and it was all okay with me.

But asking the users to call Google themselves would really piss them off.

Hostgator is doing nothing but pissing customers off. I wasted the whole black friday for the hosting part only!

Big Brother must know your address and exactly where you are and who you say you are. Pretty much all American based hosting has this policy now to establish identity. They don't want another wiki leaks