I recently tried to register a domain from Ipower under an existing account.

Why you might ask?  Because I’m an idiot that likes punishment.

Instead of getting a message stating that my domain had been registered, I get a message stating that I do not have enough credits to process a registration.

I did NOT try to pay for the registration with ‘credits’.  I did try and pay for it with a working credit card, which prompted the follow up question, “WTF IPower?”

Then, I tried to buy the domain a second time and got the same message, but notice at the top of the message it shows that I have 2 Outstanding Domain Credits.

Then I checked my email and I had 2 transaction confirmations for registration but they did not list the domain name I had ordered.

Ergo IPOWER took my money and didn’t register the domain!

So it looks like I have a IPower hold situation in my future. 

Tip to the wise, don’t do business with IPower.

They did this by taking a previously free service and charging as much for it as they did for the core service of domain name renewal.

Today, I ran into an incident with my own preferred domain hosting company, InMotion Hosting.

I recently ordered a new domain at something-about-harry.com.  About 3 days after ordering, I received a bill and automatic debit from my credit card from InMotion for Domain Privacy protection, for a charge of $5 ($4 less than IPower).

Unlike IPower, which made this a policy and a more expensive policy at that.  InMotion had simply made a billing mistake.

They not only removed the service at my request (something IPOWER will not do after the fact if you are right or wong), but they credited my card for $5 for the service I did not buy (again something IPower will not do under any circumstance after the charge).  Plus, InMotion even offered to give me a free month on my plan (which I declined as it was not really needed for a domain name registration).

The point is that all of these things that IPower makes part of their policy where the customer is penalized, even when the customer is right, InMotion does not make it policy and fixes their mistakes such that the customer is made whole or better!

Now, given the fact that we are heading into a recession and possibly a depression, you have to wonder if a business that is running on unsound policies and practices, can actually survive.  Its not like they are bloated with useless fat and services, looking to cut the extra expenses like a chronic dieter picking up Anoretix from Oprah, but they actually have self destructive policies and marketing strategies that is sabotaging their core customers from go.

Something ultimately has to give, and it is probably going to be weaker companies that fail to execute like IPower….

maybe

Apparently, cool and cutting edge does not fit the AOL business model.  They announced this month that they are exiting the user generated video market.  They say that they will still offer professionally generated video, in the wake of advances from YouTube that will not only offer TV shows, but full feature movies.

Somehow, I suspect that going back to generic for AOL may not work out too well.  You can only harvest an old business model for so long before there is nothing left to harvest.  I suspect that the only viewers they might be picking up with this new shell of a service will be the rare person that is bird watching with Nikon binoculars and just happens to scan across a computer screen playing an AOL video by mistake.

OneWebHosting has some pretty interesting hosting options for anyone looking for beefed up features at a fairly low rate. Personally, I think that the $9.95 per month price is a bit hefty, but there are some pretty decent services offered for the price. Whether you’re interested in free domain name and transfer, multiple email accounts, varying webtools and some beefy storage and bandwidth I suspect there may be many folks moving over to OneWebHosting. 

In my eyes, OneWebHosting is a great service, but it is the equivalent of getting gastric bypass surgery when all you probably need is a diet pill or two. Although OneWebHosting is designed for small businesses, there is an increasing number of individuals always looking for more than what they need in regards to electronics and even hosting applications. Either way, the choice is yours and this service is pretty cool and worth taking a closer look at.

There are a lot of great hosting options out their for individuals and businesses alike and HostPapa is a great hosting company worth checking out. Currently, HostPapa is offering 100% Green Energy Web Hosting that offers unlimited web hosting, data transfer, domains and free setup and a domain for life for only $4.95 per month. 

Not only is HostPapa less expensive than their competitors, but is one of the only hosting services that offers 100% Green Energy Web Hosting services. Is it just me or does this seem almost as gimmicky as ball lock pins on a screen door? Well, whether you think it is gimmicky or not, HostPapa offers a pretty cool alternative to some of the current packages out there. Being a fan of living “Green”, I like it.

Some of the features associated with their packages are 50, 200 ad 450 MB of storage, 5, 15 and 30 GB of monthly traffic as well as a wide array of extras including email accounts, autoresponders, PHP, SSI etc. per service. If you have been considering making a move to a more “advanced” hosting services, then you should give Alien Hosting a solid look. Who knows, you may even decide to send this info to other folks or even small businesses who are searching for hosting via corporate holiday cards. I am pretty impressed with the features offered by Alien Hosting, I think you will be as well.

Another great hosting service for both small businesses and individuals alike would have to be E-Starr Hosting. Offering competitive services for an incrementally lower price, E-Starr is clearly looking to tailor hosting plans to your needs. Currently, E-Starr offers a variety of hosting plans, but their “Personal Plan” and “Promo Plan” are my favorites due to their simplicity and reliable features.

The Personal Plan gives users 200 MB of space, 8,000 MB of bandwidth for a monthly rate of just $5.00 a month. For those of you with a good memory, you understand that comparable hosting services cost roughly an extra buck or so a month. The Promo Plan offers subscribers 1,000 MB of space as well as 20,000 MB of bandwidth at a sleek $7.95 per month. If you are interested in learning more about their hosting services, they have a staff of consultants available.

Having been in the “hosting business” for over 11 years, Dreamhost is one of the most well established games in town. In fact, Dreamhost is offering a pretty cool birthday package that includes great benefits for their next 1,111 new customers. Basically, the service breaks down like this; unlimited disk, transfer and a variety of freebies for $5.95 per month.

Dreamhost’s birthday package has been well received and is expected to finish up really quickly as many of the 1,111 slots have been filled. As for their price of $5.95, it is very competitve with many of the other hosting services out there, but the unlimited options as well as freebies place Dreamhost head and shoulders above the rest. I mean, Dreamhost has thrown the kitchen sink at folks with all the giveaways, I mean they’re giving away almost everything from micro sd cards to kitchen sinks. Well, maybe not, but you ought to check out their package while it is still available!

Having spent the last few posts talking about different hosting companies, I wanted to elaborate on a few more today that offer some great benefits for competitive monthly and yearly rates. Dotster Hosting offers a couple of decent hosting options for beginners as well as established businesses. Besides somebody needs to support the Dotster Dots!

At a rate of $5.95 per month for their starter service, Dotster offers 5 GB of storage as well as a sitebuilder tool, free domain and an additional 10 email accounts. Dotster also offers a great service tailored for small businesses which is dubbed “Standard Hosting” and includes 10 GB of storage, 150 email accounts, up to 50 domains as well as a free domain. In fact, the only thing that they don’t offer is talking watches, but who knows what they may have in mind in the future.