Nowadays the web hosting industry as a whole have shifted toward the idea of offering almost absurdly low prices under the guise of them being special introductory rates. It is all in an attempt to try and offer the most attractive package at the lowest price. Unfortunately they are doing this without much disclosure about what the renewal rates will be, leaving you to assume that they will be the same as when you signed up.

The reason I don’t agree with this type of policy is that it’s sort of an underhanded way of trying to get more money out of customers when renewals come up. What companies will do is get you signed up under the introductory price hoping that you don’t read through the terms of service (let’s be honest, most people don’t). When your renewal comes up they will let you know, but they won’t let you know how much it’s for until you are automatically billed for it. At this point it’s too late to get a refund, the vast majority of companies don’t have a renewal refund policy.

At the end of the day it all comes down to one thing – making sure you read the terms of service for your web hosting purchase, or at the very least the billing policy. Yes, it may be a pain, but the extra 5 or so minutes it takes to read through these could end up saving you hundreds of dollars in the long run.