Cheap dedicated servers : a nightmare story

A cheap dedicated server can be just what your business needs, if it’s chosen carefully. However, if you choose the wrong company to provide you with your dedicated server, you may end up facing unwanted situations when an unexpected, undesirable event comes up.

The other day I was talking with a good friend of mine, a very successful yet low profile internet entrepreneur. For reasons that will be clear later, I will call him James to protect his privacy. He told me he was really angry because he was going to launch a new digital product and had it all ready, but on the same day of the launch (which had been announced with two weeks of anticipation to everyone in his opt-in email list) there was a hardware failure that got his dedicated server down without previous notice. And the worst part of the story was that his hosting provider told him that they would need 48 hours to get it fixed.

“Two days” – he said, “two days down! I don’t believe this!”

He was truly angry, and I know I would be too if I were in his shoes: although the hosting company told him that they will not charge him for those 2 days his dedicated server was going to be out of work, the real loss is that James was unable to launch his product, and when he finally launches it, there is a chance he will get less sales because he wasn’t able to respect the promised date. And don’t forget the impact in his credibility among his loyal subscribers! This incident with his dedicated server made him look like a disorganized and not trustable salesman, and I can ensure he certainly is not like that at all.
 
But what really made me feel sorry for him was that he was also feeling impotent. “Now I can do nothing”, he said; “I should have read those tiny little letters in the contract before I signed with them! That fine print actually allows them to suspend services for up to 72 hours when any unexpected hardware failure happens!”

Of course, I advised him to switch to another cheap dedicated server provided by another company, but he said that he had already paid for a whole year, an if he cancelled the contract he would not only lose his money but he would actually have to pay a “cancellation fee”. He will have to wait until the contractual period is over.

Now, between you and me (and I hope James doesn’t read this), he deserved that. Hiring a hosting provider without reading the contract and terms of service thoroughly is a foolish thing to do.

I really hope my good friend doesn’t have to face more situations like this in the future, but he should have read that fine print. After all, when you rent an apartment, or buy a car, or engage into any kind of business, you carefully take the time to review each one of the contract terms, so I don’t see why renting a cheap dedicated server should be any different.

I’m sure my friend James did learn his lesson: what seems to be a cheap dedicated server at first may not be such a good deal later. I sincerely hope everyone takes what happened to James as an example of what to expect when taking a wrong decision. Remember, the wrong cheap dedicated server provider will make you lose money. The other day this happened to James; be sure it doesn’t happen to you.

Stefan Holm
Dedicated Server Advisor Team