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Sherrie Teague
1,587 PointsJust want to give a warning for new members regarding webhostingforstudents.com
I joined Treehouse a couple of weeks ago and have been making my way through the suggested sequence of videos for beginner level web development. At one point I was instructed to create a domain and purchase hosting and it was suggested in the video that I do this through webhostingforstudents. I felt this was wise considering Treehouse is endorsing them. Three days after creating my site and including my phone number when signing up (couldn't sign up without it) I have been inundated with marketing calls. I receive an average of 12 calls a day. It's Saturday and the first call came in at 7:01 this morning. So far today I've received 8 calls but it's still early. The last call yesterday was at 10:18 p.m. My caller ID shows the calls are coming in from Washington, Canada, California .. etc... but every caller is middle eastern. I initially answered the calls and every one was someone aware that I had just registered a domain. They knew my domain name and asked if they could assist me by creating the website for me. Now I answer and demand to be taken off their call list and every single time they immediately hang up on me. If I don't answer they just keep calling and won't leave a voicemail. I was getting my oil changed today and received 4 calls (same number) in the span of an hour. I had no choice but to answer - same thing. Middle eastern man wanting to help me with my "new business website". I got as far as, "Take me off .." before the guy hung up.
I was naive to think that after a few days the calls would stop. They have gotten worse. I'm extremely disappointed in the hosting site. I just emailed them regarding this and requested a refund. I will not be using them for hosting. The site won't even let me remove my phone number from my account.
Sorry for the book. Just trying to save someone the frustration I'm experiencing.
4 Answers
mckbas
14,166 PointsAh, this type of thing happens a lot. It isn't necessarily the company you used to host your domain. If you didn't opt to pay extra for privacy services you can expect to be harassed for quite a while. Anyone can see all of your information (including your home address) if you don't opt for private registration.
I would recommend going to https://www.whois.net/ and typing in your domain name to see if it pulls up your phone number.
andren
28,558 PointsWhile I can understand your annoyance this is not a fault of webhostingforstudents specifically. Ownership information for registered domains are public info, no matter where you register the domain. That is how the domain system has worked from the very beginning. You can query the ownership data of any website using a WHOIS lookup service (there are multiple ones one the net).
Due to the privacy concern this causes practically all domain websites (including webhostingforstudents) has an optional privacy/id protection service where they will register the domain using details from a proxy company that will prevent your real info from being placed in the database. This is a service that you usually have to pay separately for from the domain price itself. webhostingforstudents presents ID protection as an addon during the purchasing procedure for domains, if you did not choose that addon then it is normal to have your information published in the WHOIS database.
While WHOIS information for a domain can be updated once it is published the historical data is archived by dozens of different domain information registries so old registration information for a domain will always be available for those looking for it, it's not something that can simply be removed retroactively due to the way this system works.
I don't blame you for not knowing of this before you registered your domain, but it is worth pointing out that this would have happened with pretty much any domain seller as long as you do not use the domain sellers' privacy protection service that they offer.
Sherrie Teague
1,587 PointsI appreciate your reply. Whois.net shows only my name. I've registered 3 domains in the last 2 years. 3 different hosting sites. Never paid for privacy services. Never received a call afterwards or, if I did, they were so few I wasn't aware.
Sherrie Teague
1,587 PointsMy phone number and other personal info are location within the account settings. It is not public. Can only be viewed by the hosting site or those capable of logging into my account.
Kevin Korte
28,149 PointsPlease don't abuse this, but the owner of webhostingforstudents is Zac Gordon, and that info is still public knowledge on this twitter page, so I feel okay posting this info here. Zac used to be the Wordpress teacher here, so at the time there was a partnership.
It may or may not be any wrong doing of WHFS, I don't know - I understand the coincidence, and why you'd feel this way, and not knowing is probably the worst part. You may be able to reach out to Zac on twitter (https://twitter.com/zgordon) and see if he can shed any more light into what happened for you.
It's not good when you feel screwed by WHFS and mislead by TTH. Sorry this happened regardless, such a pain.
Sherrie Teague
1,587 PointsThanks Kevin. I don't think I'll pursue this further. I just wanted to put a warning out to new members. I also reached out to support on Treehouse. It's been an annoyance but nothing truly harmful. I suspect that in time the calls will cease. At least, they better lol. Thanks again and have a great day.
Kevin Korte
28,149 PointsNo worries, it's a valid warning. Didn't know how far you wanted to take it (i.e. how much it was an annoyance). It certainly is a pain, but I suspect it will subside soon enough. You could always ask them about help building a website to help people block out unwanted and unsolicited calls, see if they get the irony or not (I'll guess not).
Take care,
Dustin James
11,364 PointsDustin James
11,364 Pointswhalien52 is right. You need to have a third party for the registration portion. By law information has to be given for registration, but again, having someone else is important.
I use dreamhost.com and they include private registering with their hosting. I suggest looking into what private options you have with your current host and if you cannot find it free of charge, I would switch and transfer your registration to a hosting service that does.
Sherrie Teague
1,587 PointsSherrie Teague
1,587 PointsThank you. Whois.net only shows my name. Nothing else. I've registered 3 domains through multiple hosting sites over the last 2 years. Never paid for privacy services. Never had a single call. Very odd. I guess I have more to learn than I realized.
Sherrie Teague
1,587 PointsSherrie Teague
1,587 PointsThanks for the advice Dustin. I'm canceling with webhostingforstudents