Green Web Hosting – ThinkHost Is No Longer My Choice
UPDATE: Due to so many complaints, I’m no longer recommending ThinkHost. However, lucky for us all, my past and still present favorite hosting company, HostGator, has gone green, so I can continue recommending it while knowing there’s an extra goodness in its greeness! 
So, ignore the rest of this and just know that I love HostGator. *
A few days ago, a friend of mine had web hosting issues (and boy, oh boy, over the years, I’ve had plenty of those!). Because she’s an enlightened sort of gal, she decided to investigate using green hosting services. Since she brought it to my mind, I couldn’t help but go out and start doing a little investigating of my own.
There are a few nice choices in green web hosting, but the one I ended up choosing as the best “all ’round” choice for me or most people I know would be ThinkHost. Reasons I chose them as my green web host of choice:
Their services are powered by 100% renewable energy (solar/wind)
Plants a tree for every client
Good plan pricing with all the right plan features
Fast setup
Multiple payment methods available
Host unlimited number of sites for no extra charge
Lots of space and bandwidth offered
Been around for a long time
Sponsors many non-profit organizations and 10% of their revenue value is put back into community projects
Backed by a site I know and trust (tamingthebeast.net)
100% uptime guarantee – and they actually give you 1 day of hosting free for each 1 hour of service interruption
Backup generators in case of power outages
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve often recommended HostGator and I still do. I love that hosting company. But if you really want to move to an earth-friendly hosting company, then ThinkHost is who I’d recommend for you. If you decide to try them, I’ve even got a coupon code you can use. Just enter the following code on the secure package signup form to get $20 off any package you choose : THINKHOST20
Just wanted to pass along another hosting recommendation, in addition to the one I usually recommend. If you are interested in using a green hosting company, ThinkHost is the one to use.
* Disclosure: Affiliate links may be used within this post for products I recommend. They in no way affect my judgement of said products, nor do they affect the price of the product.
Tags: For Us All, Good, green hosting services, green web host, green web hosting, hostgator, renewable energy, ThinkHost, web hosting
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11 Responses to “Green Web Hosting – ThinkHost Is No Longer My Choice”
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[...] I had only been familiar with 1&1 and HostGator through client work. Around that same time Donna Fontenot mentioned of the eco-friendly hosting provider ThinkHost. Being a very green minded individual I thought using ThinkHost was a great opportunity since it [...]
An ebusiness coach, web developer, Internet Marketer, SEO, and all around web geek who makes her living from home doing all of the above.
THINKHOST – THINK AGAIN
We wanted to change to a “green” host but guess what? DON’T do THIS with THinkhost!!! Better to stick with the ones who have a good support center and services and then just buy trees to offset.
We have paid a 2 year contract with Thinkhost and when we wanted to transfer from our old hosting company we encountered the following:
1. we changed dns but we werent able to see the website; they didn’t create the marinedream account in the hosting panel only after 3 support tickets they figured out that that was the problem. But still my question how to use ftp from a program instead of a panel after 8 support tickets I still haven’t heard the answer
2. I couldn’t get in the secured hosting panel for emails; they keep telling me they can get in – but hey that doesn’t help me; I lost 3 days email because I kept waiting for them to solve the issue. Today I just had to go back to my old hosting company and guess what within an hour i can receive emails again
3. When you sign up they don’t tell you that you cannot upload cgi files chmod 777; tjee and i just had application that needs 777;
4. I prepaid because they said 120 days money back guarantee -> FORGET that you will get a refund! After 3 days of hassle and complaints and giving them 3 days to help to get the service in order they refused to give it BACK! They want to steal from foundations like we are in stead of just giving the money back!!!
So my point: Dont use THINKHOST and just buy trees to offset your CO2; Dont make the mistake we did to trust them and that they will refund the money if you can’t use the service.
Julie-
Sorry you had such a negative response with ThinkHost. We just researched over 16 sustainable web hosts, and have found others since I did that in-depth research. There are others out there. The problem is that there are lots of good reviews out there about ThinkHost and other hosts that have affiliate programs with a (surprise, surprise) affiliate link.
I am sharing the info we found and my experiences on my blog. After having put a lot of time into it, I decided it was wasted time if I didn’t share that experience with others and save them their time (sort of contributing to the collective community of those who are trying to lighten their step on the planet).
So, Nikkole, who do you recommend instead?
Well, we ended up deciding to host our site on HostPapa. It will probably depend on what a person needs for their particular site. The whole list of the ones we looked at are here http://7gens.blogspot.com/sear.....eb%20hosts
So far in Part 1 of 4 on the blog, I grouped the ones we found into two categories: Those that generate their own energy from a renewable source (mostly solar panels) and those that purchase renewable energy credits.
Part 2 of 4 provides the detailed specs of each of the providers we looked at, including price, storage, bandwidth and other features, in order from least to most expensive.
Part 3 of 4 (scheduled for Sun 7/6) lists just those from among the larger list that have affiliate programs, with info on each of the affiliate programs’ commissions.
Part 4 of 4 (next week) will go into detail on why we selected HostPapa as our hosting provider.
I can tell you that we have had our service with HostPapa for about 3 weeks and so far are very happy. We found them on several websites’ Top 10 lists (that listed both conventional and green options) and that, in particular, we really liked their reviews for uptime. Our Joomla-based site also loads much faster than it did on GoDaddy (our previous host).
Does that help for now? (and you can check the blog for more details next Sunday) *wink*
-Nikkole
Thinkhost’s service and bogus guarantee is so bad that is immoral to recommend this hosting company. They will not honor their 120-day guarantee despite their poor uptime and pitiful, “open source” excuse for a control panel. You can’t know these things until you sign up — for two years. And you must unwittingly waive your rights to a refund related to “all service level issues”, which means you really have no guarantee at all, they won’t refund your money under any circumstances, and you risk being able to charge it back. This appears to be a clever, carefully organized scheme, and your original endorsement reads like their advertising verbatim without offering any mention of first hand experience.
I’ve encountered people who love them and I’ve encountered people who hate them….which is pretty much the same for every web host I’ve ever used or heard of.
I’m certainly willing to let people see the negative comments, as I’ve obviously allowed them to be here. But what I’d love to hear is instead of just “xyz webhost sucks” is “use abc webhost instead”. What’s your alternative choice for a green host? Found one you like better? Share it with us.
DO NOT USE THINKHOST!!!
Like most people I signed up my client with thinkhost because I valued their socially-conscious low carbon footprint web hosting. If I had known the problems that would ensue, I never would have paid them any money. My story is really quite simple. Due to some technical issue, I never received a welcome email detailing how I could access the control panel, and Dns transfer fields, etc. I sent them a support ticket, which was my first clue that trouble was brewing. At that time I also noticed a small message saying “sorry for the technical problems while we migrate our servers.” (yikes, if I’d only seen that before!) Also, a comment on support-ticket systems; when a company does not provide any email or phone contact information, it is usually because they want a barrier between them and their customers behind which to hide. I’m not kidding about this, I recommend you Never do business with a company that uses only support-ticket systems for technical support. Anyway, I explained that my client couldn’t wait for them to sort out their problems, and wanted to cancel the account. This was completely in accordance with their advertised money-back guarantee. After filling out the necessary online forms, I received an email saying that my account had been cancelled, sorry to see me go, etc. I could feel that something was wrong, so I kept track of my credit card statement online, and what do you know? They had cancelled my account without refunding my credit card. Keep in mind, I had never used their service for even a second, had quickly followed up in asking for a refund, had been polite, etc, etc. All this is moot anyway because they advertise a money-back guarantee. So again I sent another support-ticket, asking, quite assertively, for my credit card to be refunded. The email I received was the most bullying legalese I have ever experienced. They claimed that by paying them I had agreed to their contract (true), and that they would not refund my money at all. However the contract I had agreed to also stated a money-back guarantee. If you’ve ever been ripped off by a company like this before, you know the feeling. It’s tantamount to be robbed on the street. You feel powerless and angry. This is how I feel now. Why would you want to risk doing business with this company? Why will they treat you any differently? A company which creates conflicting policies offering money-back guarantees in one paragraph and reserving the right to reject claims in another, is not a company dedicated to customer service, or social change.
Harry, I’m so sorry to hear about your problem with thinkhost, particularly since I found it a week AFTER I signed up with them, and a number of hours after I requested that they cancel my service and refund my money. I am dreadfully afraid I’m going to have to file a fraud report or a chargeback on my credit card to see my money back.
Did you ever get your money back, either from thinkhost or your credit card company? Did you ever file a BBB or legal complaint of some form?
I think they are based in Canada, I’m in the US, I have no idea who I should report them to, the Canadian Mounted Police? Whatever the Canadian equivalent is of district attorneys?
thinkhost – think PONZI scheme
it is that simple – they are the bermuda triangle of customer care – they have no intention of providing a refund and it is unethical of them to offer one given their actual system of organization
1 hour into a two year agreement I sent in my request for a refund. It disappeared into their support system and I have to suggest that that was no accident. There is no ‘billing@thinkhost.com’ email and this is where I was told by their customer care rep to up level my request for a refund.
thinkhost is a PONZI scheme and it is that simple