Bluehost Hosting - An Honest Review

If you're looking to get hosting today or sometime soon, this might be a good article to read to help you make your decision. I first started using Bluehost at the end of last year and here's some info I looked for in a host when I first started out. The pro's/con's are still relevant to me today.

Technical Support

You most likely want to know if you can actually call at any time to get assistance with your issue, right? That was important to me.

My dream is to blog from anywhere in the world and get help if I need it at any time. So, I love when companies actually mean "We're open 24 hours a day." Bluehost is open 24/7 and has helped me with technical issues at all hours. I've called them at 1AM MST, during the day, and early morning.

Some other companies might have 24 hours technical support but it might be just "chat support." You should make sure before you get the service to ask a representative if, "I can actually speak to a person at any time if I have issues."

In my case, I wanted to speak to someone because I don't really know much about scripts and html. At the same time, there are other companies that do have true 24/7 tech's, so of course Bluehost is not the only one. I just liked the complete package of this hosting company, but I advise that you look into the details before you get hosted by anyone.

Technical Support Representatives

I think being good at your job is one part technical knowledge, and one part being understanding of an issue. In short, my experience so far is that they’ve have been good at both. It's been good for me, but that doesn't matter to a certain degree. I've read that some technicians weren't that nice and helpful from other forums. I'm sure it possible, I've just never experienced it.

Finding the Right Host

The host for my first blog was Bluehost. Before I started my search, the second time around, I read a lot of forums and review blogs. The people writing the blog sounded really similar, probably because they were just trying to sell me and not giving me their real experience or just help in general. When I did buy hosting, it was from the person that was the most honest and spoke from what he had been through. That's what I was looking for. I suggest using your intuition because most reviews are just sales pages without real substance.

"Money Back Guarantee?" (Prorated Refund?)

I did close my account a few months ago because I didn't need hosting for a few months, but I did ask for a prorated refund. They did give it to me, I think even to the day. They did hold the money I paid for the "free domain." That was $10. They also held the $5 for privacy of the domain. All in all, you do get money back for the hosting, but you most likely will not get a refund for the domain and privacy, unless things have changed since then.

My Only Issue with Bluehost Itself

The one issue that I do remember having is a customer service rep did call me after 7PM, even though I asked them to note that "I didn't want to be contacted after seven o'clock." After asking them for the second time, they didn't call me again after 7 at night. So, not a huge issue.

Their Support When I Did Have an Issue

I had two big issues with my blog since last year. One issue was with my name servers pointing in the wrong location. That was an easy fix and the tech support guy was really nice. You know when you just have an easy back and forth conversation with a person? That's the way it was with this tech.

My second issue was with something I don't even understand today. It was complicated and I needed help at odd hours, like 11 PM and I think even 1 AM another time. The tech was pretty nice, but not overly nice, like the first person I talked about. He was helpful though. We got the issue fixed and he walked me through the issue so that I don't get it on my other sites.

Conclusion

If you found this helpful and it assisted you in making your decision, please use the blue "helpful" link to order your service. If you're not ready to order, I suggest reading more forums/reviews to get a better feel of this this or another host.

The most important part is that you're happy because you will generally be with a host for about a year or so.

Good luck with your decision and your future site.