Developer Warns Against Using Bluehost as Hosting Provider

A web developer wanted to warn others against using Bluehost as their hosting provider. This person said that their opinion is based on the ethical decisions Bluehost made in their customer service. The web developer wanted to make a site, so they chose Bluehost after watching some videos about their service plans. They purchased a plan that cost a few hundred dollars. They got started making their site.

After about nine hours of work, Bluehost shut their site down. The web developer sent customer service at Bluehost an email to ask what happened. The Bluehost sent a message saying that it got locked because of "suspicious activity." The person then called and talked for a long time about their IP for payment being different from the original one used for the card because they use a VPN. The individual confirmed the payment with their bank. The transaction was confirmed and approved.

Bluehost then asked the developer to send them photos of their identification card. The developer was not even asked to remove private data, such as their driver's license number or address. This is a huge security issue. The person was not willing to send an email with their driver's license. The developer believes that Bluehost had no valid reason to ask for it, because there were no tax implications requiring them to prove residency. It would be a security breach if the developer sent this.

The developer said that they would get Bluehost in a conference call with their bank. Bluehost declined. They kept asking for the developer's ID before issuing a refund. The developer got the refund, but whoever issued it wondered why they sent their ID.

Most banks would disagree with the company's ethics. One person who replied said that the web developer should have called their bank or credit card to report the problem as service not provided before sending images o their ID through email. Another person suggested that the web developer should quickly look for an alternative. They should also make sure that every step of their site is backed up elsewhere every day. For more information click here https://www.reddit.com/r/web_design/comments/eb76yg/do_not_choose_bluehost_as_your_hosting_provider/.