Well I’ve been talking recently about how to make money online for those of you who are considering making affiliate sales part of what you do on your blogs. Now let’s talk about how not to make money.
Just Host is the Best way to NOT make money online.
I work for multiple companies all over the world. Graeme Ingram, from Wales, coincidentally owner of RHWH SEO Services..  (Great company, but I digress)  asked me to recommend two hosting companies to him. Graeme likes to work with more than one hosting company. I selected Just host, a new affiliate I”d just gotten from Commission Junction. I posted the link for him on this website and he clicked it and signed on.

Now all of my hosting is with Ace-host.net and frankly, I’m happy with their hosting program. I referred Graeme to Ace-Host.net and he signed up there earlier this year. I don’t own a JUST HOST account because I like Acehost, I only have 80 sites and so leaving Ace-host .net never occurred to me but Graeme likes to have more than one in case one goes down the rest of his sites are still viable.. good stuff.

Here is the fun part. I asked Graeme the next day, had he signed for Just Host. He replied yes, gave me a copy of the Paypal l information and explained that he had done it nearly as soon as I posted the link. Commission Junction reflected no sales for me so I set out to find out why.

I sent to the email address on the Just host site. Apparently a billing email although I paid scant attention I’ll be honest. I asked them, why the sale did not reflect on my invoice from CJ and got this in response–That they needed my domain name.

Hello,

Thanks for your reply.

If someone else has signed up through one of your affiliate links, you must have an active account with us. I assume you are referring to our Affiliate program? Please tell me your domain name.

Awaiting your reply.

Kind Regards,
–
Izzy

Izzy Sturgess
Billing Representative

I said. i do not have hosting with you.. is that a requirement? she said. well you must have an account.. I don’t.. but I gave them the domain name where my link was sitting.HERE actually . and asked again.. why isn’t this  affiliate sale reflecting..
Here comes the second email.. Interesting stuff..a bit on the stupid side  but great. we’re making progress.

Hi,

Thanks for your e-mail.

I will now pass you to our affiliates department.

Please let me know if you require further assistance.

Kind regards,

–
Hannah

Hannah Wall
Billing Representative
www.justhost.com

LOL now HERE is the funny part kids.  I FINALLY get a response from the Affiliate team.. and .. This man responds to me.. and ACTUALLY expects me to believe that they run a hosting company but no one there is smart enough to be able to figure out that Graeme, a man who lives in WALES, UNITED KINGDOM, is not me.. a lady geek sitting in Arizona..that our IP adresses, our email addresses, our domain names, our EVERYTHING is unique and different and proves we’re not the same person.. Okay so Give a look at this.

So the response I got was this.

Hi ,

I have reviewed the missing referral and it seems obvious the sign up was made by yourself. Please note – Affiliates are not permitted to refer themselves under any circumstance within the affiliate program.

Our affiliate program automatically blocks sales where direct input from you as an affiliate is detected. If we believe an affiliate has deliberately committed affiliate fraud we will always take further action. I don’t believe this to be a deliberate attempt to do anything wrong however regardless, I cannot award you commission for this sale.

Please remember that this is a refer a friend program and under no circumstance should you be signing up under your own affiliate URL.

Regards,
–
Luke Kendall
Product Manager
www.JustHost.com

Now guys. I mean really. They have to be cretins … I live in Arizona, he lives in Wales, they can compare IP addresses, They can check my hosting. all 80+ domains in Ace HOSTING.. and Flately put. if they are THIS stupid.. that they can’t compare HIS domains with mine, or his IP with mine, or figure out from our email addresses that we are not the same person.. THEN HOW THE HELL can we trust them to HOST the sites ..

So I sent them back a note, saying that I am currently contacting Commission Junction to file a complaint, asking if we can conference call with CJ, Them and Mister Ingram..

No way, uh uh.. not happening.. So.. here is how NOT to make money.

JustHost.com is not the affiliate program to work with. Just HOST just failed to pay a commission on a legitimate sale..

You will not be paid out as you should be, you will be given reasons why, when the reality is that there is no way they could make the mistake of thinking we are the same person. The reality is that Just Host Affiliate program just defrauded me. The conclusion that we can make from this is that JUST HOST will defraud someone else as rapidly as they did me.

Tonight saw me penning hot letters to Commission Junction. Morning will see me on the phone talking to them . I also sent a letter to the Better Business Bureau and let’s hope that filing a formal complaint will get some results. Time will tell.  There is no way that you deserve to be treated in this way when you sell the products of a company in good faith and put the links on a PR 4 website.

There is no way that this is a mistake. Technical folks would have far too many ways to sort through it.. or simply ask for identification.. Interesting that they didn’t care enough to do that. If you can’t be paid by Just host when you actively work for them and seek out new customers for them. can you trust them to adequately and honestly represent your best interests when they host you?

I’ll let you guys know how the Better Business thing pans out.. Online Life  Just gets more and more interesting.

Unique development actually. Graeme and I figured out that we both use Ace-host for our hosting and our domains are both on some of their servers. Not the same servers but still. IF he had used one of his acehost emails there would be SOME valid reason to think that we were the same person, but since he did not, there is no earthly reason for them to think that we might even remotely resemble the same family, let alone be the same person. The BBB just sent back a reply mail and the case has been referred to  an office on the East Coast.

Here’s an Interesting update on the JUST HOST Fraud in Affiliate Sales episode. It appears that Just Host is not only practicing fraud in their affiliate dealings, based on the many reports and emails we’ve got coming in, but in checking RIPOFF Report, curiously..(I mean can you IMAGINE) it appears that Just Host is also a fraud and flake when it comes to hosting too.. go figure) check out the ripoff report guys before you host or affiliate with Just Host. There are better ways to spend your money and we’re not going to see these morons get any more out of decent people who just want to make a living online.