Do you want to host your website with FatCow? Are you concerned about its mixed user reviews? Don’t worry, we’ll clear away your doubts to help you make the right decision for your website.
FatCow is among the oldest hosting providers with the company entering the business in 1998. It started well but the host hasn’t been able to keep up with its customer expectations.
People are facing multiple issues with the hosting provider and feel that the FatCow hosting sucks. We researched the reasons behind FatCow’s poor reviews.
Let’s discuss the reasons below.
Why does FatCow hosting sucks?
FatCow used to be a decent hosting provider, serving its client base satisfactorily. However, its quality of service went down the hill after its acquisition by the notorious EIG Group.
It is the same company that owns Bluehost and many other hosting firms.
Currently, the owners are using the same servers for FatCow and Bluehost. The EIG Group is focusing on growing Bluehost’s customer base at present.
Unfortunately, they are neglecting the service quality of FatCow in doing so.
Let’s discuss where they are falling short in our next sections.
Abandoned company
FatCow is still in business to this day. However, the EIG Group has almost abandoned it since its acquisition. People who signed up with FatCow before this acquisition are still able to log in to their dashboards.
But, they are, kind of, left on their own to handle their issues.
As far as new registrations are concerned, it is no longer possible. So if you’re planning to sign up with FatCow in 2024, you won’t be able to do that.
The EIG group is redirecting all new applications to Bluehost since it is desperate to expand its customer base.
The group has also laid off a lot of people from FatCow since it acquired the hosting company. So it’s safe to say that EIG doesn’t care much about FatCow.
It is forwarding all new customers to Bluehost which is their primary focus currently.
Horrible Support
FatCow has horrible customer support. The company no longer has any phone support. It doesn’t even have enough representatives to respond to the customers opting for chat support.
The owners are immensely absorbed in promoting and growing Bluehost. But the sad part is that Bluehost will not offer support to the FatCow customers.
So they are left alone to tackle their problems without any support.
Major headache in manual migration
FatCow poses a major headache when you migrate away from the host. You’ll have to say goodbye to your emails forever. This is one of the caveats of moving away from FatCow hosting.
So, if you decide to change your hosting provider, your emails are likely to stay with FatCow eternally. You won’t be able to move them to your new host. It is probably because of the use of different control panels.
FatCow uses vDeck while most other web hosting providers utilize cPanel as their control panels.
Another major problem with FatCow is manual migration which is cumbersome and time-consuming. When you decide to migrate your website from FatCow to another host, you’ll have to transfer everything manually.
Most hosting providers use cPanel while FatCow doesn’t. This comes in the way of automating the migration process. Therefore, you will have to move your databases, files, and all the settings manually to your new hosting account.
Scam attempts
FatCow is also becoming infamous for its recent scam attempts. The company charges its customers automatically even when they turn off the auto-renewal in their hosting accounts.
To top it off, the host refuses to process refunds in some of these situations.
FatCow does NOT guarantee 30-day moneyback
Most hosting providers have a 30-day money-back guarantee but FatCow offers it with limitations. One of their hidden clauses is to refund only those orders which were paid via credit cards.
FatCow recommends purchasing its hosting services using your credit card. It mentions this as a condition to claim a refund under its 30-day money-back guarantee policy.
It is usually a cheap business strategy to force customers to use their credit cards to make payments.
FatCow knows that you’ll have less control over automatic payments scheduled on your credit card. It might keep on charging you automatically unless you take action through your bank.
Another thing to keep in mind is that FatCow guarantees only the refund of hosting fees. The company won’t refund the amount paid for any additional services.
Neither will you get back the money spent on add-ons such as spam protection, backups, etc.
Server Downtimes
You’ll experience frequent server downtimes with FatCow.
A lot of people complain about slowdowns and awful FatCow server performance. This points out the fact that FatCow and EIG, in general, do not manage the servers well.
Probably, they overcrowd their servers with a lot of websites.
Server Response-time
FatCow servers have a pathetic response time. Generally, a well-managed server for shared web hosting delivers a pretty good server response time (in milliseconds) which looks like this:
But FatCow’s server response time is more than ten times slower than that. Check it out here:
The above response time is pretty common with FatCow servers. The website responds in seconds instead of milliseconds. Plus, you’ll face frequent and long downtimes.
Unexpected Price Hikes
FatCow had reasonably-priced hosting plans earlier. However, their service prices have gone through the roof with time. The plans are relatively cheaper during the registration process.
But the renewal rates are way too high, making them unaffordable for many.
A lot of FatCow customers complain about its high prices:
Too Many Upsells
FatCow performs annoying and aggressive upselling attempts. Offering additional services for your website is a good thing but forcing them on your customers is not acceptable.
Sadly, that is what FatCow tries to do, even with its loyal customers.
Moreover, the host tries to sell you features that you should have by default for free. For instance, backup maintenance and website security features are available for free with other hosting providers but they are not offered by FatCow.
Conclusion
FatCow used to be a good host initially. However, now FatCow hosting sucks because its quality of service deteriorated after its acquisition by the EIG Group.
The owners have almost abandoned the company since they have other priorities.
FatCow has poor customer support and server response times. It comes with frequent server downtimes and an unreliable money-back guarantee.
Additionally, you’ll experience unexpected price hikes with the host. So, we recommend looking for other options rather than going ahead with FatCow or any hosting company acquired by EIG.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Is FatCow a good hosting company?
No, FatCow is not a good hosting company anymore. It used to be a decent host before its acquisition by the EIG Group. However, its service quality has declined drastically with the change in its ownership.
Who bought FatCow?
The notorious EIG Group bought FatCow. It is the same group that owns Bluehost as well. EIG is purchasing a lot of hosting companies and redirecting their customers to Bluehost.
They are focusing on growing customer base of Bluehost and investing heavily in the same.
