Non-Disclosures for hosting??
 

How many of you guys have been approached by hosting companies asking you to sign an NDA before they give you great pricing?

Two of these guys offered to beat the best pricing I have been offered, but only if I sign an NDA. Why the fuck would I want to limit my ability to get good prices in the future just because they don't have the balls to compete openly?

Or am I wrong? This used to be a great idea 3+ years ago, but now its fucking stupid. IMO.

Fucking pissed,

Rik

Ask quiet. He requires a NDA before you are allowed to ICQ him.

They do this so that they can undercut what they charge their other hosting clients. If i pay $400 per mbit/sec from them and they sell you a mbit for 300 i would be fucking pissed, but if you signed a NDA you could not tell me that you were offered the price of $300.

Joe

How would the the NDA prevent you from getting better quotes from anywhere else. I would think that they just want to make sure that the quote stays between you and them and is not in the public domain. In any case we dont ask for NDAs. :)

If someone asks where I host, and I say "L3", and they say how much I am paying per mb/s, I tell them because I am not in the hosting business its not a trade secret.

If they can beat the price (and I believe them) I can consider doing business with them. If they can't, they know it right away and can come back in 90 days with a new offer.

If I can't tell them, then I have to go round & round saying "that isn't good enough". It wastes my time and ensures I can't get the price I need to make it worth my while to move.

If they have problems, I am under an NDA so I can't ask other people about their experiences, etc.

It all around sucks.

Rik

how often do you plan to switch hosting providers? sheesh. :)

I don't like changing providers at all. And I certainly don't do it very often.

What I *do* like is knowing where I am relative to the rest of the industry.

Rik

I understand what you're saying, but there are certain things that the NDA can not limit, icq me 161151471, I will explain further.

I hate ICQ. Just post up here if you don't mind. I am sure other people are interested anyway.

Thanks,

Rik

Instead of telling other hosts what youre currently paying or where youre hosted, just tell them the maximum your willing to pay.

Sure, but then they have no way of knowing if I am legitimately pricing a deal or a competitor trying to gather info on them.

Rik

I think most of you guys are kind of missing the point on this, lets use someones example companies from above. I sign a NDA from "L3" and they give me a quote, i think the biggest thing that this stops is people going around saying how much they're paying from that company and the details of your agreement. WHY would a company want this? Quite Simple. If webmaster A and Webmaster B both buy bandwidth at L3 (and more of it th an i would) and i get a cheaper price with a big enough difference in cost than Webmaster A and Webmaster B, what do you think those two webmasters will do when they find out? Demand they get the same price on the bandwidth as the other guy as they rightfully should or they would probably jump ship, i know i would.


The NDA will stop people from talking about any aspect of the hosting company with others thus preventing you from getting the truth out of them (or someone else) about how their service really is or anything else you could possibly dream up.

My advice, Fuck the NDA, and see if you can find anyone who will talk, get their input and make your own choices BUT DO NOT BE A PRICK and nark the guy out as he is probably doing a huge favour by sparing you the greif of signing up with this company.

The only reason i say this is that i think a NDA for something as simple as hosting is a very weird thing and have never heard of it. If you had a NDA on a business plan that someone else did breaking the rules of the NDA would not really be acceptable (in my eyes) but considering you havent signed anything yet then you're as safe as can be.