Bigstep.com using bait and switch?
Back in October of 2000 I discovered a webhost called Bigstep.com that offered a free website (it included their banner on your site). They also had upgrade packages available at a cost to you whereby they would remove their banner. Ok that's fair. I designed three sites for friends of mine, who each owned a small business (not people who wanted to pay to be on the web).
Now 7 months later, after their websites have been marketed, Bigstep sends me an e-mail stating that they will now have to charge everyone for their sites, including pre-existing customers. Keep in mind that even the lowest priced site still includes their banner. Hmmm...we pay Bigstep to advertise on our site? That doesn't sound right. It also doesn't sound right that people are being led in by the word "free" and then, once established, are being charged to keep their sites. Could this be the old "bait and switch?" I smell a rat.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
A few more thoughts occurred to me...
#20
Sat, June 09, 2001
After writing my initial report regarding Bigstep.com, I had time to think some more and came up with several more points. They are as follows:
Since Bigstep's banner is on all three sites, anyone who visits these sites are seeing Bigstep's advertising on my site.
The following is the number of hits that each of the sites I designed has received since being published:
Site #1 = From Jan. 2001 to May 31, 2001 this site has had a total of 1532 hits, which resulted from either newspaper ads or submissions to search engines.
Site #2 = From Feb. 24, 2001 to May 31, 2001 this site has had a total of 277 hits, which resulted from submissions to search engines.
Site #3 has not been marketed yet due to receiving the e-mail from Bigstep whereby they intend to charge for sites now.
Total number of hits to my sites = 1809.
My point is this...not only have my sites received potential business, so has Bigstep. All of which were a result of my work in advertising.
Why would I pay money to Bigstep.com, since they too are benefitting from these sites? It just doesn't seem fair.