Being poor costs more
I wrote the following letter to DreamHost, my webhosting provider:
Hello,
I've been a loyal Dreamhost customer for years. I register all of my domains with DH.
From Jan, 2020 - Mar, 2021, I paid $10.99 monthly for shared hosting.
Since April, 2021, I have paid $13.95 monthly for hosting. There were a few weird months where I had VPS and switched back because it was garbage, and then I got $8.95 for a couple months. And there were a couple months that I had to pay $5 for extended PHP support, which I was pretty grumpy about.
For Jan 2020 - Mar 2021, that's about $164.25
For Apr 2021 - December 2024 (my next bill date), that's about $629.55
Together for four years of Shared Unlimited hosting, that's about $783.80, not considering the weird months, and not counting the many domain registrations.
I believe I've seen the 3-year plan with DH available for a rate of $2.99 per month, which would yield about $144 for 4 years. Going by the current 3-year rate of $3.99 per month, that's about $192. I see you are currently offering Shared Unlimited for $8.95 with per-month payments. At this rate, it would have been about $432 for 4 years.
The reason I have a monthly plan is because I'm dirt poor and never have enough money to get a 3-year plan, and that leaves me, essentially, being ripped off because I'm poor. About $591 that I've spent just because I'm too poor to get a long-term plan. I understand DH may have slightly higher costs for monthly billing than for every 3-years, due to payment processor fees. But I suspect that its not a very large difference.
I also don't understand why I'm being billed $13.95 a month when $8.95 is what's currently on offer. Its like I'm being punished for being a loyal customer.
I'd really appreciate a meaningful discount. In the last month, I've been diagnosed with low bone density (osteopenia). I've long been disabled and unable to work much due to mental illness, so most of my income came from selling blood plasma. I can no longer do that, both because of the impacts it had on my mental health and because of the osteopenia diagnosis. Some income came from odd jobs as well, but those have largely dried up due to worsening mental health, so my income is very low, and I have to wait at least four months before finding out if my disability SSI application is approved or denied.
While i quite frankly think I deserve to get half of my money back ... I'd be quite happy if DH could accommodate me by providing me with Shared Unlimited at the current best-rate of $3.99, but with the monthly payments instead of a lump-sum payment of ~$144 for all three years.
To be clear, I'm asking that my current hosting plan be made available to me for $3.99 per month, and that I be allowed to continue paying monthly.
Thank you for considering my request.
Regards,
Reed