Hundreds of complaint threads at the largest webhosting forum in the world have been made about TP and most of them threads have proof backing up the persons story, so its not just hearsay it is fact that they get alot of unhappy customers. Ok noob.
This doesn't mean they provide a sub-standard service. This means that ThePlanet is one of the largest DC's and WHT has a large assortment noobs that dont know how to pay a bill or admin a server and will blame everyone else instead of taking responsibilities. Either way you go, it is always best to have someone take care of the administration aspects of he server. Your line of work is developing and marketing sites, not running a server.
Cihost is the biggest privately owned by a single owner and offers a wide range of services that suits your needs.
Ive been talking with Tim at ASmallOrange.com about this myself. ASO changed how they are offering managed dedicated. They are asking you to buy the server - which is about $1500 - and then charge $150 a month for the bandwidth, management, etc. Over 2 years- the cost comes down to about 225 a month. Which is in line with or even cheaper then most of the others - The server that goes for 1500 is a dual core dell - with a 15k rpm HD - This would be great for those who have alot of DB action going on.
As stated I can not speak for anyone else or there knowledge of how to admin a server but I can say that once again my own personal experiences with TP have been very good.
Theplanet is the best one.There customer support is superb allthough the cost is on higher side but the good support makes it for all.They help through all the issues.