Jude’s Blog

Archive for April, 2009

Since I’ve done a hack job on HostNine, I thought it only fair to let you all know my experience with all the other hosts I’ve been with over the years.  When I started my own web presence in 1997, it was with an AOL page.  In 2000 I ventured out on my own with Jude’s Place.  Who did I decide to go with?

Well, back then registrars charged WAY too much for domains. I was paying about $25 a year with the one I was with back then.  I did some research and found omnis.com.  They only charged $7.95 a year, so I transferred over.  Needing a new host as well, I noticed they had a rate of only $2.95 a month for their hosting.  I looked a bit and that was about the best rate I could find.  The space (only 5MB) and bandwidth was very low, but I had a small site and didn’t need much.  I don’t remember any downtime with them, and I was with them longer than any since, from 2000 – 2005. They did well until my site started growing, and I needed more space. Their next level was $6.95 a month, which was too high for me, so I decided to look elsewhere. Not finding any other registar with better rates, I left my domain with them, and have since registered ALL my future domains with them.  So obviously I trust this company!

In 2005 I saw a funny Super Bowl commercial for GoDaddy.  It stuck in my mind, so when I was thinking about finding a new host, I looked them up.  They were only a bit higher than omnis.com, around $3.29 a month if I purchased at least a year at a time.  They offered a huge amount of space and bandwidth, along with MySql databases.  I hosted with them until mid 2008 and never even got close to using all the space, bandwidth or databases offered with my plan.  The downtime was very minimal and was usually only with the database servers.  I did have a few minor issues with them about the max email storage, main ftp accounts and cron jobs, but none of that really interfered with my hosting experience.  I did leave their hosting to see if I could find better, but I discovered the hard way that there wasn’t.  The next 3 hosts made me decide to return to Godaddy about a week ago.

I found IX Webhosting in early April 2008, and it sounded perfect!  Their Expert plan was about the same rate as Godaddy with even more space, and I could host ALL my domains with just the one account. The more time you sign up for, the cheaper per month you paid. Not wanting to pay more than a year in advance, that made it $4.95 a month. Not bad. I moved Jude’s Place over with very high hopes. Luckily, I didn’t move anything else over at first, since I wanted to give them a shot first.  All I had was nightmares with this host.  I’ll copy and paste my cancelation request with them:

“I have been unhappy with your company since day one, but I gave it almost two months to see if you would get better.  Well, you’ve only gotten worse, and I’m tired of all the frustration. If it’s not downtime, it’s too many connections on my database so that my forum is down all the time.  Not to mention the pitifully slow email and lack of spam guards!  I made a mistake moving to you as a host and would like to be refunded at least my unused 10 months prorated from my initial payment!!!  Thank you.”

Once they canceled my account and refunded my unused months, I realized the amount was too low. I asked them about it, only to find out that the $30 “waived” setup fee had been deducted from my refund. I told them that I would dispute that $30 with  my credit card company.  I did, and I got that money back. I left them in late May 2008

I asked some people I knew online who they would recommend for a host.  Everyone raved about HostGator, so I thought I’d give them a try.  Their Hatchling plan looked to be pretty economical at $4.95 a month, but I was shocked to discover that you only get that rate if you pay for three years in advance. Not wanting to do that, and not wanting to pay $8.95 per month, I signed up for a year at $6.95 a month (which I still feel is too much to pay), but at that point I was willing to pay a bit more for a reliable host.  I thought I might have better luck with this host, since I couldn’t find a negative review on them.  I held my breath and hoped I would be lucky.  Everything seemed to go well at first but then I consistently couldn’t view my site.  HostGator has a live chat, so I used it quite frequently for a few days.  My site would come up for a few minutes but would then “go down” for hours at a time.  I complained to support, who told me that they could view my site just fine.  I tried to explain that I couldn’t and asked them what could be the problem.  They asked me to view the site through a prozy site, and I could then view it…but why not through my regular browser?  They did a check of my IP to see if it was banned, both at home and work, but neither were banned.  It didn’t matter which computer or connection I used, my site couldn’t be viewed for more than a few minutes at a time.  I finally got one of their support techs that admitted that their firewall was the problem.  He reset it, and my site came back up…for a few minutes.  I couldn’t continue to deal with this, so I asked if I canceled, what was their policy on refunds.  I was assured that I would get all my unused months back, and I did.  I left sometime in July.

So I searched for a new host. Not wanting to backup, download and upload to a new host, I found one that would do it for me.  HostNine seemed to be the answer to my dreams.  The transfer to them from HostGator was seamless. They even had my emails. Except for a few variations in my cpanel, I couldn’t even tell I was with a new host, except my site was up ALL the time!  I was ecstatic.  I was gun shy about paying for another year in advance, so their monthly billing of $3.95 was ideal for me.  I could try them out, and if I didn’t like them, I could easily tranfer back to GoDaddy. That was my initial plan, to switch back if I had 3 bad luck situations in a row with other hosts…but everything went well.  Except for one downtime of a few hours after about a month with HostNine, I never noticed any other problems. My forum ran fine, so I could finally breathe a sigh of relief…or so I thought.  Please read my other blog for more details on this unbelievably bad host.  It is my guess that they decided to increase their price to $6.95 a month to be paid a year in advance and wanted to weed out those of us only paying $3.95.  You would think they would just discontinue that lower rate and give their customers the chance to leave or upgrade to the new price.  I wasn’t given such an opportunity, but I would have left, since I’m not willing to pay that much.

So I moved back to Godaddy. I lost my lower rate and am now paying about $4.45 a month. I paid for 2 years in advance to get that rate, but I feel confident with my decision to return to my previous host. The best advice I can offer you is to do your research before choosing a host.  Take the negative reviews seriously!

I swear I feel as if I’ve been in the twilight zone the last week.  Last Saturday morning I was horrified to see my whole site down with a rude message from my host (at the time) to contact billing/support as soon as possible.  I then discovered an email from them that I had been suspended for exceeding their acceptable memory and cpu usage.  The problem was VERY easily corrected, which I then tried to do, only to find that I had been totally locked out of my account.  I couldn’t even access my files via ftp.  My hands were tied. I emailed them and asked if they could fix the problem and unsuspend my account. They merely responded that they could no longer host me and that I needed to look elsewhere. I was flabbergasted.  I had been with them for 9 months with NO PROBLEMS.  Couldn’t they have let me know ahead of time that there was a potential problem that needed to be fixed? Was it really better to decide that what was done was unforgivable and unfixable?  I guess so with HostNine.  I then asked if they could at least provide me with a backup, so I could get my site back up and operational.  I had already moved my site back to Godaddy, which I had been with previously, but I hadn’t downloaded any recent backups. The support at HostNine said they could provide a backup and asked that I stop emailing them for a “restore”.  I assume that meant they didn’t want me to ask them to let me stay with them, like that was even a factor at that point!  I would never stay with them after being suspended, since I couldn’t trust them ever again.

The last week has been pretty stressful, wondering if I would ever get that backup.  I finally got tired of waiting and started posting a negative review on HostNine everywhere I could find a site to post it.  I made sure to post it first on a popular web hosting forum where I knew they were a member.  Took only a few hours for them to respond, and Ben (the operation’s manager) assured me that I would get my backup.  He was true to his word, and I received the link about an hour later.  Did I only get the backup because I complained publicly?  Did I only get it because a few of the members on the forum began to see things my way and looked negatively at HostNine?  I guess I’ll never know, and I really don’t care. I got my backup, so my site is FINALLY back to normal after almost a full week of chaos.

Do you think the drama is over with now?  OF COURSE NOT!!! I got my normal monthly invoice from HostNine’s billing department this morning.  Shocked and amused, I wrote them back and told them of my suspension and advised them to contact the support department.  I got a response with a link that I needed to visit and fill out their special cancellation form or I would be BILLED for service!  I could only laugh. I did fill it out though and let them know how ludicrous they were being. Talk about the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing! Let them try to bill me. Will they take me collections or have their lawyers take me to court for $3.95?  They suspended my account on the 12th, and I was paid up through the 18th!  They owe me for those 6 days, but they expect me to continue to pay them? Oh my!  Sometimes you have to laugh…or you could go crazy!  I’ll update this if the drama continues!

4/22/09 update: I canceled with HostNine on the 20th, and they sent me my first overdue invoice notice this morning. I just feel so sorry for those of you that used this pitiful host and paid for a year in advance. Especially those that used a credit card instead of Paypal.  Though they are unable to automatically bill my Paypal account, they would be able to if I had used a credit card.  They can feel free to send me those overdue notices, which I will continue to delete unread.  It is truly amazing how your opinion of something can change overnight!  I should never have left Godaddy in the first place!

I have done a few searches, and most of the problems people have had with HostNine is that it’s hard to cancel billing with them, especially if you used a credit card.  I am SO thankful I used paypal!  I did want to point out that this is another HUGE reason not to host with them.  Let me detail a situation for you.  Let’s say that you are naive enough to sign up with them and pay a year in advance.  At their current rate of $6.95 a month, that will set you back $83.40.  Let’s also say that a month goes by with no problems. You’re feeling pretty good about your new host, since they have great uptime and you know you won’t ever have any problems exceeding the space and bandwidth of your plan. Unlimited is unlimited, right?  Then one morning you check your site, and it’s DOWN!  You stare in shock and wonder what happened.  You paid for a year and still have over 10 months left,  so what could be wrong?  You then check your email and find a suspension notice that is dated that morning and only a few minutes ago.  SUSPENDED?  For what? They copy and paste a bunch of mumbo jumbo that means nothing to you and inform you that you have exceeded their acceptable memory and/or CPU usage that is detailed in their TOS (or should I say POS?). You can only blink at first.  Didn’t I pay for unlimited, you ask yourself?  Remember though, that HostNine doesn’t know what unlimited means, and they are sneaky in their TOS. If something wasn’t covered in their POS (oh, I mean TOS), they will simply edit them to include whatever they say you did (I found this bit of trivia by searching google).  OK, moving on.  You’ve been suspended, and you try to see if they will unsuspend you.  You beg and plead, only to be told that you will need to find hosting elsewhere.  You gasp and sputter, after all you paid for a full year.  You ask them about your unused months, only to be told that they do not issue refunds…but you canceled me, you respond.  No we didn’t, they fire back, we only suspended you.  See, that’s their trick.  They don’t cancel your account, they suspended you. Your account and all your files are still there, and won’t be deleted until YOU cancel. If you want to cancel billing, so they won’t say you owe them even MORE money, you would then have to cancel.  Then they are covered as far as having to refund anything, since YOU are the one that canceled.  How can they get away with it?  I’m not sure how it can even be legal, but until someone takes their crooked butts to court, I doubt it will stop. The only thing you can do to keep them from doing it to you is….DON’T HOST WITH THEM!!!

Oh, and I almost forgot! There was a hacktool virus within the backup they sent. At least the removal is as easy as deleting the file.

I’ve been getting into twittering a bit more lately and figuring out how the whole thing works.  It is neat how you can respond to other people’s tweets, and there’s quite a few celebrities on there.  I’m using the site to run a giveaway on my forum.  Feel free to visit and take part in it, whether you want to win the prize OR just help me get more followers. 

http://www.judesplace.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=2720