Avoid HostNine Hosting!!!
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.
Loading ...