Web Hosting

After experiencing what I experienced with my hosting company.. Oh wait.. I know some of you read it, but for those who don’t know yet, here’s what happened. And please be patient in reading this entry, It’s going to be a short slash long version because this happened in a span of a couple of months, so trying to finish the story in one paragraph and being able to convey what I felt that time, is NOT possible.

My hosting company lost my database when they migrated platforms. Meaning.. They lost all my info, and left me without a blog I lost all my posts, comments, links.. I had to start from scratch! Worst of all, I even got one email stating that there was never a record of my blog.. And all I could say was, “So, for the past 9 months that I’ve been with you, I paid for hosting and didn’t do anything, basically wasted my money? What about all the “support” that I was getting setting up my blog and assistance with other problems, those were all fabricated..?”

After-3-months-of-starting-over.. Guess what!?! They lost it again! I was so pissed because I just renewed a 1 year contract with them, and I really contemplated on that decision, I was weighing pros and cons of transferring and when I finally decided that I would transfer I asked the other hosting company what I needed to do, that was basically back up my database so I can dump it in their server. And boy I tried to do that for 2 weeks and kept complaining to my current provider that back up-ping my database was being a difficult task because their system converts it to a downloadable file and then a link appears after the whole process so I can download it. Apparently even after waiting overnight for the whole conversion process to finish, ( that long! ) I just get an error message. And who wouldn’t be pissed right? You would too! If you patiently tried to do the back up process for 14 days just to see if I’ll be able to do it so I can transfer hosts. When that wasn’t successful, I thought about the recent few weeks that they’ve assisted me.. and said, what the heck they wouldn’t screw up again, or so i hope!

Ergo I renewed my contract. And after 2, T.W.O. measly days. Everything magically disappeared! What the heck right? And again I got messages telling me that what they have is just this and that info and nothing else.. That they’ve removed the “linking” so it was not pointing to my blog anymore. etc etc. I was so fed up that I said, “IF YOU CAN’T FREAKIN’ RESTORE IT, I WANT TO BE REFUNDED THE RENEWAL FEE. I DON’T WANT TO BE CHARGED $35 FOR THE CANCELLATION, BECAUSE I WOULDN’T BE CANCELLING IF YOUR SERVICE DIDN’T SUCK, AND ITS BEEN 2 DAYS SINCE I RENEWED MY CONTRACT YOU GUYS DIDN’T EVEN WAIT UNTIL 7 MONTHS TO SCREW UP.” This reaction was after numerous emails back and forth with their customer service, live support chats (and they even have a couple of reps, or maybe just 1 with multiple screen names, who isn’t the epitome of a customer service rep. She “talks” like she doesn’t know what she’s talking about, promos offers etc, that when I ask her things she tells me, “we don’t have that” and I’m like ” I’m opting out on renewing my contract and I’m getting a retainer offer and you’re telling me you don’t have that..?”).

Bottom line is. GET A GOOD HOSTING COMPANY. THERE ARE A LOT OUT THERE! And here I thought, for spending over Php4,000 a year for hosting I was getting something decent. ( But not to jinx it, so far IT hasn’t happened again, both me and my sister share the same hosting and this happened to me only, I guess i’m the one-in-a-million huh).

When I was searching for a new web hosting site, I came across Web Hosting Geeks (WHG), they give you a very good comparative table of top rated hosting companies and in one single screen you can compare the services and costs, and what’s good is, there are promotions given by certain hosts that when you click their link from WHG’s website you get a cheaper package deal!

And when my friend Van, who owns Acroshores, told me she wanted to fix her own website, (she trialed with her Multiply Account) I referred her to the one I was supposed to switch to, which I found in WHG’s website, Justhost, (click to read WHG’s review) an Australian company that offers hosting for $3.95 a month. She got them as her hosting company and I am still currently fixing her website.. With the sore eyes and all I had to put it on hold..

How about you? Any horror stories with your hosting company? If you want to look for cheaper hosting ( but not any less effective ) why don’t you try Web Hosting Geeks, read reviews it might help you decide