Web Hosting Gone Bad
by Frank Jovine on 11/08/2008 in Business, Internet
Since 1995, I have relied on web hosting companies to provide me the best in class hosting. I thought that I would never experience the lack of care, support that my current provider Aplus.net has exhibited.
I felt like a hostage over the last 5 days (October 31st to November 4th) getting the run around and being told 3 different status on why my web account was terminated (they call it suspended). I have called their support, billing department 4 times and sent 5 emails to abuse.net (as instructed by support to get my site un-suspended). I am in day 5 now and I just got off the phone with Aplus.net. The bottom-line was they were never going to activate my account.
What did I lose?
No refund on shared accounts that are paid annually (Total loss $200).
No access to my files and folders (Total loss = time). They finally gave me access after 5 days.
What can I do?
I am doing what needs to be done. Making other people aware that this could happen to them. Look else where if you’re shopping for a web hosting company. They can suspend your hosting account and keep your money in a flash. Don’t risk the chance of losing your hard earned money! What a racket that is!
My mission:
To post on every social media site, web hosting forum, web hosting review site and every social network. I will reach out to my friends for their help if they have the time, but I will not stop. The goal is to see a post show up in the first page in Google when someone searches for cheap hosting.
You can call this payback, but you have to understand, I did what they instructed by moving my site off their server. They advised me to upgrade to a dedicated server and I would never do such a thing. How could anyone invest more money into a company that treats their customers like hostages? Instead, I moved my web site to another host that seems to be handling the traffic with no problem. Even after I moved TechJaws.com, they refused to provide access to my other web sites so that I could download my files and folders.
Aplus.net can handle static pages, but not web sites that utilize MYSQL on the back-end. If you have a blog using WordPress, and your traffic is more than 500 unique visitors per day, look else where!
I have included the chat transcripts below for your viewing.
Ravi Gupta
Nov 8th, 2008
Your documents aren’t working. I would really enjoy reading them since I also left Aplus because of their shitty service.
-Ravi Gupta
Fan of anyone who leaves Aplus.
db0
Nov 8th, 2008
Seriously, what crappy webhosting company cannot handle LAMP and disables users’ accounts when they simply want to use a standard piece of software like WordPress? Did you find their services in a cracker box or something?
Frank J
Nov 8th, 2008
I appreciate the support and feedback Ravi. I think they’re a poor example of cheap web hosting. I will check the documents to ensure they work so check back in a few moments.
Frank J
Nov 8th, 2008
dbo – They can’t handle interactive sites on their shared plans. You will not find any SLA that spells this out.
Dominique
Nov 8th, 2008
I am not computer savvy so please know that up front. However, I have been with squarespace.com for almost a year and I love them. Customer service is fast (w/in 24 hours at the most) and they have solved every problem I have ever had.
In addition, my blog doesn’t look like anyone else and I have so many tools at my disposal.
I am sorry about your horrible experience. Maybe squarespace.com might be a better fit.
bloggista
Nov 9th, 2008
That one sucks… Uptime is crucial for a blog to survive. I am with Bluehost/Hostmonster, although I am not totally satisfied. I am actually looking for a reliable yet reasonably priced Hosting (dedicated) to host my on-demand softwares. Any suggestion?
Frank J
Nov 9th, 2008
I am now with Bluehost as well and hope that they can deliver a world class solution for me. So far so good after one week.
Adam
Nov 9th, 2008
I found APlus.net to be awesome – and inexpensive. The service is fast, the techs know a lot about everything.
Frank J
Nov 9th, 2008
On smaller and less traffic sites maybe, but not sites using MYSQL. Their tech support is fair at best. Good luck!
I am surprised you didn’t leave your web address so I can look at it….strange
Anymouse
Nov 9th, 2008
It’s loss, not lose.
Frank J
Nov 9th, 2008
You’re right aplus staff
Frank J
Nov 9th, 2008
You haven’t seen nothing yet….Aplus employee….
cchiovitti
Nov 9th, 2008
Ah Frank, that sucks. Sorry techjaws had to go through that crap. I thumbed you up on SU, dugg, voted on Mixx, buzzed, and added to Tagfoot for you. Always good to spread the word on companies with bad service – hopefully save someone else the grief.
Fool
Nov 10th, 2008
That is unreal, I really do not understand the level of customer service some companies get by with. Seems to me they would want to keep you as a customer and work with you on resolving the situation. I wouldn’t even link to them Frank, I would change it to A + dot Net, they don’t deserve the link.
Frank J
Nov 10th, 2008
cch: Thanks so much for the support!
Fool: You’re right. You would think they would work something out. They’re the worst I have experienced in 13 years.
Russ Gilman
Nov 10th, 2008
My name is Russ Gilman and I am the Sr. V.P. of Customer Care at Aplus.Net. I would appreciate it if you would contact me regarding this. Something here does not add up. While we do, indeed, suspend customers that abuse the services of Aplus.Net (spamming, phishing sites, fraud, etc.), this is done on a permanent basis only regarding customers that are in egregious violation or conducting illegal activites.
I would like to look into the situation and determine exactly what the issue was to see if we can come to an amenable resolution.
Regards,
Russ Gilman
Frank J
Nov 10th, 2008
Russ,
I will call you today. I appreciate you coming forward to evaluate what has occurred.
jlp4u3
Nov 10th, 2008
Now that’s service. Please keep us informed on this company Frank.
db0
Nov 11th, 2008
It seems that blogging about it can make a difference
Frank J
Nov 11th, 2008
I am calling today as I had no time yesterday. I will let you know the outcome.
hasnuri
Dec 16th, 2008
Great! it look pretty clever and a sweet i love it so much…