Account deactivated for being busy :(

[ibycus]

Wanted to share a bit (read vent a bit if you're cynical ;)).
Just got the following e-mail from hostmonster.


Dear Dale:

Your web hosting account for ibycus.com has been deactivated (reason: site causing performance problems).
Although your web site has been disabled, your data may still be available for up to 15 days, after which it will be deleted.

If you feel this deactivation is in error, please contact customer support as soon as possible.

Thank you,
HostMonster.Com Support
http://www.hostmonster.com
For support go to http://helpdesk.hostmonster.com/
Toll-Free: (866) 573-4678

Apparently, there are two files on my website that are being hit quite a bit, and causing the server to slow down. (I admit, its a busy site, and the files are very big). The files aren't new there, and neither is the traffic, but the plug was pulled with no warning what so ever, and no offer of remediation on their part beyond refunding the remaining portion of my contract (I would hope so too!).

I can understand that they may not be able to continue to host my site due to the volume of traffic it generates, but they really could have handled this much better.

Anyways thought I should share.

[pghcollectibles]

would you like help to make those pages smaller (or more efficient)

[ibycus]

would you like help to make those pages smaller (or more efficient)

Unfortunately, I doubt its possible (they are two very large ZIP files). Most of the site just straight HTML. So pretty easy on the CPU.

If they had spoken to me about the problem, rather than simply pulling the plug, I'd have been more than happy attempt to move the offending files elsewhere (I've actually got a copy of them on download.com for starters).

But they didn't. They just yanked the plug. No appologies, no "sorry we couldn't help you any more", just what essentially amounts to an eviction notice, with no warning. Not happy about it. Not happy at all.

[anonymous]

Unfortunately, I doubt its possible (they are two very large ZIP files). Most of the site just straight HTML. So pretty easy on the CPU.

If they had spoken to me about the problem, rather than simply pulling the plug, I'd have been more than happy attempt to move the offending files elsewhere (I've actually got a copy of them on download.com for starters).

But they didn't. They just yanked the plug. No appologies, no "sorry we couldn't help you any more", just what essentially amounts to an eviction notice, with no warning. Not happy about it. Not happy at all.

....so tell us, if you were HM, how would you handle this?

...warn you and let you continue bogging down the box you're on while
alienating the rest of the tenants?

...wait till you fix the problem? you think HM has a staff of techies that
can just go to your directory and disable your site?

HM is a volume based hosting company. Being as cheap as they are, I'm sure their margins are low and probably not well staffed. HM probably has an automated script that boots you out if you get out of line.....

[stamat]

Ibycus, how busy was your site?

Regards

[griff671]

...HM is a volume based hosting company. Being as cheap as they are, I'm sure their margins are low and probably not well staffed. HM probably has an automated script that boots you out if you get out of line.....
Additionally, in accordance with HM's TOS, we are responsible for monitoring our sites to ensure they are running optimally and efficiently.

[ibycus]

....so tell us, if you were HM, how would you handle this?

...warn you and let you continue bogging down the box you're on while
alienating the rest of the tenants?

...wait till you fix the problem? you think HM has a staff of techies that
can just go to your directory and disable your site?

HM is a volume based hosting company. Being as cheap as they are, I'm sure their margins are low and probably not well staffed. HM probably has an automated script that boots you out if you get out of line.....

First of all, this wasn't something that happend magically one morning.

Second of all, according to the hostmonster staff I spoke with, this isn't an automated script thing. This was done manually.

Personally, I would have spoken to me, when it started to become a problem (not after it was a problem), and then cut me off (rapidly) if I ignored them. Or blocked access to the the busy parts (could be as simply as renaming them to make the links dead), until I spoke to them and came up with a plan to fix the problem.

The thing is, as they *claim* unlimited bandwidth, they have a hard time justifying the cut off. Latest claim from them is that I was using more than my share of connections to the server. Don't know how/where I could have been monitoring that, and I'm pretty sure a limit was never told to me.

Dale

[ibycus]

Ibycus, how busy was your site?

Regards

Quite busy.... Actually very busy, and yes, it was causing a noticeable slow down on the server, and I probably would have booted me too. The thing is, the *way* that they booted me was unacceptable. I expect at least a modicum of professionalism from them, but obviously I'm just a single client, and they can afford to piss me off.

What I asked for from them was:
I would like my full contract period refunded (as they didn't live up to their end of the bargain with respect to providing the service they promised (in particular the 99.9% network uptime wasn't even close to maintained during my contract period), further the way they handled it has caused me lost revenue), and I would like time to remove my files from their servers. (While the public access to the site is disabled). I only renewed my contract something less than a year ago, so its not like I'm asking for much. If they had done this, I would have gone away, while not happy, I would have been satified that 'no major harm done'.

What they *offered* was to refund the remaining portion of my contract (I would hope they would too, as they have refused to offer me service!), and 15 days to get the heck out of dodge, after which they will delete my files.

Dale

[ibycus]

Additionally, in accordance with HM's TOS, we are responsible for monitoring our sites to ensure they are running optimally and efficiently.

I don't know how it could have been operating more efficiently from my standpoint. I have a file. A big file. I need to get that file to lots of end users. No matter how you slice it, that's a lot of traffic.

Its not like I was running poorly written scripts that drove the server to its knees or anything like that.

The long and the short of the matter is, that while hostmonster claims to offer "Unlimited Bandwidth and Storage", they know that very few people will take them up on it. When someone does, they have their TOS to fall back on, that says basically "We can do what ever we want, for what ever reason we want, and you can't do a thing about it". Normally I'm fine with that kind of provision, so long as it doesn't get abused. It doesn't negate the need to act professionally.

[sjlplat]

This forum isn't for ranting. You've said your piece and now it's time to move on.