Warning. Hostgator problem.

My opinion: Do NOT EVEN CONSIDER using HOSTGATOR.


My experience:
I signed up for their hosting on Sunday morning and completed payment for the first month using hostgators online payment system and paypal.

The payment was accepted and confirmed. An email was sent some time later confirming the account had been set up.

The email specified a user ID for cpanel as well as nameservers which I used to point two of my domains at the new hostgator account.

I used cpanel and FTP to set up the add-on domain, create some email accounts and upload content for the two domains (the same content as on the old servers which should now be shown k-free.co.uk and offshoreharry.com).

All appeared to work fine with no problems. I could use outlook to access email and the web sites were available on the new server (the old server was down).

A day and a half later, I WAS HORRIFIED TO SEE
- the emails accounts could not be accessed
- the cpanel user did not work
- Hostgator did not email me or attempt to contact me in any way to tell me there was an issue. (they had my valid mobile phone number - there are no unidentified calls in the period concerned).
- the web sites that had been pointed at hoistgator were showing a suspended message and spammy hostgator context ads. My non-spam mostly non-ads content had been uploaded to the hostgator account.

One of those domains is freeware software on a site with ZERO ADS that has never been moneterised and sometimes gets 100's of uniques a day.

HOSTGATOR WAS STEALING TRAFFIC FROM MY ad free unmonetized site and showing a nasty spammy ad page.

Not only was I rather angry but also amazed that any company would ever do this. Just think how you would feel if all your sites - pages were hijacked and showing some of the nasty ad pages.

My opinion: Do NOT EVEN CONSIDER using HOSTGATOR.


Checking my yahoo email, there was no email from hostgator saying my account had been suspended (if I hadn't checked it they would have continued stealing the traffic until I noticed).

The only email from hostgator was a request for a copy of my passport or utility bill! I am left wondering if they are really a front for an identity theft scam? I am rather unhappy that they have even my name - address - tel no - paypal email.

I obviously immediately changed the nameservers on the two domains back to the old servers. But since nameserver changes take upto 72 hours to fully propogator, hostgator could still be stealing some of my traffic now. The two sites contain nothing that any T+C I have ever seen would have any reason whatsoever to see as a problem. The two sites are k-free.co.uk and offshoreharry.com for anyone here who wishes to verify this claim.

Hostgator COULD be showing my content instead of their spammy ads - I uploaded it.

Hostgator was mentioned by a few on here and I thought them to be a big company who have a reputation to protect. Are you guys really comfortable with a company who behaves like this. Will they suddenly suspend your sites tomorrow and steal your traffic until you happen to notice?

I have requested to them that they provide access TO MY PERSONAL AND BUSINESS EMAILS on the email accounts I set up. I would also like any log data that was collected. I will report back here what the response to that (politely worded) request is. Giving me access to any email and log data that they have effectively kidnapped-stolen hardly makes amends for the wrong they have already done. Like any other victim of a common thief I may just have to accept that I lost something and will not see it again.

Additionally, search engine robots may have visited the sites and got 404s, any users who dropped by will certainly not be back, the damage caused is ongoing and difficult to fully quantify.

Hostgator did not email me or attempt to contact me (they had my valid mobile phone number). They did not tell me why the account was suspended and the trafic STOLEN. I have had web sites for 4-5 years and have never been involved in anything remotely dubious on the web. You can judge for yourself if there is any reason for them to do this [sites offshoreharry.com, k-free.co.uk]. I had sent at most 10 emails whilst testing the 3 or 4 email accounts I was creating.

Obviously I will never use hostgator or any related company.

My opinion: Do NOT EVEN CONSIDER using HOSTGATOR ... EVER.

 

There must be a reason for the suspension,
example -
High CPU usage
Illegal content etc

There support seems to be online 24/7, why don't you talk with them ?

How much % of your plan were you using up ?

 

I've used Hostgator for about three years now and have had no problems. On the rare occasion I have had some query, it has been answered immediately via Live Chat.

 

If there is a reason they have not stated it. Look at the sites and tell me why they would do this - these are HTML sites!!

The forum on offshoreharry is the only php and it had not been set up on the hostgator server.

If a new host you had signed up for suspended your sites - showed their ads and denied access to your personal mails would you try and resolve the problem or go elsewhere?

I am posting here as a warning - report to others. I have no vested interest. If someone with more posts (credibility) than me wants to verify some of the detail please feel free to contact me.

The only thing I am interested in talking to hostgator about is getting access to the emails they have stolen. I know there is at least one email because it's important enough I received a copy from a business partner. No idea what else is there and I can only view it as stolen.

 

What kind of stuff are you hosting? And what's the domain?

 

The websites that I uploaded are

offshoreharry.com
k-free.co.uk

The content uploaded is basically html - offshoreharry pages use php to do includes only. k-free has some software for download but hits are limited. What was uploaded is the same as on the old server where both sites are now pointed and hopefully working. Only the forum on offshoreharry had not been created.

The % of bandwidth or space use would be way less than 1%

The only reason I can think of for their action is that the various info I supplied (all genuine) are non-US.

 

Hostgator never tell when they suspend a site, I know that by experience. That is idiotic and really stupid of them.
Now, why did you not contact chat at hostgator.com or support to ask why they suspended it??? Dont you know how to contact them or what???

 

Contacting them to discuss the sites - their reasons is purely wasting more of my time and would be helping them to improve their service. I am furious with what they have done, why would I want to do that?

Not surprised there is some questioning of me here since my post count is low but if the above happenned to any of you how would you react and feel about it?

I would like to see any emails that were sent to me. I have emailed them now twice requesting that politely - their first reply ignored that part of request - chatting to them will just make me more angry! These sites have existed for 6 months and 3 years+ respectively, there is no question that they can legitimately be banned so I don't need to investigate that.

My only interest in posting here is to add to the community - provide info of my experience for the benefit of others. ... Well hey like everyone else, I have sig links too

 

Thanks for adding to the community BUT your info is not complete before we know why Hostgator suspended the acoount. Thats why I am questioning you, not because you have a low post count.

 

Feel free to ask them - point them to this thread and invite a response.

My duty is complete in simply reporting my experience here.
I will probably let you know whether they are civilised enough to let me see the mails they have kidnapped. Is stealing paper letters not a felony in the US. ANyone else think that this action with emails should be too.

The email that I know about which is missing relates to a contract worth 24.000 USD.

 

Use HostICan, they're amazing for a hosting provider. Instant emails when anything happens .

I've heard too many bad things about HostGator to risk using them... although their affiliate program is nice.

 

That's probably the reason - would you care to explain what the software for download is? Forgive me for assuming guilt here, but the fact you haven't elaborated on what the software is gives me the feeling it isn't legal.

I have around 25 sites on my HostGator account which has been running about 2 years and have never had a problem.

 

I have sites with them for some time and I have never experienced a
problem.

Their 24/7 live chat is usually helpful,maybe you could email them
explaining your side of the problem.

 

freeware find and replace program
http://www.k-free.co.uk/find-replace-program.html

freeware grab page program
http://www.k-free.co.uk/grab-page.html

Both totally legal (I wrote the programs) quite innocent and clean - listed on tucows who do actually do some form fo checks if that helps [and old, not updated since 2 years +].

I can understand scepticism on here but please take a look at the sites - they are squeaky clean, I have always avoided doing anything remotely dodgy.

 

Well, AFAIK hostgator doesn't put an account in full swing unless the identity checks are done for suspicious orders...and yes, during this period their pages can be shown.

Also, there might have been some misconfiguration (.htaccess?) that's redirecting your pages to their error404 etc...are you sure you didn't mess up those?

BTW, Brent, the owner can be contacted and he looks personally into your issue if approached.

 

I just sent him a PM about this thread.

 

Well in this case they sent out a mail that all was setup with url-password etc to access cpanel. After I uploaded pages, all was working fine - I have been running sites for 5 years +.

I have been called by someone from hostgator this afternoon either in response to my second email request [or to the threads here and at sitepoint forums]. They considered a months free hosting would make me interested in becoming a customer? WTF ???? Of course it does not. However I do now have access to email and log files for the short period they hosted this site.

The guy on the phone mentioned that the "problem" is that I am 10.000 miles away. So if you are within ??? miles of wherever they are it's *perhaps* a safe service to use. My opinion is that a service that will EVER take the action they took is one that should be avoided at all costs. I don't consider it acceptable for any host to take that action unless they have unquestionable evidence of violation of T+C.

A much better service would determine whether such proof was required BEFORE SENDING AN EMAIL THAT I COULD SET UP MY NAMESERVERS TO POINT AT THEIR SERVER.

My opinion of hostgator remains unchanged:
Avoid at all costs.

From this thread, I also realise they are not the big corp. I thought they were, they are simply popular on these webmaster forums because their affiliate program was generous. I was also signed up to that. I would certainly not recommend any user of my sites to such a service and the banners are gone from the site they appeared on.

My next task is to work out whether I need to take the same attitude to US services in general and simply restrict my list of possible hosting to the small euro country where I have real-world banks-etc.

 

Hello,


You placed your order from one country yet your addresss is another country. distanceToBilling=10182

While you aren’t doing anything wrong with your domain many that have the word offshore in them are associated with fraud.

In the order you said "My primary email is NOT my paypal email - I assume I can change it later. I use my paypal email only for paypal"

It's suspicious when someone says you can't email them at the paypal email they have paid from.


We contacted you the second your account was shut down asking for further verification...

" Hello,

Thank you for your order with HostGator.com

offshoreharry.com

In order for us to setup your account, we will need you to call us and verify your account. If you are not able to call, you can also respond to this ticket with a scanned copy of a Photo ID such as as a passport, or drivers license. Also please include a scanned copy of the credit card that was used in purchase, if you purchased a hosting account with a credit card. If you paid with Paypal please provide a copy of a current utility bill. Please do so at your earliest convenience to ensure that your account with HostGator is setup as soon as possible.

Toll-free: 1-866-96-GATOR
International: 001-713-574-5287

We are available 24/7, so please feel free to call us at your convenience. We apologize for any inconveniences. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. "

You were turned back on as soon as you verified and were even given your first month free for the trouble. I apologize for the inconvenience but if we didn’t verify suspicious accounts we would go out of business pretty quick. Now that you are verified I’m sure you will love our hosting if you can give us a chance.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.

 

Please can you remove the location details frrom your post here - it is NOT public information.

"It's suspicious when someone says you can't email them at the paypal email they have paid from."

At the time I was setting up this account the servers on my previous account - including those handling my paypal email were down. That situation is common to anyone creating an account due to problems at their previous servers.

Your reasons for wishing to verify identity - disable further page updates - suspect fraud do not justify your suspension of the pages I uploaded which were easily verifiable as within your T+C.
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