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Internet Scam Alert: Our Website & Domain Were Held Hostage!
Scamfreesuccess.com was held hostage!
Lesson Number 1:
Now where to begin?
OK, back in January I received an e-mail from our web hosting company advising that their online client support would be down until mid February.
Well now, we've been having quite a few problems with interrupted and unreliable service so the e-mail did make me go GULP! But, on the other hand they were claiming that this was being done in order to improve things.
They claimed they were "restructuring" the company so as "to deal with the number of clients" they host.
I'd just like to mention at this point, that back in November 2002 they changed names and as a result of that last "improvement" the site was down for a day and a half and then up and down like a roller coaster for the rest of the month. I mean sometimes it was down for more than two days at a time. Then it would blip back up for a few hours, then poof! gone again.
Then throughout December things get a bit better, but man oh man was the load time slow!
So along comes this e-mail, and then you'll never guess what happened the next day??? No site. All three of our sites were completely gone.
Now one of my sites is a highly active commercial site...not to mention I do all my business via e-mail with my site addresses. So along with the site, gone were all my e-mail addresses as well.
I sent off a bunch of e-mails to every possible combination of address at host????.com....wanna read the auto-response?
"Hi. This is the qmail-send program at host????.com.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message
to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it
didn't work out.
<info@host????.com>:
This address no longer accepts mail.
<management@????.com>:
This address no longer accepts mail.
<admin@host????.com>:
This address no longer accepts mail.
Nice eh? So by now I'm pretty sure you're wondering why do I continue to host with them. Not just one website but three????? Well, that brings us up to lesson number 1.
Lesson Number#1: Don't ever pay for your webhosting one year in advance.
Yippers, that's the reason. I had paid for a full year of hosting for all three sites. So, needless to say I was hesitant about having to pay again
with someone else.
Ok, so now we move on to lesson number two....which in the end is ultimately why I couldn't change hosts with the flick of a switch.
Scamfreesuccess.com was held hostage!
Lesson Number 2:
So, as time wore on and my sites were down for a third and fourth day in a row, I started contacting the company that processed the online payments. I explained the situation to them, and mentioned that seeing as though they actually collect on the hosting company's behalf...they should have an alternate method of getting in touch with them.
You know like a phone number rather than just an e-mail address. (Mini lesson here- Don't sign up for anything unless there is an actual phone number that you can call.)
Though I contacted them by phone I never heard back from them. So I followed up by e-mail. All I got was their standard autoresponse, and then nothing.
Well, I decided it was time to take the plunge. They had disappeared and I needed my websites up so I would change hosts.
You'll never guess what happened next!!!!!!!! My domain names were being held hostage! Huh? You ask.
I had registered my domain names through the hosting company at the same time that I signed up for their hosting services.
They registered them in my name all right, but I couldn't manage my own domain names because they had their password on them and they had their contact information entered for the administrative functions.
Ugggg!!!
Lesson #2: Don't register your domain name through your hosting company, unless they are going to put your name and full contact information in and hand over complete access! Better yet, take the time to go and register your own domain first, then sign up for your host separately.
What a position to be in! First to change hosts I was going to be out the balance of a year's hosting costs for three websites, and second I couldn't change where my domain was pointing to, even if I wanted to.
Today my sites are up and running again, but for how long I don't really know. In the meantime, I'll be providing the domain registrar with a photo id, going through their process and then finally at least regaining control of my domain names.
How did I get my sites up and running? Well nobody ever got back to me, the hosting company never e-mailed us saying they were back up. We just kept checking until their site appeared again, and sat patiently for hours
waiting for someone to respond on their live chat.
They had changed from Plesk to Apache and only those who kept checking back found out what they had to do to put their sites back up.
Please, please, please take heed in this advise so you don't find yourself in the same position. Also, pass this along to anyone and everyone you know who is planning on putting up a website.
Take care,
Shelley
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