Warning: Hostgator's support is abysmal

[Steve_NCH]

After suspending my sites without warning because they're using "too much resources" I told them I'd be moving to a new host.

I asked for ssh access to be unblocked so my new hosts could migrate my files, but since then they haven't responded to my support ticket. It's been 4 hours and meanwhile my sites are still down.

Does anyone know if it's normal practise for Hostgator to leave customers hanging once they decide to leave? Seems fairly petty and unprofessional of such a large host.

[TheSquealer]

Totally crazy that you got exactly what you paid for.

Didn't see that coming.

[wehateporn]

Originally Posted by Steve_NCH

After suspending my sites without warning because they're using "too much resources" I told them I'd be moving to a new host.

I asked for ssh access to be unblocked so my new hosts could migrate my files, but since then they haven't responded to my support ticket. It's been 4 hours and meanwhile my sites are still down.

Does anyone know if it's normal practice for Hostgator to leave customers hanging once they decide to leave? Seems fairly petty and unprofessional of such a large host.

I'm sorry to hear about this, but the best way to get things sorted with Hostgator is to go to the home page and click on live support (top right), they'll get the job done there and then, you get to rate them at the end, the rating you give directly effects their pay. This system works, these live support guys are a dream.

Have you got an unlimited shared account?

[alextokyo]

Lesson: don't make big emotional announcements about your intention to leave. Once you intend to move away, you're no longer a customer and just a $0 pain in the ass... kind of like the persistent shit streaks left in the toilet bowl 5-6 hours after a couple of Subway clubs with cheese.

Instead, have them upgrade you to a fucking expensive plan and send the bill to be paid by Paypal. Ask them to unlock SSH access so you can make one final backup for your peace-of-mind before the upgrade is processed.

While they're making arrangements, move your shit the fuck outta there.

[baddog]

I suspect you are on a shared IP plan and as such I would not hold my breath on getting SSH access.

[Fat Panda]

How much traffic were your sites receiving?

[Denny]

Unlimited hosting is bullshit, stay far away. They can find another way how to make you upgrade. There are always numbers you can't argue with, such as CPU usage.

[Steve_NCH]

Originally Posted by alextokyo

Lesson: don't make big emotional announcements about your intention to leave. Once you intend to move away, you're no longer a customer and just a $0 pain in the ass... kind of like the persistent shit streaks left in the toilet bowl 5-6 hours after a couple of Subway clubs with cheese.

Instead, have them upgrade you to a fucking expensive plan and send the bill to be paid by Paypal. Ask them to unlock SSH access so you can make one final backup for your peace-of-mind before the upgrade is processed.

While they're making arrangements, move your shit the fuck outta there.

You're right, big lesson learned!

My new hosts www.m3server.com are gonna move my stuff for me the painstaking way via FTP. They seem like good guys.

[BladeZ]

Originally Posted by Steve_NCH

You're right, big lesson learned!

My new hosts www.m3server.com are gonna move my stuff for me the painstaking way via FTP. They seem like good guys.

yes they are.

[wehateporn]

As a guide (I managed to get this out of one of their support guys) they'll let you get away with using up to 25% of the entire shared server with one 'unlimited' account, as most websites on these servers don't have much traffic.

[alextokyo]

Originally Posted by baddog

I suspect you are on a shared IP plan and as such I would not hold my breath on getting SSH access.

While we're at it, who is gotwebhost.com a reseller for?

[alextokyo]

Originally Posted by BladeZ

yes they are.

Top notch, stand up guys no doubt...

Anyway, I troal waaaay too fucking much. The fact is that if this is your living, or even real good beer money, you gotta get your shit together. Spend 2-3 months salary on hardware that will last you for the next 5-6 years. Do what you have to do.

If you have even one single solitary testicle, you'll heed this advice and it'll save your ass at least once or twice between now and 2019. Rough guestimate. Think tubes are bad? Things are going to get harder, no doubt.

... thank me later. Perhaps by providing a couple of cardboard boxes for shelter in April 2020 when I'm broke as fuck and sucking Paul Markham's crusty smegma encrusted cock to survive.

[mafia_man]

Originally Posted by Denny

Unlimited hosting is bullshit, stay far away. They can find another way how to make you upgrade. There are always numbers you can't argue with, such as CPU usage.

I'd never use a hosting company that said Unlimited disk space, bandwidth or anything else.

You are thrown on a bog standard shared server with 10,000 other users who they expect to use their hosting for "My Shitty Personal Blog Nobody Reads".

So when you come along with your paid traffic and throw thousands of users per minute at it the server will buckle and those shitty blogs will start returning empty HTTP because they're timing out.

If you are going to use shared hosting make sure that you know up front what you are getting. Still though most shared hosts have this clause that says you if your CPU/memory usage is too high they will suspend you.

Better getting a VPS.

[Steve_NCH]

Originally Posted by SAC

How much traffic were your sites receiving?

I knocked up a few blogs which quickly grew to the point my bandwidth was 500gb per month. To be fair I've outgrown the sharing model and am now moving them all to a VPS, but Hostgator have made it more of a pain in the ass for me than it needed to be.

[ezgirl]

Yep, shortly after renewing my sites I became unhappy and decided to move and asked for a refund for the unused years fees - they refused. Karma at work, people are leaving. I'm very happy where I am now, very happy.

[chaze]

Originally Posted by Steve_NCH

After suspending my sites without warning because they're using "too much resources" I told them I'd be moving to a new host.

I asked for ssh access to be unblocked so my new hosts could migrate my files, but since then they haven't responded to my support ticket. It's been 4 hours and meanwhile my sites are still down.

Does anyone know if it's normal practise for Hostgator to leave customers hanging once they decide to leave? Seems fairly petty and unprofessional of such a large host.

I'm surprised you would expect different. They obviously lie all over there site and don't care about anything but money. In turn your just a dollar amount and with high loads you are a loss.

[wehateporn]

From my own experience, they've been the best web host out of all the different ones I've tried, I've had serious problems with other hosts, but Hostgator have been a breath of fresh air. Maybe it's because I discovered the live support option, that is the way to get things done with Hostgator. You can even get those guys to do coding for you.

I used to be with hosts who wouldn't reply to emails for 24 hours and didn't answer their phones. Whereas Hostgator has 24/7 live support, the most I've ever had to wait is just a few minutes.

Most the big hosts will offer 'Unlimited' but of course we know it's just a package name, it's not like Google or the BBC could be put there for $15 per month.

[Moose]

Originally Posted by Steve_NCH

After suspending my sites without warning because they're using "too much resources" I told them I'd be moving to a new host.

I asked for ssh access to be unblocked so my new hosts could migrate my files, but since then they haven't responded to my support ticket. It's been 4 hours and meanwhile my sites are still down.

Does anyone know if it's normal practise for Hostgator to leave customers hanging once they decide to leave? Seems fairly petty and unprofessional of such a large host.

As a webmaster you should always have local backups, this post would not be necessary if you did. I'm sure there is more to this story as well, hostgator didn't get to be a multi million dollar company by screwing over everyone.

[garce]

Hostgator. Support. Barrarrararahhhahahahahah!!!!!

[Rothstein]

Originally Posted by Moose

As a webmaster you should always have local backups, this post would not be necessary if you did. I'm sure there is more to this story as well, hostgator didn't get to be a multi million dollar company by screwing over everyone.

[sandman!]

not all shared hosts even give out ssh access.

what do you expect from a unlimited host anyways ?

[HomerSimpson]

two words - Naked Hosting

[Tsharp23]

Sigh I've been seeing that their customer support and service standards have only been sliding lately. I use to have a great experience with them, awesome service but I think I too will be moving to a different host later or.

I'm going to be switching to bluehost, I've tried them in the past and I believe that their service and quality is top-notch.

[Rochard]

NATIONAL NET has the best support.

[sandman!]

what does this have to do with shared hosting ?

lol

Originally Posted by Rochard

NATIONAL NET has the best support.

[Rangermoore]

I have been with HostGator over 10 years and have never had an issue with support. I have been on shared hosting, dedicated box's, as well as VPS hosting. Every time I have needed something they have responded in a timely manner. I would recommend them to anybody.

PS: It does state in the TOS all about using too much resources I would suggest reading it.

[stach14]

Steve NCH,

Welcome to M3Server and thank you for the chance to prove what we can do for you.

[wehateporn]

Originally Posted by Tsharp23

Sigh I've been seeing that their customer support and service standards have only been sliding lately. I use to have a great experience with them, awesome service but I think I too will be moving to a different host later or.

I'm going to be switching to bluehost, I've tried them in the past and I believe that their service and quality is top-notch.

As soon as people discover the live support option at the top right hand corner of the Hostgator homepage, they never look back. They've got a large team of skilled support staff available 24/7. If ever you are unhappy with one of the techs, just open a new window and you'll get a different one.

One of the main problems I had with other hosts was people not answering phones or taking 24 hours to reply to email, whereas now with Hostgator I've always got a team of tech supports ready to help me out.

I understand that smaller hosts can't afford to have such a large team available 24/7, and sometimes won't have much time to assist with problems that are more down to webmaster error. I don't want to lose the smaller hosts here business by trying to convince webmasters to use a big business like Hostgator. However, Hostgator have been so good to me over the years, so it's only fair that I post my experience.

[bluebook18]