Problems you have had with hosting companies

[Carol1992]

Hello this is more of a discussion and I would be interested in what others favourite web hosting companies are.

So for me I have switched multiple times with different websites i've had mainly for not thinking the website speed was good enough, or the cpanel was too complex compared to a previous cpanel or customer support wasn't quite there.

Are you a serial web hosting switcher? How important do you class this and which ones have people got a long with the most?

Thanks

 

[ryedale]

From a host's perspective, the principal reasons we hear why people are wanting to leave their current host are:

No phone support
Lengthy delay in replying to tickets
Repeated downtime
Overcrowded servers leading to slow performance
Downtime with no reason given (most people understand that even the best infrastructure can occasionaly have a small wobble and they are tolerant so long as an explanation is given and steps listed to ensure it doesn't happen again
Outsourced support to call centres who can barely speak English
Disinterested support or getting passsed from person to person / never speaking to the same person twice
Continual price increases

 

[Pish_Pash]

As it goes, I'm currently moving mine...my current host are beyond woeful. I had a 7 day outage 2 years ago (I should have moved then, but figured the outage would have scared them into making sure they had everything in place wrt recovery)...alas, a four day outage 3 weeks ago. No phone support, 1st line support (via live chat) amounts to them saying "can you raise a ticket". When I raise a ticket, there are scant updates.

For what it's worth I'm presently moving to WHUK....got to say, I'm really impressed in these early stages (though only time will tell) ...no affiliation whatsoever (but perhaps I'm blinded into new host lurve due to my present host being professional suck artists)

 

[HostOX]

From a host's perspective, the principal reasons we hear why people are wanting to leave their current host are:

No phone support
Lengthy delay in replying to tickets
Repeated downtime
Overcrowded servers leading to slow performance
Downtime with no reason given (most people understand that even the best infrastructure can occasionaly have a small wobble and they are tolerant so long as an explanation is given and steps listed to ensure it doesn't happen again
Outsourced support to call centres who can barely speak English
Disinterested support or getting passsed from person to person / never speaking to the same person twice
Continual price increases

Hugely agree with this, the main three problems I see is slow support, regular downtime & slow site loading times.

Most of the problems are with oversold underpriced services - Less staff and more people on servers to increase profits, this is why I would always recommend you stay away from budget hosts even the $100 a year ones.

>> Outsourced support to call centres who can barely speak English

This is the most common and the worst, we would never be able to work with a datacenter who had outsourced staff over seas, wow it does my head in!

 

[tukhnet]

The biggest reason for moving from one web hosting to another is always the downtime. That is something which people can't forgive, especially when it happens regularly and for a long periods.

 

[TomJ83]

I have used different hosting providers over the years. The most important thing for me is that the uptime is intact. If the hosting provider has problems with the uptime, it will cause an outage for my website and I will lose potential customers.

Let's say that your website is down for 1 week. Every week you have 1000 visitors. You have a conversion rate of 10%. If a typical customer buys products and services for 50£, then you have lost £5000 that week.

So downtime means losses.

 

[fisicx]

And downtime is usually the result of using cheap "stack 'em high" shared server services.

Treat hosting as a business expense, pay more and get a decent provider and downtime is no longer an issue.

 

[Darren C]

Most webhosts are competing on price and it is inevitable the service will always fall down to the lowest common denominator.

However, paying a premium for reliable hosting isn't always feasible for a fledgling business. And, paying a premium doesn't guarantee you won't ever have problems.

Accepting that sooner or later you will have a problem and having some kind of back-up plan is more important than finding the best host.

Do you have all your site files safely stored away; do you have control of your domain name and do you know how to change the name servers?

Answer yes to all of the above and then ask for hosting recommendations.

 

[fisicx]

Most webhosts are competing on price and it is inevitable the service will always fall down to the lowest common denominator.

The decent ones aren't. The good hosting companies charge more because they provide a better service.

 

[webhostuk]

Hello this is more of a discussion and I would be interested in what others favourite web hosting companies are.

So for me I have switched multiple times with different websites i've had mainly for not thinking the website speed was good enough, or the cpanel was too complex compared to a previous cpanel or customer support wasn't quite there.

Are you a serial web hosting switcher? How important do you class this and which ones have people got a long with the most?

Thanks

The simple formula is to make a list of your expectation, as your requirement might be different from someone else. Accordingly shortlist few provider you find test them via , email, chat or call.
If your requirements and expectation match that company it would be perfect for you.

 

[TomJ83]

And downtime is usually the result of using cheap "stack 'em high" shared server services.

Treat hosting as a business expense, pay more and get a decent provider and downtime is no longer an issue.

Good advice there Do you have any suggestions of good hosting providers?

 

[Alan]

Anyone that runs their infrastructure on Google Cloud or Amazon Web services. $500billion technology providers don't have down time.

 

[fisicx]

Anyone that runs their infrastructure on Google Cloud or Amazon Web services. $500billion technology providers don't have down time.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/31/google_cloud_load_balancer_brownout/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/03/01/aws_s3_outage/

There are many more...

 

[NuBlue]

Anyone that runs their infrastructure on Google Cloud or Amazon Web services. $500billion technology providers don't have down time.

Really?
https://www.recode.net/2017/3/2/147...et-outage-cause-human-error-incorrect-command
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/03/01/aws_s3_outage/

 

[Alan]

OK you win.

 

[jamie07051975]

Over the years, I've found that in reality hosting is down to the support you get when things go wrong because its when not if. I have had issues with every single host but it what they've done to get my sites back up and running as quick as possible and then putting in measures to make sure it doesn't happen again.

I've been hosting for many years and paid big money with some of the well known hosts and actually lost full servers (while they were doing an upgrade!), I've been with much less expensive hosts and apart from some issues along the way they've been fine.

For me its about finding a host with an easy get out just in case things do happen - register domains with a separate provider so you haven't got everything in one basket. Many hosts these days will actually migrate your site from a third party host for free.

I've always been keen on getting something less expensive (not cheaper) initially and upgrade when necessary - VPS are ideal for this as they can be upgraded almost instantly.

I can recommend some hosts if needed but won't in case I'm not allowed.

 

[tony84]

My favourite was a host who went down on a Saturday, they managed to get my site back up but could do nothing about the emails until Monday.
When asked what I do about the emails from clients/potential clients I have not received their response was to "get them to resend the email"...not being psychic, I have no idea who emailed me.

When I wrote a massive big review on how much of a joke they were, they complained to the review site and denied it happened until I shown proof of phone calls and webchats I had with the company.

I wont slag them off now as it was a few years ago, hopefully they have their act together but they were not cheap, they were average priced and were in the city I am from (supporting local).

Now I have a cheaper host and the support whilst being dealt with in india or somewhere, it is a million times better and faster.

Cheap/good/fast - General rule of thumb is you can have any 2. Good and fast wont be cheap for example.

eukhost is my current host. I have been with them for maybe 2-3 years. The odd issues crop up, but they always manage to resolve it quickly enough.

 

[Darren C]

My favourite was a host who went down on a Saturday, they managed to get my site back up but could do nothing about the emails until Monday.
When asked what I do about the emails from clients/potential clients I have not received their response was to "get them to resend the email"...not being psychic, I have no idea who emailed me.

A good reason to have your email and DNS separate from your hosting. GSuite is another £3 a month but gives you the security of having access to email if all else fails. Some registrars will also give you a free email account.

 

[HostOX]

A good reason to have your email and DNS separate from your hosting. GSuite is another £3 a month but gives you the security of having access to email if all else fails. Some registrars will also give you a free email account.

Always good to have off site email, we have everything split this way for our own setup if it ever does happen we can still have contact with clients.

Odd that you could not get emails after one day downtime, emails usually retry for 48 hours before a complete fail.

 

[Carol1992]

Wow thanks for sharing all your experiences it's really interesting to see peoples thoughts on the matter. Yeah I just had some downtime because my hosting company moved my site onto another server and it took a couple of days for it to register the DNS properly. Yeah I have separate email too. Someone told me to do that so if my site goes down someone can let me know otherwise I may not realise haha.