Hosting-unlimited hacked

[BoBo1972]

yogi:
Regarding BoBo's post: I can't comment on the actions of anyone else. I don't agree with general purpose 'monitoring' of private messages, but I don't know the context, whether another user had already complained about PMs received, or whether this is even true. I should also point out that as a regular mod, I don't myself have access to anybody else's PMs and have never been given such access.

I can assure you, it is true and quite easily prooved ,with a screendump of my inbox in outlook with the preview pane on. I don't make a habbit posting something on forums that is not true. And there was no reasons to why our pm's were being read. It was between me a unhappy customer to another hu unhappy customer, we sent about 3 pm's to each other.

[BurningSnowman]

I can assure you, it is true and quite easily prooved ,with a screendump of my inbox in outlook with the preview pane on. I don't make a habbit posting something on forums that is not true. And there was no reasons to why our pm's were being read. It was between me a unhappy customer to another hu unhappy customer, we sent about 3 pm's to each other.

I appreciate that this is concerning for you. But I have only one side of the story, and I'm in no position to make any official comment anyway. (Please see my previous post.)

I would point out that screenshots of text are no more proof than, well, text, but I'm not claiming you're lying.

[BoBo1972]

Which is why i said i'd show a screenshot of my inbox in preview pane. Its ok i don't need any offical comment BS, as i am with new hosts now. But its up to others to take note or not of an ex customers experience, and to be aware of the conduct of this hosting company. People can make up their own minds at the end of the day i guess.

[seedy]

As a long-term user of Hosting Unlimited I can confirm from personal experience that a) Private Messages in the forums are indeed read - by Dougie, b) that the migration process has been nothing less than a farce and c) that the problems have not been dealt with / resolved / even addresses in some cases.

[yogi]

As a long-term user of Hosting Unlimited I can confirm from personal experience that a) Private Messages in the forums are indeed read - by Dougie, b) that the migration process has been nothing less than a farce and c) that the problems have not been dealt with / resolved / even addresses in some cases.

With regards to a) there is no denying that Dougie is on a little power trip and seems to get a kick out of it, he's rude and arrogant and i'm not exactly sure why he's into the hosting business as his knowledge about hosting is next to nothing and i've seen comments about him specifically on other sites - he single handedly ruins hosting-unlimited's reputaton.

You're totally right about the migration process - i can't believe the way it's being run. Although here's a tip so you should be able to see when your server is migrated - if it hasn't already (since they refuse to tell you in advance via their "official" support, and their 'unofficial' forum is still down!!!??!) - look up your own site via whois.webhosting.info. Then view the other sites on the same IP by clicking the IP. Then look for another domain with "Registration Service Provided By: HU Domains".
I know they can be inept and incompetent beyond belief - but you've got to hope that the poor people that trust them to control their domains won't be let down and they'll update their name servers when required. (I know it's not perfect but might help avoid some downtime should they 'accidentally' not email you after the data is moved).

As for c) - their support really is a joke - i have wondered if they employ people with GCSE Computing - as half the time the support is so incredibly basic it's unbelievable. Queries regarding hours of downtime will be met, half an hour after the issue, with 'your site is loading fine now'. If they don't have an answer they'll simply close the ticket without a response. They have become a bunch of cowboys - but they used to be (a couple of years ago) reasonably good.

They also appear to still be selling hosting on ebay which is quite amateurish.

[BoBo1972]

I quite agree with you, and have said this myself, Dougie Brown is sending Hu down the pan. I feel for the others there, because all my dealings with other hu staff, has been pleasant and constructive and they have gone out of there way to help me in the past. But unfortuantly Dougie Brown seems to handle all customer queries lately and drives people away. Or take their webspace away from them without refunds, if they take a dislike to a complaining customer that has very good reason to complain!!

ALso they have taken guest posting rights away in the pre sales section - which of course is to stop the amount of customers he has banned on *their* forums. From alerting all the other customer and potiential customers of their conduct. If its not please tell us the other reason HU?.

Bunch of cowboys indeed.

As i mentioned i am with a good host now, my website is a lot faster and the people running it are very concerned if their customers have a problem and fix it usually within minutes or if not fixed, you are at least speaking with them with in minutes. Anyone please feel free to PM me and i'll glady point you in the right direction if you looking for a reliable good host.

To all the other that are staying put, a simple good luck to you.

[Butuz]

I've got to be honest, after reading this thread - you guys have gotta get out of there - its a sinking ship.

Once a retailer crosses me with bad customer service, thats it they don't get a second chance - and its the same for something cheap (Swapped my broadband from Virgin to Demon) as it is with a 6 figure hardware order in work. I'll still do it, even if it means alot more work for me. Just ask GE Captial Leasing

You guys gotta get your hosting swapped over to somewhere decent now - even if it means work for you.

Butuz

[Rory]

humm I wonder if this thread is responsible for HU taking their forums down

[BurningSnowman]

Hi,

I can't give you an ETA on their return, but that's not why the forums are down, nor would that make much sense.

I'm aware this seems like a pretty low point, but the migrations are well under way and the focus right now is indeed on that and not the forums. I would go more with 'communications blip' than 'sinking ship', but feel free to pick your own apocalyptic metaphors.

Regards,
BurningSnowman
An officially designated NON-HU-representative-even-if-you-tell-me-otherwise-thank-you-very-much.

[yogi]

I would go more with 'communications blip' than 'sinking ship', but feel free to pick your own apocalyptic metaphors.

At the end of the day Hosting-Unlimited (and Dougie) seem to have forgotten that they are providing a service. And they are paid for it. It is customer's data that they are moving and they owe that customer an explanation as to what is going on, and even a 'communications blip' is an absolute joke, especially given that the whole point of the internet is communication.

It seems as if Hosting-Unlimited don't actually care whether customers are left in the dark, with downtime, and unable to get any help (other than the unhelpful "technical" "support").

As for 'sinking ship' - most hosts aim for 99.9% uptime - but i'll let the statistics for August for two of their servers do the talking about that one:

hu-nyx.com - 9 outages - 22 hrs, 20 mins, 28 secs downtime - 96.978% uptime
(http://uptime.alertra.com/uptime.php...07937&abrv=Nyx)

and if that sounds bad, their windows server manages:

hu-helene.com - 5 outages - 64 hrs, 52 mins, 29 secs downtime - 91.226% uptime
(http://uptime.alertra.com/uptime.php...37&abrv=Helene)

[steve-wd]

I'd just like to add my tuppence (what HU hosting is worth imho)- as a former HU customer.

In the past I had technical problems at Hosting-unlimited.net. When I got a lacklustre and unsatisfactory response from support , I eventually got through to the legendary Dougie Brown, who in exceptionally abusive terms blamed it all on me. When I conclusively and unequivocally proved the problems were down to HU incompetence, I got threatened with having my webspace erased, basically told to f*ck off if I wasn't happy.

I posted up on the forum for customer response. Despite him not knowing anything about the situation 'BurningSnowman' jumped in straight away belittling my accusations, and basically just being his normal blind HU fanboy self. As moderator he is surely aware of the unusually large amount of people banned on the forum, and the policy of censorship of any criticism.. Anyway, As with many other customers who have attempted to alert other people about their conduct, I was banned and my post was then removed.

I've since talked to a few other ex Hosting unlimited.net customers, many of whom have similar tales of arrogant and unprofessional treatment, despite being knowledgeable (in some cases expert) web developers. The concensus is that HU customer 'service' consists of 'its always the customers fault' or 'there's nothing wrong STFU' or 'get lost no refund'. .

[BurningSnowman]

I posted up on the forum for customer response. Despite him not knowing anything about the situation 'BurningSnowman' jumped in straight away belittling my accusations, and basically just being his normal blind HU fanboy self. As moderator he is surely aware of the unusually large amount of people banned on the forum, and the policy of censorship of any criticism.. Anyway, As with many other customers who have attempted to alert other people about their conduct, I was banned and my post was then removed.

Hi,

I don't know what comments you made or what my reply was, but I've never tried to belittle anyone posting accusations on the forum. If something doesn't seem to make any sense then I'll call you on it or ask for more info, and if I think something could be persued more usefully another way I'll tell you how. If you can quote me on something specific I've said that you object to, rather than just generally attacking me, I can possibly discuss it.

Thanks also for the balanced review of my analytical powers, allegiances, and character in general, I'll pass it on to my shrink.

Cheers,
BurningSnowman

[johnraff]

As a current HU customer I don't want to join in the "HU suck - no they don't" <discussion> here, but 2 quick points:

*I don't know how many people have been banned from the forums for complaining, but I've seen plenty of critical posts left up for all to read.

*The forums are an important source of support for users (lots of great input from the much-reviled BurningSnowman ) and I hope HU don't put the task of restoring them too much on the back-burner. The current migration has brought up issues with the way php is implemented, and in view of the agreed minimalist support policy, a group discussion on the forum looks like the best way forward...

[Atomic]

So everyone who has left HU, where are you hosted now?

[unchuffed1]

Hi, I too am an HU customer. I have been for a couple of years. During most of this period the reliability of the hosting service has been A1.
However, I have always been a little concerned that the HU customer relations policy may have been modelled on Stalinist Russia... toe the party line and don't rock the boat... or you vanish.
Jo (BoBo1972) is not the first casualty of this and I don't intend revealing my real identity in case I'm the next to suffer the same fate.
(BTW doesn't the image of *Commisar Dougie* sitting in his office reading everybody's personal messages fit beautifully into my analogy )

I don't enjoy having to raise this matter publicly, what's good for HU is, after all, good for me, but HU need a wake up call. so here are a few points for consideration.

• If there's a problem - admit it, fix it and explain it. Only mushrooms like to be kept in the dark and fed bull****.
• Trying to hide or supress things from your customers is impossible. People can sense when something isn't right and will just assume the worst.
• The customer may well be wrong but there's more profit in helping them get right than pissing them off.

Oh! and stop reading peoples mail it's not an attractive hobby.

[Tom Scott]

My MD and I are also customers of HU (personal domains, we wouldn't let them within a million miles of colocating Scancom servers). They've migrated our servers early last month, but failed to inform us at all. I as a result I had many clients who use my server for outgoing mail with complete loss of service.

Now I raised a few threads regarding this loss of service and lack of information. They were deleted by Mr BurningSnowman (is it yellow snow by the way? ) Oh and I am also now banned from the forums. Fair enough I was annoyed and the posts were a little provocative, but so were my clients. You can edit but not delete, deleting to me is basically a way of pulling the rug over the dirt.

All my domains were down, everything was.

I also raised a few support tickets, which admittedly were resolved quickly, but with a complete disregard for customer service or apologies for the lack of information.

*Commisar Dougie* then got involved.

Tom,

You were informed of this, in an e-mail sent to tom at scancom.co.uk on 3rd August (attached).

I would point out that if you continue to use any form of abusive language towards support staff, support will be withdrawn with no further notice to you. Your forum membership has been terminated today for inappropriate use; if you wish to continue hosting with us and to receive support, only factual and non-abusive communications will be accepted.

Sincerely,
Dougie Brown
Administrative Director.

Hey Snowman and Dougie heres something FACTUAL for you: You guys have no idea how to run a hosting company. Even fasthosts are better than you, and thats saying something.

Oh and I actuall have logs to prove no email was received by me, on my Scancom (which is my billing email) address, we run exchange with message tracker enabled, and Scan who host our mx server in their data centre could easily pull out the postfix logs for you as well. I have now started to seek some "legal" advice as to whether this threat is actually a breach of their service terms and conditions, and that would allow me to request a full refund or do a chargeback on my card. I don't pay money for no support I'm afraid.

So seeing as this thread is getting spidered and ranked well by google for the phrase "hosting unlimited forums", may I STRONGLY suggest anyone that reads this is warned off them.


Lets see if *Commisar Dougie* suspends my account for posting that lot shall we

Oh and I've just thought, doesn't reading someones mail or PRIVATE messages without prior consent or court order contribute and invasion of privacy, and more importantly a breach of the Data Protection Act... A hosting company that may host sensitive data that doesn't respect that is worth NOTHING. I'm sure its a breach of section 1.1.b (second one)

(b) retrieval, consultation or use of the information or data