scriptygoddess

Rather than clean up this post - which was updated throughout my ordeal with them - I wanted to summarize the problem I had when I was hosted with HostICan.

When I first switched to them, they seemed great at the time. I was very happy. I even signed up as an affiliate and recommended them, sent clients to them. A few months after I signed up however, the problems began…

At first I got a threatening email from them saying my site was using too much CPU/Memory. I could not get any kind of helpful response via email so I finally called them. The guy I spoke to said it was a momentary spike - everything was fine - lets see if it happens again.

A few weeks (?) later, it happened again. Again, I called and was told to install wp-cache and that should fix the problem. So I did.

I had a few more back and forths with them. The end result was that starting in 2008 I think they changed their monitoring systems, from a threatening email - to simply taking your whole site down.

My site has not had a massive increase in posts, or visitors in a few years. In fact, because I’ve been so busy, posting here has been less and less, and number of visitors has roughly averaged the same or less.

Simply put, I wasn’t happy with their service anymore. In my previous post, people said “What do you expect when you pay ~$6 for hosting” (Actually I had paid more than that - but whatever). No matter what - if that’s the service you get with cheap hosting - so be it. But what happened next is inexcusable.

On their site, they say that if you’re not happy, you can get your money back… they ALSO say that if you are not happy within 30 days - you can get a full refund. Well, I’m not looking for a full refund, but since I paid for TWO YEARS up front, and the service obviously isn’t working for me anymore - I would like to get a prorated refund. This is standard policy with every host provider I have ever contacted. On their site the “30 day RISK FREE money back guarantee” wording - is COMPLETELY SEPARATE from their “Service guarantee”:

SERVICE GUARANTEE:
We guarantee that we’ll provide quality service:

* 99.9% Uptime Guarantee
* 24/7/365 Phone & Email Support
* Your satisfaction or your money back. (emphasis mine)

When I canceled I asked for my prorated refund, and I was told I would get nothing because I was canceling outside the 30-day window. Their friendly response:
You seem to miss one vital thing “30 day money back guarantee” and this applies within the 30 days “Your satisfaction or your money back.” not within 7 months.

They want to massively restrict CPU and take everyone’s site down - I guess, sure, thats what you get with cheap hosting - but to put up a VERY misleading “SERVICE GUARANTEE” - and keep hundreds of dollars for hosting I’m obviously not getting/using… This is a good business practice??

Whatever the restriction is on CPU usage - it was so tight that I had A LOT of problems getting my database off their system… I would try to export the database, and it wouldn’t let me… I had to manually export most of the rows for my posts and comments in small increments - and even then it skipped a few. It’s also interesting to note that if you browse around on their forums, you’ll see a bunch of people complaining of this problem.

People - be forewarned… This is not just cheap hosting… this is a BAD BUSINESS. I STRONGLY advise against hosting with them.

UPDATE: If you’re reading this then you’re reading me from the new host. Crossing fingers this works out better. (I could cleary see there was something wrong with HostIcan just in trying to do the move. For starters it took my site down just taking a backup of my site. As well it would not let me pull down a full backup of my database, and just reviewing the database to double check which lines it had decided to skip when trying to run the download, took the site down (meanwhile the new host had no problems with that). I have noticed a few “timeouts” - hopefully that’s something that will work itself out. /sigh

———————

I am SO SORRY. To anyone who followed my advice and signed up with HostICan - I’m sorry. I’m SO SORRY. A million times over. As well, I am SO SORRY that I am hosted with them. If nothing else it was a huge learning experience on what to check on with a host provider.

When I first switched to them I thought they were great. I loved them. Well… the honeymoon is DEFINITELY over!!

You may have noticed that sometimes when you come to my site a “warning” of sorts is up that says I’m using too much “CPU/Memory” on their servers. NEVER. NOT ONCE on any host did I over use too much CPU/Memory - certainly not on a regular day to day basis. And anytime I might have had a script that I was running, the host helped me pinpoint which script was causing the problem. (I’m haven’t put anything new like that on my sites for a long time). (This didn’t even happen the time that my site got slashdotted.)

Despite saying this on their website:

SERVICE GUARANTEE:
We guarantee that we’ll provide quality service:

* 99.9% Uptime Guarantee
* 24/7/365 Phone & Email Support
* Your satisfaction or your money back. (emphasis mine)

(Which, by the way, is NOT under the heading “30-day money back guarantee”) they still say they will not give me a refund / pro-rated or otherwise. (I paid for two-years up front when I signed up with them - and did so thinking that I would be able to get a refund (LIKE THEIR SITE SAYS) should things not work out.) So now I’ll be calling my credit card company to dispute the charge - and hopefully switch to a new host as soon as possible.

Ugh.

This by the way is the letter I’m sending my credit card company:
(more…)