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.

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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:

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to dispute a charge by HostICan on June 20, 2007 in the amount of $262.80. I had purchased hosting from them and paid for two years up front with the understanding that if I was not satisfied at any time with the service I would be able to receive a prorated refund.

The websites I have hosted with HostICan have been in service for 5+ years. I have been with a number of different host providers, and never had any trouble with CPU or Memory usage. Shortly after signing up with HostICan I noticed my sites would go down and in its place a “warning” message would come up saying that I was using too much CPU and/or memory resources on their servers. I contacted them and tried to understand why this was happening. They first suggested I wait and see if it happens again. It did. I contacted them again, and they suggested I use a specific plugin for my content management system that should help. I installed it. But nothing changed. I still saw my site going down.

They now say that I’ve "outgrown" the server I'm on and suggested I move to their more expensive plan which costs 5x more a month than what I'm paying now. My site hasn't gotten significantly larger since when I first signed up with them, so I feel that this is not a fair assessment. I asked them to tell me the hardware configuration of the server I’m on, and I got two different answers. I asked them to verify/prove which answer was correct, and they could not.

When I asked about getting a prorated refund because I was not satisfied – I was told I would not get one because I was outside the 30-day guarantee. However, on their site, they specifically say that satisfaction is guaranteed. (Please see printout from their website included with this fax). The phrase "Your satisfaction or your money back" is listed before any mention of their "30-day money back guarantee". If this is truly the case that you do not get a prorated refund – then I think their site is incredibly misleading. I took it to mean that if one cancelled within 30 days – all money would be refunded, and after that time, it would be a prorated refund, as is standard practice with other hosts I’ve contacted and hosted with.

As well, on their customer forums, it would seem that many other people are having a similar problem as I am. This leads me to believe there is a defect with either their servers or monitoring system. Instead of investigating the issue, they are belligerent and blame their customers.

Sincerely,….

I thought it would be interesting to mention that I've been having trouble posting this even because my site has been going up and down like a yo-yo.

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