Tuesday 12 February 2013

Webhosting.UK.Com - They are really that dishonest!!


It all began when I was hunting the internet for a new hosting provider and in particular a VPS provider.

My first mistake was to move my websites to Webhosting UK, although I was looking for a VPS they said their shared hosting environment outperformed most VPS offering out there. So I took the gamble and signed up for a web hosting account.

Webhosting.uk.com cant get it right from the start

From the very start the service was bad, firstly I wanted to use the shared SSL area for my websites, so after my shared hosting area was provisioned I went about settting up all my files, websites, emails and thought at this point I would be able to access the shared SSL area via the Dot Net Panel control panel. This was not the case and on raising this issue I was told that the shared SSL area was only available if I was using the Plesk control panel and in order to use the Plesk panel I would have to be given a whole new account with the Plesk panel.

So after about a week my new hosting account was setup this time using plesk, and after a lot of chatting online with Web Hosting UK they finally agree to migrate my data over for free, as this was their fault. However I still needed to setup my email accounts again. Which was a pain.

Webhosting.uk.com alter service provision without notice

So there I was with my websites up and running, or so I thought. After about 6 months of hosting with Web Hosting UK I noticed one of my applications that had been running fine was not working, after a lot of error checking I noticed that this was due to the server having the FSO or File System Object disabled. I contacted Web Hosting UK and was told that they had disabled the FSO for security reason on the shared hosting and  in order to use the FSO I would need  to sign up for a VPS, as they have disabled the FSO on the shared hosting.

Webhosting.uk.com service is unreliable and not live most of the time

After all this I thought it would be plain sailing, but no such luck, the speed and reliability of the server meant that it was down more than it was up and my clients were constantly on the phone complaining they cant access any websites or emails. The server was not live most of the time.

Another problem was that not only was my website not live most of the time, but I had a problem with server rights when publishing an SQL DB and on one occassion this was fixed by contacting them via the web chat, however when this problem arose again I was told I would need to email in as it cant be sorted via web chat. This was a pain, as I had to wait a few days for this to be resolved.

Webhosting.uk.com dont honour their own SLA - refuse to give refunds

So after all the poor service and lack of uptime on my server I contacted them to see about getting some kind of credit as per their SLA agreement, As I was on annual billing, they refused to offer any kind of refund at all, as they said I needed to contact them within 40 days of the incident, which I did. I had lengthy conversations via email with a woman posing as a customer service agent, a woman called Jenna Strong, where as she is in fact the company secretary.

Wehosting.uk.com Jenna Strong is not a customer service agent she is the company secretary

So after all this I finally decided to move hosts, and tried to get a pro rata refund for my time left on my account, again this was refused, even though I had a month left on my account at the time of moving away.

So my advice to anyone looking for hosting is not STAY AWAY from Webhosting.uk.com they also operate as bodhosts and eukhost so dont not touch them with a barge pole if you want your website working and a company who is honest and reliable and stand by their own SLA.

The Truth about Webhosting.uk.com

Company Director & Secretary

Firstly the director of the company is John Strong and the company secretary is Jenna Strong (yes they are related) dont be fooled when she calls herself a customer service agent.

Domain Registered Address

Although the company is registered in the UK, the actual domain is registered to an office in Albany House in London which is a virtual office / mailing office address. They do not have an office in London.

Registered  Office

The registered office address is Leeds is also a virtual office and is also the contact address for the other companies including eUKHost and BodHost.

Also on the website it stats they have been in business since 2001 yet the company has only been registered since 2008

So as you can see with all this smoke and mirrors Webhosting.uk.com are a company not to deal with, they are nothing more than a Micky Mouse operation with poor customer service and dishonesty at all times.

Thanks for Reading
Sean J Connolly
 FaceBook Me - Visit AJAX Web Development Store

BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

4 comments:

Unknown said...

you have mentioned excellent points, all points, i learn alot about web hosting.
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web hosting sites said...

Therefore, i would suggest you before signing up with any hosting company, make sure that you read their customer reviews..

Sean J Connolly said...

Thanks for the comments, you are so right its best to do a bit of research before signing up for any hosting.

Customer reviews are worth their weight in gold :)

Unknown said...

It’s actually a great and helpful piece of info. your article let me know a lot of things.UK web hosting

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