I have had a UK2 reseller account (for roughly 9 months now) which I use to host some specific sites as they offer free SSL and dedicated IPs (very useful to keep overheads at minimum) and SSH, important as I have some magento sites.

The server itself is excellent as is the network connectivity. But several times over the course there have been problems, this is compounded by their seeming attitude that resellers are the lowest priority. One example of this is all other hosting (dedicated/shared/domain) get access to live support but reseller is ticket only. Another, even tickets marked emergency or critical can take 6+ hours to be answered. (I do not abuse the ticketing criteria by marking everything high like some probably do, and have only ever used emergency 2 times)

Firstly they disabled SSH (a feature included in my plan) on all my accounts without telling me, removed it from my list of extras I can add, and only after 2 days problem solving tickets with support did they find this was the reason, they said they can enable it on certain accounts for me but this is very hit and miss, so I have essentially given up trying to use this feature now.

Then a user account was compromised and some malicious html pages were uploaded, so instead of alerting me to fix this, they just deleted some compromised files from the account and then locked some (but bizarrely not all) the directories and told me nothing. It took the client contacting me as to why some directories were denying him access for me to realise something was up and contact them about the locked directoried to get the full story. This is when I found out they had removed the files (fair enough) but needed me to ask them to unlock the directories. The main problem is, without me discovering this the user account remained completely open to being constantly abused, they could have quite easily started email spamming, etc, and would have caused more headaches until the password was reset.

Now for the last 2 days the server has had a load of between 12-35 causing webpages to time out 99% of the time, also it seems practically all mail except my own main domain has been failing. On wednesday I tried to ring the support number (its premium rate as well) twice but with no response, it rings for 5 mins then BT automatically disconnects me for no response. So opening uk2.net I was greeted by sales in an instant chat, adi, a name I know there, he responds to me on dedicated server matters often, replied saying aware of problem, should be sorted soon. So I leave it at that expecting it to be fixed by the morning. Thursday morning arrives and same problems still, try to call support 3 calls within 20 mins, none are answered. I have to go out all day but I am receiving emails and phone calls from people saying wheres my site, whats happened etc, so when I get home I open ticket marked emergency (as I consider 24 hours downtime emergency), 6 hours later, 2 more ignored calls to support, I give up and go to bed. At 2am in the morning my ticket is replied to saying 'what problem are you experiencing?' So this morning I check again, all sites still down barring main site, no mail is working, but the load seems to have returned to normal so I state my problems and wait for a reply. That was 3 hours ago so having no response, and having given up trying to call them, in desperation I go to uk2.net and am greeted by sales instant chat, I say this:

"hello ive tried 3 times on the phone to get thru to support, my last ticket update took 6 hours despite being market emergency, can you please ask someone to look into ticket number PHC-591668, i realise this is not the correct contact method but i am desperate here"

I was hoping for some sort of reply such as I will forward this to support but this isnt the correct medium for support, but all I get is this:

"Andy (Sales Advisor) has left the chat"

Nice :(

So thats my review, good when its working but don't expect any kind of decent support, random changes in your package, phones answered or not at random, now I must consider what to do with these sites, basically inaccessible 48+ hours, with people getting veeeery unhappy.


(Oh I would like to add that UK2 have a transfer fee for moving your domains away to another registrar, costs over £15, might as well pay nominet the lesser fee of £12 to simply override them, totally ludicrous )

Ouch, doesn't sound too good - are you looking to stay with a UK host now that you are considering moving ?

Then a user account was compromised and some malicious html pages were uploaded, so instead of alerting me to fix this, they just deleted some compromised files from the account and then locked some (but bizarrely not all) the directories and told me nothing. It took the client contacting me as to why some directories were denying him access for me to realise something was up and contact them about the locked directoried to get the full story. This is when I found out they had removed the files (fair enough) but needed me to ask them to unlock the directories. The main problem is, without me discovering this the user account remained completely open to being constantly abused, they could have quite easily started email spamming, etc, and would have caused more headaches until the password was reset.

1. Choose secure passwords, change them every once in a while. Avoid words, names, phone numbers, dob, etc for passwords. Let your customers know that as well.

2. ALWAYS, always update your scripts including your sub-accounts OR tell your customers to update them to avoid getting your accounts compromised.

These are the top two rules why accounts get compromised.

If you are getting poor support, find a new host, backup your files and move on. As long as you follow their specified methods and still unable to get a hold of anyone to resolve your issues or support takes hours upon hours or days to resolve your issue, then I believe it may be time to find a new host. Look for recommendations for another UK provider.

Well I only keep this reseller account for the free SSLs and IP's as its very useful in that respect. But the level of service (or non-service) is probably going to make me transfer the accounts to one of my dedi's or vps now and give up using this. I'll host them on my own machines so I don't need any offers, just I liked to keep this reseller account for certain accounts. Mainly I posted this to help others make a choice.

*EDIT*
Thanks wirenine, in that specific case the users password was not weak so I think probably the user gave it to someone they shouldn't have, or they stole it, it was not brute forced. The thing is accounts get compromised, it happens, even with the most protection, it was the way uk2 dealt with it that I had problem with, no email to me saying what had happened, so although they knew about it, could have easily informed me to fix it, the account was left wide open to any other continued malicious activity.

Sorry to hear this - I've always known UK2 had decent services, but didn't know much about their support. There are plenty of other reliable hosts around with decent support :)

The CEO of UK2 is an active member here at WHT, I think he will take care of you.

I understand it's not a correct way to get support, but sometimes PM or email their CEO directly can help a lot, he'll let someone follow your issue. His username here is eming.

Last time I have a DNS emergency with resell.biz and their support doesn't work on weekend, I livechat with Midphase and they promised a response ASAP, but no response after 24 hours.
So I PMed Ditlev and explained my issue, and he replied me almost instantly, and let someone followed my issue until it's resloved. A big thanks to him!

So, if you are desperate there, contact him, lol.

Well since my last response my problem has been resolved I Think. Apparently the problems on the server (still no idea what these were) caused my custom DNS to die. They have updated my DNS to default server DNS apparently to get accounts working again. So a resolution, all be it too late I think.

Well since my last response my problem has been resolved I Think. Apparently the problems on the server (still no idea what these were) caused my custom DNS to die. They have updated my DNS to default server DNS apparently to get accounts working again. So a resolution, all be it too late I think.

Glad to know it's resloved.
But I think uk2 should take close look to your ticket and find why a emergency ticket take so long to response, and also why no one is answer the phone.
It's a nightmare when you can't get any help from your provider and your client is keep asking, I can totally understand you because I have encountered a situation like this before.

Good luck with your new proider if you are going to move, you can take a look at Innohosting, they are running a special offer here, and they have UK location. I used to work with them, they are amazing and always get qucik reponse from them.

The thing that annoys me the most about UK2 is all of the hidden costs...

For example on their site they advertise that the reseller plus is £29.95 per month, so you think thats a great deal and you go for it.

You are then confronted with a page saying that actually it's £29.95 if you take a yearly deal if you really want it for a month then you need to pay £39.95... so again, you think right... Ok and you press continue to be then told it's actually £45.00 because you've still got VAT to pay.

It's reminds me of Ryanair... FLY for 1P!! (but we've got a million different hidden charges).

It's reminds me of Ryanair... FLY for 1P!! (but we've got a million different hidden charges).

Very true! They are probably the most expensive airline when you add everything else.


This often happens with cheap hosting I am affraid, you see an attractive price, which is to get you to signup, then you find your charged additional for lots of other features.