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  1. #1

    DreamHost Expirience

    Hi,
    I would like to share with you my DreamHost experience.

    After doing my research I have come to the decision of going with DreamHost using one of many discount cupons available around the foruns, so I commited myself to their service for 24 months, mostly due to the lower cost of hosting with the coupon.

    I did my sign-up on the L1 plan at 29th of December, made my payment using their checkout form via PayPal, and received the order confimation message.
    Because I've used a diferent PayPal email from the one I used at DreamHost sign-up, I emailed their customer support to check if everything was ok, and they confirmed that in fact they received payment and all was fine.

    But the thing is, all DreamHost accounts require approval before they are actually usable. It has been ONE WEEK of wait and counting for this approval, during which I have sent a critical priority support email (aka "OMG") [@Jan 4th, 2007 - 12:27:21] that is yet to be answered! The previous attempt of contact was also unsucessfull.
    To add up, after reviewing my billing information I have found that I am paying for this week of no service!

    I have posted on their foruns several times about the issue, have patiently waited for their action, but yet I consider a ONE WEEK "downtime" - even considering that weekend and holiday - something attrocious and worth to take my time and warn others.

    The site that was supposed to be hosted in this account isn't even developed yet [was supposed to be during this week..], so there is no chance of being something DreamHost wouldn't approve for whatever reason. I am a new customer to DreamHost so there is no chance of being something from the past taking it's influence.

    By TOS they aren't really "picky" about content, provided it is legal. My sign-up domain isn't anything out of this world, being "just another" tech related .com so there is no way they are put off just by the domain.. Since content is none ATM.

    Trully hope to see an unespected turn around from DreamHost during the remaining 24 months, and that hopefully in a few weeks/months I'll be able to do an extendend review with working domains hosted with them.

  2. #2
    If you posted on the forum, and sent the OMG ticket you did everything you can. I've read about similar situations, so you can just wait or ask for a refund. Maybe they were slower because of the end of the year, and it's now being processed. Only they can answer.
    Two decades of web marketing experience & millions of visitors, previously a super-affiliate.

  3. #3
    First of all, it may not have been a good idea to commit to two years with a service you were new to. You may already be thinking the same thing considering your circumstances. If you can get your money back then do so and go somewhere else. You don't want to accept sub par customer service in order to save a few bucks.

    There are plenty of hosts available that are affordable, easy to get in touch with and won't police what you put on your site.
    InfTek Hosting
    Shared and Dedicated Kerio MailServer Solutions
    http://www.inftekhosting.com

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Posts
    376
    Quote Originally Posted by InfTekHosting
    You don't want to accept sub par customer service in order to save a few bucks.
    I agree wholeheartedly

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    212
    yeah 2 years is a long time.

    If they offer a discount for a long contract *which im sure they do* then thats probably why you got it. But when something like this happens you can see thats its worth the few extra bucks for good support.

    Next time go for monthly, mosts host will allow some sort of auto payment so if your worried about having to remember to pay there are ways around that.
    - Steve D
    SERVBoston: Hosting since 2003
    Shared, Reseller, VPS.
    Top Notch Support from a veteran hosting company!

  6. #6
    With DreamHost you don't need to go monthly. The first year of hosting costs $23 with a coupon that Dreamhost's affiliates or Dreamhost itself gives.
    They do this so that people don't be afraid to try their service. They will get their money back when you renew, if you are happy.

    They also give a refund if you request it. So if you don't want to wait, ask your money back. But maybe that will take the same time of processing your setup...
    Two decades of web marketing experience & millions of visitors, previously a super-affiliate.

  7. #7
    I would like to let you know that finally my account has been activated and am now ready to start developing.

    I did my research before choosing this host, and at sign-up it seamed like not such a big loss to jump in a 24 month contract given the discounts offered both by contract lenght and coupon. I might have to reconsider that view, but I must say a 12 months contract with DreamHost can be really cheap provided you get a $97 coupon or even the $99.99 one.

    You can rest assured I will post a more detailed review in a few weeks/months, when I finally get to know this host better.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    3,590
    Good to see you finally got setup! let us know how your experience is with them.
    The Hosting Heroes Ltd - over 20 years in the UK hosting industry.
    Website Hosting | Reseller Hosting | Cloud VPS Servers | Dedicated Servers | VPS Reseller for WHMCS
    www.thehostingheroes.com

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Zeeland, MI
    Posts
    437
    I would like to let you know that finally my account has been activated and am now ready to start developing.
    Did you find out what the problem was? (why it took so long)

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Phoenix, AZ, USA
    Posts
    771
    This sounds like a great deal - good luck.

    Kindly,
    rick@slicie.com - Vertical Scaling Servers
    30 Minute Backups - Only pay for what you use

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by crislem
    Did you find out what the problem was? (why it took so long)
    In reply to my latest support email (marked as Critical aka "OMG"), the support team said:
    Looks like you should have been activated automatically and weren't.
    Sorry about that. I've gone ahead forwarded this to the activation
    department so they can take care of this for you. They will get back to
    you shortly.
    Off course I didn't like the one week delay and it certainly ruined my original planning/schedule for developing my site, though it might have to be with the fact there was a weekend and public holiday in-between plus the new year brought to DreamHost mail server issues and probably a surge in support requests.
    I may not consider these factors to be an excuse to such atrocious wait, but I prefer to move forward and take the most of what this host has to offer.

    In a few weeks/months I will be able to tell you if the first week was just a sample of the next 24 months, or if (most likely) it didn’t do any justice to DreamHost.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    43
    I had the same problem as you, then I posted in their discussion board. And sent a OMG support email as well. Which activated my account within 24 hours. I waited about 1 week also. I believe there is one post said that Credit Card and Google Payment gets activated instantly while Paypal seems to have problem with the automatication.
    Good luck!

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Location
    International
    Posts
    490
    I'm sure they will not charge you for time before they set your account live and any company would honour a credit (or service extension) for this.
    Matthew - Burton Hosting
    low cost shared, reseller, VPS & dedicated solutions for over five years - we've got what you need.
    http://www.burtonhosting.com
    http://www.getmesupport.com - server monitoring service for all!

  14. #14
    My experienced with Dreamhost has been mixed. It took them a long time before our email problem was fixed. The other is once you get to the point of renewing with them, they don't give you much incentive to stay. They don't even offer a discount when you renew.

  15. #15
    I canceled my DreamHost account after about a week due to two major factors. The first, which I was unsure about from the start, was DreamHost's panel instead of cPanel. First of all, it doesn't tell you your table prefixes in their MySQL section. Secondly, I was extremely unhappy with their lack of live support when I was trying to transfer my website to their servers.

    Due to this, I canceled, and I am now with HostGator. I have no problems at all.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    EU - east side
    Posts
    21,920
    Quote Originally Posted by Mark41
    I canceled my DreamHost account after about a week due to two major factors. The first, which I was unsure about from the start, was DreamHost's panel instead of cPanel. First of all, it doesn't tell you your table prefixes in their MySQL section. Secondly, I was extremely unhappy with their lack of live support when I was trying to transfer my website to their servers.

    Due to this, I canceled, and I am now with HostGator. I have no problems at all.
    I think you leaving DH was very much a matter of personal preference. Their offer simply doesn't meet your needs, but that doesn't necessarily make them a bad host.

    How long have you been with each? For review validation purposes, please share some domains you've hosted/host with them.

  17. #17
    I won't be able to actually comment on my experience with HostGator for at least another month or two - I've only been with them a couple weeks. I was with w3bbix before this, however, and I never had any problems with them. It was just time for an upgrade which they simply could not match, you know?

    Anyway, in a month or two I'll write a full review on my experience with HostGator.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    EU - east side
    Posts
    21,920
    Sure, you're welcome to expand your comments/reviews when you feel comfortable with it.

    If you don't want to share your domains publically, you can simply send them to the moderating team via http://www.webhostingtalk.com/report.php?p=4302751. Thank you!

  19. #19
    I've been with Dreamhost for about 9 months now, and I'm quite happy with my experience there. There were some reasons for annoyance, as they had some issues with their network and support was incredibly slow a while during 2006.

    However, the overall impression I have of them is good. They have a lot of features and decent uptime these days.

    Good and friendly support (got a month's credit when I had some issues with email, to mention something) - their staff is friendly, just go into their chatroom (on IRC) and you'll get yourself an occasional laugh or two!

    For static and low CPU-intensive content, DH is a winner!

  20. #20
    Regarding sql table prefixes you can usually leave that as it is (default or blank) because you will need to setup a new database for each application.

    As for their different cpanel, it takes a while to get used to it, but after that, it works ok. You can manage all your sites through there, or create several webpanel id's.
    Two decades of web marketing experience & millions of visitors, previously a super-affiliate.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    73
    I hate the Dreamhost control panel. I prefer cPanel, H-Sphere and even Ensim (which I also dislike strongly).

    Email configuration is particularly and unnecessarily byzantine.

  22. #22
    I think their control panel is an inquired taste. I personally don't have any objections about their control panel but perhaps some minor things like the email-handling (default box-sizes when choosing domains) and so on.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    2,050
    I have found that if you are unhappy with the control panels offered to you it is time for you to make your own. If that is not a option from the host it is time to become your own host and create one to your liking.

    The original problem was that Webmister tried to do hosting before his the account was approved. When I started off with Dreamhost with the L3 plan I instantly had no doubt that I should wait until my account was approved before attempting to buy services.

    What the Account Approval appears to be is not a check what your domain is but to propagate your account through their entire system and make sure everything for your account is setup correctly with NFS.

    I have never had any problems with Dreamhost, except for network problems other then that everything was great and is still great.

    As I use them for file downloading and development.

  24. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by TheHeartSmasher View Post
    As I use them for file downloading and development.
    Dreamhost surely offers a lot of goodies for software developers

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