Block9Hosting.net Dissapointment

Quicksilver · #1 08-01-2004, 11:16 AM

A friend of mine was looking for a shared hosting plan, and asked me to set it up and manage it for him.

I was browsing through the shared offers, and came accross Block9Hosting, they had good offers so I contacted Mike (who made the post). I asked him a few questions about what was on his servers, because I specifically needed three things PHP Safe mode off, ZenOptimizer, and cURL.

In the beginning his responses through PM and through email were very quick and curteous, and I was sure I had made the right choice. I found an issue in the beginning, but he resolved it right away - so I had no problem. The problems did start, however, and couple days later when I started having issues with WHM. I sent him emails explaining the issue, and asking him to fix it. I received no reply.

Eventually I ran into an issue where the DNS entries in WHM did not match what the actual domain name was, but I did not have permission to change them. I emailed him asking to change it, no reply, and still no reply from the first emails regarding WHM. I was feeling a little worried, but ultimately I figured it was a cheap plan so maybe I can give him a break.

Eventually the server starts working at such a slow rate that I can't even use it to FTP anything to. After waiting for the WHM page to load for 5 minutes I discover the CPU usage is in the red, and the RAM is in the yellow. Woah, what happened here, everything was really low not even a week before. So because I can't even make any use what so ever of the hosting, I send him an email explaining the server load issues.

This morning I woke up and received "Mail System Administrator Return Error - The Address Does Not Exist". Well great, so I guess that puts an end to my future with Block9Hosting.

Of course, I am not overwhelmingly dissapointed, it was under $10 but the money has nothing to do with it, it's the time and frustration.

GideonX · #2 08-01-2004, 11:23 AM

Sorry to hear the problems you had. Try the Host Quote feature for your specific requirements next time: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/request.php

Then try a search on them here for some feedback. Take your time and you should find someone that suits you best. Good luck!

ldcdc · #3 08-01-2004, 11:52 AM

Quote:

I was browsing through the shared offers, and came accross Block9Hosting, they had good offers so I contacted Mike (who made the post). I asked him a few questions about what was on his servers, because I specifically needed three things PHP Safe mode off, ZenOptimizer, and cURL.

Maybe your shopping process should've been a bit more thorough. Look for what other people say about the host, try to get in contact with some of their customers etc. Get a bit of feedback.

Sorry you had a rough time and good luck finding a better host!

colorteck · #4 08-01-2004, 12:25 PM

Sorry to hear your troubles but their are excellent host here at WHT. If you do a search after you find one you can read reviews. After this I would contact them by email or phone to discuss your needs.

IGobyTerry · #5 08-01-2004, 01:19 PM

I'm not surprised to see this. Looking at their site they're offering plans with 1 gigabyte of storage and 40 gigabytes of bandwidth for only $8.30 a month. You just can't sustain pricing like that without overloading servers, without having slow technical support.

nanoware · #6 08-01-2004, 03:21 PM

i had them they shut down my site after getting ddosed, and i couldnt even get my backups, there little kids from block9.net, they shouldnt be allowed to run a hosting company, and for the 6 or so servers they have, i know for a fact when i was hosted by them they only had 1 server, and they still do im sure, when my site was getting dosed the main site, block9hosting.net was also not reachable, so stay away from this host!

RackNine · #7 08-01-2004, 05:02 PM

Out of curiosity: is it a pre-made script that requires safe-mode to be off? I'm very interested which software applications still require such broad security needs.

-Matt

ezbnc · #8 08-01-2004, 08:59 PM

Sorry to hear when this happens to someone hopefully your next host will more then make up for it.

C0IVIPcode · #9 08-01-2004, 09:33 PM

Many hosts that are cheap and offer a high amount of bandwidth and space are often overcrowded and therfore casues the sites to run slower. If you want a professinol site host, you may want to consider something a little more pricey. But if you are making a site just for fun or for your friends, you might as well use a free host.

Suvee_@_M6.net · #10 08-01-2004, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ldcdc
Maybe your shopping process should've been a bit more thorough. Look for what other people say about the host, try to get in contact with some of their customers etc. Get a bit of feedback.

Sorry you had a rough time and good luck finding a better host!

Feeling sorry for you though time but he is right should have look for little bit more than jumping in to some thing.

dxerdave · #11 08-06-2004, 11:12 AM

I signed up with block9hosting.net and it lasted 9 days. I went for the advertised plan here 2gb/100gb for $5.30.

Yes I know I have learned my lesson guys without a doubt. You get what you pay for.

It was 9days of up and down, with transfer rates of 8Kb while trying to ftp.

All the responses I got from tech support were software upgrades and dos attacks.

After 9 days of my site being DOWN, I asked for my money back and moved on to a very fast host with top quality servers and speed. Yes it is more expensive for sure but at least my site is always up and the speed is there as well.

I got my money back but got a thrashing from the owner saying I shouldn't get my money back because reseller accounts never get any refund and in big BOLD letters to read the TOS next time.

Well there never will be a next time there, but as I say I learned my lesson well.

You get what you pay for!

NZDesign · #12 08-06-2004, 03:24 PM

Definatley a case of too good to be true

RyanD · #13 08-06-2004, 04:44 PM

Just some funny things I noticed on their page:

1) Their "User Agreement" links go to # (nowhere)
2) All their links still use the default page structure of their template from template monster. index-1, index-2, etc.
3) Their servers are located on the FDC Servers network. If you search here you'll see why that is so bad.
4) They have no phone number listed, the phone number listed on the domain whois info belongs to
<CL Edit - Personal Information Removed>

Which indicates this is a kiddiehost.
5) since this is a kiddiehost how do they provide 24/7 support while being in school?
6) Their about our servers has the following errors
- "Intel Quad XEON 2.40GHz Processors" these are not quad but mearly 2.4GHz with Hyper Threading
- They say "Dell Power Edge Raid 5 Redundant Server" but then they say " (2) 80 GB 15k RPM ULTRA 320 SCSI DRIVES" they obviously don't understand what Raid5 is because raid 5 requires a minimum of 3 drives to work

All in all there are many things that stick out at this host that say to me they are a joke, These are common things you should look at when selecting a host especially when they are offering so much for so little.