Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Reseller Hosting : Please advise - is Dathorn fair with me?

[mihai]

Hi,
my last message here was about 2 or 3 years ago when I was searching for a reseller account. I was recomended dathorn and everything was fine untill last nighr when one of my phpbb message boards(I run about 5 big sites plus few small traffic ones) got hacked for second time during last 3 years.
My problem come that Dathorn decided that they put a page that account is suspended for non p[ayment. The site was 1 st ranked on search engines and market leader in his niche. Altough the problem was from the phpbb board they put all domain suspended and now I must keep it down untill i move to a new host thus making huge damage both to my profits and my site trust.
I consider they should helped me in this situation not making me much problems considering and asking me to move that domain from them . Also no damage is made to them as they get automatically warned if anything like this happen.
I think this is also a warning for each of their customers that at 2nd problem you will need to move even you are an old customer with them

I woudl really apreciate some opionions on this especially from some other hosting companies.

ModEdit: Hosting request are not allowed

[assuredhost.com]

There are already a few discussions going on on this same topic of suggesting a new reseller host.

As the phpbb is most vulnerable, and almost each and every week a new exploit is released, you should have patched them as soon as any exploit is released. Or you can consider the por the forum to any popular proprietary forum software.

Best wishes for the best reseller host you find.

[phpcoder]

Hi,

While I am not familiar with Dathorn’s policies that they have in place I would imagine the underlying reason for suspending your account is to ensure server stability and server security (unless you did forget to pay your bills ). By doing so, they are looking out for the “majority” of their clients on the server as they are liable.

Either way, situations like this differentiate each web host as some companies handle situations poorly, strictly, good, lenient, etc. I wish you the best of luck in your quest for a new web host!

[mihai]

I have been for about 3 years with them and only 2 problems so far and never payment problems.
Is this a regular isue that hosting companies all do it?

[phpcoder]

I have been for about 3 years with them and only 2 problems so far and never payment problems.

Good, but remember it only takes 1 problem/hack to compromise a server.

Is this a regular isue that hosting companies all do it?

Each company handles security/spam/etc in a different way. For instance we have found many insecure versions of phpBB installed on our servers and after numerous warnings they were still not upgraded and/or patched. A few boards were exploited because of this so in our eyes to protect our customers some type of action had to be taken.

With that said, we developed a script used to search for insecure phpBB installations, notify them, disable them, etc.

Security is a priority!

[assuredhost.com]

Security is a priority!

I compltely agree and want to just rephrase it a bit ( I hope phpcoder will not mind )

Security is a priority! and it to makes clients more secure.

[phpcoder]

Of course I don't mind as it's the truth!

[demostorm]

Originally posted by mihai
I have been for about 3 years with them and only 2 problems so far and never payment problems.
Is this a regular isue that hosting companies all do it?

I agree with the others that security is vital. There is no doubt that Dathorn has the right to suspend the account but I also agree with you that if the issue was not payment then that notice ought not to have been used. It hurts your credibility much more. Only you and Dathorn know whether payment was an issue.

[mihai]

it was their default suspended page a message to contact billing or support but you know what visitors undertstand
all my other websites are up so is clear not the payment isue

Thanks everyone for the inputs

[ldcdc]

but you know what visitors undertstand

True, your visitors might get the wrong idea, but it's not like Dathorn stated publically that your site is suspended for non payment (or even that you did anything wrong for that matter).

You'll have your own opportunity to dispell any myths by posting a message on your site and explain what happened.

I'm really sorry to meet a compatriot in such an unfortunate situation. Maybe, as you said, Dathorn could have tried a more lenient approach and tried to work with you in an attempt to find a more reasonable solution, especially since you were a good paying long time customer. However, judging by your statements, IMO, it cannot be stated that Dathorn was out of line. They were simply applying their policies.

[Dathorn-Andrew]

Originally posted by demostorm
but I also agree with you that if the issue was not payment then that notice ought not to have been used.

It's a standard WHM suspended page that is the same on all systemsunless modified. Each reseller has access to modify theirs if they wish.

[Website Rob]

Andrew, your statement sounds like something a Politican would say.
It is absolutely correct and tells us absolutely nothing.

The TS gives the impression their account was Suspended by Dathorn which means the Suspended page is Dathorn's.


As to the TS situation, what version of phpBB was being used? If the most current there is not much you could have done except to recode certain areas yourself, which most Clients cannot do. Which is also why most Clients use most pre-coded scripts to begin with. You also say your site must stay down until you move but no mention of whether you were told move because Dathorn will no longer host your sites(s). That would seem to be an odd situation to put a long-time Client in. Perhaps you violated the Dathorn TOS in some way or perhaps there is more to this story not yet provided?

[Dathorn-Andrew]

Originally posted by Website Rob
Andrew, your statement sounds like something a Politican would say.
It is absolutely correct and tells us absolutely nothing.

The TS gives the impression their account was Suspended by Dathorn which means the Suspended page is Dathorn's.


As to the TS situation, what version of phpBB was being used? If the most current there is not much you could have done except to recode certain areas yourself, which most Clients cannot do. Which is also why most Clients use most pre-coded scripts to begin with. You also say your site must stay down until you move but no mention of whether you were told move because Dathorn will no longer host your sites(s). That would seem to be an odd situation to put a long-time Client in. Perhaps you violated the Dathorn TOS in some way or perhaps there is more to this story not yet provided?

We suspended the domain but it still utilizes the reseller's suspended page.

The domain was "suspended permanently" as this is the second time this exact issue occured on the account due to insecure scripts installed on it. The customer was warned after the first time that if this occured again this would be the result. We're not kicking the customer out entirely, but that one domain will not be placed back online.

It was not the latest version of phpBB and was exploited using the admin_styles.php script as we've all probably seen numerous times before.

[demostorm]

Originally posted by mihai
it was their default suspended page a message to contact billing or support but you know what visitors undertstand
all my other websites are up so is clear not the payment isue

Thanks everyone for the inputs

As Dan stated the reference to support leaves you leeway to explain to your customers. I don't know what options you were given after the first breech. It would seem to me that on a phbb script it wouldn't be too extreme over a 3 year period for this to happen to you twice

So if Dathorn made sugestions to you which you ignored or declined then I see them having no fault but if those options were not offerred and no assistance was given but - "one more strike and you are out" then you needed to find another host anyway. Again third parties have absolutely no way of knowing what happened..

[mihai]

I am not saying it is not partially my fault(altough it isn;t as i have a webguy who should have checked for security updates)
What i want to say is that phpbb is a large comunity and even they can;t avoid all exploits
If I am correct the version that dathorn have in cpanels so anyone can install is not always the latest update

What i wanted to know is if most of other hosting sites would have done the same. I was very satisfied about their service but now i really believe they did it wrong.