Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Downtownhost

[KSAMKTG]

Hi,

Based on all the great reviews on this site for Downtownhost, I just signed up. We're off to a pretty rocky start.

I asked them to move my sites from another cPanel host. For some reason, it wasn't possible to give me access to test the sites before the changeover, so they offered to check them out for me.

Based on assurance that all was well, with a bit of trepidation because I didn't have the opportunity to test myself, I changed the DNS Servers.

First I discovered that the files for one site had not transferred properly. Once getting that fixed, when the transfer was complete, 3 of my sites were down, contact forms were not working, clients were calling me.

After 3 hours of testing into the wee hours of last night, everything is operational now.

I can only hope that the reviews of Downtownhost on this site have not all been written by affiliates, etc. and that their great uptime and support are evident from here out.

Otherwise, it's going to be a real short relationship.

[JLHC]

I am very sorry for your unpleasant experience with them. Maybe Jedito could come here and explain his side of the story as well?
Also, please provide a domain name of your site hosted with them for verification. If you do not want to disclose it here, you can use the "Report" button to report it to the moderators. This is the standard procedure of WHT before your reviews can be accepted.

[iHubNet-Matt]

We can not say any thing before observing the other side Jedito is a very lively member here and hope he will come soon to update us. Feel sorry that you had a bad experience with them and i hope that one is a short one and you will be happy with them hereafter.

[KSAMKTG]

JLHC - thanks for the reminder on the verification. I have reported the domains to the mods. I accept that this may be a very isolated incident, but to keep the forum balanced, I thought both sides of the issue should be available.

I've participated in this forum before, but can't find my login info, thus the number of posts is shown as 1. :-)

[KSAMKTG]

Thanks, Matt. I hope so too!

[Jedito]

I think that I know which account is this, for some reason on his computer the "hosts" files was not resolving to our server when she tried to "force" the domain point to the IP in our server before the propagation didn't worked, therefore, we for courtesy tested the site for her (after the move), I would like to clarify that the OP have THOUSAND of page, we tested many and worked fine (in 4 domains), we tested the form, and worked fine too.

When she changed of DNSs realized that some pages were missing (as I said, she have thousand of pages, it's impossible to us to test every one of them), also, based on the confidence that this was done from a full backup of her old host and that the restore process did not indicated any trouble.
After check what she reported, we tried to generate two times more a backup and restore of her files with the same result, so, we ftped the files 1 by 1 from her old provider to us (I repeat this, thousand of files and over 3 GB of it). As a result, the files were there, but the addon domains not resolving, so, we had to remove the addon domains and recreate it again.

The problem with the forms were, first, that she had the MX records pointing to an external server (we didn't knew that) so, she wasn't getting the emails, but when we tested it the emails were delivered as it should at the logs, when she told us that the emails were handled on the external server we removed the domain as a localdomain and added it as a remote domain and that fixed it. She have a problem with another form (a cgiemail form) but she have it on her old host too, this not something that got broke after the move

All this was done as soon as possible, however, we had to wait two times for a backup of over 3 GB on a heavily overloaded server (I mean, her former host server), and after this two restore not working, we had to ftp 1 by 1 over 3 GB of files to our server.
The forms issue was resolved as soon as she told us that the emails were handled by an external server, I can see on the timestamp of the ticket that she reported that the emails were handled by a remote server at 05:27 AM and it was already resolved at 05:31 AM.

[KSAMKTG]

Jedito,

Thank you for responding to this thread.

Perhaps this is just an example of the worst possible case of a site move - my not being able to test the sites prior to the cutover, the restore process not showing any problem, your ability to access the 4 domains after the move, but then the addon domains not resolving properly, etc.

I had verified that the MX record for one of the domains had transferred properly, but didn't realize that wasn't enough, and that a local/remote host setting somewhere needed to be changed. And, you're right - the one form problem you mentioned was on my end.

I do appreciate the tech's efforts and staying with me during the hours of testing.

I hate changing hosts, and hope that I don't feel the need to do it again anytime soon!

[MikeDVB]

All in all it sounds like DownTownHost did what they could to provide the best service possible. There are at least a few hosts that I can think of that would not have gone nearly as far to make sure everything was working for you and to make sure you were happy. Many would have said that the transfer failed and that you then had to do it on your own.

Best of luck KSAMKTG and thank you for the information Jedito

[KSAMKTG]

Mike - thanks for your feedback. I'm glad I'm not with the hosts you mentioned who would have left me high and dry. I've never had this experience with a site move, so I had no idea how bad it could be.

[MikeDVB]

Originally Posted by KSAMKTG

Mike - thanks for your feedback. I'm glad I'm not with the hosts you mentioned who would have left me high and dry. I've never had this experience with a site move, so I had no idea how bad it could be.

Things can go *much much* worse, although it was not a smooth transition, honestly DownTownHost did a fantastic job given the circumstances.

Best of luck.

[JLHC]

Kudos to Jedito and DTH for handling this issue in a professional manner and also explains it here.

@ KSAMKTG: Rest assured that you are now in good hands.

[KSAMKTG]

JLHC - Glad to hear it. Maybe after some more sleep it will all seem like a bad dream! :-)

[Amy-T]

Thanks for the review and ya some times things happen at least they went that extra mile to help you get every thing back up and running. I know some hosts do not even move you or test to make sure its working.

I have had worse moves. One host moved the files but did not make sure they worked and I was left fixing it as they said they moved them and it was my job getting them fixed - I will say for sure I am not with that host any more.

[reviews]

My experience with Downtown was not as positive as this Board suggests. For example, regardless of what is said, Support was not available 24/7.

[Amy-T]

Originally Posted by reviews

My experience with Downtown was not as positive as this Board suggests. For example, regardless of what is said, Support was not available 24/7.

the 24/7 thing I agree with, specially with live support and phone just tells you to open a ticket or opens one for you.
The tickets how ever do get answered 24/7 at least from my experience.

*Oh and never email throught the live support they never get it or reply*