The purpose of this blog is to warn people about the terrible scam this company is running under disguise of a legitimate web hosting service, so that somebody who may be considering subscribing to their "services" knows exactly what he is getting himself into and does not fall victim of their sweet talk and false advertisement and burned badly in the end the way it happened to me.

Friday, October 30, 2009

BEWARE of 000webhost - they will steal and destroy your data

So, the features they advertise do look pretty good, but for your own sakes DO NOT FALL FOR IT. This "service" is a DISASTER from beginning to end, it is simply unbelievable that a "service" of this quality and this much contempt and disrespect to the customers is still around.

First of all, you'll be lucky if your uptime is 60%. Yes, half of the time you or your users try to access the site, it is down. Disks fail, servers shut down ... and on, and on and on ... The other half of the time, it is up, but you have to be REALLY patient to get the page loaded, it is so slow, I sometimes think they are just typing the content in by hand as it is loading. I was running a standard BB engine there, nothing fancy.

You think this is all? Oh, no, just wait, this is only the beginning. So, if you get some kind of traffic coming in (and I mean just SOME traffic - maybe, 100 hits per DAY, nowhere near real traffic), their puny servers start to collapse, and come down to a CRAWL. And then (get this!), they blame YOU for your db queries being "slow"! My 12 year old PC runs these same queries in milliseconds (not tens of milliseconds, single digits).

So, they let you run this parody on a website for a while, and accumulate enough users, and user-contributed data, they just ... shut it down! Yes, without any kind of a warning or anything, in the middle of the day, the site just disappears, and all your users start getting redirected to some stupid and irrelevant upsell page for the webhosting, instead of the site they were looking for, without explanation or any message whatsoever. And they won't tell you about it. You'll have to wait til one of the users thinks about notifying you to find out your site is gone.

Naturally, when this happens, you login to your account to see what is going on ... and that's when you find out that your "slow queries" violated their TOS. Needles to say, there is nothing in TOS about "slowness" of your "queries", I mean, one would have to be a complete idiot to put something like that in their TOS ("our servers are way too weak to sustain anything remotely resembling a database, you are better off hosting it on your damn laptop").

Anyway, so, what do you do now? I suppose, write them a polite letter where you apologize sincerely for inadvertedly straining their "servers" with your "slow queries", promise, that it will never happen again, and humby point out, that there is actually nothing in the TOS speaking to the effect of the speed of the db queries, and thus technically you are not even in violation.

At this point, you are, probably, not even interested in reinstating your account anymore. I for one, had enough of this "service" by now. It's nothing but trouble, problems all around. NOTHING works as advertised ... So, I don't even ask them to reactivate the account, just give me my data back, simple enough, isn't it? Let me download the content of the database, and I'll be out of your hair. Simple enough, isn't it?

Well ... that's where the most interesting part begins! The response I got from their "support" person, states that:
accounts that they THINK are in violation of something, are cancelled immediately
Once the account is cancelled, all data pertaining to it is DESTROYED, not just on the server disks, but even in the backups, and there is absolutely no way to recover it.

Now, I don't know about you, but I found this "policy" absolutely EYE POPPING. Not only, they shut you down whenever they fell like it, but they will allso INTENTIONALLY and WILLFULLY DESTROY ALL OF THE CUSTOMER'S DATA. Not because of some catastrophic failure or an act of sabotage, but AS A MATTER OF POLICY.
"Hosting service", destroying their customer's data on purpose? That's a new one ...

I just could not believe my eyes when I read their reply. I figured, there must be something I am missing, misunderstood, it just cannot be true. So, I write back, and ask for a clarification. Here is the exact reply I got back from their "suport":

--- QUOTE
Hello,

Your account is gone. Nothing can be recovered. All backups are removed. Any or all data is gone. I don't see why you are nit picking at everything.

Regards,
Damien | I hate signatures
--- END QUOTE

Now THIS left me speechless. Just WOW.

Perhaps you are thinking something along the lines of "well, this will never happen to me, because I always make backups". Think again! If you have more then 10M of data, the db backups won't work with this hoster either. They crash in the middle of the download. I tried many times and not once was able to download successfully. And when I asked "support" about it, I got a reply to the effect that "yeah, we know, it does not work".

Well, enough said. I hope, I was clear enough to persuade you to stay as far away from this "service" or from any other "service" ran by these fraudsters (notably, hosting24.com is their creature too - I urge you to stay even father away from it!) for your own sake.
There are plenty of hosting choices around the net, and this one is BY FAR THE WORST ONE!

14 comments:

  1. another fellow victim of 000craphost. I experienced the same with a test account i set up back when i was posting at their forum. Installed a clean phpBB, clean meaning not a single hack added to the forum. About 24h later i tried to access the test forum as i was about to write up a tutorial on how to install phpBB and found the account canceled because of slow queries being executed. If i remember correctly there were a lot of discussions goin on at their forum as many people received warning mails about their scripts causing slow queries (from what i remember most of them were running some version of phpBB) and the admin guys/mods there stated that they´d just test the system and one could ignore the mails about slow queries. Seems like either they lied from the very beginning or they just put a system in place that auto-cancels accounts causing such queries. In the latter case they must have forgotten to put some announcement on their forum or something. Anyway, i hope that hosting service goes down the drain pretty soon :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. THANK YOU.

    THANK YOU

    THANK YOU.

    I tried to access my site only to get an error message about server being maintained and I should check back in a few hours. But after 24 hours I suspected something was wrong.

    I wrote to them and got the EXACT response as posted here:

    http://www.thecaymanhost.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/000webhostsupporttop.jpg

    And note - that is not mine. Another good citizen put up a warning here:

    http://www.thecaymanhost.com/hosting-reviews/beware-free-hosting-with-000webhostcom/comment-page-1

    And there are others. I really appreciate the information. I was smart enough (thanks to you) to change the DNS settings and moved my site to another host.

    I replied to their scam email telling them I can read, and showing them your blog and the other. And, yes, I told them they are DISGUSTING!!

    Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  3. file a complaint about them at the Better Business Bureau. future people wanting to host data with them might check there first.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The same happened to me. They deleted my website without notice after the conversation, simply because they didn't like my replies. Read below the messages we've exchanged (it's unbelievable):

    ********************
    ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
    ********************

    Dear support:

    I found today that my website had the following message on top "This website was set to be removed for inactivity by www.000webhost.com. If you own this website, click here to protect it."

    Could you please explain the specific reason for that. The site has many visitors.

    Please understand that such a message is very bad publicity.

    Regards,

    Pedro Marques

    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
    If you like our services, please help us:
    http://www.000webhost.com/link
    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

    ************************
    REPLY HAS BEEN ADDED:
    ************************

    Hello,

    We remove accounts for inactivity if your websites do not get 10 visitors in 1 month. However we send you a reminder to protect your website 2 weeks before removal. And if you do not respond to it, we consider you are no longer using our services.

    You can always upgrade your account at http://www.000webhost.com/upgrade in order to avoid similar problems in the future.

    Many Thanks,
    Helpdesk Staff
    www.000webhost.com

    ********************
    ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
    ********************

    Hello,

    Unfortunately something is not right! According to Google Analytics my website had 827 visits in July and has currently 220 visits in August.

    Could you please try to determine why the system raised this flag? Please understand that this message has to be avoided in the future because it is very bad publicity.

    Thanks in advance,

    Pedro Marques

    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
    If you like our services, please help us:
    http://www.000webhost.com/link
    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

    ************************
    REPLY HAS BEEN ADDED:
    ************************

    Hello,

    I have just checked your website and don't see any inactivity messages.

    Thank You,
    Alexandr |

    Volunteer Staff
    www.000webhost.com


    ********************
    ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
    ********************

    Hello again,

    That's because I clicked the message "If you own this website, click here to protect it."

    Then I logged on, clicked "Protect" and the message disappeared. It shouldn't have appeared in the first place.

    Regards,

    Pedro Marques

    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
    If you like our services, please help us:
    http://www.000webhost.com/link
    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

    ************************
    REPLY HAS BEEN ADDED:
    ************************

    Hello,

    As it's ok for now then I'll close this ticket. Please let us know if there is anything else we can help you with.

    Thank You,
    Alexandr |

    Volunteer Staff
    www.000webhost.com


    ********************
    ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
    ********************

    Hello,

    Why are you neglecting this? The inactivity message appeared on my website for some reason, and I don't want it to show up again. Since the site has been receiving hundreds of visits, I believe there should be some bug in your system.

    Please try to understand why it happened, so it doesn't happen again.

    Regards,
    Pedro Marques

    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
    If you like our services, please help us:
    http://www.000webhost.com/link
    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

    ************************
    REPLY HAS BEEN ADDED:
    ************************

    Hello,

    If there is a bug, you have solved it.

    Thank you for using our services,
    Helpdesk Staff
    www.000webhost.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. I never had a problem with them, but does it really surprise you they took down material slamming them? Plus, back up your data and you won't have any issues. Who only stores their data on the webhost's server? That makes no sense.

    ReplyDelete
  6. My comment has to be approved? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you'll do what 000 did to you and delete my comment.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You went too far out on your limb, as you can see :)
    I just don't like spammer, so anonymous comments have to be published manually. But even if I did just delete your comments, it would not be the same. You see, this is just my private blog, where I publish what I like and delete what I want. It is quite different from a business pretending to be running a fair review site, which is in fact nothing but a shameless promotion of their other operation. Get a clue!

    As for back ups, you should read the article before commenting. I explained there why backup was not an option.

    ReplyDelete
  8. For one i find this laughable, why anyone would make a serious website on a free service is beyond me. The trouble with everybody these days though is that they expect everything for free, and when free doesn't work the way you expect it to, then why are people so surprised.
    Free hosting like this should only be used for trivial things like testing or practice of say FTP uploading.
    You get what you pay for in this life,so i respectfully say to anybody, if you want to host your own website or forums or whatever, then back it with your money and stop expecting stuff for free all the time.
    Use free for anything other than testing then any bad stuff that happens is your own fault.
    Knowing about servers and the cost of them and running them and how expensive they are, i think they do a very good job all in all. I suspect thought that they get fed up of people moaning at them when they give it you all for free.

    ReplyDelete
  9. wingman, I am afraid, I cannot agree with you. In fact, I bet, you don't really agree with yourself :)
    This blog service is free, and you are using it. You are probably also using a free e-mail, goole docs, youtube, and on, and on, and on ...
    Free "cloud" services is the 21st century business model, milking customers for every last penny has been proven many times in the past to be suboptimal.
    Using free hosting services (or forums, blogs, whatever) "for testing" as you suggest is not a very good idea, because the business that provides services to you is not going to benefit from it, so, basically, you are using the services without giving anything back, not nice. If you are planning to use paid services for the "live" product, it would be more honest of you to live the free ones to those of us, who are "less fortunate" then you are from the beginning, instead of "stealing" the resources from us in order to save a few pennies :)

    Yes, bad stuff that happens to us is always our own fault. The purpose of this blog is not to place blame, but to warn people about the scam company out there in order to help them not repeat my own mistakes in the future. In no way I imply that what happens to hosting24's customers is not their fault. Like in all cases of fraud, it is the lack of vigilance and due diligence on the victim's side that makes it possible.

    If you think they "do a very good job", you just have not seen a good web service yet, sorry ...

    ReplyDelete
  10. 000webhost is a big scam,,,people should report them to the cops,,,,,they delete my account for no reason and i lost all my data files,,,,they just try to force people to upgrade their account,,,,,,000webhost is money hungry

    ReplyDelete
  11. I was a member of theres for over 5 years and yesterday since i was testing out some scripts i uploaded a Diablo3 index with a download button nothing malicious of any kind and they decided to shutdown my account for no reason, I was never even told what i did wrong. After contacting customer support i was given a prewritten answer saying my account was closed and i would have no access to any of my files. I was hosting 5-6 domaind/sites with them and now they've closed my account and i have no access to the files, Im actually speaking with an attorney since we do plan on taking this to court i lost alot of important files/data i have NO backups of and there customer reps refuse to do anything about it. If anyone wants to join me and turn this into an class-action email me: Neztykash@yahoo.com *Oh and if an webhost rep reads this and wants to know my account email, is the same one so look it up* (highly doubt they will do anything that is why im going through with the lawsuit, thanks to them my forum community of over 350k post and 12k members is done. I will make sure the company is shutdown even if its the last thing i do.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I have just filed a complaint wt the FBI. The *guys* at this *awesome* [roll eyes] web host service just held hostage the website I own...for no reason they suspended it, It's a personal blog, I do not make any money off it but my work is there and they are not entitled to have it. So, I'd love to tag along and sue their arses. I'll email you tomorrow (really don't want too much spam on my email to post it here). I just want them shut down, even if i don't get my files back [not that i don't wan that, my last backup[ is from 2 months ago].

    ReplyDelete
  13. I doubt the FBI is going to do anything, but I do agree this 000webhosts is a lousy hosting service, similar, after 3 years my account got suspended,not notice or warning, supposedly I "viloated the TOS", the "help desk", is useless, and they don't even really clarify, exactly how I violated the TOS, 3 years everything was ok, then suddenly out of the blue, they say I was in violation of the TOS,
    the only way I can get my account back , is PAY and upgrade, it sounds like a ploy to force me to upgrade, and I am not falling for it. If they had simply asked nicely,something like "We have given you free hosting now for 3 years, your site is using more resources, and if you want to continue with it you need to upgrade. You have X number of days to do this", well then I might of payed and upgraded, but no these guys at 000webhosts are being real jerks on this, and they made me angry, I to now, warn anyone, best not get mixed up with them, don't waste your time, ultimately they will abuse you. I have started a new site, and am paying for the hosting, but now with 000webhosts
    http://www.garryricketsonartworks.com/phpbbforum/ and for anyone interested, I also started a thread about 000wenhosts : here: http://garryricketsonartworks.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1169
    Hope it is ok to post the URLs, if not, I apologize, and feel free to remove them. Thank you for the blog
    from Garry

    ReplyDelete
  14. I also have had the same kind of trouble with them, after 3 years. I posted once, with more details, but something went wrong, and I lost what I wrote, now I am short on time, they 000webhosts are bad news though, and I suggest people stay away from them. Here is more :

    http://garryricketsonartworks.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1169

    ReplyDelete

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