When Hosting Plans Go Bad...

Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.  --Euripides

When I started using paid hosting for ASP.NET sites, I started out with CrystalTech and they were very good. Then I found Gate.com and they seemed like they had a pretty good deal going - SQL Server 2005, plenty of bandwidth (200GB), plenty of space, ASP.NET 2.0 and a control panel that would let you create custom subfolder IIS applications, set mime-types in IIS, and even your own custom 404 page - which I instantly turned into a custom UrlRewriting handler. All this for like $9.95 / mo, and a 25% discount on additional sites. Sweet. For an extra $5.00 I could go up to 500GB bandwidth.

Then, about a month ago, I got an email from gate.com promoting how they were going to have a new "improved" control panel page, new features, more this, more that -- you get the idea.

Turns out that they REMOVED features. They blew away my custom 404 handler and removed the ability to specfy "my" page for HTTP 404. They removed my sub applications AND the abiity to create one. The sites have gotten dog - slow, and the tech support is like "lo babayit" (Hebrew slang for "nobody home"). 

It is pretty obvious that for one reason or another, they simply don't care about the customer any longer – and that’s a recipe for disaster for a hosting company (or really, any company that expects to stay in business).

You know what, Gate.com? The minute I can find a better hoster with a good price and the features I need, you bastards are HISTORY.

So, what about you? Got any HCHS's (Hosting Company Horror Stories)?

Comments

  1. Anonymous7:22 AM

    I'm using discountasp.net. They are not cheap but they have never let me down.

    ReplyDelete
  2. peterbromberg8:28 AM

    Yes, I've never heard anything bad about discountasp.net. They advertised on our eggheadcafe.com site for a time. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous12:50 PM

    Why would you need a custom 404 page? Gate.com knows better than you.

    "Get over it"...

    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. peterbromberg12:54 PM

    Har, har, Miller. You don't have to go to Arizona to find Yuma.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous9:45 AM

    Read Ayende's blog to get another host to NOT give your business to.

    Customer service seems to be a pretty low priority for most hosts!

    ReplyDelete

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