IX Web Hosting – Worst Host Ever? – Part 1
I signed up for hosting with IX Web Hosting in April of 2007. There have been two occasions that they provided the perfect example of Terrible Customer Service. So much so, my last pony ride with IX Web Hosting was my last. I decided to call it quits and move my account to Host Gator.
I keep my most important sites on a dedicated server at Servint.net. If you are interested in a dedicated server or VPS, I highly recommend Servint. You will not beat the level of service and professionalism this company offers. But that's another post in itself.
The point is, I had some SEO tests I wanted to perform and I was looking for a hosting company that would allow me to host 10 different domains in the same account on different ip addresses. IX Web Hosting had the plan I was looking for. So in April of 2007, I signed up for a hosting account.
Overall, I was pretty satisfied with the server performance at IX Hosting. I experienced very little if any downtime from server issues. They don't offer a standard cpanel interface like most web hosts. It appears to be a proprietary / in house control panel. It was pretty straight forward and with a little time I was up to speed.
Then on June 5, 2008, I got the following email from a System Administrator at IX Web Hosting.
| Hello, My name is Anthony, and I am a system administrator at IXWebhosting. I'm here to ensure a reliable and fast hosting / e-mail environment. This is the reason why I ask you to get in touch with us. We have received numerous complaints from third-parties about spam originating from your website. As you may know, spam is an on-going problem for all internet users, hence all companies have very strict rules against spam. I am here to ensure that neither you nor any other customer is facing any downsides which could be the result of these spam regulations. We ask you to immediately cease and desist any such activities. If you are unaware of this activity, please contact me or any of my colleagues via this ticket, phone or live-chat so that we can find the reason for the spam activity together and fix the issue instead of the symptom. Viruses and things of that nature may be installed on your computer and will cause the spamming. We recommend that you run an anti-virus program. If you currently do not possess an anti-virus program, you may download a free version. Please just follow the link below to find Google's best links for free anti-virus software: http://www.google.com/search?q=free+anti-virus+software In order to ensure your hosting and mail environment is working flawlessly, we ask you to get in touch with us within the next 72 hours. I highly appreciate your time. Anthony Washington |
They identified the domain as bestadtracking.com. This is a domain I own but have never promoted. Not only had I not sent spam through IX Web Hosting, I averaged less than 200 sent email a month on all the domains on my account. So on June 6, 2008 I responded to IX Web Hosting with the following two messages.
| Hi Anthony,
I can assure you I am not sending spam from this domain or any others. I'm a little surprised that this domain is in question? I set it up over a year ago and haven't ever promoted it. I don't send any type of email over this domain. I have no reason to. It gets no traffic or inquiries. Are you sure there isn't some type of mistake? Otherwise, there are a couple of php style contact forms on that site. Could a hacker use that sort of thing to send spam? How can we track this down? Thanks, Brent Crouch |
Here is the second email I sent on the same day.
Hi Anthony, I am using AVG on my computer and the scan completed finding no viruses. Besides that, I am using Outlook to manage the mail on several of my domains. I don't even have a send account setup for bestadtracking.com on my computer. As I stated in the previous reply, I have no reason to since this domain is not promoted. Can you give me the IP address of where the spam originates? I'd like to compare that to my IP address here at home and office. Thanks, Brent Crouch |
I had no information to track the issue any further. The lack of response from IX Web Hosting left me to believe the issue had been resolved or there had been a mistake. Then 4 days later on June 10, 2008 I got this message.
Brent We tried to reach you today in order to resolve this issue, but unfortunately it has been well over 72 hours since this ticket was placed. We must sadly suspend your services, please do not hesitate to call us at 1-800-385-0450 any time, day or night. Best Regards |
Amazing! They give me no information to solve this problem. On top of that, they don't respond to my ticket in 4 days and because I didn't answer the phone when they called they suspended not only the domain in question but every domain listed in my account.
I called in and spoke to a tech support guy who allowed me to remove the domain in question and in return, he restored my other domains. He also left a message to have the tech support manager call me the following day.
The manager I spoke to apologized for the way the ticket was handled and the lack of information that was given. He said he would follow up with the employees that were responsible for the ticket and make sure it never happened again. He was helpful in looking at the server logs and determining how someone had loaded a spam bot onto my site.
Apology accepted. Stuff happens. I considered it water under the bridge and not a big deal. Not so much.....
Read the next post to learn of my latest run in with IX Web Hosting. I considered this so outrageous, the dog and pony show is over for me. I'm on to greener pastures.
Tags: bad hosts, bad web hosting, ix webhosting, web hosting
Links discussing IX Web hosting Service « IX Web Hosting Warning Says:
[…] Worst Ever Host 1 […]
Nice post. I really like the content of your blog. I would like to read your next part as well. Thanks.