A couple of weeks ago, I notice I'm not getting email. I have all of my email sent to one address and it's forwarded to gmail. This has happened in the past, no big deal.
I check their facebook page. No updates. So, I call customer service. The guy didn't even answer the phone with the name of the company. Just "hello?"
I tell him I'm not getting email. "Oh, yeah, I'm the new owner and we're going to make it so much better! Different control panel, lots of new things. We're in the process of moving everything to new servers, faster servers, more secure servers."
Yeah, well good for you. About my email?
He got it fixed. But somewhere along the line, the server that all of the SQL files were on (it's a technical thing) was corrupted. All of the stuff from my store, gone. My store, gone. No database at all. He asks me if I had a backup. Uh, I don't think so. I wondered why there was no backup on his end of what had been on that server. My data wasn't the only thing on it.
He sent me login information for this new fantastic super duper control panel as well as the FTP logins so I could move files. Except he sent me someone else's information. Nice, huh? He didn't believe me, he had to check it out for himself. Oh, yeah, let me send you the new info.
Once I got the correct login information, I checked it out. Are you f*cking serious? All that I could do was set up FTP accounts, email accounts and SQL databases. I couldn't set directory privacy. There was no file manager. I couldn't add domains (remember, I have three on that server, in the plan I have, I can do this). I couldn't make subdomains. (Look up at the URL of this page. See where "journal" is before lisaviolet.com? That's a subdomain. It looks nicer than http://www.lisaviolet.com/journal .) Compared to what I have (check out the demo), my analogy to Brian was I leased this great Ferrari, a convertible, top of the line, with every option you could imagine.
I go out to the garage one morning to find a Yugo where my Ferrari had been. This replacement has no sound system, the windows are hand cranked. I call the leasing company. "Yeah, I bought out the other leasing company and have exchanged what you had for something even better!"
No. No, you didn't
He complained about how long it took to compress my data. It was my stat trackers, they've been online since 2000. Some of them for sites that were no longer around. I told him he could delete certain ones.
During our Disney meet years, I made DVDs of each meet. Added music to the slideshows, had videos taken during the stay. And I got this great idea to put them on the web for the folks that attended the meets. Everybody already had gotten the disks, I just thought it would be nice to have them online. Took me days to get it all done.
I didn't want them on Youtube. A privacy thing. So, I have them in their own directory that is privacy protected.
I couldn't protect them. This was very important. This new fantastic super duper control panel didn't give me that option. I emailed him about it. Multiple times. No answer. I messed with it myself. No luck. There are these things called "paths" and it's like an address of where something is. You've got the root, you've got this, you've got that and it all gets very confusing if you don't this on a regular basis, which I don't. I kept getting a 500 error message. My old cPanel showed me what the paths were. The new one does not. So, I figured, screw it. I'll just move the whole damned thing to another domain.
I emailed him again and told him not to bother with it. I'd move that domain, as well as Bennydakat.com (old java games, it was Benny's game room). I haven't heard from him since (the last time he sent anything was Sunday night). I got the movies up and running and privacy protected in less time than it took him to get back to me.
Well, yesterday, I found what looked to be like that database on my computer. I checked the dates and it looks like it's the one I need. I emailed him about it yesterday and since I hadn't heard back, I guess it's just not that big of a deal to him. So, I'm in the process of moving that domain as well.
Monday I looked for the invoice to see when I last paid. It was 2015 and it was for two years. So, I'd have to pay again in November. Where I moved it is cheaper and there is 24/7 support. They don't go days without responding.
This new owner shouldn't have started doing anything until it was completely set up. He should have notified the current clients that there was a new owner and explain about the new control panel. He should have done a lot of things that he didn't do. And as frustrated as I am, imagine the people who make their living from their website. Everything gone.
I'd be so pissed.
This afternoon, I changed the DNS records on Godaddy. I got my new email forwarder set up, Google email settings changed, so there's smooth sailing for email. Nothing of mine will point to that other company.
Yeah, I don't doubt this guy loses a lot of business. I've been with that host for over fifteen years and I know he lost mine.
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