Free hosting? Not really... Support? Even less

#1

How should I start this? Maybe I just expect to much, but if a website tells me Free hosting, “better than paid hosting” I expect at least that my site works.

So last week my site was suspended. What for? Yeah, there is a reason listed.

Suspended (Listed in H24Staff. Details: Phishing%2C+scam+or+hacking+activities.)

Ok, nothing of this was happening on my site. So try to reach the support via ticket. Not possible, no ticket is created. Every time I get confirmation that it is created but I can’t see it and oviously noone else could. Ok, so I try the contact form: "You can’t do that, you have an account, write a ticket"
AHRG! Thats what I want to do but I can’t.

Ok, try it over and over again with the ticket. Does not work. So try to register in forum: “Your email is not connected to active account” WTF? Ok, the account is suspended, so I cant register for the forum. Create a new site. “You can create only one site per day” WTF AGAIN? I did not create any site today, so why I can’t create a new one?
Next day I can register for the forum. Ask why I can’t create a ticket. Nobody can help me. Try it over and over again.
Suddenly it works. Ok, so waiting for support to answer.
And now the funny support game starts:

Why exactly was the account suspended?
You have to pay to reactivate
Why exactly was the account suspended?
You have to pay to reactivate
Why exactly was the account suspended?
You violated the TOS, PAY!
…

Thats somehow how the conservation was.

Maybe it’s better to pay not those 100 $ who are fastest in C&P answers but who are really answering questions.

For me it seems like as soon as the site (created in nearly exactly the way it was in August 2013) got some visitors it was suspended for no reason and needs to be upgraded to be reactivated. If its still violating the TOS then? Nobody tells me. So I pay and my account is suspended again 1 day later?
Who knows.
(Nobody can give me a reason why, just say “TOS violation” or “Suspended (Listed in H24Staff. Details: Phishing%2C+scam+or+hacking+activities.)” but not an exact reason. )
Nothing as Phishing, Scam or Hackin activities where ongoing on my site.

If u dont want to offer free hosting, dont say you do. Just say if u hit 100 visitors you have to pay.

#2

There could be a lot of reasons why you’re account is suspended. Maybe it may just take a few days for you to get the exact answer.

#3

Something similar has happened to me, but they (support) will not give me a clear specific explanation as to why,

ocram : For me it seems like as soon as the site (created in nearly exactly the way it was in August 2013) got some visitors it was suspended for no reason and needs to be upgraded to be reactivated. If its still violating the TOS then? Nobody tells me. So I pay and my account is suspended again 1 day later?
Who knows.

My account had been for a lot longer, and never any problem, then all of a sudden, no warnings, or notices, bam , it is suspended, Same thing, they say, if I pay for a upgrade, they will re-open it, or un-suspend it, and that is exactly what I am worried about, if I pay for a upgrade, and then again ,like you say, "Nobody tells me. So I pay and my account is suspended again 1 day later? ", I need to understand exactly, how I violated the TOS, so I can avoid doing it again,

If u dont want to offer free hosting, dont say you do. Just say if u hit 100 visitors you have to pay.
, exactly, or at least some kind of notice, warning, in my case they claim it is because I sent 1000 emails, but I never use the e-mail, so who, or how is it my account sent 1000 e-mails ?, But they could have at least sent a notice, something like “,there ahve been 900 e-mails sent by your account, you need to pay, upgarde, or when it hits 1000 your account will be suspended”. but no, and I never even suspected this might happen, because I do not use the e-mail for my account,.??? But support just gives me automated replies, same thing over and over, Pay,(upgrade to un-suspend), but they will not tell me when these supposed 1000 e-mails were sent, or if it is cumulitive over several years, or what to do to make sure, or guarantee, they won’t pull the same thing again, after I upgrade.It is basicly like my account is being held “hostage”, I can say one thing for sure, I used to always recommend, or suggest 000webhosts, to friends,etc, when someone asked about what hosting to use,…now that has changed, I will strongly advise people to stay away from 000webhosts,…no good , They should have at least given me some warning, so I would have a chance to fix the problem,…if a upgrade is the only solution, well at least I could have had the chance to download any files that were important to me,if I did not want to upgrade. These people here at 000webhosts suck, sorry to put it that way, but they do.

#4

I’ve heard similar stories from a couple other people. Free hosting accounts get suspended when they grow and they are kinda “forced” to upgrade or move to another (paid) host.

Sometimes it’s true that you do get what you pay for - in this case, nothing - but maybe you should give the host’s management a chance to at least explain.

Now I think the support staff responded unprofessionally but maybe you could try contacting the senior staff/management and ask about this matter.

#5

illegit: Now I think the support staff responded unprofessionally but maybe you could try contacting the senior staff/management and ask about this matter.
How would I do that ?
Up until now, I had been happy with them, and I always kept backlinks, to their site, so people looking for hosting could check it out, often I recommended them to people, I started my site in 2011, and no problems til now, I am kind of upset, but I still would like to resolve the matter, in a positive way.
The only chance , would be to go over the details with a senior staff/management person, that is willing , a little effort on their part, might change my mind, and lead to me paying for a upgrade,

but maybe you should give the host’s management a chance to at least explain.
I did ask the “help desk”, if they couldn’t explain, in more details, like when the (what day) the TOS violation occured, if nothing else, at least if I had a good understanding of how and why it occured, I could take measures,to be sure it does not occur again, at this point I am un-willing to pay for a upgrade, until I know for sure my site won’t just get suspended again after I pay the money , for some off the wall, vaque ,undefined reason. Something caused my account to start sending e-mails, they say, 1000 e-mails, but do not tell me when these e-mails were sent, it appears to have happened over night, that is is to say everything was fine, the night before, then in the morning ,it was suspended, saying I sent (my account sent) 1000 e-mails But , and I told them , I had not done anything to make my account send any e-mails, nor do I use the e-mail service, so, what caused my account to suddenly start sending e-mails, ??, but no explanation, just the same old copied/pasted response,.
Posted by Staff Member, on February 6, 2014, 17:14:11
Hello,

If your account was suspended due to terms of service violation, it could be unsuspended only after upgrade.

Please upgrade your account and submit new support ticket requesting to unsuspend your free account. Please note that if your account was suspended and you upgraded it, you could NOT ask for money back in case you decide to cancel your new upgraded account.

Regards,
Helpdesk Staff

I realize, this probably is not the right place, to discuss this, but the "help desk " has proved to be useless, I really would like to discuss it with someone that has authority, and knows, then once some questions are answered, and we know why or how this occured, etc. I probably would seriously consider or do the upgrade and pay. The site did not get much traffic, but I had a lot of time and work into it. I did not use any “website builders”, etc. Everything was hand written by me, completely original, and very unique. At this point, I just feel bad, and am sad I wasted so much time with this hosting service, and I will no longer recomend it to anyone.

#6

Did you try their contact form? http://www.000webhost.com/contact

I don’t see anything in their WHOIS info so I guess we’ve got no luck in that avenue… but maybe you should try contacting the admins here on the forums and see what they’ve got to say.

#7

Maybe someone saw something bad on your site and reported it.

:confused:

#8

illegit: but maybe you should try contacting the admins here on the forums and see what they’ve got to say.

Have you ever read the forum rules ?

#3. Do not PM Administrators or Moderators, unless specifically asked to by that admin or mod. Please post your questions in the forum.

They do not want to try to help the members or “clients”,or explain things,answer questons,etc.that is why they have the rule. There is another “rule” saying they do not communicate nor do anything with the support or help desk,…

Did you try their contact form?
, that is where I submitted the ticket, and get the same meaningless auto reply over and over, there is no “real” person that answers anything. See my previous post, I included a copy of the response.Also note this is what it says for the contact form :

Or if you have any questions or offers, please fill the form below. Important: if you already have account with 000webhost.com, please login to Members Area and create new ticket or it will not be answered if submitted from here.

Right there they say it will not be answered from there, so that is why, I submitted several tickets with the useless “help desk”.

Maybe someone saw something bad on your site and reported it.
, 3 years, and never a problem, and I did not add or change anything,related to content, the night before this happened. I don’t think so, but that would depend, what do you mean by bad ? I consider stuff like porn and spam VERY bad, and always made sure there isn’t any, but then a lot of people like that stuff, and would call it good, ? But as you say, “something bad”, is about as vague as the responses I got from the ‘help desk’, A TOS violation, but nothing clear as to in what way I violated the TOS, there is a little more, details, but when I read the rules, it says “read before posting”, there is a rule against going into details about this, They do not want the public to know what they are doing, they would lose a lot of “new” victims,… I have all ready started building a new site, using a more reliable hosting service, these people are not worth wasting my time with.
I am pretty sure I know what happened, but I wanted to discuss it reasonable, with someone in support, or the help desk, I believe there was some kind of “hack” involved, not anything I did on purpose, but with out being able to check the logs, nor communicate with any administrators, nor knowing exactly when this alleged TOS violation occurred, because no real person reads the tickets, I can see that by the all the replies are the same, it is a automated reply. Or someone simply copies/pastes a generic response. I realize I am responsible for the site, even if it was a “spammer/hacker”, that caused the problem, but before I go and pay any money, for a upgrade, like they are tryong to force me to do, I want to make sure that I know what happened, so I can take appropriate measure to make sure it does not happen again, after I pay for the upgrade, however doing some checking, using “google”, I have seen that this is a very common thing with this 000webhosts, and even after people pay for the upgrade, they still, “suspend” the site, for some other “vague” reason, and do not respond, nor communicate with the person. That is my BIG mistake, I should have researched 000webhost better, before I ever started using them.
At one time I did upgrade, and payed for a year, I had more trouble with the paid hosting, particularly the billing department, but that is another story, I do plan on telling everyone I can , all about the things that happened, I would not recommend 000webhosts to my worst enemy, nor anyone, after the stuff I found in the “google” search,…

#9

I know, but if you wanna reach out to them, you’ve got no other choice now, do you?

Anyway if there is really no way to resolve your issues with them then it’s best to go with another paid host. “You get what you pay for” is almost always right, after all. :slight_smile:

#10

free hosting is good option for beginner. and if you follow the rules then no suspend your account.

#11

I love all th comments on here, you people except Garry are sheep. This company is run by criminals. They engage in blackmail, extortion in the name of raising their profit margin.

I agree with the OP in this post, I have request multiple times that my account be eliminated, and I get you can do it yourself despite I have clear told them that their program will not let me remove my sites, nor close my account with them. I get some bs about they need to hang onto my Personally indentifiable information for security reasons, which is not only bs but illegal as PII falls under CPNI regulations.

This company definitely needs a shakeup, if not some arrests

#12

It’s true that free hosting is just for beginner/learner to start with web design and stuff. If you want to take it seriously, you better off taking a paid hosting.

#13

I have several sites with 000webhost for several years without any problem as long as you are not violate TOS or overload the sever.

#14

I have had 2 sites suspended after years of running without a problem. I asked why and was told to pay up. Pay up. PAY!

No reason given.

It’s simple extortion (extortion is the crime of obtaining money or some other thing of value by the abuse of one’s office or authority)

Moving my sites to GitHub

#15

I agree, this is an extortion