Letshost.ie suspended my hosting without notice.

di11on

Hi folks,

A very distressing thing happened me today.

Someone posted a thread (here) asking for advice about .ie domain providers.

I responded to the thread - the following was the oringinal text:

Di11on wrote:

Don't go with letshost.ie if the performance of your website is important to you. Their servers are US based and it is my experience that performance can be very sluggish.

I subsequently received a phone call from my hosting provider (Letshost.ie) saying it was "their advice for me to edit or remove the post". I thought, "why should I?" but I edited it nonetheless to the following text:

Di11on wrote:

If speed and performance are important for your website, I wouldn't recommend letshost.ie. Their servers are US based and it is my experience that performance can be very sluggish. It even times out on me from time to time.

I posted a second thread, not specifying the thread or the company, if it was invasion of privacy to be called on the phone in relation to a thread posted on boards.ie.

Shortly afterwards, my outlook account started prompting me for my password. To my horror, when I checked my website, there was a letshost page saying the account was suspended (now terminated).

I received no prior warning. In the phone call, there was no mention that my account might be suspended.

The first communication I received from letshost.ie telling me why my account was suspended, was after the fact and the reason given was as follows:

letshost.ie wrote:

Hello,

I refer to your hosting account with us for woodentoys.ie and the terms and conditions of hosting which you have accepted:

http://www.letshost.ie/The_News/Latest_News/Terms_of_Service/

"Abuse:

Any attempts to undermine, slander, libel, threaten, or cause harm to a Lets Host server, customer, employee, or the company directly is strictly prohibited and is grounds for immediate termination without refund. In addition, we will pursue all attempts to the fullest extent of the law."

On this regard we have terminated your hosting account with us. We are seeking further legal advice on the matter. Your files/EPP transfer codes will be available for download at your request.

Regards...

My website is currently suspended and my business offline - because, apparrently, I posted a negative comment about them. They have pulled the rug out from under my 100% online business.

What is my position?

Tails142

small claims court or something, contact a solicitor

Libel can only occur if you state a fact, not an opinion

e.g. opinion - it is my experience that performance can be very sluggish

fact - their servers are based in the US

If their servers are based in the US then you havent made a statement that would hold you libel.

For example you could say, I have found Letshost.ie to be a bunch of tossers and I would never give them my business

But you couldnt say, Letshost.ie is run by a bunch of crooks who eat babies

di11on

Thanks Tails

Boggles

How did they know it was you that posted?

jor el

If they're seeking further legal advice, then you'd better lawyer up, and pronto. Small Claims court is for conusmers, since in this instance you're a business, you can't use that. A Solicitor should look at the T&Cs on their website and advise.

How did they associate your username here with your website? There could be breech of data protection/privacy here. If that's what happened, you'd have a much better case.

I see you're website is now up and running.

miju

his sig quite obviously has his website link it guys

to the OP , it is very, VERY bad form from a host to do what they done. however, you did breach their terms & conditions and as such they can do as they done.

it's true what they say over on the webmaster forum that it is better to fork out extra cash for an Irish based host than the cheaper ones (this being one of the reasons).

i'd suggest the best thing to do is to simply shift hosts to hosting365.ie or blacknight. don't know if you done the site yourself or got someone else to do it for you but if you need any help / advice on moving hosts feel free to send me a PM or post on the webmaster forum,

Orion

[edit]wtf - don't know how that double post happened.

Boggles

Macros42 wrote: »

Let's hope that finds its way onto google searches

Site seems back up now. I'd seriously recommend transferring it to another hoster pronto.

I think I understand what Tails is saying.

Like You Could Say.

It is in my opinion that letshost.ie are a bunch of petty, bitter, twisted individuals and anyone that gives them custom needs their head examined.

Am I correct in thinking that is not libel ?

Orion

Tails142 wrote: »

But you couldnt say, Letshost.ie is run by a bunch of crooks who eat babies

Let's hope that finds its way onto google searches

Site seems back up now. I'd seriously recommend transferring it to another hoster pronto - copy the files over and you're back in business. Then let them suspend what they like.

As said previously the SCC is for personal not business cases. I can't see them taking any further legal action as you were speaking about your personal experience with them and that is not libellous. The reason it's back up is probably because their lawyer choked on his croissant when they told him what they'd done.

miju wrote: »

if you need any help / advice on moving hosts feel free to send me a PM or post on the webmaster forum,

And for maximum coverage. That'll be forum #4 on boards that they're getting coverage

Boggles

It seems letshost are a register user on boards.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=261146&highlight=letshost

Post #13

miju

i'm half thinking of moving the thread there as the guys there would be better placed to advise on this sort of thing to TBH.

though it might upset some of the natives so am awaiting a PM back from one of the mods there

Mr Magnolia

I can't imagine how this publicity will be received by potential and existing customers.

Boggles

Don't they say there is no such thing as bad press?

miju

well i can tell you that i will as a direct result of the threads today ever use their hosting for any of my clients websites (i like to try out different hosts from time to time )

i'll also be adding them to my list of bad hosts to steer clear from when people / business associates ask me to recommend a host (and for the record i get asked about 2-3 times a month)

so yes there is such thing as bad press

Boggles

miju wrote: »

well i can tell you that i will as a direct result even use their hosting for any of my clients websites (i like to try out different hosts from time to time )

i'll also be adding them to my list of bad hosts to street clear from when people / business associates ask me to recommend a host

so yes there is such thing as bad press

Mr. Conkie Managing Director will not be please to hear that.

Orion

miju wrote: »

i'm half thinking of moving the thread there as the guys there would be better placed to advise on this sort of thing to TBH.

I'd actually classify this as a consumer issue not a webmaster issue personally. dillon is a consumer who's just been treated very badly by a company. The fact that it's webhosting company dishing out the treatment doesn't matter.

Besides - there's a thread there already - it's where it all started

cormie

Just to add something positive for letshost, I've bought a few domains with them and never had any problem and found them cheap and cheerful, they accept laser which is handy and have a good online chat service too.

Have no experience with their hosting as I didn't (and still don't) need any more than what I already had before knowing of letshost.

Boggles

I knew it, there is no such thing as bad Press!!!

miju

Macros42 wrote: »

I'd actually classify this as a consumer issue not a webmaster issue personally. dillon is a consumer who's just been treated very badly by a company. The fact that it's webhosting company dishing out the treatment doesn't matter.

technically though this would be outside the realm of consumer issues as the consumer act would not apply to him as he is a business if im not mistaken (must confess i've not read up much on the business side of consumer law)

me goes off to read up relevant section

Orion

Businesses can be consumers too. Besides he's a sole trader t/a woodentoys.

Anyway - reading up legislation at 1am is just sad ... really sad

CuLT

Surely a consumer is a consumer regardless of whether they're a business consumer or a personal consumer?

WhiteWashMan

miju wrote: »

i'm half thinking of moving the thread there as the guys there would be better placed to advise on this sort of thing to TBH.

though it might upset some of the natives so am awaiting a PM back from one of the mods there

If you do, can you leave a copy of this here. I suggested posting up here becuase it is a consummer issue. regardless of whether its a business or not, its an issue about consummer issues. lets err on the side of common sense and the spirit of this forum rather than the letter of the law, shall we?

Besdies, I think its extremely foul play what has been done here,and I think that these guys are only hurting themselves with this kind of behaviour.

Any company that buries its head in the sand instead of listening to its customers is looking to fail.

cgarvey

di11on wrote: »

A very distressing thing happened me today.

Indeed .. and sorry for adding to that stress in the other thread (you weren't painting a full picture at the time)!

Any attempts to undermine, slander, libel, threaten, or cause harm

So (legally) they'll going with the undermine or cause harm bits? The post was completely factual so it certainly wasn't libel, and unless you've gone and told some nasty fibs / threatened them, they must feel undermined or felt you've caused them harm. I think it can be easily demonstrated that they've caused themselves harm, and you're most definitely entitled to your fact-based opinion.

Maybe we (still) don't have the full story, but LetsHost aren't helping themselves here!

GuanYin

Have directed several friends I have who do freelance work to these threads and also posted on a thread in a GP mailing list RE: surgery websites.

I'm glad to say that letshost have basically gotten themselves bad press among those people.

I've heard it said before, for every unhappy customer you will lose business from 10 people. I imagine with their performance re: this issue it's probably closer to hundreds of potential customers.


Still, I'd like to hear what they have to say for themselves.

pug_

I was directed to this thread from another forum, so it's safe to say they've done themselves no good by their actions.

So technically doesn't that mean they've broken their own terms and conditions?

MOH

It's a bit rich considering their own website states:

Our prices are "real", and not inflated like other Irish hosting companies who are profiteering

Surely that's at least as defamatory as the OPs comments?!

I'll be looking for hosting shortly, they're off my list too.

Chosen

CuLT wrote: »

Surely a consumer is a consumer regardless of whether they're a business consumer or a personal consumer?

A business customer is covered by a different legislation than a consumer:

- A consumer is covered by consumer law entirely.
- A business customer's rights and obligations are bound by the T&Cs that he agreed at point of sale with the provider.

For example, the consumer law states that you can return any goods in the first 7 days since the invoice date, for no special reason ("I don't like it").
The T&Cs might state that in the case of a business customer, you can only return the goods in case of the product's non-conformity with the product description ("You advertised 50mpg and I get 35mpg"). In other words, more responsibilities fall onto the business customers, than the consumers.

Orion

Yeah - but this isn't a court . This is a forum for consumer issues. And I would consider this a consumer issue regardless of whether the OP was treated badly as a person or a business.

Oryx

@Di11on. Id move your site pronto. If these people are going to hold you to ransom on a whim, they are not the sort to do business with anyway.

Also, as libel has been mentioned you need legal advice to make sure you are actually in the right here. Common sense would say you are, but you need to make sure in the letter of the law. Your solicitor can also advise better than we can if letshost have broken your contract or were within their terms to pull your site.

These things are sent to try us. I know its a fuss, but hope it blows over soon.

jor el

miju wrote: »

his sig quite obviously has his website link it guys

Hadn't seen his sig when I posted, should have gone to Specsavers I guess...

Anyway, I have a link to Wellington Grey's website in my sig, but I'm not him nor do I have anything to do with his website. Letshost have linked an anonymous post on an internet board to a website hosted by them, and then contacted the owner of the site telling him to remove said post, without verifying they are one and the same. This is extremely bad form and, as said here, he should move hosting provider immediately. He should also seek actual legal advise and perhaps pursue Letshost in the courts for the loss of business when they, unjustly, took his site offline.

EKRIUQ

I´m disgusted with their actions and I was going to try out a different host but you can be sure letshost won´t be the one, and I won´t buy anymore .ie´s from them either unless there´s a proper explanation

di11on

jor el wrote: »

Hadn't seen his sig when I posted, should have gone to Specsavers I guess...

You didn't see my sig because the image is hosted remotely... or, rather, wasn't hosted when you didn't see it :-)

Cabaal

I honestly can't believe this, looking at letshost.ie...when it eventually loaded, it looks very amateur and its extremely slow!

To the op I'd suggest somebody like godaddy.com, sure its hosted in the states but its no where near as slow as your old host.

As for suspending your account, seek legal advice

The above comments are my personal view and do not reflect those of my employer or boards.ie,

Cabaal

di11on, nice selection of stuff on your website..must mention it to my sister as she likes getting wooden toys for her kid,

I see you have a noitice up regarding the move, sooner you've moved from letshost.ie then better if thats how the treat customers.

I'd have to agree fully with jor el's comments, for them to suspend your account based on your sig alone without actually having solid proof you were also on the owner of the site is extremely bad form and they could be in for abit of fun for acting so childishly.

I wouldn't be surprised if this story makes it to digg.com or slashdot "Webhost suspends customer account for saying service was slow!"...

themadchef

An awful thing to happen especially when youre entire business is ran through this site. On the positive i bet your site is now getting tonnes more clicks . Every cloud........

mcaul

I recommend you move to blacknight solutions. Very good and very quick when there's a problem with the servers. - They even responded to an e-mail at 2am on a Sunday morning to let me know they were working on a server problem and that it would be fixed within an hour.

MOH

Well, the story's spreading already. Just googled letshost.ie, ninth hit

This reminds me of the whole "sky handling partners" thing last year. That's still killing them on google.
[edit]
(Bit ambiguous. By them I mean sky handling, nothing to do with letshost)

miju

indeed it's been popping up on blogs all day, and proper order too to be honest

Cabaal wrote: »

To the op I'd suggest somebody like godaddy.com, sure its hosted in the states but its no where near as slow as your old host.

i'd personally avoid godaddy for hosting a website. they are good for domain name management but for hosting they suck in my opinion

Kimbot

As said before thats poor, and they haven't even bothered defending themselves on here.
OP have they gotten onto you since??

jhegarty

If you google letshost the feedback thread make the front page

Mylow

I was just looking at registering 2 Irish domains, one for residents association...its 900 house's, we currently use a .info domain. As .ie domains are now at more reasonable price I was looking at registering the .ie variant. After behaviour of a certain host (you can figure it out from previous posts) I certainly won't even consider them.

MOH

miju wrote: »

i'd personally avoid godaddy for hosting a website. they are good for domain name management but for hosting they suck in my opinion

Any threatening phone calls from them yet for daring to voice an opinion?

miju

MOH wrote: »

Any threatening phone calls from them yet for daring to voice an opinion?

no none yet but there has been this strange black helicopter hovering above my house for the last few minutes :p:p:p

stepbar

Can someone put up the T&C's so we can go through them.

Cabaal

I see a few blogs have made the front page google results

mickoneill30

Google is very quick. On Google.ie there's lots of info about this thread and the service from letshost. Not so much on google.co.uk. It only appears as number 10 there. I think they've done themselves waaaay more damage than if they'd just left the OP alone.

AARRRGH

I don't want sound like a letshost.ie bitch, but technically their t&c do cover this issue.

As I posted in another thread, H365 rang me asking me to remove a post I made here on boards, so letshost are not the only ones who do this.

Taking the site offline is a bit extreme, but again, technically, they were correct as per their t&c.

MOH

dublindude wrote: »

I don't want sound like a letshost.ie bitch, but technically their t&c do cover this issue.

As I posted in another thread, H365 rang me asking me to remove a post I made here on boards, so letshost are not the only ones who do this.

Taking the site offline is a bit extreme, but again, technically, they were correct as per their t&c.

Is that a common thing among ISPs then?

Surely stating your genuine opinion in response to a request for same, clearly indicated as such, of how you perceive a service you receieve can't be classed as defamation/undermining/whatever?

Cabaal

if ISP's did the same most people in the broadband forum would have had there connection killed by Vodafone, O2, Three, NTL, BT, Clearwire, IBB, Eircom etc for there comments

jimmycrackcorm

I've four hosts to set up this weekend. I've used them before and had no problems with them, but after reading the astonishing OP, I'll definitely stay away.

WhiteWashMan

dublindude wrote: »

I don't want sound like a letshost.ie bitch, but technically their t&c do cover this issue.

As I posted in another thread, H365 rang me asking me to remove a post I made here on boards, so letshost are not the only ones who do this.

Taking the site offline is a bit extreme, but again, technically, they were correct as per their t&c.

yes, but surely youd think that this sort of action would be a last resort effort against someone who was posing a serious threat to the well being of the company?

an opinion that their connectivity isnt the best in the world due to their servers being in the US is hardly going to bring about their downfall.

Unless they blow it out of proportion, terminate his service, and then dont account for the fact that this is Irelands biggest bullitan boards, and we dont particularly like bullies.

Yes, they are technically correct.
No, their actions were wrong.
No, they didnt use common sense.
No, It appears they have Zero customer service abaility.
Yes, it appears they are going to lose a lot of business, not from the actions or the words of the OP, but from their own follow up actions. WE are all grown ups here and we are free to make our own opinions. The fact that this company would use duch strong arm and bully boy tactics means I will never ever use them.
Shame on them for not just coming on here, discussing the issue and finding a resolution. Actions which could have gained them kudos in the community for being pro-active towards their users, addressing their short comings, and make an effort to fix them.

Shame on them.