The day I changed hosts away from HostMDS.com My suggestion?Do Not do business with HostMDS! |
I have had a web site for 19+ years. I build web sites for both clients and my use. As a result I know the differences between a good & a bad hosting company. I recommend that you DO NOT do business with HostMDS' Toronto Data Center. In my opinion they do not know what they are doing. They just can't keep their servers running and online. Your site will be down more than they advertise and more than you would like... much, much, much more. I tolerated this unprofessional level of service for several months before switching companies. Since then I have had no downtime and almost zero problems. Update:I have been with my new host almost 6+ years now & I could not be happier. This company, HostMDS, has been embroiled in a number of lawsuits. People I know personally have told me how they were treated by HostMDS and they lost money as a result. In my opinion, the owners are very bad people. Do not take my word on this, just look at other reviews: http://www.hostjury.com/reviews/hostingplex This site tells you more information: http://www.webhostingtests.com/webhosts/vistapages.html where at the bottom they state: "VistaPages (Who HostMDS bought) has been involved in unethical business practices.Customer support is substandard Billing issues Overall decrease in quality since acquired by Host MDS NOT RECOMMENDED" [Bold emphasis added by me] For several years I hosted my web site & most of my clients with Hostingplex. This host was a very good hosting company for the money. Like all hosting companies they had their issues but I always felt like they cared about service. This came to a halt shortly after when HostMDS "Bought" Hostingplex. (It is my understanding that there is no question that the Hostingplex owners were ever fully paid, hence the "Bought" quote.) I do know there was a lawsuit. My site started to have serious issues around July 10th or so. Below is a chronological order of the service tickets showing how bad service was & how it only got worse as time progressed. I did not start to keep the e-mail's until November 9th. "We have recorded an issue with the server that is causing intermittent downtimes for the time being and we're in the process of repairing this but it will take some time. This is usual in itself but should be permanently resolved soon." This is "Usual"!!!!! Really? For whom? I then decided to change hosts & when I did all of my serious hosting problems disappeared. |
This is me sending messages to hostmds.com "Technical Help" by date
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These are their replies to me by date |
11/9 To HostMDS My site is downloading at dial up speeds I just ran a test on Speakeasy & I have 3000 down & 300+ up. 11/9 To HostMDS "HostMDS has a "LivePerson" chat. I sent a message & about 9 minutes later I would just be disconnected. Then they would send me a message that I saying I did not respond. This is not correct... I did not respond because they never answered other than just disconnecting me." RE: Delivery failure (When you were offline (via LivePerson)) I was not off line. I'm still in front of the computer. Unable to deliver message. Error message: 550 cuda_nsu 5.1.1 User unknown 11/9 To HostMDS "Here is where I told them that I asked two friends to check my download speeds just to make sure it was not something in my computer or connection." I have asked two friends, one in FL & one in CA & both said the site is VERY slow. Please fix, thanks. |
There was no reply from HostMDS except for automatic replies. |
11/9 To HostMDS Kaumil, When I called Sunday I was told there was no problem with your servers. Thanks the same! Steve
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11/10 Here they say that there was a problem even though when I called they said there was not. Site slow to download Hello, This issue was resolved earlier in the weekend. _________________________________________________________ My comment: They said, "there was no problem" how could they resolve the issue that they said did not exist? Now to me, this is a lie by hostmds.com. |
11/12 To HostMDS Kaumil, |
11/12 - Here they say there is still a problem. "Note this is the same problem as 2 days earlier HostMDS said it was fixed... it was never fixed." Site Slow to download - FTP connection issues We're working to fix this. Should be faster soon. _________________________________________________________ My comment: Again, to me, this is a lie by hostmds.com. |
11/13 To HostMDS - Here they keep saying "Your account seems to be running at normal speeds again" But in reality it is not: John, _____________________________ (To HostMDS) I just talked with my ISP. After being on the phone with them for 20 minutes they are telling me that there is nothing wrong with the line, with the modem or the router. _____________________________ Yes. I just sent in a reply to your first message, it is real slow. |
11/13 Site Slow to download - FTP connection issues Dear Steve, Your account seems to be running at normal speeds again. Please let me know if you have any further issues. 11/13 from HostMDS Site Slow to download - FTP connectio n issues Hello, Let me know if you're still experiencing slow load times to the web site. 11/13 from HostMDS Site Slow to download - FTP connection issues Dear Steve, Thank you for calling in today. The issue in hand is that your web site. www.stevethoreon.com is really slow and even when you are trying to download a file through ftp from our server it has taken 13 minutes for you to upload 16.3 Mb file and when you checked it was actually cutting in between after short intervals. So I have escalated this issue to the appropriate lebel of support to look into it and we will reply you with updates on it. 11/13 from HostMDS At this time there are no loads on the server and as far as I can see, everything is working properly. Let me know if you're still facing issues. 11/13 from HostMDS Hello, This is a network problem that I cannot fix at this time. Our network engineers are looking into the issue to see if this can be fixed on our side, but as for an ETA -- I cannot provide one.
_________________________________________________________ My comment: Now they finally admit there is (and has been) a problem. |
11/14 To HostMDS OK, my site is now down. (Again) 11/14 To HostMDS What is this??? Steve 11/14 To HostMDS I'm on server 5 & not server 9. 11/14 To HostMDS John, |
11/14 from HostMDS Hello, I have already answered that question: "This is a network problem that I cannot fix at this time. Our network engineers are looking into the issue to see if this can be fixed on our side, but as for an ETA -- I cannot provide one. 11/14 from HostMDS - I wanted to know whose network because they never said. In fact they mention "our network" below, so my question was on point. So this is in reply to my question "What is a Network" since they kept saying This is a network problem..." - it is a link to wikipedia - not the answer I was looking for. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_network 11/14 from HostMDS Hello Steve, As mentioned before, we're blocking traffic that's coming to server9 on our core edge router and because of this, it's actually slowing down certain portions of our network -- until the network attack is over, there isn't much we can do. 11/14 from HostMDS Hello, 11/14 from HostMDS (Again) Hello, |
11/20 To HostMDS - This was fun... not only is my site down, so was theirs! Site down, FTP down, E-mail down? Hey guys, my site is down again. So is yours! |
11/20 from HostMDS Hello, We have experienced a network hiccup caused by an abusive user today, this has been resolved. |
11/24 To HostMDS Site down, FTP down, E-mail down? Apparently I can't receive e-mail either. |
11/24 - No reply from them today on my web site being down, FTP is down & email is down. |
11/25 To HostMDS 11AM It is down right now. Steve 11/25 To HostMDS 1 1/2 hour later The site is still down as well as the e-mail. 11/25 To HostMDS 9:12 PM My e-mail is down again.
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11/25 from HostMDS - Site down, FTP down, E-mail down? Hello, Let me know if you're still having issues with your web site. 11/25 from HostMDS Hello, 11/25 from HostMDS Hello, _________________________________________________________ My comment: Are you getting the idea that perhaps they do not know what they are doing? Then to me it looks like HostMDS lies to cover up their incompetency. |
11/26 from HostMDS All I can say to you is the same thing. It's back up.
_________________________________________________________ My comment: Don't forget they first said nothing was wrong, then they said "This issue was resolved earlier in the weekend." Again to me it looks like HostMDS lies to cover up their incompetency. |
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11/27 - Now I get a NEW problem. Emails I have sent over a month ago are just NOW being delivered. 11/27 To HostMDS Yes, from over a month ago! |
11/27 from HostMDS Are old emails still getting delivered to your customers? If so, I will try to flush your emails out of the server's outbound queue. This should clear up the old email deliveries. |
11/28 To HostMDS It is down again.
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11/28 from HostMDS All I can say to you is the same thing. |
12/01 To HostMDS - It is down again. |
12/01 from HostMDS Hello. |
12/03 To HostMDS Sorry, the site has been up & down at least 2 times today that I know of, so far. This happens almost every day. When this happens I can go to other web sites without issues but I can't always pull up mine. Why? 12/03 To HostMDS John, |
12/03 from HostMDS Hello Steve, Maybe I am misunderstanding the issue. Your original message was about old email issues and in part of your other message it says that your site is down. I am testing the mailserver and it shows as fully functional and your web site. is working as intended. It says Steve Thornton Photography - Brand Image Consulting. I just want to try and clarify the situation, so we both don't go around in circles. -- Steven Higashi 12/03 from HostMDS Dear Steve, At this time, your site appears to be up and running. No errors were recorded on our network around the time this ticket was submitted. Are you still having issues accessing your site? John |
12/04 To HostMDS OK, right now I can't get onto my site. FTP seems fine. |
12/04 from HostMDS |
12/12 To HostMDS I have not received any e-mails in the last 12 hours, even junk... nothing & I have had 2 calls asking about messages sent to me from yesterday. 12/12 To HostMDS Hey guys, my e-mail is still down. I have called many times only to be hung up on after holding on for 10.5 minutes. What is going on? |
12/12 from HostMDS Hello,These email issues where resolved, if your still having issues please provide an email address and password for further testing. Kevin Misir |
12/15 To HostMDS My site is down. The homepage loads but without any photos & all of the links are dead. |
No answer from HostMDS until the next day
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12/16 from HostMDS Dear Steve, At this time, your site is loading quite quickly with page load times well under a second, including images. Please check it again and let me know if you run into issues. John - Customer Care |
12/17 To HostMDS MY SITE IS DOWN AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
My comment: At this point I am finally loosing my temper. |
12/18 To HostMDS Kevin, |
12/18 from HostMDS Hi Steve, 12/18 from HostMDS Hi, I have done a complete check on your web site. and everything looks normal and functional, your websites are running with no issue; We had a minor issue last night that has been completely resolved; I am not sure what else I can do for you; please let me know the exact time that the web site. was down we may be able to check the logs and see |
12/20To HostMDS This exact time it is now down... again. 7:38 AM 12/20To HostMDS Still down: 7:47 am 12/20To HostMDS 7:50 am - it is still down. Oh by the way so is my e-mail & FTP. 12/20To HostMDS 8:04 AM - still down 8:24 am - still down. 8:46 am - over an hour, still down. Please fix. 10:19 AM - still down It is not back up on my end and as near as I can tell has not been up for over 3 hours. 12/20To HostMDS You are correct. I closed IE, reopened it & the site is now up. My comment: Just how much should I put up with. Over & over Hostmds.com keeps saying the problem is resolved or we can't find any problem followed up with "we have resolved the issue your site is back online, sorry for any inconveniences during the downtime." To me this shows a pathological problem in telling the truth. Again in my opinion, Hostmds.com can't tell the truth. |
12/20 from HostMDS Hello,
12/20 from HostMDS Your site is currently up, if you have had many failed login attempts within a short period of time there is most likely a block on your IP which is why you think your site is down. Tell us your IP and we will remove it. |
12/23To HostMDS 4:45 pm - site is down. |
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12/23To HostMDS Well I am glad to see that the problem I have been complaining about for over 5 weeks is now real to MDS. Just how many times have I complained to MDS about this? And all I got back from MDS is, "Well it is up now" as if it was my fault or I was wrong. You have sold yourselves as having 100% up time. You have failed to deliver. You have not even had 99% up time. |
12/24 from HostMDS Dear Steve, At this time, your site is up. We have recorded an issue with the server that is causing intermittent downtimes for the time being and we're in the process of repairing this but it will take some time. This is usual in itself but should be permanently resolved soon. John |
At this point I changed hosting companies. After pulling my hair out for 5 weeks & getting answers like "All I can say to you is the same thing. It's back up." I decided I could not tolerate anymore incompetence. The day I changed hosts... all of my problems went away. My suggestion to you is:Do Not Do Business with
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