Rex |

Finally, I’ve successfully transferred this blog to a new web host. I’ve had enough of Philhosting!

It was last December when my websites started to experience frequent downtimes and database connection problems. It certainly wasn’t the first time we had extended downtimes with them, but this time, it has dragged on for way too long.

I’m not alone. I personally know two other people and dozens of other bloggers with the same exact problems. Just search Google and Google Blogsearch.

A surprise database rollback!

In desperation, I checked Philhosting’s site. There I read an article saying we should change our database settings to point to their new database server. What?! Critical changes such as that shouldn’t simply be posted as an article on their website. They should have at least sent it to their clients by email.

I followed their instructions as posted on their site and changed my settings to point to their “new” database server. To my utter distress, the “new” database rolled back my database to it’s December 6 version! It was around December 30 when I did that.

To think one of my websites is a forum, losing 20 days of data means losing dozens of posts, and worse, members. I sent an email to Philhosting requesting them to restore my database to its more recent version. I know their “old” database server had it before it became totally inaccessible. I was just hoping they didn’t erase those files yet. Guess what. Philhosting was on vacation until January 5 so I had no choice but to wait and cross my fingers.

They don’t do back ups?

Wait I did. I changed back my settings to point to the “old” server, hoping it might be back online long enough for me to grab a quick backup of my precious data. I got a reply from Philhosting second week of January. They said the website owners are solely responsible for backing up their data.

Upon your subscription to us. We already thought that you have read our terms and service, it is stated that client solely responsible in backuping your files.

Oh, a web host that doesn’t back up data?

Still, more downtime..

I had no choice but to settle for my database as it was way back December 6. Luckily I managed to recover some info from the Google cache. Unfortunately, the problem didn’t end with the database servers. Our websites were still either loading very slowly or totally inaccessible.

No refund!

I decided I had enough and their service is probably not going to be better in the near future. I bought an account with BigBytes.Net and transferred my forum and nameserver settings there. Good thing they offered instant activation and I still had some balance in my PayPal. Then I emailed Philhosting to terminate the forum’s web hosting account,  and to credit back to my PayPal any refund due me.

They responded quite promptly this time saying they have successfully terminated my account. Unfortunately, they said refund is only possible within 30 days of activation as part of their 30-day money back guarantee. They will not refund the remaining 6 months worth of fees I have paid in advance.

I was puzzled because their terms of service says:

Host/Client may terminate this Agreement for any reason by providing written/email notice of termination to Host/Client thirty (30) days prior to the termination date  and refunding a pro rata portion of fees paid to Client for Hosting Services not yet rendered on the date of termination.

I would say that’s vague and poorly written. Well, scores of other web hosts use the same exact line. So, I guess I will be losing 420 pesos in my two hosting accounts with them.

Peace of mind with my new host

I have successfully transferred my forum and this blog to BigBytes. Here I could host unlimited domains in a single hosting package so this could actually turn out to be cheaper than Philhosting where different domains need separate hosting packages. From time to time I compare ping times to blogs hosted in Philhosting and this blog in BigBytes. Philhosting has been consistently slower, if accessible. As of this writing, the bloggers I know who haven’t transferred from Philhosting are still experiencing downtimes and database connection problems.

Finally, I can concentrate on building my content and stop worrying whether my readers could access them at all.

A final note about Philhosting

I must have said a lot about Philhosting in this post. I’m not saying the people behind the company are bad. It’s their service. However, they still do offer the most affordable hosting packages I know. It’s just that at some point, the inconvenience caused to yourself, and more especially your readers, isn’t worth the few pesos of savings in hosting fees.

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