Issues with Irish Host

Sully

Hey,

A client of mine was previously hosted with an Irish webhosting company (dont think its any of the regulars here on boards) and due to "mismanagement" on both sides they finally decided to move host to DreamHost. When they contacted the company to get the data back, including the domain name, the company refused unless they paid for 3 months hosting and a "retrival" fee simply because they have to pay someone to get the data. Is it just me, or does anyone else find this unfair? The domain isnt up until March, and seems to be registered in the hosting companys name. Its pointing to their server, but going to the site gives a blank. She doesnt want to pay any cash to get the data back and has been in touch many times and they simply wont budge unless she pays them for 3 months hosting and a retrival fee.

I'm posting this here instead of consumer issues simply because pretty much everyone here does this type of work (hosting, design etc.) and id like to get peoples opinions.

Im pretty sure these "transfers" are often free and if any fee at all, its very little. Ill probably contact the company myself, perhaps when they speak to someone who is in the same business they wont be inclined to fob me of.

biko

Is the fee written anywhere? The contract, T&C, etc... The company must provide this.
Otherwise they have nothing to stand on.

deegs

biko wrote: »

Is the fee written anywhere? The contract, T&C, etc... The company must provide this.
Otherwise they have nothing to stand on.

why in gods name is it registered by the provider? if thats the case she doesnt really have a leg to stand on without the contract, paying the money may be the easiest option.

Can you give more details?

AARRRGH

The domain issue should be easy enough to solve. The data issue... did your friend ask for his data after he had stopped paying and his subscription was up? If so, your friend is at fault and should be delighted the host is still able to retrieve his data from their backups.

Just a FYI, the host doesn't control the data - your friend does. The host would assume your friend has the data on his PC or backed up somewhere.

Sully

biko wrote: »

Is the fee written anywhere? The contract, T&C, etc... The company must provide this.
Otherwise they have nothing to stand on.

Ill ask her, I only had a brief chat about it this morning and she sent me a summary email.

deegs wrote: »

why in gods name is it registered by the provider? if thats the case she doesnt really have a leg to stand on without the contract, paying the money may be the easiest option.

Can you give more details?

She just said that there was problems with the hosting so she decided to move. They wouldnt give her the data without her paying them 3months hosting (which at a glance, might be a tad expensive) and a retrival fee. She told them what there doing is against the law, and they refused to budge.

dublindude wrote: »

The domain issue should be easy enough to solve. The data issue... did your friend ask for his data after he had stopped paying and his subscription was up? If so, your friend is at fault and should be delighted the host is still able to retrieve his data from their backups.

From what I gather, it looks like she asked when the subscription was up. Ill double check.

Just a FYI, the host doesn't control the data - your friend does. The host would assume your friend has the data on his PC or backed up somewhere.

She did until a virus hit her PC. The IT company wiped it without question and she had no backups!

axer

Sully wrote: »

When they contacted the company to get the data back, including the domain name, the company refused unless they paid for 3 months hosting and a "retrival" fee simply because they have to pay someone to get the data.

Has her hosting subscription with the company expired?

Sully wrote: »

She did until a virus hit her PC. The IT company wiped it without question and she had no backups!

That is her responsibility.

If she is no longer a customer of the web host in question then why should they do anything for her? I presume that is why they are asking her to pay for her account for probably their minimum 3 months.

How much of a fee are we tallking about here for the retrieval fee?

From what I can see she has let her hosting lapse; is now pissed off with the company and wants to change to a different company; never backed up her website beforehand; her account was probably disabled and files possibly deleted; now the hosting company have to revert to backups to retrieve her data thus want to charge her a fee. Is that correct?

democrates

It's worth checking if the wayback machine at archive.org has a copy of the site, there's a lag of 6-12 months before the last trawled copy appears but if it didn't change that much a lot of your content may be sitting there.

Sully

Okay had a lengthy chat about the issue today. Here is what happened:-

The business is run with herself and her business partner. The business requires a lot of traveling so she was out of the country a lot, but checked emails regularly and noticed the sites uptime was fairly random. When she came home she renewed the hosting bill however she was told that money would be taken to pay a bill overdue. Apparently her partner received the bill but never paid it.

She paid what was due in total - clearing all bills. However, the sites uptime was poor so she decided to move hosts. On requesting the data, the hosting company asked her to pay another 3 months of hosting plus a retrival fee. She refused to pay this, and they refused to hand over the data. She claims she has paid for hosting, yet the site remains down (goes to a blank page). They want her to pay more before leaving her transfer.

The domain name is in her partners name, so that can be transfered with a quick email to the IEDR.

forbairt

Hmm... I'd say get your hands on all emails and get into the cpanel if you've access and see what bills have been paid and so on.

Also check the TOS on the original contract with the host if there has been more downtime than you may have more legal grounds to stand on.

If you're sure its all up to date inform the company they'll be receiving a solicitors letter shortly

Downtime of the site which is affecting the business ? ...
I'll assume emails aren't working either ?
Potential Lost business / Revenue from ads ?
Solicitors fees and so on will all add up for the hosting company

BUT ... make sure you've got all the facts and have the documentation to back it up as the solicitors fees are going to be quite pricey even for a simple letter.

mneylon

forbairt wrote: »

Hmm... I'd say get your hands on all emails and get into the cpanel if you've access and see what bills have been paid and so on.

Also check the TOS on the original contract with the host if there has been more downtime than you may have more legal grounds to stand on.

If you're sure its all up to date inform the company they'll be receiving a solicitors letter shortly

Downtime of the site which is affecting the business ? ...
I'll assume emails aren't working either ?
Potential Lost business / Revenue from ads ?
Solicitors fees and so on will all add up for the hosting company

You're presuming that there is a written contract including SLA. Unless the hosting is on a dedicated server you simply won't get that

Sully

forbairt wrote: »

Hmm... I'd say get your hands on all emails and get into the cpanel if you've access and see what bills have been paid and so on.

Also check the TOS on the original contract with the host if there has been more downtime than you may have more legal grounds to stand on.

Ill have access to the server (well some part, iv no idea what the hosting company gave her) tommrow. Ill check if I can login and see what the story is, but I dont expect much.

The TOS that is on the site now covers itself with regards to downtime, it doesnt specify an uptime. It covers mostly domain registration and little hosting.

X do not warrant that services will be free from interruption or error free.

Id imagine, that covers them on that ground.

The TOS states that a bill gets sent via email 30 days in advance, sometimes via postal order but usualy on request. If your late, the TOS only covers domains names but doesnt refer to .ie domains.

So, the TOS is pretty vague when it comes to hosting so I cant find their policy on stuff like this.

If you're sure its all up to date inform the company they'll be receiving a solicitors letter shortly

Downtime of the site which is affecting the business ? ...
I'll assume emails aren't working either ?
Potential Lost business / Revenue from ads ?
Solicitors fees and so on will all add up for the hosting company

BUT ... make sure you've got all the facts and have the documentation to back it up as the solicitors fees are going to be quite pricey even for a simple letter.

Im just posting on behalf of a client, its hardly anything to do with me - im just helping her get her files back. Ill try speak to the company, and after that advise her if I can do no more. After that, its up to her. Iv got her side of the story, and ill here theres. She promissed she would try send me all emails but I think it dates back a few years.

Sully

Spoke to them today. Claimed her period of hosting ended September and was never renewed. Client isnt going to bother anymore. Case Closed.

Ah well. Thanks to all for helping.

forbairt

When had she made the request for her files ?

It actually seems quite reasonable that they ask for hosting for the period since then ... it also seems reasonable that they charge a retrieval fee.

From their point of view they've got a client who paid late / didn't pay (may have paid eventually but still the fact remains they were a bad customer) now they want them to go into the archives retrieve their website / databases and so on and pass them on ... all as a jesture of goodwill ?