Not Everyone's Mama

I need to find my old post about my old host and delete it.  Monday morning, the 10th, I went to post a blog post and couldn’t.  I found out that my whole site was down and had been since the 9th.  After doing some investigation, you know, via Twitter, I found out that the whole network was down.  Digiscrapping stores, large and small alike, and other sites that weren’t related to us at all.  On the 10th we finally got this notice-

On 10 May 2010 while investigating issues on the main server that hosts ucwebhost.com it was discovered that there is an exploit opened into the server. Our entire Exceutive Team is working on each of the servers to verify this exploit and resolve it in the timeliest manner possible. Once the issue has been resolved, we will bring the access to the servers back online.
We will update this notice as we continue our investigation and will provide additional details as they are released. If the investigation shows that an exploit has occured, we will notify the FBI; however, at this time we have not found that the exploit has compromised the network.
Regards,
Executive Staff of UCwebhost.com

Date – 05/10/2010 12:42
Last Updated – 05/10/2010 12:48

So we’re all chatting on Facebook and Twitter, wondering what this huge exploit is.  We figure they’ll fix it quickly and we’ll be back online.  Remember this is a company that I have been with for 2 years with every problem fixed immediately.  Customer service couldn’t have been better.  I loved them and sang their praises.  We didn’t get another update until May 12.  May 12.  2 days had passed and the grumblings were being heard. 

*** UPDATE ***
We are working very hard to replace the Network system that is causing the outage. This network outage is a result of software exploit at network switch. Once the new cards are installed and software updated, the NOC will be reconnecting the servers. Our hope is to have the servers online later today. Thank you
Last Updated – 05/12/2010 09:14

Then we hear nothing again until yesterday at 4.  At that point I had bought new web hosting and we were just waiting for my site to come back online so they could start transferring over.  This was the last update we got –

As of 4:00 PM EST today, Impact Hosting LLC has acquired UC Webhost. The former owner is not longer able to continue providing services, however due to the change of ownership, normal daily operations and hosting services will be restored within coming hours.
Our company entered into accelerated negotiations earlier today so our involvement with UCWebhost spans only a few hours. We were not involved with UCWebhost in the events leading up to the current outage however we fully intend on resolving all current issues and are committed to bringing your websites back online as soon as possible.
We appreciate your patience over the next few hours while everything is brought back online, restored, and is and fully operational.
Rest assured that once your account is back online and loading properly there will be no risk of your websites or servers being down again or offline
in the foreseeable future. We’re strongly committed to the security of your data, the uptime of your websites, and the peace of mind that results from a service provider you can count on.
We will update the Twitter feed – http://twitter.com/ucwebhost – and provide you with additional information (as well as via e-mail) as soon as it is available.
Everyone in our Impact Hosting LLC family is excited about working with you!

Date – 05/10/2010 12:42 – 10/05/2020 14:00
Last Updated – 05/13/2010 16:55

Security exploit my butt.  You all didn’t pay your bill did you?  Got shut down I believe.  Now, the best part is, look at the reviews for the new hosting company.  I am so glad I had my new hosting ready to go when the network came back online. 

They weren’t done with the fun and games.  I can kind of understand not wanting to overload the server, but they shut off transfers out of the Cpanel and back ups.  My new host was busting their tooshes trying to transfer my site over manually at less than 100kbs/second.  I have a 12 gb site all on my own.  I keep saying I am going to bake my new host chocolate chip cookies and send them to their office. 

We’re all feeling like this smells funny.  The new host is based out of Ohio.  The president of the old company, from Ohio.  Everyone who is doing our support tickets?  The same people who worked for UCWebhost.  That’s plausible, sometimes companies allow the employees to stay on when they are bought out.  But the reviews?  Exactly what we’ve been going through the last few days. 

I had a response to one of my support emails finally, telling me they want to retain me as a customer. I said, not in a million years.  Google your company, it’s not pretty.

Then a phone call last night, which I didn’t answer because I don’t answer private numbers.  Unknown yes.  Private, no.  That means they are hiding the number by pressing *69 or unlisted.  I don’t do hidden numbers.  A message requesting that I call them back to discuss staying because I’ve been a good customer for a long time.  Again, I don’t play with companies who have that track record.  No way.  I have worked too hard to build my own business and to build my reputation.  It could have been shot in just a few days. Speaking of my business, I’ll put this up in the store, but don’t buy any of my products yet, they are still transferring my download folder.

I have to give much love to my new host, HostDuplex, who has been working around the clock to get my site back up and running.  Bet they never thought I’d be this much work when they message me on Twitter when I said I needed a new host.  Know what tipped my hat in their direction?  They have lots of University of Iowa grads working for them.  I say if I can’t trust a fellow Iowan, who can I trust?    They are just a tad more expensive than the cheapo hosts, but after what I’ve been through, I’m good with that.  First I had gotten the economy plan for $7/month.  I couldn’t see my storage and bandwidth because my site was down.  Turns out I have 12 GBs of stuff.  So, I moved up to the business plan at $10/month, which is like 2 dollars more for 3 months than I was paying at UCWebhost.  If I paid the year in advance it would be less, unfortunately, I didn’t schedule this network outage and new hosting wasn’t budgeted.  Thank you so much to the people over there who have been busting tail to get my up and running again.  You don’t know how much I appreciate it!

On that note, I have to take my kids to school for the 5th day this week because I forgot to get Jordan a pop for class today.  Some fill up their punch card reward.

It is so wonderful to be back!!!  Watch for some fun reviews coming up.

Have a great day!

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