859compute: Worst-Ever Webhost
This past month I’ve spent a lot of time rebuilding my websites. Strangely I can’t seem to find my backups (which is weird because I backup on a regular basis). I just reformatted my laptop but normally I backup data before I reformat.
But anyway, that’s not the issue here. I was with Hostquack since January 2008. I was with them for three whole years. It had just been established at the time and owner Jonathan Hughes really did what he could to build it up. He was far from perfect but the effort was there so I trusted him. I always thought that if anything went wrong, it would be those pesky hackers…
In a nutshell (okay, not really), Jonathan sold Hostquack to the incompetent Joe Baxter of 859compute.com. Joe was just buying a whole bunch of small-scale web hosting companies which included their clients. Clients were not given prior notice in order to opt-out. I suppose small companies like Hostquack is only valuable with its clients attached. No email was sent to clients regarding the migration. In my case, I heard it from a client first that their site was down. I assured them that it was only temporary. To my surprise all sites went down and when I asked Joe to sort it out he said he would. After promising me that it would be resolved “today”, I never heard from him again. He started ignoring my emails, support tickets, etc. In fact, all support tickets were closed before the issues were resolved.
Worst of all, I couldn’t access my cPanel (in order to obtain the latest backups). I found a small note by Joe somewhere on a website that migration could cause authentication error when trying to log in. So I asked him to assist me in resetting my password…but in vain. I’m only getting the cold shoulder.
This guy is not to be trusted. He can come up with all kinds of excuses. This is not good enough. When you have a company and a whole line of unsatisfied customers you really have to take the blame. But no, he is blaming everyone but him. He claims the support ticket system automatically closes the tickets if they are unanswered within 24 hours (surely this is a setting enabled by him?). He assures us that abusers are the only ones shut out of the system (are we all “abusers”? If yes, they why were we not given notice or a warning…and why are we still receiving our invoices? – bad excuse).
Funny enough, after several weeks of a whole bunch of us complaining on each forum, other clients chose to stay on. I understand them though…it’s such a hassle to move from one host to another…especially if you have clients. It’s such a hassle to find a new webhost. But this past week another problem arose. Those with VPS subscriptions got burned. Only now are they considering to move out and find a new host. Why? Why move out only weeks after a good number of clients started warning everyone about this fraudulent individual (Joe Baxter)?
Due to the fact that Joe was continuously ignoring my emails/support tickets I initially believed that he wasn’t receiving his emails. So just to test, I initiated a Paypal chargeback for the month of January. Heck, I paid for a month’s hosting and only got a few days out of it so surely I was being reasonable? Within a matter of hours I received a notification from Paypal:
Hello Sabino Sabrina,
We are in the process of investigating the following claim:
Seller’s Name: Computer Solutions & Repair LLC
Seller’s Email: joe@859compute.com
Seller’s Transaction ID: ***************Transaction Date: 2010-Dec-23
Transaction Amount: -$8.49 USD
Your Transaction ID: ***************
Case Number: ***************Buyer’s Transaction ID: ***************
The seller has submitted an explanation describing the disagreement with this claim. We will evaluate all available information including the original listing, and both seller and buyer statements. A final decision will be made on this claim per our User Agreement.
We will notify you if further action is required.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Thanks,
Protection Services Department
Within just a matter of hours! To think he’s ignored all my correspondence and I had been really patient with him!
There’s not much I can do anymore, I have considered my losses. My main website has lost so much traffic but thankfully it is an ecommerce and don’t earn through advert banners. But I had lost the database. It was since 2007. I felt like my online life was over; it was very discouraging.
Among my other websites, one of them was my blog at sabrinasabino.com. I think I lost that database too (I might have a copy, but I can’t find it).
That would explain my reason for starting a blog here at wordpress.com – I can manage my other websites and won’t have to worry much about backing up my blog here.
Anyway, I feel I really had to talk about this issue this evening because I really don’t want anyone to waste their time and money on 859compute.com. Joe probably meant well when he woke up one morning and decided to earn automated income by buying a whole bunch of hosting companies.
If you’re one of his customers or previous customers feel free to share your experience in the comment section below. It will really help prevent others from choosing him as their webhost provider.
This is the company’s official Facebook page: Computer Solutions & Repair, LLC don’t hesitate to post your review on the review section there as well.
The following sites are also webhosts acquired by 859compute (same owner; same incompetent service):
- Hostquack – www.hostquack.com
- Hostestate – www.hostestate.com
- Michtinelabs – www.michtinelabs.com
***BEWARE OF WEBHOST 859COMPUTE.COM AND SISTER WEBHOSTING SITES!!!***
