Comments on: Trash Dreamhost here http://rc3.org/2005/12/01/trash-dreamhost-here/ Strong opinions weakly held Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:43:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: dreamhostsux http://rc3.org/2005/12/01/trash-dreamhost-here/comment-page-1/#comment-3126 dreamhostsux Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:11:03 +0000 http://rc3.org/wordpress/?p=7243#comment-3126 <p>DreamHost's poor customer service has led to a serious privacy invasion. When my client attempted to sign up for an account, the transaction hung halfway through. When customer service (which can only be reached by tedious email exchanges) "fixed" the problem, the pay by credit card option was no longer available. The customer service representative insisted that we use Google Payments. I proceeded, and then my client realized his financial information is now in the Google system. The worst possible scenario then came true. Instead of completing the transaction, Google called my client's bank for "preapproval". This was not to complete the transaction (which was never completed), but to gather information for Google's marketing. My client is furious, reviewing everyone's privacy policy, and is looking into ways to bring this problem up at the political, and possibly the legal, level.</p> <p>Throughout this whole situation, Dreamhost has been nothing but pig-headed. Every customer service representative ignores the case history and either refers us back to Google Payments or says patronizing things like we could have paid with the original credit card system. I offered them a solution where I quietly pay for the account using Google transactions, and they won't even let me help bail them out!!!</p> <p>I will never refer another client to dreamhost. Right now I'm looking for the best place to air this complaint publicly in as many places as possible. People have to know that when Dreamhost pushes people into using Google Payments, Google then has their financial information to aggregate and deploy for their own purposes.</p> DreamHost’s poor customer service has led to a serious privacy invasion. When my client attempted to sign up for an account, the transaction hung halfway through. When customer service (which can only be reached by tedious email exchanges) “fixed” the problem, the pay by credit card option was no longer available. The customer service representative insisted that we use Google Payments. I proceeded, and then my client realized his financial information is now in the Google system. The worst possible scenario then came true. Instead of completing the transaction, Google called my client’s bank for “preapproval”. This was not to complete the transaction (which was never completed), but to gather information for Google’s marketing. My client is furious, reviewing everyone’s privacy policy, and is looking into ways to bring this problem up at the political, and possibly the legal, level.

Throughout this whole situation, Dreamhost has been nothing but pig-headed. Every customer service representative ignores the case history and either refers us back to Google Payments or says patronizing things like we could have paid with the original credit card system. I offered them a solution where I quietly pay for the account using Google transactions, and they won’t even let me help bail them out!!!

I will never refer another client to dreamhost. Right now I’m looking for the best place to air this complaint publicly in as many places as possible. People have to know that when Dreamhost pushes people into using Google Payments, Google then has their financial information to aggregate and deploy for their own purposes.

]]> By: Reddit’ing My Site can CRASH Servers at Dreamhost | Stefan Didak's Rambling http://rc3.org/2005/12/01/trash-dreamhost-here/comment-page-1/#comment-3042 Reddit’ing My Site can CRASH Servers at Dreamhost | Stefan Didak's Rambling Sun, 21 Sep 2008 16:25:12 +0000 http://rc3.org/wordpress/?p=7243#comment-3042 <p>[...] Trash Dreamhost Here [...]</p> [...] Trash Dreamhost Here [...]

]]> By: Peteris Krumins http://rc3.org/2005/12/01/trash-dreamhost-here/comment-page-1/#comment-2624 Peteris Krumins Mon, 05 May 2008 02:26:06 +0000 http://rc3.org/wordpress/?p=7243#comment-2624 <p>I have had great success with DreamHost! It has not let me down a single time!</p> <p>I once made a 3rd party picture section for Digg (<a href="http://digpicz.com" rel="nofollow">digpicz.com</a>, (see also <a href="http://reddit.picurls.com" rel="nofollow">reddit pics</a> :)), and the shared hosting for $9.95 a month handled 100'000 (hundred thousand!!!) visitors the first day!</p> <p>I blogged what I optimized to handle such a traffic on a cheap shared host in this post: <a href="http://www.catonmat.net/blog/few-words-about-digpicz-dot-com/" rel="nofollow">A few words about Digpicz.com</a>.</p> I have had great success with DreamHost! It has not let me down a single time!

I once made a 3rd party picture section for Digg (digpicz.com, (see also reddit pics :) ), and the shared hosting for $9.95 a month handled 100′000 (hundred thousand!!!) visitors the first day!

I blogged what I optimized to handle such a traffic on a cheap shared host in this post: A few words about Digpicz.com.

]]> By: Mathew http://rc3.org/2005/12/01/trash-dreamhost-here/comment-page-1/#comment-527 Mathew Wed, 26 Apr 2006 21:37:45 +0000 http://rc3.org/wordpress/?p=7243#comment-527 <p>Trust me dear buddys..</p> <p>I am infact not against any hosting service personally. Only once in life I felt like fucked off and I was real helpless... only thing I can do is warn you. It is up to you to choose your host. but I learned the worst way.</p> <p>My project on a imagehosting site always need a server with good server space with some TB of bandwidth.. and infact I got to say i got sold with their ads on such a reduced amount. But as like always I checked for the review of users to find many good and much many bad reviews on the same. Infact I got to say I visited this site too which had some warning from previous customers. But the ad had already taken me and I though i would give it a try!!</p> <p>Since I am running a security related site; I registered the site in that name and thought of hosting new project along with the same server space I can get as said in free multiple hosting that is permited with each and every site.</p> <p>My credit card info was granted at first and since I had a discount coupon; I had applied for the same. But the status always showed account not activated even after the payment. I wait for couple of days before I sent them my first mail. They replied with a message to forward a fax to them copying the credit card along with a letter authorizing them to get the money.</p> <p>But again they said the info is not enough and asked for second fax with the signature of the card holder (I used the card of my friend) and I had mentioned this in my first mail. But even after the second fax (International) the status looked te same. An enquiry to cc office confirmed the payment has been issued. I couldnt understand what was going on. I was still on deadline for my project to get hosted and I couldnt waste more time due to sponosrs agreement.</p> <p>After that a response came after some 48 hrs that my account cannot be activated due to illegal content. I couldnt make out their excuse 'coz the same security site is under the sponsorship of google ads (adsense) and they do have a strict policy than this s*****. I wrote back with the details also mentioned the guy to check the messages included "not to submit illegal queries" in each and every page of the site. The reply was "in the guest book some one have asked about hacking". Still I wrote back with the reply that i had already given from my side "sorry for incon and you will be banned if you continue with the query". .. I still couldnt understand what is makin them lag. The answer was "htis is not the right way to answer a query on hacking" and that he should be banned without any warning. I couldnt understand this and I asked them for a refund.</p> <p>It took another 2 weeks to get the 2 year refund back with a $10 deduction. They say I have used some space and bandwidth in the mean time when I have not even got the account enabled. Might be they are talking about the trouble tickets I issued on getting the account activated. But since I am international user I dont think it is worth going behind justice for $10 and the time I need to spend for all the mess.</p> <p>It is not the money or time. But the way they responed was like to a 3rd rate customer holding some illegal site when the sponsors of the same site is google adsense and yahoo!!</p> <p>I still cant trace out a reason. But I guess my words on first page of my site "we are unable to handle the high amount of bandwidth and moving to a host with more than 750GB data transfer" might have got them. But then why do they advertise 1TB?? when they cant handle the same.</p> <p>.. The worst experience is to get critized and to be mentioned as a 3rd class admin when holding a good site with more than 2.5 Lacs of page views and good sponsor for a silly meaningless reason.</p> <p>.. I wish they could have mailed in better manners. but time is still there.. One day it gonna be my turn. I am really pissed off.. Buddys; Let me warn you once again. It is up to you to decide.. but all these reviews cant go wrong when once I thought it was..!!</p> <p>Regards Mathew</p> Trust me dear buddys..

I am infact not against any hosting service personally. Only once in life I felt like fucked off and I was real helpless… only thing I can do is warn you. It is up to you to choose your host. but I learned the worst way.

My project on a imagehosting site always need a server with good server space with some TB of bandwidth.. and infact I got to say i got sold with their ads on such a reduced amount. But as like always I checked for the review of users to find many good and much many bad reviews on the same. Infact I got to say I visited this site too which had some warning from previous customers. But the ad had already taken me and I though i would give it a try!!

Since I am running a security related site; I registered the site in that name and thought of hosting new project along with the same server space I can get as said in free multiple hosting that is permited with each and every site.

My credit card info was granted at first and since I had a discount coupon; I had applied for the same. But the status always showed account not activated even after the payment. I wait for couple of days before I sent them my first mail. They replied with a message to forward a fax to them copying the credit card along with a letter authorizing them to get the money.

But again they said the info is not enough and asked for second fax with the signature of the card holder (I used the card of my friend) and I had mentioned this in my first mail. But even after the second fax (International) the status looked te same. An enquiry to cc office confirmed the payment has been issued. I couldnt understand what was going on. I was still on deadline for my project to get hosted and I couldnt waste more time due to sponosrs agreement.

After that a response came after some 48 hrs that my account cannot be activated due to illegal content. I couldnt make out their excuse ‘coz the same security site is under the sponsorship of google ads (adsense) and they do have a strict policy than this s*****. I wrote back with the details also mentioned the guy to check the messages included “not to submit illegal queries” in each and every page of the site. The reply was “in the guest book some one have asked about hacking”. Still I wrote back with the reply that i had already given from my side “sorry for incon and you will be banned if you continue with the query”. .. I still couldnt understand what is makin them lag. The answer was “htis is not the right way to answer a query on hacking” and that he should be banned without any warning. I couldnt understand this and I asked them for a refund.

It took another 2 weeks to get the 2 year refund back with a $10 deduction. They say I have used some space and bandwidth in the mean time when I have not even got the account enabled. Might be they are talking about the trouble tickets I issued on getting the account activated. But since I am international user I dont think it is worth going behind justice for $10 and the time I need to spend for all the mess.

It is not the money or time. But the way they responed was like to a 3rd rate customer holding some illegal site when the sponsors of the same site is google adsense and yahoo!!

I still cant trace out a reason. But I guess my words on first page of my site “we are unable to handle the high amount of bandwidth and moving to a host with more than 750GB data transfer” might have got them. But then why do they advertise 1TB?? when they cant handle the same.

.. The worst experience is to get critized and to be mentioned as a 3rd class admin when holding a good site with more than 2.5 Lacs of page views and good sponsor for a silly meaningless reason.

.. I wish they could have mailed in better manners. but time is still there.. One day it gonna be my turn. I am really pissed off.. Buddys; Let me warn you once again. It is up to you to decide.. but all these reviews cant go wrong when once I thought it was..!!

Regards Mathew

]]> By: kaz http://rc3.org/2005/12/01/trash-dreamhost-here/comment-page-1/#comment-526 kaz Fri, 31 Mar 2006 23:17:12 +0000 http://rc3.org/wordpress/?p=7243#comment-526 <p>absolutely stay away from dreamhost. i am a resilient and smart user, and i have seen the worst days of my life since i am on dreamhost. today, they deleted my database (mysql) which holds my clients' photos, blogs, etc. all gone.</p> <p>oh. how i hate dreamhost. use something else. and let me know what you get, cause i am running out of options...</p> <p>kaz</p> absolutely stay away from dreamhost. i am a resilient and smart user, and i have seen the worst days of my life since i am on dreamhost. today, they deleted my database (mysql) which holds my clients’ photos, blogs, etc. all gone.

oh. how i hate dreamhost. use something else. and let me know what you get, cause i am running out of options…

kaz

]]> By: Jonathan http://rc3.org/2005/12/01/trash-dreamhost-here/comment-page-1/#comment-525 Jonathan Tue, 21 Mar 2006 18:20:25 +0000 http://rc3.org/wordpress/?p=7243#comment-525 <p>Here's the story, I signed up with dreamhost for their 777 promotional deal. I used them for 1 year, without problems. I renewed my account for the full $119.40 this month. Immediately after that (and I had no changes to my files that were on the server) they started e-mailing me saying they were going to cancel my account without a refund because I was using up their CPU. They refused to tell me how or what I was doing to use it up. Since I had only paid a few weeks ago for the next year that I was going to be using them, I decided to cancel and get my money back so that I could find a different host. Upon canceling they basically said there were no refunds for non credit card accounts. I proved I paid with a credit card, and then they told me that there are no refunds after 97 days. I showed them the date I paid, and they continued to tell me that I used them for over 97 days in the past. So, now I have no hosting + I'm out $119.40. Also, in the time I was with them they had the worst customer support of all the web hosting companies I have used.</p> Here’s the story, I signed up with dreamhost for their 777 promotional deal. I used them for 1 year, without problems. I renewed my account for the full $119.40 this month. Immediately after that (and I had no changes to my files that were on the server) they started e-mailing me saying they were going to cancel my account without a refund because I was using up their CPU. They refused to tell me how or what I was doing to use it up. Since I had only paid a few weeks ago for the next year that I was going to be using them, I decided to cancel and get my money back so that I could find a different host. Upon canceling they basically said there were no refunds for non credit card accounts. I proved I paid with a credit card, and then they told me that there are no refunds after 97 days. I showed them the date I paid, and they continued to tell me that I used them for over 97 days in the past. So, now I have no hosting + I’m out $119.40. Also, in the time I was with them they had the worst customer support of all the web hosting companies I have used.

]]> By: nancy stoddart http://rc3.org/2005/12/01/trash-dreamhost-here/comment-page-1/#comment-524 nancy stoddart Sat, 11 Feb 2006 00:13:36 +0000 http://rc3.org/wordpress/?p=7243#comment-524 <p>How I hate Dreamhost. Two days ago they took down my website and disabled my email. After numerous emails to them from their site, I learned that I could do nothing until they got some info they had sent to an email I had several years ago that's defunct. In order to be able to communicate with them, I got a yahoo.com address, which they don't accept email from because it may have spam. I tried faxing but they don't acknowledge faxes for billing or tech support problems. They asked for some digits of a credit card I haven't used in a couple of years as it expired and would not accept my new cc number via their site's customer support email. I hate them. I have wasted two days on this with no email or website. My solution? Switch to Godaddy, which has great live support and numbers you can call, techs with lots of patience. And I got a new URL just to make sure I've left them behind forever!</p> How I hate Dreamhost. Two days ago they took down my website and disabled my email. After numerous emails to them from their site, I learned that I could do nothing until they got some info they had sent to an email I had several years ago that’s defunct. In order to be able to communicate with them, I got a yahoo.com address, which they don’t accept email from because it may have spam. I tried faxing but they don’t acknowledge faxes for billing or tech support problems. They asked for some digits of a credit card I haven’t used in a couple of years as it expired and would not accept my new cc number via their site’s customer support email. I hate them. I have wasted two days on this with no email or website. My solution? Switch to Godaddy, which has great live support and numbers you can call, techs with lots of patience. And I got a new URL just to make sure I’ve left them behind forever!

]]> By: Phil http://rc3.org/2005/12/01/trash-dreamhost-here/comment-page-1/#comment-523 Phil Mon, 06 Feb 2006 21:10:18 +0000 http://rc3.org/wordpress/?p=7243#comment-523 <p>Are you a current or ex disgruntled Dreamhost user? There's some people getting together to create an anti-Dreamhost website to warn others of their terrible service. Contact me if you wish to share your horror stories.</p> Are you a current or ex disgruntled Dreamhost user? There’s some people getting together to create an anti-Dreamhost website to warn others of their terrible service. Contact me if you wish to share your horror stories.

]]> By: Bob http://rc3.org/2005/12/01/trash-dreamhost-here/comment-page-1/#comment-522 Bob Wed, 21 Dec 2005 23:32:04 +0000 http://rc3.org/wordpress/?p=7243#comment-522 <p>Hi Rafe,</p> <p>For a nice discount you can get a <a href="http://www.dreamhost-promo-code.com/" rel="nofollow">promo code at www.dreamhost-promo-code.com</a>. Currently you can get two years of hosting for the price of one, or 6 months free the first year.</p> Hi Rafe,

For a nice discount you can get a promo code at http://www.dreamhost-promo-code.com. Currently you can get two years of hosting for the price of one, or 6 months free the first year.

]]> By: tas http://rc3.org/2005/12/01/trash-dreamhost-here/comment-page-1/#comment-521 tas Mon, 19 Dec 2005 01:04:06 +0000 http://rc3.org/wordpress/?p=7243#comment-521 <p>I'd be very, very leery of Dreamhost. I've ran a Drupal site on with them for the past year and just started receiving the CPU limit threats from them. My site gets decent traffic, but it's very odd to receive warnings like this now given the fact that, in October, I was linked by Talking Points Memo and got thousands of hits in one day -- no CPU warning from Dreamhost then. But now that my site has been running as normal, the same way it has been for months, Dreamhost is threatening to shut me down. Additionally, I told them that I needed help in reducing my CPU time and they have offered absolutely no help; they simply reiteriate their "lower your CPU time" script.</p> <p>I used to refer Dreamhost to friends, but no more. Not after this crap. Dreamhost can't be trusted.</p> I’d be very, very leery of Dreamhost. I’ve ran a Drupal site on with them for the past year and just started receiving the CPU limit threats from them. My site gets decent traffic, but it’s very odd to receive warnings like this now given the fact that, in October, I was linked by Talking Points Memo and got thousands of hits in one day — no CPU warning from Dreamhost then. But now that my site has been running as normal, the same way it has been for months, Dreamhost is threatening to shut me down. Additionally, I told them that I needed help in reducing my CPU time and they have offered absolutely no help; they simply reiteriate their “lower your CPU time” script.

I used to refer Dreamhost to friends, but no more. Not after this crap. Dreamhost can’t be trusted.

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