Complaints
This profile includes complaints for HostPapa Inc's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see
Customer Complaints Summary
- 18 total complaints in the last 3 years.
- 2 complaints closed in the last 12 months.
If you've experienced an issue
Submit a ComplaintThe complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.
Initial Complaint
Date:03/04/2023
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Complaint: ********
I am rejecting this response because:So sorry to read this as this is almost word-for-word the same ********** and disingenuous explanation I’ve had heard from half of the staff from HosPapa at all levels. While the other half of the staff understood and tried to get the “higher ups” to rectify the issue, it continues to be misrepresented, when getting to the desks of people who actually make the final decisions.
Regarding the original plan suspension, this was not due to rogue plugins or unusual bots as claimed, but rather very standard processes for *********, such as plugin updates, and the bots mentioned were simply pinging the site several times an hours to see if it was online. Nothing out of the ordinary, and again, about 10 unique visitors per day, on a supposed Level 3 (of 4) optimized for ********* plan. NEVER had this issue with previous host. And never had threading emails saying I had to resolve or upgrade to a higher paid tier in order to avoid losing access to my data.
Again, for the other issue, they claim it was a touch confusing, and that the Advertised Services weren’t actually need because similar features existing in another (******* Premium) service. This isn’t confusing, it’s ******* ***** ***********, and as everyone can see, even at this level, they are still obfuscating this. Additionally, ******* Premium has SOME similar features, but not all, and not nearly as robust as the four advertised services, listed as separate add on services ASIDE from *******. Lastly, as mentioned at all levels of this, ******* PREMIUM only works with ONE domain, not the UNLIMITED domains supported by this plan. So no automated backups, firewalls, spam filtering, security scans, etc for ALL BUT ONE domain. The advertised services they refuse to honour would cover ALL domains on this server plan.
Anyhow, just going around and around in circles here, and have long hit my limit. I have acquired service from another host, and will figure out what to do with this one when it’s finally in the rear view.
Hoped for a simple resolution weeks ago, but this is clearly not possible with this company. Hope they find their way to improve these too frequently increasing questionable business practices. Forcing up-sells with threat of data loss, intentionally leaving ********** and non-existent services in sales pages, and then gas-lighting customers to this extent, are not recipes for long-term business growth and health.
See many other (ex)customers and almost exluisvely 1.5 out of 5 stars of late, so hope you can take this to heart.
feature, as well as “******* Premium” for one site. I have been asking how to access these addon services for 2 weeks now, from 7 chats, 2 dozen emails, sales agents, support agents, account managers, and now several billing agents. Half of them see the Marketing page and say, “of course these should be included”, but then escalate to higher ups who claim the extra include services that cover my server and websites are just part of ******* Premium, which only covers ONE website.
Sincerely,
*** ********
When I check their KB site, these advanced advertised services exist, are robust, and should be found in my Dashboard. Billing and Support still refuse to add them, as they claim the same functionality is part of *******. They still advertise ******* Premium ($199 value) and ** Ultra Security Suite ($149 value) as part of this ** Ultra plan, but won’t actually let me access them.
Just want to reiterate that all of the above, hours and hours of run-around s, alway force me to start from scratch.
**Buyer beware!**
Business Response
Date: 04/04/2023
Hello ***,
My name is Nicolae, and I am the Customer Happiness Manager at HostPapa Inc.
I would want to take this opportunity to convey our most sincere apologies, on behalf of HostPapa Inc., for all of the challenges that have arisen on your end as a direct result of this extremely confusing situation.
I can't even begin to fathom how frustrating that must have been for you, and I want to reassure you that we are always here to make sure that you have all you need at your disposal to ensure that both you and your project are successful. We would never purposely make things more difficult on your end, and if you got the impression that this was the case from our interactions with you, then please accept our apologies for the trouble this caused you.
First of all, I’d like to address the resource usage situation. My colleagues from the Solutions Department were notified by our server administrators about the spike in the usage of your account, hosted at that moment under our ** *** shared web hosting plan.
Being hosted in a shared environment means that any time an account experiences a sudden spike in resource usage, it has the potential to have an effect on all of the other customers who are hosted on the same shared web hosting server. As there are safeguards in place to prevent this from happening, we are immediately notified and start working to find a satisfactory solution with the client.
According to what I can see, the issues were caused by a significant number of hits that were made to your website by a variety of bots. The appropriate course of action, which includes some steps for troubleshooting in addition to an upgrade path, has been recommended by my colleagues.
In addition to the bots trying to access the site, the RAM utilization was another problem. This could be due to factors like malfunctioning plugins or themes, which would have a multiplier effect on the already dire scenario.
Unlike the ** *** plan, which includes both Protection Power and the dedicated Automatic Website Backup services, the ** Ultra plan does not bundle these two features together. These functionalities are instead handled in the premium version of the ******* plugin that comes with the ** Ultra plan. As ******* already takes care of these kinds of features, it's not necessary to pay for redundant services on top of the base plan and the ******* plugin.
As the ******* plugin included with ** *** is only the basic version and not the premium one that would provide backup and more advanced security capabilities, these add-on services are specifically added to the ** *** plan to accommodate and cover for the lack of features.
Despite the fact that these are the plans along with their features, it seems that there was a lot of confusion surrounding the add-ons for the ** Ultra plan when you contacted our customer service department.
We have recently made some updates to our product pages along with the order page, and it seems that the wording used in that situation is causing confusion. Rest assured, I have now submitted a thorough analysis of the situation with the highest priority for our development team to review and adjust accordingly as soon as possible. We are truly sorry for the hassle this situation has caused you, and we appreciate your feedback on this matter as it enables us to continue to improve our services and our customer experience offerings.
In light of the information presented above, I will now follow up with you utilizing our internal communication system, via Ticket #*******, to provide guidance on a course of action that would bring about the desired outcome on your end and advise you accordingly. I assure you that my coworkers and I will find a way to make up for the amount of time that you have spent dealing with this regrettable circumstance and that we will do so as soon as possible.
Although I can only imagine how stressful this situation was for you and how unpleasant it was to cope with, I really hope that we can put it behind us and move on with our collaboration, treating it as nothing more than a blemish on our otherwise wonderful journey together.
If you have any other concerns or questions, please make sure to include them in your reply to me via ticket #*******.
Have a great day ahead, ***!
Initial Complaint
Date:03/03/2023
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Since November 2022, I have lost access to my email service multiple times without prior communication from this provider. I have spent countless hours on the phone trying to resolve the issue, receiving run arounds from multiple customer service providers, having to re-explain my situation over and over again.
In December 2022, I was assured by my account manager that I would be able to continue to use the server/interface that I had been previously using, only to find out that 8 weeks later, my email was completely shut down and inaccessible without any forwarning. Furthermore, I was hung up on by a customer service provider and now my account manager is not picking up my calls. I have lost 3 months of emails and 2 business days of correspondence due to this companies incompetent services. I still don't have access to the services that I was promised by this provider. I would like to be contacted by a supervisor that can resolve the problems and help me to migrate away from their services.Business Response
Date: 10/03/2023
Hello *****,
Thank you for getting in touch with us via BBB.
My name is Nicolae and I am the Customer Happiness Manager here at HostPapa Inc.
On behalf of HostPapa Inc., I would like to extend our most sincere apologies for any hassle experienced on your end as a result of the migration that happened in November 2022.I have reviewed the internal communication we’ve had with you on both Ticket #******* and Ticket #******* in order to get a better understanding of the situation and I will now try to clarify what happened.
From what I can see, we sent out notifications concerning the upcoming migration back in November to all of the customers that would be affected by the migration of their hosting accounts from the old servers they were hosted on at the previous provider ***** to the newer ones, at HostPapa.
The initial notification was sent out by our Marketing Department on October 13th, 2022, more than 15 days ahead of time, and the most recent reminder was sent a day ahead of the migration itself (Nov/28/2022), by my colleagues from the Acquisitions Department. All of the communication was sent using the primary email address you had on file - *****@*****************.com
The following notices were part of the notification:—
For the email addresses added in an email client (e.g. *******, ***** ****, ****** ****), you will need to change the server hostname to domain.com (where you would replace “domain.com” with the domain of the email address you are setting up).
• Important: Please note that due to security measures, all email passwords will be reset during the migration. This being the case, we recommend that you update it after the migration is completed to ensure that you’ll be able to connect to your email. To reset your email password(s), please follow the instructions in this Knowledge Base article: https://*****************************************—
On Nov/29/2022, my colleagues followed up with you again, letting you know that the migration has been completed and what steps have to be taken to ensure that everything is running smoothly.
This was part of their follow-up:—
The migration of your website(s) is complete. We have finished copying all of your website(s) and email data to the new server. A separate email was sent to you with your HostPapa dashboard login information.
ACTION REQUIRED
We have identified that at least one of your websites is using an external DNS. In order for your website(s) and/or email(s) to start resolving from the new server, please ensure the domain name(s) are pointing to the new server IP address and/or MX record listed below. Our team is unable to complete this step for you but can guide you if help is needed. Alternatively, you can point your nameservers to the following if you are hosting both your website and emails with us.
—My colleagues have provided the necessary information to set everything up along with email settings, new server information, and nameservers, in the same email (Ticket #*******).
From what I can see, on Nov/29/2022 you contacted us mentioning that you were able to add the account on your phone however, the emails from that day were gone, which seemed to cause some trouble with the boarding tickets you were expecting or wanted to print out for your flight next day.
My colleagues have tried to explain the situation concerning the DNS setup and from what we understood at that time, the IT person who helped you before couldn’t be reached therefore, making the adjustments was not really possible.
After further discussing the situation, our team kindly agreed to unsuspend the account from the previous server in order to allow for the possibility of accessing those emails and perhaps help you in retrieving the boarding pass information.
Although we deeply regret the situation you’ve experienced concerning your flight, this migration as I’ve mentioned was previously announced. We send our prior communication precisely to avoid situations like this.
From what I can see, on December 30th, 2022, my colleagues already added a compensatory period to your web hosting services (updated hosting package renewal date from Jul 06, 2023, to Jan 06, 2024) for the hassle experienced post-migration, as a kind token of appreciation for the whole experience. This happened after the situation was reviewed by a Customer Service Supervisor, at your own request.
On Jan/12/2023, your account manager Daniel mentioned that he discussed with you and you were ok staying with the web hosting service, the only thing brought up to us was that if anything needs adjustments, you must be notified at least a week in advance to prepare yourself.
Moving on to Ticket #*******.
On Feb/28/2023, our customer service department received this ticket from you, concerning some problems accessing your emails, something related to the username/password. My colleagues began the troubleshooting process by inquiring about the settings that are currently being used in the email client with screenshots of the menus, if possible. This represents standard procedure and it builds a starting ground that would help towards a positive outcome in the troubleshooting process.
After that, they discussed the situation over the phone and updated the ticket with the notes of that discussion so that my colleagues can further troubleshoot the situation. This was on Mar/01/2023 1:19:23PM.
Shortly after, on Mar/01/2023 2:34:54PM we received another follow-up from you on that ticket, stating that you were unable to access the email and that we shut down the service again without prior notice. I would like to make it clear that we did not do such a thing. After the migration was performed, the old accounts were suspended on the old servers. As I explained above, that situation has already been cleared with you and everything was fine at that time, therefore, there were no other suspensions that could’ve occurred on your end, in March.
Along with your complaint regarding the email account, you also mentioned that you were unable to reach your Account Manager, and from what I can see in this complaint, there are other things related to him that could be worth addressing:-
I was assured by my account manager that I would be able to continue to use the server/interface that I had been previously using, only to find out that 8 weeks later, my email was completely shut down and inaccessible without any forwarning. Furthermore, I was hung up on by a customer service provider and now my account manager is not picking up my calls.
-I am not able to see any written communication between Daniel and you that would confirm the above in our systems.
Concerning the hung-up phone, we would need more details in order to further investigate the situation. When did this occur? Which phone number was used to call us?
As for the account manager not picking up the calls, please understand that our account managers are not available 24/7 as our customer support departments are. Even so, we do provide 24/7 service however, it’s not always the same person. I’m sure that if Daniel was not able to pick up the phone call at that exact time, he got in touch with you later on as I’m seeing some test emails sent from him to your email address on the 1st of March when you expressed your concerns regarding email issues.
In the end, after we received your follow-up on the ticket, my colleagues got back to you on Mar/01/2023 4:34:35PM confirming that they were able to access the webmail interface and provided you with a new password for the account. As for the missing emails, the following was stated by my colleagues:
-
We can also see lots of emails, but can not see where is it you are missing some
**** *** ********** *********
Kindly review and keep us posted.-
However, we haven’t heard back from you on that ticket, therefore it was not possible to further troubleshoot the situation without the additional details.
Once again, we deeply regret the trouble that you experienced on your end as a result of the migration that happened back in November. Please know that it was never our intention to cause any hassle. Our main goal at HostPapa is to ensure that you have everything you need at your disposal so that you and your project can succeed.
In light of all this, I am aware that you have requested to be migrated away from us to a new provider and I will open a direct line of communication in our systems with us. I have already created a new ticket - Ticket #******* BBB Case - Addressing Complaint where I have followed up with you using the primary email address on file and another backup ***** account I’ve noticed you mentioned before in your other tickets.
In order to be able to help you as best as we can, we'll need to know the exact issues you're facing, described in great detail. If you're still considering moving away, please let me know and then I will be able to advise on that.
Either way, please get back to me via that ticket/email that you received from me and I will be more than happy to personally investigate your concerns further.
Thank you for your understanding.
Have a great day ahead, *****!Initial Complaint
Date:24/01/2023
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Kindly close complaint no. ********* It's now resolved.Business Response
Date: 25/01/2023
Hello *******,
My name is Nicolae and I am the Customer Happiness Manager here at HostPapa Inc.
First of all, I would like to extend our sincerest apologies for the troubles you have experienced with your website and I would like to guarantee that it was never our intent to cause any hassle on your side. Our only goal is to ensure that our customers have everything they need at their disposal in order to be successful.
I have reviewed the case, particularly Ticket #******* - Website blacklisted by ******. From what I can see, my colleagues analyzed the account and then proceeded with the standard recommendations for malware situations.
Please understand that the very idea of planting malware on customers' accounts, as you suggest, is not only immoral and ********* but also unlawful, since it would be used to legitimize the company's pursuit of upselling. We want to make clear that we would never do something so despicable as to intentionally infect a customer's account with malware in an effort to justify a need for a service.
Neither in the past nor in the future will a client be treated in such a manner by HostPapa. We exist only to ensure that our clients receive the highest quality service while also being able to take advantage of any of our offerings that may help them achieve their goals, whether they are professional or otherwise.
It's important to note that there are many potential entry points for malware and that security vulnerabilities are the most typical cause of their appearance. To that end, please make sure that all of your passwords, including those used to log into cPanel, are secure and strong.
The Protection Power service was recommended to you by my coworkers because it functions as an antivirus and can detect and eliminate malware from your account. When a client of ours faces a challenge of this nature, they may rely on this service as the solution. While malware screening and removal is not a "by default" service we provide since it's not always essential, even if it happens seldom, it is available if you require it or decide you would like a higher level of protection for your account. This is also the industry standard when it comes to situations like this.
As a one-time courtesy, I had one of our Senior Technical Representatives manually scan your account and remove the malware found. The procedure was successful and my colleague removed the ********* file:
** ************************ - - - which was a duplicate version of your index file, malware corrupted. Everything is fine at the moment.Once more, I want to be quite clear: HostPapa did not intentionally infect your account to force you to purchase a service. My coworkers have just suggested the most effective course of action for dealing with a scenario like this one.
If you would have any questions or concerns, please feel free to let us know.
Have a great day ahead, *******!
Customer Answer
Date: 21/02/2024
Subject: Immediate Action Required: Inadequate Service and Unresolved Website Flagging Issue [#*******] Dear HostPapa Management, I am writing due to ongoing issues with my website, *****************.com, being incorrectly flagged as a phishing site (ticket #*******). Despite purchasing an SSL certificate and Protection Power Plan, and after numerous communications with your support team, the issue persists, significantly impacting my professional reputation. Your team's suggestions, including directing me to liaise with LinkedIn and check ******'s Transparency Report, have been unhelpful and demonstrate a lack of responsibility for resolving the issue. The advice provided does not address the core problem and places undue burden on me to seek a resolution outside of your service scope. This situation demands more than basic technical support; it requires senior intervention and a strategic approach to rectify the problem. The current handling of my case shows a disconnect between the promised service and the actual support provided, undermining my trust in HostPapa. I urgently request a detailed review and action plan from a senior team member, outlining how you will resolve this issue effectively. It is crucial that HostPapa takes immediate and comprehensive steps to address this matter, reflecting the seriousness of its impact on my business. I expect a prompt response and a solution that aligns with the severity of this situation. Sincerely, ******* ********* Regulated Canadian Immigration ConsultantBusiness Response
Date: 26/02/2024
Dear *******,
My name is Nicolae I am the Customer Happiness Manager at HostPapa Inc.
First of all, I want to assure you that your concerns are being taken with the utmost seriousness. It is evident that the issues you've experienced with your website have caused significant distress, and for any frustration this has caused, we are truly sorry.
I understand that you have been bearing the brunt of a situation that is, regrettably, not entirely within the domain of web hosting services we provide. However, despite these limitations, our dedicated senior technical team has acted in good faith, tirelessly working to assist you far beyond the usual scope of our support under Ticket #*******.
Navigating third-party protocols, especially those concerning blacklisting and security flags, often entails a complex and sometimes prolonged resolution process - especially when it involves entities like ********** and the internal systems of professional networks such as ********. That said, from what I can see under the ongoing Ticket, the collective effort has paid off, as the blacklists have been resolved. As a result, we succeeded in escalating the case to ********’s internal team, who are currently investigating the issue with an expected time-frame of 1-2 working days for further updates.
Whilst the challenges you've faced are not typical of the web hosting services we provide, we chose to stand by you as a testament to our customer commitment.
Recognizing that the effects on your business are far from trivial, we are eagerly waiting alongside you for LinkedIn’s final resolution. We appreciate your patience and understanding as they work through their review process, and we remain vigilant in monitoring your situation to support where we can.
Our sincere intention is for your website to thrive under your leadership and for any memory of this incident to be swiftly replaced by satisfaction with our service.
Please keep an eye on Ticket #******* for further information and updates pertaining to this situation. If you have any other questions or concerns, our senior technical team will be more than happy to address them in that ticket.
Thank you once more for your patience and for choosing HostPapa as your web hosting partner. Your success is integral to our mission, and we look forward to moving past this hurdle together.
Warm regards,
Nicolae
Customer Happiness Manager
HostPapa Inc.Initial Complaint
Date:17/01/2023
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
In early Dec, I contacted HostPapa to have a Bronze account downgraded to Plus. Working with a customer service member, I made the arrangements, including migrating specific websites (Site1, Site2, Site3). A bill for service was received and paid same-day. Additionally, I received confirmation the migration would take approx. 3-5 business days.
Over a month later, the work is incomplete, and the sites are offline.
During this month:
I received 72 emails from HostPapa
I had 18 points of contact
HostPapa incorrectly charged my account several hundred dollars. Complete reimbursements remain outstanding.
HostPapa attempted to transfer Site1 with the incorrect domain name.
HostPapa insisted Site2 couldn't migrate until I contacted *******. I informed them that the domain they were trying to transfer wasn't mine. HostPapa supplied registry details about its link to ******* and insisted I verify with *******. ******* affirmed it wasn't my site, and I had no account with them. I provided this info to HostPapa, who insisted I file a grievance against ******* via ****. Yet again, I told HostPapa it wasn't my site. HostPapa never followed up, eventually transferring the requested Site2 correctly.
HostPapa migrated Site3.
An extra site was added to the account—an unrequested Site4. I told HostPapa that I did not want this site and would like a refund for the cost. HostPapa refused a refund stating they had incurred charges for the faulty transfer, and I was on the hook for it. I pushed back, and HostPapa cancelled the Plus account fully and broke off all contact regarding the current status.
To this day,
Multiple requests to have one point of contact remain ignored.
My request to speak with a supervisor to finalize the transaction and avoid the confusion of 70+ emails remains outstanding.
My request for details about the earliest date I can transfer the websites to another provider has gone ignored.
I'm unable to access the sites at all. I can't retrieve a backup.Business Response
Date: 18/01/2023
*****Hello *****,
My name is Nicolae and I am the Customer Happiness Manager here at HostPapa Inc.
On
behalf of HostPapa Inc., I would like to convey our sincerest apologies
for how this entire situation has been handled, as well as for the
additional trouble that this has caused on your end. Please know that it
was never our intention to cause any unnecessary issues on your end and
that our fundamental objective was to ensure that you have all you need
at your disposal for you and your project to be successful.
I
have conducted a comprehensive investigation into the matter, and I
have read all of the tickets in which this matter has been discussed
(*******, *******, *******, *******). I can't even begin to fathom how
perplexing this whole scenario must have been for you, and how
irritating it must have been to have to deal with it.
According
to the findings of the investigation, this scenario was caused by
several different circumstances, the most significant of which were
misunderstandings and breakdowns in communication between our end and
yours, for which we sincerely apologize. These misunderstandings led to
the whole situation concerning website 1 (*************.com), website 2
*************.com), and website 3 (************.ca).
Regarding
website 4, although you requested cancellation of the Reseller plan
since you haven't used it in a while, it wasn't made clear whether or
not the domain name linked with it (website 4 - ****************.com)
should also be terminated, and refunded in your initial request dated
Dec/06/2022. Even so, my colleagues should’ve clarified this matter to
you before proceeding with the billing arrangements. This is why the
domain name, which you referred to as "an unrequested Site4", was not
canceled and refunded and was instead included in your new web hosting
plan.
I would also like to clarify the following:
HostPapa refused a refund stating they had incurred charges for the faulty transfer, and I was on the hook for it
Since
the domain name was not canceled and it was renewed instead, in
accordance with our terms of service, domain name services are not
refundable once they have been renewed. This is due to the fact that
domain name services entail expenses with our registrars and fees that
can no longer be reimbursed by them. As for the faulty transfer
mentioned by you here, I’m not quite sure what that is about when
referring to this domain name only.
Moving forward, the
cancellation of your new hosting plan had nothing to do with the fact
that you pushed back for a refund of the domain name. It was simply
another misunderstanding that led to this situation. During that
interaction with my billing colleagues, the request for the domain name
(website 4) to be canceled wasn't made explicitly clear. As a result,
since the prior domain name that was linked with the Reseller account
(website 4) was renewed and became the primary domain name for your new
web hosting account (as is the typical process when an account is being
downgraded, the primary domain name remains the same unless it is
canceled), caused my colleagues to believe that the new hosting plan
should be canceled, as per your request.
This is also owing to
the fact that they have previously indicated why it is not possible to
cancel the domain name, and the only thing that could have been canceled
at that point was the hosting plan. Adding in the mix the threats made
by your side about charge-back procedures, which we usually strive to
avoid, I'm going to presume that my coworkers attempted to respect your
request as quickly as they could in an effort to avoid any charge-back,
which might lead to several uncomfortable scenarios including those
involving our payment processors.
Moving on to the last part mentioned by you concerning the supervisor request and the transfer of the domain names elsewhere:
I
agree that the case should have been escalated immediately upon your
request, however, it seems that my coworkers missed to do so and the
issue was never brought to the attention of management. Despite the fact
that we have particular procedures that were developed expressly for
this objective, we have failed to adhere to them in this instance.
In
regard to the other request about the transfer of the domain names at
the earliest date, my colleagues have addressed that in Ticket *******,
on Jan/13/2023:
Regarding your questions about the domain
transfer, all .COM/.CA domains can only be transferred after 60 days
from the date they were registered. If you wish to transfer any of them
away and it has been over 60 days since they were registered, you can
follow the steps here or contact us directly to make this transfer:
https://***************************************************************************
In
the end, I understand that this journey appears to be quite unpleasant,
and I reiterate that I can only fathom how irritating it must have been
for you to cope with everything while only attempting to keep making
use of our services. There are no words to express how sorry we are to
learn about this experience and to know that this situation could’ve
been avoided. Rest assured that a comprehensive investigation will be
carried out, and the entire case will be evaluated along with the
managers of the relevant departments. This will be done so that every
piece of information can be thoroughly analyzed, and those responsible
for this circumstance will be held accountable for the consequences of
their actions.
Having gone through this, I can see why you
would be reluctant to use our services again; nevertheless, I promise
you that what seemed like a major problem at first was actually just a
simple misunderstanding that snowballed out of control. It was never the
intention or the plan for things to turn out this way, and we always
make it a priority to do all in our power to provide our customers with
whatever they require to be successful.
In a humble attempt to
ensure that our journey continues while making the unpleasant
experience be just a bad memory we could learn from, I would be more
than happy to address everything that went wrong starting with:
Cancellation and full refund on our expense of the domain name remained from the reseller plan (website 4 - ****************.com)
Reactivation of the new web hosting plan and ensuring that everything works properly
Along
with these steps, I would also like to add 3 free months of web hosting
to your new plan, as compensation for all the trouble you’ve been
through.
I will be following up with you from inside our
systems within the next couple of minutes, opening a new ticket where
all of these will be handled, and moving forward, I will be your sole
point of contact at HostPapa until we get everything sorted out. When
you will receive the email from me to confirm the information above, if
you have any other questions, comments, or suggestions, please make sure
they are forwarded to me at the same address. From now on, in an effort
to prevent a recurrence of this kind of scenario, everything we do will
need to be validated by your side.
I have high hopes that our
path will continue together and that we will be able to put this event
in the past as something that will, after many years have passed, be
nothing more than an unpleasant memory. We value you as our customer and
will do everything in our power to ensure that you are happy with your
services and the experience you receive from us.
Have a great day ahead, *****!Initial Complaint
Date:03/11/2022
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Hostpapa sends emails that state my account will be terminated as there is too much traffic to my site, however I rarely get even 5 or 6 visits a day as i dont do much promotion. In the past I upgraded due to these emails when Hostpapa stated that a upgrade would solve this problem. Yet they continue to say there is a problem and that yet another upgrade will again resolve the issue.
I can't imagine that such traffic exists but is more about shared servers or bots or some other issue they track.
I have completely lost faith in this company. I guess their sales department is too aggressive for me and my small business.Business Response
Date: 04/11/2022
Hello **** ****,
Thank you for getting in touch with us through BBB.
We have reviewed your account and we will try to clarify the situation.
First of all, please accept our sincere apologies for any trouble that this situation has caused you. Our intention was not to create any difficulties on your end but to ensure that you have everything you need to guarantee that you and your project succeed. From what I can see, there was an upgrade processed to Business Pro in April this year, under Ticket #******* [Upgrade] Web Hosting Business Pro. The upgrade was needed to handle the faults and limits being exceeded under the previous plan.
At the beginning of October, my colleagues from the Solutions Department (Angel - the account manager assigned to you) reached out to you again with information pertaining to another situation caused by the resource limits being exceeded again. Their first follow-up was on the 3rd of October, followed by another one on the 6th of October. These 2 initial follow-ups have described the situation and possible solutions that could resolve the issue, including guidelines on the troubleshooting side. Of course, certain upgrades were recommended in case you didn’t want to dive into the technical matters and handle this on your own.On October the 7th, we received the following reply from you:
“Hello Angel,
I continue to receive the emails regarding this but I don’t understand why it continues.
The site is on a redirect to my other domain name.”After this, my colleagues replied on October 10th, trying to explain the situation and that the main concern was that your account usage is affecting the overall stability of the server. He also included a PDF with recommended optimizations along with alternatives such as upgrades that can be pursued. After that and an extra 4 follow-ups from our side, we didn’t hear back from you until October 24th, when you expressed your concern and overall confusion on this matter.
Regarding what you mentioned in that reply:
“Hostpapa keeps asking me to upgrade, time after time, but “problems” persist. I just don’t get it”
“Hostpapa should be able to protect the “unlimited” (as I was quoted last time) so that hacking etc. on ********* sites doesn’t get in the way.”Unfortunately, this is not how our Unlimited Policy works. The resources available for all of our plans are publicly available on our website and as for the Unlimited Policy, it is well described in our Terms of Service which can be read here - https://www.******************
We do everything in our power to ensure that all our clients have access to a reliable shared web hosting environment, including consistent email functionality and other resources, without interruption. Therefore, some resource constraints are in place to ensure this result. We work hard to ensure that our services are always available and running well for you. If a customer's account on a shared server goes over its allotted quota, it will negatively affect all the other clients in that shared hosting environment.
This is the main reason why we kept trying to get in touch with you and try to resolve the matter. Unfortunately, this is how things run in a shared web hosting environment and it’s the same for any other provider of such services. Resource limits are in place to guarantee a stable experience for everyone.
Concerning the first comment about problems persisting, as long as the upgrade is performed under a shared hosting environment, it would raise the resource limits however, it won’t remove them. Therefore, to ensure that the problem of exceeding the limits won’t occur again, a dedicated solution would be preferred such as a VPS - where you don’t share the server resources with anyone but yourself.When we initially suggested and performed the upgrade back in April, it took care of the problem because the limits were raised therefore, the faults that were happening at that time, were under the limits set for the new plan, thus, didn’t impact the overall stability of the server. We didn’t have a way to know that the problem would occur again because this time around, since the limits are being reached again, it could mean that the cause is based on a variety of reasons such as malicious bots accessing your website and generating a number of hits, despite a low number of genuine visitors, poorly developed resources such as themes or plugins that you chose to use on your ********* installation and that we have no control over, etc.
I would like to stress the fact that in all of our communication with you (between Angel and you) we have never threatened you, instead, we tried to explain the situation and recommend certain steps to be taken in order to resolve the matter, including optimizations that can be done for your website by you or your developer.Each and every one of our customers' experiences is important to us, thus we really hope that everyone can appreciate how important is to maintain a stable web hosting environment. I’m sure that no one would appreciate their websites not being loaded properly due to an account exceeding resources and generating faults on the same server they’re being hosted on.
We regret any discomfort this may have caused, however, please note that our resource usage is explicitly specified in our Terms of Service and that the limitations and allocated resources for each of our services and plans are properly described on our website, publicly available for everyone.
As a remedy for this situation, I will have my colleagues from the Technical Department perform an extensive audit and see if there would be something we can handle for you, as a one-time courtesy since the way a website is designed, is not included in our normal scope of support. We usually identify the culprit and point you in the right direction to resolve the situation. However, we will see if there’s something we can perform on your behalf that would lead to solving the problem of limits being exceeded.
We will be in touch with you via Ticket #******* Resource Usage Situation - BBB. Kindly wait for my colleagues' replies there and make sure you get back to them with any concerns, questions, or approvals needed to facilitate the resolution of this matter. One of the reasons my colleague Angel was following up with you so many times is that we weren’t getting any reply from you to our follow-ups, in a timely manner. As I explained above, these situations are critical to the overall stability of the server.
Thank you so much for your patience and understanding on this matter.
Have a great day ahead, ****!
Regards,
Nicolae
Customer Happiness Manager
HostPapa Inc.Initial Complaint
Date:01/11/2022
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
***** ******shot of their page with this text):
100% satisfaction guaranteed
Our services are backed by an unconditional guarantee. Try our services risk-free.
I have requested a refund and they have declined. I have no further recourse but to submit this grievance.
Thank you.Business Response
Date: 02/11/2022
Hello *****,
Thank you for getting in touch with us via BBB.
I would like to being by extending our sincerest apologies for any misunderstanding caused on your end as a result of the way the refund situation has been handled. Please know that it was never our intention to cause any more trouble on your end as we’re only here to ensure that you along with your project succeed and that you have every resource available to enable you to do that.
The errors encountered by you in ****** are due to a limitation that all of the web hosting providers enforce on their shared web hosting servers. As my colleagues have already explained a few days ago under Ticket #*******, the reason why we don't allow remote domains is that we had clients with malicious intents adding thousands of add-on domains that didn't belong to them (they hunted unused domain names) and then added redirections towards malicious or
phishing websites.The limitation is in place to ensure your safety and prevent any unwanted events from happening as a result of malicious intent.
Therefore, whenever someone tries to add a domain in ****** that doesn’t point to our servers, they will encounter the error you mentioned in this complaint. The only way to add a domain name to a ****** account is by pointing that domain name to our name-servers or by contacting us and having it added for you after certain verification measures are passed to ensure the veracity of the ownership.
Concerning the refund, from what I can see, my colleagues from the billing department have already processed a full refund a few days ago under Ticket #*******. If you would have any questions or concerns regarding this, please reply to that ticket and submit your inquiries to my colleagues. They will be more than happy to get back to you and help you through it.
Have a great day, *****!
Regards,
Nicolae
Customer Happiness Manager
HostPapa Inc.Initial Complaint
Date:31/10/2022
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Better Business Bureau:i believe they refunded me now.
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
**** ****Business Response
Date: 01/11/2022
Hello ****,
Thank you for reaching out to us through BBB.
I’d want to begin by apologizing for any confusion that the resource-limits situation may have caused on your end. It has never been our intention to create any kind of difficulty, as our sole interest is in seeing you and your project flourish.
Initially, my colleagues from the Solutions Department had reached out to you based on the volume of hits your websites were receiving from a variety of sources. A large number of hits can be generated despite a small number of unique visitors due to things like search engine and malicious bots, poorly built website resources (such as plugins), etc.
In a shared web hosting environment, when one account exceeds the allotted resources, it affects the performance of the entire server and therefore all of the other accounts that are housed on that server. Our goal was to prevent this from happening while also guaranteeing that your project is not severely impacted and that you have the necessary resources to support your project's growth and success.
If an upgrade is required, we'll take care of it for you as long as you give us the green light. Once everything has been resolved, we will issue the service upgrade and the corresponding payment invoice. As far as I can tell, a new service was purchased from your end, which resulted in a provisioning problem due to the domain name already being hosted on our servers. As a result, the provisioning of the new service/product has been delayed.
Because of this, we have a procedure in place for handling similar circumstances that calls for us to carry out the upgrade on our end, which will make things easier for you and help us avoid future similar problems.
My coworkers have already cancelled the newly acquired services and refunded the money via Ticket #*******. Invoice number ************** has been disregarded.
In reference to the preceding service, which you paid for on August 19 via invoice **************, including the following services:
COM-Web Hosting Starter (*********************.com) (COM-WHB-S)
COM Domain Registration - Register (*********************.com) (CO-DREG)
COM-Domain Privacy (*********************.com) (CODPRI)
A refund for the unused portion of the service will be issued on a prorated basis (since this is now out of our 30 days money-back guarantee).
Using Ticket #*******, my colleagues from the billing department will provide you with updates on this procedure. If would have any concerns regarding this, feel free to reach out to them using this ticket once they handle this for you.
Once again, please accept our apologies for any confusion over this matter, and while we're sorry to see you go, we hope that my response was able to clear everything up and that I’ve managed to properly explain the overall situation.
Have a great day ahead, ****!Regards,
Nicolae
Customer Happiness Manager
HostPapa Inc.
Initial Complaint
Date:26/09/2022
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
***** ********Business Response
Date: 27/09/2022
Hello Jodie,
My name is Nicolae and I am the Customer Happiness Manager here at HostPapa Inc.
I
would like start by apologizing for any misunderstanding and confusion
that has been generated around the renewal of your services.
First
of all, I want to clarify the confusion regarding your domain name.
According to Order #****** which has been submitted by you on
Oct/22/2021 when you initially signed up with us, the services acquired
are:
Web Hosting Starter (***********************.ca)
This is your web hosting service which gives you access to all the functions such as emails, website content, databases, etc.
Concerning
the domain name services, you decided to transfer your domain name to
us when you signed up with HostPapa, therefore, we will manage the
renewal of your domain name. As you can see below, the domain name
transfer service is included on the initial invoice and the order:
Domain Registration - Transfer (***********************.ca)
This is your domain name service included with the web hosting plan. This is
included for free for the first year. After the first year, it will
renew at regular rates.
My colleague from the Domains team
notified you through email on Oct/28/2021 that your domain transfer
request failed, and you responded on the same day with the EPP Code
required to transfer the domain to HostPapa. You may see the specifics
of this transfer request by navigating to your dashboard > My Support
> Ticket Number: *******.
The domain is now managed by
HostPapa as
the domain transfer was accomplished thanks to the EPP Code you
provided. We would like to note that a domain transfer will fail if we
do not get confirmation/acceptance from the Registrant (you).
As a result, the transfer of the domain name has been performed with our consent, per your request.
Regarding the renewals that were coming on Oct/22/2022 for the following services:
Protection Power - Basic (***********************.ca)
Website Backup (***********************.ca)
These
are add-on services which you have opted in for, according to Order
#****** submitted on Oct/22/2021. These services renew annually.
The
only service that renews every 3 years, as per your initial order, is
the web hosting service and this indeed, is set to renew on Oct/22/2024.
You
may always verify this information by logging into your HostPapa
dashboard and navigating to the My Billing section - Invoice
**************. As you can see below, you will be able to view all of
the services you contracted with HostPapa along with their respective
agreements inside this section:
Web Hosting Starter (***********************.ca) (********) Oct/22/2021 - Oct/22/2024
Protection Power - Basic (***********************.ca) (********) Oct/22/2021 - Oct/22/2022
Domain Registration - Transfer (***********************.ca) (*******) Oct/22/2021 - Oct/22/2022
Website
Backup (***********************.ca) (*********) base price ($ 0.00 /
Year) Backup Plan: 1GB Storage (+$ 19.95 / Year) Oct/22/2021 -
Oct/22/2022
The full context about this confusion was clarified by
my colleagues in Ticket #******* on September 24th, 2022, and the
add-on services (Backup + Protection Power) were also cancelled at your
request.
Lastly, I want to reassure you that there was never any
intent to ****** you or pursue ******* behavior, as you have claimed in
this thread and in the ticket. Every piece of information stated above
and by my colleagues in the ticket I've referenced is completely
accessible from your HostPapa dashboard and fully transparent
To that end, I hope that I have succeeded in making this situation perfectly clear.
Have a great day ahead, Jodie!
Regards,
Nicolae.
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