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Dot5 Hosting review: Incredibly poor support function 3

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12:00 am EDT
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I don't remember when I have come across a worse hosting company than this. The comical keystone cop routine I have been through with their support? Function is one of the most amazing experiences I've even been through. So much so I could not help myself.

About three weeks ago I noticed a problem in that I could only transfer a single file per ftp login, getting a timeout after each one. In order to transfer more than one I had to log out, then back in again then another file and so on. I contacted their live support and so began a debarcle which has forced me to move my hosting elsewhere and close my account. Below are some of the conversations I had with live support.

"FTP connection seems to ok, but the transfer of a file is not being completed:

Sean: It has need noticed to the Admin, and a work has been started
Sean: I will suggest you to check in next 2 - 3 hrs"

...On the next day...

"Gary: Am sorry for the delay currently issue is going on from server end.
Alex: No problem.
Gary: Also there was some misconfiguration in your domains DNS zone file.
Gary: We have corrected it.
Alex: Ok.
Gary: And we request you to please check it after 10 to 12 hours.
Gary: We apologize for the inconvenience that you have to face due to the current issue over the server configuration.
Alex: Ok, can these responses be logged? its just that I think I'll have to go through all this again in 10 or 12 hours.
Gary: We are having our senior level admins working on this issue already and we expect this to be taken care of very soon.
Alex: Ok, I'll try again in that time"

...3 days later...

"Kevin: we have made corrective changes from the dns zone entry, the effective changes will result within 3-4 hours from now.
Kevin: so that you can upload multiple files from ftp.
Alex: I've gotten that response to to be honest, last time I was told 10
hours?
Alex: Its been this was for a week, how come it was only changed now?
Kevin: the misconfiguration has been fixed for your site.
Alex: Also can I have a point of escalation in 3 or 4 hrs if it doesnt work?
Kevin: Yes.
Alex: I appreciate the help but have been through this 5 times now.
Kevin: Your issues is fixed for now".

...Some time later...

"Sean: Ok the only issue is you are not able to upload more than 1 file at a time.
Alex: This is correct.
Sean: Will you please tell me what are the the FTP details you are using and the FTP client ?
Alex: IE, cuteftp, smartftp, tried them all.
Alex: Try it from there.
Alex: username boardpig.
Alex: pwd boeing77.
Alex: Try to transfer 2 or 3 test files.
Alex: (I actually spoke to you about this last week, unless there are two
Sean's ;-)
Sean: Will you please hold while I am checking?
Alex: Yup.
Alex: I have the site backed up so I think I'm at the stage now where
something else needs to be done.
Alex: file space re-created or something dunno.
Sean: I have restarted the FTP service for you which will resolves issue for
uploading a multiple files at time.
Alex: Okies
Alex: Can I test?
Sean: I will suggest you to check the service after 1 hour.
Sean: You are able to upload multiple files after 1 hr
Alex: Ok, Ive been told this again and again, do you have a ticket logging system or something?
Alex: So I don't have to keep going throgh thids each time
Sean: Yes, you can send us ticket.
Sean: * can send
Alex: Ok I think thats a good idea.
Sean: Please email to us at [protected]@dot5hosting.com
Alex: Ok, thansk.
Sean: Your issue will be resolve in ndext 1 hr.
Alex: Okay, I'll try again in 1 hour".

And of course you guessed it, no change in the issue even though their "senior admins" are working on it. ( I think they need new senior admins ).

I decided the best course of action was to start a ticket with them. So I did stating that I could not transfer more than one file at a time under the same login. During this time I had also moved my hosting to another area to get my web site up again. This is the first response...

"Dear Client,

Thank you for contacting Dot5Hosting.
As we have checked your account for the domain xxxxxx.com The domain is not pointing to Dot5.
Please request your current registrar to change nameservers & unlock the domain ns1.dot5nameservers.com (66.235.221.11) and ns2.dot5nameservers.com (66.235.196.11).
Once the nameservers are changed it takes 12 to 24 hours to resolve and after that your domain will start pointing to our servers.

Please use following login details for FTP:-

Hostname:- df23.dot5hosting.com Username :- xxxxxx
Password:- Password provided in your welcome email
Path:- /public_html
Port :- 21"

No mention of the transfer problem, so here was my response..

"Hello,

Thank you for the reply. I needed to get the site working so have moved the hosting to my own area and this is why the DNS servers are changed.
The ftp issue was ongoing for 2 weeks and I was repeatedly told to wait 10 hours/2 hours/ tomorrow/ etc etc and it would be resolved. It never was and therefore I will be canceling my hosting there.
I apologize for this but the issue simply persisted too long with no correction.

Kind regards"

and then...

"Yes , we are aware of the issue . There is abug in the server and our admin are working hard to fix it . We apologize for the inconvenience caused . We appreciate your continued business .

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with

Kind regards,
Louis
Dot5Hosting Technical Support Team."

followed by...

"Thank you for contacting Dot5Hosting.

We apologize for all inconvenience caused to you due to the issue. The issue has been sorted out and is fixed form the server end.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with"

What I wondered here is, have they even tested this before sending me this email? of course they haven't.
so I decided to lay down a challenge...

"Hello,

As this has been going on for 3 weeks now, if I log in and it doesn’t work, will DOT5 refund my fee for the 1 years hosting?

Alex"

Would they bite, would they be confident in their own abilities? They didn't answer but by now I was quite annoyed so I decided to ask again...

"Hi again,

I have included the previous email I received and this says the issue has been fixed. So can you answer this question please?

"Will dot5 refund my 1 year hosting fee if I log in and the multiple ftp file transfer problem still exists?"

You have told me the issue is resolved, I would like my 1 year hosting fee refunded if this is not the case. Can you confirm please and I will ,as you say, log in and check it?

Kind regards,

Alex"

I thought this seemed reasonable, after all I have the confirmation email that it has been fixed..

"As far as the refund is concerned it is something that you need to deal with the billing department. We are more related in dealing your support related issue which is the reason we won't be able to answer the billing related questions.

In case you want the details on the refund, we would request you to open a new ticket with the billing department. The email address for the billing is [protected]@dot5hosting.com

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with"

...So it seems that they were in fact NOT going to back themselves. I did test as it happens and guess what... no guess... hmmm I don't need to say it do I..

"Hi there,

That’s ok, I contacted them yesterday and asked for my account to be closed. I do appreciate all the colorful answers I have received from support in the past three weeks, and just for kicks I logged in and tried to transfer three files to the public html directory, of course after the first one, it times out. Which is has been doing for the past (you guessed it), three weeks.

What I would say is this.

Here is my username: xxxxxxx

Here is my password xxxxxxx

Having worked in tech support for many years now, generally before I tell a customer an issue is resolved, I usually test it first so that I don’t get them thinking my support function is talking nonsense.
So given that, please use my above credentials and simply TRY to transfer multiple files to the public HTML dir.

You will see (like me hopefully) that this does NOT work. So why all the emails telling me its fixed? Has anyone actually bothered to TRY IT?

I think you see my point here and I've spent way too long on trying to explain this.

My hosting has been moved and I now no longer need the service and the problems associated with it. I realize this sounds a little patronizing but I'm sure that after all the emails I have received telling me to "try again" and "log in now its all fixed" etc etc" and the issue still isn’t fixed? I have a little right to be annoyed.

Thank you for the response but I simply have no further need for the service.

Kind regards,

Alex"

So that was that. At this stage I was AMAZED that any support function could even exist giving this type of service but then I got the PROOF that I was talking rubbish..

"In case you are considering that the support techs replied to you without checking the issue then I would like to say that you are absolutely wrong over here. The following is the connection logs for the FTP:-

C:Documents and Settingsadmin>ftp 72.22.71.74 Connected to 72.22.71.74.
220---------- Welcome to Pure-FTPd [TLS] ---------- 220-You are user number 28 of 50 allowed.
220-Local time is now 16:21. Server port: 21.
220 You will be disconnected after 15 minutes of inactivity.
User (72.22.71.74:(none)): boardpig
331 User boardpig OK. Password required
Password:
230-User boardpig has group access to: boardpig 230 OK. Current restricted directory is /
ftp>

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with"

...I sat with my jaw open on this for about 5 minutes. I looked and looked and looked some more for something in the amaxing log file I was sent which even SHOWS a file transfer... and I looked ... and I looked.. remember this has come from a dot5 tech support, proving to me that my problem is fixed.
By this time, my web site was already up and running elsewhere and this was now a comedy, so I decided to try and do their job for them...

"Hi Wilson,

I see no evidence here of a successful multiple file transfer. Please send me the log file for this. Ie select a directory or group of files and transfer them into the public html dir.

Alex. "

Hoping this would be the end, imagine my surprise when I got the log I asked for...

"Dear Alex,

Thank you for contacting Dot5Hosting.

Here are some more logs for your confimation:-

D:Test>ftp 72.22.71.74
Connected to 72.22.71.74.
220---------- Welcome to Pure-FTPd [TLS] ---------- 220-You are user number 13 of 50 allowed.
220-Local time is now 11:19. Server port: 21.
220 You will be disconnected after 15 minutes of inactivity.
User (72.22.71.74:(none)): boardpig
331 User boardpig OK. Password required
Password:
230-User boardpig has group access to: boardpig 230 OK. Current restricted directory is /
ftp> quote pasv
227 Entering Passive Mode (72,22,71,74,31,245)
ftp> cd public_html
250 OK. Current directory is /public_html
ftp> put test.doc
200 PORT command successful
ftp>

D:Test>ftp 72.22.71.74
Connected to 72.22.71.74.
220---------- Welcome to Pure-FTPd [TLS] ---------- 220-You are user number 14 of 50 allowed.
220-Local time is now 11:22. Server port: 21.
220 You will be disconnected after 15 minutes of inactivity.
User (72.22.71.74:(none)): boardpig
331 User boardpig OK. Password required
Password:
230-User boardpig has group access to: boardpig 230 OK. Current restricted directory is /
ftp> quote pasv
227 Entering Passive Mode (72,22,71,74,31,245)
ftp> cd public_html
250 OK. Current directory is /public_html
ftp> put testabc.jpeg
testabc.jpeg: File not found
ftp> put testabc.jpg
200 PORT command successful
ftp>

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with

Kind regards,
Wilson
Dot5Hosting Technical Support Team"

On the surface here it looked indeed like there had been a few files transfered via ftp. However if you look closely you would see that one file has been transferred followed by a logout then a new log in and another file transferred. In otherwords, one file at a time, PER LOGIN.

It then dawned on me that perhaps they were now trying to pull the wool over my eyes, this had now become personal. I decided to give it one last futile try..

"Hi Wilson

OK, (this is going to make amazing reading on my blog).

You have logged in twice in the below log? !

Please send me a log showing MULTIPLE FILE TRANSFERS, from the SAME LOGIN.

This is, has always been the problem. I have made this clear from the begging I am at a loss to understand how I can make this any clearer.

Test is as follows (although I shouldn’t have to say this yet again after three weeks)

Log in, transfer a directory or group of files under the ONE LOGIN). You should not have to log out and in again to transfer another file, as your log below shows.

I'm a network engineer by trade so please send me a log which shows the above issue. As I've been saying for the past three weeks, it DOES NOT ALLOW MULTIPLE TRANSFERS UNDER THE ONE LOGIN" I tried again just now and here is what I get.

REMOTE -> OK. Current directory is /public_html/photos COMMAND -> PWD REMOTE -> "/public_html/photos" is your current location COMMAND -> PORT 192,168,5,107,11,236 REMOTE -> PORT command successful
LOCAL -> Opening data connection IP: 192.168.5.107 PORT: 3052.
COMMAND -> LIST -aL
REMOTE -> Connecting to port 53476
LOCAL -> 189 bytes received successful. (189 Bps) (00:00:01).
REMOTE -> Options: -a -l
REMOTE -> 3 matches total
COMMAND -> TYPE I
REMOTE -> TYPE is now 8-bit binary
COMMAND -> PORT 192,168,5,107,11,237
REMOTE -> PORT command successful
LOCAL -> Opening data connection IP: 192.168.5.107 PORT: 3053.
COMMAND -> STOR DSC00001.JPG
REMOTE -> Connecting to port 53478
LOCAL -> 343990 bytes send successful. (37.33 KBps) (00:00:09).

This is a directory of about 60 pictures, the first one goes up, then the transfer freezes and times out.

If this can not be solved, let's just leave the issue as unsolved.

Thanks,

Alex"

As you can imagine, by this stage I was completely bewildered as to why they wouldnt just re-create the file area on the server, or ANYTHING to fix it but this was the reply...

"Dear Alex,

Thank you for contacting Dot5Hosting.

We aren't going to upload any further files under your account. We are not having a whole bunch of files or folder which we can try. All we can do is upload a few of the test files that we are having which can be a couple of them and nothing beyond that. In case you are looking for the testing part then we would recommend you to do that with the files that you are having.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with"

AT LAST, the answer I was looking for all along! They CAN'T do it.

I did have the final word though.. at least until now..

"" We aren't going to upload any further files under your account. We are not having a whole bunch of files or folder which we can try"

Strange that you still have not supplied me with a log showing the transfer of more than one file during a single log in. This is because you can't do it.

I think its time to take this elsewhere, thanks for your...help?

Alex."

..Since this response there have been more incredible updates...

They then told me that I should "do it from my end" to which I replied...
"
I did in my last email and it DIDN’T WORK! I showed you the logs. Simply take two or three files (make some txt files from notepad for goodness sake), you don’t need a "bunch" and TEST IT. Log in as me (ONCE) and transfer them to the public html directory and show me the log file. Surely as a support person you can do this?

I'm placing all of these responses on the hosting review website under review DOT5, incredible stuff.

Alex."

... I dont know wjhat the weather was in Bangalore at the time but I then got another email that I am still trying to make sense of...
"Thank you for contacting Dot5Hosting.

While looking at the status for the FTP the status for the file transfer seems to be fine with all the other clients except for you. There might be some kind of issues with the network that you are using because the ftp connection at our end seems to be persistent.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with"

So I reply...

"I have tried from several different networks (both behind a firewall and outside).
Prove that is just me and show me a log file from your end showing you can transfer 2 or 3 files under a single log in.

I'm sorry but I suspect you are avoiding this test, as doing it could lay prove everything you are saying. Please do the test and show me the log files. Further emails are pointless if you will not test this.

Alex."

...And of course then the answer I was expecting from the very beginning,

"..Thank you for contacting Dot5Hosting.

As mentioned very specifically in the previously we won't be uploading any other files under your account. The space is basically provided to you and you can upload the files in the given space.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with"

Meaning we don't have a clue what the problem is.

Unless you want to go through this, I'd steer well clear!

3 comments
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mrsquigles
North Platte, US
Apr 13, 2009 7:37 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I've gotta tell ya, this is an awesome review and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I read it for the first time about a year ago after I had been with dot5 for about a year and it kind of scared me but I haven't had any problems with them so I've stuck with them. But I'm also not a network engineer and I'm not thorough enough in web development to really be able to push a host to its limits. Anyway, great review!

R
R
robert sterling
,
Dec 01, 2008 3:35 pm EST

dot 5 is the worst company i have ever dealt with the technical support is non existent and they keep trying to sell their SEO plans instead of answerng the problems.cant wait for my time to ens so i can leave and never ever will i have dealings with them again. to anyone considering dealing with them the message is simple DONT! robert

M
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Mindy Desens
,
Feb 24, 2008 11:50 am EST

Dot 5 hosting LOST MY DOMAIN NAME two months ago, telling us that it wasn't paid for. It WAS renewed, I have the proof from THEM and my credit card statement. We have been working for at least an hour daily on this, attempting to get it resolved. During the time it was dropped, another company (cenal.com) which acquires domain names got it, and now they'll sell it back to us for $650. I'm trying to get dot5 to buy it. We've had 2 months of runaround. This is the worst, absolute worst company I have ever encountered. They are incompetent beyond belief. In the meantime, our farm has lost its domain name. I have had several files with dot5, and they just keep saying someone will contact me in "24-48 hours," then it doesn't happen. Does anyone know how to actually CALL them and find a supervisor?

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