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Ripplehost Customers: Are you locked out today?

MichaelD

MichaelD

Lifer
I'm hosted at Ripplehost. Today, I and a handful of others found ourselves with non-functional email and locked OUT of our user accounts.

In the Ripplehost forums, there's a few threads about this...nothing from Alan though. Seems that a bunch of people that signed up last June (June 2003) for the two-year plan/$4.99/year plan are automagically locked out after one year.

Anyone know what's going on?
 
Originally posted by: MichaelD
I'm hosted at Ripplehost. Today, I and a handful of others found ourselves with non-functional email and locked OUT of our user accounts.

In the Ripplehost forums, there's a few threads about this...nothing from Alan though. Seems that a bunch of people that signed up last June (June 2003) for the two-year plan/$4.99/year plan are automagically locked out after one year.

Anyone know what's going on?
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Um... Seems that a bunch of people that signed up last June (June 2003) for the two-year plan/$4.99/year plan are automagically locked out after one year.

😛
 
Originally posted by: MichaelD
Originally posted by: RossMAN
I'll chat with Alan tonight and find out what's going on.
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Thanks, RossMAN. I really appreciate that. I need my email. 🙁
Click to expand...

Are you able to login to the members area? Does anything look unusual?

Please also PM me your first name, last name, domain, email address and RippleHost forums username.
 
On May 2nd, 2004, I paid $40 to Ripplehost via my American Express card. On July 2nd, my account was suspended for non-payment!

Alan (the owner of RippleHost) has been in the forums at RippleHost, but he only seems to be telling people that they need to pay. What about those of us who have already paid? He is either not reading all of the comments, or he is deliberately choosing to ignore those of us who have already paid! If the man doesn't want my business, then I am sure there are others who do -- but first I want my $40 back!
 
RossMAN, thanks for your help; but I got in and just paid the $10.

I am not going to rant and rave b/c that would be unprofessional of me. So I'll just state some facts:

1. I was already paid up thru June 2005, but I was locked out anyway

2. I never received a "renewal notice" or "notice of impending lockout" of any kind

3. Ignoring #2, please see #1

4. I posted detailed responses in the Ripplehost thread, Alan replied, but just said "pay"; he didn't offer to look into anything at all

5. He also didn't tell people to get into the "User" area, you need to use your original NUMERIC password that was emailed to you after you FIRST JOINED Ripplehost as a customer, not a forums member; I dug this info up myself. I sure am glad I have more than 4,000 emails saved. :|

6. I paid my $10 just so I can get into email again. For this "convenience" I can eat the $10, even though it's WRONG that I had to pay again

7. I WON'T BE RENEWING MY SERVICE THERE. MONEY TALKS AND IT WILL TALK ELSEWHERE!
 
I finally received an answer from Alan, the owner of Ripplehost, but it is about as clear as mud. And completely unhelpful. He apparently maintains that I must have done something wrong.

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH RIPPLEHOST!!!

Can anyone tell me what state Ripplehost is located in? I wish to contact the State Attorney Genereal.
 
Um...whenever Rossman set up that big ripplehost thing over a year ago I signed up. I thought that I'd signed up for a year, but maybe it was two? Eitherway my account was shutdown yesterday, so I figured that that was it for my year (but maybe I had two, since it did seem to last well over a year), and I thusly paid $9.99 for another year. Is there any way to tell if I'd originally actually signed up for a two year deal? Maybe I could get my $10 back? 🙂
 
BTW, this has nothing to do w/RossMAN. I don't blame or implicate him in any way shape or form.

If I act like a dick, is it RossMANs' fault? No, it is not. Nuff said.
 
MichaelD,

AFAIK Alan Reid is indeed from the UK, however I haven't been able to confirm this yet.

When I see Alan on AIM again, I will ask him about refunding you, Skoorb and 1 person who PM'd me their info.

In the mean time I would consider signing up for HostPC.com for $8.99/yr for these reasons:
  • All their clients seem to be happy with their service (including myself) after reading AT, FW and WHT posts.
  • Support is available via their friendly forums and 24/7 helpdesk.
  • Several premium web hosts are international, so the fact that Alan is based out of the UK is NOT a bad thing. For example HTTPme.com, clook.net, Kualo.com and BlueWho.com are all top notch web hosts. All of these are based out of the UK. HostPC.com is based in New York, USA.
  • HostPC.com maintains a "VERY close relationship" with Dixiesys.com (who most of us got our first web hosting account from 3 years ago. Remember the good 'ole Sun CobaltRaq's?)
  • HostPC.com is available by phone at 518-724-6424 or fax at 518-280-8778. Yes it's a long distance phone number, however Vonage VOIP customers can call FOR FREE!
  • I've saved the best for last ... HostPC uses DirectAdmin control panel which IMHO is better than cPanel.

There are a few "catches" with this $8.99/yr plan:
* Only 1 MySQL database, which shouldn't be a problem for most people with a static web site.
* No CGI, Installatron Packages or Mailing Lists.
* No OsCommerce, vBulletin forums or PostNuke/Nuke as these are server intensive.
* Only 1 Auto Responder
* Free 30 day money back guarantee.

As always I would highly recommend researching a web host before signing up for their services. You can find reviews in this FW thread, here, here, here and here.

Another popular cheap web host alternative is e-rice.net $9.99/yr offering 150MB disk space, 3GB per month bandwidth, 10 emails but only 1 MySQL data and Ensim control panel

If you would like more resources or are interested in a resellers account but can't afford $20/mo then I have the perfect budget solution. I have been a happy DotSimple.com for about 3 months offering free web hosting to several AT'ers for 2 reasons:
1) I wanted exposure to the DirectAdmin resellers control panel.
2) It's frickin' cheap $0 setup, $5/mo for 1GB/20GB, host unlimited domains, and no other obligations.

So for $5/mo you get 1GB disk space, 20GB bandwidth, DirectAdmin and free personalized DNS name servers (ns1.yourdomain.com and ns2.yourdomain.com) You don't have to resell web hosting, if you want to use your resources for just 1 web site, you can. How you use your resources are totally up to you. DotSimple accepts Paypal 🙂 Their support is a little slow (2 hours during daytime and 6-8 hours during offpeak hours) but they usually resolve the ticket with a friendly attitude.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own or work for any of the web hosts listed above. I do however offer free web hosting to AT'ers (under construction).
 
When I see Alan on AIM again, I will ask him about refunding you, Skoorb and 1 person who PM'd me their info.
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Thanks, Ross! As I mentioned I am not sure that I was supposed to get two years out of it all, so if I wasn't I've no problem with paying for what I did yesterday.

The only problem I've had with ripplehost is that I had a problem getting my username/pass a while back with their reminder feature, but otherwise my account seems to have a very good uptime and good speeds.
 
Thanks, Rossman. Your efforts are appreciated. I have given up on Ripplehost and moved my account to E-RICE.NET. So far, so good. Ripplehost definitely owes me $40, but if he is in Great Britain I will probably never see it. I knew from reading the forums at ripplehost.com that Alan was not very good at providing support, but I did not expect him to start ripping people off. Oh, well, this is not the first time I have been disillusioned.
 
🙁 I've been reading around. Someone's name is SHIIT now. And it aint' me. Good.

You get what you play for.
 
my account got shut down today too, but it expired back in april, so i was expecting it sooner or later. surprised it made it to july. heh.
 
Hmmmm, I just renewed with Ripplehost last night. I didn't get a renewal notice or anything, but I knew when my renewal date was. I didn't get locked out, or have any trouble with the renewal process. I'm on the $9.99yr deal however, and expect virtually no support (getting ripped off is another matter however 🙁)

Its lived up to my expectations, with excellent uptime (130+ days since my server rebooted) My server space and bandwidth have also been doubled for no charge. Hate reading about your horror stories though, I would have had to consider changing hosts.
 
Originally posted by: rbV5
Hmmmm, I just renewed with Ripplehost last night. I didn't get a renewal notice or anything, but I knew when my renewal date was. I didn't get locked out, or have any trouble with the renewal process.
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You're very fortunate that you pro-actively renewed your membership before being locked out 🙁

MichaelD - I hope you'll still consider changing web hosts.
 
my two ripplehost sites were locked out last week, no warning, no nothing
i think they were supposed to expire in april though...

either way, i paid up and both account were back up instantly

i'm not a fan of ripplehost, but for the two sites that i use them for it's out of convenience and laziness
it's hard to beat their price...and of course, you get what you pay for
 
I'm still fairly happy with ripplehost. They didn't send me a renewal notice, so my site was locked out just as I came back from my 5 week trip in China. Alas, I renewed and upgraded. 1 more year of ripplehost... which is fine by my standard.
 
I'm no where near renewal and everything of mine is lost.
All emails, website down, etc.

Time to move on.
 
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