Stay Away From EIG Hosting Companies

[SEOPub]

I cannot stress this enough.

EIG is a large company that has been buying up webhosts for years. They allow the webhosts to continue to operate under their business name, but slowly EIG sinks their claws in. Customer service will go in the toilet. Their hardware will fail and be replaced with the cheapest, barely working thing they can find.

This is the best list I have found of webhosts owned by EIG. If you are using one of them with a site you care about, I would switch hosting companies right away. Like yesterday.

[URLnofo]http://researchasahobby.com/full-list-eig-hosting-companies-brands/[/URLnofo]

HostGator, BlueHost, JustHost, HostMonster, A Small Orange, HostNine... all owned by EIG.

I have used A Small Orange for years. Loved them. Great service. They would go out of their way to help. Much like HostGator used to be. It has been slowly changing and mainly over the past 8 months or so. I have had a couple of outages at my forum. Usually they were just an hour or two, and then things were right back up and working. It has happened maybe 4 times in the past 6 months. Frustrating, but nothing too serious.

Until now...

My site has been down for 3 days. They have stopped answering service tickets. Their live chat has a 90+ minute wait for someone to tell you that they are aware of the problem and working on it. The closest thing to an explanation they have provided is this... [URLnofo]https://status.asmallorange.com/?id=590[/URLnofo]

I was really hoping A Small Orange would be an exception in the EIG portfolio, a diamond in a pile of turds. Now it is just another turd.

You can find tons of complaints about EIG owned companies out there. I have used some of them with no issues. The problem is that when things do go wrong, they go catastrophically wrong.

 

[Ron Killian]

Sorry to hear your experience. You're sure not the only one. I stayed with Hostgator for too long, hoping for the same, that they might be better than what seems to happen to everything EIG buys up.

Same here for me, I started with Hostgator several years back before EIG and they rocked. Not so afterwards.

Ulterious and I have talked about it in a couple of other threads.

 

[RDO Servers]

Very common complaints with EIG companies!

FYI, Arvixe is now fully under EIG and Arvixe support is being handled by the A Small Orange team....

 

[Developer]

WOW! I gotta be honest, I am surprised with the mentions of HostGator.

I have been with HostGator for almost 6 years now and I have never had
a problem. My sites are always online and speedy. Support has ALWAYS
been VERY helpful, even just a few weeks ago when I had a question which
they really had nothing to do with, 2 of their support personnel were very
quick to respond with very helpful answers to my inquiry (again, even though
they could have told me that "that is not in our realm of support").

Now, I am NOT saying NO one has ever had problems, as I have heard quite a
few horror stories, however, I am saying that I may be the exception to the rule
as I have yet to have any issues with them.

Just my 2¢ though.

Would love to hear from others who may have had issues with HG.

 

[SEOPub]

SEOPub

HostGator has had some major, much more widespread outages over the past 18 months or so. There was one where it took them almost a day to even release any kind of announcement that there was indeed a problem. I think that was last fall.

There was a big outage in the past year or so that took down a ton of HostGator and BlueHost sites.

You have just been lucky. I have a bunch of sites with HostGator. For the most part they have been okay, but I have had a lot of intermittent outages. After this experience, I will be moving those away from EIG as well.

 

[Developer]

WOW, I guess it may be time to start checking out alternative hosts, just
in case, lol. I would have to say, based on the posts here and on several
other forums I frequent, yes, in deed I have been very lucky. Thanks for
your post and info SEOPub, greatly appreciated.

 

[RDO Servers]

RDO Servers

All too often we see people who say, 'oh, so thousands of people have had horrible problems, but I've never seen any issues so I will stick with them'. Then a month later, you see the same people claiming they are loosing $$$/day due to an outage and no answer from support.

Sometimes you have to read "the writing on the wall" and do what you need to BEFORE you end up with your sites offline, no way to access your data, and no response from the host!

Don't let yourself get stuck in that situation! Or at least, maintain your own offsite backups!

 

[Developer]

Developer

Couldn't agree more. I always keep backups and have just setup a new
"minimal cost" backup hosting account, just in case.

 

[UVM]

I am with a small orange too. My sites been down all F***ING WEEK!!!!

Im moving somewhere else, where should we go?

 

[SEOPub]

SEOPub

I'm moving this site in particular to either StableHost or GeekStorage. I have had an excellent experience with both of them. It will likely depend on which one offers the most help moving the site.

 

[RDO Servers]

RDO Servers

There are a lot of quality hosts you could move to. Be sure to check the offers section.

Always be sure to ask about free website migrations. Most quality hosts should be willing to offer this for free for new customers.

 

[Christopher II]

A good read on EIG:

[URLnofo]https://www.besthostnews.com/independent-research-firm-says-eig-stock-worth-0/[/URLnofo]

 

[Ron Killian]

I don't think it's so much that "some" people are lucky that they don't have a problem with a bad host, I think they just don't notice. Just hard to believe so many people have problems with a host, yet there are always those using the same that say it's all roses. Just hard to see how the problems are not affecting every one.

That's one of the things EIG does, they acquire a host and move all the stuff to their servers, often crappy servers. How can it not affect every one? Or I am not a hosting guru

 

[RDO Servers]

RDO Servers

True.

Some people have uptime monitors that alert them any time there's downtime. Many do not.

Some people use support. Many do not.
Of those that do, most will only have simple Level 1 needs, that any tech (should be able to) can handle. Others will have Level 3 needs, only to find they fired too many of their higher level techs to save money, so now it takes days to fix complex problems.

They may use newer, high performance servers. The problem is if they try to pack too many customers on the same machine.

Some hosts provide cheap hosting for $2-3 dollars a month, but in order to make a profit, they put several hundred customers on the same server, and have the bare minimum network infrastructure to support it.

Other hosts charge $10-$20 for a similar hosting plan, but have higher performance servers, less customers on a server, and a larger redundant network.

You get what you pay for! If your website is important to you, eat a PB&J at home instead of going out to eat, just one time a month, and put your website on a quality host!

 

[Ron Killian]

Hosting is one thing I have never skimped on since my first day online. It's just TOO important to take chances. One place I have not been a cheapskate.

 

[ulterios]

EIG is buying up many of the companies that had decent reputations, to help offset how bad theirs is. Unfortunately the only thing they succeed in doing is screwing up the reputation of that company.

With me my issue wasn't with downtime, but the fact that they tried to extort me. They locked my accounts (2 different) within days of each other for alleged "Malware". After fighting with them for days and finally getting a copy of what they were calling "Malware", I found out that there was none. What there was was a plugin that I was using that had a "Potential" backdoor vulnerability, so they flagged and locked my sites and accounts.

They told me the only way to fix it was to buy their Site Lock service and to keep paying for it. Funny thing is that they had a clash of interest because the software they used to "detect" the Alleged "Malware" was Site Lock software.

There was NO MALWARE of any kind, just a (Supposed) potential backdoor threat a plugin for WordPress might have had. They would not release my sites, data or anything unless I agreed to pay $9 per month per site or $100 per year per site. I went round and round with them and got nowhere. I even filed a complaint with the BBB and got the run around.

I was able to talk one of the support people at 1 of the hosting companies to unlock my sites on that host for 24 hours to fix the problem. I downloaded everything form their servers, uploaded it to a new host, had it checked by their as well as some independent security services and guess what?

NO MALWARE WHATSOEVER !!!

EIG is a big time scamming company and extortionist !

If anyone is considering getting a hosting plan from and EIG owned company, make sure that you have a very cheap computer AND a backup computer!

If you do go with an EIG host, there is a VERY good chance that you might wind up doing this:

 

[Ron Killian]

Ron Killian

Wow, that is totally wrong. Sorry to hear. Never had that much trouble myself. Funny they can "catch" some fake crap but they can't catch the real stuff.

But it is a very important reminder that we always need to have copies of all our files and databases and have our domains with a different company, just in case we need to move quickly.

 

[SEOPub]

My site is finally back online after 5 days of outage. NOTHING takes 5 days to fix. Ridiculous.

 

[RDO Servers]

RDO Servers

That is rediculous! I hope you are taking backups and looking to move away from EIG!

Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

 

[ulterios]

ulterios

Great, did they give you any kind of reason as to why it happened and why it took forever to get fixed?

Knowing EIG, if they did give you a reason, it was probably one that blames you or your site.

 

[SEOPub]

SEOPub

Nothing other than this status page they have, which basically just talks in circles.

[URLnofo]https://status.asmallorange.com/[/URLnofo]

I'm going to give it a couple of days and then put in a ticket to ask about compensation. I figure they are probably swamped in tickets right now.

If they are going to offer any kind of compensation other than credit for more hosting with them, I'll collect that and then leave.

 

[ulterios]

ulterios

Wow, that's crazy. It looks like they said it was a hardware issue. What kind of hardware issue could take that many days to fix?

It sucks because if they do give you and other customers any compensation, it's probably only going to be credit for hosting. It's sad because what about the lost income that their customers lost by being down for that long? I know that they (or any hosting company) won't do anything about that, but I am sure some customers lost a lot of money being down for so long and are extremely mad.

What a way to end the year!

Good luck with the move.

 

[SEOPub]

SEOPub

From what I can gather, it is a similar hardware issue relating to storage (and likely overselling their servers) to what happened with HostGator not long ago when they had a major outage for 4 or 5 days.

You are right though. NOTHING should take 5 days to fix. My guess is that EIG cuts the staff of the companies to the minimum they need to get by. So when something major happens, this is what you get. It increases their profits in the short-term though.

I saw one company complaining on the Facebook page. They are apparently a charity that receives the majority of their donations for the year online during the week between Xmas and New Year's. Sounds like this outage hit them hard. I'm sure there are plenty of other companies hit badly by it too.

 

[SEOPub]

Yes, definitely moving.

Looking at LiquidWeb, StableHost, and GeekStorage. I have never used LiquidWeb, but heard great things. I have had nothing but positive experiences with the other two.

Also considering OVH or one of their resellers.

 

[RDO Servers]

RDO Servers

Just remember that OVH is a completely unmanaged provider. If your offline, but they can still ping the server, they probably won't provide any additional help.

 

[wms]

wms

The person who replied in the next message on your post (RDO Servers) is a good choice, I knew some guys here used his hosting and he supported me to solve hosting problems even I have problems with other web hosting companies ...David (RDO Servers) has got good support!

I would suggest and consider to use services from Moderators on this forum first, because if you have any problems you can report easily or have support better from them.

Other options are check out our Web Hosting Offers section.

Regards,

 

[softnwords]

I have gone through the full list EIG undertakes and thanks to the author that my choice of hosting is neither one of those listed under EIG.I think this news may go viral and EIG may change their name.

 

[Inquestor]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I do believe HostNurse sold his hosting business to EIG a year or two ago.

I have tried many hosting providers myself, one of which literally cost me a solid 50K back in 2011-12 when everything was up with Google (for myself anyway), but service sucked and I didn't even know it. I kept complaining of on and off 503 Errors for months, nothing changed. Some just don't give a shit that your losing 300+ a day.

Out of the numerous hosts I have used I must say ElixantTechnology, a mod on this forum, provided great service, ~1 hour ticket response and if there was any downtime, he credited to much.

I would give Elixant or RDO a try if you haven't already.

 

[RDO Servers]

RDO Servers

Thanks Inquestor!
We do have some great hosts on WMS that actually care about their customers!

 

[ElixantTechnology]

ElixantTechnology

Thank you for the mention Inquestor

I should mention that back in June that HostNurse offered to sell to us, however the price they were requesting wasn't in the range we would offer. It is possibly that they may have sold out to EIG at a later time.

Sorry for the late response, I have been focused on caring for my customers over the holidays and that did take priority

EIG has been a long-known issue in the hosting industry, the unfortunate part being that they own a lot of the biggest names out there and are even buying out the small guys now.. This is creating a monopoly. I don't know about in the US, however up here in Canada we have to consider the Competition Bureau which is in place to ensure that there is no monopoly in any given industry....

 

[ulterios]

You are right though. NOTHING should take 5 days to fix. My guess is that EIG cuts the staff of the companies to the minimum they need to get by. So when something major happens, this is what you get. It increases their profits in the short-term though.

Yeah it increases their profit in the short-term but it also hurts their reputation, not that they seem to care. I guess their business model is to just make as much as you can right now and worry about long-term later!

I saw one company complaining on the Facebook page. They are apparently a charity that receives the majority of their donations for the year online during the week between Xmas and New Year's. Sounds like this outage hit them hard. I'm sure there are plenty of other companies hit badly by it too.

That is just so screwed up. Now what are they supposed to do now that they lost their peak donation time frame? They'll be fine though I am sure, since they'll probably get a credit for lost hosting time! LMAO It's hard on all their customers but if you loose your peak time for donations, sales, whatever, how can that be compensated for? That's just crazy.

I just took a look at their Facebook page and saw some really bad comments they received. I wonder how long till they get deleted/removed? Just like how EIG got most of the data on them from Wikipedia removed so people wouldn't be able to associate one of their bad hosting providers from another. I wonder how many people will leave them, only to go to another EIG host unknowingly?

Someone should get a hold of all the customers that had losses and have them all file a complaint with the BBB. Not that they would care, but maybe more people will take notice of their bad service. I filed one and they kept replying with run around comments and it closed with a big "We don't give a S_it about our customers"!

Good luck with the move, I guess the best thing to do is just write it off as a bad lesson learned. That's what I basically had to do.

 

[Ron Killian]

Yeah it increases their profit in the short-term but it also hurts their reputation, not that they seem to care. I guess their business model is to just make as much as you can right now and worry about long-term later!

Well, think about it. They buy up a hosting service that has a ton of paying customers. Even if everything get's messed up, service goes downhill, I bet most people will still stay on. No one likes to move hosts. And you have those people who "say" they don't have any problems. So I am sure EIG knows, they will make a return and more pretty quickly. They are also smart to buy up big brands with a name and reputation. Not like every person in the world is going to know about EIG's evil web hosting plan of domination.

Let's also not forget they are buying up big brands with affiliate programs. I don't know Hostgators numbers, but i am guessing they had a large number of affiliates. Which are probably going to keep promoting. As mentioned in this thread, it's often all about the commissions.

I checked out Hostgators FB page during or before Black Friday, and SO MANY people pushing HG.

If you look at the big picture, I highly doubt they are hurting. They might take a hit for a bit, but I am guessing they are still cashing in and will for some time into the future. I am sure they could live off and profit from the brand name alone for a long time.

Plus there are new suckers looking for hosting every day. I say suckers because many people don't do their research.

Thanks Inquestor!
We do have some great hosts on WMS that actually care about their customers!

Wish I knew about you folks before I made my last move. Better prices and more horsepower.

 

[ulterios]

They are also smart to buy up big brands with a name and reputation. Not like every person in the world is going to know about EIG's evil web hosting plan of domination.

Yeah, that's what they do. Buy a big well known brand that has a good reputation, then milk it for all they can.

Let's also not forget they are buying up big brands with affiliate programs. I don't know Hostgators numbers, but i am guessing they had a large number of affiliates. Which are probably going to keep promoting. As mentioned in this thread, it's often all about the commissions.

I checked out Hostgators FB page during or before Black Friday, and SO MANY people pushing HG.

The affiliates are going to keep promoting because they pay well. Most don't care if they promote junk hosting services, as long as they make money and that's a shame.

If you look at the big picture, I highly doubt they are hurting. They might take a hit for a bit, but I am guessing they are still cashing in and will for some time into the future. I am sure they could live off and profit from the brand name alone for a long time.

Yeah, I am sure they are doing ok. The thing is that as their customer base grows, so do the bad reviews, posts, articles and other bad PR things. Sooner or later more and more people are going to stay away from them, thus hurting them in the long run. They just don't care though.

Plus there are new suckers looking for hosting every day. I say suckers because many people don't do their research.

Most people don't, especially those new to websites or hosting. When they do, more than likely they are going to find those review sites that pump up the poor hosts because they pay their affiliates well. Sad!

 

[SEOPub]

And the site is down again. I did not have time to move it yet.

Seriously, stay far, far away from anything owned by EIG. If you hear your host was bought by EIG, run. Switch hosts right away.

 

[RDO Servers]

RDO Servers

Sorry to hear that! As I'm sure you know, I would consider this the new norm for them, not a one (or two) time occurrence!
I hope your able to get a backup running as soon as it comes back online! Preferably a R1Soft backup so that it can be easily/quickly restored at your new host

 

[ulterios]

ulterios

Damn, that's frickin' crazy! You would think that the several days long downtime would have taught someone there a lesson but I guess not.

Top quality tech's! LOL

Good luck with the move.

 

[boognish]

boognish

Agreed :ertery: Make backups, research new hosting providers, and make the move. ASO was an exception to the EIG rule for a bit longer than the other hosts they bought out, but they all take a turn for the worse.

 

[SenseiSteve]

I have to admit that I'm amazed at just how many clients EIG has, regardless of their horrendous support.

 

[ulterios]

ulterios

This is because they usually buy hosting companies that already have good reputations and a large client base. This way they milk the companies good name for all it's worth and drawing in unknowing new customers that think they are buying what that company used to be known for.

If they went and started a hosting company and called it "EIG Hosting" then it probably would die out quickly.

They don't want their bad name tied to the hosting companies they own. That's why they pulled that stunt with having wikipedia remove the data that they had on there with a listing of their brands on it. Ashamed of their own name!