HostUltra Warning/Question

[Harlquinth]

Hi,

This post is partly a warning to try and prevent other people ending up in the same situation, and partly a question/looking for advice on what we can do next.

We have/had the website (including the domain name) for our organisation, East Surrey Museum, hosted with hostultra since the website was set up in 2006.

We are a charity, and as we are currently short on funding we have moved our web hosting elsewhere (someone offered us free hosting), to save having to pay the $50 in hosting we were previously paying with hostultra.

However, we did not realise that it would be such a hassle moving the domain name, eastsurreymuseum.org. The domain name had already auto-renewed itself for another year by the time we decided to move the webhosting, so we have paid for it until mid-march 2013, however hostultra refuse to change the details to let us transfer it, or let us continue to use the domain name now we have moved our hosting.

I've been reading a few other threads about hostultra on this forum, and other forums, where people have had similar issues. After reading this thread, http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/211032-warning-do-not-register-names-hostultra.html, where the person did manage to get back the domain name, I tried contacting enom (hostultra's registrar) to ask if they could help, however as hostultra have registered the domain name in their name, enom say they are unable to help us.

We have already registered another domain name, eastsurreymuseum.org.uk, which we are using, however it would still be nice to have access to our old domain name, if nothing else so that we can redirect it to our new one in case anyone hasn't updated their links and so that search engines can properly reindex us (especially since we have paid for the domain name for another year anyway!).

I tried submitting requests using the hostultra's support ticket system asking if they could change the details to allow us to transfer the domain, however I didn't get much of a response. They do say in one of the threads on their forums (forum.hostultra.com/showthread.php?t=11815) that they transfer domain names, however the posts I made when I replying to that thread were deleted, and when I try going to the forum, I now get the message:
"You have been banned for the following reason:
No reason was specified.
Date the ban will be lifted: Never"
Which isn't a very helpful reason, especially as there wasn't even any warning! (I did save a copy of my posts which are here, eastsurreymuseum.org.uk/misc/hu_thread.htm, if anyone wants a look - I thought I was quite reasonable in my posts, so I don't see any reason for deleting/banning me, except perhaps they're trying to cover up their incompetant/fraudalent ways!)

I don't have access to the hostultra ticket system anymore as we had to cancel our hosting before it was due for renewal, however I did keep a copy of the main ticket that I had open with them - I've put it at eastsurreymuseum.org.uk/misc/ticket_APK-159152.pdf if anyone wants a look. I sent an email to hostultra using the email address that enom told me to use (which is the whois email) asking about transferring the domain and the status of my ticket, so I'm currently waitng for a reply to that, and if there isn't any response to that then I may try contacting enom again to see if they have any other advice.

Apart from trying to spread the word about hostultra using reviews/forums I'm not quite sure what else I can do unless there's anyone out there who can help, does anyone else have any ideas/advice?

Thanks, Peter.

 

[Pixikel]

Is your domain/hosting working today, Jlebeuf? Mine is down again. I'm afraid it won't come back up... If it does I suppose I need to back it all up just in case.

Let me know if you have any luck with eNom.

 

[Jlebeuf]

Is your domain/hosting working today, Jlebeuf? Mine is down again. I'm afraid it won't come back up... If it does I suppose I need to back it all up just in case.

Let me know if you have any luck with eNom.

eNom refuses to offer any help because I'm not associated with the whois (because Host Ultra fraudulently used only themselves without notice). Despite giving a full account of my details and evidence of purchasing it (said proof of purchase is not proof of ownership) they will only direct me to the unresponsive whois. When my hosting package was set to renew my hosting (web and email) went down and PayPal says the subscription failed because of something on the seller's end; I'm guessing some sort of confirmation. I highly doubt the server will come back up since I'm pretty sure only the one 'Eric' guy was running it and was arrested for some pretty serious stuff. I had performed a full FTP copy from the server a few days before but only have the weekly backup to dropbox for MySQL on Sunday. Thankfully, the only change was public post view counts on the front end site. In short, I think we're all screwed and won't get any help from anyone... Unless we got a class action suit to regain our domains; which I doubt.

I would use Google cached results to try and piece together your website if you didn't have it backed up.

 

[Pixikel]

In short, I think we're all screwed and won't get any help from anyone... Unless we got a class action suit to regain our domains; which I doubt.

That's what I was afraid of. I don't mind losing the hosting, I mostly used it as a dropbox type thing anyway. I'm more upset at losing the domain itself and access to my email. Having to go swap everything over to a new email is gonna be a huge pain.

This makes me curious as to why this isn't more widely known. I'm sure we aren't the only two legitimate Host Ultra users out there who are affected by this, but I've found next to nothing about it elsewhere.

 

[RobinYameen]

ENOM is also partner-in-crime. Stop business with them too.
hostultra scam is ENOM's sister concern.

---------- Post added at 10:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:06 PM ----------

eNom refuses to offer any help because I'm not associated with the whois (because Host Ultra fraudulently used only themselves without notice). Despite giving a full account of my details and evidence of purchasing it (said proof of purchase is not proof of ownership) they will only direct me to the unresponsive whois. When my hosting package was set to renew my hosting (web and email) went down and PayPal says the subscription failed because of something on the seller's end; I'm guessing some sort of confirmation. I highly doubt the server will come back up since I'm pretty sure only the one 'Eric' guy was running it and was arrested for some pretty serious stuff. I had performed a full FTP copy from the server a few days before but only have the weekly backup to dropbox for MySQL on Sunday. Thankfully, the only change was public post view counts on the front end site. In short, I think we're all screwed and won't get any help from anyone... Unless we got a class action suit to regain our domains; which I doubt.

I would use Google cached results to try and piece together your website if you didn't have it backed up.

ENOM is also partner-in-crime. Stop business with them too.
hostultra scam is ENOM's sister concern.

 

[rycharn]

Me too

Hey guys,

I'm another Host Ultra victim. Pretty much the same story... signed up in 2004, because it was affordable. The free trial site worked well enough that I signed up for a paid site as well as a unique domain, which I have always thought I "owned." I used my domain primarily for email purposes, with the idea of possibly building a future website should I ever discover a need for one. I had few problems with Host Ultra until August 12 of this year. Email stopped working. Didn't stress about it until the next day, when I tried to access my cPanel. Got a "cPanel not licensed" error screen. That lasted a while, now I can't even get that far. Just can't log in because my server is down. Tried all possible contacts to Host Ultra: phone, trouble ticket, etc. Did the eNom thing too, got a reply similar to what I saw here: I 'don't own the domain, Host Ultra does.' At least eNom gave me two email address contacts for Host Ultra. One is the same as listed on the whois results, whois-at-jugn.com. The other is domaincontact-at-hostultra.com. I sent a single email to both addresses. The jugn.com email bounced back after several hours as undeliverable. Nothing yet from the hostultra.com one.

My domain is also of no value to anyone but me. It's not like I'm losing any business, but I'm going to have to change my email address with hundreds of people/companies. It'll be a pain. My Host Ultra billing was only $5 a month, auto-deducted from a credit card. I'm going to contact my credit card company in the morning and block future Host Ultra payments. Doubt that'll make much of a difference, but it'll be interesting to see if I get even an auto-generated email about my account. My domain expires in March 2014, and I guess at this point my best hope is to reclaim it when it expires, assuming I can find a reputable company that will be able to do that for me before some conglomerate picks it up in a lump deal.

I'm wondering now if our sites happened to be on the same Host Ultra server, or if all Host Ultra clients will be going down because cPanel isn't licensed. If it all goes down, we might have a stronger argument with eNom and ICANN to turn our domains over.

I came across this thread after a google search. I'm grasping at straws here, too. Has anyone tried the 'complain to ICANN' approach? So many options at that site, which is our best complaint? I agree that Host Ultra acted fraudulently when registering my domain, but I have no way to prove that. If I still have a receipt, it's in email form on an old hard drive somewhere. I think we need to complain to ICANN about eNom as well, but what do we say? If Host Ultra registered the domains under its name, eNom can't legally do anything about our complaints.

I don't know much about how to resolve this within the court system, but if Host Ultra fails to respond to a legal complaint, we'd win by default, wouldn't we? Sure wish I knew a lawyer...

 

[technologiez]

Finally

I guess the Eric Eoin Marques is in some trouble (google hostultra in news). Sucks for my 5+ year old website that is now down. I don't think I have any option other than a complete rebrand and rebuild. It's also unfortunate that the domain name is printed in magazines, stationary, and is linked to from hundreds of sites.

Lets figure out how to get our domains back from eNom. Any lawyers in this thread?

By the way - for all you regular forum members who hate on new posters, I now have more than a few posts, spanning months apart. I stand by every word that I've said and everyone else on here was just trying to warn others from service they experienced. It's kind of closed minded to discredit posts from new members. You used to be a new member once too.

peace

 

[Pixikel]

I'm going to contact my credit card company in the morning and block future Host Ultra payments. Doubt that'll make much of a difference, but it'll be interesting to see if I get even an auto-generated email about my account.

I've been watching my bank account like a hawk. I usually get auto billed around the 16th-18th. My billing emails went to the email associated with my domain, which I can't access.

I would hope that since all their servers are down that means their billing is down too, but who knows? I really don't want to have to dispute charges every month if the billing continues. I suppose the bank could put a block on the same as a CC company, couldn't they?

I noticed that today the actual hostultra.com site is down. For the last few days it's been up, you just couldn't do anything on the account screen once you logged in. Everything had a DOWN status. Today, though, you can't even load the main site.

 

[Jlebeuf]

I think eNom is just blindly defending one of their resellers and passing the buck to 'bring us a court order' instead of stepping in. I did try to file a whois correction through ICANN but ironically they dismissed it because I supposedly own the domain...

I had most all of my accounts and professional contacts around the net connected to emails on my domain. Now I have to try moving over to a new domain. If anyone is loosing money/business they could try getting a lawyer but I think I'm just going to let this go. Frankly, the cost benefit just doesn't seems worth it for me to bother with legal action that quite possibly won't pan out. Now if anyone starts a class action lawsuit I would be willing to lend my case to it to regain my domain regardless of any financial compensation.

 

[rycharn]

Odd, main site is down, secure-dot-hostultra-dot-com redirects to the main site, but my specific trouble ticket link still works, as does the link which tells me the server is DOWN.

This server was last checked 420013 seconds ago.
The server has not responded in over 5 minutes.
This server is currently considered to be DOWN and is being investigated by Host Ultra.

 

[rycharn]

For what it's worth, I just chatted with a rep at "another" hosting company, one that I consider very reputable, and have been with in a different context since 2006. She says "complain to ICANN!"

 

[Jlebeuf]

For what it's worth, I just chatted with a rep at "another" hosting company, one that I consider very reputable, and have been with in a different context since 2006. She says "complain to ICANN!"

Ya... How? I never found anything on the ICANN site for this situation aside from links to arbitration services. Do you have anywhere in particular to submit a form or send an email to?

 

[rycharn]

Ya... How?

That's a good question. I've been looking there myself. It would seem to fall under "Domain Name Dispute Resolution" except everything I find at ICANN on that refers to trademark infringement. Host Ultra isn't infringing on a trademark, it just registered my domain under its name. It's definitely bad faith, but I don't know where to make that complaint. If it were a trademark issue, looks like it would best be settled through arbitration, but even that route starts at $1300. Glad to say I haven't given Host Ultra that much in all the 9 years I've been its "customer."

Looking through these legal things sure makes me wish I had saved a copy of Host Ultra's Terms of Service, etc. I'm not sure I even have any proof of my original domain purchase, it was so long ago.

 

[Jlebeuf]

That's a good question. I've been looking there myself. It would seem to fall under "Domain Name Dispute Resolution" except everything I find at ICANN on that refers to trademark infringement. Host Ultra isn't infringing on a trademark, it just registered my domain under its name. It's definitely bad faith, but I don't know where to make that complaint. If it were a trademark issue, looks like it would best be settled through arbitration, but even that route starts at $1300. Glad to say I haven't given Host Ultra that much in all the 9 years I've been its "customer."

Looking through these legal things sure makes me wish I had saved a copy of Host Ultra's Terms of Service, etc. I'm not sure I even have any proof of my original domain purchase, it was so long ago.

On my phone but you can Google for "site: hostultra.com" without quotes for the cached site. Toss in "terms of service" to get that page.

 

[Pixikel]

I'm not sure I even have any proof of my original domain purchase, it was so long ago.

I know I don't. I went through all my email last week to see. I have the original hosting order email but not the domain one for some reason. Without getting into the hostultra site, there's absolutely nothing I can do to prove I have anything to do with my domain.

I'm going to dig through some old backup email files just in case, but it was over seven years ago that I purchased it so I don't know if I'll have any luck or not.

 

[SimonG]

Hi All,

I'm unfortunately in the same boat as all of you. Been using Hostultra since early 2000. Since last week, I can't get onto any CPanel service. My site is still running and email still works. But for how long ?

I tried moving the domain but since they/he registered it in Hostultra's name, it seems like I'll have to wait it out till next year when it expires.

If anyone has any luck with getting their domain name moved, please let me know.

Simon

 

[maybemaybemaybe]

I'm in the same boat. I've a few sites hosted with them - some are working, but I can't access the cPanel or FTP to take a backup of the sites. Others are totally inaccessible. Unless Eric gets out with no charges I can't see the situation changing.

It may seem a bit extreme, but I wonder if it would be worth contacting the Irish police and seeing if they have any suggestions? They may be able to get someone he knows to sort it out. I also wonder if it's worth contacting cPanel and explaining the situation to see if they can temporarily license the server. I would even be happy to pay a month's license or something while we get the sites backed up.

 

[rycharn]

Asking cPanel if we could fund Host Ultra's license is an interesting idea. That might buy some folks some time to back things up. It doesn't help me personally, as I had hardly anything there as far as a website goes; I used my domain and Host Ultra almost entirely for email, and that's all "backed up" on my laptop. Getting control of my domain is my primary concern, but if by some miracle we were all handed over control of our domains, it's not enough for those of you who do have websites on a Host Ultra server.

What a mess this is.

I don't know if licensing cPanel would be enough to get the server(s) operational, but I would think that someone at cPanel could offer an educated guess. It's worth a try.

I don't think it likely that we'd get any sympathy from Irish police. Giving Eric access to his servers could result in an attempt to destroy evidence. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Host Ultra's servers are all now in the hands of U.S./Irish law enforcement.

 

[Pixikel]

It wouldn't surprise me at all if Host Ultra's servers are all now in the hands of U.S./Irish law enforcement.

Agreed. I figured this had already happened which is why we're shut down, but some of you are still up and running so maybe I was wrong.

 

[rycharn]

Update on things from my end: I posted my situation on one of those free "ask a lawyer" websites. Even realizing that those sites are by nature designed to encourage litigation, the responses were optimistic.

One reply suggested a UDRP arbitration. Having already looked that up, it looks like that kind of arbitration is primarily for domain disputes relating to trademark infringement ("disney-dolls.com" for example). I haven't seen a UDRP complaint site that merely addresses mis-handling of the domain registration from the outset.

The other reply (from an Internet attorney) said that a lawyer should be able to persuade the registrar that the domain is mine. He (naturally) suggested I talk to a lawyer in my area, and he noted that many lawyers offer free consultations. I have found a lawyer nearby who handles Internet matters, and he offers a one-hour free consultation. He also has clearly posted an hourly rate of $175. I can't afford much, but I'm willing to get a free consultation and pay for another hour, maybe two, of his time, if he thought he could resolve the issue that easily, whether it's through arbitration or directly with the registrar. At the very least, I'm hoping for an hour of free guidance from an actual lawyer who seems to actually know stuff. Maybe he'll be able to point me in a direction that doesn't cost me much.

I think the fact that Host Ultra has essentially gone AWOL on us is also to our benefit.

 

[Pixikel]

Keep us updated, Rycharn. I doubt I'd have a case with anyone since I can't find an email receipt.

So... who are you guys going to use to host now? Trying to find a new company and there are so many now it's hard to know where to even start my research. I definitely want to go with a well-known company after this fiasco.

 

[Jlebeuf]

Keep us updated, Rycharn. I doubt I'd have a case with anyone since I can't find an email receipt.

So... who are you guys going to use to host now? Trying to find a new company and there are so many now it's hard to know where to even start my research. I definitely want to go with a well-known company after this fiasco.

Personally, I moved on since I doubted I would get control of my domain in a timely fashion. Instead, I just registered new domains and started moving accounts to new email accounts at the new domains. In the end I registered a .com through Namecheap since they offer $2.88/year whois privacy with the first year free. Then I opened a one year account at Siteground.com and registered the free domain as a .us since their whois privacy is $1/month promotional, $2/month regularly, and .us requires real registrant information anyways. Also, their complimentary domain is free with continued hosting and the control panel has options to set the registrar status (unlock it), set the nameservers, change the administrative contact information, and get the EPP codes. Basically, you actually own the domain and with a .us they CAN'T legally remove your administrative information. I then set the .com DNS records to redirect to the .us domain and the MX records to the Siteground nameservers. Finally, I 'parked' the .com domain through the Siteground cPanel which allowed me to create emails on the .com domain and it works just fine sending and receiving emails on both domains. I'm using the .us for professional emails (since the domain has real whois contact information) and the .com for bookkeeping type emails to compartmentalize websites/services ([email protected]). They have unlimited email accounts. If anyone is interested in Siteground I would be much obliged if you used my referral link to get yourself a year for the cost of a month and myself a free month added on: http://www.siteground.com/friends.htm?referrer_id=6949523

Keep in mind I only just started using Siteground so I have no time credible review of them yet. They seem OK from the limited week or two I have been using them, though.

Edit- If you go with Siteground and don't use my referral, remember to hit the back button when on the page asking for contact details and credit card info. This will drop the promotional price for one year from $3.95 to $2.95. Also, check WhoIsHostingThis.com for reviews. I almost went with another host until I saw multiple reviews about email issues because of the host's servers being flagged for spam. Some alleged that the host even passed the buck to the user and said they would have to pay for a dedicated IP to fix the issue. I forget who it was though.

Edit2- Siteground does have catch-all and forwarding (account and domain). The catch-all allows for discarding with/without error to sender, piping to a program, or forwarding to either the system account or a custom specified one. As far as I've seen so far it has all the features Host Ultra did with regards to email.

 

[rycharn]

who are you guys going to use to host now?

I'm using Bluehost with a couple of other domains. While Bluehost has impressed me in many ways, particularly its fantastic customer service, the one feature about Host Ultra that kept me around for so long was having a "catch-all" email account. Bluehost does not offer the "catch-all" feature. So I'm looking around. I was just on live chat with a SiteGround rep. Going to check it out further. I'm curious what others have to say.

 

[Jlebeuf]

Actually, I have the 'StartUp' plan from SiteGround so if anyone has any questions I can answer them.

 

[Pixikel]

Actually, I have the 'StartUp' plan from SiteGround so if anyone has any questions I can answer them.

SiteGround's reviews look really good for the price. Much better than the other ones I've been looking at. Is there a limit for parked domains on the StartUp plan?

The pricing for using your referral link is pretty sweet. I get the option of $9.95/yr for StartUp, $4.95/mo for the next one, etc. Domain registration isn't free using a referral link though; it's offered for $14.95. (Not a big deal for me since I already bought the domains elsewhere.)

 

[Pixikel]

Is there a limit for parked domains on the StartUp plan?

I figured I'd test their customer support and ask this question via Live Chat. Wow! I was 3rd in queue, had a rep in the chat within about 15 seconds, and he was super helpful and nice. Definitely a good impression.

If anyone else needs to know, you can have unlimited parked domains. After the promotional period you choose (in my case one year), you'll be auto-billed for the following 12 months at the standard pricing (though you may receive a renewal promotion).

Heading off to sign up now with your link, Jlebeuf. At least if I end up not liking them it's only $10.