Westnic suspended my account - Help

[tk]

Hello,

This is one time, I really need help


I was running 8 websites using opensource cms like SMF, xoops, phpbb, and had an issue that one of the cpanel was suspended for abuse.

I did not understand why they suspened so I asked questions to technical support. He suspended my entire account, saying I was not qualified to be on westnic as I dont understand

Unfortunately, you didn't read my messages above and you don't want to
cooperate.
You bargaining (or trying to) which is inappropriate.

As a system administrator, I decided to remove (terminate) techjobs.co.in (ToS
#1 , #9) and suspend entire account to prevent further abuse since many of your
domains containing free outdated scripts: smf, xoop, phpbb, zen etc. You don't
know what to do with FTP, persistent PHP connections or how to prevent abuse (I
didn't receive intelligible answer about OTHER outdated scripts).

Your billing account will be terminated next business day, recurring
subscription will be removed.

If you don't agree with my decision above, feel free to contact our manager:
[email protected] within next 3 days or open NEW ticket with ref #3367 under
BILLING department.

Closing this ticket as resolved

westnic.net is a very small company, even if I contact billing they are only group of 6 people.

Can I do anything to get my account back

I Havent used any strong words in my communication

Thanks

 

[Peter]

seems very stupid to tremove someone's account for having outdated software. They should have requested you update them first at least.

My advice to you is to get your stuff from them then just move elsewhere. A company so willing to terminate an account is not worth dealing with.

 

[deet]

Is it a bandwidth issue? Or Old Scripts?

 

[Troubled1]

The problem with outdated scripts is that they have security flaws that can allow people to cause damage to the server. Did they give you a warning and allow you reasonable time to update the scripts?

They should not have terminated your othersites unless they also contained outdated scripts but if you violated their ToS in anyway they are within their rights to terminate you. Most hosts will work with you rather then lose the business but not all.

Your best bet at this point is to try and obtain backups of your data and move to a different host. Be sure you update all your scripts to the latest versions or you may risk having this problem in the future.

 

[tk]

i never even dreamed that my account would be suspended.

NO WARNING was given, when I sent email that you should have give the warning, they said we dont do that. The next email I asked for explaination of what abuse meant, and if you educate me I will immidiately delete those scripts and politely requested him to reconsider unsuspending the account.

To which he responded ( the first post in email ).

I am not able to access any data, files, I have lost all the information , hard work for last 6 months.

I have applogized to billing dept as that is the only contact I have now. Lets see if they give my account back.

I agree that I was totally unaware that there are some outdated scripts, but the action taken was very harsh, unprofessional. nOt only that, I dont think I will ever do such a thing to anyone, even if I had 1 million customers.

Any ideas?, if there is some place I can fight to get atleast my data back. It seeems this is a company of 6 people, who only support highly tech users, but that you will only know once you had problems and you ask for support.

Question: - What does outdated scripts mean ? I installed latest version of SMF, MKPORTAL, DRUPAL etc. How could that be outdated and how can it affect other users

 

[Peter]

these types of software get updated regularly so even if you downloaded gther latest version when you installed them the chances are they have been updated since.

A bug that phpBB had for example allowed an attacker to actually get access to the server they should not have had access too which is obviously a bad thing as they can basically do as they wish.

 

[deet]

Have you done a search on webhostingtalk.com for this company?

Have a look
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=371181&highlight=Westnic

 

[Troubled1]

If you installed the scripts using Fantastico they are usually a bit outdated. SMF is very easy to update thru your package manager in the admin area of your smf forum.

This sounds like a rather unpleasant hosting company. Try emailing them asking for backups of your sites, they may give them to you. That is about your only remedy at this point. Then find hosting with a company that has more reasonable support.

I suggest that before you sign up with a host you search in the WHT(WebHosting Talk) Forum. On searching for Westnic there I found some threads talking about similar situations with Westnic support. It seems they feel all customers are stupid if they need help.

If updating scripts is not something you are good at perhaps you could find someone that for a small fee would check over your sites once a month or so and update them for you. Also it's always a good idea to keep backups on your home computer of your sites. I back mine up at least once a week usually more often. That way I will never lose all my data.

 

[tk]

Thanks filth for the info... I now understand the issue

DEET/ Troubled1 -- thanks for pointing to webhostingtalk, i was not aware of this site.... and I agree to what Troubled1 said.

It is my mistake that I did not do enough research before buying and just blindly trusted westnic.net ...

Lessons learned , will be careful in future....waiting for reply from billing dept, to see if they can atleast get my data back. Fingers crossed.

Bottomline, i have not done anything wrong here, just was unaware of scripts issue.

 

[deet]

Also, Always read a companies TOS carefully, and ask many questions before buying.

 

[scrsteven]

Move onto another hosting company. They treat you like trash and don't deserve your money.

 

[tk]

Agreed, this was my worst customer service experience till date.... I sent 3 apology emails, then got reply from billing that my account was unsuspended, and I should be removing the outdated scripts.

I have gathered some names from webhostingtalk.com and I will start transfering my sites there.

 

[0xide]

they should have atleast asked you to update them ahead of time...

 

[Troubled1]

Glad to hear you got access to your sites back so you can move somewhere else without losing all your data.