My web hosting account was closed because my host accused me of trying to hack their server and erasing their hard drive.

I have no knowledge of this, even if I knew how to hack their server why would I even do such a thing and risk my hosting account from being closed.

As webmasters, how do we protect ourselves from this happening to us without warning?

Thanks

A hosting company I an a consultant for can pretty much cancel you for any reason per there AUP and TOS agreement. I don't think its 100% fair but I don't know much you can do if you agree to their terms.

You are right and I'm very pissed at the moment.

I pay for their service and I think they should email to let me know what the problem is, or at the very least suspend the account while they get to the bottom of it.

It proves that most hosting companies don't care if they lose you as a customer.

If the hosting company like you said doesn't care losing a single customer, how long would they stay up there? I mean there are many hosts you can go with if you think they are not for you.

Hosting companies stay up from their high-paying customers. They aren't too fussed about losing a low-paying customer like myself, if you only pay $5 or $10 a month that's not a big loss to them.

True there are many hosts out there, but sometimes changing hosts can be very frustrating and time-consuming especially if you have everything established and in place. If you have a basic site that you designed for a hobby that won't be a problem. But if you have 20 or 30 sites, you have hundreds of html pages, you run all kinds of scripts and programs, you have databases, you have members etc It's not easy to change hosts.

Since you didn't tell us who's your hosting, check their TOS where it says terminate your account and you will know the reasons. It can be happen to close the account without notice. If you still want to know why, contact them. Best of luck.

Check their TOS.. It does not sound fair at all.

TOS are nearly all the same with every hosting companies, they close accounts without notice.

I did contact them and they said I tried to hack their server as mentioned in my first post.

I'm still upset.

As a manager of a hosting company, I know that sometimes the AUP and TOS seems to be unfair to clients. However, my point is, AUP and TOS are to protect our stable server status and smooth network status. They are used to protect the rights of most clients against techinical hurt.
ProWebDesigner, in your issue, I think your hosting company is wrong. To be an honest and reliable one, if they think you are doing something harmful to their services, they should suspend your account instead of cancellation first, and then, contact you to discuss this issue. Directly cancellation is not a good idea, especially when its client didn't do something wrong.

Regards,

That was very interesting. What proof did they produce?
Tell them to prove it, and also inform them that you are going to discuss it on web hosting forums.

There are a number of hosting companies like hostgator, if you decide to move.

I didn't tell them to prove it. Like all hosting companies they not required to prove anything, but at the end of the day they know I didn't do it after I explained my situation and they were happy to open a new account for me.

There's no going back because they don't have any backups of my files. Secondly, there's no peace of mind and I'll always be worried that it will be closed again if something goes wrong.

I've moved on already, but thanks for your suggestion.

If hosting with them worries you, it's a good idea to move somewhere else.

ProWebDesigner: this doesn't sound quite right.

I've worked on a site that was hacked once before (not via my code...via the host's control panel) and the host admitted full responsibility. I'm no longer with that host for this and a myriad of other reasons, but they generally won't just shut you down for no reason.

Hosting is a pretty cutthroat business and the $5-$10 customers quite often make the difference between red and black. Generally speaking, a host won't shut down a customer without warning unless it's something very severe. It's possible that your host was an ***, but it's not very likely.

This is a one-sided story, and since you haven't named your host or explained anything more about the situation, I'm going to reserve judgement but lean toward your host just because this is very rare.

Adam does have a point there. With customer acquisition costs often going towards $100, hosts should be motivated enough to keep you as a customer.

In my case, I don't think there was a problem with my site because they didn't mention it was hacked. The fact that they believed I tried to hack their server and erase their hard drive and it has something in relation to their data centre is what caused my account to be terminated. I don't know more about the situation because that's all I've been told.

My host was mphosting.net. I'm not a mean person and I have no hard feelings towards them but I think it was wrong to assume that it was my fault.

It's easier to pick up more $5 - $10 customers, but harder to find the $100+ customers so hosts tend to give their high paying and business customers the benefit of doubt when something goes wrong.

Which is the site of your last hosting company ?
If it offering cheap webhosting this is a trick of many
of my partners. See this company => http://www.servage.net/
Those which oversell webhosting can suspend/delete your account.
If you write a bad review for them, other feature clients will not buy
hosting from them, if they see that review for Hosting Company #1
You must look when you search a hosting company is it legal.
If they don't show street, phone and other information, I guess
that this must happen again. A have seen Reseller Packages offering
overselling webhosting (offering webhosting plans, more than the
parameters of the reseller account)

Mind this !


//off
You are very beautifull :=)

I'm not sure I understand your point. Are you saying people should not signup with Servage? On what do you base this?

You must look when you search a hosting company is it legal.
If they don't show street, phone and other information, I guess
that this must happen again.

http://www.servage.net/show/?menuHea...=about_offices

Simply publishing an address doesn't make company legit. I do agree that it is nice to see an address on a provider's site though. Infact, sin some countries, like UK, providers are required to state their physical address on their site.

110 GB webspace and 1110 GB bandwidth for less than $10 AUD per month is very, very cheap for a host in Australia. In the US, this price would be considered normal.

I agree with Music Master that this company must be overselling.

In the US, this price would be considered normal.

I consider it pretty far from normal, or rather from what the evolutuion of the costs in the industry suggests should be normal. The whole cheapening process of the shared hosting is oversellling fueled.