Site/Content Removed Without Notice

[capt0]

Is it a normal practice for Host I Can to remove content from a website without notifying the owner? It says in your terms of service that if there is an issue with an account the owner will be notified via email before action is taken. You removed over 30 gigs of files that were being actively used on my site without notifying me. You (someone named Chris to be specific) have promised me access to a back up but I haven't gotten it. Now you have locked me out of my account altogether.

All I want is to have 24-48 hours of access to the files that were on my account. After that you can cancel my account and we can go our separate ways. I have tried every other avenue to contact your company including being put on hold for over an hour before the call was dropped, by your company. This was after being told by the person on the phone that "they were working out a resolution" and "to hold for a minute while he got that together."

Look, I'm not trying to cause problems, I just want FTP access to the files that I had uploaded to my account. These are MP3s of Indiana bands from the last 30 years as part of a non-profit project, we had complete permission from the bands, there were no legal issues with having these on a website, they were not there for storage purposes but for actual use.

Please, please, please! give me access to the back up so that I can stop calling you everyday and leaving increasingly frustrated messages.

My lawyer is drafting a letter to send and if resolution is not made through direct contact I will work through him until it is resolved.

Thank you, Jeb Banner

PS- if this post is deleted I will repost this comment on a blog and other forums.

[lnxcode]

Jeb,

Thank you for your feedback, I'll see what can be done on this end. Either way, all our terms of service clearly state that the hosting accounts are not be used as "file storage" in this case its exactly what was being stored on the servers.

Furthermore, you can slice the cake anyway you would like to, but the account had some 20/30GB of music files, and our terms always said and always will say:

"The Company strongly prohibits storage of content that is not "web" related. Excessive usage of hosting accounts for purposes such as anime, manga, movies, MP3, Torrents and/or file downloads, will result in account suspension or termination."

To define what excessive is.... more then defiantly 20/30GB of music files is excessive...

If we do have a backup, we will be glad to provide it to you in a timely manner. Normally accounts that have huge numbers of certain files can be skipped on backups, as they create a tremondus load as certain files such as .mp3 files can't be compressed.

Furthermore, your statement about "
PS- if this post is deleted I will repost this comment on a blog and other forums."

There is really nothing to say, you agreed to the terms of service, you broke them... we did what we said we would on the terms of service... you accepted those rules when you signed up.

For the reference, why are you using shared hosting accounts? Why not simply use a dedicated server or a VPS and such issues won't happen? I mean I understand its cheaper but not really economical if you get shut down by hosts all the time? Which I can almost guarantee more then likely has already happened to you before you signed up with us, and will continue to happen as your collection grows... unless you take a preemptive solution.

[Shazam]

In addition, it makes no sense to me to hear that someone has 30GB of music files, but no local backup on their own personal computer. That is truly living in treacherous waters.

If you need an online backup service, rather than a hosting service, do a Google search. You'll find plenty of affordable options.

[capt0]

Thanks for the responses, I think you make some good points.

I did have 90% plus backed up but some recent items were not. These MP3s come from many places so it's hard to back up regularly. Obviously I learned a lesson there, I have never had this happen to me before- a hosting company removing content without notification.

My understanding was that the files had to be web facing which they were. If I'm not allowed to have any files on my account what good would an account be? Why didn't you point this out months ago? How do you define "excessive"? You say 30 gigs is excessive, others might say 100 gigs is excessive. Why not say what is excessive so we can clear before signing up.

On the bottom of your website you have
"PLEASE NOTE: Unmetered bandwidth means absolutely NO restrictions on bandwidth for your website or how you use it!"
Clearly that isn't the case.

Just be straight up about this stuff and clear with people and you won't have these issues.

If you don't have my backup then let me know. I was told you did and that I would have access to it by someone named Chris. Then I never heard from him again. One thing you can't deny your customer service could definitely be improved. The interaction I'm getting here from you is way better than anything I got through filling out service tickets or calling in and getting endless voicemail.

Also, I didn't set up this account orginally, my web developer did. If I had known I needed an upgrade to a VPS I would have been happy to pay for it. Why didn't you use the opportunity to up sell me on it? I would have gone for it since I was happy with the service otherwise. I just think your company went about this all wrong and I'm providing you feedback that I hope is useful to you going forward. I'm sure you're not trying to piss people off but from reviewing this forum it's clear that you are having that effect by removing content without notification and based on fuzzy at best terms of service.

Please let me know if and when I can access to my data. Thanks

[Shazam]

Unfortunately, it appears that there are several levels of communication here that I cannot address, since you didn't set up the account originally.

Also, when you say there are no restrictions on bandwidth doesn't necessarily address our content restrictions, which are clearly spelled out in the Terms of Service that all clients agree to when signing up with us.

In terms of excessive files, well, let me put it this way. I have my own sites on a regular dedicated server here. All told, they include four major sites including a popular tech blog, two online radio shows, message boards and so on and so forth. Even when you factor in the podcasts for the radio shows, we don't fill 30GB of storage. Right now it's 13GB plus the standard system files, which would probably take us to around 15GB.

So what do you consider excessive then? Up till the last few years, a personal computer's hard drive was not much larger than 30GB.

As to the backups, well I have no information on that. We never guarantee an available backup. We try to accommodate customers from time to time, but again this is your responsibility too, as clearly spelled out in our TOS. Besides, if you are getting these MP3 files from "many places" are those places legal? Are you licensed to distribute these files? If not, even before we get to the issue of how much you can store here,. the issue is resolved, and the response would be no you can't.

[capt0]

These files are not copyrighted, they are owned by the bands and they gave me permission via email to post the files. We don't post anything that would infringe on a copyright or without the bands permission. I'm strict about that.

I think you need to be clear on what "excessive" is when you sign up.

Are you saying there is no back up for the content? I find that hard to believe since I know how servers normally work. If that is the case I would like to know and know why. The fact that your terms somehow release you from having to supply back ups doesn't address the larger issue that you acted without notification which you clearly state will be the case in your terms.

Please have someone contact me directly and let me know if there are back ups. I realize this might seem like no big deal to your team but this Musicalfamilytree.com net org project is a labor of love archiving original, un-released Indiana music from the past 30 years and a lot of people are really bummed about this situation.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by capt0

These files are not copyrighted, they are owned by the bands and they gave me permission via email to post the files. We don't post anything that would infringe on a copyright or without the bands permission. I'm strict about that.

I think you need to be clear on what "excessive" is when you sign up.

Are you saying there is no back up for the content? I find that hard to believe since I know how servers normally work. If that is the case I would like to know and know why. The fact that your terms somehow release you from having to supply back ups doesn't address the larger issue that you acted without notification which you clearly state will be the case in your terms.

Please have someone contact me directly and let me know if there are back ups. I realize this might seem like no big deal to your team but this Musicalfamilytree.com net org project is a labor of love archiving original, un-released Indiana music from the past 30 years and a lot of people are really bummed about this situation.

As I said, we make it quite clear that YOU are responsible for your data, not us. You agreed to those terms when you signed up.

If this is of such importance to you, then it is incumbent upon you to make sure you keep backups of your files, even multiple backups. It's also important that you read the terms for any service provider you deal with, so you know their obligations -- and yours.

For myself, I always keep offsite backups of everything I have online. A lot of it is on my computers, and all the Web files are also backed up via a third-party provider at a different data center, for total protection. So if something were to happen to HostICan's data center (we use a world-class outfit, by the way), I would still have all my databases and other items and could restore my sites.

I'm sorry this may not be the news you want to hear, but this has to be a wake-up call here for everyone. It's your data, folks. You are responsible for making sure you have extra copies.

[capt0]

I understand, lesson learned, never trust a host provider again!

Like I said, I did have back ups of much of it but there were a good number of recent additions I hadn't had a chance to back up. This isn't my business website where I am way more anal, it's a side project I do when I have time.

So, let's agree I screwed up on the back up. Can you let me know if you have one and can I have access to it? I was told this would happen by Chris. Was he wrong? Should I give up my quest and just resign myself to losing this data?

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by capt0

I understand, lesson learned, never trust a host provider again!

Like I said, I did have back ups of much of it but there were a good number of recent additions I hadn't had a chance to back up. This isn't my business website where I am way more anal, it's a side project I do when I have time.

So, let's agree I screwed up on the back up. Can you let me know if you have one and can I have access to it? I was told this would happen by Chris. Was he wrong? Should I give up my quest and just resign myself to losing this data?

Well, let's say that you should trust your service provider to do what they claim, in both ads and posted terms, and nothing more. We do try to go beyond this when possible. But it's not always possible and, with shared hosting, where you have to work with large numbers of clients, it's a difficult balance, as I'm sure you understand.

As to what Chris told you, I am having the support admin look into the ticket and see what happened, whether there was a miscommunication or something.

[capt0]

Thanks Shazam, can you let me know when I might expect to hear on this matter? We have most of the files in our Gmail account but it would be much much easier to have a back up than to reassemble from emails. Thanks, Jeb