Avoid X-Gravity!

[radiofreegeorgy]

Today, I lost my website and blog -- www dot safedigression dot org -- that was hosted by X-Gravity dot net, due to a server dying. They had no backups and have summarily brushed off all clients who were hosted on that server. Observe this e-mail sent to (now former) clients:

"To whom it may concern:

Over the last 15 hours we have been trying to recover data on Hercules(69.90.174.130) from a hard drive gone bad to no avail. Due to the way the server itself was put together, the hard drives were on the wrong IDE controllers causing errors that eventually led to it being rendered useless. We are very sorry that this happened but no files were able to be recovered.

We are not able to get backups as they were on the server as well. We will be cancelling all subscriptions for those that were on hercules. As there is nothing we can do anymore, we wish you the best of luck with your new host.

Please do not reply to this email as it will go nowhere.

XG"

This is amateurish, insensitive, incompetent, and inept behavior. Please spread the word about X-Gravity. Thanks.

 

[webfreak08]

It seems to me like this host has absolutely no clue what they are doing. I'd like to be with a host who performs back-ups at least weekly. Sometimes, daily can be too expensive. I hope you have a better experience with your new host.

 

[PVT-Jordan]

I find it ridiculous that they will do nothing for you. They won't even move you to another server or find a new host for you, or even refund money??? You should definitely try to ask for a refund or some type of compensation. Their email was very unprofessional and shows that they truly only care about your money, and not you as a valued customer.

 

[ANMMark]

I also have to say that it appears that this host has no clue. It's either that or they seems to lazy to follow proper procedure.

Now, with that said, do keep in mind that the client does have some responsibility here. All clients should ALWAYS do their own backups as well. Anything can happen, with the same result as radiofreegeorgy experienced, and it is just as much the client's responsibility to perform routine backups as it is the host's.

It is simply part of a running a website, that you care about.

I find that the host was wrong here, but I can't put all the blame on the host.

 

[TreboniouS]

Observe this e-mail sent to (now former) clients:

Funny thing is, I never received that email. If I didn't (I know a friend of mine didn't either) I'm willing to bet, a lot of others didn't either.

 

[Exon]

Trebonious, did you lose your data as well? Was your site on the "Hercules" server?

 

[TreboniouS]

Yes, my site(s) were on that server, all 5 including quite a few subdomains.

I contacted them and asked for a refund. They only gave a partial refund, but some is better then none in this situation.

 

[Exon]

Make sure similar posts are on WebHostingTalk.com, and other web hosting forums to help inform future prospects of the dangers with X-Gravity.

 

[ldcdc]

radiofreegeorgy posted this pretty much everywhere, John.

 

[Exon]

I noticed on HostHideout last night - but that was after I had posted. I really don't visit WHT unless it's about HostingCon and then here and DevShed are really where I hang out.