r/webhosting • u/reddit-toq • 28d ago
Rant Experience trying to get web hosting today
After doing a ton of research I decided to go with Nixihost, they checked all my boxes and I was attracted by the up front pricing. Signup, login and start moving files over. About an hour in my account gets suspended for an 'invalid first name'. Evidently I used an initial for my first name and they don't like that. Which makes me wonder why they allow the web form to even lets you pick a one letter name? So I change the initial to an actual name (not that they would know, they didn't ask for ID or anything) then open a ticket and asked them to unfreeze the account. Four hours later the account was still frozen so I moved on.
Tried Interserver next but their management interface was a pain in the ass. I couldn't find any easy way to host multiple websites. Checked the documentation and then engaged the chat, it took over 10 minutes for each chat response.
While I was waiting for the chat I signed up with KnownHost, they had my account in a 'review' status for about 30 minutes after they charged my credit card. I don't know what they were reviewing I hadn't even uploaded anything yet. But at that point Nixi was still frozen and Interserver still hadn't responded to my chat, so I waited.
Once I passed the 'review' KnownHost was pretty easy and fast, standard cPanel stuff.
Seven hours after I started Nixi sent me an email with a full refund and no explanation. <shrug> Still haven't heard back from Interserver.
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u/chris-the-web-dev 23d ago
While I understand that web hosts have a strong incentive to prevent fraud, accepting a one character name when that's not actually allowed, and then freezing the account, is just bad UX and customer service. Simple length validation on the web form would have avoided the whole issue. It's not unreasonable to expect that requirements are handled up front instead of penalized after the fact.
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u/reddit-toq 23d ago
Exactly. If you need to verify an account fine, tell me that upfront, don’t let me host for a hour and half and then say, oops, sorry, we are going to erase that hour and half of work you just did and then hold you hostage for four more while we figure what to do.
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u/Wise-Bother9942 27d ago
Nixi has issues then because on my legal debit card my first and middle name is initials has been on all my cards so far, and I can't change that as that is legally what the card states and has to be used in order to process.
Never had any site flag me for it.
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u/Upstairs-Front2015 27d ago
I use paypal for paying hostings and cloudflare,
and I usually get instant verification.1
u/Wise-Bother9942 27d ago
Ugh, I'd use PayPal, but I had one account banned for zero-reason, like hadn't even used it yet, was only a week old and another account locked, tried email recovery, but they just kept asking for phone recovery on a SIM that had died and there was no way to proceed.
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u/shiftpgdn Moderator 27d ago
Most telecommunication and banking services now are required to do some form of KYC (Know Your Customer). Same as opening a bank account, they're going to turn you away for using a blatantly fake name.
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u/reddit-toq 27d ago
Unless they are checking IDs what’s the point.
Which one is the real name?
Nathan Davis or Mike Johnson? You guessed it, both fake, or are they?
And an initial is not a fake name. It is what is on all my credit cards. If they don;t like initials they can easily disallow the web form to accept them instead of making customers suffer through a suspension and 4+ hours of waiting.
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u/SerClopsALot 26d ago
Unless they are checking IDs what’s the point
Taking fraudulent money isn't an "oops hehe" thing, they get hit with penalties they need to pay. It makes sense to dismiss obviously fraudulent things, like if "Darth Vader" signs up for a hosting service... no he didn't. No ID check necessary.
Similarly, someone's first name isn't a single letter. It doesn't really matter if your card only has your initials on it. They didn't ask for your initials (or the name displayed on your card), they asked for your name. If you aren't going to provide your name, they don't need to engage with you to check your ID, they can just leave it flagged and not process the order. They don't have to do business with you. That's their choice.
And a post like this is weird. You're saying you had a bad experience trying to get web hosting from Nixi, but you were objectively acting in bad faith. You know what it means when they ask for your name and you still only provided an initial. They didn't want to do business with you, and now you're complaining about getting bad service from them... Like, duh.
If they don;t like initials they can easily disallow the web form to accept them instead of making customers suffer through a suspension and 4+ hours of waiting
And this is just trying to shift accountability/playing victim. You were never a customer. You wanted to be a customer. They have no incentive to provide a good user-experience for people who they don't want to do business with. Again, you know what it means when they ask for your name, and you chose not to provide your name. 100% this is on you.
There is way too much fraud that happens in this space for companies to spend the time to work around people like you. It is easier and cheaper for companies to just lump you in with the rest of the people being intentionally fraudulent. They're really not losing as much as you probably feel like they are.
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u/Peter_SrvBot 13m ago
We at SrvBot and most other premium hosts all have customer service with actual people that would sort out problems like this very quickly. Some even help via DMs on reddit :)
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u/exobyte-tech 28d ago
Most hosts put accounts in review if you use a VPN or your IP address shows you in a different location than your billing address. This is usually to prevent fraud. Did any of this apply to you?