I hate Fasthosts
Why are all the UK-based domain companies such crap? All my dot-com domains are registered on EasyDNS, who make it really easy to manage and pay for domains, but I can’t really use them for .co.uk domains. I first tried 1&1, who were a complete nightmare. Then I did a few on Fasthosts/UKReg, but they’re not much better. First there was the infamous password hack, which meant a forced change to all our passwords. And today I got this lovely email in response to a support request:
Dear customer,
This is an automated reply and your query has not been seen by our Support Team.
We have not been able to process your support request as either your account number and support PIN were missing or incorrect.
Please re-send your request, including your account number and PIN in the first two lines of your email, remembering to include the “n” in your account number.
Example:
n123456
PIN 1234
This despite my replying to an invoice email sent by them that included the invoice number, my name, and my account number. Grrr.
UPDATE: Finally transferred all of my domains out of UKReg to Plugsocket, and cancelled my last remaining Fasthosts contract. Yay!
May 19th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
If you’re looking for a change, stil in the UK, I’d recommend plugsocket.com. My reason is that many times I’ve emailed or phoned them for help they’ve responded to emails within the hour or patiently talked me through things on the phone. I’ve never really bothered cost-comparing them with anyone else, because I’m so pleased with the customer service.
May 19th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Thanks, they look pretty good actually. Much better than Fasthost’s horrible site anyway…
December 7th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Never use Fasthosts
A site with them will become a nightmare.
It will experience bad performance and you will go mad trying to deal with a company that offers idiotic support and has no interest in keeping its customers.
Every support ‘email’, in a ticket, is received as if it is a first, with none of the progress being remembered.
An issue is dealt with as if it has never been experienced before by any previous client, even if it is a common one and they are too scared of poor feedback they do not even have a forum. So there is no where to get better help.
Don’t ever use Fasthosts, even if they promise to pay you.
They are the worst choice.
April 9th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
DONT USE FASTHOSTS! … On realizing how bloody horrible their service is, I wanted to quit my account. On trying to do this many times over email (with no response) I finally got an email back saying I would have to ring them. So I did… Only to be told that I was locked into a 12 month contract (that I had no idea about!) and I would have to continue paying them money for something I’m not even using anymore. Shocking… They’re customer service is shocking. Don’t use them. Total rubbish.
April 9th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Agreed. I did find some useful advice on what to do with a Fasthosts account, it’s on my other computer, will post it when I get back to it!
June 29th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Agreed. Fasthosts are cack. I’ve just moved 300 sites away from them which was a very painful exercise but well worth it just to say goodbye to them.
Support was my main problem with them (apart from the lousy hosting performance and having to pay extra for everything (like asp.net) and mysql.
The support was an awful experience, I got to the point where i was afraid to call them due to their support people having a riddiculous superior attitute and talk to you are a simpleton.
That couple with the fact that any database driven sites will just stop working occasionally and they refuse to accept you havent changed any code and its obviously your own fault for having a child like brain.
Having moved to Mosso, i have found it a totally different experience. Although there are a few weird things (mainly due to its cluster setup), Ive found support is excellent (and instant) and when there is a problem (lets face it, its IT of course there will be problems) they admit it and are honest about what they are doing to fix it.
So in a word, fasthosts are the worse host and support company i have ever used. Im just slightly bitter about the 16k ive spent with them since 2002. grrrrrr
June 29th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Agreed. Don’t see the point of running a company that deliberately pisses off users. Anyway, if this post is still coming up in the searches, hopefully potential future customers will look elsewhere. Keep the stories coming!
I haven’t used Mosso, but am pretty happy with my VPS on Interhost. Just need to get some old dot-uk domains away from you-know-who…
July 6th, 2009 at 11:18 am
I’ve been using 123-reg.co.uk for a while and so far (kiss of death moment) no problems.
I’ve got some domains with 1&1 and will be transferring them all away.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
I totally agree, fasthosts don’t deserve to have any customers with the crap way they deal (sorry, don’t deal) with support requests, or any other sort of admin. They can’t seem to answer the simplest of questions even when you have taken the trouble to phone them and hang in a queue for hours waiting for an answer. I wouldn’t advise anyone touches this company. I have no experience of any other hosting company’s but I am sure I will be finding out when I kick this shamefull waste of space of a company into touch!
August 24th, 2009 at 10:07 am
STEER CLEAR OF FASTHOST
even if you do not have a domain with then they will still affect you!
i work for an ISP & we recently had 2 customers call in with problem trying to send to an email address that was part of a domain hosted by fasthost. (don’t sound bad does it…read on)
Well in their infinate wisdom they have implemented a new anti spam filter one which block’s DYNAMIC IP ADDRESSES!
see if your listed here:
http://antispam.fasthosts.co.uk/
basically if you have a dynamic IP you will be blacklisted & there reason/thinking behind this great idea is:
If you are sending emails directly from a dynamic IP address
Due to the increase in trojans and viruses sending spam from infected machines, almost all emails originating from dynamic IP addresses are regarded as spam. To protect our customers’ interests, we are not able to accept email directly from a dynamic IP address. If you are using a dynamic IP address please ensure that you are sending email via a designated SMTP server. This server will either be provided by your ISP or by the provider of your email service.
No whilst this is correct they have effectivly put a block on about 75% of the entire internet connections.
I tried to call them to speak to the abuse team but they are not customer facing! and the first 6 email i received from them was not even valid responses as they were from the support team & not the abuse team & therefore were jus brush off’s stating there was no rDNS on the senders ip (which there was) then it was the wrong rDNS(ok makes sense)
then it was the wrong RIPE output from an IP lookup (WTF) then it was just ignorance where i requested our account manager call or i get put through to him/her but i then found out YOU DO NOT GET AN ACCOUNT MANAGER
then i asked to speak with the support guy’s superior (after explain i understood he was just doing his job & this was no attack on him) i get told their own supervisors are also NOT CUSTOMER FACING
All this from some one who was effectivly representing one of THEIR customers clients!
Unfortunatly my tribulation will not end their because the ISP i work for also has an account with fasthost (YEA NICE) which has over 600 domains/websites, 12000 email addresses so i might have to start my own blog about the bullshit shower i will receive from fa$tho$t