…and I lost about 20 hours of really hard work on my website. Due to this crippling flu (I think it might be the pig lurgi after all) I’ve spent most of the past few days in bed with my laptop doing updates on the blog and forum, both literary and administrative, between snot-drenched sleeps. I know it’s my fault for not backing it all up when I’d finished, but to be fair I had no idea that it might fall off the internet the following day. At first, my site inexplicably reverted back to its 1st October self.
Here’s what happened next –
Quote:
| Dear tech support,
Something appears to have gone disastrously wrong during your server upgrade, and weeks of work have completely vanished from my site. Please get in touch as soon as possible on +44xxxxxxxxxx. <real name> |
So they said –
| Hi <real name>,
An email was sent out explaining what has happened. Would you like us to restore the data in your public_html file from backup? Have a GREAT Day! Todd Certified Hosting Support |
I wasn’t having a particularly “GREAT” day for obvious reasons, and didn’t know what he was on about, but then I received a mass-mail saying this –
| The updates we made this morning to the saleen server were successful! However, during this time one of the RAID array hard drives failed.
What does this mean for you? Unfortunately, it means that data was lost and reverted back to 10/01. Fortunately, we make our own backups, so we do have a back up as recent as Sunday 10/18. We are able to restore your account up to last Sunday 10/18. You should have your own backups in place, but we do have our back up if you need it.If you need your account backup in place, please open a tech support ticket so that we can restore your files as soon as possible.Shortly, we will be moving your account off of the saleen server onto a newer, more stable server. There is no downtime expected during this migration. You will receive an email notification when we start the move of your account and then another when complete. Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience this has caused you. As always, if you have any questions or concerns that have not been addressed here, please contact us. Thank you for trusting Certified Hosting with your business! |
I was aghast. They’d lost my work. I asked –
Quote:
| The most recent data is from 18th October? Do you have ANYTHING I’ve done since? |
A different employee then answered, peppering her speech with smiley faces –
<real name> 
We only have our own back up from 10/18.Are you not keeping your own personl back ups as well? Please make sure you are backing up your files regularly. If you need some suggestions on how to do this going forward let us know. Thanx Kacy |
I wanted to shoot each individual smiley between its blank dot eyes, then stab it repeatedly in the mouth until any semblance of a smile was reduced to a gaping, bloody hole. Instead I replied with –
| Kacy – this isn’t aimed at you personally, but at the company – My webmaster normally backs the data up regularly but has recently suffered a personal bereavement so – it turns out – hasn’t backed up any of the work I’ve done since 18th October. I pay a lot for Certified Hosting and for this I expect them to take a legal responsibility for the data I keep there. If I’m paying someone to store my furniture and they manage to lose or break it, I will expect compensation, or at least for them to refund me some of the money I’ve paid them to look after it in the first place. I’ve lost hours of my life and my income on this and would like a resolution as soon as possible.
Thanks, <real name> |
Kacy and her smileys said –
| <real name>
No worries, I am not taking anything personally.We do not provide backups as a part of our service and its VERY clear in our terms and conditions that you agreed to when you signed up for the hosting account.http://certifiedhosting.com/terms/ 7. BACK UPS & DATA LOSS Your use of this service is at your sole risk. UNLESS OTHERWISE AGREED TO IN WRITING, Certified Hosting DOES NOT MAKE A BACK-UP OF YOUR SITE(S) AS PART OF THE SERVICES. ACCORDINGLY, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO MAKE A BACK-UP OF YOUR SITE(S) ON A REGULAR BASIS.If you have mission critical information websites and are income generating. I highly suggest that you host them on a dedicated service with back up services in place. You are on shared hosting, which by all accounts is considered a cheap hosting solution. Generally speaking, the vast majority of hosting companies have this same no backup policy in place. Even if they advertise they back up your files, if you read the terms, it will state they are not responsible for the backs ups. This is industry standard practice. The anology of the furniture storage is the same thing. You will have to sign an agreement for storage and I guarantee in the agreement there will be a statement that they are not resposible for any loss or damage to your belongings. This is standard practice for storage facilities. The only resolution I have for you at this time is to put our back up from 10/18 in place. As for the compensation, I am more than happy to provide a month credit on your account. Again, we are sincerely sorry for this inconvenience. Thanx Kacy |
At this point, I had a bit of a cry and got drunk on my own in front of Question Time.
| How much is one month’s credit? I pay for hosting in two year bundles. I’ve lost about twenty hours of really hard work and am losing the will to live |
This morning, I was generously compensated for my 20 hours of lost work –
| Hi <real name>
A credit of $9.95 has been placed on your account. Thank You, Jenny Certified Hosting Customer Service |
Wooo fucking hoooo. Nearly ten whole dollars. Well that changes everything. I’ll use that to fly to the Bahamas for a nice holiday and, whilst there, I will reflect (with a sort of Buddhist detachment) upon whether emoticons have ever been the catalyst for a frenzied, howling, messy killing spree.