Web Africa - THE WORST HOSTING!

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zs6cey

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Avoid Web Africa as they lie - they are unable to meet their 99.9% uptime!!!!

Last night (11/9/2009) our server failed, and it is now 24 hours later and our site is still not operational. The staff on duty are not able to get the site restored, and the ONLY person who can do it, does not answer his phone.

Come Monday, I will be relocating to hopefully a more reliable hosting company - any suggestions?
 
Have you talked to the people at Web Africa about the problem? Maybe they will be willing to come to some sort of compromise with regards to this mishap?
 
It is a server at their site, and after spending the last 12 hours on the phone to them, I have given up!
 
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elitehost.co.za

I use them. Had a problem. They took a while to reply but when they did the problem was sorted. I recommend them.
 
I have now been told that the security policy at Web Africa was changed and their users where not notified. This change has cause my site to crash, and no real work-around possible.:(
 
What is the reason for the problem and what reimbursement are you getting? Is this a Windows or Linux server and if Linux, can you SSH into the box?
 
Hi RavenServers,

I am using their local Linux servers. The problem relates around the PHP Curl function that was disabled without notice. This command it required on my site to send data to third party sites - sending SMS's from my site via SMS office.

During the night, this PHP function was enabled again, with the offer of one free month hosting.

Thanks Web Africa, but why did I have to fight for 24 hours get get this sorted out.
 
I would take the hosting, every bit helps :)

Typical SA, if they resolved this in 1 hour they would have saved some money... another example how bad employees can damage the margins. :(
 
zs6cey said:
Avoid Web Africa as they lie - they are unable to meet their 99.9% uptime!!!!

Last night (11/9/2009) our server failed, and it is now 24 hours later and our site is still not operational. The staff on duty are not able to get the site restored, and the ONLY person who can do it, does not answer his phone.

Come Monday, I will be relocating to hopefully a more reliable hosting company - any suggestions?
Click to expand...

My site was also down for a day (control3). And it would've been down longer had I not gone in and sorted out the missing files (how does this happen?), and re-uploaded a new php.ini file as a whole bunch of settings had changed causing problems with the scripts that run on my site (curl, etc.).

It's getting ridiculous how often my site goes down. Practically every month there's at least 1 hour of downtime, if not more, and it's usually caused by them fiddling with server settings and then not telling the clients (that's us) of the changes.

I was going to hold out to see what their new prices were like, but I don't think it's worth the headaches.

It's probably going to be Hetzner or afrihost. Anyone want to recommend one?
 
Denouncer,

I am also on control3 and had the same problems. I got a very detailed response last night from them, and they admit they were wrong.

They changed the security setting on the sites and that is what caused my problems. I found a work-around on Google, and I was up and running again.

I just wish they had notified use before making the change, or at least, given more details on what they had changed so I knew what to fix (something that was not broken until they fiddled:D).
 
Hi zs6cey

It is certainly most troubling to hear you have not been provided the support that we strive to provide.

Please PM me your client code and contact details and I will gladly follow up with your queries. I hope we can work together to move forward and get these issues resolved.

Ian Titus
Quality Assurance
Web Africa
 
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I had to move my site to US datacenter due to the type of traffic I was getting. If you are targetting users from around the world, I highly recommend you move your site with a US hosting provider. I am currently using Chime Host to host my dedicated server and so far everything is going well. They do offer dedicated server option but you have to contact them.
 
Hi zs6cey,

This issue has been brought to my attention by the initial agent that you had spoken to. I had immediately queried this with the Linux engineering department who investigated this matter last night. The support ticket that you opened yesterday was personally responded to by myself in regards to the component being disabled.

Unfortunately I am not in the office as of yet, I start my shift at 08:30. This matter is priority as I can completely understand as to where the frustration comes in. A follow up will be made immediately as soon as I am in the office and the relevant feedback will be provided as soon as it becomes available to me.

I would like to take the time to apologise for the downtime and hassles this has caused you. Hopefully we can rectify this and move forward from this


Kind Regards,
Jeffrey Denning
Hosting Support Team Manager
 
Hi again zs6cey,

I have seen that the ticket you logged yesterday has been attended to by one of our engineers along with a solution to the issue that you are having at present. The ticket is currently assigned to myself so I can enquire as to why the extension has been disabled, I can only say at the moment, that this was down for security reasons, however a full explanation will be provided in the ticket.

Thank-you for your patience on this matter.

Kind Regards,
Jeffrey Denning
Hosting Support Team Manager
 
afny said:
I am currently using Chime Host to host my dedicated server and so far everything is going well.
Click to expand...

Can't find a phone number anywhere on the site which normally indicates a one man band.

Look through your correspondence and I'll bet there's an exaggerated use of 'we'.

Been down the road with this type of hosting company. They just buy dedicated servers from a bigger company and then have to rely on them for support. Whilst this isn't the end of the world, wait until there is a major problem.

YMMV of course.
 
Hi Jeffery and Ian,

Thanks for your response on the forum, and commitment to fix the problem. I have integrated a fix that I posted on your forum, and it appears to be working well.

My problem with this was the way WA handled the change - i.e., no notification until Monday morning on your forums. Had this been done on Friday night when the change was done, this tread would not exist.:(

Regards
Andy
 
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