After the 1st experience with my 1st designer and hosting for hauteurban,i roughly know what to look out for or expect when finding a new one. Not going to share my experience with the 1st designer as it is already past (though not a very good one too).
1st,i send out alot of emails to various web design company to get their quoting to see which package fit into my budget. Initially wanted to design it myself by using all those shopping cart available via many US company,but after reading and researching all the comment and feedback on different company,i decide to give up! There's too many bad and good comment.
Anyway,after receiving all the quote,decide to use this company : http://www.breathe.com.sg/.
1st good impression about them,they reply email super fast.
There are a few company which take 2 days to reply me just their quoting! Just think,by asking for a simple quotation and they take 2 days to reply you,what happen if there's something happen to your web and imagine if they take 2 days to reply you too?!
So everything was going fine,my web designer,Juan,was able to recommend me good design and function base on my budget.The part came where i ask her to introduce me web hosting company.
I am currently using http://www.conceptlane.com, it was good.(Been using for a year plus and everything is alright)However,i have 2 website,hence i would want to host it in 2 different company.Read through alot of forum and many people suggest that if you have mutiple website,best to host it under different company.Due to,if one hosting company was down or facing problem,not all your website will be affected.Which is important for people whose their website are where their income come from.
My designer recommend me this : http://www.seastarnet.com/ (my nightmare come). Did not do any research about this company before signing up as it was recommended,hence,i thought it should alright.So i pay for the hosting on 16th June and send all the detail to my web designer,Juan, to settle everything for me.There wasn't any contact between me and any of the web hosting staff,just automated service where the detail of the username,password..etc was email to me.
When my website was finally done up,i needed to switch the domain name (as i had 2 website,in order not to disrupt my business while changing the web,i host it at another domain before everything is ready).Email www.hostsg.com and www.seastarnet.com at around 12am to do a switch for the name server for domain (A) and (B).
Hostsg,reply me at around 3am to tell me the information i provide was wrong and ask me to do a check.
Seastarnet reply me a 2.40am : we will update you shortly.
2.44am : Ticket has been forwarded to the Domains/SSL department. We will update you as soon as possible.
In the morning,when i woke up,i email Seastarnet at 9.18am about the DNS name that hostsg say was wrong,they reply me with the correct one at 11am. that i miss out a letter "S"! need 2 hours to tell me that.So i reply and ask them again about the 1st email that i send to them to change my nameserver for me at 11.16am.
Email Hostsg with the correct one at 11.14am and they reply at 11.15am server was change! See,not even a min to reply!
Finally at 5.41pm!!! Seastarnet reply : Sorry we are confused by your previous emails. This is because you asked about our server DNS. Can I confirm that you want us to change the DNS for your domain to point to an external server?
They blame me for confusing them -_-!!!
Nvm,reply them at 6.56pm to confirm it, it take them 30min later,to change me name server!
This is just the beginning of my nightmare,more to come!
(DAY 2)
The next day,i check on the website as domain switch take around 24hrs to be done.The domain (A) switch done by hostsg was already up and settle,but there's some issue with domain (B),the website is not showing.
Hence,email Seastarnet at 1.26pm to ask for help.Wait for 2 hour later,no reply.I was already quite piss off with them since the 1st day on the time they use to reply my email.Email them again at 3.37pm : for update.
Finally an hour later,4.42pm,total of 3 hour,they reply : From the who.is search I can see that the domain is already pointing to our dns. The changes will typically take up to 36 hours to propagate throughout the internet, so you may still wait for a few more hours to see the website show correctly.FYI the website is showing correctly now on my side.
I almost wanted explode!Why?!Because that not the website that i host with them! and they still have the cheek to say FOR YOUR INFORMATION!!!!!
5.15pm,email them more information for them to check.
6.05pm,i try to screenshot on the issue and email them for better understanding.
7.54pm email them to see if there's any question or update
Waiting and waiting,no single reply since 5.15pm.
Oh!!! finally they reply me at 9.28pm!!! Was so happy to see a reply via my phone as i keep refreshing.
Seastarnet : Let me have a check with this and will update you.
SERIOUSLY!!!!
Reply them at 9.58pm and ask them a question,i even put : Please do not take hours to reply me this one question.
30min later,10.32pm,Seastarnet reply : We are looking on this issue and get back to you.
11.10pm,Seastarnet reply : Saying that i need to do some confirmation with them before the change can take place.
Confirm with them immediately at 11.19pm.
12.06am,Seastarnet reply : We will get back to you. ----- (is already Day 3 now)
2.08am,Seastarnet reply (Which is the time i start looking for a new hosting company)
Reply : I can see that the domain,(A) is loading fine from our end and the domain (B). You can see the DNS information of both at (A) and (B). As Eric updated earlier, the domain you have registered with us is (B). Please let us know whether you want us to replace that with (A). Please confirm. We are sorry that we got some confusions regarding this. That' why we are asking for the confirmation again. Please co-operate.
They are forever confusing,and they ask me to co-operate with them!!! In which part of the whole conversation am i not co-operating, SEASTARNET!!!!
Reply them at 5.52am to enlighten their confusing issue.
8.21am they reply and say it was settle.
Finally get to log in my account and get my designer to back up all my files.
Up till here,as you can see,i send the same information to hostsg and seastarnet to do a switching of the domain for me and it only take within 1 min to settle for hostsg and it take 3 freaking days for seastarnet!
During this 4 days!plus it need 24hr for the web to change once the server is switch,my website is down,which mean,no income! This is what i mean by i cannot stand web design or hosting company to be so slow in replying emails.It is a important factor to consider when using them.
and you think my nightmare stop here with seastarnet,you are wrong!
I decide to change to a new hosting company that is able to cater to my requirement.
Sign up an account with www.oryon.net. Of course,did my research for 1 whole day and saw that many comment they are very fast in replying and they have this online chatting system which is 24/7.Yes,try using the online chatting system and emails,their reply is really fast as compare to Seastarnet.
Was told by Oryon that i need a password from Seastarnet to transfer my domain to them.
Email seastarnet this simple question on 4th July,6.54pm for the password.
7.16pm,they reply : Ticket has been forwarded to the Domains/SSL department. We will update you as soon as possible. --------- want to know how asap they are?!
26 HOURS LATER
5th July 9.49pm reply me with the password.
Oh oh oh,that not all!!!!
Oryon told me that domain cannot be transfer as it had been register less than 60days.
(Cannot blame them because they did not know when did i register the domain)
But seriously,doesn't Seastarnet know about this?!?!?! The domain is register by them!
Nvm,since they are forever confuse by me,i should believe they did not know.
(At this point of time,my web hosting is already cancel by them,but my domain (B) is still under them as it is not able to be transfer within 60days.
Email them 6th July,7.42am to let them know that domain is not able to transfer within 60days hence would like them to cancel the pointing for (B) to any server for the moment.
(B) was still pointing to a server and is crashing with my (C) domain which i had to buy from Oryon as i do not want to wait for 60days.
NO REPLY!
Email them again 11.06pm with the same detail.
Till now,after 3 DAYS,10th July,1.06am,NOT A SINGLE REPLY!
and domain (B) is still pointing at a server.
This is their promise customer service once you register with them!
Click to enlarge
So,yes,do engage Seastarnet.com for any service if you have alot of time to spent sitting in front of your com waiting for emails that say : we will update you,we are looking on it now,we will get back to you ASAP! YOU ARE CONFUSING ME AND PLS CO-OPERATE,Register with them :D
REAL RECOMMENDATION
(Domain) www.hostsg.com - Well,i only purchase domain with them. Fast and efficient reply.
Web Designer (http://www.breathe.com.sg/ , Juan) - She is almost 24/7 on standby. Affordable budget for web design.
(Web hosting) www.conceptlane.com - Fast reply,still using their service now.No problem so far.
(Web hosting) www.oryon.net - Fast reply,just started with their hosting less than a month,hence,will not give any opinions on it yet :)
*Disclaimer - Above is just my personal experience with all the company stated above.
