Whirlpool

Moderator, before you close this thread like the last MD thread, please consider that this is the busiest thread in this part of the forum, as such it deserves to live. The suggestion that we "contact MD through the usual channels" would be fine, but as they are currently not answering their phone, tickets, emails or even the fax I think this is unlikely. Please leave us with this one avenue for sharing information.

And now the post....

My last contact with MD was 2 days ago, via a sporadic chat which was eventually disconnected/hung up on. Bottom line was they promised it (centauri)would be up in "2 days". Well, it ain't and there is no end in sight.

Also, in regard to how fast they are losing domains, I notice they have only 3 domains listed (on the link posted in the previous thread) that we have moved. In fact, we have moved about 35 domains. So the true loss is perhaps 10 times what that site shows. I don't know how long they can stay in business at that rate.

Also I finally got a reply to my question of 10 days ago about what compensation we might get and the answer is "a free month's hosting". Hmmm. Great. Now that I have moved all my domains to a host that works. I will be talking to my credit card company and disputing the most recent transactions. If you pay by crdfit card I would suggest you do this. In the past I have had success with people who charged me for something I didn't get.

For those who haven't read:

Follow On from:
forum-replies.cfm?t=918288

nikademus writes...

If you pay by crdfit card I would suggest you do this. In the past I have had success with people who charged me for something I didn't get.

Charging back will actually cost them more, so it may have an effect and get them to get their act together

I was charged on the 21st despite submitting many tickets and sending an email to
feedback@mdwebhosting.com.au with ticket details and attaching chat transcripts requesting the closure of my account and telling them not to charge my account.

None of this worked until I got through on the 1800 number and spoke to someone. She helped and I now have a cancellation and supposedly a refund. (Stay tuned!)

So I suggest getting onto the number and waiting in the queue. It took a while (hours) but it was the only thing that worked.

I have 4 websites with this mob. Admittedly they are all budget websites but still the combined bill is over $500.00 a year.

3 are currently working but they are on the Uranus server.
The 4th one is on Tardis and has been hacked, again for the second time in a couple of weeks.

I have submitted tickets, seperate emails and all manner of tried communications but to no avail.

To rub salt in the wounds I recieved their electronic newsletter yesterday that proudly boasted that they have increased their support staff by 3 to 5, that they are busy installing new servers and moving to large premises and that yes they did have a problem but it is basically now fixed.

And in a seperate blub where bragging about being interviewed by PC User and having a 2 page spread in the next edition now that they have over 20,000 customers. Not any more me thinks.

I have had pretty good service from them in the past. Most tech support requests where acted on within 4 hours and on the odd accasion that I have had to ring them it was sorted within minutes. I have no idea what is wrong with them now.

But they have lost me as a customer.

Has anyone spoken to a legal person in regards to compensation?
In the last thread we discussed it but I did not hear if anyone is going ahead with it...

Today I bought the PC User magazine with the MD advert. As I expect this thread will soon be deleted by MD's friends on the moderating team, I can't be bothered to go into details, but I will just say it is rather amusing, especially the invitation to call now on the 1800 number. Visit your local newsagent and have a look: pages 70 and 71.

Whats the point, you will never be able to get in touch with them!!!

As of right now all of my sites are down again and are show some hackers website instead of mine, i have no email, no websites and no time for MD any more. Have sent ticket after ticket to them ( when you can get through) and surprise surprise no response. just tried to contact them then and the page wont even load, what a bunch of wankers

NOT HAPPY

I'm still having problems on the universe server. I emailed them 2 days ago saying that the site wasn't there... I get this today....
"We had a short down time on our server this morning. We are constantly working on our servers to make it more secure and robust. For this matter we had to restart the server and took some time for all the services on server to get back up and running.

We sincerely apologize for this and try our level best to keep everything up and running."

This problem has gone on 16 DAYS!!!!!!! They've even tried to bill me for upcoming domains, even though they're non renewable, and now in another registrars name!!!

I've tried their premium number, even that doesn't work... You just stay on the phone fore a minute going through menus!!!! Only to find out it's closed.

MD-Blows writes...

Has anyone spoken to a legal person in regards to compensation?

At most you would be looking at costs (which is resonable). IF you can show you had additional costs from having to move you MAY be able to seek them. It is quite unlikely you can show a case for anything else and I doubt it is "fair" to do so. Very few people can't just move and within a few days this is what should have been done. The direct financial loss would be hard to show and if you lost that much you would have moved ASAP. You can't expect to be rewarded for being silly and if you haven't moved.....

Hmm.... My hacked sohoadmin program has been hacked again by a rival russain mob by the look of it. And nothing I can do without loosing my website :(

Has anyone noticed if the ticketing system has reappeared yet? Cant be bothered finding my password to even look.

MDWebhosting cannot be reached at the moment..... no tickets system. No Chat and a fortune costing "help" line..

This morning - after a down time of about 8 hours we discovered we have been hacked again.
All files with the string 'index' have been replaced. - nothing else as far as I can see.

But the C-panel has been hacked as well so you cannot get into it!

Lot of extra work..... but I have recent backups.

Wonder if anyone else has the same problem?

hto writes...

a fortune costing "help" line..

It looks like it has been re-introduced following it's mentioning on here numerous times and it's effectiveness, just the thought on how many people will be calling that around this hectic season.

C-panel has been hacked

I've seen that happen before, they need to get another copy of the default theme files. Looks like the index files of cPanel were also over-written.

I am having all the same problems, desperately need to transfer one of my customers domains that MD have got control of. Despite emails, faxes, even letters MD will not respond.

I would urge anyone who is suffering MD's service to lodge complaint with both MD's domain name registrar www.enom.com and www.icann.org

My next step will be to set up a dedicated web site so users can post their 'experiences' of MD Web Hosting to keep the 'message' alive.

Their actions are indefendable, although I expect some poor misguided person will leap to their aid.

hto writes...

and a fortune costing "help" line..
rang that # was told to leave a message ... what a joke

was able to up load a fresh copy but no cpanel

TobyAbrey writes...

Their actions are indefendable, although I expect some poor misguided person will leap to their aid.

I have posted restraint in slamming MD.

However this problem has gone on for too long now and they have had plenty of time to rebuild and restore and plenty of chances to communicate.

Due to the length of time it has been and due to the continued lack of response and commitment on MD's part to provide customer service I will concur they do not deserve to have people posting restraint advice.

I would suggest that people do relax and be calm and post usefull suggestions in how to obtain refunds and as to what steps they have taken to get support, refunds and how they have gone with getting domains moved. That is especially for people who have locked domains with MD and can't contact MD to get them released. I would be interested in how people go with enom and icann.

Just realised why my web site isnt being compromised, by creating it with sohoadmin there is no index.html page, just an index php and they dont seem to be fiddling with them.

Just a thought... remember this note form MD

"Posted By: David P On: 21 Dec 2007 02:16 PM
Clients be aware that we are progressively changing all client passwords across all servers for cPanel and FTP. You will be notified by email when that has been changed."

I wonder if the problems were stemmed from their accounts being hacked and some stealing all the site passwords...

I have a index.php and mine got hit.

Your just lucky.

SeaComms writes...

stealing all the site passwords...

It was a known exploit that puts the exploiters page over existing, it has never been an issue of passwords. Good luck to all those concerned by this, I hope it works out for you.

Wow, this thread still lives, cool. Moderators, thank you for your restraint and common sense.

ozkfid writes...

I would suggest that people do relax and be calm and post usefull suggestions in how to obtain refunds and as to what steps they have taken to get support, refunds and how they have gone with getting domains moved. That is especially for people who have locked domains with MD and can't contact MD to get them released. I would be interested in how people go with enom and icann.

With considerable help from my new US-based hosting company, I was able to get eNom to get me shifted. It depends who you speak to at eNom: the first person we were dealing with was very helpful as far as his company policy allowed, but I was told they have to give MD 24 hours to respond to domain requests, and will only then step in. This is because MD is (was?) one of their top 100 resellers.

Once the 24 hours had passed, the next person we dealt with was, according to my new hosting company, something of an ***hole, and "my man" had to get very heavy to get any cooperation. However, after a couple of further delays and obstructions, that cooperation was eventually forthcoming.

Having started the process on 7 February, I was able to escape MD and have a functioning web site and email by February 9, and full control of the domain by February 11. This is despite my domain having a dead email address associated with it and being locked. During this time MD was 100% uncontactable.

It can be done, but unless you're very familiar with this stuff, having the right help is vitally important. Find a new company that is prepared to go in to bat for you.

great. now most of my websites files sitting on MD read:

Hacked By Peforce Security Team

Start New Project

II Can Help You Free

www.Peforce.Net

Y433r@hotmail.com/Yahoo.com

Just as well that i moved all my domains 12 days ago or i would bhe out of business by now. But I still want to get some of my files and databases back - ideally without a great big hack message....

MD and Tom, how about a communication? Anything would be nice to know wtf is going on....

Hacked by Perforce... :
Just replace all files with the string 'index' in the filename with the originals and you are back in business...

I am a very patient person (and somewhat of a procrastinator some would say) but the lack of contact and information has even driven me to distraction. Admittedly, all my sites are now operational and its only y own business's site that can not be edited, but I am unable to contact anyone in any way to find out what is going on. Even something as simple as keeping the status page on their site up to date with some real information (like why their own ticketing system has been down for days to start with) would be nice.

I am very forgiving, but enough is enough and the time has come to walk away and forfeit the 6 months renewals paid in December. I cant afford to run a business like this, I dont know how they expect to.

(oops - forgot the point of my rant...)

The big question I have for you gurus... Can I relocate a web site created with sohoadmin to a new host, when the sohoadmin installation itself is hacked?

My latest fun is an error with mysql and phpbb3. My message boards are now unusable and of course I can't get any help from MD.

SeaComms writes...

I am very forgiving, but enough is enough and the time has come to walk away and forfeit the 6 months renewals paid in December. I cant afford to run a business like this, I dont know how they expect to.

Actually what you can do is let the 6 months run out. Host with someone else as a hoster and make backups and then test them on your MD account to make sure they work.

You can also play with duplicate hosting and check out redundancy. Theoretically if one is a complete backup of the other you should be able to redirect domain names between them both with no interuption to people and make sure it all works.

I will probably keep a cheap site ($10 / month) with MD for this purpose. Simply checking my backups work and making sure in the event that my new hoster goes down I can redirect to this backup site for the duration. But then I will still wait and see.

Just got an email from MD saying everything on centauri is restored and let them know if we have a problem...

I suppose every site being hacked would constitute a problem....

Since I didn't get a chance to respond in the #2 thread, I still can't contact MD by any means, and no information loads on any of the 3 "myaccount" pages under Get Support.

I'm about *.* this close to just moving them to a reseller account with Jumba if this keeps up. Too bad the hosting was paid up front for a year...

Wolfpac

SeaComms writes...

The big question I have for you gurus... Can I relocate a web site created with sohoadmin to a new host, when the sohoadmin installation itself is hacked?

Not being an expert in it but since no-one else has bitten at it.

I would think if you transfer it the hack will be the same as you are just moving it from one to one. The data in your site is the issue. You could try asking the people you transfer to if they can help. I am not familiar with it so I will be of no help.

I know with my site the problem was only the index pages. I was able to salvage material but I was using a frontpage built site. Doesn't really matter as a frontpage site was built off line and uploaded.

I restarted my site with Joomla and just transfered images etc from my old site accross folders. That way I didn't have to upload them again.

You may be able to build a new site and salvage pages and content from your old site but that is something you could ask your new hoster.

Or you may just want to cut it and run and start fresh when you start fresh.

Yeah, since the site is running fine, I might just cut n paste and recreate it in frontpage so if / when this happens again at least I can just reupload it. All the other sites I host were done this way, just not my own of course!!

Jumba here I come....

SeaComms writes...

Yeah, since the site is running fine, I might just cut n paste and recreate it in frontpage so if / when this happens again at least I can just reupload it. All the other sites I host were done this way, just not my own of course!!

Jumba here I come....

I'd suggest for you to have a look at Joomla, it works better and isn't too hard to get used to if you've ever used a kind of CMS before :)

Just make sure that you don't use FrontPage Extensions, as Microsoft no longer support it, so most hosts don't anymore

For all of you suffering... Just a little hint!

I develop all my sites on my local machine (Apache, MySQL) and keep them there fully up to date - a complete mirror of my on line sites incl. the MySQL data bases.

Whenever something happens I upload from my mirror site... simple.

I've just moved to GDWebhosting and am impressed! Very helpful and the site has lots of hints and help built in that I hadn't seen before... a lot of work has gone into the detail here, that's very clear.

They use Cpanel like MD used, but the end result is far different and better.

My score: 10/10 - I really can't fault my experience so far.

Glad you are happy Bunyip....

But any budget hosting company is as good as its "up time" the rest is up to you. All the other budget hosts I have heard about have had their issues (or will probably get them after taking on too many disgruntled MDW clients...)
Make sure you have full back ups and keep your fingers crossed.
Hey.. I think I'll stick with MDW... being the only client left I'll get all the attention I need.... :) :)

is there an ombudsman we should be contacting? i'm down quite a financial amount in terms of the cost of moving sites and i lost business because it took longer to move due to md's inability to provide a point of contact. there must be a way we can do this together more effectively. i'm pretty sure that md are hoping we will move our stuff elsewhere and forget about them. they don't want us hanging around yapping at their heels and wanting them to do something we've paid for. i reckon they think the sooner we're gone the better so why would they fix it? (i'm on a yearly payment, paid up til July)

I too have been financially disadvantaged by the MD disaster and would be keen to persue any compensation from MD for their negligence. First course of action would be to advise the telcommunications ombudsmen of the problem then look at any avenue of recovery (financial) from MD. If anyone else is genuine in persuing this i'd be keen to chat to them.

Well im glad im not the only person that is having problems with md, i have been fighting with them for months now, and things have gone far enough.

I have been trying to close my account but there lovely lil account page doesnt load now so I cant even close my account.

Along with being hacked and the cpanel backups I have been doing weekly dont even work properly "Unexpected end of file"

I hope this thread stays up and serves as a warning to anyone else looking to host with them, STAY AWAY.

Hmm... I decided to have a look at Joomla as suggested earlier - the MySQL server is now uncontactable.

Had a look back in cpanel and the number of mysql databases is listed as NA. Is that something I could have done? or is it yet another stuff up at their end

As said earlier i have 4 websites with them. Nothing huge and all made with sitestudio as i know absolutley nothing about MySql etc. 3 websites are on Uranus server which is slow but working. I can log in to Cpanel and site builder with out any major hassels. But my main concern is with the last website which is on Taurus server and it has been hacked with a redirect to a enlargement potions website. Now that would be funny but the website was for a local Girl Guide unit and they aren't happy Jan to quote a phrase.

Oh and every visitor get as free trojan as well.

ticketing system is still down, news on servers is from 18th Feb and no reply to emails as per everyone else. I am prepared to wait it out and see what the outcome is.

Maxibuzz writes...

But my main concern is with the last website which is on Taurus server and it has been hacked with a redirect to a enlargement potions website. Now that would be funny but the website was for a local Girl Guide unit and they aren't happy Jan to quote a phrase.

Do you have FTP access? You could FTP in and replace all of the index.php index.html pages with a blank holding page for now. It would at least get rid of the redirect.

Does anyone have an email address to send to MDW? I have tried the phone numbers, I have tried live chat and was asked to leave a message which I did, I tried the ticket system and managed to send one the day before it went off line... I have had no responses to any of these, in fact have had no contact from them (apart from a new monthly newsletter that said everything was now working fine)

No all ftp accounts access to cpanel site builder etc passwords have been changed and are locked. It isn't a huge problem as the websites is only used by around 50 people on a regular basis and I have emailed them not to use the website.

It is visitors i can't stop but not getting a huge number of hits before it was hacked.

No contact with MD at all, no news on their website, ticketing system still down and I can't get through by phone.

I have had an account for over a year now, but since December, i have had nothing but problems. i renewed my account in November only for it to be down since December after constantly being hit by the hacking attacks. In my correspondence with MD, i was told that my site was hit the most. my site was also bad listed by Google and the stopbadware org (where all users get warning messages when trying to access the site from Google stating it contains badware) and it wasn't until my school age son who had returned from overseas, found the malicious code embedded in our site and also before md even knew about it. when we finally got the site back up and removed the blacklist off Google but by the time this happened was when the problems with sever outages began. My site was finally back up last week but now it has the same problem as others with our site taken over by that Peforce thing. i can't access my cpanel to remove the offending content and even if i could, chances are it is going to happen again. is there anything i can do to fix this problem myself between now and when i transfer my domains over to another provider.

oh and i was looking at several of the sites listed on the testimonials page and noticed that a few are affected by the hacking attacks back in December/Janurary
(Beware, some contain malicious code although others are merely filled with links)

I am sick of what has happened so far and i am disappointed by the level of support from md webhosting over the past few weeks. i have sent emails faxes and called them but nothing.... What can i do in the meantime whilst i wait for the transfer?

-Wayne

In a way, I'm glad I've moved my websites off to a VPS that I manage on my own. While I must have missed the hacking attempts (ah, custom software!) I have had my share of hiccups. Once I asked someone to install FreeType support for PHP, and they downgraded it and removed GD support altogether. When I complained I was told to move to another server (a $70 fee) and I told them in no uncertain terms that I would move my websites to someone else if the problem wasn't rectified... must have worked because 10 mins after I complained I got another back apologising and letting me know that the new version of PHP was being compiled.

I went to cancel the account before new years only to find that I had to pay it as I hadn't left enough time for the cancellation to take place. So I aborted the cancellation, thinking I could run both the shared hosting and my VPS to make the transition smoother... but then some idiot sees my ticket and cancels my account anyway! I demanded that it be reinstated, and they did so, without a word... but it shouldn't have happened anyway...

Anyway after this year I can shrug them off for good. And good riddance!

Sometimes I think I am thicker than a pregnant female elephant through the hips.
I just remembered a free website copier I downloaded years ago. I found the updated version and have backed up my 3 websites.

www.httrack.com It is a free Linux based copier that does an excellent job very quickly and so easy to use even thicko's like me can use it. If you need to backup your websites from MD Web Hosting try this one.

Now I don't care what happens with my websites as I have backups.

Aussie Bob, many MD customers have reported in these threads that they have used this technique regularly, only to find that when they try to use the backup, the file is incomplete...

One of the principles of backup - make sure that the data is correct and can be reinstated. Too many found this out too late.

Actually waited on online support.... Nick was helpful, after waiting 15 minutes for 1 chat in progress, it took him 8 minutes to tell me my account was still under the restore process as the admins are working on the dns issue. And to check it again on Tuesday. That'll be the 3 week anniversary of it going down.

TwistedGecko writes...

Nick was helpful, after waiting 15 minutes for 1 chat in progress

Yes Nick is sooooooo helpful... only gave me suggestions of something I've tried and failed - which are the non-existing ticket system and support@mdwebhosting.com.au email. I've asked him to give me other suggestions that work rather than moving us in a circle, but he said that's all he can do, and left the chat.

Some people suggested to send the request via fax, as a last resort, which I've tried but my MD account is still active. Simply wanna cancel the service and deny the payments.

Ok, I spoke to soon when I said Centauri was back up and running. I foolishly believed the email I got from MD that said the server was now restored. It has been restored to November 2007. Which is a month older then it was and now it has a hack on every site.

Nice one, MD.

You pack of tools......

Yep - like everyone else this has been the most bizarre situation.

I've been able to login to two completely different cPanels - but with the same login details...

I can get to one by direct navigation to the Universe server (universe.websiteactive.com/cpanel­ ) and to the other by using my reseller domain (mydomain.net/cpanel).

I also have a reseller account on Titan so when that came back online within a few days of the original outage I created some temporary accounts there so that my clients could get email and so that they had a basic web page indicating the problems.

It now seems that MD have copied one of these temporary accounts over to Universe - rather than restoring the actual account that is meant to be on it.

I'm completely flummoxed!

clarit writes...

Aussie Bob, many MD customers have reported in these threads that they have used this technique regularly, only to find that when they try to use the backup, the file is incomplete...


he's only been on for a couple days so probably hasn't read the 2 weeks worth of posts :)

assuntasig writes...

Simply wanna cancel the service and deny the payments.

Suggest maybe calling your CC company, and vgetting them to deny any future payments to MD WebHosting??

Has anyone tried lodging a complaint with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman? I lodged a complaint with them this morning - this issue needs to be investigated and MD need to be held accountable and start providing some service to its customers. If the TIO get enough complaints maybe we'll start getting some action...

Hi Wayne,

I would recommend to all customers suffering from MD Web hosting service to do as I have done in order to get a satisfactory response from them.

1. email them at actions@mdwebhosting.com.au, domains@mdwebhosting.com.au, support@mdwebhosting.com.au, sales@mdwebhosting.com.au

2. Complain to Consumer Affairs Victoria www.consumer.vic.gov.au - you can file a complaint online

3. Lodge the issue with MD Domain Name Reseller enom @ www.enom.com/contact.aspx , espcially if you need to release or transfer a domain name

4. Copy the issue to www.internic.net

If everyone takes these actions above, then together we will get a result. The fact that MD is refusing to respond or release domains may be a sign that they are going or have gone bust and are hanging out for the final axe.

thanks. but firstly, i have had no luck with e-mailing them, today i have contacted the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman in regards to the problems and i suggest that others do the same and also, i am based in NSW, so would it be better for me to go via the NSW equivalent of consumer affairs?i only contacted the new isp yesterday afternoon regards to domain transfer so i will follow those links should i have problems but i was told that they should be able to get the domains for me.

thanks
Wayne

Hi

Ive just found this thread about MD, So I may say some things already said.

I decided to give MD a try with their hosting, I doubt I ever will again.

I'm only a beginner in website building, and gave their demo website builder a go, which i thought was OK. So after signing up, it took 2 days to even get my cpanel details. In the cpanel, there is no md website builder, just some dodgy soho builder.

Do you think I can get in contact with them to sort it out, NOOO!!!!!

Worst customer service ever..

I waited on that live chat and got some bloke called "Martin". Live my arse, just some auto-reply programme..

Sucked me in good, nice on MD...

Hey All,

I am another victim of MD Web. They have cost me a lot of pain and time with their miserable service. I have actually been a customer for about 3 years and started experiencing the same problems as everyone else here in Dec last year.

All my sites were hacked with that malicious malware/javascript. Which is really great - now my visitors get attacked and my sites are being black-listed everywhere! Thanks MD!

I would dearly love to log in to rectify the issue, but guess what? I can't! No worries I will just log into the MD Web billing site - oh, I can't! Thats ok, I must have forgotten the password, I will just request a password reset - hmm, STILL DOESN'T WORK AFTER 20th ATTEMPT!!

Oh, thats ok, I will call them. Two weeks, not able to get through.

Oh, thats ok, I will email support@mdweb, no response.

Oh, thats ok, I have lodged a dispute with my Bank. I have lodged a complaint with Consumer Affairs Victoria. I have changed my Credit Card number. I have lodged a complaint with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

MD Web: Here is a hint - IT IS NOT OK! You will never see another dollar from me or anyone I know.

/grumble grumble

Just got this message from my google reader feed:

The Centauri and Universe server have been moved back to our Melbourne datacenter. People using Private DNS servers should change the IPs back to 61.14.187.197 and 61.14.187.198. Sites will continue to be served from the old server for several days until we a sure the move has been successful. In addition, MySQL services may be down for several hours while security patches are applied.

To be honest - I'm not sure this doesn't confuse me even more!

I just checked and our sites on centauri have changed... back to november. but at least the hack has been removed.

I've already moved all our sites - arounf 40 of them. I just want my latest databases and a few files so i can piss MD off for ever....

Have people looked at having secure password for example like l55fjdg89f? And not password like sydney2.

Having a password that is in dictionary makes you website easier to hack in to, best solution is to have passwords that is not in dictionary and have password like the following example: l55fjdg89f.

It biggest mistake people do using a dictionary word as a password.

I know people that have their websites been hacked because they used simple passwords for like: sydney2 and later on they change their password to something like this l55fjdg89f and because they change their password to something like this 55fjdg89f they have not been having any problems since.

Please note all passwords are examples and I know no one is using these passwords for their site.

No offence melbtrip, but are you a) an employee of md, or b) on crack(both)?

My websites/cpanels/billing sites use complex passwords as I am sure most of the other complainants here do too. The point is that due to poorly administered/maintained/secured machines, it would seem that one site (or a few) being hacked has lead to everyones sites being hacked.

MD Web Hosting came back at me with a similar response after my sites were modified the first time. I find it very offensive that instead of providing a decent service, with best practice disaster recovery, the best you or MD can come back with is either 'the power rails failed' or 'don't use sydney2 as a password'.

The bottom line is that MD's hosting service is broken. Their billing system is broken. Their helpdesk is broken. Their support is broken. Whilst I understand this is a budget service, there should still be service - for which I am paying for and am not receiving anything in return.

Suggesting that this is a password issue is insulting to my intelligence as a IT professional with over 15 years real world experience. You are obviously unfamiliar with the reality of this particular situation or are a troll. Which one is it?

melbtrip writes...

using a dictionary word as a password

Since when does cPanel allow you to create a password to login with that is based on a dictionary word? My account, not with MD, doesn't let me use a common word like sydney with any added prefix.

Matthew, perhaps if you update your phpBB installation that would help secure the MD server your website is hosted on.

cdbragg writes...

The Centauri and Universe server have been moved back to our Melbourne datacenter. People using Private DNS servers should change the IPs back to 61.14.187.197 and 61.14.187.198. Sites will continue to be served from the old server for several days until we a sure the move has been successful. In addition, MySQL services may be down for several hours while security patches are applied.


the mysql services on my cpanel has been down for 5 days already. It popped back online today, so I decided to install Joomla for a trial run. Got it installed, and now the mysql is showing NA again.

Oh, and I am on not on either of these servers - I am on gasgiant, which is supposedly in the US, yet it crashed for 4 days same time as the Aussie ones went down.

If I have a .com domain with MD and when I try to transfer the domain to NetRegistry, it says I got wrong domain password - what would be the cause of it? Of course, I had checked the domain password in MD domain management and I'm sure I got the right one.

SeaComms writes...

I am on gasgiant, which is supposedly in the US

That server is definately AU based.

What the hell? Our site's down AGAIN?! For the love of God, it's going to take months to recover from the last surge/hack, and we're STILL dropping out?
Interesting to hear about the free months hosting, they forgot to mention that to me...

Yup......! Same S**t different day.

My site is down and my emails are offline..................and to rub it in................I can't seem to load their support ticket page past a basic frame.

If this was a planned outage then where is the notification?

I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for their phone support.

Time to transfer my business to a company that wants it.

Baron_of_Hartley writes...

I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for their phone support.

Its free and has been for about 12 months:

1800 600 934
9am - 5pm AEST Mon-Fri

melbtrip writes...

Have people looked at having secure password for example like l55fjdg89f? And not password like sydney2.

I use a complex non dictionary password and the entire server was hacked not individual accounts.

Doesn't matter what individuals use as a password if you hit the server and come in as the admin.

I believe it wasn't the users accounts that were hacked.

universe came back online yesterday, downloaded all of my files, and exported my databases as sql through phpmyadmin... a quick alteration of the sql to match my new host.... everything's running smoothly!

Bye bye MD

About a week ago I got through on the 1800 number and actually spoke to someone to cancel my account. During this process I got a name@mdwebhosting email address and my tickets were resolved and I was promised a refund.

Due to _all_ of the other broken promises (i.e. any promise I was ever given from MD), I was dubious about the refund, but yesterday it came through.

I'll ask permission from this support person to make the email available via WHIM only (i.e. not public) and if so will post again in the forum.

My advice to others, don't ask for a free month of hosting ask for a refund and transfer elsewhere. A free month of nothing is still nothing...

zenman33 writes...

I sent an email (again) to sales / support / accounts requesting immediate cancellation and a refund of the autobill cc payments from feb 15 - i asked for a response by 10am this morning or i would lodge complaints with the Telecommunications Ombudsman and Consumer Affairs ... which is what i have just done...

Ring your CC Company, and get them to issue a chargeback as it was an unauthorised charge to your CC

OK - I have a direct email address from a support employee at MD that helped me and will make it available via WHIM on a case by case basis with the following conditions:

- you will not publish this email address anywhere. Not online, not offline, not in a broadcast email etc but will use it to contact MD support only in regard to your account
- you will not abuse, rant or rave to this employee, just get the job done.
- you supply me with your domain name so that I can verify the IP it points to only (note this is me trying to help you out, not find out who you are but I need to confirm that you are an account holder before supplying the address)

Please note that I have asked for permission to give out this email individually and given assurance that I will not publish in public.

Play nice. I cancelled my acccount with them last week via this method and want to help others resolve their issue.

(Please note for transparency that I am a small reseller of web services like many of you but am not asking for your business.)

Hey just so you know, I have had similar problems with my site getting 'hacked' why, I have no idea! I guess I'm going to have to find a new web hosting mob... I was corresponding with MD by email and getting a response but the last 2 days... Nothing. Ziltch.
The last thing I said to them was that I had worked out that something was happening during file transfer... They had managed to upload some of the affected pages for me manually but when I tried to upload a newer page myself, it only got as far as 80% and then the transfer failed. Then, when I checked my site and the directory, low and behold, the hacked page was back!! I have no idea how or why this is happening to MD and I feel sorry for them as I have had no problems with them up until now. But, this is a very serious issue and too many people have spent too much time and money on their websites to have something so awful happen to them... like this. I hope they work it out. I think its become all too much for them and they are not handling the obvious barrage of complaints they must be getting. If there is anyone we should be really angry at, it's those loser hackers!! They all b****y idiots!!!

I am not any of the following:
• an employee of md
• on crack
• or a troll
I am a website developer (mostly in CSS and html and little bit in PHP and MYSQL).

My understanding it was user accounts was hacked in to and I know people uses these passwords for example like sydney2 and their websites got hacked in to and after they change they pass word their website has not been hacked in to since.

What I am hearing now this was not the case and maybe it was MD had holes in their security.

If I have offended anyone I am very sorry, it was not my aim of my post to offence anyone but to help people.

It seems that outgoing email to my accounts is now broken - I can telnet to other mail.domain.com.au servers but not to my own...

Anyone else noticed this?

Now it looks like Defcon is down! Trying to move all my domain management now and can't get hold of anyone to get authcodes for the transfer! Bloody hell!!!

zombieho writes...

Suggesting that this is a password issue is insulting to my intelligence as a IT professional

I too was told I didn't have a secure password... I was told to change it to something ridiculously long such as " 09kfujed8fjduidjkd165f**90e9eodfoe­ h_)_kdo"
! Now, I am not an IT professional, so I did go and try to change my password to something like the above, but it wouldn't let me!! It says on the "change password" screen that the password can only be 6 characters long and contain alphanumeric characters only. What the? I think the best advice to everyone is to unfortunately for MD, change hosting providers. I too have been getting my websites blacklisted by Google and as I am really just an amateur at all this stuff. I don't know the first thing to do about that!

ditzy writes...

Now, I am not an IT professional, so I did go and try to change my password to something like the above, but it wouldn't let me!! It says on the "change password" screen that the password can only be 6 characters long and contain alphanumeric characters only.

:)

It's the cpanel password they are talking about not your MD account password.

From memory it's in the top row of cpanel but it's been awhile since I last saw mine :)

hrmm how do you know which server your site has been placed on?
also in order to cancel your account must you pay the remainding months?

Um. Thanks, like derrr. I am living up to my name!! Thanks, was able to change my password but not sure how much good that will do now.

melbtrip writes...

My understanding it was user accounts was hacked in to and I know people uses these passwords for example like sydney2 and their websites got hacked in to and after they change they pass word their website has not been hacked in to since.

No.

We had passwords like xJc7h1K4

8 digits, alpha numeric, upper and lower case. All changed in December and again in January.

all our sites were hacked. 40 of them on centauri.

luckily we moved them and repointed the domains before that happened.

MD has security issues you could drive an ocean liner through.

OK guys i think it's time i move to Jumba.

I was having site problems like you's all and apparently i still have to pay 2 invoices that are oustanding when i have the payment confirmation emails from MD and even the records of payment to MD in my Banking. after an online support guy told me i need to send an email to their billing which i did its been 2 days with no reply and my domain still looks like this:

www.devita.com.au
This Account Has Been Suspended

If i cant get a refund for the payments i made (which MD seem to think i havnt made yet) then i might just cut my losses and move on

My questyion is to some who have moved to Jumba is what is the setup process like?

are they able to import all the details of my hosting with MD. Such as emails, SQL Databases, domain names, my web content?

Or do i have to extract it all myself?

Cheers

rockcod writes...

My questyion is to some who have moved to Jumba is what is the setup process like?

are they able to import all the details of my hosting with MD. Such as emails, SQL Databases, domain names, my web content?

There's a process called a Cpanel Transfer... can you login to your Cpanel at all?? If so, you just ask to get a Cpanel Transfer done, otherwise:

If you have a Full Backup from Cpanel, if you upload it to your Root directory on Jumba, support would be able to restore your Cpanel and pages, db's. etc. :)

ditzy writes...

I too have been getting my websites blacklisted by Google and as I am really just an amateur at all this stuff. I don't know the first thing to do about that!

We had the same problem but my son found the problem and removed it before using google webmaster tools to appeal the listing on the grounds that the problem has been fixed. If you can access and edit your site it is good news. in the probable event that your domain is also unaccessible, there is not much you can do but hope that the problem is resolved soon or try and point your domain to somewhere that works and is free of malicious scripts.

google webmaster tools require that you validate your site by either adding a html page with a certain name or adding content to meta tags. when your sites validated you can (ensuring that the site is clean), appeal the blacklisting.

if you can access your cpanel and change files, you should be fine. if you can't, there's not much that can be done.

Oh, has anyone noticed that md's own site is one of the few that seem to have been unaffected during all of this? just an observation that ive noted since december. (sure they've had an outage or two but not that bad)

ccsclean writes...

if you can access your cpanel and change files, you should be fine. if you can't, there's not much that can be done.

I had a cron job that fired off every now and then and checked the size of the index files on my site against a pre-configured list. If they changed, it would replace them and email a notification to me.

However, MD have restored the server, but most of the data is missing. I have since moved my site elsewhere, but this cron job keeps going off and emailing me. The cron job doesn't show up in Control Panel as it's only partially functional.

Thanks, I can access my Cpanel, but I can't up can't upload any pages through ftp so I can't change any of the pages... I think I may just change web hosting co's. Luckily for me I made my site on my own computer and it's just a simple one, so it's just a matter of swapping over to a new hoster. I feel sorry for the people that have lost lots of data, pages and content... it's not a very good situation for anyone.

ditzy writes...

Thanks, I can access my Cpanel, but I can't up can't upload any pages through ftp

If you have access to Cpanel, I did this last time FTP wouldn't work. I created another FTP user with access to the public_html directory. I was able to get in this way via FTP.

I also believe that the CPanel file manager may allow file uploads, However I've never tried it.

I'm on SUN.. and my website/s went from old december data (when they brought things back up eventually).. and kept getting copy and pasted responses (like the servers have been ordered and will arrive friday.. I got that for two weeks)..

Last night I sent them a stern email AGAIN requesting information about my data coming back as I haven't heard from them at all whether it is via phone, chat, or email (cant log a support ticket .. they've disabled that).

And today I cant login to cpanel, my dns has dropped out and the site isnt even there anymore via the cpanel username

I tried AGAIN to get into chat.. waiting for 7 minutes "Sharon" entered the chat.. and then left as soon as I said hello.

Luckily I had a more recent backup and have moved my most important sites to another host.. but I still need access to some of the more recent data.

clarit writes...

Play nice. I cancelled my acccount with them last week via this method and want to help others resolve their issue.

OR they can just contact the TIO and lodge a formal complaint :) If the offical contact methods are not available then this would seem to be the next option. None of this secret squirrel crap. Formal complaint to the TIO, charge back if you pay by CC and a complaint to your local Fair Trading Dept :) I hear it illegal to take money for a service and not provide it. Why mess around? IF you can show you have done everything in your power to contact and resolve this then move to the next step.

melbtrip writes...

My understanding

From who? MD?

What I am hearing now this was not the case and maybe it was MD had holes in their security.

Well, not much of the offical information makes sense. I'm sure some other hosts have a VERY good idea of what is going on but are not allowed to comment :)

herbertg21 writes...

also in order to cancel your account must you pay the remainding months?

No. You paid for a service and are not getting it. They have had sufficent time to resolve ANY issues and have not done so. Try and contact them VIA the offical means. Logs the times and the result. I suggest three times over a few days should be sufficent. If you get through (45+min on call waiting and I would be hanging up) then you will need to give them time to process the refund. 14 day is long enough. I would expect a refund of at least the period of when these issues started.
The next step if they do not refund OR you cannot contact them is to lodge a formal complaint with the TIO, Dept Fair Trading and get a charge back from your CC company :)

AJS writes...

Play nice. I cancelled my acccount with them last week via this method and want to help others resolve their issue.

OR they can just contact the TIO and lodge a formal complaint :) If the offical contact methods are not available then this would seem to be the next option. None of this secret squirrel crap. Formal complaint to the TIO, charge back if you pay by CC and a complaint to your local Fair Trading Dept :)

My comment "Play nice" refers purely to any emails sent to the email address that I provided as I didn't want (justifiably) angry customers abusing a helpful employee that most likely has nothing to do with the lack of contact.

I was trying to find a quick and easy solution for those trying to get out (as I did).

Sure, go by the book and head down the normal channels if you have time to spare and don't want your site up until after the court case in a year or two. I was trying to help out.

No wonder you have a pretty poor looking aura AJS... Keep up that WP addiction!

I too plead with our moderator to allow this thread to continue. There are far to many issues here, that bare similarity, to all those who post. I have had a very un- rewarding experience, regarding a service, which I had already paid for, without any results, what so ever. Our community deserve's to know, as I assume, most are like myself and only want to deal with company's that will provide as per their statement of service.

The Post If I May !!!

8 days of nothing! No chat lines, or if there were chat lines, they rolled over to a support doc, in a time frame, that aligned itself, with other timezones. I have not had the privilage of speaking with them on the phone either, whether it be "Freecall or Office" as they are off the HOOK. I have had no alternative but to appraoch Governemnet Instrumentallity's, to seek advice. Do you know, that ( .com) is "Ungoverned Territory" please be aware of this. Both Federal and State Governements involved in let's say cyberspace, are limited in their approach to dealing with, the .com revolution. Correspondance has been put in place but I expect the fight goe's on.

Regards

Ok well that's it for me. I was prepared to give MD another chance. Rather than jumping ship as soon as the troubles started, I gave them a chance. However after countless support cases, live chats, and engaged support lines, I've decided to move elsewhere. My site (www.austadiums.com) is on the titan server, it came back online after a few days however they restored a backup from 23rd December. They then assured me on several occassions they had a backup from 7th February. It would be restored "overnight" and "in 2 hours" etc etc. Now today they finally admitted that no such backup exists. I've now learnt a lession myself - I'll be making my own regular backups, however any half decent web host surely should be doing the same! For those of you out there still waiting, don't get your hopes up like I did. Give up and get out of there.

Mr Stego writes...

I also believe that the CPanel file manager may allow file uploads, However I've never tried it.

Mr Stego, just wanted to say thanks! and that I tried uploading the new files via Cpanel file manager and it worked!

Cheers,
ditzy

Don't get too excited. That address is a street address but to lodge a complaint you have to...

nikademus writes...

post a letter to our PO Box

Try this one...

PO box 6190
South Yarra
Melbourne, Victoria
Australia 3141

Is there anybody who can help me.

I had a site on Excalibur, I have not seen hide nor hair of it for three weeks.

Is it too much to ask for answers to these questions from MD:
* Does Excalibur exist?
* When will the Lady of the Lake get it back up and running?
* When will my site then be back up and running?
* Can't I be restored to a server that works?
* Does any other server actually work?
* Why doesn't the ticket system work?
* What refund am I eligible for?
* If I wanted to, how do I cancel my account?
* Given the lack of services, does MD's home page offering constitute misleading advertising?
* Does MD have any material court cases or orders against it? Such as lawsuits for business loss or a petition to wind up?
* Is the Board aware of the problems within MD and what have they done?
* Has the Board appointed a voluntary administrator or have they signed off on the business being a going concern?

Damn I was going to wack in a post warning people away from MD as I had recommended them once or twice on Whirlpool before but looks like im not the only one jacked off with them.

There are so many reasons not to use them, I've been with them for 4 years and the amount of hardware failures they have had is amazing.

And to top it off, I don't believe they backup daily. Why?

Well I am on the Krypton server which was one of the systems effected by the power failure, which then died because of that.

Fair enough, these things happen.

What gets me is that what, 2 weeks later, my site still hasnt been restored properly. I'm missing about 1 month of data from a forum I host.

So you try the live chat, coz hey.. They dont make the number obvious... You get what have to be THE WORST support people I have ever dealt with.. Ever..

The usual answers:

1) read blah blah server noticed
2) We are working as hard as we can (what 2 weeks?)

But today was the best one.. "We have restored your site to the latest backup we have of your site, upload any files missing"

To which i had to tell the ....wit again and again about mysql not being