DreamHost is actually NightmareHost

DreamHost has become a virtual nightmare for me. I am someone who is constantly updating my websites and landed here from ValueWeb (Affinity Inc) and although ValueWeb is more expensive, at least their product is stable. I have yet to come on this forum even one time when there isn't like 10 posts about a server down or e-mail problems, etc...and while all hosts seem to have some extent of troubles, theres seem to be far to frequent for my tastes. I should have known better than to go to a hosting provider that is too scared to print a technical contact phone number. Even if it is long distance, at least you are able to speak to a human and try to get the problem resolved right than and there instead of jumping through hoops all over the place. They (DH) always promise a response within 24 hours and NOT ONE of my support queries have resulted in that type of turnaround efficiency. I truly think that DreamHost is a sinking ship and im just about ready to abandon it. I just wish they could get their act together.



IAmAtMyWitsEnd

i can only speak for myself. i'm really starting ot dislike dreamhost for it's infrequent downtimes because it's ruining the supposedly good reputation i thought dreamhost had. i've been with them since 2000, and each year gets worse and worse.

used to be you get emails about downtime and problems, now you dont even get them. dreamhost running scared or what?

i'm really frustrated as a customer of theirs, a long time customer who pays alot for service. *SIGH*

I have only been with dreamhost since 2003. I am still on other hosts, and am down more with them, than dreamhost.

Knowing that even phpbb just got hacked and is still down since yesterday, I am realizing more and more that we have to give patience to our providers. my clients are so understanding...they let me know when they are having issues, but don't complain too much. They, like me, are happy with Dreamhost. We will stick with them, through all this hardships.

A freind asked me the other day why I have so many different accounts with dreamhost, why don't I just get a dedicated server and not spend $200-300 a month on all those accounts. I said, in case they were unhappy, with me or the host provider, at least they could leave, leave me and stay with the host, or leave both.

So far, only two years, all have stayed. I may want to (if I can) eventually move all to a dedicated server. I will never get referrals again...but my clients are all that counts.

> We will stick with them, through all this hardships.

Well ... this is the hard part. It's REALLY difficult to ask *clients* to do the same you would expect from friends or family, at least MY clients won't allow me to do so. But yes, to be fair, many would be willing to bear with some short term problems, provided that they are indeed short term. ;)

well it would help me alot more if dreamhost sent out an email or posted on their website what is happening besides just letting customers know AFTER the fact they've fixed things. that's just bad service!

by the time you lose a customer [on our end], it's already too late. and dreamhost still gets our $$$.

I moved here from a different host in December 2004, and haven't looked back.
My other host screwed me all over the place. My site would be down pretty much every 2 weeks or month. Here, I don't really notice my site if it's down because it doesn't get lots of visits, but I've not noticed it down once. The server speed is fine, whilst at my other host (using Cpanel, showing red on status panel) the servers weren't quite slow serving scripts.

I'm perfectly happy with DH so far. I love the panel, even if it does take ages to do anything ;).

gone,

i have to tell you that even the friend of mine who referred me to DH is now having second thoughts. Just like many others, he loved the service up until DH started to grow through that *code monster sale* - since than he has noticed much heavier downtime, much slower server speeds, and almost all technical response queries go long past 24 hours for even an acknowledgement. I'm not sure if they are growing too fast for there own good, but, either way, my customers are not as patient as yours and with the form and email problems now plaguing their sites, many have called for my head in recent weeks. A few days for hardware/software upgrades is one thing, but these consistent problems that are plaguing DH are something quite another.

IAmAtMyWitsEnd

I've used DreamHost since 2001, moving from a former provider that was nothing but trouble; I haven't had a major problem with Dreamhost in all these years. I've also referred some other people to DreamHost, and as far as I know they're all happy with it.

-- Dan

> why I have so many different accounts with dreamhost, why don't I just get a
> dedicated server and not spend $200-300 a month on all those accounts.

Whould that really make much difference? E.g. is a DH dedicated server free from the recont problems e.g. PHP hacking?

This is the type of answer i seem to see alot of on these boards, people arent really *happy* about what is going on, they are *settling* for it because of the large bandwidth and disk space for relatively low price. Unfortunately, i deal with several sites that receive very high page requests and many form submittals, and have been very unhappy since about december of 2004. That 19.95 deal is only as good as being able to USE the bandwidth and disk space and still be up a good bit of time.

Lastly, i am greatly concerned with the dishonesty that seems to permeate from the DH camp (and by that i mean dishonesty by omission). The uptime statistics that are generated are completely false, their 24 hour turnaround claim is ridiculous, and the mere fact that they are not even organized enough to keep their own *emergency status page* up to date

http://status.dreamhost.com/

are they still down? what gives?

It's a great deal, but so is $20 for a 2005 corvette. Only thing is, you arent allowed to DRIVE the corvette :P



IAmAtMyWitsEnd

> besides just letting customers know AFTER the fact they've fixed things.

If you've received that, you're doing better that I. I'm going to give up acking Support why I'm suffering outages, only to get "Glad its working now". And when I ask "Can you answre the original question, please?" amnesia sets in: "What question?".

Very very sad. DH is the best... when it works. But pretty much useless at other times. I do so much hope they drag themselves out of this bad patch.

> people arent really *happy* about what is going on, they are *settling* for it because of the large bandwidth and disk space for relatively low price

In my case this is not true, I have experienced none of the problems you refer to of late but I don't doubt they're happening. I don't doubt either that this is first priority with Dreamhost. Extremely concerned that it's taking this long to resolve though. Sorry you're suffering this.

> I do so much hope they drag themselves out of this bad patch

It's been my experience that *all* shared hosts go through this type of problem when encountering growth that goes beyond their expectations. The cruel thing is that when it lasts long enough to make you move, well that's usually about the time it gets fixed and all the wailing in the support forums turns back to cheers of joy. That's cruel innit?! Hopefully it is just harddware/sfotware/network trouble and not business shuffle trouble, that usually takes quite a bit longer to resolve and I am now wondering officially what's going on, just short of asking a business question that would start stupid rumors and suppositions. Perhaps the preceding was enough, I hope not.

I've been here through a few growth spurts and a complete data center move, Dreamhost has always been top notch at keeping things running, and running well, in the past, and I have a lot of assets here so moving would be a big deal for me. Those 2 points keep me glued here longer than a new comer haivng immediate and persistent fits, but I'm telling you in my experience, they always take care of things.

All that said, that's probably going to be my last pro-dreamhost post for a while, don't want to jinx myself, look a fool if this service continues, give someone bad advice etc etc etc.

uuuh, go Dreamhost!

jason

> Lastly, i am greatly concerned with the dishonesty that seems to
> permeate from the DH camp (and by that i mean dishonesty by omission).

I must say that DH have been more willing to 'fess up to faults than any other provider I've experienced.

> The uptime statistics that are generated are completely false

OK, but when a queried this with Support they admitted it immediately:

at this time the uptime page is little more than useless.

> their 24 hour turnaround claim is ridiculous

They are getting better.

> and the mere fact that they are not even organized enough
> to keep their own *emergency status page* up to date

DH's intention is that that page is valid only "In case of a network outage or other internal problems which result in our web panel being inaccessible" and though yes failing to say so is a misrep, I do believe that on that basis the can and do run it satisfactorily.

So, while everyone is busy bickering about why they're leaving DreamHost, I'm busy working on my site, because I'm staying. I'd love to talk about that, but it would just be pointless. Some people are just set in their ways and beliefs that something better exists, and that you can find shared hosting with the features, uptime, and support of a dedicated server. That just doesn't happen in the real world. But, enjoy your Golden Calf.

I don't think you should be so dismissive of the pain these folks are feeling. If I understand things correctly they are new signups that have experienced nothing but crap service from the get go without resolution, that's a legitimate gripe!

Any responsible party in that situation *should* be looking elsewhere if they have people paying them to do things properly.

Don't know if any amount of recommendations about past performance could persuade me if I were in that situation.

jason

With respect, it does not seem fair to be critical of this concern. Why should customers go on putting up with these issues?

I too have concern over the downtimes and slow connections.

I came here from a referral and could not believe the value being offered. However, there is no value if the thing doesn't work.

I started here paying monthly as I go and have not done a lot on the site so I suspect I can more easily pick up my bags and leave than most people.

For what it is worth, I have another domain with iPowerweb. I've been there a year. The server is ALWAYS faster and I can't remember having a single occurence of downtime.

Having said all this, my patience with DreamHost has not reached its limit but it is getting darn close and I would not blame people for leaving - especially if customers and income were on the line.

My two cents.

I agree, these are bad situations, but that same thing happens at other hosting companies, all the time. If you want to be a hosting reseller, you need a dedicated server. Don't try to get by doing it with shared hosting, it's not up all the time. If you need more proof, look at DH and the companies like it on all of the web hosting review site. They all have their equal share of praise for occasional good service and scorn for downtime and occasional bad service.

>So, while everyone is busy bickering about why they're leaving DreamHost, I'm busy working on my site, because I'm staying.

I agree!

Edited by everinjoy on 02/08/05 04:38 PM (server time).

Durn, I am still here...my customers are still happy.

I do want to know what the problem was with your forms. I have quite a few sites hosted here. Some are Bandwidth demons...some are form demons...some are database demons...some are just possessed.

but for the life of me, I can't find your problems with forms with your current name. Did you post with another name? If so, let us know. I would like to know how your form broke.

Barbara

May I ask who is that other host? I am always suspicious of the credibility of posts when people don't cite their sources or name names. It appears like a planted posting.

I can tell you the one's I have and do use and which I like:

BlueHost - very, very good
HostSave - very good
Lunarpages - pretty Good
Powweb - pretty good
Addr.com - sucks


JB

hmmm, as a brand new customer (3 days), let me present a few observations and supporting facts:

1. On DH's "about us" page (http://www.dreamhost.com/aboutus.html): it states: "Every message is responded to within 24 hours, with a friendly, helpful, and completely honest answer. Sometimes a server does go down, and we let our customers know when it happens. " The word "every" is bolded.

2. Here is the date and time stamp from their support history page where I logged a support problem regarding not having working email: "Message from jxxxxxxx (Feb 8th, 2005 - 22:15:05 / #972753) Emaill addresses "

3. It is now 24.5 hours later and I've had no response from them. I've logged in a second request.

Conclusion: If they don't respond, and have a solution in the morning; I am outta here. Am I going to have to fight them to get my money back? Anyone heard any experiences with refunds?

Note: I was just trying them out; but it looks like I'll stick to Lunarpages and BlueHost . (See my sites up and stable there, respectively: www.ehso.com, www.pickyourown.org )
My site here is www.warpedandtwisted.com - still ubderdevelopment, but there's already some funny stuff there...

JB

Their current open support request que has been fluctuating between 300 and 600. I personally don't see any support team getting through that amount in 24 hours. After all, these guys have to eat, sleep, and live with their families. My support responses have all been under 36 hours. That's fine for me.

I agree that right now they are slammed. However, they probably should remove that 24 hour expectation from their About page since it hasn't been realistic since I joined in December. Right now they're setting false expectations when new people join.

Once they get their support system under control again, then put it back up there.

bryan | website