Hello House.

I started a thread yesterday about Nigerian Webhosts being ineffective this and that.
https://www.nairaland.com/1412554/inefficient-nigerian-webhosts

My problem was actually with Smartweb.com.ng who I host more than 10 websites with.

Yesterday, I was told that one of my websites: (which has been down for more than 5days) has been terminated abruptly.

I was so surprised. I actually paid a webhost money to host for me and they suddenly take down my site without warning. They indicated that I broke one of their rules, I have read through their rules and I did not break any. I am begging them to tell me the rule I broke. They have refused.

Someone tell Smartweb to put up my site or explain to me what gives them a right to take down my website without any warning.

House, I will appreciate any help I can get on this.

I think someone should contact Smartwebng.com as regards this thread so we can have thier own side of the story.

Thanks Brandnew for coming in

Smart Web Should At-least Explain Why It Was Terminated and also learn to understand what clients are saying.
Maybe the website was hijacked by a spammer and used to carry out Spam activities(Without the client knowing).. They should at-least have contacted the client before terminating is website(Meaning DATA cannot be recovered)... WHY NOT SUSPEND FIRST BEFORE TERMINATION.

lastbender01: Smart Web Should At-least Explain Why It Was Terminated and also learn to understand what clients are saying.
Maybe the website was hijacked by a spammer and used to carry out Spam activities(Without the client knowing).. They should at-least have contacted the client before terminating is website(Meaning DATA cannot be recovered)... WHY NOT SUSPEND FIRST BEFORE TERMINATION.

My brother. I do not understand what their problem is. The site is for a security company. I used over 2 months to build the site with all contents of the site only online. Before then, it has been live for over 2 months. Two weeks ago, the website was hacked. I removed the index.html page that was created by the hacker then changed the cpanel password. Now a webhost terminates my account.

Please house, this is unethical to stop a site like that without a warning. Lets not just ignore, who knows who might be the victim of this cruelty and poor service.

@velo10

Ask them for backup if possible... Maybe they have it stored in a remote server elsewhere..
That way you can get your data and move over to another host

lastbender01: @velo10

Ask them for backup if possible... Maybe they have it stored in a remote server elsewhere..
That way you can get your data and move over to another host

Thanks for your option. They chose not to communicate with me since yesterday evening. Can you imagine that.

Then the best thing is to let you client(WWW.AXISSECURITY.COM.NG) be aware of the situation.

Maybe they will understand.

velo10: I used over 2 months to build the site with all contents of the site only online.

You "developers" are out of this world.

To the Umar guy (if you ever get to see this), stop acting like an answering machine in your responses. If your customers needed one they would know where to get one.

Dual Core:
You "developers" are out of this world.

Dualcore, I built the site on WP. Ithe site has over 100 different products which I took alot of time to collate their information before the aite was 100% ready.

Atimes when people set up a company , they first appeal for patronage, but when the patronage gets to increase , they tend to 4get how they all started ,

@SMARTWEB -------- fromm the discusion chat above , its clear , you people are no longer in need of more patronage , if a client made an error, the first is to warn , then suspend before termination of contract :::::::

@ UMAR , ur response didn't make it easy for the client , pllsssssssssss even dangote iss still makiing more mmoney , not minding his status ,

iHOSTAFRICA.COM IS ALSO THE SAME OOOO. BETA RUN FROM ALL AFRICAN HOST..........

I have been using smartweb for some time now and their customer support is awesome. I blame the op more. Why? I have a site that was hacked and within 6 minutes the hacker sent 16,000 emails from my webmail. My site was immediately blocked and this same umar helped me but after having convinced them that it was not my fault. From what i gather, the guy was asking if someone else has access to the backend of the site but the op did not answer that question. As a matter of fact the op did not answer any question that would have aided in solving it and to top it all, he's a rude fellow. Anyways, op smartweb did not treat you well but you also didn't help yourself.

Umar sounds like a bot programmed to respond with prepared answers to stall the op.

The webhost business has been saturated by lazy folks recently.

Hoping smartweb resolves this quickly

Unbelievable! :O

uwa234: I have been using smartweb for some time now and their customer support is awesome. I blame the op more. Why? I have a site that was hacked and within 6 minutes the hacker sent 16,000 emails from my webmail. My site was immediately blocked and this same umar helped me but after having convinced them that it was not my fault. From what i gather, the guy was asking if someone else has access to the backend of the site but the op did not answer that question. As a matter of fact the op did not answer any question that would have aided in solving it and to top it all, he's a rude fellow. Anyways, op smartweb did not treat you well but you also didn't help yourself.

Uwa, among all the responses here, yours is the most unfair and does not lead to the solution of this issue.
As I am talking to you I use 3 Nigerian hosts and a foreign host. There was a time when my cpanel was hacked on a ihostafrica server. I was given an email to make some deleting to some fraudulent scripts that were created on my file manager. I postponed the process and I was suspended. On calling the webhost they allowed me to make the changes and since then the problem was resolved.

Now I cannot believe a fellow webmaster like you deems it wise to blame me when my website is abruptly locked down for no reason and when I ask for a reason why I am being ignored.

Please I started this thread with the hope that I will get solutions to my site being locked down. The last thing I expect is someone who doesn't know what I am going through blaming me and calling me rude. Please let us respect ourselves.

Smartweb, please kindly do something about this. I will gladly recommend this topic is taken down if this issue is rectified. Silence is not golden on this matter. Both the client and webmaster will appreciate your response.

Your Case is synonymous of a Pot calling a Kettle Black. Building a Website without an Offline Backup is Simply the Height of Quackery. Even if you built it online, you should download an Offline Copy of the Files and DB on a periodic basis.

It is about time that the So Called "Web Developers" prove their mettle by creating viable and secure customs PHP Apps instead of using free scripts that are very vulnerable to hackers.

velo10:

Dualcore, I built the site on WP. Ithe site has over 100 different products which I took alot of time to collate their information before the aite was 100% ready.

About Umar, sounding like an answering machine, I once assumed so. Imagine telling someone to check a site and he gives you the same response he gave before. That is the person a registered Web hosting deems fit for a customer support personnel.

I am in support that webhosts have an association with laid down ethics not some people thinking they can do whatever with people's websites and data because a client chose to pay them for a service.

velo10: Dualcore, I built the site on WP. Ithe site has over 100 different products which I took alot of time to collate their information before the aite was 100% ready.

Nothing can justify having all your data in only one place. That is just the unsentimental truth.

About the questions that were asked by the support bot:

1. That most be a configuration error. How many people are getting access to the site panel the WordPress?
Answer: You are the server admin and should know how to read server logs about access to any area of the server.

Have you made any update recently?
Answer: As the server admin with root access you can run a check on this site's home directory and draw up a list of files that were modified N number of days ago.

When last do you accessed it correctly?
Answer: Your customer already said "Axissecurity.com.ng has been down since yesterday".


Basically the support is lazy and has asked those 3 stupid questions either to buy time and continue sleeping in bed or they just don't know what to do and are buying time while they get technical support from their upstream provider if they run a managed service from them. These are speculations, the actual reason is best known by them.

About account termination, all terms aside... as long as it isn't a clear case of intentional fraud, it is just animal(jungle justice) to delete files (terminate) off of a server prior to conclusion of a problem when all access to those files can be barred by suspending the site. Even if the final outcome will be termination, the customer should be consulted and given a full backup of his site and told bye bye. This is a non-written best practice.

I blame the OP. Yes. Forgive me for swearing, but WHY DA FUKK would anyone trust a Nigerian host?? 10 websites? Good lord!! The so-called admin cannot even speak english!

On Arvixe, all my problems get solved with one reply.

This may not sound patriotic, but until Nigerian hosts start to impress me, I'll continue to see them as scam.

abhosts: Your Case is synonymous of a Pot calling a Kettle Black. Building a Website without an Offline Backup is Simply the Height of Quackery. Even if you built it online, you should download an Offline Copy of the Files and DB on a periodic basis.
It is about time that the So Called "Web Developers" prove their mettle by creating viable and secure customs PHP Apps instead of using free scripts that are very vulnerable to hackers.

From your username, it is clear that you are a webhost too. I put it online with the hope of downloading a copy later and storing it in my archive.
By the way, who doesn't use CMS scripts? The Whitehouse built their website on drupal and CNN has theirs on wordpress. Why not create your own php app and sell it to the world rather than blame unnecessarily?

Call me whatever, but the last thing we need here is an irrational opinion. People like you are not problem solvers. Rather you're blame seekers. If a man was shot at 10:30pm in the night by the police, it's people like you that will blame the man for being outside at near-midnight rather than blame the trigger-happy policeman for shedding innocent blood. Something unethical was just done. I am not looking for beef. I am looking for solution.

Dual Core:
Nothing can justify having all your data in only one place. That is just the unsentimental truth.

Thanks for the correction. that was my mistake.

Dual Core:

About account termination, all terms aside... as long as it isn't a clear case of intentional fraud, it is just animal(jungle justice) to delete files (terminate) off of a server prior to conclusion of a problem when all access to those files can be barred by suspending the site. Even if the final outcome will be termination, the customer should be consulted and given a full backup of his site and told bye bye. This is a non-written best practice.

Thanks for coming in once again. Before now, I have always admired your input on this forum.
If I was any guilty of spam, pornography or fraud, I will not take any offense on what happened. In fact I will be too shy to rear my shameful face out here shouting injustice. Whats annoying is that I still do not know what I have done wrong.

Please any one who can contact Smartweb, please do.

Some Web host companies don't contact the customer if you violated their terms before terminating your domain.

Best solution is for you to ask for backup. Always use automatic backup.

uwa234: I have been using smartweb for some time now and their customer support is awesome. I blame the op more. Why? I have a site that was hacked and within 6 minutes the hacker sent 16,000 emails from my webmail. My site was immediately blocked and this same umar helped me but after having convinced them that it was not my fault. From what i gather, the guy was asking if someone else has access to the backend of the site but the op did not answer that question. As a matter of fact the op did not answer any question that would have aided in solving it and to top it all, he's a rude fellow. Anyways, op smartweb did not treat you well but you also didn't help yourself.

Exactly.

Youngzedd: Some Web host companies don't contact the customer if you violated their terms before terminating your domain.

Best solution is for you to ask for backup. Always use automatic backup.

Usually, the webhost suspends or calls to order rather than terminate it abruptly.

Hello Guys, I had a lengthy call with one of the staff at Smartweb. I was told that the reason of my site's termination is because they found me guilty of phishing. They have brought their proof against me and I have given them a reply. I am watching how it goes. I am really in a fix with my client on my neck. However, I will update how it went.
However, I still insist it is wrong to terminate a client's website abruptly without warning. Because my site was hacked and illegal activities were done through it doesn't make me guilty of an offense and such rash measures.

Hello Guys. I really appreciate your help and advise towards getting a resolution.

Presently, I was able to talk to a guy in Smartweb. He told me that they suspected that I installed a phishing script on my cpanel that is why they took the site down. After another lengthy conversation, where I had to explain my innocence and previous hack attack a week ago, they promised to look into it and that they have done. The website has been restored.

I apologize for any offence I have made to anyone with respect to this issue. I also want to use the opportunity to thank Smartweb for choosing to listen. Thank you all

Dual Core:
About the questions that were asked by the support bot:

1. That most be a configuration error. How many people are getting access to the site panel the WordPress?
Answer: You are the server admin and should know how to read server logs about access to any area of the server.

Have you made any update recently?
Answer: As the server admin with root access you can run a check on this site's home directory and draw up a list of files that were modified N number of days ago.

When last do you accessed it correctly?
Answer: Your customer already said "Axissecurity.com.ng has been down since yesterday".


* Basically the support is lazy and has asked those 3 stupid questions either to buy time and continue sleeping in bed or they just don't know what to do and are buying time while they get technical support from their upstream provider if they run a managed service from them. These are speculations, the actual reason is best known by them.

About account termination, all terms aside... as long as it isn't a clear case of intentional fraud, it is just animal(jungle justice) to delete files (terminate) off of a server prior to conclusion of a problem when all access to those files can be barred by suspending the site. Even if the final outcome will be termination, the customer should be consulted and given a full backup of his site and told bye bye. This is a non-written best practice.

I do not agree with the astrisked [mine] part of your statement above. Sometimes it is necessary to double check and crossreference statements with logs as well as have something for evidence just in case it makes the courts. I once had an issue with a web client and discovered at the end of the day the fault was not 'exactly' from either of us but from his browser addons but things like screenshots and attitudes like sincerity helped save the day.

A spambot could easily have compromised his logins either from his pc or any other one used in time past hence the question on who else accesses the site admin and collaborate that with IP logs.

Foreign web hosts ba?

EasyNaija.com:
I blame the OP. Yes. Forgive me for swearing, but WHY DA FUKK would anyone trust a Nigerian host?? 10 websites? Good lord!! The so-called admin cannot even speak english!

On Arvixe, all my problems get solved with one reply.

This may not sound patriotic, but until Nigerian hosts start to impress me, I'll continue to see them as scam.

I had a client hosting with me one time and he was one of those yahoo-yahoo guys at the end of the day as he tried cloning a bank site but innocent me did not know about what he was doing until hostgator nuked the site and 'after' let me know which I related to the client and of course he had no fight to tender. But the end of the matter was my dns comming up on a scam database. Some hosts would rather shut you out once spotted than let you kobalize their pot of soup before their service providers (domain or hosting) wade into the matter.

To be fair to hostgator they do send warnings atimes but also they do block sites if they notice unusual security warning activity and you only know when site is down and thus it is good for webhosts either resellers and major should let their customers know in plain terms what and what causes what but at least a 24hr warning is a good way of service of good faith.

It seems the site is now online.

But I have a question.
Who is: http://axissecurity.com.ng
And: http://axissecurity.com

Is it safe to use the name of a US registered security company and also use their exact url, save for the .ng difference?

Again, are you sure this client of yours is registered with appropriate regulatory bodies and recognized by security agencies since the company sells handcuffs and other security gadgets?

GraphicsPlus: It seems the site is now online.

But I have a question.
Who is: http://axissecurity.com.ng
And: http://axissecurity.com

Is it safe to use the name of a US registered security company and also use their exact url, save for the .ng difference?

Again, are you sure this client of yours is registered with appropriate regulatory bodies and recognized by security agencies since the company sells handcuffs and other security gadgets?

Well noted , I have been marketing their products for over 7 years now , and I can asssure you that if not for the fact of inferiority complex of we africans , u will be shocked to know that most indigenious companies here are way-rooted than most white-favoured vitual companies ,if u googgle AXIS SECURITY , u will see
axis security UK
axis security USA
axis security AUSTRALIA
axis security SOUTHAFRICA and sooo on ,
As long as a company is registered with the CAC of his host country , he can operate within that jurisdiction , (hence your lawyer alwways go for search during company registration)