GISOL Ate My Blog
This what I get for sticking with a web host that has been given a grade of “F” by the Los Angeles branch of the better business bureau and who’s Google search page list is filled with words like “fraud” and “sucks”. And according to this FOX News investigative report from 2008, GISOL has an extensive history of deceptive business practices and appears to be run by two guys out of a single family house in Hollywood.
My GISOL story is different from many others. I sent them email on 11-12-09 and I still have not gotten any response.
On 11-11-9 my account with GISOL was suspended. I was contacted by a rep. from GISOL on 11-12-9 and was told that my web site had been hacked via the FTP access by “Turkish hackers” who uploaded “malicious software, porn, and Turkish music.” My account was suspended as protection but fortunately my website data had been backed up by the GISOL server and could be restored. However, I was told that I would need to purchase a new account in order to have the data and website restored. I asked why, being that it was not my fault that the web site was hacked only to be told that it was since I had a “weak” password. The person who I talked with identified himself as a “supervisor” and was extremely rude and condescending. He refused to let me talk with someone in a more senior position. He then told me “what’s the big deal? Your current account ends next month.” However, this is incorrect as my account was paid for through December 2010. After I told him this he became confused and admitted that he did not have access to my account information at that time. I asked if I could see some evidence of the alleged hacking of my account with server or account logs since I no longer have access to them but he told me that he could not provide this.
I purchased a service through GISOL to host a website. I did not purchase a tangible asset that could be damaged and need to be replaced at additional cost. As such, GISOL is contractually obligated to honor the terms of my current account to provide web hosting services without additional financial obligations until 10/2010 (the account was for unlimited bandwidth and disk space). Malicious and illegal behavior by a third party does not invalidate or change the terms of this contract. Additionally, your admittance that a back up of my website data does, in fact, exist on your server implies that this is a standard practice and normal server function and as such is included in the web hosting services provided by GISOL for which I have paid for in full. Your refusal to allow me to have access to my account and the backed up data from my web site for the remainder of the term of my account is not only a contractual violation but very well may be illegal under California and Federal law as it constitutes fraud and misrepresentation.
Oh well. Seven years of blog articles, down-the-GISOL-drain. When it comes to these guys, trust is a four letter word.
Oh wow, 7 years!!!! thats a long time. And you being an MD im sure those articles were highly read…
Hey, RangelMD, email me if you want some resources to help get your site back up.
I could have dealt with the malicious software and the porn, not the Turkish music, however.
Truly a heart attack in the making. The content alone was certainly a man-year. (Can’t think that this GISOL is long for this world.) Do whatever it takes to get your data. Posting it somewhere else is easy.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kevin Pho, M.D., Bryan Vartabedian. Bryan Vartabedian said: Whoa! RT @kevinmd: Chris Rangel, 1 of the vry 1st, & best, medbloggers. lost 7 years of posts. Back up yr WP blog daily. http://is.gd/57WOT [...]
Wow… That’s a scary thought. I will definitely heed your warning and use a more secure password. I currently use godaddy.com for my hosting and have been very happy so far.
Good luck with getting back up.
Keep contacting them! Do not let them get away with it! Seven years is a LONG time!
Who are you hosting with now?
EEESSHHH. That’s not good. Looking forward to reading the next seven years of posts. Good luck to you.
Hi, just thought you’d be interested to know that I have saved you to my bookmarks because of your beautiful blog layout (LOL). But honestly, I think your blog has one of the cleanest design I’ve seen yet. It honestly helps make reading your blog a lot easier.
So you mean there is no way I can read your past articles.
Rats. I was looking for one entitle 10 reasons doctors order more tests.
Is that anywhere on the internet.
If you’ve lost 7 years of blogging you might have to pay their ransom to preserve all your work.
I host websites but keep a backup copy on my computer.
That technology should exits for blogs. I have a couple of blogs but, you are right, they aren’t backed up anywhere that I know of so years of work could be lost.
Maybe a good reason to have a website rather than a blog.