I will keep this short as possible


I had been with a dedicated server provider since 2021 and had upgraded and added a number of servers over this time

I bought a server in March to use as a GRE router, during the sales ticket no mention of the bandwidth limit had been advised and a huge limit was applied but as I had advised it was going to be a GRE router thought nothing of it

Some of my clients use a lot of bandwidth, suddenly mid July this year I received emails to advise that I was either 80% or over my limit, I signed in found my limit had been drastically changed without warning or anything.

I contacted support only to be advised it was an error and they did not "appreciate being taken advantage of", I replied quoting the sales ticket reference of my GRE router server and waited days and no reply, just watching the overuse continue to grow and doing a quick calculation would have been hit with a £1000 approx invoice plus server renewals and decided to move since I was getting no replies to my tickets regarding this.

I took advise from trading standards who advise no provider can simply change something like that even in error without any type of warning or warning period

I found the member of staff who works for this provider and had changed all this without warning in fact is running their own private company that targets the same low end server customers, advertises in the same market place and probably saw my ads in the forum market place and possibly took action in an attempt to sabotage or disrupt my company.

I moved and finally after me doing all the chasing their director admitted it was wrong and paid a small compensation to me but this does not even cover a fifth of what I have lost in customers who have now left because of all the switching.

I have tried to reach out to the director again to explain the full impact but he simply ignores everything, this is not a small company, they are a well know UK server provider.

The stress and worry is having a huge impact on my mental health with the thought of losing everything I had worked so hard to build while battling physical and mental disability it is heart breaking to see this happing and I could not have done anything to stop it.

Which well known hosting company is this?

I do not want to publicly shame them yet, looking for some advice on none bias since it is a known company people will have good experiences, their trust pilot and Google had 100% until I left my review 

Looking for what people would do themselves without giving a bias light by naming them yet

I will say they offer dedicated servers in 2 locations of the UK, have 2 brands their cheaper brand and one that offers colocation as well as managed servers too. They have been operating since 2004 that I know of.

 

Sad to hear this has happened.

Citizens Advice Bureau and, if they can't help: a Dispute Resolution solicitor.

Any idea of the costs of a Dispute Resolution solicitor to simply send a letter advising I am unhappy and am considering further action.

I spoke with CAB who gave me the advise they cannot do this type of thing which at that point after me doing all the chasing to try and resolve did they respond with a small payment but after allowing time for monthly renewals ect to come into force with people cancelling or simply no longer replying or renewing after being with me a long time this CEO who is very well known in the industry ignore all contact but as a test as friend sent him a email too asking for a price on a server and within the hour replied showing he is actively working.

They company owns 2 datacentres, one in Coventry and one in London.

 

You can raise a dispute but are unlikely to win. Read the T&C carefully and there is usually a clause allowing them to restrict bandwidth. This sort of thing has been around for a while especially as Host Europe Group now own most of the UK hosts and is cutting services to the bone to maximise profits.

 

This is not one of the  Host Europe Group centres, this is still a smallish one compared to  Host Europe Group but have already admitted they are at fault with the first payment that does not cover anything and the point they are failing to email reply makes it even harder to resolve but does cause further stress.

Not really sure what you hope will happen.

You aren't going to get compensation to cover your losses.

As the service provider to your customers you were responsible for that service not the host. The change in bandwidth may have been deliberate or accidental but it's been and gone and as you are with a new provider you are no longer a customer of the original host they consider the matter closed.

All can do now is build up the business again and pay for a monitoring service. It's what I have on my dedicated server so I know the instant something is out of kilter.

It was not the fact the servers went down,

They attempted to change the limit to force an overlimit charge of around £1000. 

The point here is if they had to do a change even in error, trading standards also agree they have a legal duty to give notice of the change especially if they are at fault.

Having a monitor would not stop or prevent this, the limit is set at their control panel not on the server it's self. This is at account level.

The same would apply if your server company today found you had been under paying for maybe 3 years and sent you a invoice for the under payment. Would you agree to pay that ?

Edited September 6, 20242 yr by MrVPS

I’m not sure what you hope will happen.

At best you will get some money back from your hosting fees but that’s about it. You aren’t going to get any compensation for loss of business. The T&C will state they aren’t responsible for you business losses.

Read the small print in the terms.

A monitor would tell you if you had exceeded bandwidth. You could have caught this very early on.

You could also have been checking the server every couple of days. I keep a close eye on mine to check it’s all working as it should.

3 hours ago, fisicx said:

A monitor would tell you if you had exceeded bandwidth. You could have caught this very early on.

You could also have been checking the server every couple of days. I keep a close eye on mine to check it’s all working as it should.

They had a monitor to tell me about the bandwidth,

Maybe I had not explained it clear

I had a limit on my account for example 200000TB

I go to sleep

I wake up

The limit is changed to 2000TB

Without any warning, email anything at all

How would you deal with a company who changes the limit on your account, no monitor can do anything about that if it they decide to change the settings without warning to already put you over the amount used already.

It all depends on what was written in the contract and the T&C

Did the contract actually say your bandwidth allowance was 200 000TB?

Do the terms say they can change the limits?

Does the contract have any provision for loss of business?

The old host isn't going to do anything. Write it off to experience and move on. Your legal costs are going to be far higher than any compensation you will get.

Read both the contract and T&C again and see what they say about changing bandwidth and loss of earnings.

Great counsel by fisicx.

Only thing I can think to add is to search the contracts and T&Cs for the bits where they outline their obligations to inform you of any changes they make.

If they state they'll give you written notice in advance, just as an example, and they never did - then you might have something.

Echoing fisicx again: In the likely case that the wording doesn't tie them to any obligations: your mental health will be better served by looking forwards, and not dwelling on this.
I realise it is easy for me to type this, but I can promise you that you'll feel better by not allowing this horrible experience to be an open wound.