Rubbish ISP Providers

There are some rubbish ISP providers out there.

At the moment I use three hosting companies. All shall be nameless (for the time being). One of them hosts one of my financial websites. Yesterday I noticed that the site was no longer there. It had literally disappeared from the Internet. I sent the ISP an email (as it was an urgent matter I wanted to phone them, but when I dialled their number I got a recorded message saying that they don't provide telephone support. Then why provide a number on their website? Possibly to lure potential customers into a false sense of security before they reach for their credit card).

Anyway, I got an email saying I should log into the ticket system because there was a reply to my previous email. I logged in and was told that the domain had expired. Did I want to renew the domain for £9.99? I said that I did. That was yesterday and the website is still not there. I asked if they had thought of sending their customers a reminder when their domains were due for renewal, and so far I haven't had a reply.

(Update: I have had a reply. They tell me that the renewal costs £15 + VAT, not £9.99.)

When I tried to log into my account at [this ISP] I was told that I had entered the wrong password. But I had NOT enetered the wrong password. I had entered the password that I always use.

There is also periodically a problem with passwords for individual websites hosted with this ISP. There is also a login issue with the other (paid-for) services with this ISP (they are suddenly not such good value when you factor in all the extras that other ISPs provide for free, like traffic stats).

On one domain I had to go through their tedious contact process three times in order to view my visitor stats. First my login didn't work, so I was given a different password. Then that login didn't work, so I was given another password. Then that login didn't work, so I was given a third password.

It seems to me that they are making it up as they go along.

Come on [name of ISP], you know who you are. Buck up your ideas! Otherwise I will tell people who you are.

(Incidentally, if you're wondering why I'm using the apparently tautological phrase "ISP Provider" it is for SEO purposes.)