Vizaweb and Asiawood
I’m beginning to wonder if there’s a connection here.
I’ve so far found three sites hosted on Vizaweb that have files on them used by one particular spammer. One I’ve termed Asiawood, and described briefly before.
Two sites with read.php in subdirectories. Modified or uploaded just days ago:
wbpresbyterian.org
coasterdom.com (Update: Confirmed alien code not placed by site admin)
And one with a wp-read.php file:
paulinekilar.com
I’ve been unable to find any other wp-read.php files (so far), and none other spamvertized in Google.
So, what’s going on? Hacking? Deal made with the hosting company? Deal made with their customers?
Vizaweb has been hacked before, as has many other hosting companies. And we’ve had a recent slew of cpanel hackings. They have both cpanel and Fantastico on Vizaweb. If cpanel hasn’t been patched, I guess it’s possible? We’ve had some Turkish hackers spreading their propaganda, but a spammer would be better served with a less noticeable hack?
Just speculating here…
Update: I’ve since found the same spammer on other hosting companies. Two more seemingly hacked sites. One had three files used in spamming. Different file names, same spammer.
September 9th, 2006 at 1:57 pm
Our hosting company, Vizaweb, sent an e-mail on 9-5-2006 explaining that they were under a major attack and had disabled FTP access until further notice. They suggested we log into cPanel and change our password to prevent further misuse, which we did. Vizaweb claimed a hacker was sniffing their network for FTP passwords.
Last night our blog, 3plwire.com, was fine. Today it is gone, replaced by a screen that says our domain name has expired and a “click here to renew”. This is impossible as we would never let our domain name expire. We tried to contact Vizaweb, but their entire website is down. You can not access their website at all or contact them in any way.
We are just humble non-tech savvy bloggers. Do you think Vizaweb shut itself down to fix the problem or is there something even more sinister afoot? Our biggest fear is complete loss of our blog and all our archives. It would really suck to start over again.
September 9th, 2006 at 3:48 pm
Oops, I see one more site at Vizaweb is down (but it was thoroughly hacked and may have been taken down by the owner). Three other sites are still up. And vizaweb.com is currently up.
But there’s more that’s happening to your site. The domain lapsed yesterday. It’s currently in “RENEWAL HOLD”. Also, many customers of Vizaweb let their webhost register their domains. That’s NEVER a good idea. Basically, if you don’t like it there, and they don’t feel like letting you go, they’ll force you to stay, or you lose the domain.
But, since Vizaweb registered the domain, it’s likely you paid one year, and that year was up yesterday. You should at the very least renew for one more month. If it’s actually a renewal of hosting - and domain, issue, then the files are still there, pending your renewal.
September 10th, 2006 at 1:25 am
vizaweb.com site is NOT up. I have tried and received “This Account Has Been Suspended
Please contact the billing/support department as soon as possible.” which is very strange for a homepage of the company. This way there is no cpanel access for the customers, and there is no reply to an e-mail I sent yesterday.
Any explanations?
September 10th, 2006 at 5:22 am
To Al,
Yeah, you’re right. But yesterday when I checked, the site appeared to be up.
I checked Google’s cache and saved the phone numbers for you:
1.877.VizaWeb
1.877.849.2932
1.651.204.3910
Here’s their address:
VizaWeb.com V3.8
P.O. Box 97
Cottage Grove, MN
55016
Vizaweb.com appears to either host with troystarinternet.com or at least share an IP with them. You could check with them if they know why the site is down?
But for those who can reach their domains, try domain.tld/cpanel
You don’t have to go through the vizaweb homepage to log in to your cpanel.
September 10th, 2006 at 5:52 am
If someone wants to reach his cpanel the workaround is http://yourdomainname.tld:2082
if you try domainname.tld/cpanel you will be redirected to http://unixXX.vizaweb.com and it does not work
September 10th, 2006 at 9:53 am
Looks like Vizaweb might be hemmoraghing users pretty badly:
http://www.webhosting.info/webhosts/reports/total_domains/VIZAWEB.COM
Vizaweb was on another IP number until very recently:
http://whois.webhosting.info/70.85.79.101
Right now it’s on 74.52.42.230:
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=vizaweb.com
Hmm, it was on the former IP number as late as September 5!
http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:BBC-jubHwdYJ:www.vizaweb.com/phpinfo.php+70.85.79.101&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1
September 10th, 2006 at 10:02 pm
Thanks to everyone for the info. At least now I have some phone numbers I can try to call, although I heard from others they never pick up their phone.
As for our being in “renewal hold” that doesn’t make sense as we already renewed and have never let it expire. And Vizaweb is still down, they aren’t up.
Will try to call them and find out what’s going on. if you find them back up again, please let me know. Again, thank you.
September 11th, 2006 at 12:20 am
Admin
Thank you for information. I am on the trip ioverseas, so it is difficult to get in touch with Vizaweb by phone and there is no answer to emails.
September 11th, 2006 at 8:02 am
If Vizaweb have gone bust, never to be seen again, what are the chances of being able to export the mysql database I’ve got running with them? Contains vital info. Any help appreciated (can’t login via cpanel whichever method)
September 11th, 2006 at 8:32 am
I found a copy of the letter Vizaweb sent to their customers. It was on this site:
http://blog.trentqueen.com/node/81
But the site is down (big surprise), so I had to fish it out of the Google cache:
http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:ZJTON6TSVBQJ:blog.trentqueen.com/node/81+vizaweb&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=16
I’ll reprint:
Major Attack Launched on VizaWeb
It seems VizaWeb has been hacked with support staff sending the following email to all users:
Hello,
Due to a major attack launched on our network, we have disabled FTP access until further notice. Please note, you can still access your account through secure ftp (sftp) and ssh. Secure FTP is very much the same as regular FTP and can be configured in almost all FTP clients using sftp, ssh, or secure ftp as the connection protocol, and port 22. Normal FTP passwords are communicated with the server in plain text. With secure FTP, only your primary cPanel username and password will work and I would suggest that you immediately log into cPanel and change your password to prevent future misuse if your password was obtained.
A hacker has sniffed our network for FTP passwords. Since FTP passwords are sent in plain text, this is a relatively easy thing to do and unfortunately there is no way to really protect against password sniffing except for disabling FTP altogether. We also recommend that you use the secure version of cPanel and web mail when accessing your account. I have enabled this on all domains. Please ignore the expired SSL cert warnings. We are scrambling to get these updated as soon as possible.
On compromised accounts, the hacker has uploaded a snippet of JavaScript to index.htm, index.html, or index.php files in the public_html folder only. A good way to tell if it has been compromised is if the file was updated today, 09/05/2006. If you find that your file was compromised, please immediately remove the file and upload a new file from backup. If you need to download a backup from your site, please log into cPanel, click on backup, and then the daily button to obtain your backup from Monday morning. This backup will be updated tomorrow morning, so it is a good idea to look into this immediately. The other way to fix your site if it has been compromised would be to download the hacked file and remove the snippet of JavaScript at the end of the file; then re-upload.
We are currently working with our datacenter to investigate the hacker’s identity. This is top priority for us, so please understand if there is a minor delay in responding support tickets. For those of you that were told an email update was coming about the spam issues on the network, that email is still scheduled for tomorrow.
If you have any questions on this or any other issue, please submit a support ticket through your member’s area.
Thanks,
Rick Mueller
VizaWeb Inc.
Generated by VizaWeb Inc
NOT GOOD VIZAWEB!!!
September 11th, 2006 at 8:35 am
Hmmm, seems his description of the problem didn’t cover what we found. I did see a copy of a changed index.php file in the root web directory. It was not from Scrimak or Asiawood, as far as I can tell. I had it analyzed, and it looked like the index.php I got hold of was ultimately loading Webattacker.
September 11th, 2006 at 8:41 am
Steve:
I’ve seen some sites on Vizaweb that were up and running a day or so ago. Rick said he’d enabled ssh and secure FTP. With ssh, it’s possible to download a database. It requires that you know your password (you can usually read those off a php configuration file), and that you know some SQL and how to operate SCP or secure FTP.
So yes, it’s possible, provided the machine your site is on, is actually up, and you can access your account on there.
On the other hand, for those that had the misfortune of Vizaweb not renewing their domain, even when they paid for it, and they Vizaweb didn’t renew the hosting either, those files are probably hidden from you.
September 11th, 2006 at 8:43 am
Thanks. I am now trying to find out if you can download a database via ssh even if the mySQL server is down…
September 11th, 2006 at 8:49 am
To Steve,
Ah, no, I doubt that. You’re connecting to the server in order to input your username and password. Can’t imagine that’ll work if the mySQL service is down.
September 11th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
Steve,
Vizaweb is back up (at least for now) but I still can’t access my site. Let me know if you can access yours.
Phone calls to Vizaweb are routed to an automated message claiming they are working to resolve the issues and be back up and running ASAP. So far e-mails to support have been kicked back. Not good.
We are in the process of drafting a letter via snail mail to Vizaweb since e-mail and phone are useless. Needless to say, once (IF) we get things sorted out we will be moving to another provider as soon as it is feasibly possible.
At this point we are just hoping we can get access back to our site and get our data and archives back.
September 12th, 2006 at 12:31 pm
Vizaweb is back on 70.85.79.101. Bill Kempthorne suspects they had their domain hijacked:
http://www.quicktopic.com/37/H/PLrBXbHiBp6Q
From what he’s saying, you should have been able to reach their website by inserting vizaweb with the corresponding 70.85.79.101 IP in your hosts file. If it happens again, keep that trick in mind.
October 11th, 2006 at 11:18 am
Without a doubt, the worst hosting service on the Internet. I have been with many hosts and Vizaweb is the worst one I have ever had. I would not recommend Vizaweb to my worst enemy!
November 8th, 2006 at 5:58 pm
It`s happening yet again ! Nov.8,2006 site went down and vizaweb won`t reply to support ticket. Last time I had my email hacked somehow and hundred thousand email spam mail went thru my mail server on vizaweb. I never even send an email to anyone . They shut me down awhile for that , it wasn`t me who sent the spam. That was when vizaweb had shut down in Sept. because they said THEY were being hacked. I changed my email password and my website password when they sent out the meddage to do that but I still had my email server broken into by someone that sent all that spam.
November 9th, 2006 at 5:46 am
Whats up with these guys?? Yesterday in the mid afternoon, all my accounts stropped working - I Cant even get to their home page (date: 11-9-2006).
Cpanel dosnt work, pinging their IP address dosnt work - I cant login into my WHM either. Calling their number (651-204-3910) just rings busy.
So far the email I sent to their (support@vizaweb.com) hasnt bounced yet, but I am sure its just a matter of time. I havent got a chance to DL my DBs I have there, so I am screwed.
Does anyone know what the hell is going on with them?
my website noted above is hosted by vizaweb, so I used the “old reliable” ail backup.
November 9th, 2006 at 8:01 am
I am in the same situation as the last post. I cannot make any contact with Vizaweb, no answer at phone number. Any Ideas whats going on. Unfortunatly I just paid the renewal fee for another year. I had no problems up until yesterday. If anyone finds out what is going on please let everyone know
November 9th, 2006 at 8:30 am
Yes, I too am wondering what the heck is going on. For a company that relies on it’s calendars, we are guessing what we are suppose to be doing this coming weekend. I guess I’ll have to go back to pushing the pen and paper…..
If anyone has any info as to what is going on with VizaWeb, please do share.
Thanks.
November 9th, 2006 at 9:05 am
I’ve emailed the admins over at the Planet to see if I can find out what’s going on. All of vizawebs IP’s are down and the only one I can seem to resolve via dns is Vizaweb.com but it is (as you know) unpingable. Keep posting here if you come across anything and I’ll do the same.
November 9th, 2006 at 9:31 am
One of our sites is hosted on Vizaweb and ironically i was ready to switch over to our GoDaddy servers yesterday. Now I can’t get any of our files or database off of the Vizaweb server so like all of you, we’re screwed. Luckily Gadgetell - http://www.gadgetell.com is hosted on GoDaddy or else I’d be crying right now =)
November 9th, 2006 at 9:44 am
Hey guys, thanks for the continuing update on the issue. I havn’t been able to find any recent news anywhere on the net but here. I stayed through past issues with Vizaweb but as soon as I can get my backup I think I’ll be changing hosts.
November 9th, 2006 at 10:26 am
Glad I am not the only one. I have not had many problems with Vizaweb for the last two years but my site as well as their home page has been down for at least 12 hours. This is ridiculous. No explaination or anything. Vizaweb is cheap but it many not be worth the downtime. Hope they give us something free for this mess.
November 9th, 2006 at 10:44 am
I’ve had it with VizaWeb. When my site went down yesterday - and when I saw that their own site was unavailable, I moved ASAP. Lucky for me I use Blogger, so aside from a few miscellaneous files I have nothing to recover from VizaWeb’s servers. But I’m not putting up with this any more. Minor outages and hackers are a fact of life - but there has to be something better than VizaWeb. They had many, many chances. Now good riddance.
November 9th, 2006 at 10:56 am
I just contacted theplanet via phone and they will not share any info and are of no help in recovering any data that maybe on the server.
November 9th, 2006 at 11:17 am
Does anyone have an idea of what’s going on with Vizaweb??
My site is down. Their site is down. This does not look good at all. Once they are up. I’m going to switch asap.
Any suggestions on good/reliable hosts?
thanks,
November 9th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
I’m in the same boat. I have a reseller package with them that has around 10 sites (have had it for like 2 years now) and … this is just scary. I wasn’t ready for this. I wouldn’t even know where to start to fix this…. if anyone hears anything can you im me on AIM or something - screename wakasm.
Thanks.
November 9th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Yeah, all my sites on Vizaeb went dark yesterday too. It looks like any site I find in Google that says it uses Vizaweb is down, as is Vizaweb.com. They don’t answer their phone. Does anyone know what is going on? I am really worried they’ve cut and run or something, and I don’t have any recent backups.
November 9th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
I am a reseller as well… This really sucks. I’ll try my best to search..
If anyone has any idea what’s going on please post here.
thanks.
November 9th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
ya, my site went down , i tried calling just ringing on the otherside
what the hell is going on. i had pretty good service up until now but is not good. i might just host my own site
November 9th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
Well I have found Rick’s Myspace and he was on there today.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=108982822
I have sent a message asking what the deal was. And it looks like he lives in Vegas now.
November 9th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
http://www.digg.com/tech_news/What_do_I_do_when_my_hosting_vanishes_Please_Digg_Help_Vizaweb_Story
I added that to digg. all i had was this page to link to seeing i have no hosting.
The world needs to know, maybe someone knows something
November 9th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
DAMN! This site is now my best friend for answers! I am hosted under viza web to, and this is the 6th misshap I have had with them! My site(s) are kumitekid.com and sedativechunk.com. Sedativechunk.com is the one that I work on and everything, and I am upset. I get jobs over just showing people my homepage, and it ticks me off when they just shut down without saying anything.
Nice find with his myspace profile. I am going to send him a friend request on my fake account and ask him what the hell is going on here. I just added some cool database features to my site to, and I can’t use any of them because of this crap.
November 9th, 2006 at 3:15 pm
Can anyone please post contact information to The Planet. I wanna call and see whats up. Thank you.
November 9th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
They just seemed to have randomly disappeared off the map.
If you need to get your domains away from them just ensure you’re the registrant contact and initiate a transfer via a company like www.enom.com for your domain names.
Best of luck with your hunt for a new provider!
November 9th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
I sent him a couple of messages via his myspace acct - no response. …Can’t even go elsewhere unless he unlocks the DNS.
My busy season and no website…..
November 9th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
Just spoke to a rep at The Planet. They are not the back-up to VizaWeb.com, they just rent out servers to companies like Vizaweb and it’s all on Vizaweb how they handle the servers from there.
The Planet does not have a back-up of anything that was hosted by vizaweb.com
Are we scewed? We might be. But Vizaweb will be big time screwed when the lawyers get through with them.
November 9th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
Uggg…. just following the trail here from Digg… not looking good for any of us, is it?
November 9th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
Is there anyway to get my domain name back - I registered it thru vizaweb. Any thoughts?
November 9th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
My domains are registered elsewhere, but I really need my DBs. Worst case scenario, I am running around like crazy trying to reconstruct some semblance of them from available data, but I really can’t expect any decent results if Vizaweb doesn’t come back.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I would pay Rick big bucks to just let me get even a decent backup of my data. I just wish he would respond. I run by business off their hosting, and I need this before I start having cash flow problems.
November 9th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
Mike: Not to be rude, but I don’t believe that theplanet doesn’t have the data. It looks as though they are the data center. Not sure exactly how it works, but I believe that the “rental” is space. Even if VizaWeb is using their hardware they are going to have to get it back at some point so if they wanted to help - they could. They could make a few calls on our behalf or something. This happens to them so often I think they are just sick and tired of it. They must be getting a hell of a lot of calls about this one though. I think we should keep heckling them because they will eventually heckle VizaWeb also.
Nathan, I would also be willing to put up money to get my data (structure and data from the DBs) and I bet others would also.
If anyone interested give me a buzz: AIM dpicella - it won’t get vizaweb out of trouble, but if it can get the server on for long enough that we can get what we need that would be great.
On my website, I have subscribers that check in every day and record data. I have a backup almost a month old. I would like to spare them having to put in again. That would be bad and hurt business but at least it is not a total wipe out.
If there are any insiders from VizaWeb or theplanet that are reading this have a conscience man. There are some folks that are really gonna get screwed perhaps just as bad as you here and you can help out. Please contact us.
November 9th, 2006 at 9:00 pm
The planet DOES NOT have to do much with viza web.. I called the planets phone service once about viza web and they gave me viza webs number. They didn’t have much more to say than that.
November 9th, 2006 at 9:59 pm
Dave, I think The Planet could help. But will they? I am gonna keep calling them.
Vizaweb you’re gonna crush some of our businesses. Do something, anything. Talk about being messed up and evil. How can Vizaweb leave us stranded like this?
November 9th, 2006 at 10:29 pm
If you want to get control of your domains you may be able to get to it through vizaweb.myorderbox.com if that is the system that you registered domains with. I can get to mine through there at this time. I plan to switch my clients over to another service quickly and restore from a few backups I happened to have. This really sucks!!!
November 9th, 2006 at 10:34 pm
This is where vizaweb registered domain names - I didn’t get anywhere maybe it will help someone else.
http://www.publicdomainregistry.com
On Nov 9, 2006 11:51 PM (GMT) Karen Hung Wrote:
My reseller, Vizaweb.com has apparently gone under without any notice or communication to me. I want to transfer my domain name to another registrar, and find I cannot without an authorization code from Public Domain Registry. Please provide me the authorization for my domain khmetalwork.com and creesco.com. I can provide receipts or invoices showing those are really my domain names. Sincerely, Karen Hung
On Nov 10, 2006 0:39 AM (GMT) Keith Wrote:
Hello Karen, Kindly note that as per our company policy, we provide support and assistance only to first level Resellers and direct customers. In case the reseller does not assist the customer, we require the registrant of the domain name to contact us. This is because the registrant is recognized as the legal owner of the domain name. I regret to inform you that since you are not listed as the registrant for the domain name, we will not be providing you with further support. I would request you to contact your reseller as he will be in a better position to assist you. I am providing you with your reseller’s contact information which I hope will help you. The Contact Details of your reseller are as follows :- Name Rick Mueller Email Address domains@vizaweb.com Company VizaWeb Inc Address P.O. Box 97 City Cottage Grove Zip 55016 Country United States Tel No. +1.6512043910 Website URL http://www.vizaweb.com Sales E-mail Sales@VizaWeb.com If the Service Provider - VizaWeb Inc still do not comply with your request, and you have a Trademark for this Domain - 1) File a UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy) case with any of the arbitration centre. You can refer to the link http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm. 2) If you have ownership rights and proof to be support that you are the owner, you can - File a complaint with Local Cyber Crime Cell. Hope this information provided, would allow you to proceed further. Have a nice day! Regards, Keith
November 10th, 2006 at 2:55 am
Mike,
You’re not going to get ANYWHERE by calling the planet.
Not that they’re not a great company but who are they to step in between Vizaweb and their clients.
Even though TP owns the hardware: They’re not going to sit and decipher who owns what data on the hardware.
I’m sure we’ll get some more information shortly but the only source of the info. is going to be Vizaweb themselves.
November 10th, 2006 at 3:13 am
If The Planet were to do ONE thing, then people could get their backups: Get the machines online again. Then the owners of the accounts would be able to do the backups themselves. It depends exactly how Vizaweb took the machines down. If they just shut them down regularly without removing anything, then putting them back online for a few days might do it. At the same time, put out a press release saying they’re doing it, and then for how long. I’m sure there are other ways, but not without hacking or knowing the passwords.
November 10th, 2006 at 5:02 am
Hello, everyone. Just thought I’d join the fray since I’m in the same boat as everyone else. Unfortunately, I had recommended Vizaweb to about six friends back in the days when Leo was still pimping it out to everyone. Now all of us are screwed. If I can be of any assistance, please let me know via aim: nickatlu.
I’m going to try to keep up with things here.
November 10th, 2006 at 5:52 am
Hi everyone, thank god i have found this site, i have spent all morning trying to find out what has happened with Vizaweb. We have a resller account, and have 2 accounts left with vizaweb. We orginally had 8!. like everyone else, if we could only get access to the cpanel for the data, thats all we need!
November 10th, 2006 at 6:41 am
I just renewed my subscription for another 12 months at a cost of $70. I want my money back or I will carve my Domain Name into his back with an ice pick.
November 10th, 2006 at 6:59 am
Just a note: I’m not trying to spam in any way, but I am keeping a blog regarding this situation, so anyone who wants is welcome to come on over and comment away. I’ll be keeping it updates as more information comes in. Just click on my name for the link.
November 10th, 2006 at 9:51 am
peterboroughultimate.com is back online. Just came up in the last 30 minutes.
Run in and grab your data, quick as a bunny!
November 10th, 2006 at 9:54 am
Well well well. It is back.
A lot of explaining is needed.
November 10th, 2006 at 10:01 am
As vizaweb customers we should all take some sort of action. These people never pickup there phones, never answer their emails, and when they go down for days we are not informed. They dont even say sorry for the inconvenience. Im going to stop payment with my credit card company and change to someone else.
November 10th, 2006 at 10:06 am
IT iS BACK. PULL YOUR DATA AND RUN.
November 10th, 2006 at 12:13 pm
I saw the writting on the wall along time ago, back in June/July a matter of fact. Their service became so horrible that my sites would timeout in the middle of loads.
http://www.pc-doc.com/2006/07/13/a-new-home/
Now here come the real bad news for you guys. Those of you getting ready to cancel with them get ready to call your credit card company. Becasue months after canaceling my service with them for several accounts. The continued to charge my card and told me they would get around to my crediting me once they processed my request for cancelation. They never did, I had to call my credit card company to file a claim against them and have a new card issued to prevent them from further charging my credit card. They are a horrible, horrible, horrible company. I moved over to 1and1.com and have been very happy with the service they provide. Greater bandwidth, more storage, cheaper rates and you can actaully tlak to someone for a chane when you have a question or a problem.
November 10th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
It’s alive!!! It’s ALIVE!!!!!!!! My site is up….1:45 EST.
November 10th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
Hi, all 4 of my sites are up now and cpanel works.
I can’t FTP into any of them, though.
November 10th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
Jack,
The reason you can’t FTP to your VizaWeb servers is that they recently turned off standard FTP due to some security vulnerabilities.
You need to use Secure FTP (SFTP). Most FTP clients can do this.
I found that the FTP client BitKinex works really well. It is a pay program but you can get a 30 day trial version from http://www.bitkinex.com.
If you have any questions please post back here and I will try to help.
Anyway back to downloading all of the important stuff from my VizaWeb Server.
Regards,
GeekStarPilot.
November 11th, 2006 at 1:25 am
GeekStarPilot,
Thanks. I just downloaded the trial and it works great.
Jack
November 11th, 2006 at 11:18 am
Two outages starting on the 8th or 9th. Looks like monthly payment to the planet is due on the 7th and they get cut off if they do not pay their bill. Seeing we are jumping ship, should mean they may have even more problems paying bills.
I have 6 months left on contract but plan to move my site. They own my .com name so I am buying the .net version and will pick up the .com after they let it lapse in April. Lucky for me the name is obscure enough that no one will want it. Also I do team scores and have mailing lists so I can contact all my viewers to get them the new address.
November 11th, 2006 at 11:21 am
From Vizawebs own FAQ’s about moving a domain:
Q
Who owns the domain name if I purchased it through you?
A
The domain name is yours completely. If you switch hosting providers or start using your own web server as your site grows, you can transfer your domain with you.
What can I say, I just read it.
November 11th, 2006 at 11:23 am
Here is another from their FAQ:
Q
How do I transfer a domain name (that is registered with VizaWeb) to another provider?
A
You will have to first create a login at http://domains.vizaweb.com and then send an email to support@vizaweb.com with your customer ID number and username with that system and your domain names.
November 11th, 2006 at 11:44 am
To another dissatisfied customer:
I would NOT rely on getting a domain after it lapses. There are lots of domains nobody would want - picked up by domain sharks. If there are links pointing to your domain, it will most likely be picked up by someone way before you manage to get it back.
No, try and get it back from Vizaweb now, don’t wait for it to lapse!
I was lucky enough to be able to get a domain that had lapsed once. A domain that had been registered by someone who had no right to it. Because nothing exciting ever happened with it, I managed to get it. But if a site had been built with it, and there were other links to it - I would not have gotten it back that way.
November 11th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
I’m not worried about someone else getting my domain. It doesn’t expire until Sept of next year. My worry is moving my site from vizaweb and keeping my domain.
November 22nd, 2006 at 3:17 pm
did anyone request and receive a refund for Vizaweb?
I had just paid for a year’s service on Nov. 3 and have requested a full refund for that payment and getting nowhere with that request. Just wondering if anyone received any funds back from them for service or that credit they offered. kh
December 18th, 2006 at 1:20 pm
my site is also hosted by vizaweb and it’s down again. I called and sent many emails to support@vizaweb and it’s been more than a week now with no answers. is vizaweb out of business? if i’ve only known what really happened according to many folks here i’d have left immediately. does anyone know if vizaweb is gone for good? i need my db back at least!!
January 10th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Here we go again! I just checked my sites and they now have been reverted back to it’s October 2006 state…
I did a whole bunch of redesign and development changes and now they are all gone. Anyone else getting the same problem?
If they can’t restore my current settings, what legal action can I take to compensate for my lost work/development costs? I may contact the BBB.
January 10th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
I am using Vizaweb for hosting. My main site is down (www.grandforksnd.net) it says my account is suspended. I am not due to renew until Ocober 2007. Vizaweb will not answer emails or phone calls. Does anyone have any contact with anyone from Vizaweb? Can anyone recommend another hosting company that actually cares?
email: dyani58104(at)yahoo.com
January 15th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Darlene I went to your site and Vizaweb clearly states what the problem is.
“You account what causing a problem…”
Account Suspended
The hosting account for this domain name has been suspended for 1 of 2 reasons.
1. Your bill is over due.
2. You account what causing a problem with the server and needed to be temporarily disabled.