Do Not Use Fasthosts

[littlejim84]

I'm sorry for this rant, but please, if you're thinking of using FastHosts then please reconsider. I have never dealt with a company like them... I've had nothing but trouble with them, they are crafty and shifty too... I ordered my hosting over the phone and was NOT told that it would tie me into a 12 month contract. They explained this in the terms and conditions on the website, but you would think they would tell me this over the phone wouldn't you? I had trouble getting it all going, and on a number of occasions I have emailed the support email only to not get any responses. Resulting in me having to spend money ringing them, to be confronted with people who have no idea what they are on about. I am now stuck with hosting I don't actually use and when I explained that I found this unfair seeing that I wasn't told this information, I was basically laughed at. Absolute joke.

Be warned, if you want to go with them... They're shifty and they're a joke.

Rant over.

[ldcdc]

Phone support is often level 1. The issues that staff can address are simple ones.

I had trouble getting it all going

What trouble did you have exactly?

They explained this in the terms and conditions on the website, but you would think they would tell me this over the phone wouldn't you?

Well, I would expect them to reveal the more important contractual terms, if only as a matter of courtesy.

[AndrewCooper]

Actually, I've had a totally opposite service from them. I was going to post my own review of Fasthosts a couple of days back but thought I would leave it to see if the problem was solved to my satisfaction, and it was.

I agree with you that they perhaps should have informed you about being wrapped into a 12 month contract, surely they said something along the lines of "I'll enter your details for [x] web hosting package which ties you into a 12-month contract at a price of [x] per month, is it fine with you? If you're not happy with that then we can do the ...package"

I had a problem with a 500 Internal Server Error and I always have problems getting through to their phone support because it always seems to be busy ¬¬ so I e-mailed them my problem and it was solved before I even needed to reply back with anymore details.

Fasthosts are very good, but they could be better. And also, there is plenty of documentation in the support site for you to get started with your package without loads of support or help.

Andrew Cooper

[tuxus]

To be honest I have had more issues with them than i can count, mainly the issues are with the lack of mod_rewrite on shared packages. Also the db server they have put the client on is either underpowered or oversold. It seems outside of the UK fasthosts hosted sites as slow as can be as well.....search around you can find a heck of a lot more people complaining than praising them.

[Icoste]

Their support isnt very good, they tend to have semi-qualified staff that dont really know what you are talking about when you have a simple'ish query.

I have domains with them and have had a handful of problems but nothing overally major, I wouldnt trust them with hosting though.

[tom-90]

I used Fasthosts for my first ever website back in November 2007. Around a month after I had being with them a few of there "secure" servers got hacked. There customer isn't exactly what I would call call up to scratch either. No way would I ever go with them again.

[Mychelley201]

Thanks for the heads up

[navnavnav]

Hello, just to say I have had a very bad experience with FastHosts, in that I was not told over the phone that I am commiting to a 12 month contract. Now after 2 months of very slow bad hosting I want to cancel and I am told I cannot.

This is breaking the law in the UK.

AVOID FastHosts.

[kippered]

Having used Fasthosts for over 8 years, and to be fair, with reasonable service, I was disappointed today when I chased a month old email to ask why I was paying more for a Home Pro account than the new accounts they offered. I was told that I had an old account and should move to a new hosting package (no offer of reimbursement - but I expected that). I agreed that this made sense however mentioned that I was concerned over the downtime this would cause for my site. I was given the support number and told it should be simple. So, I agreed to move accounts. After 4 hours of email exchange with support, it transpires that I need to delete my old hosting package and re-build in the new one (now this is reasonably ok - but when you consider email accounts also need moving - far from seemless). Support then recommended that I either purchased a dedicated hosting package (£75/mth) or even consider going elsewhere. So, having had the new account for some 5 hours, I politely asked to cancel. Only to be told to my horror that I had no consumer rights (as I was hosting under a company name) and that I was signed up for 12 months.

I am hugely disappointed that a company like this is so incredibly inflexible and clearly puts "revenue in the bag" in front of good customer service.

[kippered]

By way of an update, my faith in Fasthosts has been somewhat restore when I received an email today to say that they had cancelled the new hosting package. I am still not happy with the way they initially dealt with me - however in fairness, they have now acted reasonably.

Good luck to anyone who encounters the same issues. Be polite with them rather than angry - and hopefully someone will play fair as they did with me.