I was suppose to launch my blog as early as the last week of September Unfortunately I encountered a barrage of technical problems that prevent me from doing so.
In order that you could fully understand what I am talking about let me start from the beginning. I was scouting for a good hosting company and then Lunar Pages caught my eye. They offered $ 700 worth of free software (Coffee cup) if I signed up for a year. So I signed up for a hosting account at Lunar pages at the last week of September. I was so pissed off because they wouldn’t accept my credit that was the first bad experience I had with them. Later on I resolved the issue by paying them via paypal.
After several days I wondered why my account was still not activated so I wrote them. They said paypal has not remitted the money to them. But paypal said the money has been paid to them. They had been passing the buck between them back and forth. I was so mad but I could not do anything because I already paid. The problem is it could not be determined where my money is, whether it is still with paypal or with Lunar pages.
After 12 days of waiting, finally my account was activated. I was so excited to start. I decided to create a website first and then do the blog later on. So I spent days making my first website using Coffee Cup’s software. When the time finally came for me to upload it I used Coffee Cup’s Visual designer to upload my site. However there were errors so I could not upload my site.
I contacted Coffee Cup and they gave me instructions on how to solve my problem, but all their suggestions failed to solve the problem. Finally they gave up and told me the problem could probably lie with Lunar Pages. So I stormed Lunar pages customer service with a barrage of emails. I was so frustrated with what is happening already. Their customer service was not so good. One thing I appreciated though, no matter how much I insulted them in the emails they never wrote back and responded to such insults. Perhaps they are already used to it. Finally I told customer service to please take the problem to technical support because it seems that they do not know how to solve the problem. I even addressed my email to “The most brilliant technical support engineer of Lunar Pages” in order that they might get an idea that I need the most brilliant guy to solve my problem.
By that time it was almost November so I told them I wanted to ask for a refund since they have a 30 day money back guarantee. After several emails they told me they could not give me the refund because I downloaded the $700.00 worth of Coffee Cup software. The told me that they discovered that some people just download the software and then ask for a refund later on.
Great ! I told myself. So I guess I am stuck with them. So I decided to just play along and help solve the problem. They gave me technical instructions. They asked me to upload via FTP, but I still couldn’t do that. I downloaded another FTP program, still can’t upload, and another one, same problem. I downloaded more than five FTP programs but all couldn’t get through. There was one FTP program though that intermittently can get through their server. I was convinced that the problem lies with them because I can get through but intermittently though. They still did not give me any good answer that could possibly let me solve the problem.
Since I could not upload my site to Lunar Pages, I decided to work on my blog via Word press. Another thing that pissed me off, I could not install wordpress via fantastico in cpanel. I emailed them about it. They said they will look into it.
But that time more than a month has passed. I was so discouraged. I decided to search for another hosting company. This time, I am not going to rush. I am going to pay only for a month and then if I am satisfied with their service, I will then pay for a year. As I searched the internet I found out about Voda host. I can’t believe they give 600 GB of space and 6000 GB in bandwidth a month for almost the same price as Lunar Pages. So I decided to sign up for a month. I was so satisfied with their service; Word press installation was so smooth. I then started to learn how to work Word Press out.
I felt I was cheated by Lunar Pages, I searched the internet for unsatisfied customers of Lunar Pages. I found a lot. I wanted to kick myself since I already read some negative publicity before about Lunar Pages, but I didn’t believe them.
In the mean time, I kept trying to solve the problem with Lunar Pages. They gave me a bunch of possible explanation as to why I could not get into their ftp site. But still my problem remains. I told them all of my setup from my operating system, how I am connected to the internet via a Broadband router etc. I was so desperate that I was even thinking of formatting my hard drive or buying a new computer. One day while I was sitting at my computer thinking how I should solve the problem, I thought, what if I disconnect my internet connection from my router and plug it directly to my computer ? That would isolate the problem. If this works, the problem is with the router. If it doesn’t the problem is either with the computer or with Lunar pages. I did just that and surprise of all surprises I got through to their FTP site.
Now that I have isolated the problem, I will have to solve it. I can’t live forever plugging and unplugging my DSL connection transferring it from router to PC. I have other computer users in my home and they cannot access the internet if I keep on unplugging the DSL connection every time I am trying to upload via FTP.
So I worked on the router problem. I found out that the firmware that my router model had was already upgraded since it had problems with FTP. So I downloaded the firmware updates and updated my router’s firmware. After that, problem solved !!! I can now access FTP through the router.
The point of this post is not to bash Lunar Pages. I am just telling you that I have a bad experience with them. Everything has been going so bad since the beginning. Even if the problem was actually caused by my router, their “brilliant” technical support people should have told me to look into my router or to at least try a direct connection from my DSL to my PC. But they never told me that. I figured it out all by myself. I am just telling you all that I have a really bad experience with them and I totally regret it. I am not telling you not to sign up at Lunar Pages. Go ahead it’s your call. The Coffee Cup software is without doubt great and is very simple to use. The value of the Cofee Cup software is more than what I have paid for in my hosting. I have no problems with Coffee Cup. My problem with Lunar Pages is that their customer service and technical support just sucks.
On the other hand this post is also not about promoting Voda Host. Vodahost is great. In fact I have signed up for their affiliate program and I am promoting them. I could not find a hosting company that gives more value for your money than Voda host. Imagine the capacity of disk space and bandwidth they are giving and also considering the price. You cannot find any of this in the market. Their customer service and their forum is the best!
But this post is not about Voda host. This post is about how I solved a technical problem. So if ever you have a similar problem as I have, you know now how to solve it.
Hi ! my name is Zigfred Diaz. Thanks for visiting my personal blog ! Never miss a post from this blog. Subscribe to my full feeds for free. Click here to subscribe to zdiaz.com by Email
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