Legal problem - Help needed

[a._branson]

<p>Dmitriy,<br />I'm sorry to hear about the situation with your webhost. As others have suggested, I would recommend reading the contract that governs your relationship with your former webhost. Admittedly, it is probably skewed toward the webhost so that they aren't legally responsible for mishaps like this, even if it is technically their fault. <br />As an attorney, I understand why other lawyers might not want to take the case for the amount of money you cited. But it doesn't mean you don't have a case. Also, even if a lawsuit is not feasible, I would recommend you write a letter (not email) to the company explaining the situation, requesting a response, and send it certified mail so you know (and they know you know) that they received it.<br />Finally, don't spend more time on this than it is worth it to you. While the money you have lost is not small, there is a certain amount of time after which it makes more sense to forget it and invest your efforts into recruiting new clients or putting out more advertisements. <br />It's unfortunate but it seems like many of these webhosting companies are some of the most unresponsive, hands-off, impersonal businesses you'll every encounter. I find that's just the nature of companies that don't have brick and mortar operations. In any event, good luck, if you have any questions, just drop a line.</p>

[mikal_grass]

<p>Dmitry,<br>

If your wife is 5 months pregnant, you have other priorities; making sure that your wife is comfortable and the birth of your baby. Babies bring their own luck so chalk this up to experience and look towards the future. If this is your first child, and even if it isn't, this is an exciting time in your life, so don't fret too much over the business. Once the baby is here, life looks different.<br>

While money is important and it does make the world go 'round, make sure your gear is in good shape so you can take pictures of your baby. The pictures of your baby will be far more pleasing and mean more than the photos of the crusty old CEO.<br>

Mikal</p>

<p> </p>

[steve m smith]

<p><em>It tells me your play time is more important than your work. Sorry, but that's a fact.</em><br>

<em><br /> </em><br>

Mine certainly is.</p>

[sherijohnson]

<p>Another nice solution would be to pay annually for web hosting. I NEVER do month to month.</p>

[sherijohnson]

<p>I also want to add that I have hosted with midphase and also done client sites (web design) with them. I have NEVER had any issues with them, but again, all the accounts have been annual, not monthly.</p>

[steve_c.5]

<p>To Phil Hartman! Caveman lawyer, Captain Carl, and all his other great characters! RIP</p>

[dmitriy_babichenko]

<p>Sheri,<br>

When I originally signed up with Stargate, they did not even offer yearly subscriptions (that was 5 years ago). To be honest, I did not even know that MidPhase was the one who ended up bying their servers until I started having problems.</p>

[hassy501]

<p>Check with your insurance carrier to see whether they will reimburse you for your losses. Having business insurance is a must if you own a business in case of incidents just like this.</p>

[mj_gilmartin]

<p>I do think you are owed some compensation by Midphase for two reasons<br>

1) The reason they did not get paid on time was because they changed existing arrangements which meant the automated payment system you had with them didn't work anymore.<br>

2) Even if you had neglected to pay them, their action in deleting your site was excessive. I have personal experience in which the bill (annual billing) was not paid on time - client's fault - and the hosting company simply switched it off... made the site unavailable. Within seconds of the bill being paid it was switched on again and fully available with no loss of any data.<br>

I would not want to do any business with a supplier who would take such an excessive and cavalier attitude without investigating why a previously good client suddenly stopped paying. I mean an email or a phone call could have sorted it out.<br>

I hope you can get a lawyer to advise you how to get some settlement out of them.<br>

Backups? well you are older and wiser</p>

<p> </p>

[mj_gilmartin]

<p>I do think you are owed some compensation by Midphase for two reasons<br>

1) The reason they did not get paid on time was because they changed existing arrangements which meant the automated payment system you had with them didn't work anymore.<br>

2) Even if you had neglected to pay them, their action in deleting your site was excessive. I have personal experience in which the bill (annual billing) was not paid on time - client's fault - and the hosting company simply switched it off... made the site unavailable. Within seconds of the bill being paid it was switched on again and fully available with no loss of any data.<br>

I would not want to do any business with a supplier who would take such an excessive and cavalier attitude without investigating why a previously good client suddenly stopped paying. I mean an email or a phone call could have sorted it out.<br>

I hope you can get a lawyer to advise you how to get some settlement out of them.<br>

Backups? well you are older and wiser</p>

<p> </p>

[savagesax]

<p>First thing I'd do is find a better hosting website. If you email me I can get you connected to someone very good and cares; if you are located in the US.</p>

[katherinemichael]

<p>Dmitriy-<br>

I read this post earlier and I felt bad for you but so many others had given good advice that I didn't feel that I could contribute anything significant. However I was just putting my son to bed and for whatever reason, I thought about a service that might be of use in the future. </p>

<p>The lab that I used to work for sometimes used a service called GoToMyPC. Basically you subscribe to this service and as long as your home/office computer is on and connected to the internet, you can go to their website from any computer, log in and access your personal computer. Your desktop pops up and you can work just like you were sitting at your computer in person. Its pretty neat. I suppose some people would be concerned about security, we never had any problems that I was aware of. Others probably know more details than I do, but in the situation you just faced it would have been nice to be able to access your computer from Florida and gotten your client what he needed. Just a thought. In terms of what to do now, I think that Peter gave very good suggestions. You might want to take a closer look at their terms of service. I would think that they should have perhaps outlined how they handle non-payment. What they did was incredibly excessive.</p>

<p>I do appreciate that you shared this situation here on photo.net. To be honest, I had never thought about what might happen if my site went down. After reading your post I realized how unbelievably naive that was of me. It goes to show that we all keep learning until the day we pass on. Congrats on the baby by the way. </p>

<p>Katherine</p>

[john_h.1]

<p><em>"I do think you are owed some compensation by Midphase for two reasons<br />1) The reason they did not get paid on time was because they changed existing arrangements which meant the automated payment system you had with them didn't work anymore.<br />2) Even if you had neglected to pay them, their action in deleting your site was excessive."</em></p>

<p>Pretty much everyone seems to agree, like you, that the host caused ecomomic harm according to the story. I'm not sure how this same or similar information gets around the disclaimer of liability issue we discussed (consequentioal damages vs. mere refund of contract fees) and the court forum requirement of Cook County Illinois. Do you kow something we don't? </p>

[mj_gilmartin]

<blockquote>

<p>@John Henneberger<br /> Pretty much everyone seems to agree, like you, that the host caused ecomomic harm according to the story. I'm not sure how this same or similar information gets around the disclaimer of liability issue we discussed (consequentioal damages vs. mere refund of contract fees) and the court forum requirement of Cook County Illinois. Do you kow something we don't?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>No doubt John you have a good point. My post was just a genaral observation rather than a legal opinion.<br /> My thoughts as I read the report from the original poster was that actions of the hosting company in deleting the account was excessive or disproportionate.<br /> Yes, business do use disclaimers all the time to try and minimize their liability - and there is nothing wrong in that. However just having a disclaimer will not necessarily protect you if you act unreasonably, or recklessly or negligently.<br /> So I guess the question is... given all the circumstances as outlined by the original poster, did the hosting company act unreasonably.</p>

 

[craig_gillette]

<p>It seems rather vulnerable if the schedule of events is as reported? No off-site or other back-ups? Everything is gone at once "intentionally" or even accidentally?</p>