Can a hosting provider terminate your account without notice?

I did not receive an invoice so my payment was late 5 days.

[honey]

I have a reseller account and the hosting provider usually sends me an invoice before I pay my bills. This time, I did not receive any so I was 5 days late in paying the bill. I just think that it is unfair for them to do that becuase I usually pay my bill on time. This is the first time this happened. Are there any guidelines out there regarding termination of services?

[honey]

And they said that they have deleted all our files! I think that is so inconsiderate for them to do that since there are many websites on the account which did not have a copy of their important files. The least they could have done is to keep a copy of the files so we can transfer it somewhere else.

It was also not too hard if they could have notified us that all our files will be deleted.

[hyperbole]

Have you tried talking to them about it? It may be they will accept your explaination and re-instate your account if you just talk to them.

If they are so unreasonable that they don't want your business after you explain why you were late with the payment (at least partially their fault), you probably want to find another hosting provider anyway.

Things are so tight for hosting providers right now. I would think they would fall all over themselves to try to hold on to your business. Especially if you are bringing other accounts to them.

[hyperbole]

I find it hard to believe they don't have a backup of your files. I worked for an ISP for a year and a half and we were required to backup all files, emails, and transactions that went through our server.

[honey]

I have tried talking to them but they just said they completely erased all the files. I got the package from ebay and it is for a very good price (lower than their usual plans). Im just thinking that they did it on purpose because I had such a great deal. Im just disapointed thath they did not give me the courtesy to even save the files for me.

Do you think I can file a complaint for this? I think that they might really have some copy but just told me that they were erased so that I'll won't insist that they reinstate my account.

[Tribewolf]

"file a complaint"

Who would you complain to? The International Society For Fairness To Hosting Resellers? (ISFFTHR)

If you read their terms of service, which you agreed to by default when you started your account, you'll probably find a clause that allows them to terminate your account whenever they want for any reason, or no reason.

I once worked for a hosting company that would terminate accounts that were labeled "high maintenance" in terms of the amount of support they routinely required. If it was small time and they were constantly asking for help with things that should have educated themselves about, then they got terminated without notice. They simply were more trouble than they were worth.

[marcs]

Always keep a local copy of any and all files related to your web sites.

Not that this will help you much now, just a general remark for those who could end up in similar situations.

[walkman]

that's stupid or smart of them. Methinks they wanted you out. I rarely pay my dedicated hosting bill (or any bill for that matter)on time and never had a problem. A week or a few days is nothing compared to losing your business. I don't think they're making money off you so they pushed you out.

You can complain but no one will listen or do anything about it. If you read the fine print, I'm sure they covered themselves. I ALWAYS download the latest sys config, my /home diur and mysql files. That's at least daily, because you neve know.

[hyperbole]

If you know the physical location of the provider, you could make a complaint to the better business bureau in their area. It won't help you, but if enough complaints are made it will get people to stop using them.