I feel I have to share this for, at the very least, it is a cautionary tale. At the most, it is a warning.

Back in February, I made, admittedly, stern complaints about the quality of the technicians of a hosting company that really screwed up one of my clients accounts/websites. The problem had been going on for days and, needless to say, neither my customer or I were happy. Words like "incompetent," "idiots," and things similar, were frequently used. However, no foul language was ever used.

Within a day after the issue was resolved, my company's website name, which is registered through this hosting company, was suspended. I only realized this after my emails failed. I contacted them and they cited ICANN's regulations about owner verification and that they sent me an email. NOT. Okay, they claimed it bounced, though all their other emails made it through. Ultimately, I had to email a copy of a government issued ID to get the domain restored. Now mind you, the contact information for the domain name has been the same for 18 years - no changes whatsoever. When all was said and done, I told them I believed this was done in retaliation for my comments about their support, an allegation they denied. I said if they did it again with any of my other domains, I would treat it as a deliberate and malicious action to harm me and my company.

Fast forward to today.

This same hosting company royally screwed up one of my clients sites last week trying to install a new SSL certificate. The result was the site was down for 115 hours, until I got it moved over to a new hosting company. In the course of the 115 hours, I contacted them numerous times only to hear "Our engineers are working on the problem." In addition to the usual "incompetent" remarks, I said "Moe, Larry and Curly could do a better job." After the move was completed, as a courtesy I told the original hosting company they could tell their incompetent engineers to stop trying to solve the problem as the site was no longer with them. This was about 3PM Monday, 4/10.

Along with my main business site, the same server has another site I own which deals with recycling. What should I get at 1AM this morning (4/12) but a suspension notice for the second domain stating the "Recently you registered, transferred, or modified the contact information for one or more of your domain name(s). ICANN requires all accredited registrars to validate your new contact information." The second domain was created on July 27, 2007 and none of the contact information has ever changed, just like it never changed for main business site since 1999.

Now I ask you, are the two suspensions mere coincidence or something else? And is there a moral - be careful what you say to your hosting company? Personally, I do not believe in coincidence. Do I think the suspensions were malicious? Without a doubt. Will I be moving my sites? You bet.