While MySQL problems are unavoidable with any host, Bluehost seems to relish the opportunity to prune their oversold servers at the first sign of too many MySQL queries. If you search the Internet, you’ll find multiple accounts of people having their accounts suspended and/or cancelled due to MySQL problems. You’ll also find that most hosts will offer help to remedy the situation, rather than boot you off their servers.
Bluehost’s “one strike and you’re out” attitude towards people who don’t even realize their websites were causing a problem is inexcusable. A respectable website hosting service would either assist you with the problem, steer you in the right direction towards fixing it or at least give you a certain amount of time to find a solution.
If you’ve been left saying “Bluehost sucks” from these kinds of MySQL issues, post your story here. Help others learn more about the hosting company they might be about to sign a contract with.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I just experienced two months of hell with Bluehost, all for five low-traffic sites designed to be company profile resources and nothing more. It runs off a custom CMS (which I use for all company sites I operate across different hosting accounts) that uses, at most, four to five short PHP processes.
Two months ago, I started regularly getting database errors whenever I accessed any of those 5 sites. I emailed support with queries about possible problems on the server I was on and what I can do on my end to ensure my sites stay up. A few hours later, I got a canned response that essentially said there were excess processes running on the server that have been shut down and that my sites are now running fine.
That would have been all well and good for an isolated incident but the errors persisted to the point that almost 60% of the times I accessed the sites returned an error. I called them several times during the period. The first time I called, the support on the other end told me that I was suffering through those errors because my account regularly exceeded 30 MySQL connections. I argued that it was impossible, based on the low traffic and incredibly simple processes my sites were using. Almost every time I called helpdesk, they will either tell me there is no problem or find some way to tell me it was my fault – “you’re slowing down your box with your SQL processes, etc.”
Eventually, my complaints were escalated to a higher level of support, from whom I actually got straight answers. According to our conversation, the box I was on has been having regular SQL problems and they have been unable to pinpoint the culprit (whether it was software, hardware or an offending account). Basically, all of us using it will have to make do with the regular downtimes until they actually figure out what’s wrong.
It’s been two months and the problems persist. I asked Bluehost if there is a way they can move my account to a different server and I received a pretty emphatic “No!” I’m already in the process of moving those 5 sites to another one of my hosting accounts with a different company.
I hosted a pretty small forum on bluehost (no more than 5 to 10 customers online at a time). When I started the site everything was going good. Bluehost could handle the forum. As soon as the forum got a bit more popular I started having problems.(Still no more than 10 online at any one time). The SQL service would die probably 2 times a week. And of course I would have to go through bluehost support to get them to reset the SQL process. After many months of these continuing SQL problems they finally suspended my account out of the blue. No warning. They said my forum wasn’t optimized…..? WTF? I was using vbulletin, probably the best forum software out there, and yet your puny servers can’t handle my very small forum? Good riddance and F U bluehost!
I tried bluehost and I’m about done with them, all this week I’ve had problem after problem which is coincidentally shortly after I renewed my hosting contract with them. As soon as they received my money something happened because my sites won’t load, I get a buttload of errors and it’s just amazing how terrible it is now! I’m going to try ipage from a friends suggestion.
Four times in the past two months our database has mysteriously disappeared. No C-Panel tracking, no explanation. Goodbye, BlueHost.
Our website has only couple of pages and dozen of posts. Ans small Next Gen Gallery based slideshow. Every time it is terribly slow. We opened ticket for support and the “advice” we got was to install WP Super Cache (they said we got some slow queries in the log and referenced option get/update queries, which are essential to every WordPress based website). Our website is not hugely popular, so there are 20-30 visits a day! Why on earth should such installation require WP Super Cache and judge yourself whether that was adequate support advice. Basically they said that it was our fault (whatever that’d be) and we are welcome to resolve that ourselves.
Agreed. Bluehost performance is sub-standard, service support is poor and I’m getting off this thing as fast as possible. Bluehost sucks.
SQL is down right now on my site. Been down for about 7 hours. This is one stellar company, btw, just launched my site yesterday with them! yeah!!!! can someone please shoot me now, as I stepped in some poo called bluehost! God I wish I had read this site before I signed up with these idiots. And wordpress – fuck you for recommending.
This is the email i recieved from bluehost.
Dear Sudip:
It has come to our attention that your site is using an extreme amount of resources on our servers and network; consequently, your site has outgrown the BlueHost.com shared hosting package. It has become increasingly more difficult to keep your site online, and doing so now degrades the experience for the other users on our servers. Others who have experienced such growth with their site(s) and hosting needs have chosen to move their site(s) to a Dedicated Server or Virtual Private Server (VPS). BlueHost.com does not currently offer Dedicated or VPS hosting. These alternative hosting services will include more resources and site stability, as well as better backup and server redundancy.
Per conditions stated in our Terms of Service, we will no longer be hosting your account.
http://www.bluehost.com/cgi/terms
7.02. BlueHost.com employs complex mechanisms to protect its Subscribers and systems from abuse. BlueHost.com’s offering of “unlimited” services is not intended to allow the actions of a single or few Subscribers to unfairly or adversely impact the experience of other Subscribers. BlueHost.com’s service is a shared hosting service, which means that multiple Subscriber web sites are hosted from the same server and share server resources. BlueHost.com’s service is designed to meet the typical needs of small business and home business website Subscribers in the United States. It is NOT intended to support the sustained demand of large enterprises, internationally based businesses, or non-typical applications better suited to a dedicated server. BlueHost.com will make every commercially reasonable effort to provide additional resources to Subscribers who are using their website(s) consistent with these Terms, including moving Subscribers to newer and bigger shared servers as necessary. However, in order to ensure a consistent and quality experience for all Subscribers, BlueHost.com does place automated safeguards to protect against any one site growing too quickly and adversely impacting the system until BlueHost.com can evaluate said sites resource needs.
We ask that you move your site(s) from our servers within 14 days, after which we will delete your site(s) from our hosting service.
A pro-rated refund will be issued for the remainder of your service term from the time of cancellation. If cancellation is within the first 30 days of sign-up, you will be issued a full refund of the web hosting portion of your package.
You will need to take the following steps to remove the files from our servers.
1 – Contact our support via chat, email or phone. Although your web site has been disabled, your data will still be available for up to 14 days, after which it will be deleted.
2 – Take the necessary steps to retrieve your files from our servers and to change your hosting company.
3 – Once your account has been deleted, you may qualify for a refund, issued to the payment method initially used, based on the unused amount of your hosting package. Please allow 3-7 business days for the refund to fully process.
You will still be able to manage and control your domain(s) through the Domain Manager tab of your account. Contact technical support for assistance with transferring or changing domain information.
Terms of Service Compliance Department
1958 South 950 East
Provo, UT 84606
Phone line: (888) 401-HOST Option 5 | Fax line: 801-765-1992