[Nottingham] webhosting problems

[gadget.pat]

Hi all,

I hope you are all well. As the mailing list is quiet, I thought I would 
  take advantage.

Questions first then the story

Q1: How would you rate Student Web Hosting as a hosting company?

Q2: Best solution to a compromised site (brief Nu B answers please)

Q3: Any suggestions for a different hosting company and the chance that 
I can get some sort of part refund from my present hosting company?


One of the issues I have is with my webhosting company. I am with 
Student Web Hosting. Has anyone had/having dealings with them? The only 
contact you have with them is via email and if they decide not to mail 
you back (a week so far in my case) then you get a bit frustrated. The 
fact that I have just paid another years subscription before I required 
support is also adding to my annoyance.

Anyway, I have not needed to contact them for anything since I signed up 
with them a few years ago and now that I need info and support from 
them, it is not forthcoming. To cut the long story short.....

I found out that my site had been compromised. The ftp section was being 
used for naughty things and and naughty people and as I had not checked 
the site for a while, I didn't know there was a problem. I only found an 
issue when I recieved the bill for my next 12 months hosting. I couldn't 
see the image I had put up on my site and thought they had taken my site 
down early or something. I paid the bill thinking the site would be 
enabled again but no joy. I logged into my sites control panel and this 
is when I found it had been compromised. I mailed SWH and got a not so 
helpfull reply. When I tried to log onto my site a few days later, I had 
no access at all. I found out by chance that the server that my site was 
being hosted on had been taken down permanently but I had not been 
given/mailed details of what server I would now have to use. This is 
what I am still waiting for a reply on. Until I get the details of the 
server to use, I can't sort the ftp issue out. Until they reply to my 
query, I am paying for a site I can't log into or use.

Any words of wisdom, solutions or course of action would be appreciated.

Thanks,
pat