My Experience With Customer Service @ Utiware.net 
Posted by Udegbunam Chukwudi on September - 23 - 2009
I’ve researched for the perfect words to describe the web hosting offered by Utiware.net but can’t find none. In as much as I would love to call it a scam, I can’t because they delivered the product BUT it turned out to be faulty.
On Friday 21 August 2009 I ordered web hosting from the Utiware with the intention of starting a new blog entirely targeted to the Nigerian public.
The offer was unbelievable with free domain included, all for the small sum of 3,500 naira a year ($22/year). I paid up and a few hours later my account was ready.
Excited, I rushed to the cybercafé early the next day to set up my new blog. As soon as I logged in, I noted I had fucked up big time. I had rushed to buy Windows web hosting which came without Fantastico.
I resigned to my fate and proceeded to setting up the wordpress blog. After 4 attempts, I resigned. I kept getting a PHP error each time I tried to access the log-in page. Sometimes the page would load and then reject my username and password.
At once, I lodged a complaint via the email below.
Good day,
I registered for webhosting with you and it got activated yesterday.
Unfortunately I thought it was a Linux based server and now I’m having
a little problem.
I’ve successfully installed wordpress on my site but can’t seem to log
in at all.Considering the fact that I’m used to Linux based server such as is
available at my other blog (strictlyonlinebiz.com/blog)/ hosted by
Hostgator, I’d like you to please help in reinstalling wordpress or
gaining access to my blog.The control panel ain’t helping matters either. CPanel is the best and
unfortunately, it ain’t available on your server.Do please help me out. I’m already considering asking for a refund and
looking elsewhere for a Linux based server with CPanel.Hope to hear from you soon.
Have a nice day.
Udegbunam Chukwudi.
About an hour later while casually surfing for a better web hosting, I found out about Web4Africa. Excited again I sent out the next email.
Sorry to bother you again.
I’ve just googled and found what I’m looking for here @
http://www.web4africa.com.ng/web-hosting.phpThough it costs a lil bit more than your plan, it’s got CPanel and
Linux which makes my life easier. Thus I’m hereby requesting a refund
minus the cost of the domain name registration.I know not how refunds are carried out by your firm but anyway here
are my bank detailsBank: GTB
Account Name: Udegbunam Chukwudi
Account Number: 351******1590Thanks.
Udegbunam Chukwudi.
Three days later, after receiving no reply from them, I sent out another email in anger.
Good day,
This is the third email I’m sending your way with respect to the fact
that wordpress installation sucks on your hosting plan. I’ve done my
very best to install wordpress but either I get an error message or it
refuses to recognize my password. This is the fourth time I’m
reinstalling wordpress and still no success. Do please help out or
lets start discussing a REFUND minus domain name registration fees.
Thank you.
Do have a pleasant day.
An hour and 36 minutes later, I got this reply
Hello
We have moved ur files to the correct folder . pls visit http://makemoneyonline-nigeria.com/ so see that ur site is now live.Utiware Support
To the above response, I replied
Thanks for your response to my email.
The site is now live like you said BUT I can’t log in into my
wordpress admin area. I keep getting this error message“PHP has encountered an Access Violation at 1D6BA255″
What’s going on? Is this some fluke on your servers or what? Hope to
hear from you again soon. I REALLY need to get my wordpress blog
started as I’ve got deadlines to meet with an SEO competition coming
up soon in September.Do have a nice day and please get back at me soon.
Ciao.
And then they had to question my ability when it comes to installing wordpress.
Hello
There is nothing wrong with our server. it is the duty of the web developer to install the application correctly. The content of your website is the responsibility of your web-master to design correctly, we do not have access to modifying your website.Thank U
Utiware Support
Who the fuck claims to be a web host and doesn’t have access to modifying their client’s websites? Each time, I’ve had a little problem with Hostgator, they simply log into my account and fix what’s wrong ASAP. Now I know what quality customer service looks like and Hostgator is it!
Pissed as hell, I sent out another email
I am d web master of my site. I’ve successfully hosted 3 blogs till
date with absolutely no problem @ all. Ever since I bought ur hosting
package all I’ve ever done is try to install wordpress and it simply
won’t work. Like i said, I’ve tried 3 times and failed. All I’m asking
for is some friendly support as to why i keep getting a php error each
time i try to log into my admin area. On a second thought, how’s about
you install a test wordpress blog on my space and let me know if u can
successfully log into d admin area. That’s what big hosts would have
done. Do please try this and get back @ me. Have a good nite. Thanks
The next day, I got another reply
Hello
Our Support team is looking at the Issue we will get back to you
Thank you for your understanding and patience.Best regards,
Utiware Software Limited
I simply thanked them and said I would be waiting patiently to hear from them. Three days later, after they made no contact whatsoever, I wrote to them
Good day,
I’m checking in on the progress of fixing the issue of wordpress
installation on your servers. I thought I’d be hearing from you two
days after my last email but I haven’t.
Like I said earlier on. I have a deadline to meet come September 1st 2009.
Do let me know if the issue has been fixed or if it can’t be fixed @
all so we can make arrangements for a refund of my money as I’m still
within my 30 days money guarantee.
Thank you.
As if this was child’s play, I didn’t hear from them again for 2 fucking weeks! One day I decided to place a call to their sales department.
The customer service guy was quick to acknowledge the fact that he remembered receiving my email and having forwarded it to the technical department. The technical department had in turn admitted to my claim that they was a glitch in their servers and that they were trying to fix it.
He politely asked me to exercise patience and that everything would be sorted out in the next few days. By this time, I had already started drafting this review. I was seriously banking on their ignoring me again and they did just that.
Below is the last email, I sent their way when days went by without hearing from them
Good day,
I’m writing to find out when your technicians are going to get around
to fixing the glitch on your servers. It’s almost 1 month now and you
guys have succeed in evading me till my guarantee expired. Kindly fix
the wordpress issue and get at back at me as soon as the issue is
fixed.
Thank you and have a nice day.
It was 3 days ago, while reading Sylvie Fortin’s Internet Marketing Sins, that I realized that the customer service department had probably used the following technique on me after I mentioned refund in my first email
“If someone asks for a refund, ignore their request and if they write again, pretend you never got the first one. Most people forget they asked and our refund rates will drop accordingly”
BRIEF OPEN LETTER TO THE MANAGEMENT OF UTIWARE NIGERIA & U.S.A
I still remember the day I came across your web hosting plans. I was excited and thought myself lucky to have discovered such a wallet friendly web host.
Unfortunately, your customer service department has been inept in handling my situation. Lord knows why.
I understand perfectly well how asking for a refund of a measly 3,500 naira might sound to you guys BUT that was the time when your customer service guys should have energetically jumped in and saved the day and kept me as another happy customer but they failed in doing that.
Sincerely speaking, right from the day I paid for my hosting plan, I was already dreaming/planning how I was going to write a glowing review to get more Nigerians to sign up with you guys. Alas! The bubble has been burst.
It’s not my intention to spoil business for you by writing this blog post. It’s just that since I was made to feel as though my problems fell on deaf ears, I decided this would be a better way to get your attention.
I have no intention of continuing with the plan I bought on your servers so you might as well delete the account.
The web hosting business in Nigeria is rapidly getting filled with quacks as people have discovered web host reselling as another way of making money online but instead of doing it right, they’re messing it up. It’s about time you guys step up your game or lose a lot of business to your major competitors here in Nigeria.
I wish you all the best in your business endeavors and I hope future customers get treated better than I was.
Thanks for taking the time to read through this.
Yours sincerely
Udegbunam Chukwudi
To my loyal readers, I’m presently making plans to order Web4Africa’s Bronze hosting which goes for 6,000 naira ($37.56) a year with 1GB of Disk Space, 10GB of Monthly Bandwidth and free domain name included.
I put my faith in the owner, who seems to be a nice chap, and hope I don’t get treated like shit again. Hopefully I’ll be able to move one of my blogspot blogs, StrictlyOnlineBiz-Chatter, over to their servers.
To my fellow Nigerians looking to find quality and well priced Naira web hosting, I’ll be writing a review should everything go well or not with Web4Africa.
Wish me luck.
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I am proudly Nigerian, but I do not subscribe to shitty customer service. Those guys did not handle the issue well at all.
It is painful to part with money and not get a commensurate quality service.
I understand that web-hosting is not an easy business. I’ve had issues with more than one web-host company. Also, I am currently a web-host reseller.
One thing that I have noticed separates the MEN from the BOYS in webhosting is CUSTOMER CARE!
While hosting companies like Hostgator put much efforts into pacifying an aggrieved customer, some web-host companies sees and treat such customers as PEST!
It is good that you blogged about your experience. If Utiware understand online business, they will contact you immediately, provide a redress so that you can write a rejoinder to this post.
While some may see this post as being too harsh, I am of the opinion that it is necessary to get the online business sector in Nigeria sanitize. While I remain proudly Nigerian, I will not support shitty service. Cheers.
@NaijaEcash: I’ve seen harsh comments online and this ain’t one of them. I just had to let it out cos the way Nigerians do business online can be quite frustrating. Just this afternoon, the internet service at the hospital wasn’t functional and when I sort to find out way, I was told that the provider was asking for the current month’s fee despite the hugely annoying fact that for 3 weeks his useless internet service went off air leaving us stranded.
He’s not even willingly to consider our 3 weeks worth of internet that just went down the drain due to logistics on his end.
Even if Utiware contacted me to redress the issue, the damage has been done and I don’t intend hosting with them again MAINLY for fear that they might use this review as an excuse to sabotage my site/blog in the future. It would be like giving a potential enemy full access to make mince meat of me.
Don’t say it. I already now. I’M FREAKING PARANOID.
I am sorry about your previous horrible web hosting experience.
Web4Africa’s Bronze hosting plan presently comes with a 5GB disk space. Be sure to order for Linux web hosting.
Frankly, offering high-quality service below a certain amount of money is not possible. Therefore, when pricing is too low, be sure that something is being compromised.
A good blog you have here. Your mention of Web4Africa brought me here. I will surely read through your previous posts to catch-up.
Keep up the good work.
@Oluniyi David Ajao: Surprising I was just analyzing my traffic and trying to figure out why anyone would google “web4africa” and land on this post. Thank God you found the post. Now I can order from you in peace.
I very much agree with you that when the pricing is too low something is DEFINITELY been compromised. Probably it was customer and technical service on the part of Utiware.net.
Thanks for the words of encouragement. You run a pretty neat blog yourself just next door in Ghana. I only wish your blog posts were full rss posts that way I’d be able to read updates when I disconnect from the internet @ the cybercafe.
P.S: This page, http://www.web4africa.com.ng/web-hosting.php, is still showing bronze plan as 1GB of disk space. Try fixing it.
I’m surprised that there has been no respponse yet from Utiware.net I guess their Public Relation Officer doesn’t understand online business. If he or she understand, there would have been a response from them by now to re-assure present and future customers that they are a reputable company and the issue you had with them was just an unfortunate incidence.
A good example to buttress my point is the quick action taken by David Ajao of Web4Africa. He must have seen a link pointing to his business website and he quickly investigated. When he discovered that something positive was said about his online business, he paused to drop a comment.
David Ajao is a Nigerian Entrepreneur that I am proud of. He has earned for himself credibility. I wish other Naija brothers and sisters will learn from him. When I started my blog, he visited and dropped useful suggestion on how I could improve on what I was doing. That is what we ought to be doing for one another. I wish you happy stay with Web4Africa. Cheers.
@NaijaEcash: They’ve probably not seen the post yet. David didn’t waste time in fixing the problem and he even didn’t waste time in handling the fraud alert message I got when I just tried ordering from him. I’ve got to say, I think I might just have found an African version of Hostgator. It’s obvious he runs a tight business and I can’t to get on board with his hosting firm.
@Oluniyi David Ajao: Glad to be help. Let it be known that I’m impressed with your billing system etc. I DEY IMPRESSED. Here’s a small tip. It would be nice if you could create a 125 X 125 banner for us affiliates to properly promote your web hosting services.
@Udegbunam, the page has been fixed. Thanks a lot for the correction.
We already have banners we’d be sharing with affiliates soon.
Thanks for your kind words.
NB. It’s impossible to comment on your blog using Google Chrome web browser. Try it and fix if you can.
@Oluniyi David Ajao: I’ll look into it as soon as I can BUT do please note that most times making a theme to function 100% across all browsers can be tasking.
BTW what exactly makes it impossible to comment on my blog using Google Chrome?
P.S: I’ve paid up. Thanks
@Oluniyi David Ajao: I just checked it and I must confess that’s one hell of a bug that I’ve been trying to fix ever since I started using this theme. I’ll get back at it on localhost and hopefully find a solution to it this time around.
Thanks for the heads up.
@Oluniyi David Ajao: The issue with Google Chrome has been fixed. There was an open label tag. Thanks again for motivating me to fix it.
Well, unfortunately that sounds like some of the customer service I have experienced with different “companies” online in my 2 years of Affiliate marketing. It is frustrating and can make you very angry. Thank God there wasn’t much money involved! Sad to say, but you are not alone with this sort of experience, but if more people would come out with it like you have some companies might find themselves inclined to up their customer service a notch.
@Petra Weiss: It’s quite true as you rightly said, that I’m not alone with this sort of experience so true this post others will be aware of what bad customer service looks like. If you don’t have a sound customer service don’t bother starting a big business. Go small time till you can afford to hire more helping hands.
Hello all,
Am a web developer/designer, and have been hosting with Utiware for the past two years. I must say that their service is very very good.
Their customer support is superb. I think the issue was with the script and configuration. Utiware is a hosting company. If you look closely at each of their plans, you will see features it has. Maybe what you needed working was not supported by your plan.
I have quite a good number of clients hosted with them, some of which are for the Federal Govt of Nigeria.
I have to say again, Utiware is one of the best we have in this country. I started hosting with Mobile Signature in 2005 and some other host company till i stumbled across Utiware.
I repeat, Utiware is one of the best in Nigeria. Am not saying they are perfect, but every host has got is own issues.
@Web4africa guy, i suggest you should change your currency from Dollars to Naira if your target audience are Nigerians.
Thanks
WordPress was DEFINITELY supported by the plan I chose though it was on a windows server. They just chose to ignore my emails after acknowledging the fact that there was a glitch in their servers. I second your suggestion to Oluniyi. He should create banners with the Naira Currency and a landing page for Nigerians in Naira.
[...] how then does Chukwudi expect readers to believe his Customer Service Experience with Utiware.net was free and fair, when one of the commenters on the post says he has been hosting with the [...]
Hi all, i’m really sorry about your experience, but it was the same for me when i used signonafrica. Their servers were totally offline for weeks at a time, clients were always on my neck, telling me of how bad my service was, while all the time it was my host killing my business.
Anways i finally sorted my self out by using Qservers.net, based in lagos, though i’m in abuja.
My clients are happy now and i’m having more business here in abuja, due to the quality uptime of my client sites.
If you need a good host you can try them out, a 300mb package cost N1,500 only, while domains cost N2,000.
We website developers need hosts we can put a client on and go to bed, and that’s what i’ve found with Qservers.net
Hope this is help full to someone.
Cheers all.
i quite agree with my brother Jide Utiware hosting service is very muck ok. their customer service is the best i have expirience and i feel if you actually know what you want Utiware will give it to you. and even if you don’t know just let them know and they will give what is best for for you.
Seems like I’m just one unfortunate customer after all
Dear Udegbunam Chukwudi,
I am writing to ask you to delete this blog post that you posted against Utiware last year. While we understand that your particular communication regarding the installation of WordPress didn’t go well at the time, you have expressed your grievances. You have also received additional information from other Utiware customers who have not experienced the issue that you complained about (not being able to install WordPress). We have numerous customers across Nigeria who use WordPress on our servers. For example, this is a link to the WordPress Blog of Jide Ogunleye, our customer who responded to your post several months ago: http://www.jideogunleye.com/blog/
We understand that at the particular time you were not happy and a negative post like this one might help other people avoid the same issue. But, leaving such negative information on your blog indefinitely is not right, especially since the particular complaint you had is not an issue. You have also copied our Company Logo to your blog. Our Company Logo is copyrighted material and should not be used without our permission.
This world is a small place. You don’t know who is reading this blog post and not responding to it, and you don’t know which opportunities you may have lost as a result. Such a negative message can backfire. Utiware is a well loved company. At this point, we ask you to examine why this particular post should still be valid. If the goal was to warn potential customers against signing up with Utiware, then there is no reason for such a message to continue to exist. If the goal was to get back your N3,500 that is not a big deal either. We hope that the goal is not to put up a permanent negative message against Utiware as that will violate all ethical reasons, and greatly undermine your credibility.
Please delete this blog post from your blog and carry on with life without such strong grievances.
Thank you very much.
Utiware Web Hosting
Thanks for your comments. I’ll get back @ you via a blog post hopefully come Monday, Democracy Day.
Hi all from what I have read in your post and replies from users of Utiware services it shows that they have GOOD Customer support and their Hosting is good. Which is contrary to this post on you blog
Note: the date this post was first made On September 23, 2009 you have 18 COMMENTS to date 28th May 2010 no one has come to support/say they have bad experience using Utiware Web Hosting service . Chukwudi I suggest you delete and close the post as this issue don’t holds ground. UTIWARE KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
Thank U
I have had a similar experience like this when hosting my site with a Nigerian web host. I found out that my site was not always up for 24 hrs and this was losing me some money until i switched to Bluehost.
Hmm! It is now clear if what I was thinking was correct or wrong. It is show that this blog was just being used to hunt Utiware “it also shows that the so called reformer is not playing fair”. it is good for readers to read the extent of this issue has gone and other Bolger too are now raising question too http://nairabytes.wordpress.com/2009/12/29/60days-till-the-expiration-of-www-nairabutes-dot-com-update3/ I did not know that Utiware has sent a post on the blog to officially state their stand on the so called issue. In the post http://www.strictlyonlinebiz.com/blog/utiware-web-hosting-experience/713/
From all indication Chukwudi no matter what Utiware says will not sound good to you when the reformer is not paying fair.
I sent in a comment on http://www.strictlyonlinebiz.com/blog/utiware-web-hosting-experience/713/ you did not respond to it showing that you only respond to people that sing the same song with you.
We know you are the owner of the blog but you should know that if say you want change as you have being saying then you should treat people option with respect and respond to them. From what I know you are just trying to give a UTIWARE a bad name not that their customer service is bad.
Thank you
P.S: Comment HEAVILY edited for fear of duplicate content penalty by Google.
I didn’t respond to your comment because I really had nothing to say as Jide and Boniface had already stated their being happy with Utiware’s services. I didn’t see the need to repeat myself again thus I kept quiet until Utiware left that comment and also sent it in an email to me probably thinking I would not approve their comment
With regards to NairaBytes, I had no first hand knowledge regarding the issue thus I decided it was best I but out when a libel suit was mentioned. Please read this post http://www.strictlyonlinebiz.com/blog/apologies-strictlyonlinebiz-comment-policy-reviewed/867/
Hope that answers your questions. Cheers
By the way, unlike every other Utiware satisfied customer, you aren’t leaving your website address. That’s kinda funny you know.
In other for me to actually understand what the issue is with your problem with utiware, i took the time to go through the whole blog and replies especially the reply from utiware himself, i could not really place my finger on anything, and i think my brother if you ask me for my candid advice i will advice that you just delete this blog there is really no need for it.
Thanks
Boniface
Thanks for the advice. Point taken
You are correct this blog don’t make sense from all indications.
Thank you very much
Feel free to quit coming around anytime you please. There are millions of blogs you could read besides this one
I will only stop when you have deleted the blog post as Boniface told you. So note: as long as it is still up you will hear from me
And @ a point in time, I’ll just stop approving your comments.
BTW should in case you don’t know, the more comments you pump into this post, the more Google sees it as been super-important cos the content is constantly changing and that would keep this post @ the top of the SERPs for a pretty long time
But my dear brother come to think, if there is really a problem with utiware customer service, which from all indications and from personal expirience i greatly doubt it 100%, ypou should be able to judge by yourself from all the response you are getting on this blog that the issue could actually be with you and not with utiwares. just follow this blog and see what some one did with the same utiwares. www.jideogunleye.com/blog
just look at it and think for yourself.
Thank you Boniface
FYI I’ve been looking @ Jide’s blog like 4eva and it’s a nice blog.
. I might soon be shutting down comments on this post ’cause I’m tired of repeating myself. Going round in circles is such a turn off for me.
Cheers
I came across this post some days ago .Am also a web developer and i have developers and designers working for me , I have been hosting with Utiware for the past three years. First of all i want to say i have never installed wordpress on their server before because i had no need for it but the services I requested for has been wonderful. Their services has been very very good and response in terms of customer support – wonder. I own a resseller account with them that powers great sites and have also referred several friends to them because of their outstanding perfomance.(I have compared but it will be childish to mention names)
I totally agree that poor/slow response in time of need may be frustrating but i beg to say that the summary of your post does not reflect the true state of Utiware.
Since you too have a name to protect, dont take unneecesary delight in spoiling their’s . it takes time to make and build a name. If there is nothing more than a poor service delivery
that didnt meet your expectation at that time ,Pls remove those ugly comments for fairness sake ,much more that i read a post from someone on this same blog that is currently using that facility you had problem with. If they have not refound your money till now ,send ur account no to my email address immidiately u remove it i will pay without any recourse to them , this is because they have supported me in such a way that i can not forget. I can recommend them to anyone even in my dream .
Finally , i will try installing wordpress on thier system very soon and put my observations on this blog.Pleeease remove ugly post for other customers sake , we are enjoying their services and we dont want their name in the mud.
ROFLMAO. Dude I’m pretty sure you didn’t read this post and the comments that followed cos if you did you wouldn’t have wasted your time commenting here. I don’t need a refund neither do I need you posting your views about utiware on my blog. Do that on your own blog or html site.
Have a wonderful night’s rest
I’m not surprised at all, I am a webmaster based in Nigeria as well, My first encounter with hosting in Nigeria was with Utiware, I was new to wordpress and I had the same error which I spent hours trying to fix on my own. After days, I decided to use Dreamweaver for the design, It was okay but my client still needs a blog. that was about a year and a half
In the long run, I had to move the site to syskay hosting which was PERFECT and cheap as well. I had a friend who still uses utiware, believe me, at times his site goes off air for hours.
I use syskay hosting and it’s superb, I once sent a complain to them in the middle of the night on Sunday and suprisingly, I got a good response from them. I have six sites with them and I have NO PROBLEM
I like the fact that you to
Syskay’s service are quite good considering how cheap their plans come. Uptime with them has been quite good too
Hi all I have read through this blog but there is an important information that is not being addressed. I.e. The platform you want to use for your application deployment. Windows or Linux
As a developer, it is very important to know the correct platform. That work perfectly well with the application you want to deploy.
Windows and Linux platform are two different technology , you will definitely have an issue when you try to deploy an application on a platform that don’t totally support what you want to do e.g. you can not deploy windows application on Linux server hosting as they don’t have support for it.
On other hand you can host Linux application on windows server e.g. PHP application like the word press blog because they can run mysql database and PHP scripts. You can deploy all application that is on the .net frame work of Microsoft successfully on windows server/hosting
When it come to the correct platform that give word press the full support it is Linux, both that does not mean you can not use windows server successfully to deploy your word press blog. But you may run into issue if you are not an experience developer. Note: word press word fine on windows server.
It is very wrong to blame the hosting company when you the developer did not do your homes work right, Syskay hosting offer Linux hosting while Utiware offer Windows hosting
It is not easy to manage server we need to encourage the Nigerian hosting company, note: from the data I got on line about Utiware software Ltd they own and manage their Windows server them selves, they are not reseller to other web hosting company abroad like what most Nigerian web hosting company are. That is really a good fit to achieve.
We will get there Nigeria
I am PROUD to be a Nigerian
Thank you
No offense man but I hold every host accountable for whatever they publish on their site. If you say WordPress works on your site and I go ahead to place an order only to find out down the line, that WordPress doesn’t work, I’ll start bitching ’cause you didn’t deliver!
Your response is totally not correct what you are saying you will blame your host because of your inexperience in using Windows hosting in deploying your word press blog. If you say on Utiware windows server, word press doesn’t work there. Where is jide’s blog http://www.jideogunleye.com/blog/ hosted?
No offense I have to tell you the difference between you and jide is that he has more experience in using windows hosting more than you. As stated before word press works fine on windows and that is why Utiware have it listed on their site as they support it which they do
It is bad blame other people for our own inexperience. It is very clear that windows and Linux platform are different and that is why they are studied and they have professional in both.
Thank You
ROFLMAO. And the crazies are BACK! Good night
Sorry for your bad experience, i have had a similiar problem with one nigerian host where their server crashed and i lost all my files, since then i am always selective when it comes to hosting websites, i now use hostmonster.com and hostgator.com infact am in love with hostgator.com