Been banging my head against the wall for two days trying to get Bluehost support to set up a redirect for a page on my website. After multiple attempts, not only did they fail to do it, but they also removed a key redirect from my old domain to the new one and couldn’t reinstate it.
Today, they actually reset my whole website. The agent couldn’t explain why but said they could attempt a restore from a backup if I pay $49! After a lot of back-and-forth, they agreed to waive the fee and sent it to their tech team, but they’re not sure they can fully restore it.
What can I do if they can’t bring it back? It took months to build, and we’re potentially losing revenue while it’s down. This is beyond stressful.
I honestly don’t understand how they can hire people who seem so unqualified for this work!
+1 to that. We have two extra backup layers for our sites beyond the host backups. Scheduled offsite backups with All in One WP Migration, our 2.5 TB pCloud, and some with BlogVault SaaS.
@Trey
Definitely taking a page from your book now! Lesson learned about relying on plugins. I’m still learning the ropes here but trying to get up to speed.
Lane said: @Trey
Definitely taking a page from your book now! Lesson learned about relying on plugins. I’m still learning the ropes here but trying to get up to speed.
Don’t worry, I’ve been burned in the past too. Learned the hard way, but now I’m well-protected. It’s worth it.
I’m already talking with a local hosting company to make the switch as soon as possible. I did back up using a plugin, but it got wiped when Bluehost reset the site. Lesson learned: back up externally too!
Rowen said:
Bluehost isn’t your developer. If you need support, consider hiring someone for that role.
And, make sure to have your own backup plan. This is exactly why it’s necessary.
I did back up with a plugin, but that was wiped when they reset everything to a template. If they can’t do a redirect, just say so, instead of damaging the site and pretending it’s sorted.
That sounds incredibly frustrating, and I get why you’re stressed. It’s really disappointing they’d charge $49 to restore a backup during a crisis.
If they can’t bring your site back, check if you’ve saved any manual backups elsewhere (like cloud storage or on your computer). In the future, setting up regular external backups using plugins or other services gives you a safety net and more control.
@Terry
Thank you! I hope they can fix it, but given their past handling, I’m skeptical. I did regular backups with a plugin, but they all got deleted in the reset. So definitely a lesson learned about backing up externally!