Smarter Stats murdered my webspace

[indextwo]

I've been a client of F2S since 2002, managing two broadband lines, two domains and two hosting accounts. I'd agree with the much-lamented status of how great they used to be vs. how inadequate their services have become, particularly with regards to customer support.

I recently added Google Analytics to my site, but I wanted to check some particular referrals from a month or so before, so a couple of weeks ago I logged into F2S to check my Webalizer stats and noticed they'd stopped around September 2007. I just assumed they needed restarting, to I clicked 'Enable Web Stats'. This was a mistake.

In less than five days the new 'Smarter Stats' package had generated 190mb of log files, which then sent my 200mb of webspace up to 216mb, pushing me into the red. I immediately tried to disable the webstats but couldn't find any way to do it. I ended up FTPing in and manually deleted the log files myself. I then submitted a trouble ticket. Below is my latest amazing experience with whoever answers F2S customer support. I'm in red. Their responses are in blue.

----------------
13/03/09:
I unintentionally enabled the new SmarterStats web statistics package via my user control panel. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an option to turn them off or have them disabled via the control panel once activated.

Could you please uninstall and remove the web stats for my domain? Thank you.

----------------
16/03/09:
Thank you for contacting the freedom2surf Technical Support Team.

Unfortunatly once you enable SmaterStats there is no way of disabling them.

----------------

Yeah, I noticed that. Hence why I said it in my email. That's why I asked you to do it.

That seemed like a crappy response to me, so I called the tech support line and the guy on the other end agreed that it seemed a bit out of whack, and said he would look into it. Stupidly, I took him at his word.

Over a week goes by and I've heard nothing, so I re-open my trouble ticket and what follows is the most recent exchange:

----------------
22/03/09:
I have spoken to someone on the phone at F2S support about this issue but have never heard back.

I realise there is no way for me to disable the stats (although this does seem like an oversight in the admin area); as such I was requesting that someone on your end would remove the webstats package for me.

It is creating inordinately large log files that occupy a great deal of my disk space and I don't want to have to keep FTPing in and removing them by hand.

----------------
24/03/09:
Thank you for contacting the freedom2surf Technical Support Team.

The Smarter Stats does not affect you in any way. These are stats running in the background. There is no way for us to disable or remove this for you.

Kind Regards,

----------------

Oh wow, thanks guys. For a second I thought the webstats were running in the foreground and using my credit cards to buy Shania Twain CDs. Phew. That's a load off my mind. Oh wait! You didn't really read my email at all.

It seems absolutely ridiculous that, once the Smarter Stats package has been enabled, there's no way to turn it off. I separately manage about 25 different hosting accounts for a number of clients over a number of different services, and I have never seen a 'feature' like that.

I did respond to this in quite a huffy manner, because I was rather royally annoyed:

----------------
24/03/09:
You said:

> The Smarter Stats does not affect you in any way.

...except in the way that, as I said, "It is creating inordinately large log files that occupy a great deal of my disk space and I don't want to have to keep FTPing in and removing them by hand.". That affects me a great deal, wouldn't you say?

It would actually be very helpful if you would READ my query.

It seems nonsensical to me that there is no way for the end user to disable the Smarter Stats package - particularly if the generated log files grow and accumulate, encroaching upon the end user's web space. I would strongly suggest that you add a function to remove and disable the Smarter Stats package.

----------------

I once again spoke to someone on the tech support line who, while nice enough, clearly had absolutely no idea about the web hosting (he kept referring to it as 'The Freedom2Surf hosting package', which suggests he was most definitely not a part of 'The Freedom2Surf Technical Team'), and after being left on hold for almost 10 minutes I was eventually told that there's no way to have the stats disabled or removed.

It appears that my only recourse is to sign up for a new hosting package, get my domain pointing to this fresh new account, then delete the old one. That all seems a bit extreme just to turn off some webstats though, don't you think?

[Antonio_f2s]

You have been advised correctly. Once you activate the web stats, there is no way for you or us to disable this.

The only way to stop the SmarterStats web stats is to delete the hosting space and to recreate it again. If you would like me to do this, PM me your domain and the contact number in your account and I'll do it for you.

Bear in mind that it is your responsibility to make sure that you back up all your files and database before giving me the go ahead.

[indextwo]

THanks for the response, Antonio.

As you suggested, someone finally came back and suggested the exact same thing; to have my current hosting deleted and a new space set up. I was duly advised that this would delete everything on my webspace and it was my responsibility to back everything up. I was fine with this and gave the go-ahead. About a week later it all went ahead. I was advised my old space had been completely removed and I had a new webspace with no webstats. I re-uploaded all of my files.

The logfiles are still being generated.

The only difference this time is that in my freedom2surf control panel I no longer have a link to see the stats, only an 'enable webstats' link. This suggests that something has gone very wrong since not even my control panel thinks I have webstats enabled... but the logfiles are still there and they keep getting bigger.

The other major difference is that I no longer have permission to delete the logfiles via FTP, so they'll just keep getting bigger and bigger until my site exceeds it's webspace quota. There are about 2.5mb of files on my site, and my quota currently stands at 97.6mb, almost all of that due to the logfiles.

I opened another trouble ticket, nobody responded beyond "We'll get back to you", which was then automatically closed after 120 hours because nothing happened. Someone then called me and asked about my 'trouble accessing my webstats'. I explained my problem all over again and he said he'd get back to me. That was three days ago.

If there's no way for me to disable the webstats and there's no way for F2S to disable the webstats and if, even after deleting my hosting space and apparently setting me up with a new blank space that doesn't have webstats enabled, it still generates logfiles that nobody in the world can delete, then I'm at a complete loss as to what to do. How hard is it to not have webstats?

[indextwo]

Just as an update to this whole debacle:

I was contacted at some point in June by someone who talked about my ticket being 'escalated', but had no idea what the actual problem was. As I started to explain it, I was interrupted and told how to log in to my control panel and view my stats... after finally getting my point across regarding the unending problem I was having, he hung up promising to 'look into it'. I didn't hear from anyone again for almost two months, neither by phone or email.

The last phone call I had was a couple of weeks ago from someone saying the same thing: my ticket had been escalated to his support desk and he wanted to see what the problem was. I was wearily logging into my control panel to run through the whooole thing again when I noticed the logfiles directory had disappeared and my webspace was back down to its normal 13.5mb of used space. The tech who called me had no idea it was fixed, let alone how or who did it. I haven't had a single email regarding this issue since the first week of May, and only two very spaced-apart emails from tech guys who weren't completely informed of the isse.

I suppose I should be happy that it's all resolved - and I am - but there's no way on earth it should have taken almost half a year to sort out, with no explanation. That just absolutely beggars belief.