EXTREME WARNING: Data Hostage, Gaslighting, and Extortion. 7 years of loyalty mean nothing.
I have been a client of Smart SEO Hosting for 7 years, but my experience over the last 11 days has been a nightmare. Following a server-side breach (CVE-2026-41940) that wiped my sites, this company has completely failed to restore my data and is now actively holding it hostage.
The Facts:
Security Failure: They admitted their servers were compromised due to a cPanel vulnerability.
Gaslighting: Support engineers (Aidan B and Hugo R) claimed my sites were "restored" while they were clearly offline (DNS/404 errors).
Dishonesty: They falsely claimed I removed my contact details to justify terminating my contract. I have screenshots proving my info is still there.
Data Hostage: They revoked my access to my own files. After I provided an external FTP for the promised backup transfer, they went SILENT for 11 days.
Extortion: One of their "engineers" (Hugo R) called me an "unknown client" and threatened to charge a $17.50 per domain "transfer fee" just to give me my backups, or they would delete my data.
I am losing a massive amount of revenue from 1.5 million monthly visitors. This is not a professional hosting company; this is a business-killing operation. If you value your data and your sanity, DO NOT USE Smart SEO Hosting. They will ignore you, lie to you, and extort you when their own security fails.
Ticket Reference: #875705








