I was called up by "hostgator security" stating that my site had Malware. I asked them to revert it to a backup, and they said it would be $50 and no guarantee of fixing the malware, but I should use "Site Lock" instead. With 2 domains it would be $500, they would remediate the malware immediately, and then provide 12 months of monitoring service. Normally, I'd just handle malware myself, but I've got alot going on, so I decide to let these professionals handle it. I ask them what happens if my site goes down during this process, and they assure me that would not happen because the only files that would be removed is malware. I ask, ok, what if some kind of accident happens and it goes down anyway? "They will help you, they are on top of it." Okay great. I pay the money, for the next 24 hours I get a dozen emails about site scans happening. I check the next day, and both of my websites will not load. I call the Site Lock number and they tell me there are 19 directories for which I have not paid for Sitelock, and he thinks the malware is hiding there, and I need to pay for service for each of those directories. 19 + 2 X $250 is $5,250, which is as silly, ridiculous, halfbaked and outrageous a number as is the premise that more site scans will fix the problem. I come to find out Hostgator and sitelock are two separate companies. This is not a professional team that works together to remediate malware, in my opinion. I call back the hostgator rep who sold me the services, which atleast I'm grateful he was easy to get a hold of, and I'm told he will open a ticket which may take up to 24 hours to get a response to. These are active business websites with advertising running to them. I should not have trusted Hostgator, and I should not have trusted Sitelock. After this is all over, I'm going to look at hosts who don't charge to revert backups.
