Customer Checkout Comments not working

We direct our customers to enter the date they need their product by in the comments box(es) during checkout (page 1 Shipping or page 2 Payment). Since Feb the comments have not been coming through reliably; most do not. Calls to customers say they entered the information. Our tests confirm that comments sometimes come through, sometimes not.

Trouble shooting on Classic Template the other night: looks like the checkout comments came through every time (although with enough testing maybe not.)

Our template: Ashley Pink. Used to work. Looked at that support thread but didn't post; designer will likely say isn't a template issue.

The problem seems random.

Does anyone know the top reasons why the checkout comments may stop properly coming through, or doing it in a random manner?

All of our zen carts using same Ashley Pink template affected: ZC versions 1.3.8a - 1.3.9e

In fact, problem may be on my personal biz site with another template, but more often than not comments coming through:
https://www.prommart.com - back to IC Atheme Template - ZC 1.3.9h.

Thanks for any help.

SPH

Addition: Approximately same time period our host switched ports as we were under brute force attack. Host says new port is not the problem with comments not working properly. I'm not so sure...but then why does Classic Template appear to work....