I can't believe how stupid the support staff at iPowerWeb is! :angry:

I've been having problems with them for months... Every morning for about a month, 3 of my 4 domains were inaccessible. The 3 sites that were down were all on the same server. So I told them this. They told me (eventually) that this wasn't related to the problem.

Then I started getting MySQL errors on these sites throughout the day. I told them that there was a MySQL problem on this server, they told me there wasn't. Then they told me that another user on that server was consuming all the resources and crashing MySQL. Then they told me it was fixed, although it kept happening.

Every morning I would update the open tickets to let them know the sites were down. They would come back up in a few hours, but they wouldn't repond to my e-mails for 2 days... Then they would combine all of my open tickets into a new one and respond saying "all fixed". That is, until the next morning.

I sent an e-mail last week asking "If I want to move to a new host, what is the procedure? Can I move my domains, who updates the DNS, etc?". They never responded to that. Then I sent an e-mail asking for them to unlock my domains so I could move them myself. They never responded. Then I got a response to my other open tickets saying "Everything is fixed, now".

Then I finally got a response to my "what do I have to do to transfer" question:

Dear Customer,

Thank you. I've set your account to cancel and our Billing Department has processed your cancellation request. Please allow 15/30 days for the credit card institution to be reimbursed IF any fees were assessed. Thank you for choosing iPowerweb.

WTF?

After a flurry of e-mails and phone calls, they finally sent me an e-mail saying that they weren't cancelling anything.

I spoke on the phone with 2 different people and sent 4 e-mails about unlocking the domains. Then I updated my domains myself and signed up with a new host. But I still have an open reseller account with them, and they list my domains as active on their servers. I've got my e-mail accounts on their servers to forward to a another e-mail account, but mail is still being delivered to their servers. So I've been trying to close my account and get a refund from them. They keep responded to my earlier e-mails (from last week) telling me that everything is ok, servers are up, MySQL is working just fine.

Today I spoke with Elizabeth in their reseller billing department. I told her I want out since they can't seem to keep their servers up, I want to cancel everything and I want a refund. No problem, she tells me, she hears this complaint all the time. She said they'd process my cancellation immediately and will send a refund within 10 business days.

All good, so I thought!

I just got an e-mail from her (I think it's her, it's signed "Elizabeth") saying:

Thank you for your renewal, The sites are set up to auto renew the day before the expiration date, you may update your account's billing details by completing the secured online billing form at <snip>

It seems that no matter what I ask them, they seem to answer a different question. And they don't do what I ask. I'll be so very happy when I finally get a refund from them and all my accounts are closed. I've also started the process of moving my domains to another registrar so they can't get at them - I don't want them to cancel my domains because I've asked them to do something else!

:angry:

Sorry, I just had to vent. I'm with PiWebHosting now and haven't had a single issue since I moved.

I'm glad atleast now you found a suitable host, you need to imply legal action to get your refund since they are being so hostle

I was considering going with them when I first started out but one of my friends who was already in the hosting business suggested otherwise because they had horrible support. I'm glad I listened to him.

Sorry for all of your troubles mikelbeck, if I were you I would just sue them. And like tekneeks said I'm glad you now have a stable host. Its always better to spend that extra buck to get better service.

Originally posted by Slava Hosting
I was considering going with them when I first started out but one of my friends who was already in the hosting business suggested otherwise because they had horrible support. I'm glad I listened to him.

Sorry for all of your troubles mikelbeck, if I were you I would just sue them. And like tekneeks said I'm glad you now have a stable host. Its always better to spend that extra buck to get better service.

I'm not gonna think about doing anything legal-wise until I've given them a chance to pay up. They e-mailed me again today saying they'll cancel my account if I give them the right information.

I'd sue them because Other than getting money for everything they ow you you can get a little more out of them claiming you had a respectable business and they ruined your reputation, you can get some money for any projected loss of revenue that you might have gotten if the service you paid for was actually provided.

I got a refund from IPower today... For all the unused time that I had paid for in advance.

They sent me a refund the other day for only one domain, I called Billing and asked what was up, they said they hadn't gotten a request to cancel any other domains. So we did it over the phone, the guy said I should have a refund in 3-5 business days. It showed up on my credit card in 2 days.

He tried to tell me that I wouldn't get a refund for any domains that had less than 6 months left, I asked him to find in the customer agreement where it said this, he put me on hold for a minute and then came back to tell me I'd be getting a full refund for any unused time. ;-)

I'm glad to be done with them, finally. My domains have been up and running on PIWebHosting since the beginning of the year, with no issues whatsoever (thanks Moni-Q!).

Like the others before me, I'm also glad that you found a hosting company that is working out. These large companies *factor in* complaints and refunds like yours into their business plan. Their business model is to take a giant leap forward and a few steps back when these kinds of things happen.

It's the reason why finding the host that's not too little, not too big works out in the end.

Roj

Originally posted by niyogi
Like the others before me, I'm also glad that you found a hosting company that is working out. These large companies *factor in* complaints and refunds like yours into their business plan. Their business model is to take a giant leap forward and a few steps back when these kinds of things happen.

It's the reason why finding the host that's not too little, not too big works out in the end.

Roj

Sometimes these larger companies tend to have problems communicating internally and results like this occur.

Sometimes = most of the time I would say. Their "churn" goes in both directions (in with the new, out with the old customers)

Roj

At least you got your money back and learned a valuable lesson.

Don't trust anyone.

Just Kidding, but make sure you read reviews on someone before you risk your site or client's sites.

I keep stressing that it comes down to the relationship you develop with the hosting company you work with. (I really believe that hosting companies ought to be small and friendly with steady consistent growth.) There should be thousands of hosting companies that serve their customer base and serve them well. End of story.

Roj

Originally posted by niyogi
I keep stressing that it comes down to the relationship you develop with the hosting company you work with.
Roj

This is so true. I am glad to hear you got your money back!


- Mike :cool:

I bought a domain from them before they charge me 5.99 for the first year second year its $20 !!!

man, $20.

lol

Thats why you read the fine print.

Go to domainsarefree.com first year is $3.99 and then its $8.95 after that. They are affiliated with ****** so they are reliable.

Sounds like they were really busy and got behind on support tickets or didn't have a clue about the problem

One word for ya


MOVE! :)

I'd go as far and as fast as possible.
lol

Originally posted by niyogi
I keep stressing that it comes down to the relationship you develop with the hosting company you work with. (I really believe that hosting companies ought to be small and friendly with steady consistent growth.) There should be thousands of hosting companies that serve their customer base and serve them well. End of story.

Roj

Could not of put that better myself. All and yes I mean all companies, should be helpful and responsive to client's needs. Fact of the matter is companies are in business because of the clients we serve, this in exchange should mean companies need to be in essence also working for/with their clients otherwise this sort of thing happens and thus ruins a business and costs people an arm and a legs worth of time to recover in some cases.

-Justin

I have to thank you for the heads up, I came here to look for dedicated server hosts. I guess I can cross them off my short list.

Jetta

Hi!
I have something else to add here that is important to understand.
When you find nothing at all about a company..esp on a board like this one...I would say that it could go either way: Good or bad.

Sadly, it has been my experience that most people who are happy with a host say little about it.

Most of the time, these posts are problem/ripped off/whatever posts.

I can let you in on something else. There is a post right now on the front page of this board of a certain company. Note that very little..positive or negative about them...has been posted.

I can tell you, in my opinion, this is a bad sign. In fact...I have an account with those people...but have not been with them long enough to have a complete picture of them.

Sadly...most of it has been bad...but...they do at least seem to be trying. That's why I still have an account with them.

Nothing like first hand experience counts in this. There are no guarantees. The only way to do it...and do it right...is have some system that makes backups and/or duplicates content. That's what I'm doing. It's not easy...but...just because a company is new does not mean it's bad.

Remember that just because they have been around for a long time does not guarantee they will continue to be around....and maintain the reputation they have now.

Good luck.

Bryon

I have been using their hosting many years ago, and even played with the "affiliate" program with them. i did get some customers for them but i never got the commission for it. ai~

I signed on with iPowerWeb a few years ago and was very satisfied. When those account's expired I was totally into other things and didn't renew. I asked for access to my domain names and they sent me the login information.

More recently (4 months ago?) I signed up with them again. First they screwed up my account, then it was inaccessable, then I asked for a refund and they replied that the problems have been solved. So I went to login to my account to no avail. Threatened to contact BBB if I didn't get a refund in full. Got the refund and never looked back.

That was fun.

So, do we have a hosting provider blacklist or ranking here?

Hi!
As always...it's up to *you*. There are no blacklists...unless you want to start one for yourself.

I check out new hosts everyday. I've always been a big fan of free trials...what really gets me is this: The ones that offer a trial and then....???? I had to deal with one of those today. Odd. This is rare...actually the first time it has happened.

Sometimes all you have to do is ask a prospective host for a trial. Some will only give you a 7 day one...but that's all I need to "run the numbers" with websitepulse and alertra...do tests..traceroutes...dns timing....upload pages...test download times, Etc.

As I said above...most people post on this board when they have problems. In fact, I will email a host that I am considering if there is a one-sided post...to see if they even bother to respond. Sometimes they do...sometimes they don't.

These days..with the problems some mmajor providers have been having...the name of the game is...and always will be...backup that data/content. Mirror it if you can elsewhere.

Good luck,

Bryon

If you care to know how Ipowerweb's business plan and service have evolved since the posts in this thread, do read what I wrote elsewhere in these Forums:

webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=2900740#post2900740

It will be near the end, if not the last post in the thread.

Oh, and it is not very flattering.

Dale R

Oh, this isn't nice!! But I haven't had any problem with them.....YET.

Here's the latest in their stupididity.

I recently started receiving error logs from them for domains that they no longer host. It's for two different domains that I used to have with them, but moved when I started this thread. For the last 5 months I've received nothing from them, all of the sudden they started sending me (empty) error logs.

So I sent an e-mail to their tech support, asking for them to stop it. The told me to contact their abuse department... I told the guy who responded to my ticket to handle it himself, I'm not their customer and don't want to start dealing with this mess again.

We'll see what happens...