Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : WebServe.ca Hosting issues and problems

[jwalking]

I would like to have an opportunity to alert anyone thinking of hosting to NOT use WebServe.ca as a host provider. If you want to know why, before taking my word for it, just try to communicate with their billing or Tech Support through either email, online 24/7 support option or if you want a real thrill try calling them. I have been developing sites for over ten years and this has to be the most pathetic company I have ever had to deal with. Support is non-existant.

[Jelleuh]

They'll be glad to hear (not). Good support isn't available to every company unfortunately.

[David]

jwalking,

What site do you currently host with them?
Nonetheless good luck with any new host that you choose!

[danielYYZ]

We have been using them for over a year, and we can't wait to get out of that deal.
Their email and web services are routinely down, and talking to their live tech support is not much better than asking yourself the same questions.
We have talked to other people who've had the same bad experience with them.

Here is an interesting link about them:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...3&goto=newpost

They would really love to hear about your experiences, I'm sure. Here are some emails to try:
owner - ali@webserve.ca
other email for owner: al@webserve.ca
(send it to both! it costs da same)
william jordan - director of operations: william@webserve.ca
donna jaggard - customer service mgr: donna@webserve.ca

or, if you think you really need someone to listen to your complaint, go to the Better Business Bureau, webserve subscribes:
http://www.bbbonline.org/profile.asp...01813391847834

Hope this helps.

[markgroen]

This seems to be the newest thread on webserve.ca, and seeing as I'm a web developer in the Vancouver area, here's my experience with them.

My client had a brochure-ware site with them that he never monitored or really even used, but as it had sat there for a few years it was a company name he was familiar with and so created a new account for the launch of a new domain that's destined to be much more active.

The user name they sent us with the IP address for Cpanel returned a 404 error and we were unable to access Cpanel. No problem I thought, someone just made a typo and some time later we had a new account with a different user name that worked.

Next day I started uploading files, the first batch was for an administrative function that doesn't have ANY sensitive information what so ever, but is nevertheless secure for it's own sake. Logged into Cpanel and created the database for it, then went back to the local config file to adjust the parameters to match and uploaded the new copy. The config file is safe on it's own in it's own directory, but I wanted to protect the folder itself and went back to Cpanel again to do that.

That's when the fun started, upon logging in, a virus laden WMF file wanted to download along with a javascript file that I'm guessing was the front end for a key logger script. These were being called from within Cpanel and were trying to contact a Russian hack server, unless someone can tell me differently it would appear that at the very least this virtual space had been hacked.

I put a support ticket in with the subject line "rootkit found", thinking that was sure to catch someone's eye. After about three hours, I checked Cpanel and the thing was still running, so used the Live Chat to try to get an ETA. Was assured the problem was being looked at and would be fixed soon.

It's the next day, and they still haven't got back to me but a little over 12 hours after the problem was discovered by me, they did send an email to the client:

"Hello. At this point in time we are planning an urgent server rebuild to eliminate recent technical problems we have encountered with the server ns38.servepower.com. This should take place within the next few days during the late evening to early morning hours (10 PM to 7 AM PST). Sorry but an exact date has not been determined as of yet. "
<snipped bit about the migration to new servers and data etc. />

"If at all possible, please avoid making changes to your site over the next few days. Also, we would like stress the importance of using virus scanners and other forms of security on any computers you regularly use to connect to this server, and that it is important to choose a complicated password for your account. Thank you for your patience in this matter. We apologize for the short notice and any inconvenience the technical problems have caused for you. "

The two phrases that stick out for me are the warning to use a virus scanner, thought this vulnerability had a patch for it out for some time now.... then "choose a complicated password", the one they sent was in the same clear text email as the user name, and consisted of real English words, all in small case and no warning to change the password to something more secure.

As well, instead of working around the problem of some ISP's blocking port 25 for relayed outbound email by setting both 25 and 26 to accept at the domain mail server, the instructions for email had this, "you will NOT be able to use your SMTP server listed above to send mail if you are using one of the following ISP for your internet access: Telus, Rogers, Sympatico etc ... " which as already mentioned above, is not quite correct. I have my own hosting business with clients using those and other ISP's and the port26 work around does just fine, if it's even needed anymore.

That's all I've got to say about them, time to get back to work :-)

[Shaw Networks]

Originally Posted by jwalking

I would like to have an opportunity to alert anyone thinking of hosting to NOT use WebServe.ca as a host provider. If you want to know why, before taking my word for it, just try to communicate with their billing or Tech Support through either email, online 24/7 support option or if you want a real thrill try calling them. I have been developing sites for over ten years and this has to be the most pathetic company I have ever had to deal with. Support is non-existant.

Seems like other people have been doing alright with WebServe.ca:

http://www.webhostingstuff.com/review/Webserve.html
http://www.hostsearch.com/review/web...ada_review.asp

and their uptime looks fantastic:
http://www.webhostingstuff.com/uptime/Webserve.html

[JustAWebDude]

Webserve is by far the worst hosting company I have had the misfortune to deal with in my 8 years of site design. Downtimes of 24 hours+ were commonplace (at 3 times in one week, I cancelled), standard response for tech support was 24 hours (great when your site is down, don't you think), and telephone support can do nothing but apologize for your problems.

I made the mistake of prepaying this company and 3 months later, I am still waiting for my refund.

I have switched my hosting to LFCHosting and have had great service, uptime better than 99%, and traffic is up over 85% to what it was with webserve.ca. I guess the main reason for that is because my site is actually up and running; a service that webserve.ca couldn't provide.

[JustAWebDude]

Well, as stated above, I've been waiting months to get a refund on my fees from websense.ca. I had tried emailing them in the past, but never got much of a response and so, using the addresses listed in this forum and on their website, I sent an email cc'd to every single one of them giving them a 3 day deadline to process my refund or I would file a formal complaint with the BBB. In less than 2 full business days, I received an email with yet another apology for the poor service (I could easily paper my computer room with webserve.ca apologies) and a confirmation that my refund had been processed.

In my years of doing site design, I've come across some good and some bad hosting companies. I can honestly say that the worst of the bunch was webserve.ca.

[rinker]

I ordered a 2 yr plan with webserve. They lured me into it with a 25% promotion, but I couldn't get the discount so I cancelled the plan right away. I went through days of headache trying to get a refund. They even send e-mails saying they had refunded the fee, but I get no refund on my card and keep going around and around. Now, Today October 12th..they are not answering their phones! They have never returned a call, so that's not an option. I realized now these guys are not simply incompetent, they are a bunch of crooks!!

[JustAWebDude]

I just checked their network status page today (Oct. 18, 9 a.m.) and 3 out of their first 5 network servers were 'experiencing technical difficulties'. Says a lot about the company, doesn't it.

I switched my site to LFC hosting and their current stats for the server that I am on shows an uptime of 99.99% during the last 334 days. That translates to being down for a total of 48 minutes in the past 11 months. Webserve.ca couldn't match those numbers for 11 hours when I was with them. During the final 2 weeks on their "servers", I figure my uptime might have been 50%, at best. Any company that has outages of 24 hours+ more than once a week and tells you that support calls will be answered (that's answered, not resolved) within 24 hours doesn't deserve your business.