Moore Airtime
Review of iPowerWeb.com
However, in the case of iPowerWeb I have to make an exception, and pass along a sincerely-felt warning to anyone considering using this company for hosting services.
I purchased dedicated server service from this company in March, 2006. For several months I was able to use the server to host my online product with no problems at all. By the way, my service involves the transfer of sales data between cash registers at retail stores in shopping malls. In other words, I am not involved in any type of shady, online business.
In October, 2006 one of my customers called to complain that my server was offline. After checking it out, and realizing that my customer was right, I contacted iPowerWeb to see what the problem was. I was informed that iPowerWeb had received a complaint that my server was being used to attack other computers on the internet, and that the server had therefore been "unplugged" by the iPowerWeb "Abuse" department. I expressed my frustration that I had received no notification or warning from iPowerWeb regarding either the complaint or the action that was taken, which put me in a serious bind with my customers.
At this point the iPowerWeb support people treated me like something foul that the cat had dragged in. Pleading the honesty of my business, and the urgent need to get my server back online fell on deaf, indifferent ears. I was told that no one in the support department could help me, and in order to get the server back online I would have to email the abuse department and wait for a reply.
I did receive a reply, and I have to admit the reply was surprisingly quick. I was given three options to get the server back online, all of which included paying a fee, basically to cover the cost of setting up a clean version of the Windows operating system. All right, no problem, I guess it was my fault for being lax and letting someone hack into my server in the first place. So I contacted the iPowerWeb billing department, informed them of my preference on how to proceed, and authorized them to bill my credit card for the fee. I tried to plead my case for a quick turnaround, stressing that my business was dependent on my server being online.
After 24 hours the server was still not online. When I called the billing department, I was told that this type of service is performed in 24 to 72 hours. Wow! What a disappointment!
After 48 hours the server was still not online, and I thought it was worth another call to the billing department, and maybe talking to a supervisor would help this time. After explaining my frustrations to Chad, and begging for some help, Chad agreed to try to upgrade the priority of my work order to get my server back online more quickly. At the end of the call he explained that although he "could not guarantee it," my server should be online by 5:00 pm that day - Thursday.
By Friday afternoon the server was still not online, and it was apparent to me that if I wanted to keep my own customers, that I needed to find another company to host my server. I did some research, and contacted a company that seemed to have good feedback on some online forums and hosting review sites. Within a couple of hours my new server was online and I was able to begin the daunting task of reinstalling my system onto the new server.
I just knew that after I spent the money on the new server, my old server at iPowerWeb would suddenly come back online, and I would be frustrated by jumping the gun and spending money unnecessarily on another server. Well, no worry there. After spending a long weekend transferring software and reconfiguring customers' computers to use the new server, the old server was STILL not online.
At this point the lack of service from iPowerWeb was more funny than frustrating, in a shake-your-head kind of way. On Tuesday I contacted my credit card company to see if the charge had come through for the service to get my server back online, and it certainly had. Apparently iPowerWeb's procedures for billing their customers are a little more well-developed than their procedures for servicing their customers.
Now I contacted iPowerWeb to see if they were serious at all about getting my old server back online. The billing rep who answered the phone immediately transferred me to a supervisor named Jason. To Jason's credit, he seemed sincerely interested in helping to resolve the problem. He admitted that the previous work order had been handled wrong somehow on their side, and that he would do his best to get the server online ASAP. He asked if this is still what I wanted. I expressed my frustration that since the server had been accused of abuse, I was not eligible for a refund, so of course I wanted the server back online, even if I would only be using it as a backup server at this point. Jason assured me that it would be online in 24 to 48 hours. Even after all this mess, and Jason's recognition of significant failures on their part, throwing me back into a "24 to 48 hour" cue was the best he could offer. Amazing.
As I am writing this, the server is still not online.
If you are running a family website, or a website to indulge a hobby, the pricing of iPowerWeb might make their service a tempting alternative. However, if you are running a business, I would seriously reconsider any decision to use this company. Here is a summary of my complaints:
 | When my server was compromised, iPowerWeb left me to twist in the wind. I would still be twisting in the wind if I hadn't made the decision to setup a new server with another company. |
| Except for the most routine of situations, you are likely to be bounced back and forth between departments before you find someone who is willing or able to discuss your situation. |
| Support and billing personnel "handle" their customers. They obviously read from a script, and have very little concern about offering substantive help in an individual situation in order to get results. Unless you can make your way to a supervisor, your problem seems to be reduced to a list of potential complaints on a flowchart, and then your only relief is what is listed on that chart - you are nothing more than a check mark representing another call handled on that shift. |
| Even supervisors have no authority to make anything happen. As your situation gets worse, even if through honest mistakes, supervisors cannot expedite your situation. You are simply thrown back into the cue to wait your turn - again and again and again. |
| I was NOT notified of the presence of complaints about my server, I was NOT warned of the server shutdown beforehand, and I was NOT notified after the fact that my server had been shut down. I didn't know there was a problem until I began receiving customer complaints of my own. iPowerWeb's claim that I was sent email notifications is an absolute, categorical lie. The email address they have for me on file is correct, and was used by them successfully once my situation started to receive attention. |
| When I first contacted iPowerWeb about my server being down, I perceived confusion on the part of the iPowerWeb reps on the other end of the phone, when they were looking at my account. Several times I was asked to hold as some unusual situation was checked. This made me doubt that there had ever even been a security issue at all. I suspect there's a good possibility that this whole thing is due to a mistake on their part. This is backed up by the fact that they are still unable to get the server back online. |
| When a contract is negated due to an accusation of improper activity, the person accused deserves some sort of justification for the action taken. However, requests for documentation on the nature, times, and other details of the "abuse" were ignored. iPowerWeb's position seems to be that they can interrupt my service any time they want, make a claim of abuse, refuse to provide a refund based on the same claim of abuse, and charge a fee to restore the service. All without any sort of documentation or any other attempt to justify or validate their claim. |
| Don't pay in advance. A claim of abuse gives you the status of persona non grata at iPowerWeb, and makes you ineligible for a refund if they shut off your service, even if you have paid to have the service restored. I'm not sure of the legalities here, but iPowerWeb is probably shrewd enough to realize that I'm not going to spend the time or money to challenge this policy. |
| Apparently, no one at iPowerWeb has the authority to talk directly to the untouchables in the abuse department. If you find yourself dealing with this department you might as well write off your account - you are in the indifferent limbo of the self-righteous. |