Web Hosting – Avoid PowWeb!

Posted on by Ian C.

If you want to host a web site, DO NOT choose crappy PowWeb; you might remember that I switched to them early this year and quickly had loads of trouble; eventually I switched again (to InMotionHosting who have been excellent) …
I also had MINIsOnTop hosted with PowWeb – that moved to a service provided by MINI owner Rich (BungleSolutions)
But since then I have been beating my head against the wall trying to get a refund from PowWeb!

Back on July 25th I wrote and told them to close down the MINIsOnTop service; the PowWeb web site claims “Cancellations are processed in 7 to 10 business days from receipt”.
It took four days for them to acknowledge and close the account (July 29: we have canceled your hosting package).
I then waited … and waited … and eventually sent another email on September 8, reminding them that they still owe me more than $100.

It took them SIX days this time to reply: Somehow your cancelation case was closed before the refund was processed. That is the reason for the delay. I have reopened the case and assigned it to a
manager for the refund. That will be processed within the next 24-48 hours

Well, guess what?! The $100+ is still held by PowWeb 😦
My credit card company won’t do anything because the original purchase was too long ago – so I guess PowWeb think it is fine to just ignore me. But at least hopefully a few people will “hear this message” and avoid them.

12 thoughts on “Web Hosting – Avoid PowWeb!”

  2. ack! It’s one thing to have problems when they are hosting, still another kettle of fish altogether after the fact.

    No worries, after your problems, I avoided PowWeb like the plague. Might I also recommend doing the same to VizaWeb. Well, unless you like to be double-billed and support requests to go unanswered. If that is the case, then by all means they are the host for you! Otherwise, stay far far far far away.

    Pretty happy with Site5 so far…

  5. Yes I switched to site5 and aside from their support not being anywhere near as fast as advertised, I have been extremely happy with them and what they give you for your money.

    Sorry to hear powweb is still haunting you after the fact. I’m not even bothering to ask for a refund from my last host, site5’s $50 switching credit helps with that situation though.

  6. All this makes me so happy that I run my own server at home. My 1.5 down/384 up DSL via Speakeasy is reliable and provides sufficient bandwidth to serve whatever I want to serve. I don’t run anything as intensive as MotoringFile, of course, but I think GBMINI.net would run just fine on such a service (but I could be grossly underestimating your bandwidth requirements, Ian).

    I do my own mail (postfix), web (Apache, Tomcat, PHP, WordPress) and VPN and I’m pretty darn happy. Now, to implement some backups… 🙂

  8. Ian they may just be blocking port 80 like many other broadband providers. That’s why you’ll find my home-hosted stuff (pics and video) at jwardell.myftp.org:81

  9. I made a conscious decision to go with a provider that *wouldn’t* block *any* ports. I ended up with slower DSL and slightly more expensive service, but that was worth it to me.

  10. FYI – I have reviewed this case and am shocked the refund was not processed, even to this point. I am working with a manager to resolve that. Unfortunately, this case had some errors. While I thank the account owner for their extreme patience in this matter it is also disappointing that the final outcome resulted in such a negative feeling when moving on.

    I don’t feel this needs to be defended or justified. I just want to contribute the other side of the story. There’s no question some mistakes occurred with regard to this and that’s what I’m working to resolve. Since we can’t go back, I hope that we can get this resolved once and for all and wish you luck with your online endeavors from this point forward.

    Regards,
    Steve
    Billing Support
    PowWeb, Inc.

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