It seems that IPowerweb / IPower clientele are experiencing massive problems since Friday of last week. According to several Hostjury readers users of the IPowerweb / IPower service have been unable to check their e-mail since late Friday evening.
According to our sources it appears that Endurance International Group went ahead with their planned server migration without notifying any of their clients! The result is continuous problems and issues, clients unable to check their e-mail & unable to login to their web hosting accounts.
One IPowerweb / IPower user stated that technical support seems oblivious to the migration stating that the issues were a result of "Corrupt passwords" and would be handled within a few hours. Over five days later and the problems are still occurring.
We suppose the Endurance International Group name has another possible meaning. Just how long can their clientele endure problems!
Get in touch with iPowerWeb
One of our readers found the corporate phone number for Endurance International, the company that owns iPowerWeb. If you want quick, prompt service in getting your cancellation, domain name details or anything else give them a quick call: 1-866-897-5421
This is the only iPowerWeb phone number that will result in prompt service.
iPowerWeb Complaints
We welcome anyone having issues to put in a complaint at the Arizona Attorney Generals Office, contact details below:
consumerinfo@azag.gov
You can also use their online contact form here:
http://www.azag.gov/consumer/complaintformintro.html
Free Migration Services
We've decided to step up to the plate & offer free migration services for all iPowerWeb clients as well as a decent howto on escaping iPowerWeb.
Free migration for iPowerWeb / iPower clients by HostJury staff
Howto: Leaving iPowerWeb
You'll have more luck with us moving you than some ipowerweb transition kiosk.
There's a number of web hosting providers that offer free transfer services as well including:
Tell others about iPowerWeb / iPower
If you know of other people who might be having problems, you can tell others by 'digging' this article or by linking them directly to:
http://hostjury.com/blog/view/27/ipowerweb-ipower-clients-enduring-massive-problems
Mon, 4 February 2008, 02:28
Thanks staff member.
When one can finally reach a staff member; I must say you ALL have been friendly and courteous.
Sun, 3 February 2008, 22:23
i am an actual employee of ipower and i throughly understand how you all feel. you need to understand that as staff here, we did not have a choice in this transition. i am pre apologizing for any wait times or issues that have or may occur. there is an insane call volume at our offices and as human beings there is only so fast we can go. we do not purposely make you wait on the line or do anything like that. As an employee i hardly get to go on my breaks and lunches simply because of the high call volumes. to be perfectly honest i would rather be at home waiting on hold listening to some music and getting my stuff fixed than have to listen to every customer complain about the wait times. i do apologize for any inconvenience we may have caused you or any money that was lost, but to be frank we did not have a choice but to move you to a new server as our old server was having more issues than the new one. i can honestly tell you that once this transition is complete and everyone has had their account working properly, wait times will go down and customer service will be at its all time high again. i would also like everyone to know that we technicians try as hard as we can and when we say were sorry, we truly are. have a good day.
Sun, 3 February 2008, 21:21
This is a follow-up to my previous post regarding IPower.
All my web pages for the 1 account I have with IPower finally started loading promptly after hours on the phone and live chat line.
All problems straightened out and then my 2 php formatted boards started getting flaky again a couple of days ago.
First they took a long time to load.
Then the log in either was real sluggy and/or connections dropped.
After several emails to the IPower, and discussions with Live Chat; I deleted both of my php pages.
This was rather heatbreaking for me to do as I have a lot of archived material there.
I hated to do it, but there was nothing else I could do about it. I spent far too many hours on the "live chat" and the phone.
That's the status now.
I'll be watching this thread for further updates from ipower users.
Hopefully, I will be able to find a rather inexpensive web host that is reliable in the future.
Thank you for reading this.
Cindy
Fri, 1 February 2008, 23:00
For anyone on Ipowerweb that
is using a script called "PhpGedView" for your family geneology, and your script no longer works, I have the solution for fixing it.
When Ipower did the transition, they most likely went into every file that had session_start() and added a line before it ...
The line they added to every file looks like this:
session_save_path("/home/users/web/b127/ipw.yoursite/phpsessions");
They also went into "config.php"
and altered the MySQL dbhost name.
But when they added the line before session_start(), they missed the one in a directory called "includes" inside the file called "session.php". Towards the bottom of that file is a line that has:
@session_start();
Add the line before it:
session_save_path("/home/users/web/b127/ipw.yoursite/phpsessions");
@session_start();
Of course, yours will have a different "b" number and your website account will be your own.
Basically, every script that you install needs to be customized so every session_start() has a session_save_path.
This really sucks because you will have problems installing
scripts without finding all of the session_start() lines.
I have no idea why they've done this ... it's awful!
Fri, 1 February 2008, 19:13
Ian ... the problem seems to be
with session_start();
I see they went into every file
that has session_start() and
inserted this line:
session_save_path("/home/users/web/b85/ipw.catpinco/phpsessions");
session_start();
But, there must be some other references somewhere in my scripts that are messed-up because of that.
So now, the two scripts I have that use PHP and MySQL don't work and I cannot make them work, and they cannot make them work, because neither of us know where else to add that extra line. Why do they need that line anyhow? The scripts worked fine on their other server and this server is supposed to be better?
My permissions are correct, and I can see some data is coming from my MySQL database, so I know that MySQL is referenced properly. It's the PHP sessions part (with logging in) that is failing on all of my PHP scripts.
They of course won't (or can't) answer my "fixit ticket" and their email contact form is failing.
I also want to know why their PHP version is: 4.4.7 and not 5.1.6 like other webhosts.
The only comfort I have is knowing that I'm not the only one having problems.
Fri, 1 February 2008, 18:17
Ian,
Can you please tell me how in Vdeck I can point my domain name to another hosting company where I have developed my website since it is so hard to get thru to Ipower?
http://www.grandperfumes.com
Fri, 1 February 2008, 18:41
I registered a domain thru Ipower 2 yrs ago. I received an e mail from them about its renewal last summer and promptly followed the instructions. Now I saw that domain available all over the place ! I have called I POWER 100's of imes, e mailed them but no rsponse so far.
I have 10 more domains with them but I would reather pay a little more now and go with "Go Daddy" or Yahoo store.
As soon as the sales team finds out I have a COMPLAINT not there to buy anything, they put me on hold and never return. Can someone tell me in which court can I file a complaint against IPOWER?
I have spent over 20 hrs just to reach someone and talk bit no one cares in that company:(
Fri, 1 February 2008, 17:41
Max,
Login to vdeck 3.0. Click file manager, and change the permissions for the files that are writing and being written to to something higher than the default.
The problem sounds like yoour file doesnt have write privledges. If you were migrated, perhaps the new server doesn't remember your old file server's permission settings.
The highest level of permission access is: 777. Which I do not reccommend using.
Also, google file permissions. You are going to want an understanding of what the different permissions will actually permit. For example, you may not want users to have read, execute, and write privledges.
Fri, 1 February 2008, 16:16
Sandy,
After reading your comment, I was alittle concerned for you. If you set your site to manual, that is great. However, if you never migrate your site, Ipower will eventually close down the server you are on and you will lose everything.
The time this will happen depends on how fast ipower gets the automated migrations done. You can get a good ball park idea of how many sites are left on your server that still need to be migrated, by following these short directions:
Goto google.com
Search for (without quotes):
"Whois lookup and Domain name search"
Click the first link.
Type in your domain on this page.
Scroll about halfway down the page and look at how many sites are left on your server.
I would keep an eye on this, if the number of sites left on your server starts to get below 200. I would highly reccommend migrating your site.
I have been through the migration process 3 times now, and I can almost gaurentee you will have problems with the following:
Email accounts will need to be recreated, the passwords will become corrupt.
Your frontpage extensions will become corrupt, and will require you to contact ipower to reinstall them on the server end. (reinstalling these extensions via the control panel will NOT correct this)
FTP passwords will become corrupt.
All your .asp and .php connection strings must be changed to point to a new location.
If you use the Form2Mail component of the vdeck 1.0, it will no longer work. As I suspect niether will any of the other features offered in vdeck 1.0. (Such as the backup utilities of vdeck 1.0 will NOT restore on vdeck 3.0)
And finally, if you have a mySQL database, it will not exist on the new server, you will have to manually make a backup of this info from the phpMyAdmin tool, and restore it manually.
One last helpful hint (could save you a headache and $50)
Make a backup of your site files, via ftp. Secondly make a manual backup copy of your sql.
If you need help with anything, you can post on here and I will help the best I can. Good luck.
Fri, 1 February 2008, 16:30
I have been a reseller with iPower for a while now, and am slowly pulling all accounts.
The last round - they renewed two accounts automatically, after I had informed to not renew any. I contacted them again, and they promised a refund in 15 days. After 15 days, I again contacted them, and was told they no longer had my account info on file, so no refund could be made. I gave the the info, and was told that this would be expedited - 3 days max. Within 5 hours, they charged my account $1 - I guess to check to see if the account works.
3 days later - still no refund. I called, waited for 35 minutes on hold - and was told that most refunds take 5 to 7 days. I informed him that I recieved a different answer just a few days ago - he was flumuxed and had no response.
I have now filed a complaint with the BB.
Fri, 1 February 2008, 14:37
I have the MySQL parts working,
but am getting session_write
errors with a page of PHP errors.
So, it's the login parts of my
scripts not working. Anyone
else experience that?
Thu, 31 January 2008, 17:30
I forgot to mention that (everytime) you ask a question, it takes 3-4 minutes to get an answer!!
Thu, 31 January 2008, 16:52
The worst company I have ever delt with virtual & bricks and Morter
I went to godaddy and my call was answer in 30 secs!!!
And the tech people knew what they were talking about!!!
P.S. If you call Ipower and ask a question - it will take three to four minutes to get an answer!!!!
Pull your accounts now while they are still open for business!!!
Thu, 31 January 2008, 15:14
bye bye Ipower. These last two months have been a horrible experience. I finally moved my website to a reliable host based on the old continent and everything went back online.
- Emails work properly
- The website doesn't experience any slowness
- The support is easily reachable
I am still waiting for the refund, but basically my business won't suffer any interruption.
Thu, 31 January 2008, 05:04
WARNING: Anybody who is considering dumping Ipower for another web host provider, make sure that the new chosen web host provider is not part of the Endurance International Group. You may, without knowledge, sign back up with Endurance International (Ipower). Go to this link to get a listing of all known companies owned by Endurance International.
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/archive/index.php/t-624612.html
Here is the list from the link.
AccountSupport
BizLand
BlueDomino
DomainHost
eHost
EntryHost
FatCow
FreeYellow
HostCentric
HostYourSite
HyperMart
ImOutDoors
iPowerWeb (iPower)
NetWorksHosting
PowWeb
PureHost
ReadyHosting
USAnetHosting
VirtualAve
Xeran
Think of Endurance International as the new Wal-Mart of Internet providers.
Thu, 31 January 2008, 05:46
My nightmare that was my time with iPower is over. I got my refund and it looks like my domain is now safely in HostGator's hands.
So far HostGator seems like an excellent host, so I do recommend them.
If you are still with iPower or any of its sister host companies, I highly recommend you call the 888 number listed above and get another host.
First sign up with the other host, let the new host transfer your files, and THEN cancel with iPower.
Thu, 31 January 2008, 03:49
FYi got through on the 888 number above. You should also know they own Start Logic....
they have no idea who ther CEo or CFo are only they are located in Az somewhere...
Thu, 31 January 2008, 00:08
SO, basically I try to contact them for the past week (this is the end of Jan) and there's no responses on the phones at all.
I have dedicated server with them and about 50 web sites.
Now, how is that shitty for me and my clients?! )))
Any suggestions where is the better and affordable place than these idiots at iPower?
(Appreciate the feedback)
Wed, 30 January 2008, 19:48
Max,
You'll be able to get a refund directly back to the card, even though it's a 'debit visa card'.
That's one of the benefits of it being a visa one: Fraud protection & prompt refunds.
For now, just get a refund and seek an alternative -- I think pursuing a class action lawsuit is going to take ages to be honest & I haven't seen anything solid being organized.
Wed, 30 January 2008, 16:00
Well, i am so mad at myself for tracking down this website after the dmage had been done. Just like 'Rob' (above), i paid for a hosting account with Ipowerweb last week. I never got an email confirming the transaction or one giving set-up instructions. Now, having read all the posts, it safe to assume you will get results if One - you go through Endurance International and Two, Inform them you have been in touch with the Arizona District Attorney General's Office.
What i want to know is (i hope David can help me out here) - Can i get a refund back into my visa card? as i used a debit visa card - is a reversal possible? And then, what are the rights/options international customers have at their disposal? I am not based in the U.S, so going through the Arizona District Attoney General,s route may not work for me.
Thank you David for this site and i hope the Class Action Lawsuit will put an end to this mess. As for us outside The U.S, we dont know what definitive action we can take.