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
Thu, 20 December 2007, 20:04
Al,
You're more than welcome. I'm more than glad to have been an assistance & hope everything goes well for you once you get that DNS sorted :)
Have a wonderful holiday & be sure to pop back in when things settle down.
Thu, 20 December 2007, 20:14
Ian,
The part I found offensive was you referring to us as quasi-crooks for having affiliate links. We've got to cover expenses but all of the reviews on the site are legitimate & posted by end-users, if we were out to make a quick buck we'd post a 'top 10' list and be done with it.
As far as exporting your database goes, here's something that will help:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Backing_Up_Your_Database
You'll want to export it in 'SQL' form. Once you have it in a file you can easily import it to your new provider.
Enjoy! :)
Thu, 20 December 2007, 20:54
Firstly, I appologize if my last post was found offensive. It was removed, and I am not really sure what I said that was found abusive...So, my appologies to the site owner and admin for any remark I made that caused my postings removal.
At any rate, I said I was going to ride out the storm. Man, was that a horrible decision! I want out, and am looking for the fastest door to exit.
I am alittle worried about transitioning and I was wondering if someone here could give me some advice. I use mySQL and php, and I have all my files backed up. However, I dont know how to backup a mySQL database. Can someone help? I am using the php myAdmin tool. I found an export button, and exported it to an excel csv file. Is that all you have to do?
Thu, 20 December 2007, 19:42
OOPS!
What I wanted to say was actually
"David, THANK YOU for the guidance and support and especially making all this information available for everybody!"
Somehow my fingers did not keep up with my thoughts :)
Thu, 20 December 2007, 19:41
Well, now the wheels are in motion. The Compliance Officer at Tucows replied that she gave ipower 2 days to remove the locks and provide us with the credential.
I hope that if they still play deaf, she will be able to force-free us from this ordeal.
David, for the guidance and support and especially making all this information available for everybody!
Thu, 20 December 2007, 18:14
Al,
It *is* the worst investments they've ever made. They've lost 60+ thousand clients since beginning, they're ramping up to lose them all.
In the end, as long as they get their sales & money though they don't care. That's the underlying problem.
Thu, 20 December 2007, 18:32
Well, no sign of life form ipowerweb and all phone calls are put on indefinite hold.
But get this: they answer immediately if you select the SALES option on their answering system. But if you are asking to put you through to billing or support, then you are put on hold again - indefinitely!
I suggest we all flood their SALES department with requests to be transferred to billing and/or support. THAT should make them realize that their business is either closed for good or they better listen. I'm on it now :)
We should make the Enduring purchase one of the worst investments they've ever made.
Thu, 20 December 2007, 14:14
Done! Now let's all join hands and PRAY!
Thu, 20 December 2007, 13:53
Al,
The compliance officer should respond quickly, if they've already wasted 24 of your precious hours -- just e-mail them.
It's a very quick fix.
Thu, 20 December 2007, 08:03
Hi,
Well, we are part of the iPowerweb sad family so we started our move to hostGator yesterday. The site content + MySQL database, everything was moved smoothly and professionally by HostGator, and in @2hrs from the moment we bought a hosting package with them, we were ready to also point the DNS servers to HostGator.
HOWEVER, iPowerweb are less than responsive - their hostmaster@ipowerweb.com does not reply our domain release request emails and of course calling them means hours of being put on hold - especially now when they have put thousands of businesses off-line during their dreaded "upgrades".
I will give them another 24 hours and then contact the Open SRS Compliance Officer to snap them out of their malicious delays (Unless anybody here has a better idea).
So when you move, if you've purchased the domain name through iPowerweb, expect hell before you're able to breathe fresh air again.
Wed, 19 December 2007, 21:25
Two weeks ago we setup the first of what will be at least 30 sites on Ipower. It went up hard, three phone calls to get a simple PHP host to run but the wait was not excessively long and other than the fact I lost two days (their standard answer is "wait 24 hour for it to reset" to get you off of the phone, The first call was due to their stupid necessity of "enabling" CGI, which takes 24 hours, before PHP will work. The second call was because it still didn't work, but they fixed it in real time and the third call was that "sessioning" is not enabled in their standard configuration).
Since I knew I had a setup issues I decided to get in front of them for the second site. Enabled CGI and PHP would not work. Called tech support, waited on hold two hours, was told CGI did not install properly, wait 24 hours and it should work. Waited for 24 hours did not work, called tech support, waited on hold for two hours, was told that CGI did not initialize properly, was refered to second level technical support, they did a reinstall and said try back in 24 hours, I demanded that second level support call me so I could find out what was wrong so I could avoid it in the future, they promised second level support would call, of course they never did. Waited for 24 hours, it of course did not run PHP. Called the for the third time, waited a comparative short 45 minutes, was told by the technician that the second level support person had implemented CGI imporoperly, she was implementing it again, check back in 24 hours. Waited 24 hours, STILL does not do PHP, called tech support, waited 45 minutes (total is now five and a half hours), got a technician who correctly surmised that it still does not work and he refered it to THIRD level technical support. I stated that I was extremely unhappy and that I wanted to speak with a manager. The manager was of course busy but "he will call you right back". I am still waiting four hours later. If it does not work tommorrow morning I am cancelling the project with Ipower.
As an aside, for practice I put up the site on Go-Daddy in 15 minutes with no tech calls. Other than I have to buy an FTP with a builtin editor since Go-Daddy does not have a built in text editor as Ipower does, everything is great. Guess who the 30 sites are going to be moved to.
T
Wed, 19 December 2007, 20:47
"How To Migrate Away From Ipower Fast!"
Make sure you can still login to your site with ftp. Ipower changed the usernames and passwords on some of my friends accounts without notifying them thus disabling them from entry to the ftp host. Ipower's vdeck is not compatible with cpanel so you will have to recreate your email, subdomains, masked domains etc. Make sure to do an sql backup from your application not ipowers myphpadmin since they format their sql databases different than most hosts. Many hosts will transfer your domain for you or you can back up your domain onto your hard disk and and than upload the files, and set permissions on the new host servers. This is stage one. Once all your files are online you will need to create new email accounts with username and password. Probably best to use the old username and password for your email account(s) you have been so your old email client works same as before. Create your phpsql databases and upload the proper databases. If they fail to take it means you used Ipowers phpadmin to backup and you are screwed! If you backed up everything than they should load fine. Create any php user accounts you will need.
With all of this done, here is step two. Goto https://manage.opensrs.net/ and than enter your username and password ipower originally sent you when you registered your domain names through them. Once in there, change the information to your email and info across tech, contact and admin all of them. Make sure you have locked the domain names too and change the user password. Finally goto the dns option and put your new hosts dns servername 1 and than 2 and save. It takes about 12 hours to propagate but if all is well, you have migrated away from Ipower successfully. Make a note of your contact expiration date on the domain names and just renew through tucows when they are up or a couple months before, move control to another solution like Network Solutions or Godaddy, problems solved. No more two hour tech support waits...hope this helps all.
Wed, 19 December 2007, 19:55
Not a customer of this worthless company, but a victim. One of their servers has been hacked and is being used to attack my server using dictionary attacks. Been going on now for over a week. Can't get through to anyone...
Wed, 19 December 2007, 16:41
Welcome back Shawn,
If you're looking for inexpensive domain name registration, one option is namecheap.com
They offer registrations for $8.88 a year. They suffice :)
Wed, 19 December 2007, 16:43
Hello again,
Yesterday I cancelled my hosting with iPower, and decided to go with Host Gator. I am very pleased with their responsiveness thus far. Setting up the service has been pretty quick. Currently a minor glitch with Site Builder, but it should be fixed very soon. Right now, iPower is merely registering my URL at this point (as its still good for a year)...untill I find another provider - (I still have a year on my registration). $6.50 with iPower, verses $15.00 with "HG". If I were to go with "HG" for domain registration, I would be paying (after breaking down the yearly fee and adding it back in to the hosting monthly) about the same with iPower. But I think I can guarantee I'd get more - in customer service alone...lol.
My hosting with "HG" is the Hatchling(?) package...paid $4.99 for three years (and used their sale coupon). Not a bad deal - better than $6.50 for two years with "those other people", and I get more than iPower ever offered. I mean, as part of my hosting price I've got the choice with "HG" of nearly 10 different content management systems to pick from - 10 - and thats just one category. iPower, gave me two. I'll say it again...iPower, gave me two. And I had to start paying EXTRA for them on their new (and dare I say "improved") platform, in addition to my hosting fees. And to think I wanted to continue showing customer loyalty to them. (Pardon me, I see a plate glass window that needs my brain to go through it). It is sad though, I had been with iPower for nearly four years and when calling them to cancel my hosting they really wanted me to stay. I said, "fix your services and customer support, make your add-ons free, and then we'll talk". I doubt I'll ever go back to them for hosting anyway.
They did tell me they were going to recommend I get a refund on my unused months for all my trouble. And I have any one of 12 different attorneys in a law firm that can work for me to make sure that happens too.
Be blessed.
- Rev. Berthel
Wed, 19 December 2007, 03:14
Okay did someone say a techie from the Phillipines??? That's interesting.
I see a pattern:
1)___Ipower will not answer your questions directly. They are evasive. They skirt the issue. It is a dead end that drives its customers into mental fatigue and
is destroying peoples lives. There answers are very vague, if you do get an answer.
2)___If you cancel before your account expiration, so as not to be charged it does'nt matter. THEY WILL STILL TAKE YOUR MONEY!
3)___People are put on hold forever. Why? They think that if it is just a matter
of $95.40, $50.00, or several hundred, people will eventually give up.
Thus, they have charged for service and do not do anything.
It appears that the only resolve to problems people ae dealing with is this: There is no resolve!
They are taking money and not giving any service. How can a company make that many repeated mistakes on overcharging customers?
I beleive that this is not just bad customer service!
It's much worse. This is a sick game.
Something is very wrong. I cancelled my card number that they have had on file, so that they cannot take money, even though I am canceling a website.
My question: Who are these people? Really?
This seems to have crossed the line from just being a civil matter.
Tue, 18 December 2007, 21:59
Well, just another POed customer of ipower! I won't even capitalize their name! I have had problems with email since the beginning 4 years ago. I don't believe it was ever very reliable. Now things have gone to hell in a handbasket. Mail is not going out or is being sent back. our online ordering system had links that were strangely inconsistant. Some links had actually been changed. After carefully rewriting the code to point to the proper directory, things got going again. I could go on but you all know this is pretty bad. I'm backing up what I can and moving to a more secure reliable service, regardless of cost. We desperately need to have our sites up and running so we can bring in some cash to pay the ipower guys for their wonderful service!
I would mention some other things that have gone awry but I'm afraid just the mention may make them go further south!
Tue, 18 December 2007, 20:36
Shawn,
You would have the best luck glancing at our list of best providers. All of the reviews on our site are submitted by clients of each company & all clients are verified (based on domain name & other data) to have been with those companies.
All in all, anything from the top 10 would be a wonderful choice. You can check out our entire list of reviews for more:
http://www.hostjury.com/reviews/
Tue, 18 December 2007, 20:48
Hello David,
Yeah, I knew that...but anything feels better than this insane craziness. Any suggestions? I've also thought about Bravenet.
- RSB
Tue, 18 December 2007, 20:02
Shawn,
Powweb? No dice. They were bought out by the same company that iPowerWeb was bought out by. Long before, in fact.
He referred you to PowWeb because they're under the same ownership & he wouldn't get in trouble for doing so.
Be careful. They utilize precisely the same support team.