iPowerWeb (iPower) has surprised us yet again this morning. Recently we have had several blog posts about them here on HostJury. With their company being purchased, 35% of their systems being hacked & their obvious decreasing support quality they have been fueling lawsuits against themselves on a daily basis.
However their latest attempt to attract new clients is an interesting, yet fraudulent one. Upon checking the reviews posted about iPowerWeb this morning we saw that both had been posted from an internal network at their company (gateway.phx.ipower.com) in Phoenix. This is one of the few times that a company has been so brazen that they've posted multiple reviews at the same time giving flawless ratings to themselves.
In this case they've been caught red-handed but on a number of other websites we have found their reviews have remained online. Luckily we have a very thorough auditing process & removed them immediately. It is sad to see a company as large & once renowned for it's great service to suddenly have to resort to posting fake reviews about their own services to gain traffic.
It's a new low.
Wed, 30 January 2008, 20:12
We have never stated that we don't use affiliate links, quite the contrary - we've had long and frank discussions about it, on WHT and on this site.
What we've said is that we will never (and we haven't, nor do we plan on) decide what hosts go where in the rankings based on affiliate payouts or whatever. Most of the hosts in the top 10 don't have affiliate systems at all, and the ones that do go there on their own merits.
As long as we're open & honest about it, which we are, have been, and plan to be for the foreseeable future there's no conflict of interest.
Wed, 30 January 2008, 19:45
Chek this one too:
http://hostjury.com/host/redirect/110
And here is a tool to check the header of this redirecting page:
http://www.seoconsultants.com/tools/headers.asp
Wed, 30 January 2008, 17:44
Well,
can anyone explain this to me?
http://hostjury.com/ads/clickthrough/12
Hostjury, which claims itself to be not involved in any affiliate linking, is redirecting to HostGator using the link above. Infact all the websites that are reviewed can be reached using some or the other redirect. Look, I do not have anything for or against any webhost. But I am really pissed off because of dishonest webhost reviews. All ..almost all the top ranking webhost blogs/sites/ sell affilate links.
I don't know whether this comment is going to appear on this site or not. You seam to be a more cleaver than the rest of the review websites. They put direct affiliate links. One can easily find them by looking at the source code of their pages. But you use redirects to do the same. Or am I mistaken? Please clarify.
Mon, 14 January 2008, 23:31
To Yeah:
Well, the quickest way to help us get these posts to the top of the search engines is by users like yourself linking to them.
Tell your friends, post about it on your own websites & sure enough -- we'll get to the top.
We're certainly not out to blast them ourselves but sometimes it's hard not to -- things have gone so far downhill it's depressing!
Fri, 11 January 2008, 16:58
I wasn't saying that you guys are posting good reviews earlier at the bottom of my post as "HELLO" that whole thing was from a post I put on another website that was a review site. I said that at the top but I should have clarified again at the bottom, sorry.
Fri, 11 January 2008, 16:17
Yeah, I hear that. I'm just saying that when you search for reviews for Ipower on google or yahoo or whatever, you get all old reviews. Either that or the reviews are completey dishonest. This blog has all the honesty in it and there are good and bad reviews here but basically all are honest. This is ridiculous, I've been switched over to the new system Ipower is using, vdeck 3.0, and ever since for about a month now I've literally had to call them every single day with a new issue. Today the actual filemanger is down and now I'm on the phone with a customer support lady who is saying that her station is down so she can't help me right now and is putting me on hold again after waiting 45 min to speak with her, and I've been on hold again for about another 30 min and then I just got the dial tone disconnection. Most of the time when I talk to one of their support people either they can't understand anything I try to tell them or they are completely rude. For instance two days ago the guy was eating food while he was talking to me, yesterday I got a girl who was basically lying to me the whole time and trying to treat me like an idiot, and today I got this girl who's system is down and none of them have helped me. Hopefully the girl I'm talking to today can help, she's the first polite person from support that I've talked to yet. She actually took my number down so she could call me back when her system is back up. I do feal bad for the people working there who have to deal with this completely failing system and are probably getting lamblasted with calls from snotty people. That's probably why it takes so long to get through to someone there, because most of them have probably quit. Honestly though, I feal way worse for the people who are getting sucked into this nightmare of a webhost by old or false reviews they're finding on google or whatever.
Tue, 8 January 2008, 22:09
"HELLO"/"ALSO" -
We don't review hosts, their score is based on reviews from their users - it's partly higher than you may expect because of older reviews before the changes at the company, when they were regarded a pretty good host.
If you disagree with their score please feel free to add one of your own.
As for the comment about the iPower-related blog posts - it's simply the fact that those posts are popular makes it appear as if we're only posting about them - we post about many things and only a very very small fraction of them are related to iPower.
Thanks for your comments.
Tue, 8 January 2008, 16:57
If anyone knows how to make web pages that will show up at the top of a search on google, yahoo, etc. when someone types in ipower, or ipowerweb, or ipower review, etc. then they should make this blog on of them. Or this blog should just be reuploaded as ipower hosting review blog!
Tue, 8 January 2008, 16:43
I went on a review site and posted this message just because I used to use their reviews before chosing my web hosts...
You should really look into re-reviewing your take on Ipowerweb hosting service. For one thing, the new Vdeck 3.0 has php disabled which is causing problems for alot of businesses. Secondly there is a scam they are using where they make it extremely easy in the new platform to accidently delete an entire directory, which may or may not contain your entire website, and they have removed the recycling bin so that you cannot undo your mistake. Then you have to sign up for a backup system for an additional $12 a year, not much but that's not the point, the point is that they are willing to let your entire website go down just so that they can trick you into spending 12 more dollars a year instead of advertising the benefits of their backup system and being up front about it. I was also on the phone yesterday with one of their so called "customer support" people and let me tell you, this is one area which that absolutely DO NOT outperform others. I was on the phone for over 45 minutes before speaking with anyone and once someone finaly did speak with me I gave him a simple question about php, (btw I should note that I am very patient and give a postive and polite attitude when I speak with them) he then put me on hold to search for an answer, supposedly, so I then waited another 25 minutes before the on hold song stopped playing and I got the "please hang up and try again" message! This has happened more than once. Their customer support is so bad that most of the time when I speak with someone there I know more about the system than they do. As far as reliability, they automatically switched everyone over to the new platform while the old one is still working before they even fixed the bugs in the new 3.0 system. I admit back in the day, 2006, besides the mediocre support, they weren't all that bad actually but that was then. Now, there a sinking ship with bad support and a bad system and until or unless that changes no one should be suckered in to this broken mechine by out of date reviews. This is how people lose business, by investing their time into cardboard cutout companies. I hope you take the time to consider how it makes this site look giving good reviews to bad business.
Sat, 5 January 2008, 14:10
Let me tell you a little something about ipowerweb. I power web is based out of phoenix Arizona. They have 3 companies before the merger with endurance corp. The 3 are ipowerweb, startlogic and dot 5 hosting. All three companies have better business bureau complaints up the Wahoo! Just recently 3 on your side which is a new station in phoenix Arizona went over to the ipower and startlogic head quarters because there was a huge complaint against startlogic web design. You can view the article here http://www.azfamily.com/news/3oys/stories/KTVK3OYS20071210_web-site-Startlogic.2b9cd5d.html. Ipower, startlogic and dot 5 hosting don’t design websites. They out source to a company called design var in California. So if you buy a website lets say at 600 dollars. Ipower, startlogic and dot 5 keep 300 and design var keeps 300.00. So basically your web design is only $300.00 and you paid $600.00 (and it takes 2 years to get your site finished)
They recently started doing website optimization and search engine optimization. They do very basic stuff. All they do is meta tags that’s it. I don’t think you want to spend 2 to 4 thousand just on keywords. Im sure you can Google all kinds of complaints about their seo.
Getting back to endurance international. Endurance international is a company that buys hosting companies that are basically going out of business. They have biz land, powweb, a bunch others and now the lucky 3, ipower, startlogic and dot 5. Im sure endurance didn’t do enough research on the 3 companies. Good luck with that endurance.
Be careful who you choose for internet services because it could result in a loss of money and a pain on your butt. Always look at review sites and research.
The Host Review Guy
Fri, 4 January 2008, 04:41
I keep my site on their server for 7 or more years. They are not perfect, but not so bad as many people say here. They need to improve phone service and develop more clear and logical management over the control panel(this is probably why they moved me to the new server recently with V3 deck), but looking back I can not say I had a lot of down time with them. I do not switch because I am not sure if I can get anything better for about $10/month for my small business. Where could you see good responsive phone customer service novadays?
Mon, 31 December 2007, 01:12
I have been on hold over 1 hour as I write this
December 30, 2007
I have been with ipowerweb for over 7 years and had 6 sites with them.
They don\'t like to answer the phone and they never have.
The guy who said they won\'t help you with a list of accounts is so right. I had about 25 domain names and they could not give me a list! I went with my own hosting at hostgator and was amazed at fast and helpful they were. I must of called them 20 times the first month, ( I was installing lots of new tools, I never used since before.) Right now I am migrating my last 2 site and I can\'t ftp, they changed platforms and the login for the ftp isn\'t working! I guess I will hang up now. I hate these guys so much. They charged me for a bunch of domains I transfered and I gave them 90 days notice and it took me and the credit card company 6 months to get it resolved! Well it has been over 1 hour now and I think no one is there.
TYPICAL of ipowerweb.
Hey if you never need anything from them, then go ahead and use them. Good luck!
Writer and website-designer
Bay Area, Ca
Sun, 16 December 2007, 23:03
I've been with ipower for 2 years with 12 web pages on a VPS. I can't even tell you how many hours I've spent 'holding' on the phone awaiting some tech help when my web pages disappear. This latest fiasco...12/12/07 all my pages are gone. After waiting for hours on hold over several days...I'm told they have NO RECORD of my account?
acheys
Tue, 11 December 2007, 15:53
IPower takes your money. I paid for 2 years of service back in 2006. With their migration, they wanted to charge me again because they said the old account was on another VDeck. The new VDeck was never setup and they charged me again. Now I can't get in touch with anyone there. Worst company I have ever dealt with. Don't go near them...... YOU will regret it. They also try to charge your credit card without approval.
Sat, 8 December 2007, 04:17
See for yourself as vDeck 3.0 created massive problem. My request to cancel acounts with iPowerweb.
Account Cancellation [C03794318005169448]
Thank you for your reply. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Is there a specific reason why you are canceling your account? Perhaps, if I knew why you were canceling, we could work something out so that iPower could better suit your needs. In order to discontinue your services we will need for you to contact our Billing Department at 888-511-4678 or 902-367-3369. Our Billing Department is available Monday - Friday 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM Eastern Time. Please reply to this e-mail with the requested information, so that we can assist you further. Sincerely, Raymond KellerCustomer Support
----iPower won't even admit that they have problems!! Pathetic web hosting company. See my homepage cityknight.com and cityknights.com regarding my problems.
Fri, 7 December 2007, 04:21
WHY is IPOWER calling Glen Kealey a "CYBERCRIMINAL"??
From: Emilia Alexsandru (emilia_a10@hotmail.com)
Sent: December 4, 2007 9:00:59 PM
To: support@ipower-inc.com
Cc: emilia_a10@hotmail.com
attention: Max Kelso - Customer Support
I'm poster buddiee...01....to now....18 at YAHOO financial forums. Have been "Buddie" and variations of that name since '99 when I first came on the internet and discovered the yahoo forums and other forums. What has this got to do with Glen Kealey? I've never met Glen Kealey -- only been following his site [www.kealey.net] since about 2003 and have religiously posted his daily posts since I consider his work of importance and interest to me and by posting his posts around the internet....hoping that others might awaken to Glen Kealey's work and site. I post other sites of interest on the internet. And NO...I do NOT get paid to post. I post sites of interest to me and those that I think might interest others. Glen Kealey's site being the top favourite/favorite of mine.
All that changed a couple of months ago when I went on a posting spree for a week around the internet and saw some posters whose monikers I've never seen before complain about my posting Glen Kealey's site. Like I stated above -- been on the internet since '99 and am quite familair with a lot of sites and their posters. Was surprised at some NEW monikers/handles/posters showing up and complaining about Glen Kealey's site and insinuating that I was Glen Kealey. FOR THE RECORD...I am NOT Glen Kealey!!!
But now am quite surprised that IPOWER [whom I've never heard of before until Glen Kealey's site was closed down and somehow IPOWER's name showed up on Glen Kealey's url link]....that you and IPOWER is name-calling Glen Kealey as a "CYBERCRIMINAL"???
Am into LEGALESE these days....Could you please DEFINE what "CYBERCRIMINAL" means? And on WHAT do YOU and IPOWER, base your definition of Glen Kealey and his site as being "CYBERCRIMINAL"?...and WHY are you and IPOWER and Microsoft asking others to "AVOID" Glen Kealey's site?
A PROMT reply is expected!
Thanks you!
Emilia Alexsandru
IPOWER's and Microsoft's Internet Explorer:
"AVOID THE WEBSITE OF THE CANADIAN CYBERCRIMINAL GLEN KEALEY"
http://kealeyne.ipower.com/
Fri, 7 December 2007, 02:12
I have hosted with ipower for 7 years - these last few days have hell and continue to be hell. I host 20 websites with them and every single one of them has had their frontpage extensions corrupted. NONE of my clients can update their own sites, all the form functionality is broken , no emails - its a disaster. I pulled my own 2 domains off and hosted with godaddy. Technical support is nonexistant - wait times are 2 hours plus and some crap manager CORY something promised me an email that i could forward to my clients explaining the issue was their fault never materialized.
IPOWER is a disaster I was to sue them . I had renewed recently for 2 years and npw have to incur new hosting charges cause i had to leave as they are not delivering the services I paid for .
I have a history log of all the efforts i made to contact them and they are doing nothing. They say they have a 48 hr. SLA on tickets this is BS - theses guys once were good but now are con artists .
I would encourage you to advise your clients to ditch and move to a more reputable host... i signed up with godaddy - anyone else recommend someone good ??
IHATEIPOWER.com is this taken cause it must be this months biggest money maker - they suck
lets sue these bastards into oblivion.
Wed, 28 November 2007, 05:07
I have been suffering from log in issue with them since 10 days ago and expecting next decades to solve this problem. They responded back at first, and even gave me 24 hour promise. But it turned out to be nonsense now. They are completely unreachable.
Sat, 24 November 2007, 04:44
Very dissappointed with ipower. Impossible to get someone to answer the phone, and when they do, they can't help you. There's nowhere on their website for you to check your account info (i.e. credit card info, whether you want "automatic renewal" or not, changing your address...there is just NO place to manage your account. Emails don't get to me, and reps are clueless as to why (that's if you actually get through). There's nowhere to file a complaint, or to easily cancel your accont. Don't you find it curious that their address is "legal department"? Huge disappointment. They need to start communicating with their customers, not screwing them over. They need to take that "Inc Magazine" award off their site, since they don't measure up to Inc Mag standards. Peeved!
Mon, 1 October 2007, 23:27
Fantastic I knew this all allong just needed some more proof. I am glad that they are slowly nailing there own coffin shut, and they desrve it all. They do not care about the very people that made them what they were.
And i feel this Endurance International should be investigated should they even be allowed to buyup the good hosts and make em into cookie cutter garbage thats what there doing and so far have gotten away with I think this has to be stopped
They have bought like over 20 hosting companies allready ...
any one agree with me that this companny should be looked into.
Note they still keep the names that made each a success this is to fool you into thinking your getting the same great company but its not true, all they touch turns to crap. Do a search and put in keywords like fatcow poweb Ipowerweb ...