Escape from iPowerWeb: How to leave iPowerWeb
Escape from iPowerWeb: How to leave iPowerWeb.
After countless hundreds getting in touch with us over continuing iPowerWeb problems, we decided it was time to write a thorough guide on how to cancel an iPowerWeb account.
The success of our free ipowerweb transition program hasn't gone unnoticed, so we're still continuing it.
Below, we'll document the movement process step by step! It's a surprisingly simple process and the only arduous part of the journey is actually cancelling with iPowerWeb. If you follow the guide below, you should be able to get over to a new web hosting provider within 24 hours.
Choosing a new web host: The first step
The first step of getting out of iPowerWeb is to choose a new web hosting provider. In order to have a place to move your content and domain name, you'll need a new web host. Given the thousands of reviews Hostjury currently has from real clients, you've come to the right spot.
You can check out our web hosting reviews to help you select a new provider. There's a number of companies that clients moving away from iPowerWeb have had success with including:
You're certainly more than welcome to research your own though on our site. There's more than enough information here to get a good idea of who is who in the web hosting industry. Remember to thoroughly research each web hosting provider that you're considering -- after all, you don't want to be stuck with another iPowerWeb. There's a number of other companies out there actually owned by the same folks at Endurance International Group as well including PowWeb, so be very careful!
Here's a list that we know of:
AccountSupport
BizLand
BlueDomino
DomainHost
eHost
EntryHost
FatCow
FreeYellow
HostCentric
HostYourSite
HyperMart
ImOutDoors
iPowerWeb (iPower)
NetWorksHosting
PowWeb
PureHost
ReadyHosting
USAnetHosting
VirtualAve
Xeran
Avoid the above companies like the plague!
Try testing the companies support prior to signing up. The more testing you do, the higher the likelihood you'll end up with an excellent web hosting company. Once you've selected one.. you're ready for step two!
Retrieving your domain name
This step only applies to those clients who have registered their domain name through iPowerWeb. If you haven't, you can skip this step entirely and move onto the next one. If you have, the information below should allow you to get the access details to manage your domain name.
The first step to retrieving your domain name is contacting the OpenSRS Compliance Officer. OpenSRS is a domain reseller system owned by Tucows. It's also the system in which iPowerWeb sells domain names through so you'll need to get in touch with Tucows to retrieve it.
The compliance officers' contact details are:
E-mail: compliance@tucows.com
You'll need to explain that you've exhausted all methods of retrieving your domain name details & that you're just looking to move at this point. The provider will give you what are known as 'OpenSRS' login details or at the very least -- they'll resend them to the original e-mail on file. You may need to provide them with some additional information in order to verify your identity, but as long as you're the contact on file you should have no trouble with Tucows.
Unlike iPowerWeb, they're a great company.
Once you've retrieved your login details, you'll be able to access their OpenSRS system through the following link:
iPowerWeb Domain Management Panel
Inside you'll find all sorts of goodies including the ability to manage your nameservers / DNS. As long as you can modify your DNS / Nameservers, you can change hosting providers fairly easily. Now, onto step three!
Moving your content
Now here's where things might just get a bit tricky. In fact, that's why we have our free ipowerweb migration assistance program for users who need help moving. A number of the providers we have on our review list probably won't hesitate to assist you move though, so don't be bashful and forget to ask! It might save you a lot of hassle.
Moving your content itself though is essentially as easy as reuploading your data. If you have your new account details, you can FTP your information using them & that should just about sort everything. One step that a number of users may need to take though if they have dynamic sites like forums & other content management systems though is 'backing up your database'. Backing up your database through iPowerWeb can be done via your control panel.
Once inside your iPowerWeb control panel, you'll see a mysql or database management section. You'll need to login using your databases' login details (Contact us if you don't have them, this part could be tricky!). Once inside follow the directions at this site for backing up and restoring databases from phpMyAdmin. That part isn't necessarily going to be a cakewalk, so if you have any questions at all don't hesitate to contact us at feedback@hostjury.com and we can try to help.
Once you've moved all of your content, you're ready to point your domain name!
Pointing your domain name
By now, you should have received an e-mail from the Tucows Compliance officer about your domain name if you registered it through iPowerWeb. If you have access to openSRS, these changes can be made via the 'nameservers' panel there. If you've registered your domain name elsewhere (you smart cookie, you!) you can manage them through your specific panel.
You'll want to switch the nameservers over to your new providers' (the one they've given you) only after you're sure that 100% of your content and databases have been copied over. You'll also want to ensure that any e-mail accounts you require have been created ahead of time to avoid any e-mail loss. The rest, of course is history!
Once the switch takes place there will 'potentially' be some availability of your domain name for DNS propagation but that's almost ancient history these days. If you change your dns and still can't see your new site, try clearing your DNS cache on your local computer.
For windows uesrs, it's simple:
1. start, run, type: cmd
2. ipconfig /flushdns
3. try reloading your site!
For the rest of you, google it!
Once you're done with that, bravo. You've escaped from iPowerWeb.
The remainder of the steps are fairly easy.
Cleaning up with iPowerWeb!
The last few steps are just insurance of sorts. The first thing you'll want to do after escaping from iPowerWeb and seeing your site back up and online is cancelling with iPowerWeb. Cancelling is surprisingly easy and can be done via phone. On average it takes about 30-60 minutes to cancel so be sure to have some free time before sitting down.
“In order to discontinue your services we will need for you to contact our billing department at 888-511-4678 or 602-716-5399. Our billing department is available 24/7.”
Be sure to have your customer ID, mother's maiden name, city of birth & last 4 digits of your credit card number available before calling. They'll help you through the process fairly promptly. Note that a number of users have experienced 'rebilling' from iPowerWeb even after cancellation in the past so keep an eye on your credit card payment logs.
After cancelling, you'll want to transfer your domain name to another registrar. I'd personally recommend using the one with your provider or Namecheap. The only information you'll need to perform a transfer is the AUTH or EPP code from your OpenSRS panel. The information is readily available there & Namecheap and other companies should be able to provide you with instructions for transferring.
Enjoy the new provider, thousands of others already are.
Escape from iPowerWeb
Sarita,
Excellent idea :)
iPower is evil; thanks for this info!
In order to avoid rebilling, I changed the expiration date on my credit card info with the company before canceling. Now if they try to charge me in the future, the card will be declined.
Why no try the suggestion here:
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
I did that and not only were they most courteous, everything was worked out within a matter of days.
Do not call the number liste on the ipower website. They don't do anything,and sending mail through their console gives you nothing but headaches.
Let's put it this way, it took me one month to solve a problem because I got conflicting opinions from those on the other of the console mail. And all I wanted was to get a password for a site that doesn't work.
Finall, I gave up, and wrote to billing. And guess what? That worked.
In any case, I'm glad I chose below10host.com. I've had another site with them over three years and never a problem.
And, yes, they answer quickly and are eager to help.
Want more? They charge your MONTHLY, so you have no contracts. Also SET UP is FREE!
Try them out. You'll be glad you did.
Aida
I am in iPowerHell with the rest of you. Let's all go to Google and click a few dozen times on iPower's sponsored links!
I discontinued my hosting service with Ipower in January 2008, yet in June 2008 they hit my credit card again with a hosting fee.
Even after charging me for a service that I no longer wanted, they failed to renew my domain registration and of course, my web site is offline.
I have sent numerous e-mails to ipower and all I get is "Sorry for the inconvenience . . ." and no results.
I paid them a registration fee and a "domain credit" fee, received a receipt that my renewal has been processed, yet the site is still offline.
Can't anyone do anything about these people? It seems that possibly this is a hosting company operating out of the back of their '68 Volkswagen.
Paul,
The nice thing about Tucows / OpenSRS is that they tend to be very, very strict about preventing companies from making changes to dns / whois details without the explicit permission of the domain owner.
You should be safe leaving it with Tucows / OpenSRS for now but I'd highly recommend transferring it away to a 3rd party domain registrar anyways -- at least sooner or later. The 'locking' function only prevents it from being transferred, not from having changes made.
It isn't that they can but what if they suddenly disappear.
I made a clean getaway from ipower back in February. But I still have my domain name registered thru them.
Question: Can iPower go into opensrs and mistakenly re-point my website back to their own DNS? (I have enabled "domain locking".
Success! I've been at HostGator a full month without any problems (except one time I was down 5 or 10 minutes maybe, ooo ahhh). iPower DID NOT bill me my annual renewal and they also gave me a $7.95 refund. The bonus is I'm back on cPanel.
Tahir,
You'll definitely want to move the domains to an alternate registrar -- can't quite help in the windows recommendation department though, try searching hostjury for a few providers.
i have one hosting and nos. of domains at ipower, if transfer to other hosting co. then also need to change the Tucow registrar?
also guide me for best windows hosting co.?
Thank you for providing this information. I have successfully moved to Media Temple after iPower's poor security allowed hackers onto my website. I now just need to "Clean up with iPowerWeb" and wipe my hands clean except for my continued campaign to discredit this company.
They let you escape? I've been trying to get them to stop billing me since August of last year. Every time they say they never recieved a request to cancel the account even though I've called, email and written them letters! I just wrote the Arizona's Attorney General's Office today. They are wrose then AOL to get out of. Oh yeah plus thier UP time sucks. My server was down for a month with a bad powersupply, it took them a FREAKING month until they did anything about my request.
Like this page implies, the easiest part was canceling. I did it tonight and it took 20 minutes and I got help from an english speaking american. The past month my site was probably responsive 10% of the time. That's not acceptible even for a private site with no e-commerce. I rode out the storm and never called support. Past support calls over the years were a mild nightmare. After being on the phone for an hour, the support tech crashed by site everytime. And that would require me call them back again. This time I had been conditioned to accept the downtime. Hopefully my move to hostgator will provide me with perspective on what reliable uptime. I wanted to post something out here so other people like me know there are others out there that have struggled with iPower this past month and there is light at the end of the tunnel. It's time for a change.
I lost a couple of domains while at ipower because they did not send notifications of impending expiry (okay, perhaps I should have remembered?)
Adrian Ronaldson good luck.
I am still with ipower since I can't find a host that tells me how much disk space I will be getting!
Thanks so much for your site. I've done with ipowerweb after having hosted 4 domains with them over the last 3 or 4 years. The databases are totally screwed up and have been for a month. They have no idea when anything will improve and that is unacataple. I had no idea so many others have been having problems with them. At this rate they will be out of business soon.
Augphoto,
It depends on where your domain name is registered. Technically, all you need is your domain name 'unlocked' and an EPP (Authorization code, listed under 'domain extras' within tucows) to move away.
If you provide those details to Hostgator they'll be able to whisk you away safely :)
I, too, have had NO support from ipower!
I have moved (happily) to Hostgator. Everything is done except the transfer of my domain name. Here, I am extremely confused. Is this done at Tuscows? ipower? Hostgator? Please help with finalizing this transfer, as I don't know where to start
Sean,
After losing 50% of your clientbase it would be relatively hard not to improve support wait times -- if no employees have been let go.
200 representatives are now handling on average of 1,000 users. I've personally handled an average of 5,000 myself with about 5 minute response time averages ;)
Previously it was 150 representatives for 700,000 -- although even that's no excuse for the horrible lack of attention & dishonesty on a lot of their parts.
Some positive news perhaps...
I started reading this blog back in December 2007 and the rate of entries was high. I have noted a substantial decrease in new responses.
Yes, iPower had heaps of problems and I too have left them. This site's help was valuable, however Tucows, as reported by others, was useless. What's the good news then? Well, I believe iPower is slowly getting on top of things. The live chat wait, which incidently always seemed to say "you are number 12 in the queue", is now no longer the wait it used to be. I actually got through after 15 minutes and a very courteous person reset my domain management password so I could change the name servers.
I have now transferred my domain from iPower to another party and that process was not delayed by iPower at all.
I then send an email off to iPower and asked them how I could cancel my account with them. I had a quick response and they advised me that I could call but also gave me a link to their web site to cancel online. Again they were very polite and helpful. They followed up with an acknowledge stating that my account was now cancelled and I should not incur any further charges on my credit card.... I will keep an eye on that one!
So perhaps things will work out in the future. For now I am staying away from hosts with over 500,000 customers...
Jason, I never heard back from Tucows either. I went and did everything myself. If you manage to get through to support, iPower will supply you with the login for your server admin and you can unlock the domain and change the nameservers on your own.