PowWeb Review

They have not updated or fixed much of anything in all the years I have used them. Their services went from bad to worse a few years ago. The only plus is they don't bug me about all the files I have. Their software services are REALLY spotty and the Tech Support is now a joke. However, their uptime has been pretty good. The server I use is located in the bay area which may make a difference.

I have had the worst customer experience of my life with Powweb. 17 hours on the phone and counting and no one over there can do anything. Everyone has excuses and apologies, but no authority or knowledge to do anything. I am migrating my business off of their products and going elsewhere. If you are thinking of using Powweb, don't. They suck!!! I hope anyone that reads this does not use them. I have spent 17 1/2 hours on the phone with them over the past 72 hours and still no one can help me. They lost hundreds of my emails, charged me money for services they did not provide, and constantly passed the buck to someone else just as incompetent as the person before them.

Powweb will not only clear the contents of email accounts that are not accessed for 90 days, they will also delete the email accounts as well. They do this claiming that it helps to keep their servers running efficiently for shared server customers under section 13 of the user agreement. When reading the user agreement, everything looks like they are just want to keep abusers out. There are alot of people (see their forums) that are really inconvenienced by this, since if you host a domain for a client, you do not monitor their email account activity, nor log into their accounts for them. If an account sits dormant for 90 days, powweb will delete the email account, making your client get upset with you. If you call, their support staff will agree with you but do nothing. If you email, they will quote section 13 of the user policy, tell you sorry for the inconvenience, but they will not consider changing their policy.

Have been difficult from the word go. Closed all renewal and tried to close account in June and had it confirmed ..... only to receive another email in November saying I had to do everything again. Hidden fees, email centre staff who write stock responses but are clearly not paying attention (or understanding issue) in the first place. Will be glad to be shot of them.

I just got this from powweb tech support Don Ray: Mike, if usage is below 25 GB, the you are safe and this will not be problem. However, you will not be able to use the hosting account for storage purpose. Mike: i wasn't using it for storage - someone was using ftp to send me some files. Mike: but i have removed them now Don Ray: Okay. Don Ray: Is there anything else I can assist you with today? Mike: so am i understanding this right? it is unlimited up to 25 gigs? i mean - i just need to know. Don Ray: Yes. Mike: ha... thanks. Don Ray: You're welcome!

When I subscribed to Powweb I supposed I was subscribing to one of the major Hosting Services. I was on the contrary very disappointed and I will never use it again. First of all, some malware was present from the beginning on our virtual server and their tech service was absolutely of no help. We had to solve it all alone. Secondly, when we got to renew the hosting service: the price was high above the one communicated when subscribing the first time and it was almost hidden in all communication and on the site. Moreover they set the renewal to 'automatic' without asking / communicating it at the moment of the subscription. There is no way of paying by bank transfer but only by credit card. When we contacted their billing support service they were (nor tried to be) of any help at all.

When I signed up with PowWeb, I was pleased wtih the offereings and the level of service. However as time went by, everything went downhill in a bad way. Including a mail server that constantly blocked e-mails that I wouldn't tell it to, to billing e-mails that never seemed to be recieved. I must have been blocked from my account 15 times over 8 years due to their inability to send out proper notifications, or them changing their billing system and losing my information. I also had major issues with thier support team. On several occassions, they managed to erase my entire account while their "tech team" tried to fix mistakes made by their install central system. These guys suck. Don't waste your time.

I run some major web sites and had used powweb for a photography site. I had used them for many, many years. I paid for their services using a credit card, which the other day was lost. I reported the credit card lost, and about that time I suppose powweb was billing. Rather, after I think close to 10 years of payments, notifying me and giving me a chance to correct the situation, they cut the domain off immediately, whereupon I lost web position, on this an a major related site. I cannot believe after so many years that they would do this. I cannot recommend them for anything. We deal with a number of hosting companies and this is the only one that would do something like this.

DO NOT EVER USE POWWEB'S HOSTING SERVICES. They twice shut down my site without any warning (not one email, nothing!!!) and they called me a spammer!!! Duhhh, I wasn't even near my computer when this happened. How can I spam when I'm not even in front of my computer! I figure that somebody hacked my script and make it look like I'm spamming. Heck, I haven't sent a newsletter or an email to my customers for years. They made me loose hundreds of dollars in sales by shutting it down. They don't even care that they might ruin an entire business that took me years to build in seconds without even trying to even to get some explanations!!!! Bunch of incompetent, I will never to business with them again and I transfered all my site to another hosting service.

When I started with Powweb over six years ago, my knowledge of scripting languages was limited. As I became more advanced, I wrote email distribution scripts, database maintenance scripts, and began creating password protected pages using PHP and MySQL. When I surpassed (approx.) 250 emails distributed, Powweb disabled my CGI. I was (implicitly) called a spammer even though the emails went to the willing membership of a non-profit singing society. At the time I purchased the hosting services, I was indifferent to ssl and forgot about it. Later, when I asked for help with SSL, I was told that I needed to buy a certificate when it was already included in the hosting package. When it comes time to renew your site, you must remember to uncheck the box for added services or get automatically charged for it. This is not the best example of a company that works in good faith with their customers. Sometimes, change is good.