InFirm Service - A dismal experience,
Written: Jun 02 '06
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Pros: Price, Features for the dollar.
Cons: Highly unreliable, technical support brushes off problems with no attention to resolving clear server-side issues.
The Bottom Line: A dismal failure of service, support, and customer service. Plenty of other horror stories. Stay away...far, far away.
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| pepper99's Full Review: Netfirms |
Where do I start?
I signed up for Netfirms early in 2006 when I decided to move my personal blog from a free site to a Wordpress installation. In addition, I started a small phpBB forum for a local community group that needed somewhere online to meet.
After investigating many hosting companies, and comparing prices, I leaned towards Netfirms since they seemed like an excellent deal, and they offered a great deal of space and monthly bandwidth in their more basic "Home" plans.
And so the "adventure" began.
Signup:
Netfirms signup process was very straightforward, although I was somewhat concerned by the amount of time that it took for my credit card to be verified. While waiting, I was unable to order any of my included "Free" domains. Although I understand the reasoning, I did not understand why it took over 24 hours (and a few calls to support to help push along the situation somewhat) to finally accomplish my account being fully setup.
I understand after the fact that one to two days is considered "Average" for a web host to verify an account, but in todays automated world, it seems long.
Initial Account Setup:
Once my account was verified, I ordered my chosen domains via the Netfirms control panel. The panel was very intuitive, and easy to use, making most aspects of administering my account very easy.
I was soon setup with an FTP account, and began configuring my webspace while I waited for my new domains to propogate and become active.
All necessary features were acessable from the main control panel screen, and the layout was straightforward.
Included software:
I was happy to see that I would apparently be spared the time and effort involved in both my Wordpress and phpBB installation, since the Netfirms control panel provided "Automated" installations of both with seemingly just a click.
Sure enough, with only a few mouse strokes, both packages were installed, and shortly thereafter operational.
However, I was completely dismayed to discover that the versions of both packages were extremely out dated. The default Wordpress installation was numerous versions behind, and the phpBB installation was (I was later advised) so far out of date that it still contained countless security holes that had been patched over a year ago.
I had to question why Netfirms was not staying up to date on their default installations, especially since the phpBB update was classified as "Critical" since the security hole discovered would allow a complete stranger to gain administrator access to the board.
Surely this results in a great deal of unnecessary calls to tech support?
I would soon learn that outdated software (And unhelpfull technical support) was status-quo at Netfirms.
In addition to the default installations of phpBB and Wordpress, there was also several other software packages including a Coppermine photo gallery, chat widgets, a basic commerce package, and a hit counter application.
Up and running - Usage:
Although the setup of the "default" software packages was designed for simplicity, I opted for my own installations of more up to date versions of the software I required.
Once installed, my sites indeed came online as would be expected, and I was initially pleased.
However, within the first 3 days I began to experience problems. First, I experienced strange issues with my SQL databases - "Too many user" connection errors (When I knew there was only 2 or 3 people on the phpBB at the time in question) and "Cannot connect to database" errors as well.
I contacted technical support on a Friday evening, and was stonewalled right from the get-go.
I was told that it must be my software. It must be my configurations. It must be anything except a problem on their end.
However, it was not a problem on my end - it was a system wide problem, which when it was discovered by Netfirms larger corporate customers on Monday morning, was quickly remedied.
Unfortunately it took them all weekend (and ignoring their existing customers like myself) to realise there was a problem.
However, it only got worse from there. As the usage on my phpBB picked up (surpassing 100 users) I was experiencing countless problems with a mysterious "502 Proxy Error" that seemed related to the SQL servers again.
And so started a 4 week saga of error reports, frustrating calls to technical support, and more stone-walling.
I was told every possible excuse on why these errors were occuring, and once again, it was repeately claimed that the issues were a direct result of my software installations, and not a server-side configuration error, as was clearly the case.
They claimed that the "502 Proxy Error" was a result of a bad modification of my phpBB code.
When I showed them a screenshot of my Wordpress installation experiencing the exact same error, they shifted the blame elsewhere.
At one point a technical support representative refused to support me because I had chosen to install "Non supported" versions of PhpBB and Wordpress. Astounded, I asked them if there was any reson they would rather support versions that are a year out of date, and ridden with known security holes, as opposed to my secure and up to date versions?
Although I always remained civil with technical support, it became glaringly obvious that they were little more then deflection shields for Netfirms.
The impression that I received was that their goal was as follows:
1/ Try to minimize the problem
2/ Pretend it's not our fault
3/ Request so much information on the "error" that the customer gives up trying to pursue the matter.
4/Ignore the reality and provide mystery diagnosis.
5/ Return to step 1.
At week four as a customer, my phpBB was virtually useless due to these neverending errors and hosting failures.
When I finally threatened to cancel my account under the 30 day satisfaction guarentee, I finally got what almost seemed like a straight answer:
"Recent unexpected growth has caused undue stress on our servers, and we are working fast to upgrade our systems" was the gist of the email.
I wanted to cancel regardless, as with a dismal start like this, I was ready to take my business elsewhere.
Unfortunately I fell for a customer service rep who *assured* me that this would all be rememedied ASAP, and I "had nothing to worry about".
My 30 days lapsed, and I was officially locked in.
But the problems didn't go away. They got worse.
Repeated trouble tickets were opened, and eventually it seemed as if Netfirms simply stopped responding to my complaints.
I was on a first-name basis with some of the "Technical Suppport" reps, yet received the same drivel each and every time I called.
Eventually I was fed up. I purchased a hosting plan with another hosting company (1&1, see my review here at Epinions soon) and began the process of moving my sites and changing DNS settings.
I experienced more grief when it came time to export my SQL databases and discovered that Netfirms was using an incredibly outdated and archaic version of phpMyAdmin, which in turn output SQL dump files that were problematic to import at my new host.
But with the help of a few SQL specialists (who had to rewrite the Netfirms dump files) I eventually managed to get all of my sites, and databases, moved.
That accomplished, I filed a Better Business Bureau complaint against Netfirms.
Despite several attempts to stonewall this as well, I eventually won - and got my money back.
The saga had finally ended - about 6 weeks after it started.
In the end, I'm now happy with my new host, and my sites are now running 100% trouble free. I changed absolutely nothing - I simply moved from one host to another - yet all of my problems (Basically, the ones that Netfirms claimed was due to my "software" being buggy) went away.
I was not surprised. Netfirms clearly has server-side issues that they are unable, or unwilling to fix.
As a result, my experience there was dismal, and I could not recomment them any less.
The old saying "You get what you pay for" certainly holds true at Netfirms, although many other hosts (including my new host, 1&1) aim for the same price point, yet provide wonderfull reliable service.
Netfirms? Not so much.
Recommended:
No
Monthly fees (US$): 4.99
Platform used: Linux
Hosted on Secure Server: No
Database used: MySQL
Main focus of Web site: Database/Lists
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Epinions.com ID:
pepper99
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Member: Mark Morissette
Location: Canada
Reviews written: 55
Trusted by: 8 members
About Me:
30-something married guy with 2 kids.
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