Criminally incompetent
Written: Dec 03 '00
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Pros: That many incompetent people working in one place raises the average for everyone else.
Cons: Horrible service, horrible billing, gross incompetence
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| optionexplicit's Full Review: C I Host |
As I approach five dozen ePinions, I'm discovering something about myself that I can't decide whether I should be proud of or disturbed by: As much as I enjoy sharing the details of a really delicious meal, a well-written novel, or a finely-crafted movie, there is nothing I like as much as slamming a product or service that has really, really earned it.
Thus, I come to CIHost.
CIHost is the worst web hosting service I have ever dealt with. This is no mean feat as I am a professional website developer and have, in the course of my full time and consulting work, dealt with more than a score of them. I've had better, more competent service from free hosts like Hypermart.
I currently have a website, optionexplicit.com, that has been hosted for a little over two years on Interland. While Interland is basically a quality service, I have had some issues with it, particularly regarding their new policy of caching ASP pages that makes on-server edits impossible. So, I thought I would try a new service for my new site. I looked over a few sources about ASP/SQL Server hosts and wrote up a short list of highly-noted hosts with all the features that I needed. Of the names on that short list, CIHost had, by far, the best price/feature ratio of them all.
I wish I'd checked ePinions. As of this writing, there are three other reviews of CIHost, all of which give it one star and at least one of which would have given it no stars if he could have.
Signing up was smooth. I chose my plan, filled out a form, sent in my credit card number, and had the site up within 24 hours.
Problems began as soon as I started building the site. To begin with, CIHost either never set up the SQL Server that I had paid for or else never bothered to tell me how to connect to it. When I went to their online manual, all of the links in it were broken, which meant that I got a lovely view of its table of contents and nothing else. I sent off a helpful e-mail to inform them of this problem. It was never acknowledged and, a week later, the manual still was not fixed.
I did not pursue the issue immediately because I was busy building the parts of the site that did not require database access and fulfilling my responsibilities at work. Before I had a chance to get back to it, I received an e-mail that read, in part:
C I Host would like to provide you with the best Internet presence available, however your account with C I Host is past due. Please let us know when you can make a payment on your account, either by electronic mail or by telephone at (888) 868-9931. The total amount due on your account $1,060.00.
This was startling for two reasons:
1. I had paid for my account in full or else I would not have been able to use it.
2. The fee for my account had been US$350.00/year.
Figuring that this was some computer error, I wrote back a short message that read:
I am on the startup plan and have paid for a year in advance. The number you mention below would cover about three additional years of the service I currently have.
I think you have made an error.
--Jekke
So far, we have an error that should be easy to rectify if everyone does what they are supposed to with a modicum of common sense. Had this matter been resolved swiftly and/or correctly, I would have thought nothing of it.
Instead, I got the following e-mail back:
Here is some information off of the original order that was submitted. You ordered a Basics NT with a billing frequency of annual. The cost for the annual Basics NT is $1,000.00 with the setup fee of $60.00. The total amount due is $1,060.00. If you have questions, please contact me back.
Now, this is very odd, since I can go to their website and see "Basics NT" package listed for US$300 a year plus a US$50 setup charge. At this point, I start to get the feeling that CIHost might not know the difference between their arm-bending thing and their solid waste excretory orifice, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and move forward. And, if I have to tell some low-level flunkie how to do her job, that's just an occupational hazard. I write back:
I don't know where you're getting your information. I signed up for the NT Basics shared hosting package with a US$50 start-up fee and a US$300 annual fee. The details of the plan are listed on your site at http://www.cihost.com/?zone=products/shared_nt_hosting under Basics. Full payment of US$350 was made by check on this account on the day of setup.
I don't know where the US$1,060 figure came from as it is grossly out of line with what I paid and does not seem to correspond to any plan CIHost offers.
Now, here I made a small error that continues to haunt me. Payment was made by check card, not check. Somehow, all of the salient details completely slide off of her back, but my helpful customer service representative pounces on this one.
After further research of this issue, I was notified that we did change our package amounts the week before your signing up. The amount entered in the account was incorrect. I have updated this information. I do not show that we received payment in the amount of $350.00. If you have documentation of this payment, please forward it to amberl@cihost.com or fax a front and back copy of the cashed check to 1-888-241-2294 attention Amber.
"Curiouser and curiouser" said Alice as she followed her website down a large hole marked "404." Not only can't they find my payment, but I'm now being quoted a price that does not match what I paid or what I saw advertised. And, boy US$1,060 sure is a lot more than US$350. I surf over to their pricing page and, lo and behold, the plan is still listed as US$350. We have somehow fallen down the rabbit hole from the land of computer error into the realm of surreally incompetent.
Thinking that I can perhaps salvage this by reminding this oh-so-thorough CSR that CIHost's most basic policies create a logical conundrum with her own perception of the situation, I try one last time, writing:
Since CI Host's billing system is obviously having some issues, please let me know if you still need my documentation after you resolve them. As I could not have had my site activated without making the initial payment as per CI Host's policy, a simple review of basic procedure should show that I must have made payment or I would not currently have a site.
Should C.I. Host's inability to locate even this basic information genuinely necessitate that I find the check in question, please let me know in a timely fashion as I will have to reconsider my relationship with CI Host.
Two days later, I receive a genuinely unhelpful e-mail informing me that CIHost has no record of any payment from me and will mark my account as "unpaid" until such a time as I provide a cancelled check or another US$350. The entirety of my response is
Cancel my account. I will provide documentation for the refund.
Unless you think my surreal journey is ended, there are several apocrypha to add. A few days later, I receive another e-mail informing me that my account can not be cancelled until I provide proof that I paid. Think about that for a moment. This is logic on par with, "If she floats, she's a witch." In no rush to deal with CIHost again, I ignore it, hoping against hope that they will figure out their own error shortly and I will not be required to resolve their billing issues for them. At this point, I am ready to kiss my US$350 goodbye and move on simply to not have to deal with them anymore.
That should be the end of it, right?
Today, I received the following e-mail from CIHost's billing department:
Your credit card was declined on 12/3/00 7:13:21 AM for the amount of 350.00
Until I got this, I had forgotten they had my check card number. I do not remember which check card it is and have only been saved from being charged by them for an account that has been closed for months on a credit card that they couldn't possibly have because, if they had it, it would mean that I had paid them for an amount that they claim is one third of what I should owe them. If this behavior is not criminal, it certainly should be.
Under different circumstances, I would be screaming with frustration now. Fortunately, I have another out. The first step, which is oh, so satisfying, is to write this review. The second step is to make sure that every web professional, dot-com manager, and IT worker that I know reads it. The third step is to make sure CIHost has a chance to read it.
I could run a better service out of my garage off of my development machine--if I had a garage.
Recommended:
No
Monthly fees (US$): 25
Platform used: Windows NT
Hosted on Secure Server: No
Database used: MS-SQL
Main focus of Web site: Publishing/Content
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Epinions.com ID:
optionexplicit
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Member: Jekke Bladt
Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 94
Trusted by: 71 members
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