I began the HaevenArts Project in 2009 and my first hosting choice was 110mb,a company that in essence was quite an impressive package.It was affordable,had great uptime and had excellent support for problems.At some point however the company switched hands and it’s been all downhill from there.I can only speak for my personal experience but it’s also horribly evident by their support forums that It’s a very widespread issue.The reason I’m posting this review is so hopefully people can find it and not waste their time and money on this host.
Uptime
They used to boast 99% uptime.Most hosts do right? Well how about 0% uptime? I haven’t been able to consistently access my site,ftp,or control panel in over a year.I kid you not folks…over a whole entire year.My site was malfuntioning for months and I had no idea and 110mb seems very fond of saying things are down but never has an answer as to when it will actually get fixed.The kicker is everybody suffers and it doesn’t matter if you paid or not.They are equal opportunity when it comes to crappy service. To top it off 90% of the time my site isn’t even live.
Support
The support is pretty much non-existent.They boast about a great ticket based support system.I’ve submitted over 5 tickets in the last few years and only heard back on one and that was after I basically harrassed them and submitted multiple tickets and a huge forum post both of which i had to keep posting reponses on so they’d stay active because guess what? They just ignore customer problems.That’s right…there are tons of posts made even in their support forum daily about not being able to login,use ftp,updates sites and pretty much everything else you can imagine would be in a hosting support forum.When confronted with the fact they never answer anything they give a one sentence answer and by they I mean a higher up forum member,not an actual person involved with the business.If I were behind the desk of such a horrible company I’d hideout too.
Professionalism
Most people want to know their money is going to a reliable and professional party.Don’t count on it with 110mb.They honestly appear to just not give a flip about their customers.On top of not answering any questions for them they never explain stiffing you on money you paid into a site you can’t use.The best part is that if you paid into your package prior to them acquiring it they really really don’t care about your problems because you purchased what they told me were “legacy items”.They apparently didn’t care to get records from the previous owners and have no interest in being fair to people who didn’t buy into their financial setup.You may think I’m overreacting.they didn’t have the records after all….but wait! I had receipts.I had detailed receipts of everything I purchased and my paypal statements to prove I legally and honestly purchased a product from the business they are legally responsible for,regardless of when I joined the site.This of course meant nothing to them even though I’m sure it was highly doable to refund my money which amounted to under 50 bucks.It seems a little stupid to me.When you buy a business you take on their whole client base.Not just the ones you feel like covering.
Lots of Excuses
They have a lot of convenient excuses to throw at people.Something is always being migrated or upgraded or something…..Seriously! Take a look at the forum and count how many times they just spout out ” Box whatever is down and we’re working on it”.
They either think the clients are stupid or they’re the stupid ones because honestly I have yet to see any change to my service quality there in over a year.I’m in IT and I know how long it takes to migrate a server….let’s get real guys…
It wouldn’t be so bad if you’d just be honest.Admit you bought a crappy drive or that you can’t afford to run the servers.Say you don’t know what you’re doing and do the right thing for your customers that are paying and not getting what they paid for.I paid for premium service for life and I haven’t been able to touch my files for months.I lost almost a dozen sql databases and months of time I could have been gathering members for my project.The least 110mb can do as a company at this point is man up if they can’t produce a quality service.
Do you really think a real repuatable company just says “tough noogies” to their paying clients? Not if they care about their reputation!Even the dollar store gives refunds.It’s a fair and noble practice and creates at least a good faith image on the company’s part.I’m not all too sure that the people who acquired 110mb know how to run a business.They definitely seem to be over their head either way but that isn’t an excuse to do bad business all around.
The best thing is one of their cookie cutter responses is that they’re “working with the datacenter”.That’s lamens terms for “we can’t pay our bills or we screwed up with the datacenter”.Why else would a datacenter not allow you access to your own drives? Their pockets are apparently as empty as their heads….
That might explain why they’re keeping my money, huh?
Now of course the one thing I can’t say is that they aren’t feature rich and affordable.This would really be a plus if I could actually use the service but right now it’s a moot point.Now here where the real audacity of the current situation.
While reading a recent post in their forum where one of many people that day was complaining about not being able to access their account their response to the distressed user on their free plan was to “upgrade and get moved to box 21”
Does box 21 work guys? If it is it’s the only one that is. I can’t decide if it’s ballsy or stupid to tell people to upgrade when you can’t even maintain the paid accounts you have.Great sell point guys….
Technical Prowess
Well really prowess is a stretch…and a complete lie.They appear to have no technical skill at all.It’s taking them over a year to migrate hard drive data for one thing.They also told me just today that they can’t change a domain name or migrate premium services between accounts.It’s as easy as me starting a new account and you activating premium services on that account.How hard is that? I have proof of my purchases so that can’t be why.If you know I paid for it why can’t you just give me what I paid for.
Apparently though there is only one really inept person who responds to posts and I swear they must be copying and pasting the same sentences because I’ve yet to see them make a response that’s more than 3 sentences.I had to pretty much beg for a real answer and it was like pulling teeth from a crocodile.Yes…I mean you t50.If you don’t know then just say so.It’s better than treating customers like idiots.
There’s really not much more to say here.Do not waste your time or money on this company.Saying they’re the acer of hosting companies would be a compliment.Do not believe the front page.Move on to a good reliable company and always ALWAYS research the company first. I’ve been with x10 hosting for about 5 months and love it.The site hasn’t been down one day yet.The few problems I’ve had were fixed within less then a half hour and they were excellent,efficient and friendly. The cpanel is a joy to use.They have tons of scripts you can install on the premium service and unlimited services you can actually use.The cost for premium is very agreeable as well.I’ve also heard a lot of good things about DreamHost but I’ve never used it to be able to tell you anything definite. If you aren’t sure try the premium service on the host you choose for a month or so.You can see if you like it enough to buy in longer.Don’t be afraid to ask other customers or skim their support forums if you can. Also observe how their representatives act.A good company has a professional and courteous staff.
In fact in all my time dealing with purchasing scripts,hosting and every other webmaster resource under the sun 110mb is the ONLY one who was unable to refund me and the only ones who made no attempt to actually help me resolve the issue.Hopefully this review will save a few hapless victims from having to deal with what is obviously a sinking ship.
