ipowerweb is teaching me a lesson.... and now i have hate

July 18th 2005, cannot connect to database. That was the beginning of one of the most horrible experiences i have ever had with a hosting company.

Aug 18th 2005, 1 month later.

There seems to have been a slight problem with the database.
Please try again by pressing the refresh button in your browser.
An E-Mail has been dispatched to our Technical Staff, who you can also
contact if the problem persists.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

Level 1 techs, level 2 techs, leads and supervisors. Ive talked to them all. First the issue was Vbulletin, not the server, the software. I did the regular forum searches here and went over my installation. I also cross referenced my setup with my 2 other sites, all was good to go.

The forum starts going down more often. I start making the calls from work, start making the calls from home. Sometimes spending 3 hours a day talking to their techs. I?m told its an abusive new registered user, they restart the sql and all is well. This happens about twice a day lasting anywhere from 1-4 hours. More issues. I ask to be moved off this server being so abused, they say it will cost $50 US. I have to pay because they cant look after things?

I keep calling. I?ve upgraded to knowing the level 2 techs well and they give me a php script i have to run because they cant pinpoint the error. Over the next 2 weeks its ran every time i come across the forum down.

Warning: mysql_connect(): Can't connect to local MySQL server through
socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2) in /home/xxxx/public_html/testmysql.php on
line 31

Warning: mysql_select_db(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link
resource in /home/xxxx/public_html/testmysql.php on line 33
Cannot Select Database.

The level 2 techs assure me that the problem is going to be resolved. 1st week goes by and they dont even return my calls, site keeps going down. They tell me that moving the site is not an option because this sql issue can be resolved easily. At this point im calling 2-3 times a day, sometimes sitting on hold for 20 minutes. Then i get the level 1 customer rep who insists he can help me. When i give him the ticket number and email information he asks me what the problem is. For some reason this just started making me insane. They use a term "unfortunatly" often and it just started getting under my skin. At this point im biting my tongue and trying not to be tough on them as theyre just doing their jobs, but i mean really, ive been calling for 3 weeks everyday and your history in front of you doesn?t tell you WHAT THE RE-OCCURING PROBLEM IS?

Finally i start getting really upset and get the opportunity to speak wit a supervisor (Donald J) who is willing to make things happen. I can no longer take the "oh we'll just restart the sql for ya" crap. Oh, when it crashes in two hours i should call and you?ll reset it for me; "unfortunately sir that?s all we can do". /me pulls hair out.

Donald the supervisor moves our website to a new server. Ahhh, finally, things are turning around. *reality check*. The server goes down 9 hours later, same thing. Donald tells me vdeck is using all the resources and the coders & admins are both passing the ticket back and fourth and no one wants to fix it. They reset the sql. At this point the sql has been reset every day, at least once, if not up to 4 times.

Donald assures me this is a server side issue. I question when will it be fixed? No eta.

Last night im working away on the site, its up and well... whatever, time is limited. So i start coding in a mod from this site. The php called for 300,000 queries. Its ran, they suspend my account. I call and mention to them the sql and site is down, level 1 tech doesnt know why. I explain to him i ran this query and i noticed after that they have a 50,000 query max limit per hour. They refuse to reset my sql, due to it possibly damaging other peoples queries and db. I pose the question of, "you reset the sql everyday,1-4 times because your server has an issue, when i call and make 1 mistake you punish me"... response that made me boil.. "unfortunately sir, there?s nothing we can do".... i snap, i curse (which is prolly the most unprofessional thing to do) and i ask to talk to a supervisor. I get a lead hand, a lead hand who is a level 2 tech ive been dealing with. He tells me due to my 1x abuse my account is suspended. After a little anger, some TELLING him the sql is reset.

So now the sql is reset and well, back to business. 1 hour later the sql goes down. I call, they reset. 25 minutes later the sql goes down, I call, they reset. Come this morning. At 6:45 the site went down and is still down at 11:40 am. They tell me they?re doing some database management, and password upgrades and this is the reason I am down still.

I?m so bitter. I hate companies that take advantage of people like this. There?s not much else to do I suppose except change hosting companies. I have 2 other forums with them and the one had these issues in the beginning as well, but it was resolved and I got over it after a year and didn?t think it was possible for ipowerweb to do this again. My 2nd site gets no traffic, was something I built for the family so who knows If its going down. Their average is horrible.
Site one: 4600+ users, initially went down 1.5 years ago..was resolved
Site two: 200 users, family site
Site three: 480 users, attempting to replace make the new site over site one? horrible problems..

What do you guys think? Wait it out? Move on? Frankly, im scared if we move all my hard work will be lost. People aren?t as forgiving and may not return. I don?t want to recode the site, im not confident to do this move. Im tired, im sleeping four hours a day because theyre stressing me out now.

[tnguy3n]

You're surely a very dedicated webmaster.
As for you host, if it gives you that much of headache, then move to a more reliable company. You might get some good feedbacks on WHT forum.

[amykhar]

Move on. I am with http://www.ultraunix.net/ and am VERY happy with them. Whenever there has been any kind of a technical issue, the support staff worked with me to get things fixed very quickly. The price is very reasonable as well.

Amy

[b00k]

Originally Posted by tnguy3n

You're surely a very dedicated webmaster.
As for you host, if it gives you that much of headache, then move to a more reliable company.

i am dedicated, and i care about the work ive put into it. im just really bitter, and just felt silenced by them, like im supposed to just "accept" it all.

if i wasnt concerned about just losing it all, i would move... well, i think a move is still up in question for tonight. Myself and the other admin are going to talk it over cause frankly, i dont think i can take much more of contacting ipowerweb, i m feeling exhausted and frustrated.

[AN-net]

Originally Posted by TSR

Last night im working away on the site, its up and well... whatever, time is limited. So i start coding in a mod from this site. The php called for 300,000 queries. Its ran, they suspend my account. I call and mention to them the sql and site is down, level 1 tech doesnt know why. I explain to him i ran this query and i noticed after that they have a 50,000 query max limit per hour. They refuse to reset my sql, due to it possibly damaging other peoples queries and db. I pose the question of, "you reset the sql everyday,1-4 times because your server has an issue, when i call and make 1 mistake you punish me"... response that made me boil.. "unfortunately sir, there?s nothing we can do".... i snap, i curse (which is prolly the most unprofessional thing to do) and i ask to talk to a supervisor. I get a lead hand, a lead hand who is a level 2 tech ive been dealing with. He tells me due to my 1x abuse my account is suspended. After a little anger, some TELLING him the sql is reset.

So now the sql is reset and well, back to business. 1 hour later the sql goes down. I call, they reset. 25 minutes later the sql goes down, I call, they reset. Come this morning. At 6:45 the site went down and is still down at 11:40 am. They tell me they?re doing some database management, and password upgrades and this is the reason I am down still.

why would u run 300,000 sql queries, that will kill probably any server>_>
also if this happened to you with the first site for 1.5 yrs i would have given up and moved on from 2nd if not 1st month of reoccuring downtime.

not to plug any specific hosting company but i am currently with http://www.asmallorange.com and I have not experienced any problems with them what so ever.

[afusion]

I'd run from them as fast as you can. Their customer support was no better when I was with them and often my site went down for half a day if not more. Pretty soon I had enough, moved to LayeredTech and everything's been perfect ever since. iPowerWeb really has nothing on LT's customer support

[bigcurt]

That is a hell of a post man..I actually read it all and it almost made me cry 0_o lol..I would definately switch..might want to checkout www.bluehost.com there fairly good and you get a free domain with package .



~Curt

[sabret00the]

isn't it just a matter of backing up and moving on or am i missing something? when people can't fix problems, it's time to move on.

[WhatChaMissin]

Originally Posted by bigcurt

That is a hell of a post man..I actually read it all and it almost made me cry 0_o lol..I would definately switch..might want to checkout www.bluehost.com there fairly good and you get a free domain with package .



~Curt

That's who I've been using for the past year or so and so far no issues to report.

www.bluehost.com

4 Gigabyte Hosting Space
Host 6 Domains on 1 Account!!!
2,500 POP Email Accounts
100 GIGS of Transfer (NEW)
SSL, FTP, Stats
CGI, PHP, MySQL
2000/2002/2003 Front Page Extensions
Free Domain Included
Toll Free Support

[bigcurt]

Ya, I added on to my account though I got 8gb space and 200gb transfer..there fairly cheap also.

~Curt