Reviews of HostWay USA
HostWay USA : User ReviewsWeb Host Site: http://www.hostway.com/
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HostWay USA web hosting plans listed at Best Host Ratings:
- Personal Linux Hosting
$8.95 / month, 150 MB Space, 10.0 GB transfer - Gold Linux
$13.95 / month, 600 MB Space, 50.0 GB transfer - Gold Windows
$17.95 / month, 600 MB Space, 50.0 GB transfer - Gold Plus Linux
$19.95 / month, 800 MB Space, 100.0 GB transfer - Gold Plus Windows
$26.95 / month, 600 MB Space, 50.0 GB transfer - Platinum Linux
$26.95 / month, 1200 MB Space, Unlimited transfer - Platinum Windows
$44.95 / month, 1200 MB Space, Unlimited transfer - WebSuccess Platinum Plus Linux
$44.95 / month, 2000 MB Space, Unlimited transfer - WebSuccess Platinum Plus Windows
$71.95 / month, 2000 MB Space, Unlimited transfer - WebSuccess Diamond Linux
$71.95 / month, 3000 MB Space, Unlimited transfer - WebSuccess Diamond Windows
$99.95 / month, 3000 MB Space, Unlimited transfer
HostWay USA average Uptime 99.914%
Based on 2233 days of uptime monitoring of 3 web sites hosted with HostWay USA
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After 6 years I can't take it anymore
posted on Nov 17, 2008 by Jim TierneyUser email: Hidden
Web site: Hidden
Used the services of HostWay USA for: over 3 years
Date when last hosted by HostWay USA (as of Nov 17, 2008): Current customer
HostWay USA Web Hosting Plan used: Hidden
Customer support rating: 1
Webhost Technical quality rating: 1
HostWay USA Web hosting services Cost/Value rating: 2
Web hosting provider Overall rating: 1
Hostway used to have pretty decent technical support.
No more.
You wait on hold for an hour or more. You speak to people that can't do anything but open trouble tickets. It takes days for tech support to get back to you, even about critical things.
I'm done with them. The only thing that's kept me around is that it's a huge pain in the ass moving our entire site. But their support has become so bad that it's now worth the hassle.
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Never again Hostway
posted on Oct 17, 2008 by PeterUser email: Hidden
Web site: Hidden
Used the services of HostWay USA for: over 3 years
Date when last hosted by HostWay USA (as of Oct 17, 2008): Current customer
HostWay USA Web Hosting Plan used: Hidden
Customer support rating: 2
Webhost Technical quality rating: 3
HostWay USA Web hosting services Cost/Value rating: 2
Web hosting provider Overall rating: 3
I used Hostway since their early days 10 years ago when they were still a great company and used to reply to support requests within minutes (!). There were times when I had more than 20 sites with them. I'm now in the process of moving away the last remaining site from them. Over the last years their service has consistently gone done to a level that is simply not acceptable anymore. Apart from all the technical problems their support simply sucks. More often than not you don't get a reply, and if you get one it comes after a full day and is totally unqualified. If you have a serious problem - which happens far too often with them - you're basically lost.
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Horrible support
posted on Sep 25, 2008 by GuillaumeUser email: Hidden
Web site: Hidden
Used the services of HostWay USA for: over 3 years
Date when last hosted by HostWay USA (as of Sep 25, 2008): Current customer
HostWay USA Web Hosting Plan used: Hidden
Customer support rating: 1
Webhost Technical quality rating: 4
HostWay USA Web hosting services Cost/Value rating: 5
Web hosting provider Overall rating: 1
I've had a dedicated server there for almost 10 years and the service has been excellent until recently.
Now some time in August I asked to upgrade php from 4 to 5. Which they did. I asked if they could upgrade MySQL at least from 3.23 to 4.xx so as to handle character sets, I received a reply telling me only MySQL 3.23 was stable and compatible with their servers. Which sounded pretty odd to me in 2008. Knowing that it's never the same person who replies to support e-mails I tried again a few days later, you know, just asking. I was told that it was no problem and that it could be done whenever I wanted. So on August 22 I asked for the upgrade. I had no answer to my repeated e-mails until around September 20 when I asked a friend in the US - I'm in Europe - to call and yell at them. There were 2 requests in my original e-mails but as usual they only do one thing and as the other was not important I decided to forget about it.
Then I discovered that they didn't upgrade php from 4 to 5 on all the web sites on the dedicated server as i had requested but only on the one i was working on at the time. I asked them to do it on the other web sites, it took 3 or 4 days, each time forgetting a domain or another. Then I realized that I didn't have the root access to MySQL anymore which i used to have. They told me I shouldn't have had it in the first place. OK. So now I had to go through their admin panel to work on the databases, which was a bit more annoying than the way I was doing it before but not a huge deal.
Except I then realized that in the process of upgrading MySQL, 4 of my databases had disappeared, effectively bringing down 4 of my web sites. So I wrote an e-mail 3 days ago, asking to repair that asap, I don't know but having web sites totally paralyzed seems to me a pretty urgent matter but then that's just me. I'm still waiting for an answer. I called but the guy told me he was very sorry but couldn't do anything for me at the moment! Obviously the call center has been outsourced and the poor guy had no clue but then what am I supposed to do now? Well I'm waiting. Trying to figure out if I'm their customer or their captive or something.
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Hostway crashes in service and support
posted on Sep 10, 2008 by RichardUser email: Hidden
Web site: www.soldiershome.org
Used the services of HostWay USA for: over 3 years
Date when last hosted by HostWay USA (as of Sep 10, 2008): Current customer
HostWay USA Web Hosting Plan used: Hidden
Customer support rating: 2
Webhost Technical quality rating: 2
HostWay USA Web hosting services Cost/Value rating: 10
Web hosting provider Overall rating: 3
I have 5 sites hosted by Hostway. I became acquainted with them when I took over as web guru for a site already hosted on their server. I was impressed with their service and support so I began migrating other clients to them.
In July of 2007, I was suddenly part of a scheme I did not recognize from my previous experience. I created a new site and opened a new account with Hostway. It took them a week to get my site set up, triple the usual time of two days. The number errors in billing and connectivity continued to grow. It was breathtaking in its scope. I convinced a customer service supervisor to give me 6 months free hosting.
Over the year I had little use for support, but the hold times had grown exponentially. In July 2008, I added a new domain, telling the client I had a relationship with this company, but that they were on probation. they screwed up so many things that this client ended up with 3 months free hosting. there was double billing, domain name confusion, a virtual blackout on support emails, long hold time and disconnects.
Recently Hostway swithched to a new control panel interface that had few new services, but deleted some expected ones like form scripts and blogs. The support people were poorly trained on this. Some of my sites are on the old system, some on the new. Support people get them confused and new people don't know the old, but still used, interface.
I had touted this company, helped it grow and now they were making me look foolish. I was having to lie to clients about delays because the excuse of Hostway's ineptitude was worn out. It just didn't seem believable anymore.
When the remedial free hosting runs out for my new client, I am moving all my clients to a new host. Even after that I will continue to alert my peers in any way possible to avoid this company until they get their act together. They have cost me time, money and caused me to lose face with the clients who trust me.
I am currently waiting for a reply to an email support request. It is the third try and the first two generated automated responses telling me the account I was inquiring about was closed. This third email was written 4 days ago. It appears the blackout on inconvenient support requests by longtime clients has returned.
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Very, very sad
posted on Aug 26, 2008 by monkUser email: Hidden
Web site: Hidden
Used the services of HostWay USA for: over 3 years
Date when last hosted by HostWay USA (as of Aug 26, 2008): Current customer
HostWay USA Web Hosting Plan used: Hidden
Customer support rating: 10
Webhost Technical quality rating: 10
HostWay USA Web hosting services Cost/Value rating: 10
Web hosting provider Overall rating: 3
I've managed multiple accounts with Hostway for over 6yrs and I'm and very sad to say that they have officially "jumped the shark" today.
I had a client trying to register a domain name (yeah, REAL technical stuff), and almost a month later AFTER she got the confirmation emails for her Control Panel account, I log in to set up redirects... only to find there is NO domain in there.
After two more attempts at creating new accounts, the registration still would not show up in her site control. The tech support-which I might add was awesome for years-was now absolutely impotent.
What really pisses me off is just how much work I will have to do now to migrate all my-and my clients' shit off their weak ass system. Oh wait, no, what REALLY pisses me off is how much of a jackass I looked like in front of my client who couldn't even get her domain registered, after years of me goin on and on to her and all my clients (some of which are F500 corps) about how Hostway was "Totally worth the expense"
Their service since purchasing Valueweb has taken a nose-dive.
Hostway, your are officially fuxored. I'm cancelling as soon as I am able. What a goddamned shame.
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Serious Problems at Hostway
posted on Jul 11, 2008 by Dan EhrmannUser email: Hidden
Web site: Hidden
Used the services of HostWay USA for: over 3 years
Date when last hosted by HostWay USA (as of Jul 11, 2008): Less than 3 months ago
HostWay USA Web Hosting Plan used: Hidden
Customer support rating: 1
Webhost Technical quality rating: 1
HostWay USA Web hosting services Cost/Value rating: 2
Web hosting provider Overall rating: 2
We initially started with two TruFlex dedicated servers, plus our own switch and firewall. After a couple of years, we added a third server. Our configuration was a little unusual but not especially complex.
Our servers were in the Chicago data center, but TruFlex support was run by a company called PowerMedium that Hostway bought, and these engineers were in Tampa, FL.
We had significant and ongoing problems with support. It sometimes took days to get a response to questions and then the responses were often incoherent and illogical and we'd have to start all over again. Support requests got lost between Chicago and Tampa, and there were certain things that Tampa engineers could not work on that had to go back to Chicago. We had standing orders that our servers were never to be rebooted at certain times but engineers repeatedly ignored these orders. When we started processing emails through our system, sometimes tens of thousands per day, they never could get the firewall properly configured.
If you're a smaller organization with shared hosting needs or a single dedicated server, or a very large company with highly specialized needs that can afford dedicated techs, you're probably OK. But if you're in between these extremes, with multiple servers and some unusual setup issues, I don't recommend Hostway at all.
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Intermitent outtages
posted on May 30, 2008 by Lou LamoureuxUser email: Hidden
Web site: Hidden
Used the services of HostWay USA for: 1 year - 3 years
Date when last hosted by HostWay USA (as of May 30, 2008): Current customer
HostWay USA Web Hosting Plan used: Hidden
Customer support rating: 1
Webhost Technical quality rating: 4
HostWay USA Web hosting services Cost/Value rating: 6
Web hosting provider Overall rating: 4
I was a Valueweb/Affinity customer. They were purchased by Hostway and since then, my server has slowed, my site has experienced random outtages, and I haven't been able to get tech support on the phone and I've been waiting days (not holding my breath) for their callback service. In my mind, the perfect trifecta of suckiness. I didn't realize Hostway was the problem until I started googling the internet and found out about the purchase of Valueweb and the reasons for the outtages. I will seriously evaluate leaving.
Lou
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Hostway is Terrible
posted on May 14, 2008 by MikeUser email: Hidden
Web site: Hidden
Used the services of HostWay USA for: 1 year - 3 years
Date when last hosted by HostWay USA (as of May 14, 2008): Less than 3 months ago
HostWay USA Web Hosting Plan used: Hidden
Customer support rating: 1
Webhost Technical quality rating: 1
HostWay USA Web hosting services Cost/Value rating: 3
Web hosting provider Overall rating: 1
I have had terrible experiences with Hostway. The support is absolutely terrible. I had a customers domain name that I mistakenly registered there held from me for ages. They wouldn't let me have my domain back! I couldn't believe it.
Take it from someone who's been building sites for about 8 years...DON'T HOST WITH HOSTWAY!
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Incredible downhill slide in service
posted on Apr 29, 2008 by Abbagail KirkUser email: Hidden
Web site: Hidden
Used the services of HostWay USA for: over 3 years
Date when last hosted by HostWay USA (as of Apr 29, 2008): Current customer
HostWay USA Web Hosting Plan used: Hidden
Customer support rating: 1
Webhost Technical quality rating: 2
HostWay USA Web hosting services Cost/Value rating: 1
Web hosting provider Overall rating: 1
I have hosted websites on hostway for nearly 8 years. About a year ago began starting new sites with a different service because of decline in service (servers down, web stats disappearing from the file, etc.)
Left one site with Hostway because of the associated Mailman service. What a mistake! Haven't been able to access the account for over two days during a critical time, and can't get any help from technical support.
Confirmed during second of many phone calls (all of which started with a 30+ minute hold period) that they have changed their support vendor.
People answering phones now are nothing more than glorified secretaries who can't fix anything.
No response to web or email trouble tickets. One phone answerer said "oh, we haven't gotten to those."
Another one told me the mail server gets overloaded because of the number of users. I suggested that perhaps they needed fewer users. She laughed!
Too bad to see this company go downhill so fast so bad. I used to rave about them--despite the price--to everyone.
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Do not use Hostway
posted on Apr 20, 2008 by Peter StasUser email: Hidden
Web site: www.frederique-constant.com
Used the services of HostWay USA for: over 3 years
Date when last hosted by HostWay USA (as of Apr 20, 2008): Current customer
HostWay USA Web Hosting Plan used: Hidden
Customer support rating: 1
Webhost Technical quality rating: 1
HostWay USA Web hosting services Cost/Value rating: 1
Web hosting provider Overall rating: 1
We are encountering mind boggling experience with Hostway, terrible. Received two weeks ago message of their 'Abuse Department' that two of our databases were over limit. Responded immediately that we would move to our dedicated server, also via them. Then, without any notice, they removed all our databases, containing latest planning data of our customers. Since then, we have been on the phone with them for hours and they respond that we 'need to be patient'. However, they just do nothing, do not respond on emails, and even cut us off on telephone. What a terrible company!
Please see below some of the communication:
Sunday, April 20, ten days after problems started:
Content-type: text/html
Software error:
DBI->connect failed: Access denied for user: 'watches@grieg.siteprotect.com' (Using password: YES) at index2.cgi line 216
STILL NOTHING DONE
12.04.2008 09:53 You wrote:
> To rate the quality of our response, please go to https://sitecontrol.hostway.com/pas/...22132993560038
>
> Hello Peter,
>
> We do understand your frustrations and apologize for the inconvenience caused. We have submitted this issue to the appropriate department and our second level staff is currently working to resolve the issue. We assure you that this will be treated as a highest priority issue and we shall update you as soon as possible via ticket #12511374.
>
> Once again please accept our sincere apologies and we appreciate your co-operation in this matter.
>
>
>
>
>
>> Dear Support,
>>
>> Still no answer! Our customers cannot place orders, right after a two
>> week fair, normally quantities of watches representing hundreds of
>> thousands Swiss Francs.
>>
>> You send an email that databases are over limit and one day later
>> somebody disconnected our databases, destroying the most important
>> sales
>> week-end in year. Then, all I hear is that I should be patient. It is
>> unbelievable how Hostway treats us.
>>
>> We have hosting plans and dedicated server with Hostway for over 10
>> years. Does that not mean anything to you?
>>
>> Extremely disappointed and disturbed in Switzerland, Peter Stas
>>
>
>
> If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us again.
>
> Sincerely,
> Roopali R.
> Hostway Support Staff
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