Avoid At All Costs!
Written: Jan 08 '01 (Updated Feb 18 '01)
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Pros: low cost (though still not worth it)
Cons: don't deliver on promises, run up large amounts of false charges on your credit card
The Bottom Line: They provide horribly unreliable service and then overcharge for it.
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| Aahz's Full Review: Page Creators |
I went to Page Creators to start my own reselling/hosting service because they had, by far, the most services offered at the lowest cost. This was a MAJOR mistake that I hope you this review helps you avoid.
Offered/received
(Note: I printed out this list of features from the Page Creators web site on 11/26. I tried to check their site for a current list of features, but their servers have been down for the last few hours at least.)
No Setup fee on resold accounts
Yet whenever I created a new resold account I was billed $20 for the first month, when the monthly bill was only $10.
New accounts set up in 3-5 minutes.
The fastest a new account was ever created for me was 48 hours. The slowest was three months (!) with weekly requests for set-up being ignored.
Redundant triple DS3 lines directly connected to GTE (Nap.net) and UUNET's Internet backbones.
I have no way of confirming this, but the pages on my sites (and even the actual Page Creators site) loaded slowly.
99.9% uptime guarantee
The servers were down an average of three days/month for the first 5 months I was with them. Then they went down for two weeks straight in December (when I finally cancelled my account. Was never offered an explanation or refund for downtime. Requests for these were ignored.
Anonymous Web Based Control Panel
Didn't exist. Was continually told (for six months) that they were upgrading soon and it would be available then.
500megs storage
Received this
Unlimited POP3 Email boxes
Received these
Unlimited monthly transfer
Yet, there user agreement lays out high fees for going over a certain amount (I don't remember how much and their site's down so I can't check).
Free Microsoft Front Page Extensions
Received this.
Daily web and home directory backups.
Have no way to confirm/deny this.
24 Hour Telnet Access (Unlimited Use)
Was refused access to Telnet.
24 Hour system monitoring by our skilled technicians.
Page Creators is run from the guy's house. He's a reseller. He has NO technicians.
24 Hour FTP access (Unlimited Use)
Received this in regards to uploading files to my site, but was not permitted to have public file download areas.
Wusage 7.0
Received this
Anonymous FTP
Was refused permission to set up an anonymous FTP server.
Support for Java, PERL 4, 5, 5.003 and 5.004, C++. TCL and Python
The server software supposedly supported these, but he was unable to provide assistance in setting anything up.
User agent & referrer logs
Were continuously 'coming soon.
Error logs
Were not accessible.
Free registration or transfer of your domain name with the InterNIC.
I was charged a $50 fee for this service.
Anonymous Secure Server (Unlimited Use)
This was supposedly available, but you needed to use Telnet to set it up and Telnet was not permitted. When I confirmed this via email I received a one word response: "Sorry".
Secure Shell
Again, without Telnet what good does this do?
Full Unix Development Environment
Once again, not relevant without Telnet.
Customizable 404 pages
Was told this was 'Coming Soon'.
Basic Java Chat Room capabilities
Was denied permission to use a chat room.
MIVA Engine (upon request)
Didn't mention the $200 set-up fee until I requested the MIVA Engine.
Many CGI Scripts included.
Read: 3 freeware, readily available CGI Scripts.
BILLING ISSUES:
When I set up my first account I expected a bill for $80 (domain registration+setup fee+first month). I never received an invoice or billing notice of any sort, but $240 was charged to my credit card. It took three weeks to get an 'in-house credit'.
Every account I set up (at $10/month) was billed $20 the first month even though there was supposed to be no setup fee on these accounts. Requests for explanation were ignored.
I was billed for one account for three months before the domain was even set up.
In the middle of October my credit card was billed $170 by Page Creators for no apparent reason. When I made an inquiry I received a one-line response: "That is impossible." It took six weeks to receive an 'in house credit' for this false billing.
After I cancelled all of my accounts in December and confirmed with Page Creators that all accounts were cancelled and paid off my credit card was again billed $250 for no apparent reason. Queries were ignored, the bank wouldn't help. I had to cancel the credit card all together and get a new one to avoid future billings.
CUSTOMER SERVICE:
There is none.
The phone numbers provided on the site ring into recorded messages saying there is no one in the office right now. I enrolled the help of some friends and we called one of the numbers every half hour for three days straight and continually received the same message. They simply don't answer the phone.
Approximately 40% of the emails I sent were responded to at all and never did I receive more then 25 words of information in the response.
The standard (and oft repeated) responses were: 'Coming Soon', 'That's Impossible', and 'Sorry'.
Summation:
Since finally freeing myself from Page Creators I've shopped around a lot for hosting companies and I read a lot of reviews. Every review except one of Page Creators has been negative. And the person who wrote the positive review posted a second review two months later saying he had been falsely charged more than $3000!
DO NOT go near this company. They're dangerous and in the end you have little recourse to get your money back. If you must have the services they offer go to the company they resell for (CI Host), though I have heard a few horror stories about them as well.
If you're looking for a friendly, honest, inexpensive web hosting service I heartily recommend 1EZHost. They are the company I resell for now and they are angelic.
Recommended:
No
Platform used: Linux
Hosted on Secure Server: No
Database used: MySQL
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Epinions.com ID:
Aahz
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Member: Aahz
Location: ...Behind The Curtain
Reviews written: 60
Trusted by: 31 members
About Me:
Aahz has returned to Epinions after a short 7 year hiatus. Why? We'll see together...
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