On Sunday April 13, Tech Talk Radio received the following email from POWWEB, a US based web hosting company, who up until now, had a flawless record. The email has not been edited and is in its entirety.
Hello,
I am writing in regards to your Powweb account. Your account has had excessively high bandwidth usage. This has been overloading our server because of the number of http requests for your mp3 files. We have changed the permissions on these files to prevent them from being accessed via a browser. We ask that you try to minimize the use of multimedia files on your site since shared hosting is not designed to serve a large amount of audio/video content.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us back either by replying to this email or calling us at: 1.866-476-9932.
Thanks,
Aaron B
Technical Specialist |
 At the time the service was "modified", the average monthly bandwidth was 100Gb, which is 1/4 of the monthly allocated bandwidth. So far for April, according to the bandwidth indicator shown left, we had only used 62Gb, well within plan specifications.
The lack of communications with us, their customer, before removing the files is disgraceful. So far, only the only communication is the email above. We responded with the following email - once again, in its original form.
Hello Aaron
I've just logged in to the ops account and according to the bandwidth usage
everything is well within specifications of the account.
Even over the past 4 months the bandwidth is approx 100Gb which is well
within the 400Gb so I'm at quite a loss to understand what your concern is.
Would you please return to the site to its previous state straight away.
We produce a tech radio show which is available as a podcast, hence the mp3
files. I don't recall seeing any limits about mp3 files being served from
the hosting.
Several radio stations in Australia and the US rely on these mp3 files for
rebroadcast, so resolution of this is required in a timely manor.
Regards
Andrew
This response followed a short time later
Hello,
I am writing in regards to your Powweb account. You account can serve these downloads, however, if we find this site is taking up an excess of server resources, we will have to rename the folder temporarily in order to restore the normal service among the pool to avoid a service disruption on other accounts. We have restored the files and appreciate your cooperation in this matter.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us back either by replying to this email or calling us at: 1.866-476-9932.
Thanks,
Aaron B
Technical Specialist |
To which we responded, as we did have further questions,
Hello Aaron
I must admit I find this scenario quite perplexing. A web hosting company such as yours acting in such a way when bandwidth allocations you promote is 15,000Gb of transfers. We only use on average 100Gb per month. The reason why we chose POWWEB for hosting was because of the bandwidth allocations.
This just doesn't add up, so as far as I'm concerned your actions are totally unjustified.
One thing is certain, the demand for audio from Tech Talk Radio will increase - at what rate I can't say. This is a Global trend at the moment as consumers demand a media rich online experience. You have not provided any technical reason for your actions, only to say '(the) site is taking up an excess of server resources'
If our site can do this to your servers, I suggest you promote realistic and not misleading web hosting packages on your home page.
Would you provide me with a technical explanation as to why you removed the site, also a management contact point, and your full name please.
In fairness, I will be talking about this on radio this evening, and as a courtesy - you have the right of reply.
Kind Regards
Andrew McColm
Producer
Tech Talk Radio
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After the deafening silence the following email was sent to Powweb support on 17/4/08...
Hello Aaron
I have not received a reply to my email sent earlier this week. Would you reply to the following as soon as possible please...
Would you provide me with a technical explanation as to why you removed the site, also a management contact point, and your full name please.
Andrew McColm
Producer |
on the 17 of April we also received this email from Powweb accounts - apparently they appreciate our business.
Thank you for choosing PowWeb, we appreciate your business.
We wanted to let you know that we have not yet received your payment of $93.24 for your account.
If you have already sent your payment, thank you.
If you have not, please drop it in the mail today and notify us of your payment by logging in to:
http://www.powweb.com/member/BillingConsole/billingConsole.bml
To avoid an interruption in service to your Web site, please be sure to send your payment as soon as possible!
Payments should be made to the order of PowWeb, and your username should be included on the payment method.
Payments should be mailed to:
PowWeb
Accounts Receivable
70 Blanchard Road, 3rd Floor
Burlington, MA 01803
If you wish to simplify your billing process by paying by credit card, please reply to this message or contact us free at 866-476-9932. Our Support team will be glad to assist you.
Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
The PowWeb Team |
to which we responded
Hello Powweb billing
There seems to be a problem with your support department. They like to cut off your account and then run and hide as soon as questions are asked of them. Without repeating the story in this email, you can read all about it here.
The question I would simply ask you, would you pay for service like this?
Regards
Andrew McColm
Producer
Tech Talk Radio |
and the faceless communications continues... an email arrives from noreply@powweb-inc.com informing us of activity on their support ticket and to log in to read it. It says:
Hello Andrew,
Thank you for contacting Support.
The e-mail which we have sent is regarding the account past due. Your account is past due. Once we receive the check, we will clear the past due. In order to review the billing status, please go to the link given below:
http://www.powweb.com/member/BillingConsole/billingConsole.bml .
In order to assist you regarding your other issue, please get back to us with the more information.
Please reply to this e-mail with the requested information, so that we can assist you further.
Sincerely,
Harry Sutton
Customer Support |
At least this time we have a surname - now, we have two other accounts. Let's see what happens if Powweb will communicate with us if we have two other financial accounts.
Dear Harry
I have two other accounts with Powweb which are financial.
They are <removed> and <removed>, so please don’t hide behind the account past due excuse.
The reason it is past due is because of the lack of resolution to this problem.
All I am asking for is an answer to questions raised when the site was within its financial period:
“Would you provide me with a technical explanation as to why you removed the site, also a management contact point.”
To which answers have not been provided.
Regards
Andrew
Producer
Tech Talk Radio |
The following email was received 23/4/08. It's nice to see surnames being used now.
Hello Andrew,
Thank you for following up with us.
I have checked your account and noticed that there was a ticket regarding your Web site issue. I have updated your ticket and asked our engineers to provide you the exact technical reason for the Web site suspend.
If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact us. We are available 24x7.
Sincerely,
Reyon Harry
Customer Support |
The subscription was renewed in order to see if a successful resolution would be forthcoming. (via paypal)
| This has been paid in anticipation of a resolution of current technical issues |
The response... (note the comment about payment despite having renewed via the powweb website)
Hello Andrew,
Thank you for contacting Support.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I have noticed that ticket is still open and our engineers are still working on the issue. They will contact you as soon as the issue is resolved. Unfortunately, we have not received the any payment of account renewal. Once we receive the payment, we will apply the amount to renew the account.
If you have any further questions, please update the Support Console.
Sincerely,
Henry Spencer
Customer Support |
Well, as you can see, the thread continues. 11 days have passed as indicated below without the two questions being answered.
1. Would you provide me with a technical explanation as to why you removed the site, also
2. A management contact point.
Resolved? That's strange, last time I looked, resolved meant... well, sorted out.
Time to put in one last email... My forehead is getting sore.
sent: April 27 2008
Hello Support.
Well, as you can see, the thread continues. Is there anyone at POWWEB who can answer what would be considered two simple questions?
This thread has been running for 11 days now, and it’s becoming blatantly obvious that you can’t, or won’t answer these questions.
Come on now, you’ve tried to hide behind the ‘Pay this account before we talk’ line, which I note you have deleted from the support thread, despite having two other financial and active accounts, and, which has been paid to try and get a satisfactory resolution.
11 days have passed without the two questions being answered, of which in the last 5 days, there has been nothing. “Updated ticket: work in progress” at 04/19/2008 4:46 PM EDT speaks volumes about your customer service.
If I’m not mistaken, this is typical of an organisation which has outsourced its Customer Relations to a 3rd party - traditionally off shore.
Once again,
1. Would you provide me with a technical explanation as to why you removed the site, also
2. A management contact point.
Regards ...etc |
As this saga unfolds, we'll post any response here. In the meantime, we hope your downloads have not been too interrupted.
Please pass this information on to others who may be looking for a web host. They don't need the headache that we've been given for no apparent reason by POWWEB.
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