PowWeb In 2021: What Do PowWeb Client Reviews Say?

I don’t know what those othe folks have experienced but I’ve had only one problem with my support service between 2003 and 2013. In fact, if I think about my support questions before I "call" (I mostly use their Chat support,) my problems are usually taken care of on the first call. They’re good about bumping things up to higher levels and the responses are handled quickly.

They’re Never down the hosting is Unlimited everything and the rates are good. I’ve got no beefs at all with these people. I have four sites of my own and manage 8 sites for clients.

I have been a PowWeb customer for over 5 years. I currently have 5 sites hosted by this company. Let’s start with the basics of why I think they are among the best hosting services out there.

1.

Virtually no down time. I cannot recall an instance of downtime with any of the sites they host for me in the 5 years I have been a customer.
2. Their Chat support feature is outstanding.

I do not understand the reviews that suggest their support is substandard. Wait time for a chat support person is normally very brief, and I have found their reps to be knowledgeable, helpful, courteous, and in virtually all instances able to resolve my problem. Where they could not, a support ticket was created and the response time, again, was quick and efficient.
3.

Their email support and features are on a par with almost anyone else, and have been more than sufficient for my needs.
4. Their community forums are full of valuable information, and they offer many "tutorials" to help with setup and design.
4. Price – they are consistently among the best value in hosting.

Currently, a new site can be had for up to 3 years at about $3.33 a month. I did notice that some of the reviews critical of PowWeb were several years old. Their current operations are worthy of serious consideration if you are looking for a hosting provider.

I’ve had all of my own websites (8 or 9 over the years, 5 currently) and many of my client sites (currently 16) hosted with PowWeb for over 10 years and while I once thought they were great, I have witnessed their decline over the years to the point that I am now moving my own sites and recommending to my clients that they do the same.

<strong>Support:</strong>
Support is a joke. I’ve used their (now disabled) ticket system, phone support, and Live Chat support. The agents are obviously using call trees and are following scripts which, with someone who knows what they’re doing, would be ok but I can’t seem to get anyone who knows what they’re doing.

I get answers completely unrelated to the questions I have asked and will often get a different answer to the same question not only between different agents but many times with the same agent in the same support session. They used to let you view and update your own support ticket so you could check status but that system is now disabled and they tell you they will email you with a resolution to your case. I have had over a dozen support tickets and not a single one resulted in my getting an email letting me know disposition.

I’ve had to follow up with them every single time, each time with them telling me that they’d email me.

<strong>Pricing:</strong>
Their initial pricing is low. Which, I imagine, is what draws most people to them in the first place. I know that’s why I originally chose them.

They nearly triple their costs after your initial period is up. They’ll also change costs without any notice or even mention of it on their website. My most recent problem was with SSL certificates.

In one place on their website the certificate is listed at $31.99, another page lists it at $35.99. The only page they have that shows the renewal rate shows it as $35.99 but when the certificate renewed earlier this month…it was $59.99. When I asked them about it they said simply "we raised the prices" and admitted that it wasn’t posted anywhere.

So now I’m paying almost double what their site says I will but they offer no apology, clarification, or explanation when I ask why there’s no mention of it anywhere and why their website clearly shows a renewal price of $35.99. That particular ticket, even though it’s basically just a question, has been open for 4 days with no activity.

<strong>Uptime:</strong>
The sites themselves go down fairly infrequently and not for very long when they do. The longest I’ve ever had a site down in over a decade is a day.

I have, however, had (and continue to have) numerous and relatively frequent problems with email. Sometimes emails just won’t send. Sometimes we won’t receive.

This has happened across all of my clients sites as well as my own. They can never offer an explanation and it usually takes a couple of days to resolve the issue while never really explaining what happened. These issues are definitely a deal-killer with me.

I’ve had multiple instances of numerous clients upset that their businesses can neither send or receive emails for days at a time.

<strong>Summary:</strong>
I think PowWeb would be just fine for someone hosting a low-traffic personal site or, perhaps, even a blog (depending on traffic) but I definitely would not recommend that you host your business website with them. The uptime issues aren’t what would kill it for me per se,nor the lack of support, but the email issues alone are enough for me to recommend other options to my clients. I am in the process of finding another hosting company and will be moving my sites and, based on client feedback, their sites as well as soon as possible.