From: "XX XXXXXX" <XXXXXX@XXXXXXXX.XXX>
To: <john@WebWord.com>
Subject: ProWebSite
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 00:28:03 -0700


Hi John,


If you want to post this E-mail, please remove my name and any reference  
to me. Thanks.

My name is XX XXXXXX. I have been with ProWebSite since about 1997. I  
must admit at first ProWebSite was very good. They had excellent service  
and being a web developer, I hosted several of my clients on their  
systems. I don't remember exactly when it happened, but I believe that  
it was close to year 2000 that ProWebSite was sold to Affinity. There  
was no warning, all the good (very helpful, highly qualified staff) were  
laid off and the entire operation was moved to El Segundo, Calif.

Just that move took me (and my clients) down for days. Not only that but  
the index pages of ALL of my sites said that the sites were "UNDER  
CONSTRUCTION" making it look like I was at fault. Well, after three or  
four days things were up again, of course I had to re-upload ALL of my  
web content and my client's content back onto their servers. That took a  
couple of hours. And all seemed right with the world, we were even given  
a couple of months hosting for free to make up for the problem.

Then about a year and a half later EVERYTHING WAS GONE AGAIN! Not a  
word, they were just down! OK, I have been around computers for over 30  
years now, things happen. I waited a day or two then I checked with  
them. Something went wrong and everything must be re-uploaded! Again, my  
stuff and that of all of my clients.

About three months later it happened AGAIN!

Excuse me, but doesn't anyone do backups and restore people's files when  
the system crashes? Well this time I got a tad bit upset. I still had  
about six months on my contract so I decided to stick it out, but the  
decision was made. I am not renewing. I just completed, in fact,  
uploading all of my web pages to my new hosting service,  
"ipowerweb.com." I got a add from them in a "spam" e-mail. I looked at  
what they had to offer and it looked VERY GOOD. I asked them several  
questions before I bought anything from them (I was still waiting for my  
year to expire with ProWebSite) and they always got back to me with  
ANSWERS! I must admit that I have only been with them for a couple of  
days now, in fact I am still waiting for a few of my DNS settings to  
settle down on my primary web site, I just bought the hosting yesterday  
so I have to access it like it was a personal site, my domain won't work  
for at least 24 hours. But looking at their toolbox and other services  
they offered I am very happy at this time. And get this, I get 400 meg  
of space for under $100.00 per year, I was paying ProWebSite $260.00 per  
year for 50 megs of space!

My experience with ProWebSite's tech support also was not so hot. They  
always asked me for my password, "why do people with root access need my  
password?" and only one time did I get a good solid answer to my  
question. It was my impression that they "Affinity" purchased ProWebSite  
and wanted the customers to move to Affinity. On at least one occasion I  
was told that if I moved to Affinity I would get better service.

I was a reseller too, all that means is that I get a slight discount for  
selling web hosting to my clients, it wasn't that big a deal. The  
reseller program almost went to pot when Affinity bought ProWebSite.

Anyway, it is the "American Way" either make a good product or you will  
lose customers, and I know for a fact that ProWebSite has been losing  
customers and I don't think that it will be long before ProWebSite will  
be absorbed into Affinity.

Thanks for your nice "horror story", I am glad things are better for you  
now.

XX