[Shiro]

So I've been on Cirtex for three weeks now, after switching from bluehost. I left bluehost because their servers were hit and miss.

I decided to go with Cirtex web hosting for two main reasons. The first was that they have some relatively high-powered servers, and offer FFMPEG on their servers, the other reason being that they offer 99.5% uptime.

However, after only three weeks, I have decided that I will be leaving Cirtex for a couple reasons. The first is that their customer service is the worst. Really bad. It is pretty much non-existent. It's great when you are trying to sign up for an account with them, but once they have you in the door, you may as well not exist.

I ran into a problem a couple weeks ago, where I wanted to contact Cirtex. So first, I tried the chat - well the only chat available was for sales, nothing for support. So I talk to the support guy. He proceeded to confide in me that 'level 2 and 3 hosting were pretty good, but level 1 (chat) isn't very good. But the sales team is the best!'. I kid you not, he actually told me the sales team is the best - like I really cared. But the verdict was that he couldn't do anything, and that I would have to contact support through means other than the chat, even though they advertise this on the Cirtex site.

So I go to the support section of the Cirtex site. Well the support staff have MSN messenger - great! That's quick and easy. So I shoot off a query to their MSN messenger chat and wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. Well, I eventually went onto the means that I will get into after this, but as to how long I waited, well eventually, 2 days later, I opened a ticket and asking why they wouldn't respond to my inquiries. My response 'we are busy with other stuff'. So now the chat that they advertise on their site - no good. They actually did finally add me to their contact list on msn messenger. The one time I contacted them and asked a question, the Cirtex response was 'please open a ticket'.

Alright, so msn chat is out of the question. They have decided to put it on their site to advertise, but they don't actually use it. Bait and switch anyone?

Anyways, after my initial attempt to contact Cirtex through messenger, I decided to phone, even though it's an overseas call for me. So I phone the phone number in the states, press a few buttons in their automated system, and get an automated message telling me to email them at support@cirtex.com.

Ok, now I am at the point where chat, msn messenger, and phone are all dead ends. That leaves me with email (actually they have a ticket system as well, but on the support page, this wasn't advertised). So I am at the point where I can see that Cirtex's 24/7 support that they offer on their site is in fact only email support. Which isn't really 24/7 support in my books.

Fast forward to today (about 2 weeks later). My database goes down. Bam, all my sites are down at once (I have 5 hosted on my server). I open a ticket, and 3 minutes later I get a response saying 'try again now'. I did - nothing. So I send off an email saying as much. No response. I wait 45 minutes - still no response from Cirtex. So I decide to try their chat. Well this time their chat (the site chat, not MSN) is up. Yay! I initiate a chat with cirtex - and wait. And wait. And wait. Finally after a 45 minute wait, I get through to chat. I tell the guy my problem. After about a ten minute wait, I get this comment:

"Gary: Your ticket was in under progress, we'll update you shortly."

That's it. No explanation, no apology, nothing. It really didn't put me in any kind of better situation than I was in before talking to him. So I ask for some details and wait another 10 minutes or so. My next comment that I receive:

"Gary: We ensure that we'll try to fix your issue asap."

Well that doesn't really answer my questions, does it.

So I ask if there is a complaints desk. The response:

"Gary: no we dont have a complaints desk. "

Well isn't that surprising. So I ask to be put in contact with a supervisor. That was 30 minutes ago, and I'm still waiting for a response (I asked for the supervisor about 10 minutes before starting this post). And my database is still off line.

My conclusion: Cirtex is garbage. The customer support, when it actually exists, is short, curt, and completely unhelpful with no information. And one of the two reasons I decided to go with them - 99.5% uptime, has been proven to most likely be a lie. The reason I say 'most likely', is that it's now been 2.5 hours that my site has been down. I calculated it earlier, and 0.5% of one month is about 3.5 hours. So technically, they are still within that limit. But they have absolutely no leeway for the next two weeks. If they go down a little, they will go under 99.5% uptime.

So my verdict on Cirtex - don't use it if you have professional sites. Cirtex web hosting is simply not reliable at all.

[Shiro]

Update: I just got a response - the level 2 tech guys were contacting me by email. I check my email and what do I have waiting - nothing. And I wasn't put in contact with a supervisor.

[freelancr]

I think every single host I have ever used claims 99.9% uptimes, but never do any get close to it. If you want uptime get hosting with a 100% SLA (might mean VPS or Dedicated).

What I don't get is why you didn't try e-mailing them, or raising a ticket, first? Not sticking up for them as they sound like cunts, but everything else you tried seemed to be so much more time/expense/effort than a simple e-mail would of been, in fact I find it much easier to write the problem down as it can be difficult to explain it to someone over the phone - especially when they dont have a clue.

[steveb]

This is the Sirtex service manager. Quit shitting on our customer service. We have despatched a support team to firebomb your paper and bamboo hooch immediately. Thank you for your custom.

[Shiro]

I emailed them in the past - I did get a response. After about 6 hours.
I opened a ticket to day (as I mentioned), and they replied to it telling me to check again. I checked - still not fixed. Mailed them back - no response.

As for the other methods - if they offer them, they should live up to what they offer. If they can't offer chat support, they shouldn't advertise it. If they don't give phone support, they shouldn't offer it.

[Shiro]

This is the Sirtex service manager. Quit shitting on our customer service. We have despatched a support team to firebomb your paper and bamboo hooch immediately. Thank you for your custom.

That comment would be a step up on what I'm getting now - which is nothing.

[Synook]

Well, at least you should still be able to get your money back...

lol - the testimonial says it all.

Originally Posted by Nathan Ashworth

CirtexHosting is a spectacular company. Their plans are incredible and their support is second to none! For an exceptional value, check out Cirtex. They have responded to my support requests in hours. They even worked through a problem which ended up being my fault but they were completely friendly about it.

If Cirtex believe that was good enough to put as a testimonial... well, I don't know what's ordinary. Days?

[Shiro]

I obviously didn't research them enough. Upon looking around on the net, I have found a number of other people with the same problems.

Meanwhile my sites have been down for almost 5 hours now, still no explanation as to the problem, and I have my client and my users complaining to me now.

What a headache this company is. Worst customer service ever. They are great at being un-contactable when they don't want to actually explain what the problem is.

[Shiro]

This is just great. They finally get the database back up and running, and they forgot to configure mysqli. They are telling me now that the problem lies with my scripts being configured to mysqli.

If they hadn't removed mysqli, there wouldn't be a problem!!!

Morons.

[sbx]

Their site alone is enough to put me off.

[Shiro]

Their service is worse

[freelancr]

If I were in your situation I would have already switched my clients sites over to a new host by now. Saving a few quid on hosting is not worth getting a bad reputation over, find a proper host with 100% SLA.

Cirtex looks like tesco value bedroom host. You got what you paid for.

[steveb]

Originally Posted by freelancr

tesco value bedroom host

Does such a thing exist? I envisage a dark room with old pizza boxes and crusty sheets. Tesco will always spell mean-spirited grot to me.

[Shiro]

If I were in your situation I would have already switched my clients sites over to a new host by now. Saving a few quid on hosting is not worth getting a bad reputation over, find a proper host with 100% SLA.

I just didn't have the time yesterday. I'll be doing that today.

[Shiro]

I've decided to go with Fused Network. This review and these reviews look pretty good to me.

I was at first a little apprehensive that they have no chat on their site, but upon sending an email, I got a response in literally 30 seconds.

They are a little expensive, but how many times have I said on this site 'you get what you pay for'? Time to listen to my own advice. I've been paying fuck-all up until now, and I've gotten fuck-all. Time to step it up and start getting some quality service.

[whLuke]

How is Fused Network treating you so far?
They are pretty good from what I hear.

[Paddy]

No prizes for guessing what whLuke's 16th post will be.

[whLuke]

Hi Paddy,

Is there anything I can assist you with?
Your post seems pretty irrelevant - please elaborate.

[Paddy]

Haha, no.

[Shiro]

How is Fused Network treating you so far?
They are pretty good from what I hear.

Fused has been great so far. Every ticket I have opened with them has been answered within 15 minutes. They have even gone above what I would expect a few times - for example fixing a problem on my site that was my own doing. The servers run at a good speed, and the service is friendly.

They aren't the cheapest, and they don't offer unlimited everything, but as a result, they are able to provide good service with good servers. It's definitely worth the money to me.