Possibly looking a new host after 3 years...

[Mike Kemble]

I am/was in the EXACT predictment. I tried to give F5 the benefit of the doubt. I was patient. I refrained from getting emotional and irate. I calmly waited for things to get better. . . but they only got worse. My site was down for 3 straight days. I submitted support tickets that went unanswered. I've lost tons of money.

My forum is similiar to yours . . . .using nearly 80 gigs of BW per month.

I found Joey from Real Web Host.Com . . .he is the epitome of professionalism. I swear, if I weren't married already, I'd marry him. Minutes after sending an e-mail, he called right back. He calmed my fears . . .and is in the midst of moving my site right now.

You need to call him. You WON'T be disappointed.

EDITED TO ADD:

I too am NOT a techie. Not AT ALL! I have a photogallery as well. I have about 4,000 members, 615,000 posts . . .

Our situations are very, very similiar.

I did the research and initially, I was going to go with A Small Orange . . .but they are sold out.

Next up was RealWebHost. I came across about 100 reviews about this host via this forum and a review site called WebhostingJury.Com. All were positive!!!

I'm damn near emotional typing this because I really, REALLY didn't want to move the site but I feel comforted now that I have found a BETTER alternate. Joey is awesome. He knows that I'm not a techie and has done EVERYTHING for me. He is wonderful.

I have 5 sites with realwebhost.net (Joey Moses) and I have never, ever, had cause to complain about anything. The uptime is something like 99.9999999999999999999999999999999999% and I am absolutely delighted with the backup I get. I am completely useless at programming, 99% of the technical lingo and when I do have a question for the team at realwebhost; they reply, usually within minutes, and suggest a solution that answers the question, 99% of the time. The other 1% I do not usually understand.

Their support is brilliant, what more can I say. Plain honest to goodness support WHEN I NEED IT. Thats all an idiot like me could ask for.

[agelesslove]

vBulletin Hosting

Hi Folks,

Surprised to read this thread, had to chime in....

I have a forum with 18,000+ members and moved to Realwebhost about 3 years ago - I was having a horrible experience with my previous host and the forums were practically ruined due to downtime and various technical problems! I arranged the transfer to RWH direct with Joey via telephone and within a few hours, the entire site was transferred and running smooth. I have had some instances where I exceeded bandwidth and the responses to my requests were practically instantaneous - I remember one email exchange where I asked Joey if he ever sleeps, the response was "standing in the corner with one eye open" - RWH is a dedicated and professional operation where you feel secure that your site will be safe. Judging by the direction of this thread, it is clear that I am not alone in this assessment.

Thanks RWH!

Regards,
Rob

[thenicevoice]

Hi Guys,

It's me again. I really must chime in once more. It really does feel good to know that I am not the only technically challenged individual here. When things start to go bonkers on my website, I feel absolutely helpless. Joey has really calmed my fears. Here's a e-mail that I sent recently to someone who reached out to me.

Hi Matthew!

Enough is enough. Leave F5 immediately. Hate to sound so bossy . . .but the reality of the matter is, F5 doesn't deserve another red cent from you or anyone else for that matter.

I've never been so furious with a webhosting provider in my little 5 years of owning my own website. They have (without any exaggeration whatsoever) ignored my constant cries for help every since this nightmare started. I felt that at the very minimum, I deserved an explanation in the form of an e-mail, a phone call, a smoke signal, ANYTHING!!!! I received none of the above. I tried to be patient . . . but I have run completely out of patience.

Matthew, I swear to you . . . Joey at RealWebHost is totally awesome. I submitted an info inquiry via e-mail and almost immediately, he called me at the office and assured me that he could help me with EVERYTHING. And that he did. Not only did he move my website for me, he even changed the nameservers . . .which believe it or not, I didn't know how to do.

Apparently, I needed extra server space from F5 in order for Joey to do a backup of my site. I requested the extra server space as per Joey's recommendation . . .and F5 immediately became difficult. He contacted them immediately on my behalf. I don't know what he said . . . but he got what he needed from them . . .and now my site is running better than it has EVER run before now that I've moved my site.

I really don't know how I'll ever repay Joey for what he's done for me. My site was basically dead for 2 weeks . . . Users became frustrated and my stats took a turn for the worst. Clients were furious with me . . .and with ME not being a techie, I couldn't even logically explain was the problem was. All of this headache instantly disappeared because of Joey.

Matthew, I can't recommend RWH enough. Honestly.

If you need additional info, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Have a great weekend,

Kesha
++++++++++++++++
I hope that I'm not sounding too monotonous here . . .it's just that I feel obligated to share good experiences about GREAT service providers.

THE END

[Mike Kemble]

Hi Folks,

Surprised to read this thread, had to chime in....

I have a forum with 18,000+ members and moved to Realwebhost about 3 years ago - I was having a horrible experience with my previous host and the forums were practically ruined due to downtime and various technical problems! I arranged the transfer to RWH direct with Joey via telephone and within a few hours, the entire site was transferred and running smooth. I have had some instances where I exceeded bandwidth and the responses to my requests were practically instantaneous - I remember one email exchange where I asked Joey if he ever sleeps, the response was "standing in the corner with one eye open" - RWH is a dedicated and professional operation where you feel secure that your site will be safe. Judging by the direction of this thread, it is clear that I am not alone in this assessment.

Thanks RWH!

Regards,
Rob

I have asked him the same question on a zillion occasions; the guy never seems to sleep!!! The dedication and aftercare, I say again, is phenomenal. I remember one day asking him a question in the middle of the (UK) morning and asked him why he was still up - he said he had been working about 36 hours BECAUSE HE WAS HELPING PEOPLE OUT - says it all does it not?

[Mike Kemble]

Double post -somehow???

[quinte]

This thread speaks about problems, which is why I thought of adding my two cents,….

It is how we react to problems encountered, and how we go about resolving them that makes the real difference.
Service offered ofcourse is a major inclination towards selecting the most appropriate hosting company for one’s websites. It is exactly upon a problem that one quickly learns what hosting company one is dealing with. We must also remember that problems often are caused by third parties, and not always by the hosting company.

I have been with realwebhost for almost three years now, and have five sites with them. I think this speaks for itself that the service I get from Joey is top notch. I doubt that the man ever goes to bed, or he must surely have cloned himself, he just always seems to be available when I need him. (We are not in the same timezone even)

Joey was fundamental in moving some of my sites from a previous hosting company, I just sat back and he did it all for me. Their forums keeps one up to date with the movement of things, etc, so one is always in the know of going ons. Trouble tickets are responded to immediately. Direct emails are answered right away. Backups are always available.

Very recently they were responsible for an error. We all make mistakes from time to time, don’t we? When this was pointed out to Joey, I received an immediate response accompanied by several apologies, and of course the problem was sorted in less than a few minutes.

Is this not what we are all looking for – when there happens to be an issue that it is resolved as quickly as possible?

I am sorry to hear of your problems, ShackMaster, but I honestly cannot share them with you, because I have had no such experience with www.realwebhost.net during the almost three years that I have been with them with my five websites. I can only recommend Joey and his helpful team.

[Mike Kemble]

Thats a very good post and to the point. The thing we all have to remember is that nobody is perfect, nobody. But if I am to rate Joey and the Gang on a score out of 10, then it has to be 9.99.

Problems do occur from time to time. Its impossible to say that HDD A is going to go down, or RAM B is going to fail or Server C will have a problem in 5 minutes time - nothing on earth will predict for you. Its not absolute, really is it?

BUT, its how lifes little problems get sorted out is the key to a happy customer and for that I give Joey's Gang 10/10.

In all the time I have been with them, I think its 6 years now and 5 sites, I can honestly hold my hand up and say NICE ONE!

[ShackMaster]

I hear all of you loud and clear and I'm glad you've not had any problems. It's pretty obvious that Joey is going to encourage his long time customers who have been happy to post here. However, I can assure you, I'm not the only one that has ever had issues with RWH... a look around at various hosting review sites will tell you that I am certainly not the only person to have issues. The bottom line is had my service been good, I'd still be there... if you have had good success, fine. I simply posted my honest and straight forward experiences and was made out to be a bandit by Joey, of which I do not appreciate.

[express]

Sonnie,
We are truely sorry that you feel this way. We believe we tried to help you in every way we could. Somewhere along the lines looks like we failed in doing so for you.
We did not put words in mouth of any people that posted here. They stated what whey felt.
We stand behind any reviews done on our company anywhere on the net. We appreciate all reviews done on our company both good and bad. We believe though if the truth be known 95% of those reviews found will be good ones. That being said we read all the reviews we can on our company and improve services where we can.

It seems you have found a host you are happy with it and we wish you good luck with them in the future.


Joey

[quinte]

Hello again ShackMaster,

I wish to rectify you in thinking that I have been without problems. Problems are a part of life. Things happen.
We just need to all work together in our attempts to resolve those problems. Our postings here in response to your problem is merely one way of doing that.

A few things have surprised me whilst reading what you have written. One is that you have been with realwebhost.net for three years, another is that your problem at hand has not been resolved. I know that Joey looks after his customers, and bends over backwards to ensure that they are kept happy and content.

I do not speak for Joey, as it would be very audacious of me to attempt to put words in his mouth, but I do speak from first hand experience of being with realwebhost.net for almost three years. It is from this experience that I grant myself the liberty of saying that I know that I can rely on Joey to sort things out for me, whatever they are, and if it is within his ability to do so. If the problem can be solved, it will be solved. That is just the way he works in his attempts to ensure that his customers continue to enjoy their hosting experience with him. (Hence my surprise that your problem was not resolved, especially after you had already been his customer for three years).

The mere fact that he has taken the time to reply to your postings in this thread, I think, is testament to his caring. A hosting company that really did not care, would likewise not bother to take the time to respond.

[Mike Kemble]

Nobody told me what to say. Nobody either, is perfect. All I can say is that my time with realwebhost.net has been as near perfect as possible, and that is OK by me.

What people are generally saying is that the support is the reason we all stay where we are - Joey and his crew have been maginificent to me, worth every penny/cent I have spent with them, and then some.

The bottom line is that it is up to the customer who he wants to host his site(s). I chose realwebhost after I was dropped right in it by a vanishing host (in the UK) who did not even have the decency to inform me he/they were packing up.

I panicked big style and found realwebhost. A bit of a problem with the registrants of my domain name but, apart from that, Joey had me back up and running in virtually no time.

I am happy, I am staying put ................................