Citadelhost 1 month review

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Posted by Ronald_Craft, 11-02-2003, 08:25 PM
It's been a little more then a month, but I felt I should give my review. I was happy with the service. Jon, as everyone has said is prompt with his responses and does a good job with fixing problems and taking care of his customers. When he's online anyway. The uptime was great for the first few weeks. But then there was the problems with the disk and sporadic downtimes, and then the most recent one which lasted nearly an entire day. I decided, in the best interest of my hosted sites, to move to a new host. I have made payment and will be moving my sites shortly. Now, the quirk i'm having here is I made my payment for the last billing cycle and intended to stick through until the end. I submitted a support ticket today with some help on a forum error I was getting and Jon was incredibly rude. He said that I cancelled my account and refused to provide any service. That may be so, but I did pay him and as long as this billing cycle lasts he should have honored that. He gave me a prorated refund instead of "dealing" with me and kicked me off. It's his server, I guess he can do as he wishes but I in certain don't approve of this practice. He seems to take great offense to this and it's very unprofessional how he acted. I for one, won't be recommending citadelhost to anybody. If he had done 2 things I wouldn't be leaving right now. 1. Provided a phone number or an another way of contact so that when he has an outage we, the customers, wouldn't be left in the dark. 2. Honored the fact that I did pay him for the billing period and provided service. After reading some peoples comments on here about sticking through, I was planning on re-initiating my subscription instead of going through the hassle of moving my sites. But Jon, and I'm sure you'll read this, you really blew your chances. I have no hard feelings and I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. But I find what you did completely unacceptable.
Posted by JonL, 11-03-2003, 12:23 AM
1. Provided a phone number or an another way of contact so that when he has an outage we, the customers, wouldn't be left in the dark. ---- This is already being implemented. 2. Honored the fact that I did pay him for the billing period and provided service. ---- As pointed out in the ticket, I recommend you read the TOS which you agreed to upon signup. I think you should also note that there is a no refund policy yet you received one.
Posted by Ronald_Craft, 11-03-2003, 12:38 AM
I do appreciate the refund. I didn't exactly want to go that way though. $8 is no big deal to me. I simply wanted you to provide the service that I payed for until the end of the billing period. I don't really see why you became so offended over it. Yes, I cancelled my account but I'm sure people have cancelled for many other reasons from many other hosts. Your TOS mentions absolutely nothing about not providing services if the customer cancels during a billing period which they payed for. If you really don't want to provide services then maybe you should insert something along the lines of "If you cancel services with Citadelhost anytime after you have payed in a billing period we will not provide you any service whatsoever." into your TOS. I like to get what I pay for. If you don't think that you're getting enough out of your business then raise your costs, hire some support reps or do something.
Posted by JonL, 11-03-2003, 12:53 AM
From the TOS: "2. Termination requests received will take effect immediately"
Posted by ozzie123, 11-03-2003, 01:00 AM
I think you should read their ToS 1ststrike...
Posted by johnka, 11-03-2003, 10:38 AM
Guys, I cannot understand why are you ALL rushing like crazy at citadel? I don't see anything special about them, disregarding the fact that JonL is probably the owner and the only one actually working there. I am at bulixhost right now and there are no such problems. Actually, I don't have to pay for anything. Just collecting my commissions. Jon, I think you should work a little on your attitute when supporting resellers...
Posted by James K, 11-03-2003, 02:15 PM
Wow, you don't have to pay for anything? Aren't your opinions going to be a little, like, biased?
Posted by Derrick, 11-03-2003, 03:52 PM
Johnka, Please do not "plug" a company that you 1) work for, 2) an affiliate for or 3) Have special circumstances with(free hosting). Yes to you that is a good deal but the person above will not get the same deal. You post also has nothing to do with the problem at hand. 1ststrike, Yes their TOS worked against you in this case. Some hosts do not have clauses like that in their TOS so it is reasonable thought that you had. Main this is to read over the TOS for that very reason, to catch things that are not what you like. As for Jon saying that you got a refund even though the TOS says no refunds. I believe that providing good customer service is key. If you fail the customer(slow support, excessive or extended downtime) you should take into consideration giving your customers refunds, not saying you are lucky you got one. Good luck in your search for a new host! Derrick
Posted by cranky_ellen, 11-03-2003, 08:50 PM
Yes, I'll wager the majority of hosting services do instant cancellations. All the ones I've used do, so you have to time your cancellation request carefully.
Posted by yea722, 11-03-2003, 10:14 PM
I have talked with Jon before in the past and found him very nice and helping. Personally I am actually very shocked to see this since it is very unprofessional. Even though their tos said that account cancelations are instant, I also believe that it is very unprofessional to refuse support....
Posted by LP-Trel, 11-04-2003, 02:19 AM
Well I've dealt with JonL in the past over a dedicated server and he is a very upstanding fellow. From my experience he is a good guy that provides the services that he promises. This is my personal opinion however. Food for thought.
Posted by arun_k_d, 11-04-2003, 03:54 PM
Well, he has been very helpful to me too in the past. He was even kind enough to give me extra space for free once ! I noticed that his replies were a bit unfriendly recently, but that could be because he was pissed off after the issues in the DC. Anyway, all seems to be normal now, and Jon's services are improving.
Posted by ChowSumDung, 11-04-2003, 04:35 PM
I've been with Citadelhost since early September. Here's my pros and cons. Pros: +Very timely and friendly support +Fast network +Super cheap Cons: -No community forums -Bad uptime for the past month -No way to contact Citadelhost during downtime (may have been corrected now...we'll see next time) -No network annoucements/status page -No tech support documentation or FAQ Grade as of today: C+
Posted by thegee, 11-05-2003, 03:12 AM
Did you tell Him to cancel immediately or did you tell him that you will cancel at the end of your billing cycle? Big difference. "I made my payment for the last billing cycle and intended to stick through until the end." Personally, I've learned to establish new service in the middle of the billing cylce of the one I intend to cancel and then cancel right before the end.
Posted by wheimeng, 11-08-2003, 05:42 AM
I'm sure every host has up and down, just give him some time to deal with it. I've read few good reviews on them, maybe it hasn't been their week during the downtime.
Posted by Dan L, 11-08-2003, 02:02 PM
No community forums - They're coming soon. -Bad uptime for the past month - Mostly EV1's fault. -No way to contact Citadelhost during downtime (may have been corrected now...we'll see next time) - I believe he outlined this in the letter he sent after the downtime. Something along the lines of having the support desk on a different server. -No network annoucements/status page - Read the previous comment. -No tech support documentation or FAQ - May be fixed when he implements the forum or ModernBill. So yeah, they're just growing pains. Aside the downtime, I still haven't had a single problem with them. More food for thought.
Posted by cranky_ellen, 11-09-2003, 04:15 PM
Stuff happens. What I look for in a host is their customer service attitude, how hard do they try? I don't expect seven-nines reliability from a budget host. I do expect them to be responsive, and to make necessary improvements as they grow. I've been with citadelhost for two months, and it's been a bit bumpy. However the downtimes were caused by something that should not be a recurring issue. And every time my sites were restored completely, I did not have to use my own backups. That's big plus in my book. Quite a different story from my adventures at another popular web host, who shall be nameless. Every few months I had to move all my sites to a new server, because of changes the host made in their infrastructure. Once I could tolerate. But when the third time rolled around, that was it. I can't charge my customers for nonsense like that, and it's ridiculous to make customers jump through those kinds of hoops.
Posted by Feargal, 01-27-2004, 08:55 PM
Dan just curious how you know they will be providing a forum soon. Jon didnt say in his reply that was planned. i hope its true though ,would be great Fergal
Posted by seekhosting, 01-28-2004, 12:05 AM
Hi, Actually, I am also thinking to purchase a Reseller Plan from CitadelHost. The main reason why I still thinking is: 1. No network annoucements/status page. This is very important to me and my clients. We need to know how long the server will expect to be down. Many clients can accept downtime. However, they must know when the service will be resumed. Best regards
Posted by JonL, 01-28-2004, 12:27 AM
This is why a three month old review is not representive of what we are now.
Posted by seekhosting, 01-28-2004, 12:41 AM
Hi, Could you please provide some update of what you are now? Thanks~
Posted by JonL, 01-28-2004, 12:46 AM
Unfortunately, doing so would likely be against WHT rules.
Posted by chihuahuabot, 01-28-2004, 12:50 AM
I've had no problems with my Citadel account since it was moved from the EV1 server. Jon has been great.
Posted by chihuahuabot, 01-28-2004, 12:51 AM
Great name! Very like BollocksHost.
Posted by seekhosting, 01-28-2004, 12:54 AM
JonL, Thanks~ At least we know that you are improving your service..... Best regards
Posted by suffering, 03-31-2004, 12:45 PM
www.citadelhost.com seems to be having one of the best offers around. I just wish their website provided all the information I need to take my decision....

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