Netfirms reviews

NEVER NetFirms

We never expected to leave NetFirms and for the first few years, everything was fine. We even upgraded to unlimited disk space..... Performance was always an issue and we blamed a lot of that on Word Press (we know better now).

Our real problems started two years ago. One day, out of nowhere, we got an email from "Compliance" informing us that we were using too much disk space. I asked the obvious question - "I thought we have unlimited..." Turns out, like everything else associated with them, unlimited isn't unlimited. It is an arbitrary amount of space determined by the amount "generally in use" by othes using the same level of service. Well, facing a lock down of our site, we deleted stuff. There were other issues - mostly performance complaints - but moving isn't easy - especially when we have seven sites.

Then, January 1, 2015, our sites were attacked. I call NetFirms tech support and they basically said "tough luck." Well, actually they told me I was on my own and they could do nothing to help. Imagine that.

OK, so 36 hours later, I had secured our sites. That should have been the end of the story, but it wasn't. A few days later, I opened my browser and I was greeted with a NetFirms screen that told the world my site had been taken down. Best part is, they never told me. I called,, and after 45 minutes on line, they told me that they had scanned my site and found suspicious files so they just locked all seven sites down. It took another 4 hours to get them to send me an email in which the affected files were listed and another 2 days to get my site back up.

This was repeated three more times - at least this time I was sent an email when the sites were locked down.

On the FIFTH TIME they did this, it turns out they locked my sites by accident......... By ACCIDENT??????

Then we discovered the database records weren't being saved - people can register on line for our seminars - and NetFirms was of NO help. We lost thousands of records and a TON of money PLUS we pissed a lot of people off. We worked for over six weeks with NetFirms to resolve this and the best they could do was tell me it was browser related. No, it wasn't. We couldn't write to ANY of the databases on their servers. Even creating a new database didn't help.

So, we moved all our sites to A2. We left the old files/site structure on NetFirms because they still host the domain name - we point the name servers to the new hosting service. Total silence from NetFirms until mid October.

You guessed it - another email from Compliance. This time, we are in violation of their terms of service. Why? Ah, imagine this - you are NOT supposed to backup your site. You are supposed to pay them to do it for you. Really?????

And now ANOTHER email from Compliance. Seems we are using too much disk space again. And in theory our sites are suspended again. Glad our name servers aren't there any longer. If only NetFirms focused as much on solving problems are they do enforcing the rules.

Biggest Pro: We finally left them
Biggest Con: Terrible service

Awful service!!

got our site infected with malware spread to all our domains. spend a full day and 10 suport tickets. they kept saying they fixed the problem but they didn't. they end up saying that it was not their responsability to help us. lost 1000's

Netfirms Has Sunk......

Netfirms has hosted my website for the last 3 years. I terminated this month because they changed their Terms of Service. When I signed up 3 years ago, I chose the plan that offered 250 GB of space. Although I was using about 1/4 of that, they recently denied access to my account and said that I was in violation of the Terms of Service. Huh ? Thanks for the heads up.

Now their site advertises unlimited disk space. Don't believe it.

I terminated my service with them immediately. I suggest that others look elsewhere.

BTW, to refund the unused portion of my subscription, they've requested that I fax them a copy of my drivers license. Huh ? They didn't have any problem charging my credit card. But, when I want a refund they need proof of identity ?

Netfirms Is Quickly Sinking

I don't know where the company I signed up with went to, but is is gone. My website was deleted then resurrected with no access. Customer service is non existent, the number listed isn't correct. Migration is occurring at a snails pace with no support. Lag and problems with email.

Biggest Con: Lack of support or reliability.

Horrible Company

Customer service is disgraceful. Extremely long wait times. They have a know issue with phone system that abruptly disconnects customers. And they don't bother to call back. It has taken me 2+ hours, on multiple occasions, to get simple questions answered.

This company completely changed their service terms during the course of a service agreement. I signed up for 30+ domains that each included a free email address. I was using my 30 free email account s for business. Halfway through my year of service, they eliminated my email accounts and required that I pay a web hosting ransom to have access to the email accounts again.

Migrating three accounts into one cause half my business sites to not function. 2 hours trying to reach a technician only got a "ticket" filed. No effort was made to look at account and resolve problem immediately.

This is a very bad company! Completely unprofessional!

Stay away - Netfirms is slowly spinning into the abyss

Netfirms was at one time a reputable and reliable hosting firm. In the past twelve months we have experienced corrupted MySQL databases (technical issue ?), disappearing websites (another glitch) and now complete DNS failure.

This level of performance id completely unacceptable from a premium priced and critical hosting provider. As soon as my control panel is restored so that I can log in I will be leaving asap.

Biggest Pro: Was reliability
Biggest Con: Absolute support and hosting staff incompetence

Netfirms

Netfirms support and hosting quality has
declined steadily over the years I have
used them. Finally couldn't take it any
more. My new host is fantastic! I had
forgotten how fast Dreamweaver could
be. Fast as lightening now.

Biggest Pro: none
Biggest Con: all

Netfirms should be out of business

I am so angry with Netfirms and had to speak out somewhere .... this has to be the worst company EVER!! Our entore business rests on gaining access to email and we are hosted on Netfirms.

I have called 20 times today and nobody seems to care .... they just said they would try their best and hung up.... but the POP and webmail is down!! I cant even check on the web!

How can they get away with this???

I am going to post in as many places as possible ... I will leave them but I dont want other people to get stuck with them ... please feel free to contact me .... I will give you the low down on them ... horrible horrible .... they suck big time .... DONT GO WITH THEM.

They should be locked-up!! Theives and should not get away with it ... How the hell did they get so many customers!!

Shafiq

Biggest Pro: Nothing
Biggest Con: You have a problem and they dont want to know AT ALL

Netfirms Sucks

Netfirms hosting is the worst by far of any of the larger web hosts. Netfirms SQL databases crash constantly, Netfirms uptime this year (2010) has been around 90%, if that. Netfirms Hosting has cost me thousands in revenue! I'm saying goodbye to Netfirms hosting shortly, it's awful.

I recently upgraded to a higher end plan, at their direction, that guarantees "Your website will be up and running fast - even when it's featured on a busy news site like Slashdot or CNN." Well ladies and gentlemen, that is a bold faced lie, with serious liability ramifications.

In the past 36 hours my site has been down for 8 hours. There tech support guys, bless them, have little control on weekends or after 5pm on weekdays.

If you want to destroy your business or spend 8-10 hours a week on the phone to their tech guys with no resolution then I "Recommend Netfirms Hosting" NOT. The absolute worst hosting company I have EVER dealt with in my 18+ years of web design.

Anyone who has posted a positive review here were probably paid to do so -- or they get less than 1 visitor a day.

Quote Source: http://www.netfirms.ca/features/cluster.php

Biggest Pro: NONE
Biggest Con: worst website hosting reliability

Almost everything is sub-par. I'd give it a C-.

I joined netfirms because they were the first web host my brother had. My brother is a freelance web designer and systems architect- and a good one at that (apparently)- thus, when I'm working with this field, my first thought would be "What would he do?". Of course, having heard him talk about netfirms in the past, I figured netfirms was the best thing out there.

Maybe five years ago. Back when I was 14 and building cheap-o websites to give myself a new method for presentation of various school projects, it was great. Free web hosting and they only put one small banner ad at the top of your site that markets their site.

Now that I'm out of college I'm looking to build an online portfolio to impress potential employers and (hopefully) land myself a job. Of course, the first place I go is netfirms.com. Great $7.99 price for the full first year, and even once that expires the price is still great, considering what you're getting.

What they fail to mention is that they still intend to plant banner ads on your site.

That would be fine if I were once again building a website for a small school project or whatever; in this situation, this website will (ideally) directly correspond to my future. If a potential employer scrolls across my website, the first thing I want him to see is my clean website design, THEN notice how well thought-out the site is, and THEN notice how great of a potential employee I am. What I do not want him to see is a BANNER AD that implies that I didn't pay for the domain. To me, this would scream "Wow, this kid doesn't care enough about his future to pay a small price for a decent web domain."

Of course, I e-mailed netfirms support on the issue, but just reading the list of other reviews will give you a generally adequate idea of how well netfirms's support actually operates. I'm guessing they have two support representatives somewhere getting paid to sit around and watch youtube.

I e-mailed a similar hosting service, justhost.com, to ask them about their procedure with "banner ads" about two days after I e-mailed netfirms with no response whatsoever. justhost.com responded within an hour and a half; netfirms still hasn't e-mailed me back and at this point I'm requesting a refund.

That's right. Netfirms.com has such bad service and overall quality that I'm actually requesting a refund on $8.00. My online portfolio is important to me, and if I'm paying for a webdomain, I want to be in charge of the content, even if I'm only paying $8.00 for a year and then $55.00 every year afterward. Their forced advertising indicates to me that they don't care so much about my business, and chances are they don't care about yours; they just care about their own (which is really bad business practice in their position, seeing as their business is to support the website of your business...).

It's really quite unfortunate that netfirms hasn't learned any better. Five years ago they were one of the top names in web hosting. So much for that; they had me as a customer for all of a week and already I'm pulling my services and going elsewhere. And I'm not a customer who's easy to scare off.

Biggest Pro: Their home site is pretty and professional-looking!
Biggest Con: FORCED BANNER ADS.