Complaint Review: webs.com - Silver Spring Maryland

Do not use this company! I am a small business owner and tried to use webs.com to host and build my website. The website builder is so slow that it has taken me hours to do things that I should be able to accomplish in minutes. Not only is it slow I am constantly receiving error messages "site not found" or "timed out". The preview option on the website builder does not work. The answer received when speaking to customer service is that these are known issues and that their engineers are working on them.

They have literally been working on some of these issues for months and they cannot or will not give a time frame for resolution. This eats into my potential profits as a business owner!!!!! I am not allowed to speak to a supervisor neither by chat nor telephone. The following is the transcript of my most recent chat converstaion with Doug, the chat representative:

Doug: Hi there! How can I help you today?

Sonja: I am having far too many issues building my website. I would like to know if it would be possible to cancel my service with you and receive a refund.

Doug: Has it been less then 30 days since your purchase or renewal?

Sonja: no

Doug: I\'m sorry but you will not be eligible for a refund because it has been more then 30 days since your purchase or renewal.

Doug: It is only possible for you to cancel the renewal of the subscription so that you are not billed again.

Doug: The services will remain active on your account until the expiration date listed in the Premium Services section of your account.

Sonja: I purchased several months ago but am just now trying to set up the website. Your service is not working properly. It is very slow and I am constantly getting error messages.

Doug: I\'m sorry about that Sonja, unfortunately as I explained above you are not eligible for a refund since it has been more than 30 days since your purchase or renewal.

Sonja: So what can you do to help me to resolve this issue if you will not refund my money.

Doug: You\'d need to contact our billing department directly at [email protected] if you wish to discuss compensation, we\'re not authorized to make that call here in chat.

Sonja: Can you assist me in making your service work for me?

Doug: What error(s) are you experiencing, exactly?

Sonja: Website builder is extremely slow or times out giving me a site not found message. etc

Doug: This is a known issue our engineers are working on. Please refer to the following link for updates: https://webs.zendesk.com/entries/21727199-Request-timed-out-error-message-when-posting-in-apps-FWB-34989

Doug: The not found error is also a known issue that our engineers are currently working on. Fortunately, this can be resolved by simply republishing your website.

Doug: Please refer to the following link for updates and more information: https://webs.zendesk.com/entries/23053872-Pending-Page-not-found-after-publishing-FWB-26564

Sonja: I have spent hours trying to build my website and because your company has several \"known issues\" you are cutting into my potential profits. If your company cannot have your own website functioning properly how am I supposed to have faith that you will make mine work properly?

Doug: I do understand your frustration.

Doug: Please note that when something breaks, the fix is not always immediate. Sometimes it takes a while to locate the exact cause of the error. Sometimes that cause involves other systems, and the fix can break other systems, as well.

Doug: This is why all bug fixes must go through QA to ensure they don\'t break other things, and cause bigger problems.

Sonja: So again I ask you...How will you help me to resolve this issue?

Doug: It\'s impossible to know how long a fix is going to take, because of the nature of bugs themselves. They are errors, and usually it\'s the first time the error has occurred, so it\'s impossible to know, right away, where it originates, what it will take to correct it, whether it will be smooth sailing through QA, or whether QA will find it wrecks something else along the way.

Doug: If we knew EXACTLY the answer to the question, then the bug fixes would probably be really, really fast - because most of the time spent in correcting bugs is spent in investigating the actual CAUSE - and until the cause is found, we can\'t know if it\'s a small bug or a huge bug involving many different codes that affect many different systems.

Doug: I understand you are frustrated, and please note that we are spending our day answering many users who have questions and problems with their sites, so once we turn an issue over to the engineers, unless they need more data from the users (to identify the actual bug), then we generally answer new problems, leaving the engineers to do their jobs.

Doug: We know how vital it is to have certain applications and features to work properly for our customers\' websites. We thank you for remaining patient while our engineers are currently working to get this fixed.

Sonja: This is totally absurd. If you do not provide the service that you promise then you cannot continue to charge me for this service. In order to talk to a manager or supervisor, is it best that I call your customer service department?

Doug: Let me send you to a senior tech who will assist you further. They will be with you shortly.

Sonja: Thank you.

Doug: I\'m going to need to report this to our technicians for you via a support ticket.  Please allow me a moment to compile some information and I\'ll let you know what to expect next when I have finished.

Doug: I have submitted a ticket to our technical department for you. You will receive an email with a confirmation of the ticket within an hour of closing this chat.

Doug: This email is not the solution to your issue, it is a confirmation that your issue has been escalated to our technical department.

Doug: Please reply to this email should you have any other questions in regards to your ticket.

Doug: This email is your direct link to the technician assigned to your issue. We create tickets when we are not able to resolve the issue in chat.

Doug: Please Note: This email will go to your contact email address in your webs account.

Doug: Did you have any other questions today?

Doug: Have a fantastic day and please contact us if there is anything else we can help you with!

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