Comments on: Battling with Iomart

By: Ritchie Hicks

Ritchie Hicks — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:22:55 +0000

You can check out http://www.ritchiehicks.co.uk/iomart for more info on this company, and how to complain about them.

By: Joe Punter

Joe Punter — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 08:44:06 +0000

The original Easyspace website was a clunky and not pretty, but it worked.

When IOMART bought them we were migrated onto their platform and I had loads of problems renewing and controlling services. The website was impossible to use and the support channels were ignored.

They really made a mess of the transition and locked people in by jacking up the exit charges. That is a disgraceful business tactic.

Since then, the service centre has improved but my details are still wrong on their web system and it’s still really difficult to understand use.

I still have my old domains with them due to the exit charges, but I will never buy any new services from them again.

People have long memories and the shocking treatment that they gave me as a customer during the Easyspace buyout I will never forget. It’s the same corporate team in place, so they know what they did back then.

For info, their shares (IOM.L on Yahoo Finance) continue to fall from a high of 150p in 2005 to under 50p today (Dec 2007).

By: Leon

Leon — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 09:37:49 +0000

To Jonathan Williamson,

It is so obvious that Iomart/easyspace are a completely in

I was ‘hard sold’ their services over the telephone, they promised services which they NEVER DELIVERED. I wrote to cancel in Dec 2004, in March 2005 they wrote asking for money, so I wrote again with copy letters. Then in July 2006, they rang demanding money, so I sent them a letter again. Now in November 2007 they rang (via their accomplices Blacks Debt Collectors) aggressively demanding money. Surely their repetitive behaviour shows indication of fraud or malpractice?

PEOPLE, LETS BAND TOGETHER AND PUT FORWARD A VICTOMS GROUP LAW SUITE AGAINST THIS COMPANY to expose and put a stop to thier disgraceful behaviour once and for all!

Sign the petition now!(http://www.PetitionOnline.com/iomart/)

By: Deborah Hodgkinson

Deborah Hodgkinson — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:40:52 +0000

You are not alone! We cancelled with Iomart/Ufindus Aug 05 (or so we thought)haven’t heard from them until 3 Nov 07 when Blacks collections got in touch! We have never had a statment or invoice sent (until forwarded that day by Blacks(although Graham Armitage quotes that this is ufindus protocall to avoid large debts building up! on Blagger.com). I contacted ufindus customer service who could not give me any answers and was told Blacks could (who appear to a part of Iomart/ufindus. We are now seeking further advise. If you search ufindus complaints you see what kind of company they really are!

By: Robert Hastings

Robert Hastings — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 19:27:39 +0000

Having had horrendous problems dealing with Iomart/Ufindus since 2004 and cancelling my contract with them at that point I have today (18th October 2007) received a debt collectors letter from them claiming a payment for invoices dating up to January 2007. How are they still in business?

By: Johnathan Williamson

Johnathan Williamson — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:59:06 +0000

p.s Claire if you forward me your details I would be happy to look into the issues you have highlighted in more detail for you.

By: Johnathan Williamson

Johnathan Williamson — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:56:55 +0000

Hi Claire/Richard,

Apologies for not responding sooner - haven’t checked in on the entry for a little while! (Can I get notifications from your blog? Not sure, don’t see an option :( )

We reduced our transfer out charge considerably, almost 2 years ago, to £15. We feel it is more appropriate to the current market and in line with other competitors who levy similar fee’s (not to mention the registries!).

As Richard has edited, Registrant Charges are generally speaking outwith our control.

Claire’s response is particularly vitriolic and I’m really not sure anything I do/say could change your mind about us … however!

In recent years we have introduced telephone support, email support, live chat and improved our handling of fax/letter correspondance. We now handle every single enquiry received by us within 24 hours - issues which extend beyond that are kept updated so that the customer knows exactly whats happening with each case.

We have improved our Support section for customers, consolidating their Tickets, FAQs, System Status (which is updated 24 hours a day by our technicians if problems arise), Opening Hours & Contact numbers. It sounds like a simple thing - but for Easyspace customers of 5/6 years they have really appreciated the improvements we are implementing. We are now in a position where we receive consistent and regular praise for the services which we are providing and the way in which we are delivering them to customers.

Remember this is a customer base who simply didnt have telephone support before iomart purchased Easyspace - can you imagine?

We’ve tried where possible to incorporate every feature going into our standard prices for hosting - unlike some of our competitors (and predecessors) who charge(d) for each and every individual upgrade/addon.

To underpin that commitment to our customers - theres our five NEW UK Data Centres which facilitate our growth tremendously and your truly looking at a company who is looking ahead and planning to make sure our customers receive the best, most reliable service possible.

I am in no way saying we are perfect - what company is? However we have a very strong commitment to each and every one of our customers. We are here for them 24×7x365 in some capacity. Mistakes happen too, when those occur we learn from them and improve - just take a look at our control panel now and compare it with 3/4 years ago - light years worth of improvement.

I hope this goes at least some way to alleviating any concerns regarding our service in general - we’re always listening and to quote directly from a customer who sent this feedback just this morning (I can send you the email if you like?) …

“I have found Easy Space to be great all round!
Great service, great people to deal with, Excellent customer care/ customer service, real people at the end of the phone each time… I’d recommend Easy Space to all my friends and colleagues.”

Can’t say it better than that.

Kind Regards,
Johnathan Williamson
Customer Support Manager
Easyspace Ltd.
http://www.easyspace.com
johnathan@easyspace.com

By: richard

richard — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:02:22 +0000

I have to agree with with Claire about dropping the transfer fees. Although Iomart/Easyspace may well claim justification because other companies do it, the vast majority of companies don't. Also, in my opinion, if a fee has to be charged don't make it so high.

It takes minutes to approve a domain transfer, or change an IPS tag so there is no need to charge £50 to do so.

The Bank Charges Hell website actually has an example county court claim form on their website for people who want to claim back excessive bank charges. I just wonder if the same legal principles could be applied to Iomart's transfer charges, as I've always seen these as a 'sour grapes' charge.

Anyone brave enough to sue them to find out?

Come on Iomart/Easyspace, drop those transfer charges or at least greatly reduce them!

Looking forward to your comments Jonathan.

By: claire

claire — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 18:15:24 +0000

if Johnathan is still reading this page, maybe he can inform us as it looks like iomart/easyspace have gone back to their old ways of ignoring their customers. you are nothing more than [deleted for legal reasons] and if you want to appease your customers and change the widespread negative opinion of yourself, you can start IMMEDIATELY by allowing us to transfer domains away from you and change registrant for free [changes in registrant details may attract registry fees depending on circumstances. This is beyond Iomart/Easyspace's control - ed]. Your charges are extortionate, your "customer service" is still as disgraceful as ever and your company attitude is disgusting. Stop ripping people off, get rid of your lazy and inept staff, sort out your abominable attitude and service and maybe (although don’t hold out any hope) people might start to trust you again. However, I expect this will all be ignored by Iomart/Easyspace, the charges will remain and your service will still be as shoddy as it always has been.

By: Claire

Claire — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:28:27 +0000

I hope that Johnathan still checks this page and has taken note of all the customers who are infuriated with IOMArt/Easyspace’s fees for transferring domains away from them. If you really want to do something to appease your customers and prove you do actually listen, remove this charge IMMEDIATELY. The sooner people are able to do this for free, the better. You have a long way to go before people can or will be able to trust your company again as your past performance is disgraceful and your attitude is disgusting.

By: richard

richard — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:28:55 +0000

Well, Jonathan, I really hope this is the start of a constructive approach to dealing with your customers complaints/causes for concern.

I always respect genuine efforts to put things right, and therefore if you feel you would like to post any updates concerning your company that you feel would be relevant to past and present customers and what you’re doing to improve customer relations then you’d be very welcome to do so. :)

By: Johnathan Williamson

Johnathan Williamson — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 09:18:55 +0000

Hi there,

I’ve worked for iomart/Easyspace for a number of years now and recently we’ve made a huge improvement to both our customer service and the facilities offered by our website and control panel.

I can appreciate the problems you’ve had and given that it was so long ago I very much doubt there is much I/we can do to fix those particular issues now - but really this is just a small nod to anyone who is still experiencing problems and stumbles across this entry, let us know - you can of course use your online control panel to get in touch alternatively you can email me at johnathan@easyspace.com - I’ll be happy to respond to any and all questions regarding our services.

To the author and everyone else following this entry - thanks for the feedback, it’s all taken seriously and we’re making improvements based upon our customers feedback.

Thanks
Johnathan Williamson
Easyspace.com
Customer Support Manager

By: Simon

Simon — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 14:41:00 +0000

Reading all these blogs brings that terrible feeling of dealing with iomart back to me. They claim to be able to get your site on the first page of any search, never done. They
never respond to phone calls or letters, they have taken unauthorised payments from my barclaycard. I had to complain to barclaycard to get the money back which was not straightforward. I canceled the contract for breach of contract but they refused to recognise this. Because I was worried they would carry on charging I checked their small print on cancelation, the window of opportunity to cancel was very small but I did this on pain of being tied in for another year. They did not acknowledge the cancelation even though I sent it twice. I have recently moved to a new hosting company and Iomart asked my website designer for my credit card details to enable me to move. I refused to give them and contacted nominet and did it through them. It turned out iomart where going to take hundreds of pounds from my credit card because they claim I still have a contract with them, it is virtualy uncancelable. Even after moving I had my first phonecall from Iomart for 18 months saying I owed them hundreds of pounds and if I payed they would allow me to cancel and the debt would stop acruing. I told the man to sue me and I would counter sue for breach of contract. I can identify with all the complaints in the blogs. I always say to the people at iomart when they speak to me that their company is corrupt, dishonest and immoral, to give the people on the other end of the phone their due they normaly agree. I must apologise for my grammar and spelling I am too angry to concentrate.
Regards
Simon