Carbonite

The Windows 10 desktop app for managing your backups is super buggy. I can try to change my settings, click save, and it'll revert them right before my eyes. I can try to choose a time to schedule regular backups, and it might just reset to the default time of 12am. If I am able to successfully select and save a time, the backups still might not happen.

The app is also unclear about the status of your backups. It will say "Your files are safely backed up" and "128 files waiting to back up" at the same time. Which is it? Are my files backed up or not? There are little colored dots on the files to indicate what's backed up and what's pending, but they're not always accurate.

The most frustrating thing is the stranglehold it has on my files. "Back up continuously," the recommended setting, prevents you from actually working on your files. It identifies when a file has changed and tries to back it up immediately, even (especially) when YOU ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF WORKING ON THAT FILE. "This file can't be saved because it's being used by another program" is an error message I get constantly. You cannot save your files while Carbonite is backing them up--which is continuously. So the "back up continuously" setting is absolutely unusable.

This even becomes a problem with scheduled backups. If I decide to pause the backup so I can actually use my computer, I still need to CTRL + ALT + DEL to end the Carbonite task AND restart my computer before it'll let me save/move/do anything with any files that are pending backup.

Garbage user experience. It's just so chaotic and does not inspire confidence that they're capable of keeping my files safe.

I have been using Carbonite for several years. From time to time, I get an email telling me that there are vast numbers of files backed up. I had never received a notice about any problems.

If you've used Carbonite, you know that there's an icon to indicate when a backup is pending. I've noticed many files "pending". But hey, there were lots of green icons for "backed up".

Anyhow, one day, Windows notified me that my hard drive was dying. "No problem" I thought. I'll just log into my Carbonite account and download onto a new hard drive. This is when the surprises began.

It turns out, there were tens of thousands of files "pending"--including several years of family photos. I called tech support. First, they told me it was bandwidth. After this was ruled out, they changed the story. According to tech support, my account only backs up the C: drive.

So, if you happen to use an SSD for program files and a standard HD for data, guess what? None of your data will be backed up.

I asked why the files showed as "pending" if they were never going to be backed up. Apparently, my software was out of date. But, I had never been asked or told to update it.

Curiously, the FAQ page on the Carbonite sales page says the most basic account will back up "all the files on one PC" (see attachment). When challenged on this point, tech support sent me to a link somewhere else on the site that states otherwise (see attachment).

I don't want to suggest that you can't back up your files with Carbonite. But if you do, you'd better keep a really close eye on them, forever. (I did keep a close eye on mine in the beginning. But, it seemed like a waste of time after a while.) For me, this defeats the purpose of a "set it and forget it" backup. And, I can't help but feel mislead by the website.

I am very disappointed and disgusted with Carbonite. After spending over an hour on the phone with a customer service rep who took over my computer and determined that I should receive a credit of $148.00 and a refund of $284.00 I did receive my credit but never received my refund. They are now claiming that the employee made a mistake and the refund was not approved. Since they record all calls I encouraged the manager to listen to the entire hour long call. I clearly confirmed with the rep that YES I was getting a credit of $148 and a refund of $284. I told the manager he was happy to listen to the call since they are all recorded. I told him I expected him to apologize, and give me my refund. He said that no matter what his employee said to me I would not be receiving a refund even if I was promised one! The $284.00 refund was due to Carbonite continuing to charge me for an old computer that had not been backed up since 2016! The company sends out numerous misleading emails about your data being at risk of not being backed up, etc. I understand that some of this was my fault since I was stupid enough to pay the invoice. But, I tend to panic when I think my data is NOT being backed up. So, I continued to pay on a computer that had been destroyed. My main reason for being so mad is the refund was offered to me and I was quite happy about it. The refund never came. When I called and stayed on the phone for another hour, wasting my precious time, I was told that no matter what the employee (Cameron) said I would not be receiving a refund. But, rest assured they would speak to him. Unreal! This was after I transferred my license from another computer to my new laptop. Carbonite never transferred the license (I had $148 left on that subscription). So, in a panic due to my new computer not being backed up I purchased an entire new subscription the next day. When I realized what had happened (1 day later) they refused to refund me the $148.00 and told me I must take a credit that I would not be able to use for 2 years! So rude! I am just in shock that they would treat a good customer this way. So in the end I am getting a refund for the new "mistake" subscription but ended up being cheated out of the $284 refund and then some. I will never do business with them again! They are very dishonest and send misleading emails to try to get you to accidentally buy a new subscription. Just a terrible company all the way around!

I just went through the free trial of Carbonite to see if it was any good compared to my current online backup service, Mozy. Online storage and online backup solutions have come a long way over the past few years and there are a lot of new players in the field. So when Mozy decided to up their prices, I started looking for a new alternative.

The interface for the Carbonite product is pretty neat -- it's very simple and it puts a little icon on each folder or file to tell whether it is backed up, waiting to be backed up, or not set to be backed up. I also like their scheduling options, which lets you set as many scheduling rules as you want. Lastly, this is one of the few online backup services that still supports unlimited storage.

What I don't like about Carbonite is the fact that it will not back up certain types of files. Who are they to tell me which files can and can not be backed up? If I want to back up some random system file on my computer, why can't I? In my opinion, an online backup solution should as closely mimic using an external hard drive as possible, but just be more secure. Otherwise, what's the point and why should I spend so much more money? (You can get a terabyte of external storage for roughly the same price as one year of online storage.)

Another issue is that for the free trial, it does not automatically back up your music files. So I will have to repeat the same days-long tortuous process once I actually sign up for the service. Finally the deal breaker -- in order for Carbonite to back up video files, you have to manually select them one by one. Are you kidding me? I have a ton of tiny video files spread across a bunch of different folders, and that would take me hours. I guess I'll keep looking for another service...

I have been kicked off Carbonite four times in the last several months. I do not know why, nor, more importantly, do they. After calling them for the third time, I requested a pro-rated refund because they were not providing me the service I had already paid for. I was refused the refund, so I spent another hour on the phone while they tried to fix their problem. After the fourth time I was kicked off, I once again requested a pro-rated refund. This time I was told they will not refund my money until they determine they cannot fix the problem which, they now tell me, requires two more "escalations". They did not "escalate" me after the second and third call.

This company has proven itself unable to provide me with the service I purchased. They refused to refund my pro-rated fee until they are satisfied they cannot fix the problem. Of course, their achieving satisfaction is completely subjective while my satisfaction is irrelevant to them. They want me to continue to act as their guinea pig as they try to fix their problem at the expense of my time, any more of which I refuse to invest. Who knows how many more hours I have to spend on the phone with them until they are satisfied that they can't fix the problem. Apparently three previous calls to them for the same problem was not sufficient for them, nor was my investment of time during those calls of any interest to them.

They have no problem keeping my money and not providing the service, even after four identical incidents wherein their service failed.

My opinion, based on their actions, or inactions, is that this is a bad company with a horrible business plan. Avoid it like the plague.

My subscription expired Aug. 1. I was given no warning in advance that it was going to expire. At some point in the day I got a msg saying it was expired but they'd give me a little grace period to renew. (I forget actual wording). Then a few hours later, a msg saying it had expired and I had to renew for my data to be backed up. It would not be backed up until I renewed. So I renewed at night 8/1.

I thought after I paid the renewal, my subscription would be automatically extended. No, you need to re-install their software. Which didn't work. I get an error msg saying "renewal is incomplete." I look on their database about how to solve the situation, but neither of the 2 entries are relevant to my situation.

Not only is it not backing up, the custom designation I gave for which files to back up and which not to appears to be lost so I'll have to redo all that, probably.

So I wait till 8/3 morning and call them. The tech supporter I get, not impressed with her. I explain the situation and she says oh, you got an error msg saying such and such. She didn't ASK if I got that error msg., she SAID I did when I hadn't.

She gets into my machine remotely, spends maybe 45 minutes reinstalling and trying to get it to work. Not successful. She says call back in 30 - 60 minutes when server should be up.

I wait 90 minutes, call back, not only am I told server is still down, this time I'm told wait till tomorrow morning! The server is supposedly down for scheduled maintenance, both of them tell me that, but one things it'll be up in 30 - 60 minutes while the other says wait 18 hours?!

Why is resubscribing such a hassle? Why do I need to re-install? Why is a server for "continuous backup" down such a long time for "scheduled maintenance" and why don't the support people know how long it will be down?

They spend too much resources and attn on advertising and not enough on their so-called "continuous backup."

So I had Carbonite on my machine last year, and it appeared to work OK, until I realized a couple of weeks ago that it had stopped working. Reason? - the subscription had run out. No problem, re-subscribed, downloaded a fresh version of the program, installed it - and that's when the problems started. To cut a long story short, every time the program started, a succession of four error popups in a row would appear, saying basically that "Internet. Explorer. Application could not be found". Uninstall and re-install did not clear the errors.

Now, once the popups had been dismissed, the program WOULD work, but the point is that, if one wishes to have Carbonite start in background mode when the machine boots, it ain't going to do so, due to these multiple errors preventing it from starting automatically. Got on to the Carbonite chat, described the situation in detail, and the chat guy said he had the EXACT solution to my problem. His solution? Re-install the program. Which I did, and nothing changed.

Got back on to the Carbonite chat and again described the situation up to that point. I asked why should the program try to start up Internet Explorer (which is installed, BTW). The tech's response? 'Coz that's how the programmers wrote the program - it actually NEEDS IE in order to function! I said I wasn't interested in a product that was so shoddily programmed, nor with a product where such weak dependencies on other software are necessary, and where such dependencies are nowhere to be found in the product docs.

I asked for a refund, and am still waiting two weeks later, despite numerous follow-ups and demands for the refund. If the comments here are anything to go by, no refund will be winging my way any time before the 30-day cut-off date, beyond which no refunds are possible.

So, the program can only just about be made to work on this Win10 64-bit, i7-7700K 4.2GHz CPU machine, if one is prepared to put up with the numerous error popups, and ONLY if one of the worst-ever browsers in history is also installed.

***** Avoid this product and this company like the plague! *****

Very frustrating experience with this product, does NOT do what it says - in over 7 months less than 1 TB of data was backed up, this is INSANELY SLOW, you will never have all your files backed up therefor Carbonite is RIPPING YOU OFF. Carbonite will AUTOMATICALLY DELETE your files in 30 days if you do not continue plugging you external hard drive into a computer - this is a waste of my money since I need to make sure my files are backed up NO MATTER WHAT. When I tried to explain my dissatisfaction with the product and request a refund they wasted my time twice asking to "fix" it. Josh told me that he couldn't give me a refund and all the managers had stepped into a meeting. When I told him I was recording the call he said 2 managers might be available and put me on hold. Brandon who is the "Consumer Manager" came on the line and was not listening to anything I said but repeating the same few lines back to me like a robot. "Sorry because this is outside of the 30 days return policy I can't give a you a refund but we can try to fix it." He wouldn't give me his last name or an email address when I asked for one. He said that Anna the "Group Manager" will have to give me a call back. COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. I purchased BACKBLAZE which I highly recommend as a QUICK EASY SEAMLESS SOLUTION THAT WORKS ALL OF WHICH CARBONITE IS NOT! DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY. TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE, I JUST WANT A REFUND FOR A PRODUCT THAT DID NOT WORK FOR ME. I asked for the CEOs name and was told it was Mohammed Ali. Mr. Ali if you're reading this, please train you customer service people to ACTUALLY LISTEN to the customer and offer a REAL SOLUTION