Thumbnail of user jamesm718

James M.

Contributor Level

Total Points
84

1 Review by James

  • Intothedarkroom

9/16/17

ITDR continually charges me for bandwidth upgrades, then THE OWNER had the nerve to personally insult my intelligence for calling him out on this.

I'm paying $29/month for their 'silver 1GB' service, and have been a loyal customer for 5+ years, only to find out that they're not charging $29 for their 'gold, 5GB' service but DONT HAVE THE PROFESSIONALISM to upgrade their existing customers accounts accordingly Instead, they charge you a HIGHER rate for LESS service. As a business owner, I dont have time to check to see if my hosting company is OVERCHARGING me for their services. Apparently you can't trust these guys to be an HONEST BUSINESS>

ITDR hasn't updated their templates in YEARS, and it really shows. I was extremely surprised to find out that they've rebranded as yet another company trying to sell wedding photographers on marketing workshops, yet these guys are neither wedding photographers nor marketing specialists. I was forced to go with a different webhost and template designer because they've abandoned designing modern templates and have relegated themselves to merely collecting 'rent' on outdated designs.

Most sites are now using fullpage content blocks, horizontally sliding content and a host of other attractive, modern features. ITDR continues to use the same old single page gallery design, and is great if you want your WEBSITE TO LOOK LIKE IT'S 10 YEARS OLD, but not so great if you actually care about staying relevant.

They also sell you on a subscription plan that is an absolute joke in terms of alotted bandwidth, then continually AUTOMATICALLY UPGRADE YOU multiple times a month, throughout the year, to the tune of. 50cents each time. They send you flattering emails that claim your business is getting HEAVY TRAFFIC, and needed MORE BANDWIDTH, but when you look at your GOOGLE ANALTYICS, it TELLS A VERY DIFFERENT STORY. They then get extremely RUDE and PERSONALLY INSULTING when you call them on this SHADY BUSINESS PRACTICE of selling insufficient hosting packages that FORCE YOU to upgrade.

Repeated. 50 cent increases to your account over the course of the year ADDS UP, especially when you consider they're doing this to hundreds if not thousands of customers---$$$$$$ for them.

STOP selling people on insufficient hosting packages ITDR, and give people a package that meets their needs from the beginning.

I've experienced good customer service from this company in the past, but when I called them out for claiming my site (which only received 35 visitors last month) was something receiving heavy traffic and needed a BANDWIDTH UPGRADE, the OWNER of the company COMPLETELY LOST ALL PROFESSIONALISM and started LASHING INTO ME.

This is NOT how you run a business.

Tip for consumers:
go elsewhere. there are much more modern website template companies out there.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user michaels743
michael s. – Intothedarkroom Rep

James, it's a pity you still feel slighted after everything. I am sorry that you still have yet to figure out the math, but I'll try one last time here. You were paying $29 a month because you were on the monthly Sliver plan. If you were on the Silver Quarterly ($57 every three months), it would be equivalent to only $19 a month. The Gold plan works similarly: $39 a month for the monthly plan, with a discount for paying quarterly ($87 every three months) reducing it to the equivalent of $29 a month. We are not the only company that offers discounts for extended time plans -- I feel silly even writing this -- we didn't even invent the concept. It's just how many online services price things out.

Most of your other issues simply seem to be rants, and I think it's a good thing that sites like sitejabber exists so you can vent your frustrations.

That said, we update our templates almost monthly. Not everyone wants what you want. We have clients that are deeply embedded in traditional websites. Sure, the single-scroller website platform is as pervasive as ever, and it's something we'll address -- but it's an inherently complicated type of website to build and maintain. To be sure, when we do launch that particular product, we're going to make it easy and accessible to the everyman/everywoman -- not just for the John Malkovich's of the world that can afford squarespace's specialists.

I am glad, however, that you admit we've been good stewards of your site and customer service all the way up until the math problem.

James Has Earned 4 Votes

James M.'s review of Intothedarkroom earned 4 Very Helpful votes

James hasn’t received any thanks yous.

James doesn’t have any fans yet.

James isn’t following anybody yet.

Empty.

Similar Reviewers on Sitejabber

Thumbnail of user mollyf25
5/23/19

I don't know what happened to this company! They were extremely helpful and responsive a couple...

Thumbnail of user marneem
5/15/19

I have been a client for over 6 years and they have been impossible to work with. There is no...