I was a customer of this company for more than 17 years my VS number (this is the customer number they allocate you) started with 27, that shows how long ago I started.
I started when they were rated as one of the world's best Web hosting companies and I could not say enough good things about them.
I recommended and signed up more than 100 other people and business to WebCentral and was proud of it and WebCentral.
I really enjoyed the interaction with knowledgeable and talented staff at the Brisbane office and everyone was well trained, available 24/7 and everything got done within minutes not days as is now the case. In most cases now they refer you to someone else, or tell you to ring back the next day or on Monday if it happens to be a weekend (I thought they were a web hosting company in the IT industry, I think they believe they are a retail shop selling smoke and mirrors)
Then Melbourne IT took them over. I have spent more than 30 years in the IT industry (mostly as a system administrator or in a management roll) I can categorically say without any hesitation or doubt that WebCentral must be in the bottom 10 hosting companies in Australasia, if not the world.
I could easily fill 10 pages of things that they have stuffed up but I am sure anyone who is thinking of using them has checked the web to find out all their short comings. All I can say is whatever you do don't use them you will regret it forever. The comments about wait times quoted by other contributors in this review are generous. Most times you contact them (if you get through) you only get someone who goes through the parrot sheet asking the same old questions and does not really know what the answers are. Only level 2 or 3 staff have some knowledge but they only seem to work Monday to Friday 9 to 5.
Here is a list of a few things that have happened since Melbourne IT took over
1.. Deleted my whole account instead of not renewing a totally separate Domain name that was not required to be renewed (Took two weeks to restore the account, they lost all historical emails and the original web site, which I happened to have a backup of, they did not)
2.. When new back end system came on line it could not support exchange so web site was on one set of servers and emails on another required two separate VS numbers to manage site
3.. Have been given more than 4 VS numbers due to stuff ups
4.. Due to software error when they changed systems they withdrew many thousands of dollars on automatic debit which took more than 3 months to recover (was overseas on holidays at the time and they drained my bank account).
5.. Average time to address or reply to submitted jobs is about 3 days and not once in the last 5 years has a job been fixed first time or within 3 days
6.. WebCentral level 2 and 3 only seem to work 9 to 5 Monday to Friday, had to wait 3 days (fault was on a Friday afternoon) to get account working again due to WebCentral error
7... The user interface CMS is one of the most confusing and un-intuitive applications you will ever come across (I have been a computer programmer for more than 20 years and still have issues with its reliability, layout and logic. The contractors that wrote this must bear at least 40% of the issues faced by WebCentral. WebCentral should never have approved this version (Called MCam) for release (at least the old version worked). Am guessing the penny pinching and inexperience of the mangers of Melbourne IT did not know how to address this issue or had the balls to face it and fix it
In summary, the staff, especially the technical staff and management at the old WebCentral knew what customer service and reliably were, for more than a decade they delivered one the best experiences to the public and to both small and large business in the Asia region. Melbourne IT management totally stuffed that company, they lost all the great staff, ideas and goodwill (I hoped they paid millions for it and the old WebCentral staff and management got paid handsomely).
Melbourne IT then decimated all the systems that were built up and proven over many years and replaced them with unreliable unusable and unfriendly procedures. They moved support offshore so you were not dealing with people who even knew which state you were in. I got a number for some support people in the Brisbane and Sydney support areas that you could use at very late hours (they were old WebCentral staff) every single time my issues got fixed immediately. Sadly, that does not work now it seems they have left for a better place to work (don't blame them one bit).
I cannot stress strongly enough to anyone thinking of using this company to take a serious look at their track record, reviews available on the net and comments like mine and others on this site before committing. read more