Avoid List - Bad Products, Services or Software

Over the years we've had the unfortunate  experience of purchasing  faulty equipment , software, or services .

The following experiences related here are  our own, and may not be representative of others. As such, the following are own own personal opinions based on our own purchasing experiences.

Out of thousands of products purchased over the years, it takes quite a bit for us to become truly "pissed",  but these vendors  managed to do it !

All we can strongly suggest is "Buyer Beware" before dealing with any of them !

Having grown up in the era of Rowan & Martin's "Laugh-In", this page might be better described as

The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Awards  

WS-FTP Server by Ipswitch Software

Widely touted as a premiere FTP server,  it has a severe flaw in regards as to how it handles file permissions...   The goal was to grant users  Read, List and Rename permissions on a folder basis, yet deny Write and Delete permissions to files within certain folders. That's pretty simple and basic. However, it was discovered that  Rename permission could not be issued without also granting full write permission.  Ipswitch software somehow has the mistaken belief that renaming of a file constituted the file itself being written to.  This is not how file permissions work (at least in the rest of the known world) and after speaking with their supposed software support "guru",  revealed their basic misunderstanding over the most basic of concepts.  After having just purchased the software for $495 in late December 2006 (which never did work right) they now wanted another $195 just to speak further with tech support to resolve the issue...  Why should we have to fork over another $195 just to point out a severe flaw in their software ???.  After being told any further communication would necessitate an additional $195 service contract (remember: it was just over 60  days since we purchased it), we finally had enough of Ipswitch Software.

Want to host your own FTP Server ??  Then strongly suggested you avoid WS-FTP by Ipswich Software like the "Plague"......   A much better  Secure FTP server is Globalscape Secure FTP Server. Costs the same and they even understand basic concepts of  file permissions. Plus excellent support should you require it. Backing up the config file is a snap in Globalscape. By comparison,  there is no single configuration file in WS-FTP, so backing up the server setup, userid's, passwords, folders and permissions is a convoluted multi-step process, since they use the system registry to store some of the information .    An easy way to backup the userid's/passwords without having to manually re-type them all again, is a major consideration and something not well addressed by WS-FTP.

WS-FTP does basic and secure FTP ok, but is a miserable failure when it comes to assigning industry standard file permissions. Unfortunately, that is a major shortfall, deeming it unusable for all but general FTP server use. Aside from a major design flaw, their complete lack of support after 60 days of purchasing the product without purchasing an additional $195 support contract, makes this product a "No Buy".  I will however, commend them on their excellent marketing skills and a convincing web site. Unfortunately those "spiffy" marketing skills don't extend over to writing an FTP Server that works as it should.

In all fairness, WS-FTP Client software  (we have both Home and Pro versions)  are ok. Only their server software is to be avoided

Cost for Globalscape's FTP Secure Server is the same as WS-FTP.......   After Blowing $495 on WS-FTP Server , I ended up scrapping it but 60 days later and installing Globalscape's Secure FTP Server. 

$495 down the toilet and all we got from Ipswitch Software was the run-around...    Some bad products are only revealed after you've had them for awhile....

Yousendit.com

A large file sending service that allows you to send large files too large for email mailboxes.  The issue here is not whether their service works or not...  In fact, we found it works quite well, without the hassle of maintaining your own HTTP and FTP servers ! From that perspective alone, we would highly recommend it.  The time however had come for us to host our own servers. 

The problem arose with trying to cancel the service no longer required.  Yousendit.com makes it nearly impossible to cancel the service and will continue to bill your credit card ad-infinitum.  Naturally, there is no easily found phone number that connects you with billing. Nor is there any easy way on their web site to cancel the service by simply  going to your account...  There is an on-line procedure to downgrade the service to the free service, but no way to actually cancel the account. Took 3 calls to tech support to find it (since there was no other contact info.)  After many frustrating hours  and over 3  months of unsuccessful attempts to cancel the service, I can only conclude that this is not a mere oversight on their part, but rather a deliberate stall tactic  so as to continue the billing of your credit card to max out their bottom line.   

Use their "free" service  as much as you like....  But based on our experience, signing up for a commercial account might prove to be a lifetime commitment on your part, as they DO NOT make it easy to cancel.

Figuring in the legal expenses and time wasted fighting with the credit card company over the unsolicited charges, I only wish we never signed up to yousendit.com.   God forbid this company ever gets hold of your credit card info !