BLACKBOX SERVER HOSTING REVIEW

[Nova]

AVOID BLACKBOX AT ALL COSTS;

I made the mistake of buying a 3 month subscription. For the entire first month, the server crashed 2-3 times a day. Lag was beyond awful. the TC Admin console glitched out/broke completely on several occasions. Their servers went down constantly due to lack of maintenance. When it came to asking them for actual technical support.... they had absolutely no idea How their own systems worked(they don't even know how to add a very simple firewall to their servers).. On TWO occasions they switched the IP of my server without informing me. This Caused me to lose 80% of my population ( everyone thought the server had died). It took over 48 hours for them to change it back. After opening over FIFTY tickets over the course of the month, and spending hours and hours dealing with their horrible customer support, i demanded a refund. They defended themselves by saying it wasn't their fault.... That my server was crashing because of mods i had installed ( i had NO mods and i had over 15 screenshots of their tech support admitting it was their faulty systems). After asking for a refund for my last unused 2 months, My tickets were then constantly put on hold for weeks! they were literally pushing my tickets aside. They finally replied after TWO MINUTES after i threatened them with a bad review online and a charge back. They finally gave in and offered me a 50% refund despite the fact i hadn't even used the last 2 months or despite the fact they had made me lose my entire population. They then started arguing with me that they were offering me a discount not a refund ( half of them don't even speak proper English ). After hours of arguing back and forth and them realizing their mistake. I finally asked for a charge back. Black box has by far the WORST customer service i have ever dealt with.

I have Screenshots of the following:

Tech support admitting that their Servers are outdated
Tech support admitting they dont do proper maintenance on their servers
Tech support admitting they dont know how a simple config file works.
Tech support admitting there is extreme lag on their servers
Proof of Constant crashing and huge lag spikes ( over 200-300 ping for everyone in the server ).
Downtime of 67%
Changing my IP address without informing me.

Refund based on their terms and conditions:

14. Refunds will only be given for plausible and valid reasons, ie poor up time, lagging server etc.

Despite ALL this proof ( screenshots, chatlogs, emails etc) they chose to ignore my tickets instead of following their own terms and conditions. I have demanded a full refund through paypa. Instead of refunding me my money they have decided to escalate the dispute. therefore, I will be posting the entire incident here so that others arn't screwed by them like i was.

[Nova]

Hi Mark

Can we try moving you to Dallas where the hardware is significantly better.


Best Regards,

David Sandling
BlackBoxServers.net

Hi Mark


Yes i agree, i have setup a maintenance schedule, the server should perform much better tomorrow.

Best Regards,

David Sandling
BlackBoxServers.net


Hi Mark

I have fixed this for you, it was just a control panel glitch.


Best Regards,

David Sandling
BlackBoxServers.net

Hi Mark

It means it was a control panel glitch, i restarted the control panel and now its fine. the server was always running, the control panel just mal functioned. sorry for the inconvenience.


Best Regards,

David Sandling
BlackBoxServers.net

Hi Mark

We see that connecting to it is rather slow than normal but when connected when clicking different options is really quick.

Best Regards,

Mike Steel
BlackBoxServers.net

Hi Mark

We have noticed some lag on this box, We did some maintenance last night. Did it not help at all? If not i can do more in the morning


Best Regards,

David Sandling
BlackBoxServers.net

Hi Mark

The port can be changed back at any time, anything support has done is just to help you, do you know there will be the biggest update to 7 days out in the next few days, which will add so much.


Best Regards,

David Sandling
BlackBoxServers.net

I have over 500+ tickets with black box. I am trying to locate the one where their Tech Support Ness switched my IP address without telling me and where she deleted my entire server fil

[Nova]

Fun update: After opening the dispute and asking one last time for a refund. David Sandling from Blackbox accused me of using a fake paypal account (100% verified with photo id, proof of residence etc ). And said he would have my account shut down if i didn't accept his 50% refund. When i said i would provide proof to paypal of the entire incident he then told me the dispute had already been closed in his favor ( it wasnt closed ). l believe this was an attempt to stop me from providing proof to paypal. This is the kind of customer support you can expert from such a low tier server hosting company. The forums are full of bad reviews about this company and it is still somehow a preferred partner of 7 days to die. This needs to be changed.

[Spacepiggio]

I use Gameserver's fare price & great support, the problems though are on the Dev's side as it is an alpha game.

[Nova]

the reason i post here is because i know alot of players come this forum asking about which server host to use. I don't want them to have to go through the same horrendous service i've been through. This thread will show up on google when people do searches for blackbox.

[WhatsOnTV?]

This is why I host my own, It may be cheaper to get a company to do it but I know I wont get any of this garbage happening to me.
My buddy used blackbox before and they were the same to him.

[OrbDamu]

I know this is an old post, but I thought I shoot in with an update in case anyone is looking for a server. From the sounds of things, it seems Blackbox may have improved substantially, but to me they're still pretty bad. Customer support doesn't help when you submit a problem and the server I'm running seems to have the CPU processing power of 2-3 potatoes maximum. I mean, its 7 days to die, it doesn't take a top of the line dedi to run. They seem to have gotten all the basics down, but there are still a number of things that are going to make me migrate to a new host as soon as this month is up.

[defused]

im running a private server on GTXGaming no issues, they updated the control panel recently lots of options automatic backups etc etc very happy with it.