I first began working on my own projects using Flash Video in 2004.
It soon became apparent that I would need a facility to host the video files while allowing them to be shared in order for the Flash Video player to target and play them.
After much searching I found a company based in the USA in San Diego called Streamload.
They offered exactly what I required, they even had a tracking facility where you could view how much of the file had been streamed and various stats about who had requested the file.
They had great reviews and what appeared to be a growing community of users and best of all the pricing was good.
My Flash Video samples worked flawlessly and if ever there was a problem the Streamload Customer Service would usually respond to the query within 24 hour and the problem would be resolved.
As time went by Streamload announced they were going to rollout a new and improved version of Streamload called Mediamax which would be all singing and all dancing.
They also rebranded the company to Mediamax in order to add extra fanfair to the launch of the product.
Mediamax was rolled out and customers didn’t get a choice, the files they had on the Streamload system were ported across to the Mediamax system….and all hell broke loose.
It was apparent from the off that Mediamax didn’t work properly, files failed to stream, accounts could not be accessed and the whole situation began to take on that train wreck feel.
Mediamax still advertised and worst of all, still took customers money.
Their customer service disappeared, the Mediamax blog comments were disabled due to the amount of abuse the company were getting, and any form of contact was impossible.
The other problem was they held your credit card details on your account, but you had no way to remove them.
As I was using this company in both a personal and professional capacity (I had mp3 and video files hosted with them for the company I work for.) I was getting more and more annoyed and set out to get a refund of all monies paid from June 06 to August 07 which I successfully did after threatening legal action.
This left me with a situation, I had been able to retrieve files that had not been lost by Mediamax but I still needed someone to host them.
After more research I found a start up company called Omnidrive who appeared to be destined for great things.
I bought in, and moved both personal and professional files to the company.
There were some glitches but I was assured and fully expected them to be ironed out.
How wrong I was.
I logged on to Omnidrive this morning and on the new navigation layout I spotted a FORUM button.
I clicked on it and was immediately horrified to see posts demanding refunds.
Here we go again I thought, and having read some of the posts it would appear Omnidrive are also heading for the toilet.
So here is my tale of woe regarding online storage and sharing companies, I guess I will be looking for another one shortly.
Mediamax had no qualms about effectively stealing their customers money, not only that, but they still have the audacity to advertise the service as working.
They also appear to have rebranded and set up again as a company called Nirvanix, although they deny it, you only have to look at the addresses of both ‘businesses’ to see it doesn’t take an idiot to figure it out – they are on the same street as each other!
As for Omnidrive, well it doesn’t look good and I will be keeping a close eye on them.
More information can be found here –
Mediamax We Need You – Users Blog.
A whole blog dedicated to long suffering users of one of the worst companies ever to appear on the internet.
CNET Forum Review of Mediamax.
Mediamax Fraud Petiton.
Omnidrive – Finished?
More Omnidrive woe!
So if you know of any online hosting companies that arn’t going to loose my files and steal my money, please let me know!
Posted by partyoflife 
Posted by partyoflife 
Posted by partyoflife 
