The New York state news publication site reported on Friday evening that the Web host alerted customers it was "experiencing technical issues with email" and that they would see a "delay in sending or receiving emails".

However, NCG says that IPOWER neglected to inform customers that it that the problem related to more than just email. The news site claims that many IPOWER customers' websites were down, and website owners unable to access their control panels or update their sites, as well as their home page and other services being inaccessible by visitors.

The news website clearly has a personal stake in criticizing the hosting company, often using its own editorial Web space in the past to vocalize its dissatisfaction over its own experience with IPOWER's service.

Earlier that day, NCG accused IPOWER of deleting its news email account as well as its entire inbox of saved messages. The news site posted an angry editorial article Friday afternoon, calling out IPower for the alleged actions.

NCG says that when the company contacted IPOWER, Gary Engel, the company's VP of customer support, replied with this email message: "We've been unable to restore your inbox or the stats that you've reported as missing. I am truly sorry about this, we tried, we were unable to." 

According to NCG, the Web host did not indicate any plans to reimburse the "theft of the data," calling it an "unauthorized entry into the NCG account."

Last October, IPOWER announced it was switching over on March 31 to a new server configuration and asked all of its customers to either migrate to the new platform or transfer to a new Web host.

NCG says that while many people have offered to help the site with a transfer, none have followed through.  The news site says it hired an individual last week to transfer the hosting account away from IPOWER, but the individual proved to be "less than reliable and accomplished nothing in a week's time."

This case against the Web host is just one of many complaints against IPOWER within recent months, prompting many customers to threaten to leave the Web host. Complaints concerning website crashes, poor tech support and billing error have been rampant since the company merged with Web host Endurance International Group last year.

IPOWER currently has an unsatisfactory record with the Better Business Bureau of Central, Northern and Western Arizona. The latest BBB report on IPOWER lists consumer complaints concerning the Web host's contracts, billing and repairs. The company has resolved many of these reported issues, but has not yet responded to others.

In an effort to solve these issues, IPOWERrecently revamped its customer service, which included nearly doubling its customer-service staff and deploying new software to more effectively manage customer feedback.