Hmmm... that's bothersome as I have a pro account with them. I can deal with not getting into the admin on occasion due to normal maintenance. But its been down outside of that scheduled time pretty frequently lately. My main issue is if my galleries don't load. That's unacceptable...

luke_28 wrote:
I've been with Zenfolio for three years and I'm very happy with them. The only downside I find with ZF is the lack of customization vs. SM. Otherwise, I think they are as good or better in the other areas.
I don't use IE, but use Firefox and have no issues with ZF. I use the plugin for LR2 and uploads are easy.

Thanks for the info!

I've been with SM for 2 years. However, a month ago, I decided to switch my primary hosting to Zenfolio. I have grown, very tired of all the downtime/ maintenance/ upload issues, with Smugmug. I had a Pro Acct, & dropped down, to a Power User, as the Svc & CC Fees' were higher & killing my profit margins', more than other hosting sites. I utilized MacDaddy, as my uploading tool of choice, as I was not aware, that SM, had added PhotoMechanic, as an upload tool. Connection speeds are of No Issue, on my end. I have a 10 MEG DL / 1 MEG UP, Cable Connection. Also, I have not found that IE is preferential over FireFox, as I use FF, as my browser of choice, and have yet to encounter any problems.

There would be times, while I'm uploading, that suddenly, I started getting errors with MacDaddy, & I switched over to SM, to only notice, that site was down. Sometimes' its down for 10 minutes, sometimes' its' 4 hours. Either way, that does not work for my needs, when I'm Bulk Uploading xxxx images at time. Since I switched to Zenfolio, they have had, one instance of downtime, however, they sent out an email about 3 days in advance, so you could work around it. I am extremely happy with Zenfolio. Although, you don't have the level of customization, that I have found so far, IMO, it is more streamlined & easier to use/ navigate, than Smugmug. I'm not bashing Smugmug, but the up/ down time has been a pretty steady inconvenience for me.

James

I usually kick off my SM uploads before I hit the rack for the night, so it doesn't really bother me, but I've never thought it was excessively slow. I use a LR plugin and it queues them up if I want to upload to more than one gallery.

But about those coupon codes...

I had problems with SM Pro for long time, over a year's worth of problems...the site was down a lot and host of other issues--I spent so much time on my site problems, more than actual photography by far. I documented this here on FM at the time in several long threads so won't repeat any of that...long time ago now.

I switched to Exposure Manager a couple of years ago and it was one of the best decisions I ever made regarding the web and how much time I had to spend on it. SM customer service was fast, but actual problems were far longer to fix. Exposure Manager is both quick and will actually dig into the issue and follow to a resolution that works. Any time day or night...kind of amazing really. The bottom line is that the time I spend on making my website work, or waiting for it to work, has been almost zero in over two years. I can't put a pricetag on that but it I were to bother, it would be worht a lot...not to mention the stress reduction.

Zenfolio looks interesting too but they were not around when i switched. I like thier basic setup, professional. Good presentation and you can very easily get thier brand off your site...a mandatory feature IMO and the same with Exposure Manager. I also a little off topic, just started selling DVDs and digital downloads from my site on a selected basis, along with prints...very easy to do. This feature has been on EM for a long time but wish I had not waited so long to do.

They also have coupon codes but I find that whole thing really obnoxious...please, use my code so I can save five bucks and you can too...please, ugh. We should ban coupon code posts from FM.

ham1 wrote:
bitmaker wrote:
My wife is trying to get away from them (after renewing her subscription just 3 months ago) but they aren't making that easy.

I am very sorry to hear this. Please give me the URL to your wife's SmugMug account and I will definitely take care of it. You can PM as well.

Markham



Oh boy, another vendor to the rescue and doing damage control on FM...retailers first and now website vendors....wonder when the bag makers and ballhead mfgrs will start in...

I was thinking about signing up for SmugMug. I'm glad I read this first. I think you guys just saved me $149. If SmugMug has admitted publically that they have infrastructure problems they should offer all their clients a partial refund. It sounds like they are very liable to a class action.

I re-read my posts and I don't want to sound alarmist or anything...just relying my story like everyone else. SM does have a large (and very devoted) following so my experience may be outside the norm...can't say. And again, my particular experience is now 'old' and may not be applicable to today...no idea on that.

MSC wrote:
And again, my particular experience is now 'old' and may not be applicable to today...no idea on that.
When did you switch? You said zenfolio wasn't available. I've only been using SM since March and it was down once when I was trying to modify something.

And I meant coupon codes for customers, not that "hey, use me as your reference when you sign up" coupon thing.

Chris Moy wrote:
They are SLOW uploading! 40 photos took all night! Besides the slow upload I've been happy, for now.

It's back up and running!


Bull ..., use desktop client. It is uploading always very fast. One developed by this person is great.

http://www.shahine.com/omar/

I'll check it out. Thanks!

Breitling65 wrote:
Chris Moy wrote:
They are SLOW uploading! 40 photos took all night! Besides the slow upload I've been happy, for now.

It's back up and running!


Bull ..., use desktop client. It is uploading always very fast. One developed by this person is great.

http://www.shahine.com/omar/

MSC wrote:
ham1 wrote:
bitmaker wrote:
My wife is trying to get away from them (after renewing her subscription just 3 months ago) but they aren't making that easy.

I am very sorry to hear this. Please give me the URL to your wife's SmugMug account and I will definitely take care of it. You can PM as well.

Markham



Oh boy, another vendor to the rescue and doing damage control on FM...retailers first and now website vendors....wonder when the bag makers and ballhead mfgrs will start in...

There is nothing wrong with that. At least they are paying attention!

GeneO wrote:
MSC wrote:
ham1 wrote:
bitmaker wrote:
My wife is trying to get away from them (after renewing her subscription just 3 months ago) but they aren't making that easy.

I am very sorry to hear this. Please give me the URL to your wife's SmugMug account and I will definitely take care of it. You can PM as well.

Markham



Oh boy, another vendor to the rescue and doing damage control on FM...retailers first and now website vendors....wonder when the bag makers and ballhead mfgrs will start in...

There is nothing wrong with that. At least they are paying attention!

In fact, its a good thing! It'd be shameful if they were aware of the issue and turn a blind eye.

My opinion is that people should be free on this forum to express thier thoughts without having a vendor step in. This happens more with retailers here and now with a website vendor. What is next? It is a slippery slope and I can't see any benefit from it except free advertising for the vendor. When the guy owned a lighting company started that a couple of years ago (you people that have been around know who I mean if you frequent the Lighting board), he was warned off and he stopped--good call on his part. When the retailers started up recently, I will not spend another doller at thier stores and I have not and will not give them my money, including over $30k spent at one.

Listening is one thing, actively go out to the forums with PR is quite another. This forum, IMO, needs to free of vendors on the boards doing damage control. I see nothing bad if they use PMs and keep it private, but I really don't want to hear vendors on here doing customer service and PR work. If I want to say A is good and B is bad and why, I don't need A or B on here telling how much they care or that they are sorry or whatever...send me an email or if they really care, give me a call.

If they want to use FM for advertising, pay for an advertisement from Fred. Make it say "we care." I run a large social networking site and we are very strict to not allow vendors to do this for the same reason, the whole tenor of the information shared changes for the worse. People are not free to express when they know that as soon as they do, some vendor or other is going to start countering them online, or making public apologies or whatever...and I think really bad form for vendors to invade boards like FM.

I think its not exactly advertising when a company comes out on a forum and offers to fix something for a customer or soon to be ex customer.

If it were you in the situation I'm sure you'd want the vendor to be able to come on and fix it for you rather than being banned from FM.

IMO there is vendor responses, and there are vendors advertising.

FM is not here to be a venue for free PR work by vendors. If they want to do that, do what everyone else does that is not taking advantage of the situation, buy an ad. Of course it is good for the vendor...and they should be taking care of business through thier customer service dept. FM is the a free Customer Service place for vendors.

What is next? I like Canon gear, and maybe a dozen other vendors, Gitzo, LowePro, etc. Do I want Canon CS reps on the FM everytime I voice a complaint in the Canon forum. Or I recently had a modeling light go out on my Speedotron after it was nearly new. This came up on a board discussion on another forum. Did the Speedotron rep come into that thread and say 'we are so sorry for your problem, send me a personal email and I'll fix it for you.' Of course not, if they are doing thier job right, when I talked thier customer service dept, they should take care it. And they did in my case. But the conversation was not disrupted by vendor PR.

The logical extension to this is write every vendor out there and say 'FM is open to your customer service efforts." And the next step following that logic is to let us know about thier sale prices, and upcoming promotions...after all it is good for us, right?

I don't want them banned, I want them here to participate as photographers...leave the PR stuff at home. But the reality is that they are here getting free PR time with an audience of photographers. BTW, this not allowed in any of the better forums...and I consider FM one of the better forums. I don't want to see it turn into a commercial free-for-all...it is too good for that.

Well, we all have our different opinions. The smugmug guy just offered to fix the issue someone was having and to get feedback about another issue. If the thread is about a user having an issue with vendor X, then vendor X should have the ability to interact with the affected person (and possibly rectify the situation) as long as it remains on topic and is going to help the user who is having the problem. Its one thing to come here and spew advertising crap. Another altogether to say, "Hey, let me fix that for you." The latter is not nonsensical spam.

If I was having issues with my canon gear, and a canon rep stepped in to help me calibrate my equipment, its perfectly fine, IMO. And along the line if he realizes that something in my gear is faulty, and offers a fix/repair, what's the harm?

I already said what the harm is. And if FM wants to have a 'the vendor will fix it for you forum' fine, have that. Let the vendors flood that forum and be the good guy there...we know what that is forum is about then. But keep if off the photography boards...FM is not about giving vendors a place to do damage control, PR work, and other customer service matters. I can get vendor PR work from the vendor, we come here to get info and share info from other photographers.

MSC wrote:
I already said what the harm is. And if FM wants to have a 'the vendor will fix it for you forum' fine, have that. Let the vendors flood that forum and be the good guy there...we know what that is forum is about then. But keep if off the photography boards...FM is not about giving vendors a place to do damage control, PR work, and other customer service matters. I can get vendor PR work from the vendor, we come here to get info and share info from other photographers.

+1

Look at the latest. Now they even try to price-match and sell stuff here

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/823367/0#lastmessage

MSC wrote:
I already said what the harm is. And if FM wants to have a 'the vendor will fix it for you forum' fine, have that. Let the vendors flood that forum and be the good guy there...we know what that is forum is about then. But keep if off the photography boards...FM is not about giving vendors a place to do damage control, PR work, and other customer service matters. I can get vendor PR work from the vendor, we come here to get info and share info from other photographers.

I'm with you 100% on this, and can see the slippery slope. Lately, it seems the mods have been largely absent from all the boards, too, which isn't helping matters. If a vendor is truly concerned about helping a customer, without the free PR, they're perfectly able to send PM's, just as anyone else can.