Christa B.

Backblaze is a data backup service that I have had a subscription with for about three years. I keep almost all my documents in digital form. The process is simple. Just download the Backblaze software and pay the subscription fee. The software scans your files and does an initial backup. After the initial backup, the software simply runs in the background to detect and backup any new files. You can see what is being backed up and, if a drive that is backed up isnt seen for a period of time, Backblaze sends you an email.

About a year ago, Backblaze stopped seeing my external drive. I renamed the drive, which seemed to get the Backblaze software past the glitch but the change forced a new initial backup. Since the initial backup generally only takes about two weeks, this restart didnt worry me. About a week ago, I dropped my external drive. It didnt die but became increasingly slow and unresponsive over the next day or so. So, I went to Backblaze to download my data to put on a new drive. I quickly downloaded what was there but was surprised to discover that only about 40% of my files were available for download. I tried multiple times and then contacted customer service. After repeated efforts to get a response, customer service responded that the drive had over 30,000 files totaling ~22 GB of data in queue and awaiting upload. Those files were not available because the initial backup (begun over a year earlier) was not yet complete. Backblaze then marked my issue resolved and closed the ticket.

My external drive is now in diagnosis with a data recovery service. If my data is easily recoverable, this will cost me $250. If the data is not easily recoverable, pricing begins at $1,435.

If you want your data to be there when you need it, I do not recommend using Backblaze.

I've ordered my Christmas cards using Tiny Prints for several years. This year will be my last. I ordered my Christmas card just after Thanksgiving and had them mailed by Tiny Prints. The order process was somewhat painful. You can't have TP mail your cards unless you don't order a liner for the envelope. Since there is nothing on the website saying this, it took me several tries to figure it out. I then spent a half-hour trying to get the site to mail only to some people on my address list. I never did figure that out so I deleted the addresses. The order was finally submitted and was to be delivered in the following week. It was substantially delayed but finally was sent out. Then, a week later, TP sent someone else's card to everyone on my list. Hoping to save this other hapless customer from not having their card delivered at all, I emailed TP customer service about it. Several days later I received an email back from someone who did not appear to have actually read my email asking if I wanted my order redelivered. I gave up. Then TP sent a second round of my card to everyone on my list. So, I called TP to try to get them to just STOP mailing things to my address list. I have been on hold for 64 minutes so far. Wish me luck and may you learn from my mistakes.