Thanks Daniel,
I appreciate you sending me in that direction, I contacted my provider and they apparently have had some sql issues with their PHP v5.5 so I've rolled back to 5.3 and my problems are no more.
Quoted from Netfirms Support
It appears like PHP version 5.5 that is set for your account may causing the error. We have placed the bug report for the issue where some PHP applications are unable to connect database when PHP version 5.5 is set. So you are receiving error message when PHP version 5.5 is set for your account. Our engineers are working on the issue. Issue will be resolved as soon as possible. Once this fixed we will contact you. Thank you for your continued patience. For the time being please change PHP version to 5.3 at https://www.netfirms.com/controlpanel/cgiManagement/PHPplus.bml and then check the functionality of BackWPUp plugin from your end.
Thanks