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Post by pyrella »

First off - I personally would like to request no harassing or anything similar of this company until long after we have moved some place new. It is still our home until we have found a new place. No need for slander or libel or any of those other fancy mumbo jumbo terms, and more importantly anything that would impact our up time again. After we are resettled and everything has calmed down - a simple Copy/Paste of this post to most any web host review site, Orlando BBB, BBB Online, and related companies should provide sufficient. This post is to get the information out to you guys, and give you the breakdown. Feel free to ask questions, but deal with any delays in responses please.



Last month, our service with HostDime (the company who hosts our server) was canceled by them, due to lack of payment. This was totally off the wall, and we emailed them transaction reports of our payments back in March 05, which were for one year. They apologized and turned our server back on. This was what started the whole issue with them.

Unrelated to that, we had been having some issued with the server that required some intervention by the hosting company - network settings stuff. I talked to them about it and had it all worked out, and I told them to contact me when they needed to do something with the box, so that way I could ensure that the server would be brought back up quickly, and that IRC, TeamSpeak, etc would all be loaded properly. A couple of days after that conversation, the techs at HostDime decided to just go ahead and do it themselves without contacting me. They rebooted the server which caused minor downtime during the day, but also left certain services not running until I could figure out what happened and manually start them.

Since I had instructed them specifically to contact me should there be any need to touch the box (and even said they could call me any time, even late at night), I was rather upset that this had happened. I called up HostDime to complain and see why I hadn't been informed of the maintenance even though I had requested to be. I also wanted to ensure this wouldn't happen again. This is a brief synopsis of the conversation:
I call HostDime, and ask what happened

David informs me that since they did not have root access, they had to reboot my server, bring it in to single user mode, and add the IP addresses that way.

I asked him why I was not informed when I had asked for notification of anything that would impact system uptime.

David tells me that they weren't out to adversely affect me or my clients.

I tell him that I understand that, but I need to be notified.

I asked to speak with a supervisor.

Unknown person picks up the phone and says, "Who am I speaking to?"

I ask the same question in return.

Guy says, "Don't start with the fucking attitude! Give me your damn name!".

I in turn asked who I was speaking with

Guy says, "I will pull your fucking box!"

I asked "You're going to pull my box?"

Guy says, "Yes, there it goes"

Guy hangs up.

At this point, we lost our box. The following are the series of emails that were exchanged, and which resulted in us getting our box/data back.
HostDime wrote:To Whom It may concern:

This an official notice of the cancelation of your dedicated server
66.193.174.75 HD1046

The terms of cancelation where due to verbal abuse on the phone to our staff.

This is not negotiable and is in effect immediately. In the future please consider your attitude and actions before making them. Consequences can result from bad moves on your end.

If you require any data from the server we will need a $500.00 payment and we will mail you your hard drive. You can then retrieve any data from there and keep the drive.

We will only accept a bank wire or money order payment.

best of luck with your new host.


Manny
Senior Engineer
HostDime.com, Inc
Hosting.Server.Solutions
DimeNoc Orlando. FL 32801
Pyrella wrote:I neither verbally abused nor cursed to any of your staff. Whoever spoke with me last both cursed and yelled at me when all I requested was their name. They should have had my name from both the information on my account in addition to being relayed from David who I am informed was a manager. Neither my talk with David nor whoever the last person who disconnected my server included profanity or raised voices.

My complaints as a customer I believe were both valid and sincere. There was a recent billing issue where I had specifically requested contact by either phone, or the updated email address I had provided. My server was brought down without notification, and I explained the level of severity of impact to both my self and my clients.


If this truly is to be the end of our business arrangement, how will we satisfy the remaining time on my account which has been paid for upfront, but has not been received?
HostDime wrote:Your account expires in less then 30 days so the time remaining becomes void due to the violation of TOS.

If you require any data from the server we will need a $500.00 payment and we will mail you your hard drive. You can then retrieve any data from there and keep the drive.

We will only accept a bank wire or money order payment.


Manny
Senior Engineer
HostDime.com, Inc
Hosting.Server.Solutions
DimeNoc Orlando. FL 32801

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: RXR-152649
Department: Dedicated Servers
Priority: Low
Status: Closed
Pyrella wrote:The account expires March 27th.

Also, again, I would like to reiterate the fact that I was not abusive on the phone at all. I had only asked to speak with a supervisor, and was transferred to someone who yelled at me, and then apparently disconnected the server. I have been a customer with you for a few years, and have never experienced anything like this.

If I was being too forward with my requests for explanations, then I apologize. I, just as I am sure your support personnel, have had very angry clients approach them for things that are out of their hands.

To further explain any actions that may have been misconstrued, here is the summary of events which had taken place:

On January 25th, my server had it's connection pulled due to an error on Hostdime's behalf where they could not locate my payment information in the course of an internal Audit.

I was told that they had attempted to contact me by mail, but I had not recieved it. When I provided the proper Paypal transaction number, I was recconected, and I spoke with David and provided updated contact information in addition to a cell phone number to contact me in case of any further issues/downtime.

I then called back later that day in regards to some DNS issues - David provided me with some alternative DNS addresses and notified me that there would be IP address changes within the coming month, I asked that he confirm my contact information, and let me know if there would be any down time involved.

Yesterday my box was brought down with no prior notification at all. In the middle of the day, with no follow up. I have a few services that I do not have auto restart, and this impacted a few of my clients, who in turn notified me, quite a bit more irate than I was when contacting Hostdime support. I called and spoke with David again, and asked him what had happened. He informed that since they did not have root access, they had to reboot my server, bring it in to single user mode, and add the IP addresses that way. I asked him why I had not been informed, when I had recently updated my account information, and asked for notification of anything that would impact system uptime. He told me that they weren't out to adversely affect me or my clients, and I told him I understood that, but I needed to be notified. I then asked to speak with a supervisor so that I could have repeated my request, or at least found if my request was unreasonable.

I do not know who I was transferred to, but they picked up the phone and said, "Who am I speaking to?" I asked the same question in return, and was told, "Don't start with the fucking attitude! Give me your damn name!". I in turn asked who I was speaking with, and was told, "I will pull your fucking box!" I asked "You're going to pull my box?" and was told, "Yes, there it goes", and was hung up on.

I shortly thereafter recieved the original email explaining that the account had been cancelled, and leading to the subsequent correspondence.


Again, my intentions were never to abuse or harass you or any of your staff, and only to rectify what I thought was a valid grievance. If level3 was to perform maintenance that was not emergency, and would impact your customers with no prior notification, I would assume you would step up to bat for us and seek to rectify the situation, and ask for measures to prevent it from happening again in the future.

We have been long time customers, in good standing, with little to no problems in the past. I hope to come to a resolution which requires as little additional downtime, nor any ill will. On your Acceptable Use Policy, where I can see this being addressed is the following:
_________
Refusal Of Service
We reserve the right to refuse, cancel, or suspend service at our sole discretion within human reason.

_________



I hope to appeal to that human reason, and see how we can reinstate ourselves. I fully understand that you are in the position to make this decision, and I would prefer to make amends than walk or be cast away.
HostDime wrote:Harlan,

I understand you were not happy about the reboot of your server. In reality it wasn't down more then 1 minute. However you may run some services which require manual start. I was told by David that your attitude was not vulgar but it was very hostile. David is a good person and goes above and beyond clients call of duty. He doesn't deserve to be treated like that when he wasn't the one who caused the issue.

You deal with clients too, I am sure you don't appreciate being treated like your not human. Yes you were upset but the way you handled the situation was not good. We will never tolerate any hostile or abusive conversations from clients. We are human just like yourself with feelings. It really effects the stress level when someone like yourself comes with such a hostible attitude over the phone.

As it stands now we don't have a good feeling about keeping your business as future issues may occur due to your way of handling situations. We can reconsider if you want to renew your server now for one year and I will make sure you are always called before anything is done on the server.

The renewal rate would be $110.00/month


Manny
Senior Engineer
HostDime.com, Inc
Hosting.Server.Solutions
DimeNoc Orlando. FL 32801

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: RXR-152649
Department: Dedicated Servers
Priority: Low
Status: On Hold
Pyrella wrote:I promise I am not trying to beat a dead horse, however , this all stemmed from the situation 2 weeks ago in regards to our billing mix up. Any hostility I had came from issues that had been previously addressed, that were not followed up on. All I wanted was contact so that I could restart my services - even if these had taken place in the middle of the night, I'm usually either up, or up early enough to restart these before any customers are impacted. The issue was not about down time at all.

And yes, correct, my attitude was not vulgar, and I understand David may not have been directly responsible, but I was told he was a manager. When he was unable to provide answers to my questions, all I asked for was a supervisor. The person I was transferred to was both vulgar and hostile, when all I had asked for was a name so that I could have formal correspondence. How many times have you been called being told "some guy told me he could do this or that. What was his name? Oh, I don't know, some guy."


I also fully understand your support personnel are human, so am I, so are my clients. At the heart of everything, the client is the most important individual. My actions are for my clients - and as I said before, I apologize for any hostility I may have had, but vulgarities and hostilities were the least of what I heard when my clients had contacted me, which was minutes before I ended up contacting your office.


You said:
________________________
As it stands now we don't have a good feeling about keeping your business as future issues may occur due to your way of handling situations. We can reconsider if you want to renew your server now for one year and I will make sure you are always called before anything is done on the server.
________________________

Again, before 2 weeks ago, all my previous interactions with your company have been very positive. Everything from the transition of Servercove over to Hostdime, and the very few subsequent issues we have had were handled positively, and I believe good feedback from my side. With you calling me before anything is done that would impact downtime is all I had asked for originally. Even sufficient notice, or late night maintenance as you guys have normally had.

In regards to the subscription, as was handled 2 weeks ago with Mark and David, our account was set through March 27th, please see info at bottom of email.

As we're both aware, you guys do hold all the cards in this situation, and we do in fact need our data back. If your company can understand that I had overreacted, and am willing to make amends via a formal apology (I will even call David and personally apologize to him for taking out my frustrations on a person who was neither involved with nor able to change the disconnection issue.), I would do the same in regards to the means in which I was addressed after having spoke with the person I was last transferred to. I would like to look at it as a lesson learned, and give you my word that I will never react in a similar capacity again. We aren't a huge company with millions of customers, but every client we have is just as important to us as I hope we are to you. I would understand if you don't want our business any more, but I would like to request at least a fraction of our remaining time to pull some of our data off.


Reference:
[#JGA-xxxxxxxx]: Payment for your server 66.193.174.75 HD1046

PayPal info:
Payment Sent (ID #xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)




Business Name:
HostDime.com, Inc
Email:
paypal@hostdime.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Business Contact Information

Customer Service URL: http://www.hostdime.com Customer Service Email: sales@hostdime.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Total Amount:
-$1,000.00 USD

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Date:
Mar. 28, 2005
Time:
18:55:03 PST
Status:
Completed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Subject:
Server 66.193.174.75
Shipping Address:

No Address Provided

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Funding Type:
PayPal Funds
Funding Source:
$1,000.00 USD - PayPal Account
HostDime wrote:Harlan,

I apologize for the delay, I have reviewed your request with
management and this is their decision.

We will plug the server back online after you process a $75 reconnection
fee. If you renew in 30 days we will credit you back the $75.00 in your
renewal Smile

We value your business very much however we also value our staff. As you
can imagine some people are more sensitive then others and it is hard
to find loyal staff. Our clients are important but so is our staff
and we do not want any disruption in their work because of one client
just being hostile.

I totally understand your reactions but there is ways to handle things
and I do not agree with the way you handled it. It was clearly something
we did wrong and it could have been addressed but the way you approached it
was not the best way.

I do apologize they did that to your server but I will assure you personally
it will never happen again.




Manny
Senior Engineer
HostDime.com, Inc
Hosting.Server.Solutions
DimeNoc Orlando. FL 32801

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: RXR-152649
Department: Dedicated Servers
Priority: Low
Status: On Hold

I have paid the $75. We are backing up all our data (there is a lot)



We're coming up with some solutions for what we're going to do. 3 major ways we can go - Another hosted box, Buy our own box and colocate it, or do some gimp ass shared hosting which is what we out-grew and had to go to our own box for. All have advantages and disadvantages - hopefully by mid next week we'll have some options out there, and go from there.
Last edited by pyrella on February 17, 2006, 6:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Pyrella - Illusionist - Leader of Ixtlan on Antonia Bayle

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Post by Sylvus »

looks pretty good to me.
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Post by pyrella »

Moving to GD now
Pyrella - Illusionist - Leader of Ixtlan on Antonia Bayle

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Post by Animalor »

All of this because of an oversensitive phone jockey.

Just amazing.
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Post by Funkmasterr »

Well written and well handled if you ask me. Thanks for devoting so much of your time and effort into this PY, I think Its safe to say I speak for everyone here when I say its more than well appreciated.

Just keep us updated as info comes and let us know if there is something we can do to help.
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Post by Leonaerd »

I'm a client. Ooooh.
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Post by Nilaman »

Thanks a ton Py! I'll throw down another donation to go towards a new host. Rackspace is what I use and has been very good to me. I can't say I have ever complained about their quality of service.
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Post by Funkmasterr »

Animalor wrote:All of this because of an oversensitive phone jockey.

Just amazing.
Yes, nothing I read could in any way be seen as pyrella being rude. The only thing could have been tone of voice, which is highly dependent on interpretation, and is certainly not a valid reason for a serious company to cancel a customers service who has been nothing but punctual and cooperative in the past.
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Post by Marbus »

Looks to me like you were pretty professional. Thanks for the update and please let me know if there is anything I can do to help. I'll try to check out some other providers and get some ideas if you would like.

Thanks!
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Post by pyrella »

I'll point out the old adage:

There's three sides to every story - My side, his side, and the truth.

At the time of the call that got us pulled, I was at work, and the coworker next to me described me as 'eerily calm'. I will however admit, I was quite fucking livid the first time they pulled us from the billing issue...however that was a few weeks before =P

As I said in the last email from me, there was a lesson learned. Be polite, do what you can with that, and then move on if you aren't getting the results you deserve. We'd still be moving, only we wouldn't have lost the box for 6 days (or been extorted).
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Post by Kelshara »

You were professional. They were not. I would have been fired on the spot if I treated a customer (or a company we are a customer off for that matter) like that. And heh.. only having your first name in a signature like he has is very unprofessional.
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Post by noel »

I did phone support for 4.5 years at a major networking equipment vendor. I have been yelled at, cursed at, and treated badly when it was at no time due to myself or the service I was given. I have apologized on behalf of my company when we screwed up, and I have gotten my management involved on any issues where things were not able to be resolved to my customer's satisfaction smoothly or in an expedient manner.

Having said all of that, if I had ever treated a customer the way they're treating you it would have been my ass out the door, not the customer. This service is appalling, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that we appreciate you dealing with these idiots for us.

I'd vote for moving to a different host or getting our own box (though I'm not certain what the costs would be for that).
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Post by Truant »

Thanks a ton for all your work with this.

Let us know what we can do!

I think I smell the need for another pledge drive to get us set up somewheres.
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Post by Funkmasterr »

I also work phone tech support, while I most of the time will just use our citrix setup to screenshare with people to aleviate myself of the pains that come with stupid people running things that are beyond them, I can still concur with the people that have said that if I had so much as thought about speaking to a customer the way they spoke to you I wouldn't even get a chance to clean off my desk.
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Post by Xyphir »

The fact that they requested $500 to restore the server even though our subscription was not up reeks of extortion, but as you stated, they are holding all of the cards. Whatever happened to the customer always being right? In the end, it's your word vs. David's as far as how you spoke with him. Although we don't have the time, money or inclination to persue this in a legal manner, just because it's in a ToS contract does not mean it holds water especially something as vuagely worded as '... within human reason." Is there another mammal with the ability to reason? Who the hell writes this crap? My company is looking for someone to host our server and now I know who we won't be doing it with.

Thanks for keeping us in the loop, and spending the time to right the wrong.
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Post by Kwonryu DragonFist »

Compliments to Py for being so professional and being able to keep a cool head!

I would have lost my temper as soon as i read Mannys mail about ME being abusive to the fellow in the phone!

LOL, if anyone was rude and vulgar it was HIM!

What a doofus! "I'm pulling your box! Well, there it goes!"

What manners!
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Post by Leonaerd »

Is there another mammal with the ability to reason?
I just saw a great Discovery-type video that went all detailed into that thought. I'll try to find it!
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Post by sarlen »

**deleted it, libal and all that stuff..
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Post by Waran »

Thank you Py for sticking up for us clients :) You handled the situation more professionally than I would have. Thank you again for everything you're doing!
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Post by kyoukan »

Kelshara wrote:You were professional. They were not. I would have been fired on the spot if I treated a customer (or a company we are a customer off for that matter) like that. And heh.. only having your first name in a signature like he has is very unprofessional.
customer service almost never uses their last names.
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Post by Winnow »

Dump this host. There's got to be another one with similar pricing.

I'm sure the comics are a huge chunk of the data. Feel free to delete them if it speeds things up!
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Post by Nick »

Disgustingly poor customer service, drop these asshats asap!
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Post by Kelshara »

kyoukan wrote:
Kelshara wrote:You were professional. They were not. I would have been fired on the spot if I treated a customer (or a company we are a customer off for that matter) like that. And heh.. only having your first name in a signature like he has is very unprofessional.
customer service almost never uses their last names.
Hm really? I rarely deal with normal customer support but the few times I have they have always signed full name on emails (and usually go by first name on the phone).
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Post by Avestan »

It sounds to me like these guys are going out of business and are desperate for money.

This is not the way to run a company.

Move to another service (I am certainly willing to donate) and then let me know when I can hand write a letter to their president.

Stan
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Post by Funkmasterr »

kyoukan wrote:
Kelshara wrote:You were professional. They were not. I would have been fired on the spot if I treated a customer (or a company we are a customer off for that matter) like that. And heh.. only having your first name in a signature like he has is very unprofessional.
customer service almost never uses their last names.
My signature and everyone elses at my place of employment uses their full name, work phone number and email address in our sig. Granted we only have a couple hundred employees company wide.
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Post by Boogahz »

First off, the guy's "title" implies that he is not in customer service. Expecting him to actually have customer service skills may be a little too much. He is an engineer that has outside contact with clients though which would spark me to have more reinforcement of customer service skills with my employees.

Second, the first email response from them was horrible from a corporate perspective. If this type of action was normal, you would not see such language.

Third, the allegations, not the reaction, being made as to Py's actions on the phone call would be fairly normal for any representative when a supervisor is requested. We train our employees to accept that most of the time when a customer requests a supervisor, it is not because of something they did directly. They accept it and move on. This does not appear to be what happened here.

It's good to know that it did get resolved, but I would really like to know (maybe not good to find out before the data is moved) if this is their normal policy. It appears that it was a power struggle gone bad. The decision to pull the box may not have been one that is normally given to the person who made it. Every company is different though, so they could have had that authority. I do not think it is a good one to give freely. This is one time that I am glad to work in a highly regulated industry, vehicle insurance, where this type of decision has specific legal ramifications.
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Post by Kwonryu DragonFist »

They sure DON'T know how to make their customers happy nor how to keep them!

If i'd been talking to that rude fellow, after that response he gave, i'd do my best to find out where he lived/worked!

Good thing it was Py in the phone! :D

Such a rude individual!
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Post by Boogahz »

Funkmasterr wrote:
kyoukan wrote:
Kelshara wrote:You were professional. They were not. I would have been fired on the spot if I treated a customer (or a company we are a customer off for that matter) like that. And heh.. only having your first name in a signature like he has is very unprofessional.
customer service almost never uses their last names.
My signature and everyone elses at my place of employment uses their full name, work phone number and email address in our sig. Granted we only have a couple hundred employees company wide.
26k employees here.

External emails to customers are strictly handled by certain individuals. Those emails contain full names, 800 contact # with extension, and email information to get back in touch with that individual.
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Post by Funkmasterr »

Boogahz wrote:
Funkmasterr wrote:
kyoukan wrote:
Kelshara wrote:You were professional. They were not. I would have been fired on the spot if I treated a customer (or a company we are a customer off for that matter) like that. And heh.. only having your first name in a signature like he has is very unprofessional.
customer service almost never uses their last names.
My signature and everyone elses at my place of employment uses their full name, work phone number and email address in our sig. Granted we only have a couple hundred employees company wide.
26k employees here.

External emails to customers are strictly handled by certain individuals. Those emails contain full names, 800 contact # with extension, and email information to get back in touch with that individual.
Yeah, see in tech support we are constantly having to email out files and we get emails for tech support as well as calls. But our tech support department, including managers only consists of 18 people.
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Post by Lynks »

When I'm on the phone or writting emails to Texas Instruments, they usually only include their first name.
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Post by Sirensa »

WE ARE VERY IMPORTANT CLIENTS!

Manny's grammar sucked as much ass as his employees clearly do. What a bunch of gonads.
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Post by Kwonryu DragonFist »

Sirensa wrote:WE ARE VERY IMPORTANT CLIENTS!

Manny's grammar sucked as much ass as his employees clearly do. What a bunch of gonads.
Py is the epitome of Self-control though! :)

I envy his control in this matter.

I'd have a temper tantrum first at the call and secondly at the response "breaking the TOS" my ass! If anyone was rude and vulgar it was!!! :twisted:

Thank god for people that can remain calm and control themselves in situations like that!

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Post by Avestan »

Manny is the President. . .and it looks like a total ass too!

I will write a good letter when this is done.

After a few days of downtime the “hate group” found another host, of course. Upon doing a “whois” lookup, I found that the new IP’s traced to HostDime. I notified HostDime on April 20th via email to ask them if the hate group’s web sites were in violation of their acceptable use policy. Manny Vivar, President of HostDime replied that same day informing me that “We have given notice to the owner of the server to take off those sites within 3 business days to prevent service interruption.” Several days later on April 28th, I followed up and the sites were still online.

Since it had been eight days since the first email, it was time for a phone call. I contacted HostDime and left a message for Manny to give me a call. A couple of hours later, I get a call from Sean, President of ServerCove, who asked that I not use his last name. I let Sean know that I was researching an article for WebHostingTalk's HostingTech.com. Sean then informed me that ServerCove is the host of the “hate group”, not HostDime. But the IP’s trace to HostDime so what’s the relationship?

Sean first states that ServerCove and HostDime are partners. He then says he mis-stated himself and that the two are not partners but only share a common board member. Sean then informed me that the sites would not be taken down because of the right to "freedom of speech", and that he would only take a site down if it were illegal or was causing problems on their network due to attacks. Sean also asked me not to mention the "attack" part because he thought it might encourage individuals to attack their network. Hmm, I would've guessed that the network of any host of hate sites would be under constant attack.

I request to speak to the President of HostDime, Manny Vivar. About five minutes later Vivar comes to the phone. According to Vivar, HostDime owns 50% of ServerCove. Vivar said that he was in a difficult position and was reluctant about taking the sites down. Keep in mind the email eight days earlier where Vivar stated that he was giving his clients notice. Although Vivar was reluctant he didn't want the bad press to reach WebHostingTalk, "it's the largest web hosting forum in the world," Vivar said. I told Vivar not to take the sites down out of fear of bad press, I'm just reporting the facts. I stated that I just wanted to know if the sites were in violation of his AUP and if they were, why hasn't he taken them down.

After a lengthy conversation with Manny, he makes the decision to honor HostDime’s AUP and take the sites down. But I thought the sites weren’t hosted by HostDime. (hmmm, scratching head) Eight days after Vivar said he notified the "hate group", four of the twelve sites owned by the "hate group" were taken down. ( Three of these sites are now hosted elsewhere and I have an email in to the host and will let you know the outcome.)

Vivar later emails me saying " I hope you will post something positive as we have held up to our AUP." Vivar also states, “I would have never authorized that site [martinlutherking.org] to be on our network if I knew before hand. Those kind of sites should be kept down.” I wonder what reason Vivar gave the hate group for taking some of their sites down.

I find it amusing that several days later, on the forum of the "hate group", the owner of the hate sites stated that their host took down four of their sites claiming that Time Warner, the backbone of the host, would shut the host down if they didn't take the sites down. (I have an email in to Time Warner awaiting their response as to whether or not they would take such a stand.) I did not include a link to this forum because I do not want to encourage hits to their site.

Vivar Contradicts Himself

Several days later I realize that the site JewWatch is still up. I emailed Vivar on May 3 and am still awaiting a response. Meanwhile, an individual who I’ll call “The Mole,” contacted Vivar to confirm what his AUP really means when it comes to hate groups. “I’m interested in hosting some controversial websites and I wanted to talk to you rather than the sales guys to make sure it’s okay because I don’t want to run into any problems later. I have several hate sites, because I hate everybody,” the Mole says. Vivar says that he would have no problem hosting the sites and that "business is business."

“You have an accent, are you from Spain or Mexico?” asks the Mole. ”My origin is Mexican,” states Vivar. “Won’t your Mother or Daughter be upset if they find out you’re hosting my sites?” asks the Mole. “I hope they don’t find out but if they do I hope they’ll understand that business is business,” Vivar says. “So you don’t care as long as the check clears, right?” the Mole asks Vivar. “Yes,” states Vivar.

Vivar went from saying “I would have never authorized that site [martinlutherking.org] to be on our network if I knew before hand. Those kind of sites should be kept down,” when he knew he was speaking to WebHostingTalk, to “business is business” when he didn’t know that he was talking to “The Mole.” Need I say anything more? It’s all about the Benjamins.
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Post by Kylere »

Let us know when you need a new round of Donations. I think Pyro and the crew rock, do not bow to their money grasp any longer than we have to FFS.

Do you have the specs of what you need in raw terms? drive space, transfer needs, etc?
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Post by Ransure »

Im in on the next round of donations... thanks for your proffesional manner in handling this Py... When the floodgates open, I plan on letting this information out to all of the sites I visit.
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Post by Hoarmurath »

Nilaman wrote:Rackspace is what I use and has been very good to me. I can't say I have ever complained about their quality of service.
I've worked for Rackspace for just over 6 years now, starting as a Linux support guy, and now I'm an system developer in the IT depertment. Rackspace is all about good service, although, to be quite honest, it's not as cheap as many other dedicated server hosters out there. If you can negotiate a good price, I'd say go with Rackspace if at all possible, you certainly will not regret it. For one, I can guarantee that your server will not be taken offline without your prior knowledge, and we pride ourselves on having the best service in the entire Managed Hosting business.

But the catch is that it may very well be too expensive. That being said, I'd say give the sales guys a call and see what you can work out, and if the price isn't right, I am confident that they'll help steer you toward a reliable hoster for a lower price.
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Post by pyrella »

I actually spoke with a guy at Rackspace....the price seems a bit steep for what we need. However it seems very reasonable for a company that requires 5 9's of uptime and support.

400 a month for a comparable server, terrabyte bandwidth, etc, etc.

This does include insane fucking support - that I hope to never need =P


If you can find out about some inside specials for colocating or something similar, I'm open to it. Anyone else who has some good host reccomendations, I'd appreciate info.
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Post by Hesten »

Damn thats one bad customer service guy that company got. That is NO way to treat a customer, EVEN if you had been screaming at them from the start and called then names


I have seen my share of angry users, but if someone at this hospital behaved like that, they would be in for a 2 hour shouting match with our boss, or be cut off from customer service from us.


Hope you find another host, im again in for donations of course :)
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Post by Sargeras »

What kind of package are you looking for Py? and what price range?
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Post by Nilaman »

Hoarmurath wrote:
Nilaman wrote:Rackspace is what I use and has been very good to me. I can't say I have ever complained about their quality of service.
I've worked for Rackspace for just over 6 years now, starting as a Linux support guy, and now I'm an system developer in the IT depertment.
Use your super cool discount that you get for working there, and get us a cheap box!
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Post by Winnow »

Re-edit:

I said something about wondering what the breakdown was for a 400.00 server for the typical VV user..(example, 7.95/month, takes care of bandwidth and posts as well as 12GB of space which would be around $90/year compared to $4,800/year) Was thinking it might be worthwhile for VV posters to know what features of the server cost so they could understand the percentage contribution...example, if you just use the text message board, it's hella cheap..if you use IRC, Teamspeak, download files, the cost of the host rises exponentially) ...and then Py edited my post! (accidentally) Py's response:

I was saying it was insane =P


80% of that price is the support and facilities they offer, which we don't need (not that customer service isn't important, but we don't have SLA's with anyone requiring instant response and failover ).

I think I have a good deal lined up, and am checking them out now. This is run by the same people who worked with us personally with Servercove long before they became Hostdime. Good people and good service, and nothing but good things about them on review sites.

I'll keep everyone updated as I see what's going on.
Last edited by Winnow on February 18, 2006, 8:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Funkmasterr »

I don't do much but post, but I would be willing to donate at very least $100.
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Post by pyrella »

Shit I edited your reply instead of quoting it Winnow. Please edit back as I hit submit just as I realized it.
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Post by Winnow »

pyrella wrote:Shit I edited your reply instead of quoting it Winnow. Please edit back as I hit submit just as I realized it.
I forgot what I said!
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Post by pyrella »

You said it was very expensive and explain to people who may not understand what it entails more clearly.


Rather than do that, I said it was way too expensive =P

I'm currently using one of our vanity domains - hizouse.com - to test out a host right now. Going to make sure we can get all our non web services running properly before testing web stuff.

http://www.rapidvps.com is who we're looking at.
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Post by Laliana »

Damn mods! :lol:
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Post by Hoarmurath »

Nilaman wrote:
Hoarmurath wrote:
Nilaman wrote:Rackspace is what I use and has been very good to me. I can't say I have ever complained about their quality of service.
I've worked for Rackspace for just over 6 years now, starting as a Linux support guy, and now I'm an system developer in the IT depertment.
Use your super cool discount that you get for working there, and get us a cheap box!
Heh I pay $5 per month for my colo box. :)

But the catch is that my first 10GB of traffic per month are free, and then it's buck per gig over that.

Rackspace has been trying very hard to get out the colo business, so it's impossible for customers to colo a box, and very few employees get the privilege.

I can ask around to see if anyone knows of any good colo hosters though.
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Post by Winnow »

Hoarmurath wrote: Heh I pay $5 per month for my colo box. :)

But the catch is that my first 10GB of traffic per month are free, and then it's buck per gig over that.

I can ask around to see if anyone knows of any good colo hosters though.

Powweb is 7.95/month and includes 12GB of space, all the usual php extensions and stuff, 300GB/month bandwidth (10GB per day max), and is fast. They always have specials. (currently 6 months free with year purchase which brings it down to ~$5/month)

http://powweb.com/PowWeb/OnePlan/Detail

(can buy/register your domain name from GoDaddy.Com for cheap (8.00 or something)

Worth looking into if you ever need to host some files, set up a message board like this one, set up a full blown wesite with shopping carts, etc...or are tired of not having any space to quickly put up images to link, etc. 12GB is size enough for personal use and file hosting but not for VV as the 10GB/day wouldn't cut it for hosted files. I got shit down the day I hosted the Family Guy movie and it was only 187mb. (lots of pirates on VV it seems!)
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Post by Fash »

http://www.ev1servers.net

^^ awesome leased servers

I've been an ev1 customer for 4+ years on a $109/month server.
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Post by Morgrym »

http://www.tophostingsolutions.com/

Probably something better out there. But, this is what I used when I used to run my old guild pages.
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