I usually just lurk here under another ID but right now I'm kind of desperate so I'd like to get some feedback from other members.
I lease a dedicated server with management services included from one of the companies that hang out in these forums. I pay $300 a month for decent server on a 20M pipe. I have had this box for a couple years and service and uptime have been mostly good.
There have been several times during this period where there have been problems and I have found the company had stored some other sites on my server while they fixed problems or whatever. (Actually technically I 'caught' them doing this a couple times, but after cussing a little we got squared away and went on with business.)
Now the nightmare: Over the past three months the server has crashed a dozen times and has real hardware issues. I keep getting promises that it is fixed but it never is and a few days later it'll crash again causing hours of downtime for the sites I have on it. I asked many times for help from the company leasing me this dedicated server but they never really do anything.
Then about a month ago I find out I no longer have root access or WHM access to my server. I asked the comapny for this and they have made several excuses, bad hard disk, shadow file corrupted, etc etc. But even after letting them work on the box for anther two weeks they still have not fixed anything or provided me access.
I consulted with another server management company and they did not understand what the problem was. They recommended to just slave the drive and replace the old bad one. But when I asked my host to do this they ignored the request and made more excuses.
I should probably mention here that I currently have an open trouble ticket with them that I opened on March 5th (almost a month ago). I have since informed them that I am trying to move off their server (I only have 23 sites on the box) but now the pipe is so slow that I can't even download the archive files faster than 7 or 8 Kbps. FTP archiving and FXP are also failing because the connection is so crappy.
I offered this week to fly up there or to send a USB drive to them save my files and have them FedExed back to me (since I am under legal pressure to acquire two of my client's files).
No reply, just more excuses.
Sorry for all the details but I am trying to be as fair as possible and I don't want to post the trouble ticket or start any **** like that because I'm sure they depend on their business, but I am getting really desperate. In fact my server bill (another $300) is going to ACH tomorrow to them and I can't even download one complete archive to move it to a new box.
My latest idea is to hire a law firm or investigator local to the data center to see if they can visit the DC and acquire my files on a drive.
Even though they are a big name around here I was shocked to learn that in the end, I really don't know where the hell they are. No office. A disconnected phone number in their bogus whois, etc...
So does anybody on this board have any suggestions? I'm sure I'll get my nuts kicked in for using a server management service as a dedicated host but please don't bother. I just would like any idea if anyone has faced this before. If necessary I can post this big assed trouble ticket for reference but I will strip out the company name and details.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Despar8Best way to get banned from here.I usually just lurk here under another ID
Confession is good for the soul. What's your other user name, please?Confession is good for the soul
heh, classic Best way to get banned from here.
Wow. Thanks for the help. If just asking for help gets you banned then this board is nothing but worthless pseudo-advertising for shills. I don't think that's true, but looking at the replies so far maybe you're right.heh, classic
My other handle is koukou. I've been here over three years. Hmmm. That's longer than you have. Heh, now that's classic.
Anyway aside from worthless juvenile sniping to build up our posts counts, does anyone have any suggestions?Wow. Thanks for the help. If just asking for help gets you banned then this board is nothing but worthless pseudo-advertising for shills. I don't think that's true, but looking at the replies so far maybe you're right.
Sometimes I get that feeling too around here, but I voice my feelings of this under my normal username - or not at all - and then take a slap for it from the mods for saying something I shouldn't have. I suspect if you had:
a) not told us you have 2 usernames
or
b) posted under your normal username, you would have got the help you are hoping for.My other handle is koukou. I've been here over three years. Hmmm. That's longer than you have. Heh, now that's classic.
Anyway aside from worthless juvenile sniping to build up our posts counts, does anyone have any suggestions?
No offense intended, just that if you've been around here for years you should know WHT's position on having multiple logins:
"You are permitted a maximum of one account, active or inactive, regardless of how many companies you represent. (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.webhostingtalk.com/rules.php">http://www.webhostingtalk.com/rules.php</a><!-- m -->)"Unfortunately, there is really not much else you can do. This is why daily backups are so important. A server crashing (meaning completely offline) so frequently could be indicative of a hardware failure somewhere along the lines. Once you told them that you are cancelling service with them, they most likely said "He's cancelling so why go through the extra trouble." Now don't quote me on that but judging from the way they are treating things, it sure seems like it.
You don't have any backups at all?Fair enough eming, but in this instance I am trying not to create the typical firestorm that happens when a post like this comes out. I really just want some advice, I'm not trying to attack the sacred advertising cow. If I can get safely my files off this box I'll delete this user and go back to happily lurking.
ThanksYou don't have any backups at all?
Sadly, I trusted them to do my backups as well. It is a turnkey service they offer. Totally my bad. And hey I have already offered to pay them extra to help with the migration. It's sad really. If the TT was not so long I'd post it. It would curl your hair.
Thanks.What does their Terms of Service state? Anything you can use there?More humiliation. When it really started getting bad I checked their website for this and nothing. They don't even have a ToS, or phone number. They do use PayPal for payments so that might be a possibility. Again I'm not trying to shut them down I just want my files so I can go down the road.
Sad thing is there are hundreds of posts on this forum about how great they are. I just don't know where this went wrong.
ThanksIf there is no TOS and they refuse to work with you, I hate to say it but you are out of luck. Since you are under legal pressure to get those files, filing a paypal dispute won't get you your files back.You can try filing some kind of suit against them if yo u want to go down that route. I'm not a lawyer so I wouldn't know what type but it may be an option for you. Or perhaps since you need things quickly, contact your lawyer and have him give them a call once you find a contact phone number for them. (via whois information or other means)Also, judging from your description of the company (no TOS, only paypal payments), pricing, and server specs(bandwidth pipe) I believe I know who you are talking about. I can see if I can dig up some contact information for them.If just asking for help gets you banned then this board is nothing
Asking for help doesn't get you banned, but we do have rules. Thanks for letting us know the other name, we've contacted you to work this out. :wht:Thanks bear. Yes again, as soon as I get a resolve I will delete this user (or you guys can). Appreciate the temporary dispensation for this crisis. I really had no other way to get their attention and my *** is so sued if I don't recover those files.Thanks bear. Yes again, as soon as I get a resolve I will delete this user (or you guys can). Appreciate the temporary dispensation for this crisis. I really had no other way to get their attention and my *** is so sued if I don't recover those files.
While I understand your plight, there is no special "dispensation" happening here. We need to get you back to one name, and we do that through merging the names, typically, not deletion.
Best to discuss this via the helpdesk, and ASAP. Thanks.My Ideas....
1) dump your managment company - they are lying to you. name and shame them so the rest of us know to avoid them.
2) contact your host, get them to restore access to the server for you and perhaps name them publically so we can all prod them for you until they help youI am very curious to see this management company.
/subscribedI';m curious about this supposed "well-known" company (that doesn't have a phone number) too.Regards and best of luck.sounds like you met directspace.net
I unfortunitly got zapped by them years ago and same exact situation had happened.My Ideas....
1) dump your managment company - they are lying to you. name and shame them so the rest of us know to avoid them.
2) contact your host, get them to restore access to the server for you and perhaps name them publically so we can all prod them for you until they help you
It is managed hosting so this company is both the host and server manager. I'm really at their mercy.
They have started to reply to me now in the interest of getting this resolved so many thanks to this board for the help. (I also found a new managed host here. With a working phone number no less!)
I'll keep you updated.
ThanksI';m curious about this supposed "well-known" company (that doesn't have a phone number) too.
Regards and best of luck.
I know it's really tempting but as I said before, to keep this professional I will not mention the name of this company -- as long as they professionally hold up their end of the bargain. (They do have a phone number. It just doesn't work and is disconnected.)
Sorry folks, but these people depend on this for their living. If I can move on without suffering any more lost clients or being sued then I won't perpetuate the problem by outing them.
So far they seem to be trying to help me. Of course no actual data has moved over to my new server... Wish me luck.I know it's really tempting but as I said before, to keep this professional I will not mention the name of this company -- as long as they professionally hold up their end of the bargain.
It's been a month and you don't have access to your server, you can't get the files you need, they have apparently given you the run around, and clearly demonstrated they don't know what they are doing. It sounds to me like they have done everything possible to not hold up their end of the bargain.
If they don't get you your data, I think your most cost effective recourse is to slam them on WHT. Their actions (from hosting other customers on your server without consent) to dicking you around with your server failure are simply inexcusable and indefensible.Get a lawyer or somebody that is able to get the files off the server then switch to another provider.Update: So far everything seems to have gone good. After the nightmare of over a month and constant worry about loosing so much time and potential income, it is nearly over.
First, I want to truly and deeply thank this board and the members for their support during this. After all that BS, it only took one simple post to have my files recovered and safely moved to a new box in under 48 hours. Now that is awesome!!!
Of course I would have been out countless thousands of dollars flying up to the DC or hiring someone to fight for my files. Instead this was handled through the sheer force of public exposure. Again my deepest thanks (sniff sniff).
At this point I'll quietly fade back to lurking as promised. There is still the question of a refund but I don't think there will be a problem with that. The offending company has done what they should have done and I can move on.
While I cannot post the name of the company because I gave my word, I do want to close with this. I am writing 1000 times on the chalkboard.
I will not trust a company without a publically posted address and phone number. I will not host with someone who manages dedicated servers but also runs a dedicated server hosting service. Etc Etc Etc.
Lesson learned. Thanks again to this board. (And yes the name of the company would have blown your mind.) UPDATE: Well it's a week later and still no refund. I've sent a paypal request. I built a html page with buy now button so they can use a credit card to pay me, and now at their request I just created an invoice and sent it.
Just about at the end of my rope. I will wait 24 hours from now. If I don't have a refund I'll post the whole ticket and out them.Well, hope you can get this solved soon and get your money back after all your troubles.
I lease a dedicated server with management services included from one of the companies that hang out in these forums. I pay $300 a month for decent server on a 20M pipe. I have had this box for a couple years and service and uptime have been mostly good.
There have been several times during this period where there have been problems and I have found the company had stored some other sites on my server while they fixed problems or whatever. (Actually technically I 'caught' them doing this a couple times, but after cussing a little we got squared away and went on with business.)
Now the nightmare: Over the past three months the server has crashed a dozen times and has real hardware issues. I keep getting promises that it is fixed but it never is and a few days later it'll crash again causing hours of downtime for the sites I have on it. I asked many times for help from the company leasing me this dedicated server but they never really do anything.
Then about a month ago I find out I no longer have root access or WHM access to my server. I asked the comapny for this and they have made several excuses, bad hard disk, shadow file corrupted, etc etc. But even after letting them work on the box for anther two weeks they still have not fixed anything or provided me access.
I consulted with another server management company and they did not understand what the problem was. They recommended to just slave the drive and replace the old bad one. But when I asked my host to do this they ignored the request and made more excuses.
I should probably mention here that I currently have an open trouble ticket with them that I opened on March 5th (almost a month ago). I have since informed them that I am trying to move off their server (I only have 23 sites on the box) but now the pipe is so slow that I can't even download the archive files faster than 7 or 8 Kbps. FTP archiving and FXP are also failing because the connection is so crappy.
I offered this week to fly up there or to send a USB drive to them save my files and have them FedExed back to me (since I am under legal pressure to acquire two of my client's files).
No reply, just more excuses.
Sorry for all the details but I am trying to be as fair as possible and I don't want to post the trouble ticket or start any **** like that because I'm sure they depend on their business, but I am getting really desperate. In fact my server bill (another $300) is going to ACH tomorrow to them and I can't even download one complete archive to move it to a new box.
My latest idea is to hire a law firm or investigator local to the data center to see if they can visit the DC and acquire my files on a drive.
Even though they are a big name around here I was shocked to learn that in the end, I really don't know where the hell they are. No office. A disconnected phone number in their bogus whois, etc...
So does anybody on this board have any suggestions? I'm sure I'll get my nuts kicked in for using a server management service as a dedicated host but please don't bother. I just would like any idea if anyone has faced this before. If necessary I can post this big assed trouble ticket for reference but I will strip out the company name and details.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Despar8Best way to get banned from here.I usually just lurk here under another ID
Confession is good for the soul. What's your other user name, please?Confession is good for the soul
heh, classic Best way to get banned from here.
Wow. Thanks for the help. If just asking for help gets you banned then this board is nothing but worthless pseudo-advertising for shills. I don't think that's true, but looking at the replies so far maybe you're right.heh, classic
My other handle is koukou. I've been here over three years. Hmmm. That's longer than you have. Heh, now that's classic.
Anyway aside from worthless juvenile sniping to build up our posts counts, does anyone have any suggestions?Wow. Thanks for the help. If just asking for help gets you banned then this board is nothing but worthless pseudo-advertising for shills. I don't think that's true, but looking at the replies so far maybe you're right.
Sometimes I get that feeling too around here, but I voice my feelings of this under my normal username - or not at all - and then take a slap for it from the mods for saying something I shouldn't have. I suspect if you had:
a) not told us you have 2 usernames
or
b) posted under your normal username, you would have got the help you are hoping for.My other handle is koukou. I've been here over three years. Hmmm. That's longer than you have. Heh, now that's classic.
Anyway aside from worthless juvenile sniping to build up our posts counts, does anyone have any suggestions?
No offense intended, just that if you've been around here for years you should know WHT's position on having multiple logins:
"You are permitted a maximum of one account, active or inactive, regardless of how many companies you represent. (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.webhostingtalk.com/rules.php">http://www.webhostingtalk.com/rules.php</a><!-- m -->)"Unfortunately, there is really not much else you can do. This is why daily backups are so important. A server crashing (meaning completely offline) so frequently could be indicative of a hardware failure somewhere along the lines. Once you told them that you are cancelling service with them, they most likely said "He's cancelling so why go through the extra trouble." Now don't quote me on that but judging from the way they are treating things, it sure seems like it.
You don't have any backups at all?Fair enough eming, but in this instance I am trying not to create the typical firestorm that happens when a post like this comes out. I really just want some advice, I'm not trying to attack the sacred advertising cow. If I can get safely my files off this box I'll delete this user and go back to happily lurking.
ThanksYou don't have any backups at all?
Sadly, I trusted them to do my backups as well. It is a turnkey service they offer. Totally my bad. And hey I have already offered to pay them extra to help with the migration. It's sad really. If the TT was not so long I'd post it. It would curl your hair.
Thanks.What does their Terms of Service state? Anything you can use there?More humiliation. When it really started getting bad I checked their website for this and nothing. They don't even have a ToS, or phone number. They do use PayPal for payments so that might be a possibility. Again I'm not trying to shut them down I just want my files so I can go down the road.
Sad thing is there are hundreds of posts on this forum about how great they are. I just don't know where this went wrong.
ThanksIf there is no TOS and they refuse to work with you, I hate to say it but you are out of luck. Since you are under legal pressure to get those files, filing a paypal dispute won't get you your files back.You can try filing some kind of suit against them if yo u want to go down that route. I'm not a lawyer so I wouldn't know what type but it may be an option for you. Or perhaps since you need things quickly, contact your lawyer and have him give them a call once you find a contact phone number for them. (via whois information or other means)Also, judging from your description of the company (no TOS, only paypal payments), pricing, and server specs(bandwidth pipe) I believe I know who you are talking about. I can see if I can dig up some contact information for them.If just asking for help gets you banned then this board is nothing
Asking for help doesn't get you banned, but we do have rules. Thanks for letting us know the other name, we've contacted you to work this out. :wht:Thanks bear. Yes again, as soon as I get a resolve I will delete this user (or you guys can). Appreciate the temporary dispensation for this crisis. I really had no other way to get their attention and my *** is so sued if I don't recover those files.Thanks bear. Yes again, as soon as I get a resolve I will delete this user (or you guys can). Appreciate the temporary dispensation for this crisis. I really had no other way to get their attention and my *** is so sued if I don't recover those files.
While I understand your plight, there is no special "dispensation" happening here. We need to get you back to one name, and we do that through merging the names, typically, not deletion.
Best to discuss this via the helpdesk, and ASAP. Thanks.My Ideas....
1) dump your managment company - they are lying to you. name and shame them so the rest of us know to avoid them.
2) contact your host, get them to restore access to the server for you and perhaps name them publically so we can all prod them for you until they help youI am very curious to see this management company.
/subscribedI';m curious about this supposed "well-known" company (that doesn't have a phone number) too.Regards and best of luck.sounds like you met directspace.net
I unfortunitly got zapped by them years ago and same exact situation had happened.My Ideas....
1) dump your managment company - they are lying to you. name and shame them so the rest of us know to avoid them.
2) contact your host, get them to restore access to the server for you and perhaps name them publically so we can all prod them for you until they help you
It is managed hosting so this company is both the host and server manager. I'm really at their mercy.
They have started to reply to me now in the interest of getting this resolved so many thanks to this board for the help. (I also found a new managed host here. With a working phone number no less!)
I'll keep you updated.
ThanksI';m curious about this supposed "well-known" company (that doesn't have a phone number) too.
Regards and best of luck.
I know it's really tempting but as I said before, to keep this professional I will not mention the name of this company -- as long as they professionally hold up their end of the bargain. (They do have a phone number. It just doesn't work and is disconnected.)
Sorry folks, but these people depend on this for their living. If I can move on without suffering any more lost clients or being sued then I won't perpetuate the problem by outing them.
So far they seem to be trying to help me. Of course no actual data has moved over to my new server... Wish me luck.I know it's really tempting but as I said before, to keep this professional I will not mention the name of this company -- as long as they professionally hold up their end of the bargain.
It's been a month and you don't have access to your server, you can't get the files you need, they have apparently given you the run around, and clearly demonstrated they don't know what they are doing. It sounds to me like they have done everything possible to not hold up their end of the bargain.
If they don't get you your data, I think your most cost effective recourse is to slam them on WHT. Their actions (from hosting other customers on your server without consent) to dicking you around with your server failure are simply inexcusable and indefensible.Get a lawyer or somebody that is able to get the files off the server then switch to another provider.Update: So far everything seems to have gone good. After the nightmare of over a month and constant worry about loosing so much time and potential income, it is nearly over.
First, I want to truly and deeply thank this board and the members for their support during this. After all that BS, it only took one simple post to have my files recovered and safely moved to a new box in under 48 hours. Now that is awesome!!!
Of course I would have been out countless thousands of dollars flying up to the DC or hiring someone to fight for my files. Instead this was handled through the sheer force of public exposure. Again my deepest thanks (sniff sniff).
At this point I'll quietly fade back to lurking as promised. There is still the question of a refund but I don't think there will be a problem with that. The offending company has done what they should have done and I can move on.
While I cannot post the name of the company because I gave my word, I do want to close with this. I am writing 1000 times on the chalkboard.
I will not trust a company without a publically posted address and phone number. I will not host with someone who manages dedicated servers but also runs a dedicated server hosting service. Etc Etc Etc.
Lesson learned. Thanks again to this board. (And yes the name of the company would have blown your mind.) UPDATE: Well it's a week later and still no refund. I've sent a paypal request. I built a html page with buy now button so they can use a credit card to pay me, and now at their request I just created an invoice and sent it.
Just about at the end of my rope. I will wait 24 hours from now. If I don't have a refund I'll post the whole ticket and out them.Well, hope you can get this solved soon and get your money back after all your troubles.