This message is for anyone currently seeking hosting, to stay away from vortechhosting.com.

These bozos owe me $2400 in hosting and continue to blow me off. Their preisident, and active poster here in the forums, Brad Pugh, is a liar. No, this is not slander, its the truth. Let me explain....

Back in April I began to look for a new host for my colo because Interland decided to stop hosting colo's. After much research, I found Vortech to be surprising cheap compared to other hosting companies. At that time, they were offering top of the line dedicated servers with 330gb of transfer per month. The price was $400/month with a 6-month contract.

Sounds too good to be true? Thats what I thought, so I called them to ask what's the catch. I ended up talking with their President, Brad Pugh, who assured me there was no catch. He stated that they are not like the big companies out there looking for big profits to pay all their sales people. He said that it was his company and bandwidth is cheap and profits are really made from clients purchasing dedicated servers, blah blah blah.

After more conversation, we spoke about the bandwidth. I told him I'd probably use that full 330gb and perhaps more per month. My site is heavily visted and I was concerned about connectivity and if they could handle me. Brad gave me a positive yes and said no problem. I then mentioned several times throughout the conversation again about the amount of traffic and he assured me each time, that Vortech could handle it. He went as far as telling me I should have them setup a DUAL pentium processor system from them so that the server could handle the traffic.

Well, I sent them them money and they set me all up. About 10 days later, they turned me off. I got a note from a Craig Smith who also works there who told me they had to turn it off because the traffic on my server was draining their network. They said that several customers called complaining about their connectivity, so they had to turn me off. He mentioned something about me pulling 1 gig per hour (bull****) and at that rate, my bandwidth would be used up in a matter of days.

Two days later, another person named Mike called me and said that in order for them to be able to handle me, they would have to move me to a dedicated T1 and charge me close to 900/month. I told Mike there was no way I was going to pay that and that I spoke with the PRESIDENT of the company before I signed up and was assured the price/bandwidth was not an issue. Mike then continued to say that the president is more of a 'virtual server' type person and really had no idea on how to price dedicated servers. That I was told the wrong price blah blah blah...

I told Mike that I couldn't pay that and expected a full refund. He understood and said no problem, we will refund you. I then had a few more words about what I thought of the company and how clueless their "President" is.

Well, its been two months now and I'm still waiting for my money. I talked with Brad on several occasions and he repeatedly told me that he sent it out. And one time, he said it must of got lost and that he issued me a new check via UPS Ground. I never received that either.

A few weeks ago I called and yelled and said they could pay me now, or I'll seem them in small claims court for a larger amount. I was given a line of bull**** again about how the check has been sent out.

Again, it never was. I called again and spoke with Craig Smith. I yelled at him and HE confessed that Brad NEVER sent out a check! That Vortech didn't have that much money!!!! Brad, their Prisident, LIED to me for almost two months!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe that?????? The morons spent my $2400 in less than 10 days. They don't even have $800 of worth of capital or overhead. What kind of company is this???? Joe Bob's Internet Hosting? Is it run out of their parents basement???

I continued to talk to Craig and agreed on an installment plan. They agreed to pay me 800 last week, and send two more payments over the summer. Guess what... still no money and now no one there will talk to me. Some jerk named Mike keeps picking up the phone and saying everyone's on another line. No messages are returned.

I found the President's cell phone number (407-716-5846 - give him a call!!) from an initial email he sent me regarding emergency tech support, and he hung up on me!!!!!!!! Now he's too afraid to answer it and lets incoming calls go to his voice mail!

http://www.vortechhosting.com is a SCAM and will be appearing in small claims court defending themselves if I dont get my money in a hurry. Its a no lose situation on my behalf and Craig went as far as agreeing with me on that.


I urge EVERONE reading this to stay as far away as possible from them, and anyone hosted by them to get out why they can.

I found a new host, and love the heck out of them. I'm actually paying 50 bucks less per month than I was with Vortech and have had no problems for the last 7 weeks.



:kaioken: John Benson
~ A guy who runs a silly Star Wars website called JediNet.com that managed to kill Vortech's worthless network.

Damn, I feel really sorry for you. I hope your new host serves you well for the time to come. I can't believe they spent all the money you gave them and then offered to refund you in installments. That is total bulldoodoo. I wonder if there is another side to this story.

Well, yeah, that makes sense... They tried to sell you more bandwidth than they actually had... Selling 330GB on a single T1 to multiple customers? Geez. I hope you get your money.

Regards,

Rest assured Teck, there is no other side to the story. I wouldn't post something on here and lie about it.

Vortech screwed up bad and are handling the situation completely unprofessional. I filed a complaint with the BBB two weeks ago.

More power to you. In order to get your money, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Wow, if this is true... that's pretty pathetic.

I guess I can somewhat understand if their network wasn't able to handle your server (although they should have figured that out beforehand -- seeing as you told them your server is very high traffic). HOWEVER, they should have issued an immediate refund. 3 months is way too long.

Vader,

I hope things work out for you. There are way to many people out there just waiting for an opportunity to screw you out of every cent they can. I wish you the best.

I really have a hard time understanding there pricing. $400.00/month for 330 GB of traffic. You could most likely fit that on a 1.0 Meg/sec connection. If they are small they would be able to get that connection for about $1500/month CDN from UUNET, so thats roughly $1000.00/US/month. So they would be loseing $600.00/month off the deal. Even if they managed to get it for half price off a substandard bandwidth provider it would still be hard to make any type of profit out of it.

I really do hope you get your money back, good luck to you sir.

[ Jason Berresford | Admin ]
[ Admin@can-host.com ]
[ (905)765-8140 ]
[http://www.can-host.com - Can-Host Networks]

Originally posted by Jason_Berresford
[B]I really have a hard time understanding there pricing. $400.00/month for 330 GB of traffic. You could most likely fit that on a 1.0 Meg/sec connection.

You can easily provide that price inside of a bigger data center... Pricing on DS3's and higher, usually is $400 per meg or less (excluding UUnet, who knows they can charge $500 per meg on a DS3 because they are UUnet).

Regards,

What an active imagination John has.

Its too bad you had to resort to trashing us. Luckily for us we have so many happy customers and referral business that we can afford the occasional disgruntled customer .

A few things John selectively forgot to mention.

He left his previous host because he was being charged $1200.00 per month due to exceeding his alotted bandwidth.

We told him the $400 plan he requested wouldn't support the kind of bandwidth he wanted and he would be charged accordingly.. he flat out lied and said he would be able to stay within the 30GB per month area...so we charged him only for that plan. The only thing Brad said was that if he needed more we could accomodate him (but certainly not for $400 per month!!!!)

..In reality he was nearing the 1GB per hour area... when confronted about it, he said he would check the site giving us the problem,, which by the way was NOT his Star Wars site, it was another domain he was hosting on his dedicated server. We gave him 16 Ip's,, he had a ton of stuff running on this server in addition to his "Little Star Wars Site"

..After we notified him of exceeding his bandwidth allotment, it slowed down quite a bit, till the next day... back to 1-2 GB per hour. This went on and off for around 2 weeks.

When confronting John about the charges for his bandwidth violations we suggested a plan that would suit his needs and still save him a few $ from what his old host charged him. We quoted him at $900 per month providing that he paid for the bandwidth he used.
We even told him if he upgraded we would wave the charges for bandwidth since it appeared to not have been his fault in the first place (the offending site).......

He didn't want to upgrade, so we pulled the plug on his box. Any other hosting company would have taken him down the first day or charged him accordingly. We tried to offer other solutions for him.

From what I can gather from this situation is that john was hosting a very high bandwidth site,, I think it may have been a friend of his. When we told John about the bandwidth problem, John confronted the webmaster of the other site on the server,,,, more than likely the other guy didn't want to pay John more for bandwidth,, thus why John didn't want to pay us more. Those of you in the hosting biz know the story....


Unfortunately in this case nobody wins. John won't get a refund and we'll never get paid for our bandwidth charges and server costs (which exceeded well over $2400.00)

Small Claims court is not a bad idea. Unfortunately for John, we have all the documentation and proof of his TOS/AUP violations along with the logs showing his bandwidth usage. If he wants to pursue that, its up to him.


...I guess it comes down to who you believe,, A guy who runs a silly Star Wars website or a guy who works for a silly little webhosting company.


...I know i'll sleep ok tonite though.. how 'bout you John?

I am very interested in how this turns out. It looks bad for the both of them.....esp. if the president said that they could handle his sites for that cost.

The president told him no such thing. If theres any confusion of what we offer in dedicated and how much we charge its not a secret..... its clearly posted on our site along with bandwidth costs.

http://www.vortechhosting.com/pcservers.asp

You can easily provide that price inside of a bigger data center... Pricing on DS3's and higher, usually is $400 per meg or less (excluding UUnet, who knows they can charge $500 per meg on a DS3 because they are UUnet).

My apologizes, I should of clarified a bit more.. I was pertaining to smaller hosting companies. Not the ones that use up OC3's with out even thinking twice about it :)

I might have missed something .. but on your website.. for connection charges .. you have the following:

330 GB $999

Why then was he given a quote of $400.00 for around 300 Gigs of traffic/month?

Perhaps I am looking in the wrong area.

<I>What an active imagination John has.

Its too bad you had to resort to trashing us. Luckily for us we have so many happy customers and referral business that we can afford the occasional disgruntled customer . </I>

Who's got the active imagination?? Holy crap! After talking to you TWO days ago, and telling me you were sending me 800 bucks you now post this?? Caught in another lie! Even you were giving me a line of crap. SO you can't answer your phone, but you have no problem trying to defend yourself behind a keyboard.

So what you are telling these people is that I exceeded my bandwidth quota in a day (That friday you turned it off and emailed me) and racked up $2400 in bandwidth at $2/gig? Please. You turned it off. If my site was too big for your network, than fine. I never complained about you turning it off. Hell I didnt even complain when you said I would have to pay more than double to stay alive. I simply asked if I was getting a full refund and all three of you guys said YES. 3/4 of your post has NO revelance to the issue.

You have documentation that will prove me wrong? Oh please. There was no contract that I signed saying you could take my money and run. I however, do have a check with your companys endorsement on it and proof that I received no services.

I warned you over and over I would trash you on these forums for months and you kept telling me you would send me a refund. I continued to tell you to just send my money and I'd let the situation slide.


Your post is just killing me. I can't believe I caught you guys in another lie. What happened to the installment agreement we agreed on? Hell, YOU even offered me FREE hosting for a little while once you got new T1 or 3's pulled in to help make the situation right? Are you guys on drugs over there? What is this????????????

If you had no intention of ever paying me and applying your made up rule above, why didn't you say it months ago, rather than posting it here in front of all these people. It's you who is the ass.

I can't believe you .. what a joke. See ya in court. How about Judge Judy. She'd love to make you look like an idiot.

You just made your company look like a bigger ass man.


So there you go guys and gals of webhostingtalk.com.
Because I trashed Vortech for not sending me my entitled refund, suddenly the story has changed and I was never suppose to get one!

~John

P.S> Where's your fearless leader Brad? He sending his lackeys to the forums to defend him just like he does with phone calls?

And your customers aren't all that happy. Something about your DNS constantly going down and people screwing with the servers there and messing with file permssions on your unix boxes? ALL you have are virtual host customers. Remember, I was the the 2nd dedicated customer you had? Oh wait... maybe this is my active imagination talking.

...thats my point Jason,,, HE WASN'T!!!

I offered him the plan you mentioned for $900,,, the $399 plan comes with 30GB NOT!! 300GB... this is where the confusion starts for john i think.

John,

For the record, Brads already reviewed this account many times. If he told you you would be refunded, it was assuming you would pay for the bandwidth charges on your first bill. I was only recently made aware of the problem. After reviewing the log files,, turns out you owe us alot more than we owe you.

Fight it out all you want buddy,, but like I said , were covered,,, its in our AUP and by hosting with us your bound to it like every customer.

Anyway,, sorry you had to stoop as low as to trash a good company. I'm not going to bother responding to your posts anymore. Its pretty clear that I only made things worse by responding the first time. I'm not really into this sort of thing and especially not into trashing people on message boards.

good Luck to you.

.

I have nothing to do with this batle, but, for all of you WHT observers,

We told him the $400 plan he requested wouldn't support the kind of bandwidth he wanted and he would be charged accordingly.. he flat out lied and said he would be able to stay within the 30GB per month area...so we charged him only for that plan. The only thing Brad said was that if he needed more we could accomodate him (but certainly not for $400 per month!!!!)

The original message fr Craig clearly mentioned 300GB, before being edited at 3.41

Boy I was late in replying :)

John, i would recommend taking this company to court, from what you posted, it seems you have all the proof on your side. Depending on the small claims limits in your state (or theirs) you may have to take them to a lawsuit or cap your small claims to the cap.

If Vortech is not a INC, then if you win, you can of course put liens on the companies assets including the owners personal property

hope it doesnt come to that. I hate seeing stories like this

refer to my post after that.....regardless of my typo, the site doesn't lie:

http://www.vortechhosting.com/pcservers.asp

We told him the $400 plan he requested wouldn't support the kind of bandwidth he wanted and he would be charged accordingly.. he flat out lied and said he would be able to stay within the 30GB per month area...so we charged him only for that plan. The only thing Brad said was that if he needed more we could accomodate him (but certainly not for $400 per month!!!!)

I noticed you edited that area of the post.. it did read: "he would be able to stay with in the 300GB per month area" Was that simply a typing error?

I changed the subject from "WOW" to "Vortech Responds"...... on my last edit

Funny, I read this thread earlier too - and unless I wasn't paying close attention - I too thought that the figure mentioned by Craig2001 was 300gig. :eek:

Good .. I thought I was loseing my mind :)

Chicken

dont there anything that keeps messages before changing?



Also i think you must close this thread or warn Vader

may be he is right in topic but he is saying idiot (or things like that)

no one has right to swear anyone or any company in my opinion

now we understand what are the thoughts of vader about company and also read the defence of company

i dont think we need anymore comment on this issue as this issue gone to court

every time we comment against on company their prestige decreses

i think we must wait judge 's decision

then we will comment on this issue

if vader right we wont work with this company in future

unless i think we are effecting badly on this companies reputation

thanks

It seems to me like it's one company's word against another, how about both sides show their documentation on these boards, then it'll be obvious who's lying.

That's not necessary. Try to stay out of it.

every time we comment against on company their prestige decreses
And they may well deserve it. It serves a useful purpose for those searching for a host, and those who will search in the future, to build a body of information about a host. One accusation will be taken with a grain of salt. But over time a pattern may emerge, of complaints by customers and/or unprofessional responses by the company on this board, that will help people make a decision about hosting with that company. Think "Sean" and "Burst."

Originally posted by Deb Suran
every time we comment against on company their prestige decreses
And they may well deserve it. It serves a useful purpose for those searching for a host, and those who will search in the future, to build a body of information about a host. One accusation will be taken with a grain of salt. But over time a pattern may emerge, of complaints by customers and/or unprofessional responses by the company on this board, that will help people make a decision about hosting with that company. Think "Sean" and "Burst."

Think that vader is a liar and company win the court

but no one writes anything about result

what will the other people who will search this company

potential customer will think that this company is bad unreputable non workable .....

in my opinion all of us trust justice

wait until judge decision

Nuff said. You guys just witnessed another Vortech coverup. 300GB turned into 30GB suddenly. They are more crooked than Interland with whom I've dealt with in the past.

I have plenty of emails from Vortech with my pricing, server setup, and bandwidth. Sure I could post them here, but to be honest, I dont see the point. Its hard to prove an email is authentic. But then again.. what the heck.. I love this one I got from them back on April 27th after they decided the site was too big for their britches:


---------------------------------------------------------------------
,,,,bet your glad i didn't put the bandwidth in your contract now!!.just
kidding


Address Megabytes
1 198.172.189.4 716.134
2 198.172.189.192 608.428
3 198.172.189.193 368.898
4 198.172.189.42 199.856
5 198.172.189.10 42.073
6 198.172.189.3 38.620
7 198.172.189.194 37.168
8 198.172.189.196 36.123
9 198.172.189.39 32.146
10 198.172.189.2 21.359
11 198.172.189.150 19.824
12 198.172.189.28 18.050
13 198.172.189.11 17.840
14 198.172.189.30 9.168
15 198.172.189.31 8.251
16 198.172.189.40 4.706
17 198.172.189.5 3.679
18 198.172.189.146 2.511
19 198.172.189.199 2.325
20 198.172.189.37 2.223
21 198.172.189.17 2.216
22 198.172.189.23 2.021
23 198.172.189.151 1.940
24 198.172.189.198 1.701
25 198.172.189.152 1.581

Craig Smith
craig@vortechhosting.com
Toll Free: (877)-224-1098
(321)-235-9441
http://www.vortechhosting.com

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


and then email I received when things were ready to go:


----------------------------------------------------------
Hello! Thanks for signing up with Vortech Hosting.

General Information:
IP range: 198.172.189.191
198.172.189.192
198.172.189.193
198.172.189.194
198.172.189.195
198.172.189.196
198.172.189.197
198.172.189.198
198.172.189.199
198.172.189.200


DNS server: DNS39.vortechhosting.com
DNS.vortechhosting.com


Login for Terminal Server: Administrator
Password: 9578rtsw



Installed Software:

OS: Windows 2000 Server
Mail Server: Imail 6.6


Bandwidth: 300 GB per month
Overage charge: $2.00 GB


Tech Support:
Brad Pugh: support@vortechhosting.com

24/7 Phone for Outages only: 407-716-5846
877-224-1098 9-5 E.S.T.

Hardware/Network support only, software issues are subject to $150 per hour
charge, 1 hour minimum.


Craig Smith
craig@vortechhosting.com
Toll Free: (877)-224-1098
(321)-235-9441
http://www.vortechhosting.com
----------------------------------------------------------------


Nuff said. I won't back down. Vortech can say all they want. The pricing schedule they have now changed months ago. I was under the old price plan (before they realized how screwed up they were and had to increase their prices).

Still, the point being a refund is entitled. IM still trying to figure out how I used more 2400 bucks worth of bandwidth from April 19th - 27th. Think about what you are saying Craig. How the heck do your numbers add up?

You keep mentioning some sort of agreement... I dont remember reading one or signing one? Or is this something I overlooked (I mean you made up)?

I suppose I'm done posting now because this matter will be handled by the lawyers and courts. This forum is for talking about experiences and thats what I did. You all have been warned.

And now a shameless plug for my new host whom I've been happy with since May 11th - NYI (nyi.net)
330gb/month fixed, dedicated server - $357/month. And they have a contract and invoices!! Woo hoo!

Assuming they did give 330GIG's/mo. for $400, that's about $1.21/GIG. Assuming you used a GIG an hour each day (24 GIG's a day), from Apr. 19 to the 27th (8 days) -- 192 hours = 192 GIGs x $1.21/GIG = $232.32. Assuming you were on them for 8 days, using 192 GIGs (a gig each hour of the 8 days) at 330GIG's for $999 ($3.02/GIG), that's still far less than $2,400 total that was sent, since 192 GIG's would equal $538.24. So, $2,400 - $538.24 = $1,861.76. So, even at the plan posted on the site, what accounts for the $1,861.76 difference? What costs more than $2,400? Okay, assuming he had the 30 GIG plan and not the 330 GIG plan, wouldn't that still cover the costs? I mean, how much is extra bandwidth for the 30 GIG plan, as opposed to the 330 GIG plan? If you can afford to give 330 GGIs for $999, wouldn't it stand to reason that there would be less potential for such a loss as to not even have the $2,400 cover the bandwidth costs, even at 1 GIG an hour? How much was this system, who bought it and where was this loss created? Just curious. Finally, Vaderm you're right, email's are difficult to prove and might not show what you need anyway. You should have gotten this in writing. I'm not defending Vader here, just curious about how this was calculated.

Tim,

Thanks for great math skills:)
There was no charge for the server. The pricing plans at the time all had a "$0" setup fee. The one I ended up going with, according to Brad, was one that an employee had ordered for himself, but he stated that paying customers were first and that the employee could order a new one. Thus, he set me up with that server. But of course, this story will be different in the eyes of Vortech... whatever

I asked for the info in writing. I actually asked for a contract. At the time, they had no such thing. According to Craig (or Brad.. forgot who) this was new and they didnt have a generic contract for dedicated servers, but would draw one up. I did finally receive it a few days before this whole incident happened, but it was extremely generic and mentioned nothing about bandwidth, pricing, or server specs, so I did not sign it. I replied back to Craig and asked that he insert the missing infot. I never heard back from him and a few days later armageddon hit.

Something in writing is always the best way to do things. But under a time pressure and the need to get the site back up and running, a verbal one was sufficient to me to get things rolling. But I was scammed, and a heck of a telephone scam it was.


A note to Vortech: Tim's math seems about right on the hosting issues. Since I can get no where with you on the phone or in email, I have to resort but to post here. If the number he came up with is indeed accurate, then I would agree to pay you that much (500 and change). But you OWE me the unused sum which is still way up there in the numbers. If you are at all interested in working this out before it gets nastier, you know how to reach me.

~John

I'm sure you understand here, John, that I don't have any information to believe you or them and it's not my place to make a judgement. Just thought I'd mention that aspect and I was curious about the comment about how you cost them more than $2,400. I didn't understand how that happened. I don't assume they ordered a server and had it set up to never use it for another client. However, you also said that you were the first or second client to get a dedicated server, which means they might not be offering this or be able to have another person use it later on. So, perhaps that was wasted money. However, you can't be held for that loss, so I was just curious how this loss was created. Perhaps it was due to the 6 month contract which would ensure that the system was paid off by the end of the contract, which a lot of company's do.

However, if you simply used too much bandwidth (unless you were told of a limit of how much you could use) you should have either had your bandwidth capped so you couldn't go over -- which would possibly create problems for a very high traffic site, but would be your problem if you agreed -- or it's just a situation that didn't work out and isn't anyone's fault, not a scam and/or not intentional. However, unless you did violate some TOS, be it anyone's plan or intention or not, then it simply didn't work out and wasn't anyone's fault or poor intention and therefore (less the fee's for the bandwidth or whatever else was to be paid), then no one can hold you or them liable for it not working out and you should be refunded the difference that you'd be owed, (again, less the obvious fee's involved). This is why I was asking about how it cost more. Are you the owner of the server now, or how did that work? Just wondering what happened to the $1,861.76!?

If they can offer the 330 GIG's for $999, then why not just up you to that plan, since you obviously didn't intend to use so much, say it didn't work out and refund the difference then (less the bandwidth you didn't use for that plan). I mean, if that's what is offered anyway, it would seem that could be offered. I don't understand how the other plan can be offered, yet you used less bandwidth than that entire offer and they are still saying you cost more than $2,400 total just for the bandwidth and.. what else? What accounts for the $1,861.76 difference? (A rough figure, I know, but still). I'm just wondering, to be clear, I'm not saying at all that you didn't cost them that much, but was this for reasons or services that are reasonable, services or whatever that you agreed to? A contract doesn't just protect you, it protects them. They have to prove why and what cost that (so much) more to not justify any type of refund. You show you paid for a service and it was ended shortly. Did you violate their TOS? If you didn't cost them so much (and how would you have), then why didn't they just give you some type of refund, because why not? I wouldn't assume they'd want to make money off of someone they had to terminate their service on, because it was simply too much bandwidth, so? I just have to wonder.

Obviously, you should not have ever (NEVER) sign up with any service or pay any company any money, until things are clear and concise as per what features you are to get and in what quantity. No matter how much in a hurry you are, since results like this only create much, much greater delays in getting the service back again with another company, not to mention time and hassle, not to mention the time and hassle of trying to get a refund. Again, I'm not saying they created or are the cause of any time or hassle or they didn't have a right or are out of line or whatever, because I don't know the situation. I do wonder about some of the things said.

Simply canceling someone, even if they are a difficult client before, during and after the cancelation, rarely is the costs involved with the client able to be justified in keeping all the money the client paid for a 6 month contract for service, only to have it put you in the red in 8 days! So, yes, I question what happened, even if it doesn't involve me. I don't get the impression that vortech are a dishonest host, but I don't personally know them either. I'm sorry to see this happen to you and them, it's unfortunate. However, no matter what, never, ever sign anything or agree to anything or pay anyone any money, until everything is clearly outlined. This in itself has saved myself and other's much time dealing with things that do happen like this (if this is indeed the case). I probably went through several hosts inquiring about collocation -- even up to the point of agreeing about all the details, outlining everything to be completely happy about the offer, only to have several hosts not agree to put it in writing, due to how their prices might change to where they can't pass them onto me, the client, at some point in the future. That was the end of that deal and I moved onto the next.

In fact, to be blunt, I _never_ signed up with anyone, because no one offered both the features and prices I wanted and were a company I felt I could trust -- and I looked at countless one's, as did my future partner. I tell you, if I can't find any that I'd be happy with, I don't see how anyone else can. And, to settle for less, I would really have to wonder. it's not easy, not for the host or client and each case is different, but you _must_ get things clear, in writing, so you can take someone to court if they indeed do pull something (again, not saying vortech did). Otherwise, I wouldn't count on it being anything but a large waste of time.. and who wants to get to that point anyway.

<< Think "Sean" and "Burst." >>

Thanx for the plug Deb....

<< that will help people make a decision about hosting with that company >>

Sure has...sales are skyrocketing for us since we opened our new data center.


Sean R.
BurstNET

Originally posted by Tim_Greer
I'm sure you understand here, John, that I don't have any information to believe you or them and it's not my place to make a judgement. Just thought I'd mention that aspect and I was curious about the comment about how you cost them more than $2,400. I didn't understand how that happened. I don't assume they ordered a server and had it set up to never use it for another client. However, you also said that you were the first or second client to get a dedicated server, which means they might not be offering this or be able to have another person use it later on. So, perhaps that was wasted money. However, you can't be held for that loss, so I was just curious how this loss was created. Perhaps it was due to the 6 month contract which would ensure that the system was paid off by the end of the contract, which a lot of company's do.

However, if you simply used too much bandwidth (unless you were told of a limit of how much you could use) you should have either had your bandwidth capped so you couldn't go over -- which would possibly create problems for a very high traffic site, but would be your problem if you agreed -- or it's just a situation that didn't work out and isn't anyone's fault, not a scam and/or not intentional. However, unless you did violate some TOS, be it anyone's plan or intention or not, then it simply didn't work out and wasn't anyone's fault or poor intention and therefore (less the fee's for the bandwidth or whatever else was to be paid), then no one can hold you or them liable for it not working out and you should be refunded the difference that you'd be owed, (again, less the obvious fee's involved). This is why I was asking about how it cost more. Are you the owner of the server now, or how did that work? Just wondering what happened to the $1,861.76!?

If they can offer the 330 GIG's for $999, then why not just up you to that plan, since you obviously didn't intend to use so much, say it didn't work out and refund the difference then (less the bandwidth you didn't use for that plan). I mean, if that's what is offered anyway, it would seem that could be offered. I don't understand how the other plan can be offered, yet you used less bandwidth than that entire offer and they are still saying you cost more than $2,400 total just for the bandwidth and.. what else? What accounts for the $1,861.76 difference? (A rough figure, I know, but still). I'm just wondering, to be clear, I'm not saying at all that you didn't cost them that much, but was this for reasons or services that are reasonable, services or whatever that you agreed to? A contract doesn't just protect you, it protects them. They have to prove why and what cost that (so much) more to not justify any type of refund. You show you paid for a service and it was ended shortly. Did you violate their TOS? If you didn't cost them so much (and how would you have), then why didn't they just give you some type of refund, because why not? I wouldn't assume they'd want to make money off of someone they had to terminate their service on, because it was simply too much bandwidth, so? I just have to wonder.

Obviously, you should not have ever (NEVER) sign up with any service or pay any company any money, until things are clear and concise as per what features you are to get and in what quantity. No matter how much in a hurry you are, since results like this only create much, much greater delays in getting the service back again with another company, not to mention time and hassle, not to mention the time and hassle of trying to get a refund. Again, I'm not saying they created or are the cause of any time or hassle or they didn't have a right or are out of line or whatever, because I don't know the situation. I do wonder about some of the things said.

Simply canceling someone, even if they are a difficult client before, during and after the cancelation, rarely is the costs involved with the client able to be justified in keeping all the money the client paid for a 6 month contract for service, only to have it put you in the red in 8 days! So, yes, I question what happened, even if it doesn't involve me. I don't get the impression that vortech are a dishonest host, but I don't personally know them either. I'm sorry to see this happen to you and them, it's unfortunate. However, no matter what, never, ever sign anything or agree to anything or pay anyone any money, until everything is clearly outlined. This in itself has saved myself and other's much time dealing with things that do happen like this (if this is indeed the case). I probably went through several hosts inquiring about collocation -- even up to the point of agreeing about all the details, outlining everything to be completely happy about the offer, only to have several hosts not agree to put it in writing, due to how their prices might change to where they can't pass them onto me, the client, at some point in the future. That was the end of that deal and I moved onto the next.

In fact, to be blunt, I _never_ signed up with anyone, because no one offered both the features and prices I wanted and were a company I felt I could trust -- and I looked at countless one's, as did my future partner. I tell you, if I can't find any that I'd be happy with, I don't see how anyone else can. And, to settle for less, I would really have to wonder. it's not easy, not for the host or client and each case is different, but you _must_ get things clear, in writing, so you can take someone to court if they indeed do pull something (again, not saying vortech did). Otherwise, I wouldn't count on it being anything but a large waste of time.. and who wants to get to that point anyway.

You guy you deserve calling as typing addict:)

YES, TG is a typing addict :)


Originally posted by Deb Suran
Think "Sean" and "Burst."

just wondering if BurstNET paid Deb to plug Bursts name on these forums:confused: :stickout

Originally posted by elijah
YES, TG is a typing addict :)


I can't find _any_ reabilitation center for this problem I have. :-)



just wondering if BurstNET paid Deb to plug Bursts name on these forums:confused: :stickout

I wasn't sure if you were serious there, but just in case you were -- I don't think so, as I didn't get the impression that it was a positive promotion. Of course, I might have read it wrong? :-)

No, that wasn't a positive comment on Deb's behalf. I don't think BurstNET would have replied if it was a positive comment.

lol@TG..your cool bro :)

I was j/k :beer:

Originally posted by elijah
I was j/k :beer:

Well, see! I'm just not the super smart genius that EVERYONE says I am -- and they ALLLLLLLLLL say it... *LOL* Let's see YOU try and live up to being the idol of BILLIONS of people and see if YOU don't misread something! Huh!? I.. I.. I... *slap*... I'm better now.

lol :beer:

Originally posted by Vader
... At that time, they were offering top of the line dedicated servers with 330gb of transfer per month. The price was $400/month with a 6-month contract. ...


Did you get those terms of the agreement in writing?

Anytime that sum of money is involved, it is always worth the while to at least exchange a FAX or two for signatures.

Unless you've got documentation to substantiate your side of this, it looks like it's your word against theirs; and they have an AUP on thier side.



(I haven't read the whole thread yet, so this may be talking out of school.

My comment about Sean and Burst was not intended as praise.

As for Vader's experiences, everyone reading this discussion should take the opportunity to learn from his mistakes:

1) He didn't get it in writing. ALWAYS GET A SIGNED CONTRACT! Especially when dealing with large sums of money!
2) He apparently didn't pay with a credit card, so he couldn't dispute the charge and get help from his bank.
3) He paid for more than one month. NEVER pay for more than a month when you sign up with a new host! If the host requires you to pay for more than that, find a different host.

Most of us who've been burned have made at least one of those mistakes.

Yep! Deb is correct, you should pay by credit card, just in case something goes wrong, you can do a chargeback.

Deb, do you have any real experiences with BurstNET ?
So far our experience with them is pretty good.
They have the best value for dedicated servers going and the Network is pretty darn fast :)

<< Network is pretty darn fast >>

Gigabit ethernet makes all the difference...
...of course a fast backbone helps too :-)

Sean R.
BurstNET

Originally posted by elijah
Deb, do you have any real experiences with BurstNET ?
So far our experience with them is pretty good.
They have the best value for dedicated servers going and the Network is pretty darn fast :)

I am very happy with BurstNet. Seems they are imporving every day.:)

I agree :)

FYI: check out the new BurstNET forums (http://www.burst.net/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.cgi)

Yeah I am already signed up :) But thanks for telling me!

ok, see you at the BurstNET forums sometime :beer:

Errrrrrrrrr.... Could we please slip back to on-topic, thank you, instead of talking about Burst......

To the poster who asked about editing your post, posters have the ability to edit their own posts up to a couple of hours after the original post was made. Posters can't however delete their own posts and threads.

ok :beer:

<<Admin edit : cross-posted>>

Jeesh,,, must be a few burst.net employees in here. what a joke. Burst.net does dedicated for the http://dlrarmy.com site ,, that site goes down 3 times a week for no less than 2 hours. A friend of mine does hosting with DLRarmy and hes really fed up.

I usually dont post on these boards, but this seems like alot of self-promotion and pointless bashing of hosting companies and their competition.

Thought I'd just share an un-biased opinion with the viewers here, as I don't host with vortech or burst.

omg ... this thread is still going .. and going ..

smokyjoe2 who do you think is a employee of Burstnet?
I sure hope you dont think I am. I have been here on this site since November of 2000 when I got my first server at VDI. I have since moved to BurstNet and have had ONE problem and that was a mess up on the billing and that was my fault.

Seeing how you are a newbie maybe a certain user that keeps flaming BurstNet has made a new account?

How about it Mods are the IPs the same?

Those IP's don't tell ****.

You could easily install a cycling proxy program.
Oh well, people with only 1 post that starts to flame on hosts are not taken seriously most of the time anyway.

The guy is correct with the dlrarmy dedicated server though...it does go down often.
However, it is not due to network issues, or hardware/software failure...but rather due to the fact that the current server hardware leased cannot handle the load that site uses....But they have an upgrade order in...and that should rectify their problem.

Sean R.
BurstNET

<< Deb, do you have any real experiences with BurstNET ? >>

I was wondering the same thing....


Sean R.
BurstNET

My experience with Burst is reading Sean's posts. Any host that would retain Sean as a representative of their business after the types of posts he makes here is not a host I would *ever* sign up with.

It amazes me that hosts don't seem to understand the impression they create when they treat their customers badly here, or when they disparage other hosting services. I found my current host through a post in this section, and before signing up searched the WHT messagebase and saw that all of the owner's posts here were constructive, and that he never said anything negative about a customer or a competitor. If I'd found anything else, I would've kept shopping.

To say nothing of the TrueHosting and UltraspeedUSA messes....

Just something i noticed. VortechHosting.com's ordering page is NOT secure

Check http://www.billing.vortechhosting.com/join/signup.php :nuts:

It wouldn't matter without credit card information, but not if they're asking for your credit card number, expiry date, etc.

Nice eye. The page does say there's Thawte 128 bit strong encryption too.

Vortech, you better fix this soon. I wonder how many customers have already gone through that form? :(

Kiwi, teck,

Should be done by tomorrow. Damn thawte.com being slow should have been done today..

I guess so. I just dont understand why you had the billing form online, advertising SSL but not even use it. You've even known and acknowledged the fact that Thawte hasn't processed the cert yet you still made your order form live.

I'm just :confused:

Busted

... again

Yep so busted let me tell you..

Maybe if you read the only page that links to that one its still says non-SSL as we did not get the cert today.

Only page that links to it https://www.vortechhosting.com/order.asp any where on our sites says right there non-ssl the other 3 are ssl.. Says it right there in this case dark blue and light blue..

That link http://www.billing.vortechhosting.com/join/signup.php is not called any where else other then this page as far as i know if it is please let me know.

Also you will see https://www.vortechhosting.com/order.asp is SSL.. :)

Thanks for point that out as it also still had (This system is secured using state-of-the-art encryption technology, so you can place your order with Vortech with peace of mind.) That has been removed now. But it all ways said non-ssl the page before.

Looks good to me but the page at http://www.billing.vortechhosting.com/join/signup.php, has a padlock with SSL at the top stating encryption. If you're getting a cert for that host pretty soon, then theres nothing to worry about :)

Yea we have it on ever other page.. That signup form is for auto setups and billing so it had to be on RH and vortech is on Win2k so made some problems with SSL we did not know about.. But it will be on there tomorrow i hate it not being there.. :)

Since this thread has been taken completely off topic and the parties involved in the original thread are trying to settle this off the board, this thread is considered closed.