I see that Mr. Darren Herman is spreading his roots here.. so I just dont want anyone to get burnt.
www.iComputerServices.com at first will seem like a great site and host and blah blah blah... :)
Check out these couple of pages I found.
http://www.hostwhois.com/details/company.asp?ID=317
then click on "VIEW COMPANY RATING" ( http://www.hostwhois.com/ratings/view.asp?ID=317&p=1 )
To your surprise it will have a completely perfect score :)
Now that is amazing! Don't you think?
WOW!
Notice the names on the 2nd page. Darren Herman runs iCS, and people like Edwin Herman and Kenny Lee [Darren's brother's name is Kenny] have reviewed iCS.
The sad part is that most if not all of the reviews are fake :) They all use the same kind of language, all gave everything a perfect score, and I bet those emails are fake too... except for Kenny Lee on the 2nd page, that's Darren's email ;)

Moving on.....
http://www.hostsearch.com/showcomment.asp?companycode=2928
Rated 9.9?!?!? WOW!!! That's just amazing!!
Oh wait... for some reason I see the same made up names as on the previous site... and for some reason a lot of the IPs are the exact ones.... nah.. Someone just has a big family and they all use iCS ;)
Again, most if not all of these reviews are fake and were most likely written by the wonderful Darren Herman.

Now, why am I doing this you ask? I see that some people are jumping on iCS and I want to warn them, that they might get burned like me.

At one time, I was hosted by the wonderful iCS, Darren had me sign some 7 line very important looking [sarcasm] contract. The type of paper you ask? it was .txt.. yep, an online contract... I had to put the date and name and address in the .txt file he sent me, and that was my "signature." So basically it said that I have to stay with iCS for 6 months so long as both sides do their part, or something of that sort... [my part was to advertise iCS on my site, and theirs was to host me.]
so far so good eh? :)
Well, he put me on a dedicated server..... but somehow the dedicated server was slower than a frog that was just ran over by a car and ripped apart by a mean kid next door. Downtime was pretty common, one time it was about a week downtime. And the only person that had the control over the server that had the power to provide support lives in Romania. I could only reach him very very very late night or very very very early morning because of the time differences... so the support was terrible and problems were kept unsolved for a very long time... I couldnt manage my databases, my email had problems, the site was either down or too slow, and fun stuff like that, also wasting my time trying to get support was a great experience.
Finally I think after about month and a half of suffering I decided to end this *&$%. I told Darren that the service he promised he would provide me was totally unacceptable and that I no longer want to do anything with iCS. When he then said that he will sue me, yes, sue me if I back out because we signed that "contract"
But you know what, I am a minor. Darren knew that from the very beginning... so basically he KNOWINDGLY signed a binding contract with a minor... which Im pretty sure is a crime... and then using that he threatened to sue me... what a nice guy! Just like all those reviews say! :D
Earlier, when I complained to my friend about the problems, he told me that he was pretty sure that minors can not be involved in a binding contract. So I did a little research and boom:
http://law.freeadvice.com/general_practice/contract_law/contract_valid.htm
The contract that I signed was invalid. Not to mention I think just putting my name and date in a text document is not a valid signature, I am pretty sure.
You don't think a business man like Darren didn't know that minors can't sign contracts? Of course he did!
So, back to our conversation, when he threatened to sue me, I referred him to that page and basically he shut up.
I remember that a little while before that he even made threatening phone calls to my house...
I am the one that could probably sue him :)
But no point in doing that anyway...
all of this is behind me now, far far away...
But I just don't want any of you readers to go through the same experience that I did.

Thanks for taking your time to read this, I hope it was worthwhile.

P.S. this is not slander or any other "crime," all I did was tell you guys to watch out for the wonderful Darren Herman and his great company- iCS.

that really sucks!!

Three things that will protect you:[list=1]
A name and date in a text file is not legally binding as their is no proof it wasn't faked. There are ways to do electronic sigs, but a .txt document isn't one of them
Anyone under 18 (in the US) can not legally enter into a contract and therefore can backout at any time
The threat of being sued is just that, a threat. But I hope he does, b/c you would win :)
[/list=1]

No worries about me :)
This happened a while ago, several months have passed since my suffering has ended...
I just saw the devil posting here and luring people in.. I don't want them to have the kind of experience that I did.

Moving on.....
http://www.hostsearch.com/showcomme...ompanycode=2928
Rated 9.9?!?!? WOW!!! That's just amazing!!
Oh wait... for some reason I see the same made up names as on the previous site... and for some reason a lot of the IPs are the exact ones.... nah.. Someone just has a big family and they all use iCS


I see what you mean! :angry:
The last three reviews on that page have IPs of 64.234.37.151, and if you check this post (http://webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=14737) (and I bet most if not all of his posts here) will have that same IP (64.234.37.151). Very interesting ...

Oh .... three IPs on that page come from Univ. of Colorado, Skidmore College, and State Univ of NY (SUNY) at Albany. The other two (with IPs 63.40.xx.xx) seems to come from the same place. This is a very interesting reviews! You have the right to be suspicious as any of us will ...

Anyway, do not be affraid of the thread ... that's nonsense .... Besides, what kind of host will have a one week of downtime and yet still threat the customer? In fact, we should probably contact both hostwhois and hostsearch regarding this unusual "coincidence" ...

Anyway, Darren, if you read this I would suggest you to clarify this matter ...

cheers,
:beer:

There's nothing he can clarify,
guys, everybody, please stay away from him, it will save you time, money, and your nerves.

Hello,
This is Darren Herman of iComputerServices. Igor Sushko of Automotive Forums was a case of ours when we partnered with another firm to provide dedicated hosting. When we first offered dedicated hosting, we did it as a FAVOR to Igor and automotive forums. However, we had downtime which ANY HOST can incur at ANY time.

In terms of putting "False" names in Hostsearch, etc, that is untrue. We have customers around the United States that use our hosting service and Igor is the first to be displeased.

Do you think that Coke and Pepsi, Apple or Dell can please everyone of their customers? Just a hint, its a two lettered word.

To all of our clients that view this board, does this post make sense with what Igor is talking about? When was the last time we had downtime?

Thank you,
Darren Herman
President, iComputerServices

And for any matters that would like to be settled, or FOR ANY QUESTIONS: Please contact me directly at 914 912 7992.

I don't like to play games, and all, but has anyone noticed Igor has 4 posts? A disgruntled customer goes back and haunts the company. Wow, haven't heard of that ever. :)

I am not mad.. anymore.. this happened months ago :)
I just want to save people the trouble.

BTW, good essay writing skills Mr. Herman.

Also, he wanted to charge one person $5 per month for a mysql i think....

I have a question then, if all those reviews are from real customers.

Wonderful Company
By Kenny Lee (mailto:Captanobvs@aol.com) 64.234.37.151 3/12/2001
Rating: 10


We were up and running within 4 minutes of talking over ICQ. Unbelievable! We have no problems or quirks, and the CPANEL control panel is amazing. Cheers!

That email address is Kenny Herman's [your brother]
Who is Kenny Lee?

Extremely Quick!
By Ed Herman 64.234.37.151 3/12/2001
Rating: 10


We have used iComputerServices for designing and hosting and our retail website and have found their staff to be extremely creative and their equipment, top of the line. Their webservers are on great dedicated lines, and we have had no problems! We love the CPANEL!


and Ed Herman has the same IP address as Kenny Lee?

Quick Setup & Prompt Service
By Paper Etc 64.234.37.151 3/14/2001
Rating: 10


Unbelievably quick service and fabulous customer support. We have no problems with iComputerServices. A+


and another same IP???

Darren, the multiple reviews from the same IP on the host reviews do look very suspicious. I'd suggest you try to get them removed ASAP.


However, we had downtime which ANY HOST can incur at ANY time.


No, most hosts do not incur a week of downtime.

I don't like to play games
[/i]

then, how do you explain that you share the same IPs as your customer who reviewed your service (one of them even claim to have talked to you via ICQ)?


but has anyone noticed Igor has 4 posts?


irrelevant for most of us .... anybody has the right to complain about any company, especially after being threaten ....

cheers,
:beer:

Planet Z,
why do you suggest he has the reviews he faked removed?
Let the world know what kind of a businessman he is :)

I would have to say that the first major mistake that was made was entiring a contract with a minor.

We have a account with someone under the age of 18 and not only did they have to have the contract co-signed but they also had to email us and have the co signer email us as well with authorization...

I think though it could be a disgruntled client, the fact that they signed a contract being a minor and whether you didnt know or ask is not good form.

Under US Law, minors cant sign contracts by themselves. In regards to downtime, yah all hosts will expierence some form of downtime at some point in there lives, computers fail, technology isnt perfect, but 1 week. I will say that i dont think i will ever have 1 week off downtime. If i had more then 1 day, i could have my servers moved to another NOC and live in 24 hours. Minor downtime, will happen, Major downtime, im talking days, not happening...

Also last thing, in regards to customers, I think you can please every customer. In this business if you work hard and be honest and let them no whats going on, you know what they will be pleased. .

Joe:cool:

Darren perfectly knew I was a minor.
And the ONLY reason I didn't move as soon as the week's downtime started was because of his threat that he will "take legal action" or something down that line, because we signed a contract. But at that time I didn't know about US Law :D

Originally posted by igor@af
Darren perfectly knew I was a minor.
And the ONLY reason I didn't move as soon as the week's downtime started was because of his threat that he will "take legal action" or something down that line, because we signed a contract. But at that time I didn't know about US Law :D
As any customer of mine knows, we talk via ICQ, phone or email. All of our customers, whether they are friends, peers or business people, are asked to write reviews of our company in Hosting Directories.

I honestly have nothing else to say, other than the fact of other than Igor, we have had absolutely no complaints. Plus, Igor left us about 4 months ago.

Thank you,
Darren Herman

yep, Darren and iCS are just perfect :)
Everybody that needs hosting.. jump on them!

Igor, you've brought up some interesting IP 'coincidences', I will say that. State the facts, but please don't flame them.

dherman did you notice that you keep avoiding the fact that these reviews come from the same ip? You just haven't answered this yet....

Answer:

Edwin Herman = Works for Designers In Motion, had their site hosted with us and wrote a review.

Kenny Lee = Had his private site hosted with us, wrote a review

They share an AOL account in the same office building.

Thanks,
Darren

woah you come up with answers for everything, how come these users posted on both review boards? did you instruct them to write phony reports?

And does Kenny Lee have the same email address as your brother?

Originally posted by dherman76
Answer:

Edwin Herman = Works for Designers In Motion, had their site hosted with us and wrote a review.

Kenny Lee = Had his private site hosted with us, wrote a review

They share an AOL account in the same office building.

Thanks,
Darren

and that office building is where you are to (you even have the same IP, my goodness!)

here is the quote on that review page ("written" by Kenny Lee):

"Wonderful Company
By Kenny Lee 64.234.37.151 3/12/2001
Rating: 10


We were up and running within 4 minutes of talking over ICQ. Unbelievable! We have no problems or quirks, and the CPANEL control panel is amazing. Cheers!"

woa ... you even use ICQ to talk with somebody on the same room? cool!

Come one Herman, we are not that stupid here ... Honesty is host's most precious assest, and you don't seem to have this. And also, Darren, you know I know much more than this, don't you? ;)

cheers,
:beer:

First, we have offices in Saratoga Springs, NY, where I am located three fourths of the year, so talking over ICQ is important. Yes, we encourage our users in monthly newsletters to write reviews.

I am not playing cat and mouse. Our clients know who we are, and are completely satisfied (except for Igor).

Darren Herman

Good night :) Its 12:30am.

Herman who are you trying to fool? You're surrounded, at WHT we're not unexperienced. You're trying to come up with excuses for the wrong crowd. We have the same amount or more experience then you may have, just tell us the truth...

Originally posted by dherman76
Answer:

Edwin Herman = Works for Designers In Motion, had their site hosted with us and wrote a review.

Kenny Lee = Had his private site hosted with us, wrote a review

They share an AOL account in the same office building.

Thanks,
Darren
That only explains 2 of them, there are 3. Plus, you mysteriously have the same IP as 3 of the ppl who wrote reviews.......

I will bring this to hostSearch's attention if we don't get a good, plausable answer.....

All three,
Edwin Herman
Kenny Lee
Paper Etc (Roberta Stern)

All use AOL in the same office building. They were and are customers of ours for a while and had some nice things to say about us. As well as the OTHER people who NO ONE is mentioning. Sorry for being a good host and getting good reviews...

If they share an AOL account, why do they have the same IP? AOL uses a ton of HTTP proxies (I think several class Cs) and caching, so one AOL visitor can appear to come from several different IPs. The chances that they were the same proxy is very unlikely.

I realize, dherman, that this is probably a nightmare for you, whether or not these reviews were forged. So, just explain to us how these two people from **your** IP address who are in the same building wrote a review on the same day. If it's plausible then we'll all shut up.

Every Hosting company experiences displeased clients but it is important for all hosting companies to keep in mind that whether or not the client is paying small monthly fee, every website should be considered Mission critical.

The only way to improve the hosting company is to listen to the problems and complaints and build solutions based on them to improve the service.

What I find common in some hosting companies is that they are not client centric. I believe in order for a hosting company to succeed, they must create a client focused learning experience. As new technologies become available, the support department should work with clients to better understand new applications and technical aspects so that both parties will benefit.

These days, some hosting companies, just gives "yes" or "no" answers from Technical Support and that is not enough anymore, that is why all companies should spend the time explaining and working carefully with our clients to bring the best out of their hosting experience.


Whether or not on whos wrong or whos not, in the old saying "the client is always right" must be always regarded highly. Which is same for many types of businesses.




Cephren
-------------------------------------------------------
Cephren Communications Inc.
Cephren.ca
Cephrenhosting.com
Cephrenregister.com

Let me repeat myself for the 3rd time here :)
Why does Kenny Lee have the same email address as your brother?

Originally posted by qslack
If they share an AOL account, why do they have the same IP? AOL uses a ton of HTTP proxies (I think several class Cs) and caching, so one AOL visitor can appear to come from several different IPs. The chances that they were the same proxy is very unlikely.


It's also highly doubtful that an AOL user would come from a defunct Northpoint IP Address:

awhois 64.234.37.151

NortPoint Communications (NETBLK-NPNT-3-PPPOA-PROV) NPNT-3-PPPOA-PROV
64.234.37.0 - 64.234.37.255

All the AOL users we get have an address similar to:

ac94e278.ipt.aol.com

All that being said, Darren had been a helpful member of this bioard, so I am certainly not willing tar and heather him based on one complaint...we all make mistakes.

hmm, Darren, I do have to agree with the members of the board, I have no experience with you as a host and would not like to comment, as this board is for personal experiences only meaning igor has the right to comment positively or negatively.

People will look at the posts igor has made, and then any other posts on this board that speak positively of you and make their own minds up.

I can only comment on the IP addresses and the fact that they are all the same and fully agree with the members arguments, I think we would all be grateful if you could sum up the situation and all of the queries people have before this gets out of hand.

OFF TOPIC:

Anyone seen tryanny?

On TOPIC:

If you have seen tryanny you should follow chinese law darren, this especially plays a large part on WHT, it is better to CONFESS then to DENY, if you confess they will go soft on you, whilst if you don't... .... .... .... .... .... ..... ....


Kindest Regards,
ValuableHost

Trust me, I'm not the only one that got burned ;)
I will find some ex-customers to come here then...

I'm not ready to form an opinion, yet.

I'm still waiting for dherman76 to answer this, simply confusing, IP thing :rolleyes:

I see many times where a hosting company's review will seem very repetitive and fake on a host search site. It really shows the type of loosers that are getting into this business. I choose to stay honest and finish 2nd.

AH

did you know when we all asked him for the 3rd time for an explanation for the ip thing all gets quiet? I haven't seen him coming back to answer this question. hmmmm....

It is so obvious :)

Let me list some facts.


He promised me great hosting, thats why I moved
He knowingly signed a contract with a minor, which he knew was invalid.
The hosting was terrible. I had no telnet or ssh access. I had no control over the databases. The server admin is in Romania, to cut costs. I wasted many hours over the time I was with iCS trying to contact this person for support, which I was obviously lacking, and hardly ever got. The site, which he told me was the only one on that server, was incredibly slow, or DOWN. My email didnt work for most of the period I was with iCS. FTP was down from time to time. One time, the site was down for about 1 week. I wasted even more time trying to get in contact with Romania. Apparently, they were adding more RAM to the server.... for 1 whole week.... I wonder how much ram they added.. 500 Gigs?
He threatened me each time saying that we signed a contract and that he will sue me whenever I said I wanted to leave [2 or 3 times]
He made couple harassing calls to my house. Also demanded to talk to my parents.
He bragged to me that he sued Sony for writing an article about him and including his photo, and won. Article was about him winning some kind of a big award as a teenager or something of that sort - Definately morally wrong.


I will add more as they come to mind :rolleyes:

what article? I want to know more about ICS suing Sony ... where can I read this article too? :)

cheers,
:beer:

I'm not gonna go into the sony thing since its a little off topic, but check out this page:
http://www.icomputerservices.com/about.shtml
Top Rated host for HostWhois?
Really?
I didn't know one person [the owner of iCS] could make fake reviews and recieve those:rolleyes:

vibesolutions,

Originally posted by vibesolutions
Herman who are you trying to fool? You're surrounded, at WHT we're not unexperienced. You're trying to come up with excuses for the wrong crowd. We have the same amount or more experience then you may have, just tell us the truth...

What do you mean; delete the post??
You want answers just like the rest of us.

No flaming going on. Just trying to get all the facts before we gain an opinion.:rolleyes:

<<MOD NOTE:>>
He meant delete that actual one post he made, which he edited and replaced with, Please delete this post".
<</MOD NOTE>>

I have just returned from a rafting trip to find even more posts about this ridiculous topic. I am posting for once, exactly what happened:

Igor approached me about 4-5 months ago for free website hosting for AutomotiveForums.com. In exchange, I sent him a document with exactly what advertising we would like to participate in on his site. This was accepted by Igor.

The dedicated server we put him on was actually a partner's server at the time, who we cease to use now. We apologized for downtime, and yes, it was ridiculous, but remember, it was FREE hosting. The document outlined 6 months of mutual beneficial relationship. However, Igor left, after I promised him that it would all be taken care of. That voided the 6 month mutual relationship. At no time, did Igor let me know that he was underage until he said, "We have no relationship, I am 15".


To tackle the HostSearch, etc, questions about the IP's, in the office that Kenny Lee, Edwin Herman and others use, they have a DSL line which some connect to AOL, others not. So, they all have the same IP or around the same IP address. Their DSL was through MSN DSL , which is North Point Communications (or was, now they are out of business).

In our monthly newsletter to iComputerServices customers, we ask our customers to rate us on specific host search engines and webmaster resource sites. Some customers opt to post, some don't, but that is the nature of response marketing.


It is rather unfortunate that Igor feels this way about iComputerServices. I always have, and always will conduct my business offering my customers the best support and service that I and my team can possibly offer.

Message to Igor: Please contact me at this number, (914) 912-7992, as I don't know what I have done to incur your wrath. I would like to do anything I can to help resolve this situation.

so all these users went to both host review sites? hmm how coincidental, did you do it yourself or did you ask your friends to do this?
Now you're not answering the awards question that you got asked by igor, is it because you're delaying this thread yet some more so you can think of some answers to that?

While in the process of typing the reply to Igor's message, I didn't view the Awards questions. HostWhoIs.com has granted us these awards 100%. I don't know what about these awards Igor is referring to. You cannot get them unless they send them to you.

I have just returned from a rafting trip to find even more posts about this ridiculous topic. I am posting for once, exactly what happened:

you have been on WHT all day, your username has been in the Who is online list... but ok, we believe you


We apologized for downtime, and yes, it was ridiculous, but remember, it was FREE hosting.

.....You promised me great hosting...


At no time, did Igor let me know that he was underage until he said, "We have no relationship, I am 15".

this one should be in the Book "The Greatest Lies Ever"
Mr. Herman knew I was 15 from the very very very beginning, before he sent me the contract.


To tackle the HostSearch, etc, questions about the IP's, in the office that Kenny Lee, Edwin Herman and others use, they have a DSL line which some connect to AOL, others not.

Let's ask this question again, for the 4th time now...
Why does Kenny Lee have your brother's email address?


Message to Igor: Please contact me at this number, (914) 912-7992, as I don't know what I have done to incur your wrath. I would like to do anything I can to help resolve this situation.

Can I call collect?:rolleyes:

vibesolutions,

umm sorry. .. .wasn't lookin straight. . .my bad :blush:

also the awards on your page herman,
getting an award from sony from being the most wired...

riiiiiiight I believe you

Ok Igor, you'll have to ask Darren that via email or PM. Questions have been asked, they've been answered, and now everyone will have to draw their own conclusions.

I personally find it questionable that multiple reviews came from the same IP (not to mention one used here), some with the same name, email address.... etc., though I don't think the issue is going to be resolved here. My suggestion to Darren is to ask that those reviews be removed as it just doesn't look all that good, and I'm sure other people notice it too (other people meaning those not from WHT).