Hi, all,

I host my website with ventures online starting last week, since I saw a lot of good word for them here. And the experience is really not happy at all. Their helpdesk support sucks. I would like to share this experience with others and see if it's just me who has this complaint.

I order the V200 package, which is a much professional package, as it supposed to be.

In the first several days their DNS server didn't work properly. And the server on which my web site was hosted was down once without any notification or appology.

In the following days, I checked with my panel and found that the disk space available is -0.05 Megabytes. I asked them to check and update to a correct number. It took me three days to wait and they still didn't go anywhere to help. Their helpdest responses first asked me for the server I was hosted on, and then asked me what's the service package I ordered, which is clearly V200. They just don't seem to be willing to help at all.

Now, they tell me that I can have 200MB of space. Thanks I knew that. And they are telling me that I can ignore this mistake.

Guys, tell me if this experience is not too unpleasant, so I can stay with them.

Dr-Xu at Dr-Xu.com

The -'ve quota in cpanel is not VO's fault. It's a cpanel problem with redhat 7.1 systems I believe. It's affecting more people than just VO. My box with redhat 6.2 also had the same problem.

As for asking what server you're on, I don't think that's a unreasonable question. They must maintain tons of virtual hosting boxes. If you say you're on a certain server, they don't have to go through each server looking for your account.

For the helpdesk, I do agree, some answers seem like they don't care at all but a lot of the questions I've asked them have always resulted in a resolution which I was happy.

Originally posted by teck
As for asking what server you're on, I don't think that's a unreasonable question. They must maintain tons of virtual hosting boxes. If you say you're on a certain server, they don't have to go through each server looking for your account.


Aren't hosts supposed to know on what server they put their virtual clients. What if a clients doesn't pay anymore, do you sent him a mail : "Will you please tell us which server you're on so we can disable your account" :stickout

Isn't really gone work i think.

Of course they know but having the client state it first saves time to go look up a customer in a database somewhere. Also, if you have a lot of remote techs, do you want to go distributing a list of clients to them? It's much easier if the client says what server they are on in their support request. It may not take long but when answering tons of support questions, every minute helps.

Originally posted by teck
The -'ve quota in cpanel is not VO's fault. It's a cpanel problem with redhat 7.1 systems I believe.

Maybe I'm just being cynical here, but it seems to me that if someone continues to use software with known bugs then they are responsible for problems caused by those bugs. If I decide to drive a car which I know has horrible brakes and I get into an accident as a result, I can't say "it wasn't my fault, this car has crappy brakes" and expect to get away with it -- people are going to say "either fix the brakes or stop driving the car".

But they can't fix cpanel bugs since cpanel is compiled perl. Let's take your car example. To fix a car's brakes, you bring to a mechanic, they open it up, fix it. Let's say your car's rims were reinforced by titanium and bolted to the tires. How will a mechanic take that off? They will laugh at you and say go back to your manufacturer. Cpanel is like this. If there's a bug, you report it to the makers since *we* can't do it ourselves. We're basically held hostage. When a fix comes out, we get it. Otherwise, we wait at their mercy for a patch.

So you have no responiblities for being the one to decide to purchase the car where the "car's rims were reinforced by titanium and bolted to the tires?"

Bah, forget it. I'm dropping this conversation. Dr-Xu, if you have problems, open up a support ticket.

:) I do accept that the error in the disk space quota and the server name issue are minor problems. And I did have patience handling. But what makes me angry now is their DNS servers ns7 and ns8 are down half the time in just 4 days. Now my website is not pointed to a wrong place.:angry: No any system error notification sent to my way.

Their attitude of doing business is not appreciable at least to me.

Dr-Xu at Dr-Xu.com

ns7 and ns8 belong to varsity and that box has been having problems so I don't think the DNS servers are down but the box itself. They are aware of it though and are looking for a solution.

I would find it pretty amazing for anyone to complain about vo support, WHen they were here, they have always kept on top of everything.

The quota issue I believe is a kernal issue, not cpanel.

Originally posted by teck
Bah, forget it. I'm dropping this conversation. Dr-Xu, if you have problems, open up a support ticket. Obviously, he has opened support tickets. Otherwise, there wouldn't be an ongoing conversation about how they're handling his support tickets.

While it's true that it would take a support tech a little more time to look up what server a client is on; the alternative -- replying back to the client to ask -- delays the ultimate resolution of the problem. To argue that the first is preferable is to say that your support tech's time is more important than your client's time. Perhaps some hosts do make that judgement; I'd do what I could to avoid them.

Coming from a customer POV, when asking for support, you should provide everything needed to the techs.

username
password
server
detailed description

Working as a tech for hosting companies this is necessary to trouble shoot problems. In the above example, although the password may not be necessary, in some cases, it does help.

edit: William, you are correct too. I believe Nick(DarkOrb) stated that on their forums.

Just a few words ...

Disk Space: .. yes .. it is BROKEN at time on cpanel .. most of the times it is lack of "quotas" specified on a new kernel install

Knowing what server a customer is on: .. Sorry guys .. it's very easy when you have 1 or 2 servers .. when you get to the realms of 10+ servers you ever furget who your customers are

DNS servers: .. yep .. they do break .. you shoudl have seen last January .. Cpanel was messign up DNS so bad .. the only way you knew it was broke was when all of the suddent 50 people told you their sites didn't work.

What I am trying to say here is, when ou open a ticket .. dont' expect the host to knwo who you are at all times, allways provide as much info about yourself as possible .. and second, from what we know about VO, they seem to be a top notch host ..

And NO .. just becuase you keep using a fauly product doesn't mean you are 100% responsable for it .. sometimes is not easy to move to a different platform ..

just my 0.02

Well said carlos. Thanks :)

First, an established fact: There Is No Perfect Control Panel. If the client prefers something that works reliably, the client should be doing everything by telnet. CPanel is one of the best of the crop, and none of them are that great, but it does OK in a pinch. As a CPanel user, I find it much easier to utilize the features of my account than without it. I accept there are bugs, just like there are bugs with Microsoft Office, Outlook Express, and nearly every other program out there. *shrug* As long as programs are written by imperfect humans, there will be difficulties. CPanel can be frustrating at times, and its developers can be interesting to work with (or not).

Second, on support: I did not find anything out of line with VO's tech requests either. Keep in mind that VO has thousands of clients. On my box alone there are 500-some accounts, and other boxes have 400-700 clients, times a number of virtual servers... support in any fashion is a two-way street, dependent upon both the support staff AND a customer who is willing to help make a speedy & proper resolution possible. I have provided tech support, I have requested tech support, and I work in retail... the customer has to be helpful too, to make it work. The person at the other end has no idea who you are, or the first thing about your issue... a customer has to draw them the full picture to get the best service.

Third, on server issues: All servers have downtime. My server has had downtime too, at EVERY of the many hosts I have used over the years. It is unfortunate that the downtime mentioned here has been right at the time of sign-up! But VO -is- aware of it and they are working on it, actively.

To get current information on VO's servers and issues, be sure to check out all the sources: the Forums as well as their Info site. The URLs are:

Forums: http://www.venturesonline.com/forums/
VO Info: http://www.voinfo.net

Most hosts do not inform their clients of downtime or issues, specifically and separately. VO is phenomenal in that they actually acknowledge issues and do at least try to post info in an accessible forum (e.g., VO Info).

If the difficulties continue, you could also try submitting a support ticket and ask them to move your account to a new server. They might be able to do this. But, do explain why you wish to be moved. :)

:D Good luck!
Bailey

Originally posted by teck
Coming from a customer POV, when asking for support, you should provide everything needed to the techs.

username
password
server
detailed description

Working as a tech for hosting companies this is necessary to trouble shoot problems. In the above example, although the password may not be necessary, in some cases, it does help.

edit: William, you are correct too. I believe Nick(DarkOrb) stated that on their forums.

Just a side note: I'd recommend that people starting using 7.2 instead of 7.1 ASAP as it has far less problems with quotas.

Originally posted by cperciva


Maybe I'm just being cynical here, but it seems to me that if someone continues to use software with known bugs then they are responsible for problems caused by those bugs. If I decide to drive a car which I know has horrible brakes and I get into an accident as a result, I can't say "it wasn't my fault, this car has crappy brakes" and expect to get away with it -- people are going to say "either fix the brakes or stop driving the car".

Why dont you call up Red Hat and tell them about this bug, they know all about it, just wont fix it...........

Red Hat bug huh? Whever blamed the quota probs on that originally is really full of it. Two of my servers are exactly the same, even the Red Hat version. I did this to test the bull that Nick(Bdraco) was throwing at us. One has CPanel, the other doesnt. That's the only difference between the two. You want to take a wild guess as to which has the most probs? Perhaps you can guess which one has a quota problem and which one doesnt?

It's not Red Hat that is the problem. It never has been. Someone should fix their software and make it compatible with Red Hat and not expect Red Hat to make theirs compatible to his.. That seems to be what other developers do anyway..

And I am not insinuating the VDI version either.. I dont know what probs that one has, but I know I never had these kinds of problems there that I do now.

Well...I dont know what to tell yah other then check here

http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHBA-2001-108.html