I read a lot of positive things about Burstnet on this forum, so I thought they would be a good choice for ordering my dedicated server. I even got a "special" offer from Sean. He said 'order by Sunday and we have you up and running Wednesday evening, because we will receive parts on Tuesday/Wednesday' So, I ordered on Sunday, CC was charged and Wednesday came and went by. Thursday, I e-mail, call, leave message.... afternoon no reply. I call again and reached somebody in sales. Oh, we will receive parts Friday/Saturday, so you should be up an running by Friday/Saturday. Shortly after the call, my e-mail was answered in the same way. Now, it is Saturday, no server..... e-mailed, called, still now answer. Oh, try the live sales reps. One answered, asked my question.... still waiting for an answer.

Now, I understand that it takes time to setup a server, they have to receive parts etc. But don't promise a customer one thing and do another. Don't charge a CC for a service you are not giving yet.... not positive customer relations.

Thanks for your attention....

I'll post what happens next....

Anton

I've never heard of a company charging the credit card BEFORE they actually set the server up for you... bad business practice.

You mentioned you read alot of good things about Burst, did you read the bad things? Their seem to be more bad ones than good ones.

Good luck! :D

I was a client of BurstNET for a short period of time, I say short
because I left them after 1-2 weeks.

I didn't have the server setup problem you had my server with them
was setup in a few hours. So I can't relate on that problem.

After server was setup there was control panel issues that were
not getting fixed, unanswered tech phone calls.

I even sent them an AIM message a few times, once the person answered
and I asked the tech question they stopped responding.

With your post they will attack you and give about every excuse known
to man to prove they are right and you are wrong. Just past experiences
I have seen here on the boards.

Regards,
Ray

I have not read many good things about many companies that sell dedicated packages. Why is that? Do they take on too much business?

Now, in the meantime we are posting about Burstnet, Sean comes on and replies to a post about Burstnet being down in minutes, but they can't give me an answer.

Anton

some people like to get money by giving promises, even if it's not a reasonable ones ... It happened to me once that I promised my client to setup a server by such and such ... But it turns out the NOC delayed the setup for about 12 hours ... Because I missed my promise, I decided to return half of the setup fees ... Well, it might be just me, but promise is a promise ... if you miss it, you pay the consequence, right?

cheers,
:beer:

Originally posted by brandonk
I've never heard of a company charging the credit card BEFORE they actually set the server up for you... bad business practice.
Good luck! :D

Actually, this is fairly standard unless you establish credit and get billed in that fashion. Most dedicated providers that frequent this forum charge up front for a dedicated server.

I agree with Smartweb. We have a few dedicated servers with different providers who frequent this forum. Never had an issue with being charged upfront, because a providers' reputation is worth more than a chargeback fee to them. :-) None of them have ever failed to deliver either, which is much to their credit.

Cheers

Gary

Give them a bit more them. Sometimes there is hardware shipment delays which can take awhile.

Well, it is not the extra few days to setup the server. I can understand if they don't have parts or other emergencies, but do answer e-mails or phone calls to inform the customer of a delay.

Do give answers like "it is still saturday" and the server will be up on Sunday morning at 2AM. They don't take the customer seriously and that has its effect. With the next server you think twice about ordering it at the same place.

......Saturday, just after midnight, still waiting for my server...:(

Anton

<< but they can't give me an answer. >>

Now you are starting to really aggravate me.

ONCE AGAIN...your server will be set up by tonight. We are not leaving here until it is completed. Yes, we had hardware shipping delays...have we pushed you off for weeks? no....
We adjusted the setup time one time...no big deal.
We have answered every support ticket you sent in requesting setup info...
The same answer was given each time, and it is the same answer I have given twice in this thread already.

Asking about it every few hours is not going to speed up the setup process!

ALSO, your server was just ordered on Tuesday!
Four days to setup a server is pretty reasonable.
We usually tell people "48-72 hours for server setups...pending hardware delays".

Sean R.
BurstNET


PS - Nice to see all the people bad-mouthing BurstNET are still around :-)...was starting to think some of you actually had bettre things to do with your time for once.

Just thought I'd chime in here and say a few words..

#1. We've been with Burst for a few months now. Over the few months, there have only been a couple times when we've been down, never for longer than a few minutes.

#2. Yes, it took us a while to get our servers up and running. Burst acknowledged their fault (I wans't expecting the servers to be set up instantly, but we were promised a few days, so we took them up on the offer). The servers WERE delayed, and we were adequately reimbursed for the setup delay.

#3. On the occasions that I've had to get in touch with BurstNet, 99% of the time, i am able to get ahold of someone (like 2 minutes ago, its past 1am on Saturday night.. You'd think someone there has to have a life, but they answered the phone :)

#4. We've just ordered over 30 servers for a new project and they're going to be hosted by BurstNet. I can only hope that we'll have the same experience with these new machines as we've had with the 3 dedicated machines we are hosting with Burst now.

Considering that we moved to Burst from Verio, a much larger, and much more expensive host, I am VERY happy with the value/dollar spent, can't complain whatsoever.

Thats all for now :)
Alex

Originally posted by BurstNET
We adjusted the setup time one time...no big deal.
We have answered every support ticket you sent in requesting setup info...


I don't think people really care much if the server is setup in 3 days or in 5 days or even 6 days. If they are in a hurry, you should probably charge more for the setup fee. But otherwise, I would (personally) not want to get into a position where the client will expect more/a lot from me ... Perharps making some more time for the setup fee will not be unreasonable after all? Better this way than missing your deadline?


PS - Nice to see all the people bad-mouthing BurstNET are still around :-)...was starting to think some of you actually had bettre things to do with your time for once.

Ughh ... I hope you don't consider my post bad mouthing your company ... In fact, I have never bad mount you in public. My post was a general post of what people should do ... Do not give too much expectation to the client or if you (or anyone else) do and keep up to your promise, at least do something to make up the situation. Anyway, no intention to bad mount you personally. It's just a general remark ...

cheers,
:beer:

I was not referring to you dektong...
Just a certain individual who I went out of my way to set up an a server 2-3 hours after they placed the order, because the called in saying it was an "emergency"..and then proceeded to be quite ungrateful and complain about every little thing...

Kinda client you give the shirt off your bak to, and they say it's dirty and they want your pants too... :-(
Some clients you just cannot please....and neither can other hosts...and you know this cause you see their domain name change nameserver often enough that you know they bounce from one host to the next all the time, and will never be happy ever....sorry for the rambling....was just a bad situation there...

On a side note, this thread starter's server is built, OS installed, and running cpanel installer now...

Sean R.
BurstNET

dektong he is talking about me. Maybe if he ever READ my post he
would see where I said

I didn't have the server setup problem you had my server with them was setup in a few hours.

Also these people cannot ever be satisfied hmmm, I have been with
ezzi.net since I left your service and am extremly happy with the
service I have received. Before you it was ***** and I am sure
you wont read many good things about them.

Some clients you just cannot please....and neither can other hosts...

Some companies need to except the responsability when they have did
something wrong. Maybe I say this stressing MAYBE it isn't always
the customer but rather the host that made the mistake in not
providing the service they said they would.

Regards,
Ray

Just a side note:
Love how people stretch their time. Happens to me quite often. Almost always when someone says by Monday/Tuesday they mean within a few minutes of Wednesday(Pacific time of course). Rarely get that thing done middle of the day Tuesday, not to mention Monday.

(I'm not referring to Burst, just mean in general.)

Sean:

I never called it in as an emergency.... The Credit Card was charged on SUNDAY, not Tuesday, isn't that putting in an order ..
and again it did not care about the wait, just inform me or answer the e-mails.

You basically aggrevated me enough to cancel my service, as I don't think your customer has to deal with your attitude about this.

I do believe that you support your business personally and that is a good thing, so I will use your services and will give you a fear chance.

If you would like to discuss this matter give me a call.

Anton

Originally posted by addaction
He said 'order by Sunday and we have you up and running Wednesday evening, ... So, I ordered on Sunday, CC was charged and Wednesday came and went by. Thursday, I e-mail, call, leave message.... afternoon no reply. I call again .... Oh, ... you should be up an running by Friday/Saturday. Shortly after the call, my e-mail was answered in the same way. Now, it is Saturday, no server..... e-mailed, called, still now answer. Oh, try the live sales reps. One answered, asked my question.... still waiting for an answer.

Originally posted by BurstNET
We adjusted the setup time one time...no big deal.

ALSO, your server was just ordered on Tuesday!
Four days to setup a server is pretty reasonable.
We usually tell people "48-72 hours for server setups...pending hardware delays".

I tried to resist commenting on this thread but can't help it. When someone is told that if they order something on Sunday, they will be up on Wednesday evening, and they aren't up, this starts the problem. Expectations haven't been met.

Thursday morning the customer couldn't get ahold of anyone to find out what was going on, but later that day, was told that the server would be up on Friday/Saturday. Saturday comes and the server isn't up. Early Sunday morning is not Saturday, and this would be the second time expectations weren't met.

Adjusting the set up time (even one time) might not be a big deal to Burst, but it might be a big deal to the customer, and it seems in this case Burst errored by setting expectations too high. I don't sell dedicated servers, but I'd guess that 48 hours would be enough time only if you were selling pre-configured standard systems, even without the OS/Control system installed, which were ready to go, meaning you had 5 sitting on a shelf ready to be hooked up once the OS was installed. This is in a general sense.

While I'm not the type to email and ask whre a server is if it has been a day or two, I also completely understand that there are people who would do this and Anton, you aren't wrong here.

You were told one thing, another thing happened, and lack of communication just confused you. If you had gotten an email saying the server/parts didn't come and it might be a few more days and we'll update you in 3 days no matter what, you probably would have been fine.

I worked in sales, selling things that often weren't in the warehouse yet. I told my customers that we anticipated the shipment to arrive on <whatever>day and that the order would go out on Tuesday, and they'd have it by Thursday or I'd call them. Often there were delays as these were large cargo shipments delivered by coat to the docks of Long Beach and if you've ever dealt with that, then you know there isn't a solid time that the ship will come, nor a solid time as to exactly when it would be unloaded and delivered.

Point is, don't over promise, leave some room or at least say "Between 48 hours and a week and half, I'll contact you in 4 days no matter what to update you, if the server isn't up by then." Anyway, that's what I did and what I'd do, not saying that is what Burst should do.

I'm sure the majority of server orders don't go down like this, but at the same time, I don't feel Anton did anything wrong.

Chicken,

You are missing my point. We told the client MANY times, like 4-5, that the server would be ready Fri/Sat...yet he insisted that he was "not getting a response". Not sure why, as we responded MANY times to the SAME QUESTION over and over (via phone and email). How is that "not responding" to his inquiries?

Sean R.
BurstNET

Originally posted by BurstNET
Chicken,

You are missing my point. We told the client MANY times, like 4-5, that the server would be ready Fri/Sat...yet he insisted that he was "not getting a response". Not sure why, as we responded MANY times to the SAME QUESTION over and over (via phone and email). How is that "not responding" to his inquiries?

Sean R.
BurstNET

Hi Sean,

I think Chicken is saying that if he offers people a deal, he WON'T MAKE CLAIMS/PROMISES ON FAST SETUP and if unexpected situation happen... he WOULD MAKE A CALL TO HIS CUSTOMER and not wait for the customer to contact him.

The main problem here is you have made a promise to your customer that the server will be up on certain date but it is not and you didn't contact your customer before/on your promised date. I can see you make two dates but still can't keep on to those dates and this is why this thread appear.

Just my thoughts and nothing against you ;)

Choon

We didn't make a promise.
The client inquired originally and we started the server "should be setup by Wednesday".
We usually do not give any specific setup dates on server, and as a general rule say "usually takes 48-72 hours for setup, pending any hardware delays".
Wednesday came, we had some hardware shipping delays, and even though it "should be setup by Wednesday", it was not yet.
Client inquired, many time, and we stated that should be Fri/Sat now...we told him this many many times.

Saturday afternoon comes and he starts complaining to WHT already, that a) server is not up yet, and b) we never responded to him.

Regardless, the server was set up in what we consider Saturday NOC hours, we did respond to every one of his inquries regarding setup time via email and phone, and at this point I am starting to think this was a fake order just placed to have some basis to create a WHT complaint thread with.


Sean R.
BurstNET

Edit: in response to Choon... Sean slipped one in there while I was fussin' with the McNugget...

I suppose that was it. i don't know the specifics and am only reading the posts (which aren't always entirely accurate), but in general, yes give a bit of lead time and be as proactive as possible (someone is responsible for making sure that server gets set up, and that person should relay information to the account manager, or directly to the customer, whenever possible). I know I still get a bit anxious when a server is coming up and this is probably what was going on.

Hi Sean,

My apologies for making that statement of *promises* regarding setup dates :(

Please don't make such a statment that you think that your new client order might be fake in a public forum like this :(

Again, nothing against you.

Regards,
Choon

It is most likely a legitimate order, but that is the only explanation I can think of that someone would say that we were not responding to him when we in fact were (via multiple mthods, so I know he was getting the responses).

Sean R.
BurstNET

Originally posted by Chicken
Edit: in response to Choon... Sean slipped one in there while I was fussin' with the McNugget...

Well... we won't know the actual situation and all we know are from what we read from this thread.

I am just thinking if the new customer is me... if a hosting provider tell me *it should be up for 3 to 5 days*... if I never hear anything from them on the fifth day... I will contact them. To me... *it should be up about 3 to 5 days*... I will assume it will be up on the fifth day the latest. If they do contact me on the 4th day about the delay... I will still be happy because at least they keep me informed :)

Okay... just personal thoughts here and nothing against Sean or his new customer here.

Regards,
Choon

Sure you would...but would you ask us the same question 5 times?
And if we did indeed answer your inquiry every time, would you say that we were not responding to you?

Of course not...
That is my point...

MODS - get rid of these two threads please...they are quite pointless, and are only causing arguements/trouble which is un-needed. Leave the downtime one if you want, but atleast edit out the off-topic posts in that thread.

Sean R.
BurstNET

Originally posted by BurstNET
Sure you would...but would you ask us the same question 5 times?
And if we did indeed answer your inquiry every time, would you say that we were not responding to you?

Of course not...
That is my point...

MODS - get rid of these two threads please...they are quite pointless, and are only causing arguements/trouble which is un-needed. Leave the downtime one if you want, but atleast edit out the off-topic posts in that thread.

Sean R.
BurstNET

Yes, I get your point and understand your frustration about the reply issue. Personally I won't ask the same questions more than one time.

Sorry for all my *off-topic* posts if you considered mine are :(

Regards,
Choon

Sean and others:

How do you come to the conclusion that I ask MANY times. I only inquired 2x, Thursday and Saturday afternoon, yes, in multiple ways, e-mail and phone, why.... you don't give an answer. Like today. I send 2 emails to support. One at 9.47 AM EST and the other at 11.02 AM EST. Both for different questions. I also made a phone call to support. Left a voice mail, this also for a 3rd question I have. Now it is Sunday night 5.14 PM EST and now answer yet, but I see here you have time enough to chat away, but NO support.

And if there are any doubts, this is a real order and my CC was really charged for $250.00 (ON SUNDAY)

Regards

Anton

I am very distressed to see that this happening. It was in response to my post that Sean offered this particular deal.

I was also told the exact same thing as addaction. My cc was charged last weekend as well. After no word from BurstNet regarding the status of the server promised Saturday night, I emailed Sean again this morning asking for an ETA. I have received no reply yet I see that he can find his way here to respond to complaints.

I think if customers were properly taken care of in the first place, there would be no need to play "damage control" at WHT.

I should point out that in spite of the fact that this is the THIRD company that has done this to me in the last two months, I have been extremely patient. But I've reached my limit.

Again, this is not about impatience with delays. It's about honesty, communication and respect for the customer.

Originally posted by BurstNET
. . . .MODS - get rid of these two threads please...they are quite pointless, and are only causing arguements/trouble which is un-needed. Leave the downtime one if you want, but atleast edit out the off-topic posts in that thread.

Sean R.
BurstNET MODS - Please leave the threads intact.
It is informative and useful as is.

<< After no word from
BurstNet regarding the status of the server promised Saturday night, I emailed Sean again this morning asking for an
ETA. I have received no reply yet I see that he can find his way here to respond to complaints. >>

Ed,

I emailed you three times today.

Once to advise you that your server would be up today...

Once to tell you that we cannot send you access info because you have not sent us the proper setup details we are waiting for still..

And one more time with the list of setup info are requesting, in case you did not receive such the first time.

Are you not getting my emails?


Sean R.
BurstNET

Originally posted by BurstNET
Are you not getting my emails?

Apparently not.

OK, I found the problem in your case.
Looks like your domain used to be hosted with us, and a dns entry still exists...
Mail has been routed locally, to your old server here, not to your new current host.

Removing dns entry, and resending all the emails to you again...

Send me a note please at sean@burst.net, so I know you got them...

Sean R.
BurstNET

.

Originally posted by kwimberl


Actually, this is fairly standard unless you establish credit and get billed in that fashion. Most dedicated providers that frequent this forum charge up front for a dedicated server.

You missed the point... of course it's standard to charge upfront, just about every virutal hosting company does that as well. But it's not standard to charge BEFORE they even have the service. Do I charge my clients card 5 days before I setup their account? No, their account is setup within 15 minutes of completing the credit card form.

SO... Why would Burst charge someone BEFORE they even HAVE THE PRODUCT to deliver? That IS bad business and it's not standard. :D

Very simple.
We need to validate the order is real, and we will receive payment.
We receive alot of fake orders, and credit card authorization and approval is a very important part of our order verification process. We will not process orders that do not authenticate, or if the credit card is declined.

That does not mean we are charging for service before the server is set up and useable. That just means we take the first month's payment when the order is received. We actually don't start the invoicing of the server until about one week after the order is received...assuring the machine is fully operational and service being provided before the billing period starts. If an errot was made and the billing was running prior to possesion of the server by the client, they just have to email billing@burst.net, and that dept would be more than happy to adjust the invoicing and push it up a few days. We have never had a client complain about this practice, but have had many request billing be bumped up a few days, of which each time we have honorably complied.


Sean R.
BurstNET

Hey Sean,

You should check with your CC processor. We do not charge our customers for a server until it's set-up (it saves on fees if we have to refund money and makes customers happier), but our processor let's us "validate" the card to make sure the amount that will be due is available on the card. This is one way we check the validity of an order, without actually charging the card until we deliver the service.

I don't think paying up front is a bad idea. If your server is setup with in 3 days and you paid up front, then I don't see a problem. If you paid up front and your server is set up after 3 weeks, then that's something you should complain to.

Originally posted by brandonk


You missed the point... of course it's standard to charge upfront, just about every virutal hosting company does that as well. But it's not standard to charge BEFORE they even have the service. Do I charge my clients card 5 days before I setup their account? No, their account is setup within 15 minutes of completing the credit card form.


Virtual hosting is no a dedicated server. You maybe be able to afford to loose that $9 for virtual hosting, but servers cost way more then that.

Would you like to setup a server and then find out that the credit card is fraud or invalid? I doubt you do.

Originally posted by BurstNET
Mail has been routed locally, to your old server here, not to your new current host.


There had to be an explanation for it.

We're moving forward. Matter closed.

I can't believe Sean suggested the removal of this thread.

His general tone and defensive attitude are invalueable for people looking for hosting.

(Posted in both threads):

Ok, well for better or worse, I don't see either thread topic (this one or the other downtime thread) as anything out of line. Sean would like parts edited, but it wouldn't make much sense to edit out his comments and leave others (it would just be confusing to read), and I really don't fell like editing everyone else's comments as well (pretty much defeating the whole point of a discussion forum), so I'm just leaving the thread as is.

I can remove off topic posts, but not once 2 1/2 pages of comments are posted and it would be helpful if these posts were just ignored and reported ASAP so we could pluck out the one post that doesn't jive with the thread. It doesn't always work but we stand a better chance of being able to remove these posts if they aren't replied to.

Anyhwooo, I'll pass the buck to Matt and see if he wants to attempt a removal of anything at this point. In the future, please be sure before you hit submit, and I'll ask that people try to discuss the thread topics and less of the posts themselves.

Originally posted by BurstNET
Very simple.
We need to validate the order is real, and we will receive payment.
We receive alot of fake orders, and credit card authorization and approval is a very important part of our order verification process. We will not process orders that do not authenticate, or if the credit card is declined.

That does not mean we are charging for service before the server is set up and useable. That just means we take the first month's payment when the order is received. We actually don't start the invoicing of the server until about one week after the order is received...assuring the machine is fully operational and service being provided before the billing period starts. If an errot was made and the billing was running prior to possesion of the server by the client, they just have to email billing@burst.net, and that dept would be more than happy to adjust the invoicing and push it up a few days. We have never had a client complain about this practice, but have had many request billing be bumped up a few days, of which each time we have honorably complied.


Sean R.
BurstNET

Thanks for the explanation...:D