after three days of talking to tech support, I had to send an email to the Vice President of Technical Support at RackShack.net maybe he will solve the problem. if you are intersted in reading yet another nightmare with RackShack then keep reading

__________________________________________________
To :
rnp@rackshack.net (Vice President of Technical Support
)

Subject :
an Open Letter!

Date :
Sat, 08 Dec 2001 20:24:11 -0600

Dear Robert Pennington,

I don't want to heart rackshack as I fee they are a nice people and a nice company that have just started the business of Web hosting. but what happened to me was unacceptable. I could easily full the web hosting forums in the web about my nightmares with your tech support, however, I found it not nice and it heart your effort of creating a top hosting company.

to make the long story short, this is my problem. after I update the server with some updates which was recommended by cobalt themselves, my telnet and FTP server were down, however, the web server and the admin server were running smoothly with no problem. I asked one of the tech support to see if he can bring the telnet server up and running and I will be able to fix the FTP server. you wouldn't believe what happened next. they took the serve from the colo to their office saying that they are going to look at it. my concern was, why they didn't took my permission to take the server from the colo, they have no right to do so unless I approve it. anyway, this happened at 12/6/01 4:51:53. I have been told that it is a matter of hours until they will solve the problem and they will tell me when its done.
after that I found out that they are planning to restore the server and they are asking my approval. I told them on 12/7/01 5:27:38 the following ( you can read this as it was a ticket):

" the admin server as far as I know it si working, so if it is possible to access the admin page and do a backup and then restore the server I will be thankfull, otherwise, just restore the server "

they reply by saying "12/7/01 9:29:32 PM going to wait on approval. Briank"
I was told by another tech support named 'Brain' that this mean they are waiting for my approval to whether they restore the server or not. so I was wondering it is either I can't write English or they can't read it.

after that, they opened another ticket on 12/8/01 8:17:06 saying

"12/8/01 8:17:06 AM This server is still in the office and we have had no contact from EU. 12/8/01 8:47:05 AM ASA-Owen contacted EU waiting for EU."

this was funny, I already approve it. so I talked with 'Brain' and I was told that I have to re-edit the ticket so they will know that you approve it. however, there is no place in your account system that allow a user to edit a ticket, and I told him that. he said that he doesn't know how, and I told him thanks and I will try.

I try to edit the ticket with no luck so opened a third ticket on 12/8/01 2:46:37 PM

"RackShack - RS - Cannot Access Sites on Server
Problem Description: 12/8/01 2:46:37 PM 12/6/01 1:14:33 AM 12/6/01 - mwettstein - 1:11:32 AM - - - - RS-RAQ4I/128MB - RS-2125 -> Customer is not able to use telnet/ftp .. I can reach the /admin on the http.. I was also able to see that telnet is enabled.. rebooted the server 2 times from the Mant Section.. This didn't help.. Will need someone to go to the Colo and reboot from there or Console into the server to find out what is going on. 12/6/01 9:02:19 AM Server is in the office. Leaving ticket open. I APPROVE IT "

you will see at the End I said "I APPROVE IT". and even this one didn't work! and Finally, I opened a fourth ticket on 12/8/01-7:32:08 Saying that I approve it.


Dear Robert, I had the chance to work with other hosting companies like HostPro.com, Rackspace, and Iserver.com( now known as verio.com). and they treated us the way we should be treated. they are doing business and we are too. we are not paying $99 per month to get a play server! an example would be when HostPro mistakenly forgot to Install Jserv in My account and I wasn't able to run my servlets for two days, they simply give me that month Free. this is how you can do business because customer satisfaction is the most important thing in a successful business mode.

I am sure you will be upset of one of your connection provider( and let say you only have one) cut your connection and said they are waiting for your approval to reconnect you! I am sure you will lose a lot money and customers and most importantly reputation. then I am sadly telling you that this is exactly what happen to us!

and finally, I wish you have the time and look at some of the nightmares that some of your clients had all over the web( if you need links I am more then happy to give it to you).



__________________________________________________

Until now the server in their office, and I am wondering when they are going to restore it! :angry:

Interesting.

Originally posted by adelx
I try to edit the ticket with no luck so opened a third ticket on 12/8/01 2:46:37 PM

"RackShack - RS - Cannot Access Sites on Server
Problem Description: 12/8/01 2:46:37 PM 12/6/01 1:14:33 AM 12/6/01 - mwettstein - 1:11:32 AM - - - - RS-RAQ4I/128MB - RS-2125 -> Customer is not able to use telnet/ftp .. I can reach the /admin on the http.. I was also able to see that telnet is enabled.. rebooted the server 2 times from the Mant Section.. This didn't help.. Will need someone to go to the Colo and reboot from there or Console into the server to find out what is going on. 12/6/01 9:02:19 AM Server is in the office. Leaving ticket open. I APPROVE IT "

you will see at the End I said "I APPROVE IT". and even this one didn't work! and Finally, I opened a fourth ticket on 12/8/01-7:32:08 Saying that I approve it.
I don't know if it helps, but from this ticket (what you posted), if the tech who got it didn't know the full situation, I'm not sure they'd know what you approved. I wouldn't.

Just trying to help you get the situation resolved, but maybe I'm missing something.

well, thank you Chicken for your idea, but, I already told them in the chatting that I approve it and they didn't restore the server, I also send an email to the Vice President of Technical Support
tell him my story and until now he didn't reply at my email!! so what does that mean? :angry:

also if you look at the ticket on 12/7/01 5:27:38 , I wrote:

" the admin server as far as I know it si working, so if it is possible to access the admin page and do a backup and then restore the server I will be thankfull, otherwise, just restore the server "

doesn't that mean I approve restoring the server! I guess yes! believe me I didn't want to post such a post about them, but I was forced to do so because I think this is the only way to make other people here aware of what rackshack are doing to their clients! we lost our business because of them and I hate to see others loss their business!

believe me chicken I did my best to resolve this problem, and I tooked to more then one person in their chatting room to name some :
Patrick
rs-ini
Brain

and I told Brain that I want the server to be restored and they can check that in their chatting log! but nothing happened!

Did you ever get your nightmare/problem with rackshack fixed. :confused:

Chris.

LOL, you might want to do some proofreading of your email next time and they might take you more seriously! ;)

wow its good to see all the users on this board are kind and polite, maybe english isnt even his first language. Didnt see a need for you to take this thread off basis and bash someone.

Originally posted by cbaker17
wow its good to see all the users on this board are kind and polite, maybe english isnt even his first language. Didnt see a need for you to take this thread off basis and bash someone. Who's bashing??! I was merely pointing out that it's far more likely to be taken seriously if a person takes extra care in their spelling and grammar. Even if I were sending an email to an organization in, say, China, I would be sure to find someone who writes decent Mandarin before shooting it off, if it were something important and I wanted to be taken seriously!

I think my comments were hardly bashing; I don't do that without good reason. ;)

I agree with both of you. I think spelling is important, but I also think that the issue is more important than the spelling. If I am writing a letter to my senator or congressmen about communist China(which by the way I do all the time) I would spell everything right(or try to). The only problem is a have poor spelling and I think that on a free broad and when you have a valid issue spelling is not that important. Also like the guy above said english might not be his first langauage. :o

By the way did you ever get your nightmare with rackshack.net solved?

(please ignore all slleping mistakes.)

Just my ideas,

Chris

I agree, spelling in forums is hardly important in comparison to official correspondence...but I assume post #1 consists of snippets from his message to RackShack, right?? :eek:

Thats a good point.

Seems pretty simple to me :rolleyes:
In his first ticket he says, ". . . .otherwise, just restore the server"

Now, I haven't read their TOS to know if he actually has to include the word approve; but it seems like he was saying he approves of them restoring the server.

We should always try to express ourselves in order to describe the problem. I guess sometimes we do not.

His name is Brian..not Brain...lol hahahahha
As a Rackshack Technician I would like to apologize for everything that has happened to 'adelx'. Miscommunication happens.
Oh and please post some more RS bashing....good stuff.
hehe

-Matt Ulrey (RS-MattSkrilla)
Rackshack Tech
mattu@rackshack.net

I asked one of the tech support to see if he can bring the telnet server up and running and I will be able to fix the FTP server. you wouldn't believe what happened next. they took the serve from the colo to their office saying that they are going to look at it. my concern was, why they didn't took my permission to take the server from the colo, they have no right to do so unless I approve it.

Urm - u ask them to fix your colocation server and when they take it away to do it, you have a go at them? Not right IMO.

--James

We've had the same type problems with RaQ4 servers there in the past. I won't go into the great detail that you've seen already here, but I have perfect English (unimportant) and access to Houston on the telephone. We were down for over 24 hours SEVERAL times (of course they were all when it was the worst possible time.)

This is a RaQ4 pushing ~250 - ~300 kbps AVERAGE with 200 sites... I.E. an active server that they should know needs to be on-line.

The excuse then was the remote co-lo. Maybe now that they are in their own facility (smart thinking...) it will eliminate the "A tech has to drive out to the co-lo which is 30 mins away" excuse we've all heard.

Drew

I dont know why im so suprized to find the same story as a dilema I am facing, but I am.

All the same crap they gave you, is exact there giving me. Ill have to post more details about it later, im going to give them more time to make it up and resolve this issue, as I dont want to jump the gun and give them a bad name.

But if they continue, I really think they need to be named and shamed!

hurtdidit, English is not my frist Langauge, and I think I did my best to make me email readable ;-) and I agree with I should of spend more time correcting the mistakes I made, but this is just an email and I really don't care about those "simple" spelling and grammar mistakes. if I was writing to an organization in China , then maybe I will consider spending more time writting the letter. and by they way, I got a B in my English 101 Coures in Kasnas State University :D so I guess my English is just good enough.

Skrilla , Brian or Brain who cares! ;-)

WildWayz, it is not a colocation service, it is a Ded. server service. and I told that my FTP and Telnet is not working, and everything is working. I guess my point is, they should of contacted me before they take the server off line.

drewnick, I am not the only one out there :cool:

Pillhead , I agree with you, but I already gave them four days and no one cared about it until I lost all my clients :angry:


cmoats, yes they solved the problem and gave me another nightmare which I will take about next! however, the point is not whether they solve the problem or not, what I was so upset about is that they should know that we are doing buessness and the servers we are paying for are not a play servers. taking the server off line for 5 days and then bring it back and say "we apologize " and it was "Miscommunication " and it is not their mistake it not acceptable respond!

and just to tell you how they do there bussiness and how they treat their clients I will give you my last nightmare with them. I manage to get some of my clients back after they restore the server and I told my clients that it is not our mistake it is the company we are hosting with mistake. well some of the clients went back and everything was normal until today when I checked my email, here is the email :

_____________________________________________
Your server has been selected to be one of the next group of servers migrated to our new facility. This move will take place starting at 11:30 PM CST Friday evening December 14th and continue until it is finished.

A more detailed schedule will be posted on the RackShack web page at www.rackshack.net and in the rackshack forum at http://forum.rackshack.net . We do not expect that once your server is taken down for the move that it will be out of service for more than 45 minutes to 90 minutes in a best case scenario.


It is important that you make a backup copy of your server prior to the migration.


We will have several migration teams working and servers will be moved in small groups of approximately 32 each. This will ensure that each server experiences the shortest downtime possible.


There will be a special Migration chat room set up on IRC during the move. You may go there if you need assistance with anything related to the move.

In addition, the list of ip's affected is posted on the rackshack forum at http://forum.rackshack.net or our main web page at www.rackshack.net


Thanks for your continuing business,



Robert Marsh

Head Surfer Rackshack.net
_________________________________________

I would like to say two things about this email. frist, they should of give us at least 24 hours notice to we can tell our clients about it before they find out that there site is not working anymore and they will think that we are the one behind it!

2nd, the say it will take " it will be out of service for more than 45 minutes to 90 minutes in a best case scenario" however, it is more then 12 hours right now and the server is not back online! I asked one of the tech, and he/she said that our server is still in the old colo and they didn't move it yet. then I asked here why it isn't working, he/she says it is because they droped the netmask! I really don't know what they mean by they dropped the net mask, but I really care that my server is back as soon as possible! until now, it is dead! and I am getting P.S. from my clients!

and way, I remember one guy told me in this fourm when asked about rackshack wether they are good or not and he told me " you get what you pay for" I can't search the Forum using my name to get that person name because all my old posts are deleted but I still remember that very well and I guess he was 100% correct.

please ignore my slleping mistakes( they are a lot I guess.):D

We have a server in there for off-site stats and back-ups (RaQ4) and it has been down ALL morning! For over 6 hours. This has to do with the move. Gee whiz, are they moving it to DALLAS or what?!?

Drew

I am very sorry to hear that.

It's okay, as it's a non-urgent server. I feel sorry for the other 253 servers in my subnet 216.40.212 who are down now too! YES, I tried pinging 'em.

The moral of the story: NEVER EVER believe a company's Website when it says ANY KIND of move will "take 45-90 mins." Let's be real! The guys are on lunch break now, drinking Pepsi!

Drew

I couldnt agree with you more about customer service and rackshack, something I am stil in the progress of arguing is showing to me there true colours, and they really couldnt care abuot there customers, I guess thats because there so big, have such cheap prices that if people were to ditch there serve,r they can resell it to the next sucker and get another $299 setup fee.

Its true what people say about "you get what you pay for" and now I know how they manage to keep there costs at just $99 a month, simply by forcing people to get rid of there server, because youll never be able to get your setup fee back :(

Im not gonna let them beat me tho, im not loosing my setup fee money !

I am just wondering, does anyone get his/her server back online, because until now our server is not working!! :angry:

Man you guys seem to be having real trouble. I hope you guys
are back online soon.

Best Wishes,
Chris.

yes for some of us english is not our first language and we do the best we can. However i have encountered many times people took me as an idiot or uneducated because i mispelt or misplaced words. Maybe english is not his first language. english is a easy language but a lot of words have same meanings and can be flipped easily.

I understand a lot of you are speaking/writing english as a second language--and you are doing a much better job at it than I would be in YOUR native tongue, I assure you! :)

I certainly did not intend to insult anyone, my point is simply that it is VERY easy for you to not be taken seriously if your message is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, know what I mean? And THAT is something to take into consideration when conversing with english-speaking businesses.

Take care, and good luck getting your dilemma solved!

:)