First off, this is not a cry to BurstNET for tech support. My dealings with them are over (thankfully).

I wanted to add that because the board seems a little sensitive to the fact that people write to this board because for some reason or another they cannot get BurstNET to respond to them personally so they use this board as an attempt to get tech or customer service.

Hopefully this will help those who are looking for co-location services.

1) My server arrived at BurstNET on 13 December 2001. I called BurstNET and they promised it would be up and running later that day and they would contact me with the information I needed.

** I had not heard from them so I called them and left my contact information later in the day Thursday and again was promised it would be up and running later today and that they would contact me.... Thursday passed with NO word from BurstNET.

2) Friday 14 December I called them again. They informed me that the person who was going to set-up my server was not in. They took a message and promised that I would be contacted within a couple hours.

** All day Friday passed and NO word from BurstNET!

3) Saturday 15 December I called them again. I talked to a tech and he said that they could not get my server to boot up. He said he suspected that it was the motherboard, but would have to look at it further to be sure. I asked him if it was "common practice" for a clients server to be broke or inoperable and for nobody to contact the client". He said he would do a complete diagnosis and get back to me "in a little bit". All day Saturday passed and NO word from anyone at BurstNET. In fact at this point nobody from BurstNET had ever contacted me about anything.... even when they thought my server was inoperable...... WOW!

4) Monday 17 December rolled around and still no word from them. I called several times Monday and was told every time that somebody would get back to me soon with an estimate to repair or with some word about my server. It seems that every time I called the "person I needed to speak with" was not in or not available or any other number of excuses. At this point, I had never been contacted by BurstNET about ANYTHING..... No e-mail, NO phone call, NOTHING......and this was after a letter to the e-mail contact on their website to tech support, the company, and the company CEO's e-mail address. I figured that this was not the right company for me to be dealing with. They have now had my $2,500 server for 5 days, made no contact with me when my server was supposedly diagnosed as "won't boot", they lied to me about getting back with me, and anytime I talked to ANYONE on the phone they made excuses and seemed lost! I had a serious problem and all I got was "well, that person is not in", I will give them the message.

5) Tuesday 18 December I contacted them again and expressed that I wanted my server returned to me. This is where things really get interesting. I talked to Erick and he promised it would be in the mail tomorrow and that they would pay shipping.....and that he would send me a tracking number later that day. Well, at least I was going to get my server back....... NOT!!! No tracking number was sent to me, no contact from them and the server was never shipped!!!

6) I called them on Thursday 20 December and Erick said Sorry. Hmmmmm, sorry? He said it would go out in tomorrow's mail. I told him to prove it!..... Because up to this point I had been promised on at least 6 occassions that I would be contacted back and NOBODY from BurstNET had EVER contacted me! Again he promised to get it in the mail and send me a tracking number. I was curious how my $2,500 server was being shipped back to me so I asked him if it was being sent "insured". He said NO. I told him that I thought it was irresponsible for BurstNET to ship a $2,500 server without insurance. I asked him if he would ship any of their hardware uninsured??? His response was "No, but this is not our equipment". Don't ask me why I was suprized to hear this type of response, but I was. I told him to ship it to me insured and I would pay for shipping, but by no means was it to be shipped without insurance!....... he agreed.

7) Christmas rolled around and still NO SERVER! I contacted them on at least a dozen occassions and got the same type of answers.... "he's not in", "the person you need to speak with is not here", "I'll take a message and have him call you", "your server is at our shipping department" and any other excuse they could flip at me to hide the fact that my server was still there and had not shipped yet! Here it is December 26th and still NO SERVER!........ WOW. I called later in the day and now I was being told that Shawn was shipping the server personally and that he was not in.

8) I contacted them again on 27 December and spoke to Erick again. He said that the server was shipping out tomorrow. At this point I had given up hopes and decided to take further action and told him I was doing so. I also explained again that my server was not to be shipped without insurance..... again, he agreed..... as long as I paid the shipping (this is after he agreed to pay to ship it back to me..... :) )

9) I contacted the PA Attorney General and filed a complaint on BurstNET. Hopefully anyone else who has had problems with them will do the same. I also contacted the PA BBB. When I filed a complaint with the BBB I found out that BurstNET has a unsatisfactory record with the PA BBB because of "unanswered complaints". WOW..... I wish I would have found this information before choosing them. If you want to view what the PA. BBB has to say about BurstNET, go to...

http://www.scranton.bbb.org/common.html?location=/home/common/www/mis67/report.php&bureau=nepa&compid=2000916&national=Y


10) I contacted the police department in Scranton PA. hoping they could speed the process along. At this point they have had my server for two weeks and promised to send it back to me three different times. They were playing games with me and essentially holding my server (and my business ) hostage. The detective said he made several attempts to contact BurstNET over two days and on every occassion he was told that someone would get back to him...... it seems they don't respond to them either..... :) (Although this is more of a civil matter rather than a criminal matter, I sincerely appreciate the efforts of the Scranton Detective Department!!)

11) And still.....in all this time, NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON FROM BUSTNET HAD EVER CONTACTED ME! Not by phone, e-mail or any other method! If anyone at BurstNET says different, I defy them to provide proof. I have my proof of contact to them and it is plentiful.

12) It is now January 4, 2002 and I finally received my server today, but it is not really a server any longer.....it is a heap of metal! Here are the problems I have noted so far without even attempting to "fire up" the server...

a: The motherboard is cracked. This sort of thing does not happen in shipment. This is usually from the board being pressed on too hard. The board was definately not cracked like this when it left me because the last thing we did before shipping was close the machine up.....load unix, test, all was good, wiped the drive...... and boxed it for shipment....... never even re-opened the case.........all was fine!

b: One of the ram chips is busted.... wow, how does something like this happen during shipment? This is also a "case open" type of injury and not that way when it left me.

c: There are several transistors on the board that are bent to the point of falling off. It is my guess that someone crammed everything into this case very hap-hazardly before shipping it back to me.

d: One of the hard drives was totally left unsecured in the case and I imagine it will need replaced..... they are not designed to be banging around inside a case during shipment.

e: The outside of the case is scratched (a brand new 270 dollar case..... folks, this was a nice server..... 3 hard drives, raid, 1.5 gig ram....... the works!)

The folks at BurstNET can say what the want to, but I know this.... THIS SERVER WAS PUT TOGETHER.....CLOSED UP ..... UNIX WAS LOADED AND THE MACHINE WAS TESTED....... ALL WAS FINE!!!......WE PACKED IT AND SHIPPED IT. This machine was 100% brand new and 100% working order when it left me!

As far as the damages to the server, I took photos and will be contacting an attorney in PA early next week. What else can I do?? The server was shipped with NO INSURANCE even after repeated warnings for them NOT to do this.

Well, there you go....... there's my first and only out of state co-location nightmare story.

Because of this fiasco with BurstNET we had to buy another server and get it online locally. This one will have to be repaired before it is put into use.

I will never, ever consider going out of the local area for co-location services again. You may have to pay a little more, but at least your machine is close enough to go get it if something turns sour.

As for BurstNET, I will not even check this board for a response from them. Their words mean NOTHING to me! After the silly little childish games they played with me and my business I do not care to hear another word from any of them.


Some people may say that if you cannot trust a company enough to hand your server over to them, why even work with that company?? To those people I add that I contacted BurstNET on several occassions before sending my server to them. On every occassion I was greeted warmly, intelligently and with good answers to good questions. It was after my server arrived to them that everything fell apart........ so please be wary!

If my experience is not clear enough or anyone needs more clarification I can be reached at inpeak@yahoo.com.

Have a great day!

Brian

Wow! Pretty sad. Hopefully everything will work out with you and your new server. Goodluck!

BTW: The reason the Sean Rosler has stated for "having an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to unanswered complaint(s). "
Is because they don't believe in the BBB, and don't want to reply to the complaints made there.

Tough Luck! :bawling:

As a side note, maybe your problem wasn't that you decided to colo out of the local area, but that you decided to host w/ Burst :S

Hi Brian,

colo'ing out of state (or out of country :)) isn't the problem. There are many reputable and responsible colocation companies out there that would not treat you as Burst did. I think the key when shopping for a provider is to get in contact with current/past clients and get their feedback.

But you definitely have a point that having your server close to home is a big plus :)

That sucks! I'd certainly take some legal action, since a Burst employee agreed to ship it insured, and they didn't.

I have a plan to colo my server at their NOC, but after I read this story I will think twice again.

1. This server arrived defective...there was NOTHING we could do to get it working. There was almost no padding in the server in the box it arrived in. The client wanted us to pay to replace parts...sorry, not gonna happen. We would have gladly replaced the parts for the client, if he agreed to pay for the replacements parts...but he did not, so there was nothing we could do.

2. This server WAS SENT INSURED...I sent it personally, and still have the receipt.



This client was one of the rudest individuals our staff has ever had to deal with.
We went out of our way to offer to assist him with his problem...but he would not hear it, and wanted us to give him everything (replacement parts) for free.
The only thing we did wrong in his situation was not ship the server back to him on time.
We had the holidays and was quite hectic around here, and we just did not have the time to get to UPS. For this we admit fault and apologize. However, due to the late shipment, I personally authorized the waive of shipping charges to return the server to him, which client would be responsible to pay for, and also paid for the insurance...and took the server to UPS myself when I found about about the delay.



Sean R.
BurstNET

The more I think about this situation, the more I think this was his plan from the beginning.
He would not let us just change the RAM or the MB, and just wanted it shipped back...This is not normal...
This client stressed many times on the phone that he wanted his package insured...too many times...
The way he stressed this so many times, then this specific package just "happened" to get damaged in shipment, makes me think there is nothing wrong with his server (short of a bad MB or RAM causing it not to boot when it was here...that he would not let us fix) at all.
"If" there is, it happened during shipment on the return to him.
And there is no way that his machine is worth $2500...I saw the thing...

Sean R.
BurstNET

Oh, here we go again.... fighting a legal battle on WHT. Perhaps we should setup an arbitration panel on WHT to deal with these things :)

I suggest to the moderators that this thread will be closed now. Both parties had their say and they can fight it out among themselves!

Hi, Im the person who unboxed and racked your server. From the start, it never would boot. I checked to make sure the ram was seated properly in it, and nothing was shaken loose during shipping. It was in perfect physical condition (IE no loose parts, nothing broken, etc). It simply wouldnt boot. You should have tested it before you sent it. I went well out of my way to try and get it working, and I only met hostility and a very rude reaction from you for the work I did.

As for the condition it was shipped back in, it was perfect when it left here. The damage you claim was done to it wasnt possible from a shipping mess up.

Just my 2 cents.

George from Burst.net.

<<Removed: Off topic>>

I've heard horrid stories of UPS guys deliberating kicking around and generally abusing packages labeled "fragile" or "breakable items inside". The inside joke within the company is if you want your packages to be handled with any decency, don't put any warning labels outside.

Now, I'm not sure whether this is true of UPS in general, just an isolated incident, or whether the story is true at all. To finish off the story, a guy whose computer was shipped by UPS got completely wrecked, and in retaliation, he stuffed 7 jars of animal urine into a box, had it labeled "very fragile", and solicited UPS to send the box for him. He never received the box at its destination, as he expected and had hoped :)

<<Off topic post removed, thus this removed>>

<<Removed, see above>>

<< I've heard horrid stories of UPS guys deliberating kicking around and generally abusing packages labeled "fragile" or "breakable items inside". >>

Urban Legend ;-)

Before working at BurstNET, I worked for a hobby distribution company...and you know how anal collector's can be if even the slightest imperfection of the product exists...we shipped approx 10,000 orders per year thru UPS, and I cannot remember even a single incident where something was damaged...a few lost packages, yeah...but nothing damaged. The USPS is another story...they damage everything in their automation machines...

Sean R.
BurstNET

Sean:
2. This server WAS SENT INSURED...I sent it personally, and still have the receipt.
Why you don't post a scan of the receipt? :rolleyes:

This client was one of the rudest individuals our staff has ever had to deal with.
It's look that you have several rude customer recently...:dgrin:

WebSun

.

Yes, yes, the wonderful UPS. We have recieved packages before where the box was cut in half by fork lift and taped back together:) UPS still delivers the package because they hope that the forklife went through a spot where the merchandise was not occupied in hope of not having to pay the bill... Not saying that Burst was in the right here just sharing my 2 cense about UPS. In my opinion, Fedex and USPS are my favorite.

UPS and Fedex drop kick packages marked fragile! Trust me ive unfort. have ahd 1st hand exp with servers looking like someone through them off of the plane while it was in the air! :(

Wow man.

That's terrible. I read the entire thing. Usually when I see complaints about burst I never bother reading all of it because i know theout come each time.. This time i actually decided to read al of it. That really sucks that you were treated that way..

I agree on local colocation, its much easier.

My friend and I ordered a server from burst.net around christmas time, its been 2 weeks now and nothing has happend. We received the confirmation email, but nothign has happend after that. WE have called and they keep telling us its the holidays and they are some delays.... I would like to know how long the delays will last :)

hope we get the server soon
..

Originally posted by BDROB
...
10) I contacted the police department in Scranton PA. hoping they could speed the process along...
I think I saw that on a episode of COPS.

"One Adam Twelve, Base"

"One Adam Twelve, go ahead"

"Roger, we have reports of a dedicated server that wasn't set up on time in the vincintity of 5th and Main. Possible injuries to the server. Suspect is a caucasian male, mid 30's, wearing a lab coat and glasses."

"10-4, we're on our way."

Hello all,
First off, I said from the beginning that I am not posting here to try and get some sort of action from BurstNET. I will let the attorneys sort all of that out. This board is here so people can post their experiences with a company and let others "make the call" if they want to work with certain companies.

1) Below is the tracking number for this shipment, it was sent via UPS Ground with not even a signature required, let alone insurance..... :) the driver signed that it had been delivered. Someone suggested earlier that shaun post the shipping receipt.....don't hold your breath folks.... if he had proof, he would have already posted it.
1Z 170 X32 03 1372 000 4

As a side note.... this server had 41/2 inches of heavy foam totally surrounding it.

Shauns quote....
****We had the holidays and was quite hectic around here, and we just did not have the time to get to UPS. ****

That is how you might be treated by this company too..... THEY JUST WON'T HAVE TIME......... :)


2) Do you really want to even work with a company that is I in the middle of serious moral, ethical and legal problems like this? It's like choosing to go with a company because their prices are a little better and "hoping it don't happen to you" or "hoping things will get better with the company". Choose a better company from the start.... you will be much happier in the end.

Come on...... Shaun suggests that I sent our server out to him defective just so I could get the damage paid for??? Is that what I heard??? I have much better things to do with my time than ship a defective server all the way to PA just to escape fixing it.

My Dear Shaun..... I insisted my server be immediately sent back to me and not repaired by BurstNET because of the blantant and excessive incompetence BurstNET displayed. Why would I let you fix the machine...... then it would be tied into your lines and your incompetent company..... NO WAY!

I make no apologies for being rude to anyone at BurstNET, but I will say this.... I am an extremely level headed individual and WAS NOT rude to anyone until they failed to ship my server the first time. After that...... I think anyone would be rude and insistant. Then it happened a second time..... go figure??

Hey people......... go back to my opening thread and follow my link to the BBB of PA. That tells the story about this company. If they do not care enough about their business to respond to BBB complaints, why would they care about you??

As I said before, I can be reached at inpeak@yahoo.com if anyone needs any further clarification.

Take care folks and thanks for the thread replies.

Have a great day!

Brian

Hello Chris,
Thanks for the COPS skit............ I laughed my butt off.

Humor is a good thing and when you can introduce it into a situation like this......... all the better. :)

Take care

Brian

Originally posted by BDROB
the last thing we did before shipping was close the machine up.....load unix, test, all was good, wiped the drive...... and boxed it for shipment.......

Odd question, perhaps, but why did you wipe the drive? Isn't the idea that you have your operating system installed and configured before shipping the system, so that when it arrives it just needs to be plugged into the network?

I've heard horrid stories of UPS guys deliberating kicking around and generally abusing packages labeled "fragile" or "breakable items inside". The inside joke within the company is if you want your packages to be handled with any decency, don't put any warning labels outside. Not true. I know a bunch of people who work for UPS and they take handling packages very seriously there. Also, if you mark a package fragile it won't matter because they treat all packages the same.

We have had thousands of things send UPS and never and issue. Now the USPS is a different story :)

Originally posted by BDROB
I make no apologies for being rude to anyone at BurstNET, but I will say this.... I am an extremely level headed individual and WAS NOT rude to anyone until they failed to ship my server the first time. After that...... I think anyone would be rude and insistant.

Trying to gain a meaningful understanding of an incident of conflict between two parties is never easy when our only insight is limited to non validated reports from each of the parties involved.

I was definitely leaning towards the side of the client until I read the above paragraph.

Sorry, but I don't agree that anyone would (or should) switch to rude mode as a valid tactic in a situation of conflict resolution. I can understand insistence of course, but rudeness is neither required nor effective.

Such a belief on the the part of the client that rudeness is warranted in dealing with others tends to lend strength to Burst's claims that the client was rude from the outset.

However, as I said, it's never easy to grasp the full truth in such situations as an outsider. Just my 2c worth.

Best Regards,
LBJ

Hello LBJ,
Thanks for your comments and although I see your point, I still make no apologies.

These people played and toyed with me for over two weeks while holding my server hostage.... very frustrating indeed!

Are you honestly saying that because I became rude and insistant after they had my server for over a week.......did me so wrong....... lied to me........ avoided me.......... etc........that their actions were warranted?

Your saying that you side with them because I became rude and insistant after a week of their ineptness??

I respect your comments, but I disagree.

In business, I meet rude people everyday...... That does not give me the right to treat them differently or hold out on services. I treat them fairly, with courtesy and handle their problems head on..... I do not play the "avoidance game" like BurstNET.

Thanks again

Have a great day!

Brian

I am not here to argue. I will post a receipt later today to prove the validity of my claims.

<< Are you honestly saying that because I became rude and insistant >>

The guy basically admits at this point he was very rude...changing his story.

<<< Someone suggested earlier that shaun post the shipping receipt.....don't hold your breath folks.... if he had proof, he would have already
posted it. >>>

Unfortunately we actually do not have a scanner hooked up in the office. I will take a digital image of the receipt and post it here once I am back in the office later today...then we will show the public the truth...the package WAS INSURED.
Once again, we take full responsibility for the shipping delays, but at no time did we lie to the client, avoid him, or have any such unprofessional attitude. As mentioned by myself above, and by the tech that handled this machine, we went out of our way to assist the client, but he was rude from the start. The holidays accounted for about one week in the shipping delay, due to employee vacations and non-shipping days, as well as weekends...which is more than understandable. To make up for the delays, we paid for the shipping and insurance, which is normally the client's responsibility. We probably would have given him a free month of service as well, had he decided to return a working server to us.

Also, the actual shipment via UPS Groud took 6 days as well. combine that with holidays and weekends, and the shipping time for it to arrive to us in the first place...you can see where two weeks for the whole incident really isn't that long of a time period. We did offer to send it next day air, if the client was willing to pay for that.

Please note: Important to see that the client's whole complaint here is basically that server shipment was delayed. BurstNET has taken full responsibility for that, did something to make up for it as best we could, and at no time have been unprofessional or rude during this whole incident. All in all I think it was handled very well, client is over-reacting, and has not told the complete truth.

I can understand his anger, but if the server arrived damaged (other than non-boot problem occuring when we received it), then it had to have been caused by UPS...and there are proper claim methods for that...since it was insured. Also, there should have been some damage to the exterior of the shipping box/packaging that goes with the actual damage to the contents...which I am sure UPS can investigate and see if the damage was caused by shipping or by another party. BurstNET would not risk tainting our reputation by intentionally damaging a server. The client's claim that this was a $2500 server is what makes me very suspicious about the situation, because there is no way that machine is worth even 1/2 of that. But he may have paid a local computer store to build it, and they waaay overcharged him...that is possible.



Sean R.
BurstNET

Hey

I have read most of this post and well I dont understand why people cant go directly to the company.

As well as Sean some advice to you is just dont respond or a simple post of

If you would like to resolve this issue please contact me offline.

This looks bad for everyone involved.

Also if the attorneys are sorting the issue out, then why even post here.

I know my lawyers would advise not to post here, as its stupid to post that issue here, when a court is the only thing that would matter, we are not a court.


Joe

<< I have read most of this post and well I dont understand why people cant go directly to the company. >>


Agreed....the client should have contacted UPS directly regarding the damage first.

<< As well as Sean some advice to you is just dont respond or a simple post of >>

And let people bad-mouth our company, or tell non-truths? Sorry, but as I stated in the past, I will defend our actions if such claims are made...

<< Also if the attorneys are sorting the issue out, then why even post here. >>

Assuming he did file a lawsuit...which I highly doubt. He does not have much of a case, and the product was insured by UPS.


Sean R.
BurstNET

Several things don't add up here.
BurstNET guys are not even saying the same thing..

Originally posted by BDROB
a: The motherboard is cracked. This sort of thing does not happen in shipment. This is usually from the board being pressed on too hard. The board was definately not cracked like this when it left me because the last thing we did before shipping was close the machine up.....load unix, test, all was good, wiped the drive...... and boxed it for shipment....... never even re-opened the case.........all was fine!

b: One of the ram chips is busted.... wow, how does something like this happen during shipment? This is also a "case open" type of injury and not that way when it left me.

c: There are several transistors on the board that are bent to the point of falling off. It is my guess that someone crammed everything into this case very hap-hazardly before shipping it back to me.

d: One of the hard drives was totally left unsecured in the case and I imagine it will need replaced..... they are not designed to be banging around inside a case during shipment.

e: The outside of the case is scratched (a brand new 270 dollar case..... folks, this was a nice server..... 3 hard drives, raid, 1.5 gig ram....... the works!)


Originally posted by siliconinc
Hi, Im the person who unboxed and racked your server. From the start, it never would boot. I checked to make sure the ram was seated properly in it, and nothing was shaken loose during shipping. It was in perfect physical condition (IE no loose parts, nothing broken, etc). It simply wouldnt boot. You should have tested it before you sent it. I went well out of my way to try and get it working, and I only met hostility and a very rude reaction from you for the work I did.

As for the condition it was shipped back in, it was perfect when it left here. The damage you claim was done to it wasnt possible from a shipping mess up.

Just my 2 cents.

George from Burst.net.


Originally posted by BurstNET
I can understand his anger, but if the server arrived damaged (other than non-boot problem occuring when we received it), then it had to have been caused by UPS...and there are proper claim methods for that...since it was insured. Also, there should have been some damage to the exterior of the shipping box/packaging that goes with the actual damage to the contents...which I am sure UPS can investigate and see if the damage was caused by shipping or by another party. BurstNET would not risk tainting our reputation by intentionally damaging a server. The client's claim that this was a $2500 server is what makes me very suspicious about the situation, because there is no way that machine is worth even 1/2 of that. But he may have paid a local computer store to build it, and they waaay overcharged him...that is possible.

Sean I agree that defending your company is important

I do own one as well, and I do defend it.

But it does make you look bad regardless. And who are you really defending yourself against.

This board, I mean its a great place no doubt, but a simple post like for instance

Please contact me offline to resolve this issue.

Will leave it up to the client to contact you. If they dont its there problem.

It makes you look good, you gave them a option to resolve it, instead of taking a support issue to these boards and fighting on here like 3 year olds.

I mean you may just want to think about other solutions to resolving issues.

Also maybe get lawyers involved. Thats what there for.

Just my opinion, but I just see it differently, you have a good company be proud of that, dont make yourself look bad by playing the debate game on here.

Joe

Unfortunately we actually do not have a scanner hooked up in the office. I will take a digital image of the receipt and post it here once I am back in the office later today...then we will show the public the truth...the package WAS INSURED.

How much time do you spend on WHT debating (sometimes arguing) with former or present customers? It seems ridiculous you would allow people here dictate your time. I wouldn't even think about wasting time trying to prove anything to anyone here. You did your job and stated your side of the story. I would just let the thread go. Let the jackals have their fun. After while the thread will die because jackals are cowards when they are alone.

Seems like sometimes WHT turns into a trial. Look at this one. You are submitting evidence to *some* people who have no idea about business in the first place.

Just my view point.

Originally posted by GeorgeC
I've heard horrid stories of UPS guys deliberating kicking around and generally abusing packages labeled "fragile" or "breakable items inside". The inside joke within the company is if you want your packages to be handled with any decency, don't put any warning labels outside.

Back in my college days, I worked (work study) for Residence Mail Services at Northeastern University in Boston. The RMS office was in the basement of one of the dormitories, with about 7 steps down from street level.

When UPS would deliver to us, the driver would come inside and get one of our big mail bins (5 foot long, 3 foot wide, and 4 foot off the ground, rolling - you've all probably seen one of these things) and he'd roll the bin to the bottom of the stairs, then he'd go back his truck up adjacent to the stairs, and he'd toss the packages out the back of the truck into the bin - a distance of about 12 or 15 feet total when you count the 8 foot stairway, 2 feet from the ground to the floor of the truck, and then the 3 to 4 feet to where the guy would throw from.

It didn't matter what the packages were labeled - every package was tossed down into the bin. Sometimes boxes at the bottom would be crushed by the boxes being tossed on top of them. Sometimes a particularly heavy box would fall short of the bin and roll down the stairs. I once saw a brand new Gateway computer (you could tell what it was from the cow spots on the box) over-shoot the bin and land on the cement floor of the hallway - you could hear the glass in the monitor breaking from halfway down the hall.

I don't know about any other UPS folks, but the guy who delivered to us just didn't give a ****. And then it was up to us to explain to the students whose packages arrived smashed and broken that it was damaged in shipping and that they'd have to file a claim with UPS - if the package was insured.

Trust me - a *lot* of damage can be done during the shipping process, especially if the people handling the stuff simply don't care.

<edit>
By relating this story I am not in any way siding with either party in this particular argument - I personally have no way of knowing what happened to this guy's server or even if anything did, nor do I have any way of knowing whether the claimed damage was caused by Burst or UPS or an elephant sitting on it. I am only relating this story because several people in this thread have stated that they've never had a bad experience with UPS, and I thought that the information I could provide might be useful.

I will also say that the year I spent at Residence Mail Services was the *only* time I've ever had a problem with UPS (except for when they went on strike a few years ago and I had to drive 7 hours to Albany NY to pick up a package from one of their sorting facilities - but that's a different story), and I've used them extensively in two other businesses. So take it as you will - I attribute it to that particular UPS driver who just didn't care.
</edit>

Jason

Hello Joe,
I appreciate the input and although your comments are directed mainly towards Sean..... I see the light from the flashlight you are holding..... :)

No more posts from me on this one........ I am off to bigger and better things.... I too have a business to run.


Have a great day all and thanks for your posts and e-mails on this subject.

Brian

All I have to say is that things can happen during shipping, but something like what happened to that server is alittle extreme. I mean, I could see if the hard drive came loose, then it would have cracked the motherboard and everything. Maybe it was just a faulty piece of hardware screws? Im not going to take sides on this, just give alittle input.

Anyway, I have never had any problem with UPS, and I send alot of this out from my ebay auctions. Nothing has ever happened that was damaging. Also, the only problem I did have was that a travel agent was sending me some airline tickets, 5 of them, to my house through USPS via Priority Mail. We received them in a little bag with a message on it,

"We handle millions of pieces of mail every year, and although rare, we can have some problems with our machines destroying pieces of mail."

I opened the bag and there were my plane tickets, shreded into 3 long strips. It was pretty funny, but sucked cause I had to re-order the tickets again. It looked like the entire envelope had been caught in a gear or something.


Oh well, just thought you may want to hear that story.

Jim

Hello
The problem foir all companies doing business on the internet is that customers can say anything they like online about the company with the company having no real right of reply.

For example, we had someone post a news group article claining we were crooks.
Basically he had registered a domain name and then charged back the reg fee so we impounded the domain name.
The malicious posting happened while I was away on business.
I only found out 2 weeks later from one of the other dads in the school playground......

We also had someone post on a board that we had not registered domains he had paid for.
True, but he had used a stolen credit card number (and didn't say that in his post).

We have had a small number of customers threaten to post false and damaging allegations about us on the internet.
The first example above is the only one who has actually done it as far as I know.

So..... the point is.
There is no way of knowing who is telling the truth here.
The original poster could be in some sort of dispute with Burst.net and is using this as a way of trying to get back at them.
Burst could be lying as well and without evidence none of us can make any sort of judgement.

My advice to the complainant is to take legal action.
Sadly that probably means Burst will end up paying out to avoid court even if they are innocent, but presumably they are insured for legal liability.

To people reading this thread......
The information presented here can't be used to form a judgement of either party's case.


Gordon

.

It sure is funny that there's always complaints' coming in about burstnet. Complaints about very many different things ranging from not answering phones, to not getting back to the customer, to server setup delays etc. yet on all occasions that I've seen burstnet claims its not their fault.

Where is the picture of the scanned receipt showing proof of insurance?

Also to the guy that sent the server all you have to do from 1 legal standpoint is provide a proof of purchase receipt for that server showing how much you paid for it. That along with a letter, e-mail etc. that you used to correspond with burstnet prior to sending the server would establish proof that this was the server sent to them. I mean if it was brand new there shouldn't have been any problems with the thing.

<< I mean if it was brand new there shouldn't have been any problems with the thing. >>

You must not buy that much computer hardware.

<< yet on all occasions that I've seen burstnet claims its not their fault. >>

really? want me to show you many threads where we apologized and offered assisted, or I asked for client to contatc me directly to help them? Hmm...where to start...umm....how bout this thread? ...did I not apologize for the shipping delay and accept responsibility for it..and then attempt to make it up to the client by shipping it back for free? Guess you chose to ignore that...and the resy on the posts just like it...

<< Where is the picture of the scanned receipt showing proof of insurance? >>

When I have time to post it I will.
First I have to check with my boss to make sure it is ok...
He may not want to because it is legal evidence.
If that is the case, I can still fax a copy to one person who will verify the thing...to one of the mods or somebody impartial...

<< Also to the guy that sent the server all you have to do from 1 legal standpoint is provide a proof of purchase receipt for that server showing how much you paid for it. >>

Wrong. Cost is irrelavant...it is replacement value that matters. Ask any insurance company...


Sean R.
BurstNET

<< The problem for all companies doing business on the internet is that customers can say anything they like online about the company with the company having no real right of reply. >>

Exactly...

Sean R.
BurstNET

This is a clarification of an earlier post...

If Sean wants to post the UPS scan, then please email me the image and I'll post it. It is he said, she said, and I think we've covered everything that can be covered otherwise.