I am not normally the type person to go out of my way to write a negative review of an organization, but I have received such poor service in working with AffordableColo.Com and Charles Baker that I felt it necessary to warn other professionals and individuals considering colocating a server to make sure to avoid this organization.

For starters I will say that they are hosted at Colo4Dallas, which is a great facility in the DFW area that subcontracts space to several other Colo companies, that in turn rent it out. There are a number of them in there and AffordableColo has some attractive pricing which is what brought me to them.

It would not be fair to paint a negative picture of the Technical Quality of service, such as bandwidth, ping times, etc. All of those are great, and very acceptable.

The problem is with Affordable Colo's lack of responsiveness, obvious inability to support a highly available environment, and total lack of ability to provide any sort of customer service, timely response or execute any billing changes or requests to the account.

Unfortunately my experience has been a comedy of errors. We had a need to transfer service from myself to another individual. Something that AffordableColo.com provides a form to have you initiate to do.

This has not been completed after weeks of emails, voicemails, phone calls, nasty grams, whatever it has taken to get a response. Recent emails to the company have shown NDR's coming back so it's possible they are offline or going out of business anyway. They've botched names, they are still billing the wrong person, they failed to install a new server in a timely manner that was sent to replace old hardware. We finally were able to get one of our own techs to go down to the colo, only to have him denied any access for security reasons because he was not on an access list (fair enough) but Colo4Dallas could not locate Charles to get him into the building ... so we failed there going over 48 hours with no access to the new server for ourselves or our customers ... By the way we had made pre arrangements for this person to show up through AffordableColo, but unfortunately that message never got from AffordableColo to the Colo4Dallas facility -- making for a total waste of our time and money.

It goes on, but to keep this readable I will wrap it up.

If anyone wants proof or any sort of evidence to help you avoid the pitfall that I unfortunately fell into please feel free to reply here or send me a private message and I will be happy to give you supporting documentation.

Maybe AffordableColo.Com will read this and reverse a recent charge to my credit card to save me from having to dispute the charge -- creating a no win situation for everyone.

David Anderson

A while back (5/22/2002 08:22AM PT) I emailed Chuck for a quote and never heard from him.

I want to provide an update to this situation. I have been able to make some contact with this Colo (AffordableColo.Com). We have agreed on a plan of action to rectify my dissatisfaction. If our plan which should be executed Thursday of this week is handled per our agreement, then I will come back here and be able to recommend them as a Colo on the merit that their technical service (bandwidth, pricing, and ping times) are very good. Note, that I still will not recommend them based on service. If that's important to you, it should be a major issue for concern with this Colo.

-----
Note I am posting this at the request of Charles Baker at AffordableColo.Com.

He wants a chance to make things right, and I am in agreement that if that happens to my satisfaction that again based on the technical quality of service that this Colo may be a viable option as long as a prospective customer goes in with their eyes wide open.

Sorry to ramble, but this forum is for us all to help one another based on experiences. I hope this information is helpful.

I will provide more info, and/or update on Thursday.


David

I want to make sure 100% every one understand exactly what transpired.

Mr. Anderson chose to transfer ownership of his service and server to another individual. During the time Mr Anderson was a customer as far as i know he was 100% happy with the service. Upon ownership change arrangements were made for the new customer to bring in a new server and remove Mr Andersons server, a couple of days ago this individual shows up and its not the person on the contract, they were refused access, but we went out of our way to facilitate the individual by setting up his server free of charge while he waited in the waiting room, we advised this individual could wait and upon completion of the setup of the new server could verify it was online, this individual choose to leave without telling anyone. We verified the server was at logon prompt and a link light was on the nic card, that is all we could do to make sure the server was accessible from the outside net, as no IP address and no login information was granted to us. 24-48 hours ago we received a trouble ticket advising that the server was not online, our tech responded that if he wanted us to check it out and troubleshoot it we would need login info and that it was a billable service. 24 hours later (IE yesterday) we recieved another trouble ticket advising that we were to fix it for free or allow them access to the colo, anyone on the authorized access list on the contract is always more then welcome to come in and fix their own equipment, we advised this. Today i recieve a call on my cell and a email from MR Anderson that he was wanting to pick up his old server and was upset with the fact that the new server wasnt online. And was upset with the lack of communication, well that is obsurd, i returned his cell phone call 1 hour after I heard my voicemail, and his email wasnt returned today because i was in transit from dallas, NO i dont have email access in my car. Furthermore all customers were advised there may be a delay in billing or sales questions because we are moving our corporate offices.

The only thing affordablecolo.com did wrong was a mixup in billing where Mr Anderson (old customer) and the new customer were not switched IE Mr Anderson was still being billed. Other then that all messages were replied to in a timely manner, and policys were adhered too.

Mr Anderson was advised when i heard of the billing mistake that I personally would see to his charge back. And i explained to him why i was not able to reply at the very instance he sent his email to me.

Affordablecolo.com went out of its way to facilitate these customers as we always do not only did we:

1. Setup the server free of charge.
2. Troubleshooted a server network problem free of charge.

Yes we screwed up on the switching the accounts over but 1 hour after hearing this i myself personally apoligized and advised i would personally see to the charge back.

Affordablecolo.com has always been accessible, even during this huge transitions of offices, trouble tickets are answered within minutes and colo4dallas is always able to reach one of us on our cell phones 24/7. Upon completion of our move, 24/7 tollfree support and corporate phone numbers will once again be answered live as they always have.

Customers have been notified of this move over the last 2 months.

I feel like my employees handled Mr. Andersons account and the new customers account in a extrodinary way, the rep. in charge of the billing mistake has been repremended, and Mr. Anderson was contacted within 1 hour to apoligize. I dont think we could have handled any customer better.

All of this aside, Mr. Anderson has been a great customer, i look forward to working with the new server owner. As always i go out of my way for every single customer, and i feel like this was done here. As with any company we have growing pains and sometimes make mistakes, as our customers can tell you over the next 15 days were integrating new sla's, getting new larger offices, and new staff to help facilitate our growth. But i dont feel like we made any mistakes with this account aside from the billing screw up.

thank you

Originally posted by cbaker17
I want to make sure 100% every one understand exactly what transpired.


Well, you're not being 100% honest in your responce either, I will disect what you say happened, and what actually happened

[/b]
Mr. Anderson chose to transfer ownership of his service and server to another individual. During the time Mr Anderson was a customer as far as i know he was 100% happy with the service. Upon ownership change arrangements were made for the new customer to bring in a new server and remove Mr Andersons server, a couple of days ago this individual shows up and its not the person on the contract, they were refused access, but we went out of our way to facilitate the individual by setting up his server free of charge while he waited in the waiting room, we advised this individual could wait and upon completion of the setup of the new server could verify it was online, this individual choose to leave without telling anyone.[/b]

Not entirely correct. I, as the new owner of the account, sent you numerous e-mails, and left numerouse voice mails for you personally, requesting some sort of "invoice" or e-mail that the contract was now, in fact, in my name. My requests went unanswered. I also sent you no less than 3 e-mails stating that the original owner of the contract (DavidA), and the individual who showed up to swap the server out, be granted access to our equipment. Again, no responce from you. Fine. I had a big note taped to the box the server shipped in that stated PeterW (the man who showed up to do the hardware swap) and DavidA should be granted access to install the server. You guys dropped the ball, be big enough to admit it.


We verified the server was at logon prompt and a link light was on the nic card, that is all we could do to make sure the server was accessible from the outside net, as no IP address and no login information was granted to us.


Wrong again. The one time you did e-mail me, you told me to use the exact IP, DNS, and gateway that was on the original contract owner's server, and that's exaclty what I did, I configured the server EXACTLY as the current server to a "T". I will provide the e-mail excerpt where you told me to use the current server IP info if you'd like, but I won't embarrass by doing that at this point. Again, you dropped the ball, just admit it. All that had to be done was the old server yanked, the new plugged in, it would have been fine. even though you said you "verified" that the server booted, it was unreachable by anyone as you left the current server in place, there would have been an IP conflict........


24-48 hours ago we received a trouble ticket advising that the server was not online, our tech responded that if he wanted us to check it out and troubleshoot it we would need login info and that it was a billable service. 24 hours later (IE yesterday) we recieved another trouble ticket advising that we were to fix it for free or allow them access to the colo, anyone on the authorized access list on the contract is always more then welcome to come in and fix their own equipment, we advised this. Today i recieve a call on my cell and a email from MR Anderson that he was wanting to pick up his old server and was upset with the fact that the new server wasnt online. And was upset with the lack of communication, well that is obsurd, i returned his cell phone call 1 hour after I heard my voicemail, and his email wasnt returned today because i was in transit from dallas, NO i dont have email access in my car. Furthermore all customers were advised there may be a delay in billing or sales questions because we are moving our corporate offices.

Again, I had e-mailed you 3 times, and left you voice mail stating the fact that DavidA, and PeterW should be granted access, I did this starting 2 weeks ago. I did it last week, and I did it today. I've received NO REPLY OR RETURN PHONE CALL from you even as I type this. the only time I've heard your voice is from the many, numerous voicemails I've left for you..........



The only thing affordablecolo.com did wrong was a mixup in billing where Mr Anderson (old customer) and the new customer were not switched IE Mr Anderson was still being billed. Other then that all messages were replied to in a timely manner, and policys were adhered too.

That's pure, out and out, a total lie. You STILL have not responded to me to let me know that you have granted peterW and DavidA access to my equipment. You STILL have not even VERIFIED the account is in my name. As far as I know, the original owner is still being considered the current owner.


Mr Anderson was advised when i heard of the billing mistake that I personally would see to his charge back. And i explained to him why i was not able to reply at the very instance he sent his email to me.


He was advised only after we contacted the CEO of the Dallas4colo facility with our displeasure over the total lack of a reply from you on the problems YOU created.


Affordablecolo.com went out of its way to facilitate these customers as we always do not only did we:

1. Setup the server free of charge.


That was the least you could do after the nightmare you created for us. If you had contacted the Dallas4colo facility with the access for the names that were e-mailed and voicemailed to you, none of this fiasco would have ever taken place.


2. Troubleshooted a server network problem free of charge.


There was no network problem to troubleshoot. You guys screwed up and left the old server in place even though that is not what should have happened as both boxes had identical IP, DNS, and gateways.....tisk tisk Charles...........


Yes we screwed up on the switching the accounts over but 1 hour after hearing this i myself personally apoligized and advised i would personally see to the charge back.

Affordablecolo.com has always been accessible, even during this huge transitions of offices, trouble tickets are answered within minutes and colo4dallas is always able to reach one of us on our cell phones 24/7. Upon completion of our move, 24/7 tollfree support and corporate phone numbers will once again be answered live as they always have.

You guys screwed up alot more than the billing in this account changeover, but if you do not want to admit to it, that's fine. Support tickets answered within minutes???? I submitted a medium priority ticket that went unanswered for about 16 hours yesterday ( I guess that does work out in minutes as well, just ALOT of minutes).

Anyway, I know David has told me the network is solid and really that's all I care about now that the server is finally up. It's water under the birdge now and I look forward to a long, happy, relationship with affordablecolo.

I need one favor yet Charles, can you please verify, either here, or preferrably via e-mail that DavidA and PeterW have been granted the proper access to fix any problems that may arise, and verify that the account is FINALLY in my name.........These are still unanswered questions..........

Im not going to fight with you richpa since your a customer its against my business ethics, so suffice to say i dont agree with anything you said, but since your the customer we will just leave it as you "are always right". But out of courtesy let me clear up a few things:

1. If you want someone else other then who is listed on your contract to have access I need written confirmation of this, and preferably their drivers license on file.

2. I dont have a single email from you, perhaps there is a email problem, as i always reply to emails within 24 hours, although may be a bit late recently. We did move mail servers, so perhaps the emails got lost

3. You were advised to use the same ip information, i never disputed that. There was actually something wrong with your nic card, we reseated it and it worked fine. This is something we normally bill for, and was done for free.

4. You did submit a medium priority ticket, but your ticket was not answered because you submitted it in the wrong place, a medium priority ticket is billed at 95.00 and is for tech work rendered. You didnt want to pay anything to trouble shoot your server, so it was actually a low priority ticket you submitted incorrectly. This is not a fault of ours.

5. Once again i have recieved no voicemail or email, if you left a voicemail within the last couple of days, yes i wouldnt have got it i was in transit too and from dallas.

6. Support tickets if submitted correctly are always answered in minutes, i can get every one of our customers to attest to this. If you use the ticketing system correctly, your always answered immed. IE if you had wanted to pay the 95.00/hour for managed service on your medium priority ticket, so we could troubleshoot your nic problem it would have been done in minutes, but when you submit a medium priority ticket and tell us you dont want to pay for it how are we suppose to handle that ticket. Just so you know in the future reboots are free and are handled in minutes, anything outside of that is billed for, this is clearly stated in the priority description. You submit a high priority ticket and want it handled now, it gets handled minutes after submitting, you submit a medium or high priority ticket and advise you dont think you ahve to pay for it in the ticket, well that tickets not going to get answered in a timely manner.

7. Furthermore you say we screwed up and forgot to remove the old server. NO ONE EVER told us to remove it, the guy you told to bring the server down to us, left in the middle of the FREE setup. Makes it a little difficult for my techs to know what to do to troubleshoot if its up or not.

The accoounting problem will be fixed today as i just heard about it yesterday. The account is in your name and you have access to the server just give us a call in advance if you need access. If you want anyone else to have access i need written permission to this.

How we handled the situation aside from your billing mistake is how we would have handled any situation, if you dislike our policys your always welcome to move to a different colo, there are many in dallas. But i must say aside from the billing mistake, i feel your account was handled in a correct and professional way.

Furthermore you made mention you contacted the ceo of colo4Dallas, and thats the only reason you got a prompt reply, thats the most rediculous thing ive ever heard, were colo4dallas's largest customer, they could care less what we do as a company in fact they replied back to you guys to stop spamming them. Me returning a voicemail I got has nothing to do with colo4dallas.

We certainly make mistakes as any company, I will be the first to admit it, but seeing our great reputation on here, in fact i believe this is the only negative comment, I think you may be going off the beaten path of reality saying this is our fault and were a terrible company. I dont see how a misseated nic card and some oddball character delivering a server, a incorrectly submitted ticket etc is all our fault.

But then again I might be wrong as in my eyes the customer is always right.

Have a great day.

Originally posted by cbaker17
...But then again I might be wrong as in my eyes the customer is always right.

Have a great day.

I don't know you Charles but you are headed in the right direction.

He has admitted there was a mistake on their part.

The very fact they admitted a mistake is very note worthy and I have a huge amount of respect when someone is strong enough to do that.


RichPA, I know you're upset, and rightly so but I think this will work out better than some, not as good as the best but then this is about computers and nothing goes as planned.

If you guys continue to understand that it is complicated and there have been mistakes (That are admitted to) it will work out. Good luck.

Thanks, Richpa, ill give you a call in a tiddlebit to make sure we have everything in line and make sure everything is corrected to your satisfaction. I think most of this can be chocked up to miscomunication, which substantailly lays on my part for being out of town, and the confusion of transferring your ownership as we move offices.

There is nothing i want more then your 100% complete and absolute satisfaction.

Like i said at the end of my reply, water under the bridge. I've actually used the old server since around Dec. of 2001 and I can say that the network infrastructure has been above and beyond what I expected, no noticeable downtime of our machine, very problem free.

We run online racing leagues on this machine (Nascar Racing 2002), and I can say that since Dec of last year, we've only had one or 2 "mass boots" from the server that was caused by a network problem in the Data Center, and the server is up 24/7 for practice races, so 2 problems that lasted a brief time in 7 months is exemplary.

The e-mail problem could very well be chalked up to "the move", but I can assure you that I've sent no less than 20 e-mails to you. Might want to check into your voicemail as well, as I've left many, including 1 or 2 messages yesterday.....


It's done, I'm over the initial anger and frustration, and I know it's money well spent each month I pay the invoice for your services..........

Originally posted by cbaker17
Im not going to fight with you richpa since your a customer its against my business ethics, so suffice to say i dont agree with anything you said[snipped]

I really didn't consider this a "fight" so to speak, but I did want to put my side of the story out, as seen from my eyes and perspective, as a customer. :)


1. If you want someone else other then who is listed on your contract to have access I need written confirmation of this, and preferably their drivers license on file.

Do you have a specific form for this as you did with the account transfer? If so, fax it to me at (570) 388-6856 and I'll get it filled out and faxed ASAP.


2. I dont have a single email from you, perhaps there is a email problem, We did move mail servers, so perhaps the emails got lost

I can asure you, no less than 20 have been dispatched in reply to your original e-mail about information from a month or so ago. Did your e-mail address change?


3. You were advised to use the same ip information, i never disputed that. There was actually something wrong with your nic card, we reseated it and it worked fine.

I was never advised that there was a network problem. In fact, Darren, the tech at the colo facility called Peter at Home after he installed the box for us and verified that the machine booted, a link light was established on the NIC and that it wasn't reachable because of a DNS issue on your end with our new box and the old box. Network card issue was never brought to our attention and I wouldn't expect it to be fixed for Free, I would have sent Peter back to troubleshoot............but it is much appreciated if that was in fact the final diagnosis.


4. You did submit a medium priority ticket, but your ticket was not answered because you submitted it in the wrong place, a medium priority ticket is billed at 95.00 and is for tech work rendered. You didnt want to pay anything to trouble shoot your server, so it was actually a low priority ticket you submitted incorrectly. This is not a fault of ours.

Well, if that's the case, you might want to talk to the people that answer the trouble ticket system. Check my tickets, here is what I was TOLD TO DO by the tech who answered the ticket, I'm quoting direct from the answered ticket #332:

"What you need to do is to open a new support ticket with either a medium or high priority with complete information as may be needed by an on site tech if you want someone to work on your server. Charges may apply depending on the work performed. "

I was told to submit a medium or high priority ticket by the tech.


5. Once again i have recieved no voicemail or email, if you left a voicemail within the last couple of days, yes i wouldnt have got it i was in transit too and from dallas.

Understood........


6. Support tickets if submitted correctly are always answered in minutes, [snipped]

Again, I was told by Darren, your tech, that my box booted to desktop fine, and had a good connection to the network as the link light on the NIC had been established. He also told me it was a DNS problem on your end, that is why the ticket was submitted the way it was submitted. I didn't feel I should have to pay for something that I was told by your tech, was not MY problem. As for reboots and such, I can handle that through my remote software so I won't have to bug you with that.


7. Furthermore you say we screwed up and forgot to remove the old server. NO ONE EVER told us to remove it, the guy you told to bring the server down to us, left in the middle of the FREE setup. Makes it a little difficult for my techs to know what to do to troubleshoot if its up or not.

Probably a miscomm somehwere, as Peter told Darren, your tech, that the old box was to come out and the new one to be placed in it's spot. David has also told you the old box was coming out, both via e-mail and voice, and I have e-mailed and voice that the old box was to be removed. The guy I sent never did "LEAVE" like you said he did either, so I don't know what your techs have been telling you, maybe trying to 'pull the wool over your eyes", so to speak?

Here is the e-mail I received from Peter, the guy who showed up at the colo:

"Thanks for sending that link to us Rich. You know as well as I do that I did not leave unannounced. Darren, the tech at Colo4Dallas was very helpful. I chatted with him before I left to go home to see if I could access the server. In fact, about 2 hours after I left Colo4Dallas, he called me at home to confirm that the box was setup and functional. I even tried to access the server while he was on the phone with me, and we were unable to get access. It was then that he told me that he thought it was a DNS problem, and that we would need to resolve this between David, and Affordable. I believe that the last person I spoke with on the phone while at the Colo, was Mr. Baker. He did give instructions to the tech (Darren) to set up the box, and as far as I know, it was Darren that agreed to do it free of charge as he is an employee of Colo4Dallas, and not Affordablecolo. Mr Baker was very short,and rude with me on the phone, but he did finally give instructions to the tech to set up the box.Affordable dropped the ball on this one, and it appears to me that they are trying to cover it up, rather than just saying "we're sorry" and then accomodating us the best possible."

That sums up the experience at the colo facility.....


The accoounting problem will be fixed today as i just heard about it yesterday. The account is in your name and you have access to the server just give us a call in advance if you need access. If you want anyone else to have access i need written permission to this.

I do appreciate that the billing problem will be fixed finally. Again, about the written access, do you have a specific form that I must use, if so, fax it to me please.


How we handled the situation aside from your billing mistake is how we would have handled any situation, if you dislike our policys your always welcome to move to a different colo, there are many in dallas. But i must say aside from the billing mistake, i feel your account was handled in a correct and professional way.


Well, I've clarified and backed it up with the actual responses from your techs. More things were handled badly than jsut the billing error, but I digress, it's done, it's over, the server is finally up and I look forward to a long relationship with affordablecolo.


Furthermore you made mention you contacted the ceo of colo4Dallas, and thats the only reason you got a prompt reply, thats the most rediculous thing ive ever heard, were colo4dallas's largest customer, they could care less what we do as a company in fact they replied back to you guys to stop spamming them. Me returning a voicemail I got has nothing to do with colo4dallas.

Well, "spam" was never mentioned actually Charles. In fact, here is the reply I got from Paul after we sent the e-mail to his pagers:

"Rich

This is an issue with Affordablecolo, not Colo4-dallas. It certainly does not warrent a 911 message to our techs. In the future if you would like my assistance, please email me directly."

I wouldn't exactly call that a "Stop the spamming". And furthermore, our server was up and pingable less than 5 minutes after our e-mail went out to the pagers. I did what it took to get our server operational as we were getting no response from you or anyone at affordablecolo.


We certainly make mistakes as any company, I will be the first to admit it, but seeing our great reputation on here, in fact i believe this is the only negative comment, I think you may be going off the beaten path of reality saying this is our fault and were a terrible company. I dont see how a misseated nic card and some oddball character delivering a server, a incorrectly submitted ticket etc is all our fault.

All companies make mistakes, and I'm actually a very easy person to please. I didn't originate this thread, the original contract owner did. In fact, I never said you guys had a "bad company", nor would I have posted in here with a negative post about your company, as I've seen much, much worse and have NEVER posted a negative comment about them. I've been lurking these forums for a year or so now just to keep up with what's going on in the industry. If you look at my registered date, you will see I finally registered just to reply to your post, as it was pretty misleading in your answers, and tried to make it look like we did something wrong, when in fact, we really didn't. I bakced up all my claims with actual e-mails, ie, "the facts", and I never went off on a rant like alot of disgruntled customers do. I feel I handled myself well, and I backed up all claims I've made so far.

As for the "misseated NIC", I'm still having a hard time believing that as we got a good link light on the NIC according to the tech who installed the server, and I was never contacted or told prior to this that was actually the problem. I'll take your word for it though, I have no choice but to do so as I wasn't there.


But then again I might be wrong as in my eyes the customer is always right.

I am not a firm believer of that statement. I own a commercial and industrial water treatment and boiler inspection service, and I can say without a doubt, the customer IS NOT always right...but in this case, he was...... :)

Have a great day. [/B][/QUOTE]

I must take offense to Mr. Baker referring to me as an oddball character. Once again this goes to show his poor attitude toward the customer. I in no way caused any comotion, or was anything but polite and professional while at Colo4Dallas. I had just come from a day at my office, and was of professional appearance and dress. I bent over backwards to work with the tech, and for the most part he did so for me. I am a surgeon by trade, and my professional appearence and demeanor are essential for my success. I presented myself in no less fashion at Colo4Dallas. I appropriately identified myself, and my reason for being there. I left only after asking the tech if I needed to stay, since I wasn't being granted access to the back area. (I remained in the lobby during this entire event) I exchanged phone numbers with the tech (Darren), and in fact he contacted me at home as we had planned to see if I could access the server, and the programs in question, which could not be done from any machine that did not have the software installed. If it was Mr Baker that I talked with on the phone while at Colo4Dallas, I believe that he entered the conversation with a negative attitude, was not polite, and was short and condescending.

I am sure poor communication due to an office move is the root of the problem.

We were working on a project with Charles, a couple of weeks ago, and he was pretty prompt in his replys (1-1.5 days), but then all of a sudden they stopped. I wondered what happened and we move the project elsewhere because we did not hear back. Sounds like he is moving offices so the delay is understandable.

Sorry you had all those problems, I am sure Charles will make it up to you. Let us know how it goes!

Unfortunately this Colo dropped the ball on me yet again. I was told my credit card was credited back a charge, which indeed didnt happen ...

Plain and Simple, I'm not posting anything more on these guys ...

But I will say I would not recommend using them.
And, no it's not due to an office move.

The service has been poor for some time.

David

I know that with some merchants it can take well over a week for refunds to appear on your statement / in your bank account.

I'm going to make this short and sweet seeing that I'm replying to an old and almost complete post:

Charles & Co are in my experience very prompt, friendly and helpful. They do more for their clients than any other company ever will! This I can guarantee my life on :blush:

Originally posted by Dylan
I know that with some merchants it can take well over a week for refunds to appear on your statement / in your bank account.

I'm going to make this short and sweet seeing that I'm replying to an old and almost complete post:

Charles & Co are in my experience very prompt, friendly and helpful. They do more for their clients than any other company ever will! This I can guarantee my life on :blush:

Unfortunately, one bad post can turn away several future customers;) .

Mr Anderson, i DID in deed process a credit to your account you should check with your card issuing bank so they can tke you it CAN take 7-14 business days for the charge back to show up furthermore, we batch our transactions and your charge back was issues shortly before I left town right before a weekend so it is possible it wasnt even processed until themonday nightly batch.

You have never complained of service until this post in fact i talked to you 3 weeks ago and you were perefectlly happy with the level of service you were recieving. Granted communication over the last 2 weeks has been subpar but customers were emailed to expect this because of our corporate office move, the only reason you didnt recieve a email is because YOU failed to update your email address with us so any announcements we sent out were bounced back.

I HAVE HONERED EVERY COMMITTMENT TO YOU, you asked to obtain yoru server monday morning from the colo, when you arrived you were promptly presented with your server upon verification it was alright.

You asked for a charge back, and you GOT A CHARGEBACK.

Unfortuntely you appear to be one of the dreaded ex customers who enjoys making up things. I have full documentation showing all of our obligations to you were completed. If you feel like ranting and raving over something thats completely untrue and blown out of porportions then thats just fine. Just as long as the facts are clear:

1. You retrieved your server at the time you desired
and
2. A CHARGE BACK was issued.

A billing mistake on our part was made and corrected promptly. you sir need to reevaluate the level of blame and expectations which lay on your part. If you simply had updated your email address, you wouldnt have had a communication failure.

The simple facts are:

1. Over 95% of our client base love us.
2. We do business with the largest hosting company on this forum and they love us.

Im not to worried about the complaints of someone who flys off the handle without even bothering to call me.

I MEAN DAVID you do have my cell phone number. The only time im unreachable on it is when im on the plane.

YOU made the choice not to update your email address with us and YOU made the choice not to call my cell and ask why you hadnt seen the charge appear on your credit card.

Your choices are your own but should not reflect poorly on our company.

As you would advise for anyone not to do business with us I would advise the same for any company about to do business with you. Some customers no matter what you do will never be happy. I could post review after review from large companys telling how much they love us. And i have gone out of my way to court you byc alling numerous times in person and sending numerous emails.

If youd like me to follow up with card service on your refund please email me back (i just got back in town and shot you a email about 5 minutes ago) and call my cell phone, i replied to your email, if not then please dont complain when it never shows up.

Finally I would like to make on other huge observation. AT NO TIME DID MR ANDSERSON YOU THE CORRECT MEANS OF OBTAINING HELP via our support system, our support ticket system allows for any billing inquiring or support inquiring to be answered in a timely manner. MR ANDERSON choose not to utilize this support system but to contact me directly.

I do not and will not ever guerentee a timely response or resolution to any customer through email. I always try but i travel way to much, to even begin to try to offer that, our support ticket system is staffed 24/7 and emergencys are answered in minutes, i can get many customers on here to attest to that, billing and non emergencys are not answered within minutes but are answered in a timely fashion and are easily tracked this way, no lost email etc.

You Mr Anderson choose NOT TO USE THIS SYSTEM.

Don't want to make anybody laugh, but Charles have you been watching The Matrix recently? :)

The "Mr Anderson" bit sounds familiar ;)

Charles Baker is a fraud.

He has an excuse for everything. He doesnt provide service and he doesnt make payment. His telephone numbers are no longer in service...and in addition to being a flat out liar and thief...he is incompetent.

We are preparing a class action lawsuit against Charles Baker and have 12 groups party to the action thus far. If you have been cheated, robbed or lied to by Charles Baker feel free to contact me with your details.

Users beware....Charles Baker is a Fraud......all of his companies / websites are frauds.

Jaybird