Tried out Advantahost (http://www.advantahost.com) for about two weeks.

Connection speed was quite ok during the time I was hosted with them. Didn't notice much downtime, if any.

But I feel that the customer support still needs improvement. I needed help setting up a cron job, but it still wasn't done after 2 days. But they managed to find time within that 2 days to inform me to register again because they were changing their billing procedure. Replies to my questions regarding the new billing procedure made me feel that they do not have much time for customer support, but have the time to ask customers for money...

I still haven't gotten my refund back despite their 30 day money back guarantee, and they are not responding to my mail sent 4 days ago, after I made the cancellation request.

Guess I made a mistake in choosing a young host for low cost... :(

think you posted this in the wrong forum...
But looking at http://www.advantahost.com/ <-- looks like there not very professional. mainly pointing out the lack of an index page. Customer support should be up top priority for any hosting company. Unfortunetly you get some people who expect customers to be able to do everything.

erk they still have the installation.php in there phpmanager folder.

Is this a request for a new host then?

Actually this isn't a request for a host, since I'm already found a host. My purpose in posting was actually just to share my experience with other people. (And I believe I didn't post in this request category...)
Of course, if I find better offers, there's always the possibility of switching. ;)

Here's (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77440) my original request.

shall i install php manager for them ? :) :) :)

They must be really secure!

LOL

Folks, check this out :

http://www.advantahost.com/home/

and now check this one

http://www.rackeasy.com/

Pretty similar, huh ?

-Andre

please, the design similarities have been discussed to no end in several threads

Originally posted by adjkdesign
LOL

Folks, check this out :

http://www.advantahost.com/home/

and now check this one

http://www.rackeasy.com/

Pretty similar, huh ?

-Andre Rack Easy, LLC is in no way Advanta Host ;). So just note that :).

Originally posted by UH-Matt
shall i install php manager for them ? :) :) :)

They must be really secure! Lol, now that would be funny:D

ChickenSteak, I was not saying that...... I mean that they have copied something.....don't you think the site is pretty similar ?

Anyway, I like the both sites.

Stay cool

Originally posted by rusko
please, the design similarities have been discussed to no end in several threads

I know but I had to say that. Sorry :rolleyes:

adjkdesign,

JFYI:

ChickenSteak aka Brandon RUNS (not owns ;)) Rackeasy.com

Sigh. Seems like even the site has become inaccessible. Looks like my few-dollar refund is gone. <shake-head>

sorry to hear that :(

:( get a better host.

As we use to say......cheap becomes expensive sometimes :(

Originally posted by adjkdesign
:( As we used to say......cheap becomes expensive sometimes :(
Haha, I like that one. You couldn't of been more accurate with that statement :D

Now the URL shows a 404.

Originally posted by genaldi

Haha, I like that one. You couldn't of been more accurate with that statement :D

Yeah, web hosting is not like watches man. :rolleyes: jk

Originally posted by nevets
Sigh. Seems like even the site has become inaccessible. Looks like my few-dollar refund is gone. <shake-head>

Send them one more e-mail (or not) giving them x hours to give you a refund. If they don't take care of it, dispute the charge (i.e. request a chargeback from your credit card company).

I had a similar experience w/ Advantahost recently, and will get around to posting the whole story one of these days. Suffice to say that the support was amazingly bad, and I believe Advantahost was (is?) being run by the infamous Timmy (banned from WHT due to scams).

This thread sheds a little light on the situation (but not much):

http://webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=74930&highlight=advanta

Looks like he renamed his hosting company... http://v3host.com

The same site, different name. Contact him there to get your refund.

lol. The conversion to the new site wasn't even complete.

Just sent them an email. We'll see what happens. Frankly speaking, I don't see how conversion to another name is going to help them, if they continue to function like that.
:rolleyes:

Well I do not know them , however I have seen that you guys do not like them much ;)

Well, speaking as a professional I would say the following :

Changing his name can be good or bad. Good because he gets rid of his "supostly" bad image but.... With the same site......will always be suspitious. Bad because he loses his current clients.

However, I did not get it very well. Probably because I am new here and did not follow up this story from the very beggining.

If I were in his place, I would try to raise my brand up and not to change names because if he gets caught , like he was here (assuming that Chris Marks was right in his post), then the whole business goes down again. At least he could change the site....and certainly if it's true that this v3host is the same advantahost (can be only a template...) they are NOT a company. Companies cannot change names so easily :blush:

Anyway by your posts here I am getting interested about reading something about them, it looks so strange, never seen something like it..... Can someone PM me with some links ?

nevets : you can always try to contact them as a new client, surely they will reply.....and then they have no excuse....

- Andre

Hmmmmmmm, never mind what I said. Was trying to give them a discount but Chris Marks is right...

Check the facts :
In the "Costumer Reviews" corner at http://v3host.com/home/index.html :

"v3Host is the quality host that I have been long searching for. Super fast servers, and top notch support."
- Mark Barron, incitedesigns.net

Then.... I checked the whois of this domain name and....


Registrant:
Mark Barron

Registered through: Go Daddy Software (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: incitedesigns.net

Domain servers in listed order:
NS3.ADVANTAHOST.COM
NS4.ADVANTAHOST.COM



Just to let nevets and the other clients in trouble, if this helps...

Another thing...... their sites are all getting down. http://www.pixelaxis.com/, etc.....

- Andre

If you see in the support page, the email link for "support@v3host.com" is actually "mailto:design@advantahost.com"...

AdvantaHost (v3Host) is not run by Tim. AdvantaHost is run by R.K. Raja, a member here at WHT. The only dealings Tim had with it is when Raja was a reseller of Tim's, though Raja has since moved.

I simply checked R.K. Raja's signature in one of his old posts and found it no longer said Advanta Host, but rather v3Host...so upon checking v3host.com I found it looks 100% the same at what was previously Advanta Host. His old design site appears to be gone now as well. Also in his signature I noticed a new company he is apparently starting, www.racksolid.com/index.php

Just some observations for his clients that need to find him for refunds...

Apparently he is just either working for or affiliated with the owner of RackSolid. I got no word that he was the owner of that company.

Originally posted by Derek
AdvantaHost (v3Host) is not run by Tim. AdvantaHost is run by R.K. Raja, a member here at WHT. The only dealings Tim had with it is when Raja was a reseller of Tim's, though Raja has since moved.

No, no, no. That's what R.K. Raja has claimed here on WHT, but now it is not accurate.

How do I know this?

I was an advantahost customer, and had such extensive support problems that I tried calling R.K. Raja at home. I could not reach him, but was told by the person who answered (not RK) that it was not his company anymore. I then got an e-mail from RK Raja about it, stating the following:

"
I was running Advanta Host for the first month, with my father as the owner of the company. We gave the company over to a reliable person afterwards after I decided not to continue running it. Soon after, I handled support. Just recently am I doing only sales.
"

So, you see, it's not RK Raja's company anymore. The person I had the most support contact with was named "Advanta Tim," who provided such ineffective and dishonest support that I assume it must be THE Tim. I think that RK Raja's adamant denials on WHT that he sold the company bolster this claim.

Ugh. When will people learn not to continue dealings with Tim? He has proven nothing except that he is unreliabale, and a fraud.

Btw, on a side note advantahosts resells off tim's servers. How do I know this? We had a customer come from their lastweek, and he asked us to move the files over for him. So we connected via ftp (to ensure the password was working)

jaguar.nocservers.net :)

If your wondering why they are down, it's because the server is down.

From v3host homepage [looks like the Raja and Tim link just got bigger]:

http://v3host.com/

-----------------------

v3Host has been taken over by Tim Petty, the owner of Paradise Designs, PixelGenie, RackSolid, ColoDedication, among other companies.

Please contact Tim here:

6455 Turnertown Rd
Franklin, KY 42134
270-647-1386


---------------------

Anyone think that Tim and Raja are the same being? Or are they locked in a cosmic battle of good versus evil, as per Kirk vs Evil Kirk?
:D

heh, no...

good analogy though.

Originally posted by Myacen
We had a customer come from their lastweek, and he asked us to move the files over for him. So we connected via ftp (to ensure the password was working)
Wonder if you're talking about me. :D

By the way, think it's quite unlikely that I'll get my refund for my previous AdvantaHost account, at least without going through too much trouble. Luckily it was just a few bucks...

Guess I'll have to treat it as a lesson learnt. :(

Hm...is this interesting? A search on WHOIS brings this up:

v3host.com

Registrant/Administrative/Billing/Technical Contact:
v3Host.com
V3 Host (info@v3host.com)
Coming Soon
FAX: Coming Soon
Not Available
Not Available, KY 42102
US



Advantahost.com

Registrant/Administrative/Billing/Technical Contact:
Advanta Corp.
Maria Lincavage (internic@advanta.com)
+1.2154445310
FAX: +1.2154445434
Welsh and McKean Rds.
Po Box 844
Spring House, PA 19477
US

For Racksolid.com

Registrant/Administrative/Billing/Technical Contact:
RackSolid
Sales Department (sales@racksolid.com)
N/A
FAX: N/A
PO Box 655
Brundidge, AL 36010
US


For Pixelgenie.com

Registrant/Administrative/Billing/Technical Contact:
Pixel Genie Devleopment
Pixel Genie (info@PixelGenie.com)
888-665-2593
FAX- none
N/A
N/A, PA 42102
US



For Colocation.com


Domain Name: COLODEDICATION.COM

Administrative Contact:
Colo Dedication tim@ColoDedication.com
ColoDedication.com
PO BOX 5782
San Bernardino, CA 92412
US
Phone: 1-888-210-7654
Fax: NULL
Technical Contact:
Colo Dedication tim@ColoDedication.com
ColoDedication.com
PO BOX 5782
San Bernardino, CA 92412
US
Phone: 1-909-888-5500
Fax: NULL

NS3.NOC4DALLAS.COM 209.120.143.143
NS4.NOC4DALLAS.COM 209.120.143.144

------------------------------------

Hm...okay, I'm confused now. If a 12-year old own all these, he's one hell of a smart 12-year old.

Or did I miss a meeting? If not, there appears to be something a little bigger out there.

For nevets -

If you've lost money, seek legal advice.

Originally posted by nevets

Wonder if you're talking about me. :D


More than likely ;)

I am going to clear things up, expect a post in a few hours or maybe sooner.

Nevets, I don't know what went on, but if you really need the $5.99, I will pay it personally by 200% for all of your troubles...

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=673313#post673313

It's not so much the few bucks I'm concerned about. I was already prepared not to receive any reply to my emails, and not getting my refund. My purpose in starting this thread was to tell other people about my experience there. After all, isn't this forum supposed to be a place where people can find opinions about hosts so they can make good choices?

Perhaps you aren't happy that my rather negative comments about the hosting, but if my experience there had been good, I would have written positive comments too.

Originally posted by nevets
I was a little surprise to receive a reply to my email asking for account cancellation and refund, but now that you also appear in this thread, it doesn't really seem so surprising any more...

:confused:

I don't know what the situation is with your refund, I was just offering to help out. I don't like seeing customers cheated.

You sure replied fast. I removed that line after reading through the other thread.

R K Raja -

Simply out of curiousity, what has happened to Advantahost?

Look above a few posts and go to that URL...