I had a one year business plan with them. When I registered, a guy named R. K. Raja, who was the owner of Advantahost - http://www.advantahost.com ensured that everything's going to be fine.

When I asked R.K. Raja for support, he seems to be very responsive and prompt with the e-mails. Now I just don't know what happened.

Suddenly, my Paypal subscription is cancelled. They told me that they're moving to a new billing system (CC Billing). I had a bad feeling about this, and I was rather suspicious so I didn't proceed to give my credit card info. I talked to the support, whose name I don't know but for sure it wasn't Raja. The support guy told me to pay again with CC Billing.

Now advantahost.com is no longer alive and neither is my website, but they've already got my money. I didn't get any e-mails, phone calls, or notifications about my website being inactivated. I browsed to http://www.advantahost.com and there's nothing there - not even a single page. I thought these guys were professionals.

Folks, any idea how to deal with this?

Your site is up here, theirs is not though:(

Well, I'm assuming that the cyest.org is the site of yours that you're speaking of not being up.

I may be wrong there.

:confused:

Didn't I read a post about advanta changing their name to http://www.******.com/home/index.html ?

My site is justcowboylee.com...

Cyest.org is on Tera-byte.com network, which I've never had any major problems at all (they rarely down, excellent tech support). Is there anybody else here subscribed to Advantahost? What happened?

LOL, looks like they are **'ed out. I think its a timpd venture perhaps. I think your best bet would be to get a hold of paypal and ask if they can get your money back. Find a new, reputable host. Also, just because they get rave reviews here, doesn't mean anything, so it seems.

Also, just because they get rave reviews here, doesn't mean anything, so it seems.

Did they?? True, the homepage was an excellent design - such a shame Raja hasn't been more adventurous with his designs, though.

If you've lost money then contact Paypal - because from what everyone is saying, you've been scammed.

Originally posted by justleeman
Is there anybody else here subscribed to Advantahost? What happened?

I was subscribed to Advantahost. In this midst of customer support hell, courtesy of the infamous Timmy, I was told that I would have to reenter my billing info, even though I had already paid for a year's subscription via 2checkout. Obviously, this made me concerned.

After being jerked around some more by Tim, and after RK Raja assured me that everything would be okay and it wasn't, I told Tim to issue me a refund within 24 hours, else I would request a chargeback.

Money talks, Timmy listened, and I got my refund very promptly. Next time, use a credit card so you can dispute the charge. I believe paypal will help you with their equivalent of a chargeback.

Can you send me an info on how to contact Tim through private message? His e-mail or phone number?

I will file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission if this doesn't get solved and if I don't get a refund. Scamming isn't the way to make money, not even on the internet. Yeah, I'm very serious about this. This is trully unprofessional. :angry:

His phone number has been listed here in several threads. You may be able to turn it up by running a quick search.

I was there but I canceled my account with them at 29-10-2002, before changing my billing system to thier new one :confused:

If this doesn't work out with AdvantaHost, start looking for a new host, and/or post a request at http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=32 .

- Matt

Hello,

Sure is a mess but allow me to clear things up with you.

Yes, the infamous TimPD was in charge of support at the time (something I do regret) but nothing more.

The reason you were asked to re-enter your information was to move new customers from phpManager to ModernBill and allow them to continue their normal billing cycle.

The thread linked previously explains the name change as well as the owner change. Advanta Host was changed to ****** due to legal issues. An email was sent out to all customers under ModernBill.

I guess since you did not reenter your information it was not entered to the system.

v 3 h o s t.com is the former AdvantaHost, if you email their support I am sure they will work something out.


The reason why ****** was starred out, from what I heard from the new owner, is that the IP of ****** sales (Dave aka pixelONE) was too close to that of Tim. Simply because he had a dynamic IP. The company is owned by John McCloud to clarify.

atr, please stop your nonsense. You never threatend a chargeback. The minute you asked for a refund were personally given one by me. Tim did not any control over money issues so there is no possible way he could've refunded you.

I'll see if John can contact you further about this situation.

Why is v 3 h o s t ******'d?

Originally posted by NickMahon
Why is v 3 h o s t ******'d?

I thought I mentioned it above.

It seems that the mods thought the company was being run by Timmy. The ****** sales person (pixelONE) had posted using a similar IP to that of Tim's. I am not too sure, but this is what I think.

Althought this makes absolutely no sense as pixelONE's username was created before AdvantaHost was...

Originally posted by R. K. Raja


I thought I mentioned it above.

Sorry, I skim read.

So...pixelONE wasn't Timmy, but did the following:

1) Posted impossible offers in the advertising forums. (150gigs bw for $20 a month)

2) Used phrases like 'we was going to' in his posts.

3) Had an IP in Tim's IP range...

hmm...striking coincidences...

Funny, I trust RK but Tim told me he bought advanta

Originally posted by vibehosts
Funny, I trust RK but Tim told me he bought advanta


:confused: :eek:

Originally posted by I, Brian


Did they?? True, the homepage was an excellent design - such a shame Raja hasn't been more adventurous with his designs, though.

I wasn't reffering to this company getting great review. I was simply pointing out that even companies not around the WHT scene, or companies that haven't been reviewed on WHT shouldn't be left out of the list. Perhaps I misphrased it, my bad.

Originally posted by lightnin
So...pixelONE wasn't Timmy, but did the following:

1) Posted impossible offers in the advertising forums. (150gigs bw for $20 a month)

2) Used phrases like 'we was going to' in his posts.

3) Had an IP in Tim's IP range...

hmm...striking coincidences...


Maybe he was Timmy? I'm not really sure, but he doesn't run the company.

There was no explanation whatsoever about moving to a new domain ******.com prior to cancelling my subscription with Paypal.

I was just about to file a complaint to EConsumer.gov and FTC.gov before I saw R.K. Raja's reply on this website.

Right now, although I can still keep my cool, I'm just way too tired to deal with things like this. I don't know who the hell Timmy is, I don't know John, I don't know PixelOne, I only know a person named R.K Raja. And now, all I know is my website is dead, Advantahost is dead, and when the person who was communicating with me after my Paypal subscription was cancelled never mentioned anything about v 3host.com.

Once your company gets a bad reputation, it will continue and it takes a lot of effort to restore your customers' confidence - even when you own a new company and try to have a fresh start. Working with people who have bad reputation will also cause you to be associated with them.

I just want to get this over with. I will ask for a refund, and Raja, send me a private message with your e-mail address on it so we can discuss about this matter.

For all others, I'd like to say thank you for being supportive for me. I will be posting in this forum again and this time I am going to do a thorough research before I choose a hosting company. As long as it is reasonable, I am willing to pay a good price for reliability and good company reputation. I like dealing with people who can maintain good reputation in business :) Getting a good reputation is easy, maintaining it is hard.

Thank you all.

Originally posted by justleeman
There was no explanation whatsoever about moving to a new domain ******.com prior to cancelling my subscription with Paypal.

I was just about to file a complaint to EConsumer.gov and FTC.gov before I saw R.K. Raja's reply on this website.

Right now, although I can still keep my cool, I'm just way too tired to deal with things like this. I don't know who the hell Timmy is, I don't know John, I don't know PixelOne, I only know a person named R.K Raja. And now, all I know is my website is dead, Advantahost is dead, and when the person who was communicating with me after my Paypal subscription was cancelled never mentioned anything about v 3host.com.

Once your company gets a bad reputation, it will continue and it takes a lot of effort to restore your customers' confidence - even when you own a new company and try to have a fresh start. Working with people who have bad reputation will also cause you to be associated with them.

I just want to get this over with. I will ask for a refund, and Raja, send me a private message with your e-mail address on it so we can discuss about this matter.

For all others, I'd like to say thank you for being supportive for me. I will be posting in this forum again and this time I am going to do a thorough research before I choose a hosting company. As long as it is reasonable, I am willing to pay a good price for reliability and good company reputation. I like dealing with people who can maintain good reputation in business :) Getting a good reputation is easy, maintaining it is hard.

Thank you all.

The new name v 3 H o s t came AFTER clients were converted to a new billing system. If you had followed what they asked you would have been fully aware of the situation. It was something that had to be done otherwise their would have been serious legal trouble.

Please email support@******.com and get in touch with technical support or sales@******.com

Originally posted by R. K. Raja
atr, please stop your nonsense. You never threatend a chargeback. The minute you asked for a refund were personally given one by me. Tim did not any control over money issues so there is no possible way he could've refunded you.

I never threatened a chargeback? Thank goodness I keep records when I'm afraid of getting ripped off.

Everyone can see my help desk log at AdvantaHost. You can see who I was dealing with, and see what I had to do to get a refund, whether it was issued by RK Raja or Tim. Let me quote myself: "If you don't initiate the refund within 24 hours, I will pursue a chargeback through my credit card company."

http://22u.com/files/AdvantaHostHelpDesk.htm

In addition to this help desk log, I have e-mails from both "Advanta Tim" and RK Raja. The final e-mail I received from either of them was this one, including headers:


From support@advantahost.com Fri Oct 25 13:07:12 2002
X-Apparently-To: quesarse@yahoo.com via 216.136.225.59; 25 Oct 2002 13:07:12 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <advanta@corvette.noc4dallas.com>
Received: from 66.154.89.18 (EHLO corvette.noc4dallas.com) (66.154.89.18) by mta444.mail.yahoo.com with SMTP; 25 Oct 2002 13:07:11 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from advanta by corvette.noc4dallas.com with local (Exim 3.36 #1) id 185Ajg-00071d-00 for quesarse@yahoo.com; Fri, 25 Oct 2002 16:07:12 -0400
To: quesarse@yahoo.com
From: support@advantahost.com | This is Spam | Add to Address Book
Subject: {HelpDesk-22} Help Desk Response
Message-Id: <E185Ajg-00071d-00@corvette.noc4dallas.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 16:07:12 -0400
X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report
X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - corvette.noc4dallas.com
X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - yahoo.com
X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [32056 32068] / [32056 32068]
X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - corvette.noc4dallas.com
Content-Length: 336






Advanta Tim has responded to your help desk request.

-----------------------------------------------
(Advanta Tim)
-----------------------------------------------
Time: 25-10-2002-4:07
: Refunded. Closing Ticket.


-------------
Support
Advanta Host
Take Advantage Of The Web
http://www.advantahost.com




Thank you,

Help Desk

You make it seem like you asked many times for a refund :rolleyes:


Originally posted by atr


I never threatened a chargeback? Thank goodness I keep records when I'm afraid of getting ripped off.

Everyone can see my help desk log at AdvantaHost. You can see who I was dealing with, and see what I had to do to get a refund, whether it was issued by RK Raja or Tim. Let me quote myself: "If you don't initiate the refund within 24 hours, I will pursue a chargeback through my credit card company."

http://22u.com/files/AdvantaHostHelpDesk.htm

In addition to this help desk log, I have e-mails from both "Advanta Tim" and RK Raja. The final e-mail I received from either of them was this one, including headers:


From support@advantahost.com Fri Oct 25 13:07:12 2002
X-Apparently-To: quesarse@yahoo.com via 216.136.225.59; 25 Oct 2002 13:07:12 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <advanta@corvette.noc4dallas.com>
Received: from 66.154.89.18 (EHLO corvette.noc4dallas.com) (66.154.89.18) by mta444.mail.yahoo.com with SMTP; 25 Oct 2002 13:07:11 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from advanta by corvette.noc4dallas.com with local (Exim 3.36 #1) id 185Ajg-00071d-00 for quesarse@yahoo.com; Fri, 25 Oct 2002 16:07:12 -0400
To: quesarse@yahoo.com
From: support@advantahost.com | This is Spam | Add to Address Book
Subject: {HelpDesk-22} Help Desk Response
Message-Id: <E185Ajg-00071d-00@corvette.noc4dallas.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 16:07:12 -0400
X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report
X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - corvette.noc4dallas.com
X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - yahoo.com
X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [32056 32068] / [32056 32068]
X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - corvette.noc4dallas.com
Content-Length: 336






Advanta Tim has responded to your help desk request.

-----------------------------------------------
(Advanta Tim)
-----------------------------------------------
Time: 25-10-2002-4:07
: Refunded. Closing Ticket.


-------------
Support
Advanta Host
Take Advantage Of The Web
http://www.advantahost.com




Thank you,

Help Desk