Hi,
We waited a long time for a reply to our question about version12 but we did not receive any. However, after 25 days suscribing with version12 we got a reply to question through dealing with them. The result was as follows:

1. They had a special offer for March in the advertising section for dedicated servers raq 4i in the adverting forum:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=6763&highlight=version12
We tried to sign their form but their sign up form had an error message and it did not work until the 1st of April. We mentioned that to them they ignored our message. Then we ask to waive the setuo fee as they offered since we tried to benefit from it in the right period but the error was from their side they claimd that:---"Unfortunately, we did not have a special for waiving the setup fee for dedicated servers, it was only for shared hosing...."---!!!
2. Before signing the contract with them, we posed some questions about the setup and sales and they replied with a very astonishing speed even in the weekend and their replies were all clear and comfortable. And when we explained that we didn't have much more experience in dedicated servers since we have been dealing with virtual servers they stated that they prefered not to involved in scripting problems but they would support us in the set up until the server is ready to start our business with it.
3. They set up the server and delivered it to us before charging our credit which we appreciated very much.
4. They claimed to deliver the sever with the recent software packages but we discovered that they weren't.
5. They promised to install phpmyadmin to control mysql but later they told us to downloaded it from a given destination.
6. We asked them if there any extra charges in the future they said:---"The only additional costs you would incur would be if you decide to increase your bandwidth utilization in the future."---
7. After signing the contract with them we asked them about problems we encountered but the replies were slow not available in the weekend. Although we noticed that they were available on webhosttalk forum they ignored to reply to our questions even in the forum.
8.We discovered that they are gentle, and helpful but not with their customers. Their help showed in the forum encouraged us to deal with them to invest their help since we have a restricted experience. Acordingly we were asking them in each step. Lately we asked them if it is viable to install webmin they said ok but it is difficult to deal with and cobalt control panel is easier. After installing webmin we had problems as it conflicted with cobalt control panel as they stated later. When we ask them to help they asked us to choose which cotrol panel we want. We told them that we waived to deal with webmin but we didn't have a rsponse fro them. From the forum we had somebody helping us in uninstalling webmin but the problem persisted.
9. We asked them to help us in fixing the prolem but they stated that they must do a full restore for us with an extra charge $99 and if we would not pay the server would stay idle as it is.
We feel that after we signed the contract with them their replies to our messages were just replies without clear help. They became unclear and trying to invest our limited period of time before cancelling from the old hosting company so they could easily ask for extra charges. Especially we have a limited experience as we stated before.
We are now stuck in the middle way, we have server which we can't do anything with it (just a demo) and still paying for the old hosting company. We can't decide if we can continue with them without losing our paid money and the effort we paid along the 25 days or to cancel the account with them and finding another good company. We don't have a clear ideas.
Sorry for the long message but it still a concise of our great deal of problems we encountered with them...:angry:
Kindly advise us.

Hello,

UUallan should be able to sort it out for you, email them.

Most of the time, if you have a dedicated server and you messed up on installing any software, it is your responsibility to pay them to restore it back to its original state, cmon i think $99 is fair. i know some companies charges up to $300 plus hourly fees to re-install the o.s

Jamal,

I don't want to go into too much detail here, as this is not the place for tech support. However, I do feel it is important to address some of your questions in this forum.

1. The March special was to waive the setup fees on shared hosting accounts only. This is a dedciated server account.

2. As far as I know, the RaQ had all the latest patches installed. If you did not feel they were, I would have been to install them for you, all you had to do was ask.

3. I still have no problem installing phpMyAdmin on the server for you, as promised. However, at this point, the server is in such a disarray, that it would not do you any good to do that.

4. The No additional Charges, specifically referred to no additional charges for hosting services, extensed support and software installation always have additional charges.

5. I do apologize if you feel our response to your e-mails were slow. We sincerely try our hardest to respond as quickly as possible. It does state on our wensite that we will reply to all e-mails within 12 hours, and I think we consistently did that in your case, but again, I apologize if we were unable to.

6. I personally have spent close to 6 hours, many of them on the phone with Cobalt, trying to restore your server after the Webmin installation, without having to do a full OS restore. This is time that we normally bill for, but we decided in this case we should not. When you asked about the software, I was very specific in saying that yes, it may be helpful but it has a very high learning curve. You chose to go ahead and install the software.

I sincerely apologize for the bad experience you feel you are having with Version12. We are very committed to trying to make all of our customers happy. I am not sure if that is possible in this case, your opinion of us, is obviously not very high. If you feel your needs will be better served elsewhere, please contact me off-board and I will issue you a refund for the month of April.

I'll vouch for Allan, and Version12. His knowledge and intelligence is second to none, and he will spend as long as it takes to try and resolve a problem.

I've referred several people to Version12, and have heard absolutely nothing bad about anyones experience with their service.

Allan has always been quick to respond, and explains things in a clear and professional manner. And no, I don't work with/for him :).

Rich

Sorry to bring in a little offtopic message but I read about the webmin/cobalt error but I run webmin on a RAQ3 and everything works fine here.

What is the problem then? Maybe I or someone else will run into the same problem so please fill us in...

Thank you,
Domenico

Originally posted by Domenico
Sorry to bring in a little offtopic message but I read about the webmin/cobalt error but I run webmin on a RAQ3 and everything works fine here.

What is the problem then? Maybe I or someone else will run into the same problem so please fill us in...

Thank you,
Domenico
Do you run Webmin *and* the Cobalt control panel? If you use Webmin to do tasks that the Cobalt control panel normally does (like adding virtual sites), it will upset the Cobalt control panel. I guess if you used *only* Webmin you might be okay, but I don't see much point in getting a RaQ if you're only going to install Webmin and forget about the RaQ's CP.

What can i say, i seem to be noticing a pattern here, i think its called "business".

I would say companies spend far too long "getting sales" and not enough time "keeping customers"

Everyone makes the same mistake, and when you have a forum such as this then the weak get weeded out from the strong.

Sombody will spend 100% of their time getting a sale, then the second they get the sale and you have handed over your credit card, they will spend little more than 20% of their time keeping you as a customer.

Its a cruel world out there...

Webmin control panel has more features than the default Cobalt Raq's .

I want to install them on my raq, but after reading a few posts regarding the errors that might occur. I am alerted and decided not to do that first.

Domenico, mind to share how to you make it troubleless in your raq?

Well, nothing much to say about that really. I just installed it the normal way through telnet keeping the default port 10000 because others didn't work for us.

I advise evrybody to install webmin but not to use the well 'few' functions from the cobalt cpanel.

I don't use webmin for administrating users. I use the raq cpanel for that but there are MANY functions you can and will use that webmin has.

Just a few functions like for instance the file manager justify the simple and free installation for me anyway but believe me I use webmin for many many more tasks.
Just stay away from the webmin user management because you can (and must) use the cobalt cpanel for it.

Webmin works really great for me and again I would advise you to install it and use the lovely functions it has and the cobalt cpanel doesn't. You will be surprised.

And speaking of the cobalt's cpanel, what does it really offer us ???

Domenico

BTW1. The raq was our first server so know you understand. When you know to get the machine, the OS and other thing about servers and webhosting your next server is a NON raq...

BTW2. I'm not home when you start searching me for all those lawsuits you get from your customers when everything goes wrong ;-)

Hello Allan,

We agree with you concerning the place of tech support.

1. March special offer was for dedicated server as we read it hundreds of times and read each corner without seeing any reference to shared hosting. We hope you refer to the below mentioned link to know that we are right:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=6763&highlight=version12

2. For the recent software installation we will send you a list of old versions to update them.

3. We, of course, will not ask you to install phpmyadmin while our server is in a such missy status.

4. We hoped that this was clear in your site, we read your service provisions and we did not see any thing clear about that, and to avoid the unclarity we asked you about any extra charges generally and you stated that it is just restricted to increasing bandwidth. As we know each company mentions clearly in it service explanation any extra charges in any area (support, installing new software,...etc.). Consequently, we can apply this case to any unmentioned items in your site.
Stating that there is no extra charges was one of the reasons that pushed us to chose your offer since it was the best one.

5. We did not request more than replying in a 12 hours period but in fact you ignored some of our support messages and sometimes we asked several questions in one message you answered to some of them and ignored replying to the other (We can mention some of them if you like). Also, we knew that you had troubles in your network and we were patient in receiving a reply from you giving you the chance to fix your problems during that period of time knowing that your problems were somehow more urgent that ours. And you knew that we had a limited time since we told you that we must finish the setup and account transfers during the first month (April) because our contract with the current company will expire soon.

6. We appreciate spending 6 hours on the phone. However, we think it's much feasible to spend less hours of your time in the full restore which will take about 4 hours as you stated in your message (you mentioned in a previous message that it would take 48 hours). Spending this time in full restore will more recognizable from our side than in a telephone call, it would resolve surely our problem, and save 2 hours of your time.
For installing webmin, we didn't ask you to have just yes or no we needed a detailed advice especially you know everything about our case. Allan you are our doctor, and each doctor when advising a prescription he highlights the side effects, but you replied just that it was difficult to deal and work with and needed a deep learning. And we didn't know about its conflict with cobalt control panel until we had a real problem and claimed that to you.

Our problem is not the refund but it is that we have a limited time, we spent too much time and effort in vain. We hoped that we had a better experience with you, and if you feel that you are capable to provide your commitments we will be happy to continue with you in order not to waste our and your time.
As we mentioned twice we wish you still the best and we think that you should.;)

Jamal,

As I do not want to turn this into a helpdesk forum, I am replying to you off-board. You are, of course free to do what you would like with my response :).

Hello allan,

I understand your wish and I respect it. :scatter: