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Thread: Hosting Nightmare.
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01-31-2002, 04:08 PM #1Newbie
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Hosting Nightmare.
I have had my site with ResellerMatrix, since the beginning of my contract they have been pretty much unreachable on the phone.
For the 30 hours my service has been down.
What a nightmare.
No mail, website...... basically no nothing but my landline phone and office.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do?
I am thinking about moving my service to another provider
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The domain names resellermatrix.com and matrixreseller.com
should not be confused. It is the former, and not the latter, which is the subject of this thread.Last edited by Chicken; 04-25-2002 at 07:01 PM.
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01-31-2002, 04:22 PM #2Web Hosting Evangelist
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I feel sorry for you, this is the worst situation for a reseller.
1. Search this forum on ResellerMatrix
which will convince you to
2. Find another host
I had plans about going with them for my Unix hosting a while ago but got a dedicated with RS instead. Seems like the right choice.AdMentor PRO - banner management for ASP.NET 2.0 and SQLServer/MySQL0
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01-31-2002, 07:37 PM #3WHT Addict
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Yes, I agree.. Worst possible situation for a reseller... you don;t know what is going on, hence, you have nothing to tell to your clients as to why you are down. Some resellers have no concern for the health of their client's businesses.
At least with a dedicated, you know whats happening most of the time and can relay that to your clients.
Good luck finding a new host. Maybe try dedicated?
Patrickhttp://www.PreciseHosting.com - Providing powerful web site hosting, e-commerce, and design solutions.
Email: pcroarkin@precisehosting.com
Toll-Free: 888-408-44720
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01-31-2002, 11:19 PM #4Newbie
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Contact us (866)257-3114
For those of you that are experiencing downtime with ResellerMatrix please call our toll-free emergency support number at: (866)257-3114. We've been doing our best to keep our resellers updated via our e-mail and by phone on the situation.
ResellerMatrix was recently acquired by Cedura Networks and is transitioning over to its network. However there have been some blocks in the road which have caused servers which had been online for as much as 2 years consecutively (a good sign of reliability, don't you think?) to be unreachable (however they are still online, the traffic is simply being redirected).
Please give us a call if you are effected, we have a 24/7 dedicated support staff on-hand to assist you.
Mike Lavers
Cedura Networks (formerly ResellerMatrix)Last edited by cannon71; 01-31-2002 at 11:24 PM.
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01-31-2002, 11:21 PM #5Newbie
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Originally posted by ASPCode.net
I feel sorry for you, this is the worst situation for a reseller.
1. Search this forum on ResellerMatrix
which will convince you to
2. Find another host
I had plans about going with them for my Unix hosting a while ago but got a dedicated with RS instead. Seems like the right choice.0
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02-01-2002, 09:16 AM #6Web Hosting Evangelist
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I am no competitor of ResellerMatrix. I offer no reseller program. And I mainly focus on Windows hosting.
AdMentor PRO - banner management for ASP.NET 2.0 and SQLServer/MySQL0
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02-02-2002, 03:09 AM #7New Member
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We were with Reseller Matrix, too. They sent us an email and said they were going out of business and we had 30 days to move our files. About 4 hours later everything was gone!
Fortunately, we had already signed up with another company a couple of months ago and had already moved several of our accounts over, but we had a mess on our hands with those that were left.
Here is a copy of what Reseller Matrix sent us:
Dear Valued Reseller,
Due to unforeseen circumstances a number of our old servers have been
prematurely re-routed to our new data center network. Since the old and
new IP’s are different this has caused some accounts to be temporarily
unreachable. We apologize for this inconvenience. We are making every
effort to get your account(s) online and functioning.
You may have also already received your new account information details
via e-mail. If so, we recommend transferring your domain names to the
new name servers as soon as possible. For reference the new nameservers
are:
- HYDROGEN.CEDURA.NET = IP Address (primary)
- NITROGEN.CEDURA.NET = IP Address (secondary)
For those of you who have not received their new account information
details, we are working to get it to you ASAP. You may be contacted via
phone by one of our technical support personnel to confirm that you’ve
received it and to assist you with transferring your domains. We also
have a toll-free number so you can contact us with assistance:
(866)257-3114
The Help Desk will also be back online shortly. It’s domain and IP will
be announced at that time.
We would like to thank you for your understanding and patience while we
move to our own data center network. Your business is valued and
appreciated.
Best regards,
Cedura/ResellerMatrix Team
--------------------------------------------------------------------0
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02-02-2002, 03:15 AM #8New Member
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I had to split my reply into two posts because it's so long.
I would highly recommend MCHost.com. Their support is great! After being with Reseller Matrix, we were shocked with actual responses to our problems and they have a forum where resellers can help each other too.
They don't offer the AlaCart shopping cart and the control panel is a little different, but they are solid and they communicate with you.
A lot of people had a lot of complaints about Reseller Matrix, but we were trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. We should have listened.
All of the talk I've heard of MCHost.com has been good and our experience has been good.
Hope this helps. Good luck.0
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02-02-2002, 02:17 PM #9New Member
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Snuck out
The reason their original IP's aren't working is that their original servers were shut off. I called for support Wednesday night and one of their techs told me they were caught while transferrring everything over to their Nevada center and Alabanza turned the switch off on their equipment. The data on the transferred sites was up to 2 weeks old with no current backups. One of my newly posted sites was empty and they said Alabanza had their stuff and they couldn't restore the data for me. They tried to pull a Baltimore and got caught. Stay far away from them!
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02-02-2002, 08:34 PM #10New Member
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RM's problem is (was - I don't know how Cedura will be) that they just don't communicate with their customers. They tried really hard to make sure you didn't get them on the phone, and their email support was usually terse, and not always helpful.
Still - I might have stayed with them for their reliability, even thru the move, even thru the SNAFUs, if they'd only had the business sense to communicate with me. The first I heard that their move was starting was when a customer called me complaining his ftp access didn't work. They didn't keep me in the loop as to what was going on with the move. The new nameservers resolved new IP's for my domains, but were they what I was supposed to be giving my customers? Their emails suggested that their new nameservers would now be authoritative, but they failed to resolve intermittantly all week. What was the problem? Were there any more surprises in store they hadn't told me about yet?
Anybody in business who has customers knows that keeping their attention only helps you, and that giving them the news is good even when it's bad news. That's why not long after RM's surprise migration began, I told all my customers (and called the ones who hadn't already called me), that our service was down, but we would be back up as soon as I had them moved them onto our new provider.0
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02-02-2002, 09:36 PM #11Junior Guru Wannabe
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cannon71: ResellerMatrix was recently acquired by Cedura Networks and is transitioning over to its network.
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...ht=Mike+LaversWe Host The World...
For reseller, revendeur, revendedor...0
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02-02-2002, 09:42 PM #12Web Hosting Master
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For those who want to stay with Alabanza
There are other fine hosts there. I highly recommend successfulhosting.com. This is for those who may use Ala Cart and need to keep the same capability.
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02-03-2002, 01:39 PM #13Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by WebSun
Is Mike Lavers from Cedura not the same Mike Lavers from RM???
Mike Lavers
Cedura Networks (formerly ResellerMatrix)
We've had a bit of trouble with Mike in the past but no problems lately.0
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02-03-2002, 01:51 PM #14Web Hosting Master
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And wasn't there a predecessor as well
Another name before resellermatrix with many of the same players. I don't remember all the details, but seems there is more history to this. And with Mike continuing doesn't seem to be a clear break. Hopefully, someone can fill in the missing pieces and explain clearly what has gone on and what is going on.
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02-03-2002, 04:07 PM #15Newbie
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I have had contact with the upstream provider of RM, Alabanza.
They informed me that the reason why they pulled the drives configured to be for RM was non payment.
I was also informed to disregard the e-mail which announced that RM was bought out by another company. This would not be the case.
I assume that since RM is gone, the (so said on paper) new company does not assume responsibility.
Given the fact that I have been out of work since Alabanza pulled their drive. Who is going to live up to the SLA, and refund of resting funds.
I have already lost about 10 contracts so far. Unfortunately these contract were all consulting contracts only. If this goes on like this I can close my business as my core business is consulting.0
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02-05-2002, 12:21 AM #16Newbie
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These claims by Alabanza are absolutely false. ResellerMatrix was Alabanza's second largest customer (first being Jumpline). In mid-2000 ResellerMatrix began to just liscense Alabanza's software and colocating our own servers in their data center.
Just as in Jumpline's situation, our relationship with Alabanza simply became uneconomical and we needed to gain independence from them if we were to continue operations. Essentially they were bleeding us dry (and Jumpline as well). Each month they had higher licensing rates, while their software accumulated more and more bugs/errors.
Our intentions were to part ways with Alabanza peacefully. We arranged pre-payment and licensing two-months in advance for the transition to our own data center. Once it became clear to Alabanza that they were about to lose a substantial portion of their business they decided it would be in their best interest to yank our servers.
If Alabanza would have cooperated with us we would have had all of our clients sites transferred in less than 72 hours. However, since they decided instead to be obtrusive it took us 2 weeks. Overall, it is and was an unfortunate situation and we have done everything in our power to assist our resellers to get their customers back online. Alabanza kind of pulled the rug out from under us and our resellers (and their customers) were the ones hurt.
If there are other companies such as ours (or Jumpline) who are looking to gain independence from Alabanza please feel free to e-mail us at admin@cedura.net and we can assist you with transferring your accounts automatically to your own servers.
I hope this clears things up a bit for all those who are interested.0
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04-02-2002, 03:00 AM #17Newbie
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ResellerMatrix was recently acquired by Cedura Networks and is transitioning over to its network. However there have been some blocks in the road which have caused servers which had been online for as much as 2 years consecutively (a good sign of reliability, don't you think?) to be unreachable (however they are still online, the traffic is simply being redirected).
Please give us a call if you are effected, we have a 24/7 dedicated support staff on-hand to assist you.
Mike Lavers
Cedura Networks (formerly ResellerMatrix)
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ResellerMatrix was recently acquired by Cedura Networks and is transitioning over to its network.
[QOUTE]we have a 24/7 dedicated support staff on-hand to assist you[/QUOTE]
I have tried to contact Cedura at numerous times since January. No response. Where is the 24/7 support????
I have mailed CEDURA several times to cancel my account since January and surpprisingly they tried to bill my credit card again today (They still did not credit my account either).
BUYER BEWARE: CEDURA = RESELLERMATRIX
ResellerMatrix was never bought out by Cedura.Last edited by vsomored; 04-02-2002 at 03:18 AM.
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04-04-2002, 03:19 PM #18WHT Addict
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Dodged a bullet there... I considered signing with these guys a few months ago. (whew)
Last edited by chihuahuabot; 04-04-2002 at 10:40 PM.
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04-04-2002, 07:29 PM #19Junior Guru
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I am surprised to see all this negativity towards Alabanza. We recently started using their software and have been really happy with it (as have our customers). Yes, they're expensive, but their software is really the only fully turnkey hosting solution I have seen that includes billing, order form integration as well as all the automated account features. I have looked at H-Sphere, SWSOft, FreeVSD, Sphera (don't ask), Ensim, CPanel/WHM (which we use as well), but so far I am happiest with Alabanza.
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04-04-2002, 10:19 PM #20Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by rbro
I am surprised to see all this negativity towards Alabanza. We recently started using their software and have been really happy with it (as have our customers).
Alabanza has had some network problems along the way, but I cant recall anything major. I've been with my current Alabanza reseller since last June, and the service has been rock-steady.
Yes, they're expensive, but their software is really the only fully turnkey hosting solution I have seen that includes billing, order form integration as well as all the automated account features.
Personally, I would pay Alabanza's asking price for the hosting/billing system they offer right now, but their bandwidth and setup fees are outrageously overpriced. The quote I got just one week ago was $10/gig bandwidth for overage, $6/gig in blocks purchased ahead of time. That's more than double the price of quality bandwidth from their competitors. The thousand dollar setup fee is, well,....laughable. They're not the only game in town anymore, but I don't think they've realized it yet.
Neither did IBM, come to think of it.
-Bob0
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04-12-2002, 03:54 PM #21Newbie
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I do not see any negativity towards Alabanza. They are not the discussed party here.
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04-12-2002, 04:00 PM #22Newbie
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Is Dave stupid or what?
I have already reported Dave Lavers aka Reseller Matrix aka Cedura Networks to the credit card companies and BBB. After several e-mails this guy stilll sends me emails like this.
Please contact Cedura Support at http://Support.Cedura.net with your
support, billing or other account questions or requests.
You create your own login and password with http://Support.Cedura.net.
They are different from your account login and password.
-D
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2002 2:07 AM
To: billing@cedura.net
Cc: dave@cedura.net
Subject: FW: Your Invoice# 176: Cedura Networks
I have sent this mail to your organization already.
Today I will be submitting an official complaint against your organization.
Regards,
Vincent Somoredjo
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2002 08:35
To: billing@cedura.net
Subject: RE: Your Invoice# 176: Cedura Networks
To whom it may concern,
I have repeatedly send mails to your company regarding my account.
Since your account was closed at Alabanza back in January. I have requested
that my account was closed and the remaining balance was credited to me.
Since you failed to do so I am forced to report your organization as a
fraudulent organization.
You have 24 hours to respond with an explanation before I start mailing the
credit card companies, BBB and other organizations around the world.
Regards,
Vincent Somoredjo
-----Original Message-----
From: billing@cedura.net [mailto:billing@cedura.net]
Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2002 00:05
To: Vincent Somoredjo
Cc: dave@cedura.net
Subject: Your Invoice# 176: Cedura Networks
Hello Vincent Somoredjo,
2002/04/01 You invoice 176 in the amount of $24.75 has been processed with
erros. You may login to your account and pay online or we will reprocess
your invoice in 5 days. http://66.197.154.99/ Transaction ID: 0
Thank you,
Cedura Billing Dept. www.cedura.net
Best Regards, Cedura/ResellerMatrix Team
[2.03:T2]Last edited by vsomored; 04-13-2002 at 11:38 AM.
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04-13-2002, 02:28 AM #23Junior Guru Wannabe
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Very Interesting Thread
Quite an interesting post.
I'll take this in and tuck it away for a rainy day.
Don't bother with any telephone numbers... none are working. Emergency number... right.
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04-15-2002, 07:51 PM #24Web Hosting Guru
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Listen to me, everyone... please...
Whatever you do, at all costs, stay away from ResellerMatrix or Cedura Networks, OpenHSP or whatever the infamous Lavers are calling themselves these days. It's far worse than most of you realize.
ResellerMatrix has been banned from these forums in the past -- I believe for spamming, but Chicken, I'm sure, can provide more detail. However, spamming is the *LEAST* of this egregious family's despicable behaviors. Most of us read about bad actors, generally, on the Internet -- unconscionable opportunists with no ethical guidepost or moral compass. We all get spammed by the likes of them every day. And it gives us comfort, perhaps, to convince ourselves that most of them are part of some nameless, faceless hoard of credit card scammers and others who live in places like Indonesia or Bulgaria or other places that just couldn't be the United States. And, despite all the talk, few of us in this life actually have occasion to come in contact with or be victimized by such nefarious characters.
But David, Michael and Andrew Lavers (father, older son and younger son, respectively) of Cascadian Systems Group, HostingMatrix, Lavers and Lavers, MatrixCubed, ResellerMatrix, Cedura Networks, and not OpenHSP are the genuine article! Words like "scammers" or phrases like "con men" don't even begin to describe these three stunningly arrogant individuals.
In 1996, then 45-year-old David Lavers, a Redmond, Washington-area Microsoft contractor who operated under the name Cascadian Systems Group, helped his then 14-year-old son, Michael, form the hosting company "HostingMatrix." Michael, according to the elder Lavers, was something of a prodigy, having learned to program computers when he was only 3 years old, thereby making him an old pro with 11 years experience by the time the fledgling hosting company was formed.
By 1999 HostingMatrix was an Alabanza provider that allegedly had over 200 customers and was growing fast. The additional company names "Lavers and Lavers," "MatrixCubed" and "ResellerMatrix" were, by then, also being used by the Lavers. At that point, the then 48-year-old father, David, had a 50% stake in the operation and was the company's "COO." Son, Michael, by then 17, had a 40% stake and was its "CTO." And Michael's then 14-year-old younger brother, Andrew, had, by his father's own admission in a 1999 WIRED article, been "lured" into the business and had a 10% equity stake. Young Andrew was the "Support Manager."
In mid-2000, not knowing any of the above, I made the mistake of signing-up with ResellerMatrix because I wanted to experience an Alabanza reseller account -- to get to know the control panel and other features. But I immediately noticed that ResellerMatrix's support was virtually non-existent. And I complained heartily, which complaints fell on deaf ears. One day I got a phone call at work from the elder David Lavers. At the time I worked for NOLO.COM -- a long-time friend of consumers in need of legal help. Lavers accused me of posting, using an alias or pseudonym, a "slanderous" review of ResellerMatrix on a web site devoted to listing and reviewing hosting resellers. He made threats and was generally obnoxious. I later went to the site and found that others were experiencing the same problems that I was. So I posted, there, an account of my phone conversation with Lavers -- leaving to the reader to decide if his was the kind of intimidating behavior one would expect from one's hosting company. I then cancelled my ResellerMatrix account and signed-up with Hosting Matters (an *EXCELLENT* company, I'd like to point out). And, being uncomfortable with people of the Lavers caliber having my credit card number, I changed that, too.
A couple of months earlier -- in April of 2000 -- Washington State Attorney General Christine O. Gregoire had formed a special high-tech investigative unit that was charged with "enforcing the state's consumer protection laws by focusing on violations committed in cyberspace, supporting local police and prosecutors in investigating and prosecuting online crime and educating the public about online crime and how to avoid being victimized."
On October 18th, 2000, the Washington Attorney General's High-tech Unit charged out of the gate with its very first two filings against cyber bad guys -- one of which was captioned as follows:
STATE OF WASHINGTON,
v.
MATRIXCUBED INTERNET SERVICES, LLC, a Washington for-profit corporation; CASCADIAN SYSTEMS GROUP, a Washington sole proprietorship, LAVERS AND LAVERS, a Washington partnership, DAVID LAVERS, individually and on behalf of his marital community, as a manager of MATRIXCUBED INTERNET SERVICES, LLC, as sole proprietor of CASCADIAN SYSTEMS GROUP and as partner in LAVERS AND LAVERS, and MICHAEL LAVERS, individually, as a manager of MATRIXCUBED INTERNET SERVICES, LLC and as partner in LAVERS AND LAVERS, Defendants.
The complaint alleged that MatrixCubed violated the state's Consumer Protection Act by failing to make refunds, provide its promised 24-hour technical support, provide services paid for and respond to complaints. The lawsuit also alleged that MatrixCubed misrepresented the number of Internet users who can simultaneously visit sites it hosts. The six-count complaint asked the court to issue a permanent injunction enjoining the defendants from further unlawful conduct; that it order the defendants to pay a $2,000 fine for each and every violation documented by the 17 consumers whose requests for help from the Attorney General's Office lead to the suit in the first place; that the court order the defendants to pay restitution; and that the court order the defendants to reimburse the state for attorney's fees and costs of prosecution.
After learning of this action, I went back to the aforementioned reseller review web site and posted another message notifying everyone of the Attorney General's action, and feeling pretty good about the fact that I had obviously not misjudged the Lavers; that I had correctly seen them for the criminals they were. This apparently sent the Lavers off the deep end, because suddenly the ResellerMatrix review area of that web site was spammed with hundreds of juvenile postings attempting to trash me and using out-of-context excerpts from articles written about me and some of my community and political efforts -- specifically my ongoing battle against certain kinds of organized criminal activities related to prostitution and the abuse of women and children both in the US and abroad -- articles describing accomplishments of which I am proud and the disclosure of which causes me no shame or embarrassment, contrary to what the posters clearly intended. It would seem, also, that the Lavers either used fake names and email addresses, or asked their friends, to make postings on the site that were positive about ResellerMatrix. Sadly, the disingenuous and juvenile nature of those postings was easily recognized by any parentally experienced adult eye as the work of a mere teenager trying to make a sad and desperate point.
continued in next post...Last edited by DesElms; 04-21-2002 at 05:33 PM.
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04-15-2002, 07:52 PM #25Web Hosting Guru
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(continued...)
The owner of that reseller review web site -- a very nice young man whom I have since gotten to know a little... and whom I like -- simply deleted the spams and then wrote a script to keep such postings from making it to his web pages in the future. He told me the Lavers had contacted him and had threatened to sue him for libel (actually they threatened to sue him for "slander," apparently not realizing the fundamental difference between that and "libel") for allowing my postings on his site. Unfortunately for the Lavers, the young man had the good advice of both myself, and his father who just happened to be an attorney. We advised him, and correctly so, that anything anyone writes in a public forum cannot be libelous as long as it is provably true. And, obviously, everything I wrote there -- just as everything I'm writing here -- is provably true. So the young man simply ignored the Lavers which, I have learned, is the best way to deal with them, their empty threats, and the hysterical protestations and intimidation they tend to unleash upon anyone who dares to publicly expose them, as I have done before and as I am happily doing again right now.
I have tried not to care about the Lavers since then. I have better things to do. I had hoped that the Attorney General's action would put an end to the Lavers' ability to hurt others any more. So you can imagine my disappointment at learning, from reading this thread, that they're still at it.
Today I called Paula Selis, who was Senior Counsel on the aforementioned Attorney General's complaint, and I asked her what the outcome was on her October 2000 consumer protection filing against the Lavers. She told me the state got its day in court and had won its judgement against them. She said the Court had issued an order severely restricting the Lavers' activities within the State of Washington -- which I suppose explains why the trio has now opened-up shop under a different name (Cedura Networks) and in a different city and state (Reno, Nevada -- where hustlers and lowlifes like the Lavers flourish and where, therefore, they should feel right at home), and using server IP addresses and DNS servers that are located at HostSeguro in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Selis put me in touch with an investigator from her office whom she has promised will make it his business to learn of the Lavers current activities in Nevada -- or, perhaps more accurately, still from the Redmond area, but simply with a private mailbox address in Nevada... which, I strongly suspect, is more likely what's actually happening since Cedura Networks' address of 8175 S. Virginia St. Ste 850, Reno NV, is also the same address as a private mailbox service called "Let US Mail" with the phone number (775) 853-6245. Selis promised that the investigator would report back to her promptly, and that her office would then take whatever action was appropriate. And I have no doubt that it will. If there's one thing that Ms Selis -- and her co-counsel, Senior Assistant Attorney General Sally Gustafson -- have demonstrated in this case is that they know how to put their money where their mouths are. If ever there were a time when it would not pay to be one of the Lavers boys, this would appear to be it. Nothing angers a judge more (or faster) than a defendant who flies in the face of a court order. And judges, when meting-out punishment for contempt of court, have in their little bag of tricks the option of giving jail time. I dare say the next time the Lavers appear in *that* judge's court -- and I suspect they soon will -- they should probably bring their toothbrushes.
David Lavers, in my opinion, should be the poster child for the movement that espouses the notion that people should have to graduate from a course and then get a license before becoming a parent. And I am apparently not the first person who thought so. The author of the aforementioned 1999 WIRED article was obviously worried that perhaps the father, David, had not provided his boys, Michael and Andrew, with an ideal upbringing. The author asked Lavers if his fat equity stake in his son's business had tainted his parental priorities, to which Lavers casually replied, "Michael's not an A student, but the time he would have spent getting As, he's spent building MatrixCubed. I'm OK with that. I'd be perfectly delighted if Michael, when he's 35, could stop working and go back to school and learn because he wants to learn. Clearly, he doesn't need vocational skills, and I don't want him to go for the reasons I did -- because it was where all the other sheep were heading."
Just one year after that 1999 WIRED article was written, with Michael barely 18, David's stellar parenting skills had accomplished little more than landing both him and his still-impressionable son squarely in the crosshairs of the highest-ranking law enforcement officer in the State of Washington, who summarily filed (and later won) a pseudo-criminal civil action against them which comes just about as close to a full fledged criminal indictment as is legally possible in white collar cases of this type.
Having apparently learned nothing from the experience, the now 50-year-old father seems to be continuing the lessons he's taught his now 20-year-old son, Michael, and Michael's now 17-year-old younger brother, Andrew, as David introduces them to the fine art of changing identity (from ResellerMatrix to Cedura Networks) and venue (from Redmond to Reno)...
...skills the wise and elder Lavers apparently realizes that every good con man must master early in life.
Now the Lavers appear to be operating a hosting company called "OpenHSP." And from postings elsewhere in these forums, they're up to their same old fraudulent, spamming tricks. They're using a group of IP addresses (66.122.87.32 to 66.122.87.39) that are registered directly to Michael Lavers through PacBell -- or at least they were until yesterday (posts elsewhere in WHT demonstrated that people had caught on to them and it apparently scare them off... yet again). And a check of DNS reveals that most of those IP addresses are DSL circuits (or at least bear DSL circuit names) through Nevada Bell Internet (nvbell.net). The OpenHSP web site variously appears and disappears. Obviously Mike Lavers is trying to move it around again -- just like his father taught him.
In the 1999 WIRED article, father David Lavers suggested that when Michael is 35 he could stop working and go back to school, adding that Michael didn't need vocational skills; and that he didn't want him to go to college just because all the other "sheep" were also doing so. Personally, with the upbringing Michael's received, and the role model his father has been to him, I fear that, when Michael is 35, at least *one* of the things he'll be is a convicted felon. And if he hasn't by then experienced prison, I fear it will certainly be in his cards. If so, then one thing Michael will definitely have time for in prison is going back to school or learning a few vocational skills. And while he's there, I suspect a few of his bunkies will teach him what it *really* means to be a sheep.
Stay away from the Lavers, ladies and gentlemen -- and their Cedura Networks or their ResellerMatrix or OPenHSP of whatever names by which they go these days. Run! Run far. Run fast. And don't look back.
REFERENCES AND RELATED LINKS:
http://www.matrixcubed.com
http://www.resellermatrix.net
http://www.cedura.com
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,32011,00.html
http://www.wa.gov/ago/clearinghouse/hi_tech.html
http://www.wa.gov/ago/releases/rel_hitech_101800.html
http://www.law.washington.edu/lct/te...AG_hitech.html
http://www.wa.gov/ago/pubs/2000AnnualReport.pdf
(see PDF page 17 (document page 13) of 76)
http://www.resellerconnection.com/re...x&OrderBy=date
http://www.resellerconnection.com/re...s&OrderBy=date
http://www.webhosters.com/web_host_f...ompany_id=1794
http://lists.f-body.org/pipermail/nc...er/006910.html
http://www.thebbb.org/report.html?co...133&national=Y
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...ht=Mike+Lavers
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...resellermatrix
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...resellermatrix
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...hlight=openhsp
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...hlight=openhsp
(Updated 4/21/2002 to reflect new OpenHSP info.)
IMPORTANT NOTE: The domain names resellermatrix.com and matrixreseller.com should not be confused. It is the former, and not the latter, which is the subject of this thread.Last edited by DesElms; 04-23-2002 at 12:12 PM.
Gregg L. DesElms0