Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : VPS Hosting : VAServ/CheapVPS: "Termination of Contract"

[Zeno McDohl]

I received this email just now from my VPS: (yes, bolded what they bolded in the email)

Dear xxxxx,

We are consolidating our business and concentrating our efforts on our UK operations.

As a result and in accordance with the Termination clause in our Terms and Conditions, "Simply Virtual Servers (US) LLC" ('SVS LLC') shall exercise its' right to terminate your account owing to business reasons.

For the avoidance of doubt, SVS LLC shall have no further contract with you in respect of the service. No refunds shall be given (this is covered in our Terms and Conditions under The Service and Termination section).

We will be terminating your services on the 31st of December 2011. Therefore the termination shall be effective at 00:01 AM on the 01/01/2012.

As a gesture of goodwill we shall offer you an equivalent package on our UK platform to your existing package with SVS LLC.

We believe we have better value products at CheapVPS http://www.cheapvps.co.uk and you can choose a VPS package based on KVM, XEN or OpenVZ.

If you wish to transfer your services over to our UK operation, please raise a ticket at https://support.vaserv.com providing us with your Billing account ID and the UK package you wish to have.

We will be able to offer you a better level of service at an equivalent price. We shall, in determining the price, take in to consideration any invoices paid towards the previous SVS LLC account.

If you have any concerns please write to us at: billing@fsckvps.com

Terms & Conditions: Standard terms and conditions of service apply.

Are you freaking kidding me? I just paid for six months.

(I can't move to the UK servers, as my user base is in the US)

[server-guy]

You just paid for six months but it seems the email was sent out to all clients with your package.

I would suggest contacting them and inform that you have just payed so you are able to switch over without paying twice

[Zeno McDohl]

I cannot switch over, because they seem to indicate they are shutting down in the US. I cannot run the VPS outside the US, my userbase is in the US (and I run a MUD).

(Screenshot of email: http://i.imgur.com/fTv2f.png )

[trustedurl.com]

I would ask them what the deal is, but if you just paid and they won't give you a refund, that's just wrong. Btw, from what you posted I get exactly that.

[Kakashi]

Wow that's extremely shoddy business practice. I would get in touch with them and then the payment gateway you used to purchase the order.

[Evixo]

Yes, as others have mentioned just contact them. This is not a way to treat customers when saying "no refunds will be given" and yet you paid for 6 months.

[portalgod]

Does the TOS allow service transfers? If it does, find someone who wants a VPS in the UK, and is willing to pay YOU, while you transfer service to them via the provider.

Does the TOS allow resale? If so, resell

...

You get where this is going. Look at the TOS that you *agreed to* when signing up for service, and find the loopholes to get you out of lost $.

[Zeno McDohl]

I already contacted them when I got this. I actually just got a reply:

As per the notification sent today we are concentrating on our UK based businesses, as such we are ceasing US based operations. We are within our rights as per the terms of service to do so.

We can offer an equivalent UK based VPS in order to keep you up and running.
---
Kind regards,

Maria Jovanovic
Customer Care Team
Simply Virtual Servers

Yes, I understand the TOS and under it I do not get a refund.

But that doesn't change that I find this bad business practice, as someone else said.

I do not have the time to attempt to find a reseller or someone who wants it, I have to get my entire data moved off and find another solution by the end of this month. Sigh.

[EDIT] This was paid with Paypal. I attempted to file a dispute and it would not allow me, because it was a virtual good or the sort and told me to "stay in contact with the seller".

[akbsol]

My VPS with them is in UK. Using it since last 5-6 years. Seen all the transitions A2B2, Vaserv, CheapVPS, Simply Virtual Servers etc etc. Seen the hypervm fiasco. Seen Rus selling it out. Still stayed with them as I wasn't affected. Its obvious I am quite satisfied with the service. But I too have received this termination email

If its true its really unfortunate as after all these years I know the names and to some extent the nature and expertise level of all their support staff personnel.

[trustedurl.com]

That's just bad business practice on their end; I would consider a chargeback (first time I think I have suggest that!).

Good luck in your search, I know I would want to be transferring data over the holidays :/

[portalgod]

Also, what's the network connectivity like from the potential UK location to your US customers? For a MUD, I can't imagine you'd need a whole lot of bandwith with ultra low latency. I'm thinking of traditional text based MUDs though.

[winger]

I am on this boat too, and I would like to add a note on this:

- every time a saw this kind of situation, I have the same question:

"WHY THEY BOUGHT A SERVICE IF THEY DON'T WANT TO BE IN US"?

[Zeno McDohl]

Originally Posted by portalgod

Also, what's the network connectivity like from the potential UK location to your US customers? For a MUD, I can't imagine you'd need a whole lot of bandwith with ultra low latency. I'm thinking of traditional text based MUDs though.

I've played MUDs hosted in the UK (I'm in the US) and the delay isn't really acceptable, especially during PK.

The refund issue is annoying, but the big problem is I'm losing the IP. I will be losing a chunk of players because most MUD players save the info by IP and port, not domain.

[Sohmc]

I just got the same e-mail today!

I don't have the same issues as you guys (I just use it as a blog and e-mail host) but I don't want to have my content in a country where I don't know the laws. I doubt I'm doing anything against the law, but if some bobby decided that I can't have such-and-such on my website, I'd have to go there to appear pro se...

I'm debating whether to cut my losses and go to another VPS or just grit my teeth until my contract expires (which is in May).

[StartAgain]

Originally Posted by akbsol

My VPS with them is in UK. Using it since last 5-6 years. Seen all the transitions A2B2, Vaserv, CheapVPS, Simply Virtual Servers etc etc. Seen the hypervm fiasco. Seen Rus selling it out. Still stayed with them as I wasn't affected. Its obvious I am quite satisfied with the service. But I too have received this termination email

If its true its really unfortunate as after all these years I know the names and to some extent the nature and expertise level of all their support staff personnel.

Same here. These guys have been through like 6 different names, I guess this was inevitable.

I would encourage everyone to NOT give their UK division any business whatsoever. 16 day notice is unacceptable and they do not deserve the first $1 in business for doing this to us.

They raised the prices without telling us, sold the company and changed names many times without explanation.

Good riddance to this horrible provider and the horrible people that run it.

GOOD DAY you flaky fly-by-night VPS scumbags!

P.S. Can anyone rec'd a good admin to move some wordpress installations over and a few other sites? Thanks!