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  1. #1

    Warning about Superb.net

    There are several other complaints about Superb.net on WHT. I should have searched here before purchasing from them. I actually thought I did... I must have found the one favorable comment about them.

    Most of the other complaints end with a bunch of shills saying silly things like "It's the customer's fault... this is an unmanaged server..." Just so you know; I run 3 other unmanaged servers from three other companies. Two windows, one linux. I know the kind of service you can expect from a company selling unmanaged servers. I know what Superb attempts to do (now from personal experience... but you can search for the complaints of others to see their stories).

    I ordered a server from Superb late last week. I noticed their $90/hour support item, so I asked Jose Castro using the online chat "Does that mean if the server is down; you are going to charge me for reporting a problem on your network." His answer was "We manage the network". I should have pushed for a more specific answer. I didn't.

    On Monday morning, our monitoring software (hosted on one of the other dedicated servers) started reporting FTP errors with the new Superb server. I tried to connect to the server to find out what was happening. Terminal Services was refusing the connection. I reported it. I waited an hour. No response.... Server still down. I reported it again and told them that I didn't find it acceptable to ignore a customer for an hour when their service was down. No response.

    Keep in mind that the home page of their web-site claims "100% uptime guarantee". Keep in mind that we had only had the server for 2 days. Keep in mind that all we had done was transfer files to it via FTP. We hadn't performed ANY configuration at all on it (trying to head off their standard response "It's the customer's fault").

    I went to online chat. I got Jose Castro again. He denied his promises. He even denied that their web-site claimed "100% uptime guarantee" (which is still there BTW). He said I would have to pay for support to get help. I declined and told him to issue a refund. He refused.

    About 30 emails and phone calls have been traded back and forth now. It is evident that they have no respect for the truth (so I won't be replying to their posts here). They have threatened legal action if I posted on WHT and notified the BBB. They have threated a restraining order if I contacted them again. They finally promised to issue a refund. They didn't.

    In my opinion, their business ethic is the worst. It would not surprise me if they purposefully bring down servers on day 2/3 in order to blackmail some support money. Their lies, broken promises, threats, and insults in the emails I have received from them leave me with the opinion that this is a very dishonest organization.

    Since I've seen their tactics, I won't be responding to them when they post here (and they will). They will also probably have shills acting like they have nothing to do with Superb also post here. I trust the readers of WHT can recognize that kind of action when they see it. I've done my part. I appreciate it when others post about their bad/good experiences with hosts, so I've done the same.

    -James
    Last edited by jbrausch; 07-29-2003 at 12:21 PM.
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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Posts
    3,085
    Seems like you've had a lot of bad luck... you threatened a class action suit against Cedant, then moved to iPowerWeb and had more problems, and now Superb.

    It seems odd the configuration would get screwed up (it sounds like a firewall issue). I haven't used Windows for hosting so I don't know what the deal could be, but it seems like Superb should consider removing that firewall software if it causes problems like this.

    Had you used Terminal Services at all? Maybe logging in does something. With windows you can never be surprised. I wouldn't think it would be malicious on the part of the provider without proof though.

    Also, this really doesn't fall under a "100% uptime" guarantee, those guarantees cover your network, not server availability.

    You also can't expect a refund unless there is a clearly stated refund policy and you fall under its coverage.
    Jim Reardon - jim/amusive.com
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  3. #3

    The good guys

    I have posted more about the bad guys than the good guys. We host hundreds of sites on dozens of servers with dozens of vendors. The reality is that we only run into a scumbag company about one out of 25 times. Let me give some kudos to the companies we currently work with that are among the good guys:

    Rackshack.net
    DigitalOutrage.com
    GNPHost.com
    WebHostingEtc.net

    -James
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2001
    Location
    Montreal, Quebec
    Posts
    589
    Looks like WebHostingEtc.net copied their website from mediatemple.net
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Hereford, UK
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    31
    I also have had a very bad experence with superb - there very very keen to sell the thing to you but then once you've got the box its another matter!
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  6. #6

    Customer Uses BlackMail To Avoid Paying Bills

    Hi,

    I would like to introduce myself first off. My name is Curtis and I am the VP of Sales & Marketing (no shill). I have attempted at all levels to deal with Mr. James Brausch but to no avail (he continues to rant long after we posted back a complete refund even though we were not under any legal or moral obligation to do so).

    First of all, I do apologise for the length of my response but it is necessary in order to give all the facts:

    1. The customer ordered a server using a credit card which created an AVS error so we requested more info (he refused) so I overrode billing and ask them to setup the server anyway (which the customer took as a personal affront though as anyone can tell you a company takes great risk with their merchant account when ignoring warnings about potential CC frauds especially on the Internet today)

    2. Customer received server but for some reason he (unlike any of our sys admins) is unable to access the server which most of you here know often means some sort of user failure (I will not say he did something wrong because when I tried to look into the matter he refused to enter a support request) Having a LiveChat with a sales person who is unable to fix a server does not constitute a request for support which is why he was asked to put in a support request.

    3. He then claims the 100% Uptime Guarantee - which is a network guarantee & this issue has nothing to do with as illustrated here:
    100% Network Uptime Guarantee

    4. He continues to refuse to put in a support request and demands a 100% refund threatening us with some of the things I will copy below but posting his slander here was one of them. BTW, he claims that he had to pay for support but had he even tried to request support, he would have known we include
    1 Hour (4 -15 minute support credits) with every server

    5. I contacted him personally to discuss his threats - he hung up the phone demanding a complete refund (which is contrary to the Agreement he had with us) - which btw, I was willing to give him had he shown some form of reasonable cause for his displeasure (other than his threats while in LiveChat mode).

    6. Then the nonsense really got going. The threats - which I must admit were on both sides but ours were realistic at least as you will see when you read further. We did have the right to demand payment and not to refund his setup fees and first month payments - see our Cancellation Policy as per our Terms of Service

    7. We decided that the customer was not exactly stable and therefore not accountable for entering into any form of service agreement and decided to give him a full refund but he continues to plague us because his credit card company (norm is 2-8 days) has not posted back his credit - we even sent him the full confirmation details which he now has.

    8. He has threatened this action and others in an attempt to extract payment for his time (forget that he has wasted the time of countless people here at our company). See his emails shown below.

    I hope that anyone reading this realises that this is someone who needs more help than we are able to give him in a variety of ways.

    Thank you for your time. Normally I do not even bother with such blatant attempts to extort money from our company however this was so outrageous I felt I need to answer.

    Curtis
    ------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Curtis,

    It is you who have wasted my time by committing fraud. You refused to
    provide the service you promised. You refused to refund my card. It is
    your issue. You are committing a civil and crimal act. You will be held
    accountable. There is no court in Canada nor the United States who would
    issue a restraining order for a consumer trying to correct a fraudulent act
    by a vendor. You are welcome to try.

    Your time is now up. I will keep my promise. I will now be posting my
    experience on WHT, notifying your local BBB (who has already processed one
    complaint against you... so this one will result in an unsatisfactory
    rating) and initiating the chargeback.

    You now have 24 hours before I take the next step. Phase II is a surprise.
    You'll know it when you see it.

    BTW, you now owe me $1,560 for wasting my time.

    You have until 9:41 Wednesday morning now before I take my next actions.
    It's never too late to do the right thing.

    You now owe me $120. You did not call to "work something out" (and there is
    nothing to work out). You called to refuse a refund for the services you
    never rendered. Since it is obvious that you intend to act in bad faith, I
    will also pursue the $1,320. That's a total of $1,440 in wasted time plus
    the refund for the services you never rendered. BTW, the server is still
    unreachable.

    You have until tomorrow morning to remit the refund before I begin the
    promised actions. We have a 100% recovery rate from scum bag companies like
    you. You'll see.

    Fraud doesn't pay. Eventually you'll defraud the wrong customer and learn
    your lesson. I am that customer!

    -James Brausch
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Hereford, UK
    Posts
    31
    Curtis, be it not related or not to this issue i've had similar experences with your customer services promising things that just isnt there. Lucky, i managed to only pay the setup fee and get out of the rest.

    What is very concerning to see is that you are constantly getting yourself a bad name for yourselfves on this board. You would think after the first few times you would do something about it. Incidently, it was the same sales jose that I dealt with.

    Another point from looking at a customers point of view is that they are constant reports on here that someone will buy a server from you then suddenly not be able to access there box. Then get charged for having to call for a setup issue.
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  8. #8
    I think that it is quite obvious here to everyone that chrisbond
    is jbrausch under disguise, given that what is said there holds no factual nor logical basis.
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  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Hereford, UK
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    31
    hjass - i dont think so somehow - im based in the united kingdom - i will privmsg you my mobile number to speak to me if you want.
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  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Seattle, WA
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    Originally posted by chrisbond
    hjass - i dont think so somehow .
    You don't THINK you're posting as someone else?
    Jim Reardon - jim/amusive.com
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  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Hereford, UK
    Posts
    31
    They can check there records and they will find that im a completly seperate customer not even related to the guy thats on moaning on the system.
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  12. #12
    If I am mistaken, then please do accept my sincere apologies. This was just given what I've seen on the sidelines this jbrausch being capable of.

    I just meant that since we've only twice had any 'bad' posts about us, and both of those were resolved and everyone agreed that there were no problems on our side (save once may be a slight human error, which can happen to anyone), that was why what was said didn't make sense. I mean, we have a better reputation on WHT than any other competitor, as we have far less negative posts about us than anyone else. Every company will run into a totally unreasonable customer once in a while who just can not be helped and refuses to listen to reason, which I think everyone realizes and sees is clearly apparent.

    I can wholeheartedly say that while everyone makes mistakes and errors, in the rare cases that it is so, we are very, very generous and forthcoming indeed and do all in our power to please the customer. (In fact, I often think that we go too far... but again, I don't get involved in such cases myself, that is up to Sales, Marketing and Operations departments and I let their heads act accordingly, though sometimes I do think that we are being overly generous... but then again, nothing makes me or anyone else here happier than turning an unhappy customer into a happy one and to have the customer send us a card, or a gift - which does happen quite frequently. It's always sad when in some cases it just can not be so, no matter what we do.)
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  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Hereford, UK
    Posts
    31
    Far enough but i was only expressing my opionion of how I was treated whilst i had a server with you.

    I agree with the unreasonable customer comment - you cannot please everyone, if you look at it from my point of view though some of the things he said was similar to some bits that happened with me.
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  14. #14

    Re: Warning about Superb.net

    Originally posted by jbrausch
    "...
    I ordered a server from Superb late last week. I noticed their $90/hour support item, so I asked Jose Castro using the online chat "Does that mean if the server is down; you are going to charge me for reporting a problem on your network." His answer was "We manage the network". I should have pushed for a more specific answer. I didn't.
    ..."
    It should be mentioned that the *technical issues* you had were never brought to the attention of *technical support*. Calling your sales person about a technical problem BEFORE it is resolved, is really not the best way to get a resolution. If you want to adjust your billing or pursue some kind of service agreement change after the fact, thats another story.

    Here is the actual chat transcript where you refused to contact technical support about the issue and where Jose was extremely helpfull (while offering to do it for you).

    "<mod removed>"** You are now speaking with Jose Castro, Superb Sales. **
    Jose Castro : Hi there
    James : Hi; we've been down for over an hour with no response
    Jose Castro : I saw an e-mail from you today
    Jose Castro : You can not connect via Terminal Services correct?
    James : right
    James : ftp was also down for about 10 minutes coincident with the start of the problem
    James : it is now up
    Jose Castro : I am able to ping your server
    James : i'm sure it will respond to a ping if it responds to ftp
    James : What are we going to do here?
    James : A server that I can't connect to for over an hour is useless
    James : Support that doesn't even respond within an hour is useless
    James : Do I just need to cancel this order and move on?
    Jose Castro : Hi James, I understand your frustration
    Jose Castro : Have you opened a support request via sls.superb.net?
    James : No; And I don't intend to.
    James : I have your transcript where you promise that you manage the network
    James : there is no need to pay for such support
    James : They main page of your web-site guarantees 100% uptime
    Jose Castro : James, I do understand this situation and yes we do manage the network and constantly improve it
    Jose Castro : Yes we do
    James : Fine... Cancel my order
    Jose Castro : I can open the ticket for you if you wish
    James : If I don't receive a refund in 24 hours, I'll be contacting the BBB

    Your party has left this session.
    Last edited by anon-e-mouse; 08-08-2003 at 09:01 AM.
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  15. #15
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Seattle, WA
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    Jose Castro : Have you opened a support request via sls.superb.net?
    James : No; And I don't intend to.
    Pretty much sums it all up.
    Jim Reardon - jim/amusive.com
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  16. #16
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    DC
    Posts
    291
    Originally posted by hjass
    I just meant that since we've only twice had any 'bad' posts about us, and both of those were resolved and everyone agreed that there were no problems on our side (save once may be a slight human error, which can happen to anyone), that was why what was said didn't make sense. I mean, we have a better reputation on WHT than any other competitor, as we have far less negative posts about us than anyone else. Every company will run into a totally unreasonable customer once in a while who just can not be helped and refuses to listen to reason, which I think everyone realizes and sees is clearly apparent.
    There are three negative posts about you in this thread alone:

    http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...hreadid=158729

    I cannot vouch for the reasonableness of other unsatisfied customers you have had, but it does seem that Superb's customer support practices have received a disproportionately large amount of negative press on WHT.

    Perhaps instead of blaming customers for lapses in your service, you should be working hard to improve your customer service so that even "unreasonable" customers can find no reason to complain about you on WHT.
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  17. #17
    That post is a prime example of how an issue was promptly resolved and the customer was made and is happy with us.

    We always view an unhappy customer (no matter the reason) as a great opportunity to make a 'naysayer' into an advocate of our services by making him/her happy.
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  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Hereford, UK
    Posts
    31
    Originally posted by hjass

    We always view an unhappy customer (no matter the reason) as a great opportunity to make a 'naysayer' into an advocate of our services by making him/her happy.
    Sorry cannot agree with that statement myself - when trying to resolve the issue I had you was more than willing to give me a refund but loose my setup fee, but was unwilling to resolve the issue at hand.
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  19. #19
    Well, we will do what a customer wants. If a customer wants to leave, we'll happily give a refund (though not obligated to do so).

    If we were refusing to do so, then I think it'd be a problem.
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  20. #20
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Trouble will find me!
    Posts
    1,470
    From reading this thread it is evident that SuperbServers worked on the case it was more of an issue with the arrogance the customer had.
    ^^ IM WITH STUPID!! ^^

    "The only way to overcome fear, is to challenge it head on"
    "The quickest way to get over a woman, is to get under another"
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  21. #21
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Missouri
    Posts
    2,504
    Originally posted by amusive.com
    Pretty much sums it all up.
    Agreed.
    What does one host say to the other? "(HostA) Want to go see a movie?" "(HostB) Sure, can your parents drive?"

    I'm premium, and no, I did not have to pay $6 a month to figure that out.
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  22. #22
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Posts
    566
    True... CPU works well if it is properly cooled... same goes with the brain!
    Bagfull Interweb Inc.
    Windows and Linux Affordable Hosting and Cheap Domain Names.
    Powerful Dual Xeon Processors, 24x7 Support, PayPal Accepted
    http://www.bagfull.net/
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  23. #23
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Posts
    2,780
    Maybe the amount of negative post for Superb could drop if more support is offer within the first few days of the box delivery. (I noted that most of complaints are with new customers.) What I'm saying is if even the customer screw up the firewall and lock him/herself out, it may help if superb would step in and help the customer out while they're trying to configure the server for the first time. It is just that because so much have to be done on the initial config, errors may happen. It would be great if the support have help the customer out and Superb may end up with a happy customer that stay for long (and without trouble).

    As with this customer, Superb have done the right thing to choose not to service. He doesn't even understand what is meant by 100% network uptime guarantee and thought that it was a guarantee on his server uptime. When his server goes down, he start blaming Superb on the grouds of the Uptime guarantee. Way too arrogant and thought he knows everything.

    The part about the $1440 is funny too. Superb, please tell me you didn't refund him that amount. If you did, I would be afraid you would go bankrupt in no time.
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  24. #24
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Posts
    566
    Originally posted by Mfjp
    Maybe the amount of negative post for Superb could drop if more support is offer within the first few days of the box delivery. (I noted that most of complaints are with new customers.) What I'm saying is if even the customer screw up the firewall and lock him/herself out, it may help if superb would step in and help the customer out while they're trying to configure the server for the first time. It is just that because so much have to be done on the initial config, errors may happen. It would be great if the support have help the customer out and Superb may end up with a happy customer that stay for long (and without trouble).

    As with this customer, Superb have done the right thing to choose not to service. He doesn't even understand what is meant by 100% network uptime guarantee and thought that it was a guarantee on his server uptime. When his server goes down, he start blaming Superb on the grouds of the Uptime guarantee. Way too arrogant and thought he knows everything.

    The part about the $1440 is funny too. Superb, please tell me you didn't refund him that amount. If you did, I would be afraid you would go bankrupt in no time.
    This goes with every provider... more problems occur with new clients..
    Bagfull Interweb Inc.
    Windows and Linux Affordable Hosting and Cheap Domain Names.
    Powerful Dual Xeon Processors, 24x7 Support, PayPal Accepted
    http://www.bagfull.net/
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  25. #25
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Singapore
    Posts
    21
    I am new to this webhostingtalk forum. But having been a superb customer for over 1 1/2 and still have a server there, here are my comments:-

    I think overall from my experience with Superb.Net (dedicated hosting) has been overall very good. So far I have had prompt response from Sales and Technical Support for me so far on all issues pertaining to my server. So overall, I think their support has been rather good so far considering I have hosted with many other ISPs before. But I certainly did not encounter such an issue with them.

    However, on the downside, unfortunately, their network in recent past 6 months did see significant slow-down especially during Peak Period so much so that it was too slow to access the server from outside US (probably still ok for US due to large bandwidth between states). Which I guess was because of too many clients but insufficient bandwidth to cope during peak hours. Off-Peak period the access has been still fast. At least this is what happen on their DCA1 for my servers.

    I am not sure how is the bandwidth from their new DCA2. Probably much better judging from the many new 1Gbps backbone providers. I guess that they have been trying to improve that as I did seem some slight improvement but still overall very sluggish for me.

    I had been a very happy user last year, but this year was somewhat disappointing especially for the price I paid for premium bandwidth. So far from what I read about other threads that users also complaint about slow bandwidth. So I guess I am not alone. But so far in terms of support, their site has been great experience.

    EDIT: I think in fairness. For support, any site which end up with too much clients, will tend to have a drop in level of service. I had seen this happening too many times in many companies, who won't. But so far in terms of any emergency response, I think I did get very prompt assistance from Superb. But still, ultimately for dedicated hosting, bandwidth / pricing is very important.

    Warmest Regards
    Robert Lee
    Last edited by robertlee; 07-30-2003 at 03:57 AM.
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