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  1. #1

    Question Did The Planet's Management Change?

    I've used the services of The Planet and Server Matrix for 2½ years but their service has gone downhill dramatically in the last 6 months. Was there a change in management or ownership?

    My own server just got canned by them without warning and returned to stock, wiping off all the data. This was a brand new server, less than a month old as my previous one failed due to a failed disk. I even paid for a second hard drive to be installed, a new OS to be installed just to try and recover the data before accepting defeat. When it became obvious I couldn't transfer the data to the new server, I cancelled the server but had to pay a full month because I was 2 days over the monthly billing cycle. So I ended up paying for two servers, new hard drive and OS reinstall and then have my new server canned a month later.

    Their response is we told you, your card was declined for 10 days, sorry company policy. Goodbye.

  2. #2
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    So let's see if I have this correct:

    * You're upset that you had to pay a full month of service, when you cancelled after the required 7 day period, which is stated in their TOS?

    * You're upset that your box was reclaimed after your credit card declined the charges for 10 days?

    What does this have to do with The Planet Management? Sounds more like a customer that can't take responsibility for their own actions.

    Don't try and pin your own irresponsibility on The Planet.

    Sirius
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  3. #3
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    Hello ;

    if your card had declined server fee plus you had not cancelled the server on time,I could not see anything with it. Sorry

  4. #4
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    It's not like they don't warn you either....

    Each day they send an e-mail telling you the number of days before disconnection, pretty obvious.
    ManageMyServices was sold by me in September 2009. I no longer have any affiliation with this company.

  5. #5
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    They have their orbit interface, IT is good to check that payments recieved against invoice in their Accounting section. I make it a point to ensure that payments are applied for what i am invoiced.

  6. #6
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    Sorry but I have to disagree here, much as I hate TP, they played it fair here. You don't pay them why should they provide you with service.

    Simularly, you lose data, that's your loss, you really need to look at a backup method.

    Dan
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  7. #7
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    Originally posted by RazorBlue - Dan
    Sorry but I have to disagree here, much as I hate TP, they played it fair here. You don't pay them why should they provide you with service.

    Simularly, you lose data, that's your loss, you really need to look at a backup method.

    Dan
    Yeah, you know, I don't know, Dan. I agree with you the opinion about TP, but where has the love gone in this business?

    Are we just total pricks now? Can we not help a brother anymore?
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  8. #8
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    You need to be very proactive with orbit's accounting. I have had several issues where TP/SM accounting system mistakes could have cancelled several of my servers. In one instance I needed to have my bank fax a financial confirmation that the the credit card transaction was never attempted even though accounting indicated it was declined. It's well documented that TP/SM accounting system is below par for any business of it's size. This means you must be proactive and confirm every transaction!

    In all honesty we are not using TP/SM for their sharp technical support and customer service MEANING here's your $200 used whitebox server, have at it and btw, you should really have a backup plan if something goes wrong, you better know how to admin the box and btw if we screw up with our horrible accounting or freshmen $6.00/hr level 1 staff you better have backup plan! Did I mention you better have a backup PLAN ;-)


    Honestly most are using TP/SM for what they really are a LOW COST/HIGH VALUE NETWORK! Even with the occasional equipment power failures and nework expansion issues, the network is fairly resilient. They repair most "network" issues within minutes with low latency from most off network locations. Network issues and expansions are handled faster than most other physical hosting providers. AND if you can get to Level 2 support, they are top notch considering they still do answer the phone, try that with any other provider that is experiencing a network issue.

    We all expect and demand 100% uptime but from my perspective (30 years IT, 13 years hosting) it's not yet possible and definately not at $100/mo.

    John

  9. #9
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    Originally posted by jjungling
    You need to be very proactive with orbit's accounting. I have had several issues where TP/SM accounting system mistakes could have cancelled several of my servers. In one instance I needed to have my bank fax a financial confirmation that the the credit card transaction was never attempted even though accounting indicated it was declined. It's well documented that TP/SM accounting system is below par for any business of it's size. This means you must be proactive and confirm every transaction!
    jjungling is on the money here, in our experience too. We had to change a credit card a few months ago and I was on the phone several times a day for several days asking "did it go through? did it go through?" and nobody at The Planet had the slightest clue which way was up. (Let alone whether anything had been charged or not)

    Their response was "wait a few days and if it doesn't go through, we'll send you an e-mail." Well the trouble with that brilliant plan was that in a "few days" the server would be unplugged. That's not workable.

    Our last two reboots -- simple reboots -- have taken over an hour apiece. The techs take their sweet time getting to the floor and pushing a lousy button.

    We're in the process of moving out. This will be our last month @ The Planet... support and service has gone downhill, and I worry that little power blip we had a couple months ago was only the tip of the iceberg. I really am not interested in finding out how deep the problems go, I've got a business to protect.

    Bailey
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  10. #10
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    Originally posted by PSFServers
    Yeah, you know, I don't know, Dan. I agree with you the opinion about TP, but where has the love gone in this business?

    Are we just total pricks now? Can we not help a brother anymore?
    LOL. I think some of the "smaller" data centers have that type of lee-way. I think that the big boys "The Planet", "EV1", "RackShack" are all going to be less leniant than those small enough to offer a more personalized touch.

    Sirius
    I support the Human Rights Campaign!
    Moving to the Tampa, Florida area? Check out life in the suburbs in Trinity, Florida.

  11. #11
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    I host at 9 different datacenters all dependent on application, security, support etc. A smaller datacenter is perfect for the type of customer that needs the hand holding to maintain their server provided their network is not oversold.

    The problem with a smaller provider is their inability to handle bandwidth spikes and attacks as well as wide scale peering and latency. They are also not responsive during an emergency as they usually are expending all resources to respond to it (which is usally a positive thing :-).

    Most people in this business these days are mom & pops/small webdesigners with 1 or 2 dedicated servers. These people have little or no IT backround and very little server admin experience. These people should never be at a EV1 or TP/SM but at a smaller provider. Unfortunately a smaller provider usually costs more as they don't have the resources due to scale.

    I've been in this business long enough to watch hundreds of physical datacenters use the bell curve of low price providers, <Great support, cheap prices, high growth, support lags, network lags, bad management, customers leave, lower prices, stop network upgrades, implode or sell.>

    I too was planning to leave SM/TP as they were entering the "customer exodus phase", but they caught me by surprise last month and RAISED their prices! Yes their service is below par, Yes their accounting is below par, but management I believe knows this and is stemming the in-flow of customers that is causing this which is a sign of good management. I have also noticed they are still upgrading network capacity and redundancy.

    I'm going to stick it out a few more months, but I have an advantage, a BACKUP PLAN. I run hot standby's at geographically diverse centers, I can switch datacenters within seconds.


    John

  12. #12
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    Originally posted by jjungling
    You need to be very proactive with orbit's accounting. I have had several issues where TP/SM accounting system mistakes could have cancelled several of my servers. In one instance I needed to have my bank fax a financial confirmation that the the credit card transaction was never attempted even though accounting indicated it was declined. It's well documented that TP/SM accounting system is below par for any business of it's size. This means you must be proactive and confirm every transaction!

    In all honesty we are not using TP/SM for their sharp technical support and customer service MEANING here's your $200 used whitebox server, have at it and btw, you should really have a backup plan if something goes wrong, you better know how to admin the box and btw if we screw up with our horrible accounting or freshmen $6.00/hr level 1 staff you better have backup plan! Did I mention you better have a backup PLAN ;-)


    Honestly most are using TP/SM for what they really are a LOW COST/HIGH VALUE NETWORK! Even with the occasional equipment power failures and nework expansion issues, the network is fairly resilient. They repair most "network" issues within minutes with low latency from most off network locations. Network issues and expansions are handled faster than most other physical hosting providers. AND if you can get to Level 2 support, they are top notch considering they still do answer the phone, try that with any other provider that is experiencing a network issue.

    We all expect and demand 100% uptime but from my perspective (30 years IT, 13 years hosting) it's not yet possible and definately not at $100/mo.

    John
    Yep I agree, it seems people think TP is going to be a gift sent from Heaven(s). Every single L2 tech I have contacted, have (for the most part) been very very good. I just had a problem this morning.. and the tech went out of her way to fix the problem.

    "definately" its spelled definitely (AHH IM A HEN NOW!!!!)
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  13. #13
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    Why do hosting companies seem to go through this growth curve? Start out well, good uptime, good service, then after a year or two things start to head south. Poor planning? Burn out? Phase of the moon? What?

    I don't ask for much - a reliable box, reliable connection, good bandwidth and I'll admin my own stuff and not bother you at all as long as my box and connection stay solid. I just don't understand why this is so hard to sustain for more than a few months.

    And yes the accounting department over there seem to have more than their share of problems but paying your host on time is probably a good way not to have to deal with them too often. LOL
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  14. #14
    The truth is, once you hit TP current size, most people are just a salaried worker. Unless you have a great culture, reward employees handsomely, is a genius in employee motivation, most employees are just going to do the bare minimum they need to end their salary.

    With so many staff, it's not the easiest to ensure everyone has the same attitude. In a fast growing company, the toughest is to get good, abled employees fast enough. New staff needs training on the DC process, procedures etc, and thus there's a lead time. So service invariably gets hit.

    As for the accounting department, most of them are most likely what I mentioned above: salaried workers. They are not going to risk their own skin by going against company policy. That can get them fired or disciplined under some management. Given the bulk they have, any exception just adds to their load. So invariably they just follow "company policy" as its the easiest on themselves.

    That said, I agree with everyone that it's "your own fault".
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  15. #15
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    Originally posted by jjungling
    I have also noticed they are still upgrading network capacity and redundancy.

    Yep, they got rid of Verio and Nlayer and replaced them with 2 Gige Savvis lines (very good move imo). They are adding more bandwidth within the next couple weeks too:

    2 - UUnet Gig-E Ports
    1 - Level(3) Gig-E Port
    1 - AboveNet Gig-E Port

    ------------------


    I've been with theplanet for around a year now, we have a full cabinet with them, and it's fully stocked with theplanet's "Total Control Enterprise series" machines we typically use the E2800sr5's. I run/manage my companies web application, and over the past year I have seen support/service go down hill.......But I do strongly think that it's coming back as well...accounting tickets are answered with minutes for me, and support is getting a lot quicker as well. I think they made some management changes here in the last month....that were the at the best interest to their current customers.

  16. #16
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    Originally posted by PSFServers
    Yeah, you know, I don't know, Dan. I agree with you the opinion about TP, but where has the love gone in this business?

    Are we just total pricks now? Can we not help a brother anymore?
    1. business is for profit. how about paying your employees wages

    2. business is not a charity

    3. uh? what does love have to do with business and helping a brother out?

    if you want to help some one. you can donate your money to charity or volunteer at your local charity chapter.

    business is business. it is that simple or heck donate money in your company name.

    this is a clear case of cutomers not paying his/her bill. like phone company will cut off phone service if you don't pay your bill.

  17. #17
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    jt2377 I am pretty sure PSFServers was talking about TP working with this person. Although I am not sure what they could work on. Seems like a pretty clear credit card denied situation to me.

    Also on this note.. wouldn't it be great to find out all the "negative" compared to "positive" customers that big data centers have? I bet its a HUGE positive and only a few negatives. Just imagine how many customers a company like TP has on just this forum. And we see a strickle of complaints.... same goes with all the other companies and providers on this forum.
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  18. #18
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    For the Subject of the thred yes the management has changed lots of people are gone now for what ever reason that is as I have said in another topic here is a list of people that are no longer with the planet.

    Lance Crosby
    Richard Moseley
    Samuel Fleitman
    Nathan Day
    Craig Alan Rodenberg
    Stephanie Cameron

    and probably more.
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  19. #19
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    RealtorHost, I don't know... I was pretty gung-ho about SM for a very long time. However the proof was in the pudding for us. When the cost of running @ SM outweighed the good (too long on reboots, lazy attitude 2 of the last 3x I called about those reboots) that sealed the deal.

    I think folks know I have to be pretty royally dicked over before I'll move. But I'm not quiet about it either. People earn their spot with me... If you're good to me, I'll say so and I'll recommend you... If you're screwing up, I'll give you a few chances to redeem yourself, but after that your record will speak for itself. I'm not going to hide it.

    In fairness the very last reboot we had done took only 35 minutes for the tech to finally get to the data center floor. Then he saw that iptables was overloaded (due to how FastServerManagement.com configures APF/BFD, need to have a chat with them on that) and when I called I was lucky enough to connect with the tech working on the server! He explained what was going on, offered to bypass APF which I said "yes please" and boom, the server came back up.

    It was like a flash of Server Matrix of Old. Except for the 35 minute part.

    I agree these are growing pains. And I am glad to see some re-shuffling of the network. However I am still doggone nervous about their infrastructure. I've been around the data center-level a while, I'm not just a dedicated server customer -- I've done d.c.-level work and I know how this stuff is supposed to be built. There is simply NO excuse for 2 power back-up systems to fail at the same time and the network connection to die for at least a significant part of the data center. I would expect this level of "mistake" to occur at a small facility, but certainly not at a large enterprise-class facility where they can afford the big experts and the first class equipment. Hello, testing?

    At this point I am confident with our choice.

    I like John's plan though:
    I'm going to stick it out a few more months, but I have an advantage, a BACKUP PLAN. I run hot standby's at geographically diverse centers, I can switch datacenters within seconds.
    That is definitely the way to run it.

    Bailey
    Last edited by bithost(NET); 05-25-2005 at 01:21 PM.
    Let's Connect on Twitter! @thatsmsgeek2u || Fighting mediocrity one thread at a time.

  20. #20
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    Originally posted by bithost(NET)
    I would expect this level of "mistake" to occur at a small facility, but certainly not at a large enterprise-class facility where they can afford the big experts and the first class equipment. Hello, testing?

    Hehe.. I can see your point on that. Have I seen a some problems here and there recently.. yea i'm gonna be honest I have. I have also seen their prices going up a bit also. I was under the impression some really good deals would be avaiable to existing customers. $99 for a 1.7Ghz.. isn't a "good" deal in my mind.

    I still think their support is pretty good, if you get the right tech. Sometimes you don't.. and i've had a few there were boneheads.
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  21. #21
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    Originally posted by PSFServers
    Are we just total pricks now?
    I've always been a total prick.

    In all seriousness, I'm a believer in having well-defined policies and not wavering from them for anyone, or for any reason. Once you start making exceptions, it's almost impossible to go back.

    Can we not help a brother anymore?
    Hate to drag out this tired old phrase, but business is business.

    -B
    Last edited by TMX; 05-26-2005 at 03:49 PM.

  22. #22
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    Originally posted by PSFServers
    Yeah, you know, I don't know, Dan. I agree with you the opinion about TP, but where has the love gone in this business?

    Are we just total pricks now? Can we not help a brother anymore?

    Not to point out the overly obvious boys, but I believe these comments were intended to be sarcastic?

    Bailey
    Let's Connect on Twitter! @thatsmsgeek2u || Fighting mediocrity one thread at a time.

  23. #23
    Originally posted by bithost(NET)
    Not to point out the overly obvious boys, but I believe these comments were intended to be sarcastic?
    Didn't look that way to me.
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  24. #24
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    Get a little more familiar with PFS's posting history when it comes to SM/TP, mate.

    Bailey
    Let's Connect on Twitter! @thatsmsgeek2u || Fighting mediocrity one thread at a time.

  25. #25
    LOL, I guess hes not too keen on TP?

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